Travel money for Augusta commissioners, Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree’s proposal for his office to retain money generated by the jail commissary and inmate phone calls and a proposal to buy two sculptures on the downtown Sculpture Trail every two years were up for discussion at Tuesday’s commission committee meetings.
Commissioners are looking forward to getting back on the road again and will have $4,500 each to pay for the trips.
Commissioner Sean Frantom proposed approving money for commission travel this year.
“I just think it’s important,” he told members of the city’s administrative services committee Tuesday. “You know, we didn’t get to do it last year. There was a lot of money unused last year for travel.”
Frantom questioned whether the $4,200 each commissioner had been allocated for travel this year was enough.
“Now we have a more vibrant commission that will probably travel even more than the previous commission,” he said. “And I think it’s important that, as a government, we are out representing our city, as well as learning best practices across this country. And I just hope when we are able to travel we look at it from the standpoint of what good it does for the city for us to be traveling. Is $4,200 enough money for us? I don’t know.”
Frantom also asked when it would be safe for commissioners to travel again, and City Administrator Odie Donald had the answers.
The total commission travel budget is $45,000, and each of the 10 commissioners has $4,500 to attend two state and one national conference. In addition, the commission could also look at using money for travel on an “as needed” basis, Donald said.
As for when it would be safe to travel, Donald said Augusta will be hosting the Georgia City-County Management Association (GCCMA) conference, the first state governmental association conference, at the end of May.
June would be a good time to start traveling, Donald said, although commissioners won’t have a conference to attend until July.
Mayor Hardie Davis who had not been attending the meetings, tuned in to speak on the importance of travel.
He encouraged them to attend state conferences, such as the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, but to not stop there.
“We are an international city whose national star continues to rise,” he said.
He encouraged commissioners not only to participate in meetings but look for opportunities to engage as a panelist or as a speaker “to further elevate Augusta’s profile in a national conversation.”
“It’s important for us to represent our constituents on a local level, but when called upon, to jump in a jet and go to Washington.”
In another matter, Sheriff Roundtree wants his office to keep the profits generated by the Phinizy Road jail commissary and inmate telephone calls to pay for jail maintenance and major repairs instead of going into the city’s general fund.
Roundtree made his case to the commission’s public safety committee Tuesday.
“As you know, in the last SPLOST project, we had included a proposal for the maintenance of our facility,” he said. “Some of the facility’s equipment is almost 25 years old.”
Plumbing, showers and bedding are among the things that need to be repaired or replaced, he said, noting that the jail is in use 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“Unfortunately, it was not included in SPLOST,” he said.
Currently the commissary profits of almost a half million dollars a year from the sales of snacks and toiletry items all go into the general fund. The sheriff’s office receives 25 percent of the money generated by inmate telephone calls which is around $30,000 a month, Roundtree said.
The sheriff said he is seeking money from accounts generated by the inmates to be allocated strictly for jail maintenance – not for personnel or new positions.
City Administrator Odie Donald said he wanted to support Roundtree, but he would be looking at about $385,000 out of the general fund and would like to hear from the finance director before making a recommendation.
Responding to Donald’s comments about the general fund, Roundtree said the jail repairs will have to be made, regardless, and that he was proposing a way that inmates, not taxpayers, would pay for them.
“So, the money’s going to have to come out,” he said. “All we’re trying to do is say that we have a steady funding source, created by the inmates directly for the improvement of the facility, Regardless, our maintenance costs I’m talking about are going to have to be addressed. We’re going to have to fix the plumbing. The pipes have got to come out.”
The matter is expected to come before the commission at next week’s full commission meeting.
Meanwhile, Donald recommended purchasing three sculptures on the Greater Augusta Arts Council’s downtown Sculpture Trail and repeating the process every two years, at least through 2027.
Donald said $100,000 has been allocated in this year’s budget for public art.
Commissioner Ben Hasan said he’d like to use the money previously allocated for gateway sculptures to buy the sculptures downtown.
The public services committee received the proposal as information.
Sylvia Cooper is a correspondent for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sylvia@theaugustapress.com.
