Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff
It would almost be worth a special session of the Georgia legislature to abolish the Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority -- before it does any more damage.
Yes, it's that bad.
The authority has presided over months of money-losing management; has hired and fired people so poorly that it has invited lawsuits; agreed to pay an attorney whatever she wanted to defend an authority member who got into a fight with a civic activist; and has had to pay some $20,000 a month recently to have an accounting firm come in and reconstruct financial records, they're so messed up.
One would have hoped that the decision to hire a professional management company to run the center and get a few events to town might have made the Coliseum Authority a toothless tiger.
But taxpayers may still get gummed to death.
In a rambling, sometimes combative five-hour marathon meeting this week, the authority may have decided -- no one seems to know for sure -- to hire a $150,000 consultant to plan a new sports and entertainment facility.
After an immediate angry public backlash, several authority members say they now regret the unanimous decision, and that the decision would be different if the vote were today.
Let's hope so!
For one thing, voters rejected a new sports arena in 2005, and no public groundswell has since changed that verdict.
For another thing, if the city wants expert help in planning a new sports arena, it ought to shop around and audition experts.
We believe a new sports and entertainment arena is desperately needed here. But it's premature and irresponsible to even consider putting a high-priced consultant on the payroll before either the public or the Augusta Commission has weighed in.
Moreover, we think any new sports arena should be the product of a regional partnership between Richmond, Columbia and Aiken counties. Such a collaboration makes the most economic and demographic sense, since an arena would pull attendees primarily from those three population bases. And such a cooperative affair is a more likely prospect now that the politics in Richmond County have improved -- most notably with regard to the Augusta Commission, mayor and school board.
What hasn't improved is the Coliseum Authority -- or its timing. Now is a most difficult time to be touting a new civic center, especially without discernible public backing.
And, of course, before building a new arena it would be nice to see the lights on more often at the current one.
Coliseum Authority members still have a chance to nix this harebrained consultant deal at their meeting next month. If they don't, citizens should call for heads to roll.
Since the state legislature isn't meeting by then, it seems only the Coliseum Authority can save us from itself.
