With a particularly violent start to the week, Columbus officials and residents alike may be starting to realize that the city’s approach to economic development over the past decade may not have been as good of an idea as they once believed.
To find out why, here’s your weekend muck.
SEVEN SHOOTINGS LAST WEEKEND
The Fountain City set the tone for its week by suffering through a harrowingly violent weekend, with no less than seven separate shootings taking place from Jan. 6-8, 2023. The seven weekend shootings left at least one person dead and an additional four people wounded.
You can view the details on each of last weekend’s shootings through our interactive map here.
Unfortunately, the violence carried over into this past week.
A carjacking left one person shot in the chest near Alpine Drive. The shooting happened in broad daylight at about 3:00 p.m. on January 9.
An armed robbery is also alleged to have occurred at the Piggly Wiggly on Moon Road on January 12.
As violent crime continues to rise throughout the Columbus area, residents are noticing a stark difference between their actual daily reality and the overly-rosey words of public officials.
UPTOWN CONTRACT PENDS AUDIT
The contract renewal between Uptown Columbus, Inc. and the Columbus Consolidated Government has been delayed pending a review by city auditors of Uptown’s past performance.
During the city council meeting held on January 3, 2023, that contract was supposed to be renewed — but it wasn't. Instead, city councilors voted to have the city’s internal auditor’s office review Uptown’s past performance before they just pencil-whipped signing off on another ten years.
Joanne Cogle (Day-One Rookie, District 7) then provided her sensible and responsible input. Cogle stated she wished to delay the approval since it was literally her first day as a city councilor; since this is something that affects her district, she would like to be able to take the responsible approach by taking the time to properly wrap her head around the issue. “Ten years is a long time,” Cogle stated, “and we want to make sure we kind-of hash out the details for trash pickup and maintenance down on what is the face of our city.”
As her first official motion made as a city councilor, Joanne Cogle moved to delay the approval of Uptown Columbus’ contract renewal with the city. The motion was then seconded, and the delay was passed. Job well done, Cogle.
HIRING EVENT HELD
The Columbus Consolidated Government hosted its Annual Hiring Event on Thursday, January 12, 2023 at the Goodwill Hiring Center located at 2601 Cross Country Boulevard.
The city continues to struggle to fill positions at rates far outpacing even some of the largest cities in the nation.
The city’s staffing shortage has been an ongoing problem since at least the spring of last year, as similar job fairs were held in June and August. Those events sought to fill the same 500 vacancies that likely still exist today.
While many cities across the nation have struggled to retain government employees in recent months, the Columbus Consolidated Government has particularly failed at keeping its rolls filled.
Six months ago in August of 2022, the Columbus Consolidated Government was understaffed by a whopping 16.7% — in other words, Columbus only had five employees for every six it is supposed to have; it is missing one-in-six. New York City, on the other hand, only experienced a 7.7% vacancy rate for city jobs during the same time frame.
COGLE TAKES THE WHEEL
Rookie city councilor Joanne Cogle (District 7) was sworn-in during the first city council meeting of the year on January 3, 2023 — and boy, did she get right down to business.
With family members at her side and her hand on the Bible, Cogle took her oath to faithfully serve as a city councilor. When provided with the opportunity to say a few words after being sworn-in, Cogle kept her remarks short, sweet, and to the point. “Thank you for all the familiar faces; for coming out today — and I look forward to serving Columbus,” Cogle said.
As her first official motion made as a city councilor, Cogle moved to delay the renewal of Uptown’s contract with the city. Cogle’s motion was then seconded, and the delay was passed by a vote of the council.
Cogle’s move towards diligence and away from nepotistic compulsion is viewed as a breath of fresh air for many in the Columbus area, though time will tell if Cogle allows herself to fall victim to the ‘status quo.’
WHISTLEBLOWER HOTLINE EMBRACED
Officials are urging employees of the Columbus Consolidated Government to use the city’s anonymous ‘Whistleblower Hotline’ to report fraud, waste, and abuse.
The CCG Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Hotline is 706-225-4610.
The city’s website provides the following assurances to those who use the whistleblower hotline:
If you have experienced discrimination or retaliation by your employer for reporting wrongdoing in the workplace, you can file a formal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Encouragement to use the hotline was expressed during the council meeting held on January 3, 2023. During the meeting, a briefing was presented by CCG’s Donna McGinnis, CCG’s internal audit/compliance officer.
