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Published by Permar Publications • P.O. Box 20539 • St. Simons Island, Ga. 31522 • 912-265-9654 • ssislander@bellsouth.net
October 6, 2008 Established 1972 Vol 36 Issue 40
SPL0ST funds frozen by County
City decision on I St. blamed
By Matthew J. Permar
Money in the bank
Accepting a $3.2 million grant check from the Georgia Dept, of Technical and Adult
Education last week were: (left to right) Golden Isles Career Academy (GICA) CEO Andy
Lundell; chairman of GICA Board of Directors Tom Connolly; GICA board member/County
Commissioner Tony Thaw (Dist. 3); Glynn County Administrator Charles Stewart; College of
Coastal Georgia (CCG) Vice president for Business Affairs Tom Saunders; CCG Director of
Career and Technical Education Kay Hampton; and Brunswick Glynn County Development
Authority Executive Director Nathan Sparks. The money will be used for GICA construction.
Islander staff photo
BGCDA receives $3 million grant from State
By Matthew J. Permar
As of last week, almost all
of Glynn County’s SPLOST 5
(Special Purpose Local Option
Sales Tax) projects are tempo
rarily on hold - at least until
the new county commissioners
take office in January.
During their meeting last
Thursday night, Oct. 2, the
Glynn County Commission
voted 5-1 to temporarily freeze
the distribution all SPLOST
funds, including their own and
those earmarked for the City of
Brunswick and Jekyll Island.
Commissioner Cap Fendig
(At Large Post 2) was the lone
dissenting vote. Commission
chairman Don Hogan (At Large
Post 1) was out of town.
The recommendation to
freeze the SPLOST projects
came from the county’s finance
committee, which met the pre
vious Tuesday.
The reason for the freeze is
the commission’s uncertainty
over the future of the Comity
Detention Center (CDC) expan
sion project, which is one of
three ‘County-Wide’ SPLOST
projects.
Georgia SPLOST law,
according to County Attorney
Aaron Mumford, requires that
County-Wide projects must be
completely funded, meaning all
finds for these specific projects
must be in the bank, before
SPLOST finds can be released
for any other projects.
SPLOST projects that ben
efit both county and city resi
dents equally are designated
‘County-Wide projects.’ The
other two County-Wide proj
ects are the addition of a fourth
floor to the Harold Pate build
ing and the renovation of Office
Park.
The SPLOST 5 referendum
included $9 million for the jail
expansion project, but the price
tag, with design, construction
and land acquisition, has grown
to over $20 million.
The CDC expansion was
designed based on the assump
tion that the City of Brunswick
was going to abandon to the
county portions of I St. and
Newcastle St. Lane that they
need for the jail.
While the city commission
did not go through the for
mal process to abandon I St.
to the county, in September
of 2007 they did agree that
they would abandon it under
two conditions: 1.) the comity
must obtain all the property
required for the jail expansion
in the city block between I and
J Streets; and 2.) the county
must re-open the one block
portion of H St. that connects
Reynolds St. to Newcastle St.
between the Pate building and
the CDC, which was closed
several years ago.
The city never discussed the
abandonment of Newcastle St.
Lane, the alley that runs par
allel to Newcastle St. through
the block the county needs for
the jail expansion.
Recently the city commis
sion announced that they were
going to postpone the aban
donment of I St. until the new
county commission is seated in
January.
Three county commission
ers, Cap Fendig, Uli Keller
(Dist. 2) and Carl Johnson
Turn to Page 6
SPLOST on ice
Kingston votes
against bailout
Less than a week after reject
ing a similar bill, the House
passed a bailout intended to
shore up the nation’s financial
markets on October 3. Con
gressman Jack Kingston (R/
GA-1), who voted against the
package both times, expressed
concerns that the bill will not
accomplish the task at hand.
“Rather than righting the
ship, we’ve run for the life
boats,” Congressman Kingston
said. “While the core bill has
been improved since Monday,
I’m still unconvinced it will
avert an economic downturn.
I hope I’m wrong but suspect
we will be back soon for fur
ther debate. The economy will
remain my highest priority and
I will continue to fight for the
alternatives not included in
this bill.”
Largely the same as the
version the House previously
rejected, the bill authorizes the
Turn to Page 6
Bailout
It took a long time and a lot
of hard work by a lot of people,
but it was well worth it.
'It' is a $3.2 million grant
from the Georgia Dept, of Tech
nical and Adult Education
(DTAE) that is the final piece
of the finding puzzle for the
Golden Isles Career Academy
(GICA).
Although the grant was
actually awarded in Novem
ber of last year, the check was
received last week by the Bruns
wick Glynn County Develop
ment Authority (BGCDA), the
agency that is coordinating the
joint career academy project.
$200,000 of the grant goes
to the College of Coastal Geor
gia to purchase equipment for
GICA.
The lion's share, the $3 mil
lion chunk, will be put with
the $8 million that the Glynn
Comity Board of Education
(BOE) put in the pot and the
$8 million the Glynn County
Commission chipped in for a
total of $19 million.
Originally, the 'guaranteed
maximum price' of the GICA
design and construction was
$19.4 million.
But, according to Glynn
Comity Commissioner Tony
Thaw (Dist. 3), who serves
on the GICA board of direc
tors, through some cost saving
measures, the contractor, The
Facility Group, has reduced the
guaranteed maximum price to
$19 million.
In July of 2007 the DTAE
announced they were offering
five $3.2 million grants, total
ing $16 million, to be awarded
in a competitive process to sup
port the development of career
academies serving Georgia
high school students.
These career academies,
according to the DTAE applica
tion form, will provide quality
educational opportunities that
will move students to postsec
ondary education and career
pathways that offer advance
ment and growth potential.
The career academies will
address the needs of youth and
their communities, will have
long-term positive impact on
high school graduation rates,
and will help create a skilled
workforce using the latest
technology in an environment
conducive to learning.
The grant application, which
BGCDA Assistant Director
Turn to Page 7
The check's in the bank