Reduced pot penalties OK'd

The Augusta Commission reduced city marijuana penalties and moved forward with a gateway sculpture project but took no action Tuesday on an item several hoped to address – missed fire inspections at a community center.

The meeting was lengthened when Commissioner Bill Fennoy requested to pull approximately 19 agenda items approved by committee last week for more discussion. Fennoy refused to reconsider when Commissioner Mary Davis later tried to restore most of them.

The vote was 8-0 to reduce the fine for misdemeanor possession of marijuana from $1,000 to $150 and eliminate jail sentences, with commissioners John Clarke and Brandon Garrett leaving the meeting when Fennoy refused to reconsider the agenda.

The changes mirror those made in other Georgia cities and make it easier for those charged to pay their probation fines, state Sen. Harold Jones of Augusta said last week. Those who refuse to pay the fine within 60 days will be at the discretion of Richmond County Magistrate Court, which might revoke their probation, State Court Solicitor Omeeka Loggins explained to Fennoy at Tuesday’s meeting.

The gateway sculpture agreement took a few more detours Tuesday before the commission approved it 7-3.

Two proposed designs for the first sculpture – to be installed at the intersection of River Watch Parkway and Alexander Drive – will be unveiled next Tuesday, said Brenda Durant, the executive director of the Greater Augusta Arts Council.

The agreement between the council and the city gives the council $125,000 to administer the $1 million special purpose local option sales tax 7 project, and it hit a snag last week when a committee sent it forward without a recommendation. Commissioner Marion Williams wanted the first statue to go in an impoverished area, while Clarke said he wanted to see the statue before approving the agreement.

Durant said Tuesday that the national call for proposals issued through city procurement specified where the statue will go and its designers are working on projects for that particular location.

Eighteen months in, “We’d have to start from scratch again,” she said.

The two proposals will be ranked by the public and the arts council board and return to the commission for final selection before one is chosen, Durant said.

Commissioner Ben Hasan suggested that the fourth sculpture, whose location has not been determined, should merge with the ongoing Martin Luther King Jr. memorial statue project and go up at the “Mother Trinity” historic church site by the Augusta Canal.

Mayor Hardie Davis said Hasan’s addition wasn’t germane to the discussion, and a motion to approve the agreement as is passed with Clarke, Williams and Hasan opposed.

Fennoy did not return a message seeking comment, but several of his colleagues said after Tuesday’s meeting that he likely pulled the mostly routine agenda items because he was upset about something.

“People don’t take their job seriously,” Williams said. “He wanted to pull all that stuff to throw us off.”

Commissioner Dennis Williams used an obscenity to describe Fennoy for pulling the items. “We have to pray a lot” to get through the meetings, Williams said.

“Most of us, we care, and we expect to take care of the meeting agenda in a short period of time,” Commissioner Bobby Williams said.

Three commissioners called Monday to question Augusta Fire Chief Chris James about why the department did not inspect Jamestown Community Center for nearly six years prior to 2018. The center is tied to active criminal investigations by the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation of Commissioner Sammie Sias’ activities there.

Sias, who attended Tuesday's meeting and at one point tried to add the arts council agreement to the consent agenda, said he remains “in the mix.”

Clarke and Garrett said after the meeting that the item came too late to get on Tuesday's agenda and lacked the 10-0 unanimous consent for the commission to add it.

“I have a feeling it may come up next week” at committee meetings, Garrett said.

The Augusta Commission approved buying 17 new Augusta Transit bus shelters Tuesday.

The shelters, from Austin Mohawk and Company LLC, include benches and solar lighting and cost $5,805 each, according to the agenda item, which listed the stops where they will go.

The pre-selected stops did not include the Washington Road stop at the CSRA Goodwill job training center despite Goodwill outreach manager Ashley Brown's presentation, which showed a disabled woman at the stop with no sidewalk, bench or shelter.

"Ninety percent (of program participants) ride the bus and this is what happens," Brown said.

Commissioner Marion Williams was livid, saying many other stops had waited years for a new shelter. "It's not OK to overlook those who’ve been in line first,” he said.

Commissioner John Clarke, who invited Brown to speak, said Williams was apparently unaware the other stops were on the list approved by the commission Tuesday.

The listed stops include one or more on Gordon Highway, Telfair and 11th streets; Wrightsboro and Barton Chapel roads; Alexander Drive; the courthouse; the Division of Family and Children Services; Augusta Technical College; the Social Security office; the Richmond County Health Department; and others.

Commission OKs buying 17 new bus shelters