Category: Government

BLYTHEWOOD – Monday night, the Blythewood Planning Commissioners mostly listened as Town Administrator John Perry explained his suggestions for the items on the agenda.

In regard to creating new roads in the downtown Town Center District, Perry suggested the Planning Commissioners call for the preservation of eight areas of right of way that are designated on the Master Plan map but that have not been preserved. Perry said in order to initiate a grid of roads in the Town Center, these right of ways must be preserved and that the Town must then be prepared to purchase the preserved right of way properties immediately so that the owners will not decide to build there and adversely impact the grid of roads planned in the downtown area as specified in the Master Plan. Perry suggested that a subcommittee of Commissioners be formed to initiate surveying these areas of right of way so that they can be purchased and preserved for the Town’s future use.

Commissioners Randy Humphries and Buddy Price volunteered for the committee and Planning Commission Chairman Mike Switzer volunteered to chair the committee. Perry asked the three to come back to their next meeting with a recommendation for surveying and preservation.

Mobile sign ban proposed

Perry asked the Commissioners to revisit the Town’s sign ordinance and find ways to ban mobile signs. Perry said he wanted the Town to prohibit trucks from parking trailers around town for long periods of time while displaying advertisements or signs on the sides of their trailers. If they are parked in an area not for parking or on private property then, Perry said, “We need to be able to remove them.”

Switzer said he had seen a sod truck parked around town. Price asked if the signs caused any harm. Perry said, “We need to make it clear these are signs.”

Municipal Improvement District

Perry told Commissioners that he had received some data from the consultant the Town Council hired to study the feasibility of a Municipal Improvement District (MID) in the downtown area of Blythewood. Perry asked that the MID subcommittee reconvene to consider that data. While the costs of the MID would be paid for primarily by the businesses in the district, Perry said some money has been allocated to the project from Richland County’s Penny Tax fund.

In his administrator’s report, Perry said work will begin on the landscaping/beautification of Exit 27 within the next 60 days. He said water wells have been drilled for irrigation of the plants in the project and the Town has been given permission to paint the sides of the bridge over I-77. Perry said attractive street signs for Blythewood Road would be attached to the traffic lights at the exits and entrances to the interstate. He also reported that the Planning Commission Retreat is planned for March 9 at the Doko Manor in the Town’s park, beginning at about 9 a.m. The public is invited.

BLYTHEWOOD – The subcommittee tasked with selecting a person to represent Blythewood on Richland County’s proposed 15-member Penny Tax oversight committee, has narrowed the field from seven to three: Bill Wiseman, Malcolm Gordge and Sean King. An alternate choice to be considered is Ronald Friday.

The committee made their selections from resumes only, without calling the applicants in for interviews. Mayor J. Michael Ross, who chairs the committee, said the committee will meet again on Jan. 15 at 6 p.m. at the Town Hall to interview the three finalists and make a final selection. The representative selected by the committee will be confirmed by Town Council before being recommended to the County Council for the 15-member oversight committee.

The oversight committee will include one representative from the incorporated towns of Eastover, Forest Acres, Arcadia Lakes, Irmo and Blythewood; three representatives from the City of Columbia and seven representatives selected by County Council from the unincorporated areas of the County.

Winnsboro – The Town of Winnsboro received an unqualified opinion on their year-end audit from Bill Hancock, a CPA with the Brittingham, Brown, Prince and Hancock accounting firm. Hancock delivered his findings to Town Council during their Dec. 18 finance meeting.

Hancock said the Town spent $7,700 more than had been budgeted for 2012 general fund, but told Council that out of a $3 million budget, they were “pretty close to where you need to be.” Winnsboro actually spent $3.2 million less than budgeted out of the utility fund in 2012, Hancock said, attributing that to the rise in gas and electricity prices.

The Town’s net assets also increased by $290,000 this year, Hancock said.

“Out of a total spending budget $14,400,00 and change, that means you brought in a little over 1 percent more than you spent,” he said.

