Mayor Keith Gaskin broke a tie to vote against putting his former campaign manager on the Historic Preservation Commission during Wednesday’s Columbus City Council meeting.
Instead, Amber Brislin, who sits on the Main Street Columbus board of directors, will return to a four-year term on the commission just two weeks after the council opted to replace her.
On June 20, the council appointed Tiffany Turner to Brislin’s seat — as her term was expiring — on the Historic Preservation Commission.
However, another commissioner, Julie Parker, whose term expires July 2, chose not to seek reappointment.
Brislin, along with Shannon Bowen and Gaskin’s 2021 campaign manager Bennett Windham, applied for that spot.
On Wednesday, Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones moved, with a second from Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco, to return Brislin to the commission.
Vice Mayor and Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens made a substitute motion, with a second from Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard, to appoint Windham. When Gaskin called for a vote, Mickens, Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene and Beard voted in favor of Windham, while Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Stewart, Jones and DiCicco opposed, leaving Gaskin to break the tie.
“Well, this is awkward,” Gaskin said, after a long pause, and then voted no.
Gaskin called for a vote for Brislin, and the motion passed 4-2, with Stewart, Beard, Jones and DiCicco voting yes and Mickens and Greene opposing.
After the vote, Mickens asked Gaskin to explain why he voted the way he did.
“As most people probably know, (Windham) was my campaign manager,” Gaskin said. “He would be very effective on this board. I hope to see him on that board at some time. (Brislin) called me after the last vote and was hoping to return to the board, and I felt like she was the most qualified.”
Gaskin said he and Windham had not discussed Windham applying for the seat.
“It was tough not to vote for him, but you have to make tough decisions, and (Brislin) is the most qualified of these candidates,” Gaskin said.
Gilmer property heads back to Historic Preservation Commission
The council also voted to send plans for a new building on the old Gilmer Inn site back to the Historic Preservation Commission for review.
Financial Concepts bought the property from the city in June 2021 for $270,000. The contract with the city included specific plans for two buildings and a parking lot. CEO Scott Ferguson told the council at a June 24 special meeting those plans would be too expensive to build, and he had another, more modest structure in mind now that would use about a third of the site.
He left the door open to develop or sell the rest of the site at a later date.
However, because his plans did not reflect what was agreed to in the contract, Building Official Kenny Wiegel said the council needed to approve changing the contract itself.
“I will remind the council that regardless of their decision the (commission) will still have to approve this,” Weigel said.
Jones moved, with a second by Mickens, to send the plans to the commission on the front end.
“Let them work it out, and then it can come back to us and we’ll consider changing (the contract),” Jones said.
The motion passed unanimously.
After the meeting, Turnage explained the order in which the plans were reviewed was “six of one, half-dozen of another.”
“I thought we should do that to avoid having (Ferguson) waste time,” Turnage said. “He might get their approval and come back to the council and the council say no. It was my thinking we would address it here, but he could end up bouncing back and forth either way.”
The city bought the Gilmer Inn property for $425,000 in 2015 after the building became too dilapidated to be used as a hotel. It was demolished later that year and has been a green space ever since.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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