Category: Government

WINNSBORO – Following a 90-minute executive session Feb. 5, Winnsboro Town Council voted unanimously to authorize DP3 Architectural Services to put together a proposal for renovations to the Old Armory. After the meeting, Mayor Roger Gaddy said the proposal would cost the Town approximately $9,600, and that what to do about the armory has been part of the Town’s long-range plan for some time.

The armory consistently requires repairs and upgrades every eight months to a year. Gaddy said the hope is that DP3 can put that house in order once and for all, while also expanding the potential use of the nearly 70-year-old building.

Council also approved the Town’s new employee handbook after the executive session, but took no action on the other legal matters discussed therein – a revised water contract with the City of Columbia and the Town’s separation from Red Clay Development and the fate of the Mt. Zion Institute building.

Council will meet again Feb. 19 at 6:15 p.m. in Town Hall.

FAIRFIELD – Prior to County Council’s vote Tuesday night on the second part of their amended bylaws, Council member Carolyn Robinson (District 2) presented a motion that would effectively unseat sitting Chairman David Ferguson (District 5).

Robinson’s motion, to limit the chairmanship to non-consecutive 2-year terms beginning in 2015 and to add that, in the absence of any other provisions governing meetings, Roberts Rules of Order takes over, came on the heels of intense discussion over the first part of the amended bylaws. That amendment, which ended Council’s long-standing use of committees and replaced them with work sessions, passed 4-3, with Robinson, David Brown (District 7) and Kamau Marcharia (District 4) voting against the changes.

“If I remember right, it was proposed 10 or 12 years ago, that you can’t succeed yourself,” Brown said in support of Robinson’s motion to impose restrictions on the chairmanship.

“It’s never been proposed in 14 years, because I’ve been here 14 years,” Ferguson said. “The only thing I can say about this is ya’ll keep forgetting this is the democratic process. If four members on this council want to support one member on this council to be the chair, they certainly have the right because they’ve got the same constituency everybody else has. Now, when we start saying we don’t like the chairman or we don’t like what the chairman’s doing or the way this council’s going, we’re going to make up rules to keep this chairman from being chairman again. That’s what this is all about. Let’s just come on out and say what we need to say. Let’s just be honest with this thing. There needs to be a real clear understanding, and I’m going to ask Mr. Jack James to address that understanding.”

Ferguson then asked James, the County attorney, for his opinion on who controls council meetings. James confirmed that the Chairman is the “moderator and controller” of all Council meetings.

“In relation to rules?” Robinson asked. “Is that in relation to Roberts Rules if something comes up and we don’t have anything to govern it?”

“You have something to govern it,” Ferguson said. “The chairman runs the council meeting.”

Shryll Brown, Clerk to Council, read at Ferguson’s request an opinion from Thomas Sprott, a previous attorney for Council, confirming that “absent a rule, the chairman rules.”

“I think we’ve pretty well put that issue to bed,” Ferguson said, then called for the vote, which only garnered the support of Brown and Robinson.

BLYTHEWOOD – Twice this year, Blythewood Town Council has made appointments to the Planning Commission without publicly soliciting applicants for the open seats at least 30 days prior to the appointment as required by the Town’s statute, Title XV, Chapter 150.02.

Last night, at a Special Called meeting, Council was poised to make it a hat trick. The Voice went to press several hours before the scheduled meeting and is therefore unable to report the results at this time.

The latest incident of side stepping the Town’s law was initiated Monday evening at the Planning Commission meeting when Town Administrator John Perry announced to the panel that Commissioner Jack Davis was ill and would be undergoing treatment for an extended period of time.

Perry then introduced Ashley Oaks resident Malcolm Gorge, who Perry said had agreed to substitute for Davis during his absence from the Commission.

According to the town’s statute there is no provision in the Town’s book of ordinances for the appointment of substitute Planning Commissioners.

When asked about the appointment’s noncompliance with the Town’s statute, John Perry shrugged and said he was doing it as a favor to Davis who was from the same neighborhood as Gorge.

