Richmond County sheriff's deputies promise to remove those who overstay at Augusta hotels

After months of complaints by hotel owners that the Richmond County Sheriff's Office is not doing enough to remove people who overstay at their establishments, a deputy this week told the Augusta Commission that they are, in fact, removing people when called.

"We're removing them from the hotels now," said sheriff's Sgt. Cory Carlyle. He also said they give people bus tickets to reach resources around Augusta if they are homeless.

The Georgia Supreme Court ruling Efficiency Lodge, Inc. v. Neason et al., where several residents of a long-term stay hotel sued when management attempted to evict them without filing a formal eviction claim in court, determined that under some circumstances a resident at a hotel could be considered a tenant. But they returned the ruling to the lower court to determine whether or not that applied in that specific case.

In August, sheriff's Maj. Gerald Metzler said because of the new law and the confusion around it, they would not remove people unless they had only been at the hotel a few days, and said a new county ordinance would help.

More: Augusta Commission to hold workshop on hotel overstays after weeks of updates

At a previous meeting, the Asian American Hotel Owners Association had put forward a potential ordinance based on one from Morrow, Georgia to clarify the issue. At this meeting, representatives of AAHOA were joined by a representative of the Georgia Hotel & Lodging Association as well.

Samuel Meller, a senior staff attorney for Augusta, said on Thursday there was little in the Morrow ordinance that would be new to Augusta, other than a limit of 10 days on guests staying in a hotel in a 30-day period — something the hotel owners are uninterested in.

Carlyle, however, said the sheriff's office can already remove people from the property for theft of service if they overstay without paying. Several hotel owners said that in recent years that has not been the case, and that hotel owners have even been threatened with arrest for not re-opening rooms for guests after locking them out.

More: Augusta commission hears more about hotel overstay issues, might consider an ordinance

“We don’t even want them arrested. We want them off of our property," Andy Sharma, a local hotel owner, told the commission.

Commissioner Sean Frantom asked for a statement from the sheriff's office that people who overstay in hotels are being removed.

“I think it would all make us feel at ease if we could get an official statement," he said.

Sharma said after the meeting he had mixed emotions about how it went, but if he got a statement from the office stating deputies would enforce a hotel overstay as a theft of services it would address his concerns.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Augusta Commission asks sheriff's office for clarity on hotel overstay