ATLANTA --- Legislation to restructure the troubled Augusta Coliseum Authority passed the House on Friday with all local legislators voting for it except Rep. Barbara Sims, R-Augusta.
The measure, House Bill 1463, which passed the House 130-6, was believed to have died when Rep. Hardie Davis, D-Gracewood, announced last week that he would never support it. But he did Friday, saying he had heard from many constituents since then urging that something be done.
The bill would change the name of the panel to the Augusta Entertainment Authority and remove the current members in favor of nine appointees.
All members of the board would be required to come from professions related to entertainment, food service, management or finance. Six would be named by the Augusta Commission and three by the delegation.
None of the current authority board's members could serve.
The bill would also establish a mechanism for the commission to remove authority members.
"We feel that the legislation we passed today addresses some of the concerns that members of the community have raised," said delegation Chairman Rep. Quincy Murphy, D-Augusta.
Mrs. Sims said she hoped the bill would be amended. She believes an authority has too much power and favors instead a citizen panel to oversee a professional management company.
The commission asked the delegation to find a solution to complaints that the authority is hampered by personality clashes, inexperience and poor management that has resulted in financial problems and unpopular acts booked at James Brown Arena and Bell Auditorium, which the authority oversees.
The issue now goes to the Senate.
The two local senators, J.B. Powell and Ed Tarver, both Augusta Democrats, have withheld judgment on the bill.
Coliseum authority member Keith Brown said he doesn't believe the bill will pass as it is.
"I believe Sen. Tarver and Sen. Powell will add or delete from the bill," he said. "I'm very interested to see what the new bill will be once it comes back from the Senate."
Staff Writer Sylvia Cooper contributed to this article.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010. All Rights Reserved.
It seems as though the state congress still wishes to micro-manage the coliseum by proxy. I wonder how that will be an improvement over the mess we have now.
Rep. Sims referenced a "citizen panel" as a solution that she would support. It sound good, in theory, but in practical terms would cause more conflict because selecting those "citizens" would be problematic, much like the authority's problems now. Elected officials gotta git this done & stop playing politics... wonder if she would support a citizen panel for law enforcement?
This will still amount to the Commission having the authority over board members. They appoint the majority of them, plus they can remove any members. The new board will be divided on racial grounds as it is now. The only thing that has changed is that there will be 9 members. 5 black and 4 white. Business as usual downtown.
It is vey difficult to legislate common sense. If passed, this law will allow the first real test of our newly cooperative commisssioners. And, it appears to me, it may take a few
months, if passed, to get the people in place, and the first
decisions made.
I urge Sen. Tarver and Sen. Powell to support this bill, and get it passed in the GA Senate. If nothing else, the current members will go and the new appointees will be required to come from professions related to entertainment, food service, management or finance. It has got to the point that it can not be worse than what we have now.
This fight will be most interesting to watch. This bill needs to pass and with that accomplished then hopefully the restructuring will breathe new life into the coliseum. Hiring people who have experience and intelligence would be a start.
You can't take the 'personality' out a person no more than you can take the politics out of a appointee made by politicians. Barbara is right, shat-can the whole lot and hire a firm to manage it. I am sure that an 'Advisory Board' with no 'Authority' to help the commission oversee the running of the facility would work. That is how we did it when I was on Animal Control and it worked very well. And again as far as politics goes, you can't take the politics out of politics no more than you could take the personality out of a person. I do think that we can find good citizens that are interested in helping make the James Brown Arena a success. either way this is action on an issue by our elected officals and Hardy davis should be commended for voting the way his peps want him to.
Justus4, Sims opposes this bill because she sees the same good ole boys and girls appointing the members of the new panel. Nothing gained. Just less clowns in the ring.
Riverman, I'm betting you are right. The majority of the new members will be black because we need to reapportion the voting districts to enfranchise more whites who are now the minority.
Hey, brad, do you think you can take the politics out of politics?
