FAIRFIELD – Although the parking lot was full and Council chambers were standing room only, when it came time for the public to speak, either for or against, the County’s latest $24.06 million economic development bonds Monday night, all was silent. Only one individual signed up to speak during the public hearing on the bonds, but when his name was called, he declined, paving the way for a 6-1 vote by Council to approve second reading of Ordinance 614.
Carolyn Robison (District 2), who had voted for the ordinance during its first reading on March 25, was the lone dissenting vote Monday night.
“We’re telling people there’s no additional taxes, but what we’re not telling them is that we’re paying off the present bond issue and this is not lowering their taxes at all,” Robinson said. “The red marks look nice, but this is the bottom line and the truth to what’s really going on.”
The bonds are part of the County’s 10-year economic development plan, and approximately half of the funds generated will go toward the enhancement of the County’s two industrial parks and water and sewer infrastructure along the I-77 corridor. A portion of the funds – $3.5 million – will go toward the development of recreational parks, while another $3.59 million will go toward upgrades to the County Courthouse and the Administration Building and Sheriff’s Office. Some of the funds will also be designated for upgrades of fire stations in each district.
Prior to the public hearing, Council heard from Mike Briggs, president and CEO of the Central S.C. Alliance, a regional economic development firm based in Columbia. Briggs said the County was on the right track, positioning itself for future economic investment. After years of being outsourced, manufacturing is returning to the United States, Briggs said, and companies are looking for move-in ready sites.
“To be successful in this business, you’ve got to prepare for folks who want to come and look,” Briggs said, noting the 40 projects his firm has helped lead into the Midlands of South Carolina. “Those 40 projects aren’t here because we have raw land that can be turned into something in the next three or four years. That’s not the way things work. Your willingness and ability to create property, your willingness and ability to put infrastructure in the ground, to be forward thinking, has positioned this county very well in this globally competitive search for jobs and investment.”
Council also held a public hearing on an application for a Community Development Block Grant to install sewer lines to the Middle Six community. The project would provide sewer lines to approximately 72 homes on Old Camden Road and Flora Circle and would require $50,000 in matching funds from the County. Steven Gaither, the County’s Grants Coordinator, said that in order to qualify for the federal funds, at least 80 percent of residents in the community must agree to tap onto the lines, and of those, at least 51 percent must be defined as LMI, or low to moderate income. Gaither said a request has been submitted to the Town of Winnsboro, who would provide the services once the lines were installed. If Winnsboro accepts, then the project goes to the U.S. Department of Commerce for approval. Within 12 months of final approval, the system would be in place, according to Kevin Strickland, an engineer with W.K. Dickson.
The project is not necessarily a new idea, Council Chairman David Ferguson said, pointing out that fellow Councilman David Brown (District 7) has been working to make it a reality for at least 10 years. But, Ferguson said, residents in Middle Six have had reliable septic tank systems in place in the past, making them reluctant to sign on to a municipal system.
“As time has gone on and these sewer systems have failed,” Ferguson said, “now folks are coming around to want to do this.”
Council will hold its first work session for the 2013-2014 budget April 11 at 6 p.m. and will hold a special called meeting April 15 at 6 p.m. for final reading of the bond ordinance.
WINNSBORO – Town Council officially terminated their extreme drought proclamation Tuesday night, with Mayor Roger Gaddy issuing a sigh of relief as he said the reservoir had made a dramatic recovery. Gaddy also said that the Town’s agreement with the City of Columbia, to provide 400,000 gallons a day to customers in Blythewood, has put the Town in a much better position than it was last August, when the proclamation was first issued.
Council continues to negotiate terms of a new water contract with Columbia, meanwhile, which could bring additional water into Winnsboro’s reservoir.
Council also voted to officially cut its ties with Red Clay Development, dropping the old Mt. Zion Institute property back into the Town’s lap once more. Council first voted to split with Red Clay last December, but legal wranglings have prevented the split from being official until Tuesday night. Red Clay purchased the property from the Town nearly three years ago for $100,000.
At the suggestion of outgoing Councilman Bill Haslett, Council also elected to bring Hand Made in America of Asheville, N.C., into town on a fact-finding mission May 9. Haslett said the company would conduct an evaluation of Winnsboro and make recommendations on possible economic growth.
FAIRFIELD – As the steering committee for the formation of a Fairfield County regional water authority continues to hammer out the details of how such an organization would function, members of the committee heard from three other already established S.C. water systems during their April 3 meeting at the Midlands Technical College campus in Winnsboro.
