23-05-2025
From foster care to fine arts, SC has hundreds of citizen boards and lots of openings to fill
The South Carolina Board of Paroles and Pardons hears an application for parole in Columbia on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. Only five members of the seven-member panel were present, with one person absent and a one seat vacant since March 2022. (Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA — Before then-Gov. David Beasley asked her to join South Carolina's Juvenile Parole Board some three decades ago, Terrye Seckinger was unaware there was a group of citizens deciding which incarcerated youth should be allowed to rejoin the community and which should remain in state custody for crimes they committed as children.
Since then, she has served on a total of five citizen governing boards covering criminal justice and education in the state. Once her tenure was over on one board, it wasn't long before a Republican governor called her about another.
'It's not like people are knocking down the doors,' Seckinger said. 'In fact, most don't even know there are these boards where citizens can come and make a difference and have a say in our state government.'
Keeping seats full on South Carolina's vast and vague committees is a challenge for the state's political leaders, especially the governor, who's tasked with making most of the appointments, with the Senate's approval.
High-profile boards, such as those overseeing the port or state-owned utility company, have a long line of hopefuls seeking a position.
But vacancies can linger for lesser-known but not necessarily less important groups.
The Palmetto State has just shy of 300 such boards and advisory groups with about 5,000 politically appointed positions, equivalent to the population of a small South Carolina town, said Brandon Charochak, spokesman for Gov. Henry McMaster.
They make decisions for South Carolinians on a host of issues, including public colleges, historic districts, disease prevention and professional licensing.
There are boards dedicated to the management of aquatic plants and waterfowl habitats, those that oversee operations at specialized K-12 boarding schools, and a group that makes maintenance decisions at the Governor's Mansion.
Some have less responsibility, rarely meet or simply remain on the books despite being unfunded or out of existence for years.
A list published by the Secretary of State's office advertises some 425 vacancies, though how many seats are truly open is unclear. The office depends on the boards to keep the list current. Many don't. At least a third of them don't actually exist anymore.
To be considered for appointment to one of South Carolina's hundreds of citizen boards and commissions, you can fill out an online interest form to the Governor's Office here.
A list of vacancies is maintained by the Secretary of State's Office, though don't rely on it to be accurate.
Qualifications for each board are listed in the Legislative Manual.
Most appointment decisions are left up to the governor and require confirmation by the Senate.
But for others, lingering openings on boards can have an oversized impact on the lives of South Carolinians.
A seat held for someone with a disabled family member living in a state institution remains unfilled on the Adult Protection Coordinating Council, which is tasked with improving the system of care for people with disabilities.
A doctor and a pathologist are needed for a panel that reviews death investigations for the elderly and disabled living in state-contracted facilities. Those slots are open on the Vulnerable Adults Fatalities Review Committee, which aims to identify trends and prevent future deaths.
Spots for four business people remain unfilled on the Coordinating Council for Workforce Development, a board that comes up with the strategies for training workers needed to fill the many job openings in the state.
A prosecutor, a youth recreation organization, and a special education expert are missing from the Governor's Juvenile Justice Advisory Council, which is tasked with plans for keeping children out of the juvenile justice system.
The board governing the Conservation Bank, which doles out grants to preserve land from development, has several openings. So does the board that oversees billions in bond financing for hospitals, schools and colleges.
There are also openings on the commission that reviews foster care placements to ensure children have a safe and stable home.
The list goes on.
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How active a board is depends greatly on how much its members are willing to work, said Seckinger.
Like many who sit on boards, she's politically connected. Beasley was a family friend even before she and her sister worked on his 1994 campaign for governor. Her brother is state Sen. Chip Campsen, who was first elected to the state House in 1996.
Being known in political circles, combined with a willingness to devote her time, explains why she keeps getting those calls.
'I tend to find myself in the fox hole,' she said.
It's up to the agency heads to keep things running day to day. A good board, according to Seckinger, does not micromanage but rather comes up with new ideas and thinks about government in terms of what could be.
'Members of the public bring a different perspective to agencies,' she said. 'I think there's wisdom in that different set of eyes.'
For Seckinger, that led to a successful push for public charter schools in the state after she spent time serving on the State Board of Education. And during her time on the Commission for Higher Education, she argued unsuccessfully for changing to a centralized Board of Regents rather than individual college boards, saying it would lead to better scrutiny of college tuition costs and spending.
'Looking with a business mindset, you see things in agencies that don't make sense or ways to spend less,' Seckinger said. 'Because it's our tax dollars.'
