Mayor Johnson: Change to Augusta city charter should be voted on by residents

Final week, the Workplace of Mayor Garnett L. Johnson submitted a decision request to the Augusta-Richmond County Legislative Delegation asking them to help laws that will enable for the voters of Augusta-Richmond County to vote within the type of a binding referendum to find out if the Metropolis of Augusta’s constitution must be amended to permit the Mayor to have a vote. That request was learn for the primary time right now, assigned to a committee, and given a Senate Invoice variety of 231.

The Mayor is the one member of the Fee that’s elected by the town at-large. Nonetheless, the Mayor doesn’t have a vote except breaking a tie. This decision wouldn’t create a “sturdy mayor” type of authorities or take energy away from the Fee, however fairly give the Mayor a vote equal to that of the ten District Commissioners. Mayor Johnson believes a “sturdy mayor” authorities might be counterproductive to the whole lot he’s making an attempt to realize and will elevate considerations about future mayors. This isn’t an ask for expanded powers or authority over the Metropolis Administrator or some other personnel. That is merely an ask for a extra balanced construction of energy which Mayor Johnson believes will assist get issues completed for our constituents.

At occasions, there’s a coordinated effort that forestalls the Mayor from voting by use of a vote abstention. This severely hampers our capacity to make progress in our metropolis. Whereas this request did have the help of a few of Mayor Johnson’s colleagues within the Fee, it is for that reason that he didn’t search the help of all the fee.

Mayor Johnson firmly believes this constitution was voted on by the residents of Augusta-Richmond County and may solely be modified by the voters within the type of a binding referendum, and Senate Invoice 231 asks for that.