Augusta Commission goes on the attack

The operative words in city government last week were "witch hunt."

Commissioners Willie Mays and Marion Williams used it first during a bizarre four-hour airing of Public Works Director Teresa Smith's managerial shortcomings.

Commissioner Betty Beard used it the next day, denying that an almost all-day grilling of City Attorney Stephen Shepard over his bills, fee splitting with bond counselors and other bond issues was a witch hunt.

THE BLOODLETTING: Inundated by complaints from developers, contractors and engineers about the length of time it takes to get their plans back from the city, Commissioner Jimmy Smith led a subcommittee to study the problem last year.

On Thursday, the committee's recommendation was to split the departments and reduce Ms. Smith's authority. Mr. Smith and developers David Darby and Aaron Youngblood say the job is too big for one person to handle and that Ms. Smith is driving business out of Augusta.

Well, let me tell you, Mr. Mays and Mayor Pro Tem Mr. Williams were having none of it. Mr. Williams as much as said they were after Ms. Smith because she is a black woman.

There was so much rhetoric, obfuscation, finger-pointing and diversionary tactics it was downright ridiculous. Planning Commission Director George Patty, whose office, of course, is involved in the plan review process, got dragged into it because of an October memo to Engineering Committee Chairman Andy Cheek stating that the inability to staff the Public Works Department "has led to a breakdown of the plan review process."

"How many more projects and tax dollars can we afford to lose before this situation is corrected?" he asked in the memo.

When that subject came up, Mr. Mays had Mr. Patty summoned and criticized him for writing the memo instead of taking his concerns to the administrator, even though Mr. Patty had copied Administrator Fred Russell on the memo.

Well, that Mr. Patty is cool. He just looked at them with those icy blue eyes and said he had been around for 24 years and didn't meddle in anybody's business but that the complaints had reached the point commissioners had to do something.

"We've got a revolving door in there, and it's got to be fixed," he said. "I'm not going to tell you how to fix it, but it's got to be fixed."

As for Ms. Smith, she is one tough cookie. She hardly batted an eye, sat with composure until her turn to speak came, then defended herself and her department vigorously. She says she can't hire and keep engineers because the salaries here aren't competitive and promises of support don't materialize.

But City Ink found it a little hard to believe she was caught as off guard by the complaints as she claimed. She's too smart not to have seen the storm clouds gathering.

THE AFTERMATH: On Friday, Mr. Smith said he was recovering from Thursday's "bloodletting."

"Shocking. Shocking. The facts didn't mean a thing."

Commissioner Bobby Hankerson intervened, saying, "You've got to remember, he's in school. The school of hard knocks. As a freshman commissioner, he's still learning."

THE BACKLASH: The next day it was Mr. Shepard's turn. Mrs. Beard led the charge, which began when airport officials came seeking approval for their $21.99 million bond issue. Some were already fuming (mainly because they hadn't known - the information was buried in the bond documents they all had copies of) that Mr. Shepard made $400,000 on the city's $160 million utility bond issue when bond counselor Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan split their fees with him. So they homed in on the $131,000 he will make as local counsel on the airport issue.

Mr. Shepard said he has done nothing wrong - that he followed the pattern for local bond counsel in Augusta in the fee-splitting and that his contract specifies he will serve as local bond counsel on all bond issues.

When the issue of Mr. Shepard's contract came up, Mrs. Beard passed around copies of comparisons of Mr. Shepard's fees with former City Attorney Jim Wall's, showing Mr. Shepard billed the city $1.56 million through October, while Mr. Wall billed $806,176.81 for 2002.

She also distributed comparisons of bond counsel fees that showed Augusta could have done the utility-bond deal with an established Savannah firm for as little as $160,000 in total legal expenses.

"This may not be illegal, but we did not get the best deal," Mrs. Beard said.

Another complaint woven into the fabric of Friday's frolic was the lack of minority participation. Mr. Mays said he saw a multimillion-dollar pie, and those at the table ate every piece of it.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the daylong inquisition was the role of the city's finance director, David Persaud, who said under questioning by Mrs. Beard that proper procedure was not followed and he wasn't kept in the loop.

"David was involved every step of the way," said Mark Widener, of Merrill Lynch Capital Services Inc.

When it was over, everybody was running around bragging about how much they had learned Friday.

IT'S A SMALL FREEDOM BALL: That's where former Augusta Administrator Randy Oliver, now city manager in Peoria, Ill., and his wife, Valorie, ran into Augusta's own Charles DeVaney, saw the president and vice president and chatted with the ambassador of Syria.

The Peoria newspaper described Mrs. Oliver in her "open toed shoes" and frozen toes in her "pretty pink gown."

"How embarrassing," she said. "Randy, of course, was quoted as saying Peoria handles snow removal much better then D.C. The people back in Peoria loved it."

WHEN YOU'RE HOT, YOU'RE HOT: Mr. Williams is on a roll. Not only did he get the mayor pro tem job and the $8,000-a-year raise that goes with it, his church received a windfall from the school board thanks to his stubbornness.

The school system needed to make a deal for Friendship Baptist Church on Laney-Walker Boulevard to make way for the new Lucy C. Laney High School.

For two years, Mr. Williams held out, saying he wanted a fair price for the 40-year-old building the county appraised at $51,500. As he dug in, the school board finally caved in and paid $230,000.

School board attorney Pete Fletcher said the decision was based on the property being a church and Mr. Williams being a public official.

Whatever happened to separation of church and state?

City Ink thanks Staff Writer Greg Rickabaugh for his contribution to this week's column.

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