NEWTON COUNTY – An answer to a long standing question was finally answered Tuesday night, as the Newton County Board of Commissioners (BOC) voted to appoint interim chairman Lanier Sims to the Joint Development Authority (JDA).
The vote went 4-0 during Tuesday’s BOC meeting (District 5 commissioner Ronnie Cowan was absent), with the item being placed on the consent agenda.
Terms of the appointment, including the duration, were not immediately available. The Covington News has reached out to the county for official details, but have not received an official response yet.
Per the county charter, the appointed official on the JDA representing the Newton County BOC serves on a four-year term. However, that may not be the case in Sims’ appointment.
Sims is filling the spot left by suspended chairman Marcello Banes, who is currently facing several federal money laundering charges. Banes was officially suspended from his chairman role on Aug. 1 without pay by Governor Brian Kemp, and was subsequently suspended from all of his board appointments by the BOC.
Should Banes be acquitted or if his federal case were to be dismissed, he would be able to return to the BOC immediately. This could also mean the same for his role on the JDA, though that part is not as clear currently.
Hall gives JDA update
Sims’ appointment was not the only piece of JDA business the board heard on Tuesday night.
Newton County Industrial Development Authority executive director Serra Hall provided an update on the four-county board in the early portion of Tuesday’s meeting.
Hall started her update by acknowledging the recent $2 million PILOT payment from Meta that was dispersed among the four counties. Newton County will receive $750,000 of that money between the BOC, Newton County Schools and Fire Services, as first reported in the Oct. 9 edition of The News.
Hall also mentioned that the total tax collection from the three park agencies that occupy the Stanton Springs area was just over $7 million, which was all returned to the four counties.
The IDA executive director also brought up the long-term numbers that have been generated from the JDA. According to Hall, the initial JDA investment upon the formation of the board in 1999 was $10.4 million. Today, that return on investment is reportedly over $40 million.When discussing the three major plants, Hall said the three park tenants – Takeda, Meta and Rivian “are doing well.” She said that Rivian is continuing to do stabilization work around the site for when they return to vertical construction in the future.
