About The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 2019)
THE ^ISLANDER Published by Permar Publications www.theislanderonline.com ssislander@bellsouth.net October 21, 2019 Established in 1972 Vol 47 Issue 42 Friends of Brunswick Library The volunteer organization, Friends of the Brunswick Library, was honored by the Glynn County Commission last week with a proclamation recognizing October 20-26 as Friends of Libraries Week in Glynn County. According to the proclamation,’’The Friends raise money that enables our library to move from good to great - providing the resources for additional programming, much needed equipment, support for children’s summer reading, and special events.” On hand at the meeting to accept the proclamation were: (left to right) Sally Easley (Reading is Fundamental Coordinator), Jill Gazaway, Tom Moreau (Friends Treasurer), Gloria Moreau, Alice Nightingale (Membership Coordinator), Lori Hull (Brunswick Library Manager and Friends Liaison), Dick Young, Mila Bouts (Friends President), Commission chairman Mike Browning and Margie Young (Friends Book Store Coordinator). Glynn County Commissioners David O’Quinn (left to right, rear) Allen Booker, Bill Brunson and Wayne Neal, look on. Islander Staff Photo - Permar City ponders Oglethrope Center debt service • Resolution asks BOC to extend Conference Center construction deadline BOC continues to shrink SPLOST list By Matthew J. Permar The list of potential projects on the Glynn County Board of Commissioners’ (BOC) pro posed Special Purpose Lo cal Option Sales Tax 2020 (SPLOST) has decreased from over 80 last September to 66 this month and was whittled down again during an October 15 BOC work session. The list of 66 projects the commission looked at last week were prioritized as ‘high,’ ‘medium,’ or ‘low.’ The BOC decided to focus primarily on the high priority projects only, which reduced the number down to 23. Of those 23, two of them were related to the Brunswick Glynn Economic Development Authority’s (EDA) projects. County Attorney Aaron Mumford suggested to the BOC that since the EDA deals with private industry, it might be inappropriate to use SPLOST funds for those projects, so they were dropped from the list. County Commissioner Da vid O’Quinn (At Large #1) said that economic development authority in Dublin, Georgia gets SPLOST funds. Commissioner Wayne Neal (Dist. 4) agreed with O’Quinn and Mumford said he would look into that situation. Another project that will likely be axed from the list is the purchase of 10 acres on St. Simons Island to store storm debris at an estimated cost of $1.5 million. Recently the county stored debris from Hurricanes Mat thew and Irma at a location at the St. Simons McKinnon Air port in an open area off Gary Moore Court south of Gruber Aviation. The Federal Aviation Ad ministration (FAA) has con cerns about storing debris Turn to Page 5 SPLOST 2020 During their work session last week (Oct. 16) the Bruns wick City Commission spent about five minutes hearing from Davenport & Company on the estimated debt ser vice for construction of the Oglethorpe Conference Cen ter. The rest of the work ses sion was spent discussing im provements to Wright Square. Davenport & Co. provided the city with debt service costs in December 2018. At their Dec. 19, 2018, meeting the city commission voted down a By Pamela Permar-Shierling Memorandum of Understand ing (MOU) / intergovernmen tal agreement with the Urban Redevelopment Agency (URA) to take on the conference cen ter debt backed by the city. At last week’s work ses sion the estimated debt ser vice was presented on six loan amounts: $1.8 million; $2 mil lion; $2.4 million; $3 million; $4.7 million; and $5 million. A 4% interest rate was used along with a 20 year amortiza tion of the loan. Over the life of the loan the interest costs ranged from $904,800 on $1.8 million to $2.4 million on a $5 million loan. Annual principal and in terest costs ranged from $142,000 for a $1.8 million loan to $375,000 for the $5 million loan. During the regular meeting the commission unanimously passed a resolution asking the Glynn County Board of Turn to Page 12 Oglethorpe Center German Village responds to County request for dismissal of lawsuit By Pamela Permar- Shierling Last week the Village Bluff Property Owners Association (POA) filed an appeal in the ongoing lawsuit over the St. Simons Land Trust’s (SSLT) use of Village Drive to access the SSLT’s property called Guale Preserve. Early in 2019 Community Development Director Pam Thompson approved issuance of a building permit which paved the way for the Land Trust to access the Guale Preserve waterfront by way of Village Drive, the only ac cess in and out of the Village Bluff subdivision also known Turn to Page 13 German Village JIA to expand campground, build public safety complex By Pamela Permar- Shierling During their regular meet ing last week (October 15) the Jekyll Island Authority (JIA) took the first steps to amend the 2014 Jekyll Island Mas ter Plan so an additional 15 acres can be developed on the island. The JIA voted to approve the submittals for the Master Plan amendments and send them to Georgia’s Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, members of the Jekyll Island State Park Authority Oversight Committee, and the Office of Legislative Counsel. The proposed new devel opment is to expand the Je kyll Campground by 12 acres Turn to Page 8 JIA ' County-Wide News - Read County-Wide Page 2 - Fendig to run for Islands Seat Page 3 - Stephens named V.P. Former JWSC Director moves to Alabama Page 4 - jWSC looks at 2020 SPLOST list Page 6- Golf Cart owners get reprieve Page 8 - City may put Wright Sq back to one Page 11 - Football with Dave Jordan Page 16- Back Talks 0 94922 29970 3
