Council Members Face Hearings on Ethics Commission Findings

WINNSBORO – The S.C. State Ethics Commission handed down 21 counts Jan. 24 of findings for probable cause for a hearing against three County Council members. The findings stem from complaints filed last September by Elizabeth Ann Jenkins of Newberry Road in Winnsboro.

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.

Ferguson, 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” in July of 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Kinley is also alleged to have violated the same code over the same dates. Kinley said the conference, which is held on Hilton Head Island at the Marriott Hotel, takes place over four or five days each summer. Kinley said the County has found it less expensive to stay at a nearby condo in Palmetto Dunes for seven days than at the Marriott for four or five days. Last year, Kinley said, was the first year she had gotten a larger condo in order to bring family members along with her, and she said she paid the difference herself.

“I didn’t go down there to party, I didn’t go to the beach,” Kinley said. “If you go to all of those meetings, you’re busy the entire four or five days.”

The Ethics Commission also found probable cause that Kinley failed to disclose on her 2010 and 2012 Statement of Economic Interest form income she had received from the County in the form of disbursements in lieu of health care benefits. Kinley said those failures were “simply a mix-up of figures,” and was something she had already corrected.

“At the time the investigation was done, it was a violation,” she said. “It was a mistake and it’s already been changed.”

Kinley said she hoped to clear the entire matter up with the Ethics Commission with a phone call and be able to forego the May 21 hearing.

Trapp is also alleged to have overstepped boundaries during his stay on Hilton Head in July of 2010, 2011 and 2013, as well as failure 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. The Ethics Commission also accuses Trapp 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. Phone calls to Trapp were not returned at press time. Ferguson was out of the country at press time and could not be reached by phone.

A hearing on the allegations is scheduled for May 21 at 12:30 p.m. at the Ethics Commission offices, Suite 250, 500 Thurmond Mall, The Pavilion, in Columbia.

Comments

  1. Fairfield Native says

    To show you the extent of Trapp’s entitlement mentality, while he was busy ripping off the Taxpayers of Fairfield County, he wasn’t bothered with paying his own property tax bills. For the past 12 years he has been on average 7 months late paying the tax on his home. This is the first year he has paid them on time.

  2. Norm_Nav says

    It seems the old habit of living large on Taxpayers dollars is alive and well. I cannot help but wonder just what it will take to convince these Council members that they are participating in immoral behavior whenever they benefit personally from their offices?

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