Many people watching the Augusta Commission on June 14 might have been confused as commissioners in a special called meeting voted to rescind a measure passed in a May 10 meeting and then without discussion, voted to pass the same measure again.
The special called meeting was held after a near two-hour legal session that was closed to the public.
The measure in question was to allocate $62,500 to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office for the purchase of surveillance cameras. The new measure was altered slightly to read “security purchase” as opposed to “surveillance cameras.”
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The reason for the revote was not due to any conflict over whether to give the sheriff extra funding but because the original measure was discussed in a legal meeting. Only certain topics can be discussed in such a meeting, and this was not one of those topics.
Georgia’s open meetings law states only pending litigation, pending real estate transactions and matters pertaining to a specific employee may be discussed in closed session.
Policy matters, such as departmental funding, are not allowed to be discussed in private when a quorum of commissioners is present.
Ironically, commissioners did discuss the matter again behind closed doors, but it was perfectly legal this time, as the city attorney, Wayne Brown, was in receipt of a letter by the attorney for The Augusta Press, David Hudson, threatening litigation if the commission did not vacate the previous measure and vote on the matter in public again.
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“If the city will acknowledge it made a mistake in discussing the surveillance cameras in closed session and vote again at the next meeting of the Augusta Commission to authorize the expenditure, The Augusta Press will consider the Commission has learned a lesson,” Hudson’s letter reads.
According to Joe Edge, publisher of The Augusta Press, the matter was never about whether the Sheriff should have been given the supplemental funding, but rather the fact that the matter was discussed in secret before it was voted on in public.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
