SAME SONG, NEW VERSE

In consideration of any new readers and the ones of us who have limited memories, we will provide some history on the subject we wish to discuss today.

In 2007, shortly after Supervisor Davis took office, he engaged the firm of Carter, Goble and Lee to do a 15 year facilities study of Berkeley County.  In March of 2008, the result of the study was presented to County Council.  This study recommended that some of the facilities presently situated at various locations be consolidated "under one roof".  These recommendations gave birth to the "Dan Davis Health and Human Services Campus".  This project, when completed, would cost the taxpayers of Berkeley County a minimum of $27 Million.  During the first phase of this project, new facilities would be built for DHEC, DSS, and HeadStart.

After the scheme for the DDH&HS Campus was hatched by the Supervisor, it was necessary to find a location for the proposed facility.  This process created yet another scandal.  The Supervisor decided he wanted to buy the "Old Fairground" property situated in the middle of Moncks Corner.  The asking price for this tract was $1.6 Million.  Also, the tract was twice the acreage deemed necessary for the project by the facilities study.  During the purchase process a number of questionable elements arose:

1.  The county (Mr. Davis) was willing to pay the asking price without any negotiation.
2.  Comparables used to justify the cost were from "asking prices" for unsold properties NOT the selling prices of sold properties.
3.  All value assessments were done in-house not by independent agents.
4.  Use assessments deemed half of the property as "unsuitable for construction".
5.  Confusion existed as to exactly who was the seller.
6.  Official county land records on the property became "unavailable" only to "re-appear" edited.
7.  If the asking price was valid, why did this property sit unsold for 12 years?

Regardless, the sale was pushed through and Berkeley County officially became the proud owner of this overpriced swamp.

Fast forward to the present.

Berkeley county owns the building where its administration offices are housed.  Berkeley County, also, owns the land on which its building sits.  Adjacent to the administration building is the building where the FoodLion used to operate.  That store went out of business a couple of years back and the building lies vacant.  The land on which this building sits is, also, owned by Berkeley County but the building is owned by others.  The land on which this building is situated is leased from Berkeley County at a rate of $50,000 a year.  In the lease documents is an agreement that, should the owners decide to sell the building, Berkeley County will be given the right of first refusal.  In other words, should the present owners decide to sell the building, Berkeley County would be given the opportunity to buy the building at the offered price before the potential buyer.

Recently, the FoodLion building was put on the market for sale.  In December the owners received an offer to buy for $350,000.  The assessed value of the building is in excess of $1 Million so, if the building should be purchased for $350,000, it would be equal to a fire sale price.  In the middle of December,  the owners of the building notified Berkeley County that they had received an offer to buy.  This notification gave Berkeley County 30 days in which to decide whether or not to purchase the building.  Unfortunately, and only by accident, the Supervisor forgot to notify County Council of the situation.  The first time Council learned of the potential sale was at the Council meeting on January 13, 2014.  This time-line gave Council 3 days to make a decision.

After the FoodLion moved out of the building next door to the administration building, there was a good deal of speculation that, should the building be offered for sale at a reasonable price, it would provide ideal space for all of the agencies slated to go into the proposed DDH&HS Campus but at a much more reasonable cost.  Since the FoodLion building has over 32,000 square feet of heated space, the feasibility of this conversion was determined to be excellent.

After the Conservative Council members got over the shock of this last minute announcement, they began to ask some questions.  One wanted to know the square footage of the building, suggesting it would be perfect for the relocation of the above mentioned agencies.  The Supervisor said the building was much too small to accommodate the agencies as the building had only 20,000 square feet of usable space. This statement was proven to be inaccurate.  Then the Supervisor, with the help of one of his minions, suggested the building was inadequate because the existing interior water lines were located in the wrong places. (we're still thinking about that one)

In his insistence to convince Council that this purchase is a bad idea, the Supervisor, also, pointed out that, if Berkeley County owned the building, they would lose the $50,000 of revenue realized from the lease fees.  He conveniently avoided mentioning the tens of millions of taxpayer dollars that would be saved by taking this route in lieu of new construction. Finally, when one member of Council inquired as to what arrangements could be made to inspect the building before any decision was made, the most intelligent member of Council pointed out that it was quite impossible to be granted access to any property prior to purchase. (we're thinking about that one, too)

In the end, Council secured a two week extension on the deadline to make a decision.  This will give them a bit of time to do some research on the issue.  The Supervisor was not happy with that outcome.  When several members of Council attempted to discuss the matter after the meeting, the Supervisor would only reiterate his desire not to take any steps that would vary from his original plan for the new "Campus".

In the past, Berkeley County government has been faced with similar situations.  At one time, the decision was made to save tax dollars by renovating the old K-Mart building which houses the administration offices today.  In choosing this route instead of opting for new construction, millions of tax dollars were saved. But we must remember, in those days we were dealing with a different administration, a different mindset, and a much different level of competence and integrity.

FOOTNOTE:
The entity desiring to buy this building is a tax-exempt, non-profit community service organization.  What are the odds that the $50,000 annual lease obligation can be met and, should the obligation become delinquent, what would be the chances that any eviction action would be successful?  Looks like somebody wants Council in a box with no trap door.