The Town took on no new debt in 2012 and did not make any capital purchases that were not already budgeted, Hancock said.

Following Hancock’s presentation, Kathy Belton, the Town’s Finance Director, delivered her November finance report to Council. Belton said general fund expenditures were up by more than $14,000 compared to last November. Utility revenues were down by $83,000 versus last year, while utility expenditures were up by $70,000 over November 2011.

Ridgeway – Requirements to enter and participate in the Ridgeway Christmas parade could become more strenuous next year, and that would suit at least one local merchant just fine.

Judy Miller, owner of Just Around the Corner in Ridgeway, expressed her dissatisfaction with this year’s parade at the Dec. 13 Ridgeway Town Council meeting. The event, she said, had become less of a parade and more like absolute chaos.

“A parade is an organized public procession,” Miller said. “And in my opinion, (this year’s parade) was very unorganized.”

Miller said her opinion reflects the opinions of many of the other downtown merchants.

“Every one of them felt exactly as I did,” she said. “It (the parade) had lost its theme, it had lost any kind of organization, any kind of intent other than to just make noise. No one thought it did the businesses any good. The tradition of a Christmas parade seems to have been lost in our town.”

Miller said that even though the town’s rules for the parade prohibit the throwing of candy and other items during the parade, candy was thrown at this year’s event, some of which struck Miller in the head. Miller also said parade participants riding on top of cars – not in sunroofs or in open convertibles – presented a potential hazard. Miller added that the motorcycles in this year’s parade were a noisy distraction, some of which spun their wheels and threw up large amounts of smoke and exhaust into the air.

Miller didn’t just protest the parade, however, but also offered to help with the organization of next year’s parade.

Councilman Donald Prioleau said some of the motorcycles in this year’s parade may not have been actual parade entries, but rode into town and joined the parade at the last minute. He also said that it was difficult to get as many high school marching bands as the parade has had in the past because so many schools have cut their budgets, making transportation of their bands to parades difficult. Prioleau also said that the town didn’t even have a line item in the budget to help finance the parade. Such a line item, he said, could possibly help the town assist in the transportation of high school bands in the future.

Prioleau said the town would attempt to find out which motorcycle clubs were operating their bikes in a disruptive manner and ban them from next year’s parade.

Ridgeway Mayor Charlene Herring said the town should find a way to better enforce parade regulations, including perhaps limiting the number of motorcycles. Prioleau said the town should encourage area churches to enter actual floats into the parade and educate them on where floats can be rented. An entry fee may also be required for future parades, Herring suggested; but Prioleau appeared less than enthusiastic about such a fee.

“I’ve seen three towns that have lost their parades because of entry fees,” Prioleau said.

“We’ve already lost it,” Miller chimed in. “When you’ve lost control of something, you’ve lost it.”

Council ultimately decided on a new parade committee to devise suggestions for the improvement of next year’s parade.

In other business, Council accepted the bid of $1,930 from Thomas Oswald to paint the Old Town Hall cupola. Oswald’s bid was the lowest among three bidders for the job, which included Proven Tucker ($2,840) and Lewis Brazell ($2,350).

BLYTHEWOOD – At its Dec. 17 meeting, Blythewood Town Council appointed a five-member committee to select a person to represent Blythewood on the County’s proposed 15-member Penny Tax oversight committee. While Blythewood Mayor J. Michael Ross said at the meeting that the committee would begin taking applications and setting up interviews to select the representative, no deadline was announced for taking those applications to be submitted.

Town Administrator John Perry said in an email last week that the deadline for applications for the position would be Friday, January 4, at 5 p.m.

The final selection of the representative will be made by Council.

The 15-member oversight committee will include one representative from each of the County’s five municipalities (Eastover, Forest Acres, Arcadia Lakes, Irmo and Blythewood), three representatives from the City of Columbia and seven representatives appointed by County Council from the unincorporated areas of the county.

