SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga. — The attorney for a group of area residents seeking to halt an electric vehicle manufacturing plant’s construction says a Morgan County board did not legally approve a tax exemption agreement for the company at its May 25 meeting.

Attorney John Christy said the approval of a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement was invalid because the Board of Tax Assessors did not allow opponents to speak and a board member to request a vote on delaying the action.

Christy wrote to Morgan County Board of Tax Assessors Chairperson Mary Ellen Anton that she oversaw a number of "deficiencies in the conduct" of the May 25 meeting "which render any action taken on the PILOT agreement, including the vote, invalid."

"I trust that legal action will not be necessary to correct this improper action," Christy wrote.

Christy is representing opponents of the planned Rivian production facility, which is planned as a $5 billion complex on a 2,000-acre site straddling the line between Walton and Morgan counties. 

The state disclosed in May that more than $1.5 billion in local and state incentives were being given to the company to locate its second U.S. production facility on the site.

The four-county Joint Development Authority and the state government have filed a joint 404 Permit application that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is now reviewing, officials said. The permit is required for any construction project and regulates the discharge of dredged or fill material into streams and rivers.

Morgan County will receive 14.25%, or almost $43 million, of the taxes received in the PILOT agreement. Newton will receive more than $90 million of the total because it has about a 32% share of any taxes received from business parks the JDA operates.

The agreement spelled out the amount the company will give in payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) which could total $300 million over 25 years and be shared between the JDA's four counties, including Jasper, Morgan, Newton and Walton.

The Board of Tax Assessors on May 25 approved the Morgan County part of the Rivian site's designation as tax-exempt because the company eventually will be leasing the site from the state government.

Under the agreement, Georgia state government will acquire the land from the JDA and lease it to Rivian. The state government, like other public entities in Georgia, does not pay property taxes on land it owns.

Christy told Anton the Board's "adopted procedures for its regularly scheduled monthly meetings" require a "public forum at 9 a.m. prior to the start" of the monthly meeting "which you specifically prohibited."

"Public forum" allows the public to ask questions" or make comments to the Board, Christy wrote.

In addition, he said that "compounding this irregularity was the fact that you called upon and allowed the Board to hear public comments from the proponent of a matter under consideration by the Board at its meeting."

"However, you refused to allow any comments from those in opposition. Allowing public comment by only the proponents of a request, while prohibiting comment from those opposed, is a fundamental denial of due process which impugns the fairness and integrity of the entire proceeding."

He also said another "irregularity" was Anton's "outright refusal to allow a Board member to offer an amendment to the motion you made to approve the PILOT Agreement."

The "applicable rules governing the procedures of the Board does not grant the Chair the right to refuse to consider a motion from another member, but rather requires that a call for a second of such motion be permitted. The unilateral refusal to consider this motion was improper," Christy wrote.

During the meeting, Anton rejected a request from board member John Artz, husband of opposition leader JoEllen Artz, to "get a second opinion" on the legality of the site's tax-exempt status. She said the Board had enough time to determine if it could legally act on the request. 

Christy also said consideration of the PILOT agreement at an April meeting was ruled invalid because of improper public notice. The Board had voted to table consideration of the agreement at the meeting.

"Similarly, the failure to follow the Board's procedures also invalidates the vote taken on May 25 to approve the PILOT agreement."

However, JDA officials released a statement saying the Board “lawfully approved the agreement by a majority vote at a duly noticed public meeting on May 25.

“In addition, the public was given an opportunity to comment and ask questions of the Morgan (Board of Assessors) and the JDA’s attorneys at its April 27 meeting. The Rivian project followed the same BOA approval process and received the same treatment as other tenants of Stanton Springs.

Morgan County government attorney Christian Henry told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution a previous meeting allowed public comment.