Just when you think Sheriff Richard Roundtree can’t make things worse, he holds a meeting, embarrasses himself, his staff and the entire community.
“There’s a new sheriff in town.”
That’s the phrase all Augustan’s want to hear. The only person that can make that a reality is Marshal Ramone Lamkin.
Roundtree is seeking to have property owners release the sheriff from liability as well allow any city employee unfettered access at any point in time to property. During the meeting, RSCO staff tried to coerce property owners into signing the document telling they must sign it before they leave and then getting ugly when they refused.
It should have been apparent to Roundtree that individuals who own commercial real estate don’t sign things before reading them or having their lawyer read them, especially when it comes to giving up rights. The move by Roundtree was poorly throughout, and the execution was a disaster.
During the meeting, the microphones kept malfunctioning, and a nervous sheriff was reluctant to leave his place standing behind the podium. Answers to questions were scarce, and property owners left angrier than when they arrived.
Chief Deputy Patrick Clayton made it clear early on the meeting was for commercial property owners not residential as if homeowners interests or concerns are less than that of business owners.
Roundtree has now made himself the poster child of the homeless crisis in Augusta. Prior to the meeting, the homeless task force or maybe the Augusta-Richmond County Commission could be deemed as owning the issue, but now it’s Roundtree’s problem. The public will forever think of our crisi-ridden sheriff’s office as the responsible party for homelessness.
That misstep creates a fracture in Roundtree’s political shield that a new candidate for sheriff could easily exploit.
Homelessness is not the sheriff office’s fault. But it is clear they are not the solution to the problem either. Roundtree can’t hire and retain deputies. The ones who do manage to become employed by the office can’t seem to stay on the right side of the law.
Clayton angered a large portion of the community by stating on the radio last Thursday that the problem with staffing at the sheriff’s office is really due to the Augusta-Richmond County Commission’s failure to properly fund the department.
That notion is a joke. Roundtree is flush with cash due to being down 100 deputies in his payroll budget. Clayton employed a typical tactic employed by politicians to divert attention from the issue at hand and blame someone else. In this instance he deflected from the real problem which is leadership.
Roundtree and Clayton need to take a management and leadership seminar. I will happily pay for them to go. There they would learn that leadership is top down and there is no room for shifting blame to someone else. The leader or CEO is who is responsible for the organization and all of the actions of those under them.
Perhaps after that Roundtree and Clayton would act like men and take some ownership of the issues they created and start to chart revised path.
I doubt that either will ever accept the blame for their failed policies. They will continue to deflect and blame others until they are finally run out of town. At least at that point there will be a new sheriff in town.
Lamkin has proven to be a strong leader who is fiscally responsible. It is telling that you rarely hear anything about him and his department in the news.
For those who know Marshal Ramone Lamkin, please encourage him to run for sheriff. His community needs him to step up into that role and help us solve these issues. He would have impenetrable support from a large portion of the community. He could be the deliverer that Augusta has been waiting for.