Members of the Town’s selection committee are Larry Sharpe and four members of the town government or staff (Councilman Ed Garrison, Mayor Ross, Planning Commissioner Buddy Price and Town Administrator Perry.)

The 15-member oversight committee is supposed to advise County Council on details of a $1.07 billion improvement program to fund roads, bus routes, trails and bike paths in the County. However, the committee’s advice is not binding. The committee is to be finalized by Jan. 31.

For information about how to apply to be considered as the Town’s representative on the County’s oversight committee, call Town Hall at 754-0501.

The Town of Ridgeway’s official public hearing to discuss a resolution to join the proposed Fairfield County Regional Water Authority drew a grand total of zero members of the public to Town Hall Dec. 13.

In spite of the lack of turnout, Ridgeway Mayor Charlene Herring had a few questions of her own about the water authority for Columbia attorney Margaret Pope, who is assisting with the formation of the authority.

“Ridgeway has a sound budget, we have a balanced budget, we’re a small town,” Herring said. “As we move forward with this thing, it depends on the cost. If there were bonds sold or whatever, we would have to look again at that.”

Herring said she wanted to be sure that Ridgeway could, if they found the costs of membership to be too prohibitive, withdraw from the authority. Pope confirmed that Ridgeway could do so, as long as it did so before the authority incurred any debt, such as in the form of issuing bonds.

Herring also said she wanted to be certain that Ridgeway would retain ownership of its water and sewer infrastructure if they joined the authority. Pope said that they could do so.

With her questions satisfied, Herring underscored the need for the water authority as a possible solution to the county’s issues of growth and water distribution.

“We know there’s a water shortage. That’s just reality,” Herring said. “We know that’s not going away. We know there’s going to be growth from that industrial park. There’s going to be growth quicker here than in Winnsboro. I know the potential for growth is out there.”

The charter committee of the water authority meets again Jan. 23 at Midlands Technical College’s QuickJobs Center in Winnsboro. Pope said the next meeting would be devoted to establishing bylaws for the authority.

“The next step is to create it (the water authority) and establish bylaws,” Pope said. “Bylaws tell you how you’re going to vote – one entity, one vote; or volume-based voting.”

Council will hold a second public hearing at their Jan. 10 meeting.

In a unanimous decision Tuesday night, Winnsboro Town Council voted to sever ties with Red Clay Development, the North Carolina firm that, nearly three years ago, purchased the Mount Zion Institute from the Town for $100,000.

“We appreciate the enthusiasm and participation of FOMZI (Friends of Mt. Zion Institute),” Councilman Clyde Sanders said after the vote. “We look forward to working with FOMZI on hopefully saving Mt. Zion. We would like to invite them to our meeting in January so we can discuss what we would like to see and see what their participation might be.”

Red Clay’s zoning application, passed shortly after the purchase of the property, outlined plans for local, “Main Street” oriented businesses. Planned uses for the property included retail business such as an antique store, art supply, retail bakery, book/magazine/newspaper shop, deli or other restaurant (with restrictions), a pharmacy, florist, gifts, hobby shop, office supply, photography studio or a printing /shipping store. Red Clay was also responsible for maintaining the building and the grounds while plans for construction and the search for tenants was under way.

But after three years, none of these things materialized and the old school house has continued to deteriorate.

“At the last meeting we’d asked for some information on what they planned to do to stabilize the building and also to put some investment in it so it wasn’t such an eyesore,” Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy said. “We don’t see any substantial movement in that. Also, the things that had promised to be done – securing of funding for Mt. Zion Institute and refurbishing of it – had not come to fruition and really did not meet the details of the contract. Because of that, and we think we’ve given adequate time, even though we realize there’s been other issues with the economy that may be out of everybody’s control, it’s one of those things we don’t think we can go forward in the situation that we’re in.”

One year ago, Red Clay’s deadline for beginning construction came to an end. At that time, as the property was set to revert back into the hands of the Town, Red Clay brought a proposal to Town Council for the building to house the future home of the Dru Blair School of Art. However, it was made clear at the Dec. 4 Town Council meeting that Blair was five to six years away from having enough students to justify making Mt. Zion home.

