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Category: Government

  • Blythewood Council closes Manor, park, playground indefinitely

    PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Blythewood town council held an emergency council meeting at 1 p.m., Wednesday, March 18, at Town Hall and voted to:  1) close all town government facilities to the public indefinitely, 2)- lock the doors on town hall to the public (staff may work in office or telework, but will return phone calls and emails),  3)cancel all public government meetings indefinitely

    These changes were to take effect immediately.

    The story below appears in this week’s paper and is a review of the two special called meetings March 12 and March 16 that were held prior to the final emergency meeting on March 18 meeting.

    The Voice will follow up online and in print with more information as it becomes available.

    BLYTHEWOOD – A special town council meeting was called on March 12, to discuss how the town government should move forward with regard to public events in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Council members voted unanimously to go ahead with two events scheduled over the next two days that they said were on course to draw thousands of visitors to Doko Park, pointing out that the two Fests’ attendance numbers could swell over estimates after many other events in the area had been cancelled.

    Four days later, on March 16, after an estimated 2,000 people attended the Doko Rib Fest and Doko Film Fest, Council held a second special called meeting at the Manor and voted to close all town facilities with the exception of town hall until March 31. The park, playground and Manor (that had several scheduled weddings in March) would be closed. Town hall would be open, continuing to provide services. Walk-ins, however, would be discouraged in favor of phone calls and emails. Town hall employees would be allowed to work from home at the discretion of Town Administrator Brian Cook.

    That vote also required all town hall facilities, including the playground, to be professionally cleaned and sanitized after the closing. The playground would be cleaned and sanitized again prior to being reopened to the public.

    There was also some consideration during the March 16 meeting about the possibility of closing town meetings to the public in the future if the COVID-19 crisis worsened and providing live stream video with an option for the public to call or email/text questions to council during the meeting.

    At the prior March 12 meeting, Mayor Brian Franklin said he had some concerns about allowing the Rib Fest and Film Fest to go on in the park. Council had awarded a total of about $20,000 to both events.

    “So we thought it prudent to come together with precautionary measures, learn a little bit about this virus and how it may or may not affect Blythewood and area citizens, but more importantly to alleviate any fears we may have about gatherings,” Franklin said. He said he was following the Governor’s lead in calling on citizens to not cancel their events.

    “I agree that I don’t see the need to have a knee jerk reaction and immediately cancel events,” Councilman Donald Brock said. “I’m the least concerned with the outdoor events. It seems like common sense should prevail. If you’re sick, stay home. Let everyone make their own decisions.”

    Councilman Eddie Baughman agreed. “If you’re sick, stay at home. We’re asking people to just take care of yourself. That’s about all we can do,” Baughman said. “We’re grown adults. We know we can either go or stay at home.”

    Councilman Larry Griffin said he leaned toward erring on the side of caution – to shut the events down.

    “In the beginning I was willing to roll with it, but now I’m torn. Do we want to put ourselves in position to have a rash of COVID-19?”

    Newly elected Councilman Sloan Griffin, Emergency Manager with the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), was given the lead by Franklin in presenting the health and safety ramifications of leaving open or shutting down the festivals.  Franklin pointed out that, as part of (Sloan) Griffin’s work, he meets with the Governor regularly for COVID-19 updates.

    “We need to follow the heartbeats of the folks around us,” (Sloan) Griffin said. Besides bringing council up to speed on the virus and the constantly changing effect it’s having on the Midlands, (Sloan) Griffin explained DHEC’s strategy in preventing the spread of the virus and encouraged council to follow suit, noting that the Governor, at that time, had encouraged communities to not cancel events.

    At the second special called meeting on March 16, however, council members leaned more quickly toward closing the town’s facilities to all gatherings, including weddings at the Manor.

    “We may turn some brides into bride-zillas,” (Sloan) Griffin said, “but I think we need to close things down for at least two weeks. We need to provide for town hall staff to work at home and take care of their families while we continue to provide their pay and benefits.”

    Council will not meet for its regular monthly meeting on March 23. There will be no town government meetings until further notice.

