BLYTHEWOOD – Following published reports that Richland County Councilman Derrek Pugh hosted a birthday party for his mother-in-law at The Manor without a security deposit and without paying the required $4,500 rate as required by Town policy, town officials informed The Voice that Pugh also has another family event scheduled for Friday Aug. 1, and that the event was booked two months in advance, again with no security deposit and no rate charged to him as required.
With the standard July/August discount of 25 percent, the event rate for the Friday, Aug. 1 event ($2,800) would have been reduced to $2,100, according to the Manor’s fee schedule. Instead, town officials said that after a story concerning Pugh’s May 17 event was published in the July 17 edition of The Voice, Pugh met with Mayor Sloan Griffin two weeks ago to negotiate a lower rental fee for both the May 17 and Aug. 1 events.
“If I’m not mistaken,” Griffin told a breakfast audience on Facebook live at Lizard’s Thicket on Sat., July 26, “When I met with staff, I think it was $750 that Councilman Pugh paid for those three hours [for the May 17 event]. And then they have another event [Aug. 1], and I think that one was maybe like two or three hours. And that is maybe $400 – $450, something like that that they paid for it.”
According to the fee schedule, rentals are for six hours or 12 hours. On Saturday rentals are only available for 12 hours.
However, a town official provided The Voice with documents showing the fee for the May 17 event was later negotiated down to $250, which is $4,550 less than the required fee of $4,800 for a Saturday in May, and down to $750 for the Aug. 1 event, which is $1,350 less than the reduced fee of $2,100 for a Friday in August.
During a Facebook live Q&A at Blythewood Park on July 21, Mayor Pro Tem Donald Brock stated that Title IX, Chapter 93.03 – User Fee Schedule – prohibits the mayor from waiving or reducing fees related to the rental of Doko Manor and the Amphitheater.
“Nowhere on the fee schedule does it say the use of the Manor is free,” Brock said. “It actually says the Manor director is required to enforce the adopted fees, but has the authority to negotiate fees when the event falls within 60 days of the event.”
Brock said the mayor does not have that authority.
Manor Director Fred Layman told The Voice that while he has the authority to reduce fees, he does not exercise that authority beyond what policy allows, except when he is directed to do so by the mayor.
Mayor Sloan Griffin denies that he is involved with authorizing the reduction of fees or comping.
During the Facebook live breakfast meeting hosted by Griffin, he addressed Pugh’s May 17 event at the Manor, saying, “I don’t get into the negotiations unless there’s a global nonprofit that I know is benefiting directly to the town, and they contact me.”
Griffin said he does not have access to the Manor’s event booking system and denied having any part in comping or negotiating booking costs. He said staff does that.
“Councilman Pugh did not receive anything,” Griffin said in the July 26 Facebook live video. “They (Pugh’s family) are having multiple events,” Griffin said. “And because they’re doing multiple [events], however they work out their deal with staff, that’s on staff to do that. The director of the Manor has latitude when it comes to pricing within certain time frames.
“I do not comp events except under the mayor’s direction,” Layman told The Voice.
When The Voice called Pugh the day before the story published and asked him if he had paid for renting the Manor, he confirmed that he had booked the event, but said his wife had taken care of the payment. He ended the phone call saying, “I’ll call you back.”
He has not called back or answered e-mails from The Voice.
According to Manor rental policy, a deposit must be paid when an event is booked, and the event must be paid in full prior to the event.
Griffin is said to also have arbitrarily comped the Manor for other individuals and organizations.
A former board member of the Greater Blythewood Chamber of Commerce told The Voice that Griffin voluntarily comped the Manor for the Friday, April 11, 2025, Chamber Gala in the name of good will. The event rate for a Friday in April for six hours was $2,800.
“The mayor [Griffin] came to a Chamber meeting, stood back there in the back with me, and when it was announced about the gala, he [Griffin] said, ‘I would like to give y’all the Manor for a better relationship. We want a good, strong relationship between the town and the chamber.’”
“My exact words to him were: ‘Are you sure you can do that?’” the former board member told The Voice.
The former board member said that when it was discovered there was already another booking for the night of the gala, it was changed to another night and was still offered at no cost to the Chamber.
Blythewood Chamber Director Deb Dollarhide confirmed that the Chamber was not charged for using the Manor for the April gala.
Interim Town Administrator Ed Driggers said it’s clear that there are bookings for the Manor and that the Town has not been compensated for all of them.
“I can see the recorded booking,” Driggers said. “I can see the documentation that would mark the event, but I cannot find corresponding revenue that was paid for the space. That’s what I’m looking for.
“If the payment was not made, on what authority was that done?” he said. “I’m interviewing our staff and I’m talking with our elected officials. I’m just doing old-fashioned investigation.”
This story was updated on 7-31-25.