Category: Government

Ordinance Aimed at Sagging Britches

WINNSBORO – Town Council, on the suggestion of Councilman Clyde Sanders, instructed the Town’s attorneys Tuesday night to craft an ordinance that would impose a civil penalty for wearing pants that hang down below the wearer’s undergarments. The fashion statement has become so prevalent, Sanders said, that it has become an embarrassment for the entire community.

“It’s embarrassing to me to go to Wal-Mart or walk down Main Street and have somebody holding their pants up just to take a step, and that’s what they’re doing,” Sanders said. “A couple of years ago it wasn’t quite as bad. They went down to just showing the top of their drawers. Today, it’s below the bottom of their underwear. . . . If a female, 18 to 40 years old, walked into Wal-Mart with their pants below their butt, she would probably be arrested for indecent exposure.”

Councilman Danny Miller said he agreed, but questioned how such an ordinance would be enforced and by whom.

“Who’s going to enforce it? Law enforcement? They’re going to be dealing with that all day long,” Miller said.

Freddie Lorick, Chief of Public Safety, suggested that Council consider making the infraction a civil violation, and not criminal, so that officers could write tickets instead of carting violators off to jail.

“One town is charging a $114 fine,” Sanders said. “I think that’s probably a little excessive. But if you go to Wal-Mart or somewhere and our police force sees somebody, ask them to pull their pants up and if they don’t, write them a ticket for $10. If you get very many $10 tickets, you’re going to get the point at some point and start wearing your pants like you’re supposed to.”

Mayor Roger Gaddy agreed and asked the Town’s attorneys to come up with an ordinance.

Water

Sanders also requested a work session with Margaret Pope of the Pope Zeigler Law Firm in Columbia, the firm that counseled the Town during their failed attempt to form a water authority. Sanders said Pope may be able to help direct the Town in its efforts to find the funds to run a water line to Lake Monticello. Explorations into a potential bond to fund the estimated $8-12 million project have hit a bit of a snag, Town Manager Don Wood said.

“We have conflicting information,” Wood said. “We have an ordinance, somewhere among our ordinances, that says a utility that benefits from a particular loan, the debt service has to be paid from the revenues produced by that utility, which would imply that if we got this $8-$12 million loan, the water rates would have to support the debt service with that, which would put them very high.”

On the other hand, Wood said that Trish Comp, with the State Revolving Loan Fund, told the Town this week that if a town has a combined utility, the revenues from all utilities may be used to pay back the loan.

“So that would be gas, electric, water and sewer, rather than just water by itself,” Wood said. “That would be the only way we could afford to repay that.”

Last month, Blythewood resident Jim Landmeyer, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), told Council that it may be possible to solve Winnsboro’s water issues with wells. A groundwater survey would be necessary first, Landmeyer said, noting that such a survey had never been done in Fairfield County.

Tuesday night, Mayor Gaddy said Council had made no movements on Landmeyer’s suggestion.

“We haven’t really talked with the County about that,” Gaddy said. “The cost of that was about $200,000 and a three-year study, so we took that under advisement and we have not done anything with that.”

BLYTHEWOOD – The preliminary budget for fiscal year 2014-15 passed first reading at Council’s regular monthly meeting on May 27, without discussion. A budget workshop is scheduled for June 17, from 8 a.m. – noon, when final numbers are expected to be hammered out prior to second and final reading at the June 30 Council meeting. A public hearing is slated for that meeting as well.

A handout with preliminary budget numbers was made available at the May 27 meeting showing a slight increase in the overall budget from $1,210,000 last year to $1,241,000 in FY 2014-5.

Under general fund expenses, the mayor’s salary and expenses for FY2014-15 total $23,876 which includes: salary, $12,000; FICA/Med, $918; retirement, $1,320; health insurance, $9,600.

