An appointment to one of the county’s local authorities hit a snag at last week’s Fayette County Board of Commissioners meeting, mostly because of a policy the commissioners themselves adopted a month ago.
Three appointments to the Public Facilities Authority were on the agenda, and two of them were approved — Letitia Naghise and Joseph Tolbert. The one that was not approved was that of Commissioner Randy Ognio.
When the item came up in the meeting, Chairman Charles Oddo asked for a separate motion on each name. Naghise’s was first, and it was approved unanimously.
Next was Ognio, who like the others was recommended by the selection committee of Oddo and Commissioner Steve Brown. But Brown’s motion to appoint Ognio died for lack of a second.
As the ensuing discussion indicated, this inaction was because of the board’s recent decision not to appoint its own members to other committees, boards or authorities unless absolutely necessary.
“I know where this is going and why it’s going there. I understand what we did at the last meeting,” said Ognio. “I think there needs to be someone from this board on this authority. These bonds are not hundreds of dollars; they are millions of dollars. There needs to be an elected official who is tied to the people. I wish my colleagues would see that and step up. It doesn’t have to be me.”
Commissioner David Barlow spoke up and asked County Attorney Dennis Davenport to clarify the process regarding the Public Facilities Authority, namely that any decision that body makes would have to be approved by the Board of Commissioners.
Davenport gave a brief history of the authority, which was created by the BOC to potentially finance public buildings for the local government, as was the case with the county’s justice center. That building was constructed with revenue from revenue bonds issued by the Public Facilities Authority, Davenport said.
The authority has the legal ability to do bond issues on its own, but because this body has no assets of its own, it is almost certain that any such bonds could not be sold in the market unless they were backed by the county, according to Davenport.
“There’s a slim chance to get bonds on their own but they do have that authority, so if they did get one we couldn’t do anything about it,” said Ognio.
“Legally they could execute it,” replied Davenport. “But with no assets and no money in the bank, it’s not going to happen.”
Commissioner Charles Rousseau said that he would not be opposed to a commissioner serving on this authority, but he wanted the board to be consistent.
“This is not about the man but about our policy,” he said. “This is the first test. We just passed this ordinance three weeks ago.”
Rousseau suggested seeking out private citizens with the appropriate background in financial matters to handle these kinds of decisions, which would then have to come before the commissioners at some point anyway.
“If we don’t adhere to the process we’re going down a slippery slope and not following our own rules,” said Rousseau.
Oddo suggested nominating Tolbert for Ognio’s seat. Brown amended his motion to do that with the stipulation that the county re-advertise for the other seat.
Brown added that Tolbert is “very qualified. I’m grateful he is willing to volunteer.”
Tolbert’s appointment passed unanimously, as did the naming of Oddo and Brown to the selection committee for the third appointment.
