Category: Government

Project Could Deliver 10 Millions Gallons of Water a Day

WINNSBORO – Town Council took its first official, however tentative, steps Tuesday night toward bolstering Winnsboro’s water reserves, and those steps lead toward the Broad River.

Council unanimously passed a resolution giving Town Manager Don Wood the authority to act on the Town’s behalf in coordinating the project, while also giving the OK to enter into contracts with three separate entities to help begin piecing the project together.

Following an executive session of more than an hour during their regular meeting Tuesday, during which time Council discussed the project with Margaret Pope of the Pope Zeigler Law Firm, Council emerged and agreed to contract with SWS Group; Utility Advisors Network, Inc. (UAN); and the Willoughby & Hoefer, PA Law Firm to assist with the project. All three would work on an as-needed basis, charging hourly rates, Pope said. Those rates were not, however, available at press time.

SWS, Pope said, would advise the Town on any bond issue that may be necessary to fund the project whose estimated costs range between $12 million and $13 million. UAN would advise the Town on the feasibility of the project and the sufficiency of water rates needed to pay for the project. If rates need to be adjusted, Pope said, or if certain fees, such as capacity fees for industry, needed to be put into place to cover the project, UAN would devise the formula for those rates and/or fees. Willoughby & Hoefer, meanwhile, would aid the Town in acquiring the necessary permits from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC).

Councilman Jackie Wilkes said after the meeting that the project was still very much in its infancy, with the acquisition of land along the Broad River the first hurdle to clear. Wilkes said the Town was considering five different tracts and hopes to make an offer on its first option soon.

Once the land is purchased, Winnsboro will have to go through the permitting process with DHEC. Preliminary engineering for the project would then have to be completed, giving the Town an idea of just how much money they will be looking for through bonds. Winnsboro last month freed up a considerable amount of debt with the final payment on a nearly $12 million bond that was issued for water treatment plant upgrades.

The entire endeavor may take several years, and require around 9 miles of water lines, but once completed could pump as much as 10 million gallons of water a day from the Broad River into Winnsboro’s reservoir.

WINNSBORO – Criticism of how County Council plans to spend $3.5 million on recreation hit the fan Monday night, triggering the dreaded Race Card and sparking tensions between Council and the public.

Addressing Council during the first public comment portion of the meeting, District 2 resident Beth Jenkins denounced recreation spending entirely, telling Council, “We don’t need playgrounds. We need jobs.” Selwyn Turner, also from District 2, suggested Council should pool its resources and concentrate on a single major facility in the downtown area.

The $3.5 million is currently divided up into $500,000 allotments for each district, with district 3 and 5 focusing primarily on mini parks, District 2 a playground on Peay Ridge Road, with larger projects hoped for in districts 1, 4, 6 and 7. But Turner said that in the 1940s and 1950s, the community benefited tremendously from a large recreation facility, offering supervised activities and situated on the site that currently houses the Fairfield County government offices.

“You may argue that a single complex would not help outlying areas, but look at the cars in the student parking lot at Fairfield Central,” Turner said. “Almost everyone of driving age has a car nowadays, and those that don’t could organize car pools. Furthermore we have a little-used expensive transit system that might be able to bus people in. Where there’s a will there’s a way. We could afford to have good supervision. If we can’t, we don’t need to build anything unsupervised like plastic mini parks in seven districts, which could be likely a haven for drugs to come in.”

Betty Gutschlag, of District 7, echoed Turner’s concerns about mini parks becoming a hotspot for drug activity.

“You’ve got the money, you’ve got the talent and you’ve got the opportunity to make a complex instead of these mini parks,” she said, “that as you all know have been known in the past to be unsupervised and wonderful drug drops.”

Councilman Mikel Trapp (District 3), in whose district the majority of the county’s mini park lie, questioned the assessment of parks as drug drops and asked Interim County Administrator Milton Pope to compile some statistics from the Sheriff’s Office.

“Does that statement imply that all parents’ children are drug dealers?” Trapp asked. “Most of my parks are in black communities. Does that imply that all the kids that go to these parks are drug dealers?”

The Sheriff’s Office told The Voice Tuesday afternoon that only a handful of drug cases had been made at any of the county’s mini parks and that the majority of the drug trade is conducted in residential settings.

Trapp also interpreted the suggestion of a large central recreational facility as an effort to roll back the clock on desegregation.

