With all the fireworks (no pun intended) going on, the city is in an uproar over the fire chief selection. We all should take a moment and ask — isn’t this what we have a city administrator for?
The role of the city administrator is to handle the day-to-day operations of the city. This would include, in my opinion, the hiring and firing of department directors. I know that we are hearing the dissatisfaction of some very unhappy commissioners, but even if Antonio Burden was not hired, wouldn’t we still hear this… just from the other side? It would be standard operating procedure for this city.
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The accusations of race being involved are irrelevant to me. To say the black commissioners voted for Burden because he is black is like trying to accuse the white commissioners of voting against him for being black, and I can definitely say the latter is not the case. I will say this: after speaking to commissioners on both sides, they each feel as if they made the right decision. The commissioners who voted “yes” feel that he is the man for the job, and the commissioners who voted “no” feel as if this guy shouldn’t be allowed in the city limits.
If I was Burden, I wouldn’t even take the job. He has too many strikes already against him. Any job that would be surrounded by this much controversy coming in would have me running in the opposite direction.
However, what do you expect from someone who, after finding out he would be voted on, sends commissioners emails that say how much he appreciated them and that he was ready to come to work. After speaking to some of my people in the Atlanta area, they are just as happy to see him go as we are unhappy to see him come.
A bigger question is what kind of deal was cut amongst the commissioners who supported Burden. One scenario that seems to be overwhelmingly popular from outsiders is making sure that the candidates who are hired get overwhelming support from the commissioners who will remain in office. The other possible scenario is how this will affect their Biden American Rescue Plan money. I’m hearing that some commissioners want it to be split up evenly between the districts to work on projects that they could not get added to the SPLOST. So, we will just wait and see what happens next.
Speaking of candidates, a few more names have come into consideration for district races and some are working behind the scenes pretty hard to make some moves.
In District 2, a political newcomer is making waves, and she has a bit of a familiar name: Stacy Pulliam. Pulliam being the familiar part of that name; she is the daughter-in-law of Barbara Pulliam. For those of you who do not remember Barbara Pulliam, she was a school board member, retired educator and advocate for the children. The younger Mrs. Pulliam is in real estate and, from my limited observation, a younger person with some progressive ideas.
District 2 already had retired firefighter Ralph Gunter, who is well-known and well-liked, and Dr. Von Pouncey, who just lost the District 1 commission race and now has jumped into District 2. I’m sure this is after the coaching of former Georgia Sen. Charles Walker, who backed her in the last race and is going to back her in this one.
The District 6 race is definitely going to be interesting. Tony Lewis has talked about running — he ran in the past and almost won — and he is a local guy who is liked by many and probably one of the best high school basketball officials in the state (I think he has refereed maybe 10 state championships).
The name that has hit my inbox five times this week in regards to running is A.K. Hasan. So, this seat has the potential to go from one Hasan to another. For those who like Ben Hasan, that wouldn’t be a bad thing.
The main reason Hasan’s name has come up lately is because of questions about him and Charlie Hannah, who is considering running for mayor. If they decide to run for these seats, will they have to give up their school board seats? I have not gotten a definitive answer on this from anyone.
District 10 will have a familiar face pop up in that of Wayne Guilfoyle, the former District 8 commissioner and local businessman. I asked two people in the district how they felt about Wayne possibly running, and both said they loved the idea. I also asked how they felt about John Clarke, because he would be running against Guilfoyle, and both said they love John Clarke. That tells me this one could go down to the wire.
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With all that being said, Augusta is still headed toward the “apex.” That’s my dad’s word. I had a long and detailed conversation with Cal Wray, leader of the Augusta-Richmond County Economic Development Authority (ARCEDA). He told me that Augusta is sitting on the possibility of 30 new companies coming into the area in the next few years. That would infuse over a billion dollars into our community and the potential for 18,000 new jobs. That is enough to tip your hat at! If you have never researched the ARCEDA, take a moment to do so. You will love what you see and be even more impressed by how hard these people work to bring great things to Augusta.
Now let’s prepare for next week’s column, where we discuss the fire chief and EMA director job being separated, and the closed door conversations about Richmond County getting a police force again to fight some of this crime that seems to be sparking up. But there I go again, giving you too much info about future articles.
Michael Meyers is a Columnist for The Augusta Press. Reach him at Michael.meyers@theaugustapress.com.
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