Category: Government

WINNSBORO – Fairfield County Council’s Presentation Committee voted 3-0 Monday night to allot 10 minutes at Council’s June 23 meeting for opponents of a proposed granite quarry off Rockton Thruway near Winnsboro. Dorothy Brandenburg, who represents the opposition to the quarry, said she wanted to review for Council the list of the community’s concerns so that Council might then ensure the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) is aware of those concerns.

“One of the key things I want to present is getting everybody on the same page, so the Council knows what we want, the people of the county know what we’re looking for and DHEC will know what we’re looking for,” Brandenburg said. “The way (DHEC) presented it to me is they have a checklist of things they go through and these studies that I requested don’t have to be addressed unless they are requested.”

Council Chairman David Ferguson (District 5) said that the application for the mining permit by Winnsboro Crushed Stone, LLC is entirely in the hands of DHEC, but that the County does have a role in making sure the community’s questions are addressed.

“The Council doesn’t have a say-so about this,” Ferguson said, “but what our responsibility is is to make sure that the questions are answered so they can be understood by the public and all the questions get answered.”

Brandenburg also asked the committee, which consisted of Ferguson, David Brown and Dwayne Perry, if the County planned to revise their existing land use management ordinances to make them more stringent for future mining operations. Milton Pope, Interim County Administrator, said there were no plans to revise the ordinances, and that the County had in fact just updated the ordinances two years ago.

WINNSBORO –After an hour of pleasantries and general government updates in the Midlands Technical College conference room Monday night, tensions rose at the quarterly Fairfield County intergovernmental meeting as the discussion turned to the County’s recent decision to hand over their strategic long-term planning duties to the Central Midlands Council of Governments (COG).

County Councilman David Brown (District 7) proposed the partnership during Council’s May 27 meeting and said then that the COG-led plan would help prepare the County for the massive influx of cash expected to start rolling in in the next five years from the two new nuclear reactors under construction at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsville. But that decision was questioned Monday night by members of Fairfield County’s legislative delegation, who said they have been trying to organize a plan for those revenues for months. State Sen. Creighton Coleman (D-17) and State Rep. MaryGail Douglas (D-41) both said they have been fending off attempts at the state level by counties intent on siphoning off V.C. Summer revenues for use in their home counties, and a cohesive plan for the use of that money is essential to those efforts.

“We have tried to initiate conversations for plans for this county with that windfall of money coming,” Douglas said, addressing County Council Chairman David Ferguson (District 5) and County Administrator Milton Pope. “Can you tell me when we can look to have that meeting with County Council, or shed some light on that?”

When Pope reviewed the May 27 vote to partner with the COG, Coleman aired his frustrations.

“What gets me is, I met with you, with MaryGail, sent two letters trying to get together on this plan,” Coleman said. “I had SCE&G and Santee Cooper that would pay for that plan. That would pay for it. And I have yet to get any kind of cooperation from the County saying that we’ll sit down at the table and get together. Nothing. We’ve got a letter from (the Town of Winnsboro), everybody but the County, the Town of Ridgeway, Jenkinsville, the school district, everybody but the County.”

But Ferguson said he, too, was frustrated and that the County had attempted to set up numerous meetings with Coleman with no results.

“It certainly is frustrating,” Ferguson said. “It’s frustrating that for 18 months we tried, this Council tried, to have a sit-down meeting with you as a collaborative group – “

“When?” Coleman interjected, then said, “I’m not going to argue with you.”

“No, because I’ve got the correspondence I sent you,” Ferguson continued, “and you sent it back, so don’t sit there and tell me you’ve tried to meet with us.”

“I’d like to see that letter,” Coleman said.

A few moments later, County Council Vice Chairman Dwayne Perry (District 1) read from a letter he had pulled up on his email account. Perry said the letter was dated May 20, and addressed to Coleman and Douglas. The letter outlined the County’s intentions to work with the COG while also inviting the delegation to “participate in the upcoming process.”

“Creighton, I will tell you, I’m thinking you are involved in the process,” Perry said. “I didn’t realize we were trying to not invite you all to be in this process. I’m reading this letter and we’re saying we want you to be involved, we want you to come to the table. Maybe I’m misunderstanding.”

