Category: Government

Town Council was updated on the revisions being made to the Town’s tree and landscape ordinance by landscape architect Rick McMakin of LandPlan Group South at Monday night’s Council meeting.

McMakin explained to Council some of the changes that include adding a table of contents to the ordinance.

The new ordinance, McMakin said, would no longer allow plans to be drawn on a napkin but would require plans for development projects.

“It will now include a preferred plant materials list,” McMakin said, “as well as encourage multiple varieties of plantings in a landscape. Replacement trees will be required to be a minimum of 2-inch caliber, and there’ll be other verbiage intended to protect specimen and heritage trees (trees greater than 30-inches in diameter).”

McMakin said a tree survey will be required for all trees over 8-inches in diameter for all development projects.

In addition, the ordinance is being amended to reflect the S.C. Attorney General’s recent opinion that prohibits the Town government from interfering in any way with forestry clear-cutting that qualifies as tree farming.

The opinion further stated that a town or county could not require qualifying forestry activities to comply with S.C. Best Management Practices, buffering of the project or other guidelines such as requiring notification or permits or regulating the use of public roads by trucks (associated with the tree cutting) that might damage the roads.

Fairfield County received a clean audit report for the 2011-2012 fiscal year, although Tom McNiesh, of the auditing firm Elliot Davis, LLC, told Council Monday night that there were areas that required some improvement.

“The good news is we’ve issued an unqualified opinion,” McNiesh said. “That means that, based on the testing we’ve performed of these balances and amounts and your financial statements, we feel like they’re materially correct in accordance with general accepted accounting principles.”

One finding noted in the audit, McNiesh said, was in the Procurement Department. According to the audit, during the fiscal year “the County engaged in a single contractor to perform approximately $400,000 in projects on buildings throughout the County. In selecting the contractor, a formal bidding process was not conducted as required by the County’s procurement policy.”

The audit noted that, per the County’s procurement policy, formal bids from a minimum of three qualified sources are required for purchases in excess of $25,000. In the event that three qualified sources are not available, McNiesh said, it is important that that fact is documented, which had not been done in this case.

“As auditors, we go under the adage that if it wasn’t documented, it wasn’t done,” McNiesh said. “We just want to make sure there’s a document for that kind of procurement situation in the file.”

McNiesh also told Council that two County employees received tuition reimbursement in excess of the maximum amount allowed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

“The IRS is going to set a hard and fast limit as to the extent of what educational expense can be reimbursed,” McNiesh said. “That amount was $5,250 for the 2012 year.”

Anything over that, he said, would have to be reported as income by the employee receiving the reimbursement. The County’s Educational Assistance policy makes available to all eligible employees reimbursement of educational expenses that are considered essential to an employee’s job requirements, the audit noted, and that, McNiesh said, was perfectly acceptable.

McNiesh also said that the Magistrate’s Office’s bank account contained $82,000 in funds that could not be identified as either fines and fees to be transferred to the County Treasurer or as bail bond funds to be repaid to individuals. The audit states that the Magistrate’s Office has, over the last 20 years, gone through two system conversions and that the unidentified funds arose during those conversions. The audit recommends that the Magistrate develop internal controls to ensure that the entire account balance can be identified on a case-by-case basis and can be properly reconciled monthly.

The County’s property tax ledger system, McNiesh said, could also be at risk, as it relies heavily on a single third-party vendor for its maintenance and operation. The software on which the property tax ledger system is based was developed by and is exclusively supported by this single third-party vendor.

“The problem is if something happened to that vendor, if they went out of business or if they had key employee turnover, then potentially the County is left with a system they would have a very hard time maintaining without a proper level of support,” McNiesh said.

McNiesh recommended the County develop a contingency plan, which would include identifying alternate software supported by more than one vendor.

Finally, the audit found that the Planning and Zoning Department does not maintain a receipts journal for transactions paid in cash. “A sufficient audit trail should be available to ensure that all cash receipts are deposited at the bank and recorded in the County’s general ledger in a timely manner,” the audit states.

