The Greater Greenville Sanitation District has canceled a budget retreat scheduled for this weekend at a luxury hotel in Asheville.
The Greenville News was the first to cover the district’s plans to spend $ 11,000 on the budget retreat at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville. About a dozen people – including district chairs, staff, and at least two spouses – were supposed to spend two nights at the hotel to retreat.
Steve Cole, the district executive director, said Tuesday the retreat was canceled after learning that only two of the district’s five appointed commissioners were safe to attend.
The district’s monthly board meeting, due to be held Tuesday at 4 p.m., has also been canceled for the same reason, Cole said.
One commissioner looks after health issues and another commissioner looks after a woman who recently had surgery, Cole said.
A fifth commissioner, Amanda Cass, has not yet been officially appointed by Henry McMaster, Governor of South Carolina.
The district will lose approximately $ 5,000 in room deposits at the Grove Park Inn by canceling the retreat this weekend, Cole said. This money will come from the district’s annual budget of $ 17 million.
The district collects property taxes and recycling fees while collecting trash for approximately 60,000 customers in unincorporated areas of Greenville County and the city of Travelers Rest. It was founded in 1968 by the state general assembly and is one of the dozen of special counties in Greenville County.
Cole said the budget withdrawal is likely to be postponed to the district’s Greenville offices for late March. He said the budget for fiscal year 2021-22 is unlikely to include any tax or fee increases.
The commissioner’s appointment has been postponed following complaints from her predecessor
Greenville County Council voted in October to recommend McMaster appoint Cass to the district sanitation board. She would replace former Commissioner David Armstrong, who had sought a second term of five years on the Commission.
Alderman Ennis Fant strongly supported Cass, who lives in his district, according to the minutes of a committee meeting on October 6th. Fant said all of his constituents live within the boundaries of the sanitary district but lacked representation on the district commission. Armstrong lives in a different district.
Minutes of a county council meeting on October 20 show that Cass was elected over Armstrong. However, the minutes contain neither a total of votes nor details of how individual council members voted.
Cass’s appointment has been delayed after Armstrong wrote letters to County Council, McMaster, and Attorney General Alan Wilson complaining about the process that resulted in his being replaced.
In an interview on Tuesday, Armstrong said members of the county council had broken state law.
“They met in secret,” said Armstrong, a Greenville attorney.
Armstrong was named a member of the Sanitary District Commission in 2015. He replaced his wife, Meta Armstrong, who served as the sanitary district commissioner for more than a decade.
According to Bob Mihalic, county spokesman, Cass is not the only person whose recent appointment to the Greenville County’s board of directors was not processed by the governor’s office.
“It is one of several that we did not get back,” Mihalic said in a voicemail on Tuesday evening. “I don’t know why, but there are probably five in total.”
Initial reporting:Greenville Sanitation Board Spends $ 11,000 on Retreat to Luxury Asheville Hotel
– Kirk Brown reports on government, growth and politics for The Greenville News. You can reach him at kebrown@greenvillenews.com or on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM. Please subscribe to the Greenville News.