AUGUSTA, Ga. () – With proposed amendments to the charter on the table, the committee chair sought to learn what members deemed the most crucial issue at hand.

So, they were secretly surveyed.

“Our intention with conducting this survey anonymously was to remove personal biases, prevent division, and truly understand the facts and sentiments,” stated Charter Review Committee Chair, Marcie Wilhelmi.

The survey results were analyzed by the UGA Institute of Government that said the authority of the mayor was the most popular theme.

“Community discussions have frequently centered around the mayor’s powers, the administrator’s authority, and the way these roles are balanced,” remarked Charter Review Committee member Lee Powell.

Some members of the committee are attempting to finish the review before the end of the year, so the committee is voting to limit the time for public comments from five minutes to three minutes each.

“We want to give everybody the opportunity to speak and at five minutes we would be here for a very long time and probably would get to everybody,” said Sheffie Robinson, a new member who replaced Doctor Lester McCorn of Paine College who stepped down.

Former Commissioners Moses Todd and Ben Hasan have spoken at nearly every meeting, and members say it hasn’t been productive.

“We hear from the same people every week and frankly every question they ask of our body is design to disparage and discredit our committee’s work,” said Wilhelmi.

“Five minutes or three minutes they said three is this a way.”

“I can tell them what I need to tell them in thirty seconds,” said Todd.

But for this committee to finish the work will take much longer.