  • Fairfield officials say ER sale was flawed; call for review by DHEC

    WINNSBORO  – Following Prisma Health’s surprise announcement last week that it had signed a deal to acquire Providence Health – Fairfield Emergency Room (ER) along with three other hospitals, Fairfield County officials have requested the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), which signed off on the deal, to pump the brakes on the proposed purchase agreement.

    The county is joined by requests from three other governments of Camden (KershawHealth), Columbia (Providence Hospital) and Richland County (Providence Northeast) along with Lexington County.

    In a letter dated March 13, Fairfield County, through its attorneys, Bruner, Powell, Wall and Mullins, LLC, formally requested DHEC to conduct a final review of the decision that allowed Prisma Health to acquire the four health care facilities, documents obtained by The Voice state.

    Fairfield County and (the former) Fairfield Memorial Hospital are questioning the legality of the DHEC staff’s approval of an amended Certificate of Public Advantage (COPA) that cemented the deal between Prisma and Providence Health, according to the request.

     “Grounds for this request,” the letter states, “are that DHEC’s proposed decision regarding the amendments to the Prisma Health COPA is in error as a matter of law and unsupported factually in numerous respects.”

    Among other things, the letter states that DHEC “failed to publish notice of receipt of the request in the State Register and failed to publish notice in a newspaper of general circulation that the application was complete and otherwise provide notice to affected persons of the rights to request a public hearing. Indeed, Fairfield County and Fairfield Memorial Hospital were not made aware of the proposed transaction or the efforts to modify the COPA until the staff decision was issued on February 28 modifying the COPA and Prisma published its press release announcing the agreement to acquire the assets of Kershaw Health and Providence Health [hospitals].

    “To this date, Fairfield County is not privy to the details of the proposed transaction and the information contained in DHEC’s file that would reflect the potential benefits or disadvantages to the citizens of Fairfield County,” the letter states.

    “Upon review of the entire DHEC file,” the letter states, “…the [DHEC] Board should overturn the staff decision and remand the matter to the DHEC staff for a full, open and fair review…to include a directive for compliance with the public notice requirements and opportunity for public comment and hearing as provided by statute.”

    Fairfield County has raised financial considerations as well.

    Fairfield and Providence have a deal in which the county agreed to provide $1 million a year for 10 years to Providence Health to be used solely for the use and operation of the Providence Health Fairfield ER.

    Fairfield County Administrator Jason Taylor said the county had expected to receive about $250,000 in property taxes a year from Providence, revenue that would likely disappear now since, he said, county officials have been told that Prisma operates as a non-profit.

    When contacted Monday afternoon about Fairfield’s request for a review, DHEC spokeswoman Laura Renwick said via email that she was “focused on COVID-19,” and deferred comment to another spokesperson who wasn’t made available as of press time.

    Prisma says the acquisition will provide the Greenville-based health provider with “new opportunities to advance the delivery of accessible high-quality care in communities across the regions it serves,” a news release said.

    “Providence and KershawHealth are known to share our commitment to improving patient experiences, clinical quality and access to care,” Mark O’Halla, president and chief executive officer of Prisma, said in the release. “We look forward to continuing our mutual goal of enhancing the health of our communities.”

    Taylor said the Prisma deal injects uncertainty into residents’ future access to healthcare, and injecting uncertainty during a pandemic is a prescription for disaster, he said.

    “Any uncertainty in healthcare lately is not a welcome development,” Taylor said. “With the coronavirus, we do not need to be uncertain about the status of healthcare in the county.”

    Taylor said county officials have a lot of questions that need to be answered.

    “That’s why we’re asking for this slowdown,” Taylor said. “Fairfield County and all the impacted communities around us, we need to have certainty that we’re going to have medical coverage for our citizens.

    “We should have had the ability to input. We want that and to know how the sale is going to affect us,” Taylor said.

    Barbara Ball contributed to this story.

  • Fairfield County asks Prisma to slow ER purchase

    Council spends $1M annually on ER, but was not aware it was being sold

    WINNSBORO – In a strongly worded statement issued Tuesday morning, Fairfield County Council called on Prisma Health to “provide more information to the public, and to us,” regarding the impending acquisition of Providence Health-Fairfield Emergency Room in Winnsboro.

