Category: Government

Term Limits Get Green Light

BLYTHEWOOD – With only three of its four members present, Town Council amended its 2014 budget on Monday evening to reflect more accurately the operational losses it has incurred in the operation of Doko Manor this past year. The 2014 budget that was set last July projected a $20,000 loss in the Manor’s operating funds in the 2014 fiscal year, which ends June 30, but by December that loss was already at $22,000 and climbing. The adjustment revised the projected loss from $12,000 to $44,000 for General Maintenance/Service Supplies and from $33,000 to $49,000 for Program and Oversight Salaries for the fiscal year. Councilman Bob Massa, a CPA, had advised Council at a previous meeting that state law requires a budget adjustment when the budget veers from its projections by more than 5 percent.

Other revisions to the budget included: appropriation for Ground Maintenance was changed from $8,000 to $2,500; General Maintenance/Major Repairs from $10,000 to $5,000 and Utilities from $22,000 to $14,000. The changes will not go into effect until second reading, which will probably occur at the next meeting.

Term Limits

Council voted 3-0 to place limits on the number of terms for which an individual may be elected and reelected as Mayor or Town Council member. The idea was brought forward at the Dec. 16 meeting by then newly seated Councilman Tom Utroska. The suggestion was generally supported by Councilmen Massa and Bob Mangone, but opposed by Mayor J. Michael Ross. Although the Mayor was absent on Monday evening due to a pressing family matter, his opposition received strong support Monday evening from James Meggs, the Town’s interim administrator, who told the other Council members that “This ordinance has been promulgated by one of your colleagues. But you will note in the ordinance that you have been informed by your Town Attorney (who is also Meggs) that a South Carolina Attorney General has opined that term limits are beyond the proper scope of your authority.”

However, the opinion actually only states that “term limits are not authorized by state law.”

Meggs then reiterated, “I just wanted you to once again be clear that you at least have an Attorney General’s opinion that holds this is not an authorized effort by Town Council.”

“An opinion is just that,” Massa quipped after Meggs offered his advice.

Utroska added that, while he made the proposal for term limits, the suggestion was brought to him by citizens in the Town. Utroska also reminded Meggs that, “while the state may not have authorized term limits, neither has it prohibited them.” Council forthwith voted unanimously to prescribe term limits for elected officials of the Town.

Doko Manor Projections

After being named the new Events and Conference Center Director of the Manor by Town Council Monday night, Booth Chilcutt thanked Council for their confidence in him and gave them the long awaited first quarter projections they have been seeking from former Manor Director Martha Jones since late last fall. Chilcutt also outlined second quarter projections that he said will show some leveling out of expenses.

Referring to a projected income report he handed out to Council and members of the audience, Chilcutt reported income projections, based on scheduled events as of Feb. 17, at $15,654 through March and $15,667 for April, May and June, for a monthly average of $5,220. According to Massa, expenses for the Manor average $6,600 each month. Chilcutt said there are a total of 28 paid events and 48 unpaid events already on the books through March, but that beginning in April, there are 31 paid events and only 21 unpaid events for the second quarter. He said the number of unpaid events for February and March are skewed by the inclusion of 24 rehearsals for the Bravo Blythewood Community Theater. Asked by Massa why the rehearsals are being held for free at the Manor when they could just as easily have been held at Westwood High School where the play will be held, Booth said those arrangements were made before he became Director.

Utroska pointed out that “We’re spending about $28.46 an hour when this place is open and we’re having a lot of groups like this using it for free. We need to cover the outflow of expenses of this money pit. We need to be charging these ‘free’ groups for their costs – setup charges, the dance floor, etc. The room may be free but we have charges. If a group uses it for free for two hours, we need to be charging $30 an hour for our overhead plus any applicable fees for setup and use of equipment. We aren’t trying to make money. We’re trying to get to where we are not subsidizing someone’s party.”

Chilcutt agreed, saying, “Initially the vision was to make this a community based facility and a lot of people wanted to use it for free, but we have real costs involved that we need to monitor and control.”

