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School Board's Smith: ‘I’m an open book’Tue, 10/21/2008 - 3:43pm
By: Ben Nelms
A review of the most recent financial disclosure statement filed by Fayette County Board of Education Chairman Terri Smith in January raised questions on her fiduciary responsibility in one company and a company owned by her husband that was not noted in her report. Her financial disclosures are the subject of an opinion column on this page by former Peachtree City Mayor Steve Brown. In Section II of the January 2008 financial disclosure statement relating to fiduciary positions, Smith said she held no fiduciary positions with any business entity. Smith listed seven companies as a business or investment interest connected with her husband James Smith and none for herself. Her husband, in addition to owning a plumbing company, also has developed several residential projects in Fayette County, some located near current schools or on former school-board-owned land. In one of those companies, James W. Smith, Jr., Inc. d/b/a Action Plumbing, Inc., Terri Smith is listed as secretary of the corporation, according to corporate filings with Georgia Secretary of State. Created in 1979, the most recent annual registration was filed in March. Generally, the position of secretary is held by a member of a corporation’s board of directors and is considered a fiduciary position. Referencing her Section II entry, Smith said Tuesday she has never been responsible for any aspect of the company’s operation and did not consider that she had any fiduciary responsibility for it. “I thought the question meant if I was responsible for any money. I don’t have responsibility for the money, I don’t pay bills or work for Action Plumbing, never have. If I have any legal responsibility, I didn’t know it,” Smith said. Not noted in Section VIII of her Financial Disclosure Statement was Sisbro Investments Corp., an entity created in 1997 with its most recent annual filing in March 2008. Her husband, James W. Smith, Jr. is listed as the CEO, CFO and registered agent. Asked about not including Sisbro while accounting for seven others, Smith said the company was one operated by her husband and his sister. Her husband bought his sister’s portion after the sister’s death, Smith said, and she believed the company had been closed and ceased to be a functioning entity. Having her say on the two issues, Smith acknowledged that her husband’s work in development and her service as a school board member sometimes puts her in the bulls-eye of speculation. It is terrain she did not shy away from. “I’m an open book. I’ve never done one thing to profit from anything the school system has done,” Smith said emphatically about herself and her husband. “We’ve never sold anything to the school system. His companies have not sold anything to the school system. There was one time when a company he was with bought seven acres in Shamrock Plaza (in Tyrone) because they had the highest bid and had outbid Howard Guthrie. I abstained from that vote. There was nothing underhanded or secretive and I’ve discussed that transaction numerous times since then.” On the broader issue of the impact of a school system and developers on a community, Smith said a direct link exists between public schools and the communities of homes it serves. “I don’t believe being a developer or in construction is bad for the community. Anybody who thinks that’s evil doesn’t understand how economic growth works. Most everybody in Fayette County lives in a home built by somebody in the growth industry,” Smith said. “And the opposite of growth is decay. Communities can go down, school systems go down and people leave.” login to post comments
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