Driving School in West Columbia, SC

COLUMBIA — Officials in the S.C. Department of Education have quietly urged the Marlboro County school board to cut ties with its superintendent, citing concerns about her cooperation with the state’s ongoing takeover of the embattled district’s finances.

The board began that process Nov. 3, voting 6-3 for its lawyers to start negotiating with Superintendent Helena Tillar’s lawyers to reach a “mutually agreed upon separation.”

That vote, which drew a “thank you” from State Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver in an email to the board the next day, came after the Education Department took control of the Pee Dee district’s finances in July following years of deficit spending and ongoing financial problems.

A mutual separation agreement between Tillar and the board was one of the options laid out in an Oct. 29 letter from Henry Gunter, the Education Department’s deputy general counsel, to two attorneys representing the Pee Dee district. The letter “memorializes” conversations between the attorneys, department staff, district administrators and the school board, it says.

“It would be both prudent and justified for the Board to take clear action at its next meeting on November 3, 2025, to address Superintendent Helena Tillar’s employment contract,” the letter, obtained by The Post and Courier, says in bold text.

Gunter adds that the department believes there to be “ample evidence” for the school board to dismiss the superintendent for cause. But that option could lead to litigation, the letter warns; a mutual agreement would cost $110,833 if it was effected by Dec. 1.

His letter alleges that Tillar “repeatedly disregarded” the department’s directives that it approve new hires, and that the State Inspector General, which is investigating the district, disclosed that a senior district official alleged that district staff were told not to share “too much information” with the department.

It also raised concerns about the district’s purchase of a 2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee for Tillar’s use.

The letter alleges that the district did not follow a proper procurement process for that purchase, with Tillar instead authorizing a district staffer to purchase the car from a North Carolina CarMax, and that a district purchase card was used to pay for an extended warranty.

Tillar did not respond to the newspaper’s requests for comment made through a district spokesperson. She was hired to lead the district for the second time in 2023, after her first seven-year tenure ended in 2017 when the board forced her out of the job after she filed a grievance against board members.

She defended herself in a Nov. 3 letter to board members, noting that the district’s financial problems existed before she was rehired and blaming some of those problems on her predecessors. Tillar had alerted the board to unsustainable pay and staffing, as well as infrastructure work funded by federal pandemic relief money that hadn’t been completed as billed, she wrote.

Her administration had identified ways to cut costs, she added, even as it had to reinstate cancelled contracts for sewage work, roof repairs and HVAC systems.

She touted accomplishments including getting the district accredited, securing grant funding, reinstating after-school programs and replacing online teachers with newly hired ones.

“As it relates to the SC State Department of Education’s claim that I have been derelict with my duties, that is definitely not the case,” her letter said.

But she added that she would be willing to “compromise” and accept the 12 months of pay that her contract sets out as severance, as well as a $10,000 annuity for her recent positive evaluation. That $190,000 payout is more than the department would approve, Gunter wrote in his letter to the district’s attorneys.

Tillar still has backers on the board, including Rippen McLeod, who described the Education Department’s efforts against her as a “witch hunt.” He dismissed the state’s concerns about the Jeep, saying that the board had approved the purchase and that it was paid for by insurance after her previous car was totaled in a crash, which Tillar’s letter also explained.

“I unequivocally support Dr. Tillar 100 percent, no doubt, no doubt whatsoever,” McLeoad said. He pointed to improvements in some district schools’ state report card ratings this year.

Board chairman Michael Coachman, who also voted against the motion to negotiate a break with the superintendent, did not respond to a request for comment about the correspondence between the department and district. When initially asked Nov. 5 if the decision had anything to do with the state’s financial takeover, he had said it was “very well possible.”

The vote came with no public discussion, but followed a two-hour-long closed-door session during which the board received legal advice about the superintendent’s contract.

One board member who voted in favor of the negotiations, Leevander McRae Jr., disputed that the state had anything to do with the board’s decisions.

“That was totally a Marlboro County school board decision,” he said Nov. 5.

The department has previously said that it could take full control of the district if the situation there worsens, which would automatically disband the local board.

Continued financial problems

The Education Department’s financial takeover followed years of fiscal troubles in the small district, which had eaten away at its cash reserves to pay for a disproportionately large staff as enrollment shrunk.

The final straw for the state was a later-than-last-minute budget proposal that would have closed two campuses weeks before the start of the school year and pulled even more from the district’s reserves to balance its books.

Financial decisions now must be approved by the state.

At the start of this month, its outlook was improving but still serious; Weaver told the board it was “on the brink of insolvency.”

The district was able to make November payroll, but still owes over $2 million to the S.C. Public Employee Benefits Authority for employees’ retirement pay, Michael Thorsland, a former Oconee County superintendent hired by the Education Department to work with Marlboro leaders, told the board Nov. 3.

