“Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ else to lose. Nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’, but it’s free.”
You will find this lyric written by a person that was a Rhodes scholar, Army captain and helicopter pilot, poet, song writer and movie star, within a song he wrote entitled, “Me and Bobby McGee.”
I’m speaking of Kris Kristofferson.
This man became what is now known as a megastar in the entertainment arena, and he wrote many, many songs that were hits for other artists. For some reason, this song has always struck me as a metaphor.
Think about it. Nothing is free. While some people seem to get things without paying, it’s still not free. Believe me when I say, someone else is paying the cost.
The Augusta politicians, interim administrator and department directors are staying the course with their often skewed leadership and direction. Once again, they are showing how completely unqualified most are in the operation of our city.
For example, on SPLOST 8, they were talked into placing $5 million in seed money for a water park. Now, with SPLOST 9 they are being told millions more are needed to get a water park up and running.
Does this make sense when they cannot ever keep the current city pools in operation?
The city recently closed the Fleming Park Pool because of maintenance issues. Keep in mind that both the Parks and Recreation and Central Services offices are just a stone’s throw away from the park and pool.
Did they not have a clue that the pool had issues before it was needed in a heat wave? Probably not, for they most often seem to have no clue about anything.
The city could not even operate the Augusta Aquatic Center correctly on a schedule because of so many issues, causing the center to close abruptly very often. Rebecca Harper, director of a swim club, often voiced her displeasure at the operation of the center and the shut downs with no prior notice.
Swimmers would arrive only to be greeted with a “CLOSED” sign on the door. Several reasons were readily available to give, but none of them made any sense.
One day, during a commission meeting, Kelby Walker came to the commission dais on the end where I sat. Walker asked if he could talk with me about a swim program to save lives. Of course, the answer was yes!
Kelby was very concerned over the number of people who had drowned in a short period of time in Clarks Hill Lake. He inquired whether Augusta could offer swimming lessons to children and adults at no cost to them.
Commissioner Catherine McKnight and I joined together, as we were known to do, and proceeded to find answers and solutions.
First thing was to discuss with Harper whether she and her organization would provide free swim lessons. The answer was yes. Catherine and I then went to the Aquatic Center and found answers as to why they were shut down so often. The maintenance and upkeep of the facilities were dismal at best.
The so-called leadership was just on-site staring at their cell phones, with no leadership being exhibited at all.
McKnight and I got the news media involved, and they did an outstanding job of getting the story out to the public. The end result was the center’s director resigned, a new chemical and filtering system was installed and new A/C units installed.
All-in-all, it cost nearly $1 million dollars. It got done and the facility went back to normal operation.
Just think. It all started because one person cared about what was happening in his community. There is no way to number the lives saved by Kelby sharing an idea and Harper saying Yes.
Thank you Kelby Walker and Dr. Rebecca Harper.
I’m just thinking out loud, but would it not be great to have a permanent City MANAGER with the knowledge and skills to oversee a city government as large as Augusta’s? One that would feel it necessary to know what was in every department director’s personnel file? One that would not have hesitation to reprimand or even terminate an employee that was not performing the responsibilities of their position?
Would it not be in the best interest of Augusta’s forward progress to have a Human Resources Department director that is hired purely on qualifications, skills and experience only?
Shouldn’t the Human Resources Department have to abide by the same Discrimination Ordinance that the Augusta Commission passed to guard against race, religious, age, gender and gender identification prejudice?
Would it not be great to have an Engineering Department led by someone that would not only identify issues, but to actually take care of them without the same old tired and overused excuses as to why not?
You know the excuses: not enough money and not enough people available to work.
Stormwater funding receives about $12.5 million a year. How about cutting grass, clearing drainage ditches and conducting street paving. No money, they say, no people, they say.
Road and street paving receives funding from sources such as property taxes, sales taxes and TIA, and yet, there is never enough money.
Everyone should know by now the issues that Augusta has experienced with both the Procurement Department, as well as Planning and Zoning that oversees code enforcement.
Maybe time for new leadership in all of those departments.
The 311 program is not a very good program, and it needs a full scale overhaul as well, from top to bottom. It is non-productive at best. They continue to skew the numbers, by reporting more work orders closed than were actually addressed.
I have had several people tell me that work orders are being closed without even being forwarded to the correct department for a resolution.
Could that really be true?
I posted a work order on 311 just to see for myself. I opened the work order on June 21 at 12:12 p.m.
The 311 Department sent an email stating the work order was closed on June 26 at 6:10 p.m. The issue was never addressed and nothing was done.
Guess what else? The interim administrator nor the commission will question why the work order was closed without any effort to correct the problems I reported.
So, the problems will continue to go unresolved and the problems will only grow and manifest themselves in new ways. The taxpayers will continue to pay inflated taxes. The question is, will it be like the Sonny and Cher song, ” The Beat Goes On,” or the Sam Cooke song, “A Change Is Gonna Come?”
Only the voters and taxpayers can make that call; it is time we demand a charter review.
Don’t be complacent. Let your voices be heard.
Folks, as always, you just can’t make this stuff up.