While a 25 percent increase in rental fees has been proposed, Utroska said notice would be given to the public prior to Council implementing additional charges for both paid and unpaid events at the Manor.

Rules Changed for PC Appointments

In other business, Council passed final reading to amend provisions of an ordinance the Ross administration, with no public objections from Meggs (as Town Attorney), has repeatedly ignored pertaining to how applicants are recruited for the Planning Commission. The previous ordinance required the posting of notices of vacancies on the Planning Commission at least 30 days prior to appointment so that members of the public are adequately notified of vacancies in case they want to apply. Meggs has repeatedly stated that such requirements are overly complex and that the new ordinance simplifies the process. The new ordinance no longer requires public notification when vacancies occur, but provides for Council to advertise twice a year (January and July) for applicants for the Planning Commission. Council recently passed similar ordinances for the Board of Architectural Review and the Board of Zoning Appeals.

Council voted to go in to executive session to discuss negotiations incident to the proposed contractual arrangements for the Doko Depot Restaurant. No votes were taken following the executive session.

Council has scheduled a work session on March 14 at the Manor to further discuss ways to equalize the Manor’s expenses and other matters.

WINNSBORO – More than a month after the collapse of a portion of retaining wall at the recently completed Drawdy Park football field sparked criticism of the project’s manager, S2 Engineering, and spurred County Council to call for a review of all S2 projects, one Council member created a stir Monday night when he said the real issue was about race.

“For those in the audience who are not familiar with a lot of stuff, S2 Engineering firm is a black firm,” Councilman Mikel Trapp (District 3) said during Monday night’s Council meeting. “So, some of the blacks can probably relate. You’ll get the picture. (It’s) a black firm, the only black firm in the county. Who’s all complaining about them? They happen to be all white Fairfield County citizens.”

The mixed-race audience immediately issued forth a series of uncomfortable groans, with one unidentified member of the crowd loudly grumbling, “The Race Card.”

“The issue’s been made by race,” Trapp replied, and as the din began to grow, Chairman David Ferguson (District 5) brought down the gavel.

“No comments,” Ferguson said, hammering the gavel.

“Mr. Chair, is that not out of line?” another unidentified member of the audience asked. “You could throw him out. That is out of line.”

When Ferguson instead asked this particular audience member to leave, Mr. William Turner asked from the back row, “When are you going to leave, Mr. Ferguson?”

After identifying Turner, Ferguson ejected him as well.

“You all come on with me, though,” Turner said on his way out. “If I leave, you should go.”

Trapp’s comments, which were left lingering in the atmosphere like fumes from a ruptured sewer main, came on the heels of a clarification by interim County Administrator Milton Pope, at the request of Councilwoman Mary Lynn Kinley (District 6), on how S2 was selected for the Drawdy Park project. The park lies within the boundaries of Kinley’s district. Pope said that since his arrival in July, the County has been following standard procurement guidelines as outlined in the County’s policies. How things were handled before that, he said, he could only discern from reviewing “prior information.”

“There was a contract for S2 Engineering,” Pope said. “There was a list of engineers that were chosen to do certain work. S2 Engineering was one of those. I cannot tell you specifically, not from documents at least in writing, of how those things worked, but it appeared as though that there were engineers that were chosen to do certain works, certain projects. All of them were not necessarily procured in the traditional way, but selected from a list of contractors to do various work for the County.”

After the meeting, Trapp reiterated his feelings that race, not competency, was at the heart of criticism of S2, an engineering firm actually located in Irmo, which lies mostly in Lexington County with parts of its borders reaching into Richland County.

“I believe it,” Trapp said. “Yes, I do.”

Trapp also alluded to the possibility that the retaining wall may have been brought down by someone intentionally.

“I do not think the wall fell down on its own,” Trapp said.

WINNSBORO – In the wake of last week’s revelation that the State Ethics Commission had issued notices of hearing to three County Council members, Council took no small amount of heat during Monday night’s meeting from one outspoken member of the public.

