Local group Helping Our People Excel, HOPE, along with members of the Baptist Ministers Conference and the NAACP stood in front of the Municipal Building on Tuesday, calling for voters to reject giving the mayor a vote on the Augusta Commission.
Commissioners Jordan Johnson and Tony Lewis, along with former Commissioner Ben Hasan, also stood with the group at a press conference held on April 16.
James Williams, president of HOPE, said that Mayor Garnett Johnson and five commissioners violated procedure in asking for Senate Bill 231. According to Williams, the Augusta Commission should have held a public discussion and a public vote before the legislative delegation were contacted to draft legislation.
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“They left the general public in the dark and half the commission was left out of the discussion. They were out of order,” Williams said.
However, former Mayor Deke Copenhaver, who has previously shown his support for giving the mayor a vote along with former Mayors Bob Young and Hardie Davis Jr., says that there is no “procedure” when it comes to lobbying the General Assembly to draft legislation.
“I would like for someone to show me where that procedure is written. Any citizen or any group can contact their legislators. I have never heard of a procedure requiring six votes,” Copenhaver said.
Commissioner Tony Lewis spoke at the press conference and said that he supports the current mayor and that there is room for change in the city charter, but that the commission needs to take a “holistic approach.”
“I support having a charter change committee. We cannot leave anyone out around the table,” Lewis said.
Lewis then claimed that the mayor already has a vote and has been given the opportunity to cast a vote. Lewis said that the mayor was given a vote on the city administrator finalists and that he “voted his conscience.”
According to commission meeting minutes, Johnson was prevented from voting on the new city administrator due to multiple abstensions from Commissioner Bobby Williams.
Copenhaver says that the groups advocating voting ‘no’ on the referendum are pushing propaganda and are attempting to stifle attempts to streamline the government.
“We have gone 30 years with a flawed charter and it is time that we come up with a new plan. In business, your business plan constantly evolves or you go out of business,” Copenhaver said.
Questions from the press were not allowed at the press conference.
The referendum is on the ballot for the scheduled May 21 general primary and nonpartisan election.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
