Blythewood Online 691

Category: Government

  • Borrowing to Pay Debt

    Decoding Municipal Bonds

    WINNSBORO – County Council has recently borrowed money to pay interest on money it borrowed last year. On Feb. 12, the County issued a new general obligation bond in the amount of $769,177.88 for the purpose of making the first interest payment on the $24.06 million installment purchase revenue bonds (IPRB’s) that were issued almost a year ago on April 29, 2013, to finance the costs of acquiring, constructing and equipping various projects for the County, according to Interim County Administrator Milton Pope. While former County Administrator Phil Hinely was quoted in both Fairfield County newspapers last March as saying the County issued the $24 million IPRB’s, Pope told The Voice last week that the IPRB’s were not issued by the County but by the Fairfield Facilities Corporation (FFC).

    According to Pope, the FFC is a non-profit corporation that was created by the County Council on March 25, 2013, to allow Council to borrow more money than it could otherwise legally borrow within its constitutional debt limit, which is equal to 8 percent of the assessed value of taxable property in the County. For Fairfield County, that limit, as of March 2, 2013 was $4.5 million according to the ordinance authorizing the $769,177.88 general obligation bond.

    And while revenue bonds are, by law, to be repaid with a revenue stream, such as a County-owned water company or toll road and not ad valorem (property) taxes, a unique feature of IPRB’s is that a mock revenue stream can be created from the issuance of general obligation bonds that are then paid off with ad valorem taxes that have not been approved by the electorate.

    So, after creating the FFC by resolution last spring, Council passed Ordinance 614 on April 15, 2013 to authorize an unlimited number of general obligation bonds to be issued at unspecified dates, in unspecified amounts. The first one, issued on Feb. 12, will cover the 2014 interest payment on the $24 million IPRB’s. Council could continue to issue more general obligation bonds each year until their $4.5 million debt limit is exhausted. According to the payment scheduled for the $24 million IPRB’s that was published in the County’s FY2013 audit, the interest and principal payments were loaded so that the bulk of the payments would begin in 2019 at which time the new ad valorem taxes from the second nuclear reactor at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsville (scheduled to begin operations in 2016) would start picking up the heftier payments on the IPRB’s.

    Of the new $769,177.88 general obligation debt, $40,000 went to the County’s bond counsel, Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP, for bond issuance fees, and $5,900 went to BB&T for other fees. The County will pay an additional $69,674.25 in interest on the bond over the next seven years for a total payout of $838,852.13.

    While Council Chairman David Ferguson (District 5) issued a notice to County Auditor Peggy Hensley and County Treasurer Norma Branham on Feb. 12 to levy and collect taxes on all taxable property in the County sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on the 79,177.88 general obligation bond, Pope told The Voice that new taxes will not be levied to pay for the bond. He said sufficient property taxes have already been levied to cover the payments.

    Even though the law allows counties and municipalities to issue general obligation bonds if they do not exceed the 8 percent debt limit, Article 13 of the S.C. Code of Laws, annotated sections 4-9-1210 and 11-27-40, provides voters with a 20-day window in which to initiate a referendum to repeal the bond. To initiate such a referendum, within 20 days after the County publishes a notice (in a newspaper of general circulation in the County) that it has adopted the bond ordinance, not less than five qualified electors (voters qualified to vote in the County) must file notice with the clerk of court and with the clerk of council of their intention to seek a referendum. Then, within 60 days after the enactment of the ordinance authorizing the issuance of the bond, a petition signed by qualified electors of the County equal in number to at least 15 percent of the qualified voters of the County must be filed with the clerk of council requesting that the ordinance be repealed. Council can either hold a referendum on the ordinance or rescind it. An affidavit of publication of such a notice for Ordinance 614 was published March 22, 2013.

