Public commenter alleges vice chair benefited from grant award and calls for resignation

During public comment Richard Bussey (Indigo Run) raised an ethics concern tied to the December grant awards the committee made. Bussey said the committee awarded more than $4,000,000 to nonprofits in December, including a $225,000 grant to the Native Island Business and Community Group to stage the Hilton Head Island Gullah Celebration. He alleged Vice Chair Martin Lesh was listed as a paid performer and also has separate paid talent-booking information that benefited him financially, and said Lesh did not recuse himself for the vote.

"Your vice chair, Mr. Lesh, is listed as a paid performer at that event, but he's also listed as talent with his information attached to book weddings. So he benefited financially," Bussey said, and he urged Lesh to resign from the committee or face a potential official complaint to the state ethics commission.

No member response to Bussey's specific allegations is recorded in the transcript; the committee then proceeded to other public comments. The transcript does show inconsistent spellings of some names across the record; the committee may wish to verify recorded roles, the committee's conflict-of-interest and recusal records for the December votes, and whether required recusals were documented in the minutes.