COLUMBIA, S.C. — On Tuesday, the Richland County Recreation Commission (RCRC) discussed the employment status of its executive director, Lakita Watson.
Following executive session the commission's lawyer announced that no decision had been made regarding Watson's employment status, and that her position remains in place.
Members held a special meeting last week to discuss her position after multiple complaints and concerns about her services but no action was taken.
"If the majority of her bosses lose confidence in her service, there’s nothing we can do about it," said Representative Leon Howard of Richland County.
Howard is on the County Legislative Delegation Commission. Part of their responsibility is appointing board members to fill seats on the RCRC. From there, it's the board members' responsibility to hire the executive director, deputy director, and other positions for RCRC.
"I’ve got complaints from community members and community members that are community leaders, that they are not pleased with her services," Rep. Howard said.
He explains, complaints include not having access to recreation services that users once had. Howard did not specify which services those were.
He said he spoke with Watson about these issues a year ago.
"She agreed to address those concerns," Howard said. "I thought they were addressed, but maybe they were addressed too late."
According to Howard, Watson recently sent a letter to members of the delegation, citing a hostile work environment from some board members.
Watson's attorney, Paul Porter, issued a statement, saying:
"RCRC Director Lakita Watson is a professional in this field and she has worked tirelessly to improve the experience of RCRC’s customers and community stakeholders. She had decades of experience in parks, recreation, and tourism prior to coming to South Carolina to work for RCRC. She has done a fine job of healing RCRC after the last decade of public controversy at the agency.
Ms. Watson gave an appropriate and private response to a procedurally invalid and substantively unusual document presented to her from one lone Board Member as a so called “performance evaluation.” The “evaluation” was not presented to Ms. Watson in the normal fashion and there does not appear to be a proper vote authorizing the evaluation to be presented. Ms. Watson’s letter was presented privately to the board and was not leaked to the media by Ms. Watson or anyone at her direction.
Ms. Watson’s reputation is being unfairly tarnished by a small handful of board members for political, personal, and non-professional reasons. The Board would be best served by taking a step-back and reassessing whether its members are acting within the confines of governing bylaws and the law. Ms. Watson was well-within her rights to privately and appropriately address false criticism conveyed to her from a lone board member under the auspices of a 'performance evaluation.'"
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Howard said he thinks Watson will be terminated on Tuesday.
"This is another example of how we should change the system that governs the county park system here in Richland County and in the state," said Rep. Seth Rose, Richland County.
Rose said the delegation will be discussing how to prevent similar situations in the future.
"We will be holding a meeting soon to kind of vet these issues and to see what's next, and what processes that we need to take to try to rectify whatever is transpiring at this point in time," Rose said. "County parks should be run by local governments that pay for them. I think that allows for the best accountability."
News 19 reached out to Recreation Commission Chair Donzetta Lindsay for comment, but she said she is not allowed to comment on the matter. We also reached out to other board members but did not hear back.