OCEAN SPRINGS, MS (GC Wire) – A growing public debate over Ocean Springs’ publicly funded $8 million downtown parking garage is no longer just about ownership.
It’s also about risk.
That was the focus of a widely viewed comment by local attorney Tristan R. Armer, who warned that the current structure could leave the public exposed if things go wrong.
“To me the real issue is simply ‘risk,’” Armer wrote. “The property/deck is fully leveraged to a bank. Should the private partner default, then there is no public parking deck.”
Armer was referring to mortgages taken out on the parking garage as the project neared completion. Those mortgages resulted in a subordination clause being inserted into the city’s approved lease proposal, stating in plain English that the city could lose access to the parking garage if the owners default on their loans.
Armer said that in a worst-case scenario, the public could lose both the garage and the $8 million used to build it.
“The $8M and the free public parking is gone with it,” he wrote.
He added that there were multiple ways the deal could have been structured to protect the public’s interest — but weren’t.
“There were many ways to structure this deal so that did not happen.”
‘It’s a Shame’
Armer’s comments came in response to a Facebook thread involving former Mayor Shea Dobson, who initially described the project as a standard public-private partnership.
In that same thread, GC Wire pointed out that the project was originally presented as city-owned before shifting to a lease structure under the next mayor.
“The public-private partnership for the garage was on point while you were in office,” this reporter wrote. “It was sold as the city owning the garage and the business getting benefit from it, i.e. designated spaces, etc. After you left office, that script flipped.”
The former mayor seemed to acknowledge the change.
“It’s a shame,” Dobson wrote. “I just hope we don’t lose sight of a good partnership with 1515.”
That statement seemingly suggests the structure evolved over time — not that it was always intended to be privately owned.
What the Applications Actually Said
The parking garage was funded by grants from the Gulf Coast Restoration Fund (GCRF), facilitated by the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA).
The grant applications submitted to MDA while Dobson was mayor provide a clear baseline.
Those applications — used to secure the $8 million in public funding — repeatedly describe the parking garage as a city-owned asset.
They state that:
- the garage would be owned by the City of Ocean Springs
- the project would result in a public facility under city control
Those representations were not incidental. They were central to the funding request.
They also align with the agreements later approved by the Board of Aldermen in May 2022, which certified that the statements in those applications were true and correct at the time of execution.
A Different Explanation Emerges
After Armer raised concerns about risk, Dobson offered a more detailed explanation of how the project was originally structured.
“When it was born, it was to be a 99 year lease to the city for public parking,” he wrote. “The idea of the city alone getting a garage… wasn’t a project they wanted to fund. They wanted public private partnerships.”
That explanation suggests the private ownership model was required from the beginning. But it conflicts with both the language of the grant applications submitted while he was still mayor and Dobson’s same day acknowledgment that the structure changed.
Dobson has also offered a different explanation in the past.
In a 2024 Facebook Live video, he said the project failed to receive funding during his administration for reasons unrelated to structure.
“They told me they wouldn’t fund the project at 1515 Government Street if I kept campaigning in favor of medical marijuana. But I kept talking. And they did in fact pull the funds,” Dobson said.
That version points to political pressure — not deal structure — as the reason the project stalled at the time.
Taken together, Dobson’s statements present three different explanations:
- that the project was originally city-owned and later changed
- that it was always intended to be a long-term lease with private ownership
- and that funding was withheld for unrelated political reasons
Those explanations are difficult to reconcile.
More Than a Debate
The shifting narrative comes as separate questions continue to surface about how the project is documented and structured. But none of these after-the-fact debate narratives matter, at least not legally.
It all boils down to two things: what the funding contracts say and what the city’s official minutes say.
On May 17, 2022, – after Dobson left office – the Board of Aldermen voted to authorize then-Mayor Kenny Holloway to execute contracts with MDA for the $8 million in GCRF grant funding for the parking garage.
The contracts approved by the Board that day included a clause certifying that the statements made in the grant applications were true and correct, both the day they were submitted and the day of the grant agreement execution.
Those applications specifically stated:
“OHOS Land, LLC has entered into an agreement in which it will transfer ownership of the parking garage and amenities to the City upon completing construction.”
And:
“The City of Ocean Springs is in full support of the project as evidenced by the attached resolution and the fact the City is a co-applicant and will be the owner of the proposed parking garage.”
The grant agreements – both Phase 1 and Phase 2 – certified these statements remain true. Specifically, the certification clause states:
“The Entity certifies that all of the material information contained in the Application is true and correct as of the date of the Application and the date of this Agreement.”
Those contracts, approved by the Board in May 2022, were signed, notarized, and executed by all parties in August 2022.
But those facts – and the contracts themselves – no longer appear in the city’s official record.
Mississippi law states that a city only speaks through its official minutes. Minutes are supposed to be the official historical record of actions taken by the Board of Aldermen. In this case, that historical record changed.
After the signing of the above mentioned contracts, former Mayor Holloway signed a series of “amended and restated” versions of the same. Official city records indicate none of these subsequent agreements were ever approved by the Board of Aldermen. Yet, in each version, Holloway certified he had full authorization to sign. But city records say otherwise.
As GC Wire has previously reported, sometime between May of 2022 and last week, the city rewrote history.
The only Board authorized set of contracts were signed and executed in August 2022. But now the city claims that set does not exist. The official minutes have replaced those documents with a later unauthorized set of agreements that states the city will not own the garage and rather lease it from OHOS.
What Does the Current Mayor Say?
Mayor Bobby Cox, who served as Alderman-at-Large during the previous two administrations, is taking the narrative that the minutes in their current form are correct.
Cox, along with City Clerk Christine Millard, told the public at last Tuesday’s Board of Aldermen meeting that the contracts approved on May 17, 2022 and currently attached to that meeting’s minutes are not the ones signed and executed roughly 90 days later, but a subsequent set signed in July 2023.
Essentially, he is saying the August 2022 set of executed agreements no longer exist. But they did just a few months ago – before anyone began questioning the timeline.
In November 2025, GC Wire received copies of the August 2022 agreements from the City Clerk’s Office through a public records request – the very agreements the mayor and city clerk now say never existed.
GC Wire has published those disappeared agreements multiple times, including here: Phase 1 and Phase 2
Mayor Cox did not respond to GC Wire questions emailed to his office regarding the contested city minutes.
Where Are We Now?
The State funded a project based on a promise: that the City of Ocean Springs would own the garage.
The Board approved contracts certifying that promise. Those contracts were signed and executed in 2022.
Now, the only version of that deal that exists in the city’s official record says the opposite.
And until that record is corrected, the question isn’t just what happened.
It’s what was changed.
