Members of the Evans County Board of Education met for a workshop Monday to discuss the two story building currently undergoing renovations to become a Fine Arts Center.
Interim Superintendent Brad Anderson opened the meeting by explaining that board members requested a dedicated work session to go through the invoices paid out on the building to date. The majority of the work has been completed by Lynn Construction, but a handful of payments have also been made to other contractors.
The issue, however, is that no records of a vote by the Board of Education to approve the contract work exist and while the school system has been footing the bill, the school system is not even a party to the contracts. This has placed the Board in a precarious position as it pertains to upcoming financial audits. Now, as the total amount of money funneled into the building approaches $1 million, Board members have decisions to make.
On Monday, Board Members discussed whether or not the outstanding change order and a pay request from August 2025 should be approved.
The ACA and the Two Story Building
The building itself is owned by the Evans County Board of Education and leased to the Arts & Cultural Authority of Claxton and Evans County (ACA). A lease agreement executed on February 16, 2021 and filed in the Clerk of Court’s office the following day lays out the following terms:
- a 50-year lease through December 31, 2071 for $1.00 per year
- BOE is required to provide dates for school events by July 1 of every year, with amendments made by January 1 of the following year.
- BOE is not to be charged to utilize the building for events.
- ACA is responsible for insurance on the building
- ACA has the right to remodel and renovate the entire interior of the building, but not the exterior
- ACA “shall pay” all costs incurred in the remodel and renovations of the building and will hold the BOE harmless from “any and all costs, fees, and expenses of every kind in the restoration and preservation of said building.”
- ACA is responsible for all upkeep, maintenance, taxes, utilities, and operating expenses incurred.
The lease is signed by former Board of Education Chairman Durrell Lynn and ACA Board Member Adam Kennedy.
Presentation from Auditor
Caroline James, a CPA and former accountant for the Georgia Department of Audits & Accounts, was brought in by the superintendent to evaluate all of the invoices paid and the invoices still outstanding. Dr. Anderson asked her to examine the change orders from Lynn Construction and answer questions of the Board.
James worked off of a spreadsheet prepared to compare all invoices paid to date. Among James’ findings:
- Early on, the Board of Education said it would earmark $500,000 for the project. This was an appropriation, but not an approval of expenditures because no contracts had been bid out and the specifics of the project had yet to be determined.
- At some point, there was a decision for the Board of Education to pay $411,700 to Lynn Construction to pay for the renovations. There is no evidence of the Board of Education ever voting on the original $411,700 ‘contract’ and the contract is between the ACA and Lynn Construction.
- The $411,700 in payments is problematic for the Board of Education because the lease agreement indicates that all renovations are the responsibility of the ACA. Both of these things will contribute to negative audit findings in FY 2025 and, if additional payments are made, in FY 2026.
- Despite the $500,000 cap and the $411,700 ‘commitment,’ the Board of Education has already paid out $573,202.84.
- A change order in the amount of $257,875 was submitted in August 2024, but the auditor had trouble determining what exactly made up the change order totals.
- A second change order in the amount of $88,300 was submitted on May 30, 2025 and it has since been determined that ~$53,000 of that $88,300 is a duplication from an amount already billed in the $257,875 change order. The auditor noted that the invoice amount was from February 2024 and it was odd that the invoice would be so old.
The second change order for $88,300 has not yet been paid, but Lynn Construction provided documentation that Marty Waters ‘approved’ the expense.
On top of these expenses, $159,173.72 has already been paid to Lynn Construction between January 2023 and January 2025 for other construction projects on the Two Story building and another $77,856 to other vendors for things like design work and asbestos remediation.
If the Board of Education approves the outstanding $88,300 change order, the total paid out by the BOE for the Two Story Building will total $994,906.
ACA Board Commentary
ACA Board Member Adam Kennedy told the BOE that the ACA was approached about using the auditorium for a Performing Arts Center. He said the ACA didn’t approach the Board of Education, but instead the other way around.
“We were told that hopefully the Board would make a commitment to the project and at that point, it was discussed in the meeting, an architect was there and Dr. Waters was there. And what was said was they’d continue the project and what the school system was billed would be billed to the school system, they would pay Lynn Construction, and that would be credited off the total cost of the overall project.”
Kennedy said everything the school system has paid has been specific to the auditorium. He also said he was under the impression that the Board of Education had approved a commitment of $757,000.
The auditor noted that there is no delineation on the invoices indicating the school systems obligation has been reduced or that payments have been applied. She reiterated that it’s ‘misleading on how it’s being presented.’
Dr. Anderson Outlines Issues with the Process
The project was never a competitively bid project from the Board’s standpoint. While the ACA says it bid out the project, the Board of Education was not a party to that process and is not named in the contract, but has been paying the invoices. He said under state law, if the Board of Education is going to be paying the invoices, they would have had to competitively bid out the services themselves.
He said the Board of Education has continued to make payments on something that was never approved. Dr. Anderson told the room that he refused to sign off on anything further until the Board approves paying the invoices because ‘ultimately, they’re going to continue to be audit findings.’
Funding Source Not as Promised
Adam Kennedy asked for clarification as to whether or not the funding paid by the Board of Education had come from the SPLOST accounts which is ‘paid by everyone.’ He said they’ve been told from the beginning that it was paid for with local sales tax funds.
Dr. Anderson explained that it may have been the intention to pay for these projects with SPLOST funds, but they were paid with local Maintenance & Operations instead. Transfers were made between accounts, including from SPLOST accounts, but were difficult to track with money moved in and moved around. “The vast majority was paid for with M&O, which is the regular operational account.”