The next day, Tuesday, Town Hall issued notice that the appointment would be voted on the next evening (Wednesday) during a Special Called Town Council Meeting.

Section (D) of the Town’s statute states, “A vacancy may be filled at any Council meeting providing that open solicitation began no less than 30 days prior to the Council meeting during which an appointment or appointments are to be made.”

Mayor J. Michael Ross said he agreed with Perry that it was permissible to make an exception to the law in these appointments, but that he would discuss it with Council prior to the vote on Wednesday.

FAIRFIELD – Fairfield County Council passed first reading of three rezoning ordinances Monday night, one of which represents the first step in bringing a permanent, state-of-the-art medical facility to Western Fairfield County.

Ordinance 613, to rezone 3.76 acres in the 8000 block of Highway 215 S. from RD-1 (Rural Residential) to B-1 (Limited Business), passed first reading in a unanimous 7-0 vote during Council’s regular meeting. The land is currently owned by trustees for the Praise and Deliverance Temple, but the rezoning request was applied for by Dr. Stuart Hamilton, whose Eau Claire Medical Group has designs on the property for a new medical clinic. The land is located between one-quarter and one-half mile from the entrance to the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsville.

“If this passes all three readings, this will lead to the establishment of a new healthcare facility in the Jenkinsville/Monticello area,” Council Chairman David Ferguson said prior to Monday night’s vote. “This is something that stands to be real profitable for the County and the citizens of that area.”

Ferguson said he put the zoning change on the fast track after speaking with Dr. Hamilton, who ensured him that Eau Claire had secured adequate federal grant and loan funds to break ground on the new facility. Additionally, Ferguson said, SCANA had agreed to help equip the clinic.

Eau Claire currently operates a small clinic in the area, housed in a mobile home and staffed by a Nurse Practitioner. The new brick-and-mortar facility will replace the existing clinic and will include a physician on its staff, on site several days a week. Ferguson said it is hoped that the clinic will help take some of the pressure off Fairfield Memorial Hospital’s emergency room, which many in Fairfield County use as their source of primary care. A physician at the new clinic will also be able to refer patients to the hospital for tests and other necessary treatments, boosting Fairfield Memorial’s bottom line.

Council will hold a public hearing on the rezoning Feb. 18. Two other ordinances passed on first reading Monday night will also get a public hearing Feb. 18. The first, ordinance 611, rezones 1 acre of land owned by George H. Poland and located at 177 and 179 Meadowlake Road in Blair, from B-2 (General Business) to RD-1 (Rural Residential). Ordinance 612 rezones 1 acre at 394 Hungry Hollow Road in Winnsboro, owned by George D. Robinson, also from B-2 to RD-1.

WINNSBORO – A revised water deal between the Town of Winnsboro and the City of Columbia did not make it before Columbia City Council in January as had been expected.

Steve Gantt, Columbia’s City Manager, said in early January that he would be presenting City Council with a revised contract in January. Last week, however, Gantt said the contract was still under review by the City’s Legal Department.

“We will review it over the next few weeks and then present it to Columbia City Council for their review and approval,” Gantt said. “After that it will be sent to the town of Winnsboro for signature and approval. We hope to complete the review and approval process during the month of February.”

Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy said in December that Winnsboro was looking for a “long-term” relationship with Columbia for the provision of water. Last summer, Winnsboro and Columbia completed an agreement to bring up to 400,000 gallons of water a day to Blythewood customers. It was hoped that that agreement would take pressure off Winnsboro’s strained reservoir, which has been hit hard by persistent drought conditions. But the reservoir has not recovered as Winnsboro had anticipated, and the hoped-for new arrangement could bring between 600,000 to 1 million gallons of water into the town’s supply.

At an intergovernmental meeting in December, Winnsboro Town Manager Don Wood said the deal was imperative to Winnsboro’s water system, and that if water wasn’t pumping into Winnsboro by the spring, the situation could be grim for Winnsboro customers.