    When Council passed Ordinance 614 last spring to authorize the $769,177.88 general obligation bond, references were made in public meetings and in the newspapers by Council members and Hinely, referencing the ‘bond that Council passed’ not as a general obligation bond that would be issued in the future to pay for the $24 million IPRB’s but as the $24 million revenue bonds. A news article on the front page of the March 29 issue of The Voice attributed the following to former County Administrator Philip Hinely: “the $24.06 million in bonds Council voted on Monday night (March 25, 2014) aren’t necessarily ‘new’ bonds, but are a ‘rolling over’ of the 2009 (general obligation) bond that kick-started the 10-year plan. Therefore, he said, they ($24 million bonds) don’t come with a tax increase. If we didn’t do it that way, we would have to issue new bonds,” Hinely said, “and that would increase taxes.” Asked to explain how the $24 million bonds were a ‘rolling over’ of the 2009 general obligation bond, Pope said he would get back with that information, but had not at press time.

    Next week The Voice will look more closely at the use of IPRB’s by small towns and counties and why some S.C. legislators have begun to crack down on the increasingly widespread use of installment purchase revenue bonds.

  • Board Preps for Review

    Debate Over Minutes Drags On

    WINNSBORO – After a shaky start to their March 18 meeting, the Fairfield County School Board approved funding for a pair of student field trips, cut ties with a software company and took their first steps at preparing for an external, voluntary accreditation review.

    The meeting stumbled out of the gate, however, as Board members could not come to a consensus over approval of minutes from last month’s meeting. At issue were comments made by Board member Paula Hartman (District 2) that were ruled out of order by Board Chairwoman Beth Reid (District 7) and were therefore not included in the minutes. Hartman insisted that her comments be included in the minutes for the record, but Reid was adamant.

    “You were ruled out of order prior to it going on the record,” Reid said.

    “How come other things other Board members say gets on the record and I can’t?” Hartman asked.

    “I don’t know,” Reid said. “You were ruled out of order prior to it going on the record.”

    “No I did not,” Hartman said.

    “It’s time to call for the question,” Reid said. “This is the minutes. This is ridiculous.”

    But Board member Annie McDaniel (District 4) said if Hartman was requesting a statement be included for the record, the Board should accommodate her. McDaniel then moved to approve the minutes with the inclusion of Hartman’s statement. Hartman seconded the motion, which failed to carry 2-4 (District 1 Board member Andrea Harrison was absent). A motion to approve the minutes without corrections carried 4-2, with Hartman and McDaniel voting against.

    “And I want it stated for the record that if we are going to work together as a board we need to make sure we are following rules and we’re following orders appropriately,” McDaniel added after the vote, “and that it is not the Chair’s discretion to call people out of order unless they are really out of order.”

    Board member Henry Miller (District 3), however, pointed out that it was indeed the Chairwoman’s discretion on when to lower the gavel and call another member out of order.

    After spending nearly half an hour approving the minutes, the Board finally got down to business.

    A recommendation from Superintendent J.R. Green to use June 3 and 4 as makeup days for classes missed because of winter storms and to use June 5 as a teacher workday was tabled after McDaniel noted it was not listed as an action item on the agenda.

    The Board also approved $14,200.50 to help fund a trip to Orlando, Fla. by the Fairfield Central Robotics Team to compete in a regional competition. In their first season in competition, the Robotics Team recently placed 14th in the state competition in Myrtle Beach. The team will travel to Orlando April 3-5 for the event. The motion to help fund the trip passed 6-0.

    The Board also OK’d up to $20,000 to help fund a trip to Puerto Rico by students at Gordon Odyssey Academy on a 6-0 vote, and voted 6-0 to end the District’s relationship with Thinkgate, which Dr. Claudia Edwards said had proven “unreliable as an assessment delivery tool.”

    Accreditation

    Edwards previewed for the Board the process of self-examination that will be part of the upcoming review of the District by AdvancED (AE), a voluntary accreditation system. AE visits districts in their system every five years, Edwards said, and a review team would be arriving in Fairfield County in December. Step one, she said, was the completion of surveys by stakeholders, including members of the Board. McDaniel, however, appeared reluctant to participate.

