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Richland County council approves resolution seeking removal of county land from Columbia city limits
Summary
At a July 21 special call meeting, the Richland County chair and council approved a resolution asking that certain county-owned property be removed from the City of Columbia municipal limits under S.C. Code §5-3-285, held an executive session on personnel and two lawsuits, and reported no action taken in closed session.
The Richland County chair called a special meeting to order at 5 p.m. Tuesday and the council adopted the agenda as amended to add three executive-session items.
County Attorney Wright told the council the closed-session items would cover personnel and contractual matters related to the county’s 3911 call center and two pending lawsuits — Thompson v. Richland County and Disability Rights v. Richland County — all cited as matters falling under procedure for closed sessions pursuant to 30-4-78(2). "We have 3 items for executive session: 3911 call center, discussing and consider actions regarding personnel and contractual matters pursuant to 30-4-78(2), as well as 2 cases, b, Thompson versus Richland County, c, disability rights versus Richland County," Attorney Wright said.
The council moved into executive session and later returned to open session, where the chair said, "Please let the record reflect no action was taken during executive session." Following that announcement, the council approved consent item 4(a) by voice confirmations recorded by the clerk.
On item 5(a), the chair introduced "a resolution to request the removal of certain county owned real property from the municipal limits of the City Of Columbia pursuant to South Carolina code of law section 5-3-285." After a motion and second, the council approved the resolution; a subsequent remark on the public record indicates the motion was modified, though the modification text was not stated on the public record.
Members later moved to reconsider both the consent approval and the resolution; both motions to reconsider failed on recorded negative confirmations. The council then adjourned.
Votes at a glance: - Agenda (adopted as amended): approved (recorded on the public roll-call confirmations; detailed tally not specified in the transcript). - Consent item 4(a): approved (detailed tally not specified). - Item 5(a) — resolution under S.C. Code §5-3-285 requesting removal of certain county property from City of Columbia limits: approved; motion later noted as "modified" (modified text not specified); reconsideration failed.
The meeting record shows Attorney Wright stated there was no outside counsel for the executive-session matters. The public record on July 21 does not include text of any personnel or litigation deliberations discussed in closed session, consistent with the council’s use of a closed executive session. The meeting adjourned following completion of those items.
