COVID-19, crime and money moves: Skip Henderson looks to buck history, win a second term
If you wait until the decision is easy, Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson said, you’ve waited too long.
He’s made plenty of those tough decisions in his first term.
The man who made his living in real estate ended a 20-year stay on the Columbus Council to hop in the mayor’s race in 2018. He won handily, and he’d come to lead the city during some of its most turbulent years.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented public health challenges that stretched Henderson and his staff. The disease and its wide-ranging implications hurt national, state and local economies.
In Columbus, the disease exacerbated existing inequalities and worsened labor issues, but the city fared better economically than some of its counterparts, Henderson said.
The most recent year saw Columbus deal with record-breaking homicides and a shortage of police officers. There is a rift between top city brass and the members of the local Fraternal Order of Police that could cause issues in the department.
In an interview with the Ledger-Enquirer, Henderson addressed his achievements and plans for improvement as he eyes a second term. Qualifying for the race ended earlier this month, and Henderson will face local business owner John Anker as his challenger.
Henderson hopes to buck history as he seeks a second term. Since Columbus’ mayor became a full-time position in 1965, only Teresa Tomlinson and Bobby Peters served two terms.
“The thing that is remarkable to me is that despite all these challenges (and) despite diving into waters that nobody swam in before as a community, we have really done some amazing things,” Henderson said.
The COVID-19 pandemic
In an hour-long interview with the Ledger-Enquirer, Henderson outlined what he felt were his some of biggest achievements during his first term as mayor. One of them is how the city, its medical system and its residents dealt with the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Economists at the University of Georgia said in January that Columbus was largely insulated from the worst of pandemic job losses. The city lost 11% of its jobs from the pre-pandemic peak, most of it coming from the leisure and hospitality industries, state government, and professional and business services. Fort Benning’s large government sector presence helped matters.
Columbus has slowly recovered compared to the rest of the state. By November, Columbus saw about 66% of the jobs it lost during the pandemic return. The rate lagged behind Georgia’s 92% and the U.S.’s 83% recovery rate, UGA economists said.
But Columbus’ economic outlook is stable, and the economists predicted that the city’s job numbers should fully recover by 2023.
“I think that’s because people in this community just had generated so much momentum that was rolling prior to the pandemic,” Henderson said.
Henderson moved to implement COVID-19 restrictions before Gov. Brian Kemp, but he didn’t push for more stringent local restrictions like then-Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Savannah’s Van Johnson.
As the COVID-19 vaccine became more widely available in 2021, Henderson didn’t reinstate county mask requirements despite surges in cases and hospitalizations. Face coverings were required to enter government buildings until early March to protect city employees, Henderson said.
“We didn’t mandate masks in public because we now had tools,” he said. “We had access for people to make a decision for themselves if they wanted to get vaccinated, and there was plentiful PPE.
“What we focused on the entire time is the hospitalization rate,” he added. “We felt like if our hospitals could keep up with demand and if they had the tools they needed … that that was going to be the best indicator on how we’re handling this pandemic.”
Finances and development
Henderson also highlighted the city’s budget reserves and other economic moves he and city leaders made in the last three years.
City reserves increased from 53 days to roughly 120 days, or $500,000. A portion of that increase comes from unfilled city government positions. Those unpaid salaries are put toward the city’s capital needs like additional fire fighting gear, Henderson said.
“Most of them deal with public safety,” he said. “We might have ended up with another ambulance.”
Henderson’s most lasting contribution to Columbus could be the changes to its skyline. Residents voted in favor of a $400 million sales tax that will fund the demolition of the aging Columbus Government Center to construct a $200 million judicial complex in its place.
The Columbus Council also approved a $50 million deal to house city administration in downtown buildings once belonging to Synovus. The city paid $25 million to purchase the properties and could spend another $25 million to renovate the property.
The move prevents a downtown block from going dark. Synovus announced plans earlier this week to move half of its employees into a towering downtown development, the W.C. Bradley Company’s Riverfront Place.
Synovus plans to move into 120,000 square feet over five floors of Riverfront Place’s 230,000-square-foot office building in mid-2024.
