The City of Beaufort’s lease with Safe Harbor Marinas has sparked controversy not only due to its secretive negotiation process but also because of questions regarding the city’s authority to sign the lease.
As previously reported by the Beaufort Insider, the city violated a 1976 agreement with three governmental agencies—South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) of the US Department of Commerce, and the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation of the US Department of the Interior. The city assured SHM Beaufort that it had “full and lawful authority” to sign the lease. However, it had not secured the necessary permissions from these agencies, thus lacking the proper authority to execute the lease.
This oversight could have significant legal and financial repercussions for the city and its taxpayers.
For more details, read our previous article: The Secret Negotiations Behind Beaufort’s Lease with Safe Harbor
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