“Council members who have been accused and charged and will be found guilty by the State Ethics (Commission) should resign immediately,” Jeff Schaffer said during the evening’s second public comment session. “If not for their own self-respect, then do it for us, the public taxpayer of Fairfield County. We elected you to serve us, not yourselves, and it’s obvious that more than a few of you are incapable of performing your duties without making excuses or continuing to back the bus over Mr. Hinely (former County Administrator Phil) time and time again. We would like to see you take responsibility, step up and say, ‘I made a huge error in judgment and I think I should resign for my actions’.”

Last week, the Ethics Commission issued a notice of hearing to Council Chairman David Ferguson (District 5), Councilman Mikel Trapp (District 3) and Councilwoman Mary Lynn Kinley (District 6), outlining four counts against Ferguson, six counts against Kinley and 11 counts against Trapp (see the Feb. 7 edition of The Voice). Trapp, who had previously offered no public statement on his charges, shot back Monday night following Schaffer’s comments.

“As to Mr. Schaffer’s concerns: I notice you didn’t call any names about the (Ethics charges),” Trapp said. “I’m one of those (charged) . . . You said I should resign immediately. (It will) never happen. Beat me at the ballot box in November, because I’m not going to resign.”

When an unidentified member of the audience spoke up, saying, “I think you should resign,” Trapp answered, “Well, you wait and see.”

“I also notice that you left out Mrs. (Carolyn) Robinson (District 2) from your Ethics comments,” Trapp continued. “Is that because she’s a member of your Tea Party group? She got the same paperwork I got.”

At that point, Schaffer asked Ferguson if he could respond.

“You may not,” Ferguson answered, at which time another unidentified member of the audience spoke out: “So we just get to listen?”

“You get to listen,” Trapp answered. “You can talk to Mrs. Robinson, since she started this whole group (Saving Fairfield) from District 2, all her neighbors, started this whole mess. But if you’re waiting on me to resign, it’ll be a cold day in you-know-where.”

At press time, The Voice could not confirm additional notices of hearings handed down to any of the other Council members.

Trapp, according to the Ethics Commission, allegedly violated Section 8-13-700(A) of the S.C. Code of Laws “by knowingly using his official office to obtain an economic interest for himself by vacationing in county funded lodging following the conclusion of the S.C. Association of Counties’ summer conference” on Hilton Head Island in July of 2010, 2011 and 2013. The Ethics Commission said Trapp also failed to disclose payments made by the County to him in lieu of health benefits on his Statement of Economic Interest forms in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

In addition, Trapp is accused of “knowingly using his official office to obtain an economic interest for a family member when he voted to allocate” funds “to his sister-in-law’s employer, CIC, Inc.” Trapp’s notice of hearing states that the “votes” came on July 1, 2011; July 7, 2011; July 10, 2012; and July 15, 2013. The amounts allegedly allocated were: $2,500 on July 1, 2011; $1,234 on July 7, 2012; $3,500 on July 10, 2012; and $2,500 on July 15, 2013.

A review of minutes on the Fairfield County Web site turns up no votes by Council on any matter related to CIC, Inc., and that no meetings were held on July 1, 2011; July 7, 2011; or July 10, 2012. Council did hold a special meeting on July 15, 2013, but only to debate recreation funding. The Ethics Commission clarified this week that those dates reflect when the checks were cut to CIC, Inc., not when the votes were taken to allocate the funds. The Ethics Commission said they did not know when the votes to distribute the funds were held.

Monday night, Trapp confirmed that the payments were made to Community Improvement, Inc., a 501(c)3 registered with the S.C Secretary of State’s office that, through donations, provides schools supplies to underprivileged children. Trapp said his sister-in-law serves on the CIC, Inc. Board of Directors. The funds were disbursed from Trapp’s discretionary fund, he said.