The biggest selling point: the former Synovus properties came with a 634-space parking garage, saving the city an estimated $12-15 million in construction costs.
“We almost bought a garage and got a building free,” Henderson said.
Crime and law enforcement
The biggest issue the city has struggled with is crime, Henderson said. Columbus reported a record-breaking 70 homicides in 2021 while struggling to hire officers to replace those who left.
Last year, 74 police officers resigned — the most in a 12-year period dating back to 2009. The department hired 37 officers in 2021, the fewest in that same period. The police department has roughly 130 vacancies, according to city data.
Members of the local Fraternal Order of Police chapter voiced their frustrations with Henderson and chief Blackmon during a February council meeting. A survey conducted by the organization showed nearly all of its members had no confidence in Blackmon to lead the department.
Chapter leadership received responses from 219 officers, which represents about 70% of the city’s police force and 95% of the organization. Only 5% expressed confidence in Blackmon’s leadership. The chapter said morale was at a low point. The mayor previously told the Ledger-Enquirer that the chief has his continued support.
Since Henderson’s interview with the L-E, chapter president Lt. Ralph Dowe and another white officer have filed a federal lawsuit alleging the use of discriminatory promotional practices within the department to benefit minorities and women. Henderson and Blackmon are defendants in the lawsuit.
Henderson said he met with the chapter in recent weeks to address some of their issues. The city is working with the organization to prioritize concerns so they can be addressed.
“Whatever action we take, we can do it in a targeted way so that it’s really going to make a difference,” Henderson said.
Henderson has worked to address some pay issues within law enforcement. They include:
- Officer pay has increased by about 11% during his first term, Henderson said.
The Columbus Council recently approved a measure to temporarily increase law enforcement sign-on bonuses to $5,000.
Current officers and other first responders will receive temporary $1,500 retention bonuses every three months. The city will pay $10 million worth of sign-on and retention bonuses.
The city is also working on a study to address pay issues within government departments, including law enforcement. The results will be used to create a new city pay plan.
Other efforts to combat crime are progressing. Henderson said the city efforts with the local Cure Violence initiative are moving.
Based on a national model first established in a Chicago neighborhood in 2000, the program treats violence like an epidemic disease. The group said during last week’s council meeting that they will work under the Columbus health department. Efforts will soon begin in the Winston Road area.
Under Henderson’s leadership, the city has taken several steps to target the root causes of crime as well.
The city distributed more than $2 million in crime prevention grants to Columbus nonprofits and other organizations, and roughly 180 blighted homes and structures were torn down to improve neighborhoods, he said.
Another 65 structures are slated to be torn down. The city allocated just over $2 million for the 2020 fiscal year, $250,000 for the 2021 fiscal year, and $1 million in the most recent budget.
Efforts to remediate blighted areas can reduce gun violence. A 2016 study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that urban blight remediation programs “can be cost-beneficial strategies that significantly and sustainably reduce firearm violence.”
Henderson also formed a mayor’s commission on health to help combat poverty and crime. The plan will work in several steps.
A mobile healthcare unit, a rolling farmer’s market and a parks and recreation activity van will visit specific neighborhoods, he said. Partners include Piedmont Healthcare and the Food Mill.
“I think we can go into an area that has some transportation challenges, may have a very, very high poverty rate. We can park down there and close off the street. We can do health screenings and provide nutritious food that they can get double the value of their WIC points,” he said. “In my mind, the access to healthy food (and) access to healthcare impacts test scores for kids and impacts poverty and impacts crime.”
‘It’s a pretty clear choice.’
The COVID-19 pandemic took away some opportunities to get things done, Henderson said, and he wants another four years to address some major issues.
“To me, it’s a pretty clear choice,” he said. “With all the challenges … I think it’s more critical now than ever to have somebody that’s got the knowledge that comes from experience and knowing how to work with council (and) with other agencies and organizations. Those partnerships … are going to be essential to us continuing to move through some of these challenges and be the city we want to become.”
This story was originally published March 20, 2022 at 7:00 AM.