The Augusta Commission met on Tuesday and blazed through a series of motions including amending the budget for wastewater treatment facility and a proposed return to in-person meetings.
ESG Operations, the longtime operator of the treatment plant, has asked the city to up its budget between $2.5 and $3 million for extra work at the plant. The company already receives $9 million to operate the plant.
The added work would include the maintenance of heat exchangers, annual inspections of the water tanks and painting of the water tanks.
The latter contract exceeds the $25,000 ceiling for that particular job and would normally go through the bidding process in the Procurement Department. Procurement Director Jeri Sams told the commission that the tank painting was put out for bids but both companies bidding were deemed non-compliant.
ESG, which is headquartered in Macon, has come under fire in the local press for making campaign contributions to officials including Mayor Hardie Davis and Commissioners Sammie Sias, Ben Hassan and Dennis Williams.
The lone holdout on the vote was District 3 Commissioner Catherine Smith-McKnight.
“It just doesn’t smell right to me,” McKnight says. “I still have a bunch of questions and I don’t feel like any of them have been answered. We really need to look into this more.”
McKnight says she is comfortable being a maverick on the commission.
“If I have questions, I expect them to be answered and not have things just swept under the rug with no discussion,” she said. “That’s why the voters elected me.”
In other news, commissioners agreed to set a tentative date to return to chambers for in-person meetings starting with the first commission meeting in May.
Augusta Administrator Odie Donald says his office is still working on a telecommuting plan as well as a vaccination plan for employees, but released his final Augusta Forward plan that includes CDC guidelines for public meetings.
“We are also working with the Department of Public Health to put together a safe plan,” Donald told commissioners.
The plan presented would only have commissioners meeting in person for the general session and doesn’t include committee meetings. The total number of staff in attendance would be limited to 30 with the general public limited to 10, meaning that the meetings would still have to be live-streamed to be in compliance with the law.
Donald also said that precautions such as plexiglass barriers as well as sanitation measures throughout the building would be adopted for the live meetings. Commissioners agreed to set up a workshop in April to study the matter thoroughly. However, the tentative plan is to try and get back in session in May.
“We have to have a plan in place to get things somewhat back to normal,” says District 8 Commissioner Brandon Garrett. ”We really need to be getting back to meeting in person.”
Other actions:
-Commissioners voted to appoint Brandon Dial to fill the seat being vacated by Brad Owens on the Urban Redevelopment Committee. Owens has moved out of the county which makes him ineligible to serve on the three person board. Commissioners also approved a letter of appreciation for Owens’ service.
-Commissioners agreed to create a committee to study the current Memorandum of Understanding with Gold Cross EMT. Commissioners say they are not attempting to change the memo, just study its current contents and discuss the city’s EMT needs in the future. Commissioners Ben Hasan, Sammie Sias, Brandon Garrett, John Clarke and Dennis Williams will sit on the committee along with the City Administrator and City Attorney.
Scott Hudson is the Editorial Page Editor of The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
