Santee Cooper’s executive team to see salary boost

By Molly Parker , Staff Writer

The five members of Santee Cooper’s executive team will receive a collective $86,565 salary boost effective Thursday.

Of that amount, President and CEO Lonnie Carter will receive $29,991, bringing his annual salary to $404,756.

Carter is the state’s second-highest-paid employee behind only W. Stuart Smith, executive director of the Medical University Hospital Authority, who draws $431,570 annually. 

Santee Cooper’s board of trustees, which approved the raises earlier this year, was informed last Friday of the new salary schedule. The pay increases represent a 4% raise for the entire executive team, according to Laura Varn, vice president of corporate communications.

Combined, the utility executives make $1.4 million, an amount that will jump to about $1.52 million on May 1.

Many of Santee Cooper’s rank-and-file employees also will receive pay raises between 0% to 7% based on performance, Varn said.

Santee Cooper is a publicly owned utility, but it is self-supporting and does not rely on tax dollars for operating expenses. Executives at publicly traded utilities typically make millions of dollars a year in salary in addition to receiving stock options.

“It’s really ironic,” Varn said. “If you look at Lonnie’s counterparts at investor-owned utilities they’re making $4 to $5 to $6 million a year, which is nowhere near the $400,000 he’s making. That’s one of the differences with being state-owned and investor-owned.”

Below are Santee Cooper’s top five executives and the pay raises they will receive Thursday:

hLonnie Carter, president and CEO: from $374,774 to $404,756.

hBill McCall, chief operating officer: from $352,083 to $366,166.

hElaine Peterson, chief financial officer: from $250,486 to $268,020.

hJim Brogdon, general counsel: from $232,948 to $242,266.

hR.M. Singletary, senior vice president of corporate services: from $223,554 to $239,203.

Efforts to stem illegal immigration hit roadblock

By Scott Miller , Staff Writer

An often-criticized employment verification program that has stalled South Carolina’s attempt to tackle illegal immigration has not been a headache in Arizona.

Arizona in January became one of the first states to require private employers to use the federal E-Verify program, an employment verification system that business groups have lobbied against and critics claim is inaccurate and subject to document fraud.

“I would say we haven’t heard as much negative backlash as we originally thought,” said Ann Seiden of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which unsuccessfully challenged the E-Verify requirement in court.

“It’s been a relatively smooth transition considering it’s a federal program that needed to ramp up tenfold just to handle Arizona,” she said.

In South Carolina, E-Verify has been the centerpiece of a conflict over how private employers should verify the status of new hires, a disagreement that could derail the state’s entire effort to curb illegal immigration. State lawmakers meet again this week to seek a compromise.

The Senate wants to allow the use of the I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Form that critics argue doesn’t check for fraudulent Social Security numbers. The House wants nothing to do with I-9 and instead would prefer to offer legal protections for private employers that choose to use E-Verify.

Now, each group is pointing a finger at the other, saying procedural rules prevent either chamber from taking a vote on a compromise without action from the other.

The business community, meanwhile, has lobbied in support of the I-9 option.

“(E-Verify) is more difficult for some of the smaller companies to use. We want to make sure businesses have options,” said Marcia Purday, vice president of communications and public relations for the S.C. Chamber of Commerce.

For more on E-Verify and the state’s attempt to tackle illegal immigration, read the May 12 issue of the Charleston Regional Business Journal.

Regional water treatment plant christened in Santee

By Molly Parker , Staff Writer

Politicians gathered today in Santee to christen the new $35 million Lake Marion Regional Water Treatment Plant that has for years been a political pipe dream viewed as the key to encouraging development along the Interstate 95 corridor.

“This is a tremendous day for the communities in the six-county region around Lake Marion that will ultimately benefit from the clean, safe drinking water this project will provide,” said U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C.

Members of the Lake Marion Regional Water Agency include representatives from the counties of Orangeburg, Calhoun, Clarendon, Dorchester and Berkeley, the town of Santee and the city of Sumter.

“Access to potable water is also a key component to attracting economic development to the I-95 corridor, and we are beginning to realize the investments this water project will make possible in this region,” Clyburn said.

The new water system includes a treatment plant that can handle 8 million gallons a day and a 1-million-gallon elevated storage tank in Orangeburg County near I-95.

At Clyburn’s urging, the federal government picked up most of the tab for the $35 million water system, and state-owned utility Santee Cooper facilitated the project.

Starting May 1, citizens in Santee will receive water from the plant. The next phase of the project is to build a 5-mile pipeline from the plant to the Orangeburg storage tank. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is expected to award contracts for those water lines late this summer.

International trade conference coming to Charleston

By Daily Journal Staff

More than 500 international trade and logistics professionals are expected to come to Charleston for the 35th annual S.C. International Trade Conference May 27-29 at Charleston Place Hotel.

Among the items on the agenda are:

• Networking opportunities with international logistics, transportation, manufacturing distribution and international trade professionals.
• Educational sessions led by industry leaders.
• Reports on industry trends, developments and how to prepare for future changes.
• Opportunities to share best practices with other shippers, manufacturers, logistics professionals and service providers.

Local florist’s strategy featured in magazine

By Daily Journal Staff

The owners of Tiger Lily florist at 131 Spring St. in downtown Charleston are featured on the cover of the April issue of Floral Management, the magazine of the Society of American Florists.

The feature story on Manny and Clara Gonzales of Tiger Lily focuses on the couple’s latest marketing strategy, the launch of their Black Market Designs line. The article “Mining for Gold” discusses how the owners faced the current decline in consumer spending not by reducing prices but by creating a line to appeal to upscale clients.

The Black Market Designs line features exotic, hard-to-find flowers flown in weekly from places as far away as Israel, China and Holland. Prices range from $150 to $350 for an arrangement.

Since launching Black Market Designs on Feb. 1, Tiger Lily has sold at least one arrangement a day, including one delivered to actor Kevin Costner who recently was in Charleston shooting a film.

“We hope this article about our new line and business philosophy will be an inspiration for our peers to think outside the box and continue to set the bar higher for floral service,” Manny Gonzales said.

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