Mayor Garnett Johnson won a major victory for himself and his office this past election day.
Johnson is not vindictive like other politicians. This became clear when he didn’t retaliate against those who supported failed candidate Steven Kendrick in his bid for mayor. It’s also evident by the fact Kendrick continues to be employed by Augusta even though nobody seems to know what he does for his paycheck.
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Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that Mayor Johnson won’t retaliate against those who fought for him to be disenfranchised.
However…the people are expecting a reckoning when it comes to resolving recent staffing issues. The below list provides some insight on who would be on my hit list if I were the mayor.
- Wayne Brown – Oh wait. He quit. He must have read the writing on the wall that the mayor was going to get a vote. Surely Brown knew he would be the first one to get a pink slip and ducked out gracefully before being roasted by the media once he was canned.
- Shawn Edwards – The Land Bank is riddled with corruption and problems, and Edwards has not had the slightest disciplinary action taken against him. Land Bank spending via credit cards has grinded to a near halt. Imagine how much money would have been burned had Edwards, ‘Hardie Davis antics’ been allowed to continue. Scott Hudson’s reporting on the Land Bank alone has likely saved Augusta taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars of frivolous spending. It’s amazing what shining a little bit of light on bad behavior can achieve. Clearly Edwards only acts responsibly when someone is watching. Word is out! The Augusta Press is watching.
- Takiyah Douse – Douse has done an O.K. job as interim administrator, in my opinion. But clearly she is in way over her head and not capable to wrangling with the commission. Half of the commission seems to have no confidence in her ability to do the job. Douse is embattled at best, and her days are clearly numbered. If Mayor Johnson wants his pick as administrator, he would remove Douse ASAP and vote in his pick at the subsequent meeting.
- Anita Rookard – Augusta’s Human Resource director’s job performance has been less than stellar. This Hardie Davis hire doesn’t seem to think it’s important to note disciplinary actions in staff’s personnel file. Take, for instance, disgraced Parks & Recreation Director Maurice McDowell. Rookard never notated McDowell’s file despite his laundry list of infractions. Rookard has yet to answer or account for why McDowell never received any notations in his file. The fact McDowell was allowed to resign and receive severance without any notation in his personnel file should be enough reason to fire Rookard. McDowell can now apply for another government job in another city and create the same havoc there. If they search his file they won’t find anything negative. It should be noted that the majority of personnel files The Augusta Press has requested have zero negative notations, despite clear violations of city policy and bad behavior by city employees. I wonder what’s in Rookard’s personnel file.
- Hawthorne Welcher – The Housing and Community Development Department has been riddled with bad decision after bad decision. Welcher’s actions have made it clear that Shawn Edwards isn’t the only one to blame for the Land Bank’s mismanagement. The Land Bank often functions as Welcher’s private slush fund for acquiring and disposing of properties. Welcher is solely to blame for the acquisition of the Weed School which in the end will cost the city millions. Zero notations in his personnel file either.
- Steven Kendrick – I’m not sure if the mayor can fire Kendrick since he works under Tax Commissioner Chris Johnson but he certainly can yield some influence in the decision. Either way, Johnson will be reluctant to show Kendrick the door. After all, it’s not very statesman-like to retaliate against the candidate that failed to defeat you. Unless you’re a Democrat, and then it’s acceptable. Keeping Kendrick suckling on the taxpayers’ udder allows him to use his position to build a coalition to run against the mayor in the next upcoming race. That is of course if Hardie Davis doesn’t run again. I have it on good authority Davis is strongly considering running because he can’t get a job with all of the negative news stories online about him. Either way, it’s past time Kendrick get a real job and learn to fend for himself in the real world. A review of Kendrick’s emails reveal that he doesn’t really do much of anything other than take real estate classes. Someone needs to ask Kendrick, “What would you say you do here…” perhaps Mayor Johnson will ask him that right before bringing him a bankers box to put his crap in before being shown the door.
While my approach to governance would result in all of these folks getting shown the door, I believe Mayor Johnson will be much kinder and measured once he has his vote. That doesn’t stop the other commissioners who possess common sense from calling for a vote to terminate these people. It is past time to clean up city hall and replace these bureaucrats with their inflated salaries with capable competent people.
Anyone on this list who doesn’t get canned should be thankful the mayor has more class than they do. Many of the people on this list lobbied behind the scenes for the mayor to not have a vote. If they keep their job, it is only because of the kindness of their mayor. Does anyone think a Mayor Kendrick or a Mayor Davis would have that much class or kindness?
