Remember when the Beaufort County school board paid $2,600 to a law firm without a full vote? That won’t happen again.

A long-simmering legal issue for the Beaufort County Board of Education — whether board officers can unilaterally hire outside counsel — was resolved at a board meeting earlier this week, resulting in a significant decrease in board officers’ power.

The motion, that board’s use of outside counsel by the board is only by majority vote of the board, was amended by board member Joseph Dunkle to read: board’s use of outside counsel by the board and or its officers is only by majority vote of the board.

Dunkle said his explicit mention of officers “reminds (them) they are not a separate entity and do not have authority.”

The aforementioned incident sparked more than eight months ago when the board voted 7-3 to deliver a letter urging board member JoAnn Orischak to cease-and-desist from all actions adversely affecting the district and board, and listed five alleged policy violations.

Orischak, a frequent critic of Superintendent Jeff Moss, is a vocal dissenter, much to the chagrin of members typically aligned with him.

“Historically, board officers have appropriately sought outside counsel and it’s not until an abuse of that occurs,” Orischak said. “The reason why we’re having this extended conversation ... the officers (took) the bull by the horns.”

Her remarks refer to earlier this summer when she learned that board officers paid a Columbia law firm nearly $2,600 to help write the three-page letter, even though the board has its own attorney on staff.

The $2,592.50 expense was approved only by the board’s leadership at the time, Mary Cordray, Laura Bush and Evva Anderson, and not brought up at a regular meeting of the full board.

In June, Cordray defended her actions, saying it was well within her right to do so as then-board chairwoman. She noted that nothing in the board’s policy prohibited what she and her fellow officers did.

Both Cordray and Anderson did not defend their actions at Tuesday night’s board meeting.

“We’re not looking to the past,” Anderson said at the meeting. “We’re moving into the future.”

She, along with Cordray and board secretary Geri Kinton, voted against the motion, which passed 7-3.

The ad-hoc committee that formed to discuss legal counsel issues has not scheduled a second meeting since its first in June, committee chairman Bill Payne wrote in an email Thursday.

This story was originally published August 18, 2017 at 12:32 PM with the headline "Remember when the Beaufort County school board paid $2,600 to a law firm without a full vote? That won’t happen again.."