Tillar said during that meeting she had submitted a plan in October that would thin out district office staff from 45 to 30 and cut some teacher assistants and other staff over time, which Thorsland said would save upwards of $450,000 this fiscal year and allow for a balanced budget next year.

“We have to implement it,” he told the board. “It’s going to be some hard conversations, and some people taking on extra duties, maybe that they haven't had to do before, but that’s what it’s going to take to balance the budget.”

He attributed the district’s cash-strapped position to its depleted fund balance, a pot of money that’s sort of like a savings account for a school district. Having a solid fund balance is important because districts’ expenses don’t come due at the same time that revenue comes in, so officials need that cash on hand to pay bills on time.

Marlboro’s fund balance has dropped by about $9 million over the last three years, from nearly $15 million in 2022 to around $5.5 million at the end of June.

That overspending is because the number of non-teaching staff in the district has gone up significantly even as the number of students has gone down, Thorsland told the board.

“That’s why we’re here, that’s why there’s a budget problem,” he said.

Tillar and Coachman said during the Nov. 3 meeting that many of the additional positions that Thorsland considered excessive were not added during her tenure.

Balancing next year's budget or, ideally, creating a budget to rebuild the district’s fund balance, will require staffing cuts. But Thorsland thinks it can make most needed reductions through attrition and reassignments rather than layoffs.

The Education Department doesn’t want to see classroom staff reduced or class sizes increase, he added. But Tillar said Oct. 20 that she was previously advised by the state to raise her schools’ student-teacher ratio to the 30 to 1 maximum set by state law, which Thorsland disputed.

An August letter from the state to Tillar recommended posting no openings for two teaching jobs, a music position and seventh grade math position.

If you’re yearning for snow, South Carolina is not the place to be this week.

The closest snow will be in the Western North Carolina mountains, where 18 inches could fall. Snow is falling across the upper Midwest around the Great Lakes, where 18 inches have already fallen in Negaunee in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and 13 inches in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin on Lake Michigan.

But just because it’s not snowing doesn’t mean South Carolina is in the clear. Biting temperatures are expected and a freeze warning is in effect.

The National Weather Service in Columbia said the lows are forecast to be in the mid 20s with near freezing temperatures again Tuesday night.

“Gusty winds will strengthen this afternoon, gusting to 30-40 mph at times,” NWS said. “Rough waves on area lakes will create hazardous conditions for boaters.”

“This week’s weather has been a case study in why we love living in South Carolina, but the stretch of warm, dry days is about to end,” said Frank Strait, the severe weather liaison for the S.C. State Climate Office. “A trio of fronts will make our weather more active and flip us into a January-like setup by Monday.”

The front dumping snow in the Midwest was expected to usher in a polar air mass behind it, “causing the bottom to fall out of our temperatures,” Strait said.

“We go from October-like to January-like in hours,” he said. “Most of the state will see subfreezing temperatures Monday night into Tuesday morning.”

Tuesday will be chilly with highs in the upper 40s and lower 50s, but then the South Carolina effect kicks in and by Thursday, most places will see highs of 65-70° into the weekend, when another cold front approaches.

No snow then either and probably no rain.

In fact, the U.S. Drought Monitor shows much of the state is abnormally dry or in drought.

“The drought will likely worsen and expand again over the coming weeks,” Strait said.

WEST COLUMBIA — For 28 years, Cafe Strudel has been a breakfast and brunch staple in West Columbia serving up items like its famous “hangover hashbrowns” since it first opened in 1997. But now the restaurant will be entering a new era as Foundry Hospitality Group takes over the West Columbia location.

Steve Cook, a prominent Columbia restauranteur and the president of Foundry Hospitality Group said the group first started working with Cafe Strudel a few months ago as the restaurant’s original owners Trip and Marila Turbyfill considered selling the space.

Cook said he was inspired by Cafe Strudel’s great reputation and popularity in the community and saw the sale to Foundry Hospitality Group as a way to keep the restaurant the Turbyfills built going.

“We wanted to keep it alive, and so did the seller. And so this was a case where we can do it and make it easy,” Cook said. “We're excited to be able to keep it going.”

The hospitality group first took over the restaurant on Oct. 24 in a change first reported by The State.

Cook said the sale also helped prevent the West Columbia space from being sold and flipped into another restaurant. He said the team at Foundry Hospitality loves Cafe Strudel the same way customers do and intend to make minimal changes.

The biggest updates customers can expect in the short term are upgrades to the 300 State St. building.

“The bathrooms have to be redone as a boring, nobody cares example, but that's a big thing for us, and I think it'll help the customer experience,” Cook said. “But we don't have any plans to change the essence of what Cafe Strudel is.”

