by Marcie Wilhelm, chair, and Clint Bryant, co-chair
There are many questions circulating about the Charter Review Committee we hope to answer with this column, beginning with “what is a Charter and why is it important?”
A charter is the enabling document (much like our federal Constitution is) whereby the details of what kind of government we have are enumerated:
- Mayor or no mayor; administrator or manager; how many commissioners elected from how many districts?
- What are the roles and responsibilities and who is responsible for their execution (accountability)?
- Who heads and votes in this form of government and how are they elected (accountability)?
- Who manages the rules and ordinances enacted (accountability)?
- What checks and balances exist to make sure they are executed as the voters intended (transparency)?
- How are revenues and grants received and spent; how do citizens find the accounting for them (accountability)?
- What recourse do voters have when their will is ignored, logic is defied or thwarted (transparency)?
In March 2025, the Augusta Commission voted to convene a Charter Review Committee (CRC) consisting of 11 members, one from each of the eight districts, two super districts and the mayor.
The CRC was tasked with reviewing ALL forms of government and best practices aided by the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government. The end product was to be an amended or entirely new charter document by March 31, 2026.
These recommendations will be presented to the State of Georgia legislature for modification or adoption, after which they will return to be presented to the citizens of Augusta-Richmond County for a vote. How and why did this come about now?
Firstly, best practices recommend reviewing and updating charters every 5-10 years.
Augusta’s last comprehensive Charter alteration occurred when the City of Augusta merged with Richmond County in 1995. Sometimes described as a shotgun marriage, the current charter was assembled and ushered through the legislature in a short period of time. Once one goes through and removes the one-time provisions unique to the merger in 1996, those items controlled by state rather than local laws, and those items better handled through ordinances rather than through a charter, you drop from the existing 151 pages to approximately 50 pages.The current charter was a product of the times, historically speaking. There are many topics of current interest that likely will be retained and strengthened.
A timely example would be audits — Charter Chapter 7 (Finance and Taxation), Article 2 (Budget), Section 7-20 Audit,
page 124 of 151): “…shall each year submit to the governing authority of Richmond County a list of three certified public accounting firms. The governing authority of Richmond County shall selected from among those firms submitted to them an accounting firm which shall perform an audit of all county offices handling public funds of Richmond County. Said audit shall cover the current fiscal year. No such firm shall be selected…which has performed such services for three consecutive years.”
The CRC has been meeting since mid-April every other week to gather information from the Carl Vinson Institute, reviewing reams of other charters and research. We have recently completed a public survey and three public hearings to learn of citizens’ wishes and concerns.
The foundational decision will involve “Form of Government” followed by the “Finance” section. We have two subcommittees who regularly meet to propose ideas and debate the merits and downfalls of those ideas.
Structurally, it is easy to see why many of our citizens’ concerns started and continue. Lack of long-range planning, inability to pursue needed audits, evaluation of city employees and hundreds of other issues are held hostage to
one fact: it takes six votes to make any simple logical decision to move forward. Several recent interviews of employees revealed that evaluations have not occurred in 8-9 years.
Another inconvenient fact: our City Administrator reports to 11 bosses. Translation? The administrator (and department heads) must curry favor with at least six commissioners for nearly every consequential decision, all while understanding it only take six votes to send them packing if Commissioners don’t like them or their recommendations.
Who worth having would apply or stay under those conditions? We forego top quality candidates in most cases because of the untenable management environment.
How’s that working for us?
As two members out of 11 on the CRC, we can assure you no one on that committee is sure of what the final product will hold. There are so many tentacles to each major decision, we have elected to take our time to thoroughly research, request additional subject matter experts from Carl Vinson Institute, and fiercely debate options on the phone, in subcommittees and with trusted friends in our communities. As fellow citizens, we want to require radical transparency and accountability out of our government through a much needed revised charter, and feel this work is an important means of accomplishing this.
What we can assure you readers of is the CRC is made up of 11 citizen volunteers with quite a variety of backgrounds, life experiences and ages. We encourage each other to think two to three generations ahead to plan for the type of community we would like our children and grandchildren to inhabit in Augusta, Georgia in 2050 and beyond. We are not elected officials or career politicians, and that was by design. And we are working hard to get it right.
Our government needs to be more accountable to its citizens, to include frequent audits and full transparency. Roles and responsibilities need to be clearly delineated for accountability and execution.
Each of us, each citizen has a role to play in the future successes of our city. At a minimum, citizens must work hard to stay interested and informed, and at some point in the future, cast your votes.
To learn more about the Charter Review Committee, find other resources on good governance examples please to to: www.augustaga.gov/CRC.
Members:
Sheffie Robinson, District 1
Angela Bakos, District 2
Marcie Wilhelmi, District 3
Robert France, District 4
Clint Bryant, District 5
Frank Lewis, District 6
C. Lee Powell, District 7
Charlie Coleman, District 8
Lonnie Wimberly, District 9
Steve Foushee, District 10
Roderick Pearson, Mayor
