Council Calls Special Meeting to Vote on Future of its Municipal Development Commission Three Days After Dropping Agenda Item.

by Don Moniak

January 12, 2023

Aiken City Council announced today a “Special Meeting” for Tuesday, January 17th (1) at 5 p.m. to consider “an ordinance amending Section 11-2 of the Aiken City Code regarding the membership of the (Aiken) Municipal Development Commission.” (AMDC) The proposed re-organization of the AMDC involves returning it to its original composition of six appointees and three ex-officio voting members from City Council. That structure was amended in September 2020 after then ex-officio members Ed Woltz, Ed Girardeau, and Lessie Price chose to abstain from voting on issues that could arise during Council business.(2)

At least five of the nine commission members are required to be present to conduct business.  The commission officially holds title to ten properties, including the seven properties in the Project Pascalis demolition and redevelopment proposal. The absence of a quorum and inability to act leaves the future of these properties highly uncertain.

The nine-member AMDC was reduced to six members in June 2022, after three members were found to reside outside of the City—a violation of AMDC membership requirements defined in City code.  The commission was further reduced to two members after protest resignations in early December by Keith Wood and Chris Verenes; which were followed by resignations from David Jameson and Doug Slaughter. (Slaughter had also missed four of the six regular AMDC meetings in 2022, which warranted automatic removal under city code; making his resignation more symbolic than real.)

As reported on January 7th, in Pascalis Properties on Aiken City Council’s Closed Door Agenda, “placing three ex-officio voting members from City Council onto the AMDC would provide the necessary quorum for the commission to publicly meet, conduct business, and act to sell the property to the City of Aiken.” Councilman Ed Girardeau, who proposed the ordinance (3), appeared to confirm this motive when he told the Aiken Standard:

“Since we have only two members left, we need to complete some business for the Commission and the easiest way to move forward is to have three members to have a quorum.” 

The vote Monday night to drop the AMDC ordinance from the agenda was expected to be unanimous, but Councilwoman Andrea Gregory silently dissented. At the three minute mark of the meeting, Councilman Ed Woltz introduced a motion to change the agenda, without explanation or a description of the agenda item in question:

Councilman Ed Woltz: “Everything stands on that agenda with the exception of item number four we will be pulling item number four on our new business and with that change I will make a motion for approval. 

Mayor Rick Osbon: Very good thank you sir. We have a motion. Is there a second? (Councilwoman Price seconds). We have a motion. All those in favor of the agenda with item number four in our new business pulled please raise your hand and that’s unanimous thank you oh no. 

It’s not all all right. Uh, that’s um it’s all in favor …Councilman Woltz, Councilwoman Price, the Mayor, Councilwoman Diggs, Councilwoman Brohl, and Councilman Girardeau. All those opposed. Okay Councilwoman Gregory. The motion carries.” (2)

The next day, Councilwoman Gregory broke her silence and shared her thoughts with the Aiken Standard, stating that it was time to move forward and quit debating the issue: 

“We just need everybody to agree this just doesn’t work. It needs to get dissolved. We need to assume the properties under the city and we need to move forward.’” 

She reportedly added that “dissolving the AMDC is what the community wants,” probably referring to the fact that more than 3,000 signatures have been acquired for a petition that seeks, in part, to abolish the AMDC. If so, it was a departure from previous positions, as just three months ago Gregory described opponents to Project Pascalis as a “very small group” to the Aiken Standard; and referred to the litany of legal violations as “hiccups.”

But the future of the AMDC goes beyond the Pascalis properties to which it owns title. The commission also owns three properties on Williamsburg Street across from the Farmer’s Market, known as the Jackson Petroleum property, which it purchased in March, 2021, for $175,000.  Since that time the commission has sought to redevelop them into multi-family housing as part of the Williamsburg Street redevelopment effort. 

Like Project Pascalis, the Williamsburg Street effort lacks a redevelopment plan that was subjected to a public hearing and approved by City Council; and there has been no publicly advertised RFP for sale and redevelopment. 

The Williamsburg Street properties further complicate the AMDC’s future due to potential conflict of interests held by City Council members Ed Woltz and Ed Girardeau. Mr. Girardeau is the Broker/Owner for the Re-Max/Tattersall Group, which listed the property and represented the seller during negotiations with the AMDC.

Mr. Woltz owns the neighboring properties where he operates Sutton Marine. Both have recused themselves in the past two years from discussion and voting on Williamsburg Street issues. 

Mayor Osbon recused himself from discussion of the Pascalis properties on December 12, 2022, due to the presence of Warneke’s Cleaners—which competes with Osbon Cleaners—as one of the properties. The AMDC is also presently Warneke’s Cleaners’ landlord.

Tuesday’s meeting, at 5 p.m. in City Council chambers at 111 Chesterfield Street, is open to the public and citizens comments of up to five minutes per speaker will be accepted. 

January 13, 2023: Aiken City Council Revises AMDC Ordinance


Footnotes

(1) The meeting annoucement:

(2) The meeting minutes for the AMDC’s August 4, 2020 meeting state:

“The Commission came out of executive session and continued discussion on the Hotel Aiken and the concerns about the condition of the building and how it affects looks of the downtown.

Mr. Gillam stated he would like to make a motion that a letter be addressed to City Council with the recommendation that the city address the owner of the Aiken Hotel with the request that the hotel be brought up to the building standards, and also request Council to remove the hotel from the Aiken Historic Register as an historic building. The motion was seconded by Mr. Wood.

The Commission discussed the motion. Mr. Dangerfield stated the motion is that the Municipal Development Commission write a letter to City Council asking them to take the Aiken Hotel off the Aiken Historic Register and address the condition of the Aiken Hotel and its renovation.
After discussion it was noted that the three Councilmembers would abstain from voting because they felt it might be a conflict of interest.

Also, Mr. Verenes stated he would abstain from voting because he has a conflict of interest. It was pointed out that one member was absent so with four members abstaining from voting, that would only leave four members to vote on the motion and a favorable motion would require the vote of five members in favor of a motion.”

At their next meeting, the AMDC passed a motion to recommend changing the commission membership to nine appointees.

The August 4, 2020 Executive Session was arguably illegal. There are no exemptions in SC FOIA’s Open Meeting rules that allow a closed-door session merely to discuss the condition of a building and the city’s building codes.

By the end of September, 2020, Mr. Dangerfield had resigned from the AMDC because he already was a member of another public body, and therefore was not legally qualified to hold a position on the commmission.

(3) The proposed ordinance amendment as it appeared in the January 9, 2023, City Council meeting agenda packet.