They have a New Year's Eve ball drop in New York City and Brewton will drop its blueberry ball the same night. The town of Century dropped the ball last week when the town council voted not to honor a verbal agreement with the Paces Foundation over water and sewer connection fees associated with a $10 million apartment complex in the town.
In 2015, former Mayor Freddie Wayne McCall Sr., and Town Planner Debbie Nickles negotiated the deal to bring the 50-unit apartment complex to Century. Part of the deal included connection fees. McCall and Nickles provided developers with the town's rate structure at the time, which totaled $63,750. Developers sought bids on the complex based on those figures. A new rate structure is in place and the new administration has said it will now cost $180,250 for connection fees for Century Park Apartments.
The argument was the agreement reached with Nickles and McCall was not in writing. We feel Nickles and McCall negotiated in good faith to bring this new development to Century and that agreement should be honored. In the aftermath of the council's decision, Nickles has submitted her resignation. Nickles has been a valuable asset to Century for many, many years helping bring millions of dollars in investments to the town. We feel the council's action last Monday night was a slap in Nickles' face.
We understand the higher connection fees may be needed to repair and maintain a crumbling infrastructure but we also realize Century will benefit from the revenue of 50 additional units on a monthly basis.
For a town that claims it wants to boost economic development, it sent the wrong message with this latest decision. It appears the town changed the rules in the middle of the game. We wonder if the next person wanting to invest millions of dollars in Century will have second thoughts about entering into the negotiation stage.
