The mayor’s select committee charged with drafting an anti-discrimination ordinance agreed to hold one more workshop and give the city attorney’s time to clarify language in the proposed draft before placing it in the Augusta Commission committee cycle.
The subcommittee has met multiple times for the better part of a year to craft an ordinance where citizens may file a complaint against any private business for discrimination. The ordinance would allow the city to impose a fine on any business that is found to have committed discrimination against a person because of race, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, familial status or military status.
MORE: Crafting the Non-Discrimination Ordinance for Augusta
The main issue at the Oct. 14 workshop was whether or not the city should force the loser in discrimination mediation to pay all costs.
Augusta General Counsel Wayne Brown said that forcing complainants to pay the cost of a mediator and hearing officer would be onerous for low income people.
“The provisions that are here makes it difficult for victims to come forth and will put victims at risk,” Brown said.
Augusta’s proposed ordinance is based off of an ordinance that is in place in Savannah, which requires a $50 dollar filing fee and requires the loser to pay the costs of what is essentially a court case.
Like Savannah, the proposed ordinance in Augusta would not create a separate “discrimination court,” but rather complaints could be filed throughout the city Compliance Department. If the complaint is deemed credible, it is given to a hearing officer chosen by the department (not a city attorney), to attempt to mediate the complaint and if that fails the hearing officer holds a hearing There is a provision, if either party isn’t satisfied, they can file in Magistrate Court.”
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One suggestion made would have the city break with the Savannah model and route the entire process through the Compliance Department and use city attorneys to adjudicate the filed cases. That proposal was tossed out as Brown stated that put the city in the position of being both prosecutor and judge.
Instead, Brown suggested the city set aside money to the Compliance Department and have the city pay for the costs in all cases.
“For a city with a billion dollar budget, why can’t we provide for the payment of the hearing officer or the mediator?” Brown asked.
City Administrator Odie Donald replied that the city could allocate as much as $50,000, but that he did not want to commit that money to a certain department just to simply have the funds available if needed.
“I don’t want to just give that money over to a department and have it get stuck there,” Donald said.
MORE: Defining a Non-Discrimination Ordinance for Augusta
The committee then debated whether having the city pay the mediation costs would have the opposite effect, in terms of people coming forward due to financial concerns, that it might cause a spike in frivolous claims.
It was decided that the hearing officer could make the determination if the claim was frivolous and if the complainant should pay the mediation costs if they lose and that complainants could file an affidavit of poverty if they cannot afford the filing fee.
The subcommittee will hold their final workshop on Oct. 28 before sending the proposed ordinance to the commission.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