Representatives from the Lowcountry Regional Water System, the Anderson Regional Joint Water System and the Lake Marion Regional Water Agency shared with the Fairfield committee the hurdles they had to overcome in order to establish their systems, and their opinions on whether or not it was worth all the effort.
Bill Clark, former Orangeburg County Administrator who serves on the Lake Marion agency’s board, said his group had both positive and negative experiences with the politics of organizing the system, but ultimately the system has been a benefit.
“When you get multiple counties and municipalities around the table, it’s hard to get them all to agree all the time,” Clark said. “It helps if you like politics, and it helps if you’re good at it.”
Once their agency was formed, Clark said, they found they had a group that carried significant political clout, one that represented Orangeburg, Clarendon, Berkeley, Dorchester, Calhoun and Sumter counties, as well as the town of Santee and the city of Sumter.
“It was worth it,” he said. “When we finally came to a group that began working together, we found that we had a pretty powerful coalition put together; not only to collaborate on the cost of developing the system, but politically we started encompassing multiple Congressional districts at the federal level, multiple House and Senate districts in Columbia, and we found we had a little bit of a powerhouse put together there that helped us with funding.”
One of the results was a new water plant on the shores of Lake Marion near the town of Santee that went into operation in 2008 debt-free.
“We would have never pulled that off if we hadn’t had a group of six counties working together at that time,” Clark said. “We could not have done what we have done at this point without having multiple collaborators in the process. It’s allowed us to share costs and develop the kind of political alliances we’ve needed to be successful.”
The Lowcountry system, said Fred Hannah, the agency’s engineer, is still a work in progress. It currently exists as a board that owns no assets. On May 1, all of the assets from the water systems of Hampton County and the towns of Brunson, Hampton, Gilford, Varnville and Yamassee will transfer to the regional system, Hannah said. Hannah said the smaller individual systems were gradually becoming overwhelmed with new, stricter regulations from the Department of Health and Environmental Control. Also, he said, while the individual systems had capacity to handle domestic growth, they were not capable of handling any real industrial growth in the area, which is ripe for development with work beginning to get under way on the Port of Charleston.
“The benefits, short-term, are getting out of these regulatory compliance issues and consent orders,” Hannah said. “The longer-term benefit is to create both an operational reserve and a capital reserve to fund the long-term infrastructure we need for economic development capacity.”
Bill Hancock, a CPA with the West Columbia firm Brittingham, Brown, Prince and Hancock, LLC, which handles audits for the Lexington Joint Municipal Water and Sewer Commission, as well as a dozen other municipalities, said it is difficult for a small water system to bear the burden of state compliance.
“That becomes a fixed cost, along with your infrastructure costs,” he said, “and you end up having a small amount of people bearing a larger and larger burden.”
Hancock also said that a single joint system can cut out duplicate services and have a single licensed water operator, as well as benefit from what he called an ‘economy of scale,’ with more people using the same system.
“Once it’s up and going, there’s no mystery to how it runs,” he said. “The first step is the big one.”
The Anderson authority comprises 15 members, including the towns of Anderson, Belton-Honea Path, Clemson, Powdersville, Central, Pendleton, Central and Williamston, as well as Clemson University. Dyke Spencer, manager of the Powdersville Water District and Chairman of the Anderson authority’s commission, said the process wasn’t easy, but it was worth it.
“We had some rubs,” Spencer said. “Nine years ago, when I got introduced to this, I thought it was never going to work. But it will work. It does work. We had a lot more difficulty making decisions a few years ago than we do now.”
Spencer said the members have, after some initial difficulties, adapted to the idea of regional benefit.
“We’ve come to grips with the fact that most of the water that comes through that pipe goes to Clemson and they’re going to get the lion’s share of the benefit out of it,” Spencer said, “but we’ve all learned that it’s our regional thing we’ve got to do. The next big line will go another direction.”
Several members of the Anderson system, including Powdersville, had to convert from non-profit organizations to special purpose districts in order to join the authority, a process that Mid-County Water is facing before joining a Fairfield authority. Herb Rentz, manager of Mid-County, asked Spencer how that process went.
“I think it was fairly seamless,” Spencer said. “I had more trouble trying to make sure my board understood we weren’t a non-profit anymore, because they were used to having an annual meeting and we were trying to get them used to having monthly meetings and operate more like a special purpose district.”
