SO OBVIOUS IT'S NOT FUNNY

Unless you have been living in a cave for the last two weeks, you've probably heard of Supervisor, Dan Davis' latest brainstorm. He wants to implement major changes to County Council Rules. Allow us to explain how his wonderful new plan will work.

Mr. Davis wants to throw out Robert's Rules of Order Revised in favor of the Model Rules of Parliamentary Procedure for South Carolina (Model Rules). These Rules are much abbreviated and do not contain the complete guidance provided by Robert's Rules. Consequently, when a situation arises that is not addressed in the Model Rules, Robert's must be consulted. The Model Rules were developed by a committee appointed by the SC Association of Counties. When the product was completed, even the chairman of the committee and several of the committee members described the product (Model Rules) as confusing and unneeded. At the latest survey, only 7 of the 46 SC counties have adopted these Model Rules. Of these 7, only 2 actually use them. The other 39 counties have rejected the Model Rules out of hand. With his decision to adopt the Model Rules, Mr. Davis is , once again, swimming up stream against conventional logic. But, could there be a method to this madness?

Next, Mr. Davis wants to eliminate all committees and committee chairmen. He wants to replace this existing committee system with "workshops". Mr. Davis contends this move will encourage open discussion and provide a better forum for all members of Council to participate in all areas of government. He insists that this new process will not diminish any member of Council's individual powers of oversight. Mr. Davis says any member of Council can place any item on the agenda. Under the new plan, there would be one full Council meeting per month.

In the humble opinion of GE&P, these contention are no less than absurd. In the first place, no action can be taken in a workshop. The only thing a Councilman can do in that setting is voice an opinion. At the end of the meeting, nothing is official and, therefore, nothing has changed. Nothing has been adopted or rejected. To quote Councilman Fish, "A workshop is just a dog and pony show. It's schoolyard show and tell."

With the existing system, each Councilman heads a committee that is responsible for a different department of government. Citizens can contact the appropriate Councilman when there is a problem in that area. If this committee system is abolished, there would be no point of contact for citizens and no direct individual oversight of the various departments of government by any Councilman. This new system would relegate the job of each member of the County Council to an advisory capacity.

As to the contention that, under this new system, any member of Council will be allowed to add an item to the agenda, that might very well be true. BUT, it is equally true that Mr. Davis, as Supervisor, chairs the full Council meetings and, as chairman, he has the power to strike any item of his choosing from the agenda for any or no reason.

Shall we cease and desist with the polite amenities and describe this new plan for what it is?

As it stands right now, Council is comprised of 4 Conservative Republicans and 4 Liberal Democrats. At regular Council meetings, Mr. Davis provides the tie breaker when there is a 4/4 vote. (Remember this) Mr. Davis and the 4 Democrats ALWAYS VOTE TOGETHER. As it exists now, all spending issues not previously included in the budget must come through the Committees. For example: One of the 4 Democrats heads the Finance Committee. At committee meetings, the existing Rules disallow the Chairman of a committee a vote. Therefore, with the present system, when unreasonable spending issues arise, the Conservative Republicans on the Finance Committee enjoy a 4/3 majority vote. Consequently, the Conservatives on Council block many of Mr. Davis' big spending projects at the committee level. (Has the lightbulb come on yet?)

Also, under the existing Rules, all information on contracts, purchases, and transfers of funds must be disseminated to all members of Council through the W&S, Public Works and Purchasing, and Finance Committees. This is the method through which Council members stay informed as to what is going on with our tax dollars. If the new Rules abolish the Committees and do not include this oversight ability to the members of Council, how will any of us know what is being done by our County government and how our tax dollars are being spent? So far, Mr. Davis has not provided anyone, including members of Council, with a draft of his new and improved Rules.

As we recounted in yesterday's post, Mr. Davis has grabbed money from the property owners, W&S, the School System, the fund balance and any other source on which he could place his greedy little hands. Coupled with this, he has a massive new multi-million dollar building agenda waiting in the wings. Mr. Davis has already proven what he will do if no one is looking. He proceeded with the rebranding of W&S, took away the FILOT funds from the schools, took $10 million from W&S, installed political payoff water lines, depleted the fund balance, and virtually destroyed Cypress Gardens, all without a vote of Council.

The only people who he thinks are standing in the way of him having a completely free hand with BC government are the 4 Conservative Republican Committee Chairmen. His simple solution, get rid of the Committees and, in so doing, the Committeemen. Then, he would be left with only the full Council meetings on which he has a solid 4/4 vote. He breaks the tie and, presto, he gets his way on every issue. This would remove any obstacles from his goal of ONE MAN RULE.

But, Mr. Davis has made one serious mistake. He forgot about "WE THE PEOPLE"