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Town manager's "special fund" provides $9,500 for old town golf-cart tours

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Bluffton town manager Bill Workman used $9,500 from a $75,000 "special opportunity fund" to help a man who had filed a federal complaint against the town set up golf-cart tours of old town.

Bluffton officials have refused so far to provide details on other things paid for with money from the fund.

Workman said Friday he provided the $9,500 grant to help Garfield Moss -- who has clashed with town officials several times over the past several years -- run his "Old Bluffton Tours" during the summer months. It was a worthy expenditure, Workman said, because summer heat makes walking difficult for some tourists.

Asked whether there was any connection between the grant Garfield received and his complaint against the town, Workman said: "I ain't buying him off."

Workman called the $75,000 fund the "town manager's special opportunity fund."

Shirley Freeman, Bluffton's finance director, said it is a contingency fund to be used for "unexpected costs." Workman does not need town council approval to spend money from the fund.

The $9,500 check was made out to Moss's Bluffton Non-Profit Housing Corp., which received nonprofit status in 2006 and began operating the following year. Moss said the nonprofit is "sponsoring" the golf-cart tours. He conducts those tours six days a week, he said.

Moss, who is black, filed a housing discrimination complaint against the town with federal housing officials in December 2005. Moss alleged that some town decisions on zoning were based on his race. That complaint still is pending, according to Moss. Town officials have denied that race was a factor in zoning decisions.

"Everything is going so good with us in the town that we haven't pushed the issue at all," Moss said of his complaint. "I'm going to try one more time to get the town to make some sort of settlement with me. We felt they were discriminating. Now they're helping us with tours... . If we can work something out, I'm not concerned about suing anyone."

OTHER FUND USES

The Island Packet requested records showing how money from the fund was spent over the past five years, but the town has not provided them. One of the other expenses made in the recently ended budget year, however, was $10,000 to settle damages for a car that had been improperly seized in a drug arrest and given to the town, Workman said. The car's owner wanted the car back and the town settled with him, Workman said.

Workman said he's also given grants to nonprofits groups, but said he couldn't remember which ones.Money from the fund also has been used to give "spot bonuses" to employees, Workman said.

Workman said he didn't tell every town council member about the $9,500 grant for the golf-cart tours.

At least one member wasn't pleased.

"This is the first time I've heard about it. I'm one of the ones he didn't tell because he knew I wouldn't agree with it," said council member Fred Hamilton Friday night when told of the spending. Hamilton is chairman of the council's Affordable Housing Subcommittee.

Mayor Hank Johnston and council members Lisa Sulka, Charlie Wetmore and Oliver Brown did not return calls seeking comment.

HOW THE TOUR WORKS

Moss ran a two-week test program on the tours in March. He received training from staff members at Bluffton's Heyward House Historic Center on old town's history.

He drives one of two six-passenger golf carts around old townfrom 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. When there aren't many people on the streets, he takes breaks at his Lawrence Street home. His wife, Nancy, drives the other golf cart and also conducts tours.

The tours don't have set pickup times; rather, Moss approaches people on the street and asks if they'd like a tour. He doesn't charge a fee, but accepts donations in a tip jar on his dashboard. He usually collects $5 to $10 from each rider, but said he has received up to $40 from individual riders.

He does not have a business license and Workman said he doesn't need one. Moss said he carries insurance that includes liability coverage.

His biggest operating expense is maintenance on the carts, he said, including one bill for $500 to fix damages after a friend of his daughter drove a cart into a house. The friend was not conducting a tour at the time, Moss said. Moss said other expenses include a $10 an hour wage for him and his wife. That money comes from his Bluffton Non-Profit Housing Corp., which is supported by the $9,500 grant.

His nonprofit does more than run the tours, he said. It has helped four old town Blufftonians address legal paperwork dealing with heirs' property issues. It also has cut the grass at Michael C. Riley's former Bridge Street house, a site that has been abandoned for a number of years.

Moss said the tours allow him to publicize the nonprofit's work.

Workman described Moss' nonprofit as simply an "umbrella" that allows the town to provide money for conducting the tours.

Workman said neither he nor any member of his staff took the tour to evaluate it before providing the money.

"It probably would have been a good idea," he said.

An Island Packet reporter who took the tour recently with two tourists heard little of old town's history beyond the signs that Moss read out loud as the golf cart rolled past them.

He spent part of the tour pointing out picturesque trees and discussing local property values. He pointed to trailers located next to high-end homes, calling the situation "typical Bluffton."

He highlighted points of interest like Oyster Factory Park and offered a brief commentary

on the luck local fishermen were having. He pointed out the Church of the Cross and historic homes like Seven Oaks.

Driving down Calhoun Street, he highlighted the shops. At the Calhoun Street Promenade, he pointed out vacant store fronts. He identified the homes of town politicians.

Much of the tour involved free association commentary based on what Moss saw.

Before receiving "special opportunities" funding, Moss' application for other types of town funds promised the tours would "provide historical and contemporary facts about our town with a personal touch to broaden the visitor's experience in our quaint southern town."

FUNDING THE FUND

During the current fiscal year and the one that just ended, $75,000 a year was budgeted for the special fund that Workman controls.

The year before that, $50,000 was budgeted for the fund, said finance director Freeman. It's unclear how much was spent in any of those years.

Hilton Head Island, by comparison, has had a contingency fund of about $50,000 a year for the past several years, said finance director Susan

Simmons.

In the budget year that just ended, the town spent about $16,000 from it on many small things, including flowers for funerals, poinsettias for town hall at Christmas and five-gallon jugs of spring water for town offices.

Hilton Head town manager Steve Riley said that while the island fund can be used for unexpected costs, it isn't used often.

"I never looked at it as something I could use other than as an emergency fund," Riley said. "That's how I viewed it. Not as a discreet, funding source for new ideas."

NEW FUNDING SOURCE

In May, Moss made a $151,790 request for accommodations tax funds that would provide money to run the tour and organize a jazz festival, among other things. Accommodations taxes are fees visitors pay on hotel bills. The money is used for tourism-related

activities.

The Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee denied Moss' request.

Workman said the "special opportunities" money he gave Moss will help establish the tours and prepare Moss to make another accommodations tax request at the committee's next meeting.

In a letter addressed to Moss dated July 8, Workman said Moss should not expect more money from the special opportunities fund.

Future town money, the letter said, could come from the Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee, which must be approved by town council, Workman wrote.

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