“Citizens Are Wanting Answers To Some Issues about Nash Farm”
With all the issues that have come before about this piece of land in the 2nd district of Henry County from the way it was purchased to all the other issues that have been connected to this property, here are more questions that need answering. Why would a couple who work for the county be granted a token rental deal on the cottage home at Nash Farm? Why would the local farmer who has had farmers market sales at Nash Farm for a sweetheart deal and sits on a county board be allowed to do this? It legal wranglings this is called nepotism. Also, why should the taxpayers of Henry County be put upon to pay for a company to put an ice skating rink on the property? That company will make money at the expense of the people of the county. They are not paying the county the county is paying them and there are several concerns about the rink itself. The following is a FOIA information by local citizens.
“Caretaker’s Cottage” on the Nash Farms property at 24 Babb’s Mill RD.
According to the Henry County records the house is being rented for $200.00 per month to two Henry County Parks and Recreation Employees, a Supervisor II with a salary of $45,659.83 and a Program Administrator, with a salary of $40,430.00 that is a combined income of $86,089.83.
This lease was implemented in 2008 and it appears to have not been reviewed and adjusted since then.
Which brings me to several questions:
1. Why hasn’t the rental rate been adjusted to today’s market values?
2. How is this house marketed for rent?
3. Who determines who qualifies to rent?
4. Who sets the rent value? (BOC)
5.Why are we renting to these County Employees with a combined income greater than $86,000.00 annually? In my opinion this creates a conflict of interest due to the fact not all Henry County employees have the option to rent this property.
6. Why isn’t this property with rent this low offered to a person on Social Security with an income level of less than $12,000.00 a year?
It appears to me that this is an unrealistic rental rate to County employees with their income levels is political motivated in nature.
Let me state, if the current rental price remains the same for 2020, my sister that has lived in Henry County in a trailer park for 30 years and has an annual income of $12,000.00 in social security has a desire to rent this property for $200.00 a month upon the renewal of the lease in 2020.
Since, obviously you have not checked into this issue, I will supply this information I have checked and found for an average house rental in Henry County is approximately $1,299 for 3 beds and that's $170 below the national average rent of $1,469.
So, $200.00 rental a month is $1,099.00 below the fair market value. That is a $145,068 savings for the tenant over the eleven years as a tenant. (sweet deal no wonder we have a Corvette in the carport).
Now the issue of the Ice Skating Rink
1. Henry County entered into a Contract with Ice Days LLC to erect an Ice Skating Rink at a cost of under number 5 of the Contract Header Terms. “The initial term of this Agreement is for the 2019-2020. County agrees to pay Company the sum of $35,000 due upon contract acceptance for the first season. Each consecutive season up to 4 pending approval by the Board of Commissioners will cost $20,000. Each consecutive season must be approved no later than 45 days after the completion of the previous season and payment made by August 1st to guarantee our ability to return at that rate.”
My question is: Who was appointed to make the decision to negotiate this terrible deal for the citizens and why? Why aren’t they paying us?
2. Contract Header number 10 Rental Fee. “County and Company agree no rental fee is to be paid by Company for use of the premises for the duration of this contract. In exchange Company agrees to provide 4 dasher wall spaces for advertisement to the County.”
My question since, the Board of Commissioners has no product or business and is not in the Advertising business, what would we be advertising? Who would be authorized to advertise and by whom? Who with the County will review the Advertisers ad to make sure it is not Political advertising? Who will get all the proceeds from all the other advertisers on the walls? The most important question of all why aren’t they paying us?
I was on site and observed the installation of the floor for the rink and have some serious question concerning the safety of this installation. The floor deck consists of 4X8 sheets of plywood panels with concrete block support for leveling. I observed no interlocking devices connecting the panels together to keeping them from separating during peak usage by the public.
Was the installation inspected by any Professional Engineers? If so, where can I get a copy of the report?
Before any public us of this platform and due to the high liability, it should without question be inspected by a Certified Registered Professional Engineer to certify the safety of this structure.
I was on site Friday November 22, Saturday 23, Sunday 24 and the construction of the structure was still not complete, nor where there any installation personal on site. That breaches this contract by violating paragraph “3” in the agreement grand opening date for the term shall be Friday, November 22, 2019”. The power Company had made their connection to the new 3 phase electrical panel that cost the citizens $8,000.00 on Friday.
Why didn’t the Vendor pay for this installation? Who will pay the additional power bill associated with the extra power usage?
