Newspaper Page Text
April 20, 2022
m
Reporter
Page 3A
Commissioners apologize for land deal
Kate
Kirbo
Peer Rated for Highest Level
of Professional Excellence
but Tapley still blames Reporter
By Will Davis
publisher@mymcr.net
All five Monroe County
commissioners and the
county manager apologized
on Tuesday for failing to
record votes and legally ad
vertise the sale of 103 acres
in Juliette last summer.
County taxpayers just
learned of last July’s trans
action on April 6 when it
was first reported in this
newspaper. Commissioner
George Emami initially put
on the agenda last week
that commissioners would
discuss on Tuesday disci
plining a county employee,
likely county manager Jim
Hedges, for mistakes made
in the deal. But Emami later
changed the agenda to say
that commissioners would
merely discuss changes to
their policy when selling
land.
“It was sort of a comedy of
errors,” said Emami at Tues
days meeting. “Comedy
that wasn’t very funny. How
we respond is important.
We need to take ownership
when we screw up.”
Emami had Hedges put
together a timeline of the
transaction, including what
went wrong and how it can
be fixed.
Hedges said he’s still
picking up small pieces of
information about the deal.
But he said he thinks the
discussion started in Febru
ary 2021 when commission
ers asked county attorney
Ben Vaughn to get the land
appraised in view of selling
the property. Hedges said
two appraisers said they
were uncomfortable apprais
ing the land because of pos
sible environmental issues
from the long defunct water
treatment plant. A third
appraiser never responded.
Nevertheless, Hedges said in
March or April 2021, com
missioners agreed to declare
the property surplus and
put it out to bid. Hedges said
Emami had left the meet
ing before that was agreed
upon. He said the vote may
have been taken in closed
session and therefore is not
recorded. To make sure
that doesn’t happen again,
Hedges said when commis
sioners come out of a closed
session, the chairman will
recognize the clerk who will
ask if any votes need to be
taken so it can added to the
minutes.
Hedges said on April 19,
2021 he asked that the
property be advertised in
the legal organ, the Reporter,
with bids to be opened April
30. Hedges said that was a
mistake because it did not
give the 15 days notice re
quired by law. He also noted
the ad didn’t include 9 acres
of smaller tracts that con
nect to the property. He said
from now on the county will
only open bids after proof of
correct and timely advertis
ing has been documented at
the bid opening.
Continuing, Hedges said
he and Emami toured the
property on May 10,2021.
He said Emami asked him
to get an estimate of what
it would take to remediate
the land and make it usable.
Peed Brothers estimated it
would be $3 million. That’s
when commissioners agreed
by email to sell the property.
Hedges said that was a mis
take and they will no longer
vote by email unless it’s an
emergency.
Emami said he thinks they
made the right call to sell
it, they just didn’t execute it
properly.
“There were mistakes
made, multiple times,” said
Emami. But he added that
there’s no evidence anyone
in the county did anything
malicious or devious.
Commissioner John
Ambrose agreed, saying the
county never should have
bought the property anyway.
“We made some clerical
errors,” said Ambrose. “But
we got rid of a liability to the
county and actually made
money on it.” Ambrose said
if the property was worth
anything, Gro Green would
have bought it when it
purchased the neighboring
Plant Camellia.
Commissioner Eddie
Rowland concurred, that
commissioners were right to
sell the property, just messed
up in how they did it.
“I apologize to my county
for that,” said Rowland. But
Rowland said the plan to
provide county water from
that plant could not be done.
Participating in the meet
ing by phone, commissioner
Lamarcus Davis apologized
for mistakes made and
assured them it would be
corrected.
For his part, Hedges said
he made mistakes in the
deal, apologized to the
people of Monroe County
and said he has learned from
them. He said he gets very
busy every day on a number
of issues, but said that’s no
excuse for him getting lax.
“It will not happen again,”
said Hedges.
Commissioners bought
the property and its wa
ter treatment plant by the
former Plant Camellia in
Juliette in 2009 from their
own development author
ity. Reports at the time
indicated the county paid
the authority $750,000 for
the property. But county of
ficials have not yet been able
to confirm whether money
changed hands. Commis
sioners were hoping to
create a water source for the
county, including the with
drawal of water from the
adjacent Ocmulgee River.
But they have since decided
it would be too expensive to
rehabilitate.
Chairman Greg Tapley
said on Tuesday the county
definitely made mistakes,
but then launched into
another tirade against the
Reporter.
“There’s plenty of informa
tion not represented in the
paper that could’ve been,”
said Tapley, citing the $3
million estimate to remedi
ate the land. “Most of this
information could have eas
ily been reported properly.
They (the Reporter) are an
other culprit. That happens
regularly with this paper.”
Reached by phone after
the meeting, Emami said
the county is right to take
responsibility.
“I want to have good
relations between our
county and legal organ,”
said Emami. “There maybe
times to criticize a story. But
in the wake of mistakes as
big as we’ve made, that’s not
the time. This doesn’t do us
any good to be going back
andforth.”
r INJURED?
The Name You’ve Come to Know with the Experience You Need.
■ ii ■ I . ^ r ii
B.J.
SURVANT
Abbie
Brown
Marty
Senn
Martindale-HubbeN’
PREEMINENT
★ ★★★★
Carl
Reynolds
Wendall
Horne, III
Barret
Kirbo
Reynolds, «»
Horne Watch LawCall
Survant IL ^ tea:
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
478.405.0300 reynoldsinjurylaw.com
at 11:35 p.m.
6320 Peake Road • Macon, GA
Caring For You For Life
SUMPTHIN DlFFREHT
Antiques & More
866 Indian Springs Dr.
Forsyth, GA
Open Tue. - Sat.: 10- 6 • Sun.: 1 - 5
Home of the
“FREE TREASURE HUNT"
Find an item marked “FREE,”
and it’s yours!
We have an OUTDOOR
FLEA MARKET/YARDSALE
EVERY Saturday!
ALL VENDORS set up FREE!!!
478-957-9275 or 478-456-1124
Services:
* Routine Health and
Wellness Physicals
* Routine Pap Smears
• Weight Counseling
• Hypertension Control
• Depression Management
• Acute Illness Management
• Diabetes Management
• Thyroid Disease Management
• Cholesterol Management
Dr. Rana Munna Jennifer Burt, DNP, FNP-BC
Dr. Rana Munna „ 4 ”^ g
INTERNAL MEDICINE .
,nc/ “din 0
l 07 Preston Court • Macon, GA 3 l 2 10 Me<// CO/ .
Tel: 478-238-0771 • Fax: 478-238-6766
Located close to Bass Pro Shop & next door to the Academy for Classical Education (ACE)
www.DrMunna.com
Cash price for all services for those without insurance or who are with the Health Care Ministries