Hancock also pointed out that convincing customers to go along with the changeover was also a common hurdle to forming water authorities.
“Once they realize that the ownership of the assets was not going to change – let’s be honest, folks, the towns don’t own these assets. The customers are the system,” Hancock said. “So by moving custodianship away from a town council to a commission, those customers haven’t lost any rights to those assets.”
Water rates were foremost on the mind of Ridgeway Mayor Charlene Herring, and she asked the panel about their rate increases associated with forming their regional systems.
Hannah said the average increase was about $5 per month, with a five-year plan in place to bring all the various water rates to the same level. He also said that water rates in many towns were artificially low.
“I think there’s a strong connection to politics,” Hannah said, “where ‘I’m the mayor and I run the water system and I’m going to keep your rates low’.”
But the flip side to that, he said, was that municipal water systems don’t have the funds to maintain themselves and begin siphoning off the general fund. That, Hancock said, leads to an increase in taxes, fees and fines in order to prop these systems up.
“The days of the $12 water bill are over,” Hancock said. “That’s just not sustainable.”
The next steering committee meeting is May 1 at 4 p.m. at the Midlands Technical College QuickJobs Center, 1674 Highway 321 Bus. N., Winnsboro.
During closing comments at the March 26 Richland 2 School Board meeting, held at Conder Elementary School, Board member James Manning continued his pressure on the Board to track and disclose professional development fees. Manning said the Board should have empirical evidence to support the amount spent and received for professional development. The rest of the Board remained silent on the issue. Without referring to Schlechty training directly, Manning reiterated the Budget Design Team findings, saying that there may be different professional development opportunities that would yield stronger results.
Survey Says – Earlier in the meeting, the District’s Budget Design Team made a presentation to the Board. Under the Schlechty training model, Design Teams are created for all areas of the District. To that end, a cross-divisional group of District employees were organized into sub-committees to analyze employee responses to an on-line survey regarding the District’s budget. There was a significant drop in employee responses to the survey, down by a third from last year. Survey suggestions include: more diversity in the kinds of professional training available; more IT/computer training to support the purchase of technology; increase administrative support at the schools and a reversal of the controversial experiment that put assistant administrators in the classrooms with teaching duties at the high schools.
Bulls vs. Bears – Chief Financial Officer Bob Davis reported that First Citizens Bank suggested the District place $5 million of its $20 million cash reserve account into a more aggressive investment account (one-time only) to increase yields. This departure from the usual investment criteria was endorsed by Davis who said all funds would continue to be insured.
Last of Bonds – The Board approved selling the last of the bonds available from the $306 million bond referendum of November 2008. The funds will be used to finance improvements at existing schools and the construction of new schools – School #19, an elementary school in Blythewood on Kelly Mill Road, is currently 43 percent complete but final work will not be completed until more than a year from now, in the spring of 2014.
Arts & Language – The standing room only meeting kicked off with dozens of recognitions and presentations made. Conder Elementary showcased the arts in a poetry reading and strings performance of Cajun music. Project CARE, a three year counseling grant expiring this year, highlighted the work of the bilingual portion of the program.
The next Board meeting will be April 9 at Polo Road Elementary School. The first public hearing of the proposed budget will be at 5 p. m. before the Board holds executive session. The regularly scheduled public session is at 7 p.m.
BLYTHEWOOD – For the second month in a row, the Blythewood Planning Commission has not met. Regularly scheduled meetings for both March and April were cancelled by Chairman Mike Switzer because he said there was no business to discuss or vote on.
“In the meantime,” Switzer wrote in an email to his fellow Commissioners, Town Administrator John Perry, Mayor Ross and the media, “before May’s meeting, we are trying to set up some sub-committee meetings involving real estate signs, mobile signs, D-1 zoning re-designation and outdoor lighting. “
Switzer said in the email, “If you have been assigned to any of those committees, you will be hearing from either me or John Perry.”
The Voice has emailed both Switzer and Perry asking to be notified of any and all subcommittee meetings but has had no response from either at press time. The May meeting is scheduled for May 6 at 6 p.m.
WINNSBORO – Voters in the Town of Winnsboro re-elected Dr. Roger Gaddy to another four-year term as mayor Tuesday night, with the incumbent drawing 344 votes (52.76 percent). Gaddy’s opponents, out-going District 2 Councilman Bill Haslett and newcomer Michael Davis, netted 232 votes (35.58 percent) and 75 votes (11.5 percent), respectively. There was one write-in vote for mayor.
