Three of Augusta’s fastest-growing areas have city commission elections May 21. Candidates for the west Augusta districts 3, 5 and 7 wooed voters at local forums this week, although some candidates chose not to attend.
Augusta Commission District 3
Second-generation commissioner Catherine Smith McKnight took credit for advancing the Jimmie Dyess Parkway Kroger Marketplace and nearby Fire Station 3 projects along, as well as getting Augusta Fire Department’s forced-entry policy updated.
Commissioners can do little on their own, she said at a Thursday forum held by the West Augusta Alliance at First Baptist Church.
“As a commissioner, you cannot do it alone,” she said. “You have to have at least five or six total to get something done.”
McKnight, who supports giving Augusta’s mayor a vote on all commission actions, calls herself a “constituents’ commissioner” who always returns calls.
“You can’t make promises, but you can at least listen to your constituents and help out the best way you can,” she said.
Carol Jones Yancy, who is vice-chair of the Augusta Housing Authority, hasn’t attended very many forums.
In a March interview on the Local Matters podcast, she said she decided to run “to render myself as a public servant to the Augusta community” by carrying out policies and laws.
If elected, Yancy said she’ll learn the role of a commissioner and study the Consolidation Act.
“I’ve always been a public servant, especially to the needy, senior citizens and children,” Yancy said.
Augusta Commission District 5
District 5 challenger Don Clark, a 21-year Army combat veteran, said on the campaign trail he frequently hears the needs of constituents in the south Augusta-Hephzibah district aren’t being heard or met.
“I still don’t think we’re being represented appropriately,” he said Thursday.
Clark said he’d like to see greater “collectiveness” among Augusta’s diverse community and “core essentials” addressed.
“How about making sure that hey, I’m not going to tear my car up as I’m driving down the road,” and ensuring “that our folks regain some confidence in our county government.”
Incumbent Commissioner Bobby Williams, a retired educator, didn’t appear at any public forums this week.
At a Monday online event, he listed what he says he’s delivered to District 5, with support from other commissioners: $8.7 million for the Henry Brigham Community Center, $7 million for Fire Station 20, $8 million for Fire Station 3, $500,000 for lights along Jimmie Dyess Parkway and $1.3 million to end the Augusta library system’s debt to the city.
Augusta now has an ambulance service that “nobody complains about,” he said at the Monday virtual forum, conducted by the Greater Augusta Black Chamber of Commerce.
Williams said he’d like to deliver even more to city employees, including a raise for Sheriff Richard Roundtree, more deputies and raises for other personnel, especially the lowest paid.
“When you pay people, they’re a whole lot happier. They get a whole lot more done,” he said.
Augusta Commission District 7
With Commissioner Sean Frantom now term-limited, District 7 residents have to choose between a lifelong District 7 resident who’s worked closely with contractors and a relative newcomer who touts his ability to address the area’s homeless problem using his medical background as VA physician specializing in addiction.
Architecture firm office manager Tina Slendak said she plans to retire this summer to be a full-time commissioner.
Slendak said she’s followed every commission meeting for the last eight years and is intimately familiar with the district’s issues, from Dennis Road upgrades and homeless littering on Boy Scout Road to city delays in grass-cutting and issuing building permits.
“I’ve listened to builders all day long,” she said. “I know about city procurement, contracts, human resources and financial accounting.”
Marshall Bedder has said his VA and University System of Georgia employers will afford him time to serve on the commission.
Bedder defended his decision to loan his campaign $75,000, all of which he has yet to spend, according to campaign reports.
“I am not buying this election. I’m investing in my campaign,” Bedder said at the West Augusta Alliance forum. “I believe in showing my supporters that I’m not asking them to do something that I would not do first.”
Bedder pointed to his endorsements – a who’s-who of Republican Augusta civic leaders and prominent doctors – and his resume, which includes everything from serving as a U.S. Navy commander, VA division chief and opioid addiction expert, to multiple medical specialty board certifications and memberships in numerous local arts and charitable groups.
While he’s only been in Augusta five years, Bedder said voters should look at what he and his wife, Vicki, have done since arriving.
“I’d like you to look at the credentials, the resume and the voting record of all who want to represent District 7,” he said.
“I have firsthand knowledge, experience and a vocation of treating the cycle of addiction, homelessness and crime, which if unchecked, leads to the decay of neighborhoods, a decrease in commerce and the opportunity for business and jobs. It’s a vicious cycle and we have to break that cycle.”