“I’ve been giving to (them) since 2008,” Trapp said. “Starting in 2008, I had to turn in all the board members’ names to Mr. Hinely, and Hinely called the Ethics Commission to confirm it was (OK) for me to give to them.”

Last week, the Ethics Commission said that sisters-in-law were added in 2010 to the list of family members for whom public officials are prohibited from using their office to obtain an economic interest. That Trapp’s sister-in-law is not an owner of CIC “is a distinction we’re going to have to look at with Mr. Trapp,” the Ethics Commission said.

Milton Pope, interim County Administrator, said that each Council member has $3,500 in their annual discretionary fund. However, Trapp’s disbursement of $2,500 on July 1, 2011 and another $1,234 on July 7, 2011, exceeds the $3,500 threshold by $234. Pope said it was possible the 2011 disbursements shown in the Ethics Commission documents represent an overlap of fiscal years, but that he would have to review the corresponding documents to confirm that possibility. As of press time, that confirmation had not been made. Monday night, Trapp said he could not remember the details of the 2011 payments to CIC, Inc.

BLYTHEWOOD – During an intense five-hour workshop last Friday, Blythewood Town Council discussed ways to ‘stop the bleeding’ of the Doko Manor, which, all worried aloud, could possibly become too expensive to operate in the not too distant future. A question that popped up again and again was “How long can the Town continue to subsidize the Manor?”

The other big concern was whether to go forward with construction of the Doko restaurant in light of both real and feared financial risks. Councilman Tom Utroska asked, “In a worst case scenario, if the restaurant owner defaulted in the second year and the Town had to pick up the payment for the next eight years, would we (the Town) have enough disposable income to make those payments?”

Mayor J. Michael Ross answered, only half joking, “That depends on how much we’re still losing on the Manor.”

The Manor’s Financial Bind

In October, the Town’s CPA, Kem Smith, reported that the Manor was operating at a deficit of $106,000 ($52,000 in furnishings and $54,000 in operating costs) after the first six months of operation (March to October 2013.) Last month, Smith reported operating losses of almost $23,000 during the first half of fiscal year 2014 (July – December 2013.) She said that the improved picture of the losses resulted from spreading some pre-paid expenses over the 12-month fiscal year. Since Smith’s report did not separate the losses by month during the first half of fiscal year 2014, The Voice has not been able to determine how much of that $23,000 loss was in addition to the $106,000. As of press time, Town Hall has not responded to requests for the information.

Councilman Bob Massa said that since the $52,000 for Manor furnishings was paid out of the general fund, it can’t be paid back with more general fund money. He said if the Town sets up a payment schedule to pay off the $52,000 from another source, such as Hospitality Tax revenue, it will take four and a half years of $1,000 per month payments.

Ross told Council, “The December numbers for the Manor were only down $597. I really think the previous $6,000 (per month loses) are what got us to this.”

Massa told Council that the breakeven point on operating cost for the Manor is about $6,600 a month. “Were putting in about $4,000 a month,” Massa said.

Councilman Bob Mangone had criticism for the former Events and Conference Center (Manor) Director, Martha Jones, for not providing financial projections to Council for the Manor’s losses when requested. “We asked three times for the projections,” Mangone said.

“We may have needed to have a person with more experience and who could look at the numbers,” Ross conceded, “but those numbers were never shared with (her.)”

“With all due respect for Ms. Jones’ competency,” Mangone said, “it doesn’t take a Master’s degree in finance to add up how many events you had, how much was charged and how much the total came out to be.”

“And she did that very well,” Ross countered.

“She never even gave us a first quarter projection,” Mangone said.

“Well,” Ross said, “she isn’t here anymore.” (Jones resigned effective Jan. 29, 2013 to go to work for Richland School District 2).

“But we asked for it three different times,” Mangone said. “And all we ever got was telling us how well we did in December. But how many events do we have scheduled in January, February and March? How much are we charging for them? There. You’ve got the number. It’s not rocket science.” Utroska and Massa agreed.

