Tuesday, June 3, 2025
Good morning! In the news today, the Chatham County Commission approves a contract for the county’s long-delayed emergency operations center; an Atlanta real estate developer faces more legal entanglements in Camden County; a Chatham County official signals a legal fight over the future of a local board; and some things for your radar. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com.
NEWS: GOVERNING
Finally, a contract
More than nine years after Chatham County announced plans to build an up-to-date facility to ensure more comprehensive, organized responses to hurricanes and other natural disasters, county officials have approved a contract to build it.
At the urging of its chairman, Chester Ellis, the Chatham County Commission on May 23 awarded a $78.8 million contract to build the emergency operations center to Reeves Young, a construction firm based in Sugar Hill, some 40 miles northeast of Atlanta.
The commission’s 6-2 vote followed some 15 minutes of mostly skeptical comments from two commissioners who voted against the award to Reeves Young. Ellis and those commissioners who supported the award to Reeves Young said little.
The vote culminated years of missteps and delays for a project that was as at one point scheduled to be completed in late 2023 or 2024 and cost $41.6 million, The Current’s Craig Nelson reports.
NEWS: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Camden County sues over Cumberland Inlet debt
Camden County’s development agency wants a court to force an Atlanta developer to repay a seed loan that was meant to transform the site of the former Gilman Paper Mill site into an eco-resort alongside homes, shops and restaurants, The Current’s Maggie Lee reports.
The legal action comes amid bankruptcy proceedings involving the owner of the site, JDI-Cumberland Inlet, a company formed in 2020 by the Atlanta real estate developer, Jacoby Development, and a minority partner.
The Camden County Joint Development Authority, a public agency, loaned almost $11 million to Jacoby Development in 2020 and 2021 to clean up the polluted, 719-acre site to set the stage for the upscale development envisioned by the company’s CEO, Jim Jacoby.
NEWS: GOVERNING
‘Legal question’
The nine-member board of directors of Chatham Area Transit (CAT) is scheduled to be dissolved June 30 and replaced by a new board a day later, according to a bill backed by the region’s legislative delegation to Atlanta and signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp last month.
But Chatham County Commission Chairman Chester Ellis, whose appointment power to the board would be diluted under the new law, is hinting a legal fight.
In a letter last week to the CAT board and CAT’s executive director, Stephanie Cutter, Ellis said that with House Bill 756 becoming law, there’s a “legal question” as to the “appropriate legal governing body” of CAT, as well as a lack of a “legal determination and certainty” about the “appropriately lawful CAT board.”
“Hopefully in the next several weeks or months this matter of governance will be clarified by the Courts,” Ellis wrote.
On Friday afternoon, the CAT board convened behind closed doors with CAT’s attorney, Andrew Walcoff, in a special called meeting. There was no immediate word about what was discussed.
The board is scheduled to hold another special called meeting and a budget workshop today at 4 p.m.
5 things for your radar
- Early, in-person voting is underway in Coastal Georgia for statewide primaries for Georgia’s Public Service Commission. Why is it important? The commission decides your utility rates. For more information on voting hours, check here.
- Coastal Georgia Democracy is to hold a candidate forum for the Georgia Public Service Commission, 6. p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, June 12, at the Coastal Georgia Center.
- U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock tells NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “Trump’s big, ugly bill” threatens millions of Americans’ healthcare. The Associated Press spells out some details.
- From the Democratic Party of Chatham County: To subscribe to news updates from the party, click here.
- A tax refund of up to $500 may be coming to you soon.
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Camden agency sues Jacoby Development over Cumberland Inlet debt
Add another court case to the old Gilman Paper site. Camden County’s development authority is suing Atlanta’s Jacoby Development to recoup a loan made to help fund development of an eco-tourism resort at the shuttered mil site. The legal entity that owns the site has already declared bankruptcy.
Contract approved for Chatham County emergency operations center
Chatham County approved a $78.8 million contract for Reeves Young to build an emergency operations center, despite concerns about the company’s non-local location and bid being higher than other qualified firms, with the chairman and other officials citing the “best value” approach as the reason for the decision.
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Georgia Power is planning for a huge spike in energy demand. Critics say it’s overestimating
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PSC hopeful Daniel Blackman tossed from primary ballot
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