ATLANTA --- Five members of the Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority met Thursday with the city's legislative delegation for some help and got advice instead.
Delegation Chairman Rep. Quincy Murphy had invited all 12 members, but only five made the trek, at their own expense, to Atlanta for an 8 a.m. meeting about recent news reports of the board's disagreements.
Janice Jenkins, the vice chairwoman of the board, told the lawmakers that Chairman Harry Moore had been disruptive by storming out of meetings when the board didn't vote his way and then fed negative reports to the media. She also said Mr. Moore's frequent calls for the delegation to abolish the board made it hard for the members to work together.
Ms. Jenkins also complained that new members to the board never received training about their roles and powers or the responsibilities of their advisers, such as the board's accountant and attorney.
"It is very hard to oversee a venue when that is not your area of expertise," she said.
She and other board members recounted their reasons for firing accountant Harry Dolynuik and attorney Ed Enoch for either not providing expected services or for charging extra when the services were requested.
Sen. Ed Tarver's questions suggested that the advisers and the board might have had differing impressions of the advisers' duties. Mr. Tarver, D-Augusta, asked Ms. Jenkins about an "engagement letter," signed when the two advisers were hired, that spelled out their responsibilities. Ms. Jenkins said she wasn't aware of it.
She also said the authority had no written operating procedures to govern the daily operations.
Mr. Tarver also asked why Mr. Moore remains the chairman if he isn't doing a good job and why the board doesn't arrange for its own training.
"Have any of you here ever made a motion to elect a new chairman, to take him down?" Mr. Tarver asked. "Do you need the delegation to tell you to schedule an orientation?"
Mr. Moore didn't attend the meeting. He had e-mailed Mr. Murphy earlier in the week, asking that the meeting take place in Augusta instead.
Mr. Murphy said Thursday another meeting will be scheduled for Feb. 9 somewhere in Augusta so the remaining members of the board can have a chance to address the delegation.
LAWMAKERS ADVISE COLISEUM LEADERS
Delegation Chairman Rep. Quincy Murphy had invited all 12 members, but only five made the trek to Atlanta for a meeting about reports of the board's disagreements.
Janice Jenkins, the vice chairwoman of the board, told the lawmakers that Chairman Harry Moore had been disruptive by storming out of meetings when the board didn't vote his way.
She said new members never had training about their roles or the responsibilities of their advisers.
She and other board members recounted their reasons for firing accountant Harry Dolynuik and attorney Ed Enoch for either not providing expected services or for charging extra when the services were requested.
Sen. Ed Tarver's questions suggested that the advisers and the board might have had differing impressions of the advisers' duties. Mr. Tarver, D-Augusta, asked why Mr. Moore remains the chairman if he isn't doing a good job and why the board doesn't arrange for its own training.
-- Morris News Service
Comments
Sounds like Janice Jenkins may be the problem. If she and other members don't have any "expertise" to offer, why in the world were they appointed to the authority in the first place. Perhaps the officials who appointed the dysfunctional members should be held accountable.
If the chairman cannot stay in a meeting how can he accomplish anything? A deeper question is why won't he resign or get off of the commission. There is usually an uproar when those at the marble palace walks out of meetings in anger; this dude deserves the same critique.
The Jenkins lady sounds like a voice of reason.
Sounds like someone has appointed friends and relatives to this board. These people have no idea what their responsibilities are in this position. Disband this committee, appoint 3-5 people that have some common sense and ability in this type appointment. You don't need 12 members, that only creates problems.
j-10 jeep...you hit the nail on the head! janice jenkins is the problem! how dare she, as a nurse, question anyone's level of expertise: "It is very hard to oversee a venue when that is not your area of expertise," she said. "...THE BOARD NEEDS TO DISMISS HER AND ALL PROBLEMS WILL BE SOLVED! she was given an inch of authority and now she thinks she is a RULER!
Where did you get that Janice Jenkins was the problem? Seem to me that the ones that took the time to make the trip to Atlanta, are the ones that truely has the best intrest of the Civic Center at heart.