    In the statement, the council said it is joining the elected leaders in Kershaw, Lexington and Richland counties in seeking more information. Those counties’ hospitals (Providence in Columbia, Providence Northeast in Richland County and KershawHealth in Camden) are also being purchased by Prisma Health. All four hospitals are owned by LifePoint Health out of Brentwood, TN.

    Following the announcement of the pending sale last week, County Administrator Jason Taylor told The Voice that the county was having an attorney look at its contract regarding Providence Health-Fairfield Emergency Room to see if there are any possible negative ramifications.

    “I have also talked with our Providence representative, Joseph Bernard, to ask if we could expect any changes,” Taylor said. “He said there should be none.”

    The ER was funded by $12M from LifePoint Health for construction of the new facility and $10M ($1M a year for the next 10 years) from Fairfield County. South Carolina’s Hospital Transformation Program, which supports rural access to healthcare resources, contributed nearly $4M in transformational funding.

    Our citizens deserve a voice in the future of their health care choices.

    Fairfield County Council

    The statement issued by council stated that “Prior to the March 6, 2020 media coverage publicly announcing this impending sale of these health care service providers, we had not been informed or consulted about this important change in the delivery of health care services in our communities. Our citizens deserve transparency and a voice in the future of health care choices where they call home.”

    Council called on Prisma Health to slow down the process of the sale and to “begin a conversation with the citizens that count on available health care services in their communities. “

    The ER opened in December 2018 near the intersection of Highway 34 and US Bypass 321 in Winnsboro to assure continued emergency health care for the citizens of Fairfield County as Fairfield Memorial Hospital began its process of closing its doors.

    Bernard addressed the Fairfield County Council Monday evening with the purpose of updating Council, saying he would update council on the pending sale of the ER to Prisma, but his comments were limited, with no specifics.

    “Right now, I have no idea what the timeline is for the sale to be finalized,” Bernard said. “We’re confident, however, that this is an enhancement for the community’s health care.”

    “There are a lot of unanswered questions at this point,” Council Chairman Neil Robinson said following Monday night’s meeting. “As the council, we want to be sure that our citizens are provided the health care services that they need and deserve. We have questions.”

  • Commission OKs plan for phase 4 of Abney Hills

    BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood planning commission voted unanimously Monday night to approve a sketch plan for the fourth and last phase of the Abney Hills subdivision off Fulmer Road.

    Town Administrator Brian Cook said the 131.94-acres, formerly owned by Essex Homes and recently purchased by Stanley Martin Homes, will be divided into 174 lots with an average lot size of 18,097 square feet.

    The lots are zoned R-12 (single family residential district.)

    As discussed during the preliminary plat approval for Phase 3 last year, a secondary access onto Valley Estates Drive from Mount Valley Road will continue to be an ‘Emergency Only’ access point.

    Cook explained that if the commission approved the plan Monday night, Martin Homes can move ahead with construction drawings, but Cook said there are some wetlands that will be reviewed by Richland County before construction of the subdivision can proceed.

    Also, approval of the sketch plans by the commission will be contingent upon the results of the traffic study that currently requires an auxiliary lane at Turkey Farm and Fulmer Road. But that lane would not be required until 2025. According to Martin Homes Project Manager Shane Alford, a final determination on the necessity of auxiliary lanes will be made by the South Carolina Department of Transportation.

    Cook suggested that the planning commissioners might want to look more closely or have suggestions regarding open space reserved for active or passive recreation as well as any potential for sidewalks and street trees.

    The build out for Phase 4 is expected to be between three and five years. Total lots in the completed subdivision will be 347.

    The commission voted 6 – 0 to approve the sketch plan.

  • Gas power plant welcome in Fairfield

    FAIRFIELD COUNTY – The new natural gas-fired power plant proposed for Fairfield County would be a welcome investment, said County Administrator Jason Taylor.

    “We would love to see them build a gas-fired power plant in Fairfield County,” he said. “We will negotiate an incentive package and those kinds of things to encourage them to go ahead and do that.”