But while Cafe Strudel’s West Columbia location will continue as usual, Cook said the Lexington location has closed and will be reimagined as a new concept. Cook — who also runs Lexington steakhouse Ember with Moltó Vino owner Joe Walker and previous Halls Chophouse general manager Ryan Jones — said this choice was mostly based on concerns about running both properties, but said he is excited to bring something new to the space.

“We've got a base in Lexington with Ember right down the street, and love Lexington, and we hope to figure out something that's the best use of that property,” Cook said.

Cook said Foundry Hospitality is still deciding what the new concept will be and is planning to spend time to find the “perfect” fit.

When complete, the restaurant at 309 S Lake Drive in Lexington will join a number of other local concepts run by Cook, who owns Saluda's, Il Bucato Pizza and Arroyo Tacos & Tequila, and Foundry Hospitality Group which also covers The Devine Cinnamon Roll Deli.

While plans are not official yet, Cook said customers should look out for a number of “really cool and exciting” announcements from the hospitality group down the line.

COLUMBIA — The Greater Cayce West Columbia Chamber of Commerce confirmed a state investigation into their spending but denied any wrongdoing in an Oct. 15 letter.

The letter, signed by Chamber Chair Lindsey Miles, reinforced the organization’s “commitment to transparency, accountability, and lawful financial stewardship.”

Miles confirmed the Tourism Expenditure Review Committee, South Carolina’s sole oversight authority for tourism-related expenditures, initiated an investigation into the chamber last month.

According to a letter from TERC Chairman Ed Riggs, the investigation was triggered by a complaint that the chamber “has not been spending accommodations tax revenues in accordance with S.C. Code Ann. 6-4-10(3).”

Miles called the complaint "anonymous and unsupported," based on unsubstantiated allegations that the chamber may have misallocated accommodations tax revenue on non-tourism related activities.

Miles said the chamber provided TERC with “detailed documentation and financial reports outlining how A-Tax funds were used to promote tourism in the region,” including documents that had previously been submitted to Cayce.

On June 3, the Cayce City Council voted 3-to-1 vote to send all $44,000 of the tax money to the Chamber for the 25-26 fiscal year — a break from earlier years in which the money was split between the chamber and two local tourism organizations, Experience Columbia and Capital City/Lake Murray Country.

The move caused friction between the majority of the council and Mayor Elise Partin, who said at the time of the vote that she was unaware other council members were going to end funding to the two tourism agencies. She questioned whether the chamber could provide the same level of tourism promotion and called out its lack of reporting from previous years.

“We need those dollars to bring people into the community, and I have no data that says we get that from the chamber,” Partin said after the vote. “I don’t have any of the data to say what kind of return on investment we’re getting.”

According to the law, organizations are required to submit itemized expenditure reports showing how they spent the money awarded to them, including invoices. That’s because the funds can only be spent to promote and advertise tourism to the city who awarded the money.

“We have complied with the law, submitted regular reports, and used all funds solely to promote tourism and support our local economy,” Miles wrote. “We welcome oversight and are cooperating fully with the state to ensure complete transparency.”

Miles said the chamber’s budgets are approved by its board, which is composed of 20 local businesses. The chamber’s finances are reviewed by the internal Finance and Audit Committee, she added.

According to documents obtained by The Post and Courier, in the last three years the chamber submitted profit and loss statements in place of expenditure reports to the city of Cayce. The profit and loss statements do not differentiate between how the group spent funds awarded by Cayce and funds from other municipalities. While the report breaks down expenditures into categories such as “Advertising - TV” and “Advertising - Web,” it doesn’t provide invoices for how much each ad cost, nor does it list any vendors for those ads.

But in a follow-up email to The Post and Courier, the chamber said the city of Cayce never asked them to break down the cost of each individual advertisement or provide the name of the vendor, nor did they ask them for receipts. Regardless, the chamber said it has that information on file.

And the chamber said it included examples of advertisements it would create to promote the city as part of its 93-page application seeking city funding.

“We do not know why Cayce left that out of their submission,” the chamber said, referring to the city not providing the advertising examples in its report to TERC.

The chamber’s report also failed to provide any data on the effectiveness of its advertising and promotion — a statistic Cayce’s council specifically requested, according to documents obtained by The Post and Courier. Cayce’s Accommodations Tax Grant 30% Financial Report asks recipients to submit two years worth of data tracking total tourist attendance, broken down into local tourists and those who traveled from more than 50 miles away, along with hotel rooms and overnight stays booked as a result of the promotion.

The chamber left that section blank because the group uses the accommodations funds for operation expenses, excluding payroll.

“We are a visitor center with the goal to ultimately put heads in beds,” the chamber said in its follow-up statement. “Within the law, accommodations funds can be used toward operational expenses for a visitor center as long as they are promoting tourism in the area.”

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the Tourism Expenditure Review Committee was within the S.C. Department of Revenue.