County Commission Rejects Effort as Premature to Make Offer on Property or Begin Imminent Domain Action

June 26, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

After adopting on Monday night a property tax increase of 51 cents and an initial and detailed bond resolution of up to $65 million for construction of a judicial center or jail, the county commission’s next move is to decide which option and where to build it.

For one, Commissioner Andy Pack is ready to move and made a motion during Monday night’s regular monthly meeting to make an offer on the 38-acre Peggy Hayes property near Walmart for the appraised value and to begin imminent domain proceedings if she turns down the county’s offer. Pack said the site is the county’s best option for building a judicial center with 190 inmate beds.

The commission rejected Pack’s motion on an 11 to 3 vote.

The Hayes property, which is currently open farmland once owned by Hayes’ father the late Rex Hayes, is situated in the heart of Smithville in the area off West Broad Street and behind Anthony Avenue, Morgan Drive, and Short Street near the housing projects in the vicinity of Walmart. The county commission first considered the property last fall but couldn’t come to terms with Hayes on the purchase price.

“This property consists of 38.6 acres plus or minus,” said Commissioner Pack. “That (this property) would provide us with (space for) other projects in the future that have been discussed. We have fueling projects (county fueling station) that we could bring in-house to cut out the middleman. We could save all these shop fees on service to our county fleet (vehicles) in the future,” Pack continued.

“In October 2023 we paid $3,500 for a certified real estate appraiser to come in and appraise the (Hayes) property. That appraisal was $1,485,000. I would like to make a motion to start the bid process and construction process of a 190-bed facility on that piece of property and start the purchasing process of that property for the $1,485,000. That is for a 190-bed judicial center on that property. This is centrally located. It’s the best piece of property that would accommodate DeKalb County in lots of different areas not only now but in the future. I think that is the best move at where we are at,” said Commissioner Pack.

Voting in favor in addition to Pack were Commissioners Larry Green and Glynn Merriman. Commissioners opposed were Beth Pafford, Myron Rhody, Mathias Anderson, Daniel Cripps, Susannah Cripps, Tom Chandler, Tony (Cully) Culwell, Greg Matthews, Jeff Barnes, Sabrina Farler, and Tony Luna.

Commissioner Greg Matthews said he would never vote to take someone else’s property by imminent domain.

“I will never vote to take somebody’s property. I think there are other places that have more land not surrounded by a bunch of neighborhoods,” he said.

Commissioner Mathias Anderson said Pack’s motion was premature and other property locations should be considered.

“I feel like essentially voting on an imminent domain is putting us way ahead of ourselves,” said Commissioner Anderson. “I think we need to identify the available options that are in the county and then we need to speak to the city and say these are our options and would you annex this into the city. If they say no, then we will identify options already within the city and go from there. I feel we are putting the cart way ahead of the horse here to say we are only going to look at this one property (Hayes) and then potentially go to the imminent domain process when we have not officially gotten an answer from the people who could say yes or no on annexation,” said Commissioner Anderson.

City officials have signaled an unwillingness to annex any property into the City limits of Smithville if its purpose is for a county jail or judicial center.

June 25, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

18-year-old Allyson Roxanne Fuller is the 2024 DeKalb County Fairest of the Fair. She was crowned queen Monday evening on opening night of the Fair.

Fuller is the daughter of Anthony and Amanda Fuller of Smithville.

She succeeds the retiring queen Kenlee Renae Taylor, the 19-year-old daughter of Ken and Cindy Taylor of Smithville. Fuller was also named Miss Congeniality of the pageant.

First runner-up in the Fairest of the Fair event was Jasmen Faith Chapman of Smithville, 17-year-old daughter of Debbie Miller and Jamie Chapman.

Second runner-up was Shaelee Foster, 17-year-old daughter of Margie and Doyne Glass of Sparta. She was also judged Most Photogenic

Meanwhile, the 2024 Junior Fair Princess of the DeKalb County Fair is Ellie Caroline Ray.

The 14-year-old daughter of Shayne and Kandi Ray, Ellie was among 13 contestants in the pageant Monday evening.

She succeeds the retiring Junior Fair Princess, Ansley Faith Cantrell, the 17-year-old daughter of Tony and Amee Cantrell of Smithville.

The first runner-up was Baylei Anne Benson of Smithville, 13-year-old daughter of Karey and John Washer and Christopher Benson.

Second runner-up was McKenna Reece Miller of Dowelltown, 16-year-old daughter of Christen and Charles Cox and David Miller. She was also named Most Photogenic.

Cali Beth Agee was Miss Congeniality. She is the 16-year-old daughter of Kevin and Jennifer Agee of Smithville.

Meanwhile, 39-year-old Brandi Liggett of Smithville was crowned the 2024 Miss Fair Queen of the DeKalb County Fair for contestants ages 21-54 on Monday night.

She succeeds the retiring queen 40-year-old Amanda Joy Ford of Smithville.

Brandi said she is a working mom of two children, Kaylee and Thomas. She loves to go shopping and spending time with family and friends. Although life has been challenging, Brandi said with the help of family and friends she has overcome a lot and looks forward to the future.

June 25, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

For the second year in a row, your county property taxes are going up!

