Nonic bar owner wanted to run for Columbus council, little-known law stopped his campaign

Garrett Lawrence, owner of two businesses on Broadway, filed the necessary paperwork to pursue the District 7 city council seat currently occupied by Evelyn “Mimi” Woodson.

But Muscogee County Director of Elections and Registration Nancy Boren recently notified Lawrence - owner of Nonic Bar & Kitchen and the Maltitude beer and craft store - of a little-known state law prohibiting elected officials and government employees from acquiring property in a Tax Allocation District.

So Lawrence, who plans to open additional businesses in the future, dropped out of the race.

“It kind of sucks, but at this point I’m young and I want to open more businesses,” he said in a recent interview with the Ledger-Enquirer. “I want to serve but I don’t want to not be able to be an entrepreneur at the same time.”

Lawrence’s situation highlights an unintended consequence of a TAD referendum that voters passed in 2016, say some city officials.

Not only does the law prevent elected and appointed officials, as well as government employees, from purchasing or acquiring commercial property in a TAD district approved by Columbus council. It also prohibits the purchase or acquisition of residential property, according to City Attorney Clifton Fay.

“It could be any property if you fit into those categories,” Fay said. “It’s pretty broad language. You can’t acquire it, purchase it, lease it. You can’t acquire it direct or indirect. That’s what the statute says.

“If you’re an employee wanting to live in one of the redevelopment areas, you can’t purchase property,” he continued. “So that’s pretty harsh. But it’s been on the books since 2009 without any amendments, this particular section (of the code).”

Fay said Council asked the local legislative delegation to try to get the law amended during this year’s session of the General Assembly “to require a disclosure and then a recusal from any discussion or vote on matters, as opposed to a blanket prohibition where you could not purchase property in a TAD.”

“We don’t know what’s going to be the outcome of that in the General Assembly,” he said. “But Council has asked them to make the law less onerous on folks who are seeking or are elected to public office, and even employees.”

The state law also affects elected and appointed officials, as well as employees, who already own property in a TAD if acquired within two years prior to the TAD designation. But those individuals are only required to disclose the conflict of interest to Council in writing, and they can’t participate in any discussion or vote involving the particular TAD.

Boren said she wasn’t aware of the state law until Councilor Glenn Davis recently brought it to her attention.

“Councilor Davis expressed some concern that candidates and people running for office need to know about this portion of the TAD law,” she said. “So I contacted the County Attorney.”

She then called Garrett Lawrence, a downtown business owner, to inform him of that section of the law and suggested he have his legal council review it.

Lawrence consulted with his attorney, Walker Garrett, and decided to pull out of the race.

Fay said he has received calls from a couple of other potential candidates with questions about the law.

In 2016, former Muscogee County School Board Member Shannon Smallman cited the TAD restrictions as a reason for her decision not to run for re-election.

She and her husband, Ernie, are real estate brokers with Coldwell Banker Kennon, Parker, Duncan & Davis. Smallman also manages the investments for her husband's corporation, Whitewater Realty, which does commercial and residential business.

TADS are a funding mechanism designed to attract redevelopment to blighted neighborhoods.

When a TAD is approved, the city can issue revenue bonds to remedy infrastructure and environmental problems, as well as other issues that might hinder development. The extra tax revenue created by the project is then used to repay the revenue bonds over the life of the TAD, usually 20-30 years. The extra revenue goes into city and school district coffers.

Columbus Council has already voted to designate seven TADs throughout the city. The most recent consists of 300 acres in north Columbus that includes the old Swift Denim Plant and Flatrock Park.

TADs also already have been approved for Midtown East and Midtown West, Fort Benning Technology Park and the River District Development Plan, which includes Sixth Avenue/the Liberty District, Uptown and Second Avenue/City Village.

Lawrence, a life-long Columbus resident, said he has lived in the Midtown area for six years. He managed the Ride on Bikes shop on Broadway for about three years. After that, he opened Maltitude in 2013 and Nonic three years later. He is currently opening up a new restaurant called Jarfly in the former Locos Grill & Pub on 13th Street.

Lawrence’s two existing businesses are located in the Uptown TAD, and his new restaurant will be located in the TAD associated with Midtown.

“They said those were established before I ran; that I would be able to disclose them and then just recuse myself from any decision that sort of affected those areas,” he said. “But City Council is a four-year term. And if I run, I want to serve my entire term. And the fact that we’ve opened three different businesses in five years, I would like to keep that trend going and expand even more. So it just didn’t seem like the right time to give that up.”

Lawrence filed his Declaration of Intent to run with the Muscogee County Elections and Registration Office earlier this month. Others who have filed a DOI for the District 7 seat are Woodson, the incumbent; Jeremy Hobbs, director of Colgay Pride and Sia Etemadi, a local residential designer and former president of the Historic District Preservation Society.

Waleisah Wilson, another candidate, had filed a DOI, but pulled out of the race in January.

The Declaration of Intent allows potential candidates to begin raising money, but they can’t officially run for office until they qualify in March. The qualifying period for the May 22, 2018, city election is March 5-9, 2018.

On Thursday, Lawrence said he understands the spirit of the law, but he wishes it could be changed.

“It just seems to be a little bit restrictive to people involved in their communities,” he said. “As a business owner, I’ve gotten a different side of how our city operates, and I think have a unique perspective on things that could benefit the community.

“I would like to be able to lend that perspective to city council, and run,” he added. “But right now it’s just going to be prohibitive.”

This story was originally published February 22, 2018 at 6:50 PM with the headline "Nonic bar owner wanted to run for Columbus council, little-known law stopped his campaign."