Council’s combined salary and expenses for FY2014-15 are budgeted at $23,727 including: salary, $18,000 (Councilman Tom Utroska forgoes his salary and benefits from the Town); FICA/Med, $1,377; retirement, -0-; training, $1,200; and miscellaneous, $1,650.                   

Staff salaries for FY2014-15 total $442,939, down from $546,000 budgeted for last year. The Town’s legal costs for FY2014-15, at $53,000 will represent a $3,000 increase, and Planning & Development Services are set to decrease by the same amount. Total administrative expenditures for the Town are expected to decrease from $129,000 budgeted in FY2013-14 to $107,000 in FY2014-15.

Tentative Date: June 24

WINNSBORO – A public hearing on a proposed granite quarry off Rockton Thruway is tentatively scheduled for June 24, Interim County Administrator Milton Pope said Tuesday night. The meeting would be held in the Fairfield Central High School auditorium, Pope said, in order to accommodate an expected large crowd.

Dorothy Brandenburg, a Rockton Thruway resident who has been the point person on organized opposition to the proposed quarry, said that while her largest current concern was the impact of the quarry on the local water table, another pressing concern was truck traffic on the narrow gravel road.

“I would like to see some type of investigation into the classifications as stated in land ordinance 596, article 3, subsection 26 (minor roads),” Brandenburg said. “I just want to make sure we don’t have these large trucks on our minor roads.”

Brandenburg said she would like to see this part of the ordinance strengthened, if not in the face of the currently proposed quarry, then for future potential quarries in the county.

Randy Sisk, another Rockton area resident, said the train traffic associated with hauling crushed stone in and out of the mine could affect the response times of Fairfield County’s emergency service providers.

“Every time there’s a train that’s coming into this area, it’s going to have to stop and cross Golf Course Road 13 times to put a car in and take one out,” Sisk said. “This is going to take an extremely long delay for emergency crews if there is a fire, a medical emergency or law enforcement (emergency). It’s going to take them another 15 minutes to come back into 11th Street and come back around.”

Lisa Brandenburg, meanwhile, asked Council why they could not put the kibosh on the quarry.

“If you have an application process through this county,” Lisa Brandenburg asked, “then why can County not either accept or deny any application that’s made based upon the merit of the application?”

But Pope said the application for Winnsboro Crushed Stone, which was submitted to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) on March 13, is entirely in DHEC’s hands.

“The application is approved by DHEC, not the County,” Pope said. “Even the public hearing is a state process based upon the criteria DHEC has.”

The property in the proposed mining area is zoned RD-1, Pope said, which allows for mining with conditions. For the County to attempt to change the zoning with the application already in progress, Pope said, could be risking a long and expensive legal challenge from the company.

“The County has to be very cautious on how we move forward on any action,” Pope said, “because it could get litigious.”

Pope said the issue of the use of minor roads is something that needs further study, adding that he would like to see “the site plan itself, where those things actually come out so we can definitively say what is a major (road) and what is not.

“One of the things that we need, just like a lot of the citizens need, is additional information,” Pope said. “We don’t have all the information; just the permitting information.”

For additional information regarding the proposed quarry, see the May 23 and May 16 editions of The Voice. Public information on the mining application can be found on the DHEC website at: http://www.scdhec.gov/PublicNotices/Land/

WINNSBORO – County Council voted 7-0 Tuesday night to authorize the County Administrator to craft a deal to allow the Central Midlands Council of Governments (COG) to take the point on the County’s long-term strategic planning process.

The motion was put on the floor by Councilman David Brown (District 7), who after the meeting said 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.

“And if anyone else wants to get involved (in the planning process), this would be a way for them to do so,” Brown said.

In his motion, Brown said the COG was created specifically to assist counties like Fairfield, and that the COG has a staff approximately 40 professional planners.

“They plan everything from highways to running the railroad tracks from Charlotte to Columbia,” Brown said.

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. Councilwoman Mary Lynn Kinley (District 6) provided Brown with a second.

