January is the namesake of the Roman god of gates and doors, Janus, who has two heads facing opposite directions: one looking back, the other looking forward.
Opinion
Janus was guarding the political gate New Year’s Eve when the old year and outgoing Augusta mayor and commissioners were leaving, and the New Year and mayor and commissioners were coming in. The old mayor and commission looked tired and glum. They’d been arguing again about street light fees, deteriorating infrastructure, ARP money. The only things they had agreed on were awarding hefty bonuses and raises to employees and multi-million contracts to private contractors to do work city department directors and their employees couldn’t get done, such a grass cutting and maintaining parks and recreation sites.
Mayor Hardie Davis Jr. had turned out to be such a scoundrel in so many ways it was hardly worth mentioning anymore, although he still cloaked himself in sheeps’ clothing and prayed publicly at every opportunity. And the commissioners, to their discredit, looked away at his wasteful spending and refused to call him to account.
As 2022 slipped through the gate, the old commissioners whose terms had not expired joined the new mayor and commissioners, one of whom was proclaiming loudly of unity and determination to work together come hell or high water to move the city forward.
“Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, we know,” mumbled a departing member of the old regime. “It’s a lot easier to talk about it than do it. Look around you. Factions have already formed along racial lines, try as you might to deny it. If you don’t believe it, watch what happens when you elect a new mayor pro tem. Except for one agreed-upon swing vote, the White commissioners will vote for a White mayor pro tem candidate, and the Black commissioners will vote for the Black mayor pro tem candidate.”
“Hey!” said one of the new commissioners, “Let’s not have any of that old negativity! We’re still on our honeymoon. We’ve got a new mayor with a new outlook and business-oriented philosophy of success. We’re looking to the future and moving this city forward!”
One of the departing commissioners of Class of 2022 said, “Huh! When Hardie Davis came in eight years ago, they said the same thing. He’d campaigned on the One Augusta slogan. Everybody thought he was so smart he could succeed where others had failed. After all, he was a Georgia Tech graduate.
“Shortly after taking officer, he was off to Washington, New York and California. Then he put in for more money to run his office. And then he wanted a SUV. He didn’t get it then, but he did later and refused to have a city logo on it.
“What happened to the SUV?” asked a new commissioner. “Has Hardie turned it in yet?”
“Yes,” said the new mayor. “And the mayor’s office is keeping it for the staff to drive on official business.”
“Long live the mayor!” they all shouted.
The Reluctant Ex-Mayor
Hardie Davis is no longer mayor, but he wants you to furnish office space, computers and supplies for him and his staff until March 1.
It’s true. You just can’t make this stuff up.
Davis didn’t want to leave the mayor’s office either when his term expired Dec. 31. He issued an executive order on the continuation process. And he said publicly that he was mayor until January 3, 2023. So, Richmond County Board of Elections Executive Director Travis Doss was called upon to give the official date and hour the mayor’s term would end which was, as everybody already knew, was midnight, Dec. 31, 2022.
Davis’s Executive Order Number 2022-002 Mayoral Transition, issued Dec. 27, 2022, states in part “WHEREAS: This act authorizes the Mayor to take appropriate action to assure continuity in the execution of the laws and the conduct of the legislative and executive affairs of the City of Augusta government.
NOW, THEREFORE, PURSUANT TO AUGUSTA, GEORGIA CODE SECTIONS 1-2-26 THROUGH 1-2-27, ALL OTHER APPLICABLE CODE SECTIONS, AND THE AUTHORITY VESTED IN ME AS MAYOR OF THE CITY OF AUGUSTA, IT IS HEREBY
ORDERED: Office space, furniture, furnishings, computers, office machines, and supplies at whatever place or places within the City the Mayor designates at no cost to the Mayor or his transition staff.
ORDERED: Email account access and other related services remain active until March 1, 2023 for the current Mayor as he transitions out of office on January 1, 2023.
27th_______day of____December_____________________, 2022 at__5:00____A.M./P.M.
Hardie Davis Jr.,
Mayor
No action has been taken on Davis’s order to provide him with office space, furniture, equipment and supplies, but Mayor Garnett Johnson was asked to call and inform him the cell phone would be turned off at 5 p.m. Thursday, and the emails to his account would be forwarded to Johnson’s office. Why Johnson was given the job of calling Davis instead of one of the highly-paid administrators is anybody’s guess.
January 3, 2023
The first Augusta Commission meeting of the year with Mayor Johnson presiding went off without a hitch Tuesday following swearing-in ceremonies for commissioners-elect Brandon Garrett, Wayne Guilfoyle and Alvin Mason.
