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A meeting between key players at an upscale restaurant. An advertisement pulled at the last minute. A purchase agreement that might have been signed in bad faith.
These are some of the clues in the mystery surrounding the failure of Project Pascalis, the city of Aiken's $75 million economic development effort.
But the puzzle is still not complete, and the Aiken Standard is attempting to shed light on what happened through reporting and Freedom of Information Act requests.
The Aiken Standard filed a FOIA request seeking communications between a city official and a prospective developer during the month of November 2021 to determine which man contacted the other.
Laura Jordan, the city's Freedom of Information Act response coordinator, denied this request.
She said the city determined emails were exempt from disclosure under the act.
"S.C. Ann. Code § 30-4-40(a)(5) and (9) provide that a public body may exempt from disclosure 'documents of and documents incidental to proposed sales or purchases of property,'" as well as correspondence “relative to efforts or activities of a public body and of a person or entity employed by or authorized to act for or on behalf of a public body to attract business or industry to invest within South Carolina," Jordan said.
Taylor Smith, attorney for the South Carolina Press Association, said the city's failure to disclose the documents violates the spirit of the Freedom of Information Act if not the law itself.
Smith added that the act tells governmental entities to construe the law "as to make it possible for citizens, or their representatives, to learn and report fully the activities of their public officials at a minimum cost or delay to the persons seeking access to public documents or meetings."
Key players meet
Multiple sources with personal knowledge have confirmed that Aiken's Prime Steakhouse was the scene of a meeting that might have led to the demise of Project Pascalis.
Here's what the Aiken Standard has learned about the meeting, which occurred Nov. 13, 2021 and involved Aiken Economic Development Director Tim O'Briant, then-Aiken Mayor Rick Osbon and attorney Ray Massey.
O'Briant was the city's economic development director. He also served as executive director of the city commission — the Aiken Municipal Development Commission — working on the project.
Massey was listed as registered agent for RPM Development Partners, the developer conditionally selected on Nov. 30 by the Municipal Development Commission for the project.
It is unknown whether O'Briant or Massey requested to meet.
O'Briant has declined numerous requests to "go on the record" about the meeting.
Massey did not return a phone call seeking comment on his role in Project Pascalis.
Multiple sources with personal knowledge said Osbon arrived at the meeting later at the request of one of the other two. Osbon declined a request to address his role in the meeting.
The Aiken Standard sought correspondence between O'Briant and Massey but that request was denied.
What the men talked about that night is also mostly unknown but the timing of the meeting, state law and other available information suggest there was a problem with Project Pascalis.
Specifically, the AMDC voted Nov. 10, 2021 to acquire seven properties for the project.
The properties acquired were the Hotel Aiken, Beckman Building, the Holley House, the Taj Aiken building, the C.C. Johnson building, the Warneke Cleaners building and the Newberry Hall building.
According to state law, the next step was for the AMDC to select a developer.
State law, specifically S.C. Code Ann. § 31-10-110(c), required the AMDC to publish a document, called a request for proposal, in a local newspaper that announced it was looking for developers for the properties.
A paralegal for Pope Flynn, the law firm assisting the AMDC with the project, sent the request for proposal to the Aiken Standard on Nov. 12, 2021 and requested publication on Nov. 15 and 22, 2021.
State law notwithstanding, the AMDC was negotiating with RPM on an agreement in which RPM would purchase the properties and redevelop them.
Gary Pope, the commission's lawyer, received the purchase-and-sale agreement Nov. 2, 2021 from James Wilson, RPM's lawyer, according to a bill Pope's firm sent to the AMDC.
O'Briant cancels RFP
Regardless of what the men talked about, O'Briant contacted Aiken Standard Executive Editor John Boyette on Nov. 14, 2021 and the request for proposal was never published.
"Tim is a former editor of the Aiken Standard, and he knew who to contact if an ad needed to get pulled before publication," Boyette said. "We removed the ad because a customer made a request."
The commission proceeded to move forward with the project.
