MONTEZUMA — In the Nov. 13 edition of the Americus Times-Recorder, it was reported that the City of Montezuma voted 5-1 in favor of pulling out of the Macon County Development Authority.

The cause of this situation came from concerns of the Mayor Willie James Larry and the City Council, regarding the Development Authority’s leadership’s actions taken to undermine the City’s efforts to alleviate the debt service burden from Allens Inc. for the construction of a sewage treatment plant built to retain 400 local jobs.

According to a previous statement issued by Larry, “The City of Montezuma has been doing everything possible to retain Allens Inc. as an employer by finding alternatives to pay the sewer plant construction debt on their behalf.”

The Development Authority leadership, it is believed, according to Larry and several members of the City of Montezuma government, including Camielle Bielby, development manager for the City, has worked to “undermine the City’s efforts and has undertaken subversive activities in an attempt to influence the management of Montezuma’s water and sewer department and administrative office.”

Jimmy Davis is the current director of the Development Authority of Macon County. He was asked by the Macon County Board of Commissioners, according to a statement by Bill Sawyer, as reported in the Nov. 13 story, to “cease all communications with the City of Montezuma until the situation could be resolved.”

As of press time Tuesday, calls to Sawyer and the Development Authority for their response had not been answered.

Bielby said, “The Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority (GEFA) is coordinating a meeting with the City of Montezuma and Allens Inc. to clarify the requirements for the City and industrial utility customers regarding the payment of the sewer construction loan.”

According to the mayor, “I was under the impression that we were meeting tomorrow (Wednesday), but the GEFA let us know that they had not received all the information needed to conduct the meeting.

“Basically, what they want to do is meet with all parties concerned, and clarify, for Allens Inc., what we can do and cannot do and clear up any incorrect assumptions they might have as a result of the unauthorized conversations between the Development Authority of Macon County and Allens.

“We want to keep Allens here, and are going to do anything possible to assist them,” concluded Larry.

Bielby said, “The meeting will be held after Thanksgiving so that GEFA’s staff can clarify for the firm what the City can and cannot do and to clear up any incorrect assumptions.”

She added, “Additionally, the City of Montezuma is continuing to pursue options to assist Allens with the debt service and to ensure that adequate infrastructure will be available to support their expansion plans."

The Times-Recorder will continue to follow this story in print and online as details are revealed.