Editorial: It is long past time to change the city charter
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Recent posts
The consolidation was effective January 1, 1996 (not 1994 as mentioned in the article). That was 26 years ago.
Consolidation was the final in the south augusta coffin..they immediately starting taking our tax dollars from us and putting into downtown..services that they promised to phase out were doubled, trash service that they told us would be free was added to our tax bill and then the twice a week collection was cut in half but the tax stayed the same. Our water bills were supposed to also go down…that didn’t happen either..I eventually moved and about 7 years ago sold my rental home in Augusta because of the way it’s run. Any hope of moving back is squashed every day by people like Williams and idiotic votes to pump 7 million dollars into a department that has incompetent leadership.. good luck Augusta tax payers..your so deep into the hole now? I don’t ever see you getting out…
“To fix this problem, we strongly urge our readers to reach out to the local legislative delegation and demand that a referendum be placed on the earliest ballot.” It would be wise if the Augusta Press posted all the names, addresses, and phone numbers of our local legislators, including the House and Senate. It’s easy to find them on-line, but phone numbers, addresses, and other information require a few more clicks on the computer. Please, make it easier for the voters to contact these people.
Good idea!
Sadly most people won’t even know “local legislation delegation” means, since they don’t bother to even vote!
The unification bill which people call the charter did not even mention the administer in the original bill or his powers so change his powers can be changed by a simple vote on the commission.
And I guess my OCD response is and always will be, the folks paying the bills and the folks voting ain’t the same people. The black commissioners can ignore, chastise and intimidate the white commissioners with impunity. The political system in Augusta/Richmond Co was limping when this lame document was written and installed. The consolidation euthanized that animal as well as aborting the consolidation itself.
The cowardly disgusting “ABSTAIN” by Commissioner Bobby Williams at last Tuesday’s Commission Meeting, PROVES that the Charter needs to be changed to the point that the Mayor has an ACTUAL Vote. This abstain ploy has been used by mostly the Black Commissioners, pretty much since Consolidation, to maintain control/power. Time to “Play Fair” on the playground.
Moving out of ARC is not an option at my age, but none of our children saw a good future here and they left. I have heard real estate agents steer buyers to Columbia County and North Augusta. ARC is being strangled by its current form of government and the people elected as commissioners. ARC lost 0.5% of its population from 2020 to 2021. The students at MCG, AU, Paine, and the Cyber Security Center and military personnel at Fort Gordon are transitory. People want to live where a government provides basic services at a fair cost, laws are enforced, public safety is maintained, and the infrastructure is sound. ARC is failing in these areas, but commissioners propose canals thru downtown, artwork along the roads, monument removals, and renovated bridges to attract tourists. How many Masters patrons will visit the Freedom Bridge this spring? More of them and their money will be staying in Columbia County as the crime travels west on Washington Road. BTW, workers replaced the broken cover for the storm sewer catch basin on Telfair St., near the Most Holy Trinity parking lot entrance. As predicted, they did not remove the pieces of the old broken cover that fell into the hole. And people wonder why sections of downtown flood during a normal rain.
Without the medical facilities ARC would be a total wasteland and ironically they are trying to be without a competent ambulance service and they’re wrecking fire trucks to boot.
I do not understand why most of the voters in Richmond County continue to vote these same people into office over and over again. Do you not see the mess that Richmond County is in and will continue to be in until we elect people who work for us and not themselves. Elections have consequences as we all have seen.
There MIGHT be a glimmer of hope, in that a good guy, local businessman, and ARC product Garnett Johnson was elected Mayor. It is up to the citizens of ARC to get involved, hold their Commissioner’s feet to the fire, and DEMAND the END of the abstain shenanigans (Bobby Williams) to deprive the Mayor of his “tie-Break” authority. Lastly, the Charter, by contacting the Augusta Delegation, needs to be updated, to actually allow the Mayor to have a true vote for every motion brought forward.
https://openstates.org/ga/legislators/ Find your General Assembly representative here and contact them.
Thank you – will do!