I called The Bug Babe, but she Laughed
A.G.
A.G.
June 29, 2012
Augusta, GA
By The Outsider
Augusta Commissioners wisely tabled the latest management proposal between the city and Augusta Riverfront LLC for the $12 million taxpayer financed Reynolds Street parking deck at yesterday’s commission meeting. The nearly 100 pages of legal documents were dropped in commissioners laps at the last minute as they were coming back from a Georgia municipal conference in Savannah. Several commissioners said they needed much more time to review the documents before voting on them. At yesterday’s meeting, Commissioner Jerry Brigham, made a motion to send the documents back to a Finance Committee work session for review. His motion was seconded and easily approved.
Lori Davis, a contributor to CityStink.net, had tried to get on yesterday’s meeting agenda to speak in opposition after learning last Friday that the parking deck contract would be up for approval; however, by that time the agenda had been conveniently closed out. Davis was at yesterday’s meeting nonetheless as a citizen observer. The citizen activists from Augusta Today, like Lori Davis, must consider yesterday’s vote as a delayed victory. Mrs. Davis and Al Gray urged commissioners to reject a similar agreement back on February 7th, but Commissioners went ahead and tentatively approved the parking management agreement with the proviso that the $7 million worth of liens would be released on the property that the deck sits on and the land would be transferred to the city’s Land Bank.
But our investigations revealed that has still not happened. The liens had not been removed and 933 Broad Investment LLC (a sister company of Augusta Riverfront LLC) had not transferred the land as promised…. yet again. Commissioner Joe Bowles was particularly upset with these new revelations having these stern words for Augusta Riverfront LLC in an interview with Chris Thomas of WRDW: “If they don’t go ahead and get this straightened out,” Bowles said, “I say it’s time to go ahead and bid the parking deck back out. If we don’t hurry up and get that property donated to the land bank, I would say it’s time to scrap the deal and start over.“
After Bowles’ remarks, Augusta Riverfront LLC , their lawyers from Hull Barrett, and city administrator Fred Russell went into damage control mode. The lawyers quickly cobbled together nearly 100 pages of documents for a new management contract for the parking decks, and said that there was an agreement in place with Wells Fargo to release the liens. However, upon closer inspection, Wells Fargo was actually only agreeing to a partial release of the liens, maintaining a security interest in the $12 million taxpayer financed parking deck. What that means is that if 933 Broad Investment LLC defaulted on their $7 million loan, Wells Fargo would become the operator of the deck, and would get all of the revenue from the 160 ground floor spaces.
Also, when we put the latest management agreement under the microscope, we found that the terms amounted to a blank check for Augusta Riverfront LLC with no accounting controls and a nearly unlimited revenue stream to ARLLC courtesy of Augusta taxpayers. To put it in the simplest terms: It was a BAD Deal! But it should have been no surprise that this deal was so lopsided in favor of Augusta Riverfront LLC, since it was crafted by their own attorneys from Hull Barrett. Where was city attorney Andrew Mckenzie and city-hired outside counsel Jim Plunkett in all of this looking out for the interests of the taxpayers? Why would a management agreement totally crafted by the attorneys for the other parties even be placed on the commission agenda by city administrator Fred Russell? And why was this all done in such haste giving commissioners little time to review the volumes of documents and denying the opportunity for citizens to speak out in opposition?
Cost Recovery Accounting Specialist Al Gray, who is also a contributor to CityStink.net, developed a matrix comparing the latest contract proposal with Augusta Riverfront LLC with one that Aampco Parking Systems out of Houston, TX had agreed to earlier. You can view that matrix here–> Why is the Parking Deck Contract this Rigged? There was no comparison! The Aampco agreement was far superior to the one being submitted by Augusta Riverfront LLC. So why did Fred Russell ignore this better deal and go for the one giving a “blank check” to Augusta Riverfront LLC?
Augusta Commissioners deserve accolades for putting the brakes on this very bad management deal and sending it back to committee. Particularly we would like to recognize Commissioners Bill Lockett, Joe Bowles and Wayne Guilfoyle for showing leadership on this issue and providing assistance in our investigations.
How to Proceed
So what happens next? Well obviously this bad contract should NOT be approved. This is not something that just needs a few tweaks.. it needs a MAJOR overhaul. Here are 3 recommendations for Augusta Commissioners on how to proceed in regard to the management of the parking decks:
1. Let ARLLC keep running the decks temporarily as they have since October 2011 with the proviso that EVERYTHING is subject to audit and use the time to cure the issues with the TEE and Decks……or
2. Use the Aampco deal as a template and swap out the deck agreements. Put in strong audit rights. Get all capital purchases to be made by Augusta.