And the mayor pro tem election went off like clockwork with the election of Brandon Garrett on a 6-3-1 vote with commissioners Staci Pulliam, Francine Scott and Jordan Johnson voting no and Commissioner Bobby Williams abstaining.
Mason called for a revote to make it unanimous, but commissioners Pulliam and Jordan Johnson didn’t get the memo and voted no, so the election lacked unanimity.
Scott lost on an earlier 5-3-2 vote with commissioners Guilfoyle, Sean Frantom and Catherine McKnight voting no and Garrett and Mason abstaining.
There were an unusually large number of planning commission items, only two of which were denied, thereby mollifying a large contingent of objectors for the time being. The items, both of which had been recommended for denial by the Augusta Planning Commission, were for a rezoning in the 2300 block of Windsor Spring Road that would have paved the way for an apartment complex on 11.16 acres.
The other was for a rezoning 4.69 acres at 2311 Windsor Spring Road and 3221 Richmond Hill Road to general business to allow for a convenience store.
Augusta Will Be Hotter Than a Hoochie Coochie
Guilfoyle tried to get his colleagues not to approve the second reading of a revised and more liberal adult entertainment ordinance that reduces the distance strip clubs can be built near major intersections. He said he had a grave concern, no different that that of the neighborhoods objecting to the rezonings.
“We’ve got to be careful what we put into our main arteries coming into town,” he said, noting the current businesses and dilapidated hotels already at Gordon Highway and Highway 56 Loop.
“This ordinance being changed moves a strip club from 2,500 feet from the intersection to somewhere like 500 feet. They could actually put it at the intersection, and that’s where my concern is. It’s unsightly, unwanted. I don’t think it would be a good look for Richmond County. Even though this is the second reading, it could be stopped. It’s not set in stone right now.”
But Bobby Williams said, “A lot went into reconstruction of the adult entertainment ordinance,” like that was any reason to approve it. He then made a substitute motion to approve which passed with Guilfoyle, McKnight and Mason voting against it and Pulliam abstaining.
Capped by Hymns to Queen Hazel
The swearing-in ceremonies for Garrett, Guilfoyle and Mason took longer than most, but were well worth watching. It was certainly more entertaining than any of the commission meetings I’ve attended lately.
Garrett was sworn into office by Richmond County State Court Judge Kelli McIntyre. He was accompanied by his wife, Candace, holding their youngest child Adalee, a Facebook celebrity in her own right with an unlimited supply of colorful headbands. The couple’s two handsome sons, Brooks and Caleb, dressed in white shirts and dark suits, stood patiently beside their mother. Garrett thanked them all for their support and understanding when he was preoccupied with commission business.
Guilfoyle was sworn in by Augusta Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge John Flythe and accompanied by the daughters of Maj. Clay Smith, Caroline and Isabelle. “Aren’t they beautiful?” Guilfoyle asked. The audience agreed. Guilfoyle brought his own cheering team with him, Julian Allen, retired Hephzibah High School principal and Dr. Thomas Clark, who each gave speeches of encouragement and praise for Guilfoyle.
Guilfoyle talked about growing up poor in a house filled with love in south Augusta. His father often worked three jobs to support his large family. He paid tribute to his 90-year-old mother, Emiko Guilfoyle, who immigrated from Japan shortly after World War II and suffered discrimination but was never embittered by it.
Then it was showtime as the sound of music flooded commission chambers and Mason’s communications director De Neiya Goodly gave an invocation. Mason’s family members joined him at the podium, including his wheelchair-bound 90-year-old mother Hazel Sturdivant. His daughter Marquesia Rene’ Mason-Darby gave greetings; his granddaughters Brianna and Brielle Holloway led the Pledge of Allegiance, and his campaign manager Tanya Barnhill-Turley and sister Debra L. Mason spoke.
Debra was the first of the children to go to college and stressed the importance of education to her brother and allowed him to see a future outside of the Lansing, Mich., ghetto they called home, he said.
After Augusta Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Amanda N. Heath administered the oath of office, Mason began to serenade his mother. And if he ever needed another job, he could no doubt get one as a nightclub crooner.
He sang “Because of Who You Are” and “Better Days are Coming” and spoke lovingly to his mother.
“Grateful. I’m grateful to be here,” he intoned. “God has given me an assignment to take care of my mother. … Everything she needs, and everything she wants. … The queen of our family. We call her ‘Queen Hazel.’”
Commissioners Stacey Pulliam and Tony Lewis were sworn in earlier in December.
