COLOMBIA – Agitated by revelations that a broken system of supervision has paved the way for corruption and other abuses, state legislators say they will call for more scrutiny from South Carolina’s hundreds of special government districts.
Republican state deputies Bruce Bannister and Bobby Cox and Senator Ross Turner, all of Greenville County, said their efforts stemmed from reports by the Post and Courier, which exposed a parade of scandals at a little-watched fire department in their area.
The newspaper’s investigation, published on February 28, revealed that senior officials at Clear Spring Fire and Rescue were accused of stealing public money, promoting a commissioner’s wife, bathing in perks and retaliating against subordinates who questioned them.
Many of these problems were not previously known, in part, because Clear Spring and other special districts across South Carolina operate almost entirely out of public view. They are led by panels of lay volunteers who skate in low-participation elections, face little doubt about their qualifications and are allowed to self-regulate and spend taxpayer money freely.
“I don’t think anyone was really looking at those little feuds as the focus of corruption,” said Bannister.
Special government districts are poorly understood agencies that provide services such as fire protection, garbage and water and sewage collection. Most were created by state legislators in the mid-20th century to serve rural parts of South Carolina, where residents did not have these services. Many of these districts started small, including some created for volunteer fire departments. But over time, their budgets increased to millions as the population in their districts grew.
The Post and Courier has identified more than a dozen special district officials who have been fined by the State Ethics Commission or charged with law enforcement in the past decade – more than one per year.
“Your articles are making me want to put together a group to create more oversight and ensure that this type of abuse does not happen again,” said Bannister.
Turner agreed. Clear Spring is in his Senate district, but he said he first heard about the problems there from the Post and Courier.
“They are in control of everything and really answer only to themselves,” said Turner.
Cox said knowing that these abuses were taking place “on the same street” was “almost irritating”.
“Our citizens deserve better,” said Cox. “We are putting a lot of trust in leading our core services and just hoping for the best. We have to do better.”
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The trio wants state legislators and local officials to come together and decide how to bring more scrutiny and accountability to these agencies.
They envision a process similar to the way SC lawmakers dealt with problems with South Carolina’s 20 electricity cooperatives, the utility companies that supply electricity to about 1.5 million people in rural areas of the state.
In 2018, The State newspaper reported a similarly broken liability system within these energy companies, where cooperative council leaders remained in power for decades and enjoyed generous wages and benefits.
State lawmakers and cooperative leaders have spent months working to address these concerns and make utility companies more accountable to their customers.
Together, they passed a May 2019 law that gave cooperative customers greater access to voting in annual elections, required cooperatives to publish details of their remuneration and spending online, and created restrictions against conflicts of interest and nepotism. The law, H. 3145, also authorized the state’s public services watchdog, the Office of Regulatory Staff, to investigate cooperatives and ensure they follow the new rules.
“You had a co-op group that was concerned,” said Mike Couick, CEO of Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, who helped lead the reform effort. “What emerged was legislation that was the first in the country to be broad and how it was an answer to this type of problem”.
Bannister said he thinks most of the special districts are probably doing a good job and should be willing to partner on a similar reform project.
“They would probably be willing to engage in a discussion about, ‘How do we prevent Clear Spring from happening again, without making it impossible to run a special-purpose district?’ ” he said.
Turner has already signed with S. 548, a proposal by five senators to bring special districts that have taxpayers – such as natural gas, water and sewage authorities – under the supervision of the State Ethics Commission.
The bill was presented days after the Post and Courier published a story on February 14 detailing how members of the natural gas authority board gushed out perks, traveled to five-star resorts, dined in expensive restaurants and enjoyed unavailable government discounts. for ordinary citizens.
But other types of districts, like Clear Spring, also need that kind of supervision, concluded Turner after reading about the problems in the fire department.
“Whenever there is no one to hold you responsible, then yes, it will be easy to let some things slip away,” said Turner. “And, especially if you’ve been there for a long time, it gets easier. And it’s easier to think that you deserve something, even if you’re still there to serve the public.”
An initial idea, Bannister said, is to prevent special districts from running for commissioner seats in years out of elections, when attendance is scarce.
At Clear Spring, most controversies began after the November 2015 election, when a trio of registered candidates won seats and took control of the five-member board.
About 22,000 people live in the Clear Spring service territory. Only 35 voted in that election.
Joseph Cranney and Avery G. Wilks reported from Columbia. Jamie Lovegrove contributed from Columbia.