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COLUMBUS, Ga. — City council has demanded a formal presentation on the status of the city’s new $225 million judicial center project.

The insistence on the presentation came after councilors repeatedly questioned City Manager Isaiah Hugley about why the project lacked a professional project manager.

The project, which is the single-most expensive project in the history of the Fountain City, has seen its entire planning and oversight performed by Director of Inspections & Codes, Ryan Pruett.

Pruett, according to Hugley himself, has been expected to perform this monumental task while still being required to perform his full-time job of running the city’s inspections & codes department.

Throughout the last three city council meetings, Hugley continued to blame costs as the reason for not bringing a solution to the table for properly ensuring the diligent management of the project.

As a result of the continued excuses and lack of information from Hugley, councilors all-but-demanded that Hugley provide a formal presentation on the project’s status at the next-scheduled meeting on September 12, 2023.

City Councilor Judy Thomas (District 9), began the conversation with the following:

“We have not had an official presentation to this council about what’s going on with the judicial center. There have been news articles about it, there have been conversations in the community about it, but we have not had an official presentation — and so, Mr. City Manager, I’m requesting that we have one at our next council meeting on where we are, what’s happening, what are you recommending, what are you thinking about, in order for us to deal with those questions that are coming to — well, they’re coming to me, I’m sure they’re coming to other councilors too — about what’s going on down at the judicial center. I know that there've been numerous conversations with the judges and that there have been numerous suggestions with the judges — but I’m somewhat concerned that we don’t have a full-time project manager for that project.”

Thomas then directed her attention to Pruett, who was standing tall after providing the council with an update on his department’s overall status.

“From what you have said to us in these 36 slides that you have shown us, you’re a pretty busy guy, and I’m not sure if you can do — I know you’re good, but I don’t know that you can do two full-time jobs at the same time. I really would like for us to revisit the issue of a project manager for this multimillion-dollar project that we are doing. This is not to say in any way, Director Pruett, that I don’t think you’re not doing a good job on this. I just think you may soon be, if you’re not already, overloaded. And so I would like to request: number 1, that we have a report — and a regularly-scheduled report on what’s happening with the judicial center; and that we revisit the issue of a full-time project manager for the judicial center. I think what I have seen in the City Hall, you’ve done a good job down there, and I think it’s going to work — but I’m really concerned about the judicial center and what’s happening down there. So, Mr. Mayor and Mr. City Manager, if we could have an update as thoroughly and as quickly and as often as possible. Thank you.”

Councilor Toyia Tucker (District 4), then added to Thomas’ statement by pointing out how obvious it is to her constituents that Pruett is being overworked while the project remains without a proper manager. Tucker also pointed out that the city’s new Muscogee County Jail — another multimillion-dollar project — is in the same boat:

“There are several citizens, Mr. Pruett, that are saying ‘Wow, this guy has a lot on his plate!’ And we’ve said it before at one of the previous council meetings that it is a lot. And one of the things — and I have to echo what Councilor Thomas just mentioned in reference to the judicial center — because we are getting a lot of calls regarding ‘have we received any updating.’ And we haven’t. I can’t answer those questions. But the same thing (is happening) with the Muscogee County Jail as well. That’s the second, probably, most-expensive that we have, and we have not received an update. So, I would ask the city manager if we could add the jail as well to the list in reference to getting an update.”

Councilor Glenn Davis (District 2) also spoke in support of needing a proper project manager and regular updates, emphasizing that the city should be learning from its history when it comes to the government center:

“I do think that, you know, I’m sitting here thinking about the history and the lessons we’ve learned from the past. Sometimes, it’s once said that history is one of your greatest teachers, and you learn a lot of lessons from it — but I think all of us here today can probably think of things that could have been done better on the current judicial center, you know, and you don’t want to be in that position come ten, fifteen, twenty years. So, you always miss something, but like I said: I wish we could still entertain that thought about having people that do this. We’ve got some good developers in our community that do this on a daily basis, and maybe they can still assist.”

City Manager Isaiah Hugley responded with the following after skating the issue three times during three prior council meetings, only offering a solution after being pressed about the issue for over a month while providing excuses:

“It would be part of the project cost. And we do realize that with the size of the project and the number of projects that the Director (Pruett) is dealing with, that we, we need those boots on the ground every day. We’ve not had a project this large — a single project — in the history of our city, and we gotta get it right. And so, we’ll bring an update, as requested, at the next meeting.”

Perhaps councilors ought to consider why the City Manager — the person responsible for managing the city — required three council meetings of pressure to realize that the single-largest taxpayer-funded project in the history of the city might require a project manager and consistent updates to council.

Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.

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