Richland County Council members must start voting, stop hiding

Would you commission an artist who didn’t feel like painting?

Or hire a baker who didn’t feel like baking?

Or retain a lawyer who didn’t feel like filing legal briefs?

That’s ridiculous.

And it’s ridiculous for a good reason: the majority of artists/bakers/lawyers wouldn’t petulantly refuse to do their jobs. They would actually feel some sense of obligation and professional pride to do what they were expected to do.

That’s only right.

But why does “just do your job” seem to be a difficult concept to grasp for many members of Richland County Council?

Why are they often choosing to shirk their responsibility to make straightforward, transparent decisions?

Why are they often refusing to cast simple “yes” or “no” votes on issues that come before Richland County Council?

Why are they often choosing instead to vote “abstain” — or, incredibly, to blatantly not vote at all?

Better yet, why do we even have to ask questions like these?

Why do we have to wonder why public officials — whose sole purpose is to do the citizenry’s business — won’t properly represent citizens by actually voting on the issues that affect them?

The State’s Bristow Marchant reported that during a recent Richland County Council meeting, 37 issues were brought up for votes — and on 35 of those issues, one or more of the 11 council members declined to cast a “yes” or “no” vote.

And we aren’t talking about trivial issues either.

During the meeting cited by Marchant, here were two issues that several — several! — Richland County Council members weaseled out of voting on:

▪ A proposal to issue up to $35 million in utility system revenue bonds.

▪ A proposal to provide tax credits to support a new apartment development in Columbia’s downtown BullStreet district.

That’s ludicrous.

And for the most part Richland County Council members haven’t bothered to fully explain why they have refused to cast “yes” or “no” votes on various issues.

That’s beyond ludicrous.

It’s downright contemptible.

Clearly some members of Richland County Council need a tutorial on Accountability 101.

So let’s give them the quick version:

▪ Stop avoiding the rudimentary task of voting “yes” or “no” on issues.

▪ Stop showing an utter disregard for transparency.

▪ Start doing your jobs.

It’s not that hard.

Or it shouldn’t be, anyway.

Look, no one would put up with an artist who just won’t paint.

Or a baker who just won’t bake.

Or an attorney who just won’t do legal work.

So why should the citizens of Richland County have to put up with lazy council members who just won’t vote?

This story was originally published December 6, 2019 at 5:30 AM.