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IAP lift station approved by Finance Committee
The Glynn Comity Finance Commit
tee recommended that the contract for
the IAP (International Auto Process
ing) Lift Station and sewer line along
U.S. 17 be awarded to low bidder Palm
Coast Utilities, Inc., Allenhurst, Ga.
The vote was unanimous at the
Tuesday, July 8 meeting.
The project, which is in District 1,
includes a new lift station at the IAP
facility at the Georgia Ports Author
ity with a sewer force main along U.S.
17 to the existing lift station at Royal
Oaks Subdivision.
Cost of the project is $635,181.50
which will be paid in part by a Geor
gia DCA (Department of Community
Affairs) Employment Incentive Pro
gram Grant in the amount of $356,160.
The remaining $279,022 will be funded
from SPLOST 5 which includes $2 mil
lion for comity-wide sewer line expan
sion.
"We are getting the DCA grant
because the project will create jobs. And
we are continuing to pursue additional
grants to support this project as well
Political ad
Continued from Page 1
ing inspections at Jane Macon or Glynn
Middle Schools.”
Asked to comment by BOE chair
man Mike Hulsey, board attorney
Andy Lakin said that Georgia boards
of education are governed by the state
Dept, of Education, not by local county
or city governments and is therefore
exempt from the local permitting and
inspection process.
“School boards receive their powers
from the state constitution,” explained
Lakin, “They are a political subdivision,
like the county, so they have separate,
but equal powers.”
“School boards are solely obligated
to build schools, not jails or courts,”
Lakin continued, “those are the comi
ty’s responsibility and so, similarly,
the county is not obligated to build or
oversee schools.”
“The state of Georgia sets the
standards regarding the building of
schools,” Lakin said, “and schools
are exempt from a number of things,
including local laws governing building
permits and inspections. That is the
state law. When we (the BOE) build
schools we let the county review our
plans, although the state Department
of Education is the authority that over
sees and inspects them.”
Hulsey then asked John Tuten, the
school board’s architect for Glynn and
Jane Macon middle schools, to com
ment.
We have submitted a number of
items to Glynn County officials regard
ing the Jane Macon school,” said Tuten,
“Even though it is not necessary for the
school board to obtain building permits
from the county, we try to cooperate
with county officials. We also provided
plans to the city for Glynn Middle
school so they could plan for water and
sewer lines. You also furnished a traffic
study to the city, as well as plans to the
Joint Water and Sewer Commission.”
“Since the information was pub
lished that county officials were not
allowed on the school site, I have con
tacted (County Building Inspector)
Ellis Carter and told him the county
as request funding support from the
Georgia Ports Authority," said Comity
Engineer Jim Bruner. "If additional
funds are obtained they will be used to
repay SPLOST 5."
This is the first public sewer fine
to tie into Colonels Island. One of the
reasons for the sewer expansion is to
keep jobs at IAP. Part of IAPs contract
requires them to wash the cars. IAP has
been using huge a drain field for the
used water and while they were able
to recycle some of this water the drain
field kept backing up.
Because the drain field could not
handle all the water run off, IAP was
concerned that it would not be able to
fulfill all the conditions of its contracts.
According to Dick Newbem, Glynn
Comity Grant Coordinator, the new
sewer fine allows IAP to retain 131 posi
tions and add 20 new positions. At least
51% of the jobs will be filled by low to
moderate income personnel.
The bid award will be voted on by the
full board at the next County Commis
sion meeting on Thursday, July 17. □
is welcome to come inspect the site,”
explained Tuten, “And everything
required for building inspection has
been submitted.”
Just so there could be no ques
tion of his comments and work, Tuten
gave the board members copies of an
extensive laundry list of approvals and
meetings with Glynn Comity officials,
including dates, relative to the new
Jane Macon middle school.
He provided a similar list of approv
als and meetings with the city of
Brunswick and the Joint Water and
Sewer Commission relative to Glynn
middle school.
BOE member Ray Snow asked, “If
we were not exempt from this process
by state law, would we have met the
requirements for a building permit?”
Tuten said, ‘Yes and I have the sub
mittal letters containing the language
saying, ‘contact us for any additional
information.’ This is what we do for all
our projects.”
BOE member David Smith
asked, “Did you do anything different
with these schools?”
“No,” said Tuten, “We did the same
thing we always do. We always try to
follow county procedures.”
Noting that Mancil’s ad also refers to
the masonry problems at Jane Macon,
Smith said, “The implication in the ad
is that if we had had a county building
inspector at Jane Macon, we would not
be having to tear walls down. Do you
think that’s the case?”
“I don’t know what they would
or would not have found if had they
inspected,” said Tuten.
Continuing, Tuten said, ‘We sample
the concrete, the mortar, we’re there
several times a week. We found this
problem relatively early in the masonry
process. Owens and Pridgen (general
contractor) bears the primary cost of
this masonry problem. My office, Tuten
and Associates, bears the secondary
cost. The contractor has been very
cooperative. This is an unfortunate
situation, but it is being handled.”
BOE member Ruby Robinson asked,
“Have they (county officials) ever vis
ited our school sites?”
Tuten said, “Not that I’m aware of,
but they have had the opportunity. The
work is well inspected, but the county
is welcome to inspect it as well.”
Hulsey said, “It sounds like we have
a great relationship with them (coun
ty officials) and we’re not questioning
them. This is about a couple of people
calling into the question the collective
integrity of the board of education, our
staff and Mr. Tuten.”
Gude contract
Bringing up a different aspect of
the same political issue, Dave Smith
addressed a situation with the BOE’s
contract with their ESPLOST (Edu
cation Special Purpose Local Option
Sales Tax) construction consultants,
the Gude Management Group, Inc.
(GMG).
“I agree that all this is about the
current political situation,” Smith said,
“but Glynn County elected officials
have been using their power to solicit
information and use it for a school
board candidate.”
Smith produced a copy of a let-
THE ISLANDER, JULY 14, 2008, PAGE 5
ter from Glynn Comity Administrator
Charles Stewart to School Superinten
dent Dr. Michael Bull that included an
‘Open Records Request for Contracts
and Invoices for Gude Management
Group, Inc.’
The letter requested the “original,
fully executed contract for Program
Management of the 2007 ESPLOST
capital projects awarded to Gude.”
The letter also sought all contract
amendments or change orders, includ
ing those awarded to Gude for oversight
of the Golden Isles Career Academy,
along with invoices, written reports,
summaries or documents of monthly
status reports or meetings concerning
the Career Academy.
Stewart also requested a waiver of
all fees of this request.
Stewart explained the request for
the waiver of fees saying the “request
ed information will be used by Glynn
County in furtherance of its govern
mental operations.”
It was this statement about the fees
and use of the information in govern
mental operations that Smith found
objectionable.
Smith said, “The County Adminis
trator asked for the contract with the
Gude Group and that was his right.
We furnished the contract in a timely
manner and the contract was then
made available to a (school board) can
didate.”
“I am appalled,” Smith exclaimed,
“that we have an elected official using
the county administrator to do some
thing that is flagrantly illegal.”
Ray Snow agreed saying, “If informa
tion obtained this way is being given to
candidates, if this is the kind of politi
cal environment that is taking place,
anyway you cut it, it’s dirty ball.”
Millard Allen agreed saying, “The
(Mancil) ad is inaccurate and untrue.”
Speaking for the first time on the
subject, BOE member Lance Turpin
asked Tuten, “What is the taxpayers’
cost on the Jane Macon masonry prob
lem?”
Tuten said “There is no cost what
soever to the taxpayers or the board of
education. That cost is borne by Owens
and Pridgen.” □
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