Shepard finds himself in hot water

A confidential memo from Augusta Finance Director David Persaud outlining legal fees for the city's $160 million water and sewer bond issue has given some commissioners who are dissatisfied with City Attorney Stephen Shepard more ammunition to use against him.

But even commissioners who have no ax to grind with Mr. Shepard said they were shocked to learn that he made $400,000 on the recently completed bond issue in addition to the $411,874.67 his firm billed the city for legal work last year.

Others, including Commissioners Bobby Hankerson and Marion Williams, dissatisfied with the amount of legal work Mr. Shepard is channeling to the city's black in-house legal team, say that while it may be legal for Mr. Shepard to split $800,000 in legal fees with bond counselor Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan, it doesn't seem ethical. They fault him for not explaining to them how big his paycheck would be.

"If you come to us and say, 'I want to be your bond counsel,' I think you need to go a little bit into detail, saying, 'I will be a recipient of a percentage of that,'" Mr. Hankerson said.

"If we don't ask what percentage of it are you going to be a recipient of, then that's our fault. But if you just say, 'I want to be a bond counsel and here's a stack of 15 sheets of paper ...' I'm trusting the person that I have hired as my legal counsel to be on my side. So I don't think I need to read every page behind my legal counsel."

Mr. Shepard seems embarrassed and puzzled by the controversy. He said the legal fees - a half-percent of the issue - are standard. Furthermore, his engagement letter outlining the terms of his employment states that he will charge an hourly rate, represent the commission in legal matters and act as local bond counsel.

He says he has done nothing wrong, that this is the way bond issues have always been done, with local counsel splitting legal fees with outside bond counsel.

And we think he is correct.

As a side note, insiders laughingly say the Coliseum Authority bonds would have been paid off years ago had they not been refinanced so many times. One time, because of new IRS regulations, the refinancing cost the authority its profitable food concession arrangement. But authority members weren't advised of that little fact until after the deal was done.

Anyway, Mr. Shepard said that because of the controversy he will ask the bond counselors to come to the next finance committee meeting to explain.

Well, it will be interesting to hear exactly what they do to earn that much money in one legal-financial maneuver, seeing as how many folks work a lifetime for less.

AND ANOTHER THING: Commissioners also have a lot of questions about why Merrill Lynch Capital Services Inc. will get $12.42 million for a "rate-lock" on the financing to protect the city and its ratepayers from any upward movement in interest rates. We suppose Merrill Lynch folks will be at that finance committee meeting, too.

YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN: "On the issue of this bond issuance, it is a complex matter, and I am not aware that the commissioners fully understand the structure of the deal." Mr. Persaud wrote in a Dec. 15 memo to Mr. Hankerson.

WHO WILL IT BE THIS TIME?: Some say Mayor Pro Tem Willie Mays will be re-elected at the first meeting of the year Tuesday because it will be his last year on the board.

Last year, Mr. Hankerson and Mr. Williams were vying for the job Mr. Mays ended up with, some say because of certain political considerations, such as Mr. Shepard's election as attorney. We don't know because we aren't privy to such behind-the-scenes machinations.

Now, however, Mr. Hankerson said he's not campaigning for the job but believes Mr. Williams is. He would accept the nomination though, he said.

White commissioners are essentially eliminated as candidates because of the unwritten rule that if the mayor is white, the mayor pro tem will be black.

SPEAKING OF RACE: And aren't we always?

During a discussion on Augusta race relations with Richmond County Republican Party Chairman Dave Barbee, also chairman of the city's Human Relations Commission, mention was made that some have said Augusta's race relations won't improve until the generations that grew up in a segregated society are all gone. Mr. Barbee agreed and compared Augustans to the Israelites coming out of Egypt.

"They had to wander in the desert for 40 years before they reached the Promised Land," he said. "I think that's where we are in Augusta today. It's going to take two generations to die before we can get somewhere."

HEEEE'S BACK! MAYBE: Former Augusta Mayor Charles DeVaney said this "probably" will be the year to make plans to run for mayor in 2006.

He's thought about it in the past, sitting on the sidelines and watching the political parade, but nothing "really clicked," he said.

Coincidentally, the thing that got him into politics the first time in the early 1980s - issues about Olde Towne, where he lives - is spurring him on now.

As president of Historic Augusta, Mr. DeVaney is involved with the purchase of the old Houghton School and Widows House on Greene Street, a move designed to keep the historic buildings from becoming low-income housing.

He is employed by the Southeastern Firefighters Burn Foundation and sometimes teaches in the Augusta State University Political Science Department.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "I started working in the Richmond County Sheriff's Department in June of 1957 when I was 17, and now, since I've reached 39, it's time for me to retire." Linda Beazley, on her retirement as director of the Georgia Secretary of State Elections Division.

We love your kind of math, Ms. Beazley.

AS WE SPEAK: Richmond County sheriff's Col. Gary Powell and his wife, Kathy, are in Peru for their son Gary Jr.'s wedding to Elizabeth Seminario, a Peruvian beauty and art director for a Spanish TV station in Dallas. Gary Jr. is a U.S. Army 1st Lieutenant with the 4th Infantry Division and served in Tikrit, Iraq, for a year.

Col. Powell said he looks forward to a peaceful year. "But I don't see that on the horizon," he said.

HERE ARE WHAT SOME OTHER FOLKS AROUND HERE SAY THEY LOOK FORWARD TO THIS YEAR:

Former Sheriff Charlie Webster: "A good country dinner, with maybe some greens. Peace for our country, and God bless our troops."

Mayor Bob Young: "Good health. When you start getting on up there, that becomes more important."

Former Richmond County Commissioner Harrell Tiller: "I just want to be here."

Interim City Administrator Fred Russell: "Making Augusta the Venice of the Southeast because it already has canals, and it floods."

Mr. Hankerson: "I want to focus on the SPLOST issue and get something commissioners can compromise on and the citizens will pass. I'm still hoping we can get the sports arena at Regency Mall."

Mr. Williams: "A year of bright sunshine and growth."

Mr. Barbee: "Conservative appointments to the Supreme Court. Continued success in Iraq and our war on terrorism."

Richmond County Democratic Party Chairman Lowell Greenbaum: "The party is going to develop new strategies for the next two years, particularly focusing on state races coming up in 2006. We've reorganized our political action committee. We want to get involved more with the Hispanic community."

Sen. Charles Walker: "Making my life whole and representing the people of the 22nd District to the best of my ability and hopefully to bring some civility back to politics in Augusta."

Attorney Buddy Dallas: "Continuing the work I've been doing for the last 38 years, and that is representing people in court and doing right in this world, as I know right to be."

Public Works Director Teresa Smith: "Convincing commissioners not to separate the department and continuing to build the team to be the best public works and engineering department in the state."

Commissioner Andy Cheek: "A continuation of the blessings God has granted me. And for the city, to get the economy moving, passing the sales tax and getting the Destination 2020 Plan. Augusta's desperately in need of that shining city on the hill."

Reach Sylvia Cooper at (706) 823-3228 or sylvia.cooper@augustachronicle.com.