Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver says Commissioners should get out of the business of hiring and firing city department directors.

"If a department head runs afoul of a Commissioner, usually we see it and it plays out in the media. The default position is, well let's fire him, so that's not an effective way, in my opinion, to run a government,” says Mayor Copenhaver.

It's been this way for the nearly twenty years of the consolidated Augusta government, but the Mayor says, in the future, the hiring and firing of department directors should rest with the Mayor and City Administrator.

“I've worked within the system for eight and a half years. I didn't push to get that authority for the Mayor’s office, but having been in the system and seeing how it works for that long, I can guarantee you it would be more effective,” says Mayor Copenhaver.

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