Representatives of the Historic Preservation Commission seemed taken aback that the Augusta Commission suddenly decided to take an interest in their activities.
At this past week’s commission meeting, HPC Chairman Leon Maben took exception to the commission discussing any potential revamp of his organization without his input or that of Erick Montgomery, executive director of Historic Augusta Inc.
Naturally, those men should have a seat at any discussion involving their respective organizations, but, in our opinion, commission interest in their activities in and of itself is not a bad thing.
Commissioner Sean Frantom, who placed the item on the agenda, clarified that it was “putting the cart before the horse” to assume that there were problems needing to be rectified, when his intent was for the commission to look at how other communities handle historic preservation and ways for the commission to streamline its own policies regarding preservation.
There are no major complaints that we know of regarding the HPC, but the non-governmental agency does receive city funding and, therefore, it should be as open and transparent as any other organization subject to the state open records law.
Slowly, after decades, we are seeing the “fiefdom” mentality of NGOs and even city departments eroding away, and that is a good thing.
In fact, commissioners looking into the operations of groups such as the HPC, Canal Authority, Port Authority and even the Augusta Arts Council might discover how badly underfunded these groups are when compared to the work they do, and that knowledge might make it into the discussions on financial allocations for the next SPLOST.
Tyrone Butler, founder and director of the Augusta Mini Theater has always been very forthcoming about the challenges that his inner-city youth organization faces and has always been rewarded for being that “squeaky (and transparent) wheel.”
We hope that the HPC will take their invitation into the public spotlight to demonstrate the great work that they do and give the public even more reason to support and fund their mission.
