(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Augusta Press.)
When the old folks get together, the good stories roll. And that was the case when former Augusta officials met for lunch at Sconyer’s Bar-B-Que, which is owned by the first mayor of the consolidated government, Larry Sconyers.
Former commissioners Moses Todd and Jerry Brigham organized the get-together of former commissioners, mayors and administrator and plan to make it an annual event, according to Todd who led off the discussion about the need for former officials to stay involved in their local government.
“When we finish our terms down there, they throw us down like a wet dishrag,” he said.
The city doesn’t even have an official list of past commissioners, which is something Todd moved to remedy.
“I talked to the commission clerk about having our pictures somewhere, and she said there wasn’t room in the building to hold them all,” Todd said. “I told her we didn’t want to go back to the 1700s. We just wanted to have the ones since consolidation.”
The last time former Augusta officials had a get-together at Sconyers was in 2019, and I went although I wasn’t invited. This year, I was invited, as was Susan McCord, staff writer for The Augusta Press.
Thinking to grasp the opportunity before me, I asked each one what they thought was their greatest accomplishment, as well as their biggest disappointment in office.
Shelving a Downtown Jail and a Bleu Cheese Tale
Todd said his greatest accomplishment probably was being a part of the group that stopped the Richmond County Jail from being built downtown and moving it to Phinizy Road.
“My biggest disappointment is I would like to have gone to the Country Club and had steak and bleu cheese,” he said.
Everybody laughed at that because they knew he was referring to a time commissioners were arguing about how much money the city was subsidizing University Hospital for indigent care. Todd publicly accused Commissioner Don Grantham of going to the Augusta Country Club with hospital bigwigs and eating “steak and that damned bleu cheese” and forgetting about the people of Richmond County.
Grantham’s revenge for that remark was to place a jar of bleu cheese on the dais in front of Todd’s seat at the next meeting which Todd accepted with aplomb. After all, that’s one thing Todd has to spare. Aplomb.
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Water, Water Everywhere
Brigham said the best thing that happened was the consolidation of the city and county waterworks.
“Getting that water to where everybody got one water bill and having one waterworks, I think that helped Richmond County more than anything else,” he said.
Brigham’s biggest disappointment was never being elected mayor pro tem.
“I couldn’t get enough votes,” he said.
Commissioner Tommy Boyles said his proudest accomplishment was after being called at 2 a.m. by a desperately sick woman in the Lakemont section about a broken water main and being able to get six commissioners’ signatures authorizing an emergency repair to begin the next day.
“I was real proud of that,” he said.
“My biggest disappointment is we didn’t get to put the government together,” he said. “We had separate tax districts, one for the city, and one for the old county. And they still haven’t done it.”
A Hot Topic – Equalizing Pay
Commissioner Donnie Smith said the fire department had differing pay scales across the board, so commissioners worked with then-Chief Chris James, and the department and equalized everybody’s pay, so that a lieutenant with five years in the department made the same as another lieutenant.
“It cost us about $500,000 which (Administrator Fred) Russell was good enough to find in the fire-tax money,” Smith said. “And it led to much better morale in the fire department.”
Smith said his greatest disappointment was that he was in Atlanta the day commissioners voted to fire Russell and didn’t get back in time to convince them not to do it.
“I got back about an hour later,” Smith said, prompting Grantham to quip, “You told me you planned it that way.”
“Bull!” Smith said.
A Shield for First Responders
“One of the best things I accomplished was helping Sheriff Charlie Webster start the Shield Club, which really helps all of our officers and people that have an accident or need support,” Grantham said. “We have close to a hundred members, and we’re going to try to increase that. We’ve been paying out quite a bit every year to needy families. Not only to the police department but to the fire department and the EMS people.”
“I guess my greatest disappointment was I really never had to get into a fight with Willie Mays,” he said.
He was teasing, I’m sure, but he and Mays did almost come to blows.
“Yeah, several times,” Grantham said. “We agreed to disagree.”
A Dubious Honor
Commissioner Bill Kuhlke said his greatest accomplishment was never being elected chairman of a commission committee.
“That was good,” he said. “Didn’t have all of that responsibility. I’m like Jerry Brigham. I had to have the votes.”
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And Not a Drop to Drink
“I think the worst part was – and I think Larry Will appreciate this – when we started having the water problems at the pumping station,” Kuhlke continued. “That was a tough thing to go through. It affected so many people.”
Sconyers, who was mayor during the drought and water crisis of 1998 to 2000, said his greatest accomplishment was when he kept Utilities Director Hicks and Assistants Tom Wiedmeier and Drew Goins from quitting.
“They were fixing to leave during that water crisis,” Sconyers said. “Max was going to resign. And I refused to accept his resignation. I said, ‘We ain’t doing that. I’ll back you.’ And that’s what we did. That, I think, was the blueprint for what we’ve got today. Those guys knew what they were doing.”
Sconyers said he didn’t have a downside to report.
“Everything’s up,” he said.
And Not a Drop to Drink Except on Meeting Days
Kuhlke refused to retell the story Thursday that he told in 2019 about being a commissioner during the early days of consolidation, which he said then was “interesting but hard.”
