In what is yet another example of why Augusta needs a more powerful mayor, several well-meaning Augustans nearly had their dreams of building a new pickleball complex in Augusta dismissed by the bungling bureaucracy at the Municipal Building.
Rather than go straight to the mayor, who would have had to hand it back off to the department heads, the developers tried going through the proper channels only to be met with indifference.
Now that the old directors of the procurement, finance and parks and recreation departments have been swept out, it appears that more people who are indifferent to the needs and wants of the community have been named as replacements or moved up the ladder as interim directors.
Dr. Troy Akers and several of his colleagues say they have a 10.2-acre site in District 3 near I-20 and Wheeler Road under contract for 48 pickleball courts, with 24 inside and 24 outside.
Preliminary plans call for 18 championship-size tennis courts at the complex, which would attract frequent NCAA and other tournaments as well as a hotel to service tournament goers, Akers said.
To get the plan off the ground, Akers wants to partner with the city so that the complex is eligible for a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Tennis Association. This grant would only go to the city to replace the costs fronted by the taxpayers.
Rather than read Akers’ proposal and inquire further, the bureaucracy passed the ball from department to department and formed their own “committee” instead of getting either the mayor or the city administrator involved and, by a stroke of mere chance, the matter ended up in front of the Administrative Services Committee.
Had that not happened, the entire deal would have been dead in the water.
In an effort of CYA, the directors tried to make it seem that Akers and his colleagues were attempting to raid SPLOST 8 funds to fund their venture, which was proven to be a lie.
This is business as usual in the city of Augusta and we hope that the Charter Review Committee is taking notice. The city bureaucrats all but chased competitive swimming out of Augusta and have neglected the Newman Tennis Courts for years. This time they nearly squashed a pickleball deal that has been years in the making.
Augusta needs to know who the buck stops with and it needs to be the mayor, not drones deep within the beehive.
