Monroe, Bibb border dispute remains in holding pattern

A surveyor’s fight to keep from being forced to testify continues to keep the Bibb County and Monroe County border case in limbo.

The Secretary of State’s Office said Monday that it’s still waiting on a legal response following surveyor Terry Scarborough’s appeal of a judge’s ruling that he could be held in contempt for not complying with a subpoena to attend a border hearing. Scarborough remains a central figure in the disagreement between the two counties that involves property worth an estimated $2 million annually to Bibb County government and the school system.

Scarborough found that Bibb County encroached into Monroe County, but his boundary was rejected by then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp. Kemp did say that Scarborough could present more evidence at future hearings, but the latest legal quandary in the case was re-ignited when the surveyor did not show up at a 2017 evidentiary hearing.

The decade-plus long border case will be left up to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to make the ruling.

In 2005, then-Gov. Sonny Perdue appointed Scarborough to identify the boundary.

In 2009, Scarborough said Bibb still owed him money for his surveying work.

The state established the county line in 1822, but no evidence from any original survey remains.

This story was originally published March 4, 2019 at 4:29 PM.