The former Augusta commissioners and mayor at last week’s annual get-together at Sconyers Bar-B-Que represented at least 150 years of combined public service which is truly remarkable, considering there were only eight of them.
But those eight had news, except for former Augusta Mayor Larry Sconyers, who stays out of the news nowadays. Four years in the Marble Palace was quite enough for the Barbecue Baron who much prefers grilling pork to pork barrel politics.
Former Augusta Commissioner Moses Todd, however, had big news. He’s going to sue the city if they don’t allocate money in the budget for cemetery upkeep.
“As chairman of the cemetery committee, I get tired of waiting on the city to do something about it, so I just decided to do something myself,” he said.
“So, I got to thinking a couple of weeks ago, ‘You know, I’ve been down here seven years advocating for the cemeteries, and I don’t get anywhere.’ So, I called a lawyer who’s kind of famous for suing the city of Augusta. (Jack Long)
“And he said, ‘You’ve got to have standing. Do you have any family buried in Cedar Grove?’
“I said, “No.”
“He said, ‘You’ve got to have standing to sue them over something they’re not doing. It’s got to affect you.”
“So, I thought about it, and I called up Reid’s Funeral Home, and I said, ‘Do ya’ll own an empty tomb over there?’ They said, ‘Yes, we do.’
“I said, “Are you interested in selling it? They said, ‘Yes, we are.’
“I made them an offer, and they upped me a thousand dollars. And I bought it. Now Jack’s going to have a good case if they don’t put me in the budget.”
“That’s a whole lot better than going to the trouble of dying to get standing,” quipped former City Administrator Fred Russell.
Cleaning up in politics doesn’t always mean getting rich
Former Commissioner Bill Kuhlke reminisced about then-Administrator Russell’s idea to have commissioners help clean up Augusta’s roadways.
“We had to go out as commissioners and clean up some of the roads where the trash was,” Kuhlke said. “And Moses Todd and I were assigned to go on Gordon Highway and Highway 1. And we were out there sweeping up, cleaning up and everything when all of a sudden, I looked over there and Moses was picking up stuff out of the trash and putting it in his pocket. And to this day, I don’t know what he was picking up.”
Bragging rights
Kuhlke has seven great-grandchildren.
“Six girls and one boy,” he said. “And I’ve got one grandchild that just got married. And I’m hoping that he might have a boy in him.”
Kuhlke is recuperating from his fifth back surgery.
I asked him if he felt better.
“Not right now,” he said. “Still in pain. And I’d like for you to put that in the paper, so my doctor would understand I’m still suffering.”
I said he needed some pain medicine.
“He’s got pain medicine,” quipped former Commissioner Don Grantham. “It’s called Tito’s.”
“Yeah, that’ll dull it,” said Kuhlke.
“Take two shots and go to bed,” said Russell.
Let me tell you about my grandchildren
“Bill was talking about his grandchildren and great grandchildren,” said Grantham. “I had three great granddaughters in a year and a half. And one of them has a birthday today (Thursday). And I’ve got a great grandson on the way. So, Bill and I have been blessed.
“We’ve been together since we were about 10 or eleven years old. And Bill’s got a birthday coming up this November, and he’s still a year older than I am. And if I lose 40 pounds this year like I did last year, I’ll start to fight.”
Did you do it with Ozempic?” I asked.
“No, he said. “I just quit drinking liquor.”
“How did you do that?” I asked.
“It was hard,” he said.
“He pushed back.”
“Pushed back,” Grantham agreed, adding. “I’m glad we can still do this.”
I guess he meant joke around.
Cautionary tales
Former Commissioner Donnie Smith is recuperating too.
“I retired, and I fell off a ladder, and I was in a coma for 48 hours,” he said. “And I had to learn how to walk and talk again. It took me 66 years to figure out not to get on a ladder. But every day that I wake up, and the sun’s up, I’m glad to be here.”
After Wayne Guilfoyle was elected to the Augusta Commission, Smith said he called him up and asked for his help with a pothole in Blythe.
“I said, ‘Wayne, can you get this little pothole out here fixed?’”
He said, “Oh sure.”
