By Lauren Ratcliffe
lratcliffe@scbiznews.com
Published Sept. 17, 2012

This morning, the Charleston County Aviation Authority rescinded a decision from two weeks earlier that gave the chairman of the board direct oversight of the executive director.

In a special meeting, Aviation Authority Board member and Charleston County Council Chairman Teddie Pryor made a motion to rescind the vote taken on Sept. 4. The earlier vote gave state Rep. and Board Chairman Chip Limehouse supervisory authority over Executive Director Sue Stevens.

Before the change, Stevens served with oversight from the entire board. Charleston Mayor Joe Riley repeatedly objected to the vote over Stevens on Sept. 4 because he said the meeting agenda did not accurately reflect that such a vote would be taken. He was overruled by Limehouse more than once during that meeting.

Pryor said there had been confusion as to what that motion did during the last meeting, and he thought it best to rescind the entire thing. Limehouse agreed saying that the earlier action had only been a “sense of the board” rather than a procedural decision. The board voted unanimously today to rescind their actions.

At the end of the meeting, Stevens presented every member of the board a five-year history of her travel records and invited the board to ask her questions regarding her travel.

“Please feel free to ask me any questions,” she said. “Transparency, if you ask anyone who knows me, is very important to me.”

Travel and vacation time was among the reasons Limehouse had used in the Sept. 4 meeting to push for his supervision over the position saying that everyone needs oversight.

The board will meet on Sept. 20 to elect, or re-elect, officers. Limehouse said he will be running and is optimistic that he will be renamed chairman of the board.

Also during the special meeting, the board agreed to accept $3 million more in a Federal Aviation Administration grant to expand the apron at Charleston International Airport. Five million dollars had already been awarded and the additional money brings the total grant for expansion up to $8 million.

Stevens said the most recent grant brings the total of federal money received by the airport over the past three years to $14.5 million. Prior to that, she said the airport had only received $5 million in 30 years.

Stevens said the planning department’s efforts to present “shovel ready” projects has helped the airport receive funds it would have otherwise not been eligible to receive.

Reach Lauren Ratcliffe at 843-819-3119