Report targets commissioners

Web posted Saturday, January 13, 2001

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By Heidi Coryell
Staff Writer

Commissioner Richard Colclough (right) and the rest of the Augusta Commission are targeted in the latest special grand jury presentment. MICHAEL HOLAHAN/STAFF

Using its strongest language yet, a special grand jury investigating city hall issued a warning that the government was heading toward ``destruction'' and action must be taken to ``avoid certain disaster.''

The grand jury, which has been meeting for more than a year in its efforts to expose wrongdoing in local government, released its third presentment to the public Friday afternoon. While the previous two presentments have looked at specific departments in city operations, Friday's report targeted Augusta commissioners, accusing them of divisiveness, incompetence and micromanagement.

``The special grand jury is concerned that our government is on a path to destruction and that action must be taken to avoid certain disaster,'' jurors wrote. `` ... It has become painfully clear that county commissioners are at the center of many problems.''

And grand jurors, nine of which are black and 14 white, noted that the interim report is only the first of several presentments that will highlight ``serious flaws'' within the government's policy and procedure.

The six-page document was divided into two sections: the roles and attitudes of commissioners, and government structure. Each section included several subsections, which cited specific examples of harassment, meddling and racism.

RELATED STORIES: • Report targets commissioners • Race divides city • Grand jury urges city reform  THE 2001 REPORT (in pdf format): •  Page 1     •  Page 2 •  Page 3     •  Page 4 •  Page 5     •  Page 6  PREVIOUS STORIES: • Jurors call for special grand jury • Grand jury wonders at city's purchases • Reports: Connections play role in hiring • Grand jury report 1999 • Jury report vindicates city • Creation of special panel a first in city, officials say

The report did not name those they considered causing the problems. By law, grand jury reports are not permitted to name specific public officials when alleging malfeasance, said District Attorney Danny Craig. In Georgia, malfeasance is not a crime.

No one was indicted by the presentment, therefore no names are attached to the allegations.

But through its civil obligation of reviewing the operations of local government and elected officials, a grand jury can comment on its observations and views of how the system and officials operate, even if such observations are critical.

Some examples cited in the report were easily traced to certain commissioners, including a trip Sept. 28 to Washington by Commissioners Lee Beard, Willie Mays and Marion Williams, where, in support of former Fire Chief Ronnie Few, they painted Augusta as a community plagued by racism.

``... Politicians are allowed to use race in a self-serving manner,'' the grand jurors wrote. ``One of the saddest examples of this cynical practice was demonstrated in our nation's capital. ... Augusta as a whole did not benefit from this trip; no cogent argument can be made that even the minority community of Augusta benefited. Our elected officials should have had greater allegiance to the community that elected them.''

Mr. Williams said he disagreed with the grand jury's take on the trip.

``I'm not for doing wrong and keeping it here,'' he said. ``If it's wrong, it's wrong. I don't think that what the people who went to Washington did was wrong, and I don't think we should hide.''

Concerns about Commissioner Lee Beard's involvement with cellular telephone bills last year also appeared in the grand jury presentment. Although the report does not refer to Mr. Beard by name, it refers to his involvement in instructing the clerk of commission - an elected official - and the city's director of purchasing to audit the bills, after the accounting department had already done so.

``In the final analysis the commissioner usurped the authority of the county administrator, arbitrarily involved two governmental officials in extraneous activities, and undermined the efforts of the accounting department,'' the presentment said. ``What should have been simple, instead became very convoluted.''

Interim Finance Director Donna Williams said the grand jury's observation of the cell phone bill controversy was on target.

``The administration was all of a sudden completely out of the loop,'' Ms. Williams said. ``That is probably the most accurate statement - about it becoming convoluted. It was very straightforward.''

But Ms. Williams also noted that she has never been approached by a commissioner and given an order, something the grand jury discusses at length as occurring in city government to the point that it intimidates employees.

Commissioner Willie Mays (center) speaks in support of Ronnie Few in Washington in September, a trip criticized by the grand jury in its report. RON THOMAS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

``Usually it's just an inquiry,'' she said. ``I don't feel any pressure from that.''

Mr. Beard rejects the notion that his involvement in city government has ever overstepped any ethical boundaries, including his part in the cell phone bill dealings.

``I've always tried to go through the administrator or whoever was in charge,'' Mr. Beard said. ``People may perceive that I was micromanaging, but that's their business.''

Other commissioners confronted with the special grand jury's accusations- including strategically abstaining from voting on sensitive issues or being uninformed about the committees they serve on - defended themselves as being responsible elected officials.

``I think they paint the picture with a very broad brush,'' Commissioner Jerry Brigham said. ``Reading this, I would think every commissioner should be in jail, and I know that's not the case.

``If they can't cite names, then why cite the incident?'' he said. ``The whole commission is guilty in the general public's mind.''

The presentment also made several recommendations on overcoming several ``procedural deficiencies'' that have arisen in local government since consolidation in 1996. Jurors, empaneled Nov. 29, 1999, suggested granting the mayor veto power, creating an ordinance that forbids commissioners from giving work instructions or directing any city employee and changing the geographical lines that make up the city's 10 electoral districts to include six commission seats and four at-large districts. The commission currently has eight geographical commission districts and two at-large commissioners.

Word of the special grand jury's report spread quickly through the municipal building Friday afternoon. The reactions of city employees ranged from apathy to dissidence to shock.

Many endorsed portions of the presentment as accurate but questioned other parts.

``There were some isolated cases brought to light that made sense (in the presentment),'' said Interim Human Resources Director Brenda Byrd-Pelaez, who has heard complaints from city employees about commissioners' involving themselves with the day-to-day activities of city workers. ``There is the perception that one has to stop what they're doing and do what a commissioner wants you to do.''

Ms. Byrd-Pelaez also identified what she says is possibly a specific reference to her in the grand jury presentment. Grand jurors reported that a city department head has been harassed for treating whites and blacks on an equal basis, which - during an interview with commissioners this week for the permanent HR director position - she acknowledged as having happened to her. She declined to name the specific commissioner or commissioners involved.

But she said she was surprised to learn that certain supervisors had reported becoming ``paralyzed when giving yearly evaluations'' for fear of being labeled racist.

``That was a shock to me because it was never brought to my attention,'' she said.

The presentment is not expected to be addressed during Tuesday's full commission meeting. Mayor Bob Young, who could add it to the agenda, will be out of town, and unanimous consent from commissioners to add it is not expected.

And there is little consensus as to what impact, if any, the grand jury's recommendations will have on the immediate operations of the commission.

``I wish they would hand out indictments and tell us what we're doing wrong,'' said interim Administrator Walter Hornsby. ``If somebody has broken the law, tell us, so we can get it behind us.''

Staff Writer Sandy Hodson contributed to this report.

Reach Heidi Coryell at (706) 823-3215.

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