“I think that’s a simple fix,” McNiesh said. “None of these are what we would consider ‘red flags’ or major issues. These are areas that, due to the improvement in your process, gave us the opportunity to go in and delve a little bit deeper.

“One thing the County has had a really good history with is when we have had findings or when we’ve had issues we wanted to see addressed, we’ve always had a very prompt specific response to shore those areas up,” he added, “and we anticipate that will be the same for next year.”

The walking trail is gone. The basketball court has been pulled out. The playground equipment, likewise, has gone the way of all flesh. All that remains of the former Blair Community Park on 99 Road is the green grass and rolling landscape. After 27 years, with the stroke of a pen, it was gone.

Monday night, residents of the Blair community filled the County Council meeting chambers to let Council know they wanted it back. But not necessarily on the County’s dime.

Ernest Yarborough, speaking on behalf of a community group calling themselves the Shelton Thompson Foundation, told Council that, instead of rehashing the events that led to the dismantling of the park, his group only wants the County’s help in helping themselves. Yarborough did, however, offer a brief rundown of his perspective of the chain of events leading up to the closure of the park.

“One: The County was paying $1,200 a year to lease this family’s land, not $12,000 as reported in the paper (a Fairfield County media outlet not related to or affiliated with The Voice),” Yarborough said. “Two: There were no negotiations with the landowner to keep this park in place before this lease expired. I understand there were some landowner calls, but these were not negotiations. Three: The real losers of this dispute are the citizens of this community and the citizens of Fairfield County. This park was in a strategic location that made it easy to be used by children and adults. This park was constantly in use, and I’m told it was very well maintained by this body. This park was a small investment for the well-being of the citizens of this county.”

Prior to the meeting, Yarborough told The Voice that the goal of the Foundation was to raise enough money to reestablish a park on the property, property owned by Nancy T. Young and administered by her daughter, Felicia Trower via power of attorney. Yarborough said the group hopes to raise private money, then request matching funds from the County at a later date. Yarborough said the location could serve the community not only as a park, but as a site for after-school programs as well.

“I don’t have time to point fingers or to make blame or to sort out the truth from the fiction as to why this park was dismantled,” Yarborough said Monday night. “But I will tell you that the day the workers of this county came out to Road 99 and dismantled this park, they weren’t just dismantling monkey bars and rocking ducks, they were destroying a history of a people in this community. This park was named for Miss Eunice Shelton Thompson. Miss Thompson taught school for 35 years. She raised seven children under the most difficult of economic circumstances. She was Sunday school superintendent for many years in the community. She was a mentor to the young and the old alike. The name of this park was not just a name. It was a name that emanated hope and pride for a lot of people. For this body to take that away from the people without a single public discussion is not right, regardless of why the park was dismantled. The people here tonight have a right to be disappointed, but instead of coming here to fuss, these people appear tonight to ask you to give them a chance to help themselves.”

Yarborough asked Council to put on hold any decision concerning leasing other land for a new park until the Foundation could come back with a proposal.

Fairfield County officially announced the closing of the Blair Community Park at 544 99 Road Nov. 6, citing in a press release an inability of the County to come to terms with Trower on a new lease. Trower later claimed that the County never made a legitimate effort to reach such an agreement (see the Nov. 30 edition of The Voice). Following Yarborough’s presentation, Phil Hinely, County Administrator; Davis Anderson, Deputy Administrator; and Sheila Pickett, Director of Procurement reviewed for Council the process leading up to the closure of the park.

Pickett said the negotiations actually began in 2009, when Trower met with Anderson and Lori Schaeffer, the County’s Recreation Department Director, to discuss the potential purchase of the property.

“She (Trower) wanted $200,000 to $300,000 for the property of 2 acres of land,” Pickett said. “I was not in attendance at that meeting, but that was the conclusion of the meeting.”

