Augusta Mayor-Elect Garnett Johnson ready to hit the ground running
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Recent posts
Oh no! So now we get a departmental operational efficiency review instead of an independent forensic audit due to time constraints? Not even sworn in and the mayor-elect appears to be walking back a campaign promise. If county officials and employees are breaking laws and not following policies and procedures, I expect consequences, up to and including termination and prosecution.
If there were laws broken then we must hold the wrong doers accountable. An audit may take years and a lot of money, but it is a small price to pay for piece of mind and a clean slate in our cities finances.
BUILD UP…DO NOT TEAR DOWN !!!!!!!! YES YES YES
WONDERFUL!! The best man, an outsider, with a successful business mind, now takes the helm. My expectations are high! Time to get rid of the high priced inept, non- producers, who seem to be in our government.
Absolutely!!!
I have worked for a number of large Corporations and periodically each would do an ‘efficiency’ study to see how to improve performance and to see exactly what jobs were being done and how many people it took to complete the job. The ‘studies’ usually ended up with people being shifted from areas of low work to areas that were covered up, and ‘Skills Assessment’ was also part of the study.
I hope he that’s Sean Frantom to the old green jacket field and have Sean show him the $850,000 spent by XPR He has yet to show us after he told us they spend it n
What a breath of fresh air!
Mr. Johnson for your own peace of mind, an audit is needed for every department to insure that no mismanagement of taxpayer money comes back to you. We are just getting out of 8 years of wanton spending with little to no accountability, both from a mayor and a commissioner.
Whe is the county election held 7 months before the winners are sworn in?
A lot of wishful thinking in these comments. The mayor doesn’t have that power in this government. He can lead by example and use his office as the bully pulpit, calling out mismanagement, but he can’t hire or fire.
Absolutely correct statement. ALWAYS REMEMBER – In Augusta SIX VOTES CAN START OR STOP ANYTHING.
To a certain extent, you are correct. When Garnett and I met a month or so ago, he cringed when I used the word “audit”. He said he preferred the word “review”, even back then. The Commission can either work WITH him, or AGAINST him, and I would STRONGLY suggest they do the former, rather than the latter. If the “Bully Pulpit” is used correctly, public television shame, can go a long way, to getting certain Commissioners in line, and doing the correct thing, for the citizens of ARC.
The mayor elect is certainly a breath of fresh air, I like his vision, especially when it comes to cleaning up this city. This is something that should be done on a regular schedule, not just one week a year. I never understood why prisoners are not used on a regular basis for this. The other day we saw them being used in Columbia County. Also the Sheriffs dept. needs to enforce litter fines.
I think the first step to fiscal responsibility is finding out if the money is currently being spent in the most prudent way possible. An operational review looks at every department to find out how the money is spent, where the money is going, and what are the guidelines for spending. This can reveal areas where better controls need to be in place, etc. Then, if there are serious issues found in a particular department, a forensic audit can be conducted so that evidence can be collected. For example, if your car needs to be serviced, you often get a diagnostic test to see where the problems are; what needs to be repaired immediately & what can wait. Once you know that, you can focus on the area of need. I think there is a lot of waste going on and this is a good way to get the ball rolling to better fiscal management.
An audit would be a way to start new and not inherit the past transgressions of our mayor. It only makes sense after all the mismanagement of funds, etc. Glad to see Mr. Johnson was the last man standing.