Council Majority Quiet on Possible Conflict of Interest in A & H-Tax Vote
WINNSBORO – In a 5-2 vote, Fairfield Council approved $197,562 in funding recommendations made by the accommodations and hospitality committee for the following organizations:
- Chamber of Commerce, $65,052
- South Carolina Railroad Museum, $60,000
- Wings and Wheels Air Festival, $5,000
- Pine Tree Playhouse, $20,000
- Alston Trailhead (the Palmetto Trail), $47,500
After the agenda item was introduced by County Administrator Vic Carpenter, Council Chair Clarence Gilbert called for a motion and discussion on the issue.
“Overall, I feel like I don’t have enough information to make an informed vote on this situation for a couple of reasons,” said Councilman Don Goldbach.
“First of all, the hospitality and accommodation tax is specified by two different sections in the state law. I think there are slightly different rules on how the money is supposed to be allocated in certain situations,” he said. “So, I’m not aware of how much money we have in total collected in these two areas. Mr. Carpenter mentioned the amount that’s been recommended for approval – $197,562.
“So, that’s almost $200,000 we’re being asked to vote on, which is a fair amount of money,” Goldbach continued. “And I don’t know if that’s everything that we have collected to this point or what percentage that is of what we’ve collected. How much is left to dish out?
“I just feel like there’s more information that’s needed for me to vote on this with an informed decision,” he said.
“I think it would behoove us to put some guidelines saying a member with a conflict should physically leave the room.”
— Don Goldbach, Dist. 2
“And the other possible issue is,” Goldbach said, “the alleged conflict of interest during the voting on the chamber funding. Allegedly, the chairwoman did not recuse herself officially and still kind of voted by raising her hand.”
Goldbach said that while he wasn’t at the meeting, the conflict of interest issue had been raised and he felt council should talk about it.
“When one of us on council has a conflict or potential conflict,” he said, “we are asked to physically leave the room. That did not happen in this case. I looked for the charter for this accommodation and hospitality tax committee, but I didn’t find it or the rules that they (A & H-tax committee) operate by.
“I think it would behoove us to make sure that any of our commissions or committees, when there is a potential for conflict of interest – and this is one commission where I think there probably will be more opportunities for a conflict of interest just because of the makeup of the commission and what they’re voting on – that we should put some guidelines in there saying that a member with a conflict of interest should physically leave the room.
Gilbert asked if there was any other discussion.
As Ruff was putting up his hand, Councilman Doug Pauley stretched his arm and pointed to Ruff to speak, an action that is reserved for the chair.
“Well, I feel like we appointed these people and we dragged this out a long time in selecting these people to be on this committee. To me, it’s that I believe we need to trust the committee that we pick,” Ruff said. “I mean, we dragged this out for quite some time before we finalized that. So, I’m in favor of supporting the committee. We spent so long appointing them, so I’m for moving forward with it.”
Councilwoman Peggy Swearingen disagreed with Ruff.
“I must agree with Don that Robert’s Rules of Order was not followed. I think that we may need to revisit this. I agree with him,” Swearingen said. “I’m not sure that this was handled the way it should have been handled for a county meeting. I tend to think that we need to revisit this.”
No one else on council spoke up.
“Okay, we have a motion on the floor,” said Gilbert.
The vote was 5-2 with Goldbach and Swearingen voting against.
Ruff had more to say after the vote.
“My understanding on that, if I could comment on that vote issue, was that even though the committees probably are not aware of all that they’re willing or not supposed to recuse themselves or remove themselves off and recuse,” Ruff said. “But my understanding is that one vote was not counted. And, so I’m just, I understand what they’re talking about, that we need to be aware of those things.”
But Ruff insisted he didn’t think that affected the decision that was made.
At least four members of the seven member committee have a financial or other relationship with the Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce, but none recused themselves properly.
Section 8-13-700(B) provides as follows: … A public official, public member, or public employee who, in the discharge of his official responsibilities, is required to take an action or make a decision which affects an economic interest of himself, a member of his immediate family, an individual with whom he is associated, or a business with which he is associated shall:
(1) prepare a written statement describing the matter requiring action or decisions and the nature of his potential conflict of interest with respect to the action or decision;
(4) if he is a public official, other than a member of the General Assembly, he shall furnish a copy of the statement to the presiding officer of the governing body of any agency, commission, board, or of any county, municipality, or a political subdivision thereof, on which he serves, who shall cause the statement to be printed in the minutes and require that the member be excused from any votes, deliberations, and other actions on the matter on which the potential conflict of interest exists and shall cause the disqualification and the reasons for it to be noted in the minutes.
The committee’s next meeting is set for 9:30 a.m., Monday, April 21 in the county government complex. This meeting is for discussion and vote for grant applications for state accommodation grants. Applicants include the Chamber of Commerce and The Olde English District.
