Two Augusta commissioners say they’re willing to concede their top pick for city administrator to the six-vote majority assembled by Mayor Garnett Johnson.
Despite concerns about the direction the government is going overall, commissioners Jordan Johnson and Tony Lewis say they will support candidate Tameka Allen, the city’s chief information officer, formerly known as its IT director.
Mayor Johnson only needs one more commissioner’s support to ratify Allen. The charter lets the mayor recommend an administrator candidate, for whom six of the 11 must vote yes.
Allen “will do a good job,” Commissioner Jordan Johnson said. “I believe that we have to get past the unnecessary political divisions.”
A lifelong city employee, Allen formerly served 10 years as a deputy administrator under former administrator Fred Russell and as interim administrator for a few months after Russell was fired in December 2013.
Jordan Johnson has said both candidates fell victim to “personal politics between political candidates,” with the mayor’s office opposing Douse due to her former work for Tax Commissioner Steven Kendrick, Garnett Johnson’s mayoral opponent.
Though he’s OK with hiring Allen to end the standoff, “My position on who I think is the best for the job has not changed,” Jordan Johnson said.
Lewis, also a Douse supporter, said he believes Allen now has six supporting votes to get the job. He’s also sure seven commissioners will be present for a vote to be taken, which wasn’t the case last week.
“It’s inevitable – they have the number now. It’s inevitable that it’s going to happen,” Lewis said.
Lewis said he’s now satisfied with an explanation by attorneys that the commission can take a new vote on the hire. Votes taken on Allen and Douse both failed earlier this year, leaving the matter open for a new vote, he said.
The mayor gained a vote on all commission actions by referendum in July, making it easier for him to pass his initiatives.
Lewis said he expects Allen to also hire Russell as one of her deputies. “I know that’s the route they want to go,” Lewis said.
Neither the mayor nor any of the sitting commissioners had worked with Allen or Douse as administrator, he said, until Douse was named administrator with the resignation of Odie Donald II in 2022.
While he’s OK with naming Allen as administrator, Jordan Johnson said overall he is not pleased with the direction the government is taking.
“I’m only seeing decisions being made to increase one side’s political standing,” Johnson said. “This government is getting ready to make some really bad moves. This government is in the pregame for a really bad show.”
Johnson said rehiring Russell at this point would be a “step backward” for the government.
Allen, 54, graduated from Savannah State University and earned a master’s degree in business administration from Augusta University in 2005, according to her personnel file.
Douse, 44, graduated from Paine College and has a master’s degree in business from Troy State University and accounting studies at Augusta University.
The commission meets at 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Lee Beard Commission Chamber, 535 Telfair St.
