SC school board member steps away from construction project after ethics dispute
A Lexington-Richland 5 school board member has recused himself from involvement with work on a new elementary school because of his ties to the construction company.
Facing criticism over his business relationship with Contract Construction, Loveless on Monday provided the board with a letter detailing the ties between his company, Loveless Commercial Contracting, and the firm overseeing construction of Piney Woods Elementary School.
“Please be advised that effective immediately, I will recuse myself from any and all votes, deliberations, and other actions on any matter that comes before the Board of Trustees relating to Contract Construction, Inc.,” Loveless wrote.
Contract Construction is the firm overseeing construction of Piney Woods Elementary School on Amicks Ferry Road near Chapin. The school is slated to open its classrooms to students this fall. The firm also contracts with Loveless Commercial Contracting, the board member’s firm, on a separate project outside Lexington-Richland 5.
On Monday, Loveless said that work is part of the “normal course of business” for his contracting firm, and it came about last March, long after the district agreed to use Contract Construction for the Piney Woods project. Loveless pointed out that he has been critical of the project for a long time and had voted against it on numerous occasions.
Loveless Commercial Contracting’s work with Contract Construction involves a project separate from Piney Woods Elementary. Loveless said he won the job based on a competitive public bidding process. Had Contract Construction not been selected for the other project, Loveless said, his firm could have ended up working with another company.
Speaking about the work he and his wife have done for Lexington-Richland 5, Loveless said, “We are not motivated by money or interest, as my opponents would have you believe.”
Loveless’ relationship with Contract Construction previously came under fire last fall when it was highlighted by board member Ed White and then-board member Beth Hutchison.
Loveless has said his construction work is unrelated to his role on the school board, and that his relationship with the company doesn’t pose an ethical conflict, citing an advisory from the S.C. Ethics Commission.
But in that letter to Loveless, an Ethics Commission attorney cited state ethics law requiring “No [public official] may make, participate in making, or in any way attempt to use his [office] to influence a government decision in which he ... or a business with which he is associated has an economic interest,” according to the document filed with the Sept. 28 board meeting minutes.
Critics argue that language would prohibit Loveless from having any involvement with the district’s construction projects involving Contract Construction.
“It’s clear he should not be involved in any way,” Hutchison, who didn’t seek reelection to the Lexington-Richland 5 school board last November, told The State.
On Monday, board member Catherine Huddle moved that the school board also ask the Ethics Commission whether White should recuse himself from matters involving Contract because of past campaign donations he received from the company and its executives as far as back as 2010. White declined to comment on the motion to The State.
Board member Rebecca Blackburn Hines also asked that ethics officials rule on whether Loveless’ recusal precludes him from inspecting the construction site on Amicks Ferry. The board approved both motions.
Loveless was also criticized for discussing business with the company’s president during a tour of the Piney Woods site last June. Hutchison argued the ethics rule should prohibit Loveless from even taking such district-arranged trips to the construction site.
She compared the situation to the board’s role in hearing concerns about individual students. “If you know the family, you have to recuse yourself,” Hutchison said. “You have to leave the room. You couldn’t call or lobby your colleagues about the case. You couldn’t have any influence at all. That’s what recusal means.”
But Loveless made clear at the board’s Jan. 25 meeting he doesn’t believe the recusal precludes him from making future visits to the site. “Just because I recuse myself does not mean I cannot go on a construction site,” Loveless said at the meeting. “You’re abridging my rights as a school board member to do that.”
This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 2:20 PM.
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