Newspaper Page Text
Page 6, July 29, 2019, The Islander
Brunswick URA
Continued from Page 1
to build it, there is also a question of
property ownership.
The property, once the home of the
Public Health Department, was quit
claimed by Glynn County to the City
on April 7, 2016 with the caveat the
Oglethorpe Conference Center would
be substantially complete by April 7,
2019.
If not substantially complete by the
agreed upon date, the city would pay
the county fair market value for the
property. To date the city has not paid
for the property.
The convention center was original
ly proposed as a joint city / county Spe
cial Purpose Local Option Sales Tax
(SPLOST) project.
SPLOST 4 had $2 million ear
marked for the convention center for
Glynn County, while SPLOST 5 had
$1.5 million for the project on the city’s
side.
In April of 2016 the city and county
entered into a Memorandum of Under
standing (MOU) in which the county
would give the property to the city
along with their remaining SPLOST 4
funds.
One of the conditions of the MOU
was the city was required to have the
project “substantially under construc
tion” by April of 2019.
While the city asked for an exten
sion on the MOU earlier this year, the
county has not agreed to the deadline
change in the MOU.
Currently no conversations be
tween the city and county are ongoing
about the Oglethorpe project.
City Department
In other business during last week’s
meeting, the URA voted to request that
the city commission allow them to use
the city-owned Lissner House on Union
St. for office space.
The house is on Union St. and was
the former office of the city attorney.
URA chairman LaRon Bennett said
the Lissner House was recently vacat
ed, and he had spoken to City Manager
Jim Drumm about the URA using it.
Bennett said, “The Lissner House
would be perfect for our offices and
small meetings. We would not have to
pay rent or utilities, the city will pay
that. It will need some minor repairs
but the city will pay for that too. There
is no significant up front cost for us.”
Bennett asked for a motion to re
quest the city to allow the URA to use
the Lissner House.
URA member Michael Butcher had
some questions about computer and
Information Technology issues in the
building.
Bennett said the URA had limited
funding, but there was no clear answer
regarding a computer set up in the
building.
Member Haresh Patel asked about
the URA’s role in connection to the
building.
Bennett said, “We need to position
ourselves to fulfill our mandate, which
is to work throughout the city.”
Bennett said one of the things the
URA needed to focus on was the Hwy.
17 corridor.
“We are supposed to bring in devel
opment,” said Bennett, “and these proj
ects will have to be managed. We will
have to track the financing on multiple
million dollar projects. There is enor
mous potential.”
During his comments Bennett men
tioned the possibility of three employ
ees working for the URA - an executive
director, an assistant and a project
manager.
Again Bennett asked for a motion
regarding the Lissner House. Ben
nett said, “I’d like to move in in two or
three weeks.” He also said he wanted
to continue holding the regular URA
monthly meetings in Old City Hall so
there wouldn’t be any confusion about
the location.
Butcher made the motion and Patel
seconded. It passed unanimously.
Budget
The URA also submitted a proposed
budget to the city based on the prom
ise of $100,000 in funding from the city
commission. City funding will also in
clude an additional $16,000 this fiscal
year for outside legal services.
The city commission recently agreed
to allot $300,000 to the URA from the
sale of the old Perry School property,
which will be developed as low-income
housing.
The $100,000 the URA is asking
for during fiscal year 2019 - 2020 is an
advance on the funds from the Perry
property sale.
The expense side of the budget in
cludes $35,000 for an executive assis
tant for the URA, who is expected to be
housed in the Lissner House.
Also under ‘Administrative Expens
es’ is $7,600 for “Temporary Services,”
$3,500 for “employee benefits” and
$9,000 for “milage reimbursement.”
The mileage reimbursement is based
on 300 miles a week at .58?! a mile.
The total administrative costs come
to $55,200.
Other expenses include:
• $6,900 for marketing;
• $8,070 for operations - this in
cludes: equipment maintenance
$1,200; postage $520; computer and
supplies $1,500; office expenses $550;
office supplies $1,500;
• $11,800 for programs - tins in
cludes: $4,000 for travel; $1,800 for
meals and entertainment; and $6,000
for professional development; and
• $3,352 for “uncategorized
expenses.”
Bennett said normally they would
have had more time to spend work
ing on the budget, but the city has al
ready approved their fiscal year bud
get, so the URA needed to get theirs
submitted.
“This is a starting point,” said Ben
nett, “It was done in a hurry.”
Butcher asked if the budget could be
revised.
“There are some specific tilings in
here,” said Butcher, “If we hire an ex
ecutive assistant, how secure is their
job?”
Bennett said for one year.
Butcher reminded the URA that this
was all contingent on revenue from the
sale of the Perry property.
Bennett said it will take staffing to
get things done, but he would continue
to volunteer with a capable staff per
son. He added that they will also have
access to additional funding.
Even though the members seemed
hesitant, they approved the budget to
be submitted to the city commission.
When the URA moved to go into
closed session for persoimel issues, The
Islander reporter asked if that was le
gal considering they didn’t have any
employees.
New attorney Steven Blackerby said
even though the employee was still
hypothetical, Georgia Open Meetings
Law allowed the URA to discuss “hir
ing” and employee in closed session.
Mary Ross Park
The proposed upgrade to Mary Ross
Park was a topic of conversation under
the architectural review committee’s
report.
Bennett reported that the city com
mission had unanimously approved
the park plan revisions that were done
by Roger Steffens. The revisions in
cluded the native garden on the north
side of the park near the Farmers Mar
ket pavilion.
Regarding the splash pad, Bennett
said the equipment room and entrance
pavilion in the southeast corner would
be constructed first.
The URA hired local architect
Robert Ussery of Ussery - Rule to de
sign the pavilion and equipment room,
which will also house bathrooms.
Bennett said there are several
drains in the area that will have to be
worked around. He said a topographi
cal survey was part of the process.
He added that they had limited
funds, so he didn’t want to spend too
much on studies and surveys.
“We want to put more into the fea
tures and fixtures,” said Bennett.
Bennett also said they wanted to
lay out the park so the annual Kiwanis
Club’s Stewbilee could be held in the
park, along with the Dept, of Natural
Resources’ CoastFest event.
Bennett said he had met with the
DNR and showed the Kiwanis the lay
out. “We won’t be impinging on these
larger events,” he said.
Butcher asked when Ussery would
be done with the designs.
Bennett said, “He did not give us a
Turn to Page 11
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