Judge orders Hilton Head mayor to add controversial tree lease plan to agenda

A vote on a controversial lease agreement with a tree service company will be on Tuesday's Hilton Head Island Town Council meeting agenda after a judge ordered it be included.

At the June 5 Town Council meeting, an overflow crowd came out to hear a discussion about a proposed lease between the town and ArborNature.

A court settlement between ArborNature and the town was approved a year ago. That agreement would move the company's grinding operation from Leg O'Mutton Road to Summit Drive — which requires a vote on executing a lease agreement that has angered some residents.

The June 5 discussion ended with Town Council suggesting a new agreement with ArborNature should be sought.

Mayor David Bennett said in a newsletter emailed the morning of June 15 that since the last discussion of the lease agreement, the ArborNature attorneys had filed a motion to compel the town to move forward with it. The lease agreement vote would not be on the following Tuesday's agenda, however, because it had already been set, Bennett said.

According to South Carolina law, agendas must be set — but also can be amended — at least 24 hours in advance of a meeting. The initial agenda for Tuesday's meeting was released Friday afternoon.

According to Beaufort County court records, the motion to compel the town to move forward with the agreement was actually filed the morning of June 4 — the day before the Town Council discussion.

According to that motion, Tom Taylor, one of the attorneys for ArborNature, alleged Bennett "failed or refused" to include approving the proposed lease on previous Town Council meeting agendas.

Judge Marvin Dukes signed the order on Friday afternoon. It said the ArborNature lease would be on the June 19 agenda for a "potential vote."

Taylor said one of the town's attorneys, Gregory Alford, sent an email Friday night advising that the lease would be on the agenda of a July meeting. Taylor responded, however, by saying if the agenda were not amended by 9 a.m. Monday to include the lease agreement, he would file a motion for sanctions.

"This was a continued discussion as of this morning," Bennett said. "My preference was to hold a special meeting ... as early as Wednesday, but for some reason, that wasn't acceptable to ArborNature."

Because the agenda had not been amended by 9 a.m., however, Taylor filed a motion for sanctions. After that filing, a telephone conference was held between Alford, Dukes and Taylor, he said.

In another newsletter emailed just before 2 p.m. Monday afternoon, Bennett said "a judge's ruling received by our attorney early Friday evening, followed by a conference call this morning among attorneys for each side and the judge, compelled us to amend the Town Council agenda for tomorrow, June 19," to include the ArborNature lease agreement.

Alford did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday afternoon.

Risa Prince, a Port Royal Plantation resident who has actively opposed the ArborNature settlement agreement, said Monday afternoon she thinks Town Council is being "forced into this vote by the judge."

This story was originally published June 18, 2018 at 5:05 PM with the headline "Judge orders Hilton Head mayor to add controversial tree lease plan to agenda."