It was during her briefing that McGinnis first stressed the importance of employees knowing they are safe and protected when using the city’s whistleblower hotline:
“Additionally, I would like to see us promote the Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Hotline just a little bit more than we currently do,” McGinnis said. “ I’m monitoring that hotline and we do have some activity. I would like our employees to be fearless about using that number if they have concerns.”
Readers interested in learning more about reporting instances of government fraud, waste, and abuse can reference GA Code § 45-1-4 (2021).
HOMETOWN HERO HONORED
Hometown hero and forensic auditor Elizabeth Barfield was honored by a resolution from city council on January 3, 2023 for her role in discovering an $8 million theft of taxpayers’ money. The council expressed their deep appreciation for her service and dedication to the citizens of Columbus, Georgia.
While conducting a transitional audit of the Clerk of Superior Court’s Office in 2019, Barfield discovered serious financial crimes that appeared to be committed by a then-current employee of the office. Millions of dollars that should have been someplace, weren't.
Barfield then worked with both the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office to bring the criminals to justice. Serving as a subject matter expert, Barfield was able to quickly and efficiently find and explain complicated forensic financial evidence to the authorities to help develop the criminal case and prosecution.
Thanks to Barfield’s hard work, expertise, and dedication to public service, the criminals were successfully prosecuted and brought to justice. The now-former employee, Willie Demps, was ultimately sentenced to 12 years in federal prison after he admitted to the crimes. Five others were also convicted and sentenced for their roles.
We at the Muckraker would like to sincerely thank Elizabeth Barfield for her outstanding contributions to our community — not only for her work mentioned above, but for the work her office performs each and every day. Our city’s transparency depends on your office. Job well done.
AIRLINE LOSS SHOWS CITY FAILURES
As was heavily reported throughout this week, American Airlines will be discontinuing their service at the Columbus Airport.
This begs the question: If tourism is saving the city as officials claim it is, then why is American Airlines choosing to leave Columbus? The answer appears to be just as obvious as you might imagine. Here’s why.
Outside the confines of the tourism pipe-dream of the Columbus Consolidated Government, there exists a place called the real world. In this foreign and exotic land, businesses do not care about the toxic optimism of your failed economic development plan. They are not concerned with your cult-like sense of amazingness. They aren’t interested in your nepotistic decision biases.
So what do they care about in the real world?
They care about whether or not your actual value proposition supports their bottom-line. Period. End of story. Welcome to earth.
While that may sound harsh, it is a spoonful of medicine that many Columbus officials need to hear. The proof is in the pudding, and it’s now leaving an immediate $3 million economic hole in our local economy as American Airlines takes their unprofitable football and goes home.
Perhaps city officials ought to consider building a functional internal economy that is capable of producing a natural value proposition first, instead of erroneously trying to force the creation of an external market that your current offering simply is not capable of supporting.
KADIE’S OLD HOME SETS PRECEDENT
Kadie the Cow’s old Best Buy home on Manchester Expressway has finally been released from the city’s ownership.
The release of the property by the city may serve to establish a precedent for the city to release other property it does not have a bona fide need to retain.
The property easement, located at 2925 Manchester Expressway, first came into the city’s possession back in May of 2019 when Best Buy was preparing to sell the property. Since the city owned Kadie, it acquired the land she rested upon as a permanent access easement to protect Kadie through Best Buy’s sale.
During the city council meeting held on January 3, 2023, city manager Isaiah Hugley stated that the city’s ownership of the land had strictly revolved around Kadie. Since Kadie has now moo-ved on to her new home, the city no longer needs to own the Best Buy access easement. By a unanimous vote of the city council, that land was relinquished from the city’s ownership through the approval of a quitclaim deed.
THE WEEK AHEAD
As we move into this new week, we’ll be taking a look at what city officials believe to be a required expense in maintaining the security of Columbus’ future for years to come. Infrastructure in Muscogee County is crumbling. The sticker-shock for what it’s going to cost is likely to leave you dumbfounded — especially as the city continues to grow poorer and emptier. Are tax increases on the Horizon? Would that be congruent with the hours spent lauding over government transparency at the beginning of this new year?
Be sure to follow Muscogee Muckraker on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to see our upcoming stories as they break throughout the coming week.
Ask the hard questions. Fix the hard answers. Rake the muck.
Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.
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