The woman stepping in for Alvin Mason already has been his right hand for over a dozen years, the resigned commissioner said Tuesday.
The Augusta Commission voted in Tanya Barnhill-Turnley as interim commissioner last week. She replaces Mason, who stepped down last month, citing health reasons.
Barnhill-Turnley was given her oaths of office Tuesday and took her seat behind the dais, primed for six hours of committee and closed-door meetings on her first day.
Mason said he’d known Barnhill-Turnley for nearly 18 years, since they both ran for the District 4 seat in 2007.
She’d said, “Hey, if I don’t get it, I’m supporting you, and she did just that,” said Mason, who then won his runoff with Bernard Harper.
With Barnhill-Turnley as his campaign manager, Mason won a second four-year term in 2010 and a third in 2022, after he served as interim replacement for Sammie Sias.
“I owe Tanya a debt of gratitude that no money can repay,” Mason said. “I was blessed to have Tanya as my right-hand person for 12-and-a-half years.”
Mason said over the years Barnhill-Turnley worked “side-by-side” with him on “everything that has gone on, and how it’s been done.” On some issues, she’s been the one to find a solution, he said.
When she ran for commission in 2007, Barnhill-Turnley had 17 years of media sales experience under her belt, and she now owns a consulting business, TM Consultants. Her sister, Sandra Barnhill, said their mother’s family had “deep roots” in Columbia County.
Barnhill-Turnley is “always willing to listen,” her sister said. If she disagrees, “she tries to find common ground.”
Barnhill-Turnley said just a few words at her oath of office ceremony. “This is a responsibility I do not take lightly, and I approach it with gratitude and commitment,” she said.
She thanked supporters and introduced her new appointee on the Charter Review Committee, Robert J. France.
Mayor Garnett Johnson likely gains another ally in Barnhill-Turnley if she follows the lead of Mason, who tended to vote with the mayor since they’ve been serving together.
“We are so excited about your tenure on this commission, and we congratulate you and thank you for serving,” Johnson said.
Barnhill-Turnley’s interim appointment will end when an election to complete Mason’s term is held Nov. 4. She hasn’t said whether she’s running in the election.
Her Good Shepherd Baptist Church pastor, Clarence Moore, led the group in prayer for Barnhill-Turnley, asking for her “courage, to hold fast to her convictions,” “humility, to acknowledge when she’s in error,” “wisdom, to seek counsel” and “kindness, to meet every person she encounters as if she’s encountering (God) herself.”