“It was mentioned earlier about recreation, taking us back to the ‘40s and ‘50s,” Trapp asked Pope, “could you give me some research (on whether or not) blacks were allowed in these recreation facilities back in the ‘40s and ‘50s?”

Turning to District 4 Councilman Kamau Marcharia, Trapp asked, “Did I misunderstand, Mr. Marcharia?”

“You weren’t allowed, Mike. Let’s move on,” Marcharia answered.

Near the close of the meeting, Chairman David Ferguson (District 5) said drugs were an issue everywhere, no more or no less in any of the county’s parks. The main issue, he said, was providing recreational opportunities for the county’s rural outlying areas.

“I had access to this place right here when it was a facility,” Ferguson said, “but where would the children be now from every area from this county if this was the only facility in this county for them to deal with, with the transportation issues that they face every day? They wouldn’t have any recreation. I don’t know if an apology is what folks are looking for because were trying to do something out in the rural areas for the kids and the adults and the elderly people out there, but there’s not one coming as far as I’m concerned.”

WINNSBORO – County Council Monday night authorized Interim Administrator Milton Pope to engage the Central Midlands Council of Governments (COG) for assistance in mapping out how the County should spend anticipated revenues from a pair of new nuclear reactors expected to go online at the V.C. Summer Station in Jenkinsville in 2019, although not without first fielding some criticism from the public. Council also took action on a handful of ordinances – two fee-in-lieu-of taxes (FILOT) agreements and two donations of property.

The COG

Councilman David Brown (District 7) made the motion during Council’s May 26 meeting to enlist the aid of the COG in strategic planning for the County’s expected nuclear windfall. That motion sailed through Council without dissent. Monday night, Pope said the parameters had been set up and Council’s approval was required for the process to move forward. A final document will come back to Council for their ultimate approval in a future meeting, Pope said.

The County does not have a planning department, Brown noted when making his motion back on May 26, while the COG, with whom Fairfield County already has a working relationship, has a staff of approximately 40 professional strategic planners. Brown’s motion included incorporating existing Fairfield County plans, including the strategic plan that was completed in 2010, as well as the County’s existing economic data from Fairfield’s partnership in the I-77 Alliance. The proposal will also allow the COG to contract out for additional resources as necessary.

But District 2 resident Beth Jenkins said during the meeting’s first public comment portion that Brown was a little too close to the COG for her liking. Brown sits on the COG Board of Directors (Fairfield is also represented on the COG Board by Councilmen David Ferguson and Dwayne Perry, as well as Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy and State Rep. MaryGail Douglas) and, Jenkins said, the COG pays Brown $30,000 a year to lease a building owned by Brown.

“This looks bad, smells bad and should not be happening,” Jenkins said. “This is truly a conflict of interest, muddies the waters way too much for honest and clarity in the planning.”

Brown, however, said he has never voted on real estate issues and was not involved in the COG’s vote to lease his property. Brown said he actually lowered the rent below market value for the COG, but recused himself of voting or any discussion on the lease.

“I think my accuser needs to read the law as far was what being unethical is,” Brown said. “If you remove yourself from a vote, you’re not doing anything illegal; you’re not doing anything unethical. As long as you don’t vote on an item you’re not breaking the law.”

Jenkins was not around to hear Brown’s rebuttal, having walked out of the meeting shortly after making her remarks.

“Apparently my accuser just wanted to accuse and try to do damage on TV and get up and walk out,” Brown said. “Well, that’s fine. But as far as I’m concerned, I sleep well at night.”

Pope, meanwhile, urged Council to “continue our partnership with the COG to get the best possible planning initiatives that we can.”

Councilwoman Carolyn Robinson (District 2) voted against the authorization, saying this was the first time she had seen the document. Pope said he had provided Council with the framework at the June 6 intergovernmental meeting.

“Personally I don’t remember ever receiving one,” Robinson said. “This got passed out to us tonight. It’s the first time I’ve truly had an opportunity to look at it. This is the kind of stuff I look at all day long and I haven’t had a chance to look at it and see if there’s an inoperative word in there that would bind us to something that otherwise might not be good for us.”

After the vote, Robinson added that the County had engaged the COG for a recreation study in years past but had rejected their recommendations.

“If we’re going to take the COG to come in here and try to show us a good plan for how were going to spend this money and a strategic plan, what makes me think that this council in its wisdom is going to sit here and think that they know anything,” Robinson said, “because we’ve already said no once.”

