Blythewood Online 691

Category: Government

  • Dog dragging case to be heard Monday

    WINNSBORO (July 7, 2016) – The Fairfield County man who was arrested in January on a felony charge of Ill Treatment of Animals in the Dec. 13, 2015 dragging incident that left a 9-month old dog severely injured, is scheduled to appear in the Court of General Sessions in Fairfield County on Monday, July 11 at 9 a.m., Assistant Sixth Circuit Solicitor Melissa Heimbaugh said on Tuesday.

    Billy Ray Huskey, the man witnesses have said dragged a dog behind his Dodge Ram pickup truck on Sunday morning, Dec. 13, 2015 was arrested on Jan. 30.

    The court appearance for Huskey was moved from Fairfield County to Lancaster on May 9, but moved back to Fairfield County after a public outcry over the move.

    Heimbaugh said that while the appearance is set for 9 a.m., it could be called up anytime during the morning session.

  • County Moves Forward on I-77 Project

    WINNSBORO (July 7, 2016) – After a brief executive session Tuesday evening, County Council voted unanimously to pass first reading of an ordinance authorizing the execution of an agreement between Fairfield County and the S.C. Department of Commerce that authorizes the County to purchase property located in Fairfield County. Earlier, the Administration and Finance Committee spent almost an hour in executive session discussing the issue before voting to move it to Council for a vote.

    “We are negotiating in partnership with the state to purchase a tract of land for a possible industrial site,” Councilwoman Carolyn Robinson (District 2) told The Voice following the meeting. She added that Council’s goal is to bring good paying jobs to Fairfield County.

    While the vote was unanimous on Tuesday evening, Councilman Kamau Marcharia (District 4) didn’t appeared to be in agreement about the project at last month’s intergovernmental meeting. At that meeting, Marcharia said the County might be better served if Council could focus as much on small businesses as it does on big, long-range industrial projects.

    Robinson, however, later told The Voice that Marcharia had spoken out of turn, specifically in his mention of the County’s prospective I-77 project.

    A better idea (than the I-77 project), Marcharia said, is supporting the expansion of water and sewer infrastructure by the local municipalities, which in turn, he said, would spur the growth of small businesses and improve opportunities for adequate housing.

    “I think if you had that (expanded water and sewer), small businesses would come, housing would come,” Marcharia said, “rather than waiting for 10 years for one major project on I-77.”

    Marcharia identified the I-77 project as a long-range vision to construct a major industrial park somewhere along the interstate in the northern portion of the country. Robinson, meanwhile, would not speak in detail about the project.

    “I am not at liberty to discuss it,” she said. “We (members of County Council) are under a confidentiality agreement. Mr. Marcharia was out of line (talking about it).”

     

  • Quarry Opponents Put County Council on Notice

    WINNSBORO (July 7, 2016) – Members of “Citizens Against the Quarry” came out to the June 27 Fairfield County Council meeting to make sure that the Council was aware of its responsibilities for regulating the proposed Winnsboro Crushed Stone quarry operation.

    In a public presentation to the Council, Citizens Against the Quarry member Lisa Brandenburg said that while the group had won six concessions from the S.C. Mining Council pertaining to their concerns about Winnsboro Crushed Stone and the proposed quarry operation, Council should be aware that many issues remain unresolved – issues that are beyond the jurisdiction of the Mining Council but that are under the privy of the Fairfield County Council.

    These issues include:

    • Safety and economic concerns related to heavy quarry trucks on Highway 34 that will impact traffic congestion, road conditions, the railroad crossing, school buses interaction with quarry trucks, and emergency response time;

    • That the ownership of Winnsboro Crushed Stone be identified and made public, with any changes in ownership be re-permitted through the County and citizens informed;

    • That Town of Winnsboro water access be required to be brought under the railroad track prior to any construction;

    • A public hearing should be held prior to any mining expansion in the Middlesex Future Reserve ;

    • A requirement that Winnsboro Crushed Stone provide all monitoring reports to the County Council for publication on the county website;

    • Two additional monitoring stations on Lake Wateree and signage to prevent trucks on the citizen’s portion of Rockton Thruway.

