Commission candidates talk issues at forum

The four men seeking to replace Andrew Jefferson on the Augusta Commission in the March 19 special election touched on development, transportation and crime in at a forum Tuesday.

At the forum, moderated by CSRA League of Women Voters voter services chairwoman Gayla Keesee, candidate and former Commissioner Bernard Harper said "No. 1" on his priorities for redevelopment in District 5 is beautification, then new businesses, such as a grocery to replace the shuttered Deans Bridge Road Kroger.

Candidate Kelby Walker said redevelopment along the Peach Orchard Road corridor – including a Verizon store, a Chick-fil-A and a Krispy Kreme – are a good model to follow in the rest of District 5.

Candidate Bobby Williams, a retired former Glenn Hills High School principal, emphasized his "outside the box" thinking throughout the forum and said that as a principal, his specialty was writing improvement plans and strategic plans. He said he'd do the same for the city with a committee of residents and officials.

"We have to unify, we have to be tougher, we have to sit down and write a plan," Williams said. He said one of his education plans remains on the state Department of Education website as a model all can use.

All four candidates said law enforcement had their full support.

"Community policing is getting people out of seats and putting them on the streets," Harper said. "That's how I grew up."

He said he has seen Richmond County police cruisers in other counties and wondered "where our dollars are going."

Walker said there was much "distrust" between the community and the Richmond County Sheriff's Office, calling it "unreal." He also said there was "chaos" in the city's relationship with ambulance provider Gold Cross that needs to be corrected. The Augusta Fire Department recently began offering ambulance service while contract negotiations with Gold Cross have yet to produce an agreement.

Williams said neighborhood watches need to be formed and active.

"It's all about relationships," he said.

Johnny Few, whom the commission named as interim commissioner after Jefferson's Nov. 4 death, said "we need to support our sheriff" and "we need the marshal department so they can go out and take care of all the blighted property." He said he'd support the sheriff by providing adequate funding to hire and equip the office.

On transportation, Walker said public transit routes need to be extended to be competitive with Uber and Lyft.

Williams suggested "we create some type of monorail" that "crisscrosses Augusta" and will take people downtown.

"We need thinkers down on the county commission who are outside the box," he said.

Few said residents "who can't hardly move" can call Augusta Public Transit and get a ride, or take the bus. The city's paratransit service offers cheap rides for those who call the day before.

"We are the No. 2 city in the state but we don't act like it or think like it," Harper said, suggesting a "high-speed bullet train" connecting Savannah, Atlanta and Augusta.