FYN Speaks with Post Commissioner Will Beattie

News

Here at FYN we are committed to being the most relevant and informative local news source for the residents of Gilmer County. In these fiscally interesting times, a major part of that commitment involves closely following the work of our local elected officials. This week we had the chance to sit down with Gilmer County Post Commissioner Will Beattie to discuss his role in our local government and some of the issues currently on the board’s agenda.Mr. Beattie was first elected to the board in 2008, where he joined Chairman Commissioner Mark Chastain and then-Post Commissioner J.C. Sanford. The board currently consists of Mr. Sanford as Chairman Commissioner, Post Commissioner Danny Hall, and Mr. Beattie as Post Commissioner.

In the following interview, we discuss Mr. Beattie’s career as a civil servant and get his take on a few hot button issues looming over the local government. Notes in italics are clarifications by the editor.

FYN: Thanks for taking the time to sit down with us this morning. To start off, can you talk about why you originally wanted to become a Gilmer County Commissioner?

I had served in a number of service capacities throughout the community: I was on the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors; I served as president of the Chamber of Commerce; I served on the Appalachian Children Center Board of Directors for several years; North Georgia Mountain Hospice Board; I’ve been a member of Rotary, which is a service organization, for several years.

I could see that these were going to be difficult times. I had no idea of the level it would reach, but I felt like this was another opportunity I was being led to, to serve the community.

I plan on, hopefully, being in business and raising a family here in Gilmer County. The best way to help shape the future is to serve through governmental service. I was afforded the responsibility – and also the privilege – to carry out the will of the people…and also a vision for the future so that hopefully we could have controlled growth and survivability during tough economic times.

FYN: Well, I must say, from what we’ve seen at the BOC workshops, you always look for an optimistic solution. Let’s talk for a minute about some of the things we’re trying to get through as citizens of the county, and that you as a commissioner have to deal with.

At the 3/24 workshop, the charter discussion came up. You proposed a $20,000 per-vendor annual limit be changed to 15,000. What was your reasoning on that?

I’m not completely certain that (proposal) was appropriate. I don’t think it addresses the true problem with the charter spending. Even in subdued economic times – when you have a budget that’s been reduced from 23 million to 15.5 million – and we have also reduced our general obligation bond spending to virtually zero…I think it carries a continued concern with me more that the charter be abided by at its current limit.

I feel that it was not abided by in the past. I felt that possibly reducing that spending limit would at least engage the other two commissioners for secondary approval at a lower level. However, looking at some of the repetitive history (of the county project bidding process) you can have multipliers of the same amount and still end up with a substantially large expenditure authorized simply by the chairman. So I think that the competitive bid process needs to be followed, and the current charter as it stands needs to be followed.

If clarification is needed, then that needs to take place. But I don’t want to cripple the day to day operations of the county by reducing it to such a level that the chairman is not able to carry out the…day to day operations.

FYN: From what I’ve seen in that meeting (3/24 BOC Workshop), and not to take too much time on this one subject, was that lowering the limit from 20 to $15,000 would apply undue pressure on some of the county departments that actually didn’t cause concern.

That’s correct. From what I ran into after my proposal (to lower the limit), I see the justification (to keep it as is). There are other constitutional officers that are completely outside the jurisdiction of the day-to-day decisions of the Commission. Reducing that spending limit would affect some of their purchasing ability, and, like you said, they weren’t the cause for concern in the beginning. So again, I don’t wish to handicap the operations of the county.

What I am trying to take a stand on is that we follow the county charter, and that there is some mechanism of enforcement for that.

FYN: I’ll come back to the county charter in just a minute.

At the same meeting (the 3/24 BOC Workshop), you brought up this clause from the charter: “Exempted from this section is the procurement of professional services, e.g. architectural, engineering, legal, accounting, and construction management”.

You asked in that meeting that professional services be included in the bid process as well. Can you explain why you brought this up, what prompted you to ask for that?

To clarify, my definition of “professional services” includes all the services on that entire list (of county contractors). So I would say all services need to be subject to the charter spending limit. All services that go over the charter spending limit should be put out for competitive bid. That would include the county attorney services, that would include architectural or engineering services, construction management.

I feel like this is a loophole that has a history of leading to overages. During many of the general obligation bond projects, those amounts added up to some extremely large figures. They were shocking.

To avoid any conflict in the future, and to make it as open to the public as possible, and assure we’re getting the best price possible for the product, I feel they (professional services) should be put out for competitive bid.

FYN: What specifically highlighted this charter limit issue for you?

As I looked into our capital improvement projects I noticed repetitive names. I would not have noticed them usually, because each month we (BOC) receive a financial summary that shows the total project costs, but never detailed out to the level of individual check writing.

As I noticed one particular project going over budget, I pulled the actual check register. Over time, I noticed many checks written to the same vendors…in some cases, that were smaller amounts than the 20k, but because they fall into a unique category (professional services), that limit doesn’t apply. In some projects, there were very, very large amount checks written.

This issue needs to be corrected for the future, because I do not believe the general public would be satisfied with the expenditures made on particular projects that went to vendors that were not required to be put through a competitive bid process.

FYN: Well, as you said, the general public deserves answers. Especially in a county that has a budget shortfall of $1.5 million from 2010…and rumors of a possible $1.5 million in waste or misused money.

I’ve pulled the expense report for the Civic Center project, because it’s the most talked about job in the county as far as cost overrun. I’d like to ask you a few questions about that project.

Did you vote “yes” to do the renovations on the civic center?

Yes I did.