Ordinances

Robinson also voted against first reading of an ordinance to donate a plot of land located at 205 Means St. in Ridgeway to the Town of Ridgeway. Once the site of a Sheriff’s substation, the property has been idle for many years. Ridgeway Town Council has had designs on the property for use as a community garden.

“The County didn’t have any use for it, but we’re providing maintenance and upkeep on it, and during discussions with the Council someone made the suggestion why don’t we just donate it to them,” Pope said, “because they’re trying to do a beneficial thing to their downtown area.”

Council unanimously approved second reading on an ordinance to convey an abandoned road, formerly known as State Road 129 near the site of Element Electronics, to Blackwelder Heating and Air, Inc., and second reading on an ordinance to update the existing FILOT agreement with Lang Mekra North America, Inc. to include Mekra Tool and Mold, LLC.

Third and final reading also passed 7-0 on a FILOT agreement with Enor Corp.

BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council approved a list of action items on Monday evening including a Community Planning and Development Services Contract for Michael Criss, the Town’s planning consultant; a zoning text amendment to various residential districts allowing neighborhood recreation facility swimming pools and funding up to $4,900 for a Halloween Festival in the town park in late October. It even approved the park committee’s park bench design and estimated cost, which was not on the agenda.

Park committee chairman Jim McLean reported to Council the committee’s recommendation for the purchase of five Escalante Model 1547 plastic wood park benches at $864 each for a total of $4,986.20. After approving the bench design and estimated cost, Council recommended the matter next go before the Town’s Architectural Review Board (ARB) for approval. McLean said the committee was not asking the Town to pay for the benches, but would seek donations through the park’s fundraising foundation if the ARB approved the bench’s design.

In other business, Council thanked Michaela Barno for her volunteer work to organize and run the Town’s farmer’s market during the summer. The market will be open again in the fall, Barno said.

In his monthly report on the Manor, Booth Chilcutt, the facility’s director, said that while September had seven fewer paid bookings than it had last September, he was encouraged by the changes they had made on the business side of the operations, noting that 43 percent of last year’s bookings were at no charge in contrast to 23 percent at no charge this year.

“Most of this year’s free bookings are for town government meetings,” Chilcutt explained.

Chilcutt’s assistant, Pat Connolly, reported that he was making considerable progress booking business and industry events during the week.

“We’re doing much better during the week,” Connolly said.

Chilcutt also proposed to Council two other park events in addition to a family-friendly Halloween Event at Doko Meadows on Oct. 31 and a Sept. 24 – Oct. 29 Farmer’s Market. He suggested a Blythewood Poetry Week Jan. 17 – Jan. 24, 2015. He also suggested a Blythewood celebration of Black History Month. The month-long event will celebrate the rich history of Blythewood’s African -American community. The events will include music, art, poetry, a live theatre production, gospel singing, story-telling and discussions.

The next regular Town Council meeting will be Sept. 25 with a workshop on Sept. 18 beginning at 8:30 a.m. at the Manor.

BLYTHEWOOD – In opening remarks at Town Council’s Monday evening meeting, Councilman Bob Massa complained once again that because the town government has still not hired code enforcement personnel, the Town looks like “a gypsy camp” on weekends. He said he was referring to the proliferation of unpermitted vendors setting up shop on weekends throughout the town.

“If we continue to have problems with rogue vendors setting up shop in empty lots throughout the town,” Massa said, “it will look like a town of gypsies.”

Massa said that he and his wife sometimes shop around the Upstate for a second home and the first thing they judge about a community is what it looks like.

“Going in,” he said, “if there’s a lot of trashy stuff hanging out, we’re probably not going to move there. I find it interesting that we have more important things to work on,” Massa continued. “Code enforcement will go a long way to make our town a more desirable place to live.”

He continued, “Coming off I-77 into town, it looks like a gypsy camp. That will cause people not to want to even stop at our restaurants. We need to get a code enforcement officer part time or full time. By leaving this on the table,” Massa said, “we’re allowing residents and nonresidents to create bad habits and a bad image for our community.”

Massa has on other occasions complained about the lack of regular maintenance on the newly landscaped I-77 exit. Last spring, town hall discontinued the lawn care service that had been hired under former Town Administrator John Perry. Mayor J. Michael Ross said he would like to just mow and maintain on an ‘as-needed’ basis. Since that time, there have been complaints to town hall and in the newspaper about the neglected landscaping on I-77. On Monday evening, Ross said the I-77 exit as well as the landscaped area at Exit 34 would be mowed for the Labor Day holiday.

