The head of Augusta’s embattled land bank authority, Shawn Edwards, offered explanations for a Jamaica trip, large cash advances and other questionable spending at an unadvertised Wednesday meeting.
The chairman of the Augusta, Georgia Land Bank Authority, Tax Commissioner Chris Johnson, admitted at the meeting the quasi-government entity “belongs to the board of commissioners” and promised increased oversight of its spending.
After the meeting, the ex-officio Augusta Commissioner on the authority, Alvin Mason, said the commission will take a hard look at the makeup of the land bank, both its four city staff designees and three community members.
“We need more teeth; we need more checks and balances,” Mason said. “Everything’s on the table for me.”
Last month, the Augusta Press brought to light seemingly exorbitant spending on fine dining, liquor and travel and raised questions about oversight and operations at the land bank.
One of the more questionable spending items, travel to Jamaica, Edwards claimed Wednesday was compensation for a guest speaker at the land bank’s land development conference in October.
“The trip from Kingston, Jamaica, was for your land development conference in 2023,” he said. For the speaker, actor Malik Yoba, “in lieu of waiving his speaking engagement fee, we paid for his flight and hotel,” Edwards said.
Another item, a $4,000 cash advance made ahead of a trip to Tampa, Fla., and back-to-back trip to Cleveland, Ohio, Edwards said was necessary after Cadence Bank informed him the credit card used for the trip had been compromised.
“So, day-of-trip, we had to figure out something that would allow us to continue to have that trip,” he said.
He and Johnson went to Tampa “to be able to vet a developer looking to make an investment in the Richmond County area,” Edwards said.
“What they plan to build and put on the ground, it’s a product that does not exist here,” he said.
The rental housing would be suitable for entry-level teachers up to cyber personnel, he said.
A $1,620 expense was for the land bank to detach from the city’s system and create its own website, Edwards said.
Another costly bar tab was the result of an after-hours event desiring to relocate from Edgar’s Above Broad, in part because Edgar’s was hosting a trivia night.
“We didn’t want to have adults drinking around children,” Edwards said.
Edwards didn’t address a $700 meal in Brooklyn, N.Y., but said his role requires entertaining clients. A $90 meal at Twin Peaks led to “three properties selling,” he said.
Johnson said the land bank wouldn’t entertain at adult-themed venues anymore.
Of its member appointments, Johnson said community appointees Karen Gordon and Lauren Dallas had requested they be reappointed to another term, while Pastor Mike Hearon lacked time to serve another term.
“He believes in the land bank; he likes the land bank, he just can’t make it,” Johnson said.
As for the authority’s other four members, their “names are irrelevant, as they are positions on that board,” Johnson said.
Johnson said the authority would vote on its preferences and seek commission approval for them.
The land bank authority was formed in the 1990s, but as recently as 2019, the commission voted to affirm by resolution its current structure, with its current four department heads and three at-large community members. With staggered terms of two, three and four years, all would now be serving expired terms.
The land bank’s advertised regular meeting date is the first Wednesday of the month, which was Dec. 6.
Augusta’s land bank has traditionally served as a repository for unwanted or transitioning properties for the purpose of redevelopment, but critics say the authority picks and chooses among those it will help. Prior to the expense discussion, the authority approved several property items:
• Foreclosing on 1106 Summer St. for a next-door neighbor to expand his Airbnb, according to Edwards. The current owner is “more than a year’s delinquent” on taxes and the sale price was $4,700, he said.
• Foreclosing on 1404 Wrightsboro Road at the request of Edith Peebles with Laney-Walker Development Corp. at a sale price of $7,000.
• Foreclosing on 1309 12th St. at the request of S. Trotty, who Edwards said intends to use to expand and reopen a nearby restaurant.
• Receive the purchase by Augusta Housing and Community Development of 1622 Cider Lane, misidentified on the agenda as Cedar Lane, for $157,500.
• Foreclose on 829 Sibley St. for its 831 Sibley St. neighbor to combine with her lot, at a sales price of $7,500.
• Sell to Alex Winfrey of Outside the Box Investors four lots in the Marion Homes subdivision for $30,800. The lots are 501 and 523 Fairhope St., 519 Dupont St. and 103 McElmurray Drive. Winfrey said the plan is to build new duplexes on the partially demolished lots.