Jones told Council in October that she had not had access to the monthly financial reports on The Manor. Asked about that, Smith told The Voice she sent the reports every month to the Town Hall. When asked by The Voice whether she had ever asked anyone for those reports, Jones did not answer.

“We were again promised by Ms. Jones that she would have (the projections) to us before this meeting. But still we don’t have them,” Mangone said.

Another sticking point had to do with the Town’s policy of paying the expenses of groups who ‘rented’ the Manor for free. Utroska said he didn’t think the Town should be paying the expenses for such things as air conditioning, heating and the laundering of tablecloths and napkins for groups that are allowed free use of the Manor.

“But this is our Community Center,” Ross said. “I don’t know who ever thought we could break even here. Give it a chance. We’ve raised the fees about 25 percent on the weekends.”

“I think as soon as we said we were going to rent it,” Mangone added, “then it lost the concept of a Community Center. It’s a venue that the community uses.”

Mangone said he didn’t think The Manor would ever break even, “because the 25 percent increase is not going to come close to covering the expenses. We’re going to have to decide how much we are willing to subsidize The Manor.”

“We are not going to break even,” Massa agreed. “We need a minimum charge for use of the building and we (are now paying) for some of the Director’s salary with Hospitality Tax money.”

He told the group that because the budget was more than 5 percent off because of the losses, the law required them to revise it. Ross suggested Massa work with Smith and Meggs to bring some suggestions for that revision to another workshop scheduled for Council on Monday, Feb. 17.

The Manor Punch List

Another item for discussion was the Manor’s ‘punch list’ – items that the contractor is obligated to finish, repair or touch-up by March 12. Utroska, who has assumed oversight of such items from his predecessor on Council, Paul Moscati, said the list includes 16 interior and exterior items ranging from interior doors that need replacing and corrections to the paving to missing ceiling tiles and chipped paint on the pergola. While there is no additional expense for the punch list repairs, Utroska also listed the following necessary items that will be an additional cost to the Town:

A security system for the Manor.

A maintenance reserve account for ongoing wear and tear or for carpet/HVAC replacement.

Final top layer of paving on roads and parking areas.

To set up a reserve or enterprise fund for the Manor, Massa, a CPA, suggested the Town consider setting aside money from the Hospitality Fund, which is a fund derived from a tax collected by the Town’s restaurants, to be used to attract tourists to the town.

“By law we can take $25,000 of this money from the general fund for tourism related items,” Massa said. “We would have to pass a resolution, but then it could be used for the park as well as the Manor.”

Massa told The Voice that the Town’s $2 million reserve fund could not be tapped for the enterprise fund.

Earlier in the meeting, Town Attorney/interim Administrator Jim Meggs said that Larry Sharpe’s last $500,000 payment for the Community Center had been received by the Town and was available for a reserve (maintenance/replacement) fund for the Manor.

But an overall budget recap of the Park and Manor that was presented to Council by former Councilman Moscati on Sept. 16, 2013, and which appeared on the front page of the Sept. 20, 2013 issue of The Voice, showed the entire $1.5 million from the sale of the Community Center property (to Larry Sharpe) is no longer available. According to Moscati, that entire revenue has already been spent and accounted for in the construction of the Manor and park.

Doko Restaurant Status

Mangone reported on his research into the Town’s $900,000 loan from Santee Cooper to build the proposed Doko restaurant. He said the terms of the loan are 2 percent interest the first five years, with payments at $18,000 per year. For years six-10, the loan floats and the interest rate is whatever the one-year treasury bill rate is for that year. Mangone said the contract is between Santee Cooper and the Blythewood Facilities Corporation (BFC), a non-profit corporation created by the town government, that was signed by State Rep. Joe McEachern, the BFC president.

“Those loan payments over a 10-year period,” Mangone said, “will be roughly $220,000 short of the $900,000. But the plan is to rent the restaurant to Jonathan Bazinet, and it’s fair to say that if Mr. Bazinet’s restaurant produces the revenue that he thinks it will, then the Town would bring in between $400,000 and $500,000 just from the 2 percent Hospitality Tax that would be generated from Bazinet’s revenue.

