Legislators at odds over funding requests
BY ANDY POWELLTimes Staff Writer
Sep 19, 2013 at 10:56 PM Sep 20, 2013 at 1:46 PM
The Community Development Committee for House District 28 on Thursday approved emergency funding for the Etowah County Drug Task Force and repairs for Jim Glover Field in Attalla, but turned down seven other funding requests. That sparked sharp words between two members of the county's legislative delegation.
The committee approved $15,000 for the drug task force, which had requested $35,000, and $20,000 for Glover Field.
Committee member Daniel Sizemore sought $7,500 for kitchen equipment at Carver Community Center, $3,500 for the Attalla Junior/Norris Foundation for air conditioning, $5,000 for Etowah High School for advanced biology textbooks, $4,600 for the YMCA of the Coosa Valley for stair treads that are a tripping hazard, $5,000 for Litchfield Middle School for the creation of a baseball team, $25,000 for Quality of Life toward a matching grant of $500,000 and $7,500 for a sound system for Downtown Gadsden Inc.
However, committee member Kent Back blocked those requests, saying Thursday's meeting was advertised to hear emergency funding requests. Back said the others recommended by Sizemore did not meet that criteria and could not be considered under the state's open meeting laws. He said the task force and the stadium were the only requests that should be considered.
Back said he is requesting a general purpose annual meeting within 30 days for the committee to consider all requests, totaling about $1.2 million.
The situation brought sharp remarks from Sen. Phil Williams, R-Rainbow City, who appointed Back and attended the meeting; and Rep. Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, who represents District 28 and appointed Sizemore, and spoke with The Times in an interview.
Williams said Back only knew of the requests from the task force and the stadium when the meeting was set, and Ford "had selected several other requests that he personally wanted to fund."
He added, "I am sick to death of my folks in District 28 having to wonder when their next meeting is," and called the committee a "moving target."
Community Development Committees for Districts 29 and 30 meet in the spring and allocate funds, Williams said, adding, "There are too many political plays set in place in this community development board."
He said Back "had been placed in the untenable position of having to comply with the law to deny potentially worthy projects which were brought to the CDB's emergency meeting for purely political purposes."
Williams said residents of District 28 deserve to know when all grant requests will be considered. He also called for a meeting in 30 days to consider all requests on hand, and said the committee should meet annually.
Sizemore said he would be willing to meet as soon as possible, but would have to check his schedule. He said applications had been "on fire," and he felt the requests he proposed were emergency items.
Ford said he requested the projects be considered for funding at the meeting and that he believes they met the emergency provision.
He said Williams was "out of touch with reality and with his district," and committee members need to decide what is emergency funding.
Ford added, "It's obnoxious to think that one party or one senator thinks he is so self-righteous that he gets to define what is an emergency."
The District 28 committee met after the 2010 elections, according to Ford, while the other committees met prior to it.
He said the committee meets when there is about $300,000 in the account, which is about how much the committees receive annually.
Attalla Mayor Larry Means had requested $67,000 for work the city is doing on restrooms and other needed repairs at the stadium. He said the city had spent $50,000 and quit work when he heard a rumor the request would not be funded.
Means said the stadium continues to have sewer problems and more work needs to be done. He said the city has spent $35,000 on the project and the Attalla Board of Education also has contributed. He said he would not have started the work if he hadn't thought the city could get its money back from the committee.
He thanked the committee for the $20,000, but said he will request additional funding.
The District 29 and 30 committees will meet next week to consider drug task force funding and other emergency requests.