    The plant, slated to come online at the end of 2023, is part of plans by NextEra Energy if the Florida-based energy company buys Santee Cooper, according to a report NextEra filed with its bid to purchase the South Carolina utility.

    “We view South Carolina as also confirmed that the plan is to build the new plant in Fairfield.

    According to the NextEra report, “The total capital investment will be approximately $1.3 billion, which includes equipment, construction, land, pipeline and transmission system integration costs.”

    “[NextEra has] already made significant progress in the initial phases of project development, including developing plans for plant siting, transmission interconnection, pipeline interconnection, fuel supply, and property tax agreements,” according to the report.

    “The gas for the new plant will come from the Transco pipeline via a newly constructed pipeline lateral.”

    Santee Cooper, partner with fellow South Carolina utility SCE&G in the failed project to build two new nuclear reactors at V.C. Summer, is deeply in debt and targeted for reform. Three options under consideration are reform implemented within the state agency; management by Virginia-based Dominion Energy, which bought SCE&G’s parent company, SCANA; or purchase by NextEra.

    Among the items included in NextEra’s proposal are payoff of Santee Cooper’s $7.9 billion debt, an effective reduction of electric rates, $941 million in customer refunds; and payment of an estimated $3.3 billion in taxes over 30 years. It also includes a $2.3 billion investment in new generation over the next five years, including 1,250 megawatts of gas-fired generation.

    The natural gas combined cycle plant planned for in Fairfield County is expected to create up to 30 permanent jobs and hundreds of construction jobs, and of course add to the county’s tax base, according to NextEra.

    The company’s plan also includes 800 megawatts of solar generation and 50 megawatts of battery storage, with potential sites in South Carolina but not Fairfield, and the retirement of an aging coal-fired power plant elsewhere in the state.

    State legislators, meanwhile, are discussing the issue of the company’s tax status in the event that it buys Santee Cooper – and whether it would receive tax advantages normally afforded to state-owned utilities.

    Taylor said that while the proposed gas-fired power plant would not come close to filling the hole in anticipated tax revenue left by the abandonment of the nuclear project, the project would nonetheless be a help to the county.

    “We welcome it,” he said. “We are anxious for them to invest – as we are with most companies – and we think this would be a good investment in Fairfield County.”

  • Bill would nix NextEra paying Fairfield County taxes

    30-Year Tax Abatement Would Keep Millions From County

    COLUMBIA – Fairfield County officials say they were alarmed by a story in The State newspaper Monday announcing that the proposed sale of state-owned utility Santee Cooper to Florida energy giant NextEra could deprive many South Carolina counties and their schools, including Fairfield, of billions in tax dollars over the next 30 years.

    Santee Cooper is a publicly owned utility and, therefore, does not pay property taxes. Should the for-profit utility NextEra purchase Santee Cooper, which is likely, then Santee Cooper would convert to a for-profit business and would, under normal circumstances, be required to pay taxes. But a bill proposed by some state lawmakers would exempt the utility from paying local property taxes to South Carolina counties and schools for a period of 30 years.

    For counties and schools throughout the state, according to the proposed bill, that would amount to NextEra not paying as much as $200 million a year, or $6 billion over 30 years.  For Fairfield County it would mean missing out on millions annually according to Fairfield County Administrator Jason Taylor.

     “We were expecting an additional $15 million or so annually if the sale goes through,” Taylor said. “But if the proposed bill becomes law and NextEra ends up paying the same tax rate Santee Cooper paid, that would be nothing, zero dollars for the county. And not just the county, but our schools would also lose out tremendously.”

    I can understand some kind of incentive associated with Next Era’s purchase of Santee Cooper, some kind of fee-in-lieu structure, but not a 30-year tax holiday.

    Jason Taylor, Fairfield County Administrator

    One former county official put it like this: while Fairfield County citizens bear all of the risk of having a nuclear and gas plant within its borders, which NextEra would partially own should the sale go through, the county would get no additional property tax benefits (if the proposed bill becomes law) to fund things like local schools, EMS, fire services, law enforcement and other vital services, while NextEra chases profits.

