Garrett really does live in District 8

On the agenda at this month’s Muscogee County School Board meeting was the purchase of a property adjacent to Columbus High School. The purpose: provide more parking spaces for students.

Among the questions I asked a Muscogee County School District official before the March 14 meeting was whether the house at 1906 Cherokee Ave. was vacant. He said yes. So I included that detail in the story reporting the board’s unanimous approval.

Not only is that detail wrong, but the owner of that house just so happens to be running for the District 8 seat on Columbus Council – and it’s mighty important for a candidate to reside in the jurisdiction he wants to represent. In fact, it’s the law.

So the owner/candidate, Walker Garrett, understandably could have hollered at me when we subsequently spoke on the phone. But he graciously accepted my apology. After I said we would publish a correction in the next day’s printed edition and immediately delete the erroneous word from the online version, he calmly told me the mistake has caused his campaign a political distraction.

“People are questioning my residency,” he said.

Jeanette James, the qualifying officer in the Muscogee County Elections and Registration Office, confirmed the trouble. She told the L-E in an email that her office has received “two or three” questions about Garrett’s residency but no formal complaint.

By the time the deal closes, Garrett said, he will have bought another house in the district or, “worst case scenario,” have moved in with his parents, who live in the district.

Folks also have questioned why the board paid $250,000 for the half-acre property that Garrett had bought for $154,000 only three years ago, in August 2013. Garrett said he spent “tens of thousands” of dollars renovating the house and wanted the board to pay him “a reasonable price” to live in a similar home.

Garrett said he originally asked for $300,000 and the only school district official he negotiated with was superintendent David Lewis.

Lewis wasn’t reached for comment about this issue, but school board chairman Rob Varner insisted in a phone interview with the L-E that Garrett didn’t get a “sweetheart deal.”

“I assure you there is zero correlation between him running for office and the school board,” Varner said. “It has everything to do with the proximity to the school and nothing to do with who he is and what he’s running for.”

This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 4:47 PM with the headline "Garrett really does live in District 8."