    “I don’t want to go through this so we can have another stamp,” McDaniel said. “For folks who don’t know, AdvancED is SACS. It’s just another name for SACS and I’ve already been through what they can do. So if we’re not going to use this to help make the district better, then I don’t want to go through with it. I want to be able to answer the questions in such a manner that whoever is reviewing us will come in and help us get where we need to be.”

    McDaniel is one of two remaining Board members (Miller being the second) who served when the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) attempted to visit and review the District back in 2009. At that time, the SACS review team was barred by the Board from interviewing administration, staff and stakeholders and received a scathing review from the team. The stonewalling tactic very nearly cost the District its SACS accreditation at the time.

    Policy Review

    The District voted 4-2 to enter into a contract with the S.C. School Boards Association (SBA) to review the District’s policies, at a cost of $1,200 to the District. The review will center mainly on Section B of the Board’s Policy Manual, dealing with school board governance and operations. McDaniel said she would like other policies reviewed, including how class salutatorian and valedictorian are selected, the Board’s travel policy and the policy governing gratis use of District facilities. While Reid said that any Board member who had suggestions for policy reviews could submit them by email, she told The Voice this week that the selection of salutatorian and valedictorian were governed by state standards.

    “So what is there to discuss?” Reid pondered.

    McDaniel and Hartman voted against the contract.

  • State OK’s HON Site

    Courthouse Move Clears Hurdle

    WINNSBORO – When Fairfield County Council’s ad hoc committee, tasked with securing a temporary site for the County Courthouse, met last month, all options for the relocation appeared both labor intensive and expensive. But as that meeting wound down on Feb. 20, the suggestion came to the floor that another option might be available. Monday night, Milton Pope, Interim County Administrator, told Council that that option – to move into the HON Building – was indeed on the table.

    The Fairfield County Courthouse is in desperate need of renovations, Deputy County Administrator Davis Anderson told the committee last month. An electrical overhaul is necessary to support updated technology; structural defects have to be addressed on the historic building; and mold and mildew is an ongoing concern – the culprit: an outdated HVAC system that will need to be entirely replaced, duct work and all. The entire process will take approximately one year, and while the work is being done, the offices within the courthouse will have to find a temporary home. That means moving more than 9,340 square feet of offices, including the offices of the Clerk of Court, the Tax Assessor, the Auditor, the Tax Collector, the Treasurer, the Public Defender and the court room and its associated offices.

    After contracting with the consulting firm of Mead & Hunt, Inc. of Lexington for $15,575 last fall, the firm offered up three options for the move: the former Food Lion grocery store and the adjacent former location of the Family Dollar at 133 Highway 321 Bypass S., and the former Elite facility at 900 9th St. in Winnsboro. The Food Lion/Family Dollar option totaled some 13,800 square feet, with a building cost of $866,708 and an upfitting cost of more than $1 million. The Elite facility weighed in at 25,000 square feet and came with a price tag of $822,708 for the building and $931,818 for the upfit. While Mead & Hunt identified mold and water issues, as well as hazardous materials and possible asbestos at the site, they ultimately recommended Elite as the best possible option.

    A third option to rent modular units from a Charlotte company for between $13,000 and $37,000 each was rejected.

    As the Feb. 20 meeting drew to a close, Pope and Council Chairman David Ferguson (District 5) suggested the HON Building, located on Highway 321 N. near Midlands Tech. The County currently owns the building, but has leased out most of it to the S.C. State Emergency Preparedness Office (EPO).

    Monday night, Pope told Council that the EPO had given their consent to the County for the move. While the costs associated with that move were not available at press time, Pope said the HON Building would require far less upfitting than either of the prior options and that the building’s square footage will allow for the entire courthouse and its functions, including actually holding court.

