Augusta’s next set of charter review meetings will feature competing views on ethics and leadership as well as an array of viewpoints from former city officials.
The Charter Review Committee and two subcommittees have met roughly every other Thursday since April. The committee was tasked to “study the charter,” “provide a comprehensive review” and “propose changes and updates” to the city’s governing document, but has made no formal decisions.
The full committee meets at 10 a.m. prior to the subcommittees Thursday and has on its agenda a motion to adopt language “for ethics, transparency and accountability.” The five pages of language authored by members Marcie Wilhelmi and Sheffie Robinson was presented at the committee’s last meeting. It includes sweeping guidelines for government official conduct including mandatory interaction with constituents and the creation of an independent ethics panel.
The committee’s subcommittee on Augusta’s form of government offers another take. Meeting at 1:35 p.m., the agenda calls for the Carl Vinson Institute of Government to review the ethics document, then offers five reasons not to adopt it. An ethics panel “dilutes voter confidence in the role of their commissioner,” while Georgia already has a “State Ethics Commission,” and voters, not the “CRC” should decide how accessible a commissioner should be, it says.
If they need guidance, however, committee members can get it at the regular meeting, when “commissioners of the consolidated government” have been invited to speak. These are expected to include former commissioners J.B. Powell, Marion Williams, Bill Fennoy, Joe Bowles and potentially others, according to former Commissioner Moses Todd, who has spoken at several of the meetings.
Also during the regular meeting, the committee is expected to vote on keeping the current system of eight regular commission districts and two super districts, which are elected at large from four regular districts each.
The committee also has a vote to hold rescheduled meetings Nov. 20, Dec. 4 and Dec. 18 rather than miss them due to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
The form of government subcommittee takes another turn with a discussion by former Administrator Fred Russell about “his view of the mayor’s role” under the new charter. Russell spoke to the full committee at its last meeting, advocating for a “city manager” to run the government, rather than the weaker administrator form he worked under.
After Russell’s discussion, the subcommittee agenda takes up member Lonnie Wimberly’s new proposed motions, which replace several he previously introduced. These include adopting a “county manager” form of government. The manager, reporting to the commission without involvement by the mayor, can hire and fire department heads.
