Some Richland legislators call for criminal investigation of Recreation Commission

A trio of Richland County legislators is calling for an investigation by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department into the Richland County Recreation Commission, which is facing lawsuits and recent reports alleging improper conduct by its director and members of its legislative-appointed board.

Two lawsuits have been filed in the past two weeks against the commission; its director, James Brown III; the commission’s director of human resources, David Stringer; and two members of the appointed board that oversees the commission, Marie Green and Barbara Mickens.

One of the legal complaints, filed by commission employee Andrea Fripp James, accuses Brown of sexual harassment and other improper conduct. The second complaint, filed by the former assistant executive director of the commission, Kenya Bryant, claims Bryant was improperly terminated and accuses Brown and board members of improper behavior.

In a legal answer filed in response to James’ complaint, the Recreation Commission denies the claims of sexual harassment and improper conduct.

Additional suits are likely to be filed against the commission, according to attorney J. Lewis Cromer, who represents James and Bryant.

Richland County legislators Sen. Joel Lourie, Rep. Beth Bernstein and Rep. James Smith, in a statement Wednesday, asked Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott for an investigation of the Recreation Commission in light of further recent reports of possible criminal activity involving commission employees and board members.

“If it was just the employee-employer related issue, I don’t think that warrants an investigation,” Lourie said in an afternoon interview with reporters. But, he said, “when it’s alleged that a board member has been receiving cash improperly, the alarms are going off in my head and with the general public. I think the time has come to bring law enforcement in to get to the bottom of it and either pursue those that have committed a wrongdoing or clear their name.”

Lott said the sheriff’s department plans to “discuss the information with our law enforcement partners and make decisions from there.”

Lourie, Bernstein and Smith also called for the commission to be placed under the authority of County Council, rather than the legislative delegation, in the interest of transparency and accountability.

“It only makes sense that the body that funds the Richland County Recreation Commission should also be its governing authority,” Smith said in the statement. “Accountability and transparency are clearly lacking.”

Lourie said he plans to introduce legislation that would give County Council members, rather than legislators, the authority to appoint members to the Recreation Commission board. But it would take a majority vote of the Richland County legislative delegation to approve the measure, and Lourie said he isn’t sure that support exists among the majority of the delegation.

Rep. Nathan Ballentine, who also represents Richland County, said he is “fed up and disgusted with the behavior and actions of Richland County government these days.”

“First, we had the election debacle of 2012, then the scandals surrounding the penny tax contracts, then the secret $2 million land deal at Lake Murray and now all of this corruption with the county Recreation Commission,” Ballentine said. “I think voters are going to want Sheriff Lott to investigate all of Richland County government.”

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Some Richland legislators call for criminal investigation of Recreation Commission."