    “It really is a very workable space that we could use there,” Pope said, “assuming Council continues to support the move forward.”

    The proposal to move into the HON Building will now go back to committee for consideration, Pope said.

  • R2 Looks at Grants, Review

    Dr. Arlene Bakutes, District Grants Coordinator, and the principals’ benefiting from a grant presented at Tuesday night’s Richland 2 School Board meeting the merits of a nearly $4.5 million grant over a three year period to Killian Elementary, Longleaf Middle and Westwood High schools. Called “Full STEAM Ahead!,” this program is a science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics focused curriculum designed to reduce minority isolation. A study by the National Endowment for the Arts shows that students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who actively participated in the arts tended to score better in science and writing, and were more likely to aspire to college. A major purpose of the grant is to “provide the programs and resources to keep [students] at these magnet schools,” and to “slowly increase the diversity of the student body at Killian,” to “create a more diverse student body at Longleaf Middle School and Westwood High School,” the grant application states. At the end of the grant period, the district intends for schools to continue the programs with regular district funding.

    Review Team Findings

    Also on the docket Tuesday night was the Review Team of faculty and district staff that sifted through a district-wide survey to gather employee feedback on what should be funded in the district and concerns where funding is allowing them to reach optimum. Most notable was the impact of rising poverty rates severely curtailing field studies and purchasing of library books. Under the previous superintendent’s attempt to create equity in access to field trips, field trips are no longer funded by the parents. In the past, students who were unable to pay the fee were covered by a donation from another family, a PTO fundraiser or the principal’s discretionary budget. Currently, the school raises the funds or school’s discretionary fund is used. Discretionary funds do not have budgets to support multiple school field trips, so a school is currently in the position of selecting one class or one trip per year. Fundraisers can also contribute, but this has proven to be less successful in schools of high poverty. The Review Team asks that the way field studies are funded be uniform across the district and be recognized as a way to enrich the focus of hands on learning.

    Also, the Review Team noted that funding for the media centers was removed from the general budget several years ago. Again, the principals fund the purchase of books. As in the field trips, funding is inconsistent across the district. High poverty schools have a difficult time raising the funds to purchase supplies. Board Member Susan Brill mentioned that she had spoken with Media Specialists and has this request on her priority spending list when the Board meets to discuss budget.

    The Review Team also said that the work of Family Interventionists should continue to focus on the whole child and address the issues within the family – usually meeting outside of school setting as a family unit. This work has proven to be particularly effective with middle and high school students and their family units. The positive spillover has been improvements in behavior and academic performance.

    Prior to the next School Board meeting, Wednesday (new day), April 9 at Polo Road Elementary School, there will be the first of two hearings on the General Budget for the coming school year. The public is invited to attend at 5 p.m.

  • Ridgeway’s Race for Mayor: Bush Makes Her Case

    Belva Bush

    Editor’s Note: Both Belva Bush, the challenger in the April 8 election, and incumbent Charlene Herring were invited to submit a personal essay for our readers. Mayor Herring did not respond.

    Belva Bush

    I was born and raised in Ridgeway and grew up in the community on Mood Harrison Road in Longtown. I am the daughter of Sarah Bush and the late Leroy “Pistol” Bush. I am an active member of the Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church of Ridgeway, located on Longtown Road. I attended the public schools in Ridgeway and Fairfield County and later attended Midlands Technical College and Benedict College.

    I am currently in my 21st year of employment with the Fairfield County School District where I serve as the Attendance Specialist, District Registrar and District Homeless Liaison. In past years I also served as Interim Director of Public Relations and as Director of the Parenting Resource Center. I am an advocate for homeless assistance and awareness in Fairfield County and served as Executive Director of HUGS, etc., a non-profit organization for the assistance to homeless and prevention of homelessness. Throughout the years, I have served as a member of numerous professional organizations and associations to include membership in the Order of Eastern Stars.