Anderson confirmed Pickett’s account of the meeting, adding that he explained to Trower during that meeting that the County could only pay tax value or fair market value for property. The issue stalled there until September of this year when Pickett said she again contacted Trower to negotiate a new lease. Pickett said Trower asked for $6,000 a year to renew the lease, which was out of the question for the County.

Trower told The Voice two weeks ago that she never asked for more than $100,000 for the land, which she said was not a serious offer, and that the $6,000 a year was only a starting point for negotiations. Trower also said she had never met with nor ever heard of Lori Schaeffer.

Hinely said Council’s own policies prohibited them from cutting such a deal, and Monday night he reviewed for Council a County resolution passed April 13, 2009, which, he said, has been steering the County out of expensive leases.

“If the County does not own the property or does not have a long-term lease for a nominal amount of money, not an exorbitant amount of money, we have been getting out of those leases or purchasing those properties,” Hinely said. “As they come up for renewal, we’ve been having those discussions with property owners. So we have had discussions with property owners, regardless of what they may or may not say.”

Councilman Mikel Trapp (District 3), who represents the Blair area, said he was working to make sure the community had a park in the near future.

“I am in contact with two landowners in the area and they are talking very favorably about allowing the County to purchase their property,” Trapp said. “One of them is out of town until the first of the year. When he gets back, I will talk to him. And the other one is talking it over with family members. But a park will be relocated in the Blair area. It may not be in that precise location, but we will have a park out there.”

After Yarborough was seated, another member of the Blair community, 9-year-old Precious Hill, told Council she misses her park.

“This park means a lot to me,” Hill said. “Me and my family and friends, we used to always play there. We used to love to play there all the time, and then it got destroyed so we couldn’t play there no more. We used to have a lot of fun at cookouts and stuff.”

Although a salary increase for the lowest-paid employees of the Fairfield County School District was built into the 2012-2013 budget last summer, that didn’t stop a phalanx of District bus drivers from filling the Fairfield Central High School Media Center Tuesday night and asking the School Board what happened to their Christmas bonus.

Addressing the Board on behalf of the bus drivers, Michelle Bufford said bus drivers would not, after their Dec. 28 check is issued, be receiving another paycheck until February (many drivers are paid on a nine-month cycle, one Board member later explained, while others are on a 12-month pay cycle). The Transportation Department, Buford said, would be the only department in the District so negatively impacted by a lack of a bonus.

“We tried to avoid this by keeping our money spread over a 12-month period, but it didn’t work in our favor,” Bufford said. “Now, here we are with the very situation we tried to avoid back in August. We knew that because you gave us a raise back in August, you wouldn’t want to give us a bonus.”

The Board did not have a discussion of the Christmas bonuses on Tuesday night’s agenda and did not take the matter up after Bufford’s presentation.

Beth Reid, Board Chairwoman, said after the meeting that employees had received a significant raise in August – in the neighborhood of 10 percent. It was the first increase for many employees in more than five years. Furthermore, she said, bonuses were not in the budget.

“If Christmas bonuses were in the budget, we could talk about it,” Reid said. “But they’re not. And the budget is done.”

A Dec. 6 email from Reid to Board members and Superintendent J.R. Green outlined her rationale for not including discussion of bonuses on Tuesday’s agenda.

“There is no budget line item for Christmas bonuses,” Reid’s email states. “There is not a large margin for unexpected expenditures due to the low cash balance of the school district during this time of year. Any unplanned large expenditures jeopardize the district’s ability to pay its bills. Any unplanned expenditures may lower the fund balance, which could negatively impact the district’s rating when borrowing funds.

“While I respect the inquiry about adding it to the agenda, we have given our employees raises that they certainly deserve and cannot afford this expenditure at this time,” her email continues. “Also, board members have requested that the item be omitted from the agenda.”

Last year, hourly employees received bonuses of approximately $600 each.

By a narrow 3-2 margin, Fairfield Memorial Hospital received the County’s blessing Monday night to adopt more aggressive collection policies.

