For now, Horry council appears mostly back on track

Between its recent meetings, some members of the Horry County Council were in quite a kerfuffle centering on discussion – or not – of fees paid to law firms, potential conflicts of interest, and personal picayunes.

As the back-and-forth continued, council veteran and vice chairman Harold Worley took a pro-active role and helped settle down Dennis DiSabato (Carolina Forest) and Al Allen (Aynor) who were at the center of the controversy.

DiSabato directly challenged the leadership of the council chairman and launched an apparently retaliatory measure aimed at member Al Allen of Aynor. At the May 4 council meeting, Allen wanted to discuss fees paid to outside attorneys. Before the meeting reached that agenda item, DiSabato made a motion to end the meeting.

‘UNDUE SCRUTINY’?

Chairman Johnny Gardner later rebuked DiSabato and the latter fired back. DiSabato then proposed – he asked the county’s staff attorneys to draft an ordinance ‑ to prohibit “county officials, council members and their immediate family members from [holding monetary] contracts with the county.”

Allen is the only council member who has a contract with the county. Al and Shanda Allen own Allen Aviation. Their firm has a $77,000 contract for mosquito spraying. The contract predates Al Allen being on the council or Shanda Allen on the school board.

DiSabato (in an email to Gardner) claimed the intent of his proposed ordinance is to protect council members from “undue public scrutiny of perceived improprieties stemming from such activities.” That might be read as political cover for a personal vendetta.

DiSabato told The Sun News he acted on May 4, and others joined him, because “it seemed to me they wanted an information dump without context, and the only reason you do that is to make somebody look bad.” He was alluding to Allen’s disagreement about the release of details of legal fees.

COUNCIL DIVIDED

County attorney Arrigo Carotti, and several council members, maintain that release of detailed information could inadvertently reveal the county’s legal strategy. That seems to be a stretch, and certainly not in keeping with transparency about taxpayers’ dollars.

Detailed reporting shows council members are divided about the need for the DiSabato ordinance. Some members say existing conflict of interest laws are sufficient; three members, including DiSabato, support the proposal. The Sun News asked all 12 members about the proposed ordinance; nine responded. Harold Worley and Tyler Servant did not respond; Allen declined to comment.

South Carolina allows public officials to have business contracts with the entities the officials are part of; state laws set specific steps they must take to avoid conflicts, such as recusal from action on their business. Gardner said a county ordinance may be redundant. “There’s enough law out there already.”

NOW NOT THE TIME

Johnny Vaught, chairman of the administration committee, said he’s previously considered a similar ordinance on conflicts of interest, but found no consensus.

“We don’t need that perception out there but right now it looks like Dennis firing back at Al. If it wasn’t in that context I think it could be considered.” Vaught said the council has “enough fences to mend to not knee-jerk and come out with something like that right now.”

Those “fences to mend” include a county budget, including competitive salaries for public safety workers and improved flood control. Another priority is implementing a meaningful impact fee which could help deal with the rapid growth.

By last week’s regular meeting, neither DiSabato’s proposed ordinance nor a discussion of attorney fees appeared on the agenda – a good decision at least for now.