An open and transparent government is one of the bedrocks of a democratic society, yet Augusta-Richmond County’s leaders have taken the worst possible posture towards openness with the public.
Mayor Hardie Davis Jr. has led the way. For years, he has promoted division, dysfunction and secrecy in both his office and across city departments.
The former city administrator bolstered secrecy by default by attempting to centralize all open records requests and controling the flow of information.
The result is that the county government is losing the trust of the citizens. Georgia open records laws exist to protect the public and hold government accountable. Truthfully, government officials who have nothing to hide are not afraid to be transparent and have no issue providing records to the public and the press.
One example of Davis’ abuse of the Open Records Act was his response to question from the current investigation into how the “Mayors fellows” program is administered. Davis received a request to produce documents about the program, and he replied that there were responsive documents, but he needed 10 more days to provide them. After 10 days, no documents were provided. Instead, the mayor provided only a blank application that could be obtained online.
Davis’ failure to produce the requested documents and his decision to stonewall for more time are two of many examples of the lack of transparency in Augusta city government.
The mayor isn’t the only one in city government who abuses the Open Records Act. The city asked for more than $2,500, excluding copying, just to provide copies of budget proposals departments submitted when requesting their budgets for the current fiscal year — proposals that are likely still sitting on department heads’ computers and just a keystroke away from being available to the public.
Further, the Finance Department and Parks and Recreation Department have both come under heavy scrutiny lately and have refused to be transparent with the media and public.
One way the Finance Department avoids transparency is by asking for more time and money when it receives a request for records. Rather than run a simple report on the Augusta Port’s Authority account, they first direct the request to the city budget, which does not include the information. Finance then stonewalls for more time and money when a second request is filed for specific code-numbered reports. They asked for nearly $50 and a week to produce a couple of reports that can be printed or emailed in a matter of seconds and require no redaction.
The Parks and Recreation Department sometimes can’t provide documents or info because their record keeping is so bad, they don’t even know who their employees are and what properties they are responsible for. It took nearly a month for them provide info on who an employee is that works for them in a capacity related to the Augusta Marina.
With nearly a billion-dollar budget, Augusta’s leaders should be obligated to provide financial transparency for every dollar spent as well as put checks and balances in place to insure proper financial stewardship. Until this happens, The Augusta Press is going to continue to pound city offices with open records requests and shine a light into the dark corners of our local government. We will continue until every dollar is accounted for and every department is managed with transparency. That is our responsibility as a watchdog on government, and it is a responsibility we take seriously. The public’s right to know comes before politicans’ self-interest. Those in elected office should know that, take it seriously and be responsive to requests for information that will serve the public’s interests in how their government is functioning.
However, our responsibility as the working press only goes so far. At some point it is up to the citizenry to take the information that our organization has paid tens of thousands of dollars to obtain and disseminate over the past 18 months and use that information as an impetus to go and vote in this upcoming runoff election.
Augusta politicians need an attitude shift when it comes to the 1st Amendment. We at The Augusta Press are used to dealing with government’s bullying attitude, but the citizens who want honest and transparent government are the ones who can give elected officials the attitude correction they so badly need.
