CHAPIN, S.C. — The long-running fight over who controls Chapin town government flared again at a special meeting of Chapin Town Council, where a council majority voted to remove the town clerk and Mayor Bill Mitchell vowed to ignore the result.
The motion passed 3-2. Council members Ainslee Bost, Warren Burritt and Vicky Shealy voted for the removal, while Councilman Mike Clonts sided with the mayor against it. Council members said the clerk answered only to Mitchell, and they faulted how meeting agendas were posted.
Mitchell argued that Chapin runs under a strong mayor form of government, which in his view gives him alone the power to hire and fire staff. He said he would not let any replacement clerk use town equipment or websites, and that he would not sign paychecks for the council’s pick.
Council members countered that the mayor was the one breaking the law by brushing aside their votes, pointing to guidance they received in a training session with Municipal Association attorneys. Clonts floated asking the S.C. Attorney General’s Office to mediate.
The split is months old. In August, the council passed ordinances giving itself sole power to create town offices and hire a town attorney, less than a month after a public vote of no confidence in Mitchell. The mayor answered then by threatening to seek a declaratory judgment in court.
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Filed under: Chapin SC Politics News
