City administrator talks American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and racial equity in exit workshop
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Wow, just wait for the sticker shock in 2 years!!!! The shell games weren’t only for bidding on projects, it was also for budgeting this year!
When the house of cards falls, the tax-paying citizens of A/RC will be forced to dig deeper into their pockets.
Yrs
I had wanted to like him but now reading this I’m glad he is gone. Yes the taxpayers will suffer these consequences and that includes those that own property and RENT property to live in. Tenants don’t seem to understand this.
The Feds have a similar expensive and inefficient system of requiring a percentage of contracts be let to small, minority-owned, disadvantaged companies. The small business cannot provide the money, equipment, and qualified personnel to perform the work, so they team with a large corporation that can. The small company wins the contract and the large corporation does the heavy lifting, while the small business pretends to manage the contract and its owners take their cut. The large corporation hopes to at least cover its costs and possibly turn a profit.
I have witnessed some DOE contracts let to small businesses fail so badly that the DOE removed the small-business from managing the project and directed the larger teaming partner to take over and finish the project. Diversity, inclusiveness, mediocrity, and emotions always win over quality, competence, efficiency, and logic.
Not always. Being in the contract world for so long, let’s not blame diversity nor inclusiveness. There are solutions not bandaids, but will they take time and definitely will not gain voter confidence, popularity nor votes.
Racial equity = racial discrimination. Racial equity should be for opportunity only, not for results. “Black only support staff?” MLK would be shaking his head.
I was shocked when he said “black only staff”. Do people support this ?
I have reported that was the case twice in my Sunday column. Mayor Hardie Davis does the same. To my knowledge he’s had only one white person on his staff in his seven years, including interns, and he hires people he meets on out-of-town trips. I don’t think most people support it. Some don’t know what’s going on and those who do don’t want to be branded as a racist.
People really should stop being afraid of that slur.
I’m not so sure. Didn’t MLK say he hoped for the day when we judge a person by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character? Praise the Lord, it’s happening now! (I just hope they have an equal number of whites, blacks, browns, yellows in the department. Oh, and reds. If not, somebody needs to sue) (oh wait, we can’t forget about trans.)
Is anyone else as sick of the term Race as I am. This term has taken over every aspect of our lives. And because of this there is very little if anything getting done. When Odie said he was only going to hire black people in his department, that’s Racist. This means he will only hire because of skin color, not qualifications. These people that get tax payers money should have to prove they can make it in the business world. It’s like throwing money in a bucket with no bottom. This is why Augusta continually goes backwards, instead of forward. Unfortunately Odie thinks all black people should get a trophy weather they earned it or not.
That is exactly what I believe too.
“One of his first acts as administrator was to hire a Black-only support staff.” That’s not really racial equity if you’re a white applicant is it? Do anyone know what the racial makeup is now of current city/county employees?
WOW! This whole article is the start to a series of headlines to come! There is so much to unpack in this very simplistic overview of getting a windfall of taxpayer money and spending without a clear plan, underlined with racial disparity as the problem.
Many don’t want to hear the facts and more don’t want to address the problems because it truth is hard to swallow and the solutions require work.
First three little paragraphs and I was done with this article..
“One of his first acts as administrator was to hire a Black-only support staff.”
In any context, that’s racism. Slapping “equity” on racism is just trying to put a smile on it.
I don’t know what to say…this is beyond belief…what if next admin is a person of white skin and he/she says I am only gonna hire a white staff. Call in DOJ. Also there should be a law against winning a city contract and getting a large company to do the business.
Augusta will never see another white administrator.
It should not be about skin color. The facts are regardless of color people hire people and after the resume and interview process people hire people they believe they can trust and work with.
It just so happens people hire people who are the same color, but foolish people say they will ONLY hire those OF the same color or certain sexual orientation.
I know this is not a tie in with this piece but does anyone think Putin is scared of Biden ?
Why would he be afraid of Biden❓Biden is nothing but a puppet.
We’ve had a grossly overpaid admitted racist who used/ recommended short term federal funds to boost hourly wages beyond our budget abilities ( funds that would run out in 2 years) , but that didn’t matter to our administrator because he’d be gone and thus not his problem AND with that recommendation our commissioners voted yes. God help us with the financial disaster that’s looming up ahead.
If he’s admitting that he only hired black people he’s admitting discrimination..Augusta could be liable in a lawsuit for anyone that’s applied for those jobs..
Odie admits what I have been saying from the notice he was leaving ( I didn’t say resignation because he didn’t resign). He has built a house of cards on Federal dollars that are temporary. The taxpayer is going to be stuck, which he admits and basically says, “Nanny, nanny boo boo.” Or more direct, where we taxpayers can kiss him.
Just imagine if a white city employee said they were only hiring white people..if you can interchange the word white and black and it makes it discriminatory then it makes it that way with both statements…