CAIRO — The Leon County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday afternoon to adopt a memorandum of understanding with Grady County.

The move is intended to put an end to years of legal disputes between the two neighboring counties regarding the Tired Creek Lake project.

Grady County Administrator Buddy Johnson credited lake consultant Will Butler with successfully leading negotiations between the two governments and referred to him as “the real deal.”

“We now have a solid relationship with Leon County,” Johnson said. “That is all at the hands of Mr. Will Butler.”

Johnson, who was present for the vote in Tallahassee with Butler, said every Leon County commissioner came from their seats before the meeting began to greet the lake consultant personally.

Leon County was initially slated to take action on the MOU as a consent item with no discussion, but the vote was instead delayed to allow the commissioners to share their thoughts.

“They were very appreciative of the Grady County commissioners and myself,” Johnson said, “but most importantly they went on about Mr. Butler and how hard he was worked on it between their attorneys, our attorney, their commissioners (and) what we’ve done here. It was very well-received.”

With litigation threats set to be a thing of the past, Butler now has the ability to truly shine by bringing in developers, Johnson said, which was the initial idea the county had when they brought him onboard two years ago.

Criticisms that Butler hasn’t done much in that time are “hogwash” in the county administrator’s view, especially in light of the agreement with Leon County.

“He earned every dime we ever paid him and he’s still earning it,” Johnson said.

The county administrator said he couldn’t say enough good things about what the agreement means for the lake project’s success.

“It’s a good day in Grady County, folks,” Johnson told the commissioners, adding that they should be proud of their work. 

Grady County commissioners will vote on the MOU at a later date.

Once both county commissions have ratified the document, the MOU will go into effect.

Negotiations between the two governments date back to December, when Johnson, Butler, lake director Mike Binion and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers liaison Laura Benz met with representatives from Leon County.

A draft MOU was drawn up April 30.