“I appreciate all the support from all the citizens allowing me to have four more years in office to help Winnsboro move forward,” Gaddy said. “We all have a vision for Winnsboro’s prosperity, and hopefully we will get there in the not too distant future.”
In the race to fill Haslett’s vacated District 2 seat, Stan Klaus edged out Sonya Kennedy by 31 votes, 81 to 50. Klaus brought in 61.83 percent of the vote to Kennedy’s 38.17 percent. This will be Klaus’s second tour of duty on Town Council, having served District 2 from 1997 to 2009.
“I’ve had the butterflies all day,” Klaus said. “I was nervous throughout the whole election. I think my opponent ran a good race, and who knows, maybe she might run again one day. I plan to do the best I can for District 2 and the entire Town of Winnsboro. I’ve always devoted myself to the Town of Winnsboro, and I’m going to continue to do that.”
In the District 4 race, incumbent Jack Wilkes bested Pam Smith, 175 votes (62.5 percent) to 103 (36.79 percent). There were two write-in votes for the District 4 race. This will be Wilkes’ fourth term for District 4.
“I’m real excited and glad the people were willing to give me another four years,” Wilkes said. “We had a good turnout and it was a good race.”
At press time, Tuesday’s results were still unofficial and will be certified later this week. Tuesday night’s winners will be sworn in at Council’s first meeting in July. Of 2,414 registered voters in Winnsboro, a total of 654 votes were cast Tuesday night, for a voter turnout of 27.09 percent.
WINNSBORO – As the Town of Winnsboro prepares for municipal elections, to be held April 2, The Voice contacted the candidates for Town Council and Mayor for a brief look at their stands on some of the issues. Last week, we heard from the candidates for Town Council. This week, we will hear from our three mayoral candidates. Answers were limited to six sentences.
Here’s what we asked:
1. Please give us a brief history of your employment and education.
2. Please tell us about your history of public service.
3. What do you see as the biggest challenges to the Town of Winnsboro over the next 5 to 10 years?
4. How do you plan to meet those challenges?
5. What do you see as Winnsboro’s greatest assets?
6. How can Winnsboro capitalize on those assets?
7. What makes a mayor an effective leader of a town council?
8. As mayor, how will you help encourage downtown development/revitalization?
9. What is being done, and what more can be done, to ensure adequate water supply for Winnsboro?
Here’s what they had to say:
Dr. Roger Gaddy
(Incumbent)
1. I up in Aiken, moved to Winnsboro 33 years ago, and am running for re-election as mayor of Winnsboro. I am a graduate of the University of South Carolina and received my medical degree from the Medical University of S.C. in 1976. I have been practicing family medicine ever since.
2. I served as member of the S.C. Medical Association since 1979, served as president in 2000-2001, representing more than 6,000 S.C. physicians. I moved to Winnsboro in 1980 and established a successful medical practice. Locally, I served as president of the Winnsboro Rotary Club, a member of the board of directors for the Bank of Ridgeway, chairman of the Fairfield Health Foundation and helped open the Martin Primary Health Care where Dr. McElmurray and Dr. Crisp currently practice. I have served as chief of staff for Fairfield Memorial Hospital multiple times and have made Winnsboro my permanent home.
3. The biggest challenges for the Town of Winnsboro over the next five to 10 years are to move us forward as a nice small town in the Midlands of South Carolina by marketing our biggest assets which are our history and the rural nature of our community. We will also have to try to recruit industry to town and county; and our responsibility to the Town of Winnsboro is to make sure we have an adequate water supply to bring in that industry that will then bring in more citizens that will help our town grow and prosper.
4. I think our town gets better and better every day in several ways and we have a great base from which we can build. We have some good restaurants in town, several fine downtown shops and stores, quality medical and dental care, automobile dealerships, banking and financial services, real estate and tax preparation services and some limited night life. Since I took office eight years ago, we’ve secured several grants to make improvements to our town, received “clean audits” from our certified municipal accountants and worked on improving our zoning ordinances. I want to continue my efforts to improve Winnsboro’s access to water. I don’t like having mandatory water restrictions put on our citizens, but it’s all we can do right now. Our negotiations with the City of Columbia are ongoing, and as we work in conjunction with, and not independent of, our county and state leaders, I’d like to think we’ll get this problem solved fairly soon.
