The Augusta Commission voted Thursday to rename the Riverwalk for former Mayor Edward M. McIntyre Sr. and proceed with the “regional” search for a permanent administrator.
The commission also voted to give Augusta voters a $433 million choice in November, setting Nov. 7 as the date for a referendum on a half-cent sales tax to replace the aging James Brown Arena.
With several members of the McIntyre family and fellow Good Shepherd Baptist Church parishioners in the audience, Commissioner Bobby Williams said McIntyre had been a visionary for Augusta.
“We decided that what he contributed to Augusta was so great,” Williams said. “As a young man growing up in Augusta, when (you) think about what happened in Augusta and who helped Augusta be what Augusta is…
“We wanted to do something to make people remember Mr. McIntyre and his contributions to Augusta, Ga.”
As mayor in the early 1980s, McIntyre had the vision to build a riverfront park, Williams said. Today despite showing signs of age, it’s the city’s most popular park, according to a survey.
“My understanding was Mr. McIntyre was the visionary. Mr. McIntyre was the one who gathered the money for the Riverwalk and park and the other things that you enjoy,” he said.
After winning election as the first Black member of the Richmond County Commission, where he served for a decade that included years as chairman, McIntyre was elected Augusta’s first Black mayor in 1981.
His term was cut short, however, when he and city council member Joseph Jones were indicted for demanding payments from a riverfront developer seeking to do business with the city. Sentenced to five years in federal prison, McIntyre was released after just 14 months.
DeVaney’s name removed from proposal
Williams said he received much support for McIntyre, but none for adding former Mayor Charles DeVaney’s name to the Riverwalk, which was completed during DeVaney’s tenure. Several on the commission agreed.
“Mr. DeVaney is why this government is consolidated, and I have no desire to support that,” Commissioner Wayne Guilfoyle said. Commissioner Brandon Garrett said DeVaney had few fans in south Richmond County, which was forged to Augusta by consolidation.
McIntyre’s son, Edward Marlow McIntyre Jr., the husband of State Court Judge Kellie Kenner McIntyre, will serve as sponsor of the naming request. He thanked Williams and commissioners Jordan Johnson and Francine Scott for co-sponsoring the agenda item.
Commissioner Alvin Mason noted the state of disrepair at the Riverwalk.
“This is something that I will support, but also I want to say we need to clean that doggone place up. To put anyone’s name on that place the way it looks now, that’s a disservice,” Mason said.
Mayor Garnett Johnson encouraged the community to get involved in fundraising and other efforts to improve conditions at the Riverwalk. The vote for the naming was unanimous.
Search on for permanent administrator
Central Services Director Takiyah Douse has held the title of interim administrator since the March 2022 resignation of Odie Donald II after just 14 months. Commissioners have argued about minimum qualifications for the job but taken no action on a permanent hire since then. That changed Thursday, when the commission voted 9-1 to launch a search, with Jordan Johnson opposed.
Commissioner Sean Frantom said he was persuaded after learning of Savannah’s success with filling the position.
“Down in Savannah, they basically do a nationwide search for any of their department-level positions, and they recently hired an administrator – that we won’t poach and we won’t go after – but he’s doing an amazing job down there,” Frantom said. “He’s really united the commission and the governing body down there and the department heads and he’s from D.C.”
Johnson, who supports Douse for the role, said the commission should hold off.
“We’re rushing this process, and I’m not really sure that we’re in a rush to fill this role,” Johnson said. “We’re in the middle of a budget cycle. We’re in the middle of rightsizing.”
At the commission’s direction, Douse crafted a right-sizing plan to increase efficiency through methods such as centralizing maintenance, eliminating duplicated tasks, reducing certain fire department responses and liquidating underused assets.
On the search, Williams offered the caveat that the candidate had to have worked in government during the last five years.
“It can’t be somebody just sitting at home and all the sudden decides that they want to work,” he said, then suggested “Fred Russell” fit this category.
The commission fired Russell, who came from law enforcement, in 2013 after he served as administrator for eight years and deputy administrator for three.
Mason, who made a motion to hire a search firm to begin the search in two weeks, said having an interim for 16 months revealed no rush by the commission to fill the position.
“Sixteen months ago we selected Mrs. Douse,” Mason said. “No one’s looking to denigrate or downgrade Mrs. Douse. She got a very healthy salary raise and she’s getting this job experience, and she’s done an adequate job.”
General Counsel Wayne Brown said the way the process has worked is the search firm culls a pool of applicants to 12, which are sent to the commission. The commission interviews its choice of seven who are referred to the mayor, who recommends his favorites to the commission for a vote.
The final motion that passed added the language that the firm will conduct the search in the southeastern United States.
Arena referendum passes by consent
The one weighty item that received no discussion Thursday was the Nov. 7 referendum. Frantom added the agenda item to the consent agenda, and it was approved by the group with a dozen others in one vote.
While the new arena has been budgeted at $250 million, the referendum calls for raising $433 million, to include construction costs plus the interest to borrow all the money up front.
At Augusta’s expected collection rate of about $20 million per year, it will take residents more than 20 years to repay the debt.
The half-cent sales tax, added at the cash register, was created by the legislature last year as a way for Augusta to fund the large project.