ADAYLATE, you bring up a valid point. Where are these hell raiser that criticize the Commissioners if they walked out of a meeting? Why is this Moore person getting a free pass on his actions?
I am always amazed how persons are so quick to attack others after reading stories written by staff members of the Augusta Chronicle, who are known for not telling the complete story. From what I read, it appears that Mrs. Jenkins pointed out items that would disrupt any meeting, a chairman who wears his feelings on his sleeve and storms out of meetings is not a good chairman. The authority is the overseer, not the mangers of day to day operations. For all members to be invited and only 5 attend at their own expense, tells me that the 5 really want to do what is right, they could have boycotted the meeting also, but they did not. What also is amazing is that the Chronicle only printed remarks by Sen Tarver, when all of the delegation members attended the meeting, is Sen Tarver, who represents Morris interests, working for the good of the ENTIRE community, or is he looking out for Morris and those persons who act as though they want growth and change, but really want to maintain their long held base of power. Before citizens attack others based on articles written by the Chronicle, maybe they should seek to find out the full story, or take time and attend a meeting of the authority.
A bunch of do nothings...doing what they do best.......come on get rid of the whole usless bunch !!!
and bbright if you think these lazy cows are doing what is right and not hurting the image of Augusta and are not part of the downfall of the arena then you need to work on emulating your screen name a bit more.
This is what you get with "Political" appointments rather that appointing someone with some business sense. I am amazed that the lady quoted in the article admitted she did not know what she was doing. For the good of the facility, please remove all of the members as long standing disputes have corrupted relationships on the board making it impossible for current members to work with new blood. Start over with a fresh slate, smaller in size, and an odd number so there can not be any even number splits on votes.
Each and every member needs to be replaced. All they do is bicker and complain about each other.
You know it amazes me that no one actually wants to admit that this is not the first time the Coliseum Authority has been under criticism. It appears as if Mrs. Jenkins,Mr. Law, Mr. Flournoy, Mr. Brown, and Mr. Roberson have realized that Harry Moore and his click have been dominating this board and causing problems for quite sometime. How much are they paying Senator Tarver to cover up their wrongness and continue to be a voice for the Morris Group? To Native Augustan - none of the members of the board have expertise in running arenas and neither do you. That is why they hired a manager. You need to shut up and realize that your city leaders did not have experience with running a city when they were elected or appointed either. I commend Mrs. Jenkins and the others who have stood up and told the " truth of the matter." The problem is she is a very intelligent "black woman" who calls it as she sees it. The Board members were appointed to "oversee the day to day operations of the venue - not run it. What has happened here is that for years way before Mrs. Jenkins and others came on the board, it was being run under the "good old boy" system. How's that??
To Karmakills123 - you seem to have some issues of your own to be calling people " cows" and useless or is that the only two words you can spell? Name calling is never necessary just in case your mother did not teach you that. It is easy for people to complain about others when they don't even have the mental capability to comprehend the message being sent. It is ignorant people like you who hurt the image of Augusta as if the image was not already tarnished. To february 1st - seems like you are jealous of Mrs. Jenkins. If she is smart enough to become a nurse, she obviously has sense enough to see a problem on a board since nurses are problem solvers anyway. Remember that next time you get sick and a nurse comes in to take care of you. I might think twice.
Please don't criticize Mr. Moore & co. for not traveling to Atlanta. Mr. Moore tried to hold meetings here in Augusta twice last week, and Ms. Jenkins and her crowd did not show up in order to prevent a quorum. Also, Mr. Moore asked Quincy Murphy to reschedule yesterday's meeting for a more convenient date and location and Mr. Murphy refused. Additionally, if Mrs. Jenkins had bothered to read Mr. Enoch's engagement letter, she would no that the extra charges she was complaining about were contemplated by the agreement. He gets paid extra when they ask him to do extra work. For the interest of the community, he does the work at a lower hourly rate than what he would charge private business clients. I guess Ms. Jenkins wouldn't be satisfied unless he did the work for free.
I'll say this again: "COCO RUBIO" should be running that show. Just let him HAVE IT. Let him hire who he WANTS, let him DO what he wants.., & he will turn a PROFIT. I GUARANTEE IT.
