Lee Trawick
Reporter2@riverbendnews.org
On Wednesday, April 27, the Town of Jennings city council held a special meeting to discuss the future of Police Chief Vincent Robinson. On Tuesday, April 5, a list of the formal complaints against Robinson was presented to the council. At that time, the council voted to hire independent counsel, Joel Forman, to investigate the allegations.
While the council had been at odds with Robinson and his actions during previous meetings over the last year and beyond, the council's main disappointment lies in his judgment in approaching his duties as Chief of Police. Robinson's actions during the council meetings consisted of constantly raising his voice at council members and challenging council members at their word in several incidents. He even went as far as making vulgar hand gestures towards the council when his work ethic was called into question. As the relationship between the two parties deteriorated last year, Robinson's actions became more erratic and disruptive throughout the meetings. On one occasion, he challenged Town Manager Jennifer Hightower, which caused a meeting to be delayed for more than 20 minutes due to a fuel bill he refused to accept responsibility for. After being proven wrong when the receipts were presented, he attacked City Attorney Sheena Rickerson, saying her job was not to advise the council on handling specific situations within the council. Attorney Rickerson tried not to engage in Robinson's antics and advised him to stay on task, as he was petitioning the council for two full-time employees at the time.
Over the last year, Vice Mayor Antonette Crumedy had suspected irregularities concerning Robinson's monthly hours. As a result, she began asking him to provide proof of the hours he was working. After several requests made by Crumedy, with no verification, she requested Robinson give an outline of his work hours, understanding his job is not a typical eight to five job. During this time, the council noticed a pattern that could no longer be ignored. Calls were being redirected to the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office (HCSO), causing a Hamilton County deputy to answer calls within the Town of Jennings. At the same time, Robinson was unreachable or unable to answer. It was later proven that the HCSO responded to 143 calls within the Town of Jennings that Robinson failed to respond to since Jan. 1, 2022; the reasons were not discussed.
In addition, Robinson allegedly used his city vehicle to travel to Tallahassee to file a complaint against Attorney Rickerson with the Florida Bar and the State of Florida Commission on Ethics on Monday, April 4, prior the town’s monthly meeting on Tuesday, April 5. The Florida Bar responded to the allegation filed against Attorney Rickerson on Monday, April 11 and notified Robinson that his claims were unfounded; therefore, the Florida Bar would not move forward with his request.
At the April 5, meeting, the formal complaint was presented to the council. While Robinson did not engage in the discussion of the complaints filed against him at the meeting, he harbored ill feelings towards the council that proved evident when he refused to respond to a call on the evening of Thursday, April 21, involving alleged battery. When the officer on scene asked for assistance, Robinson responded saying he had been in the newspaper due to the party in question being the son of Vice Mayor Crumedy. He advised that Crumedy was trying to get him fired and he did not want to respond to the call because it was political. When Robinson was then informed there was no one else available to respond, he got frustrated and again advised he would not respond. Finally, as the investigation into his actions and the May monthly meeting were quickly approaching, Robinson took it upon himself to contact Rickerson and the council in a what was described as a very unprofessional manner via email, phone calls and text messages at all hours of the day and night. At this point, the city council and Attorney Rickerson agreed to call a special meeting before things lingered on and the situation got worse.
As the meeting began on Wednesday, April 27, the one councilman who tried to stand behind Robinson throughout his tenure, Jerry Pittman, suddenly resigned before the meeting. He walked into the board room, handed over his resignation and walked out without saying a word. However, in attendance were Mayor Samantha Preuter, Vice Mayor Crumedy, Councilman Charles Barrett, Councilwoman Cynthia Daniels, Fire Chief Steven Lang, Town Manager Hightower and various people throughout the community. The meeting got underway with City Attorney Rickerson addressing the council about the allegations made against her to the Florida Bar and the Commission of Ethics by Robinson. She gave the council countless examples of how both her and the council's relationship with Robinson had deteriorated. She asked the council to make a decision; either she would have to step down as the City Attorney or he would have to be terminated. She did not see how she and the council could continue allowing Robinson's behavior. Therefore, it was proposed that the council decide to retain her as the City Attorney or keep Robinson as the Police Chief. At this time, Vice Mayor Crumedy quickly made a motion to terminate Robinson as the Chief of Police. It was then seconded and voted on, passing 4-0.
Upon the conclusion of the meeting, Councilman Barrett spoke of how the situation had become a tragedy for all involved and hoped everyone saw the event as a teachable moment moving forward. "I hope we can all learn from this. I hate what happened here today, but with the circumstances brought forth to us today, we made the right decision, but I hope we can all learn from this for the sake of this community,” Councilman Barrett said.
The council will discuss what the city must do to fill the vacancy that is now left open at their regular scheduled meeting on Tuesday, May 3. When asked what she thought of the council's decision, Attorney Richardson said, "I am very humbled by the council's faith in me and I feel like, with their vote to terminate Robinson, they decided to move the town in the right direction. I am looking forward to serving the town with integrity and moving forward with the progress."