A Charleston resident is urging city officials to revive a long-dormant commission to oversee Marion Square after a Robert E. Lee Memorial Highway marker appeared in the park with little public notice.

Andrew Waring Geer, an investment consultant and native Charlestonian, said the city should re-seat the Marion Square Commission, which has been inactive since 1998 despite remaining in the city’s code of ordinances.

“When the normal process is bypassed, people assume the fix was in, and the result is anger and distrust that could have been avoided,” Geer said in a commentary published Monday.

The commission was created by city ordinance in 1882 after complaints about a neglected public space. The seven-member body includes three appointees from City Council, three from the Board of Field Officers of the Fourth Brigade, and the president of The Citadel as chair.

Marion Square sits at the center of ongoing debates over historical markers because it functions as Charleston’s primary public park, Geer said. The city maintains and operates the square daily, but the Board of Field Officers owns the property and manages it under a memorandum of understanding that most residents have never seen.

“That mismatch, public responsibility without transparent oversight, is how we end up with surprises,” Geer said.

The commission operated for 116 years before its last recorded meeting in 1998. Since then, new members have not been appointed even though the ordinance remains active.

Geer acknowledged that Charlestonians hold conflicting views about Confederate symbols but said his concern centers on process rather than the merits of individual historical figures. He called Lee “a traitor who aligned himself with and advanced a cause responsible for profound moral crimes.”

Reviving the commission would not settle every argument but would restore a public forum where decisions about permanent installations are handled with notice, standards and public records, Geer said.

He suggested updating the 1882 framework for modern needs, including bringing in downtown preservation organizations as advisors and clarifying when permits and Board of Architectural Review oversight apply.

“Put the rules in writing and follow them consistently,” Geer said.

Geer, who described himself as coming from a long line of Charlestonians, cited his great-great-great grandfather, the Rev. Anthony Toomer Porter, who focused on building schools, orphanages and places of worship after the Civil War rather than glorifying the past.

“Charleston does not need more monument fights,” Geer said. “We need sunlight, a process worthy of our shared spaces and the humility to follow the rules we already have.”

He called reseating the Marion Square Commission “the most practical step the City can take right now” to restore public trust in decisions affecting the downtown park.

The commission’s balanced structure was designed for shared stewardship and public accountability rather than private discretion, according to the 1882 ordinance.

City Council has not announced any plans to revive the commission or address the governance structure for Marion Square.