“I said, ‘I’ll owe you a favor if you get it done.’ They did get it done, and he called me up about a month or two after that and said, “I’m calling that favor in.”
“I said, ‘What’s that, Wayne?”
“He said, ‘You said you’d do whatever, you’d owe me a favor.’
I said, “Yeah.”
“He said, ‘I want to put you on a board, Donnie. You won’t have no problem at all.’”
“I said, “What is it, Wayne?”
“He said, ‘Planning and Zoning.’”
“And I thought about it for a minute, and I said, ‘Well, that can’t be bad.’
“And I can assure you that was a bad decision because the Planning and Zoning Commission is aggravating,” Smith said. “If you vote the way the citizens that come down there want you to vote, the developers get mad. And then, if you vote for the developer’s project, the citizens get mad. So, you can’t go to the grocery store without somebody being mad at you.”
Eyeing the future
In other news, former Commissioner Sean Frantom moved to Columbia County with an eye to his political future.
“I kinda have my eye on a position,” he said. “I don’t want to talk about it right now. It’s a big position. But maybe at the time he retires, I will try to step up and take it.”
“Why wait?” Todd quipped. “We need you now.”
Pop Quiz
Q: What big position is Frantom eyeing?
A. Governor of Georgia
B. Governor of South Carolina
C. Congressman Rick Allen’s 12th District seat
D. Dog Catcher
Answer coming next week
And as Frantom eyes a big position, he turns a jaundiced eye on Augusta Commission doings.
“I’ve only been out for 10 months, and it seems like the city’s gone to hell in a handbasket since I left,” he said. “… We knew this (budget deficit) was going to happen. I knew it was going to be hard for them because last year we should have made cuts, and we didn’t. We kicked the can down the road. And now they’ve got to fix the issues of (former administrator) Odie Donald when he was in the government that made all those bad decisions.”
During Donald’s short tenure as the highest paid administrator in the city’s history, he spent American Rescue money like it was going out of style, awarding raises to almost everybody on the city payroll. At the time, folks were asking then how they could continue paying the higher salaries in succeeding years when the rescue money was all gone, but nobody answered.
“Odie didn’t read the room?” said Russell. “The decisions he made about spending the money and using the growth to backfill is contingent on raising taxes to take advantage of the growth. He did not understand Augusta does not raise taxes.”
“He also said he wouldn’t have to deal with it,” Frantom added. “That was his direct quote. And now, just watching from the sidelines we’re about to have a heated mayoral race. Hopefully, the community will continue to support Mayor Garnett Johnson as he has been very conservative. He’s done a great job.”
Frantom touted a number of positive things coming to Augusta, including a downtown zipline in 2026, the downtown TIA project, the Iron Man competition for five more years and hockey.
On the downside, is a SPLOST 9 vote, about which Frantom is not optimistic.
“The people aren’t happy right now in Richmond County, and some of that is not the doing of the mayor and commission,” he said.
Merry Christmas! You’re fired!
Among the milestones Russell is celebrating this year is the 12th anniversary of being fired as city administrator.
“It happened right before Christmas, pretty much like this meeting,” he said. “I do remember calling my lawyer in Atlanta, and he asked me if I wanted him to come over, but I knew he’d have to drive over, and it would cost a lot. He asked whether they’d fired me for cause. I said, ‘Well, I don’t really know. They haven’t told me yet. As a matter of fact, I don’t really know that I’m officially fired.
“The only person who’s told me I’ve been fired to date is George Eskola. He came into the office while they were in executive session. He said, “How does it feel to be fired this close to Christmas?”
“I said, “Don’t know. I guess I’ll find out. I told my attorney they fired me with notice. They fired me, and I have to keep working until Christmas.”
Relieved
Former Commissioner Jerry Brigham and his wife Debra, who is also his chauffeur, are both just glad all of their children have jobs and are back in their homes after repairing damages and rebuilding after hurricane Helene. They’re also glad Jerry hasn’t been back in the hospital with heart trouble since the hurricane.
“I’m probably still too mean,” said Jerry.
So? You raised four Eagle Scouts, didn’t you?
Sylvia Cooper is an occasional columnist for the Augusta Press. She is a seasoned journalist who covered Richmond County government before her retirement.
