Timmonsville’s town council has acquired new legal representation, but some council members remain unhappy with the decision and say they were left out of the search process.
On Friday, , council hired Attorney Eleazer R. Carter and the Manning, S.C. based Carter Law Firm to serve as its legal counsel with a 4-3 vote. The hire comes just three days after council released attorney Mark Buyck, III and the Wilcox Law Firm for unknown reasons.
Councilman Clarence Joe was among the three dissenting votes, along with councilmen Marvin Burno and James Pigate. Following the meeting, Joe said his vote against the hiring did not reflect his feelings toward Carter, but said he still disagreed with Buyck’s dismissal.
“I think that the attorney that we had as doing an excellent job,” Joe said. “I see no reason to get rid of him and hire another one; but never-the-less, that’s what happened and whatever the council majority do, you just got to go with it.”
Councilman Pigate raised concerns over the hiring process, saying not all council members were included in the search for a new attorney and said council rushed its decision to hire Carter.
“Before I vote on something like this, I’d like to think a little bit more about it. We had the best (Buyck), that wasn’t good enough,” Pigate said.
Mayor Darrick Jackson said he and other members of council conducted the search that resulted in Carter’s hire, adding that while he respected the minority opinion from Friday’s vote, said it was time to put the attorney issue behind them.
“We got some things that we want to do. We want to move the town forward,” Jackson said.
Mark Fountain, Timmonsville’s town administrator, was left out of council’s executive session Friday and said he was not consulted in the hiring of the new attorney, but echoed the mayor’s sentiments that it was time for the town to move on.
“The firing of Mark Buyck was very unfortunate and unexpected because the town was working through so many issues and making progress,” Fountain said. “But at the same time, we need to stay focused on the task at hand, which is the citizens of Timmonsville as a whole.”
Council did not release what hourly fees the law firm would charge the town; however, Councilman Joe did say the town received communication from the Wilcox Law Firm assessing the town $137,000 for legal services rendered over approximately a seven year period.
The law firm will charge Timmonsville just $120,000 so long as the town pays off the debt in a timely manner.
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