BOE Member Joyce Lockwood said she thought she remembered making a motion to pay this money from SPLOST accounts instead of from taxpayer money.
“If that’s not the case, we were all misled. We were told this would all be paid with SPLOST funds. We were told it could only be spent on textbooks, transportation, and construction,” Kennedy said.
Dr. Anderson explained that by the time bond payments were made on the high school and Tiger Town, annual textbooks, technology, and the occasional school bus, all the SPLOST money was spent.
Response by Tommy Lynn of Lynn Construction
“We’ve been made to feel like we’re criminals here and we’re not. We’ve done everything we’ve been asked to do throughout this entire process. Whether or not you guys controlled your previous superintendent is not my responsibility,” Tommy Lynn said. “I don’t know what you had to do, I don’t know what you had to get approved as far as contracts go, I’m not familiar with all of that but we’ve done everything we’ve been asked to do.”
Lynn said there appears to be confusion over what was a ‘quotation’ versus what was an invoice.
He also presented the Board with an email from Marty Waters indicating the Board had approved $257k and another email from Waters indicating that the Board would allocate $757,875 for renovations.
“I’ve been drug into it and made to look like a villain here,” Lynn said. “You’re getting a $4 million building and you’re putting in less than $1 million and it’s still your building. If the community will do it, that building has tremendous potential to add to this community and I wish everybody would get on board and accept that.”
Board Member Bo Eason replied, “You said we’ll have a $4 million building and we’re only going to have a million in it, but yet we provided the building, we provided $500,000, we provided $257,000 more, and paid the light bill for 50-something months. The Board as a school board, I think we’ve done our share.”
ACA Board Member Hub Daniel
ACA Board Member addressed the Board and said he wanted to speak to what he envisions as a private citizen.
“I would like to say I congratulate the Board on endeavoring to move forward on that from the very beginning and I think we’ll look back on this as the greatest public-private collaboration in the history of this county because I’m not sure about the exact numbers, but roughly 75%-83% of the entire project is being funded privately, completely without taxpayer expense for the benefit of the community and for the benefit of the school system. I believe that it’s entirely possible that the completion of this building will mark an enormous turn for the positive for the educational system of this community and I think it’s highly probable that some kid or kids from Evans county, as a result of the completion of that building and the continued hard work of this school board, will become known throughout the world for their artistic accomplishments.”
He also said the project is going in at $160/square foot when the going rate is between $400-$450/square foot.
Board Member Dorcas Moore replied that it may be a good thing for the community, but the best thing for the community is to put the most money possible into educating the children, especially in reading and math.
“Many of our children that graduate do not even read on a 5th grade level. We need to put as much money as we can into the classroom and educating our children.”
ACA Board Member and County Commission Chair Sheila Lee
Though a lengthy discussion on the fact that the money paid by the BOE did not come from SPLOST funds, County Commission Chair Sheila Lee offered her opinion on why continued payment was a good idea.
“By the end of November, come take a trip in the building and see, it’s not a waste of money. Saying taxpayer money, SPLOSH, taxpayer money, you might say it’s world wide cause everybody who comes through our county pays that SPLOSH tax. You see? It’s not just the local citizens paying taxes. It’s out of town people, out of state…you gonna get that $0.08 sales tax.” She went on to say that she’s been a county commissioner for 27 years and the county has never shorted the school system on SPLOST payouts.
“Once we finish the auditorium and stage, it’s basically gonna be used by the school board because y’all don’t have a stage or anything. You have pageants, different events and you got a full auditorium that you could go in and the ACA is not charging the school board for any of those events.”
BOE member Bo Eason asked Lee how much money the county commissioners chipped in for the renovations. She said they did an in-kind donation and they paved a parking lot. “Look at your parking lot, the county did this!” she said.
“Yeah, we traded.” Eason replied.
“We traded,” Lee said. “We didn’t say no.”
Eason again asked her if the county chipped in to pay for the renovations of the two story building.
“They never asked us for anything,” Lee said.
Citizens Urge Board Not to Pay Invoices
Citizen Emily Butler expressed concern over the school system having bigger issues than the building renovation. She said the school system cannot afford to pay out anymore. She cited the lease agreement between the BOE and the ACA which directly contradicts what the Board has been doing since 2023.
Citizen Robert Hodgson expressed his concern about continued payments and whether or not more invoices were in the pipeline since the work is not yet completed.
Board of Education Also Paying Georgia Power Bills for School Building
Though the lease agreement indicates that the expenses are the responsibility of the ACA, the Board of Education has been paying the light bill at the two story building.
Kennedy relayed that the ACA presented a plan to the Board of Education to take over the light bill but no action has been taken. Dr. Anderson replied that he was waiting on guidance from the school board on the outstanding invoices and how they wish to proceed with the current invoices before moving to the power bill matter.
Board of Education Commentary
On whether or not the Board desires to pay the $88,300 change order, Dr. Anderson asked to poll the Board Members. Tommy Lynn interjected that Anderson already had approval to pay the invoice. Anderson replied, “I technically don’t.”
- Barbara Murphy said she would like to speak with the BOE attorney before any invoices are paid. “I don’t want to pay it but I want to talk to an attorney.”
- Larry Davis – said his vote was to not pay the $88,300.
- Ed Mosley – said he still needed more information.
- Joyce Lockwood – “I’m with Barbara, I want an attorney.”
- Dorcas Moore – “We’ve paid our fair share. No.”
- Bo Eason – said his decision was that the BOE paid their fair share.
Anderson said he would arrange a meeting with the Board attorney to consult on the obligations of the board.
If you were unable to attend the meeting, you can watch it on TheGeorgiaVirtue Facebook page here.
