After noting that the Industrial Authority still hasn’t resolved still hasn’t decided about Sterling Planet’s land purchase offer even though they had a meeting last week at which they could have, with their new executive director and their new chairman, the VDT editorialized today:

The IA promised a future of more open communication.

And yet Tuesday, the board’s attorney refused to answer any questions regarding the potential sale of the land to the company, citing a caveat in the Open Records Act that protects information involved in a current legal issue. The Times issued an Open Records request Tuesday to obtain the information requested or copies of the litigation documents, assuming that since the attorney cited this exemption, there is an active lawsuit over the land sale.

Good point!

The VDT acknowledged its own mistake and moved to correct it:

The Times was trying to help the Authority put the issue to rest once and for all, but the continued refusal to answer questions equates to a continued disdain of the right of the public to know what is happening with land that was purchased with their tax dollars and a project that would have used their tax dollars for years to come.

The Authority’s all volunteer, appointed board doesn’t deserve to continue under a cloud of suspicion. Put the matter to rest. Either you are selling them the land or you are not. But don’t keep operating in the dark.

This would be the Authority that, two weeks after the VDT published a picture of new executive director Andrea Schruijer, doesn’t even have a picture or bio of her on its own website.

Is this what Tom Call meant when he said

“We need to get better at not letting the newspaper dictate our story and tell our own story.”

Get puff pieces in the paper, yet never actually address the issues?

Or maybe the board just isn’t listening to him, since another of his suggestions, to publish a timeline for executive director selection, never seems to have happened. He also said:

“I volunteer my time to make this board better.”

Well, let’s see Tom Call and the other board members make this Authority better, by making it act less like an unaccountable Authority and more like an organization

“for the purpose of developing and promoting the public good and the welfare of the County of Lowndes and the City of Valdosta and their inhabitants”

That’s what VLCIA’s charter from the state says it is supposed to be for.

-jsq

Short Link: