NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) -Debris crews are doing slow but steady work clearing the mess from Hurricane Helene.

We’re more than halfway through the 90-day period where FEMA will fully reimburse cities for disaster cleanup.

On Tuesday, North Augusta Mayor Briton Williams held a meeting at Victory Baptist Church to discuss debris recovery.

City leaders were letting people know what to expect as the city goes into its next phase of cleanup.

Crews have collected more than 400,000 cubic yards of debris in the county as a whole and other counties are well on pace to get everything done.

Day 54 of crews working through the thick of it to get things cleaned up in Richmond County.

Alice Brook says it’s been a month and a half full of headaches and surprises, trying to navigate through debris and working through a new normal.

“Well, I don’t think the neighborhood will ever be the same except for a potted plant right there,” said Brook. ” I have nothing green left in my yard, no bushes, no trees, nothing.”

Brook says seeing the crews doing their work is the silver lining behind all of this.

“One thing at a time,” she said. “That’s the only way I can take it. We have had a lot of our piles picked up, but we had a lot more trees to come down and have to be cleaned up than I would have ever guessed.”

Contractors say they’re a little more than halfway done in Richmond County with 1.4 million cubic yards of debris collected.

Columbia County isn’t far behind with a little more than 1 million cubic yards collected as well.

Aiken County has 400,000 cubic yards collected.

Meanwhile, Brook says her community continues to have hope in getting everything back in shape for the sake of some normalcy.

“It feels like we’re living in a war zone,” said Brook.

Every county we spoke to says they’re working the best they can to meet FEMA’s 90-day period to get everything cleaned up, but they say at this point it’s looking more like a miracle.

Richmond, Aiken and Columbia counties say the next phase will involve a second pass-through of neighborhoods, but they say the biggest challenges are still the weather, shorter days and utility lines still being too low for heavy machinery to operate.

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AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The budget was among the matters discussed Tuesday by Augusta Commission members during a work session ahead of the official commission meeting.

The city is facing what it considers a roughly $8 million “shortfall” due to the conclusion of American Rescue Fund money that the city has come to count on in recent years.

That may be why City Administrator Tameka Allen said there will be “tough conversations to come.” She called the budget a “living document” subject to change.

Among the discussions were how many vacancies each department has.

There are 109 vacancies across the city that when filled would account for $4.9 million. That’s 4% of the 2025 general fund budget.

The vacancies – many of which are fairly recent – include:

• Administrator – 5 (valued at a minimum of $373,026)
• Animal services – 3 (valued at a minimum of $135,073)
• Central services – 6 (valued at a minimum of $216,735
• Civil and magistrate court- 7 (valued at a minimum of $228,338)
• Clerk of commission – 1 (valued at a minimum of $31,212)
• Clerk of superior court- 2 (valued at a minimum of $81,798)
• District attorney- 5 (valued at a minimum of $235,845)
• Emergency management- 1 (valued at a minimum of $59,820)
• Engineering– 19 (valued at a minimum of $863,051)
• Finance- 5 (valued at a minimum of 256,854)
• Human resources – 1 (valued at a minimum of $87,566)
• Juvenile court – 4 (valued at a minimum of $255,248)
• Law – 4 (valued at a minimum of $235,554)
• Marshal- 4 (valued at a minimum of $140,430)
• Mayor- 1 (valued at a minimum of $40,162)
• Parks and Recreation – 15 (valued at a minimum of $542,434)
• Planning and Development – 4 (valued at a minimum of $142,629)
• Procurement – 2 (valued at a minimum of $142,450)
• Public Defender- 3 (valued at a minimum of $154,113)
• RCCI – 3 (valued at a minimum of $114, 566)
• State Court Solicitor – 2 (valued at a minimum of $64, 896)
• Superior Court – 6 (valued at a minimum of $247,900)
• Tax assessor – 3 (valued at a minimum of $128,211)
• Tax commissioner – 3 (valued at a minimum of $102,860)

There are 428 other city vacancies funded through other sources, totaling $17.3 million. Those include:

• 911 (12 vacancies, valued at a minimum of $390,202, 7% of fund)
• Building inspections (5 vacancies, valued at a minimum of $300,352, 8% of fund)
• Grants (6 vacancies, valued at a minimum of $341,091, 3% of fund)
• Housing and Community Development (4 vacancies, valued at a minimum of $180, 306, 1% of fund)
• Law enforcement (sheriff) (167 vacancies, valued at a minimum of $8,193,769, 10% of fund)
• Fire protection (66 vacancies, valued at a minimum of $2,770,475, 7% of fund)
• Street lights (1 vacancy, valued at a minimum of $45,738, 1% of fund)
• SPLOST 8 engineering admininstration (2 vacancies, valued at a minimum of $85,055, 6%)
• Water and sewage utilities (84 vacancies, valued at a minimum of $3,617,257, 2% of fund)
• Waste management (11 vacancies, valued at a minimum of $577,415 , 3% of fund)
• Garbage collection (3 vacancies, valued at a minimum of $220,358, 1% of fund)
• Augusta Regional Airport (18 vacancies, valued at a minimum of $812,176 , 1% of fund)
• Stormwater utility (9 vacancies, valued at a minimum of469,773 , 3% of fund)
• Risk management (1 vacancy valued at a minimum of $38,866 – 1% of fund)

Regarding the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office and criminal justice, the administrator recommends reviewing pay structures in detail with a human resources analyst and bringing back a proposal in February for mid-year implementation. She said they’ll need to bring back proposals for funding their requests.

Allen says care must be taken to avoid inequities between the public defender and the district attorney’s staff.

She says she has spoken to the public defender’s, district attorney’s and sheriff’s offices and that their requests would create inequities.

She said she’s looked at the budget and identified some potential cuts and reallocation of resources to pay for staffing.

The administrator opened the floor to commissioners for questions.

Bobby Williams suggested a tax increase.

“We always say that we’re the second largest city in Georgia, but we act like we’re a much smaller entity,” he said.

Williams says commissioners always talk about what Columbia and Aiken counties are doing, but “never consider the fact that in many of those areas when they do a tax increase, people just pay up.. We sit up and all we do is complain.”

Williams mentioned that the school district raised taxes and that the commission needs to add maybe 1%-1.5%.

Williams says with that money, they could fund the sheriff’s, DA’s and public defender’s offices.

“We need to stop thinking like a second-tier city and start thinking like a first-tier city,” he said.

“We’re never going to reach where we need to go if all we do is sit in place. And that’s all we’ve been doing for the last four or five years because all we do every year is roll back taxes,” he said. “Well, if you roll back enough, you don’t get enough.”

Tony Lewis said he agree with Williams, that when it comes to public safety, “I don’t think there is a price that we can put on keeping our citizens in Augusta-Richmond County safe.”

Lewis says the sheriff’s office can arrest and have as many inmates as the jail can hold, but added: “If we don’t have a DA’s office that is handling the caseloads, dealing with those criminals that are locked up, then we’re going to still be doing the same thing repeating over and over.”

He mentioned concerns about jail overcrowding, saying the last thing officials want is for the Justice Department to come in and have to tell them what they need to do when it comes to making the current jail situation better.

“Sometimes we have to resolve to relying on the citizens by way of a tax increase,” he said.

Jordan Johnson asked Allen about finding money elsewhere by specifically cutting services.

Johnson said: “There are some areas where we can cut government spending to apply to some places where we feel like the money could be better spent.”

Allen became frustrated, saying she and her team are doing “everthing we possible could be doing in less than 60 days to provide a balanced budget.”

Allen said: “These decisions and where we are today didn’t just start today. This has been ongoing for a couple of years, a few years. You’re asking us to come back in less than 60 days and have the magic pill. There is no magic pill at this point.”

She said: “I can go back in the room right now in 30 minutes and say I’m cutting this, this and this, but it is not going to be the right solution that I feel I’m comfortable with doing just to make a certain group happy. You need to make all the employees happy. Everybody needs to be considered, not just a certain group.”

Catherine Smith McKnight said she agreed with her colleagues about “not being able to put a price on public safety.”

She said to Allen: “You’re saying to come back in February and if that’s where we are, I want to make sure that we do this, we get them some money in February. And if it means pulling some unused positions or money from other positions, then we might have to do that in order to help them out.”

Francine Scott said: “When it comes to criminal justice, there are not if ands or buts, but as soon as possible. I don’t know about 60 days, I’m still not committed to the 60 days.”

She mentioned the problems of the Fulton County Jail and said: “If we don’t fix the problems by increasing the sheriff’s budget and increasing the DA and public defender’s office, then we are going to be just like they are right now.”

Sean Frantom acknowledged that no one can agree on anything and says if they are going to get a six-person majority, then they have to cut something, and have those “tough decisions before the end of the year.”

He said: “I’m also going to challenge the colleagues up here that if you’re that passionate about sheriff, DA, and public defenders, then you’ve got to be ready to cut the NGOs. I think that a tax increase is off the table. I think that we’ve got to get this government in line before we even talk about a tax increase.”

Frantom says there is some “fluff in this government,” mentioning the demolition program in the engineering department, a lobbyist the city sends to Atlanta and mosquito control as examples.

Allen said the meeting is technically not over until the budget is approved.

She said they are in “recess” right now. How long they are in recess, she says, is up to the clerk of commission. But she’s looking at Nov. 26.

Also in the news

• Commissioners failed to approve an audition of the Parks and Recreation Department. It will likely go back before commissioners next month.
• Commissioners approved the purchase of 808, 811, 819 and 825 Laney Walker Blvd. to the Land Bank Authority for $800,000 in connection with ongoing redevelopment efforts in the Laney Walker Bethlehem area.
• Commissions agreed to lease the municipal golf course to Land Bank Authority for 50 years.
• Commissioners voted to allow haulers to go into gated communities to pick up debris.
• Commissioners decided to close the nominations for Parks and Recreation Department director.

Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Doctors Hospital hosted its annual Turkey Fryer Safety Demonstration to highlight key tips for preventing burns and injuries during the Thanksgiving season.

Thanksgiving and fall can increase burn related injuries, many of which stem from accidents involving turkey fryers and other cooking related accidents.

The demonstration is an opportunity to educate the community about safety measures to ensure a safe and happy holiday season.

The event feature Dr. Shawn Fagan, Burn Surgeon from the JMS Burn Center at Doctors Hospital, and representatives from the Richmond County Fire Department, who discussed turkey fryer safety and other Thanksgiving/fall-related burn prevention strategies.

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