Augusta Commissioner Brandon Garrett stepping away for a time
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Augusta Commission member Brandon Garrett on Tuesday announced he is stepping away to “take care of his family and spiritual mental health.”
Meanwhile, commissioners approved a four-year contract with Tameka Allen as city for a $230,000 annual salary and OK’d spending on the Hurricane Helene cleanup.
Allen was hired Sept. 24 after serving as head of the information technology department.
Augusta suspends recycling in aftermath of Hurricane Helene
Due to the impact from Hurricane Helene, the city of Augusta has temporarily suspended recycling collection until further notice.
Within hours of her hiring, her predecessor Takiyah Douse, who’d served as interim for more than two years, was asked to resign, along with two other department heads – the chiefs of finance and procurement – and led out by marshals.
It happened during a meeting when Garrett said he was taking a break from city business for a while.
He said fellow Commissioner Wayne Guilfoyle will be taking care of District 8 needs.
Garrett didn’t say how long he will be away, but “looks forward to returning soon.”
Also decided at Tuesday’s meeting, millions of dollars are now free to go towards clearing Helene debris from Augusta roads.
Commissioners approved the money for cleanup crews to get to work – and they have their work cut out for them.
One is for storm-related costs for destruction to any city-owned facilities or buildings.
The other is for at least 13 contractors already working with the city, who started immediately after the storm.
The city says the money commissioners approved will come from the general fund balance.
Commissioners approved $2.5 million in damage costs and $3.1 million for the 13 contractors, plus one coordinating firm.
The says Augusta is in good shape right now regarding cleanup, but that there’s more work to be done.
“We didn’t just have the debris that was created by Hurricane Helene,” said Allen. “We also have additional trees that were leaning and things of that nature that many of our homeowners see coming down, as well.”
Augusta Transit resumes regular schedules on all its bus routes
All routes were shut down in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, then the agency began offering limited services a few days ago. Now things are mostly back to normal.
Allen says it’s going to take time for the city to get back – perhaps months.
“We just ask our citizens to continue to be patient and to know that you have a good team as far as the city of Augusta, working hard to do what we can to bring it back to normalcy,” said Allen.
The says the city is down to five traffic lights still out right now.
Debris pickup is still going on across Richmond County. So fa,r crews say they’ve picked up 190,000 cubic yards of debris.
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