CARLTON FLETCHER: Richard Crowdis’ integrity sets him apart

You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone.

— Anna Kendrick

I can’t say it came as a surprise. I’ve seen it coming for some time now.

Still, there was an element of shock when I heard the words spoken aloud for the first time: Richard Crowdis will retire from his position as Dougherty County administrator at the end of this year.

I read back over the previous sentence, and I felt that sense of unease once again. There are some things that inevitability doesn’t take the sting out of.

I’m not Richard Crowdis’ friend. Long-serving County Commissioner Lamar Hudgins and maybe former Commission Chairman Jeff Sinyard are the only two people I know who have always appeared to qualify for that title. Of course, Crowdis and I don’t move in the same circles and, anyway, he’d probably — matter-of-factly — tell me that who his friends are is none of my business.

But, friendship aside, I will always be one of Crowdis’ most ardent admirers.

The people who serve among the inner circle of the Dougherty County government, the ones who know the way that body works — Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas, Finance Director Martha Hendley, County Clerk Jawahn Ware, Public Works Director Larry Cook, Assistant County Administrator Mike McCoy and Sinyard — understand best what Crowdis’ departure is going to mean to this community.

Most in the general public don’t. And that’s a shame.

Because, journalistic objectivity be damned, I’ve never seen a government administrator who performs his duties as straight-laced, by-the-book as Crowdis. He’s not a politician; Lord knows, that’s probably one of the ugliest words he’s ever had to confront. And he’s not a purveyor of favors, no matter what public or political pressure has been put upon him to provide them.

What Crowdis does is really quite simple, something every person in every profession could manage just as easily were they made of the same kind of stuff. He lets others who are charged with setting the rules and the guidelines on which his duties are based do so, and then he follows them. To the letter. Even when doing so earns him the ire of others who are accustomed to having their wishes granted either because they have a certain level of wealth or have always been able to intimidate or bully others into giving in to their will.

Crowdis is a man of character, a claim very few in his sphere of influence can make. (The only two people I’ve seen in local government who come close to sharing Crowdis’ level of integrity are former Lee County Administrator Alan Ours and current Albany/Dougherty Planning Services Director Paul Forgey.)

Like all of us who grow accustomed to the face looking back at us in the mirror and therefore don’t see the wear and tear that the living of a life impacts on that face, we convince ourselves that some things will always just be. With 40 years of administrative experience under his belt, 20 of them as head of the Dougherty government, many of us who measure the passage of time in Monday meeting after Monday meeting did not pay attention to the damage that certain of life’s blows were having on Crowdis.

He lost his brother to cancer last year. His home took a beating during the Jan. 2 storm, an event that could have been even worse. A limb that crashed through the roof and ceiling of Crowdis’ home hit him in the head, causing an injury that could easily have been a lot worse.

Those are the things that take a toll on a man, no matter how stern a stuff he’s made of.

One of the things 99 percent of the people who’ve only met Richard Crowdis in passing don’t know about him is that he’s a very funny man, possessing a dry humor that, when he uses it, will catch you off guard. When I asked Crowdis about his planned departure, he said, “I went to my 50th class reunion and looked around at all these old people and realized I was one of them.”

That’s what I’ll remember about Richard Crowdis when (if?) he actually does retire.

I’ll also remember the story he told me — deadpan — about working in Brunswick and having a constituent call him up to talk about a dead dog on Albemarle Street. (If you know him well enough, get him to tell you the story. It’s a good one.) I also remember getting comments for a story once from Crowdis and from one of the county commissioners and attributing comments in a story to Crowdis that were actually spoken by the commissioner. The lecture he gave me the next day — and, of course, he was right — drove his point home in a way I’ve never forgotten.

What most people don’t understand when they criticize “government” for all its perceived sins is that government is actually a collection of people, those elected and those appointed to serve. I challenge any who would condemn the Dougherty County government en masse for some perceived wrong to check the record of the man who sits at the top of that food chain before you discount the lot. In that spot, you’ll find one of the best administrators the state of Georgia has ever known.

And whether you know it or not or can conceive of it right now, that guy — Richard Crowdis — is one you’re going to miss when he’s gone.

Email Carlton Fletcher at [email protected]. Follow @ABH_Fletcher on Twitter.