Town of Cottageville experiencing financial difficulties; town may be forced to eliminate police department

COTTAGEVILLE, S.C. (WCBD) – A town in Colleton County is experiencing financial trouble and its leaders are working to address the problem.

Cottageville Mayor Donald Dulin said the financial situation in the town is so dire they are considering all options, including possibly even eliminating the police department.

Mayor Dulin told residents during a town meeting last Monday that the financial situation is bad. While he does not know the exact numbers, he said the town had way more bills than they have money coming in.

He just took over as mayor last month and said he is not certain they will have enough money to pay their three police officers this month and even had to let their assistant police chief go.

Friday marked the last day for the town’s police chief.  “To be honest with you, it’s just people of the past not doing what they should’ve done,” said Cottageville Police Chief JD Cook.

Councilman Andy Sahlmann’s wife, Maryann Sahlmann, approached the mayor while we were preparing to interview him.

“I’m worried about what you did to this town and taking away something that we trusted in,” she told him. He responded by saying, “I ran on making changes. I told the people if you’re not ready for change, don’t elect me. Evidently, people want change.”

Sahlmann later told the mayor she apologized for getting upset. She said she agrees change has to be made, she’s just concerned about crime increasing in her community. A concern the now-former police chief says he shares.

“Well, my biggest concern is this right here. As soon as all the meth dealers find out we’re going, ’cause we run ‘em out, they’ll be back. And then your small petty thieves, they’ll be around,” he said.

The remaining officer is now the acting chief, at least until an emergency meeting on Monday. That is when the town will consider ways to keep the officer employed.

“The chief was on board. And we talked about it. I’m a retired, law enforcement. I am pro-police, and that was the hardest thing I ever had to do was say ‘Hey, listen we’re gonna have to let some of you go.’”

In the meantime, the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office will help with crime issues.

“Monday we’re going to discuss whether we keep one officer to keep the town open, or if we let them all go. It’s unfortunate,” said Mayor Dulin. “It’s sad- I hated doing it, hated it with a passion, but it was a difficult decision we had to make.”

Mayor Dulin said the meeting will take place at town hall Monday at 6:30 p.m. and they will have full details and exact numbers on how bad the situation is.