Residents say federal funding remains available for Westside Youth Facility; call for clarity after consultant payments

Community members at the Newton County Board of Commissioners meeting on Aug. 5 urged the board to clarify the status of funding and planning for the proposed Westside Youth Facility, saying federal and local funds are available and asking the county to proceed transparently.

Maya Allen Neely, who identified herself as a Newton County resident and representative of the Thirteenth Federation of Democratic Women, said a local news report and subsequent public discussion had misstated the availability of federal funds. "Shannon shared that she believed that the $4,000,000 federal funding was no longer available for the county to claim. However, after speaking to Hank Johnson's office this past Monday, she received confirmation that the funding was still on the table," Neely said, summarizing her conversation with congressional staff and citing a letter from Rep. Hank Johnson's chief of staff.

Neely said the county has until Aug. 31, 2031, to obligate the $4 million and that the appropriation may be restricted to the Westside Youth Facility. "The $4,000,000 will be appropriate in fiscal year 2023 and may only be used on this project and this project alone," she said, summarizing the information she received from the congressional office. Neely also told the board that Newton County had allocated about $4.1 million toward the project and that voters approved $495,000 for the facility during a 2017 funding measure.

Neely and other speakers questioned recent consultant payments the county made to study the project. She said the county paid one consultant $10,000 to report the project was not viable, and that the board voted two weeks earlier to give an additional $33,000 outside the adopted budget. Neely also said the county had paid "almost $100,000" for community consulting work; the transcript records all three amounts being stated by speakers in sequence.

Neely urged the board to proceed with site identification and next steps if funds remain available. "So let's stop the lies and move forward with the people of Newton County, what they voted for," she said.

Other public commenters echoed concerns about county spending, taxes and development. Dennis Taylor and other residents framed the dispute in the context of broader county decisions about development and taxation. The record shows no formal board vote at the Aug. 5 meeting on the Westside Youth Facility; speakers requested clarifying information and urged the board to act on the project if funding is available.

What was said and what remains unconfirmed: speakers reported a letter from the office of U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson confirming the federal funding remains available and stated an obligation deadline of Aug. 31, 2031. Those claims came from public comment and a cited congressional staff communication; the board did not announce an administrative finding at the meeting. Speakers gave three different consultant-payment figures ($10,000; $33,000; near $100,000); the transcript records each claim but does not reconcile them or present county accounting details. No county staff presentation at the meeting confirmed those figures or any changed grant status.

Next steps: Public commenters asked the board and county staff to verify the federal grant status, to identify a site and to move project planning forward if the funding is indeed restricted to the Westside Youth Facility. The transcript does not show a formal staff report or action on those requests at this meeting.