Wilson DuBose, Verner’s attorney, and Shane Short, who helped negotiate the Rivian deal to steer the JDA, say Verner took all necessary steps to avoid a conflict of interest, including abstaining on votes on Rivian and leaving of the room as the board discussed Rivian. Ben Sheidler, a JDA spokesman, said Verner received “no favoritism or advantage” in selling his land.
Pat Wilson, commissioner for the state Department of Economic Development, says it’s extremely unlikely that Verner could have influenced Rivian’s decision to choose the site. A spokesman for California-based Rivian said the electric vehicle maker had relied on discussions with the state and “to the best of our knowledge, no one at Rivian has directly interacted with the Verner family.”
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Alan Verner, Past Chair of the Joint Development Authority for Jasper, Morgan, Newton and Walton counties, accepted the Georgia Economic Developers Association Volunteer of the Year award on Monday, November 15, 2021. (Contribution)
Photo Credit: Contributed/Morgan County Citizens
Photo Credit: Contributed/Morgan County Citizens
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Alan Verner, Past Chair of the Joint Development Authority for Jasper, Morgan, Newton and Walton counties, accepted the Georgia Economic Developers Association Volunteer of the Year award on Monday, November 15, 2021. (Contribution)
Photo Credit: Contributed/Morgan County Citizens
Photo Credit: Contributed/Morgan County Citizens
However, ethics experts say Verner’s roles as an economic development recruiter and real estate salesman highlight the weakness of Georgia’s laws on conflicts of interest involving officials.
Georgia law permits development agencies to conduct transactions with their board members, as in many other states. Critics are calling for the law to be tightened.
“I have a huge problem that someone has served in this position and essentially benefits from it,” said William Perry, founder of Georgia Ethics Watchdogs, a nonprofit organization.
Local opponents of the Rivian project, which lies between the communities of Social Circle and Rutledge, question whether a giant car factory is appropriate for the rural area. And many local residents have complained that they were kept in the dark during negotiations over the project.
After the power plant project was approved in December, residents at a community meeting in January asked the JDA what steps it was taking to prevent conflict over Verner’s land sale. When Short of the JDA informed them that Verner left the room while Rivian was being discussed, many responded with sarcastic laughter.
Some residents have since raised a legal fund to challenge the Rivian facility on environmental grounds. But local opponents lost clout when the state took control of the project last month, eliminating the need for building permits that required public voting.
Construction work on the site is scheduled to begin this summer. Georgia has yet to disclose the promised financial incentives to Rivian, but they are expected to total hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars.
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Location of Rivian’s $5 billion electric vehicle factory east of Atlanta. The former head of the local development authority was the architect of the area’s economic development while also negotiating the sale of his land for the Rivian project. Alan Verner’s attorney said his client took all necessary steps to comply with the law.
Photo credit: ArLuther Lee
Photo credit: ArLuther Lee
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Location of Rivian’s $5 billion electric vehicle factory east of Atlanta. The former head of the local development authority was the architect of the area’s economic development while also negotiating the sale of his land for the Rivian project. Alan Verner’s attorney said his client took all necessary steps to comply with the law.
Photo credit: ArLuther Lee
Photo credit: ArLuther Lee
Cox Enterprises, owner of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, owns a 4.7% stake in Rivian and provides services to Rivian. Sandy Schwartz, a Cox executive who oversees the AJC, serves on the Rivian board of directors and personally owns stock. He does not participate in the AJC’s reporting on Rivian.
Verner declined to be interviewed for this article. Instead, Verner’s attorney answered questions on his behalf. Verner’s siblings did not respond to requests for comment.
Verner retained the public post while the land sale was discussed
The Verners have long been prominent members of Rutledge’s tiny community and have farmed local land for more than a century. Henry Verner, Alan’s father, was known for handing out mints to everyone he met and opposing the installation of bright lighting along I-20 south of his property, said JoEllen Artz of Rutledge, who opposed the Rivian facility pronounce
The land was divided among the children after Henry Verner’s death in 2007. Alan Verner sold his cattle and farm equipment in 2017 and discontinued all farming options in 2019, DuBose said.
In just over two decades, Alan Verner became a key architect of the region’s economic development. He joined the board of directors of the four-district JDA when it was formed in 1999 and became chairman in 2006. JDA board members are appointed by the district commissioners.
The JDA, under Verner’s supervision, developed the 1,000-acre industrial park known as Stanton Springs. The park is south of I-20, across the highway from Verner Farms. The park’s tenants include pharmaceutical company Takeda and social media giant Facebook.
The project helped establish the JDA’s reputation as one of the most aggressive and successful development agencies in Georgia. When Verner announced his retirement last year, he told the JDA board of directors, “Stanton Springs, it’s my baby,” the Morgan County citizen said.
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Pastureland is located on either side of Davis Academy Road as it passes through the proposed Rivian Electric Vehicle Plant on Wednesday, December 8, 2021 near Rutledge, Georgia. “Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@ajc.com”`
Photo Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
Photo Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
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Pastureland is located on either side of Davis Academy Road as it passes through the proposed Rivian Electric Vehicle Plant on Wednesday, December 8, 2021 near Rutledge, Georgia. “Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@ajc.com”`
Photo Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
Photo Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
In 2018, with the help of the JDA, the state of Georgia began marketing the East Atlanta Megasite just north of I-20 on a property contiguous to the Verner family properties. It became one of three such megasites in Georgia, along with those in Bryan County and Peach County, that had enough land for state development agencies to offer big business recruits.
The JDA owned approximately 665 acres of the East Atlanta megasite, a third the size of Rivian’s proposed site. To gain more space, they would have to negotiate additional purchases with neighboring landowners like the Verners.
In the fall of 2020, Rivian contacted the Ministry of Economic Development of Georgia about the potential construction of a factory in the state, one of nine states that Rivian is considering, according to Wilson.
In early February last year, the JDA contacted the Verner siblings, including Alan, about selling their property for a potential electric vehicle manufacturing project, without naming Rivian, Sheidler said.
Verner remained in his role as JDA chairman for a few more months, until resigning in late August when talks between Georgia and Rivian were very advanced.
In February 2021, Verner abstained to approve executive session minutes from three previous JDA meetings. From that point through August, he abstained on six additional occasions. According to JDA documents, Verner left the room at least twice during JDA meetings, once in February and once in April.
“It honestly offends me to hear people say that Verner had something to do with personally helping himself benefit from this company,” said Short, director of the Walton County Development Agency.
The JDA has options to purchase the Verners’ properties before the land can be leased to Rivian, but financial details were not disclosed. Of the approximately 675 acres of land, Alan Verner and his wife own approximately 188 acres.
Some local residents are not happy with what they have been told.
“I have no bad feelings towards the Verners,” Artz said. “I would like to make that kind of money myself. But that just wasn’t done right.”
