Corruption fears rise over commercial real estate firm’s dominance on Spartanburg Water board

“Colliers understands this better than most, and that is precisely why this structure is so dangerous,” Turregano said. “When the same firm that profits from industrial expansion helps control the gatekeeper of water allocation, the appearance of corruption becomes unavoidable. And appearance matters, because trust, once contaminated, is harder to filter than any pollutant in our system.”

Montgomery and Swayngim insist their job roles don’t pose conflicts of interest.

“I guess hypothetically we could create all kinds of scenarios,” Montgomery said. “But that’s not going to happen, that’s not what I was elected to do.”

The controversy started after Swayngim was appointed to fill the seat formerly held by Commissioner Angela Viney, who resigned halfway through her term because she was moving out of the area.

Swayngim had recently lost the election to fill the seat of outgoing commissioner Littlejohn, who wasn’t running again after his term was up.

“In the entire city, three people signed up to run for this position,” Montgomery said. “(Dr.) Octavia (Amaechi) won; Dillon came in second. He obviously wanted to do it, and he’s qualified, I think, to do the job.”

The move incensed some residents because even though Swaygnim had recently lost the election, he was sworn into Viney’s seat in December — before Amaechi took office.

“This doesn’t exactly pass the sniff test,” said Meta Marie Griffin, who spoke at the Jan. 27 meeting. “How can we be assured that there is no conflict of interest here?”

‘Ethical business’

For the commissioners, the message is simple: Trust them.

Littlejohn said voters need to have confidence that Montgomery and Swayngim will serve professionally and ethically.