“The one thing the hospital has a problem with is billing,” County Council Chairman David Ferguson said prior to the vote. “It’s not the Council’s decision to tell the hospital what it can and can’t do, and that’s not what this vote is about. No matter which way it goes, there’s going to have to be some real looking into this thing and making sure that it doesn’t go south. With the possibility of real liens and real property taken, which is right there in the bylaws, this could get pretty thick pretty fast if we don’t go about it in the right way. We need to be really mindful of how it’s administered to make sure our citizens aren’t put in jeopardy for no due cause.”

Ferguson (District 5) ultimately voted against the policies, as did Councilman Mikel Trapp (District 3). Carolyn Robinson (District 2), who put the motion on the floor, and David Brown (District 7), who offered the second voted for the measure, as did Council Vice Chairman Dwayne Perry (District 1). Councilman Kamau Marcharia (District 4) was absent from Monday night’s meeting, while Councilwoman Mary Lynn Kinley (District 6), who works for the hospital, abstained.

The new collection policies were discussed in great detail during Council’s Dec. 3 work session (see the Dec. 7 issue of The Voice), at which time Tim Mitchell, the hospital’s Chief Financial Officer, told Council that Fairfield Memorial loses between $5 million and $6 million each year in free care, some of which could be recouped from patients who may have the ability to pay some or all of their bills, but simply aren’t doing so.

“We’re still providing care to those who don’t have the ability to pay for it,” Mitchell told Council on Dec. 3. “What (the new policy) is doing is, essentially, preventing people from abusing our policy and getting care at a discount or for free who have the ability to pay.

“Only by collecting from people who have the ability to pay can we pay for services for those who are truly needy,” Mitchell added.

Perry noted during the work session that the hospital in Allendale has adopted a similar method for collection with considerable success, more than doubling their collections.

“The taxpayers and the County support this hospital, and we want to make sure we are serving the folks who are the most needy,” Perry said.

While Ferguson said he agreed with Perry in principal, he was not enthusiastic about the new policy’s ability to garnish wages.

“That’s a pretty drastic step,” Ferguson said Dec. 3. “I’m not sure if I would be comfortable with doing that.”

Monday night, Ferguson’s vote reflected those same sentiments.

Former School Board Chairwoman Andrea Harrison (District 1) announced her resignation from her most recent post as Board Secretary in a letter to fellow Board members, read by current Board Chairwoman Beth Reid during Tuesday night’s meeting. Harrison was not in attendance.

Harrison’s letter said that, since she had only just recently served as a Board officer she felt that other Board members should have an opportunity to take leadership roles.

“These are the experiences that allow us to grow and become better servants to our district and our constituents,” Reid read from Harrison’s letter.

Harrison was elected Secretary during last month’s School Board meeting.

Reid then nominated Henry Miller for the position of Board Secretary, who with no other nominations following, was elected by acclamation.

“I’ll do my best,” Miller said.

Fairfield Memorial Hospital may be getting more serious about collecting outstanding medical bills, as members of the hospital’s administration presented a proposal to County Council Monday night to consider garnishing the salaries of those who fail to settle their accounts. The hospital also put forward a proposal to place liens against property and other assets of those critically behind on their bills.

The proposal met with a mixed response from Council members, some of whom sympathized with a hospital trying to make ends meet, while other members were reluctant to put a further burden on the needy.

In addition to the new policies for collecting debts, Tim Mitchell, the hospital’s Chief Financial Officer, also offered a change to the hospital’s charity care program, which, he said, was more liberal than a similar policy administered by the State. The hospital’s policy, Mitchell said, has been strictly based on income. The proposed change would include assets as well as income, bringing it in line with the State’s policy. Mitchell also said that the hospital loses between $5 million and $6 million each year in free care, and some of that could be recouped from patients who may have the ability to pay some or all of their hospital bills, but simply aren’t doing so.

