Topic: Joey Preston asks council members to "step outside"

Janedoe,  I believe if you'll check the facts, they were sued in their individual capacities.  Nowhere in the laws of this state will you find it listed as an official duty of an individual member of an elected body to assume powers reserved for the elected body as a whole.  And nowhere in state's home rule laws will you find it a duty for an individual member of an elected body to direct or intimidate an employee who does not directly report to them. There is a specific process for accomplishing what Waldrep and Cindy wanted to do.  But for cheap political points, they circumvented that process.   These alleged infractions happened, regardless of the underlying reasons, because the perpetrators exceeded their duties and authorities granted under state law.  Moral of the story:  if you don't want to pay legal fees, quit harrassing people.  Who is the aggressor here?

SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS:

SECTION 4-9-660. Authority of council and its members over county officers and employees.

Except for the purposes of inquiries and investigations, the council shall deal with county officers and employees who are subject to the direction and supervision of the county administrator solely through the administrator, and neither the council nor its members shall give orders or instructions to any such officers or employees.

Deepthroat, the part of 4-9-660 I put in boldface directly references a council member's right under Home Rule and the Council/Administrator form of government to ask employees for information.

Harassment, on the other hand, is a totally diferent issue that I'm sure will be addressed by the courts.

Repeating the allegation that if a Council member asks a county employee for information, it is a violation of Home Rule DOES NOT MAKE IT TRUE. In fact, such a statement is an outright lie.

As much as I hate to say this, Deepthroat, I really think Janedoe has a firmer grasp of Home Rule than you do.

Bigthroat likes to say that county employees are not jerks.  We, the good people, have said thousands of times that we know that about 90% of county employees are good honest hard-working folks just like we are but the remaining few are Prestonites thru and thru and must be replaced for our county to progress.  Bigthroat may not be able to read or retain what he has read for any period of time so read this a few times Sorethroat and maybe it will sink or slide down your throat. 

WE, THE TAXPAYERS, APPRECIATE THE VAST MAJORITY OF OUR COUNTY EMPLOYEES THAT ARE GOOD HONEST PEOPLE.  WHEN WE SPEAK OF COUNTY EMPLOYEES THAT MUST BE REPLACED WE ARE SPEAKING OF THE PRESTONITES ONLY.  IS THAT REALLY SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND?

Except for the purposes of inquiries and investigations, the council  (notice no mention made of members of council)

JD..your own cut/paste clearly makes the distinction that it is only the council..not  member of council that can interogate employees..

Notice the last line of the same cut/paste

and neither the council nor its members shall give orders or instructions to any such officers or employees.

Palmetto Native, if you're implying that the law says no member of County Council can ask a question of a member of county staff without a vote of the full Council, that a totally ridiculous interpretation of the law. Well, unless you LIKE Council meetings that last all day.

"The Council" is composed of its individual members, all of whom are entitled to information on the inner workings of county government. In fact, all of us are. You or I could call, say, the Finance Department to ask for public information, and the county employee on the line DOES NOT need Joey Preston's permission to give us that information. One does not give up his or her right to information about local government by being elected, you know.

The intent of 4-9-660 - that the portion of state law you did the cut & paste on above, is to prevent members of County Council - or Council as a whole, for that matter - from ORDERING county staff to carry out a particular task, not to keep them from asking questions.

Joey Preston has enough on his plate without having to answer every minor inquiry a Council member may have. He is there, in part, as a BUFFER between county staff and County Council, not as an impenetrable SHIELD.

Let me give you an example from my own personal experience as a county employee.

It was not uncommon for a member of County Council to stop by my office and ask for an update on a particular grant that affected his district. I did not consider that an intrusion, or an order, and I gladly passed on the requested information without calling the Administrator for permission to so.

Occasionally, one of those Councilman would ask me to put together a formal briefing to Council on a particular project, either the status of a pending grant or the progress of an ongoing project. Those requests, I would always clear through the Administrator and the request would be re-channeled through the Administrator's Office.

Do you see the distinction, Palmeto Native? In one case, they were asking me for information I had access to in the course of my day-to-day activities. In the other case, that Council member was INSTRUCTING me to carry out a task that only the Administrator (through my direct supervisor, in some cases) could order me to do under 4-9-660.

Information is a valuable commodity in local government, Palmetto Native. By restrictng that flow of information through requirng a majority of the entire Council to get a specific piece of information, you set yourself up for the kind of public relations nightmare Anderson County is facing right now.

There's no need to hide behind a law unnecessarily. The simplest process is:

1. If a member of Council wants a particular piece of information, he or she can just ask the employee who has that information. That's perfectly acceptable and legal (although excessively disrupting a department to get that information is totally out of line ... Bob and Cindy, are you listening?)

2. If the employee who is asked for information either cannot provide it or is uncomfortable providing it, for whatever reason (questions about proprietary information, etc.), then the Council member needs to go to the Administrator and ask.

3. If the Administrator doesn't want to provide the information, the Council member requesting it can ask the full Council to order that the information be provided.

4. If the majority of Council doesn't want the information provided, then the member who wants the information can just file a Freedom of Informtion Request like the rest of us have to do. (How sad that an elected official has to file an FOI request for information he needs to make sound decisions.)

Ah, how much simpler life would be in Anderson County if steps 1 and 2 were honored there.