08/26/2026
Thank you Matthew Durham-Oconee County Council District 2 !
County Council met in special session this afternoon at 2pm, and we took three unanimous votes regarding the West Union annexation.
First, we directed the County Attorney to file a Notice of Intention to Contest the annexation with the Town of West Union and the Oconee County Clerk of Court. State law puts a clock on this, and we are not going to let that clock run out while these questions remain unanswered.
We also directed the County Attorney to notify the Town of West Union to cease and desist from issuing any permits for the annexed property in question.
Second, we directed the County Attorney to request an expedited opinion from the South Carolina Attorney General on whether this annexation complies with state law. We are also asking the Attorney General to consider whether the State should take action.
Third, we directed the Clerk to Council to file a FOIA request with the Town of West Union for the complete records involving the 2024 railroad annexation, the August 11 annexation, and communications between town officials and the developer going back to January 2023.
Here’s why.
Fewer than 400 people live in West Union. The town just annexed 268 acres for a development of roughly 400 homes.
The only thing connecting that property back to West Union is a railroad corridor roughly three miles long that the town annexed in 2024.
South Carolina law specifically says a railroad track does not make two properties contiguous.
I’m not declaring the annexation illegal, and I’m not accusing anyone of wrongdoing. I’m saying there are serious questions about how this was done, and today County Council unanimously agreed to start seeking answers.
Council also took up the Flock camera contracts, but that deserves a post of its own.
Second reading of our ordinance banning mass surveillance in Oconee County is September 1. Third and final reading, along with the public hearing, will be September 15.
