Five years of undoing: How Richland County government has faced near-constant scandal
Loose finances and leaders who function as “individual medieval lords” are “endemic” issues in Richland County government, a state prosecutor said Friday, as he delivered a series of scathing indictments of one councilwoman who’s accused of embezzlement, misconduct in office and other alleged crimes.
The problems with Richland County government run deep, state attorney Creighton Waters alleged. Many have been publicly documented in recent years.
The indictments and suspension from office of Councilwoman Dalhi Myers are the latest climax in at least five years’ worth of turmoil and disruption in Richland County government, all starting with a telltale letter from the state Department of Revenue to the county in December 2015.
Here is a brief history of accusations and scandals that have plagued Richland County government in the past five years.
▪ December 2015: Following a months-long audit of the county’s Transportation Penny Sales Tax program, the S.C. Department of Revenue delivered a letter to county leaders detailing myriad concerns with the county’s handling of the program. Rick Reames, director of the DOR at the time, accused the county of potential public corruption, fraud and millions of dollars in wasteful and possibly illegal spending of the tax money.
This letter set off what would become a years-long legal battle between the county and DOR, which is still ongoing. The S.C. Law Enforcement Division was quickly called upon to open a criminal investigation.
The penny tax program was planned to collect more than $1 billion to construct and improve roads and greenways and fund public buses throughout the county.
▪ January 2016: Directly stemming from the investigation into the county’s penny tax program, a county councilman was indicted for failure to file state income tax returns and pay taxes for three years. Councilman Kelvin Washington pleaded guilty to the charges and was removed from office by S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley in March 2016. In June 2016, Dalhi Myers was elected to fill Washington’s District 10 council seat.
▪ June 2016: Tony McDonald, who served as county administrator from 2012 through 2016 and, under County Council’s direction, oversaw the initial implementation of the penny tax program, retired.
County Council hired Gerald Seals, a former Greenville County administrator, as the interim county administrator, although they did so without publicly announcing the names of the final candidates, as required by law. Seals was later chosen to permanently fill the position.
Seals began an overhaul of county finances, revealing years of inefficiencies and mistakes, if not worse. A number of senior staff members, including former finance director Daniel Driggers, left their positions under Seals’ tenure. (Driggers was never publicly accused of any wrongdoing.)
▪ April 2018: In a surprise move, a slim majority of County Council voted to fire Seals, later claiming that he took actions without council approval, slept on the job and presided over high staff turnover. Seals, in return, claimed his firing was illegal and threatened to seek legal action against the county. A deeply divided council ultimately approved a roughly $1 million settlement with Seals, which stipulated that he would not sue the county or individual council members.
However, in June, Richland County resident William Coggins sued the county over the settlement, claiming council members improperly voted on it. The court this year sided in Coggins’ favor, in October 2020, invalidating the original settlement and opening the door for Seals to possibly take legal action against the county, if the county should try to take back its settlement money. The settlement matter is not yet fully resolved.
▪ October 2018: Reporting by The State and The Post & Courier newspapers brought to light questionable spending by County Council members using county-issued credit cards. Among the expenditures revealed were Myers’ purchase of a personal car tire during a trip to Georgia — which she said was approved by Seals — zoo and NAACP memberships by Councilman Jim Manning, and multiple instances of double-dipping by council members Norman Jackson (who submitted duplicate receipts for meals that were repaid by the county) and Gwen Kennedy (who used her county credit card to pay for meals and gas on trips she had already received a stipend for).
At the time, council members said they believed county staff should have been monitoring their spending.
▪ June 2020: Further reporting by The State newspaper showed, yet again, questionable use of county credit cards by council members, including tickets to a drive-in movie theater and multiple gas purchases made on the same day by Kennedy, as well as expenses related to a trip Myers took to Greece.
Following The State’s inquiries, new county administrator Leonardo Brown opened a review of the county’s expense cards. At the time, Myers said she had requested the internal investigation after discovering illegitimate charges on her card, several of which would later be cited in her indictments by the state grand jury.
Seals, the former administrator, had recommended that the county eliminate its credit cards issued to council members. In July, council members debated whether to end or reform their credit card program but did not come to an agreement, saying they would await recommendations from administrator Brown.
▪ August 2020: As the long battle over the county’s penny tax continued, the state revenue department ordered Richland County to repay at least $32 million in misused penny tax funds, which had been improperly spent on activities and items ranging from public relations to office supplies to coffee. The repayment would likely have to come from a different pot of taxpayer dollars.
Later reporting by The State newspaper in December revealed that the county likely could have avoided repaying this money if it had agreed to terms with the revenue department four years ago, which county attorney Larry Smith reportedly rejected.
▪ June and November 2020: Between the primaries and general election, voters elected five new members of County Council, including three to replace incumbent council members who sought reelection — Myers, Kennedy and Joyce Dickerson. All three incumbents were defeated in June primary elections. Combined with three freshman council members who were elected in 2018, more than two-thirds of the council will have turned over in the span of two years.
▪ December 2020: Smith, the county’s longtime chief attorney who was a key player in the county’s ongoing legal battle with DOR over the penny tax, announced he was retiring at the end of the year. The county’s next most experienced attorney, Brad Farrar, also announced he was leaving Richland County for a new job in Aiken County.
▪ Dec. 17, 2020: Following a “fairly quick” investigation by the state Grand Jury, as described by attorney Waters, Myers was indicted on 24 counts including misconduct in office, use of official position for personal gain, embezzlement, writing a fraudulent check, and use of campaign funds for personal expenses. On Friday, Dec. 18, S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster suspended Myers for the final two weeks of her term in office.
Newly elected councilwoman Cheryl English will fill Myers’ seat.