    I participated in the Palmetto Leadership Fairfield Institute in 2001. This 11-week training program was sponsored by Palmetto Leadership, Clemson University and the Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce. This was my first vision into the leadership roles of our local politicians and served as a blueprint on how I could possibly one day make my contribution as an elected official.

    In 2010, I was elected to the Town Council of Ridgeway after serving as Chairperson of the Town’s Public Relations Committee for several years. Since being on council, I have served as Chairperson of the Community Actions Committee. In 2013, the committee applied for and received a grant from Palmetto Pride that was used to enhance the landscape of Ridgeway’s Geiger Elementary School. I also served on the Pig on the Ridge and Christmas Parade Committees.

    My reason for seeking the office of mayor is that I believe that a term limitation for mayor should be established and limited to no more than two terms in office. I feel that it is important to establish a vision for the Town of Ridgeway that will make it a better place for residents, businesses and visitors by creating and enhancing the town in such a way that ALL people feel a since of pride and existence. We need to establish an open dialog and focus on communication with citizens of the town as well as our local businesses. I earnestly seek the support of the citizens of Ridgeway in the upcoming April 8 election.

  • Council Gets Serious About Code Enforcement

    WINNSBORO – A year after considering, then tabling, an ordinance to provide for code enforcement in the Town of Winnsboro, Council revisited the issue at Tuesday night’s meeting with the prospect of voting on the ordinance at the next council meeting.

    “I think we have code enforcement officers in our budget this year,” said Councilman Jackie Wilkes, “and I think it’s time we implemented that position. We have this packet Billy Castles (Director of Building and Zoning) put together for us last year. It will be intense work concerning the ordinance, but it’s time we got started enforcing some of these codes.”

    Councilman Clyde Sanders made the argument to ask Fairfield County code enforcement officers to enforce codes in the Town.

    “It would be cheaper for us in the Town to pay the County than to bring employees in, provide vehicles and pay insurance and benefits for them than to go under the County. We’re part of Fairfield County. Before we jump into hiring somebody we need to talk to the County and try to get them to enforce in the town,” Sanders said. “They’ve got three or four officers.”

    “If you remember,” Wilkes said, “that was something we said last year, but no one ever talked to the County.”

    Mayor Roger Gaddy said Winnsboro’s Town Manager, Don Wood, would be the appropriate person to talk with Interim County Administrator Milton Pope.

    “If the County says ‘no,’ then it behooves us to have our own code enforcement officers,” Gaddy said.

    Wood reminded Council that, “Before we do any of that, you have to pass some ordinances to enforce. We spent months on this thing last year. The ordinance is ready to be voted on,” Wood said. “But you all will have to take some action to accept, reject or modify it before a code enforcement officer would have anything to do with it.”

    Gaddy urged Council to pass the codes, then go to the County and ask if they would be interested in enforcing the codes (for Winnsboro.)

    “They may not want to,” Gaddy said. “Then we need to make a decision about hiring our own.”

    The Mayor said he would put the item on the agenda for the April 1 meeting.

    In other business, Wood presented a draft ordinance to deal with animal complaints. The ordinance identifies any animal that is unrestrained, a persistent noise maker, odor causer, etc., as a public nuisance and subject to impoundment and issuance of a misdemeanor citation to the owner.

    The target of the ordinance is apparently a brood of chickens domiciled in the yard of a mobile home on Evans Street. A woman who said she lives in the neighborhood but did not identify herself told Council that, “we’ve had to tolerate chickens in our neighborhood for a long time. So please consider the new ordinance carefully and as soon as possible. We’re awakened by one to five roosters at 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Chickens and ducks make noise all day and night and run loose in the yards. Town is not country.”

    Gaddy said the ordinance would be presented for first reading at the next council meeting.

  • Grants Part of BOMAG Deal

    WINNSBORO – BOMAG Americas, which announced plans to locate operations in Fairfield County’s new Commerce Center on Feb. 5, was brought into the county with the help of more than $2 million in grant monies, a Fee in Lieu of Taxes (FILOT) agreement and an infrastructure tax credit.

