Court favors DAEDF in suit with City; Judge rules DAEDF as legal owners of properties
February 8, 2025
A Stephens County judge ruled last week that Duncan Area Economic Development Foundation (DAEDF) is within its legal rights when it comes to ownership of various properties throughout the City of Duncan.
The lawsuit, which lists DAEDF as the plaintiff and the Duncan Economic Development Trust Authority (Trust Authority) and City of Duncan as the defendant, came to Stephens County Court after the City of Duncan and Mayor Robert Armstrong questioned the legality of DAEDF “owning real estate and improvements purchased from sales tax proceeds.” Armstrong and the City raised the legality question in a February 2023 city council meeting.
The summary judgement issued Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, favored DAEDF in regard to the ownership of properties purchased through contracts with the City and Trust Authority.
According to court documentation, contracts and services in the case dated as far back as 2003. This included agreements between DAEDF, to render economic development services, and the City acting as the Trust Authority, which provided funding from dedicated sales tax proceeds earmarked for DAEDF.
Ultimately, Stephens County Associate District Judge Dennis Gay ruled the real estate purchased by DAEDF with sales tax funds and held in DAEDF’s name is owned by DAEDF. Two properties are specifically listed in the court documents that were obtained through tax dollars.
An additional four properties are listed in the suit, however they were purchased with funds other than sales tax proceeds from the Trust Authority. Still, the court has ruled these legally belong to DAEDF.
The ruling further states that when the Trust Authority awarded the funds to DAEDF, they ceased to be public dollars.
The court also denied the Trust Authority and City’s motion for a partial summary judgement, which in turn rejected all claims by the city of owning the properties in question.
DAEDF Board Chairman Bill Gossett said the ruling confirmed DAEDF and its directors’ beliefs about the legality of ownership of the properties.
“This ruling confirms what we have maintained all along: that the properties in question were legally and properly acquired by DAEDF in accordance with our agreements with the City and the Trust,” Gossett said. “This decision allows us to move forward with our mission of promoting economic development in the Duncan area without any ambiguity regarding the ownership of our assets. We are committed to working with the City of Duncan to foster continued economic growth in our community.”
Mayor Armstrong disagreed with the court in a statement issued to The Duncan Banner.
"As representatives of the people, we have a fiduciary duty to safeguard taxpayer dollars,” Armstrong said. “We have questioned whether those funds were used properly. It is our responsibility to take action on our citizen’s behalf. We disagree with the court’s ruling and look forward to our next steps."
ADD ITEM TO REPORT
As you navigate our website, you can use the “Add Item to Report” button to add any page or property to a custom report that you can print out or save.