Commission Shifts Block Grant Funds Again, Slightly

originally published May 14, 2008

Athens-Clarke County (ACC) Commissioners voiced widely divergent views last week about abruptly cutting funds from two nonprofit corporations whose programs increase opportunities for disadvantaged citizens. Commissioners voted to shift the money to other programs that serve the same neighborhoods. The two nonprofits - East Athens Development Corporation (EADC) and the Hancock Corridor Development Corporation (HCDC) - are “powerful symbols” in their communities, acknowledged Commissioner David Lynn, but, he said, they haven’t accomplished enough with the money they’ve been given. Others begged to differ.

Kenyatta Moore told commissioners (and a standing-room-only crowd) that his barber and beauty shop “wouldn’t be in business today” if the EADC hadn’t gotten him started. “To take away the funding for a community problem-solver such as the EADC doesn’t make much sense to me,” he admonished. Alicia Brown said the HCDC had helped her improve her financial skills and treated her as “a person that can achieve that goal.” The HCDC board chair Hope Iglehart said her organization strives “to support and develop a viable neighborhood by providing suitable living conditions and expanding economic opportunities to the low-to-moderate income residents. We know that we’re not perfect, and none of the agencies that you provide funding [to] are.”

But even supporters of the agencies on the commission acknowledged they could be more efficiently run. The EADC offers home-buying counseling, business startup loans and advice, and housing rehab. The HCDC offers housing and jobs programs; but annual evaluations of the corporations suggested inconsistent (and sometimes expensive) results. One HCDC program was costing $6,000 per client to provide, Commissioner Kathy Hoard noted, since only seven people participated. “I’m just having trouble justifying the numbers,” she said.

“I do think they have been going through troubled times,” agreed Commissioner Elton Dodson. But “we had an obligation to discuss that in an open and transparent fashion,” he said - not to cut their funds without warning. Such a severe funding cut just sets up the nonprofit groups for failure, he said. “The efficacy of these organizations has been a topic of discussion for many years among elected officials, among human services providers,” Commissioner Kelly Girtz acknowledged, although, he said the commission had passed up several opportunities to demand reforms, and shouldn’t cut their funds without warning. It would be better, he said, to make future funding contingent on reorganization plans. Such a process would be more “open,” he said, and would recognize “that the missions of these groups are important, but the specifics of pursuing those missions are also important.”

Commissioner Harry Sims moved that the agencies be given a higher level of funding - enough to ensure their continued operation, at least in the short term - but that the commission closely scrutinize their improvement after six months. Other commissioners and Mayor Heidi Davison complained, though, that there would not be specific enough ”benchmarks“ by which to measure improvement at that point, and worried that such a move might only delay an inevitable outcome. Sims’ proposal failed on a 6-4 vote that was identical to last month’s original vote to take the funds away from the two agencies (Commissioners Dodson, Girtz and George Maxwell supported him).

A proposal from Commissioner Alice Kinman - whose motion to reconsider last month’s vote put the item back on last week’s agenda - prevailed in the end on a 5-5 vote, with the tie broken by Mayor Davison. (Commissioner Carl Jordan voted against both proposals.) That plan gives each agency back $25,000 out of what was stripped last month, and gives the balance (about $40,000) to a housing program of the Athens Housing Authority.

Ben Emanuel & John Huie

Issues of Taxes & Transportation Will Return, Legislators Say

originally published May 14, 2008

Athens’ five state legislators - three Republicans and two Democrats - seemed more like bar buddies than political opponents at a Federation of Neighborhoods forum May 5. “We really do agree on way more things than we disagree,” said state Senator Bill Cowsert. “On the money issues and the local things, we’re generally always in agreement.” Legislators have largely put bitter issues like the voter ID law - which Democrats believe was intended to disenfranchise Democratic voters - behind them, state Representative Keith Heard told Flagpole.

“We went into the 2008 legislative session with a very ambitious agenda,” said Sen. Ralph Hudgens (who added he’s glad to again be representing Clarke County). “The speaker had a very ambitious plan, that he was going to do away with all ad valorem taxes,” Hudgens said. “I never did think that would get any traction.” Hudgens opposed the plan, he said, even after it was whittled down to eliminating only the auto-tag tax. “To me, that’s not a tax cut - that’s nothing but a tax shift,” he said. “I’m all in favor of a tax cut, but it’s going to have to be coupled with a reduction in spending.” The legislators agreed that tax legislation will still be on the General Assembly’s agenda for next year, and Rep. Doug McKillip said he’s proposing a “progressive” tax reform plan. Also, several of the legislators said they expect a freeze to pass next year that will limit how fast property tax assessments can go up.

And, said Cowsert, “There is a lot of momentum for additional transportation funding,” even though a local-option transportation sales tax didn’t make it through. “That issue is not dead,” he said.

John Huie

jphuie@athens.net

Sewer Line to be “Explored” For Trail Prospects

originally published May 14, 2008

In a meeting that stretched well past midnight, ACC Commissioners last week asked county staffers to consider whether the planned upgrade of an Eastside sewer line paralleling Lexington Road might double as a recreational trail.

The line runs through a mostly undeveloped area - although both the county and UGA have plans to build new bridges nearby to span the North Oconee River.

“I think this is one of the most beautiful pieces of property left in Clarke County,” said Marion Cartwright of land he owns along the sewer route. “Had chances to sell it several times, [but] did not - because I was afraid that it wouldn’t be developed right.” Cartwright said he has long envisioned developing his land with a trail across the river to UGA, so it wouldn’t add more cars to the campus. But he was concerned about the impact sewer line construction - which will need a swath much wider than the present sewer easement - will have on his land. “They said, ‘We’ll put it back in original condition, or better,’” Cartwright told commissioners of his contact with the ACC Department of Public Utilities. “And I’d like to know how they would put back white oaks, red oaks, poplars,” he said, along the creek’s shoals and waterfalls.

Commissioners were sympathetic, but accepted the promise of ACC Manager Alan Reddish that construction would do as little damage as possible. And Reddish resisted a suggestion that ACC Environmental Coordinator Dick Field be required to report back to the commission as construction proceeds.

“I’m uncomfortable with suddenly making him the super-environmental cop. That’s not what his job is,” Reddish said. Besides, he told commissioners, “I don’t believe it’s your role to give directions to individual staff members within various departments. I’ll defer to the attorney if I’m misinterpreting the charter.”

But commissioners did ask Reddish to raise with property owners the possibility of eventually adding a public trail along the sewer line’s route. “I wouldn’t be interested in condemning someone’s property,” Commissioner David Lynn said, just because they wouldn’t sell the county a recreational easement - that is, legal permission for the public to walk across their land. Such an easement would require a bigger sacrifice from landowners, and cost the county more than just a sewer-line easement, Reddish said. Cities like Chapel Hill and Greensboro, NC are exploring such joint uses of sewer routes, Lynn said; and while not all sewer routes are suited to walking and biking trails, “this particular one seems right” if property owners don’t object, he said. The route goes through a roadless area, commissioners noted, and could connect with the Greenway trail that will soon be extended southward along the river to the vicinity of the new Bailey Street wastewater treatment plant scheduled to be built by 2011 (and extended, eventually, along the river to College Station Road).

John Huie

jphuie@athens.net