Our view: Charleston City Council needs to get back to work, hold mayor’s office accountable

Charleston city council members enjoyed a hearty chuckle during last April’s State of the City address when Mayor William Cogswell boasted that under his leadership, council meetings have been “civil, productive and well, short.”

Because it’s always funny when the CEO congratulates his board of directors for not watching the store.

Of course, Cogswell and his happily-home-for-dinner council members would say that’s unfair. After all, who likes long meetings? Surely, the new normal of hour-and-out council sessions provides sufficient oversight of the mayor’s office. Besides, does anybody really miss the combative late-night council meetings of the pre-Cogswell era?

Well, frankly, we do. And after reading City Paper reporter Skyler Baldwin’s March 20 cover story on the 200 Meeting St. mess, city taxpayers are likely starting to remember those bygone days of tough questions and meaningful council vetting with real fondness, too.

To recap: Since last July, the city has been paying $50,000 a month to lease offices in a building where conditions are reportedly so bad that city staff has been forced to largely evacuate the space.

How bad, exactly? Think construction noise that defeats runway-grade headphones. Foul odors. HVAC problems that had employees working in heavy coats and heated blankets throughout the winter. Not to mention the brown gunk that falls freely from the building’s vents.

Of the 75 people who are supposed to be working there, between 10 and 15 hardy souls are said to be left. Which would mean the city is paying $3,333 per month, per employee, based on the lease agreement Baldwin obtained via a state Freedom of Information Act request.

If you’re thinking it would be cheaper to rent them all luxury apartments at a swanky downtown address and just let them work from home, you wouldn’t be wrong.

City Hall’s response to all this? For Baldwin, it was a quick no-comment from spokesperson Deja Knight McMillan. And for city employees, it was an email from Cogswell Chief of Staff Elizabeth Dieck telling them — really — to take a walk.

“We are lucky to work in such a beautiful city,” she wrote in an October email. “Use it to reset when needed.”And city council’s reaction? Surprise. Concern. And assurances they knew nothing about the situation.

Which isn’t the defense they think it is, since it’s actually their job to make sure that Cogswell, who functions as city administrator under Charleston’s strong mayor form of government, is managing the city’s business and finances responsibly.

But here’s the larger point. Right now, Charleston is embarking on not one, but two, massive projects — a $1.5 billion partnership with the federal government to construct a sea wall around the peninsula, and an as-yet-unfunded $800 million plan to build 3,500 units of affordable housing in the same area.

If built, each will change the look and feel of Charleston forever. And both have the very real potential to be financially ruinous in a city with a $300 million annual budget.
Put simply, it’s time for city council members to wake up, throw a little cold water on their faces and get back to work. The stakes are too high for Charleston to have a rubber-stamp council.

Even if that means the meetings have to be a little less civil, a little less productive and well, a little longer.