Your Views Archive
The Glynn County Board of Commissioners - Archived 3-15-2008 Masters of Mendacity by Jeff Kilgore - Concerned Citizen Why does the Glynn County Board of Commissioners (“BOC”) want to build an expanded jail in the heart of historic downtown Brunswick ? That is the question that everyone asks. After three months of investigation, extensive document review and analysis, I still cannot answer that question. In September of 2002, Sheriff Wayne Bennett said his department has been monitoring the growth of the county’s population as well as the inmate population, and he believes now is a good time to expand the Detention Center. Bennett said that he would meet with the BOC in the near future to present three proposals for expansion. At that same time, BOC Chairman Cap Fendig was quoted saying “we have already had some preliminary discussions with the Sheriff on this issue. Jail expansion will become a priority in the budget discussion in March and April.” The citizens of this community may wonder why this issue was not addressed in 2002. But, one thing we know for sure, is that the current decision made by the BOC in haste, with no prior planning, no engineering studies, no environmental studies, no consideration of the economic impact on the continuing developmental and revitalization efforts in historic downtown Brunswick, and most glaringly, no budget, has the potential to be a colossal mistake. And, it never should have happened. The BOC began to study the alternative for expansion of the Detention Center in earnest in the fall of 2005. Eventually a consultant was hired in February of of 2006 to begin the first phase, which was a “needs assessment”, of a four part engagement. The second phase was to analyze the site selection process, the third phase was to begin the design / build phase and the final step was the actual construction and implementation phase. The BOC formed a steering committee to work in conjunction with the consulting firm, Carter, Goble, Lee (“CGL”). The preliminary report or needs assessment, was released in August of 2006. The steering committee met on August 15, 2006, and approved the conclusions as documented by CGL, which was stated as follows : The report among other issues recommends constructing a Detention Annex at a new site. Carter Goble Lee’s belief is that the renovation of the existing facility would be problematic and more expensive than a new facility. The idea is to build a medium or minimum security detention center at another location. The steering committee recommended to the BOC that a Detention Annex should be constructed on the Glynn County Public Works site. At the Regular Meeting of the BOC on September 7, 2006, the BOC voted unanimously to approve the concept to construct a Detention Annex on the Public Works site and to develop a design/build request for proposal (“RFP”) for architectural and construction services and to authorize CGL to proceed with phase 2 and phase 3 of the Master Plan for the Detention Center expansion as recommended by the steering committee. The above referenced vote by the full BOC, which specified that the Detention Center Annex would be constructed at the Public Works site, was approved unanimously. It remains as the only official action of the BOC regarding the expansion of the jail as of the date of this writing. There never was a public notice, much less a public meeting, where the BOC has disclosed to the citizens and residents of this community when the decision was made to abandon several years of research, a consultant’s study that cost the taxpayers of this community over $ 200,000, and its original unanimous vote to build the Detention Annex at the Public Works site. Further, there has never been a public notice nor has there been a public meeting to explain the BOC basis for attempting to expand the Glynn County Detention Center in the middle of historic downtown Brunswick. And there has definitely not been any disclosure to the taxpayer citizens of this county as to the real total budgeted cost for expanding the Detention Center in historic downtown Brunswick. The BOC has continuously obfuscated the issues surrounding this matter. The Glynn County BOC members have repeatedly been quoted as saying that the Detention Annex alternative at the Public Works site would cost $ 60,000,000. They assert that operating the Detention Annex would be less secure. The BOC has even induced Judge Amanda Williams to weigh in on the Detention Annex decision. She made a ludicrous claim that transporting minimum security inmates to the courthouse would result in less security and that it would be analogous to what happened in Atlanta in the Brian Nichols case. Frankly, we would expect a higher standard of conduct from a member of the judiciary than has been exhibited in this matter. Finally, the BOC claimed that it would cost more of the taxpayer’s money to operate the Detention Annex in addition to the existing maximum security jail. All of those claims are spurious at a minimum, and appear to have been intentionally constructed with a specific intent to mislead the community for the purpose of guiding the citizens to the desired BOC conclusion. The above referenced vote by the full BOC, which specified that the Detention Center Annex would be constructed at the Public Works site, was approved unanimously. It remains as the only official action of the BOC regarding the expansion of the jail as of the date of this writing. There never was a public notice, much less a public meeting, where the BOC has disclosed to the citizens and residents of this community when the decision was made to abandon several years of research, a consultant’s study that cost the taxpayers of this community over $200,000, and its original unanimous vote to build the Detention Annex at the Public Works site. Further, there has never been a public notice nor has there been a public meeting to explain the BOC basis for attempting to expand the Glynn County Detention Center in the middle of historic downtown Brunswick. And there has definitely not been any disclosure to the taxpayer citizens of this county as to the real total budgeted cost for expanding the Detention Center in historic downtown Brunswick. The BOC has continuously obfuscated the issues surrounding this matter. The Glynn County BOC members have repeatedly been quoted as saying that the Detention Annex alternative at the Public Works site would cost $ 60,000,000. They assert that operating the Detention Annex would be less secure. The BOC has even induced Judge Amanda Williams to weigh in on the Detention Annex decision. She made a ludicrous claim that transporting minimum security inmates to the courthouse would result in less security and that it would be analogous to what happened in Atlanta in the Brian Nichols case. Frankly, we would expect a higher standard of conduct from a member of the judiciary than has been exhibited in this matter. Finally, the BOC claimed that it would cost more of the taxpayer’s money to operate the Detention Annex in addition to the existing maximum security jail. All of those claims are spurious at a minimum, and appear to have been intentionally constructed with a specific intent to mislead the community for the purpose of guiding the citizens to the desired BOC conclusion. The CGL Final Report contained an anticipated budget for a turn key construction of the Detention Annex at a total cost of approximately $ 17,000,000. The expansion of the Detention Center in historic downtown Brunswick will cost the taxpayer a minimum of approximately $ 23,000,000, based on what limited information that has been made available to us. The BOC false figure of $ 60 million does not appear in the CGL study and was never referenced in the minutes of BOC during the relevant period. Brian Nichols was a prisoner being held in the courthouse and was awaiting a hearing on various charges that had been pending for some time. The inexperienced and newly elected Sheriff of Fulton County had assigned a five foot tall, 51 year old female deputy to guard Nichols, who is a 6’ 2”, 230 pound former linebacker. This gross incompetence led to Nichols overpowering the guard and the tragic deaths of several people in the Atlanta area. However, this tragedy had nothing whatsoever to do with transporting minimum security inmates. Indeed, the minimum security inmates in Glynn County are loaded in vans and transported from the Detention Center to the courthouse under the current normal procedures. The CGL study addresses the operation of the two facilities and concluded that the proposed solution would, in fact, save money and would be cheaper to operate. The citizens of Brunswick and Glynn County must question this issue. Why is the BOC refusing to release relevant information to the public ? Why is the BOC intentionally attempting to mislead the public ? Why did the BOC operate outside of the public view for the first eight months of 2007 in pursuing an expansion of the Detention Center in historic downtown Brunswick ? What, exactly, are they hiding ? For additional information, please contact Defend Downtown Brunswick, L.L.C. at defenddowntownbrunswick.com or one of the following individuals. |