Brown said his May 27 motion was not meant to be exclusive of anyone wanting to participate in the planning process, but was instead only intended to keep the County from having to create a planning department.

“This has nothing to do, I don’t think, with the idea of Central Midlands regional planning council,” Douglas said, “because we know that’s what they do. They do a good job. What has happened is that as we have anticipated this money coming – I mean a boatload of money is coming our way – and here we are, we don’t really have a plan in place and whenever we tried having some conversation about it, it never went anywhere. And then to read in the paper that Central Midlands was going to be the planner for it . . . it has the appearance that a door is shut to two people in the delegation. That’s the way I feel. Whether you like it or not, that’s the way I feel.”

Pope, meanwhile, made it perfectly clear that at the end of the day the future V.C. Summer revenues would be controlled by the County.

“Let’s be clear about this: the moneys that are going to be coming to the County are going to be moneys that are going to be coming through fee in lieu (of ad valorem taxes),” Pope said. “Let’s be totally clear about this. What that means for everybody else is, if that money comes through fee in lieu, that comes through the auspices of County Council, because that’s the way those things are structured.”

Efforts at the state level by other counties attempting to gain some control over that money, Pope said, were still a threat, and the County needs the support of the legislative delegation to beat back those attempts.

“In the letters we wrote to you that’s exactly what we said,” Coleman replied, “and if we want to be able to defend and protect that money down there at the Statehouse, the first thing you have to do is have a well-thought-out plan that the whole community is involved in making that decision.”

“I don’t think, or I have not heard from one Council member that I work with, that they do not want involvement from (the legislative delegation),” Pope continued. “Also, I was directed by this Council to, certainly, in my email to open the invitation to the delegation to be able to do that.”

Councilwoman Mary Lynn Kinley (District 6) said Council would not move forward on a plan without including input from all parties.

“We have never said we would just vote on what Council wants,” Kinley said. “We would be crazy not to include you all. We started these intergovernmental meetings years ago because we felt like we need input from everybody in the county.”

Dr. Roger Gaddy, Mayor of the Town of Winnsboro, tried to throw a little cold water on the fire, saying the main issue appeared to be communication between the interested parties.

“I think it’s all about communication,” Gaddy said. “Once you open up the opportunity then there’s a responsibility to have a specific time and date set to make sure everybody’s on the same page about sitting down and talking about it. . . . You invited us to the party you just didn’t tell us when it was.”

Gaddy said that he will assume the chairmanship of the COG next month, and in that role he will do everything he can to encourage the COG to include all of Fairfield County’s municipalities in the planning process.

“If we get SCE&G and Santee Cooper to pay for it, that’s good,” Gaddy added, “especially with the feeling they funded this first study (the Genesis study) and very little was done. I think it’s imperative for the County to send some communication to them to let them know what they have implemented in that study that was done to give them some assurance they didn’t throw their money down an empty well and I would encourage you to do that.”

Ferguson said Council would vote on a meeting date to discuss planning for future V.C. Summer revenues at Council’s June 23 meeting.

WINNSBORO – Members of a group of local citizens opposed to a granite quarry slated for a plot of land off Rockton Thruway will have an informal meeting with representatives of the S.C. Department of Environmental Control (DHEC) next week.

Dorothy Brandenburg, who heads the group, announced the meeting Monday night while appearing before County Council’s Presentation Committee. Tuesday, DHEC confirmed that a meeting is tentatively scheduled for June 26 at 3 p.m. at the County Administration Building.

“Our goal is to provide as much factual information as possible and answer whatever questions are posed by this small group of residents,” a DHEC spokesperson said Tuesday. “At this meeting, the residents will help us determine if a larger community meeting would be helpful prior to a public hearing.”

Brandenburg said Monday night that an invitation was also extended to Winnsboro Crushed Stone, LLC, the applicant for the mining permit.

“As we move forward, if they come in here we don’t want to be that thorn in their side that never includes them on anything,” Brandenburg said Monday. “That just causes problems in the long run. We want to be on as good a standing as we can in case they do come in because we want to make sure they’re doing what they need to be doing.”

