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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
