He sued to get his $405 back from Beaufort County. SC magistrate gave him an answer
A Hampton County magistrate judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by Beaufort County’s former planning director against Beaufort County Administrator Eric Greenway and the County Council.
Judge Algernon G. Solomons, Jr. ruled that magistrate court did not have jurisdiction to hear the complaint, filed in December by Tony Criscitiello.
He dismissed the suit without prejudice, which means Criscitiello may still file his complaint in circuit court.
Criscitiello, who served as the county’s planning director from 2000 to 2018, argued in his complaint that the county did not follow proper procedure last fall when it rejected his proposal to build a botanical garden on a 50-acre swath in Bindon Plantation in Yemassee.
He said the county broke the law by not holding a public hearing. The council rejected his plans in executive session prior to a public vote, he said.
“If this can happen to me, it can happen to anybody,” he previously told a reporter. “I can accept any answer like ‘Yes’ or ‘No,’ but I cannot accept silence. Silence is not an answer.”
He said he filed the complaint to force both parties to pay him back the $405 he spent to prepare and advertise the proposal.
Criscitiello told a reporter that he would buy beer with the money if he won.
He said he was in good spirits after Wednesday’s decision, despite realizing he will have to pay his own bar tab.
“I got an answer today,” he said. “I can accept ‘no’ as an answer, although I would rather have had an answer that was more favorable.”
Neither Greenway nor any member of the Beaufort County Council attended Wednesday’s bench trial, held at Bluffton Magistrate Court.
“I did not have any doubts in this case, and I am pleased with the Judge’s decision,” Greenway said in a statement.
Present at the trial were Criscitiello and Mary Bass Lohr, an attorney representing Greenway and the council, as well as former County Administrator Gary Kubic, who said he was there to support Criscitiello.
Solomons made his decision after hearing arguments from Criscitiello (who said the county broke the law) and Lohr (who said Criscitiello’s complaint was confusing and should not be heard in magistrate court).
Prior to the judge’s decision, Kubic raised his hand from the audience and Solomons allowed him to speak.
Kubic told the judge he understood that Criscitiello’s argument that the county broke the law should be heard in circuit court. However, he said the judge could still order the county to refund Criscitiello the money he paid to create his proposal.
Solomons said he appreciated Kubic’s point, but still ruled that his court could not hear the complaint. He said Criscitiello’s complaint needed to be more specific and the allegations were better served for circuit court.
Asked after the trial whether he plans to refile the complaint in circuit court, Criscitiello said he wasn’t sure.
“My wife would kill me,” he said. “This has been eight months of effort.”
