Commissioner Heiskell says she’s finalizing a deal to pay $60,000 a year in RENT for the closed Covenant Bank building in Rock Spring.

Lease arrangement, which will last fifteen years and eventually give the county ownership in the distressed property, would more than cover the annual salary of a deputy or fire fighter, or allow each county library branch to hire one new employee.

WQCH Radio, 12/05/14: “COMMISSIONER BEBE HEISKELL SAID WEDNESDAY, IT APPEARS THE WAY HAS BEEN CLEARED FOR WALKER COUNTY TO LEASE-PURCHASE THE FORMER STEARNS BANK BUILDING AT ROCK SPRING.

“THE COUNTY PLANS TO MOVE THE TAX COMMISSIONER, PLANNING AND ZONING AND TAX ASSESSORS OFFICES OUT OF ANNEX 3, THE FORMER KITCHENS CLINIC ON SOUTH MAIN IN LAFAYETTE, TO THE EMPTY STEARNS BANK BUILDING. DUE TO RECURRING MOLD AND DAMPNESS PROBLEMS, HEISKELL SAID THE PRESENT LOCATION IS ‘NOT SAFE FOR THE EMPLOYEES’ AND THEY ARE ANXIOUS TO MOVE TO THE MORE MODERN AND CENTRALLY-LOCATED OFFICE SPACE.

“HEISKELL SAID STEARNS HAS AGREED TO 15 YEARS OF LEASE-PURCHASE PAYMENTS FROM THE COUNTY, AT A RATE OF $4 PER SQUARE FOOT. ‘THAT’S A GREAT DEAL’, HEISKELL SAID. THE AGREEMENT HAS NOT YET BEEN FORMALLY ACCEPTED BY THE COUNTY. ‘WE’LL DO THAT IN A PUBLIC MEETING’, SHE SAID.

“HEISKELL TOLD WQCH NEWS THAT THE CITY OF LAFAYETTE HAS EXPRESSED AN INTEREST IN THE KITCHENS CLINIC ANNEX BUILDING, AND SHE SAID ‘IF THEY REQUEST IT, I’LL BE GLAD TO GIVE IT TO THEM.. THEY CAN FIX IT UP OVER TIME’.”

That $60,000 annual figure comes from Heiskell’s statement of $4 per square foot. Normally that’s an annual rate, and the building is 15,000 sqf per news reports from the time it was built, which works out to $60k a year – or $900,000 over the fifteen years.

One good thing about it: if you go in that mansion to pay your taxes, there won’t be any doubt in your mind why they had to go up.   

A federal judge has postponed the January foreclosure of Hutcheson until a court appeal filed by Hutcheson from another case is completed. That appeal could take months, or years.

Eventually the appeal will fail and foreclosure will move forward – even the hospital’s CEO says it only “buys them time” not delays the inevitable. (A little more time for him to continue running the ship aground while still being paid.)

If foreclosure is delayed indefinitely, no bank or business will ever lend Hutcheson another dime again because they’ll have no guarantee – or even a good chance – of getting their money back.

Meanwhile Hutcheson is reopening its OBGYN/maternity/pediatric services that closed a year ago. But they shut down the walk-in urgent care clinic on Battlefield Parkway.

The only consistency Hutcheson leadership can claim is consistency in bad decision-making.   

Monday at 10 AM LaFayette’s expanded Duke Street library reopened to the public, receiving almost universally rave reviews.

The opening took place more than three years after the library closed and relocated to a closed grocery store on North Main; that temporary site for a while risked becoming the library’s permanent home when renovations shut down for over six months because of county budget shenanigans. (Ultimately library renovations became a political pawn and were only finished after the Sole Commissioner got her SPLOST tax renewed and finally delivered funds promised from a previous SPLOST cycle.)

Opponents of library renovation, and of library funding in general, have claimed the service is only used by the homeless and has no purpose in the Internet age, but on Monday over 800 items were checked out – mostly by people who have jobs, pay taxes, and live in houses.

Current library hours are Mon 10-6, Tue 10-5, Thu 10-7, and Fri 10-4.       

Ringgold woman, 43-year-old Christine Evelyn Baughman, arrested for abusing her 11-year-old son. The boy, who was allegedly beaten -beyond spanked- with a belt, was adopted from the Ukraine a year ago along with a brother. Both boys have been taken into care while authorities investigate.

Baughman and her pediatrician husband, Dr. Henry Baughman, are owners and employees of Promise Pediatrics in Ringgold.

Lawyers representing the couple released a statement denying the abuse. Per their press release, Ms. Baughman “..wants to assure the community that she is innocent of these allegations that have been made against her.”     

It’s that time of year… Another day, another house fire.

Home destroyed yesterday at 2482 E. Broomtown. No injuries reported.   

LaFayette’s Thanksgiving holiday was disrupted by fires that destroyed two different homes, one early Thanksgiving morning and the other early the next day.

The first fire, on Kaufmann Road, was called in to fire crews around 3:30 AM on Thanksgiving. A man living in the home was injured in the fire, and several puppies died in the blaze. The house and vehicles parked nearby were completely destroyed, leaving a family of four homeless.

Flames spread into woods near the house but was contained by county fire crews before any other properties were endangered.   

County, city, and prison fire fighters were called to the second blaze at 408 First Street, a few blocks away from old LaFayette High School, a little before 2 AM on Friday.

A propane tank near the house complicated firefighting and led to the evacuation of nearby homes. Extinguishing the blaze took nearly five hours and left the Coalson family without a home. The family wasn’t home when the blaze began.         

“Several hundred” people showed up at Second Baptist for an afternoon Thanksgiving meal. Another 300+ free meals were delivered through the community to the elderly and home-bound.