3. *Condemn the land under the decks because Augusta needs to get out from under paying 23% of the costs, then rebid the deck management out.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Augusta, GA
By Al Gray
Reynolds Street Parking Deck Management Agreement (00412263-14) (2)
“But Frank you don’t DO paperwork!”
Below are the public documents cited in this article:
Hotel Tranport Tax GORAOrd 7034 Excise Tax Hotel Motel Amend City Code (1)Ord 7209 Amend Arc Code Section 2-32 to Provuide for the Use of the Hotel mOrd 7083 to Amend the Arc Code by Adding Subparagraph (a) to Paragraph 111 (1)Tee Land Acquisition
Al Gray Warns Rural County Leaders About ‘Shameful’ T-Splost
This hunter has a confession to make.
The reason Bo always led the pack was straightforward.
He cheated.
While the rest of the pack sought the rabbit with nose to dusty ground, diligently working to stay on track, Bo would run ahead or cut in front. When the more deserving of his fellows would correct the course of the pack, after the rabbit threw them a loop or an out, Bo would always be opportunistically waiting to charge into the lead, his chop mouth a-barking.
Taking all 32 of the pack was a troublesome affair. The hunters always had to keep count when loading the dogs up, lest one be left behind. A poor rabbit was doomed, because the pack would split, so that when he doubled back, he likely would run smack into the other half. One simply cannot convey the ground shaking racket 32 beagles make!
Uncle John’s best friend was Judson Bentley brother to his brother-in-law Irving Bentley. Judson was a most humorous, often cigar-chomping fellow, who frequently accompanied Uncles John, Land and Andrew on their rabbit hunts. Jud was the grandfather of WGAC radio talk show host Austin Rhodes (no relation to John Rhodes or this writer’s maternal grandfather).
John Rhodes was a notoriously frugal man. He drove a 1964 green Ford Ranger pickup. Instead of footing the bill for a serious box box to go in the back of it, Uncle fashioned a cover over the bed that was anchored in the corner post boxes. Instead of having a real dog box door, the box only had the tailgate to hold the pack in place. It was an accident waiting to happen.
One extremely cold morning in 1966, John, Land and Jud headed south toward Burke County with a half-compliment of 16 charged-up, excited beagles. In those days there was no Bobby Jones Expressway, so that the hunters leaving from Stevens Creek Road in Martinez had to pick a tortuous path down Washington Road, to Berckmans Road, over to Highland, then to Wheeless, over to Lumpkin Road and then south on Highway 56.
A terrible thing happened.
Just as they rounded the corner onto Berckmans Road at the big green water tower on the Augusta National side of the road, the truck either grazed the curb or encountered a bump. The tailgate fell down. All 16 beagles poured out into the intersection of Washington Road and Berckman’s road! Cars swerved. Horns blew. After a few minutes traffic stopped.
It was simply a miracle. John and Land caught and reloaded dogs while Jud, who at this point was pretty serious about events, counted. People got out of cars to help. Babe, Tiny, and Beulah were already rooting around in the vines along the National’s fence trying to jump a rabbit. Sadly what could have turned into a epochal story of a beagle pack running wild down Magnolia Lane was thwarted by the excellent fencing. Beulah was not amused when Land picked her up. She growled.
Travelers kept feeding wayward hounds into the back of the truck.
They heard a commotion from across the street, in the A&P parking lot. A woman had dropped her bag of groceries, which gave that larcenous hound, Bo, his chance. Bo trotted back to his master, meeting him halfway across the lot, with a T-bone steak in his mouth. John Rhodes didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, because he had to pay the woman for her spoiled groceries.Bo had done what he did best, cut loose from the others to steal a treat.
With Bo in hand and order restored, the party headed on down to McBean, where the threat was no longer automotive, but was more in the order of avoiding moonshiners, rattlers, and old Miz Robinson.
Jud talked about that morning for years and it became a Rhodes family legend.
History doesn’t record what happened on the hunt that day, but hunters and 16 beagles were blessed with tragedy averted at the water tower. All have passed and all that remains is their memory.
Arrrr—-roooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
I thought I was beyond Bo’s reach when he died, but then cousin Hugh turned loose his pup Flash one morning the next season. The dog raced out ahead looking to cut in front and steal the lead. “Cheater!” I muttered….then a the thought hit.
*Click graphic below to enlarge*