Jesse Douglas, Director of Winnsboro’s Water Department, said this week that December’s wet weather was kind to the Town’s reservoir, although it still remains some 2 ½ feet below full. Water usage, he said, has also remained stable, allowing the Town’s stores to replenish.

“It’s not quite as tight as it was,” Douglas said, “but we’re still going to be conservative.”

Winnsboro also has backup sources of water that are not being tapped, Douglas said, giving the Town room – and time – to negotiate with Columbia.

Any new water deal will require some infrastructure improvements, the Town reported in December, including pumping equipment to bring the water from Columbia and into the water tower near Ben Arnold on Highway 34. Fairfield County has agreed to purchase the necessary equipment, a t a cost of approximately $400,000.

BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council voted Monday night to drop its liability insurance policy with the S.C. Insurance Reserve Fund. The policy, which provides general tort liability coverage for attorney fees, carries a statutory limit of $300,000 per person and $600,000 in aggregate. The Town is currently being defended under the tort policy against a $10 million lawsuit filed by South Capital Group, LLC.

Council passed a resolution to apply for participation in the S.C. Municipal Insurance and Risk Financing Fund, effective May 1.

Town administrator John Perry told Council that while the new fund does not cover tort claims, it covers other insurance needs of the Town, such as event coverage, which is a big expense to the Town.

“Every time we have an event,” Perry said, “even if it’s just an afternoon event, we have to pay out $500 for special event insurance.”

Perry said the insurance bill for three weekend farmers’ markets came to $900. He said the new policy would also cover liability for Doko Manor and other venues in the Town.

Mayor J. Michael Ross said he felt the Town would save thousands of dollars under the new policy.

In other business, Council voted to appoint Bill Wiseman as the Town’s representative to the Richland County Transportation Penny Tax oversight committee. Wiseman was recommended to Council last week by a Council-appointed sub-committee.

Wiseman is expected to be seated on the oversight committee by Richland County Council during the first weeks of February.

Councilman Paul Moscati narrated a visual presentation giving his fellow Council members an update on the progress of the Doko Manor and Park construction. He said the Doko Manor should be finished by about the first week in February.

In his administrative report, Perry told Council the I-77 landscaping and signage will be finished by spring. The water wells are ready and irrigation is being completed. He said the design will include 390 crepe myrtles and more than 200 live oaks.

Moscati told Council that it was Perry’s five-year anniversary as Town Administrator, and Moscati said he felt indebted to Perry for all he’s done for the Town.

“All these things wouldn’t have been done without him,” Moscati said. Mayor Ross also praised Perry for making changes in the Town, and Council applauded Perry.

Perry added that traffic has increased so much in the town that a traffic study has been done that calls for reducing the speed limit on Blythewood Road, between I-77 and Highway 21, to 30 miles per hour. He did not say when the new speed limit will go into effect.

Bob Mangone, chairman of the athletic fields committee, reported that the County Recreation Commission had recently completed the infield for a softball field behind the Blythewood Community Center. He said volunteers would be called on to help construct a backstop for the temporary field. Mangone said he now hopes to get an estimate of the cost for the Recreation Commission to build four new fields on property behind Bethel-Hanberry Elementary School. The Town is currently negotiating the purchase of that property from the School District.

“The Recreation Commission has allocated $500,000 [from a bond passed three years ago] for the four-field complex,” Mangone said. “We need to find out if that’s going to pay for everything we need for the fields.”

In his remarks, Mayor Ross read a letter from Westwood and Blythewood high schools praising him and Martha Jones for assisting at a recent exchange student event. He also said the Council would be taking a field trip soon to Baxter [near Charlotte] and Davidson, N.C., “to see planned communities the way we’re going to look one day.”

BLYTHEWOOD – Last July, Town Council contracted with Municap, Inc., a financial consulting firm, at a cost of $10,000 – $15,000, to come up with methodology for assessing properties to be included in a Municipal Improvement District (MID) proposed by Town Administrator John Perry for Blythewood’s downtown business district.

