Comments Return to Top of County Agenda

Public comments will return to the top of the county commissioners agenda next week.
“This was just something I wanted to try, to see how it would work,” said board Chair Laverne Coleman. “I had no idea it would cause the upset that it did.”
Anyone may speak to the commissioners on any subject for three minutes during public comments. Topics range from announcements about community events to criticism of county departments. Generally the comment period features citizens speaking on pending actions by the board. Some speakers leave immediately after making their presentations to the board.
State law allows the board to determine if the board can discuss the speaker’s comments with the person. Columbus County has a policy of generally not discussing items with the speaker.
The April 1 meeting saw the comment period shifted to the end of the meeting, when county commissioners and the county manager discuss other items not on the agenda.
The chair emphasized that the move was not made because of recent pointed criticisms of County Manager Eddie Madden. Nakina resident Johnny Edge has spoken to the board twice in recent weeks with complaints about Madden, and recently a former finance department employee described what she called bullying by Madden even after she left the county’s employ. Madden and Human Resources Director Kaye Stephens have denied the claims.
“This was not done because of one person, or the criticism of one person,” Coleman said. “There was never any idea of limiting people’s right to speak, or inconveniencing them. It was honestly about seeing if the meeting would flow better. It didn’t.”
Coleman said he made the decision to move the segment to “see if the meeting would go smoother.
“Sometimes you try things without thinking them all the way through first,” he said. “There was never anything malicious about this. It just seemed like a good thing to try, since we already have commissioners’ comments at the end. I know now it wasn’t a good idea, and it will be back like it was from now on.”