Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Almost five months after county officials and representatives of NextEra/Gulf Power negotiated an agreement whereby the county would receive $3.3 million in direct and service contributions in exchange for rescinding an ordinance that sought to regulate high-voltage transmissions lines, the community may soon see some projects stemming from the deal.
On Thursday evening, Nov. 19, Planning Official Shannon Metty, who sits on the commission-appointed committee tasked with helping decide the community projects to be funded with the NextEra/Gulf Power money, presented the Jefferson County Commission with a few of the projects under consideration.
The proposed projects listed sundry improvements to the Jefferson County Recreation Park on Mamie Scott Drive, including additional playground equipment, enhanced lighting for the baseball fields and walking track and construction of a community center.
Also included in the proposal were upgrades to the Lamont Park and establishment of a Thompson Valley community center.
Commissioners didn’t fail to notice that the estimated costs of the proposals far exceeded the combined million dollars allocated for parks and recreation and public works per the negotiated agreement.
Metty, for example, related that the lightning for the recreation park alone, per Gulf Power’s estimate, came to $1.4 million.
“We asked Gulf Power to break down the cost per section,” Metty said. “How much for the walking track, how much for the baseball field and so on, so that we can get a better idea.”
Meanwhile, the engineer’s estimated cost for the Lamont Park upgrade put the total at $198,215, including playground equipment, rehab of the softball and baseball fields, rehab of the basketball court and fencing.
And the estimated cost for the Thompson Valley community center, including the acquisition of land and erection of 1,500 sq. foot metal building on a concrete slab, came out to $226,000.
“We have a million dollars to work with and it’s already $2 million for the recreation and Lamont parks,” Barfield observed.
County Coordinator Parrish Barwick added, “We’re trying to spend the $1 million four times.”
Officials expressed heartburn with particular estimated costs. Commissioner Betsy Barfield, for example, questioned the high cost of the lighting, noting that the county had upgraded parts of the park’s lighting some four years earlier.
She likewise questioned the viability of the Thompson Valley community center, given its $226,000 price tag and the cost of the playground equipment in general, which she called “astronomical.”
County Coordinator Parrish Barwick’s concern was more focused on the upkeep of the proposed community center at the main recreation park.
“Building the building sounds like a big cost,” he said. “But the maintenance and staffing will take a whole lot more. It could take $75,000 to $100,000 annually for maintenance and staffing. That’s a hard pill to swallow.”
Especially given the current financial uncertainty, he said, noting the downturn in revenues because of the coronavirus pandemic and the hard economic times that might lie ahead. He advised caution.
Barfield agreed.
“Maybe we need to workshop some of this before we pull the trigger on the project,” she said.
Commissioner J. T. Surles, however, was ready to see something happen.
“I feel like we’ve been spinning our wheels on this,” Surles said, referring to the last five months of seeming inactivity on the issue. “I’m ready to pull the trigger and move forward on something. I’d really love to see some action on this.”
Participating in the discussion virtually was Timothy Bryant, senior manager of external affairs for new development at NextEra and the go-between the county and the energy company.
Bryant reaffirmed the county’s million dollars for community-based upgrades, as he called it. But he also reminded the commission that once the transmission line was in place in a year or so, the county would realize another million in taxes.
His message was that the community would see extra revenues coming in that could account for maintenance and staffing costs, and so it shouldn’t sell itself short.
“Like I remind the committee, don’t take a short view on this issue,” Bryant said.
Surles agreed. He definitely wanted to see action on the recreation park to stop the flight of kids to other area parks because of the lack of amenities locally.
“Let’s not overextend the wagon,” Surles said. “But let’s take action. We’ve already lost so many of our youth and families to surrounding counties because they have better facilities.”
In the end, the commission decided to proceed with certain specified improvements at the Mamie Scott and Lamont parks and put off others for a workshop in the near future.
A separate proposal that was definitely shot down involved using some of the money to upgrade the old high school gym on Water Street so that it could serve as an emergency center if necessary. Barfield was dead set against the idea.
“I don’t want the county stuck with the old gym,” she said, referring to the millions that have already been poured into the former high school administration building to renovate it.
To recap the $3.3 million agreement with the county and NextEra, it called for $215,000 of it to be for energy and conservation; $500,000 for parks and recreation; $500,000 for public works; and $2 million for emergency management.
Gulf Power is a subsidiary of NextEra. It is the one actually installing the 175-mile long, 161Kv transmission line that will be connecting substations in Columbia and Jackson counties and coming across Jefferson County in the process. The last-minute agreement between the county and NextEra averted the potential litigation over the transmission line.