AUGUSTA, GA (WFXG) -
Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver
delivered the State of the City address to the Augusta Exchange Club Thursday.
He pointed out successes like a
booming tech industry and hundreds of jobs coming to the area with Starbucks.
'It's going to be huge; it's going to
be a watershed year for Augusta," Copenhaver, said.
Copenhaver says great things are ahead
for the city; but he wants to move forward without politics getting in the way.
"With the commission, I hope we'll
communicate better. We've had some issues here recently.'"
He says commissioners need to work on
communicating and he points to this week's commission meeting where they failed
to approve a leasing agreement for the city golf course.
"Unable to reach resolution on
the Patch, on big picture issues we need to work toward compromise and working
together."
The commission also couldn't come
together on a development along the riverfront that has now moved to North Augusta.
"Their (North Augusta) city
council got to a point in six months that we couldn't get to in six years,"
said Copenhaver.
District 7 Commissioner Donnie Smith
says working with fellow commissioners isn't always simple.
"Unfortunately we have things
that get in the way, trivial events, manufactured crisis that are made up that
come along and derail us from the streamline things that we're trying to get
done," Smith, said.
But District 3 Commissioner Mary Davis
said it is possible to work across the table, "What I will always do is stay in
touch with commissioners, so they know how I feel on certain issues and I know
how they feel on certain issues."
Even though some say the commission is off to a pretty
rocky start this year, there are high hopes from the commissioners, the mayor
and the community that they will come together for the good of the city.
Copenhaver will be in office for nearly two more years;
he says he will focus on completing building projects that can't be undone by
petty politics.
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