Let me represent you-even though I don't live in your city

3/20/08
Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins
WFAE 90.7 FM

text begins at 43min and 12 seconds and lasts to 44min and 22 seconds. Available at WFAE.org

Speaker is Jonathan Allen, reporter for the Fort Mill Times

"Ah, he's talking about, ah, councilman, I guess I can go ahead and say it, Ken Starnes.

Ah, he just was re-elected, in the last election. Ah, he, his family had a couple of houses.

Their main house is in Fort Mill. They had a second house in Tega Cay. He is going through some personal issues family wise, ah, and is staying at the second house temporarily he says.

So, it technically he still lives inside the town limits of Fort Mill because he pays primary residency taxes on that house. If that changes and he no longer officially, technically lives in Fort Mill then yes, he would have to give up his seat and uh, it kinda depends on how all that works out and I'm not sure if there is a time limit on that or not."

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Now Mr. Allen reports in the Fort Mill Times that Starnes says he plans to move into a space over a vacant downtown Fort Mill business. Has Mr. Allen checked to see if a certificate of occupancy has been issued for that space? Is the water turned on? Is the gas, or electricity turned on? Not as of yesterday. Here is the text, taken from the Times website:

At-large Councilman Ken Starnes is also moving soon, but said he will remain inside the town limits and will not have to vacate his seat. Starnes has been staying at his family's lake house in Tega Cay since last summer ever since he and his wife separated. He and his wife remain married and Starnes' official legal residence is still on Mary Mack Lane. But, Starnes said, he will be moving to an apartment on Main Street next month.

"It doesn't look like there's any movement one way or the other, so I'm taking measures to move back into Fort Mill," he said.

He said he will be living in an apartment above the former SCS Wood Floors, at 217 Main St.

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Why has the Fort Mill Times, which has known that Starnes was living in another city for months decided to not inform the voters that he was living out of the city he is supposed to represent? They knew, and promised a former member of their editorial board that they would publicize his out-of-town status if he did not move back inside the town limits by election day. They lied.

It wasn't until Guynn Savage, another Town Council member resigned because she was moving out of her district, while Starnes has moved out of the city. Why has the Herald not written about this? Why no investigation? What is so special about Mr. Starnes that he is treated with such kit gloves? When Jim Kinard moved less than two miles inside the city limits, but outside his district, the Times editorialized and pressured him to resign. Finally, if memory serves me right, he was forced to resign.

If you believe that a person must live inside the city limits to serve the people there, let your voice be heard. Starnes should resign his post, and spare the taxpayers of Fort Mill the cost of another special election to fill his seat. His dis-regard for representative democracy and taxpayer dollars shows that he is more concerned with his goals than with following the rules.

*****One thing this does not make clear is that the home in Tega Cay and the home in Fort Mill are over $400,000 each, so there really is no "main house"*****