What happens next for the beleaguered site is up in the air, and Council is hoping for assistance from FOMZI.

“We don’t know exactly what’s going to happen to it right now,” Gaddy said. “We certainly don’t see any movement, or appropriate movement, or the movement that needs to be made with the relationship that we have. Different deadlines have not been made, obligations have not been kept, so we feel like we need to move in another direction. We feel like the FOMZI people are very dedicated to the project. Whether or not they’ll be able to make the financial commitment that will be necessary will be their decision, but we’re willing to explore different avenues with them and to work closely with them in any way we can to hopefully save the project. If it works, great; if it doesn’t, then I think everybody’s given an honest effort and a very hard and dedicated effort. No one should feel bad about the lack of dedication our citizens have had to try to preserve this historic place.”

FOMZI’s Vicki Dodds said her organization is ready to get to work. In an email last week, Dodds said the first things on FOMZI’s list are a clean-up of the building’s exterior and the grounds, as well as maintenance of the roof to eliminate further water damage. Dodds said Tuesday night that she was sorry to hear about the split between the Town and Red Clay.

“I think Red Clay has tried very hard under some difficult circumstances,” Dodds said. “FOMZI is committed to seeing the project progress, though, and will continue to work toward that goal. We certainly welcome the Town, County and anyone else who’ll further that goal.”

The Fairfield County Tax Assessor has stepped down from his duties following an investigation into details surrounding his arrest over the weekend on charges of soliciting prostitution in Columbia. Davis Anderson, Fairfield County’s Deputy Administrator, said Irby and the County parted ways Wednesday.

“It was a mutual decision,” Anderson said.

Wendell Irby, 56, was arrested in a motel room on Two Notch Road Dec. 13 as part of a two-day sting operation, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said Monday. Irby was one of seven individuals lured to the motel with a bogus ad on the Web site Backpage.com, a site used to advertise adult services.

Anderson said Monday that Irby had been suspended without pay pending the outcome of an investigation. Anderson said Irby’s work computer had been examined and no illegal activity had been detected for as far back as 60 days. Irby was not on County time when the alleged incident occurred, Anderson said, nor was he in a County vehicle or using County dollars. Furthermore, Anderson added, Irby had not been convicted, only charged with a misdemeanor. If it is a first offense, Anderson said, Irby could very well go through the Pre-trial Intervention program and the offense would not appear on his record at all.

“It’s more of an image problem,” Anderson said.

Irby had been employed by the County since August 1976, Anderson said, and has been the Tax Assessor since 2003.

According to the County’s “Employee and Conduct Discipline” policy (policy ER-3), “conviction of or plea of guilty or no contest to a charge of . . . (a) sexual misconduct offense involving moral turpitude, or offenses which affect the County’s reputation or which reasonably could create concern on the part of fellow employees or the community” will “normally result in disciplinary action.”

“Disciplinary action,” the policy states, “may include, but is not limited to, an oral warning, written warning, demotion, salary reduction, loss of leave or suspension without pay, but may result in dismissal, or any combination.”

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said that a concerned citizen prompted the department to set up the sting, which resulted in arrests for drug offenses and solicitation of prostitution by the Department’s Narcotics Unit.

Lott said that prostitutes are placing ads on Backpage.com offering escort/prostitution services. An undercover narcotics agent posing as “Jasmine” posted an advertisement that resulted in more than 40 telephone calls to set up appointments for services. When the suspects showed up for their appointments and requested sex in exchange for money, they were arrested, the Sheriff’s Department said. The transactions were monitored with video surveillance by agents in an adjacent motel room.

Lott said that prostitution often leads to other crimes, such as robbery, carjacking, drugs or weapons violations.

Also arrested during the operation were: Brandon Clea-Evans, 26; Ellison Hudson, 24; Robert Law, 28; Marques Wilson, 35; Isaiah Regin, 21; and Quention Govan, 36.

