City administrator, counsel quit

In a stunning move, Augusta Administrator Janice Allen Jackson and General Counsel Andrew MacKenzie both resigned Tuesday after a lengthy legal session by the Augusta Commission, with commissioners saying it was time to move on from them.

Both Jackson and MacKenzie will receive 12 months' severance pay with benefits, and both were asked to be available to be consulted. Deputy Administrator Jarvis Sims and Deputy General Counsel Wayne Brown were appointed their interim replacements, with 15 percent raises apiece.

Mayor Pro Tem Sean Frantom, who was presiding over the meeting in the absence of Mayor Hardie Davis, said the city would discuss how to begin searching for their permanent replacements at its next legal session prior to committee meetings April 30.

Jackson, an Augusta native, had been administrator since November 2014. MacKenzie joined the legal staff in 2007 and was made general counsel nearly nine years ago in May 2010.

Firing MacKenzie had been on the agenda after one of his answers to whether the mayor's new vehicle could go without a city seal angered Commissioner Ben Hasan, whose motion to fire MacKenzie at that April 2 meeting went without a vote when the meeting was adjourned without acting on it.

Hasan would not comment after Tuesday's meeting other than to note that he had put that motion back on the commission's agenda for this meeting.

Commissioner Marion Williams, who had seconded the motion to fire MacKenzie at that April 2 meeting, said it was those kinds of "lawyer talk" answers that had finally done in MacKenzie.

"He's been telling us stuff and not really telling us stuff," Williams said. "He's saying some things but not really saying some things. I've been on Andrew for a couple of years about standing up and doing what is right with the commission. We've got to follow the law."

The resignations, which apparently were requested by the commission, came after a more than two-hour legal meeting in the middle of the regular commission meeting. Frantom said it wasn't one issue with the commission but "a combination of issues dealing with both of the individuals that put us in some tough spots, and it was time to make a change in this government for a new direction."

Williams said he had tried to privately counsel Jackson that she needed to make some changes in what she was doing or she could face losing the commission.

"I told her what I saw coming, and she chose to continue to do it the way she wanted to do it," he said. "I think she’s a good person. This is not personal. But you have to make some hard decisions in government."

Frantom said there have been problems with Jackson for a while.

"There’s been issues from the department heads. Look at how many department heads we’ve lost during her tenure," he said. "From a leadership standpoint, for me, I haven’t seen a lot of ownership in the position. Sometimes, as elected officials, we have to make tough decisions to move this government forward, and today was one of those tough decisions we had to make."

Commissioner John Clarke said it was just time.

"It was just time for a change, needing to move forward," he said.

Both Jackson and MacKenzie would not comment afterward. But MacKenzie did have a parting word for commissioners as they prepared to leave.

"It's been a pleasure, gentlemen," he said, making a point to shake hands with those who were still in the commission chambers.

Staff writers Sandy Hodson and Susan McCord contributed to this report.

Latest Augusta Chronicle Video