The Town of James Island will cease to exist, once again, now that the S.C. Supreme Court has refused to reconsider its ruling that the town's second incorporation was unconstitutional.
The town's first incorporation was thrown out by the courts eight years ago after a challenge from the city of Charleston. Undeterred, James Islanders outside the Charleston city limits incorporated again in 2002, only to see the court reject the effort once again.
James Island Mayor Mary Clark, 72, has vowed to continue the fight for self-government until the day she dies.
"We don't want to be a colony of the city of Charleston, pure and simple," she said.
Charleston, Mt. Pleasant and North Charleston are preparing to ask a judge to appoint Charleston County Chief Financial Officer Harold Bisbee to seize and distribute the town's assets. Eight years ago, Bisbee was appointed to the same role and personally padlocked the doors to the town's offices.
"We'll take all their records, which probably include the records I took last time and then gave back to them when they re-formed," he said. "It will be a lot easier this time, because they don't own any land and they don't own any personal property."
Eight years ago the town of James Island owned land, vehicles and other property. This time, the town is renting an office in a strip mall and owns little more than two computers.
Supporters of incorporation hope to keep the town office open with private donations in order to prepare for a third incorporation attempt, Clark said.
The town does have money that will be seized and divided among other towns and cities. Clark said the town of James Island has about $3.25 million in state-shared funds and local option sales taxes.
Charleston County and municipalities in Charleston County will get the Town of James Island's sales tax money, and every municipality in the state will get a portion of the state money, according to Bisbee.
Charleston Mayor Joe Riley said he called Clark when he learned of the ruling Tuesday and offered to sit down with her and discuss issues affecting James Island.
"Our lawsuit was not for the money," he said. "The purpose of the lawsuit was to protect the city's boundaries and allow us to increase service to residents of James Island, and protect the very important capacity of the city to grow."
The fight for control of James Island also revolves around Charleston's desire to expand its boundaries and the desire of some James Islanders to stay apart and in control of some aspects of government.
A look at city planning maps shows that it is a battle town supporters have been slowly losing.
The city of Charleston has been steadily annexing James Island, in some cases house by house. The annexations have been creating a network of city-controlled land that effectively divides the remaining areas of James Island into unconnected pieces, a significant roadblock to incorporating those areas as a single town.
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