    BOMAG, makers of industrial construction machinery, received a $1.1 million grant from Fairfield County. A large portion of those funds are actually being passed through the County from grants it received from the State Department of Commerce, the Rural Infrastructure Authority and S.C. Electric and Gas, according to Tiffany Harrison, Director of Fairfield County Economic Development. Only $250,000 is coming directly from the County, Harrison said, and all of those grant funds will be used to develop the site at the Commerce Center. Another $1.1 million grant came to BOMAG directly from the Department of Commerce, with those funds also used for site development.

    The FILOT agreement locks BOMAG in to a 6 percent payment of the 403.5 millage rate for 30 years. In addition, for the first 10 years, BOMAG will receive a 60 percent tax credit on FILOT payments.

    All of those incentives do not come without strings, however. If by the end of their five-year investment period (calculated from the time BOMAG purchased the property) BOMAG’s property investment fails to meet at least 50 percent of its $18.2 million requirement, or if BOMAG fails to create at least 50 percent of its required 121 new full-time jobs, then the County may terminate the FILOT agreement and BOMAG would be responsible for all back taxes and repayment of grant funds.

    BOMAG joins Element Electronics among Fairfield County’s newest job creators to receive FILOT agreements. The two new nuclear reactors under construction at V.C. Summer in Jenkinsville also received a FILOT agreement with the County, with payments expected to begin in 2017. Unlike ad valorem property taxes, a percentage of which is predestined for the Fairfield County School District, FILOT agreements are paid only to the County. How much of those fees end up in the hands of the School District will be up to County Council.

    J.R. Green, Superintendent of Fairfield County Schools, said that, to date, no formal discussions have taken place between the County and the District regarding the allocation of FILOT funds.

    “I’m optimistic County Council will do right by the District,” Green said last week. “That’s a substantial amount of revenue coming in just from those reactors.”

    David Ferguson (District 5), Chairman of County Council, said that while the District was already well funded, Council would not leave them out in the cold.

    “With the school funding where it’s at, being near the top in the state, we’re not in bad shape as far as that goes,” Ferguson said, adding, “We will always look out for the District and we always have ever since I’ve been on Council. As those (fees) come in, we have to look at them accordingly and divide it up accordingly.”

  • Water Capacity, but no Grants for Campground

    RIDGEWAY – A local campground looking to expand their number of units will be able to get water from the Town of Ridgeway, Mayor Charlene Herring reported during Town Council’s March 13 meeting; however, Herring added, she found no available grant dollars to help offset the cost of installing the water lines.

    During Council’s Feb. 21 meeting, Chris Curtiss, owner of the Little Cedar Creek Campground on East Peach Road in Ridgeway, asked the Town to provide a 6-inch, 1,250-foot waterline to the campground. Curtiss said he plans to expand his 30-acre campground from 28 units to 58 units and that the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control requires expanded water capacity for the additional 30 units. He said the residents of his campground shop in Ridgeway and that the expansion of the campground could bring considerable economic development to the town.

    Last week, Councilman Russ Brown said Curtiss was not asking the Town to pay for the installation of the water lines, but only asking if the Town had the capacity to serve the expanded campground and if the Town could assist in locating grant funds.

    “We have the water available,” Herring said. “I could not find any grants, since these are not really permanent homes and not low- to moderate-income people.”

    Herring said Curtiss was also looking to add two fire hydrants to the grounds, for which she would have to contact Interim County Administrator Milton Pope.

    Softball Season

    Will Prioleau, President of the Ridgeway Co-Ed Church Softball League, reported to Council that the league was getting ready to enter its fifth year of play. What began with just four teams has grown to an 11-team league, with games played every Saturday between April and October. Games are played at Rufus Belton Park in Longtown and at the downtown Ridgeway field, on alternating Saturdays.