Why does it seem everytime in augusta a board has a meeting they have to got out of town to get councelling on their job and to get the splinters out of their buts from sitting on the board meetings with no resolve for so long. If you have a committee that cant even work within its own system then get rid of them. What a complete embarrassment to disgusta that an atlanata based respresentative has to solve our problems all the time. And being a nurse does not mean someone has the knowledge to be on a colsieum authority. A person that that works at mcdonald's is a problem solver does that mean they qualify for a borad. We are the joke of the state, not according to me but from what others say that i hear. And we labeled ourselves by acting like little children having to go to an authority figure in atlanta everytime we have a disagrement. gimme a break augusta. please
Well helpaugusta, the next time you are at McDonalds tell the you want a #1 and a cystoscope to go.
Let them continue to bicker with each other. This might be their highlight of the day. While they do nothing, the Aiken Convention center will continue to invite and BOOK as many of the acts and shows they can. The show that, if I'm not mistaken, we (Augusta) were getting. As long as the board stays intact, the venue will not attract the kind of shows that will bring continued financial profit/inccome to the city of Augusta. FYI, the "Lil Wayne and R-Kelly" shows that were recently here, were NOT brought here by Flash and that board, but by PRIVATE investors. This is the reason why a management company or an entity of that nature is needed for the James Brown Arena. People of Augusta, it is time that your voice is heard. The "Horse and Pony show" that the "Mom and Pop" board is doing is OVER. Let the people that know what they are doing and specialize in that type of business go in there and accomplish what needs to be accomplished for the city of Augusta.
Great story for the Augusta Chronicle to report on. But you know what? The story could have been even better, if The Augusta Chronicle were to start reporting stories in the likeness of the TV show on HBO the "WIRE"! At this time it would appear that. That's the only kind of reporting that is going to force the Augusta-Richmond County, and the CSRA to clean up their acts. Because the only thing The AC is reporting on now is just plain news, and not the cutting edge reporting that sale newspapers...!!!
well this column was a bunch of bullcrap. I think I fell asleep half-way through, but I can't be sure because I couldn't finish reading it it was so boring.
TrulyBlessed, it would be okay for Mr. Enoch to charge extra if he was truly doing the work. When I attended a board meeting of this authority, Mr. Enoch sat in the meeting and everytime he was asked his advice on something, he informed the board members he would have to get back with them. This goes way deeper than the firing of an Attorney and a CPA. Get your facts straight and be thankful that we have board members that do care about what is being done unhanded in Augusta. This is just the tip of the iceburg- Augusta is known for dirty politics and no one wants to listen to the true story - Get Real and open your eyes.
P.S. Mr. Enoch sorry to say, ...but You are one Brick Shy Of A Full Load...!!! Get Your act together, or step down from Your post...!!!
It is unfortunate that truly blessed does not have the complete story, the Augusta Delegation was to meet with the Coliseum Authority in Augusta on January 8 2008 at Augusta Tech. However, the Mr. Moore who asked for the meeting to be rescheduled, scheduled a call meeting for the authority, and instead of authority members voicing ther concerns to the full delegation in AUGUSTA, he invited Sen Tarver to the meeting. You sound like either a board member or someone who is writing for one, Rep. not Mr. Murphy, he is due that respect is not the problem. If Mr. Moore had not scheduled a call meeting when he and the other authority members should have been at Augusta Tech, the need to travel to Atlanta would not have been needed. Besides, the members who went, did so at their own expense, if Mr. Moore could not go, why did the other members not go. Futhermore if Sen Tarver knew parlimentary law, he would know that the chairman must be impeached and not just voted out of the chair if his term is not up. Augusta is behind not because of the authority, but because unlike cities that grow, many citizens still look at the color of ones skin and not at the only color that matters now, GREEN
froggy..Me too. I was hoping you would explain what the heck this is about.
Wow people in augusta are so negative. But all the good stuff will outweight the negative. Mr. moore needs to be fired.
What's the racial makeup of the board, and who is what?
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