AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – In May, voters decided to to change the charter by voting yes to giving the mayor a vote on the Augusta commission.

Monday is the first day the vote takes effect.

In May’s election, 74% of voters said yes to the referendum question, compared to 26% who said no.

Up until the election, the mayor was only able to vote to break a tie. But frustrated with political maneuvers that avoided a tie and kept him from voting, Mayor Garnett Johnson proposed a change giving him a full vote.

How did we get to this point?

The charter was created when Richmond County and the city of Augusta became one government nearly three decades ago.

Think of it as the game rules for the Augusta government — game rules are very different than any other consolidated government in the state of Georgia.

Politics is like tennis.

It’s your play when the ball is in your court. But Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government rules of the game are like no other in Georgia.

Players can skip a match to delay the game.

In January 2023, Commissioner Bobby Williams chose not to vote.

Voting no would have given an even split, giving the mayor the tie-breaking vote. A yes vote would have approved the contract but since he abstained, he stopped dead in the water.

In 2023, a standstill over naming an ambulance provider last year.

In 2024, there was a standstill over naming a city administrator.

“We went through the process of hiring an administrator through the process that’s in the charter, and we followed it to a T,” said Commissioner Sean Frantom.

The charter: A legal playbook of power born from a marriage between city and county 27 years ago.

In a May commission meeting, Commissioner Bobby Williams said: “You had basically five white districts and five Black districts, and to get the sixth vote, someone had to work across the aisle.”

Augusta-Richmond County is one of eight consolidated governments in Georgia — one of the four with a mayor.

The balance of power varies.

The mayors of Athens-Clark and Macon-Bibb have veto powers over the commission.

Mayors of Augusta-Richmond and Columbus-Muscogee have limited power, but Columbus has a county manager responsible for the hiring, firing and management of department heads.

That power falls on our commissioners, meaning each department head answers to ten bosses.

Meaning commissioners only answer to commissioners.

For more than two years, an interim administrator has led the city. For more than two years, an interim director has led Central Services in her absence.

The longer time goes by, the longer the line of dominoes.

In the beginning of May, another resignation — the city attorney.

Four of the city’s top leadership positions are now empty, left to commissioners to fill.

The Carl Vinson Institute of Government presented information to commissioners about changing the role of administrator to county manager in the charter.

A year later, there’s been no movement by commissioners.

Now, there’s a new idea and a new game rule.

“This allows the voters of Richmond County to decide what’s best for their government, not the Commission,” said Mayor Johnson.

Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.

The state of Washington, D.C.’s office market is worrisome, to say the least, but some sizable new downtown lease deals are still getting to the finish line.

Such is the case with the U.S. Travel Association and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which have signed for a combined 25,745 square feet at 1899 Pennsylvania Avenue, just a few blocks northwest of the White House. 

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Both leases are “long-term,” and the companies are expected to move into their new spaces in 2025, according to development firm Sterling Bay, which owns the building alongside MRP Realty and Declaration Partners. JLL brokered the lease on behalf of the joint venture, while the U.S. Travel Association was represented by Tyler Bensten and Scott Hoffman of CBRE.

Additional lease details were not disclosed.

The 11-story, 192,000-square-foot office building is also in the midst of renovations — including an overhauled lobby, shared conference rooms and a new fitness center, among other amenities — which are expected to be completed by the end of this year. 

“The building’s renovation is creating a new, functional space that is ideal for performing our work and meeting our future needs,” DeLisa Selwitz, U.S. Travel Association executive vice president of operations, said in a statement.

The pair of leases comes when such deals are desperately needed in the District.

The office vacancy rate in D.C. rose yet again this past quarter to an all-time-high of 22.4 percent, up 80 basis points from the first quarter of this year, according to a new market report from CBRE. Over 537,000 square feet of negative absorption was recorded in D.C. in the quarter as well, per CBRE, the fifth consecutive year of quarterly negative rates. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.

Michael Corcoran, prominent Austin music journalist and historian, has died. He was 68.

Family members confirmed Monday afternoon that he was found deceased in his Buda residence.

Corcoran, who wrote in a sometimes gruff, inimitable manner for the American-Statesman, Austin Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, Spin, National Lampoon and other publications, spent the past years as a serious historian, publishing books about sometimes unsung Texas music and musicians.

“The most important thing to remember about Corcoran was that he wrote for the National Lampoon,” said Pat Beach, who worked alongside Corcoran at the Statesman after 1997. “He later described himself as a ‘roast critic.’ He also said he regretted some of those barbs. Obviously he had issues. He didn’t take care of himself. But he became this incredible scholar of Texas music.”

Among his highly praised books were “Ghost Notes: Pioneering Spirts of Texas Music” and “All Over the Map: “True Heroes of Texas Music.” His most recent work was published on “Michael Corcoran’s Overserved” on Substack.

Corcoran grew up in a military family in Hawaii, exposed to an incredibly diverse set of musical traditions. He seemed about to cut through the performative pretensions of pop culture to find the authentic core of a musician’s artistry.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for more details.