Creating a charter review committee remains on hold after two Augusta Commission votes failed Tuesday.
Mayor Garnett Johnson, who is spearheading the effort, favors a plan to create an 11-member committee of commission appointees that excludes current and former elected officials, members of local boards and city employees.
The committee would meet for up to a year and be facilitated by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia for a $320,174 fee.
Commissioner Jordan Johnson advocated for four changes. The committee’s recommendations should go before voters in a referendum, he said, and the committee should be allowed to meet up to 18 months.
“We need to allow them to take their time and do it the right way,” Johnson said.
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Commissioners should be allowed to appoint any Richmond County citizen, regardless of current or former political service, and the committee should be expanded to include Democratic and Republican state legislators, he said.
‘Let’s not start setting precedents about commission appointments,” he said.
As Augusta voters made the decision to consolidate and approve the current charter in 1995, as well as to give the mayor a vote earlier this year, voters should be given the decision on whether to adopt the charter changes, he said.
Commissioner Wayne Guilfoyle, who made the motion to adopt the mayor’s proposal, said voters “voted for consolidation 30 years ago, not just that charter.”
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Votes fail 5-4, 5-4
Johnson’s substitute motion was supported by commissioners Tony Lewis, Stacy Pulliam, Francine Scott, Bobby Williams and himself, but failed 5-4, with Mayor Johnson opposed and commissioners Alvin Mason and Brandon Garrett again absent as they have been for months.
Guilfoyle’s motion to approve the recommendations as Mayor Johnson proposed also failed 5-4, with commissioners Sean Frantom, Catherine Smith McKnight, Guilfoyle and the mayor in support.
The new year could impact future votes on the effort, as Frantom and Williams are leaving office and if either of the chronically absent commissioners returns.
Should commissioners-elect Don Clark, who is replacing Williams, and Tina Slendak, who succeeds Frantom follow the mayor’s lead as expected, he will gain an additional vote toward the six needed for passage, which could be supplemented with a vote from Garrett or Mason.
