Tag: Awendaw

Awendaw Illegal Annexation Voided by State Court

A state court recently voided an annexation by the Town of Awendaw because the town didn’t bother to follow state law in the annexation process.

Without getting too technical, the town used a 10 foot wide strip of land through the Francis Marion National Forest to connect the town to a pocket of private land within the national forest boundaries.

Awendaw has used this process several times since 1994 to annex pockets of private land located within the overall confines of the national forest property. The strips of national forest land were the only way Awendaw could bring town property adjacent to the private land areas it annexed.

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Awendaw Under Boil Water Advisory

The Town of Awendaw under boil water advisory according to town officials in Awendaw, all residents serviced by the town water department must boil their water before drinking until further notice. A statement by mayoral candidate Joe Bowers follows.

The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office says this advisory will be in effect for at least three days.

Officials say crews are in the area of U.S. 17 North near Porcher School Road working to repair a break in the waterline.

Officials say water has been restored to most of the town, but residents near Porcher School Road will remain without water until the break has been repaired.

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Awendaw Ethics Violation

Violating S.C. Ethics Law in Awendaw

Candidate filing for the upcoming November 5, 2013 municipal elections for the Town of Awendaw city council opened August 22, 2013, and already there appears to be a violation of the S.C. Ethics Law.

The controversy hovers around candidate and current Mayor Pro-Tem Miriam Green and a recent article about her in the official “Town of Awendaw Newsletter”.

The newsletter is produced, printed and mailed by the town using taxpayer dollars to pay for the costs.

Its lead article in the September 2013 issue, which hit the mailboxes of Awendaw residents about the same time that filing opened, was about a community auditorium at the new Berkeley Electric Coop Service Center in Awendaw being named for Green, a 35-year employee of BEC.

IF the article had stopped right there, it would have been fine. However, it went on to praise Green for serving “her community well” and providing “jobs for many Town residents.”

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Awendaw’s Missing Money Partie Deux

According to a source with significant knowledge of the town’s finances who spoke on conditions of anonymity, Nichols had done audits of four prior years, all at the same time, after the S.C. Municipal Association had gotten the town’s financial records in order. The town, reportedly, had not had audits performed on an annual basis since the 2002-03 time frame.

Mr. Nichols reported nine significant deficiencies with town records. The lack of documentation and the lack of internal controls led Nichols to issue an adverse opinion on the audit.

According to the source, 41 percent of the town’s transactions were not approved with 30 percent of the funds spent not approved, a sum of over $200,000, according to our source.

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Awendaw’s Missing Money

We are hearing the town of Awendaw may be missing money from its public coffers as important bills are not being paid on time.

According to several sources who have contacted us, the town missed its required payment of approximately $270,000, due March 1st to Charleston County for fire service, and nobody’s giving any answers.

Money for the fire service payment comes from a special fire tax district that was set up by town voters to levy taxes, specifically for fire service.

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