Richland councilman pressured illegal land buy for pet project park, Seals says

Richland County Administrator Gerald Seals says an effort to fire him came, in part, because he challenged a County Council member over the purchase of land in Lower Richland, a purchase Seals said was illegal because the council never approved it.

Councilman Norman Jackson pressured a county staff member to direct a private company to purchase 4 acres of land on behalf of the county last year, Seals contends.

The $120,000 purchase is intended to expand Pinewood Lake Park in Jackson’s Lower Richland council district.

Jackson has been the driving force behind Pinewood Lake Park for the better part of a decade, since he began encouraging the county to buy a swath of land at Pinewood Lake, sometimes known as Caughman Pond, off Old Garners Ferry Road. Anchored by the lake, the park features walking trails, several picnic shelters, bathrooms and an office.

Jackson denies he was involved in the land purchase. "He lied," Jackson said of Seals.

Jackson said that Seals himself authorized the 4-acre purchase. Seals denies that.

Seals, who has been placed on paid administrative leave, said the effort to fire him is driven in part because he raised questions about the land purchase. Seals put a hold on the second phase of the Pinewood Lake project until County Council gives further direction on the matter.

“I know what’s taken place," Seals said in an interview with The State. "I can clearly see the timing of it, and I can clearly see these things are very serious. … The intensity that has now erupted for my ouster, there’s a juxtaposition any way you look at it.”

Two days after the County Council initially voted 6-5 to fire Seals earlier this month, he spoke at length with The State newspaper and provided documents that outline a number of ethical concerns he raised with County Council in recent months.

Among the concerns he said he raised with the council was the Pinewood Lake Park purchase.

The memo

The 4 acres were purchased by Chao and Associates, a private engineering company hired by the county to oversee the park's construction.

Jimmy Chao, the president of Chao and Associates, says the whole matter is "a puzzle" and that the company was never aware of anything illegal taking place.

Seals raised his concerns about the land purchase in a Jan. 19 memo to all council members. Seals, who provided the memo to The State, described this situation to council:

▪ Jackson met with Chao, an attorney for Chao, and former county capital projects manager Chad Fosnight. The meeting was on June 5, 2017, according to additional documents provided by Seals. In the meeting, the group discussed the acquisition of 4 acres adjacent to Pinewood Lake Park.

Chao confirmed to The State this meeting. The only question of the discussion, he said, was whether the county would purchase the property or whether Chao would purchase the property and turn it over to the county. That was the county's decision to make, he said.

▪ Fosnight, the former capital projects manager, later gave Chao approval to purchase the land with money paid in advance by the county to Chao.

Chao confirmed that Fosnight approved the payment to Chao. Efforts by The State to reach Fosnight were unsuccessful Monday.

▪ On July 20, 2017, Chao purchased the 4 acres for $120,000 with “money advanced” by Richland County.

▪ Chao's company recorded the property title in its name. The property currently remains in Chao’s name.

▪ Chao was not authorized to purchase property on behalf of the county, Seals said. Neither the “Master Agreement” for services between Chao and the county, nor a contract for Chao to proceed with work at Pinewood Lake Park, explicitly allow the company to purchase property for the project. This purchase is illegal, Seals says.

▪ Seals’ conclusions, which he relayed to the full council: “The … involvement of County officials could be interpreted as a directive to Chao to purchase the property.” He continues, “the conversational involvement of County officials, in this instance, was interpreted as a directive to and from staff from a county official.”

Seals accuses Jackson of pressuring Fosnight to direct Chao to make what Seals says is an illegal land purchase.

“In fact, there was a member of Council who basically put pressure on a staff member, and I brought all that to the attention of County Council,” Seals told The State. “It is within my responsibility, if there is impropriety, to stop it and put everything in cease and desist and bring the matter to council. I’ve done that.”

“I’m not sure what council member he’s talking about,” Jackson told The State. “That sure wasn’t me.”

Jackson said he never told a staff member to tell Chao to buy the property. He said Seals himself approved the purchase.

“I knew nothing about the transaction,” Jackson said. “I only knew about it when Seals brought it up. But that’s one of his ways of going after council members who challenge him.”