“I don’t think this penalizes any of our citizens who don’t have the ability to pay their hospital bill,” Mitchell said. “What (the new policies) do is tie up a loose end for those who do have the ability to pay by means of liquidating an asset or by tapping their savings account where they have money sitting. Right now, the current policies are based on income levels alone and are not taking into consideration any cash or savings they may have squirreled away for a rainy day. And an unforeseen medical expense is something we believe that cash should be spent on.”

Councilman Kamau Marcharia asked Mitchell if that approach redefined the word “charity.”

“I don’t think it redefines it, because we’re still providing care to those who don’t have the ability to pay for it,” Mitchell answered. “What it’s doing is, essentially, preventing people from abusing our policy and getting care at a discount or for free who have the ability to pay.”

Mitchell said the hospital would now take the same information that patients seeking free or discounted care provide on State forms and incorporate that data into the hospital’s charity care program.

“Only by collecting from people who have the ability to pay can we pay for services for those who are truly needy,” Mitchell said.

Hospital CEO Mike Williams said that the hospital’s emergency room has seen 907 more patients this year compared to last year, with many Fairfield residents using the emergency room as their source of primary care. This has helped put a strain on the hospital’s resources, he said, and it was essential that residents find a “medical home.”

Vice Chairman Dwayne Perry said the hospital in Allendale has adopted a similar method for collection with considerable success, more than doubling their collections.

“The taxpayers and the County support this hospital, and we want to make sure we are serving the folks who are the most needy,” Perry said.

But Council Chairman David Ferguson said he was less than comfortable with some parts of the new collection process.

“One of the things I do have a problem with is the garnishing of wages,” Ferguson said. “I agree with Mr. Perry that when services are rendered we need to make arrangements for those services to be paid for. But to go to an employment place and garnish wages, that’s a pretty drastic step. I’m not sure if I would be comfortable with doing that.”

Mitchell said the wage garnishing program would only attack debts over $300 and would be limited to a certain percentage of an individual’s income. In Allendale, that method has generated $500,000, Mitchell said.

“If the hospital goes out of business because they’re not making enough money, where are these people who are not paying going to go?” Councilman David Brown asked. “It’s working in Allendale County.”

While Council member Carolyn Robinson noted that Council actually had no legal authority to deny the hospital’s proposal, Ferguson said the new policies would be placed on the agenda for the Dec. 10 meeting for a formal vote.

“I would still like to see some details (of the collection program),” Ferguson said. “If it helps the hospital, that’s a great thing. If it helps the hospital on somebody’s back who can’t afford it, that’s a different thing.”

Tuesday night, at Winnsboro’s Town Hall, more 30 citizens showed up at the regular Town Council meeting to show their support for the Friends of Mt. Zion Institute. Vicki Dobbs, co-chairman of the committee, presented Council with a proposal to financially participate in the renovation of the Mt. Zion Institute. After receiving pledges for the last year, Dobbs said the committee is ready to move forward. However, the Winnsboro Town Council has found itself in an awkward situation with the Mt. Zion Institute failing to meet current property maintenance codes.

Dobbs acknowledged the council’s predicament.

“We know you’re on the hot seat with the state of the (Mt. Zion Institute) property,” Dobbs told Council.

The hope has been that the Dru Blair School of Art would soon move into the building, but despite progress made toward that goal over the last six months, Doug Moore said he believes that dream is still quite far down the line.

“We will not be able to move into there (Mt. Zion Institute) for at least five years,” he said.

In the face of that news, Dobbs is still optimistic that renovations can move forward to save the historic building.

“We believe that the Mt. Zion project can move on without Dru Blair and Dru Blair can also move on without the Mt. Zion Institute,” Dobbs said, while adding that the art college was “a good fit.”

Red Clay Development currently owns the Mt. Zion Institute and its representative, James Maynard, met with the Council in an executive session to discuss the legal and contractual progress. After meeting behind closed doors for roughly two hours, Council accepted the information presented by Maynard and will further discuss the progress at the next town council meeting on Dec. 18.

