Beaufort County Council asks for $1B worth of trust - as it marches in the wrong direction | Opinion

Is it too much to ask?

You may hear that question a lot now that a $950 million sales tax referendum for transportation projects will be on the November ballot in Beaufort County.

Apparently Beaufort County Council members heard that $1.6 billion was too much to ask. That’s how much they wanted when they first brought this up in February. The money would come from a 1% sales tax to be collected over 15 years. Last week, the council approved a reduced number of dollars to be collected over 10 years.

So, is it too much to ask? Before that can be answered, some other questions need answers.

Is it too much to ask the council to obey the law?

The Beaufort County Council violated the state Freedom of Information Act in hiring a new county administrator. They chose two different people in total secrecy, which is against the law. The first one turned them down, though the public was never told a word about the person or the secret deal, which is against state law.

And when the second candidate was approved in a public vote that followed a closed meeting — voila! — the man was sitting in the audience. That is to say, Beaufort County chose him, and he had obviously agreed to take the job, prior to a public vote. County council again broke the law.

Perhaps they have the perfect person for the job. But maybe he should run for his life, understanding that a council that breaks the law cannot be trusted.

Is it too much to ask that your county council be trusted?

We can trust that the roads are a mess. We live in it.

Much of the money in the proposal that voters will decide in November would address the absurd situation at S.C. 170 and U.S. 278 in Okatie. But is it too much to ask the municipalities approving tens of thousands of new homes to pay more for the resulting gridlock?

Is it too much to ask that projects from the $120 million county referendum approved by voters in 2018 be completed — or at least moved from the planning stages — prior to asking for $950 million more?

These questions are much easier to answer than the big one facing Beaufort County Council. That is the question of trust.

Trust comes from openness and transparency, not from secret deals. Trust also comes from competency.

The last county administrator defended his egregious record in purchasing by saying that he never claimed to know anything about purchasing. He seemed to be saying you can’t hold me accountable for being incompetent because I’m incompetent and never claimed not to be.

Such is the state of affairs.

When an interim deputy county administrator resigned last month, her resignation letter gave us a rare glimpse under the hood. She suggested it would be helpful if the county had a primary lawyer “who knew county and state law quite well, off the top of their head, without having to do much research...”

Is that too much to ask?

She suggested the county administrator should be “an experienced, ethical county administrator who respects council, respects his/her staff and the work they do is very important. This administrator would be versed in all areas of local government, particularly with state statutes and the effects on county government.”

Is that too much to ask?

And she suggested the county government have a chief financial officer who meshes with staff and council. And “this person must know governmental accounting and how county government works — they should be required to have county, municipal, or state government finance experience.”

Is that too much to ask? It’s telling that someone even has to suggest such things.

The county didn’t get to this point overnight. It’s been a long time coming. And neither will it regain trust overnight. Hiring the county administrator in secret is not a step in the right direction.

We need transportation help. But we need a county government we can trust.

It’s not too much to ask.