Monday, November 14, 2022

Oath-of-Office Date Changed

The four new school board members will be sworn in on Monday, November 21, 2022 at 5:30PM at R2i2.

The date was changed from November 18, because State law dictates that the term-of-office for a newly-elected board member must start one week following certification of the election. 

Because of last Friday's recount and that it did end until the early morning hours, and because Certification was announced about 10:30AM on Saturday, the new trustees could not be sworn in on this Friday.

The District is updating its website.

No Ethics Decision on McKie yet

On October 20th the S.C. Ethics Commission held a hearing on Amelia McKie's violation of omitting her Richland 2 income in 2020 from her 2021 Statement of Economic Interest Report (SEI). The complaint was filed in October 2021.

In April 2022 the Commission announced that there was Probable Cause and a hearing was scheduled for June. On the day before that hearing, McKie called the Commission and told them she thought she had been exposed to COVID. The hearing was re-scheduled to October 20.

On October 20, 2022, a panel of three Commissioners heard the complaint and testimony from McKie. The Hearing Chair announced that the Decision would likely be announced in two weeks. That would have been by November 3rd. It still has not been announced.

Today I learned that Decisions and Orders must be announced within 60 days of a hearing. Ho-hum.

What is there to decide? McKie had failed to report her 2020 income. After she was notified of the Complaint, she filed an amended SEI and reported that income.

The hearing actually could have been quite short.

Q. 1 How much did you earn from Richland 2 in 2020?
A. $9,600
Q. 2. Did you report it, when you filed your SEI?
A. No.

Decision? Liable. (Guilty!)
Fine: Dollar cost of investigation ($550?) and penalty ($100?). Pay up.

And, no, we are not going to just add it to the $57,100 you already owe.