Former electric co-op CEO holds town hall in Lancaster County, kicks reporter out

LANCASTER COUNTY, S.C. ( QUEEN CITY NEWS ) — News investigations take time. The process of digging up stories some people would rather not have told takes a while to develop sources, obtain records, verify facts, and interview the people with first-hand information about whatever it is we’re looking into.

That’s exactly what Queen City News Chief Investigative Reporter Jody Barr was doing in Heath Springs, South Carolina, on Monday night.

In April, the Lynches River Electric Cooperative board voted 5-4 to terminate Chief Executive Officer Brian Broughton’s employment. Rumors swirled about the reasons for the firing, but finding official documents about the specifics is a challenge.

Since electric cooperatives are considered private corporations, although they do receive taxpayer dollars, co-ops are not subjected to the provisions of the S.C. Freedom of Information Act.

The public’s ability to investigate the business conduct of electric cooperatives in S.C. is limited, as is the state’s authority to regulate them. The state’s Office of Regulatory Staff has limited oversight of these utilities and can, “…inspect, audit, and examine an association of electric cooperatives for compliance with certain laws and an association’s bylaws,” according to the ORS website.

The public can’t file an SCFOIA request to demand to see internal records of an electric cooperative since those entities are not public bodies as defined under the Act.

Meeting minutes from the April 15, 2024, co-op board meeting are not available anywhere on the LREC website. Those board minutes would likely contain the specifics for the termination. Obtaining those meeting minutes is just one piece of the investigative puzzle we’re working to confirm to further our pursuit of answers to what happened inside the LREC.

That’s what led us to The Bus Stop in downtown Heath Springs on Oct. 7, 2024.

Broughton’s brother, Greg, posted on the former CEO’s Facebook page on Oct. 6, reminding the public of a meeting set for Oct. 7, 2024, at 7 p.m. at The Bus Stop to be “…made aware of Lynches River Cooperative happenings and have any questions answered,” according to the public post still visible on Broughton’s page. The invite was also posted on a public LREC members’ Facebook page.

We wanted to hear Broughton’s side of the story and went to the meeting to get it. It was a town hall-style meeting with the former CEO seated at the front of the room, addressing a crowd seated inside facing him. Broughton told the crowd his side of how he believed he was mistreated and targeted by some of the LREC board. Broughton also touched on a few other elements related to allegations we’d received that caused us to take a closer look at the LREC.

Until we have those elements confirmed, vetted, and verified we’re not ready to publish the allegations as fact.

Our goal of attending the meeting wasn’t to immediately publish a report from it. The meeting was an opportunity to hear a side of the LREC story with Broughton speaking freely, delivering his side in his own words, in his own time, and under his own terms.

We listened for about an hour when Broughton began taking questions. Barr took the opportunity to question Broughton, even asking if he could move closer to the front of the room where Broughton was seated at a table so they could hear one another better.

“Come on,” Broughton told Barr when asked if he could move closer.

The exchange went on for ten minutes or so with Broughton answering questions before the crowd got involved and Broughton ordered us out of the town hall.

The video at the top of this story unpacks what happened Monday night – a night that ended in a 911 call and an investigation of a shooting outside a former LREC board member’s home minutes after the town hall.

When the rest of our investigation is finished, we’ll publish it.

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