During the SPLOST oversight Facilities and Technology committee meeting Monday night, the committee's board liaison David Banks announced that the board will likely conduct the meeting to award the contract now that a judge has deemed the project a legal expenditure under the third installment of the special purpose local sales tax.
Following the F&T meeting, board member Dr. John Crooks, who was also at the meeting, said the board's chairwoman has received several phone calls from other board members asking her to call a special meeting to discuss the turf, but has not yet made a decision. Chairwoman Lynnda Crowder-Eagle is legally obligated to make the decision and announce the meeting 48 hours in advance, which would be today.
When asked why the board would have a special meeting for the turf rather than adding it to Thursday's regularly scheduled meeting, Crooks said, in light of what was going on with an effort to recall him, the board members are hesitant to place anything on an agenda that hasn't been fully advertised to the public. The recall effort came about when a vote to approve a cell tower was put on the board's agenda in July without advance advertising.
Also during Monday night's F&T meeting, the committee voted unanimously to recommend the board adopt a SPLOST III program plan, which would reduce spending of every project in that SPLOST by 20 percent, based on significantly reduced revenue projections.
But some committee members expressed concern about the prioritization of the projects. The SPLOST III program plan also allows the board to speed up some projects based on the idea that some construction projects may be cheaper in the economic climate. Committee vice-chair Angie May, a Cheatham Hill Elementary mom, wanted to make sure that projects that need to get done don't get put on the back burner just because they are more expensive in the current climate.
"I think it would be even better if we had a prioritization based on need, and then address the 20 percent," May said.
Because of this concern, Virginia Gregory, an East Cobb mom, amended the recommendation, asking that SPLOST chief Doug Shepard keep both the board and F&T committee in the loop about any SPLOST III changes in revenue and expenditures that might effect the economic climate and the alter the need for the new plan.
The board heard an overview about the new SPLOST program plan from Shepard at its Jan. 29 meeting and is expected to vote on it in May.
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There's no guarantee Crooks won't run again until Qualifying Week closes on April 30th. To trust Crooks' word now would be a big mistake. Remember the old adage, "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me"? Crooks' has been known to say and do two different things in the past. He can't be trusted and certainly not at such a pivotal point.
BTW, we are rallying behind qualified candidate(s) at the same time we are trying to remove Crooks from office. It's called "multi-tasking".
A sign of ignorance is usually uninformed people.
For all of you who are questioning this expense ...
For the LAST TIME: This is SPLOST III money and NOT money that can be used for ANY OTHER PUOPOSE.
There is not any way that any SPLOST money from any of the three can be used for operational expenses. Not one red cent.
The majority of the voters agreed with the list of improvements TWO YEARS ago and it is time to just let it happen.
Not happy with it, now is NOT the time to complain. Remmeber it come November 201 & November 2012. then you can do something about how the money for SPLOST IV is allocated.
In the meantime, please educate yourself BEFORE posting on this topic!
THIS BOARD IS A REAL MESS - SO SO SO SELFCENTERED