(Published October 17‚ 2003)

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - A weekend retreat for the board of the State Ports Authority has raised questions as to whether the event constitutes doing the public's business in private.

The plans raise concerns because the board appears to want to have a wide-ranging discussion out of the public eye, said South Carolina Press Association attorney Kirby Shealy.

"When you serve the public, you have obligations," Shealy said. "People are not expecting the SPA board to be getting together socially."

Harry J. Butler Jr., newly appointed to the board, invited the board's other eight members to his Georgetown plantation this weekend for a retreat so he and two other new members could get to know the rest of the board.

Butler said he didn't know the gathering would constitute a public meeting, but SPA staff told him it would and the agency sent a public notice to the media late Wednesday.

The notice says the board will meet for a strategic planning session in executive session to discuss "contractual information" and "expansion of services."

Board Chairman Whit Smith said the meetings wouldn't be open because they involve potential contracts related to port expansion, which the board can legally discuss in private. The board won't take any action, he said.

State law allows public bodies to meet in executive session only for specific purposes, which must first be identified in a public session. The only vote allowed in executive session is to adjourn and return to public session. No formal polling is allowed and discussion is limited to the item stated in public session.

Butler said no state money would be used and he will provide lodging and food for the board. Authority president and chief executive officer Bernard Groseclose was the only staff member invited, Smith said.

Gov. Mark Sanford this year appointed three new members to the board: Butler; Carroll A. Campbell III, son of former Gov. Carroll Campbell; and Richard Dillard, an Upstate textile executive.

Information from: The Post And Courier