The issue of board vacancies even led Gov. Henry McMaster to use his State of the State address this year to call for the review and potential elimination of the state's more than 40 professional licensing boards. They regulate cosmetologists, construction contractors, chiropractors, real estate agents, nurses, doctors, dentists and more.
If the boards were eliminated, oversight would instead be handled directly by the state's licensing agency, rather than board appointees.
But the General Assembly ultimately did not oblige that request.
Legislators did, however, combine a trio of health-related state agencies into a single, Cabinet-level agency, eliminating their separate governing and advisory boards.
'We have way too many boards and commissions,' Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey previously told the SC Daily Gazette. 'It's difficult for the governor to find qualified, interested people to serve. Not because we haven't tried or think it's not important.'
The Edgefield Republican was among supporters of consolidating the health agencies to one department overseen by a single director who answers to the governor.
'My position for years has been if you're going to have a governor, let him be governor,' Massey said.
Beyond that, Massey said, those people who would best serve in these positions are often already too busy.
He recalls long-standing vacancies on the committee that oversees the state's clay, gold, stone and sand mines. Vacancies have also resulted in boards lacking a quorum, meaning they can't meet.
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Even boards without vacancies are stacked with people serving well beyond their prescribed term. They're left in what's known as holdover status, often for years — some for more than a decade.
Henry Horowitz of Greenville served on the South Carolina Arts Commission for 20 years, six of those as chairman, since being appointed by former Gov. Mark Sanford. While not an artist himself, Horowitz has been heavily involved in the arts, serving on half a dozen boards and founding the Artisphere festival in Greenville.
This year, he said, he told McMaster it was time to find someone new for the small but influential state board that last year distributed $18.4 million to support the arts, from emerging artists to Charleston's long-running Spoleto festival.
His replacement is among five new members of the nine-member arts commission confirmed by the Senate earlier this month. All five are replacing people who had been serving six years or more past the expiration of their terms.
In all, the Senate made about 75 confirmations and reconfirmations to boards and commissions this year. More than a dozen other nominees went unconfirmed before the 2025 legislative session officially ended May 8.
Horowitz, like Seckinger, only knew of the opening in 2005 because the governor called him.
People can apply online, but those without political connections may not know the vacancies — or the board themselves — exist.
'It's hard to get on a board when you're not aware of them,' he said. 'Therefore, people don't get invited.'
Many of these board members are not paid for their time beyond covering travel expenses. The screening involves a financial and criminal history check and hearings before Senate committees. Horowitz also recalls having to submit five letters of recommendation when he applied.
'It's not a simple process,' he said.
Charochak, the governor's spokesman, said it's common for applicants to drop out once they find out about the six-month to year-long procedure.
'That's truly the main issue we have,' he said.
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A state parole board decision last fall — when those supporting a woman's release included her local legislator, police chief and solicitor — serves as an example of how vacancies and absences on a board can make a real difference in people's lives.
If one more board member had been present, the Greenwood mother of five imprisoned for killing her abuser may have been released after nearly five years behind bars.
One parole board seat remains unfilled some eight months later.
McMaster pointed to another case in making his argument for doing away with independent governing boards at the state's mental health and disabilities agencies. A lawsuit filed in December by the U.S. Department of Justice accuses the state of keeping adults with serious mental illnesses in institutions longer than necessary. It was filed 17 months after federal authorities warned a lawsuit was imminent if nothing changed.
McMaster said putting the governor's office in charge would allow whoever's governor to respond and hold people more accountable when things go wrong.
But advocates for these populations are less certain.
Bill Lindsey, who heads South Carolina's chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said having mental health commissioners from each congressional district gave families direct access to decision makers when issues arose. While agency employees set policy, commissioners can serve as advocates.
Margie Williamson agreed. She's spent the last 15 years leading a nonprofit advocacy group in Columbia for people with developmental disabilities, called The Arc of South Carolina.
'Speaking as a parent, I had somebody who represented my child,' she said. 'Otherwise, in the agency, (those with disabilities) can get lost, being seen as just a number and not a person.'
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With more than 20,000 people with disabilities on a waiting list for state services, Williamson is worried more people will slip through the cracks. Coupled with a multitude of proposed cuts to federal aid programs and possibly Medicaid, she said the lack of certainty has become overwhelming.
Lindsey said he's hopeful, even as the Department of Mental Health is folded into a larger Cabinet agency, that the commission will remain intact in an advisory capacity, keeping family members informed of what's going on as the agency restructures.
Lindsey also said he was surprised by the legal action taken by the U.S. Department of Justice. While there was still more work to be done to improve the quality of housing for those transitioning out of mental health hospitals, he had felt the state had made great strides.
