Albany delegation shares credit for Carlton Academy funding

ALBANY — When the state General Assembly finally wrapped up day 40 of the 2017 Legislative session early Saturday morning, the area’s local delegation of Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, D-Dawson; Reps. Darrel Ealum, D-Albany; Winfred Dukes, D-Albany; Gerald Greene, R-Cuthbert, and Ed Rynders, R-Leesburg, left Atlanta knowing they had delivered for the region.

All five agreed that the biggest “get” for Albany was $4.9 million for renovation and new construction for Albany Technical College’s Carlton Construction Academy. After much cajoling the Senate included half of the funding in its budget, while a joint conference committee included the other half in the state’s $24 billion FY 2018 budget.

“Some are trying to say appropriations for the Carlton Academy were dead in the water, but that was never the case,” Sims said Saturday. “We knew going in that large-cap technical college appropriations — the $20 million and $30 million projects — were the priority. Our ask ($4.9 million) was a small-cap appropriation. And so we used the things at our disposal, and — it’s sad to say — the thing that helped us most was the tornadoes here.

“I went to Rep. (Darrel) Ealum and Rep. (Gerald) Greene and said we need to use the tornadoes for leverage. Darrel and his son (James Ealum) put together a brochure that showed the devastation in our region. The governor and lieutenant governor had been to Southwest Georgia; they knew what we needed. The Carlton Academy is about education in the construction industry, so it was a no-brainer. We needed people who knew construction to help put our community back together.”

One more trip, however, was necessary.

“Darrel, Gerald and I went to see the governor and the lieutenant governor, and I went to the chairman of Senate Appropriations (Jack Hill). He said, ‘Freddie, if you can get half of the money from the House, we can get half in our budget,’” Sims said. “It was just that simple.”

Ealum said it took the entire local delegation working together to get the ATC funding.

“We have had two phenomenal legislative sessions in 2015 and 2016,” Ealum said. “We were told that we didn’t rate anything this time, just play the game and be a good little legislator. But that’s not my way to do things. This delegation, at least to me, is different from any we’ve sent to Atlanta in recent memory. Our delegation said, ‘We need the Carlton Construction Academy Phase II construction completed.’ It’s too important down here to be ignored. And after the storms, it is even a greater need because of the construction skills we are going to need to rebuild our communities.

“So our delegation never looked back. We pulled together and worked very hard.”

The work paid off.

“We came off the list and jumped ahead of a bunch of other folks to get that funding,” Greene said. “It was a lot of hard work, but unfortunately Mother Nature played a big role in that, too. It’s still going to be tough for us in south Georgia for a couple of years, and we are going to need some help all along the way.”

Dukes also agreed that the $4.9 million Albany Tech funding was Dougherty County’s biggest coup of the session.

“Specifically, for Dougherty County, the top thing was getting funding for the Carlton Construction Academy,” Dukes said. “When it comes to job creation and opportunity, (January storms that hit the area) brought to light the lack of tradesmen and skilled craftsmen in Southwest Georgia, and actually throughout the entire nation. This new facility will help address that concern, and that’s important not only for us, but the entire state.”

Rynders, too, agreed with his colleagues.

“There is no doubt that funding for the Carlton Construction Academy is at the top of the list for Southwest Georgia,” Rynders said. “It will provide job creation and an opportunity for us to create a pool of skilled craftsmen. Southwest Georgia has a history of good projects from the mental Health Center, the Broad Avenue Bridge along with several projects involving higher education. Albany, in particular has a history of selecting, and getting, worthy projects.

“This is one of those projects.”

Carlton Fletcher contributed to this report.