Contract Header number 3 “Use of County Property by Company for Ice Skating Rink. County shall make available to Company the use of the Premises consistent with the Operating Agreement for installation and operation of the Ice Skating Rink on the Premises during the Season in which this Agreement is in effect. County shall make such space available to Company for installation of the Ice-Skating Rink Twenty Eight calendar days in advance of the agreed upon opening day of the term. Barring unforeseen weather and or construction delays out of Company control the grand opening date for the term shall be Friday, November 22, 2019”
These are just a few of my concerns and ask that the BOC reexamine and cancel this contract. Please respond with any resolution that you will take to rectify my safety concerns for the citizens that will be unknowing use the venue without knowing if it is safe or not.
No real answers have been provided by the BoC in these matters which continues the pattern of past BoC members.
John Wesley McDermont
“Voter Apathy put through SPLOST V”
Henry County again proved that voter apathy is a virtue in their lives. Of the over 175,000 registered voters in Henry County roughly just over 16,500 voted in the early voting and election day together. This is approximately 9.43% of the registered voters who put SPLOST V through and the Sunday early alcohol sales through as well. This means that barely a handful voted to put these measures through according to the statistics. Over 230,000 residents, 175,000 registered voters and only just over 7,500 approved SPLOST V. This tells a story where most of the people don’t care. For those that do care, the best way to solve this problem is to shop outside the county and online for your merchandise. Take your tax dollars to another county where the taxes are lower. This meager election turnout is a continued sign that people are tired of the same old problems. But don’t complain if you find that you won’t get what you were promised in SPLOST V because a lot of what was in SPLOST I, II, III, and IV didn’t materialize either. Let us know how all this works out for you because those who don’t care to be involved will one day wonder what happened when the tax is so high they cannot afford to live in Henry County anymore.
The Staff
"Vote No for SPLOST V"
This idea of a SPLOST V is an ongoing slush fund for those elected officials who do well to shine their seats at meetings. When SPLOST I was initiated so many years ago it was only supposed to last for a specified time and then go away. It was supposed to be used to fix some roads and other facilities. Well, that didn’t pan out too well because there are still projects today that are not finished from SPLOST I, II, III or IV. And guess what, if you vote for another SPLOST V tax then there will be projects to add to the unfinished list. The elected officials found an easy way to garner cash from the taxpayers with this type of money accumulation. If they want something done why not put out bonds or get a loan. They are already taking in a ton of money on property taxes, sales taxes, car tag taxes, fuel taxes and don’t forget school taxes that go to the Board of Education. Yes, the citizens of Henry County are taxed to death and they want to keep on with another tax. They threaten you with your property taxes will go up. Guess what Sherlock, they already have gone up. The millage rate may be the same, but those evaluations on prime properties went up. As long as the voters continue to vote for a SPLOST there will always be one on the ballot whether you really need it or not. How about the traffic in the county? Are you loving it, guess what some of the previous SPLOST projects that weren’t finished were supposed to help with fixing the traffic problems. Some of those funds were transferred to other areas. Why you may ask? To help those in those seats politically. They used to go out and arrest people in the old days for what these people are doing to the citizens. It was called all types of names anything from swindling, bunco, the pyramid scheme, racketeering, and many other names, especially during the gangland days of Chicago and New York. Today it is for the children, the elderly, for physical fitness and for your pets. They want to take your money for a privately owned water park. The county attorney has already seen problems with this whole scenario because he knows it will come back to bite them in the backside. If you want to do something good for yourselves and the county VOTE NO FOR SPLOST V.
The Staff
“The Future Maintenance of Projects”
The SPLOST V project list contains an option that should be handled by a private entity. The aquatic center has been on the dream list many times around and it is yet to see the light of day. Knowing the track record of the BoC these projects have a good chance of not being done so as to transfer the money to other areas that were not voted on by the citizens. Yes, they will ask and promote these things yet cannot fix the parks that they already have in the county. Maintaining the parks is an expensive endeavor and yes you the taxpayer are on the hook to pay for all this, in the long run, many times over. For example, they set aside $2 million for a ball field and park. Then, over the years it will cost far more than that to maintain by hiring staff and the future costs of building materials will go up. That leaves the citizens with bills long after those in elected office have retired to another state. If they are not properly maintained they will fall apart and you then have nothing. Don’t let those in power leave you like a deer in the headlights with a debt they created for their own gain. Whether it is political or monetary gain to friends the money is a bottomless pit for those who pretend to know what they are doing. Get out and vote NO for SPLOST V.
