Controversial Marina Lease Decision Postponed Amid Public Outcry

At the August 27, 2024 Beaufort City Council meeting there were fireworks over the city’s lease of its marina to Safe Harbor.  Ten residents, including two candidates for City Council, made public comments at the beginning of the meeting.  All ten comments had a common theme: imploring City Council not to rush into a decision about how to address the legal debacle with the Safe Harbor lease.

As previously reported by Beaufort Insider, the council meeting agenda included a first reading of a “nunc pro tunc” ordinance to retroactively ratify the lease with Safe Harbor.  After the scathing public comment portion of the meeting, it was time for the council to approve the meeting agenda.  Mayor Phil Cromer made a motion to remove the first reading of the ordinance from the agenda.  He was not supported by any other members of council. When the meeting got down to the ordinance that had already taken a huge portion of the meeting, it became clear that the other members of council may not have supported Mayor Cromer’s earlier motion, but they each supported the postponement of the first reading.  Councilmen Scallate, Lipsitz, and Mitchell individually expressed their concerns with completing the first reading. Councilman McFee was not present at the meeting.

The first reading of the controversial “nunc pro tunc” ordinance was officially postponed until the next City Council meeting which is scheduled for September 10, 2024. Only two weeks does not give the council or city officials much time to resolve any of the lingering questions, but it does communicate the council’s willingness to listen to the public and slow down the process of trying to correct the 2019 mistake of signing the lease.

As part of the discussion, City Manager Scott Marshall presented a detailed timeline of events since the city found out about the legal concerns with how the Safe Harbor lease was entered into, including seeking input and counsel from city attorneys and the SC Land and Water Conservation Fund. Marshall fully acknowledged that mistakes were made in 2019 and that proper procedure was not followed at the time of the signing of the lease.  He also shared that he previously suggested to council that a “negotiating committee” be established before official negotiations begin with Safe Harbor. Marshall even went so far as to publicly thank Beaufort resident Paul Trask for bringing the potential legal violations of the lease to the city’s attention.

• Kudos to the ten Beaufort citizens that took the time to attend the meeting and speak up on behalf of their community.

• Kudos to Mayor Phil Cromer for leading the charge to question whether it was appropriate to move forward with the first reading of the ordinance in light of the many concerns expressed by the public.

• Kudos to Councilmen Mitchell, Scallate, and Lipsitz for listening closely to the public comments and taking a stand by voting to postpone the first reading in favor of more public input.

• Kudos to City Manager Scott Marshall for his transparency about the difficult conundrum in which the city finds itself, and the events that have already transpired in their attempts to address it.

There is still a long road ahead for the city to address the Safe Harbor debacle. At the August 27 council meeting, the public saw that their voices make a difference. It will be imperative for the public’s fervor to remain so that their voices do not get lost throughout the many decisions to follow with regard to Beaufort’s relationship with Safe Harbor, and the future of the city’s marina.

During the two weeks before council is again faced with the nunc pro tunc ordinance it will be important that the city seek multiple legal opinions about how best to address the improper procedure on the part of the city and the City Council when entering into the lease.  It will also be imperative that the input of Beaufort citizens is sought after and considered before any decisions are finalized. 

The citizens who spoke at the meeting had some valid suggestions that the city should also seriously consider over the next two weeks such as: form an advisory council of Beaufort citizens that have expertise in the areas of contracts and law; seek out options other than the “obscure legal procedure” nunc pro tunc; study the history of the park behind the hospital as it is under similar federal guidelines; consider that the marina is in a National Historic Landmark district and how that may affect the lease; and possibly most important, address the myriad problems with the lease before making a move to ratify. 

Beaufort Insider will continue to cover how this story progresses and unfolds.