A special Senate subcommittee held a hearing on Senate Bill 723 last Wednesday in Columbia. Senate Bill 723 was filed by Senator Paul Thurmond. The bill would give special service districts, including the James Island Public Service District, the power to request the annexation of the unincorporated portion of the district to a municipality that already includes the majority of the population or registered voters of the district. The Town of James Island includes the majority of the population and registered voters of the JIPSD, so the bill would allow the JIPSD to request that all of the former Town citizens that we lost in 2011 be returned to the Town. If the Town accepts, which we would, then the Town of James Island will be reunited.
Mayor Pro-Tem, Leonard Blank. and our Town Administrator, Ashley Kellahan, both drove up to Columbia to testify in favor of the bill. I had to teach class that morning, so I sent a written statement. By all reports, Senator Thurmond did a great job in representing the people of James Island. If you see him, please give him a big thank you on behalf of the Town.
Lobbyists from the South Carolina Association of Counties and the South Carolina Association of Special Service Districts both were at the hearing and raised concerns. Fortunately, both groups seemed to agree with Senator Thurmond that the bill could be amended and clarified to resolve their concerns.
Remarkably, Trent Kernodle, the attorney for the James Island Public Service District, also traveled to Columbia to attend the hearing. He was harshly critical of the bill. Unfortunately, neither Councilman Blank nor our Town Administrator could understand exactly what concerns he had with the bill. Senator Thurmond had the same reaction and asked him to stick to discussing what was actually in the bill. In response to Senator Thurmond's questioning, Kernodle did finally agree that he supports reuniting the Town.
The Town retained a lawyer, Danny Crowe, about a year ago to work on the bill. Crowe was formerly the general counsel for the South Carolina Municipal Association. I have asked that he contact the South Carolina Association of Counties, the South Carolina Association of Special Service Districts, and Trent Kernodle to discover exactly what concerns they have regarding the bill.
Passage of anything through the Senate is difficult. Representative Peter McCoy has filed a companion bill in the House, and it is been co-sponsored by the Speaker. Hopefully, progress can be made in the House as well.
In my opinion, having the James Island PSD's lawyer testify against the bill doesn't help at all. However, what is most needed now is for the James Island PSD to provide a written, coherent explanation of exactly what they see wrong with the bill. Only then can the bill be modified to take into account any legitimate concerns they might have. Because the bill only gives special services an additional power, it is difficult to understand why they would be concerned.
What can you do?
Please call, write, and email the Commissioners. Ask them to work with the Town and not against it. Remember, four Commissioners will be up for election in November.
Here is a link to the JIPSD website including the Commissioner's phone numbers.
http://www.jipsd.org/commission.html
Here are the emails I have for them:
Chairman David Engelman
chairswarm@aol.com
(This goes to the Chairman's wife, Sandi Engleman, so be sure to address it to David Engelman.)
Vice Chairman Donald Hollingsworth
donaldh53@hotmail.com
Rod Welch
rod@hotelguides.com
June Waring
waring1040@knology.net
Eugene Platt
poet1326@hotmail.com
Inez Brown Crouch
ibcrouch2006@yahoo.com
Carter McMillan
cartermac@aol.com
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