COVINGTON, Ga. — A county commissioner recently convinced fellow board members to delay approval of a donation of land for a new park until he could meet with the owner about some conditions on the gift.

The Newton County Board of Commissioners Sept. 21 voted to delay for 30 days action on accepting a donation of 4 acres of land from John Addison Jr.  for a county park on Brown Bridge Road.

District 4 Commissioner J.C. Henderson said the county manager’s request for approval of a plan for donation of park land in his district showed “great disrespect” for him because he felt he was not included in the final decision-making process.

But County Manager Lloyd Kerr said Henderson had been a part of the negotiation process “from the beginning” and could have called for changes before a scheduled vote on acceptance of the site Sept. 21.

Kerr said Addison asked that the property at 11869 Brown Bridge Road be transferred by Oct. 5 with a series of conditions Addison wanted. 

“Time is of the essence,” Kerr said. 

Henderson said he wanted to work with District 2 Commissioner Demond Mason and District 3 Commissioner Alana Sanders on the overall park’s development because of its location near the intersection of their three districts.

Debate on the issue included a tense exchange between Henderson, Kerr and Chairman Marcello Banes about the events leading up to the request to accept the donation.

Henderson said he did not agree to the conditions already negotiated for the donation and wanted the opportunity to negotiate them with Addison himself.

He said Kerr should have contacted him to find out his position on the project before bringing it to the Board.

“If tabling it is going to offend anybody, I’m sorry,” Henderson said.

“I’ve just been given a document that says, ‘Here it is, that’s the way we’re going to do it,’” he said. “I personally think that’s a great disrespect for me. Maybe not for me but for the District 4 seat.”

Henderson added that the county worked to make sure all commissioners were informed about other county projects in their districts, such as fire stations.

“But when it comes to District 4 — J.C. Henderson — it doesn’t work that way,” he said. “I’m asking for the same respect we give to all the other commissioners around this horseshoe.”

Kerr responded that Henderson “had been involved from the beginning.”

“This is not a new issue for you, commissioner. You’ve known about this for a long time,” Kerr said.

“The only thing we’re doing now is accepting the property. The conditions have not changed. There’s been no plan made on the property,” Kerr said.

“To effectuate the donation, there were certain things he wanted to see on the property,” Kerr said. 

He said he, Banes and Henderson met with Addison on the site of the property and “talked about several things.”

“You and I just have a different recollection of things. You and I and the chairman were there,” Kerr said.

Conditions that Addison set on the donation included construction beginning on the new park within 12 months; Addison being included in the park’s planning process; and the park being named for his parents, John Addison Sr. and Ruth Addison, Kerr said.

The property also includes a 111-year-old house that Addison wants the county to convert to a facility for an educational “resource center” named for his mother, who was a longtime Newton County teacher, Kerr said.

Banes told Henderson the three county officials met with Addison about the donation both at the Brown Bridge Road site and at the Historic Courthouse. 

Banes also denied Henderson’s claim that he told Henderson he would “take the project away” from the commissioner if he did not agree to the conditions.

Sanders defended Henderson and said other commissioners had wanted to discuss similar county projects with constituents before the full commission approved them.

“I believe in courtesy of a commissioner that we’ve done for everybody else so graciously,” she said. “We just … table it and come back in 30 days.”

After the meeting, Henderson said he had been working with Addison for about two years on plans for the donation and wanted more public involvement in the negotiations — which he said had included Addison funding the construction of the resource center.

Kerr told the Board of Commissioners Sept. 21 that acceptance of the donation would allow the county to combine the land with an adjacent 11-acre site the county already owns and develop a new park.

Ownership of the property also would give the public access from a main thoroughfare to the proposed park, rather than going through a residential neighborhood.

“We do believe it will be a valuable asset to the county and, particularly, to the neighborhood in that area as well,” Kerr said.

Addison did not return an email for comment.