5. Winnsboro’s greatest assets are that it is centrally located in the state with two and a half hours from the beach; two and a half hours from the mountains; and we are 30 minutes from Columbia, which offers all of the amenities of a moderate to large size city while we are able to live in a rural setting with slower pace lifestyle and in a community where we know our neighbors and children feel safe. We do have a long and rich history and we need to capitalize on that. We have a lot of historic buildings which should be emphasized as tourist attractions, not to mention our only State Railroad Museum; also out toward the Mitford area, Carolina Adventure World, which is a nice outdoor recreational facility that attracts people from all over the state.
6. We need to stay active In the Olde English District, Chamber of Commerce, and tourism endeavors so that people are aware of what our community has to offer and to make it a nice place that people will want to visit and live. Our central location in South Carolina, in close proximity to Columbia, and large open spaces make it ideal for industrial recruitment; and If we are able to capitalize on that, we should be able to attract more residents to our town and county, which in turn will help it grow.
7. I’ve learned a lot over the past eight years, and one of the most important aspects of this job is being a good ambassador for our town. As I said, we can’t improve our community by ourselves, and as mayor I know I have to work with County Council, the hospital administration, our state legislators, the museum here, the Pine Tree Players and every other business and organization in the town limits. Equally important is the mayor’s ability to work with other towns in the county, promote Winnsboro’s strengths and opportunities, and be active in state government as well. I’m impressed with what my counterpart, Charlene Herring, has done as Mayor of Ridgeway. She’s a good leader over there, and has done a lot to put Ridgeway on the map. The Town Council and I are working to do the same thing here in Winnsboro.
8. I think all of us who have lived in Winnsboro for a long period of time remember how Winnsboro was 30 years ago when Uniroyal Rubber Company’s Corporate Headquarters were in Winnsboro and we had a very active and vibrant downtown. Of course, since that period of time, Uniroyal has changed hands multiple times and unlike in past days, the executives of those companies are no longer required to live in Winnsboro. That is the way it was years ago and it will never be that way again as far as requiring corporate employees to live in a certain area. I think our best opportunity to revitalize main street is to partner with the Drew-Blair School of Art; that (over several years) gives us an opportunity to attract students and faculty to our small town, thereby increasing the diversity of residents we have, and also bringing in a population of people who would utilize restaurants, and enjoy downtown the way it was appreciated years ago. This can only be done in cooperation with the school system and with the county, and will take a lot of hard work with the private and public sector.
9. The Town Council and your local leaders have been very busy over the last six or seven years looking at alternative supplies of water. We have looked at buying other quarries or supplying storage. We have been in negotiations with the South Carolina Electric and Gas and have a tentative agreement to withdraw up to 1 million gallons a day from Lake Monticello to take to our reservoir, although this would involve running a line from Lake Monticello to the reservoir, which could cost anywhere from $8 to $10 million. We also recently have entered a contract with Columbia to buy up to 400,000 gallons of water from the Blythewood area, and are renegotiating that contract to get up to a million gallons of water to supply the county’s industrial park and some of the southern areas of Fairfield County. We are also in negotiations with all the different water providers to look at the possibility of forming a water authority, so that some of the risks and debt can be spread over different entitles, and so that we have a greater possibility and probability of getting grants and/or financing to do things like run the water line from Lake Monticello to our reservoir. Winnsboro has been the sole provider of water for a number of years to the county and to Northeast Richland County, and it is an endeavor that our town can no longer afford to do by itself.
Bill Haslett
1. I have worked as a real estate broker and certified residential appraiser for the past 30+ years in my own business in Summerville, and moved back to my home town of Winnsboro to continue my business in 1997. I finished college at Charleston Southern University in 1973 with a degree in business. I have completed the leadership training program with the S.C. Municipal Association and graduated from the S.C. Department of Commerce’s S.C. Economic Development School. I have attended the annual conference of the Municipal Association every year, completing all of the courses that were available. These fine programs have increased my knowledge of what other successful towns are doing and increased my contacts with legislators and council members across the state. Last year, I attended a four-day course on historic properties in Baltimore, Md., and have acquired many research books on revitalization of historic properties which can be referenced to help restore our historic town to its glory days.
2. I have served on Winnsboro Town Council for the past four years. I am a past member of the Winnsboro Rotary Club, a current member Winnsboro Lions club, a past member of the North Charleston Jaycees and many other volunteer organizations over the last 30 years.
3. The biggest challenges in Winnsboro over the next five to 10 years are insuring that we have adequate water supply, and improving quality of life and cleaning up our town by enforcing our codes.