    County Councilman Dwayne Perry (District 1) was on hand at last week’s meeting and told Prioleau and Council that they could count on his support at the County level for the league, in spite of recent criticism levied against Council for how they spend their annual discretionary funds of $3,500 each.

    “We’ve kind of been under attack these last couple of months – and for some things rightfully so,” Perry said. “It was put out there that Council members were trying to ‘buy votes’ by supporting different organizations, but I will continue to support the Town of Ridgeway. The softball league is one of the things I really try to support and always have since its inception and I will continue to support that.”

  • Challenger Declares for District 5

    WINNSBORO – Although election season may be a few months from heating up to a full head of steam, this week a candidate emerged to challenge County Council Chairman David Ferguson in District 5. Making his announcement Monday night at the Fairfield County Democratic Convention at the County Courthouse, Eugene Holmes threw his hat into the ring of Fairfield County politics.

    Holmes, 79, was born and raised in Washington, D.C., where he worked for the Department of Labor for 27 years before retiring with his wife, Fairfield native Margaret Pauling Holmes, to their Fairfield County home on Charming Circle, where they have lived for the last four years. They have two children and three grandchildren, all in the D.C. area. In addition to working for the federal government, Holmes said he was also a substitute teacher in Maryland and substitutes here in Fairfield County now as well. He also serves as third vice chair of the Fairfield County Democratic Party and is a volunteer worker with the Fairfield County Chapter of the American Red Cross.

    What drew Holmes into the political arena?

    “I wasn’t satisfied with the dictatorship-type system we have here with our County Council,” Holmes said. “Citizens don’t have any say at all at County Council meetings. And I’m not happy with the amount of money that isn’t accounted for. There is also a lack of transparency. I want a transparent government, not a dictatorship.”

    Holmes said he was also concerned about what he sees as an excessive rate of taxation in Fairfield County.

    “If I had realized how high the taxes were in Fairfield County when we were looking to buy a home, we wouldn’t have bought in Fairfield County,” Holmes said.

    With the filing deadline not until July, Holmes said he has only just begun to collect signatures on his petition to be included on the November ballot. Potential candidates must collect signatures from at least 5 percent of the registered voters in their respective districts to qualify.

  • Manor $1.7 Million Over Original Budget

    BLYTHEWOOD – Members of Town Council spent the better part of a four-hour work session last week trying to put a fine point on how much the Town has paid for constructing and furnishing the new town park and Doko Manor. It also suggested setting up a reserve fund for repairs and maintenance expenses of the Manor.

    According to a report prepared by the Town’s financial consultant, CPA Kem Smith, and presented to the Council by Interim Town Administrator Jim Meggs, the direct costs, so far, to construct the Doko Park and Doko Manor add up to roughly $7.2 million, not the $5.5 million originally planned. And 30 years of interest payments will eventually add another $3 million to the total cost of the park. Additional funding over the $5.5 million came from the $1.5 million sale of the community center.

    Smith’s report shows a balance of $100,000 left in the park fund. But the projects that are completed and not yet paid for (rest rooms, sod for the athletic field, irrigation and dumpster enclosures) add up to about $230,000 according to information Meggs said he received from former Town Councilman Paul Moscati who oversaw the work on the park for the Town for the last two years.

    “That’s going to leave the Town in the hole about $130,000,” Councilman Bob Mangone said.

    Councilman Tom Utroska summed Council’s predicament up by saying, “There is no money left to build any of the other structures initially planned for the park including the amphitheater, spray ground, farmer’s market, activity center/soccer complex, skate park, clock tower, an additional playground area, the final layer of asphalt on the park roads and other amenities.”

    Construction of some of these features were dependent on an additional general obligation bond Council initially passed for the park in the summer of 2010, but which was later rescinded by Council after the voters presented a petition calling for a referendum on the bond.