Showing thanks by giving back.     

Sunday night around 11:30 LaFayette fire crews responded to a house fire on Fortune Street in Linwood.

The blaze turned out to be a kitchen accident. A mom cooking late at night was distracted at a neighbor’s house, then returned to her own rental home an hour later to find smoke and flame.

(Who cooks dinner at 10:30 at night for five kids?)     

Friday night 73-year-old Freddie Wooten of Dade County disappeared. He was last seen driving on Lula Lake Rd. heading to pick up a relative, but never arrived at his destination.

Sunday evening a vehicle matching the description of Wooten’s minivan was found in a swimming pool off Brow Rd. in Chattooga County, and a body found inside was later identified as the missing septuagenarian.

No foul play is suspected in the disappearance and death, but an autopsy will confirm how he died. Family members suggest the man may have suffered a stroke earlier in the week, contributing to the accident.       

Harris Blackwood, director of the Georgia Office of Highway Safety, was recently ordered to take “sensitivity training” after making inappropriate sexual comments to various employees on multiple occasions.

Department insiders say Blackwood isn’t just inappropriate, he’s incompetent. And one local who’s worked with him before describes the man to LU as a “bumbling idiot.”

Blackwood is a former newspaper editor (and current op-ed writer) who was appointed to run the OHS office after helping with Gov. Deal’s 2010 election campaign. Despite his recent behavior problems, Deal’s office says he still has the governor’s full support.

Politicians appointing former newspaper reporters, who took their sides, to well-paid positions they’re not qualified for. Are we talking about Nathan Deal or Bebe Heiskell?

This loser is to state government what Larry Brooks is to the county.   

As reported, Wednesday night one of Hutcheson’s many boards voted to put the hospital in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Unfortunately the purpose of that move isn’t to fix the hospital’s problems or protect taxpayers from being held responsible for millions in debt – it’s only intended to delay and complicate Erlanger’s efforts to foreclose.

Bankruptcy does nothing get Walker or Catoosa out of trouble; both counties will be left owing over $20 million each in hospital debt regardless of Hutcheson staying open or closing. A bankruptcy filing only prolongs the inevitable and protects current Hutcheson administrators’ jobs (for now) while the place continues to burn down financially.

The bankruptcy filing highlights again how complex the hospital is structured, with multiple boards all in charge and none of them accountable to the taxpayer. The filing also shows Hutcheson’s priorities over the last few years: An included list of creditors shows lots of lawyers and bill collectors owed money by the failing medical center, and very little owed to suppliers of medical services or equipment.

During the final court-ordered public hearing for Hutcheson, in Dade earlier this week, the CEO asked people to pray for the hospital, continued pretending a foreclosure would be a bad thing, and said they’ve added MORE BOARDS to the hospital’s existing half-dozen boards to “fix” what’s broken.

What’s needed to fix what’s broken at Hutcheson is a complete clean sweep of management. The only way to GET that soon is to allow foreclosure to move forward so a new owner can restructure the hospital – the very thing current leaders are spending time and money to block.     

OSHA has cited Nissin Brake for multiple serious safety violations. If not corrected, safety issues could cost the company $53,000 – and could cost employees dying, or at least being seriously injured.

Specific problems cited include removing safety guards and lock-outs so machinery doesn’t run while being serviced, poor employee training, and not providing employees with proper safety equipment.   

Walker County has been given a fake award by the state for landing the Audia Plastics warehouse deal in Noble.

Other counties that won the same award landed deals bringing hundreds of new jobs into their communities, but Walker County and Audia have yet to nail down ANY kind of job numbers for the $24-million SPLOST project.

Other examples of the award: Bryan County got mid-size community award for a deal bringing in 180 jobs. Douglas County got an award for a deal guaranteeing work for 550 by 2019. So how many jobs do WE get for the $24 million SPLOST project?

UPDATE: After LU again called out the county, and state, for not releasing job figures related to the Audia Plastics development deal, some numbers were sent out to the media.

Per WQCH, the finished factory on a former farm in Noble (projected to cost the county $24 million plus tax breaks) will employ 150.

WQCH Radio, 11/20/14: “WHAT HAD BEEN HELD AS A RATHER ‘CLOSELY GUARDED SECRET’ WAS REVEALED AT AN AWARDS CEREMONY MONDAY: AUDIA INTERNATIONAL WILL EMPLOY AROUND 150 WORKERS WHEN PRODUCTION BEGINS NEXT YEAR. THOSE EMPLOYEES WILL EARN A HIGHER-THAN-AVERAGE WAGE FOR THIS AREA, ACCORDING TO STATE OFFICIALS.

“THE NEW AUDIA PLANT SIZE HAS ALREADY BEEN DOUBLED SINCE THE PROJECT BEGAN. IT WILL COVER OVER 280-THOUSAND SQUARE FEET, WITH 54-MILLION DOLLARS INVESTED IN THE PROJECT. AUDIA IS AN INTERNATIONAL SUPPLIER TO THE PLASTICS INDUSTRY. THE WALKER COUNTY PLANT IS SLATED TO OPEN IN THE THIRD QUARTER OF 2015.”

If true, that’s good news. But it’s hard to believe, considering Audia’s largest existing sites around the globe employ less than 100 people each.

They originally said the place would open this fall, then next spring. By the time this is said and done it’ll be projected to open after the 2016 elections and this will be the current commissioner’s main campaign effort.

Also, higher than the average wage isn’t necessarily a lot. $8 an hour would probably top what a lot of people make in Walker County. Don’t hold your breath on this until you actually see people hired, working, and being paid.