Highlights:
- Ball Ground Recycling, based outside of Atlanta, Georgia, has vacated their facility and turned it over to Cherokee County. The county is now in the process of securing the facility
- In 2006, Cherokee County issued $18.1 million in bonds to help establish Ball Ground Recycling in its current location. In the deal, Ball Ground was responsible for paying $100,000 a month in bond payments to the Bank of New York.
- After the economy soured, Ball Ground was unable to make the payments. This has left the county responsible for payments that have totaled $1.8 million to-date. In May, Ball Ground Recycling filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
- Cherokee County now hopes to find another partner to operate the site and recoup some of their initial investment.
- A grand jury is investigating the original deal that required the county to be responsible for payments in a default. The Chairwoman of the local Tea Party has claimed that county officials may have taken illegal campaign contributions to sign-off on the deal
- See previous coverage
From the article:
The operator of a Cherokee County recycling plant on Friday will vacate the property he leases from the county and shutter operations, bringing to an end a partnership that has cost Cherokee taxpayers about $1.8 million.
The owner of the Ball Ground Recycling, Jimmy Bobo, reached the agreement with the county Resource Recovery Development Authority rather than continuing to operate while going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, which the company filed for in May.
Cherokee County commission chairman Buzz Ahrens said Thursday the company still owes the county the $1.8 million for bond payments the county has been making...
