Carl Vinson Institute to the Charter Review Committee: streamline charter language, post highlighted draft; demographic maps show split between superdistricts

The Carl Vinson Institute staff told the Charter Review Committee on May 15 that they are reviewing the Augusta Richmond County charter to remove ‘‘anticipatory’’ provisions, modernize language and separate provisions better suited to ordinances from those that belong in the charter.

Laurie Brill of the Carl Vinson Institute (presenting for the institute) said the consolidation act authorized the merged government and that the charter serves as the local constitution. She said the institute is grouping provisions for committee consideration — for example, taking out language that anticipates future events and removing verbatim reproductions of state law that are no longer necessary in the charter text.

Brill told the committee: “We are taking out a lot of anticipatory language… and provisions that are identical to Georgia law or the Georgia constitution because there’s no need to have that in there.”

The consultants also presented demographic maps. Belle Tolmich, a research professional at the Carl Vinson Institute, said Augusta Richmond County’s total population used in the presentation was 206,607 and that the eight commission districts have about 26,000 people apiece. Tolmich summarized racial and age breakdowns for superdistricts and individual commission districts: she reported Super District 9 is majority non‑Hispanic Black and Super District 10 is approximately 44% non‑Hispanic white and 43% non‑Hispanic Black. Macy Lane Smith presented voting‑district overlays and countywide figures from the 2020 census: 55.2% African American, 35.5% non‑Hispanic white, 5.6% Hispanic and 1.93% Asian.

Macy Lane Smith: “According to the 2020 decennial census, about 1.93% of Augusta Richmond County is Asian… 55.2% of Augusta Richmond County’s population is African American.”

Committee members asked whether other consolidated governments of comparable size use superdistricts and whether there is a formula for how many superdistricts to create; staff answered that superdistricts are used in some jurisdictions (more common in the South) and that district composition is based on simple population math and contiguity rules derived from the census numbers.

Brill and staff said they would provide committee members with color‑coded, highlighted drafts showing the specific provisions they suggest removing or moving and that the documents would be posted on the committee’s web page so the public could review them before the next meeting.

Ending: The committee set May 29 as the next meeting for a deeper review of goals and concerns and the Carl Vinson Institute said it would circulate the highlighted draft and the demographic maps ahead of that meeting.