The Bibb County school system and the Promise Center’s landlord are gearing up to fight proposed injunctions Friday morning.
Former Chief Financial Officer Ron Collier is asking Superior Court Judge Edgar Ennis to throw out a lease agreement for the Promise Center, while parent Brad DeFore is asking the judge to reject two employment contracts for Superintendent Romain Dallemand.
On Thursday, Ennis ruled that the landlord, a nonprofit organization known as the Central Georgia Partnership for Individual and Community Development Inc., should be allowed to fight Collier’s efforts to throw out the lease. Neither Collier nor the school system opposed the partnership from joining the case.
In a Wednesday court filing, the school system said the lease agreement has already been validated by a judge, when bonds to renovate the center were approved. The center would help support the Macon Promise Neighborhood initiative.
A school system attorney, David A. Cole of Atlanta, wrote that “Chief Judge S. Phillip Brown already issued an order declaring the Lease Agreement to be a valid, legal, and binding obligation of the School District. ... As a result, (Collier) has zero likelihood of success on the merits of his claims.”
The school system also argued that an injunction wouldn’t actually help Collier immediately because lease payments aren’t due until April. But if the injunction is granted, harm would fall on the school district; the partnership as landlord; the Macon-Bibb County Urban Development Authority, which issued the bonds; and Bank of America, which bought the bonds.
“It would also harm all of the partners in the Macon Promise Neighborhood, as well as the students and families who will participate in the programs to be established thereunder,” the school system argued.
The school system also argued that, if a restraining order is issued, Collier should have to post a bond to cover any damages that result if the agreement gets wrongfully blocked. The school system’s lease -- $5.75 million over 10 years -- is intended to pay off the costs of $4.61 million in bonds.
The school system also filed a response to DeFore’s lawsuit seeking to void Dallemand’s employment contracts. That document was not immediately available Thursday. DeFore is arguing that the school board never approved the contract Dallemand was given in December, and that both the new and 2011 contracts are invalid for other reasons.
Hearings on the injunction efforts are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Friday in the Bibb County Courthouse.
To contact writer Mike Stucka, call 744-4251.
