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Page 2, January 7, 2019, The Islander
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Conference Center
Continued from Page 1
Harris said, “Defer.”
After the meeting, Com. Williams
was asked why he voted against his
own motion, and he said he made the
motion to get the ball rolling so the
commission could move on to other
business.
Also after the meeting, The Islander
reporter asked Atkinson how she re
corded the vote based on Com. Har
ris’s vote to “defer.” Atkinson said she
counted it as an abstention resulting
in the 3-1-1 vote.
At the start of the Dec. 19 city com
mission meeting, prior to any discus
sion and vote regarding the conference
center, a large number of concerned
citizens spoke in opposition to it.
Bob Blackwell started the public
comment period pointing out that the
city would have to go into debt to build
the center.
He cited the debt service and op
erating losses the city would endure
were based on a consultant who pre
dicted the conference center would lose
money for at least the first five years
of operation as reasons to halt the
project.
After noting that City Manager Jim
Drumm had made the statement that
the conference center could be done
without a tax increase, Blackwell sug
gested the commission return to the
taxpayers the unspent Special Pur
pose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST)
funds that were intended for the proj
ect according to state SPLOST law.
Next was Jeff Kilgore who admitted
he was late to join the opposition to the
conference center, but he had believed
that common sense would prevail and
it would not be built.
Citing the Georgia Supreme Court,
Kilgore said SPLOST law was changed
in 1992 to allow for a project to be
abandoned or the money redirected if
the project was deemed to be unfea
sible. He said the money could also be
returned to the taxpayers.
He suggested deferring the item to
make sure the public has all the infor
mation regarding the project and the
finances.
Downtown business owner Sandy
Dean spoke next saying a “bond rat
ing” determined what kind of interest
rate the city would on the borrowed
bond money. She pointed out the city
has no bond rating and suggested that
the city may be paying a higher inter
est rate for the borrowed money.
Dean also asked if the city has the
money to pay the debt service and cov
er the operational losses, why do they
need to borrow money for the confer
ence center in the first place?
Alex Muir, the Coastal Advocate
with the 100 Miles environmental or
ganization, spoke asking the commis
sion to defer action on the conference
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center.
Muir said, “There is no doubt that
everyone is ready for Brunswick to
thrive, and this may very well be ac
complished by building a conference
center. But before we put our limited
resources and tax payers’ dollars on the
line, we need to be sure that the out
come is a win-win for our community.”
“It’s important that we heed the in
formation and studies provided by the
experts we’ve hired,” said Muir, “To
date, the information necessary to con
vince our community to get behind this
project has not been provided. Delay
ing these votes will allow an opportu
nity for this to happen.”
If the vote was deferred, Muir of
fered for 100 Miles to host a town hall
meeting “to allow an opportunity for
a constructive community dialogue
around this issue and how we can
move forward with projects to revital
ize downtown with broader commu
nity support.”
Janis Schnellman spoke saying
the commissioners were using “OPM”
(other people’s money), which she pro
nounced “opium,” to build the confer
ence center.
“It is very frustrating,” said Schnell
man, “to watch people stand before you
expressing what appear to be salient
arguments to your most recent plans
for the use of OPM, which by the way
can be very addictive.”
“Misuse of OPM easily becomes the
scourge of many government entities,”
said Schnellman, “And we’ve tried to
express our concerns that it is hap
pening right here, right before our
eyes with this issue of the conference
center.”
“It is also sad we have no opportuni
ty for two-way dialogue on this issue,”
Schnellman continued, “We speak to
blank stares in this, the only arena
where you gather as an official body.
There’s no chance for an actual group
conversation about our concerns and
your intended solutions.”
‘We continue to ask you not to do
this,” said Schnellman, “You don’t
know what the actual costs are to build
this project, nor does there seem to be
a pro forma on the cost of running it.
You do know that it will be a huge
money loser for several years.”
Suggesting the city commission “re
purpose the money, Schnellman said,
“Think for a moment what another
near miss hurricane could do to our
tax base. Note that I said near miss.
What if we’re struck by the real thing?
What about another serious economic
downturn? Remember what the last
one did to us, with numerous foreclo
sures? I beg you to use our money to
plan ahead, to be able to help our citi
zens should we have a disaster of those
sorts again. Use our money to improve
the infrastructure and our citizen’s
safety.”
“One more thing,” said Schnell
man, “The taxpayers did not elect the
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