While Ross has heretofore opposed hiring a code enforcement officer, he asked Town Administrator Gary Parker to make a note to add code enforcement to the agenda for discussion at the workshop in September.

WINNSBORO/RIDGEWAY – The Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce will hold three candidate forums as a community service to allow citizens to hear from hopefuls in this year’s Nov. 4 general election and Nov. 18 special election for Sheriff.

Candidates for County Council seats in districts 3, 5 and 7 will meet in a forum on Sept. 11 at the Winnsboro Woman’s Club, 102 Vanderhorst St., Winnsboro. Mike Kelly will moderate the event.

Candidates for School Board, district 3, 5 and 7, as well as candidates for Sheriff and Solicitor, will come together for their forum on Sept. 18, also at the Winnsboro Woman’s Club. Ron Smith will moderate.

District 1 candidates for County Council and School Board, as well as candidates for Sheriff and Solicitor, will meet on Sept. 25 for their forum at the Century House, 170 S. Dogwood Ave. in Ridgeway, moderated by Kelly.

Doors will open for each event at 6 p.m., with the forum running from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Questions from the audience will be taken in writing and presented by the moderator.

WINNSBORO – During a 2-hour meeting on Tuesday evening, Town Council approved the request from a developer on Rimer Pond Road in Blythewood for 60 residential water taps and 24,000 gallons per day of the existing uncommitted water capacity of the Blythewood system.

The resolution quelled a potential legal battle that had been brewing over water that Winnsboro had promised in 2008 to the developer, Sycamore Development, LLC. The developer had planned to develop a 300-home subdivision on three parcels of land along Rimer Pond Road and obtained from Winnsboro a Capacity and Willingness to Serve letter for the development of 250 residential lots.

The water taps were to be prepaid by Sycamore once the water line went in on Rimer Pond Road. That water line was completed and accepted by Winnsboro in July of 2009, but Sycamore never prepaid for the taps.

The subdivision never materialized, and two of the three parcels have since been sold off. The water approval on Tuesday evening was for the remaining 31.23-acre parcel at 502 Rimer Pond Road. According to documents obtained by The Voice in July, the developer was wanting to unload that parcel but could not because Winnsboro allegedly refused to enter into a Capacity and Willingness to Serve agreement with prospective buyers of the property. At that time the developer was requesting 107 residential taps for which Winnsboro would charge $1,350 each.

“In 2008 we had promised them water and they never did anything with it,” Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy told The Voice in July. “Now they wanted water and they wanted it rather quickly.”

Documents stated that Sycamore wanted a response in writing by July 15. The agreement reached on Tuesday evening includes service to the developer’s successors or assigns.

Generator Saves Town $1 Million

In a related matter, Council approved a capital expenditure for a standby generator at the permanent pump station site in Blythewood. The generator will permit Winnsboro to take advantage of Columbia’s storage capacity, which will make additional taps available for assignment in the Blythewood system. Town attorney Creighton Coleman pointed out that the generator will alleviate the Town from having to buy and build an above-ground storage tank, saving the Town about $1 million. Council OK’d up to $95,000 for the generator.

Langford Crossing Water

Council also passed unanimously another resolution approving a request by another Blythewood development, Langford Crossing LLC on Langford Road, also in Blythewood, to proceed with the construction of water facilities for Phase 2 of its development plus an additional four water taps.

Council also approved capital expenditure requests for an additional HVAC unit for the Annex Building at an estimated cost of $3,200; interior renovations to a portion of the second floor of the Public Safety building at an estimated cost of $12,500 and an HVAC maintenance agreement at an estimated cost of $840/year.

Mayor, Council Seek Columbia Water Service

BLYTHEWOOD – As the dispute over the water franchise agreement between the towns of Blythewood and Winnsboro lingers unresolved, letters obtained by The Voice last week indicate a courtship of the City of Columbia for future water service is already under way.

In a letter dated July 22 and addressed to Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin and Columbia City Council, Blythewood Mayor J. Michael Ross wrote, “Town Council has concluded that our citizens will be best served by Columbia, and we respectfully request your assistance in making a transition from Winnsboro to your system as soon as possible.”

