A Bibb County agency has apparently hit a dead end in its claim that three companies billed them nearly $2 million for work that was never done.
In April, the Macon-Bibb Industrial Development Authority demanded that the companies repay the money.
On Monday, the companies' lawyer, William "Chip" Collins, said they haven't -- and don't plan to.
Collins says his clients have done nothing wrong and that he hasn't heard from the authority on the matter since July.
"I hope it's resolved," he said.
By email, the authority's acting director, Stephen Adams declined comment on whether they plan to take further action. He wrote that he would not comment on any pending lawsuit or on whether law enforcement is reviewing the case.
The authority this spring blamed the bogus billing on their former chairman, Cliffard Whitby. (Whitby goes on trial this week on federal bribery charges that are not connected to the billing dispute.)
Many of the invoices -- like the ones for $97,000 in payments for demolition of a building that was never demolished -- were apparently authorized by Whitby and marked "Approved -- C.W."
In 2017 and early 2018, the authority sent letters, demanding payment, to an Atlanta company, Armstead Management; and W.M. Construction of Macon; and New Age Concept and Consulting of Macon.
Those letters and other documents allege that the companies billed the authority for a total of $1,954,749 for work that was never done -- in some cases, on buildings that didn't exist.
The billing happened between 2015 and 2017, and the industrial authority says problems came to light last year due to audits.
"The auditor's review found that these same contractors appeared to be owned by people related to the former chairman (Whitby)," the statement said.
The three companies responded with a lengthy letter in May, saying the billing dispute was, at least in part, a misunderstanding based on the authority's system for numbering the buildings it owns.
The letter also says that authority officials, including Whitby and others, were aware of what their contractors were doing and what they were getting paid for.
Collins declined to comment further Monday on the dispute, saying, "We put everything that was relevant in that letter."
But the July 6 response from the authority's lawyer, Kevin Brown, scoffed at the companies' defense.
"Your clients have offered falsehoods instead of facts to support that they did the work," he told Collins.
He called the companies' explanation about mis-numbered buildings "incredulous and obviously fabricated."
Brown's letter said the authority maintains its demand for the $1.9 million and reserved its right to take further action.
So far, said Collins, they haven't.
He said that his clients hope it's a dead issue now, but they still feel damaged by the dispute.
"Anybody would feel damaged, having their reputation harmed and their names dragged through the mud," he said.