As for Chao, he says his company has been confused by the controversy.

"We followed the agreement. I just don't understand why all of a sudden they think there's an issue," Chao told The State. "If we knew it was illegal, we never would have done that. (The county) should never have approved that."

The land was purchased from a nonprofit called Second Chance Afterschool Learning Environment, or SCALE. The land had been donated to SCALE by the property's previous owner, John Gwinn Jr.

Gwinn told The State in 2016 that he had donated the land to SCALE at the recommendation of Jackson.

The CEO of SCALE, Patricia Ford, was indicted last year and pleaded guilty in February to 10 criminal charges of forgery, perjury and obstruction of justice related to use of Richland County hospitality tax funds.

Jackson has directed tens of thousands of tourism tax dollars to SCALE in the past.

'A he-said, he-said thing'

The 4-acre purchase is just the latest controversy in the PInewood Lake Park saga.

The county initially paid $1 million for 44 acres for the park in 2012, and the park opened in 2015.

The project was “very controversial from day one,” said County Council Chairwoman Joyce Dickerson. “A lot of people didn’t agree to it. Mr. Jackson was very adamant about acquiring the property and putting something in Lower Richland.”

The park’s initial construction was done by Chao and Associates without a proper contract, Seals informed county leaders in August 2016. The project was not properly bid out for competitive pricing, Seals said. Chao was later given the go-ahead by the county to proceed with constructing Phase II of the park, which is supposed to include an amphitheater, community building and other improvements.

Dickerson said she doesn't know the full truth behind last year's 4-acre purchase. But she and at least one other council member said they didn't have a reason to doubt Seals' account of it.

“I hear two things, that the administrator was the negotiator, and then I hear Mr. Jackson had to do with the negotiations. I really can’t say,” Dickerson said. “The core of the whole thing is a he-said, he-said thing.”

She said she called a meeting among Seals, Jackson and the other Lower Richland council representative, Dalhi Myers, to try to resolve the issue.

“I tried to sit down with them to get some resolution, and it turned into a fight,” Dickerson said. “Mr. Jackson was not happy with what (Seals) said and called him a liar.”

But, Dickerson said, based on the facts presented to her, she doesn’t have any reason to believe Seals has lied about what's going on with Pinewood Lake Park.

While insisting that he had nothing to do with the 4-acre purchase, Jackson also insisted that everything to do with Pinewood Lake Park has been approved by votes of County Council.

However, Dickerson and multiple other County Council members said they don't recall ever taking a vote on the 4-acre land purchase. County planning director Tracy Hegler said in an email to Seals last December that staff had found no evidence of council approval.

On hold, then fired

A month after Seals’ memo to council about the land purchase and Jackson’s involvement, County Council instructed Seals to demand reimbursement of $126,010 (the cost of the land plus survey and appraisal costs) from Chao.

At that time, Seals put the Pinewood Lake Park Phase II project on hold indefinitely, “until further notice and direction from County Council,” he wrote in a Feb. 21 letter to Chao representatives.

“And ever since I refused to go forward, the call has been for my ouster,” Seals told The State. “And everything that I do has been challenged as if I’m operating in secret and I’m operating as a renegade without council authorization and contrary to what council authorized.”

On April 3, Jackson made the motion to fire Seals. He was backed by a slim majority of fellow council members: Gwen Kennedy, Paul Livingston, Jim Manning, Greg Pearce and Seth Rose.

Jackson later told The State that he voted to fire Seals for reasons that included insubordination and hiring friends as contractors.

A later notice from council to Seals said the reasons for his firing included rapid turnover of county staff under Seals' tenure, unauthorized policy decisions and literally sleeping on the job.

The reimbursement demanded from Chao has not been paid to the county, and the Pinewood Lake Park expansion remains on hold indefinitely.

"We purchased for the project for the county, so of course we're not sending the money back," Chao said.

Reach Ellis at (803) 771-8307.

This story was originally published April 17, 2018 at 11:49 AM with the headline "Richland councilman pressured illegal land buy for pet project park, Seals says."