Mangone said it is his understanding from reading the loan contract and a letter former Town Administrator John Perry sent Santee Cooper asking for the loan, that the Town is the guarantor of the loan and that if the restaurant fails, the Town is on the hook to make the payments. Meggs disagreed, saying the Town is not on the hook and is not the guarantor of the loan.

“It is very clear,” Meggs said, “that we (the Town) have the opportunity to non-appropriate (not pay) and the BFC is on the hook, not the Town.”

But both agreed that if the loan is defaulted, Santee Cooper could take over ownership of the restaurant and the land it sits on and the Town’s bond rating would go through the floor.

The Council members said they had little understanding of the BFC and requested that the Town’s bond attorney, Ray Jones of Parker Poe Consulting Firm, and the Town’s CPA explain the functions and financials of the BFC at the Feb. 17 meeting.

Meggs explained that, “The BFC is designed to do one thing – avoid the bonded debt limitation of the Constitution. The lynch pin of all this is the non-appropriation option that the Town has every year, which keeps it out of the full faith and credit and general obligation of the town.”

Meggs added later in the meeting, “the BFC is a way (the Town) got around certain regulations and restrictions.”

While Council expressed their faith in Bazinet’s ability to be successful in the restaurant, “Our decision (on whether to build the restaurant) should not be based on whether Mr. Bazinet will be successful,” said Mangone. “The Town’s responsibility is ‘how can we protect ourselves in a worst case scenario.”

At the end of the workshop, Council voted to go in to executive session to further discuss their proposed contract with Bazinet. No vote was taken following the executive session. Council will hold another meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 17 at the Manor.

BLYTHEWOOD –Town Council announced at its workshop last Friday the preliminary criteria for the desirable candidate for a permanent Town Administrator, and it named a committee of four Blythewood residents to make recommendations for the post.

After a fair amount of wrangling over age, experience, relocation and education, Council settled mainly on criteria suggested by Councilman Bob Massa, who recently retired after nine years as Finance Director for the City of Forest Acres and 17 years in city and county government. Preliminary criteria includes relocation to the Town, four to six years’ experience, a degree in public administration or a related field and a salary range of $70,000 – $90,000 annually.

Councilman Bob Mangone will head up the selection committee, which will rank the applicants and recommend their three or four top choices to Council. Council members agreed they would like to have someone in place by the beginning of the summer.

Each Council member appointed one selection committee member. For the most part they selected from their own neighborhoods. Mayor J. Michael Ross chose Joseph Richardson, a Cobblestone neighbor. Richardson, a newcomer to the town government, is an attorney and manages his family’s construction company. He was recently appointed to the Board of Zoning Appeals. Massa chose Carolyn Taylor, a resident of Oakhurst neighborhood and the only woman on the committee. Tom Utroska of Cobblestone Park chose Malcolm Gordge, a resident of Ashley Oaks and a member of the Town’s Planning Commission. Mangone of Cobblestone Park chose Mike Switzer, also a resident of Cobblestone, who Mangone said he felt was the leader of the Town’s business community as chairman of the Blythewood Chamber of Commerce.

Council members said the job will be posted on several websites including those of the S.C. Municipal Association and the S.C. Association of Counties. Council is expected to finalize the selection criteria at their next meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 17, at the Manor.

Claims Against County Council Members Dismissed

WINNSBORO – A Sixth Circuit Court judge has dismissed lawsuits against three Fairfield County Council members, effectively ending efforts by a citizens activist group to recoup funds paid by the County in lieu of supplemental health insurance, as well as funds expended for tuition reimbursements.

Judge R. Knox McMahon issued his order Jan. 30, dismissing “with prejudice” claims against Council Chairman David Ferguson (District 5), Councilman Mikel Trapp (District 3) and Councilwoman Mary Lynn Kinley (District 6). In his order, Knox wrote that the Court agreed with the contentions of the defendants that the plaintiffs “lack standing to pursue” the claims against the Council members.