Maybe Columbia county will build one and all the problems will be solved,I wonder why.
If you still must have the board. Give them no power. Hire a management company that answere to the mayor of city manager and pay them nothing. They would be just a bunch of dumb a** talking heads that could meet and drink tea and bragg that they were on the "board".
Jack and Riverman, you see, the problem thinking like yours, as to who gets the upper hand. I guess we know you want be appointed, because you're no better than the people already on there. Jack, didn't you say you live in North Augusta? Why are you so worried about Augusta? Please don't move back, we have enough negative people over here.
fd1962..brad.owens "you can't take the politics out of politics"
I guess you missed that part. He's right you know. Politicians are after power and they don't relinquish it easily.
I guess it would be one happy family, if it was 5 White members and 4 Black members? Better yet, lets just pick one fron 9 different nationalities. That way we will stop with the white members or Black member thing. Oh well, then they will say the Asian, Hispanic, Turkish and so on member voted.
Hey CoCo! You Ready?!?
I have lived in smaller and larger cities and I have never seen anything like this. Never. If Augusta/Richmond County can't find a way to "just get along" and make this a more attractive place for people to spend money, the city will continue to lose revenue. Tax-paying citizens will continue to sell out and move away to greener pastures where stuff gets done and money comes in. It is already happening now. There is a steady flood of folks abandoning ship and scuttling to other counties. Tourism is practically non-existent, so there is very little money coming in from that industry, either. College graduates are turning up their noses at A/RC, and who can blame them? Get it together, people, or this county is gonna die.
chuchi richmond county hasn't lost people since 2004. In 2005, 2006 and 2007 augusta has been gaining people. Even though hephzibah and blythe new residents are not included in the augusta census. At least be correct if you are going to speak on richmond county. Aiken and columbia county lost 1600 and 1200 to richmond county according to the census. Aiken county new residents are mostly from the north or florida. Nobody form augusta is moving to suburban counties anymore. And with the watermakr condos, the other retail/hotel/condo, james brown townhomes, and the whites buidling all downtown. I think richmond county will surpass all surrouding counties by alot. It won't be even close.
jonnneee is right! Richmond county is growing rapidly downtown and south Augusta. The cost of living is lower and minus what the media says the school are great. Instead of looking at a school as a whole look at the individual kid. Richmond school also have a large amount of students from other counties. I gaduated from a richmond counties magnet school three years ago and out of 98 student 19 didnt live in richmond county.
Why Can't we all just get along!!!...sniff, sniff.
It does not matter if the change the people out. A new board will still argue. We had all different people ten years ago, but the same type bickering and micro managing. I hope they find find a private management firm that is good, but not so big that they will loose focus of a smaller venue like the civic center. I know when LMI ran the place the authority probably did hamper them alot, but I still think LMI holds some responsibility for a poor job as well. I think they just wanted to increase the list of places they managed, but did not put great effort into it.
So, can somebody feel me in on exactly what the problem is/was with the events at the James Brown Arena? Since Flash Gordon took over, I've been VERY pleased with the acts and artists he brought, so I don't understand why the article mentions "unpopular acts". Top selling current artists such as R. Kelly and Keyshia Cole coming to Augusta created a HUGE buzz in this city and is WHAT MOST PEOPLE/KIDS want to see!! ANYBODY who they appoint/re-appoint DEFINITELY needs to have the same influence and mentality as Flash Gordon so Augusta can see more urban/contemporary artists, celebs, etc., and FAR FAR less CRAP like the Futurity......or anything that caters to the "hick" side of this town, which is almost nonexistant. Most people (including myself) LOVE when wrestling comes to town, whether is WWE or TNA and they need to insure more TELEVISED tapings/shows when each company comes to town. Either way, they need to make sure that most/all events held at the arena are going to actually make most people in this town want to come out and actually give a damn. I'd take concert here with Janet Jackson ANYDAY or NIGHT over some borefest featuring Hootie & the Blowfish or Edwin Mccain...geez