Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis’s office still has not complied with multiple requests filed under the Open Records Act.
The timeline below shows the dates of requests for information and the responses from the city. The open records request for information on Mayor’s Office expenditures went out on March 23. Sylvia Cooper a columnist with The Augusta Press, filed that request.
On March 31, Augusta Press Publisher Joe Edge and columnist Sylvia Cooper met with employees of the city finance department to review the financials. That meeting raised more questions about a lack of invoices for expenditures as well as payments being made using the online service PayPal, Edge said.
On April 8, Edge filed another open records request that sought copies of Mayor’s Office credit card statements and invoices for 2021. These records had not been included in the March 23 request, Edge said.
The request for 2021 information has not been responded to by the City Attorney Wayne Brown or the Mayor’s Office.
Since March 31, some records sought in the original March 23 open records request have trickled in, Edge said. The city still has not provided any of the information requested on April 8, nor have city officials stated that any of the existing records do not exist, he added. The Georgia Open Records Act requires government to respond to open record requests within three days.
The city ignored multiple follow up requests for the documents included in the April 8 request, so The Augusta Press attorney David Hudson of Hull Barrett, P.C. sent a letter to the Brown on April 28.
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Mayor Hardie Davis responded to that letter with a phone call on the morning of April 29, Edge said.
Hudson’s letter also got a response from Brown who requested a sit-down meeting.
Brown wrote in his letter responding to Hudson, “After speaking with the Mayor’s Office, this is to kindly request that you speak with your client, The Augusta Press, and ask them to carefully review all the documents that have been provided by the Mayor’s Office pertaining to your above-reference letter.”
Brown ended the letter by stating, “The Mayor’s Office also reiterates that its staff welcomes the opportunity to sit down with the Augusta Press staff to review documents and answer questions.”
On May 3 at 5 p.m., the Mayor’s Office canceled the meeting that had been scheduled for May 4 at 11:30 a.m., Edge said.
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Davis agreed to meet on May 6 instead, Edge said, but someone from the mayor’s staff canceled that meeting less than an hour before it was to occur. The mayor did call to apologize about the second cancelation.
In subsequent conversations with both Mayor Davis and his chief of staff Petula Burks, both seemed surprised that the information request had not been fulfilled, Edge said.
Burks stated that she responded to the April 8 request the next day. Her response, Edge said, was that the Augusta Press would have to get the data from the city finance department.
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The city finance department’s response to a request for the information was that they kept none of the requested data on file in that office. Representatives from the finance department said all Mayor’s Office spending records are filed in the Mayor’s Office and would have to be obtained from that office, Edge added. Burks had no comment about the six follow up requests sent to her and the city lawyer.
During the May 6 conversation with Davis he stated that his office wanted to be transparent and cooperate. He also assured a speedy response would be given the next day May 7, Edge said.
To date, neither The Augusta Press nor its attorney have received any information, he added.
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