PBA future up in the air

By Joel Davis
of The Daily Times Staff

Jerry Cunnigham

The Public Building Authority may have to close its doors due to lack of funding when two county new schools are finished in 2008. Whether that happens could depend on the Blount County Board of Education’s willingness to continue using the organization on future projects.
According to the 2007 audit of county finances by the State Comptroller of the Treasury’s Office, unless the PBA receives contracts for other projects, it may be forced to lay off employees and terminate all project and facility management activities once Union Grove Elementary and Middle schools, located on Old Grey Ridge Road, open in August 2008.
“With operating funds at a minimum and no other projects scheduled, the PBA may not be able to continue in existence after the two projects are completed,” the auditors wrote.
The audit report also states that County Mayor Jerry Cunningham has advised the PBA board it will not be given any more county projects, but that may not be the final resolution. The Blount County Board of Education still has the ability to contract with the PBA for future projects, if it wishes.
“We’ll just have to look at that on a case-by-case basis,” Cunningham said during an interview Friday. “It’s not always my call if the PBA is given any more projects. If I had my way, they wouldn’t.”
Cunningham said the PBA had proposed some “outlandish contracts” and the agency’s reputation had been tarnished by problems with buckling concrete. He said mold remediation in the courthouse basement ending up costing a fraction of what was estimated by the company suggested by the PBA.
“The original concept the County Commission had for the PBA as a vehicle to facilitate bond issues is very sound,” Cunningham said. “They had no crystal ball to have an insight as to what it would evolve into — it’s grown like an amoeba ... into a minibureaucracy.”
Opinions of the Board of Education members vary about the chances that the PBA will be chosen to manage future school projects.
School board member William “Booty” Miller said his personal opinion is that “at least four of us would be in favor of using it.”
Using the PBA keeps salary costs down at the Blount County Schools Central Office, Miller said.
“If if we didn’t have the work they do, we’d have to hire another supervisor who had (experience) with those type of programs,” he said. “When you hire a classified person to do that all the time, he has the same rights to tenure as other teachers.”
The PBA also has experience that the individual board members do not have, Miller said.
“I’ve not hesitated to use them in the past,” he said. “I know that some people feel the other way, and they feel like we should just go ahead and hire somebody to be boss of the works and eliminate the PBA. ... There have been some instances where we’ve gone through a project and had problems with it, but I really can’t blame them.”
Board member Mike Treadway isn’t sure the PBA will be hired again.
“At this particular point, if I was going to guess, I think these will probably be the last two projects the PBA works on for the school system. I’m one vote — there may be four votes on the board to use the PBA for other projects, but with the turmoil we’ve had over the last ones, I don’t know what will happen. I’ve been very supportive of the PBA.”
Board Chairman Don McNelly said whether to use the PBA again would be a decision for the whole board.
“It’s a total board decision, and I don’t think an individual can really say one way or another,” he said. “I’m aware of some of the controversy that has surrounded the mayor and the PBA, which has served the county well, but whether or not they need all the people, I don’t know.
The PBA’s relationship with Blount County has undergone several changes in 2007.
“The PBA has experienced major operational changes, including requirements for written contracts, as well as a Blount County Commission resolution which made PBA responsible for independent operation,” the auditors wrote.
The Board of Education’s contract, adopted after Cunningham had asked for a written contract to be established with the PBA, is good through August 2008.