It took weeks of scouring through public records to determine that the city of Augusta did in fact purchase the dilapidated former Weed School property for $1.3 million, and many commissioners say they were totally unaware of the transaction.
The city hired a commercial appraiser to assess the value of the Weed School in May 2023 which determined the value to be only $255,000.
“I don’t recall that. I never voted for that. I wouldn’t vote to allow them to put up another Bon Air in the middle of Sand Hills,” said District Three Commissioner Catherine McKnight.
District Eight Commissioner Brandon Garrett and District 10 Commissioner Wayne Guilfoyle both say they do not recall an executive session vote, and Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson says he was never asked to sign an affidavit specific to the proposed land deal, as is customary.
“I look over every document that I am asked to sign, and I did not sign anything where the commission specifically authorized a $1.3 million sale,” Johnson said.
District Four Commissioner Al Mason says he was told by District One Commissioner Jordan Johnson that the sale was still in executive session limbo. Johnson mentioned to The Augusta Press Publisher Joe Edge that he thought the deal was in process.
Mason would likely have known all about the land deal since he sits on the board of the Augusta Land Bank; however, records show that Mason was not in attendance at the meeting when the Land Bank board voted to acquire the land on behalf of the city.
Normally, the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) would lay out plans in an Augusta Commission executive session, disclose all associated costs and reveal a funding source.
If the commission accepts the plan, by law, the meeting must be opened back up to the public and a vote taken.
There is no record of this procedure being followed.
At the Aug. 1 full commission meeting, an agenda item stated: “Request to approve submission by the Housing and Community Development Department (HCD) of the amended FY2023 Annual Action Plan, representing $4,430,358 in investment in the housing and service needs of low and moderate income residents of Augusta.”
Located on page 99 of a 444 page packet given to the Augusta Commission at that meeting was a line item stating that federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds in the amount of $940,181.45 was to be used to acquire and rehab the Weed School, and to acquire “additional scattered-site single-family units.”
In other words, if commissioners did read the document buried in the stack, the conclusion would have been that for far less than a million dollars, the city could purchase several properties, including the Weed School, and have enough money left over to refurbish the near 90 year-old building.
However, that scenario is not what played out. The commission did vote, aware or not, to allow HCD to spend the federal HUD money, but the dollar amount actually spent was almost $400,000 more than the document approved by the commission stated, and it was only for one piece of property with zero dollars left over for the rehab work.
The same month as the vote occurred and months before the deal closed, HCD received an environmental assessment of the property and learned that the Weed School building was riddled with asbestos, lead contamination and black mold.
There are no records that show the HCD sought to get a cost estimate on remediation of the carcinogenic materials.
HCD Director Hawthorne Welcher has not returned several calls with a request to comment for this article; however, he did speak to John Clarke, former commissioner and current columnist for The Augusta Press, and indicated that the Weed School building was too far gone and would have to be demolished.
Another twist that made it even harder to determine if a deal had closed is the fact that the city, technically on paper, did not buy the Weed School. Rather, HCD gave the $1.3 million in HUD funds to the Augusta Land Bank, which is a separate quasi-governmental agency, and the Land Bank purchased the property.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
