HomeMy WebLinkAboutCalled Commission Meeting July 21, 2021
CALLED MEETING COMMISSION CHAMBER
July 21, 2021
Augusta Richmond County Commission convened at 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, July 21,
2021, the Honorable Hardie Davis, Jr., Mayor, presiding.
PRESENT: Hons. B. Williams, Garrett, Sias, Johnson, Scott, McKnight, D. Williams,
Hasan and Clarke, members of Augusta Richmond County Commission.
ABSENT: Hon. Frantom, member of Augusta Richmond County Commission.
Mr. Mayor: Good afternoon, everyone. We are here for the special Called Meeting work
session. We’ll call the meeting to order and calibrate for just a few moments. We do have some
of our colleagues who are participating by Zoom so we will be aware of them that are out there on
the Zoom land. Thank you for everyone who is here in person. There will not be any formal
actions necessarily taken today. We have three agenda items and those three items will be
encompassed in Item 1 that the Administrator will in fact speak to comprehensively as he gives
his presentation around the American Rescue Plan. So with that I’ll turn it over to Administrator
Donald. Thank you.
1. Presentation American Rescue Plan. (Administrator Donald, II)
Mr. Donald made a presentation regarding the various aspects of the American Recovery
Plan. As a part of the presentation he included a sample list of priorities for Augusta for discussion.
At the conclusion of his presentation, Mr. Donald: I will tell you that the action that I am
preparing to request from you is on the August 3 meeting and I would ask you to approve the
process and about three things that I know we can do now. One is the bonuses for the Public Safety
folks and the salary enhancements and the third one is around the office. Those things you would
rd
be able to take action on on the 3 and we’ve got to get with Finance, Payroll and others to make
sure those numbers are accurate so that next pay period it would be able to go into effect. We
know we can do the Public Safety and the premium pay that takes care of everybody up to $80,000
as well as those Public Safety folks. That’s American Rescue Plan money. If there had been any
relief provided or whatever else is necessary we would be able to do it throughout the organization
similar to what Columbia County did in their budget. If we can’t do that now it will surely be in
the FY 22 budget and we would only be able to take care of Public Safety and premium pay now.
rd
The goal would be to present it and have you approve it on the 3 and it be able to be implemented
at the next or a very close soon after pay period.
After additional discussion and questions from commissioners, Mr. Donald: Regarding the
establishment of the Augusta Recovery Committee, I think it is important to have members from
the community on that committee and those folks could serve as technical experts. In Baltimore
before they established their committee they had a group of analysts that specialized in doing
research, providing technical assistance, etc. This office would be similar to that but it’s not fully
fleshed out. There would be a person assigned to that and as you’re vetting projects and you’ve
got a group of folks who would rank the projects based on the criteria set by the government but
1
then if it’s allowable or not they would help vet that. The group should be flexible and allow each
of you to appoint to that. The biggest reason why I’m asking for this office and small group of
people to provide the technical assistance is now it makes it more flexible for who you can appoint
and do those things it makes it more flexible on who you can apply and who can help us vet because
it would be community centered and commission centered and the technical experts would be there
to help along the way. I or my staff couldn’t be in all of those meetings and it is a lot to manage.
rd
On August 3 we’ll clean up this process, bring our plan and then we would take care of the pay
related activities. From there at a later date we would then codify the full plan because it would be
final.
2. Explore the feasibility of on-site, contracted operation childcare for city employees.
(Requested by Mayor Hardie Davis, Jr. – deferred from the Administrative Services
Committee July 14, 2021)
3. Motion to approve donating $5,000 to Code Calloway Inc. for their 2021 Back to School
Festival and to approve the Administrator’s Office assigning relevant departments to
discuss ways Code Calloway programming can be implemented in city owned
community/recreation centers, parks, and appropriate housing and community
development projects. (Requested by Mayor Hardie Davis, Jr. – deferred from the July 14,
2021 Administrative Services Committee.
Mr. Donald: On the question about childcare I think it would be eligible but it would be
in the formal plan. The other one about the external group that you talked about for backpacks
and this, that and the other I think I addressed that in being able to have those folks apply. All the
public would be able to apply through those processes and that’s how you would alleviate those
issues. Anybody that has something they want to bring before the commission for these type of
funds, they would have to go through that process so I think that clears the agenda for the day.
Mr. Mayor: Very well. Thank you and this work session is adjourned.
ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Lena J. Bonner
Clerk of Commission
CERTIFICATION:
I, Lena J. Bonner, Clerk of Commission, hereby certify that the above is a true and correct copy
of the minutes of the Called Meeting of the Augusta Richmond County Commission held on July
21, 2021.
______________________________
Clerk of Commission
2