Newspaper Page Text
THE ISLANDER, OCTOBER 6, 2008, PAGE 7
The check's in the bank
SPLOST on ice
Continued from Page 6
donment after the new commission is
seated.
“Looking at our current (SPLOST)
projects,” Keller said, “the problem I
have is we have set aside money for
the county-wide projects, we are going
to contract for other projects that we
can’t legally stop, but we are stopping
others.”
Mumford said there were other
funding sources for the SPLOST proj
ects the county has already commit
ted to do. He said the funds could be
reimbursed once the SPLOST freeze
is lifted.
Thaw said, “This issue should be
resolved by January. We have $31
million in reserve. Most of these proj
ects (for which contracts have been
approved) are just coming out of the
ground. They won’t be that far along by
January. We’re not saying stop these
projects or slow them down, we’re just
saying use different money for them
until we figure out if we can move for
ward with the jail project as we have
funded it. You (Keller) don’t know if
this (jail) project is funded.”
Note: The ‘reserve’ that Thaw
referred to is the General Fund fund
balance. County Finance Director Phyl
lis McNicoll reported to the finance
committee on Tuesday that this account
has $25 million as of August 31.
Commissioner Howard Lynn agreed
with Thaw saying there was no guar
antee that the $27 million in SPLOST
fund that are in the bank would cover
the three County-Wide projects.
Commissioner Carl Johnson also
agreed, saying, ‘We’ve beat this to
death. We need to freeze it now because
we don’t know where we’re going with
the jail. We can remove the freeze
when we want.”
Maintaining they were not in viola
tion of state law, Fendig made a motion
to reject the freeze and hold public
work sessions with the new commis
sioners.
Fendig also noted that the freeze
was discussed at the finance committee
just two days before the commission
meeting, which is in conflict with the
county’s usual procedure of finance
committee items not being presented to
the full commission for two weeks.
Keller seconded Fendig’s motion.
Referring to Fendig’s comment about
the public work sessions, Thaw said,
“The public won’t be held accountable
if there’s a problem. We need to stop
all funding, ours, the city’s and Jekyll
Island’s until we resolve this jail issue.
We don’t need a public debate, the
public has already voted on SPLOST.
Right now no one can say the jail is
adequately funded.”
Commissioner Jerome Clark (Dist.
5) asked the attorney if the county was
in violation of SPLOST law.
Mumford said, “I wouldn’t say we
have broken the law, but there is a
mandate to fund the county-wide proj
ects. We have to insure the money is
there. The law is clear on that. I’m not
saying we are in violation. But it now
appears the project costs are unknown.
Will the project need to be changed?
Will it need to be redrawn? A change
Continued from Page 1
David Smith, who is also a member of
the Glynn BOE, referred to as "mas
sive" was completed as a joint effort by
a team of people.
The team included: Dr. Ralph Gom-
to, Glynn Comity school system's Direc
tor of Technical and Career Education;
Kay Hampton, College of Coastal Geor
gia's (CCG) Director of Career and Tech
Education; Sandra Bunn, CCG's K-12
& Business Initiatives Coordinator; and
in scope? A change in cost? The other
option, if the money is not there is to
downsize the project. The question is,
are you OK with the plan or should
you re-address the issue with more
planning.”
Keller called for the question on
Fendig’s motion and it died on a tied
3-3 vote.
Keller, Fendig and Clark voted in
favor. Johnson, Thaw and Lynn voted
against.
Thaw followed with a motion to
freeze funding for all SPLOST proj
ects except for the county-wide projects
until the county knows if they had
adequate funding for the jail.
Johnson seconded and the motion
passed 5-1 with Fendig voting nay.
Thaw then made a motion to move
forward with three SPLOST projects
that are not on the county-wide list
using the General Fund fund balance
to pay for them until it can be reim
bursed with SPLOST money.
This motion passed unanimously. □
Russ Moore, of Seamless Education
Associates, Inc., the consultant origi
nally hired by the charter tech school
steering committee to assist with mak
ing GICA a reality.
Reporting to the BGCDA diming
their monthly meeting Tuesday, Sept.
30, David Smith said career academy
construction is 51% complete and $9.5
million has been spent.
"This is in line with the completion
of the project and we expect it to be
completed by March of next year," said
Smith.
Smith said the exterior facade is
coming along, the roof is on and win
dow openings are visible.
Smith said security is being beefed
up for both when the school is open
and for the time being while it is under
construction.
Smith said, "We now have some
valuable materials on site and we had
a break-in about a month ago. We now
have security on-site when ever the
construction crews are gone."
As far as additional security for
after the school opens, Smith said a
type of lock is being installed in class
room doors that will allow teachers to
lock the door if there is an unwanted
intruder in the building.
"The board of education has posted
a notice for the Golden Isles Career
Academy's principal's job," said Smith,
"and we expect to name them by the
end of the year."
Smith said the principal would work
in conjuction with GICA CEO Andy
Lundell and that part of his job would
be to market the career academy. □
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