State law calls into question $30,000 in past donations to Caledonia”s park, which caused the Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority to funnel $100,000 from the town this week.
CLRA”s two governing bodies, the city council and the board of supervisors, are forbidden by law to give money to municipalities like Caledonia. But the CLRA, which is funded by the city and county, has given $15,000 twice to the town, once in 2009 and once in 2010, for capital improvements, according to town records.
The Mississippi Code Annotated Section 17-13-15 seems to indicate that interlocal agreements forming agencies like the CLRA must abide by the same laws as their governing bodies.
“All laws in regard to purchases, auditing, depositories and expenditures in general which limit the authority of the agreeing local governing units shall also apply to any joint body created by the agreement pursuant to the provisions of this chapter,” the law states.
CLRA attorney Will Cooper said he plans to request an attorney general”s opinion asking whether his board can give money to Caledonia.
“I wouldn”t say the donations were necessarily illegal,” Cooper added. “But I wouldn”t recommend making another.”
Board of Supervisors President Harry Sanders and Columbus City Council attorney Jeff Turnage both doubted that CLRA was prohibited from funneling the money to municipalities.
CLRA Executive Director Roger Short said that if the donations were illegal, the board would not seek reimbursement from Caledonia.
“We”re not going after them to do anything like that,” Short said.
However, he added, Caledonia shouldn”t expect future donations.
“Now that we know how it”s supposed to be done, we”re trying to do it,” Short said.
CLRA first learned of the law when the county supervisors” attorney, Tim Hudson, requested an attorney general”s opinion on a separate issue.
The opinion, issued Oct. 19, concluded that MCA Section 19-3-40 prohibited supervisors from giving county funds to a municipality.
The previous month, Caledonia Mayor George Gerhart sent a request to CLRA for $100,000 “for our new land acquisition,” an expansion to Ola J. Pickett Park.
On Sept. 21, Short sent a letter to County Administrator Ralph Billingsley asking that supervisors release the funds to CLRA, which would “forward a check to the Town of Caledonia.”
After Short discovered the mistake, Cooper drafted a proposal that recommended the town and CLRA go in together to buy roughly 20 acres adjacent to the park for $120,000.
“Our concern was that the money was coming from the county,” Short said. “I sure didn”t want the state audit department saying the county was circumventing regulations.”
The proposal would have given CLRA an 83-percent ownership in the property for $100,000. Caledonia would have made up the $20,000 difference for a 17-percent share.
According to the proposal, Caledonia would have had “unfettered access to the property” and would be responsible for “any and all improvements made on the property as well as upkeep.”
The town could also have bought out the CLRA”s interest at any time for the fair market value of the property.
Short and Cooper went to Caledonia to discuss the proposal at the town aldermen meeting Dec. 7, but were not given an opportunity to explain the proposal or the consequences of rejecting it.
“We never got past step one because we weren”t allowed to speak at the meeting,” Cooper said.
Aldermen proceeded to vote to buy the property without CLRA”s assistance, avoiding CLRA part-ownership and barring themselves from receiving the $100,000, Short said.
Caledonia continues to be the only municipality in the county without a CLRA facility.
Gerhart sent a second letter Dec. 22 to Short asking that the $100,000 be given to the town for “future development of the park.”
Short replied Dec. 30, telling Gerhart that the money had only been meant for land acquisition, not development.
Because of this, Short continued, he would recommend to his board that they give the money to upgrade the existing CLRA facility in Crawford, which they did Wednesday.
“Clearly, once Caledonia rejected the money, CLRA could do something else with it,” Short said.
“They lost $100,000, which to me was pretty ludicrous.”
Although supervisors gave the money to CLRA specifically for Caledonia, Cooper said the CLRA had the authority to give it to Crawford.
The move caught aldermen completely off guard, Gerhart said. Instead of taking two years to develop the expansion, the park will now take much longer.
“We”re going to survive,” he said. “We”ll have to survive.”
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