4. The water challenges can be met with the formation of a joint water authority within Fairfield County. All our local water companies, working together, can pool out resources, money and credit in order to come up with the best long term solutions to insuring safe, affordable and plentiful water for all of our citizens. One thing that really separates small towns from big cities is the sense of community and civic pride. We in the Town of Winnsboro need to work to improve our quality of life by enforcing the property maintenance codes to clean up our town. I will recruit a team of citizens with civic pride that agree to join a Mayors Pride Team and commit to give Winnsboro two hours of community service per week to make Winnsboro a better place to live. If a hundred people do that, it would yield 10,000 hours per year.
5. Our greatest assets are our citizens, our history, our location and the S.C. Railroad Museum. We live close to Columbia and Charlotte and only two hours from the beach and mountains. We have that small town atmosphere and the charm of an historic town. We need to seize on these assets and make a name for ourselves.
6. We need to promote our history, small town atmosphere and advertise to the senior market to move to Winnsboro. These folks don’t need jobs and most are eager to volunteer, plus each family brings $35,000 to $40,000 spendable income to our community. Two new families per month for the next four years would bring our community $3.3 to 3.8 million over those four years. With my leadership, we will develop ties with Camden and Newberry to promote our history and continue to promote the Olde English District. Our town web site needs to promote Winnsboro as a great place to live and shop, and why.
7. An effective leader of town council leads by example. For instance, my wife and I served Christmas dinner to those good folks in Ward 1 on South Garden Street. What a great experience for us. Our Chamber of Commerce director asked me to paint the front door on the Town Clock, and it was done. The grounds of the Mt. Zion School needed cleaning, and I was asked to help and I came with chain saw in hand. It is very important that your Mayor be seen downtown by the citizens and merchants and not just at photo opportunities.
8. The town needs to hire an economic development manager to work with me and the town council and bring the arts and crafts to revitalize downtown. There are many talented artists within our county and surrounding counties that could move into some of the vacant building for sweat equity. We are all looking forward to the Dru Blair College of Art moving to our downtown area. The first order of business should be to repave the parking lot behind Hoots which is owned by the building owners. Building owners need to enhance the front of each building with possible matching grants from the town, as we have had in the past. New trees could be planted on Congress Street which would be given in memory of a family member, along with a Winnsboro blue granite marker.
9. A joint water authority between Winnsboro, Fairfield County, Ridgeway, Blythewood and Mid County Water makes sense. A water study of our area is being done by the Army Corps of Engineers to determine what it the best course of action to take to assure the citizens of our towns and county that we will have adequate water supply for many years to come. The water authority has more borrowing power, and a better chance for grants than just one company. In conclusion, I ask that you support me as your next Mayor for the Town of Winnsboro. I vow to remain open and available for your questions, suggestions and help. I have the time to be a more visible, involved and full-time mayor, which is what is truly needed at this juncture in our history.
Michael L. Davis
1. I’m a native of Fairfield County where I was born and raised. I have worked in numerous businesses in Fairfield County in customer service. It was a great experience to serve citizens with a pleasant smile and a warm-hearted welcome. I attended Fairfield County Schools where I graduated from Fairfield Central High in 1995. I attended South University in Columbia S.C. and received an Associate Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance (2001) and I also graduated from Allen University in Columbia and received a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Organization Management (2012). I am currently working at Hardee’s as a Shift-leader and have been in this role for two and a half years.
2. My history of public service in Fairfield County includes Vice-President (PTO) of Fairfield Magnet School of Mathematic & Science (2008-09). It was a pleasure working with a productive and active organization to help improve the education of the students of Fairfield County Schools.
3. The biggest challenges I see in the Town of Winnsboro over the next five to 10 years are: providing recreational activities, creating jobs and the strengthening of confidence of students so they can improve their educational goals. Secondly, the biggest challenge is to keep the citizens from moving out of the city of Winnsboro into another city or state. I truly think that I have the experience to bring forth a positive outlook which will give me the opportunity to overcome the challenges that comes with the job. Without any doubts, I’m looking to serve with devotion and determination.
4. I plan to meet these challenges by believing in the Town of Winnsboro. I plan to work actively toward improving social networking, political actions, the community involvement and the family way of living. I will have the responsibility to work efficiently and with a clear mind, I can use my abilities to make the Town of Winnsboro a better place for everyone.
5. Winnsboro’s greatest asset is the “History.” Winnsboro has offered numerous historical homes, the Town Clock that was built in the 1820s, the Fairfield County Courthouse and the Historical Museum that was built in the 1970s which is located on Congress Street.