“Planning is something that’s very complicated and very long-term and you’ve got to know what you’re doing,” Brown said. “And we don’t need to hire a department of long-term planners. We’ve already got one with the COG.”

Chairman David Ferguson (District 5) said an additional benefit from letting the COG lead the way is that it prevents potentially good ideas from getting crushed by egos.

“It takes personalities out of it,” Ferguson said. “It’s an independent set of eyes.”

The cost of the partnership was not determined with Council’s vote. Ferguson said later that the cost would not be available until after the contract was prepared. The proposed plan would likely project 20 years into the future, Ferguson said.

Ridgeway Interchange

Brown reported to Council that options for truck traffic, as well as for widening Peach Road and a proposed four-way interchange at the south end of Ridgeway, were on hold pending traffic studies. Brown said the COG’s Rural Transportation Committee, on which he sits, met last week to discuss Ridgeway traffic issues. A recent proposal to install a four-way stop near Highway 21 and the Highway 21 Connector has also been put on hold after the project met with strong local opposition.

“The DOT (Department of Transportation) came up and 77 people were not in favor of putting an interchange in there and 22 people were in favor,” Brown said.

Brown said the COG approved a study for diverting truck traffic around Ridgeway, but added that such a detour faces its own problems.

“We had opposition to going down the bypass (Highway 21 Connector/S. Coleman Street) with heavy truck traffic because you’ve got an elementary school (Geiger) at the end of the bypass,” Brown said. “The DOT and COG are studying all three things. Right now everything is on hold in Ridgeway until we have studies done on all three items.”

WINNSBORO – County Council unanimously gave the OK to a resolution Tuesday night establishing the millage rate for the 2014-2015 budget, reducing the County’s millage rate by 4.8 mills.

“What that means for a $100,00 home that’s an owner-occupied home, that’s going to be a reduction of nearly $19.20,” Milton Pope, Interim County Administrator said. “We’ve been able to fund those major items needed in our County operations and I think we are adjusting and right-sizing our operations to make sure we are efficient and effective.”

Pope said his staff was planning to recommend to Council for the next budget year setting millage rates in September instead of setting those rates during the normal budget preparation period.

“You do have better numbers after a lot of the tax numbers and a lot of the numbers from the Department of Revenue come in late at the end of the fiscal year,” Pope said.

After the meeting, Pope added that the next budget would be prepared using an estimate for the millage rate, which he said presented no specific challenges. The millage rates would be locked in well before the first tax bills go out in October of 2015.

Ordinances

An ordinance to restore the District 5 voting lines cleared public hearing and second reading Tuesday night, with the final reading set for a June 5 special Council meeting. The District 5 lines budged slightly with the 2011 redistricting process, shifting two School Board members into District 6 and leaving District 5 without representation. A bill passed by the General Assembly in February corrected the shift, but only for the School District. That left a School Board member serving in District 5 while residing in a District 6 County Council district. After the bill was passed, it was determined that only County Council could correct County Council voting lines. The State Budget and Control Board accepted responsibility for the muddled lines last month and recommended that Council make the necessary corrections.

An ordinance to rezone less than an acre of land at 785 Peays Ferry Road from R-1 (Single Family Residential) to R-2 (Inclusive Residential) passed third and final reading without dissent. The property is owned by Thomas and Paula Gaston.

Council also held first reading on a pair of ordinances to expand the County’s I-77 Corridor Regional Industrial Park agreement to include property owned by University Residences Columbia LLC and property owned by PTI Plastics & Rubber, Inc.

“Fairfield County participates in a multi-county park agreement with Richland County and when we have potential industrial investment we partner in, there is a percentage of proceeds that go to Richland County,” Pope said, “but Fairfield County is a major recipient also with our relationship with Richland County where industries are located in Richland County.”

Pope said that details of the amendments would be included in the second reading of the ordinances.

BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council broke new ground at its regular meeting on Tuesday evening by abandoning parliamentary procedure and flagrantly disregarding the state’s open government laws as they voted on as many items that were not on the agenda as were. Two each. And they voted on a resolution before it came up on the agenda.

The first illegal vote came when Buzzy Myers, president of the Blythewood/Softball Youth League, announced to Council that the League would be hosting a Coaches Pitch All Star Baseball Tournament June 6 – 10 and asked Council for $1,000 to help cover expenses. With no questions asked, Council voted 4-0 (Council Bob Massa was absent) to donate the money from the Town’s Hospitality Fund. It was not explained why the League was not required, as other organizations are, to apply for the funds.

Myers told Council that while this was a Midlands area tournament, it would not put heads in beds, but it would bring a lot of families to the Town’s restaurants.

“Most of these 7-8 year olds are accompanied by several people who spend time and money in the town,” Myers said. “This will bring lots of people here. It will be good for the town.”

A few minutes later, after discussing whether to host a leadership meeting for 40-50 elected officials from Blythewood, Fairfield County and the towns of Winnsboro and Ridgeway, Mayor J. Michael Ross asked the Town Attorney/interim Town Administrator Jim Meggs if Council could vote on the issue. Meggs gave his verbal blessing to the illegal vote, which was a unanimous 4-0 approval. Like the baseball tournament, the item was on the agenda as a ‘presentation’ item only, not an action item to be voted on.

Ross told Council members that the leadership meeting was proposed by the Central Midlands Council of Governments (COG) who would also provide the program for the meeting.

“We provide the place and the meal,” Ross said. “It’s got to be of some value, and it would get us all together.”

Councilman Bob Mangone added, “We might be able to lobby some things, but they seem to be fairly set in their ways. I hope we can get some camaraderie with Fairfield County. It can’t hurt.”

Council voted 4-0 to pass first reading on the FY 2014-15 budget without any discussion. A final budget workshop is planned for Tuesday, June 17, from 8 a.m. – noon.

Penny Tax Road Improvements

Council also voted, albeit out of the order from the agenda, to pass a resolution to reset priorities in the Town’s recommendations to the Richland County Transportation Committee (TPAC) for roads to be improved and widened with the penny tax funds. Malcolm Gordge, chairman of the Blythewood Penny Tax Committee, listed the following as the new priorities:

Blythewood Road from Syrup Mill Road to I-77

Blythewood Road from 1-77 to Main Street

McNulty Road from Main Street to Blythewood Road

Creech Road extension to Main Street

Blythewood Road from Fulmer to Syrup Mill

Traffic Circle at Blythewood Road and Creech Road

Traffic Circle at Blythewood Road and Cobblestone

I-77 Landscape Maintenance

Meggs reported that the Town of Winnsboro is installing a pressure pump station near the intersection of Dawson’s Creek Road and Highway 21, just south of Blythewood High School, to improve water pressure for residents in Cobblestone.

“There’s going to be a capital expense there, and considering where we’re going with water,” Meggs said, “that sort of raises other issues.”

Meggs also addressed complaints the Town has had from residents recently about the lack of landscaping maintenance for the new plantings at the I-77 interchange at Blythewood Road.

“There have been some irrigation problems,” Meggs said, explaining that the Town is manually supplementing the irrigation with a 300-gallon water tank trucked to the site. He said that would continue as the irrigation problem is being diagnosed. He also said DOT mowers will be cutting grass along I-77 and should complete the stretch of road along Blythewood this week.

Search for Town Administrator

During public comment time, former Councilman Ed Garrison quizzed Council as to the status of the search for a new Town Administrator. He also chastised them for not having properly vetted the candidates.

“Two of the finalists had legal issues and the other two are economic developers,” Garrison said. “I thought we were hiring a Town Administrator. I’d like to see us go back and do it right.”

Mangone challenged Garrison’s accusation that the candidates were not properly vetted.

“My expectation of you as head of that committee is that you would have vetted those people,” Garrison said.

