It has been nearly two years since the city of Augusta has had a permanent administrator and the search continues with commissioners remaining pretty much mum on the subject.
The reason for the silence is because the commissioners all know where this is headed.
The search firm will present a slate of qualified candidates, and the mayor will select his three candidates. The commission will reject the candidates by way of abstentions. Either Jordan Johnson or Bobby Williams will claim that the mayor had his chance, and Takiyah Douse will be nominated.
This is not the way the process is supposed to work, but Johnson and Williams have never felt that rules apply to them. Moreover, they know that Stacy Pulliam, Francine Scott and Tony Lewis will go along, leaving only that one magic vote for them to get what they have wanted all along: an administrator that will kowtow to their demands.
Just as in the past, Williams et al. know that if they continue to obstruct the process, eventually they will wear down that one commissioner who they need to join their side out of exasperation, and Takiyah Douse will be hired.
The problem with Douse is that she is not qualified for the position and has proven over those two years that she is in over her head.
When Odie Donald abruptly resigned in February of 2022, Douse had the opportunity to reverse many of the disastrous policies of Donald’s tenure. She could have taken charge, streamlined the bloated government and she would have been given credit for making sure the grass got cut and potholes got filled.
Had that happened, the official qualifications for the permanent job would have been rightly tossed out the window.
However, Douse did not dazzle in the temporary job, she instead stuck to the status quo.
The much ballyhooed “rightsizing plan” fizzled out without a bang. The commissioners yawned during its presentation and Douse’s own employees have outright ignored the plan.
Instead of selling off surplus city property, the city is buying up property at outrageous prices. Instead of the grass getting cut, Douse reassigned the duties to other departments not up to the task.
Rather than recommending that Parks and Rec Director Maurice McDowell be either fired or reassign, she recommended the commission hire a consulting firm to tell McDowell how to do his job.
Douse recently presented her 2024 budget and it is nothing but a $1.16 billion spending spree. When asked if she could shave off a mere 1.3%, she could basically only offer a blank stare.
This is a matter where Mayor Garnett Johnson must take a stand. The city charter states the mayor nominates the administrator candidates and Johnson must hold firm and not let the so-called “gang of five” dictate who the new administrator will be.