Under the proposed MID, $1.5 million in improvements would be paid for with a bond that would be repaid from assessments on those properties that would benefit from the improvements.

Perry said the initial thrust of the improvements would be the acquisition of rights of way along Blythewood Road and McNulty Road, as well as the creation of at least two connecting roads. This would be the first step toward widening Blythewood Road to 95 feet.

But when Municap representative Thad Wilson reported back to an MID subcommittee (appointed by the Planning Commission) last week, he was only three pages into his presentation about possible ways to assess the properties when Perry suggested holding off considering any assessment methodology until the Town learns whether its initial MID improvement proposal — the purchase of rights of way — might be funded by revenue from Richland County’s new Penny Tax.

Without voting, the members of the subcommittee concurred with Perry to recommend that the Planning Commission hold Municap’s information in abeyance for “not more than a year, but as soon as we know something.”

Perry said the Town submitted to County Council a list of projects it would like to see funded by the Penny Tax. When asked about the list, Perry said he couldn’t remember what projects he had put on the list, but he said only one of them — the widening of Blythewood Road — made the cut as a priority road under the initial Penny Tax expenditures.

In November, Richland County voters approved a $1.5 billion penny tax for transportation improvements and a $450 million bond to cover the costs of initial improvements before enough penny tax is collected to pay for projects. When the Penny Tax revenue starts to be collected next summer, it will be used to repay the bond, according to Blythewood’s County Council representative, Joyce Dickerson.

WINNSBORO – During executive session Tuesday night, Winnsboro Town Council discussed several items, including their legal contract with Red Clay Development and the Mt. Zion Institute. Council has decided to start the process of parting ways with Red Clay Development.

“We’re going to authorize our attorneys to contact Red Clay and negotiate the termination of our contract,” Councilman Jack Wilkes said.

With the termination of the contract, the Mt. Zion property would fall back into the Town’s hands and it would once again become their responsibility to keep it up to code. The hiring of a new code enforcement officer has been delayed due to the Municipal Association needing to renew the ordinances before hiring an officer.

The meeting started off with the finance committee approving William Medlin’s capital expense request. Due to numerous unauthorized entries to the Town Lot by the Sanitation and Electrical department, Medlin has requested $4,965 to furnish and install a new gate. The current gate needs to be replaced in order to prevent someone from crawling under it. There will also barbed wire added to the top of the fence to further secure the area.

Grants director, Connie Shackleford wrapped up her American Disabilities Act self-evaluation plan. In order to be incompliance with the ADA the Town needs to install handicap bars in bathrooms and add some parking spaces.

“I recommend that we have to have these specifications in order to be in compliance,” Shackleford said.

An estimated price has not been concluded, but a deadline of July 2014 has been issued to comply with the specified items.

Council authorized the hiring of a public safety officer for Chief Freddie Lorick after he had personnel move on to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.

Lastly, Council decided to review a revised edition of the employee handbook that includes retirement benefits at the next Town Council meeting on Feb. 5.

WINNSBORO – Filings for the Town of Winnsboro’s upcoming municipal elections closed Monday with seven candidates tossing their hats into the ring.

Dr. Roger Gaddy, of Parklane Road, will seek another term as mayor, but not without challenge. Also seeking the mayor’s post is Michael L. Davis, of Frazier Street, and District 2 Town Councilman Bill Haslett, of Highway 213.

Haslett’s bid for mayor leaves his District 2 seat vacant, and two Sandcreek Drive residents have offered themselves up to the voters. Sonya Cookie Kennedy and Stan Klaus will seek Haslett’s seat on Council, a seat to which Klaus is no stranger. Klaus served District 2 for 12 years – from 1997 to 2009.

Pamela L. Smith, of N. Zion Street, will challenge Jack R. Wilkes, of W. High Street, in his bid for another term on the District 4 seat.

The elections will be held April 2.