McConnell voices concerns about Patriots Point

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell wants to play Twenty Questions with the cash-strapped state-owned tourist attraction at Patriots Point, and not one of them is a softball.

He's got 19 inquiries, to be exact, all spelled out in a letter to the director of the Legislative Audit Council, an organization that conducts oversight evaluations of state agencies and programs when requested by legislators.

Five lawmakers must come together to get an audit, but McConnell and House Speaker Bobby Harrell, both Charleston Republicans, can make it happen with their requests alone.

In his letter, McConnell expressed his concern that Patriots Point "has drifted into a state of inertia and has become overcome by its disabilities."

What really gets him, though, is that the agency that runs the attraction spent more than $9 million in state loan money to repair its sinking warship Laffey, has no means to repay those funds or even to bring the destroyer back to the attraction's docks, and yet asked to spend $1.2 million from its reserves on a parking lot.

"The taxpayers deserve better answers and cannot be looked to for a bailout," McConnell wrote in the letter dated last Friday. "Patriots Point must work its way out of this hole, not only for the benefit of the monument attraction and the State but also because a bailout is out of the question."

He said an audit could save Patriots Point. In his request, he seeks a host of answers, including:

--Whether Patriots Point has an adequate business plan for the future and for repaying the Laffey loan.

--How the attraction plans to generate the money needed to return Laffey to the docks.

--Whether Patriots Point complies with the U.S. Navy's requirements for maintaining its ships and how much revenue the attraction must generate to properly conserve them.

--Whether the attraction's board complies with public information laws during its meetings.

--Whether staff meets the needs of the attraction and whether administrative responsibilities overlap.

Patriots Point Executive Director Dick Trammell, who took over the position in April 2009, welcomed the opportunity for an audit.

"The situation we are dealing with at Patriots Point, the backlog of maintenance, has been building for 35 years," he said.

"We had some hard choices to make," Trammell said. "We could've not requested any assistance and potentially witnessed the Laffey sinking right there, or we could ask the state for assistance for emergency repairs. That's what the board chose to do."

Patriots Point Development Authority Chairman John Hagerty plans to send a letter to Senate Finance Chairman Hugh Leatherman, a Florence Republican, laying out a plan for repaying the state loan. Trammell and Hagerty, neither of whom had seen McConnell's letter to the audit council, would not discuss the plan in advance of their letter to Leatherman.

The Legislative Audit Council will review McConnell's request and, if accepted at its September meeting, assign a team to the project, according to director Tom Bardin. He said that team would then meet with Patriots Point's executive management and discuss each issue raised.

Once they finish the "field work," they would write a report with findings and recommendations. If any require changes in law, they would address them to the General Assembly. The rest go to Patriots Point.

The legislative watchdog group previously conducted an audit of the Mount Pleasant maritime attraction in 1998, reviewing land development practices and foreshadowing the financial turmoil ahead. The council found that the museum could generate enough capital to feed its operations but that it was tough to accurately estimate future ship repairs and that the agency could need state funding.

The council noted that the deteriorating fleet of warships could pose environmental and safety risks. Then, 12 years ago, and now, if another audit begins, the council's findings and recommendations serve only as that -- recommendations with no legal obligation.

Reach Allyson Bird at 937-5594 or abird@postandcourier.com.