City attorney exits as Augusta also looks for parks director

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Augusta Commission met Tuesday at the committee level, and personnel matters took center stage for part of the discussions.

Because the met at the committee level, most decisions will have to go before the full commission.

Early on, commissioners accepted City Attorney Wayne Brown’s resignation with severance pay.

Also, commissioners heard from Interim City Takiyah Douse about recruiting a new parks and recreation director. She said 58 people have applied for the vacant position, and the field has been narrowed down to 16. The group will be narrowed further moving forward from 10 to seven to three, and then the final pick.

Douse says this can get done in the next two to three weeks.

Commissioner Sean Frantom wants to push it back 60 days so he can try to get an audit approved for the department.

Commissioner Jordan Johnson agrees and wants a workshop in 60 days to try to process the audit, then move forward on finding a replacement.

City Finance Director Donna Williams says it will take 90 days to finish the audit of the department, and that’s after selecting who would conduct it.

Maurice McDowell resigned as head of the department in February, leaving with severance as he faced a penalty after a human resources inquiry found evidence of age discrimination.

What’s an emergency?

Also Tuesday, commissioners demanded answers about nine emergency order procurements for a number of city projects, including the Bernie Ward Community Center, Augusta Common, Diamond Lakes Regional Park and Augusta-Richmond County Municipal Building.

Each project has its own money amount, but the total equals up to about $791,720.

Commissioners grilled Central Services Director Ron Lampkin on procedures and what constitutes an emergency.

A little less than $350,000 worth of work had been completed before commissioners or the procurement department knew anything about it.

“Seeing this back-and-forth stuff up here is ridiculous, I’m being honest with y’all,” said Commissioner Sean Frantom.

It’s a process Central Services Interim Director, Ron Lampkin, says has been in place since before he stepped up in 2022.

“The emergencies are constituted by life safety, health or effect to day-to-day operations according to what the policy says,” said Lampkin.

Interim , Takiyah Douse, responded: “He just stated to Commissioner Guilfoyle, once he determined it to be an emergency. That is a fundamental flaw and in direct violation to our procurement policy.”

But the projects aren’t minor.

Work already completed includes fixing a roof at the Charles B. Webster Detention Center to fix flood damage affecting inmates.

Lampkin gave an example of marble s coming off the commission building that could have hit people below, and city officials are still dealing with it.

“The larger threat is to of the public, outside of the building, since a reasonable scenario exists where a marble façade could fall from the structure and hit a person or vehicle. A could also hit the ground and shatter with resulting fragments hitting a person or vehicle or breaking through a lower-level window,” he said.

Douse said Lampkin is out of line with the procedure, since Central Services is making the distinction of an emergency purchase rather than going through the proper channel for final approval.

In the end, everyone needs to come together on who is and isn’t allowed to define an emergency.

Frantom said: “It is evident we are not on the same sheet of music in this government on this issue. It looks horrible and so, I’m tired of hearing about it. He said, she said. I approved it, he didn’t approve it. It’s ridiculous.”

The matter will go to the commission next week, and there will be a closed-door meeting about getting Central Services, the and procurement staff on the same page.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting

• Commissioners heard from Rep. Mark Newton, who presented a Georgia Department of Transportation bridge project from the Augusta Canal to Riverwatch Parkway. Newton is not just looking at a bridge but a 200-foot clearing that comes with the bridge for parking. GDOT is able to chip in $500,000, but Newton says depending on what finally gets approved, he wants to fundraise for a project total of $1 million to $2 million. The matter was sent to the full commission.
• Forwarded to the full commission was a request from the Parks and Recreation Department to give $30,000 to senior center programs that would help those 60 and older attend educational and cultural field trips.
• Also forwarded to the full commission was consideration of a Planning and Development Department proposal to develop more resources for people with limited English for Augusta Transit services.
• The commission officially terminated a sublease with C4 Live. The company had promised to renovate Lake Olmstead Stadium and hold a music festival there, but it never happened, and the city successfully sued the company.
• Sent to the full commission was a plan to sell Fire Station No. 7 to Jordan Trotter Commercial Real Estate.
• Also sent to the full commission was a plan to build a low-income housing community for people age 60 and up in the 1400 Broad St. area. The rent would be somewhere above $200 a month within the voucher program, and the project would need $1 million in American Rescue Plan funds.

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