By Barbara Augsdorfer, Editor for the Effingham Herald

At this point, it’s just talk, but some residents are asking for a plan before the Rincon City Council possibly takes an action that it may later regret.

The Rincon City Council voted at its regular meeting Oct. 9 to surplus the 17+ acres of property known as “Freedom Park” on Prosperity Avenue.

Mayor Ken Lee recalled the history of purchasing the property about 15 years ago, saying, “This all happened 2008 (or) 2009, (during) the economic downturn. The city had a great opportunity to get that piece of property at a very good price. We saw it as an opportunity to maybe control our own destiny and have a little more control. Everybody was looking for options and still are -- sit down restaurants, entertainment; those kind of things. We saw that we could have a little more control over making that happen.”

Since buying that property, the city has used it for Freedom Rings parade, July 4 fireworks displays, the Spring Fair, and the rodeo, which, the mayor noted, citizens have enjoyed.

City Manager Jonathan Lynn touched on those points.

“Just to let everyone know that even though we are looking and exploring this option, there is no intention of removing special events from the city,” Lynn said. “We still intend to go forward with the fair, the fireworks, parades, with the rodeos. It just would possibly be at a different location.”

Lynn added that the property is currently zoned commercial and not industrial, so a warehouse couldn’t be built on the property.

Councilmember Michelle Taylor added the reason this property is being considered to be surplus and possibly sold is because the adjacent parcels were recently sold, but the city didn’t take the opportunity to purchase those parcels, “Which is going to cause another problem for us because that’s where we park (for events at Freedom Park),” Taylor said. “Just FYI.”

Several minutes of discussion ensued regarding the possibility of selling the property to a commercial developer, and the council agreed that if the property was sold to a developer, it could put restrictions on the type of building or business that could be on the property.

The newest member, Councilmember Kevin Exley, weighed in.

“(My) second week, I just got bombarded with calls over this,” Exley said. “There's two things that people want to know. One, they want to make sure that we control what goes in that spot. There's no warehouses. Nothing like that.

“It’s a family fun area; and also, where are the dollars going to go that we’re claiming from that?” Exley asked. “Those are the two biggest questions I was faced with.”

Mona Underwood asked the council if there was a plan for the property or any plans for parks and recreation.

“I don't know how you can do much until you know what you're doing at all. And we don't know what we're doing,” Underwood told the council. “We need a master plan desperately for parks and recreation for the city. (Councilmember) Patrick (Kirkland) wants sidewalks. We are desperately looking for a master plan. And then we need to work the plan. We're running out of space … and time.”

The consideration for what to do with the property, if anything, is still in the discussion phase.

“We're not making any movement when we ask them to create a plan. Let's go and look at the property, walk the property, and see what's there to see if that's even the right property,” Councilmember Patrick Kirkland added. “Because it might not be, but the first step has to be for us to get it surplus so that we can see if it's even worth us even wanting to sell the property. Because if it's not, then we don't sell the property.”

Council discusses term limits, billing

Exley campaigned saying he would introduce term limits if he was elected.

“I've talked to a lot of people about term limits and I wanted to make sure that I brought this up tonight. I said that it will be the first thing that I talked about when I got on (council),” Exley began. He read off some reasons for and against term limits.

“Term limits has been argued about in many circles. Some feel these changes that cut the will of the people out of having the elected official that they want and they cut their time short. Others believe this approach is a necessity,” Exley read. “Term limits reduce corruption, open our local government to new people with new ideas. It reduces the outside influence of those who may be in favor of something for personal gain and you should also consider putting in an ethics committee in place like the city of Springfield is doing to restore trust. Those are the biggest calls that I get right now is there's a trust factor of what we do.”

Exley listed some issues that he believes have come about because councilmembers are not bound by term limits.

Exley then asked the council why the city was “ten months behind paying our city attorney. Is there anyone here who can verify that work?”

“I can verify,” City Attorney Raymond Dickey interrupted.

Exley questioned why there were three invoices that charged five hours for “talking to elected officials.” He then challenged the city to pay those invoices within 30 days. “The time billed is taxpayers’ dollars. We’re not on the honor system here,” Exley added.

“This is a business, and a PO (purchase order) should be given each time our attorney is requested to complete something. Any time we request something, then we should have a PO. That's how it's done everywhere else,” Exley said.

“All this stems from the fact that you don't like me because I put you out of office because you had such a conflict of interest. You chose to take a trash contract over representing the city at city council,” Dickey retorted, in reference to when Exley resigned his city council seat in 2020 citing work issues. Exley was employed by Waste Pro at the time, but is now employed by the City of Savannah, in a similar capacity.

Exley returned to the topic of term limits, citing examples such as the President of the United States who is limited to two terms. He went on to say that he’s unsure of the process to make that change for the city, whether it’s something that has to be added to the city charter or if it goes on a ballot for the people to decide.

“I agree there should be term limits. I think maybe back in the day when the city first started it was important to have people consistently on there; but new ideas and new faces -- it needs to be done,” Taylor concurred with Exley.

Mayor Lee seemed to at least be agreeable to the conversation, but said the idea of term limits is a process.

“You're initiating that conversation by presenting this tonight. I think we probably need to look at all the factors that might determine whether the term limits are reasonable, effective or whatever,” Lee said.