RIDGEWAY – Town Council passed final reading on a $576,905 budget for fiscal year 2014-15. That amount includes $217,550 in the general fund and $359,355 in a water and sewer fund. Although a public hearing on the budget was scheduled prior to the meeting, no one signed up to speak. Council also passed first reading to amend Sections 4 and 6 of the Water and Sewer Ordinance that would increase rates on water and sewer by 78 cents per thousand gallons for all customers.

It was announced that the Town received a Rural Infrastructure Authority grant for $220,000 to upgrade its wastewater treatment plant to include changing from disinfection with chlorine to UV disinfection and improvements to aeration and flow monitoring. For its part, the Town will have to come up with $18,900 in local funds plus pay for engineering and permits for the project.

Council also announced that the Central Midlands Council of Governments (COG) and the S.C. Department of Transportation (DOT) will once again hold meetings to receive public input concerning truck traffic through downtown Ridgeway to determine the safest route. Mayor Charlene Herring said that while public meetings were previously held on this matter, and that 77 percent of those attending did not want to change the route, she said there were a number of misconceptions that the COG and DOT would like to clear up in continued public meetings.

Following an executive session at the end of the meeting, Council voted unanimously to request bids for the engineering and permitting fees for the upgrades and changes to the Town’s water treatment plant. It also voted to submit an application for a lease agreement with Norfolk South Railroad to lease property located in the middle of the Town and known as the cotton yard.

“We frequently have to call the railroad about the cotton yard because we use it for so many things. So when we called not long ago, the person at the railroad suggested we just lease the property,” Councilman Russ Brown told The Voice. “They gave us a good rate and told us we would be responsible for insurance on it. Our goal is to sign the lease, accept their terms and get the insurance. That’s great for us.”

Brown said that as soon as the mayor signs the contract the Town will release the cost of the lease agreement.

BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council put the finishing touches on its proposed $1,241,000 budget for fiscal year 2014-15, at a three-hour work session on Tuesday. Councilman Bob Massa, a CPA who works closely with the Town’s financial consultant, Kem Smith, reviewed the budget highlights for Council, explaining that the Town’s estimated revenue is expected to increase $30,000 from the FY2014 budget and expenditures are expected to decrease by $181,261 from last year’s budget.

“Most of this decrease,” Massa said, “is a result of deferring two previous capital fund projects – the McNulty Road right-of-way purchase and the Town Center complete streets projects, for a total of $100,000 – to FY2017 and beyond.”

Massa pointed out that while the renovation of Bojangles caused a decrease in the Town’s Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) toward the end of FY2014, the restaurant is now reopened and should bring the LOST revenue back up to last year’s level. He also explained that the Town’s business license revenue was lower by $15,000 due to decreased actual collections in FY2014. A $5,000 increase in budgeted miscellaneous revenue is also due to actual FY2014 collections.

The Manor will have an increased revenue budget resulting from increased rental rates that began in Jan. 1, as well as a reduction in the amount of free use, Massa said. Last year much of the Manor’s expenses were paid out of the general fund. He said that is no longer the situation; therefore, budgeted expenses for the Manor will increase.

Massa said the estimate to pave the roads in the park is $182,000. He made a note on the budget that, per Smith, “we will have approximately $177,000 left in the bank and should pave the park area in FY2015.”

The general fund will reflect a small surplus in the FY2015 budget, but Massa explained that’s because bond payments were, in the past, paid but not budgeted. He said those payments will now be properly reflected in the budgets and the payments will be in and outs through the general fund.

Massa forecast approximately $14,000 in encumbrances in the budget that will roll forward to FY2016.

Code Enforcement

There was considerable discussion about the need for better code enforcement in the town citing unpermitted construction in neighborhoods, signs and peddlers that show up on weekends in the town.

“While I think code enforcement is an issue,” Mayor J. Michael Ross said, “I don’t want to create a full time position. When someone sees something (code violation) they should call Town Hall. That’s how you find things.”

