As the city limps back to the 21st century, its ability to answer questions and process open records requests comes back on line, too.
One request filed by The Augusta Press revealed that the city employs a cyber staff of 41 people with an average salary of $70,323 per year. The current annual payroll outlay for the department is just over $2.8 million.
The department is led by Tameka Allen who is paid a whopping salary of $170,000 per year. Only her two deputies make six figures with the rest of the staff under 100k per year. According to ziprecruiter.com the average cyber security job salary in Augusta is approximately $97,000 per year, 38% higher than what the city pays. The top salary reported was $162,824, which is less than Allen makes.
I don’t believe in coincidences
For nearly a month, the city has refused to fulfill Open Records requests, something I have written about multiple times. I do find it interesting that paper personnel files were not accessible or able to be photocopied due to a cyber-attack. City employees continued to be paid during the crisis, but for some reason, the city couldn’t answer how many cyber employees there were or how much they were paid. I guess they didn’t want to let the crisis go to waste.
After I filed an Open Records request for a list of requests filed by other groups, I was surprised to find many had been filled. Just not ours. We then asked for copies of the documents that were provided as part of those fulfillments. Later that day, the city can all of sudden fulfill requests.
Augusta Human Resources Department is sloppy at best, incompetent at worst
In addition to the cyber department’s info, details were finally released from the Fire Department on Shift Commander Gregory Hartshorne who dragged the dead body at the crime scene. He was placed on administrative leave for “mental health and well-being” reasons while an investigation continues. In other words he is getting a free vacation at the taxpayers’ expense.
What is there to investigate? His toxicology came back either positive or negative. What further investigation is needed? Interestingly, there was no notation in the Hartshorne’s personnel file about his arrest earlier this year. I guess the city doesn’t update personnel files when their employees are arrested or counseled.
This isn’t the first time personnel files have been missing notations. Excluding the sheriff’s office, there doesn’t seem to be anything negative about any employee in any personnel file from what I have seen.
Augusta HR department doesn’t seem to be following its own policy on when to get copies of college transcripts from potential applicants. City Attorney Wayne Brown was not required to submit his transcripts when he became the city attorney.
“Augusta only requires transcript or degree from positions that have a specific educational requirement,” Anita Rookard the head of the Human Resources Department replied via email.
Hopefully the Richmond County Commission will get copies of the next city attorney’s college transcripts, when Brown is finally run out of City Hall.
Relevant experienced needed! Daycare workers please apply here
The search for the next county manager, city manager, county administrator or city administrator is scheduled to start soon, according to a news story by Susan McCord this week.
There have been many discussions about changing the city administrator to a county manager and the structure of the job as such. My suggestion is that instead, we find the most seasoned daycare worker in the area or a British nanny and give them six months to get the city in shape. After all, they have the relevant experience.
Skills required to be City Administrator
- Able to count. Preferably up to $1 billion
- Ensure sure Dennis Williams doesn’t get into a fight with another child
- Ensure the playground equipment is clean and safe since we know Parks and Recreation wont do so
- Ability to deal with multiple whining children at the same time
- Be able to budget monopoly money – after all it isn’t your money
- Keep the children from yelling at each other and pulling each others hair out
- Able to read
- Be able to shoosh the city attorney when he forgets what his role is
- Critical thinking skills – something your predecessor lacked
The advertisement writes itself.
Anyone following Augusta politics knows that the city administrator has a tough job. Who would want it if not for its insanely high salary? What organization seeks to lower the qualifications for its highest paid employee? Only in Augusta. Normally as an organization grows so do the responsibilities of its leadership and thus the qualifications for that job. Some commissioners are seeking to lessen the qualifications to ensure that certain people who don’t meet the criteria can apply and be considered.
After the disaster that was Odie Donald II, Augusta needs to do a better job of vetting candidates. I firmly believe that the position needs more stringent qualifications.
Roundtree can’t fix the Sheriff’s Office
Pause your Netflix show and put down the donut and do some actual work. Augusta is quickly going the way of other Democrat-run cities with daily murders, high crime and a dwindling police force. The people of Augusta deserve a sheriff who will protect its citizens and be transparent with them about what is going on in the community.
Every week that I write, I scroll back over the stories of the week and see what news stories received the most traction or what the weekly trends were on www.theaugustapress.com. Every week crime stories dwarf both government and business stories. The one exception is the column I wrote about “The Chosen” television show that got me a ton of hate mail. That story is the second most clicked in TAP history. (Link below) Just wait on part two of the story!!!
Violent crime and murder stories are almost a daily occurrence. This should not be the case in a city the size of Augusta. I have lost count on how many murders there have been, and it has been just as hard to keep count on how many Richmond County jail employees have been arrested.
It has become abundantly clear to the public that Sheriff Richard Roundtree is incapable of solving this issue. Deputy Chief Pat Clayton has also done little to help solve the problem. Clayton’s retirement should shed some light on whether he is the problem or Roundtree. Clayton claims that Roundtree is in charge, but everyone knows that Rountree has less interest in police work and more in what new show is released on Netflix. Clayton is Roundtree’s lapdog who carries out his orders day-to-day, so Roundtree doesn’t have to make public appearances regularly. When Clayton retires, it will be interesting to see if anything gets better or if things descend further into Dante’s Inferno. Either way it is highly unlikely things will improve until Roundtree vacates the office, something he is unfortunately unlikely to do as long as Richmond County voters keep electing him.