“They were vetted,” Mangone shot back.

“Well if they were vetted,” Garrison said, “obviously my standards and yours are not the same.”

Council voted to go into executive session to discuss an employee situation, negotiations incident to proposed contractual arrangements and the receipt of legal advice about ‘matters covered by the attorney-client privilege.’ No vote was taken.

The next work session will be June 17, 8 a.m. – noon. The next regular Town Council meeting will be Tuesday, June 30, at 7 p.m. at the Manor.

Three Others Pay Fines

WINNSBORO – Allegations of official wrongdoing by Fairfield County Council Chairman David Ferguson were formally dismissed by the S.C. State Ethics Commission last week. The Commission also dismissed seven of 11 counts levied against Councilman Mikel Trapp, with the District 3 Councilman paying a $500 fine for the remaining charges. Two other Council members also officially resolved their cases with the Commission by paying fines, according to Consent Orders that were posted to the Ethics Commission website Monday.

Ferguson was issued a Notice of Hearing last January after the Ethics Commission found probable cause that the District 5 Councilman had allegedly used his office to obtain an economic interest for himself by vacationing in County funded lodging following the conclusion of the annual S.C. Association of Counties’ summer conference in Hilton Head. The four counts against Ferguson covered July of 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. The Ethics Commission dismissed the charges “because Fairfield County incurred no additional expenses for a longer rental period of resort property” following the conclusion of the conferences, Commission documents state.

“I didn’t have any doubt about it to begin with,” Ferguson said, “because I didn’t do anything wrong. I followed protocol and what the County has done for years and years. If I had thought there was anything wrong, I certainly wouldn’t have done it.”

Trapp was fined and issued a written warning for misstating his County income on Statement of Economic Interest (SEI) forms in 2011, 2012 and 2013. The Commission called Trapp’s violation “inadvertent.” Trapp was also accused of “knowingly using his official office to obtain an economic interest for a family member when he voted to allocate” funds “to his sister-in-law’s employer, CIC, Inc.” Trapp’s notice of hearing stated that the allocations came on July 1, 2011; July 7, 2011; July 10, 2012; and July 15, 2013. The amounts allegedly allocated were: $2,500 on July 1, 2011; $1,234 on July 7, 2012; $3,500 on July 10, 2012; and $2,500 on July 15, 2013. Those charges were dismissed, as were allegations that Trapp had also overstepped boundaries during his stay on Hilton Head in July of 2010, 2011 and 2013.

Vice Chairman Dwayne Perry was accused in March of three counts of misstating income on his SEI forms, from 2011 to 2013. Commission documents state that Perry reported $23,382 on his 2011 SEI, but had received $24,649.92. Perry reported $26,492.92 on his 2012 SEI, but received $27,467.92; and on his 2013 SEI, Perry reported $25,910.82 but received $27,583.92, according to Commission documents. The Ethics Commission also defined Perry’s violations as “inadvertent,” and levied a written warning and a $375 fine against the District 1 Councilman.

Councilman Kamau Marcharia also received his Notice of Hearing in March for one count of misstating Fairfield County income on his 2013 SEI. Commission documents state that Marcharia reported $16,000 on his SEI, but received $18,643.04. The Ethics Commission also called the District 4 Councilman’s violation “inadvertent” and issued a $125 fine and a written warning.

All three fines have been paid, the Ethics Commission said Monday. The Commission said that a Consent Order was expected soon for Councilwoman Mary Lynn Kinley. Kinley was issued a Notice of Hearing in January for four counts of overstaying her time on Hilton Head during the Association conferences from 2010 through 2013, as well as for two counts of failure to disclose County income. Complaints against Councilman David Brown and Councilwoman Carolyn Robinson are still pending.

“This was petty,” Ferguson said. “It was something done intending to hurt someone’s reputation and that was all. Now that we’ve got an answer back, we can get back to County business and get away from all this stuff that is trivial.”