Rodman’s out: Now what? Three things Beaufort County Council must do today | Editorial

Give Beaufort County Council credit for pushing the loose cannon Stu Rodman out as chairman.

We’re proud of the council members who changed their minds about Rodman’s failed leadership, or finally spoke out against it publicly at Monday’s meeting, in which Rodman resigned as chair.

It had to happen, and we’re relieved that a solid majority of County Council had the courage to make it happen.

But that’s only one step toward restoring order and credibility to county government.

Three things that need to be done now:

▪ Draw a red line between County Council and county administration.

Let county administrator Ashley Jacobs do her job.

New chairman Joe Passiment of the Riverbend section of Sun City Hilton Head spent much of his career in school district administration in New Jersey. He should know well and appreciate the role of government administration. He needs to fight to remove all County Council members from interfering in government administration.

Jacobs knows how to clean up this mess. She knows protocol. She knows how to make things work. Now, without Rodman’s ceaseless, and often secret, meddling within the staff, Jacobs can restore order. Council must give her that chance. Do not blow this opportunity.

▪ Shut down the secret society that County Council has become.

Conduct public business in public. Kill Rodman’s repeated efforts to shut the public out, even seeking police action in the public-comment section of a council meeting.

Force all council members to use their county emails and county cell phones for all county business. As we trited to discover what Rodman was up to behind the scenes, we found that this was not always the case.

In his last meeting as chairman, Rodman was still fighting for secrecy, questioning a county decision to fulfill Freedom of Information Act requests from the media without charge.

Now is the time to rebuke that attitude.

Passiment needs to know that the County Council’s executive session to discuss council members and their previous chairman was wrong. It was wrong to set up a three-person committee in that meeting to address, by email, the very public concern of what to do about an out-of-control chairman.

County Council is a public body. It is not a private fiefdom, as Rodman saw it. It is imperative that County Council seize this moment to change.

▪ Sweep out the old.

Council vice chairman Paul Sommerville of Beaufort, as Rodman’s right hand, also needs to be replaced. He should have nothing to do with County Council leadership. It’s time for a new approach. The one led by Rodman and supported by Sommerville was a disaster.

The new attitude must extend to county staff members, and anyone else who condones a world in which county staffers award themselves or others lucrative county contracts upon leaving the county’s employment.

It’s time for a change. Beaufort County cannot blow this chance.