So, I dredged it up from the archives.
“I sat near Willie Mays for four years, and I lost my hearing in my left ear,” Kuhlke said. “At that time I didn’t take a drink or anything. But after the third year, I’d go home and kind of have a drink. And that went on for the fourth year. When I got into my second term of the next four years, I’d go home and have three or four drinks. And the last two years, I’d have about four or five drinks before I went to a meeting. It was awful.”
Nice Guys Don’t Always Finish Last
Former Commissioner Wayne Guilfoyle, now Commissioner-elect Guilfoyle, said he was able to work his first term with a lot of good colleagues under the leadership of Fred Russell to get the Tee Center and parking deck built.
“Even on my second term was the Cyber Command, and we passed a SPLOST package,” he said. “We worked in unity. The second side of my term was kind of disappointing because we lost a lot of good directors. And we lost a lot of good resources. An example is the landfill which is going to be a struggle to get back up on its feet here in these coming years. It used to be profit making. Now it’s costing the taxpayers.”
Doesn’t everything the government does cost taxpayers?
“One of My Finest Hours”
Commissioner Hap Harris said he wasn’t on the commission very long but was there when there was a big push to change Berckmans Road.
“And one of my finest hours was when we were sitting there with these Augusta National people who all of a sudden explained to us they would just give us the money until the T-SPLOST money came in, which was $27 million bucks. They would just give it to us. And one of the commissioners was arguing, ‘What’s the interest?’
“And they just said, ‘No, we just want the road done.’ So, it was pretty much a done deal, and we had several commissioners all of a sudden say, ‘And what are you going to do for south Augusta?’
“And you could have heard a pin drop. And I just kindly reminded them all that the Augusta National didn’t have a golf course in south Augusta. And then they give us $3-$4 million a year for no fair reason just ‘cause they like us. And everybody calmed down. They said, ‘Oh well, good. Let’s take the free money and build a new road.’
When Losing Was a Win-Win
“And the only other good one was when I didn’t win my run-off,” Harris continued. “It cost me a fortune because I was sending Sean Frantom a thank you card every month. Every time I read the newspaper, I said, ‘This isn’t good for my heart.’”
Tee Center Advocate
Commissioner Matt Aitken said there was a great deal of groundwork done on the Tee Center before he was sworn into office, but the project had stalled.
“When I came on, there was an called emergency meeting to have that approved, so I feel like that was a great accomplishment. I really think the Tee Center added economic horsepower to our city.
“I think Fred Russell did a lot of work in just how he laid things out for discussion. If you look at the administrators and the things that are going on right now, how fortunate we were to have an administrator that really had direction, doing his work and bringing back stuff to the commission for discussion, dialog and approval. I think that was a win-win for our city.”
“The downside was ,I really did want to be re-elected,” Aitken said. “I got gypped out of a year. I only got three years because we realigned everything. By the time we got everything rolling after three years, I was out, so I don’t know if it was a downside or not.”
Aitken lost a second term as District 1 commissioner in a 2012 runoff with Bill Fennoy.
He Was Needed Elsewhere
Commissioner Richard Colclough said his greatest accomplishment was serving with Brigham, Boyles, Todd, Grantham and Kuhlke.
“They really taught me a lot,” he said.
Colclough had a fulltime job as a psychotherapist and didn’t get to finish out his second commission term because he was told he was needed at his job, he said.
“And that was my greatest disappointment,” he said.
From the Old School
Commissioner Tom Tinley who served on the old Richmond County Commission in 1983-86, said a majority of the members were concerned about taxes.
“And we were able to meet with the department heads, challenge the comptroller, challenge the administrator,” he said. “We reduced over that four-year period the millage rate from 5 mils to 2.31 mils, and we cut the actual dollars coming from property taxes by a third during that four-year period.
“And I guess my greatest disappointment is that those who served subsequently did not challenge the comptroller, challenge the administrator and department heads on the budget and try to protect the taxpayers of Richmond County.”
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Augusta-Richmond County’s Longest Serving Administrator
Russell spoke last and said he had the privilege to work for almost everybody there.
“I received a lot of free advice from several others I didn’t work for that kept telling me what a good job I could do if I paid attention to them, not the people on the commission I was working for,” he said. “I’m not going to mention any names. Moses, thank you.
“I worked for about 34 different commissioners during the time I was here, and it was always a challenge to bring new people aboard to try to explain to them that government’s not like anything you’ve ever seen in your entire life. And Augusta government is even rarer than most.
“The people sitting at this table were very good to me except the one who voted to fire me, Matt, but I won’t bring that up either. I guess my greatest accomplishment is only getting fired once. There were several close calls there that didn’t work out. The thing I’d be the most sorry for is that I was trying to quit, but they fired me before I could.
“But I think the leadership at this table and the opportunities that you set up set Augusta on a great path forward. The foundation that you helped build is eventually going to serve us well. And please don’t not be involved because the people that are serving now and are going to be serving in the future need the counsel you can provide.”
Didn’t Moses say something like that too?
So, we’ve come full circle.
Sylvia Cooper is a columnist with The Augusta Press. Reach her at sylvia.cooper@theaugustapress.com
