City denies Morris Brown’s water-bill extension

Time is running out for Morris Brown College.

Atlanta’s Watershed Management Department said late Saturday it will deny a request by Morris Brown for a 30-day extension to pay its past-due water bills.

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Hyosub Shin/hshin@ajc.com

Ronald Mellix and his mother-in-law Amelia Long, both graduates of Morris Brown College, look at a painting during the school’s art-auction fund-raiser at The Ruth Hall Hodges Art Gallery.

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By court order, all of the remaining $214,000 owed by the college for city water is due in full Tuesday. As of late Saturday afternoon, the school had only $35,000 raised and earmarked for the water bill, officials said.

“We try and be fair and equitable to all,” said Watershed Management spokeswoman Jennifer Carlile. “But they need to meet the deadline, or their water will be terminated. I don’t think this makes anybody happy.”

The extension denial came as Morris Brown was wrapping up a Saturday afternoon art auction to raise funds to apply toward the outstanding water debt.

Last week, Morris Brown requested the 30-day extension, according to its interim president Stanley Pritchett. He said the college was furiously working on “a comprehensive plan” to restructure its debt and address its non-accredited status.

The institution hoped to present to the city Monday an outline of that plan, coupled with the $35,000 payment, in a show of “good faith” to settle its water bill, Pritchett said.

Asked what the school will do if it does not receive the extra 30 days, Pritchett exhaled and dropped his head.

“We’ve got 160 students here this semester,” he said. “Nobody wants to tell them they’ve got to go home. We hold on until we can’t hold on any more.”

Carlile could not say exactly when the water could be turned off, but she insisted it would happen. She added that there could be “a miracle” — someone could step forward with a donation of the remaining funds to keep the water turned on.

The water was shut off in December because of non-payment of bills. Service was restored after the college made a $100,000 payment just after New Year’s Day, and the school was able to open for spring semester.

Now, time once again seems to be running out.

The historically black college was founded in 1881 and at its height enrolled roughly 3,000 students. In recent years, though, financial problems have plagued the school.

The private institution has been fighting for its life the past seven years, since losing its accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Without accreditation, students are ineligible for most financial aid.

Financial mismanagement by former president Dolores Cross was a major factor in the accreditation loss. About three years ago, she pled guilty to embezzling federal money.

Pritchett has said that the campus is under lien, and some buildings may have to be auctioned to settle debts. The college has a total debt of about $30 million, which it hopes to settle in the long term.

More immediately, there’s the matter of the water bill as well as $1.5 million dollars the college owes in employee back pay, vendor payments and other bills, Pritchett said.

During Saturday’s fund-raiser co-sponsored by the C.T. Vivian Institute, civil rights leader C.T. Vivian said he feared that if Morris Brown fails, the entire 34- acre campus could wind up as a hotel and parking lot complex servicing nearby downtown attractions.

“We’re working right up until the last minute” to save the school, Vivian said. “All we can do now is hope and pray.”