ESTHER’S TRUMPET
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM ALABAMA’S BLACKBELT
BY: Barbara Evans
editor@estherstrumpet.com
ATTORNEY GENERAL INVESTIGATING PURCHASE OF HAYNEVILLE PLAZA
County desperate for funds to pay off loans
January 20, 2012
Esther’s Trumpet has seen it in writing: The Alabama Attorney General, “big” Luther Strange, is investigating the sale of the Hayneville Plaza building to the Lowndes County Commission for the hub of their Broadband project. And the Lowndes County Commissioners are NOT happy. They are trying to HIRE a big law firm out of Birmingham to represent them in the Attorney General’s investigation. On January 18 the Commission voted to BORROW another $250,000 (@7.5% interest) from Karl Bell because they can’t make the payment on the 3.5 million dollar bond they floated. Commissioners Farrior and Bargainer voted against this loan, and the county has refused to explain or give a copy of the document they voted on to the media or the public. They had already borrowed $500,000 from Bell , but returned the check at the call meeting on January 18th.
This whole mess began in 2010, and in 2011, Commissioner Charlie King, Rev. Aaron McCall and others brought in a project to provide broadband to several counties in Alabama. Jobs were promised. A board was developed to oversee the project, headed by King. They decided that the first order of business was to purchase the office building owned by Karl Bell in Hayneville as a headquarters for the broadband project. There was local opposition to the purchase for a variety of reasons. Some felt the building was over- priced. Others felt the building was not in good shape. Many felt that the county just could not afford it. Others said there were other buildings available that would be more cost efficient. Under the leadership of King, the sale was rushed through after Lowndes County floated a multi-million dollar bond. That means we borrowed money to buy the building, and we will have to pay for it. There were several organizations involved in the broadband effort. The whole process was terribly confusing to most residents, and as usual, the Commission was unable to communicate the project clearly to the citizens of Lowndes County. Countless meetings were held; most of them away from the public eye. Some commissioners got constituents to come to public meetings to endorse and fight for the broadband project and the building. . Nobody was opposed to the broadband project; they were opposed to the purchase of the building. The comments by some residents showed the people had not been given all the information. They were used by those who were trying to ram the building sale through.
Although Rev. McCall assured me early on in the broadband project that Lowndes County Economic Developer Gene Crum would not be involved, that proved to be untrue. Gene Crum was hired by the Lowndes County Commission in the past, got paid, and then sued us, receiving close to $300,000 in the settlement made by Lowndes County. Commissioner Robert Harris pushed for Crum to be rehired in 2011, which he was to the tune of $65,000. Robert Woods, another “consultant” from Newnan, Georgia, touted the purchase of the Bell office building by assuring commissioners they would get $28,000 monthly in rents from the tenants in the building. To date, since June, less than $21,000 has been collected in rents, (that’s less than $3,000 per month), and Gene Crum is being used as the rent collector. During the negotiations with the broadband people, the understanding was that either Mr. Bell or the broadband folk would pay $500,000 into escrow in case the anticipated rents from the building were less than expected. It was not paid and the broadband folks have not attended any meetings of the Lowndes County Commission. I found this out, despite the fact that Robert Harris told me that the $500,000 had been “taken care of”. During the call meeting this week, the commission voted to return a check from “Mayor Bell” for $500,000.
In the minutes of the public hearing, held in June of 2011, Commissioner King and the broadband people assured us that “the county had the revenue stream to pay the loan for the building.” Larry Morrow of the broadband project told the people “revenue from the service provider would pay for the building”. Rev. Robert Grant said, “$18 million dollars will come through the county in the form of jobs with broadband”. Ask how many jobs we’ve gotten from the project so far. Is it more than 2? These folks either lied to us or don’t know what they are talking about.
Commissioners Dickson Farrior and Joey Bargainer have tried over and over again to get needed information regarding the building sale, and have done so in public meetings to no avail. Mr. Woods says that he gave the buyer’s prospectus to Commissioners Harris and King. The Commission hired an outside lawyer to handle the bond and the sale, and only involved Lowndes County Attorney Hank Sanders the night before the sale. It has been clear that Attorney Sanders was not given all the information he needed, but the Commission tried to put it off on him when the problems arose. Commissioner Harris said that he was assured by Attorney Sanders that “everything was in order”. Attorney Sanders has a different view. Everybody is trying to blame everybody else. What is fact is that we are in debt for this building; the rents are far less than anticipated, and we are dead broke. Think about this: what was the huge hurry in buying the building? Why did the Commission not do their homework?
More Secrecy
Now the latest big secret is the deal with the City of Montgomery and the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce. In November 2011, Mayor Todd Strange and County Commission Chair Elton Dean waltzed into a Lowndes County Commission meeting. The Commission immediately went into Executive Session. On January 10, Ellen McNair of the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce was present, and there were two Executive Sessions; one to discuss legal strategy and one to address “sensitive economic development issues”. In November’s meeting, after the Executive Session, the commission voted to implement an economic development project with the City of Montgomery and Montgomery County. What’s the big secret? I notice that Karl and Helenor Bell were allowed in the session, as well as Rev. McCall. Perhaps the discussion centered around reports that state officials are becoming involved in the debacle of the broadband and the purchase of the office building.
I nosed around Montgomery and was told that a company that makes steel pipes was interested in locating on the Alabama River on the land that was formerly a planned landfill site near Burkville. Apparently it is the same company that planned a facility on Cantelou Road in Montgomery County where the residents fought against zoning changes. I guess our fearless leaders are waiting to spring that on us, but it will probably require dredging of the Alabama River and some kind of landfill. Just like before, they will try to present this as a “port” and downplay the environmental ravages this could include. I lived in Gary, Indiana, near the steel mills and I know about steel mill facilities. They are seldom good neighbors. We should have full disclosure about what is about to happen, but the Lowndes County Commission refuses to do public business before the public.
The Root Problem
Our root problem is that we have been taught to NOT speak up, to not confront our elected officials, and to act like a bunch of meek little sheep. We are taught that this is respectable. We are discouraged from thinking for ourselves. We are “bored” by newspapers and news on television. We sometimes use the excuse, “give it to God” to cover our own fear. We give people our votes because we like them, or because they are friends or relatives, rather than who can and will do the best job for our county. We love to honor Dr. King and we love our President, but we do absolutely nothing to support their work. The President has called for us to become involved, to educate ourselves about the issues. We’ll wear a T-shirt, but we do absolutely nothing. President Obama would be appalled at what’s going on in Lowndes County. I know Jesus is appalled at all this deceit and lying.
We are being severely disrespected by our elected leaders. They do it to us because they can and because we allow it. There’s an executive session at nearly every meeting. They have law enforcement at every meeting for intimidation. It’s time for all of us to review the Open Meetings Laws and Open Records Laws. It’s time to change the rules of the Lowndes County Commission to give residents a chance to weigh in on decisions before they are made, not after. We get the government we deserve.
Lowndes County is just a hair away from complete financial meltdown because of Commissioners King, Harris and Thomas and their bad decisions, and because they have been successful in hiding their mistakes. When they are caught, they holler race because all they have going for them is the color of their skin. But they are just as bad as the whites who were in control in the past and did the same thing. Their actions reflect they are oppressors who would use us to line their pockets and gain power. And if we continue to go along to get along, we are as guilty as they are. It’s time for those of us who want peace and justice to stand up and speak up.
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