We have suggested before that Augusta General Counsel is the hidden hand running the government, and now he is flaunting that fact openly.
When the city discovered that it was the victim of a cyber hacking attack, it was not the interim city administrator who acted, nor was it the head of the IT Department. It was Wayne Brown.
Instead of first notifying the FBI, Brown hired outside legal counsel. Sources within the government say that Brown did not ask permission from the commission. He made the arrangements and then asked the commission to rubber-stamp his decision.
Like good sheep, the commission gave its consent.
The city does have insurance that covers cyber-attacks, and therefore, hopefully, the citizens of Augusta will not be stuck with the $400-an-hour attorney bill; however, this has become Brown’s routine modus operandi.
The mayor does not run city meetings; Brown does. More and more often, commissioners ask Brown how they should phrase motions. The open meetings laws be damned; Brown convenes closed door sessions regularly, and no one on the commission questions whether those secret discussions are legal.
It seems that some of the commissioners are actually afraid to cross him.
Brown was not elected to his position; he is a city employee.
Really, the city and taxpayers would be better served with contracting a private firm as it did with Stephen Shepard prior to creating an in-house law department; after all, Brown rarely handles cases himself. He farms most legal matters out.
If the commission doesn’t have the intestinal fortitude to dismiss Brown, then the body needs to at least work up the courage to demand that the general counsel stay in his own lane.
