The county commission does not make personnel decisions for the sheriff’s office. Sheriff is an elected position, and county officials said Sheriff Deb Burchett, whose term ends in January, is in charge of these, answering to the voters.
“The sheriff is solely responsible, the sole authority for making personnel decisions, for hiring, firing, along with Chief (Deputy Mike) Young,” Flax Wilt said.
The social media posts, included in Rodgers’ personnel file, include one stating: “At the end of the day I will require proof of who you voted for if you ask me for help. Weapons and ammo are not cheap.” Another one posted on Oct. 20 said: “I am sorry. If you support the Democrat party I will not help you.”
Flax Wilt said complaints about the posts came to the commission first, which they passed on to the sheriff’s office for action.
There is a letter from Rodgers to Major Scott Cultice in Rodgers’ personnel file. In it, Rodgers says he does not recall writing the posts and that he was alerted to them when a coworker asked if he was OK. He wrote that he did not find them on his page when he searched for them and that the first time he saw them was during a meeting with Cultice.
Rodgers said that he sometimes takes a prescribed sleep aid that can cause him to make “out of character” texts, phone calls or other forms of communication as a side effect.
Rodgers on Friday shared a letter with the News-Sun, apologizing to the community, the sheriff’s office, his coworkers and his family. He said his sleep medication — which he said he’s stopped taking — has caused him to text, make phone calls, walk around his house, eat food and post on social media.
The lieutenant said in the letter that as soon as he learned of the messages, he deactivated his Facebook account and stopped taking the medication. He said he reached out to his doctor to seek an alternative medication. He said he also reached out to the Clark County Commission, community partners and the NAACP to have “face-to-face conversations” to explain himself, “take ownership of the posts” and apologize.
“I know it will be difficult for the public to trust me, but I will do everything in my power to start mending that trust. I apologize from the bottom of my heart and want to [assure] our community I will always serve to the best of my ability and strive to do better,” Rodgers wrote. “I want to [assure] the citizens in our community that I have always treated everyone with dignity and respect no matter our differences and will strive to show them I can do better.”
The News-Sun has requested Rodgers’ updated personnel file, and reached out to the sheriff’s office for more information. Rodgers did not immediately return a request for additional comment.
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