Citing the S.C. Supreme Court case Freemantle v. Preston, Knox wrote that the state’s high court explained that a plaintiff may acquire standing in one of three ways: “1) through the rubric of ‘constitutional standing;’ 2) under the ‘public importance’ exception; or 3) by statute.” Since no statute exists to confer standing to the plaintiffs in this case, Knox wrote, that leaves only ‘constitutional’ and ‘public importance’.

For a ‘constitutional standing’, Knox wrote, “a plaintiff must first show that he has suffered an injury in fact – an invasion of a legally protected interest which is (a) concrete and particularized, and (b) actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical.” Quoting from the State Supreme Court, Knox continued, “a taxpayer lacks constitutional standing when he suffers in some indefinite way in common with people generally.”

“The same reasoning applies here,” Knox wrote. “The alleged injury Plaintiffs complain of – misuse of public funds – (if it occurred and if it is an injury) is common to all citizens and taxpayers of Fairfield County. Plaintiffs cannot show that they have suffered any concrete and particularized injury; at most they have suffered in some indefinite way in common with all people in Fairfield County generally.

The plaintiffs could also not resort to the ‘public importance exception,’ which allows a court to relax standing requirements “when an issue is of such public importance as to require its resolution for future guidance,” Knox wrote. Again referring to the Preston case, Knox wrote that the plaintiffs in this case were “not seeking injunctive relief but rather monetary relief for themselves based on purported causes of action at common law. As the Preston Court held, these types of claims are inconsistent with standing based upon the public importance exception. Moreover the personnel policy of Fairfield County with respect to past health care disbursements made to county council members is not an ‘issue of such public importance as to require resolution for future guidance’.”

Even if the plaintiffs could have demonstrated standing, Knox wrote, the case would have been dismissed on other grounds.

“Plaintiffs’ claims fail as a matter of law because Plaintiffs have not alleged, and cannot allege, the elements necessary for the two claims they assert [unjust enrichment abuse of trust and conversion – i.e., defendants converted money belonging to plaintiffs to their own uses].”

In the matter of unjust enrichment abuse of trust, Knox wrote that since the funds in question were public funds, “any claim for restitution belongs to the County, not to Plaintiffs.” In the matter of conversion, Knox wrote, “Plaintiffs had neither title to nor right to possess the public funds in question, which belonged to Fairfield County. Moreover, Defendants had no obligation to deliver the funds to the Plaintiffs – in fact, the law would have prevented them from doing so.”

Attorney Jonathan M. Goode, of the Goode Law Firm in Winnsboro, filed the lawsuits on Oct. 25, representing State Rep. MaryGail Douglas (D-41) and 15 others as plaintiffs. The Council members were represented by John Carroll Moylan III of Columbia and Wade Stackhouse Kolb III of Greenville. Phone calls to Goode were not returned at press time. Douglas, meanwhile, expressed her disappointment in the outcome.

“I, along with the other plaintiffs have done all we can do to make this situation right,” Douglas said in a written statement Tuesday night. “We took it to the court system.  The court system has spoken and I respect that decision.  The decision rendered was that three County Council members skated on a technicality.  While the court system forgave them on a technicality, the taxpayers in our county will not be so forgiving.  It was wrong for them to accept that money and they know it.  Those who skated on this technicality will have to answer to the taxpayers in Fairfield County.  As disappointing as this is, we will move on.”

The lawsuit came after the S.C. Attorney General’s Office issued an opinion last July that characterized as unconstitutional cash payouts to the three County Council members to cover supplemental health insurance premiums, and likewise tuition reimbursements to Trapp. Shortly after the opinion, the County ended the payouts. Since 2009, Ferguson, Trapp and Kinley were receiving $475 a month from the County to cover their own supplemental hospitalization insurance. Covered by a state plan for their primary health insurance, Ferguson, Trapp and Kinley were therefore not eligible for the County’s supplemental coverage.