Holman, Lukas respond to infamous Facebook post
By Brandi Makuski
County officials have formally addressed the issue of racial bias.
Stemming from accusations of racism and bigotry over what was intended to be a humorous Facebook post on Oct. 13, Portage Co. Executive Chris Holman and Sheriff Mike Lukas on Oct. 17 released a joint statement.
“While it’s clear to us that the intention behind the post had absolutely nothing to do with race, the impact was one that generated hundreds of comments that varied from support for the original intent of the meme to constructive criticism of the post…to vile and hateful,” the statement reads in part. “Sadly, this sort of chaos has become the norm with social media, and we’d like to apologize to everyone affected by the post.”
The statement goes on to say county officials have received “numerous” phone calls, emails, and in-person inquiries about the issue, and they’ve taken the past few days to perform “due diligence” before releasing a statement.
Holman and Lukas said they had an internal meeting on Tuesday with others in county government to discuss the issue. Holman said his office supports the sheriff and his staff, while Lukas said he’s taking steps to ensure a similar incident doesn’t occur in the future.
“We regret what has happened and that people have felt disappointed in the sheriff’s office or personally targeted by this post,” the statement reads.
Holman said social media is a “grey area” not currently addressed by county policy, and plans to work with the county’s IT department to create a best practices guide.
Holman also met with the Portage Co. Human Resources Department this week to discuss the possibility of additional social media training.
“We need to do a better job of listening to each other, and moving forward we will work together with the community and others in county government to approach these conversations in a more constructive manner.”