The wife of Beaufort’s development director works for a developer. Is that a conflict?
The wife of Beaufort’s development director, who reviews building projects in the city, works for 303 Associates LLC — which has three controversial projects proposed for the historic district.
Is that a conflict of interest for David Prichard, the city’s director of Community and Economic Development?
Beaufort hired Prichard as director of Community and Economic Development in November 2018. His staff reviews development projects, issues permits, and advises city boards and commissions that vote on them. That includes an apartment complex, parking garage and hotel proposed by 303 Associates and Hotel Beaufort, which are owned by Dick Stewart.
Vanessa Prichard’s role at 303 Associates isn’t in development, so there may be no technical conflict of interest, says Scott Slatton, director of advocacy and communications and a statehouse lobbyist for the Municipal Association of South Carolina. But the facts of each particular situation are different, and “certainly the appearance [of a conflict] is there,” said Slatton, who has been involved in technical training of local public officials in ethics and conflict of interest questions.
An opinion from the State Ethics Commission, if sought, could settle the conflict of interest question, Slatton said. Opinions can be sought by municipalities or individuals.
The city’s position, and Prichard’s, is that there is no conflict, although Prichard acknowledges he is concerned about perception. Opponents of 303’s proposals in historic downtown, which have divided the community, think the city ought to check into it.
The situation also highlights the sensitivity and contentiousness surrounding 303’s plans for downtown as well as the potential for entanglements when private business and local government intersect in small towns.
It’s the second time that accusations of conflict of interest have been raised regarding 303 Associate’s downtown projects.
Vanessa Prichard’s employment with the development company, which has clashed with a historic preservation group and and city board members at times over the size of the firm’s developments, was not widely known until a recent Christmas Party Facebook posting by 303 Associates. It showed a photo of its employees and included Vanessa and David Prichard. “We enjoyed being able to gather together as a team,” the 303 Associates post said. It later was removed.
“I certainly believe it’s not a good perception,” Mayor Stephen Murray said, “and I wished she worked somewhere else.”
After learning of the post Dec. 18, Murray discussed it with City Manager Bill Prokop. It was then that he learned, for the first time, that Vanessa Prichard works at 303. Given the city’s legal entanglement with 303 Associates and the other parties over the downtown projects, Murray said, “it certainly makes me uncomfortable.”
City spokeswoman Kathleen Williams says the city has no legal standing to tell the spouse of a city employee where they can work. The city has known about Vanessa Prichard’s employment at 303 Associates for a few months, she said. Her position at 303 has not caused any conflict of interest, Williams said, “nor do we expect it to in the future.”
The State Ethics Act says no public official may use their office to influence a governmental decision in which they or a family member has an economic interest. The economic interest must be “distinct from the public,” meaning the general public could not get the same benefit.
There’s no evidence David Prichard or Vanessa Prichard have gained any special economic advantage from decisions he’s made regarding 303 Associates. But the Municipal Association of South Carolina advises public officials not only to avoid actual improprieties but also to be mindful of the appearance of impropriety, noting that the preamble to the Ethics Act states, “public officials should be prepared to remove themselves immediately from a decision, vote or process that even appears to be a conflict of interest.”
“If the city manager or council members or the mayor are aware of the potential conflict of their employees, they need to investigate that to assure the public one way or the other,” Slatton said.
However, Slatton added, David Prichard could argue in this case that he does not need to declare a potential conflict of interest because Vanessa Prichard is not giving presentations to the city, nor is she a principal in the business. Vanessa Prichard, a leasing manager for 303 Associates, has no role in the company’s development work that finds itself before Prichard’s staff and city boards and commissions.
“If she were a principal in the company, that’s pretty cut and dried,” Slatton said. “But if she doesn’t have a role in preparing plans, presenting to the Planning Commission, working with city staff it may not be a conflict of interest,” Slatton said.
At the same time, Slatton added, the city could reach out to the State Ethics Commission and ask for an opinion.
If there is a potential conflict, the Ethics Act also requires employees to prepare a written statement describing it before giving it to a superior.
Once the disclosure requirement is satisfied, it’s then up to a superior to decide if there is a conflict. If there is, the work must be assigned to another employee. The association teaches that it’s the individual responsibility of both elected and public officials to point out these potential conflicts of interest.
Debate on 303’s projects before the Historic Review Board, Design Review Board and Zoning Board of Appeals has been contentious. Appeals of the Zoning Board of Adjustment approval of the apartments, brought by Historic Beaufort Foundation and Graham Trask, the owner of West Street Farms LLC and Mix Farms LLC, are now pending. The city and 303 Associates also are co-defendants in a lawsuit brought by Trask, who is trying to block all three “large footprint projects” in the city’s Historic District.
Vanessa Prichard took a job as a leasing manager for 303 Associates in April, said David Prichard, who says he has no conflict because of the non-development nature of his wife’s job. That aside, he added, he doesn’t give breaks to any developer and is always “above board,” treating all developers the same.
“No one has cut them any slack,” he says of 303 Associates.
All of the 303 projects had started, or had received some level of approval, before he was hired, Prichard said, with the exception of an extension of a prior approval of one of the projects, which he says is standard practice. Prichard said he leaves it to planning staff and planners the city hires under contract to complete reports and advise the boards. Decisions issued by his office, he said, are “always tied to the law.”
Prichard, however, said he is concerned about perceived conflict of interest.
When he first arrived in Beaufort in 2018, he said, his wife was offered a job by 303 Associates. Just to make sure, he said, he asked the city about it to see if it was OK and was told that it was. Still concerned about the perception, he asked Vanessa not to take the job, and she turned it down. She took a job with a different company, but later, when an opening came up again at 303, she accepted. It’s difficult, Prichard said, “ to keep telling my wife not to take jobs.”
“I’m going to do the right thing, and my wife knows that,” Prichard said. “It’s a small town. All these connections run through most things.”
Prichard is not the first person to be questioned as it pertains to the 303 Associates’ building projects in the city’s downtown. Earlier this year, Stewart, the owner of 303, questioned the city on whether Maxine Lutz, who had been appointed to the Historic District Review Board, could review his projects objectively. Lutz is the former executive director of the Historic Beaufort Foundation, which is fighting the city and Stewart in court over the projects. She also had written an opinion piece that raised concerns about the size of the developments on the Historic District. Lutz requested an opinion from the State Ethics Commission, which ruled she had no conflict.
“It may be totally innocent, and I hope it is,” said Cynthia Jenkins, the current executive director of HBF, of Vanessa Prichard’s job with 303. “I think it’s odd the public didn’t know about it. Beaufort’s a small town.”
Trask, also a property owner and developer, calls it “a huge conflict of interest.”
Stewart said he asked that the Facebook post of the office’s Christmas party be taken down because he did not want the employee celebration flaunted when there are people in the community with needs, especially during the holidays.
“We’re happy to have her,” Stewart said of Vanessa Prichard’s employment as a leasing agent for the company.
This story was originally published December 29, 2021 at 9:50 AM.
