Town of Wedowee hasn’t paid rent on Police Department HQ in 15 years
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Wedowee mayor Tim Coe was under the impression that the town and the utilities board were swapping the use of two buildings, but that apparently was not the case.
The Town of Wedowee’s police department has been operating in its offices rent free for over 15 years. After action taken Tuesday at the meeting of the Wedowee Town Council, that train has reached its last stop.
The town agreed to lease the police department offices from the Wedowee Utilities Board for $1,500 per month after utilities board chairman Barry Waldrep informed the council of the rent-free situation that had been in place since 2011.
The police station occupies a portion of the downtown Wedowee building owned by the Utilities Board. According to Utilities Board records presented to the council Tuesday by Waldrep, the police department began renting its space from the Utilities Board in 2005 at $350 per month. That continued until April of 2011.
“And they have not paid rent since,” Waldrep said before adding. “They also have not paid a water bill at any time since that.”
When asked why the town stopped paying rent, mayor Tim Coe – who also served as the chairman of the utilities board until Waldrep’s appointment in February – said, “I do not know why it stopped.”
“It was kind of my idea that we were trading the use of the white building for the office up here,” Coe said. “But that appears to have not been the case.”
The white building he mentioned is the shop located off of Hillcrest Avenue just south of downtown Wedowee where utilities board workers operate out of.
There has been confusion about who actually owns that building – the town or the utilities board.
“After extensive research all evidence indicates that the utilities board owns the utilities shop,” Waldrep said. That evidence includes insurance records and documentation from a group who apparently sold the shop to the utilities board.
“And there is no recorded deed at the courthouse showing ownership of the Town of Wedowee,” Waldrep said. “So unless something is otherwise presented, we assume that we own that.”
He also asked the question, “If that was a tradeout, why would it go from 2005 to 2011 and then just stop?”
The unpaid amount of rent and utilities over the past 15 years came to just over $78,000.
Waldrep said the utilities board has no intention of attempting to recoup that amount since there is no record of a lease agreement in place. But he added that fair practices and sound management dictate that the town pays for both rent and utilities going forward.
“The utilities board expects every customer to pay their bill,” Waldrep said. “If they don’t their service is disconnected. So how can we expect customers to meet their financial obligation if the town doesn’t meet its own financial obligations regarding the police department?”
Waldrep emphasized that this was an effort to hold the Town of Wedowee accountable and not an attempt to undermine the police department.
“I am in full support of the police department,” he said. “I see this as a town issue, not the police department. So I just want to make that clear.”
Things in the meeting then got a bit heated between Waldrep and councilmember Dana Chandler when Chandler posed what he referred to as a “tit for tat” question.
“Has the town done anything for the utility board over the years that we could have charged them for?” Chandler asked. “Like for stuff at the pond or anything like that?”
“If they’re going to throw that at us, I think we ought to just pitch it right back,” Chandler added.
That prompted Waldrep to hold up his hand and cut Chandler off.
“Woah, woah, woah,” Waldrep said. “The way you just said that is totally off base, Dana. We’re not throwing anything at you.”
After several moments of a back-and-forth between Chandler and Waldrep, Waldrep clarified his stance.
“If we owe the city $10 million, present it. I’m presenting the facts of the police station. That’s what I’m doing,” he said. “I’m not throwing at you that the city council should pay us $78,000. I’m bringing it up to let y’all know there hasn’t been rent paid since 2011. I’m not saying that I want y’all to pay that. But the public needs to know it.”
Waldrep said the utilities board will prepare a lease and present it to the town before August 1, so that agreement can begin on that date. The police department will also begin receiving a utilities bill going forward.
