But in the process, they could walk a fine line across state law governing public bodies and their discussions.

Newly appointed SPA board member Harry J. Butler Jr. said he invited the board's other eight members to his private Georgetown plantation for a weekend retreat so he and two other new members could get to know the rest of the board. Board members say the private meeting should make state taxpayers happy.

Butler said he didn't know such a gathering, expected to include dinner, drinks and a walking tour of the property, would constitute a public meeting. After port staff told him it would, the SPA dashed off a public notice of the meeting to The Post and Courier and other media at about 5 p.m. Wednesday.

The notice says the board will meet for a strategic planning session at 8:30 p.m. Friday and again at 9 a.m. Saturday. Both sessions will be conducted in executive session in order to discuss "contractual information" and "expansion of services," the notice says.

SPA Board Chairman Whit Smith said the meetings will not be open to the public because the issue involves potential contracts related to port expansion, an issue the board can legally discuss in private. The board won't take any action, Smith said.

Butler said the talks will include more than just port expansion contracts. "We've been looking at ways to cut costs and need to look at contracts that are in place."

The SPA has dozens of contracts with outside companies, the most important of which are the shipping lines.

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

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

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 permitted in executive session is a vote to adjourn and return to public session. No formal polling is allowed, and discussion is limited to the item stated in public session.

The meetings won't cost the state a dime, said Butler, who plans to put board members in the plantation's guesthouses and feed them his own food. SPA President and CEO Bernard Groseclose was the only staff member invited, Smith said.

The SPA board is navigating in a rapidly changing political climate under the direction of Gov. Mark Sanford, who since taking office this year has 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.

Butler said he is under orders from the governor to look for ways to curb the agency's spending in hopes of sharing a slice of the profits with taxpayers.

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