The Post and Courier had a front page story on McCoy's annexation bill. Notice anything missing? The reporter didn't bother to call anyone from the Town of James Island!
When the Town was incorporated in 2012, approximately 1/3 of those who were in the Town in 2011 were left out. They had no opportunity to vote. Many were turned away at the polls.
The reason was that the Town was formed in a way such that there was no chance that it would lose a court challenge. Seeing no way he could succeed, Mayor Riley filed no challenge in 2012. The deadline for any legal challenge to the Town has long passed. The Town is here to stay.
However, my commitment to the former citizens of the Town remains to give them an opportunity to rejoin the Town. The Town began working on a method to allow for annexation almost immediately after our doors were reopened in August of 2012.
The Town annexed six properties in the southern portion of James Island in the spring of 2013. Senator Thurmond and Representative McCoy filed bills in the Senate and House in late 2013 similar to the one Representative McCoy filed in the House last month.
At the same time, I formed the James Island Intergovernmental Council and invited all the elected officials on James Island to participate. That included Mayor Riley and all three of the members of Charleston City Council whose districts are at least partially on James Island. James Island Town Council, the JIPSD Commissioners, and our State and County representatives participate as well. Mayor Riley attended the first meeting at James Island Town Hall in February 2013.
The City sued to block all six of the Town's annexations and also requested that the State Attorney General sue as well. The Attorney General sought to block five of the six annexations. With the help of Senator Thurmond, the Attorney General's office allowed a second annexation, leaving challenges to four.
The Post and Courier wrote a story on this and there was a column that breathlessly predicted a return to total war between the City and Town.
The Town settled with the State, and agreed that four of the annexations were illegal. The Town wrote the City of Charleston pointing out that it had no standing to challenge the Town's annexations. The City of Charleston dropped its suit. The legal issues were solved in a couple of months with no appearances in court.
In the Spring of 2014, based upon the two annexations not challenged by the State, the Town held annexation elections in Quail Run and a portion of Lighthouse Point. Those areas were returned to the Town.
While all of this was happening, the City of Charleston and the Town of James Island cooperated in a variety of areas. Most notably, residents of the Town began to pay the same fees as those in the City of Charleston for City sponsored youth sports. The Town pays the difference to the City. Stormwater managers for the state, county, City of Charleston, and the Town meet each quarter at Town Hall to coordinate storm water (flood) control on James Island. Nearly every Town sidewalk project has crossed City jurisdiction and there has never been any problem with City approval. The sidewalk project between Camp and Folly to Riverland Drive and James Island County Park has been a joint project between the City and Town.
However, none of this stopped our effort to reunite the Town. In 2014, we made some progress in Columbia. McCoy's bill passed the House and Thurmond's bill was heavily amended, made it through the Senate Judiciary committee, and then was stymied by a hold placed by Senator Kimpson.
Yes, a single Senator can block a needed law.
Many residents of James Island, especially from the African American community, contacted Senator Kimpson saying they wanted an opportunity to vote to join the Town. Senator Kimpson withdrew his hold on the bill. Unfortunately, Senator Pinckney then placed a hold on the bill. After James Islanders contacted him, he agreed to withdraw his hold shortly before he was assassinated in 2015.
It was a bit of a mystery why Senators Kimpson and Pinckney opposed the bill. I have discovered that it was the Coastal Conservation League lobbying behind the scenes. Dana Beach claimed that the Town had a secret plan to annex parts of Johns Island. It was never made clear to me where that conspiracy theory came from. I think that we are the Town of James Island pretty much says it all. I have never had any interest in having the Town cross the Stono River to Johns Island.
Meanwhile, Representative McCoy, along with Town Councilman Josh Stokes, began to work on a different bill. Rather than creating a new method of annexation, it would create a special definition of contiguity within a public service district. That bill was filed late in 2016 and then refiled this February. The Town hired former SC House representative Anne Peterson to help us with the bill.
A subcommittee hearing was scheduled in March, but lobbyists in Columbia suggested that we would have more success with the 2014 bill that had already been amended to take care of all of their concerns. While I thought the new approach was better, I supported the 2014 bill then and would do so now.
I asked Senator Chip Campsen to sponsor a companion bill in the Senate. He tentatively agreed and has staff looking at the bill. Senator Campsen represents the southern end of the Town and also unincorporated areas in the southern portion of James Island that would be allowed to vote to return to the Town. Senator Campsen serves on the James Island intergovernmental committee. He cosponsored the changes in incorporation law with Senator Glenn McConnell that are responsible for the existence of the Town. He voted in favor of approximately the same bill in 2014 at the Senate Judiciary committee. I greatly appreciate Senator Campsen's help on this matter. He is a true friend of James Island.
I also asked Senator Sandy Senn to sponsor or co-sponsor a companion bill in the Senate. She represents the northern portion of the Town of James Island and also the unincorporated areas in the north portion of James Island that would be allowed to vote to join the Town if the bill passes. She was just elected last November. (My hope is both of our Senators, Campsen and Senn, would be cosponsors of the companion bill in the Senate.)
Senator Senn said that she would only support the bill if Robert Wise signed off on it.
Who is Robert Wise? He is the district manager of the James Island Public Service District. He works for the JIPSD Commissioners, who are elected by the people of the Town and the unincorporated area on James Island.
I asked Robert Wise if he would be willing to sign off on the bill as Senator Senn asked. He responded that he would talk to Commission Chairman Donald Hollingsworth and representatives of other Public Service Districts across the state. (I certainly think it is appropriate that he defer to the elected officials for whom he works.)
I contacted Chairman Hollingsworth and he said he could only support the bill based upon what representatives of other public service districts across the state tell him, and that he saw some issues with the bill. I asked him to share his concerns so that we may address them. I haven't heard back.
JIPSD Commissioner Inez Brown Crouch had asked to have the matter placed upon the Commission agenda in March and allow former Rep. Anne Peterson come and explain the bill. Chairman Hollingsworth agreed, but in an executive committee meeting with Commissioners Hollingsworth, Wilder, and Kernodle, the request to bring it before the full Commission was denied. Commissioner Brown Crouch has insisted that the matter be considered at the April meeting. The agenda for that meeting will come out next Friday.
The bill is supposed to be considered by a House subcommittee next week. Because "crossover" day has passed, it will be very difficult for this bill to pass both the House and Senate until next year.
I called Mayor Tecklenburg and asked him not to oppose this bill. During that same conversion we briefly discussed over-development on James Island and I said that it would be on the agenda for the May meeting of the James Island Intergovernmental Council. He said he wanted to be there. City Councilwoman Kathleen Wilson has since written me proposing an Island-wide master plan. The Chairman of the intergovernmental council this year, Town Mayor Pro-Tem Leonard Blank, will be asking the County, City, and Town representatives to have planning staff on hand so that we can begin looking at an approach to work together on development issues.
After reviewing Rep. McCoy's bill and looking at a map of James Island, Mayor Tecklenburg called me to say he would not support the bill. However, I certainly do not believe that the Town's long standing effort to allow our former citizens a chance to rejoin the Town will prevent cooperation with the City of Charleston on other matters. I admit we didn't discuss that on the phone. I doubt that it crossed his mind that other cooperation would stop. It certainly never crossed my mind.
There will be no war. We will continue to work together where we can. Sorry Post and Courier.
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