Story Published:
May 30, 2008 at 5:37 PM EST
Story Updated:
May 30, 2008 at 9:26 PM EST
One day after a brawl at a Coliseum Authority meeting one Augusta commissioner is called for immediate change!
On Tuesday commissioner Don Grantham plans to ask the commission to determine how to deal with the authority.
He sent an email to the other commissioners citing an "embarrassment of behavior" and says it's time to "request abolishing the authority."
That cannot happen until the local delegation meets again next January.
Grantham says after Thursday's fight - between authority member William Fennoy and community activist Woody Merry - more than six months is too long to wait.
"I think this committee owes the community an apology for the embarrassment they put on and I think it would be their duty to resign," Grantham said.
He says the fight is only the most recent in a number of final straws.
"The last straw was back even before then. It's time to do something, because the conduct of the committee is not what Augusta needs to have."
Grantham wants a clean slate. He wants all 12 Coliseum Authority members to resign by the end of June.
But Authority member Keith Brown says if the Commission agrees with Grantham -- they'll be overstepping their bounds.
"I think it's a little bit premature. I think calling for the abolishment of a group you don't oversee might not be the best way to start," Brown said.
Brown says if he's asked -- he doesn't know if he'll resign. But, he says, some members probably should.
"I think anyone who is willing to resign or wanting to resign, that might be the best course of action," Brown said.
Grantham says he will also suggest the commission ask the legislative delegation to revamp or abolish the authority in January.
He says possible solutions include making members accountable to commissioners -- or just turning control of the facility completely over to the county.
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