6. To capitalize on these assets of Winnsboro, we must educate our youth and citizens to take advantage in knowing about the History of Winnsboro and the value of each Historical institution. Even though I may not know all of the history of Winnsboro, I am seeking to take full responsibility to bring knowledge to the community in every way.
7. In order to be an affective Mayor, the town council and I must have integrity and remain motivated so we can be ready to serve the community and the town with excellence. Also, to be an effective leader as mayor, I must be willing to work together with a positive staff to inspire others to become a part of a working team with great commitments.
8. In order to help encourage downtown development/revitalization, I must create a strategic plan to improve the financial profile to ensure that our fiscal and financials are stable. Creating small businesses would help to improve downtown, encourage citizens to take advantage of shopping from door to door and help thrive the economy to move towards a better future by giving downtown a new look for growth and development.
9. I believed our city officials are working very hard to ensure that we are getting clean water supply. In order to ensure that we are getting adequate water supply we must work together to implement economic growth where the city of Winnsboro can apply for grants from state government and other local water companies. We need support in order to help install wells which would provide adequate water for citizens in Fairfield County. I will make sure that the Town of Winnsboro provide adequate water supply while taxes remain stable. More wells will be needed in order to provide proper water to the Town of Winnsboro in case the reservoir can’t pull through. I feel that before providing water supply to another county, we should make sure our county is taking care first.
RIDGEWAY – With their first phase of targeted cleanup in the Mill Village complete, Fairfield County’s Property Maintenance Code Enforcement officers are now directing their attention to the northeast portion of the county. March 14, Code Enforcement officer LaShonda Holmes gave a presentation to Ridgeway Town Council to let them know where officers will be working and what they will be looking for.
The officers will not be working inside the town limits, Holmes said, but will be focusing on an area around Long Road and Highway 21. Ridgeway Mayor Charlene Herring said she was happy to see the county take steps to ensure property owners properly maintain their homes.
“We’re delighted this is going to be done,” Herring said. “These (neglected) properties become eye-sores as well as targets of criminal activity.”
In addition to the Property Maintenance Codes, Holmes said the County will be enforcing the Public Nuisance, Land Management and Solid Waste Management ordinances. Officers will be on the lookout for abandoned and dangerous buildings and mobile homes, as well as abandoned vehicles and the accumulation of garbage and junk on properties. Property owners face a minimum fine of $200 per day for garbage and $500 per day for abandoned homes and buildings, Holmes said. These fines do not include court costs, she said.
Holmes said the County would, for qualified property owners, provide a dumpster for the removal of excessive garbage or the remains of burned-out abandoned mobile homes. Otherwise, property owners will be responsible for clean-up costs.
“The reason we brought this to you is we were moving into this area and we wanted to show you the places we have already identified, and you may know of some others,” County Administrator Phil Hinely said. “We’re not targeting people, we’re not picking on people. We just want people to provide decent housing for our residents.”
Dwayne Perry, Vice Chairman of Fairfield County Council, said the codes were not just about decent housing, but were about industrial development as well.
“Industries will come and look at your community without you ever knowing it to see what kind of pride you take in your community,” Perry said. “We do take pride in our county, but we do have some slum lords, for lack of a better term, who will not take care of their property.”
FAIRFIELD – In a move aimed at enhancing the county’s 10-year economic development plan, Fairfield County voted 7-0 Monday night on first reading of an ordinance to issue more than $24 million in bonds.
The funds, according to Tiffany Harrison, Director of Fairfield Economic Development, are the foundation of phase 3 of the four-phase 10-year plan, launched by Council in 2009. Most importantly, Harrison noted, the bond comes with no tax increase for Fairfield County taxpayers.
Phil Hinely, County Administrator, explained before the meeting that the $24.06 million in bonds Council voted on Monday night aren’t necessarily “new” bonds, but are a “rolling over” of the 2009 bonds that kick-started the 10-year plan. Therefore, he said, they 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.”
Reviewing the progress of the plan so far, Harrison told Council that Phase 1 had involved the planning and funding of an economic development product and workforce development. That included the County’s partnership with Midlands Technical College and their QuickJobs training facility, opened in 2011, and the planning of the Walter Brown II (WB2) and Fairfield Commerce Center (FCC) industrial parks. Phase 2 involved the development of actual sites and planning for water and sewer infrastructure. That included the construction of a speculative building at WB2, which has since been purchased by Elite Electronics Systems. A second building was completed last year, Harrison said.