“We’re missing out on a lot of revenue with poor code enforcement,” Massa pointed out. “We’re losing permitting fees, business license fees, etc. when people don’t license their home businesses with Town Hall.”

After much discussion, Council came to no specific conclusion about hiring code enforcement.

Tree Preservation Ordinance.

Council has been considering a new, stringent tree preservation ordinance for a year or so, and last month asked the Town’s Planner, Michael Chris, to review some examples of ways homeowners and commercial property owners would need to comply with the new ordinance. The current tree ordinance is applicable to new construction. The proposed ordinance, if passed, will apply to all commercial property owners (old and new) after a five-year period. Chris explained a proposed point system in which homeowners and commercial property owners will have to either plant trees or donate financially to a town tree fund if they do not have the required number of trees (points) on their property. First reading has been passed by Council and could come up for vote at the June 30 meeting.

Council will vote on the proposed FY2015 budget at the June 30 meeting to be held at 7 p.m. at The Manor. No Council workshops will be held during July and August.

WINNSBORO – County Council Monday night unanimously passed first reading of an ordinance to authorize a fee-in-lieu of taxes agreement, infrastructure credits and other incentives to an economic development project code-named “Project Leprechaun.” According to the ordinance, the project also includes property in Fairfield County in the I-77 Corridor Industrial Park.

Tiffany Harrison, Director of Fairfield Economic Development, said she could not comment on the project, but said only that it was a “great project for Fairfield County.”

The I-77 Corridor Industrial Park, Harrison said, is not a physical park in itself, but a master agreement between Fairfield and Richland counties comprising various individual businesses located in several different industrial parks. Joining a multi-county industrial park agreement qualifies industries for many state tax incentives, Harrison said.

Two other ordinances aimed at expanding the I-77 Corridor Regional Industrial Park, one to include University Residences, LLC, and another to include PTI Plastic & Rubber, Inc. also passed second reading Monday night without dissent.

In other business, Milton Pope, Interim County Administrator, told Council that the lowest bid to replace a decommissioned fire truck came in $2,177 over budget, but that administration was moving forward with the $302,177 purchase.

“We will have to make reductions in that department to fulfill that order and replace that fire truck,” Pope said. “So we’ll be moving forward unless you have other questions about it.”

Pope said delivery time on the truck was 8 months.

Pope also told Council that the construction company making repairs to the retaining wall around the Drawdy Park football field had obtained its building permit from the Town of Winnsboro last week. Pope said administration was also working with Winnsboro to put into writing policies and practices regarding the inspections of County properties that sit inside the Town limits. The Town has agreed, Pope said, to defer inspections of the Drawdy Park repairs to the independent engineering firm hired by the County to oversee the project.

Council also took some criticism during the second public comments portion of the meeting over a May 27 vote to hand over long-term strategic planning duties to the Central Midlands Council of Governments (COG).

“We’ve had quite a few plans done over the last few years and we haven’t done anything when we got them back,” Billy Smith, a District 7 resident, said, “so what’s going to change to make us do anything to work these plans out? We’ve got the same council members. Everything else is the same, except just a different plan.”

Councilman David Brown (District 7), who put the COG motion on the floor on May 27, responded that his motion included the use by the COG of all previous plans undertaken by the County, including the 2012 Genesis study, in formulating a current study. Pope, meanwhile, said that parts of the Genesis plan had indeed been implemented, and Vice Chairman Dwayne Perry (District 1) said that those implementations – economic development infrastructure along Peach Road – are helping to bring industry to Fairfield County.

“I think the jobs are now starting to come because of the work that was done three or four years ago,” Perry said. “By having the COG get involved, it’s going to help us even more.”

WINNSBORO – A tentatively scheduled July 24 public hearing on a proposed granite quarry off Rockton Thruway was officially postponed Monday, according to a letter from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). Milton Pope, Interim County Administrator, announced the delay at Monday night’s County Council meeting just minutes after residents of the Rockton area once again aired their concerns before Council during the meeting’s first public comments session.

“This rock quarry that’s coming is not welcome,” Clarence Pauling, a resident of the nearby Middlesix community, said. “This rock quarry is going to destroy my community. Please don’t let it destroy my neighborhood.”