There was strong disagreement among Town Council members Monday evening over a text amendment to the Town’s commercial zoning ordinance, which they passed into law on a final vote of 3-2.

Mayor J. Michael Ross joined  Council members Ed Garrison and Paul Moscati in voting for the measure. Council members Jeff Branham and Roger Hovis voted against it.

The ordinance has been billed by Town Administrator John Perry as, primarily, a way to provide more transition in zoning and more specificity as to what uses are to be permitted in zoning districts.

But Hovis and Branham said  the new zoning was too restrictive on some of the town’s longtime businesses and that it could take away those business or property owners’ livelihood under certain conditions.

“This is not what Blythewood is about,” Branham told the board. “If Pope Davis [deemed nonconforming under the new law] burns down or if more than 50 percent of its building is damaged, that owner can’t build back.

“[The ordinance] is too intrusive for our people who have invested their money and their entire lives in their business to not be able to rebuild in that place if something catastrophic happens. That’s too much restriction,” Branham said.

According to the ordinance, a business that has been deemed nonconforming by Council could not rebuild, move to another location in town, expand or make certain other changes necessary to its success and survival.

Hovis said he concurred with Branham that the ordinance was too restrictive and unfair to some of the town’s businesses.

Garrison, who is a developer, said he has been involved in the vision of the Master Plan from the beginning.

“We aren’t going to make everyone happy,” Garrison said. “If you’re going to create Blythewood to be what the community wants it to be, we’ve got to plan for the future, not for today. We can accommodate most individuals. We have to set high standards.

“I was talking to a developer from Atlanta last week and he said he wants a community to have high standards,” Garrison added. “We’ve got a little push back, but we accept that.”

But Branham did not agree.

“We’re going to keep raising the costs of building in the town and make businesses  who are already established into nonconforming businesses  after they have put their entire lives and savings into those businesses,” Branham objected. “What are we going to tell them? Well, you can sell it for what the property is worth or you can open a different type of business.

“That’s not what Blythewood is and that’s not what Blythewood is about,” Branham said. “I don’t feel we should take these businesses out of Blythewood.”

The ordinance targets such businesses as automotive-related businesses and others such as check cashing and title loan businesses.

Perry told Council that state law calls for nonconforming land uses to not be rebuilt if  it sustains more than 50 percent damage to the building.

But it is the Town Council who determines to which businesses the state law would apply since Town Council designates which businesses are nonconforming.

Moscati, who voted to pass the ordinance, said he didn’t want Blythewood to turn into another Two Notch Road.

“We’re trying to control that,” he said. “It’s not going to suit everyone, but I’d rather have it than not.”

Ross agreed that he would have a problem if the government told him he couldn’t rebuild the pharmacy (he used to own.)

“But we’re just making it more accurate what you can put in.  And only three or four businesses came to speak against it at the public hearing,” Ross said.

The only exception granted to the ordinance was for the Palmetto Gold and Pawn store, which rents space in McNulty Plaza. That business classification was spared from nonconformity after the owner and the landlord, who co-owns the building with Ross, asked that pawn shops be classified along with antique stores and consignment shops. The Planning Commission recommended that change and Council approved it.

After Storage Express showed up on the nonconformity block, its owner, DeWayne Bohanan, appealed for his business to be spared and Perry suggested the Town Center boundary exclude that business. Council concurred.

While Pope Davis Tire Company’s co-owner also appealed to opt out of the nonconformity designation, that change was not made by Council.

In addition to passing the zoning text amendment 3-2, Council also passed unanimously two zoning map amendments – one for all commercial properties in the town and one for 19 commercial properties outside the town.

The zoning map shows how properties are zoned. The zoning text explains what regulations apply in a specific zoning district. It is the text that designates whether a business or property is nonconforming.

Acting on a decision that Mayor J. Michael Ross said was made last year, Town Hall eliminated the 15-hour-per-week administrative assistant position in which Lillian Chavis was employed, effective Dec. 15.