Greenville County Council adopts new policy after complaints about forwarded emails

At its final meeting of the year, the Greenville County Council approved a policy urging members to "exercise discretion when forwarding personally identifying information contained in citizen emails."

The policy came in response to complaints from residents who said Councilman Joe Dill had sent emails containing their private information to others without their knowledge or permission.

Some of those emails involved politically sensitive issues such as Second Amendment rights and an LGBTQ resolution.

"Once public trust is lost, it is difficult to regain," one of the residents, Dawn Pyle, said at Tuesday's council meeting.

During a committee meeting earlier Tuesday, council members narrowly rejected a radically different approach suggested by Dill. He proposed placing all council emails on the county's website.

"To hide and say these things are private — they're not private," said Dill, who claimed that the county's taxpayers "own those emails."

Councilwoman Liz Seman said Dill's proposal would discourage citizens from sending emails to her and other councilmembers.

Dill's motion was initially approved on a 7-5 vote, but then Councilwoman Xanthene Norris changed her vote from yes to no, causing the proposal to fail on a 6-6 vote. Norris said she didn't understand at first what the council was voting on.

Also from the meeting:Sewer consolidation comes to Greenville. What will it mean? Supporters, critics disagree

The email policy first came up for consideration last month. At the time, council members voted 7-5 to delay any action until January. Norris cast the deciding vote, but there was some confusion because she could not unmute her computer during the online meeting.

Norris, 91, brought the policy back up Tuesday.

During Tuesday's discussion, County Attorney Mark Tollison said the county staff seeks to protect personal identifying information such as phone numbers and addresses when responding to Freedom of Information Act requests.

Councilman Rick Roberts said it is "common sense" for council members to avoid passing on personal information in emails from residents that they represent.

"We're public figures, our constituents are not," Roberts said.

Councilman Dan Tripp said he could not support the proposed email policy.

"It is very unclear," Tripp said. "It is not enforceable."

The policy was approved on a 7-4 vote.

Taylor Smith, an attorney who represents the South Carolina Press Association, said the policy approved Tuesday and the county's staff practices appear to be consistent with South Carolina's Freedom of Information Act and state privacy laws.

Kirk Brown covers government, growth and politics for The Greenville News. Reach him at kebrown@greenvillenews.com or on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM.