JENKINSVILLE – Jenkinsville Water Company has operated with a deficit every year since 2012, with revenue shortages totaling nearly $236,000 in the past two years alone, according to a review of its federal tax returns.
On its Federal 990 tax forms, which non-profits like the water company must file and are public record, the JWC reported deficits in each of the past five years. JWC reported a slight surplus of $1,442 in 2011, tax records show.
In 2016, the water company reported a deficit of $107,135. The deficit was even higher in 2015 at $128,783, tax records show.
The fiscal data shines a light on what’s otherwise been a murky subject for the JWC, which routinely shields financial data from public view.
At its monthly meeting Monday, the board reviewed its financial report and profit and loss statements in open session, but didn’t discuss them.
Greg Ginyard, the water company’s president, wouldn’t discuss finances when asked about them after the meeting.
Jill Miller, executive director of the S.C. Rural Water Association, a support organization for the state’s 400-plus water companies, couldn’t be reached for comment.
A representative of the group declined to comment about financial data, but noted the JWC has previously been a member of the rural water association, though it currently isn’t one.
The representative also said JWC occasionally attends association events, most recently in December 2017.
Of the $551,013 the JWC spent in 2016, the largest expense was for salaries and wages, accounting for $102,336, or about 18.5 percent, according to tax returns.
Depreciation, depletion and amortization accounted for $93,217, followed by purchase of water at $88,465, tax records show.
Travel expenses, an issue that’s arisen in past JWC meetings, have also been recurring line items in the water company’s tax returns.
Since 2012, the water company has spent more than $67,483 on travel, including $12,687 in 2013 and $17,955 in 2015.
The $14,880 reported in 2016 tax records is at odds with a figure of $8,089 announced during the water company’s 2017 annual meeting.
At the time, JWC accountant Yvette Jones attributed the travel costs to routine trips.
“That’s mileage for driving to the law firm, to the bank to make deposits and things like that,” Jones said at the time.
Also at that meeting, Ginyard said travel expenses covered trips to meetings.
A review of travel expenses for other S.C. water companies of comparable size or larger found most reported minimal to travel expenses. Many reported none at all.
In 2016, the Marlboro Water Company reported $5,178 in travel expenses. Its annual revenue was $1.6 million, more than three times that of Jenkinsville Water Company.
Browns Creek Water Company in Union County reported $1,443, while Oswego Rural Water Company in Sumter County spent $990 on travel, according to 2016 tax records.
Water companies in Greenville, Orangeburg, Pickens, Marion and Chesterfield counties didn’t report any travel expenses in 2016, tax records show.
The anomaly was High Hills Rural Water Company in Sumter County. It reported $60,053 in travel expenses, with overall annual expenses totaling $2.28 million.
JENKINSVILLE – The Jenkinsville Water Company (JWC) board of directors spent more time behind closed doors Monday evening than in open session, but it’s what happened after executive session that ignited fireworks.
At its monthly meeting Monday, the JWC board of directors voted to accept three items merely dubbed “Items A, B and C” as discussed in executive session.
Board members refused to specify the nature of Items A, B and C, and scolded audience members who challenged the vote.
The meeting adjourned immediately after the votes, and board members promptly exited the building.
Bill Rogers, executive director of the S.C. Press Association, said conducting votes without specifying what they’re about is in violation of the state’s Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA.
“How can they vote on something without saying what you’re voting on?” Rogers said Tuesday. “It’s an illegal vote. They’re really out of control. They’re flying in the face of logic and the law.”
The Voice pressed board president Greg Ginyard as he and other board members were exiting Monday’s meeting. Ginyard said the votes involved, “items brought up that the members requested.”
When The Voice asked if Ginyard could be more specific, he declined to answer and the interview ended. Exiting board members referred The Voice to the water company’s attorney for further remarks.
Reggie Belcher, a Columbia attorney representing the water company in a pending FOIA lawsuit, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
A telephone call had not been returned as of press time. An email auto reply stated Belcher would be out of the office until Monday, April 2.
At Monday’s meeting, Ginyard scolded The Voice and Fairfield County businessman Donald Melton for openly challenging the secret vote.
“You can’t blurt out in the middle of a meeting,” Ginyard said. “We’re past the public comment period so please don’t blurt out.”
“We’re just asking for transparency,” Melton answered.
Ginyard said public input is the proper time to address the board. Public input is scheduled before executive session, which prohibits the public from challenging the vote until the board’s next meeting on May 7.
Melton sued the water company in 2016, citing multiple FOIA violations. The case is pending.
According to the suit, the water company has claimed that it’s not a public body and not subject to FOIA. The S.C. Attorney General’s office said otherwise in a 2011 opinion.
The eight-page opinion states the JWC formed in 1970 when the U.S. Department of Agriculture provided a loan as seed money.
The JWC received $34,751 in government grants in 2007 and in 2011, the S.C. Budget and Control Board approved grants of $73,000 and $132,500 to the water company.
It’s further stated in the attorney general opinion that Fairfield County also provided public funding for the JWC.
“There is considerable evidence, based upon the information which you have provided, that the Jenkinsville Water Company has received and currently receives both federal and state grand funding,” the opinion states.
The JWC’s retreat into executive session Monday also prompted a protest from The Voice.
Ginyard initially stated the purpose of the executive session was for “contractual and personnel matters.”
When pressed by The Voice for the specific purpose, a requirement under state law, Ginyard responded that the private meeting was to discuss a new well being installed and “employees.”
State law requires public bodies to state the specific reason for entering executive session. Violating this statute has proved costly for other public bodies that have disregarded it.
In 2016, an Aiken County judge ordered the City of North Augusta to pay $14,724 to a North Augusta resident who filed a lawsuit that said the city wasn’t specifically stating the reason for entering executive session.
A year later, the city of Newberry was ordered to pay $13,708 for a similar violation in not stating a specific reason for executive session.
This photo was taken on Jan. 14, 2018, shows a clear cut in progress on five contiguous wooded lots between Links Crossing Drive and Golden Spur Lane in Cobblestone Park. | Michael Criss
BLYTHEWOOD – During its February meeting, Town Council voted to adopt an amendment to the town’s tree preservation ordinance that would remove an exemption that Town Attorney Jim Meggs suggested is being interpreted by developers as permission to clear cut lots without a tree removal permit from town hall.
On Monday night, the Planning Commission saw things from the developers’ perspective and unanimously recommended that Council reverse its decision and vote against adopting Meggs’ amendment when it takes a second and final vote on the issue at its April meeting.
For years, Blythewood’s town administrator, with input from the town attorney, planning consultant and planning commission, has been interpreting the town’s tree preservation code to mean the town government can enforce tree removal permits on undeveloped, platted, single-family residential lots in established subdivisions or new neighborhoods like Abney Hill Estates, Phase 2.
But when Michael Criss, the town’s planning consultant, recently tried to stop developer D.R. Horton from clear cutting five lots in Cobblestone Park next to the mayor’s home, the town’s attorney, Jim Meggs, examined the town’s tree preservation ordinance more closely and decided the ordinance contained a weakness that allowed another interpretation of the ordinance, one that developers were using to clear cut lots without a permit from town hall.
That weakness, Michael Criss told the Planning Commission on Monday evening, is found in section (H) of the ordinance and states that, those projects are exempt from the permitting process for tree removal if they have received major subdivision or site plan approval prior to the effective date of this subchapter and amended major subdivision and site plans.
“If Mr. Meggs’ interpretation of the current code is correct and would prevail,” Criss told the Commissioners, “the town’s hands are tied in enforcing permits for tree removal on undeveloped lots in most of our neighborhoods in the town – Ashley Oaks, Abney Hill Estates, Cobblestone Park, Blythe Creek, Lake Ashley, etc.”
To remedy what Council termed a loophole in the ordinance, Meggs’ drafted amendment surgically removes exemption (H) from the ordinance.
Jesse Bray, representing D. R. Horton, pushed back against that amendment.
“We’ve cleared [clear cut] dozens of acres in Cobblestone and it wasn’t an issue, but now it seems to be an issue because it’s next to the mayor’s house,” Bray told the Commissioners. “You throw around ‘flaw’ and ‘loophole’. It’s not a loophole. It’s in your ordinance. D. R. Horton is not trying to get away with anything. We’re the largest builder in the U. S. We don’t skirt rules,” Bray said.
“Look at the plot plans…we have a 60-foot x 120-lot, the average lot size in Cobblestone. It has a 15-foot setback, a five-foot side set back and we’re allowed to clear a 20-foot buffer around the 50-foot x 50-foot home site. That leaves you ten feet in back. If we have a swale for drainage, that comes out of the ten feet,” Bray told the Commissioners.
Complicating the issue is that the current tree preservation ordinance, which was adopted in 2015 with the intent of preserving trees, would have done just that had the General Assembly not interfered.
“In its wisdom, the General Assembly voted in 2010 and again in 2013 to protect developers hard hit by the 2008 recession by extending the life of the existing local development permits for nine years,” Criss said. “That kept permits alive that dated as far back as 2007. Since then, Blythewood has adopted stricter tree preservation regulation and stricter storm water management regulations. But just about all of the town’s projects now fall under the General Assembly’s grandfathered rules,” Criss said. While the grandfathered rules continue projects previously permitted for roads and infrastructure, they can also thwart the town’s current ordinance by enabling previously permitted mass-graded projects to remove all trees from individual lots as well as roadways, storm drainage areas, etc.
“Under the current ordinance, we felt the individual lots were protected from clear cutting in Cobblestone Park,” Criss said. “The town attorney felt there was a weakness in the ordinance and he is trying to fix it with this proposed text amendment.”
Town Council is expected to take its second and final vote at the April meeting.
BLYTHEWOOD – A brush fire consumed about 10 acres of a 158-acre parcel on Langford Road, just outside of the Blythewood town limits on Sat., March 31.
The center of an open field on the property was burning and smoke was billowing above tree tops when firefighters arrived on scene around 2:30 p.m. The fire was extinguished by a little after 6 p.m. according to a fire report by the Richland County Fire Department.
The property is one of two joining parcels owned by Jacobs Creek LLC that stretch between Langford Road and I-77.
The fire report stated that the fire was pushed in multiple directions by the wind. Due to the size and nature of the fire, the S. C. Forestry Commission as well as other units were called.
An investigation by the Richland County Fire Department concluded that the cause of the fire was undetermined. No structures were damaged.
BLYTHEWOOD – Members of the community are invited to bring ten of your prehistoric Native-American artifact “finds”, such as arrowheads, spear points, axes, broken pottery and other such artifacts to the Blythewood Historical Society and Museum on April 27 for an evening of identification, dating and discussion.
Three archaeologists will be on hand that evening, to examine the artifacts and answer questions – Dr. Albert Goodyear, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus at the University of South Carolina and internationally known as the excavator of the Topper Site; Joseph Wilkinson, M.A. Anthropology, the University of South Carolina and Dr. Leland Ferguson, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, USC and author of several books.
Sponsored by the Blythewood Historical Society and Museum, the event will be held at the Langford-Nord House, 100 McNulty Street in Blythewood at 7 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Margaret Kelly at 803-333-8133 TWTH, from 9 – 4 p.m.
WINNSBORO – Rep. MaryGail Douglas faces competition for her seat in the S. C. House of Representatives, District 41, in the June 12 Democratic Primary.
Douglas, who represents Fairfield and Chester Counties and parts of Richland County, is seeking a fourth term. Annie McDaniel, a member of the Fairfield County Board of Trustees, is also running for Douglas’ seat on the Democratic ticket. United Citizens candidate Fred Kennedy has also filed. Kennedy will not be on the ballot in the primary.
Running unopposed for the Nov. 6 election are Fairfield County Auditor Peggy Hensley; Treasurer Norma Branham and Probate Judge Pam Renwick.
COLUMBIA – Anthony L. Dillon, has accepted the position of Clinical Instructor and the Director of Internship Programs for the University of South Carolina. He and his wife, Jennifer, live in Blythewood with their daughter Teagan, and son, Tillman.
Dillon departed from the South Carolina Department of Education after serving the past 12 years as the state supervisor of business, marketing, finance, and technology curriculum for all middle schools and high schools in the state.
As Clinical Instructor and Director of Internship Programs, Tony will work with undergraduate and graduate students in relation to technology internships upon entering the corporate world.
RIDGEWAY – In a deeply divided race for mayor and two council seats, three candidates who ran as a block won as a block, tipping the balance of power in the Ridgeway town government.
Councilman Heath Cookendorfer, with 71 votes (54.20 percent), bested Councilwoman Angela Harrison, with 59 votes (45.04 percent) to capture the mayor’s seat.
Newcomer Dan Martin, with 77 votes (30.43 percent), and former mayor and councilman Rufus Jones, with 66 votes (26.09 percent), won the two vacant council seats over Rick Johnson, 59 votes (23.32 percent), and Roger Herring, 51 votes (20.15 percent).
There was one write-in vote for Rufus Jones for mayor. Of the town’s 229 registered voters, 131 (57.21 percent) turned out to cast their ballots.
Among the issues at stake in the race were the future of the current four members of the Pig on the Ridge steering committee and Bella the dog whose tenure at Town Hall had been on the block for more than a year.
“It feels good to be in a position to get Ridgeway back on track,” Cookendorfer told The Voice following the election. “I’m thankful for those who voted for me and for those who supported me. I want to thank my running mates, Dan Martin and Rufus Jones, and I’m proud of how they ran their campaigns. We’re going to work together and with the council. We need cohesiveness so we can move Ridgeway forward. Go Ridgeway!”
Martin echoed Cookendorfer’s desire to bring the town together after a campaign that divided much of the town.
“What Ridgeway needs most right now is unity between residents and council,” Martin said. “It was clearly a divided race, and we have some people who are hurting. This is Ridgeway, and I hope we can all come together now, heal and move forward. We will do our best, I promise, to help make that happen.”
Rufus Jones, mayor from 2000-2004, made a political comeback that, he said, made him feel really fortunate.
“Our goal, all three of us, is now to help our town come together,” Jones said. “I appreciate, more than you know, everyone who supported us and everyone who came out to vote. My goal is to do a good job for Ridgeway. And if I don’t, tell me.”
Debby Stidham, Director of Voter Registration said the canvas and certification of the votes will take place at the voter registration office at 10 a.m. Friday.
Angela Harrison, mayoral candidate, and Roger Herring, council candidate | Photos from Angela Harrison’s Facebook Live
RIDGEWAY – Of the six candidates in the upcoming Ridgeway election, three of them, Angela Harrison, Roger Herring and Rick Johnson, participated in a candidate forum held last Thursday evening at the Century House and sponsored by the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce. The other three candidates, Heath Cookendorfer, Rufus Jones and Dan Martin, held a community barbeque on Saturday, March 24, where they talked with voters informally about their candidacies.
Rick Johnson, council candidate
Attorney Mike Kelly, a member of the Chamber, served as moderator for the forum, first asking general questions posed by the Chamber and then taking questions submitted from the audience. The forum can be viewed on Angela Harrison’s Facebook page.
Since The Voice does not publish again prior to the election on April 3, the following FACT CHECK of some of the answers given by candidates to audience questions at the forum are published here.
Question: Historically, the majority of the recording and classification of town procedures and disbursements have been handled by one person [in town hall]. The likelihood of honest mistakes is real. If elected, would you continue with the current one-person solution or would you implement a more current, transparent solution?
Answers:
Angela Harrison (mayoral candidate): “From reading the audits from 2006 to the present, it has been recommended in every single audit that we not have a one person system. So I would like to see that change.”
Roger Herring (council candidate): “We need more than one person…our audit recommends that this [having only one person] be changed. It hasn’t been.”
FACT CHECK:
The Town audit makes no statement or recommendation about how many employees the town should have or, specifically, that the Town should not have a one-person system. Instead, the audit states, “during our audit we did not identify any deficiencies in internal control that we consider to be material weaknesses.”
The town actually has three employees in town hall, not just one, according to Town Councilman Don Prioleau, in order to provide internal control over the Town’s financial reporting (receiving, recording, depositing, and disbursing money) – a full time clerk, a part time assistant clerk who works at least 40 hours per month and a part time interim administrator who works at least one day per week and sometimes more. According to Prioleau, internal controls over financial reporting in the Town Hall are handled in the following manner:
Town Clerk takes in money.
Assistant Clerk makes the deposits.
Administrator opens bank statements.
Town Clerk reconciles bank statements.
Assistant Clerk verifies bank statements with the financial report.
Town Council Member (usually the Mayor) and one employee sign all checks.
Question: Would you implement procedures [for the Town government] to allow more public access [to Town government information]?
Answers:
Angela Harrison: I definitely think we need more public access. You don’t have to file an FOIA [Freedom of Information Request] with me. Just ask me. I will hand it to you…When you have a question, just call me, email me, Facebook me. I’ll always give you any document that I have.
