Former Augusta-Richmond County attorney Wall remembered

Jim Wall, longtime attorney for Augusta-Richmond County both before and after consolidation, was remembered Tuesday as a skilled county attorney more interested in law than politics. Wall, 70, died unexpectedly Saturday at this vacation home in Cashiers, N.C.

His former law partner, Harry Revell, said Wall grew to be one of the most powerful un-elected officials in Augusta because he worked well with almost everyone and got things done.

“When he was county attorney, Jim was the go-to guy at the county. The county commission always looked to him for guidance; he was incredibly smart and had a tremendous imagination as far as how to creatively solve problems and find new and innovative ways to get things done,” Revell said.

Wall worked closely with former Richmond County sheriffs Charlie Webster and Ronnie Strength on issues involving conditions at the former county jail and with Strength in 2003 when Martha Burk led a protest at Augusta National Golf Club.

Unlike predecessor Bob Daniel, the longtime Richmond County attorney whose sudden death in 1993 led to Wall’s appointment as county attorney, Wall wasn’t particularly interested in politics and never ran for elected office, Revell said.

“He appreciated the politics but he didn’t live and breathe it. He just executed the job of how do we run the county and how do we best solve the problems,” Revell said.

Born in Madison, Ga., Wall and his wife, Nancy, moved to the area in 1974 and by the mid-1980s he was attorney for the city of Harlem. He served as Richmond County attorney from Nov. 16, 1993 to Dec. 31, 1995, then as attorney for consolidated Augusta-Richmond County from Jan. 1, 1996 to Dec. 31, 2003.

Former Commissioner Jerry Brigham, who was first elected in 1995, said Wall readily delivered solid legal advice superior to that given by the in-house city law department that opened in 2007, a dozen years after it was written into the consolidation act.

“He was a really good attorney. He would speak up and let you know what he thought,” Brigham said. “Outside counsel usually were more competent than inside counsel because they were in the business of having to make a living practicing law.”

Former Commissioner Moses Todd said his strongest memory of Wall was in 1994 when he, then-county administrator Linda Beazley, then-District Attorney Danny Craig and others made an early-morning visit to the Augusta Landfill to look for the body of a murdered social worker. Finding a possible site, the group began digging with shovels.

“Probably that day at the landfill I was convinced that Jim Wall was the best attorney the county could have,” Todd said.

Todd said he and Wall butted heads over plans to expand the Richmond County Jail downtown in response to litigation, but soon came together.

“What won me over with Jim Wall was after the jail project and dealing with that and getting it redirected – he bought into the ‘pod’ concept instead of building it downtown,” he said.

Former Commissioner Don Grantham said Wall was a “very good friend” whose unexpected death came as a shock.

“He was a very giving person and he was not argumentative – he just made his points and when he felt he was right, he stuck with it,” Grantham said.

Grantham said Wall did not favor creating an in-house law office. Wall was replaced as attorney by former Commissioner Steve Shepard until the office opened in 2007.

The office’s first general counsel, Eugene Jessup, was fired and replaced in 2007 by Chiquita Johnson, whose rocky two-year tenure ended with a record $2 million spent for legal services.

Johnson’s departure led to the promotion of former General Counsel Andrew MacKenzie, whom the commission last month gave a year’s salary and benefits to resign. On Tuesday the commission made interim General Counsel Wayne Brown permanent at a salary of $171,000.

Grantham said Wall was generous and helped commissioners succeed but felt the attorney did not need to directly report to the commission.

“Jim felt like that position needed to be kept independent of the commission itself, and he could keep an arms-length relationship with us,” Grantham said.

Commissioner Marion Williams, who worked with Wall during his first commission term from 2000 to 2004, said Wall “knew the rules” such as the commission’s parliamentary procedure, and made sure the commission followed them.

“Jim was a good attorney – he knew the city rules and he held us to the rules,” Williams said. “He would speak up and at the meetings and say, I’m going to advise you right quick.”Properly following procedural rules – such as when motions and secondary motions can be made – is something Williams has taken issue with.

“That’s why I speak up so much now – I had an attorney that knew the rules and kept us abreast of them,” Williams said. The funeral service is set for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Kiokee Baptist Church in Appling.