FYN: Why?

For one, it is a governmentally-owned facility that we could not demolish because it received funding that legally prevented us from starting from scratch.

I felt like – for the budget that was (originally) presented to us, of less than 500k – to be a publicly used facility in the way it was designed and described, would be a good investment for the future. It sits in a very prime location for public use. It could also be a good place to host small events…so it had multiple uses and I felt, for the investment that was presented to us, and, the conservative idea that we were to use county forces to complete it under budget, I was very supportive of voting to renovate the civic center.


FYN: What was the original renovation budget that was presented to you? And who prepared it?

The budget was prepared by Commissioner Mark Chastain…and I need to pull the original resolution, because I have seen two different numbers. My recollection is that it was 473k, but still listed on our county website today is 437k, with all the ancillary costs – the complete project, turn-key.

So, on its face it looked like a good project for the community; good for bringing people and business into our area, good for the kids in the future.

FYN: When did you become aware that this project was becoming a budgetary problem?

I don’t remember the exact date. It occurred in a workshop where we were discussing capital projects…we had multiple projects on the radar at the same time. We had the detention center expansion and renovation, we had the Clear Creek ball fields and gymnasium on the radar…and the civic center, along with a variety of smaller projects that were being finished at the time. We were looking at the remaining amount of general obligation funds available to complete all the projects and make sure that each piece of the puzzle fit into our budget.

I noticed in the workshop that the actual expenditures on the project had already exceeded the budget cap, which was voted on in a resolution. It was in the $500,000 range when I noticed this, and I made remarks at that time to the effect that I felt the project should be paused and brought back to the full board for discussion of whatever issues were causing it to go over budget, and by how much.

However, no communication had been received at that point (by the BOC on the civic center budget), and it had already exceeded our voted budget.

FYN: You have already, in a way, answered our next question, but I’d like to frame it in a way that conveys the financial gravity of the situation to our readers. If the project had come in at 525k, that would be one thing…but the project came in at nearly three times the original budget – well over a million dollars over budget.

What did you do when you found out this was a “five-alarm-fire”; how did you call 911 for the citizens of Gilmer County, so to speak? Were there workshops or major discussions over this?

Yes, and it was a process; it wasn’t something with an instant result. The second alarm, so to speak, that I noticed was in the following workshop, when the budget financials for the civic center had been altered.

FYN: Do you know around what time that was?

It was in the spring of 2009, I believe. The budget, on paper, had gone from the voted resolution amount, with actual expenditures already exceeded (from the previous month’s workshop), to 500k for the renovation and then a separate line item of 100k for demolition – or, for parts of the demolition process.

So what we had was an increased budget (amount) that appeared as if it was the original amount…so that was the second alarm.

At that point, I began to question… on several occasions, and the chairman offered to meet me to do a county inspection, also with the project manager and I agreed to do so, but during that time period the expenses began to escalate. And the news media began to pick up the remarks and publish them publicly. I also brought it up in several meetings, questioning the issues and wanting to know not only where the end point was, but what mechanism we had to stop it or slow it down.

Unfortunately, I did not feel, for my part…that I had any power to put brakes on the project.

FYN: So you couldn’t find a clear governmental mechanism that you could enact to say “halt this project”? The chairman was basically at liberty to continue on with the project at his discretion?

Well, my largest complaint, from day one on this issue was that my vote had already been cast to cap the budget. Once that budget was exceeded, that exceeded the authority that I personally have…if my vote does not set a budget in a concrete ceiling, and that’s (the budget cap) ignored, I don’t have further power of progression to do anything more, except public exposure and the hopes that media coverage would pick it up.

FYN: To back up a minute, you said that the budget for the project had been altered. Is that something you can confirm or elaborate on?

Well, even today, if you went and pulled the budget sheet for the civic center, it would have a line item for 500k and a line item for 100k for demolition. But you could then pull the resolution, and its 473k or 437k, whichever it may be…so there would be two contradictory legal documents.

FYN: Going back to the issue of professional services…One citizen, who would like to remain anonymous at this time, has brought to my attention that the architectural fees for the civic center were something in the area of 14% of the total project cost. From what I understand, that proportion is typically closer to 6% for most projects of this kind. Is that something you are aware of or have addressed?

It is, but many of the details surrounding the actual payments to vendors for this particular project…are currently under legal investigation.

Obviously, from a public standpoint I have great concern about some of the expenditures, but I’m going to let the legal investigation get completed before commenting on details.

FYN: Do you think Mark Chastain mishandled county finances in the office of chairman commissioner?

I have a personal opinion, certainly. My opinion has been expressed publicly on multiple occasions. That was brought forward along with my concern regarding the projects.

However, a final decision regarding the legalities will have to be decided by an authority other than myself.

FYN: How would you say things are going now, with the current Board of Commissioners – J.C. Sanford, Danny Hall, and yourself?

Well, we will always have certain issues. When you’re dealing with three individual personalities, you’re dealing with economic stresses beyond the norm, and trying to manage the finances and all that coupled with the provision of services to the citizenry…with all that considered, overall, I feel that we’re working well together.

We’re dealing with the issues as they present themselves. There certainly is room for improvement. Sometimes our timeliness is not what I would wish it to be. However, overall, I do feel like we’re doing a good job in tough times.

FYN: Well put. When does your term expire?

2012

FYN: Do you have future plans for office?

It’s too early to decide if I will seek political office again. I have no preconceptions of doing so at this time, but I learned early on in my career to never say never.

I will wait and let the time pass and see where the Lord leads me.

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