Plans to revise Augusta’s charter could advance this week under a proposal and resolution going for committee approval.
The Oct. 8 proposal, placed on the Tuesday Administrative Services agenda by Mayor Garnett Johnson, calls for the Carl Vinson Institute to facilitate the process using a local committee.
The committee would be composed of 11 members, representing “a fair cross-section” of the community, with each member a resident of Augusta-Richmond County, according to the proposed resolution.
The mayor and each commissioner get to appoint one member to the committee, and its members appoint a chair, vice chair and secretary. Excluded from membership are current or former elected officials, current members of any boards or authorities and employees of the consolidated government.
The UGA institute will be paid a fee, proposed at $320,174, for its assistance.
The committee is expected to convene between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2025, and create a final written report of recommendations for changing the charter.
Copies of the report must be submitted to the public, mayor, commission, the governor, the lieutenant governor, speaker of the house and chairpersons of the Senate state and local government operations committee and House governmental affairs committee.
All “proposed, final recommended changes and updates” will then be submitted to Augusta legislators “for approval in the Georgia General Assembly.”
Commission reaction has been publicly lukewarm to Johnson’s push to overhaul the charter, which has not been substantially changed since voters approved it in 1995.
Several commissioners declined to attend a community meeting held at Good Shepherd Baptist Church in October, stating they were not consulted. Johnson said he wanted to have an authorizing resolution in place by year’s end.
The commission has several other weighty decisions coming up Tuesday, including approving the 2025 budget and inking 10-year garbage collection contracts that include rate increases.
