Augusta Commissioners say that they are overworked and that they need staff to help them keep the wheels of government moving.
We say, not so fast!
The government of Augusta has undergone some massive changes in the past two years, most of it positive with public servants beginning to act more transparent; but occasionally, members of the commission are tempted to fall back into their old ways of trying to sneak things in through the back door and under the radar.
Recently, Commissioner Stacy Pulliam introduced a motion to hire three assistants to serve at the behest of the commission. What these assistants will be tasked with doing remains unclear, but the early indications are that the measure may have the required six votes.
The motion was briefly discussed in the Administrative Services Committee on Jan. 27 where a motion passed giving the go-ahead for the administrator to study the issue and report back to the commission in 90 days.
The very next week, the motion made it onto the consent agenda where it passed with no discussion.
Since when does a part-employee need an administrative staff?
Members of the state General Assembly, who only have 40 days to get a year’s worth of business accomplished, have one administrative assistant assigned to seven members. If state representatives can get along just fine handling state business by sharing one assistant, why do commissioners need three assistants to reply to a constituent’s email about a pothole needing repair?
Commissioners already have an entire office at their disposal. The office of the Clerk of Commission, headed up by Lena Bonner, makes sure that commissioners get their weekly work packet hand-delivered by a courier, make all travel arrangements when they go to conferences and make sure space is reserved when they want to hold a town-hall meeting or prayer breakfast.
This motion by Pulliam should be dead on arrival until commissioners can come up with a reason to grow the government bureaucracy other than, “we’re overworked and never see our families!”
Politicians love the campaigning, baby-kissing and attention they receive for being “public servants,” but seem to demur when they are hit with the reality that they campaigned for a job that cannot be phoned in. The job of commissioner may be part-time, but it comes with responsibilities, such as reading, responding to constituent correspondence and actually showing up once a week for meetings.
The Augusta Commission and the public would be better served if the commission would focus on finding competent department heads to replace those who have quit before being handed a pink slip and less time looking for quality candidates to keep their coffee warm.
