Former Augusta Chief Legal Counsel Wayne Brown has become the latest department head to resign suddenly and receive a “golden parachute.”
Brown knew that the writing was on the wall, and before Augusta voters could go to the polls and possibly give Mayor Garnett Johnson the deciding vote to fire him, he quit and received a six-month severance.
During his tenure, Brown rarely handled any cases brought against the city personally, instead he farmed out most of his work to private attorneys. The times that Brown did actually show up in court on behalf of the city, such as the case of The Augusta Press v. The City of Augusta, the results were unimpressive.
Before Brown, there was Maurice McDowell, the former Parks and Rec. department head who couldn’t keep his hands, and other body parts, to himself. Instead of being fired, he was allowed to resign with severance.
Former City Administrator Janice Jackson and former Chief Legal Counsel Andrew McKenzie both resigned under pressure and received severances.
The whole idea behind allowing severance was so that employees who work for a constitutional officer, such as the district attorney, would not suffer financially if voters replaced that constitutional officer, putting them out of work.
While the city has changed the policy, there are plenty of people who are “grandfathered” in.
The policy of rewarding ineptitude and outright immoral behavior is yet another reason to give the mayor a vote on the Augusta Commission. If those responsible for making sure the grass is cut at city cemeteries prove that they can’t figure out how to operate a lawn mower, then the taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay up to make them ride off into the sunset.
