Si Leis - classless to the bitter end

It shouldn't shock anyone to learn that outgoing Sheriff Simon Leis is behaving like a classless, petulant child on his way out.  Rather than ensure a smooth transition to guarantee that the safety of Hamilton County citizens is not compromised, Leis instead prefers to make it difficult for Sheriff-Elect Jim Neil to prepare to take over.  WLWT reports:

Smiling, Neil added that Leis told him he was not to step foot in any of his facilities.

"He was sincere," Neil said. "He didn't want me upsetting the day-to-day functions of the sheriff's office operations."

It was also covered in a similar Enquirer story.  No matter, Leis has fewer than 50 hours remaining in his term.  It will be a great day when he is gone. 

In spite of this poor behavior from Leis, Jim Neil is doing a fantastic job in his preparations.  As the two prior links report, Mr. Neil has already:

1) Condensed the major divisions in the Department from 7 to 3.
2) Eliminated 5 high-ranking positions.
3) Continued his plans for a performance audit, which they hope to have done in the next few months.

Neil estimates the first two items will save over $500,000 annually. There's no telling how much the audit will help save. 

One of this region's worst-kept secrets is that candidate Neil was supported by many COAST Board Members and our relatives and friends who rarely vote for Democrats (though COAST as a whole did not endorse in the race).  So far he is more than justifying the support that many of us gave him.  We applaud Jim Neil for the good work he has done and look forward to seeing what he does over the next several months.