About The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 22, 2008)
500 JSLfiND€R_ • Dave Barry -10 • Editorial Back Talk -16 • Health - 7 • Movie Review Vicky Cristina Barcelona -11. • Pew News -14 • Sports - 9 Surfin’ the News Published by Permar Publications • P.O. Box 20539 • St. Simons Island, Ga. 31522 • 912-265-9654 • ssislander@bellsouth.net September 22, 2008 Established 1972 Vol 36 Issue 38 A tale of two... sides of one jail Above: Longtime Bruns wick businessman, Ned Cash of Ned Cash & Assoc. Jewelers, addressed the city commission last week asking them to do the right thing regarding the County's jail expansion project. Bottom: County Commis sioner Cap Fendig (At Large) suggested the city try to work with the county to resolve the jail controversy. Islander staff photos Citizens ask City Commission for help with county jail By Matthew J. Permar City rejects redevelopment study contract By Matthew J. Permar During Brunswick City Com mission meetings last April and May, The Lifetime Group, LLC made three presentations and submitted a proposal to the city commission for a study on redevelopment in the city. Lifetime appeared at the request of Brunswick City Commissioner Cornell Harvey. At the time, the consen sus was to say no to Lifetime because the city already has their Comprehensive Master Plan done by the PBS&J con sulting firm and the EDAW 20-year development study. The fact that the Lifetime study was priced at $1.5 mil lion was also a concern to some of the commissioners, including Mayor Bryan Thompson and Commissioner Mark Spauld ing. Still at the request of Har vey, last June the commission instructed staff to work with Lifetime to modify and pare down their proposal and come back with to the commission with a recommendation. During their Wednesday, Sept. 17 meeting, Assistant City Manager Bill Weeks reported to the commission on the modified study, but still recommended against approv ing it. Weeks said in addition to Turn to Page 6 No new city study Correction In last week's edition, the Page 1 article 'Negotiating tire Demere / Frederica Round about' included this incorrect statment: "The County's educa tional Roundabout brochure is less than helpful and incorrect in at least one instance. The one I have only describes three of the four approaches to the intersection." Apparently, The Islander had an old, draft copy of the brochure. A new corrected copy has been produced and is on the Glynn County website. We apologize for any prob lems this may have caused. “I County moves ahead on jail expansion By Matthew J. Permar The night after the Bruns wick City Commission spent 30 minutes listening to citizens voice concerns about Glynn County's proposed downtown jail expansion project, the Glynn County Commission voted to officially move ahead with the project. During their Thursday, Sept. 18 meeting, on a motion by Commissioner Tony Thaw (Dist. 3) the county commis sion voted unanimously to affirm Comity Administrator Charles Stewart's decision to issue and advertise a Request for Proposals (RFP) to bid on Phase I of the jail expansion construction project. The RFP was advertised and posted on the county web site about a week before the meeting. There was some concern in the community about the county posting the RFP the day before a Special Master ruled in favor of the county in their eminent domain case against Brunswick business man Bob Torras, Sr. The case was to obtain two pieces of property owned by Torras that the county needs for the jail project. Commissioner Cap Fendig (At Large Post 2) also had concerns that the RFP was issued without a commission vote during a public meeting. Last week, at the request of Commission Chairman Don Hogan (At Large Post 1), Comity Attorney Aaron Mum- ford told the commission that Stewart had not done any thing wrong in advertising the construction RFP. "Publicly advertising an RFP is usually within the full discretion of the comity admin istrator," explained Mumford, "It does not require authoriza tion from the board of commis sioners. It will be discussed during at least two public meetings at the Finance Com mittee and here by the full commission." Mumford said Stewart's Turn to Page 6 County moves on jail Last Wednesday night, just before their regular 6:30 meet ing, the Brunswick City Com mission held a 30 minute public comment period during which citizens were allowed to voice concerns about Glynn Comity's proposed downtown jail expan sion project. The comity plans to expand their detention center into the adjacent city block to the north between I and J Streets. Mayor Bryan Thompson opened the meeting saying the public delegation period was not a debate or a Q&A with the commissioners, nor would there be any discussion or action taken by the city fathers. "This is just 30 minutes for us to listen to you," explained Thompson, "you can discuss whatever topic you want, but it will not be on the agenda for tonight's regular meeting." While any issue could have been brought up, the sole topic of the night was the county's jail expansion project. And all speakers were strongly opposed to the jail construction at the downtown location. The comments also included many words of thanks to the city commissioners for publicly stating that they will not aban don the portion of I St. to the comity that the county needs for the jail. The city agreed to the abandonment last year, but it was contingent on the comity acquiring all the necessary property between I and J Streets for the jail project. The comity went to court with an eminent domain case to acquire the last two pieces of property they needed from Brunswick businessman Bob Torras, Sr. and prevailed in the case that was heard by a Special Master. Turn to Page 5 City opposes jail
