By Lolita Huckaby
BEAUFORT
Beaufort County has a new administrator – well, we will as of July 1 – but the controversy that’s embroiled county operations for at least the past year, continues.
For those who may have missed it, the County Council unanimously agreed two weeks ago to hire Michael R. Moore a deputy administrator from York County, S.C. to take the job interim administrator John Robinson has held since July when former administrator Eric Greenway was fired.
The proverbial ink had probably not dried on the employment contract before the Post and Courier reported that, by the way, the process the County Council had used to hire Moore did not comply with state law. Seems the Council overlooked the fact they’re required, by law, to let the public know – in the name of transparency — the top three contenders for the job prior to making a decision.
And then the Island Packet reported not only had procedure not been followed but Moore was the council’s second choice. Their first candidate declined the county’s offer.
One would think, with a legal department of four lawyers, the Council would get good guidance on hiring administrators. That’s not to mention all the other legal firms they contract with to do their bidding, including the recent firm Haynsworth Sinkler and Boyd provided a very limited report on their investigation into the actions of former administrator Eric Greenway, for which county taxpayers authorized up to $350,000.
Of course, the County Council isn’t the only group at fault with that hiring policy for government positions.
Turns out across the street, Beaufort City Manager Scott Marshall, in the hiring of the city’s new police chief, also departed from the same rules of public notification, according to a report in the Post and Courier.
Regardless of how these two new public officials got there – Police Chief Stephanie Price and County Administrator Moore – you gotta wish them well. They both have their work cut out for them. The lack of respect for the hiring policies alone indicates how things are getting done.
Reflections on County government building’s demolition
BEAUFORT – And while we contemplate the continuing drama over in the county administration building – the annual budget preparation by a chief financial officer who’s announced her resignation, the exit of capital projects director Eric Larson who is part of the nine different ethics violations under investigation by the state — those who have been around for awhile can reflect on the “old days” of county government as they watched this past week the “hallowed halls” for those operations being demolished.
The former Arthur Horne County Office Building, named for the late County Council Chairman Horne, was the last part of the former Robert Smalls Middle School that occupied that corner of Ribaut Road and Boundary Street before the days of desegregation.
While the school buildings have gradually been demolished to make way for the growing county government complex, the former middle school gymnasium was demolished to make way for the county courthouse when it moved from the historic structure on Bay Street.
But going back to the building that came down last week. Before the current county administration building was built, the County Council used to have their meetings in there. The county administrator and his staff were right down the hall. The county elections office was across the hall and on election night, counting ballots was a democratic process to behold – and Daufuskie was always last to report then as well.
Clemson Extension Services had their offices there at one point. People would bring in their soil samples in tiny jars for the free soil testing the agency used to provide and those samples would line the hallway if you got stuck outside a council meeting.
The magistrates moved in after the administrators left and they occupied those renovated school rooms until the new adjacent three-story Arthur Horne County Office building was completed last summer. The offices, and the people who worked there, changed over the years, but … reportedly … the raccoons and marsh rats that built nests in the ceilings did not, despite the best efforts of public works folks.
You gotta wonder where they’ve gone now – those raccoons and rats. No room for them any more in the vacant space which is going to be used for parking … for now.
Curious about proposed transportation sales tax?
BEAUFORT – After Beaufort County Council marked “hire new administrator” off their collective bucket list, the gang got down to reworking the proposed transportation sales tax referendum they hope the voters will support come November.
The wording of the referendum question has to be finalized by August to get on the ballot and with all the burning issues the elected officials have on their plate not to mention elections, time is running out.
After holding five public community forums on the proposal and realizing there was general opposition to the idea of a 15-year sales tax, the council’s Public Facilities committee last week sat down for two hours and masterfully negotiated compromises, throwing out numbers and road projects to pare the proposal down to a 10-year sales tax anticipated to raise $950 million in sales taxes rather than the $1.6 billion initially proposed.
With incredible wheeling and dealing, the list drawn up last fall by a citizens group was reduced. But some major projects are still there: $60 million for the Lady’s Island Corridor changes (whatever they turn out to be); $75 million for Ribaut Road (although the idea of narrowed lanes and at least two round-abouts through the Beaufort part of that project formerly known as “Reimagine Ribaut Road” appear to be off the table); and directions to the town of Bluffton they better not be thinking about sneaking the proposed and very controversial Bluffton Parkway extension known as 5B into any future design plans.
All this and the full Council must agree to support the plan, convince their municipal counterparts to endorse it and then sell it to the voting public. Whew.
And four of these elected officials — York Glover and Gerald Dawson, both from north of the Broad River and the only Democrats on council and Logan Cunningham and Mark Lawson, both from the Bluffton-Daufuskie are and Republicans — are up for re-election this year.
Proposed plastic straw ban sucks wind
BEAUFORT – Did you hear about the proposed plastic straw ban the County Council contemplated two weeks ago? Probably not since the majority rejected the idea flat out.
Didn’t seem to matter that a growing number of local governments across the country are passing such regulations. The city of Charleston included a ban on all plastic bags, plastic straws and polystyrene/foam containers in 2018 when the council became the largest municipality in the state to pass a plastic ban which included plastic straws.
The county’s Keep Beaufort Beautiful Board brought the idea up at the Community Services and Land Use committee last month as an addition to the county’s existing plastic bag ban which was passed in 2018. It was forwarded to the full council two weeks ago, the same meeting where members voted to hire a new administrator.
At the full council meeting, the committee’s recommendation to even consider a ban went down faster than a proverbial lead balloon.
Some council members felt the proposal was “forcing (change) down the throats” of businesses. They felt consumers should demand change from the businesses rather than enforced by regulations.
Acting Chairman Larry McElynn even suggested the matter be sent back to the committee for further discussion and conversations with local businesses and the municipalities. He called the additional prohibitions “necessary if we’re going to save this planet.”
A seven-member majority weren’t buying it. But county officials said there might be ways to “refine” the proposal. If you care about the environment and litter, you’ll just have to wait and see.
Lolita Huckaby Watson is a community volunteer and newspaper columnist. In her former role as a reporter with The Beaufort Gazette, The Savannah Morning News, Bluffton Today and Beaufort Today, she prided herself in trying to stay neutral and unbiased. As a columnist, these are her opinions. Her goal is to be factual but opinionated, based on her own observations. Feel free to contact her at bftbay@gmail.com.