Specifically, AMDC Chairman Keith Wood signed the RPM agreement Dec. 3, 2021. Wood and O'Briant announced Project Pascalis at an Aiken Chamber of Commerce First Friday that day. And a request for proposal seeking developers was published in the Aiken Standard on Dec. 13 and 20, 2021.
Wood and Chris Verenes, vice chair of the commission, specifically referenced the Nov. 14, 2021 canceled request for proposal as the reason the commission voted to cancel Project Pascalis on Sept. 29, 2022.
O'Briant never told the commission about canceling the request for proposal, Wood and Verenes said in statements made Sept. 29, 2022.
"A deliberate decision was made — without our knowledge or approval — to delay running an ad for proposals [the request for proposal] until after we signed an agreement with a developer," Verenes said. "Why weren't we told that a unilateral decision was made to delay the RFP? [It was] delayed for reasons that I believe are indefensible."
"Let be clear… Had I known this, I would have never signed the purchase sale agreement [with RPM]," Wood said Sept. 29.
O'Briant disputed this when contacted Sept. 29, 2022.
Pope copied O'Briant when he asked a paralegal to email the Dec. 13 and 20, 2021 request for proposals to the Aiken Standard.
The Aiken Standard recently submitted a request under the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act seeking any correspondence from O'Briant or any other city official regarding Pope's email.
The city denied this request.
Jordan once again cited S.C. Ann. Code § 30-4-40(a)(5) and (9) as reasons for the city's denial of the request.
The commission learns about the problem
According to Wood and Verenes, the commission learned about the problem with the request for proposal June 23, 2022.
Eight of the nine commissioners — Catina Broadwater did not attend — met with Pope (via Zoom), O'Briant (via Zoom), City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh, Mark Chostner and Tom Hallman (consultants working with the commission) and Buzz Rich on June 23, 2022 for an executive session that lasted from 3:01 p.m. to 4:50 p.m.
Pope reviewed the redevelopment plan, state law and the city council ordinance creating the commission with the commission, Bedenbaugh and O'Briant, he said in a bill submitted to the commission July 9, 2022.
Chostner also said the commission discussed "legal issues" in the executive session in a bill he submitted to the city after the meeting.
Wood said Pope and "staff" recommended the commission start the process over due to the problem with the request for proposal.
It is possible another lawyer in Pope's firm, C.D. Rhodes III, discovered the problem with the request for proposal June 22, 2022.
At the time, a group of residents concerned with the effect of Project Pascalis on the aesthetics of the city's downtown began threatening to sue to stop the project.
Perhaps because of the threat of litigation, Rhodes reviewed the Community Development Corporation Act (the act the city used to create the AMDC) and the project's schedule on June 22, 2022.
Rhodes also spoke with Pope the same day according to a bill the firm sent the city July 9, 2022.
Pope began working to "pivot" the project on June 24, 2022 according to a bill he submitted to the commission.
A series of emails and phone calls between Pope, commissioners, O'Briant and Bedenbaugh followed over the next several days.
Project Pascalis stops
But, the commission never started the project over.
The concerned residents sued over Project Pascalis on July 5, 2022.
The commission met three more times publicly after June 23.
Specifically, the commission met Aug. 1 — a two-hour executive session to receive legal advice regarding the project — then the commission met Sept. 9, 2022 and voted to set a date to vote to cancel the project. The AMDC met Sept. 29, 2022 and voted 5-0 to cancel Project Pascalis.
RPM withdrew from the project Sept. 14, 2022.
The Design Review Board rescinded its permission for RPM to demolish Hotel Aiken.
The city is currently looking for a real estate firm to market the property.
The Aiken City Council rescinded the Newberry Street conveyance.
Wood, Verenes, Treasurer J. David Jameson and the Rev. Doug Slaughter resigned from the AMDC before Christmas 2022.
The Aiken City Council dissolved the AMDC last year and the city took ownership of the properties.
Osbon lost his reelection bid.
Teddy Milner defeated him by 14 votes in an August primary runoff and did not face opposition in the November general election.
O'Briant resigned and was hired to be city manager in Pickens.