“Eighty percent of all projects begin their search looking for an existing building,” Harrison said. “It is critical for us to have an existing building on our industrial corridor.”
Phase 3 will not only continue the development of the County’s two industrial parks, but will also address the County’s recreational needs and upgrade some of the County’s existing facilities and public safety equipment. Harrison said the County will conduct a needs assessment survey for water and sewer, economic development, schools, the Courthouse, Fairfield Memorial Hospital, recreational facilities, the Sheriff’s Office and other priorities, as identified.
Breakdown of the $24.06 million bond
Economic Development
$3 Million – WB2 clearing and speculative building
$6 Million – Phase II of FCC
$3.5 Million – Phase I of water & sewer development from Peach Road to Exit 41
Quality of Life
$3.5 Million – Phase I of regional parks in each district ($500,000 per district)
Public Safety
$1 Million – Mandatory communications upgrades
$1.9 Million – Re-wiring and new heat/A/C for Courthouse
$1.69 Million – Re-wiring, new heat/A/C for Administration Building and Sheriff’s Office
$100,000 – $700,000 – Upgrade one fire station per district
Administrative Requirements
$1.6 Million – Reserve Fund
$1.17 Million – Cost of bond issuance, insurance, etc.
BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council passed yet another resolution Monday night to secure funding for its now-not-so-secret “Project Booster” in the town park — this time, Council is seeking funding from the Santee Cooper Revolving Loan Fund. Last month, Council voted to seek funding made available by the Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant (REDLG) program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Both of these funding sources provide low interest loans to local utilities (in Blythewood’s case, through Fairfield Electric Cooperative), which, in turn, loan to local governments “for projects that will create and retain employment in rural areas.”
Town Administrator John Perry said that the funding through Santee Cooper is much better than that provided through the REDLG, and that if the Town is able to get the Santee Cooper funding, it will not seek the REDLG funding.
According to both resolutions, Council would use the borrowed funds to “develop, construct and own certain infrastructure projects, including site preparation for and construction of a depot building (‘Projects’), for the exclusive purpose of aiding and promoting the economic development and general welfare of the Town.”
Perry, who was authorized by Council’s vote to work in concert with Fairfield Electric Cooperative, legal counsel and others to secure the funding, would not answer questions about how much funding is being sought or how it will be paid back by the Town.
Perry said in February that the Town plans to use the funding provided through Fairfield Electric Cooperative to landscape the grounds around the “Projects.” A previous resolution passed by Council last August regarding constructing the depot “Projects” in the Town Hall park, referred to the park as a Business Park (‘Park’) and said the Town would like to expand the boundaries of that Business Park to include the Doko Depot “Projects.”
While the Resolution repeatedly refers to the building as a “depot,” Perry told Council at a meeting in March that the Town was not building a depot, but he said the building that is proposed for the park has a spatial relationship to a depot. A semi-replica of the Town’s former depot was once planned for the park, but later scrapped when funding to complete the park as originally planned came up short.
Several sources involved in the project and who have asked not to be identified, have told The Voice that “Project Booster” is the Town’s plan to build a restaurant facility in the park. The restaurant, the sources say, will have an exclusive contract with the Town to cater events held at the Doko Manor.
In other business, Mayor J. Michael Ross presented an award from the Government Finance Officers Association to Perry for the preparation of the Town’s budget.
“The Town’s budget is prepared by one person, the preparer of the budget, John Perry,” the Mayor said as he handed the award to Perry.
It was announced that the Blythewood Brainery at Muller Road Middle School now has 31 enrollees. Lori Marrero, Principal of the school, said she had always envisioned the school as a community school and felt the tax payers had a right to use the school facilities.
“I wanted us to have a place that was ours,” Marrero told Council.
Council also voted to approve a verbal resolution for a $300 annual land lease with the Norfolk-Southern Railroad that would allow the Town to clean up and maintain a 2-mile strip of railroad right of way in the Town. Perry said this was arranged by former Councilman Jim McLean.
During his remarks, Perry said the Town has secured 15-20 leases for the Town Hall’s Doko Manor. He also announced that Rebecca Byork, the Town’s Assistant Town Clerk, who takes minutes at Town Council and Planning Commission meetings, will be leaving her position and moving back to Washington State.
The next Council meeting is at 7 p.m., April 20 at the Doko Manor in the town park.
