I think the Clinton City Council made a major mistake at its most recent meeting, when it emerged from a closed session and passed an ordinance on first reading.
An ordinance that was not on its agenda, for first reading.
Not even "by title only," as the Laurens County Council likes to do.
This is meant to "speed up the process," I am sure. And the process, in this case, is making a no-bids sale of a large portion of the former Whitten Center property to a private developer. Now, it might not matter to anyone except a policy-wonk like me; and, certainly, this matter is non-controversial (the District 56 Board of Trustees passes policies this way, some times - waiving first reading and approving on second/final if it seems to be a routine policy).
And, there is no controversy about Ark Management One buying this property. At least, not now.
When this sale -- of which the City gets half the proceeds and the States gets the other half - was authorized, again by ordinance, there were some opinions expressed about the amount the City was charging, per acre, for this land -- along the lines of, "Let me buy it for that much -- so I can leave it as a forest", but nothing real serious. And, that time -- when negotiations were authorized and the buyers' due-diligence was set into motion -- the City Council forewent its normal procedure and gave the ordinance the 2 necessary readings, but without a Public Hearing.
It will be interesting to see if a Public Hearing is scheduled on this matter, for Second/Final Reading, in November.
Now, I truly do not expect anyone to stand up at the Public Hearing and say, "This is a bad idea." But, if you have the Public Hearing requirement, enshrined BY Ordinance, shouldn't it applied for every ordinance?
In Annexation and Zoning matters, just one Public Hearing is required - under an ordinance change of not that long ago - and that's how the Clinton Planning Commission can call its meeting where a zoning matter is proposed a "Public Hearing" and the City Council is not obligated to conduct a "second" public hearing. The people who have opposed Cambridge Farms for the past 2 years found that out the hard way -- they relied on the "public comments on agenda items" part of the City Council agenda to get their points across to the elected officials (none of whom they can vote for because, by and large, they live outside the city limits, but pay a higher city utilities rate - again, enshrined by Ordinance).
Ordinances, basically, are local laws and, as such, they should be followed, under threat of penalty. So, here we are, anxiously awaiting the council's November 2 agenda (received by The Chronicle on Oct. 29).
Vic MacDonald, regional editor for Clinton, Walterboro and Manning, is a 50-year community journalism veteran in South Carolina, who lives in Laurens. Reach him at: 864-833-1900. His candidate endorsements are his, and his alone.
Page 47 of the council's agenda packet has the Ordinance to be given Final Reading without a Public Hearing authorizing the land sale for $2,500 / acre (aggregate $1.3 Million) here.
