Conflicts of Interest, Sprawl Approval, and Earth Day (now brought to you by the Nuclear Industrial Complex)

By Kelly Cornelius
April 13, 2023

Well, at least the April 10th meeting of the Aiken City Council wasn’t boring. Taken off the agenda in order to ask the ethics commission for an opinion on a possible conflict of interest (or 5) was the final vote to dissolve the embattled Aiken Municipal Development Commission (AMDC). 

Recall that, during the first vote at the March 27th Council meeting to dissolve the Commission on Blight and Morality, conflicts-of-interest questions were raised by Don Moniak during public comment which sent the City Council scurrying into an unscheduled Executive Session. It appeared that, in the City’s haste to replace failed Project Pascalis and steamroll the public with Labscalis, they made a deal with the Aiken Corporation. Problem is, two members of the City Council (as members of the Aiken Corp) had already voted on issues surrounding the $9.6 million Labscalis properties.  

In other words, it seemed the City Council added even more conflicts of interest to this train wreck. Those council members involved in the Aiken Corporation ended up voting anyway during that March 27th City Council meeting and three days later the City sent out a press release denying any conflicts. Mr. Moniak responded to the release showing exactly where the new conflicts were. 

Was that the reason for the decision to pull the item with the second and final reading to dissolve themselves (as the AMDC) off the agenda and ask the Commission on Ethics for help? We can’t be sure but, frankly, I wish they would consult with ethics experts on every decision at this point. 

From here, the Aiken City Council, (in an act much like a drug dealer with a “Just Say No” bumper sticker, or a conservation trust selling donated land for development, or a historic preservation foundation supporting a 40, 000 sq ft nuclear industrial complex building that would wipe out one of the oldest businesses in historic downtown) brought forth a resolution proclaimed April 22nd, Earth Day — an event sponsored by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions! Because nothing says Earth Day like the production of materials for weapons of mass destruction. 

Also from the YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS UP DEPT: 

Council approved a Hampton Inn Hotel on an already bumper-to-bumper section of Whiskey Rd, citing the need for more upscale hotels. The well-heeled will no doubt be thrilled with this upscale addition of a Hampton Inn on scenic Whiskey Rd. City Council approved this crown jewel of lodging while continuing to allow the taxpayer-funded historic Hotel Aiken fall to neglect and rot.

Also on the agenda was a budget amendment that included bailing out the City of Aiken for $9.6 millions dollars worth of failed leadership and conflicts of interest, (aka the failed Project Pascalis), using Plutonium Money. Meanwhile, Barnwell is using their Plutonium Money to build a new school. 

Several citizens, including yours truly, spoke against the idea of using $9.6 million as a bailout on the ill-begotten properties. I suggested that, while they had the SC Commission on Ethics on the horn, how about asking their opinion on embattled City Attorney Gary Smith’s opinion submission to acquire the $9.6 million bond? My suggestion fell on deaf ears. I did notice that, for the first time, they stared intently at me, rather than responding with the usual, blank deer-in-headlights look, which was an improvement. City Manager Bedenbaugh got up and left for most of my public comment (sometimes you have to appreciate the small wins).

While the $9.6 million elephant in the room was impossible for anyone with a pulse to miss, the council completely ignored it and instead opined about sidewalks and amphitheaters for a park in the middle of nowhere — a park that appears to have been built, not for the residents on the northside, but for future residents who will one day live at the end of massive greenway project being planned to facilitate the expansion of Aiken City limits north of I-20. 

Despite citizen input, protest, and questions of lawfulness, City Council at last approved the motion, which included the bailout. Some of the audience were placing bets over how long the opining, distractions and falderal would continue before the predictable approval was cemented.

The final blow to citizens arrived right as the meeting was being adjourned, when Councilwoman Andrea Gregory, who appeared to be reading off a script on her device, first praised the Mayor for his work on civility and then scolded citizens for their behavior, calling out specifically Don Moniak. It wasn’t lost on the crowd, nor the viewers at home, that, during March 27th, 2023 meeting of City Council, both the Mayor and the City Manager were extremely rude to Mr. Moniak, who commendably kept his cool. If I didn’t know better, I’d wonder if this hadn’t all been staged, much like the night of the June 21, 2022 DRB work session when O’Briant summoned the police to quiet the public from speaking. 

The lack of civility toward the public is yet another symptom of a City government that has lost touch with who-serves-whom. The elephant in the room is not growing any smaller, nor the public any less interested in seeing a restoration of lawfulness and a return to true civility — a character trait that begins with honesty and openness, and reveals itself in a government that is responsive, not hostile, toward the people whom it serves.