Friday, The State’s lead editorial was a basic defense of Columbia City Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine’s oblique relation to another loan from the Sumter-Columbia Empowerment Zone. The last mini-scandal came when her mother used a loan to purchase a building that was then rented out to Devine’s law firm. The money had to be paid back to the city, which the city then paid back to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
This time, a company that has Devine’s husband as a vice president is getting a loan from the SCEZ to purchase property on Patterson Road. The State does a bit of hemming and hawing, and comes down to saying that there’s no wrongdoing going on, and making light of what it calls “the perception issue.”
Here’s the problem with perception and the actions — and associations — of City Council members: the city has been in the shitter when it comes to policy, finances and general decision-making for some time now. The main governing body for Columbia has to take responsibility for that. While the second loan is a lot less damning than the first, both show lack of ability to appropriately think things through, as it comes to, yes, perception, of city governance.
It’s beyond time for city councillors to think their actions through, before the public and the press have to do it for them.
For the past several weeks, there has been some activity regarding improper loans given by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to the City of Columbia and then to people close to two City Council members. The loans involved Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine and Councilman Daniel Rickenmann. Ironically, they’re the two at-large members of the Council.
Both of the HUD loans were for business development in the Sumter-Columbia Empowerment Zone. Interestingly in regard to Devine, one loan was made to her mother, Veronica Isaac, for $280,000. Isaac used that money to purchase a building at 1419 Richland Street. She then rented out the building to Devine’s law firm. HUD said the problem was that the loan wasn’t used to create any new jobs in the Zone. Subsequently, Isaac had to repay the loan to the city and the city then sent the cash back to HUD.
For Rickenmann, it involves two now-defunct Birds On A Wire restaurants he started, one of which was outside the Zone. The loan was $179,000 to the two businessmen, Bryan Singleton and Cameron Jordan Jr., who bought the restaurants from Rickenmann. While the Councilman says he has documentation that nothing untoward occurred, HUD apparently has documents that report the money was a part of the purchase. When the restaurants went belly-up, the gentlemen defaulted on the loan. According to The State, there is the possibility that the city will have to repay that one, as well.
No matter where the blame is placed or how it is divided, the city government has yet again fallen down on the job of monitoring to whom the checks are cut and what’s being done with the money that is being doled out. How long is it going to be before there’s an overhaul of the Council and the people who run the city finances?