The Staff
“The People Need To Do Their Homework On SPLOST”
The people need to do their homework on the SPLOST V proposal that is on the ballot. Go back and look at the BoC Meeting held on June 18, 2019. In this meeting, the commissioners approved a one-page Resolution 19-163 where they called for a new SPLOST program. Eleven days later on July 29, 2019, the BoC again discussed the projects that would be on the list. The Staff requested a $30 million bond also for the ballot. After they discussed all this, they approved something. You have to look closely to see what type of smoke and mirrors they are playing within this discussion. During the meeting, the county manager said that the resolution had to be to the election board by August 1, 2019 to be placed on the ballot. The strange thing is no written resolution shown or was one offered. Normally these are shown to the public. Then came the August 20, 2019 BoC meeting where the county attorney said that even though the BoC approved a motion that was to be a resolution to meet the requirements of SPLOST law, it was merely a motion and not a written resolution. He requested the board rescind the resolution that was not in writing and approve his 13-page resolution. After some commissioners questioned the validity of the projects it was approved. Now the question begs to be answered is this resolution legally valid for the ballot? Since the resolution had to be done by August 1st and was not done until August 20th. How could it be on the ballot? This is a very good reason to Vote NO on SPLOST V.
The Staff
“Here is why not to vote for SPLOST V”
It is being revealed every day that the former SPLOST programs voted on by the citizens have either been wasted in many cases or never finished as promised. For example, the money that should have gone to the Hampton Senior Center was diverted elsewhere and the final building was not what was promised. Yet the county bought the center in Locust Grove because the city could not afford what they built. So, the Hampton money went to them. That is not right. The SPLOST was not designed to be handled like they have done ever since its inception. The people of Henry County voted for SPLOST IV which included $5 million for a study on the interchange to be built on Bethlehem Rd at I-75 to divert truck traffic in the area. But the three democrats on the BoC decided recently to take this off the ARC wish list for Henry County. Why? Who told them not to put it on there? The BoC Chair said there are no plans for an inland port on Bethlehem Rd. Why did Norfolk Southern Railroad buy all the land between Hwy 42 and I-75 on the northside of Bethlehem Rd? Discussions were had about a decade ago about them building an intermodal train yard there for shipping trailers brought in from Savannah to be put on trucks to go across the southeast. They would need the exit at Bethlehem Rd to handle all this traffic. This was part of the agenda back then and the intent would be for this to be built in 20-25 years from that time. The Chair of the BoC needs to learn the difference between an inland port and an intermodal rail yard. If these commissioners can do no better than what they have done since they have been in office then it is a good idea to Vote NO on SPLOST V in November. It is not for the children that is for sure.
The Staff
Many people have lost sight of what a county government is obligated to provide its citizens. In Georgia, unlike most states with large cities, the county is still the center of political and cultural life for a majority of the state's citizens. Counties carry out locally a variety of state programs and policies, including collecting taxes, overseeing elections, conducting courts of law, filing official records, maintaining roads, and providing for the welfare of citizens (police and fire services). That is the bottom line of what a county is required to provide those who live within it's borders. And many counties are failing at providing the basic duties of government. For example: Henry County does a poor job of making the roads ready for the huge influx of people who have moved here and continue to move here by the thousands with more on the way. They are not required to continue to build parks, water parks, arena, amphitheaters, and the many other amenities that people want with SPLOST programs. For those who claim to be conservative, they sure do like to tax themselves into the gutter and then want to see the bureaucracy grow to untold proportions that they cannot support. With the projects on the SPLOST list many of them should be done privately and not through the use of taxpayer dollars. Why should those of the population fund items they will never use? Why expect to lay that burden on the backs of those who cannot afford it? The reason is that they found a cash cow that is easy to milk from consumers. Years ago they started SPLOST to help with road issues and said it would only last the duration of the time allotted. Then, they came back to the well once again and again. Many of these infrastructure projects that were listed have never come to fruition because the money seemed to get allocated to other projects and that is not how the program is supposed to work. And to keep the citizens from voicing their opinions on these subjects the BoC leadership wants to limit your time to speak to three minutes which is not enough time to state a position. You are guaranteed the right to redress the government for grievances in the United States Constitution and many areas are in violation of the Constitution in this matter. The best thing to do is to cut off the slush fund and Vote NO on SPLOST V on November 5th.
The Staff
