Augusta mayor candidate: Lori Myles

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Dr. Lori Myles says Augusta has been running without real accountability, and she wants to change that.

The former educator is one of four candidates running for Augusta-Richmond County mayor. Myles said the city’s most pressing issues are not new — they have just gone unaddressed.

“One of the things that I truly believe that the city of Augusta has gone through is that there was no accountability,” Myles said.

Myles has run for mayor before. She said her first days in office would be spent visiting each commissioner’s district to see what needs attention.

“I wanna go to their best places. I wanna see their dirt. I wanna see those things that need to be fixed in their parts. I wanna see the infrastructure of the city of Augusta, but yet, I wanna see the pride of Augusta in their districts,” Myles said.

Homelessness focus

Myles pointed to homelessness as one of Augusta’s overlooked issues.

“You’re dealing with different entities of homelessness. You’re dealing with them as far as mental health. You’re dealing with them as far as their children, as far as their children going to school. Imagine, and I’m about to quit, darling, but children having to sleep in tents at night behind these trees and then still go to school,” Myles said.

City department management

Myles also takes aim at how the city manages its departments.

“There should be a performance-based structure of leadership, a transformation that has a shared vision, a shared vision for not only the millennials, the, not only the, uh, what is it? Generation Z, but for everyone. It’s not a color, it’s not an option, it is all shall be able to have the best of Augusta in the best of Augusta,” Myles said.

Myles said if elected, she wants to bring Augusta’s city departments under one unified standard of accountability.