City administrator or city manager? That question was answered by the collective brilliance of the Augusta commission.
There was information given to the members of the commission that pointed to the direction for a city manager as opposed to another administrator.
When a department director is really at the mercy and direction of 10 bosses, how can that be beneficial? That’s the process that is in play here in Augusta. It is not only disruptive for the city but also mentally unhealthy for all.
A city manager would answer to the commission. The department directors would answer only to the city manager. The city manager would hire or terminate the department directors.
Our neighbor to the west, Columbia County has a county manager that seems to work very well for their government. Just look at the progress and growth that they have accomplished in a relatively short period of time. Columbia County also has only four county commissioners and a chairman.
Could it be that Augusta-Richmond County is overburdened with commissioners?
Scott Johnson and his team seem not only to keep the Columbia County government operating productively, but he and his staff also consult with other cities on how to accomplish things.
Now, back to Augusta’s decision to stay with an administrator.
Many knowledgeable people offered input on the benefits of having a manager versus an administrator, but it seemed no one on the commission listened. Even Commissioner Stacy Pulliam said she would like to hear from GMA, Georgia Municipal Association as to their thoughts. She wanted to be able to make a decision based on information and study. But, as always, she will likely vote as instructed.
The mere thought of starting a search for an administrator was enough to send Commissioner Bobby Williams into one of his tirades. This time it was about not hiring someone that hasn’t worked for the last three years and decided to apply for the job.
The more he talked, the more apparent it became as to who he was referring to. Williams finally couldn’t contain himself and uttered the name, “Fred Russell.”
For those who don’t remember who Fred Russell is, I will remind you that he was at one time the city administrator, and he was fired for not cow-towing to individual commissioners. He seemed to be able to keep order and finances in line with a staff not nearly as large as it is today.
Commissioner Jordon Johnson, not to be out done, went into his now renown style of diatribe. He explained to all who would listen, that if they didn’t agree with his thinking, they were just wrong.
Why does everyone have to be in such a rush? The present interim administrator is doing a great job, Johnson argued. She is in the middle of right-sizing the government departments and getting ready for the 2024 budget process and planning.
It’s already been 18 months so why the rush? Oh why, why, why?
When the commission finally called for a directive to instruct the Human Resources Director Anita Rookard to acquire a job search firm within two weeks and begin the process, Interim Administrator Takyah Douse must have received a text.
Douse said that she received a message from Rookard stating two weeks was not enough time to find a job search firm. Now this announcement was enough to send most of the folks in the gallery and more than half of the commissioners into a bout of loud laughter.
Of course, this was enough to send Johnson into another round of his pious gibberish about how this isn’t a laughing matter.
Mr. Johnson, it is a laughing matter. Everyone knows it. Even you know it. You just have to keep your pretense up. After all, that serves the “Fab Five” much better.
Maybe Ms Rookard should just reach out to the last search firm that was hired by Augusta. You know the one. It was to find a Fire Department chief, burned out to be a sham and total waste of taxpayers money.
The commission was presented with a set of finalists. The current chief, Antonio Burden, was not on the list. However, he was the hire.
The process that Augusta uses is to narrow the applicants down to a small number. That number of applicants are then given to the commissioners. That number is then cut down to a final list. Then that list of candidates are set to be interviewed.
The problem here is that none of the commissioners seem to have a clue as to how to vet an applicant. From this seated commission, three at best can somewhat vet an applicant.
Before the interviews by the commissioners, they are given a list of ” only ask” questions from the directors of Human Resources and Compliance. That is presumably so no wrong question will be asked.
If a commissioner asks one candidate a question, then he or she has to ask that same question to each and every candidate, that way no bias can be claimed.
These are at best soft, soft questions. Really non-essential questions at all. They seemed to be geared to gather no pertinent information regarding the candidate’s actual knowledge or qualifications as it pertains to the position for which they are interviewing.
So, it seems that who you see and hear from is not necessarily really who you eventually get.
Many times a candidate is a predetermined hire for a number of varied reasons. One such hire was the Landfill and Environmental Services director that was short lived here on the job. Mark Mehall was his name. He was a nice enough fellow, but he just didn’t really know what he was doing.
This fact was evident from the previous city Mehall worked for. The minutes of a commission meeting there show he was offered the opportunity to resign or be terminated.
Augusta then swooped him up because Engineering Director Hameed Malik wanted him.
Commission Sammie Sias somehow got the interviewing process closed to the public. Commissioners Brandon Garrett, Sean Frantom and myself objected but as usual, we were overruled.
They even stopped sending the final applicants applications to us in a timely manner. Seemed the three of us were causing a disruption in the process.
Augusta seems to have a dismal record for hiring the wrong people. A short list would be Mark Mehall. He ended up being given the same option here as he was given in his previous city: resign or be terminated.
Treza Edward hired as Compliance Department director. She was placed on paid administrative leave for some cloudy reason for several weeks. Upon her return she filed a federal lawsuit against Augusta for gender discrimination and unfair pay practices.
James Hill was hired as Animal Services director and was allowed to operate without much oversight. The Animal Control Shelter has a very high kill rate and Hill is still there.
Odie Donald was brought in as city administrator at a $240,000 annual salary plus added benefits, and he was allowed to get Augusta in debt and obligations to the tune of $1 billion a year plus.
Donald may hold the record for shortest tenured city administrator in Augusta history.
Today I still stand by my reasons and decisions for voting NO to everyone of these hires. In fact, I am proud to be the only commissioner that voted NO to the hiring of Donald.
Now we have come full circle back to the hiring of a new city administrator. The ones that would rather have a city manager were, again, outvoted. So the next step is the farce of a job search firm finding the right candidates that fits Augusta’s culture.
For the “Fab Five” their candidate is already sitting in front of them at every meeting.
Now don’t get me wrong. I personally like Takiyah Douse. She is a personable person; she is educated and has many abilities. She is indeed a lady that anyone would be proud to have as a daughter.
Douse just not the right fit for the city administrator’s position for the long haul.
The reason goes back in time when Douse was the director of Central Services. While she did an outstanding job of directing that department, a big issue arose with an employee that was causing problems.
It seems Douse gave this employee a written reprimand that wasn’t received very well.
The behavior must have continued because Douse amassed a file of violations against this employee; however, no other written reprimand was ever issued. It was clear she wanted this employee gone.
The problem was that no other violation or warning was ever given to this employee. Therefore, there was no paper trail to back up the claims could happen.
So instead of termination, this employee was transferred to another department to become another director’s problem, which occurred quite rapidly. This employee remains in this city’s employee. Legal reasons prevent the name from being named publicly.
Now the issue is, if Douse didn’t have the fortitude to handle that one troublesome employee, how can she direct the entirety of the city’s directors?
