Governor’s office responds to questions regarding closings in Richland, Lexington Co., USC

Columbia, S.C. (WOLO) — Monday’s announcements regarding Tuesday’s schedule at county offices in Richland and Lexington County as well as USC may have lead to some confusion.

For instance, Monday officials with the University of South Carolina announced the campus would close at noon Tuesday. However, later in the evening Governor Henry McMaster announced state offices in Richland and Lexington Counties, which include the university would remain open until instructed otherwise.

Reversing the decision again Tuesday, faculty at USC received a notification saying they would in fact be closing at 2:30 due to bad weather.

Those we spoke with at USC said they were frustrated by the change which for many included working out class cancellations and personal family arrangements.

Wednesday, the Governor’s Office responded to ABC Columbia’s request for a comment on its decision.

The governor’s spokesperson, Brandon Charochak writes, “State government agencies are headquartered in the Midlands, in both Richland and Lexington counties. Weather forecasts correctly predicted that the accumulation of precipitation in the Midlands would begin early Tuesday evening, after normal workday hours. The governor believes that shutting down state government Tuesday would have been premature and would have unnecessarily prevented South Carolinians in all 46 counties from accessing the critical state government services their tax dollars pay for.”