Despite the Augusta Commission’s attempts to curtail former Mayor Hardie Davis Jr.’s spending by eliminating bank accounts and demanding he follow the official purchase card policy, records show Davis continued to spend on elaborate trips, consultant fees and pricey dinners.
Despite people complaining on social media that Davis was absent from city meetings as his tenure approached dusk, in the period between September to mid November, the mayor racked up $10,171 in travel expenses including stays in luxury hotels, according to credit card statements.
Davis had his last State of the City address professionally packaged by the Tranter Grey Media Group for $4,500. To date, the video has received a grand total of 239 views.
Under state law, the city is responsible for paying any legal bills incurred by the mayor as a constitutional officer, so the city was forced to write a check in the amount of $22,741.15 to the Enoch Tarver law firm for representation in the matter of The Augusta Press v. Hardie Davis Jr. and Tonia Gibbons over failure to release documents related to the 2022 Mayor’s Masters Reception.
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So far, Davis has racked up $43,000 in legal bills for refusing to release documents.
While the city is obligated to pay the mayor’s legal bills, it is unclear if the city is also paying for Gibbons’ portion since the entire itemized bill from the law firm is redacted.
Speaking of Gibbons, the now former mayor has paid her company, Farr More and Associates, between $5,000 and $7,500 per month for consulting service according to charges on the mayor’s bank account. The invoice submitted for September claims the company “crafted executive orders, provided briefings on Hurricane Ian, ran a school supply donation drive and briefed the mayor on matters before the commission.”
Gibbons’ final paycheck, cut in December, was for $14,500.
One curious set of charges was to U-haul for $147. Previously, Davis had spent thousands of dollars on hi-tech audio and video production equipment; however, incoming Mayor Garnett Johnson said that Davis had assured him that all of the city-bought equipment would be left at the Municipal Building.
Yet, since the Mayor’s Office did not keep receipts and claimed in an Open Records Request response that no inventory of the equipment existed, it may not be possible to determine if any of the equipment made its way out of the building.
Taxpayers also paid $8,260 to receive a glossy farewell letter from Davis in their water bill. The communications manager for Alison South Marketing, Dustin Turner, confirmed the Mayor’s Office ordered enough letters for every resident of Richmond County.
Richmond County resident Dave Barbee, who is responsible for instigating the first of two investigations against Davis with the Georgia Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission said he received the letter, but tore it up and threw it into the trash.
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“I haven’t paid attention to anything that man has said in two years, he couldn’t tell the truth if he was standing on a million dollars,” Barbee said.
Credit card records show that Davis did curtail his restaurant spending over the past year, but he did have one final lavish meal before leaving office, dropping $996.41 at the Pinnacle Club.
Davis is now officially out of office, but the state investigations and the lawsuits against him continue.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
