I walked over to the agenda workshop held this morning for the Escambia County Commission. The board is being driven by Chairman Gene Valentino and Interim County Administrator George Touart to take over the county jail in 90 days. The final vote may come tonight.
Watching Valentino bully his fellow commissioners and Touart verbally abuse Sheriff Morgan and his staff, it became clear why Touart is set on running the jail.
Job security.
The jail will so screw up county operations that no one will want to take the county administrator position, especially with the U.S. Department of Justice breathing down their necks. Touart, with Valentino’s help, will make the operations so complicated and burdensome that a new person coming into the job won’t be able to figure it out, much less fix it.
I hate to see the commissioners cower to such thuggery.
Three votes could save this county…and most likely lives, too.