A local developer agreed Friday to sell 118 acres of sludge disposal land south of the city to Columbus Light and Water for almost $1 million.
The deal nets Sheffield Construction Inc. owner Russell Sheffield $996,000, or $8,440.68 per acre, for part of his 309 acres along Nashville Ferry Road near Shady Lane.
Sheffield will not receive payment until after he completes the sludge disposal permit process with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.
The process could take another year to complete, if approved by the Golden Triangle Regional Solid Waste Management Authority and the DEQ board, said CL&W attorney Jeff Smith.
The swap has raised the eyebrows of some, including certain members of the board.
One point of concern for some is the wide difference between the two appraisals on the property.
An appraisal by Stewart Stafford put the raw value of the land, not counting the cost of transporting sludge and long-term savings, at $500,000. A second appraisal by Steven Holcomb put the land”s worth at $1.8 million.
Another concern, raised by some board members, was that personalities were involved.
”My friend, your friend”
David Shelton, the CL&W board member who first made a motion to buy the land for $1.18 million in September and again for $996,000 on Oct. 21, has had recent business ties to Sheffield.
According to Lowndes County Chancery Court records and building permits, Shelton and Sheffield have been involved in at least two recent ventures and a third, older one.
This year, Sheffield Construction has reportedly done renovations to the Renasant Bank building at 905 Main St., owned by Shelton.
Before that, Shelton reportedly owned the house at 501 Eighth St. N. built by Sheffield Construction. The property was deeded over to its current owners in 2009.
JR Investments LLC, which financially troubled Sheffield runs and owns 50 percent of, also received a lot from Shelton on Sixth Street North and two lots from his son, Justin Shelton, at 17th Street North and Seventh Street North, for $10 each, Chancery Court records show.
Shelton and Sheffield did not immediately return phone calls.
However, at the CL&W”s October board meeting, Shelton said the board should choose Sheffield”s land for the good of the board.
“We don”t need to be looking at my friend, your friend,” he said then. “We need to look at the future of Columbus Light & Water.”
Smith, after hearing the above information, said Shelton had not acted unethically and had no reason to recuse himself from the vote.
State law is vague about how close is too close for a public official and a businessman to be associated. But the law makes clear that associations are generally frowned on.
“No public servant shall use his official position … to obtain, or attempt to obtain, pecuniary benefit for any relative or any business with which he is associated,” according to the Mississippi Code Annotated.
In the conflict of interest portion of the law, legislators specifically mentioned property sales in the following excerpt:
“…any partner or associate of the elected or appointed official, shall not derive any income from the issuance of any bonds or the disposition of any property…”
Fellow board members Jimmy Graham and Tom Sneed turned in their “no” votes after asking the board to take longer and explore all options, like the $450,000 bid by Ronnie and Donna West LP.
In the days following the vote, Shelton dropped an option he had been holding on Sneed”s townhome on Third Street South.
Sneed, who recently worked for West Brothers Construction although not directly for part-owners Ronnie and Donna West, declined to comment on the incident because it would be “getting into personality issues.”
The Wests, the only other applicants, submitted their 115-acre property for consideration after CL&W began advertising for bids weeks ago.
Chairman Jabari O. Edwards, Shelton and board member Brandy Gardner voted to go with Sheffield, mainly because the Wests had not completed the permit process, cleared timber or purchased engineering permits, they said.
The land also had hydric soil deposits, which may indicate wetlands, according to CL&W General Manager Todd Gale.
Even factoring in the cost to clear the forests, which Ronnie West told Gale he would pay for if he could keep the timber, the West”s property would have cost the city $800,000 or less.
However, the Wests would likely have taken at least a couple years to start and work through the permit process — time Edwards said the board did not have.
Lowndes County administrators told Gale that CL&W may soon lose its iron oxide sludge disposal rights at land near the Lowndes County airport, Edwards said.
While the time to easily dispose of iron oxide sludge may be diminishing quickly, the city just finished paying almost $400,000 to give itself more time to find a new way to dump wastewater sludge.
Sheffield has been planning to sell his land at least since 2009, when the CL&W board began looking for a permanent disposal site for its wastewater and iron oxide sludge.
The board decided to postpone buying land at the time because the wastewater lagoons were reaching capacity and no permitted land was immediately available, Gale said.
Instead, he continued, board members voted to raise the lagoon levees for $368,443, giving themselves at least 20 years to find a permanent disposal area for wastewater sludge.
While there was debate about whether the board had time to choose another option, Sheffield”s ex-wife, Mary Ann West, a relative of Ronnie West, is taking a closer look at the first option.
Her attorney, Jim Helveston of West Point, has requested the two appraisals done for Sheffield”s land, apparently to see if his client should receive any of the proceeds.
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