In an Aug. 5 letter from Benjamin to Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy and Council members, referencing a recent meeting between Winnsboro and Columbia, Benjamin said Columbia was ready to begin discussions concerning the acquisition of the Blythewood water infrastructure, as well as the water customers who come along with it.

But any discussions regarding the sale of Winnsboro’s plumbing underneath the streets of Blythewood may be premature.

“Mayor Gaddy has notified the principals that any decision with regard to the Blythewood portion of the Town of Winnsboro’s water system,” Winnsboro Town manager Don Wood wrote in an email to The Voice Monday, “is contingent upon arbitration of the water franchise agreement.”

Gaddy indeed responded to Benjamin’s letter on Aug. 20, writing that Winnsboro considers any discussion regarding the sale of the Blythewood system “premature in that Winnsboro is demanding arbitration,” over the disputed termination of the franchise agreement.

Gaddy also wrote that Winnsboro is currently “pursuing actions to obtain a sustainable source of water” that should “alleviate any water capacity issues within the Richland County and Town of Blythewood portions of the Town of Winnsboro Water System.”

In a move last April that took the Town of Winnsboro completely off guard, Blythewood Town Council passed a resolution to terminate the franchise agreement that transfers approximately $13,000 from Winnsboro to Blythewood annually and gives Winnsboro access to Blythewood right-of-ways necessary to service and maintain water infrastructure within the Blythewood town limits. Severance of the agreement would, according to the contract, require Winnsboro to sell off that infrastructure at fair market value to Blythewood. John Fantry, Winnsboro’s attorney for utility matters, said after a Winnsboro Town Council meeting last month that another entity, such as the City of Columbia, could purchase and operate the system on Blythewood’s behalf.

After the resolution passed, Ross told The Voice that Blythewood had “hit the panic button” after learning that Winnsboro was negotiating the sale of the Blythewood infrastructure to Ni America, LLC, a private firm that owns Palmetto Utilities in Elgin. A source close to that situation told The Voice last April that Ni America had made an $800,000 offer to Winnsboro, but Gaddy and Councilman Stan Klaus said Winnsboro was not, in fact, in negotiations for a sale.

The termination resolution triggered a disagreement between the two municipalities over when such a termination may legally be made. Blythewood contends the contract runs out in 2016, and Ross told The Voice Monday that Council was, by passing the resolution in April, paving the way for a transfer of the water system.

“It was the time to start that process,” Ross said, “eighteen months ahead of (when the contract runs out). And I think Winnsboro wants to get out of it as much as we want Columbia to come in.”

Winnsboro, meanwhile, contends that the franchise agreement is binding until the year 2020, and copies of the contract provided to The Voice by Winnsboro support that claim. With the termination in dispute, Winnsboro Town Council voted at a July 17 special meeting to hire Robert Bachman as their representative in arbitration. According to the agreement, contractual disputes are subject to arbitration under S.C. law. As of press time, however, Blythewood had not hired an arbitrator to represent its side in the disagreement. At their meeting Tuesday night, Winnsboro’s Town Council flatly denied that they wanted out of the agreement.

“We don’t like to go to arbitration,” Ross said. “It costs us money.”

Winnsboro appears bent on arbitration, however, and Fantry told The Voice Tuesday night that he had notified Ross late last week that Winnsboro had retained an arbitrator. Blythewood now has 30 days, Fantry said, in which to secure its own.

In Ross’s July 22 letter to Columbia, Ross said Winnsboro’s ability to deliver sufficient quantities of water had become “compromised” in recent years, putting on hold “a number of economic development projects” because of Winnsboro’s “inability to add taps.” Monday, Ross expanded on that, telling The Voice that the Doko Village development, as well as Red Gate on Muller and Blythewood roads, were both turned down for water by Winnsboro.

Winnsboro is currently buying wholesale water from Columbia and piping it through their meters and selling it to Blythewood customers. Winnsboro’s agreement with Columbia provides up to 1 million gallons a day, but Ross said Winnsboro is only using about a quarter of that capacity at present.

Water rates have increased somewhat this year, in part to help Winnsboro acquire the additional capacity from Columbia. Ross said he didn’t expect the rates to change dramatically with Columbia taking complete control, although a marginal increase would be worth the security of knowing water was available.

“Our concern is more about having the water and setting the future for Blythewood and not having a concern of not being able to get water,” Ross said. “If that’s $1 more a month on my water bill, that’s worth it.”