The wagons have circled around the Vax Up Augusta! program, and no one wants to claim responsibility for the $1.5 million in federal funding being used to provide $100-per-shot incentives for COVID-19 vaccinations for Augusta residents.
Staff in City Administrator Odie Donald’s office replied to an open records request that the administrator’s office was not the custodian of records related to the vaccination program and that all requests should be sent to the Richmond County Department of Health.
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A similar request sent to the health department garnered the same response: the health department claims it is not the custodian of the records, even though the department had previously provided a ledger of expenses that was clearly riddled with errors.
In unveiling the program to the Augusta Commission, Donald claimed his office had a memorandum of understanding with the health department. Now, even that document cannot be located.
Danielle Harris, the public information officer for the Administrator’s Office refused to answer questions over the phone and demanded that questions be sent in writing.
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On Nov. 5, the following questions were sent to Harris by email:
Who is responsible for giving out the cards?
Are the cards being tracked in a manner that only vaccine recipients receive them? What is the tracking process?
Since the cards are already purchased, what happens to any left over cards?
How many cards have been purchased and paid for in total? We are told from the RCHD the number is 3,300; is this accurate?
Who is ultimately accountable for the proper and lawful distribution of these cards?
According to the Health Department, $18.952.98 has been spent on indirect costs? What is that? Where did that money go?
After a week, Harris has not responded despite numerous attempts to follow up by phone and email. Harris’ email has an auto-reply stating she is away from the office for “training.”
Harris has, however, sent out press releases this week about the next vaccination clinic to be held on Nov. 20.
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Several Augusta Commissioners including John Clarke, Brandon Garrett, Al Mason, Sean Frantom and Catherine Smith-McKnight say they have requested information to no avail.
“The money is out there. Somebody has got it, and we need to know who that somebody is,” Clarke said.
Mason says that he was recently appointed to the board of the health department and that he is having difficulty.
“When I inquired about the story I read in The Augusta Press, they just said the story was inaccurate,” Mason said.
The original story published by The Augusta Press was based on expenditures provided by the health department. Those figures included $18,952.98 in “indirect costs.” The ledger provided by the health department did not itemize and specify what those indirect costs might have been paid out for.
The health department ledger also showed $91,775 was spent on “shipping the cards.”
The funding for the program does not come from the city’s general fund but from federal funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES); however, Garrett says that doesn’t matter to him because it is all taxpayer’s money regardless of the source.
“We’re talking about blank gift cards here. We have to know where those blank cards are being kept and how they are being handed out. There has to be accountability,” Garrett said.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
