COVINGTON, Ga. — Two officials last week denied using a proposed, uniform lease agreement for county-owned community buildings as a way to remove a Black-owned nonprofit from one property.

Continued use of four county-owned community centers would require standard lease agreements under a plan proposed by Interim County Manager Jarvis Sims and County Attorney Patrick Jaugstetter as a way to protect the county against liability.

It also would require current users of the T.K. Adams Band Room near the Cousins School complex on Geiger Street and the Almon Community House on Mt. Tabor Road to apply for leases by Aug. 5 or vacate the buildings on Aug. 6.

District 3 Commissioner Alana Sanders complained during the Tuesday, June 7, Board of Commissioners meeting that the Almon Community House had been managed by a volunteer — Chuck Berry — for years without a lease but the nonprofit Newton County Historical Committee on Black Heritage Preservation had occupied the historic T.K. Adams Band Room only a few months and the county was demanding a new lease be signed.  

Sanders said she had raised the issue of the Almon Community House operating without a lease and insurance and being told it was "OK."

"When the African-American Historical Committee ... moved into the facility, now we have an issue," she said. "I have a problem with that.

"We're always quoting discrimination because we have three African-Americans sitting on this board and anything we say, everybody wants to say discrimination.

"But when we look at this right now, it is blatant and clear that you have allowed a tenant to be in a property ... you want to talk about liability now but when I brought this up last year, it was OK because it's 'tradition.'

"What about the liability, what about the insurance, what about all those things when we have allowed this to occur for 12-plus years?" she said.

"I'm going to speak out on what's right and what's wrong and I'm going to do it every day, all day. And this is wrong.  

"We are using this (commission) agenda for strategic and personal reasons and it needs to stop in this county right now," Sanders said. 

"Diversity is here and it's going to stay and if we're going to work together and we're going to call ourselves OneNewton ... we need to stop this mess right now," she said.

She also said it was "asinine" to expect commissioners to vote on a 42-page agreement when seeing it for the first time the morning before the meeting.

But Jaugstetter said he viewed creation of a standard lease as a way to "sort of hit the reset button." He said it was important to have a uniform procedure for handling lessees so no one community center operator believes any others have a "better deal."

He said he was "taken aback" that there was no uniform lease agreement and that some community centers were operating without leases.

"This was not written to get rid of any of your existing tenants," he said.

Currently, "you've got an arrangement that requires a historical knowledge" of the centers and their operators, Jaugstetter said.

"It shouldn't be that way," he said.

Sims, who began in his current position in March, said there was "no ill will intended" toward anyone using or leasing the county properties, but he saw a problem with the current system.

"I would not be doing my job as interim county manager," he said, in explaining why he felt action was needed.

Sims said he only saw there was no standard policy and was not aware of past relationships and agreements with community center users.

"That's the advantage of hiring outside," said Sims, who is a former administrator for the city of Augusta.

"I don't know one community from another. I'm just doing my job."

District 5 Commissioner Ronnie Cowan said he saw a requirement for community centers to have leases and insurance as a "legal matter." He suggested not requiring anyone to leave until the Board comes to an agreement on how it should handle leases.

Jaugstetter suggested throwing out parts of the proposed resolution that contain deadlines for signing a lease and merely require they submit applications by Aug. 5.

District 1 Commissioner Stan Edwards said he believed any lease needed to differentiate between the kinds of services each community center performs. He noted some offer programming and have staffs while others only host events.

Jaugstetter asked that he and Sims be allowed to revise the resolution to address differentiating between centers' functions and prohibiting alcohol usage and weapons.

During a Citizen Comments section at the end of the meeting, Thelma Nolley said that Sanders should have been given the proposed resolution "three weeks ago." Annette Austin told the Board she was concerned that Adams Band Room occupant Terri James was a political "target" for others on the Board. 

James has been critical of some on the Board about lack of county funding from the annual budget for the annual Juneteenth parade. Board members have said she needed to go through the process of applying for the funding just as other nonprofits do.  

Archie Shepherd said it was "ridiculous to to see what's going on" concerning the Band Room lease and noted the importance of the historic building to the county's Black community.

"Now y'all are trying to railroad her," he said, in reference to James. "That band room means something to us."