FACT CHECK: On Friday, March 30, the day after the forum where Ms. Harrison made this statement, The Voice emailed Ms. Harrison to ask for a copy of the Town’s 2017 audit. Ms. Harrison answered via email that her copy was missing two pages. The Voice emailed back that was fine, and asked for the audit without those two pages. Ms. Harrison did not respond. The Voice made two more requests and four days later, at publishing time, Ms. Harrison has neither responded further to the request nor handed over the document.
Rick Johnson (council candidate): “Yes. You as a citizen ought to be able to come in here and ask how much money does Ridgeway have in the bank, and somebody ought to be able to tell you that. I don’t understand why that’s a real problem.”
FACT CHECK: Contacted by The Voice as to whether he had experienced this problem, Mr. Johnson said, “There is no problem that I know of. I have no specifics on this. I haven’t been involved in Ridgeway government so it’s hard for me to know this stuff.”
Question: How would you implement any changes in the way festivals are run in Ridgeway?
Answers:
Rick Johnson: “I know the [POR] steering committee has always managed it and they do a really great job making it a successful event. However, I think there needs to be oversight by council because the revenue raised by this festival…the oversight needs to come from this council. There’s a difference between a steering committee and this council’s responsibility as lordship over funds and making sure funds are disbursed properly, that things are purchased properly. There’s a fuzzy line there. It has created a problem…”
FACT CHECK: When asked by The Voice, specifically, what problems have been created by the Pig on the Ridge steering committee, Mr. Johnson said, “I don’t know of any specific issue or problem…I’m not saying anyone has done anything wrong or that there’s even a problem. I don’t know of a problem. I have no clue who has oversight over the Pig on the Ridge festival. I don’t know enough about Pig on the Ridge and how it operates to answer the question.”
Roger Herring: “There are too many holes in the festivals that have gone wrong. There should be more accountability for all of them. I think those in charge of the committees who put them on think it’s their festival and they can do whatever they want. But it’s not. So many things of accountability that have gone past, unnoticed and undone. We need new people involved.”
FACT CHECK: When The Voice contacted Mr. Herring to ask him to identify, specifically, what has ‘gone past, unnoticed and undone,’ by the POR steering committee, Mr. Herring declined to comment.
According to Town Hall, Councilmen Prioleau and Heath Cookendorfer and all four members of the steering committee, Town Hall receives all revenue for the POR festival, makes all deposits, keeps all records, writes all checks and Council approves all purchases, expenses and donations. Town Hall (the mayor, specifically) has taken out, kept records for, signed for and cashed all CD’s purchased with revenue from the POR festival. Town Hall creates and issues annual reports and monthly summaries on the festival’s finances for council, the auditor and the media. Those reports are available in Town Hall.
Question: (Addressed to Ms. Harrison) All Pig on the Ridge funds are in the Town government’s control…Why, then, do you say it is the Pig on the Ridge steering committee’s responsibility to report on the Pig on the Ridge festival funds?
Answer:
Angela Harrison: “If it were the town’s responsibility [to report on the POR festival financials], then the town council would have known about the false information filed [by the POR steering committee] with the Secretary of State.”
Response:
Mr. Tom Connor, one of the four members of the POR steering committee, stated (from the audience with permission from the moderator) that Ms. Harrison’s use of the term ‘false information’ inferred that the Pig on the Ridge steering committee had intentionally filed incorrect information with the Secretary of State.
Response:
“I never said that,” Ms. Harrison responded.
FACT CHECK – Mr. Connor gets the point here. According to Webster’s Dictionary, the term false information means to “deliberately and often covertly spread in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth.”
COLUMBIA – Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott is requesting the community’s assistance in locating a missing person.
Campbell
Sheriff Leon Lott states that Sherri Lynn Campbell was last seen at a relative’s home in Northeast Columbia on Sunday, April 1, 2018. It was at this home that Sherri Lyn took a green 1997 Jeep Cherokee with SC tag JFW416. Sherri Lyn’s mom discovered a disturbing note which led her to believe that her daughter may do harm to herself; being a special needs child has also caused great concerned for the family of Sherri Lyn.
The Sheriff states that Sherri Lyn is described as a black female, 5’ 6” tall, black hair, brown eyes, weighs 120 pounds. She was last seen wearing an orange shirt and black and red Jordan sneakers.
Anyone with information about Sherri Lynn should call, email or text your anonymous tip to 1-888-CRIME-SC.
RIDGEWAY – In a deeply divided race for mayor and two council seats, three candidates who ran as a block won as a block, tipping the balance of power in the Ridgeway town government.