    The county has reportedly been negotiating for months with NextEra on an incentive package for a gas fired plant that could potentially bring millions to the county if the sale is finalized. But those negotiations were predicated on NextEra purchasing Santee Cooper, thus converting Santee Cooper to a private for-profit business that would pay taxes. If the proposed bill becomes law, those taxes will not materialize for Fairfield County for 30 years.

    Taylor said he’s read the proposed bill, but is not fully informed yet about where it stands or how likely it is to be passed.

    “But we have a message and we want to be sure our message is fully shared with the state legislators,” he said. “We would possibly pass a resolution expressing our feelings on this, but we first want to consult with our local legislative delegation and, of course, with our county association who helps us with lobbying.”

    Taylor said the county still favors the sale.

    “We feel the sale of Santee Cooper to NextEra will definitely benefit Fairfield County with that billion dollar gas fired plant they’re proposing to build,” Taylor said. “But we’ve been negotiating under the assumption that if and when NextEra buys Santee Cooper, the existing nuclear reactor would bring 45 percent of the additional tax revenue to the county.

    “The county currently receives $32 million annually from V.C. Summer’s operations,” Taylor said. “If the sale goes through and the bill does not, that could bring another $15 million in tax revenue to us. I can understand some kind of incentive associated with NextEra’s purchase of Santee Cooper, some kind of fee-in-lieu structure, but not a 30-year tax holiday. Hopefully, the state will counter the bill.”

  • Council negotiating new WWTP site

    Cedar Creek resident William (Bill) Dubard speaks to the Fairfield Joint Water and Sewer Authority during a public hearing to receive public comments regarding the construction of a wastewater treatment plant in Fairfield County with a planned discharge of treated effluent into Big Cedar Creek that runs through both Fairfield and Richland Counties. | Barbara Ball

    WINNSBORO – After spending more than a month battling Fairfield County’s proposal to build a wastewater treatment plant in the vicinity of Syrup Mill and Broom Mill Roads, Center Creek and Cedar Creek residents were invited to express their concerns to the Fairfield County Joint Water and Sewer Authority Commission Tuesday evening in Fairfield county council chambers.

    While the public notice of the meeting stated that anyone who desired could speak to the issue, only six of the capacity crowd addressed council. The speakers mostly agreed that they want Fairfield County to grow and prosper. They were generally divided, however, in their focus based on where they live.

    Center Creek residents generally protested the location of the county’s planned wastewater treatment plant in proximity to their homes, saying they would be plagued by the smell, noise and unsightliness of the plant. They said they didn’t trust the Department of Health and Environment Control (DHEC) to monitor and regulate the wastewater treatment process, and they want the county to find another location further from their homes.

    Cedar Creek residents protested the county’s plan to discharge the treated effluent into Big Cedar Creek which runs past or near their homes and properties. They said they fear it will contaminate the creek, their water wells and their lands.

    The meeting was opened by Commission Chairman Roger Gaddy, Mayor of Winnsboro, who turned the program over to Chris Clausen, the county’s community development director, who explained the county’s need for infrastructure to help stem the loss of population and bring economic development to the county.

    “The Central Midlands Council of Governments’ (CMCOG) population projection two years ago was really alarming. The number it projected for the County by 2050 was only 26,925 people, only a 2,500 increase in population over the next 30 years,” Clausen said. “That is not sustainable for this county. So we need to look at how can we grow and develop this county.”

    Clausen said the biggest impediment to growth is the lack of utility infrastructure in the county, particularly wastewater, thus the need to find a suitable site for a wastewater treatment plant to encourage and accommodate not only industrial growth but residential growth as well.

    To his point, Clausen and the county’s Economic Development Director Ty Davenport presented data affirming the safety, reliability and “the highest level of treatment standards produced by the Membrane Bio-Reactor (MBR) wastewater treatment process” proposed at the Syrup Mill Road site. That data also included other information and charts explaining why the county cannot afford another $40 million to take the effluent to the Broad River, the ideal site from all perspectives in the room. Davenport said the County is still looking at five different sites, to include the Syrup Mill/Broom Mill Site.

