For over a year, the city of Augusta has been rudderless with an interim city administrator who does not meet the minimum qualifications for the permanent job.
Rather than roll up their sleeves and get to work on finding a permanent replacement for the former administrator, Odie Donald Sr., the Augusta Commission has deadlocked with the two sides of the aisle refusing to budge.
Even the esteemed folks at UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government could not make any headway against the political winds with their expert advice.
Some commissioners are loath to put the matter back on the agenda because they know what will happen. Instead of allowing a tie vote and a tie breaker by the mayor, someone in the bloc led by Commissioner Bobby Williams will abstain, putting the process back to square one.
In fact, the mayor is further stymied because he cannot propose candidates until the commission votes to officially begin a search.
The bottom line is that the Williams bloc does not want the mayor proposing the candidates, even though the charter specifically gives the mayor that power. Williams has made it perfectly clear that he wants only candidates that will be subservient to him and his cronies.
Meanwhile, the bloc headed up by Commissioner Al Mason and Commissioner Wayne Guilfoyle seem to have almost given up and want to avoid the headache caused by Williams’ pontificating.
This seems to happen over and over when critical jobs are open and need to be filled. The bloc that wants to hire its crony will keep obstructing until the other side gives up.
This is what happened with the last administrator search and the search for a fire chief.
It is clear the votes are not there to change the position over to a city manager. It is also clear that a majority vote to lower the qualifications for the administrator does not exist.
The city needs a firm hand on the helm, especially as budget negotiations loom on the horizon.
The time has come for the commission to stop squabbling and start selecting.