    Of the $600,000 paid to Rick McMakin’s Land Plan Group, Inc. for design fees for the park, $130,611.22 was spent for designs for a soccer/recreational complex that never materialized. Smith’s listing of direct costs for the park also included $489,508 for bond issuance costs and legal fees.

    Meggs told Council that, beginning in 2013, the Town began making direct transfers that totaled $1,398,100 from the Town’s general fund to the project fund to pay for park features.

    “Basically, what we were doing,” Meggs said, “was taking general fund monies and fattening the project fund that would otherwise have drawn its money out of the bond proceeds.”

    Massa noted that it was an unusual situation to issue a revenue bond, then set the debt service up with general fund money.

    As conversation around the table turned to the over-budget costs of the Manor, Massa, a CPA, lost his cool.

    “Oh that’s good!” he said. “We overran a project by 30 percent and lied to the people of Blythewood about it. The original project was promised to cost $5.5 million, then we put in another $1.5 million from the sale of the community center that we thought was going to be used to pay off bonds and do other things.”

    Mayor J. Michael Ross, during whose term the manor was constructed (though it was approved by the former Council just weeks before Ross and Councilmen Jeff Branham and Roger Hovis took office), defended the project saying, “However many people come and tell you they are upset that we’ve spent this much, they come to me and say they love the Manor. The people ahead of us built a Manor that turned in to our community center. The park was only $5.5 million from the beginning. The Manor added $2.1 million. If we are over budget, it was that we had a $1.5 million sale of the community center and a $2.1 million Manor was built. If you look at the park alone, how much are we off from the bond and the money we got?”

    “We should not have commingled the money (bond and community center sale,)” Massa argued.

    Utroska agreed, saying, “It was commingled because the prior group decided they were going to build a $2.1 million building and they only had $1.5 million. Many of the original (structures) planned for the park weren’t built because we used some of that money on the Manor. I argued four years ago against spending $5.5 million on a park. If you look back at documents from 2001, the idea for a nice park in Blythewood was picnic tables and swings. When it’s all said and done, we have the park and Manor and we can’t undo that. Now I’m concerned about the maintenance and operating expenses.”

    Massa agreed, saying, “To the people who say (the Manor) is beautiful and lovely, it’s going to be beautiful and lovely for about five years if we don’t have the money to repair and maintain it.”

    Mangone accused the former Council of diverting funds to build the Manor and said he thought someone should be held accountable.

    “But I’m not ready to throw anybody in jail. We could spend more on legal fees to hold people accountable,” he said, backing down from his threat. “But I think everyone should know (what happened.)” He added, “It was touted, ‘Oh, everything is great,’ and it really wasn’t.”

    “The only conclusion we can finally draw until we have the final numbers is that we don’t have any money left (for the park) and will have to take money from somewhere else to finally pay for all this,” Massa lamented.

    Utroska added, “And if you add what the Manor is costing us in addition to this, it gets plum scary.”

    Massa suggested passing a resolution in the upcoming budget meeting to set aside a percentage of the Town’s Hospitality Tax funds for a reserve for repairs and maintenance.

    “Then, right off the top, that (Hospitality Tax) money goes away,” Massa said.

    Massa said that means those in the community who traditionally request ‘x’ amount of hospitality funds for events “may get something less than ‘x.’ next time.”

    In other business, Council discussed the need to set goals for 2014-15 and the status of filling employment vacancies in the Town Hall. While Council discussed in executive session the hiring of a new town clerk, they did not vote to fill the vacancy. Mangone announced that nine people have applied for the town administrator’s position, but Council continued to be unsure exactly what they are looking for in the position – whether they want someone with both administrative and zoning/planning experience or two separate employees. Mangone asked Council to consider the possibility of helping bring social service and mental health programs to the town. Council members agreed that would be a good idea. The mayor asked Massa to work with the Town’s CPA to come up with a preliminary budget for the next workshop to be held on Tuesday, April 15, starting at 9 a.m.