Augusta’s charter review committee gets back to business today with the approval of officers and bylaws that will steer the process.
Appointed by the Augusta Commission and mayor, the 11-member committee is empowered to review and recommend changes to the city’s charter.
The charter spells out most aspects of the local government, and several suggestions are already being talked about that could remake its structure.
On the agenda is the election of the committee’s chair, who will preside at all meetings and set the agendas for each, a vice-chair, who serves in the chair’s absence, and a secretary, responsible for preparing agendas, meeting minutes and notices to the public.
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The committee met earlier this month but waited to elect officers after several members said they wanted to get to know each other first.
According to the bylaws going for approval, seven members constitute a quorum for the purpose of conducting business, and seven votes are needed to pass a measure.
The city recently created a webpage where committee documents and contact information expected to be posted.
What will the committee do?
The commission hired the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia to facilitate the committee’s review of the charter. The institute, expected to present information about the process Monday, has helped other local Georgia governments revise their charters.
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While the committee hasn’t formally begun its review, community members are talking about what might be done to change the local government’s structure, which hasn’t been altered since consolidation of Augusta-Richmond County in 1996.
Among the ideas being suggested are:
- Reducing the number of commissioners. Currently there are 10, with eight representing regular commission districts and two representing super districts comprised of four regular districts.
- Giving the city administrator or mayor the ability to hire and fire department heads
- Consolidating the Richmond County Marshal’s Office and E-911 under the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office
- Removing term limits for certain elected officials
- Requiring audits, performance reviews and other accountability measures
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Anonymous letter offers guidance
As they prepare to meet again, some members of the charter review committee recently received anonymous letters sent to their home addresses, which have not been disclosed.
The letter contends the charter review committee was created exclusively to address “the mayor’s hiring and firing power,” then offers a number of suggestions for how committee members can accomplish certain changes.
To change the number of commissioners from 10 to five, it says, start the conversation by asking Vinson consultants to create a presentation comparing the number of commissioners in Augusta to similar cities, then make a recommendation.
The letter offers the example of the absence of two commissioners – Brandon Garrett and Alvin Mason – for multiple months last year as why more commissioners are not needed.
“Reducing the number of commissioners will collapse the ‘gang’ and make it about swaying the individual commissioner rather than the whole part of commissioners voting as a block,” it said.
The letter goes on to suggest multiple motions for making changes to the charter, such as asking Vinson consultants to prepare a report on combining departments, draft a motion renaming the administrator as the CEO or draft a motion giving the mayor hiring and firing authority.
Who’s on the committee?
The mayor and each of the 10 commissioners appointed committee members. The commission made a rule that current and former elected officials or members of other sitting boards were not allowed.
The members are:
- District 1: Lester McCorn – president of Paine College
- District 2: Angela Bakos – founder of Resourced Augusta
- District 3: Marcie Wilhelmi, aviation and civic activist
- District 4: Tanya Barnhill-Turnley, consultant
- District 5: Marvin Cole, retired Army first sergeant
- District 6: Virginia Cody, retired educator
- District 7: Lee Powell, activist and drone operator
- District 8: Charlie Coleman, retired firefighter
- District 9: Lonnie Wimberly, retired from Army and city government
- District 10: Steve Foushee, small business owner
- Mayor: Roderick Pearson, retired from government
The meeting starts at 10:30 a.m. in the commission chamber at Augusta Municipal Building.
