The Pierce County Industrial Development and Building Authority (PCIDBA) recently discussed and/or voted on the following during the regular monthly meeting held on March 19.
Partnership update: Chamber of Commerce Director Christi Pitts was not available for the monthly update due to attending the blessing of the crops at Alabaha Free Will Baptist Church. Pitts did provide a brief written report to inform the IDBA board of membership numbers and recent activities, including the Warehouse 203 ribbon cutting (See related coverage in this edition.)
SPLOST approved: Following the chamber of commerce partnership report, County Manager Raphel Maddox addressed the IDBA board concerning the recent passage of the new SPLOST during the local special election Mar 18.
Maddox addressed some of the chatter on social media regarding whether the public was properly notified of the SPLOST special election. The county manager clarified that the appropriate legal notifications were posted, but specified that taxpayer funds cannot be used to advocate for or against local legislation, stating that is more properly the duty of various citizen groups if so motivated.
GRAD certification update: The PCIDBA estimates it will take $50,000$60,000 to complete the ongoing Georgia Ready for Accelerated Development (GRAD) certification process. Specifically, the Pierce industrial park still lacks its finalized endangered species report and the Geotec boring process. The Geotec boring samples help facilitate groundwork for establishing if a site is suitable for different types of buildings and structures. It also helps determine the site’s various soil types, how much is suitable for use, how much needs to be removed or brought in and other factors.
Finances: Approving February’s financials for the PCIDBA was postponed pending an updated report from Harris and Co.
IDBA closed session: The IDBA board went into a closed session for approximately 20 minutes at the end of their regular session. Real estate was the topic. No sale or action was taken and the closed session was primarily for informational purposes. Carter said the session was meant to prepare the board for the potential acquisition or sale of land in order to facilitate extension of rail service within the industrial park.
South Georgia Regional Development Authority (SGRDA): Pierce County hosted the SGRDA meeting for March as part of the regular rotation of host counties.
Pierce IDBA Executive Director Matt Carter and his Bacon County counterpart Kevin Ellis reported on their recent trip to Tifton where they were invited to speak at the ABAC conference center to members of the Association County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG). Approximately 14 commissioners from various counties were present to learn about best practices for economic development, the impact on city and county governments and how working together as a region (like the SGRDA) benefits all the communities involved.
SGRDA closed session: The SGRDA board went into a closed session for approximately 45 minutes. Real estate was the topic under discussion, specifically two parcels owned by the joint development authority of which Pierce County is now part. In 2018, Appling County had voted to purchase the land back from the joint authority, but failed to move forward with the deal.
Now, Appling is interested in moving forward once more, but the sales transaction has to be rebuilt. Due to the passage of several years it was not possible to effect the sale based on old figures and previous roster of members. The SGRDA board voted to sell the land back to Appling at $5,000 per acre for a total of $156,850. According to Carter, Appling was scheduled to meet March 24 and “I don’t look for them to decline it.”
Next meeting: The PCIDBA will hold its next meeting at 8 a.m. Wednesday, April 2 in the Chamber of Commerce boardroom at Blackshear’s Historic Train Depot.
