Three Commissioners from the James Island PSD and two members of James Island Town Council met tonight. From the JIPSD were Commissioners Carter McMillan, Inez Brown Crouch and Rod Welch. Councilmen Leonard Blank and Troy Mullinax represented the Town along with myself. Our Town Administrator, Ashley Kellahan, was there as well.
Councilwoman Berry could not attend due to a previous engagement and Councilman Kernodle didn't respond. Commissioners Waring and Platt had said they were coming, but didn't show up. I personally invited Commission Chair Engelman to attend, but he refused. Commission Vice-Chair Hollingsworth didn't respond.
We discussed the Local Option Sales Tax Credit. Commissioner Welch stated that the majority of Commissioners opposed helping the Town provide a tax credit. He cited legal concerns. He also said that it was just silly to think that the District would give up any power over its revenue source. (This was his way of describing the District's power to take money out of the pockets of taxpayers in the Town.) Commissioner McMillan pointed out that he was the one Commissioner who had voted to work with the Town to provide a tax credit. Commissioner Brown Crouch said that rather than the JIPSD just sending letters to the Town saying no, we should have been meeting to discuss these issues months ago. (Commissioner Welch said that the vote to oppose helping the Town was 6 to 1, but really it was 5 to 1 with one abstention. Commissioner Brown Crouch abstained.)
I reported that the Town has asked Attorney General Wilson for an opinion about the legal concerns raised by the JIPSD. Unfortunately, Commissioner Welch made it clear that even if the Attorney General provides an opinion that an agreement between the Town and the JIPSD was legal, he will still oppose working with the Town on a tax credit.
We then discussed the provision of services by the JIPSD to the Town. I explained that the Town has no plan to take over the provision of services from the JIPSD. Councilmen Blank and Mullinax said that it has never been discussed. I reported on my discussion with Councilwoman Berry who said she didn't support taking over the provision of services from the JIPSD.
I said that I was especially troubled that James Island PSD workers had been told that the Town plans to take over the JIPSD and fire the employees. Commissioner Welch said that he had never heard anyone say that. I told him that I asked the JIPSD sanitation worker picking up garbage at my house, and that he said they had been told that the Town was going to close down the JIPSD and fire them. Councilman Blank reported the same experience. The Commissioners agreed to share with their workers that the Town had no such plan.
We discussed the legislation before the South Carolina Senate to reunite the Town. I distributed the amended version of the bill and said that I appreciated that Trent Kernodle, the JIPSD lawyer, was now supporting the amended bill. I asked why this didn't happen months ago. Commissioner Welch said that Commissioners knew nothing about the bill before it was filed. I pointed out that I had met with 5 of the 7 Commissioners explaining the bill before it was filed. And it was filed more than a year ago. I asked why the JIPSD Commissioners didn't explain what problems they had with the bill and propose changes months ago. Commission Welch said that they didn't know about the bill until just recently and came up with helpful changes. I pointed out that they discussed the bill last summer when they attacked Representative McCoy and Senator Thurmond for not coming to them first. At that time Commissioner Hollingsworth and Commissioner Waring claimed that the bill would allow the Town to close down the JIPSD. Commissioner Welch stuck with his position that the JIPSD became aware of the bill just recently and made helpful suggestions to improve the bill.
Commissioner McMillan, who has been working to help reunite the Town all along, asked what could they do now to get the bill passed. Commissioner Welch said that he had to carefully review the current version of the bill to determine if he would support it.
Commissioner Brown Crouch suggested regular joint meetings. Commissioner Welch said that he thought that the Town was doing just fine and really had nothing to say to the Town. But he also said he was open to meetings when necessary. He saw no value in having meetings just for meetings sake. Commissioner McMillan suggested that we send representatives to each others meetings. Commissioner Welch agreed to bring it up with the other Commissioners whether we would have regular joint meetings in the future.
On the whole, I think it was a productive and informative meeting. Commissioners McMillan and Brown Crouch have proven records of supporting the Town. Please thank them when you see them. I also appreciate that Commissioner Welch came to the meeting.
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