The Polk County Commission isn’t likely to take up a vote on a proposal at this time for a new proposal for an Agriculture Center despite a request made once again for its construction, and this time with a mix of public and nonprofit funds.

Jeff Hawkins was up before the Polk County Commission during their work session on Monday to ask once again for the County to partner with a new nonprofit to put up a new Polk County Agriculture Center in Fish Creek. First, though, they want the Commission to put up at least $600,000 to pay for architectural plans and 13 acres of land so the nonprofit can move ahead with fundraising that would amount to $5 million to pay for the facility as proposed, without value engineering being undertaken to lower the cost of construction and materials.

Hawkins joined Commissioners on Zoom during their October 5 work session seeking funding for only part of the project, estimated to cost millions with the goal of providing a cannery, education services, and even room to host the farmers markets in Cedartown and Rockmart in a combined fashion among other uses. He also brought with him agriculture educators from the rest of the district Brandon Ellis, Chris Jones, and Michael Ferguson along with members and cattle from the Polk County Show Team to make the case for the Agriculture Center.

Generally, the scope of the project hasn’t changed. Like Commission candidate Glenn Robinson who brought the proposal to the board previously along with a feasibility study on the revenue and expenditure of the center annually, the plan involves providing a number of services under one roof in a facility built in the center of the county and promote agriculture across what remains a rural community with the largest industry still in row crops and cattle.

Hawkins said the goal would be to get the money up front from the county to purchase the land – at an estimated cost of $250,000 in total, or $19,231 per acre – that would be solely owned by the county to do with as they please should the newly-formed Friends of Agriculture nonprofit be unable to reach the fundraising goal.

Additionally, Hawkins said the Commission could set deadlines by when the contributions would have to be in by for the project to move ahead, and hit funding targets to pay for the building itself. However, in a new study that was provided to the Commission, the original price tag has gone up since the cost of materials has risen as well. Hawkins said that has been factored into the new proposal.

However, it remain an issue of cost when other priorities for funding are still up in the air, Commission Chair Hal Floyd said during Hawkins presentation and before the Commission as a whole got into additional questions.

“Some in the past and myself it has boiled down if it is a wanted item or a needed item, and either one it comes down to financing,” Floyd said. “We did a feasibility study, and some of us would say it was not really helpful, and even in the proposal that when it talked about the estimate on the economic impact being $734,000 was a little overstated, so for me, I appreciate you coming with this proposal, this is different than we’ve had in the past and it is worthy of some study.”

Commissioner Ray Carter did have some questions for Hawkins about plans to move forward on the project. He wanted to know what kind of timeline that Hawkins foresaw the land purchase and plans being drawn up (within the next six months, after due diligence from the county and the seller) along with how long to take to raise the funds (Hawkins said no more than a year.)

Most importantly, he asked the following: “so what happens with the land and all if the funds can’t be raised by Friends of Agriculture?”

“To me, then it can be done with whatever the county wants to be done with it,” Hawkins said. He went on to add that it would be up to the county to decide what would happen to the land, and with the nonprofit being controlled by a Board of Directors the funds raised for an Agriculture Center would then be used on other projects on a list the organization has developed that they would like to complete.

“We look at this as a benefit for all Polk County residents,” Hawkins said.

He pointed to the success of facilities like what was proposed Monday night during the work session an example of what can be done, including Murray County and Carroll County. One of the additional concerns is whether the facility would be unique enough to draw in users from outside the county with Carroll’s facility already running, and one in Floyd County having been proposed.

Hawkins also asked for the Commission to move forward and vote on the proposal during their regular session, but none was forthcoming.

Commissioner Linda Liles, who is running against Robinson who brought the proposal originally before the board, said during her comments at the tail end of the evening voting session that the amount of money being sought for the project was too much to turn around and vote on immediately.

“I’d like to thank Jeff Hawkins for presenting the new revised agriculture center proposal, important part of Polk County. I know it because I have a small cattle farm,” she said. However, she said, the proposal would get additional consideration from the Finance Committee before making any final decision.

Previously, the Cedartown City Commission has also heard the proposal as a potential partner in the project as well in 2019.