Dec. 25—The Central State Hospital Local Redevelopment Authority (CSHLRA) and the board's now-former interim Executive Director Walter Reynolds have ended their relationship with one another.
Reynolds had served as CSHLRA interim on a contractual basis through his company Capitol Ideas Consulting for the past 17 months. That agreement came to an end Tuesday.
Now the nine-member CSHLRA board faces what will likely be a daunting task of handling the Authority's day-to-day operations, including site visits with potential building tenants and handling guest services during event space rentals.
The board met Wednesday to pass five resolutions dealing with the transition. Board member and real estate committee chair Brian Robinson has been named acting executive director moving forward but board chair Johnny Grant, a former state senator, will serve as the Authority's chief point of contact, according to discussions during Wednesday's called open meeting.
Reynolds, who is also a Milledgeville city councilman, was not present for Wednesday's meeting, but did issue a press release late Wednesday night.
It was no secret that he sought the full-time executive director role.
"I never asked for a raise, but I did ask the board of directors to make a decision about my future with the organization and was told there weren't enough votes to make that request a reality," Reynolds said in the statement.
In a follow-up phone interview Thursday, Grant explained the board's position regarding why Reynolds was not offered the job full-time. He said some members of the board, as a public entity, felt the need to undergo a thorough search process, but no search has taken place since Reynolds became interim in July 2021. Grant said CSHLRA within the last two years has gone from being supported by Milledgeville taxpayers to becoming self-sufficient through its real estate dealings, placing the board somewhat in a state of financial uncertainty.
"That has not been a simple task to make that transition... The board did not feel like we were in a position where we could, in good faith, offer a full-time position to anyone," said Grant.
After Wednesday's meeting, Grant told The Union-Recorder that the CSHLRA board attempted to extend Reynolds' contract as interim while a big project on the campus hangs in the balance.
"We did feel like in the short term, until there is some resolution on the Parham Kitchen, that we could not enter into a permanent executive director position, for anyone," Grant said. "We did make an effort to extend the consulting contract that [Reynolds had] into the future to allow to have some time to get that kitchen project to fruition. Walter felt like it was the right time for him to just draw a line. We left the negotiating table friends, but we were not able to come to an agreement right now."
The Parham Kitchen has been a big focal point for the redevelopment authority recently. Former tenant Food Service Partners went belly-up into bankruptcy over the summer, leaving the massive facility sitting empty and CSHLRA footing the bill for the mortgage. A new partner has since been found in newly-created frozen food cooking/packaging company Peach State Kitchen. The turnaround from FSP's bankruptcy to finding Peach State was only a couple of months, and was a big feather in Reynolds' cap as interim executive director.
The deal with Peach State Kitchen has not yet been finalized, however. Grant shared that Chicago-based Byline Bank, which holds the mortgage on the 125,000-square foot Parham Kitchen facility, has to approve the lease portion of the purchase-sale agreement before the project can move forward.
Asked how the kitchen deal is tied to approving a full-time CSHLRA executive director, Grant said, "It affects our long-term finances tremendously."
Those efforts will move forward without Reynolds, who has been a fixture around the Central State campus for five years now. His first job, through his consulting firm, was to revitalize the Chapel of All Faiths as an event space. The church building had been dormant for about five years when Reynolds moved in. Much of the updating and beautification work he did himself in an effort to bring life back to Central State. The chapel now plays host to weddings and other events quite frequently.
Reynolds' work did not go entirely unnoticed, as he was appointed CSHLRA interim executive director during the July 2021 board meeting following the retirement of former executive director Mike Couch, who to this day is the only person to have held the role on a non-interim basis. Reynolds had his foot in the door, but was never allowed all the way in despite basically handling the duties of three employees — interim executive director, executive assistant and his initial role as manager of the chapel. Reynolds shared that his consulting fee was increased twice during his interim tenure, but he noted that he never received the security that comes with being a full-time employee of the board.
"I wish the board all the best and have appreciated the experience, but we are simply too far apart on my future in this organization," Reynolds said in his press release.
As for the search for a permanent CSHLRA executive director, Grant said preparations on that front will begin soon. Some internal work will have to take place first like refining the job description and discussing salary and benefits. He said he hopes completion of that preliminary work can coincide with the kitchen project's approval so the job can be posted to the public.
"We will get through this transition," the board chair said during Wednesday's meeting. "We do have plans to start a search for an executive director in the early part of 2023. While it's a challenge for us, I believe it's going to make the authority stronger in the end. I'm not going to sit here and say we're not going to stumble in the next few weeks, but we will press forward."
Although CSHLRA has not undertaken an executive director search since Reynolds became interim, the board has previously conducted searches. The Union-Recorder reported in October 2020 that the board members were thought to have decided on a candidate, but no action was taken during the closed executive session to discuss personnel matters. Then-board chair Quay Fuller announced that Couch, who was set to retire at the end of 2020, would stay on a little longer and the search would reopen.
Reynolds was granted the interim title in an 8-0 vote during the July 2021 meeting.