    Following executive session during the Monday night county council meeting, council voted to authorize County Administrator Jason Taylor to pursue negotiations for a site other than the Syrup Mill site.

    At Tuesday night’s meeting, however, Center Creek and Cedar Creek residents, praised the county’s efforts to find other sites for both the treatment facility and the effluent discharge, but made it clear they were not backing down.

    Some residents offered to help the county find the funding to take the effluent to the Broad.

    “I do think this is a tremendous opportunity for the county to be set up for success in the future regarding residential, commercial and industrial growth. However, I’m adamantly opposed to the wastewater going into Cedar Creek, and I am committed to working with the county to seek additional funding to carry this to the Broad River,” Cedar Creek resident Lynn Beckham Robertson told the Commissioners. “There are other options.”

  • Council gives go-ahead to open-air style market

    BLYTHEWOOD – A 7,300 square foot open air market structure proposed by the Doko Meadows Park Foundation for construction was approved by Council Monday evening. The facility will have associated storage and restroom facilities.

    Equip Studio provided council with a schematic of what the market structure will look like. The cost to move forward to design the structure will be $6,200, Town Administrator Brian Cook said. The market that will be located in the park between the Town Hall and the Sandfield Road entrance to the park.

    During council’s retreat last month, there was discussion about constructing the market so that it could be closed in, possibly with roll up doors to provide indoor settings for craft and other vendors and events such as the town’s annual holiday market since these kinds of events have difficulty finding affordable indoor accommodations.

    Councilman Eddie Baughman, who also serves on the park foundation, explained that the foundation committee has put lots of time coming up with a design for the market.

    “It’s been a long time in the making,” Baughman said. “Our idea was that this was going to be an open air farmers market first. This is the concept that the park foundation would like to go with,” he said, referencing the schematic. “While this market project is a collaboration between the town (council) and the foundation, it is the foundation that is going to be tasked with raising the funds to get this built.

    “When you handcuff the foundation in a sense where you’re going to change the concept, you’re going to make it more difficult for the foundation to raise that $300,000,” Baughman said.

    “We’ve met with Mr. Cook and I think he will tell you that every member of the foundation would like to see this concept go forward. If there are events that need to be able to lock their wares up, I think we can make other accommodations for those events,” Baughman continued.

    Baughman said, again, that an open air market is what the people want.

    Councilman Donald Brock said he was the one who had spurred the idea for a structure that could be closed or open.

    “I just wanted to make sure we weren’t being short sighted. I was not aware of the fact that the farmers market has been a two year project,” he said. “If this is the type of design that the park foundation wants, who am I to stand in their way and say ‘no? ‘ And if the foundation has potential donners lined up to fully finance the project, who are we to stop them?”

    Council voted unanimously to move forward with the park foundation’s open air market plan.

  • County proposes new Ridgeway library lease

    WINNSBORO – After voting last month against purchasing the building that houses the Ridgeway library, council voted Monday evening to present a revised lease to the owner of the building. The action had been recommended last week by the County’s Finance and Administrative Committee.

    “With the option to purchase pretty much off the table,” interim Deputy County Administrator Laura Johnson said during the committee meeting last week, “we need to decide whether to extend the lease for two more years, terminate the lease or present the owner with this new lease revised by our attorney (Tommy Morgan). We still have 90 days to let the owner know what we’re going to do.”

    The term of the revised lease is for a year, with the option to extend it for five additional years. The new lease reduces the monthly lease payments from $892.50 to $750 for each of the first twelve months and those lease payments would increase by two percent every other one-year option term beginning July 1, 2023.

    The revised lease would also include an option to purchase the property for $100,000, down from the current asking price of $160,000. It also specifies that any payments made by the county from the period beginning July 1, 2018, to the date of purchase, would be subtracted from the purchase price and credited toward the total consideration paid by the county.

  • Bleeding Disorder Month

    WINNSBORO – Edna and Anthony Rabb, center, received a proclamation Monday night during the county council meeting to declare March as Bleeding Disorder Month. Council members include, from left: Moses Bell, Clarence Gilbert, Jimmy Ray Douglas, Mikel Trapp, Douglas Pauley and Council Chairman Neil Robinson.