During Monday night’s regular monthly county commission meeting, County Mayor Matt Adcock, as chairman of the commission, cast not one but two tiebreaking votes including one for a 51-cent tax increase putting the new tax levy at $2.51 per $100 of assessed value and another giving the county authorization for an initial bond resolution for up to $65 million to build a judicial center/jail. The commission was deadlocked at 7 to 7 on both crucial votes before County Mayor Adcock broke the tie in each case.

The public can have a voice on the bond resolution to fund the judicial center/jail project.

According to terms of the public notice, “the public has 20 days from the date of publication to file with the county clerk a petition signed by at least 10% of the registered voters of the county protesting the issuance of the bonds”. That could force a referendum.

This marks the second year in a row that the county property tax rate has been increased. Last year property owners were saddled with a 27-cent increase with the rate at that time going from $1.7308 cents to $2.00 per $100 of assessed value. The entire 51 cent increase this year will go to the debt service fund to support the proposed judicial center/jail project.

Commissioners voting in favor of the $2.51 property tax levy (51 cent increase) were Jeff Barnes, Andy Pack, Tony (Cully) Culwell, Glynn Merriman, Mathias Anderson, Larry Green, Tom Chandler, and Chairman-County Mayor Adcock. Voting against were Commissioners Daniel Cripps, Susannah Cripps, Sabrina Farler, Greg Matthews, Myron Rhody, Beth Pafford, and Tony Luna.

The original proposal was to increase the total tax levy by 61 cents to $2.61 per $100 of assessed value but the commission, during an earlier vote in the meeting, removed the 10 cent increase to schools ($630,000) and instead allocated another $370,000 from the local purpose (sales tax) fund giving schools a total contribution annually of $1,910,000 which is an increase from the $1,540,000 the county has been allocating from the sales tax fund each year for school operation.

Commissioners voting in favor of removing the 10-cent property tax increase and adding the $370,000 in sales tax funding to schools were Glynn Merriman, Mathias Anderson, Andy Pack, Daniel Cripps, Susannah Cripps, Jeff Barnes, Tony (Cully) Culwell, Myron Rhody, Sabrina Farler, Larry Green, Tony Luna, and Tom Chandler. Voting against was Beth Pafford and Greg Matthews abstained.

On the Initial $65 million Bond Resolution, Commissioners voting in favor were Jeff Barnes, Andy Pack, Tony (Cully) Culwell, Mathias Anderson, Glynn Merriman, Larry Green, Tom Chandler and Chairman- County Mayor Adcock. Voting against were Commissioners Sabrina Farler, Daniel Cripps, Susannah Cripps, Greg Matthews, Myron Rhody, Beth Pafford, and Tony Luna.

The subsequent detailed bond resolution for up to $65 million for the judicial center/jail project was adopted on an 8 to 6 vote by the commission. Voting in favor were Tom Chandler, Glynn Merriman, Tony Luna, Larry Green, Andy Pack, Mathias Anderson, Jeff Barnes, and Tony (Cully) Culwell. Voting against were Beth Pafford, Myron Rhody, Greg Matthews, Daniel Cripps, Susannah Cripps, and Sabrina Farler.

Commissioner Matthews said while he favors the county building a justice center, he doesn’t like the way the bond resolution is written which could include funding for other projects such as a fire truck or ambulances.

Steve Bates, the county’s fiscal agent, explained that while the county could only borrow up to $65 million under terms of the bond resolution and would borrow only what is needed up to that amount for funding a judicial center/jail project, excess proceeds and interest income from the bonds could be used for other expenditures identified in the bond resolution such as county building improvements or purchases of emergency vehicles.

“You are only going to borrow what you need to pay for the project (judicial center/jail) plus cost of issuance,” said Bates. “If you have any excess proceeds, you can spend it on something else. You can’t borrow in excess of what you need under the law and you can only spend bond proceeds for whatever is defined in the bond resolution. If the bid comes in at $59 million you sell $59 million in bonds but you don’t know how much bond premium or interest income you’re going to get. I’ll calculate that after bonds are issued. If you earn a half million dollars or $700,000 more in interest or excess proceeds than I calculate, you can use that money for items defined in that bond resolution. If not, you’ll have to find another way to fund those projects,” said Bates.

During a meeting in mid-May, the budget committee voted unanimously to include in the bond resolution, when sent to the county commission for approval, a total of $910,000 ($425,000 for a new fire truck and a total of $485,000 for two new ambulances) to be funded from any excess proceeds or interest income from the bonds.

The reason for the move was to keep from having to spend so much from the county’s capital projects budget in 2024-25. That fund is designated for capital outlay expenditures such as building improvements and purchases of county vehicles, etc.

Although it failed earlier in the meeting, the amended appropriations resolution (including non-profits) was ultimately adopted on an 8-5-1 vote with a consolidated budget statement of individual funds (county general, schools, highway department).

Voting in favor were Commissioners Jeff Barnes, Daniel Cripps, Tom Chandler, Larry Green, Andy Pack, Mathias Anderson, Glynn Merriman, and Tony Luna. Voting against were Commissioners Susannah Cripps, Sabrina Farler, Beth Pafford, Tony (Cully) Culwell, and Myron Rhody. Greg Matthews abstained.

Commissioner Culwell said he voted no because he wanted to cut some funding to certain non-profits.

“If we are going to raise our county taxpayers’ dollars, we are going to have to show an effort that we are trying to quit spending money in some places,” said Culwell.

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