The consolidated government’s longest-serving commissioner is running for a fifth term.
“I’ve got more experience than anyone in the government,” former Commissioner Marion Williams said. “I’m going to run for District 9 one more time.”
The pastor and former railroad worker has served two sets of two terms as commissioner separated by five years. Augusta’s mayor and commissioners are limited to serving two consecutive terms.
Williams, 75, was elected in 1999, 2003, 2012 and 2016 and ran for mayor in 2022. He placed third in the mayoral contest behind Steven Kendrick and Mayor Garnett Johnson and supported Johnson in the runoff.
Now, after three years on the sidelines Williams said he grown frustrated by Augusta’s all-too-familiar issues such as maintenance and employee responsibility.
“We’re not progressive as far as economic dollars,” he said. “I don’t like the fact that the jail was in the condition it was in. The sheriff should have had somebody watching the jail… and the same with the Boathouse,” Williams said.
“There’s a lot of stuff the taxpayers are being penalized for that I guess you can say is due to the negligence of somebody,” he said.
Over the last few years Augusta has seen the demise of the former riverfront center due to lack of upkeep and seen Webster Detention Center emerge from the pandemic so crowded and damaged that building new pods is seen as the only solution.
“I guess it’s some stuff we’ve been dealing with for a while,” he said. “You’ve got to inspect what you expect. My grandfather used to say any old song can bury the dead, but they can’t hear it.”
Williams, a pastor who had railroad and firefighting careers, will challenge Francine Scott, who is serving her first term representing Super District 9.
The district spans regular districts 1, 2, 4 and 5, some of the city’s poorest and oldest, and Williams said codes enforcement, illegal dumping and maintenance remain a problem.
“The same people that’s been dumped on all these years are still being dumped on,” he said. “Somewhere between code enforcement, the marshal’s department and the courts there’s a breakdown.”
During prior commission terms Williams touted the city’s need for attractions and entertainment and lamented the lack of attention paid by Augusta to musician James Brown who made the city his home.
While he has a connection with Johnson, the sometimes-contrarian Williams warned he would not be a yes man for the mayor, who is pushing to have a vote on the commission in a May 21 referendum.
“If I think Garnett is wrong, I’m going to do what I always did,” he said.
Candidate qualifying for the district 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 commission seats will be March 4-9. The election appears on the May 21 general primary and nonpartisan ballot.
