Is it home or an Airbnb? Questions arise about local school board candidate’s residency
The residency of a Muscogee County School Board candidate has been called into question as qualifying for local political offices in Columbus ended Friday.
The Rev. Walter Taylor, senior pastor of The Life Church of Columbus and director of The Life Center, wrote 604 Front Ave. as his address on the document he filed with the Muscogee County Board of Elections and Registration to qualify for the May 19 nonpartisan election. He is seeking the District 7 seat on the nine-member school board.
LexisNexis.com, a leading database of public records, lists his current residence as being in Phenix City since November 2016. When asked about the record, Taylor told the Ledger-Enquirer, “My wife owns a home in Phenix City. … I don’t have any residence in Phenix City.”
Taylor acknowledged his wife has a child that attends school in Phenix City, but he said his two children attend school in Muscogee County.
Cathy Williams, the incumbent, confirmed to the Ledger-Enquirer that fellow residents in the Columbus Historic District questioned Taylor’s eligibility in communication with her. Williams said she shared that concern in a “very cordial” phone conversation with Taylor a few weeks ago after he contacted her in a Facebook message.
Neighbors also described the residence as an Airbnb, or a short-term vacation rental.
“Because of my travels, I have rented out my home for Airbnb while I’m away, but my residence is 604 Front Avenue,” Taylor said.
The property record on the Columbus Consolidated Government’s website for 604 Front Ave. lists Cargill Wright Investments as the owner. The L-E didn’t immediately reach anyone at the company for comment.
According to the affidavit Taylor signed Thursday, as of the May 19 election date, he will have been a legal resident of the district for three consecutive years. The minimum length of residency for a school board candidate is six months, Jeanette James, the qualifying officer at the Muscogee elections office, told the L-E.
When the L-E reported his candidacy in October, Taylor said he also is the chaplain for Taylor Funeral Home and owner of Tax Giant USA. He listed previous employers as the U.S. Marine Corps, Glory Hospice and Charles E. Huff’s International Funeral Home. He said he was a Marine for eight years and was honorably discharged as a sergeant.
Taylor said he has lived at 604 Front Ave. for “a year or so” but declined to say whether anyone else lives with him there.
“My utility bills and my driver’s license and my voter registration all reflect my home address, where I live,” he said.
James verified Taylor’s voter registration lists 604 Front Ave. as his address.
“Any elector eligible to vote can challenge a candidate within two weeks after deadline of qualifying,” James said in an email to the L-E. “The superintendent (of the board of elections) upon his/her own motion may challenge anytime prior to the election.”
As of Friday morning, she said, no challenge has been filed against Taylor’s qualifications.
Williams said she doesn’t plan to be that person.
“I don’t care about who I’m running against,” she said. “I care about what I’m running for.”
Taylor said, “As I shared with Cathy Williams when I intentionally reached out to her to just have a conversation, my intentions are to run a very clean political race, and I wish her the best, and I thank her for her years of service to District 7.”
John Van Doorn, an online international relations teacher, lives and works on Front Avenue, across the street from Taylor’s purported home. He insists Taylor doesn’t live there.
“This is not his primary residence,” he said.
Van Doorn said he met Taylor last fall, when Taylor introduced himself as the new owner of 604 Front Ave. He has talked to him face-to-face twice, in November and January.
The other times he has seen Taylor or his car at the home, Van Doorn said, Taylor hasn’t stayed there for more than an hour, always during daytime and never overnight.
“He would come once a week for the first few months back in the fall,” Van Doorn said. “I haven’t seen him now for about three weeks.”
The noise coming from the home late at night and in the wee hours of the morning is a concern, Van Doorn said, but he hasn’t filed a complaint with the city because he wants to “give the owners a chance to do the right thing.”
The short-term rentals were most frequent between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, Van Doorn said, then “just a half dozen people since January. … It’s mostly empty now.”
When the Ledger-Enquirer visited 604 Front Ave. on Friday afternoon, nobody answered the doorbell. On the doorknob, Liberty Utilities had left a notification that service was discontinued for lack of payment.
This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 12:32 PM.