Pauling said his main concern was the potential dust stirred up by the mining operation, which he said would pose a serious health risk.

“This place is going to kill us,” Pauling said. “Even if it doesn’t get me, it will get my kids, it will get my grandkids. It will get your kids and your grandkids.”

Billy Smith pressed Council for action, and said that if it is too late and the company is indeed on its way to Fairfield County, then perhaps Council could seek some monetary concessions from the company in order to help pay for future water infrastructure. Smith noted that the company, Winnsboro Crushed Stone, LLC, plans to control dust with water spray. With water an ongoing issue in Fairfield County, Smith suggested the company might be able to help with securing new sources.

“What is our intent? What do we intend on doing to find out the answers to the questions that the people who live in this area are asking? They talked about the dust and they spoke about studies. Are we going to ask about that? I have heard nothing out of our Council since they asked for the public hearing,” Smith said. “Why don’t we talk to this company and try to get them to work with us and try to set aside some money – we’re looking for money right now, are we not, to go and do something about water? Are we not looking to go maybe pull water from (Lake) Monticello? Why don’t we talk to this company to see what they’re willing to offer us? Why don’t we do those types of things? Why do we sit here and do nothing constantly?”

Pope, meanwhile, reminded the quarry opponents that the mining application process was a state and not a County process. And even with the property in question already zoned to allow for mining, Pope said that “DHEC does not even really acknowledge the local zoning in the application process.”

“It is a state process, and I think it’s very important for everyone to know and realize that,” Pope said.

Pope said that DHEC itself was waiting on additional information from other state agencies, which in turn could be provided to the County.

“Things such as information from DOT (the Department of Transportation), information from the railroad and the Department of Natural Resources,” Pope said. “It is certainly not that the Council does not have any reaction to anything. I think we first need to be respectful of the process and get the information in order to know what questions to actually ask.”

According the DHEC’s letter to the County, the July 24 hearing was being delayed to allow Winnsboro Crushed Stone time to submit their air and water permit applications for the quarry. Once those have been submitted, DHEC said, a hearing will be rescheduled. Monday night, Pope said it was his impression from DHEC that the rescheduled hearing would encompass all three permits, but David Ferguson, Council Chairman, said he was doubtful all three items could be squeezed into a single meeting.

“Generally the length of those things is 2 hours,” Ferguson (District 5) said. “And I’m thinking if they’re going to compile all that information, and were talking about a 2-hour presentation, that’s not going to cut it. I’m a little disappointed that they’re rolling it all together. I know what DHEC is trying to do: they’re trying to get in and get out. But the fact of it is with the questions that these guys have and the questions that Council is going to have, I’m a little reluctant to think it’s going to take place in a 2-hour meeting.”

A DHEC spokesperson told The Voice Tuesday that the public hearing would be for the mining permit application, and that “staff from our air and water programs will be available at the hearing to answer questions related to their specific permit applications and permitting processes.” Public hearings specifically for air and water may not be required, DHEC said.

Pope said DHEC had suggested the possibility of another, less formal meeting that would open the floor for dialogue between Rockton residents, the Council, DHEC and Winnsboro Crushed Stone. But DHEC said Tuesday that no additional community meetings have been planned at present.

“Our program areas will be meeting soon to determine our next community involvement steps,” DHEC said.

Pope also suggested that Council take a road trip to Chesterfield County to tour the Buckhorn quarry, which is owned by many of the same interests as Winnsboro Crushed Stone. Councilwoman Carolyn Robinson (District 2) said Council should also take a look at the quarry in Blair, owned by Vulcan Materials.

“The whole thing is about what we instructed Mr. Pope to do, to get as much information as we can possibly get from studies, make sure we get all the studies done that can be done so that once we take this argument to DHEC we have all the information that we need to have and all these questions are answered,” Ferguson said. “That’s whose job it is. That’s who the state has put in charge of mining. There are a lot of hoops that they have to jump through and we have to make sure that they jump through them. The council’s going to see that all the questions are answered. That’s all we can do, but I promise you that’s exactly what we will do.”