In other business, Town Council approved a motion to proclaim Friday, Dec. 7 as Arbor Day. Arbor Day is a holiday recognized throughout the nation and the world for the planting of trees. It was begun by J. Sterling Morton in 1872 when he proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees. Mayor Roger Gaddy encourages citizens to participate in this holiday to promote the well-being of this and future generations.

“If you go out and plant a tree then, that would be great,” he said. “And if you plant more than one, then that would be even better.”

During Council’s Nov. 20 meeting, town Finance Director Kathy Belton confirmed Winnsboro is in a good spot financially.

“We are right where we should be,” Belton said.

Admittedly, compared to 2011 the town does have more expenditures but also has more revenue. In comparison to last year at this time the town has generated $66,064 more revenue. Town Council members approved the motion to grant all town employees with a Christmas bonus to be paid for out of the savings of the workman’s compensation fund. Last year town employees were given a bonus of $600.

Council also voted yes for one capital expense request and postponed another. The request approved was for a new HVAC system at the town of Winnsboro’s maintenance shop. The existing system was installed in 1975 and certain replacement parts are no longer available. The low bid was won by John C. Stewart & Co. at $14,050 and councilman Clyde Sanders was in full support.

“We need to be able to provide a comfortable environment for the town’s employees,” Sanders said.

The capital expense request postponed was made by Jesse Douglas for a sewer line replacement. Town manager Don Wood said he would like to a little more time to review all the facts.

“We had some last minute information come up,” Wood explained. “We decided to table that request until the next meeting.”

As a part of new business, the council approved the proclamation for the Town of Winnsboro to adopt the S.C. Municipal Association’s legislative priorities for 2013. The proclamation confirmed that as of Nov. 20 the Town of Winnsboro will support the Municipal Association’s legislative priorities to encourage local decision making by the local elected officials that govern the state’s 270 cities and towns.

To close out the meeting, council members decided to donate to both Walk One’s and the Good Samaritan House’s Thanksgiving meals for the under-privileged.

When the charter committee of the Fairfield Regional Water Authority meets again in January they may be no closer to forming a united front to challenge the county’s water issues. Monday night, Fairfield County Council took discussion of their participation in the Authority into executive session and emerged with no final decision on formally joining the alliance.

After the meeting, Council Chairman David Ferguson said he was concerned that the process was moving too fast, and that he would like to see more details on how the Authority would be governed and what each entity would be putting on the table before committing taxpayers to the Authority.

At the committee’s initial meeting Nov. 14, the group elected Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy as chairman. Margaret C. Pope, an attorney with the Pope Zeigler law firm, told the committee members that each entity must first pass a resolution, committing themselves to the Authority. After the public hearings and resolutions, the members were scheduled to meet again Jan. 23 to hammer out their bylaws.

But Monday night, County Council made no such move toward offering up such a resolution, making it unlikely the public hearing process would be completed before Jan. 23. Ferguson said he felt like the bylaws should be discussed first, before any resolution.

During their brief Nov. 26 meeting, Fairfield County Council gave the OK to two new members for a pair of local boards before retiring into executive session. Council unanimously approved Frank E. McKinney for service on the Council on Aging, while Catherine H. Fantry was approved to serve on the Hospital Board with one abstention from Council member Mary Lynn Kinley (District 6). Kinley works for Fairfield Memorial Hospital.

With the end of the year approaching, Shryll Brown, Clerk to Council, told Council she was preparing a list of upcoming vacancies on County boards for the County to consider for nominations.

Council’s next scheduled meeting is Dec. 10 at 6 p.m.

On Nov. 27, Richland County Council voted to rezone 10 acres of property located at the corner of Longtown Road and Longtown Road East (at the main entrance to LongCreek Plantation) from RURAL to Medium Density-Residential (RS-MD.)

After a year-long battle against the rezoning, residents now worry that the developer will have time to apply for a Green Code designation that could result in a significantly higher density development than exists elsewhere in LongCreek.