Image by Flickr user florriebassingbourn The idea, it has been, is that the Town of James Island can be no more whole than this a sheet of paper.
On Friday the South Carolina Supreme Court rejected the Town of James Island's appeal against the ruling that the town's incorporation was improper back in 2006.
It's a move that marks the end of the third try for the people of James Island to be their own town.
And the City of Charleston (which has been aggressively expanding on Johns and James islands) is expected to ask the high court to appoint a receiver so that the town's assets can be dispersed.
But echoing the results of a recent survey in which residents said they wanted to be their own town and not part of the City of Charleston, the town is promising to re-incorporate a fourth time.
In an entry titled "Time to Reincorporate" the town posted to its blog:
The Supreme Court refused our petition for rehearing.
We will need to go through the process of reincorporation.
The first step will be a petition with signatures equal to 15% of the registered voters. We should have petitions ready soon.
The second step will be to have a referendum. We should be ready for teh [sic] referendum in a matter of months.
Reincorporation requires that the majority voting in the referendum support the Town of James Island.
The final step will be to elect a Mayor and Council. This will occur soon after the referendum.
Should the islanders succeed, there may be some question if Charleston has the budget appetitive to challenge the town a fourth time.