    The group also wanted to know how the County application process addressed air quality, noise concerns, hours of operation and the displacement of 934 acres of wildlife.

    “These remaining issues clearly rest with County Council,” Brandenburg said in the prepared statement. “We look forward to being informed of how these last critical issues will be resolved prior to allowing Winnsboro Crushed Stone to operate.”

    Courthouse

    In other business, Council also approved a motion put forward by Vice-Chairman Kamau Marcharia (District 4), that it accept the recommendation of the Ad Hoc Courthouse Committee for the proposed site for the Courthouse, and to authorize the County Administrator to get a proposal from Meade and Hunt to modify the plans they had previously drawn up for the Hon Building.

    Chairwoman Carolyn Robinson (District 2) said the site, which is on 1.5 half acres owned by the County, was on S. Congress Street next to the First Citizen’s Bank in Winnsboro.

    But, she said, this is just the first step if Council approves.

    “We can’t do anything on our own,” Robinson said. “The Courthouse is controlled by the clerk (of Court), Chief Judge and the Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court. We have to get the blessings of those three individuals before we can go any further.”

     

  • Spec Bids Stun Budget

    BLYTHEWOOD (July 7, 2016) – Architect Ralph Walden told members of Town Council last week that when he opened the first bid for construction of the Depot shell building on June 15, he knew the project was in trouble.

    “We received six bids, all of which ranged from $524,000 (Solid Structures) to $761,455 (W Construction, Inc.), all well over the anticipated amount,” Walden said, suggesting that Council reject all the bids and bring the project’s specs in line with the targeted budget of about $410,000 before putting the project out for bid again.

    “We had the specs beyond a shell,” Walden said, “and that proved to be the wrong direction. We had wiring, 800 amps for a kitchen, HVAC and a slab. The plan was to give the end user a little more for his money. Now we’re going to take about $80,000 out of it. These were not necessities. We’re going to go with rough plumbing, no HVAC, no wiring and go with an elevated foundation instead of a slab.”

    “I expected a lot better numbers,” Councilman Tom Utroska said. “But if we go too far right, it’s too expensive, and too far left, it’s too cheap. So if we build a $200,000 building is that all we’ll get for it?”

    “No,” Walden answered. “We’ll have a very nice shell, but the interior will have minimum wall construction.”

    The project got off the ground in October 2015 when the Town’s Economic Development Consultant Ed Parler encouraged Council to contract with Walden to design the shell, prepare construction drawings and bid out the construction all at a cost of $18,900. That cost did not include construction oversight. The shell was to be built on the Town Hall grounds with grant money the previous Council was awarded five years ago by Fairfield Electric Cooperative to construct a high-end restaurant in the same location.

    The current Council later voted to abandon those plans, but $342,490 of the original $456,881 grant remained for the Town’s use. The money had to be spent on an economic development project, so Council decided to use it to construct the shell building. Parler estimated the Town would have to float about $133,000 for about 90 days to make up the difference between the grant money and the cost of construction, and then pay itself back from the proceeds of the sale of the shell.

    Bid documents were originally to be ready by the end of October 2015 in anticipation of awarding a construction contract at the November meeting. In December 2015, the timetable called for the Town to send out a Request for Proposal and Parler said at the time that he hoped the Town would consummate a sale by February 2016.

    With bidding now back to square one, a new request for bids appears in the classified section of this issue of The Voice.

     

  • Council Makes Emergency Rehab Fire Truck Purchase

    WINNSBORO (June 30, 2016) – Councilman Billy Smith (District 7), pushed for a last minute addition to the agenda during the Fairfield County Council meeting Monday night, to make way for County firefighters and other first responders to get a much needed rehab truck.

    A “rehab” (rehabilitation) truck is used to resuscitate firefighters and other emergency response staff on-site at a fire by providing an air-conditioned space (or a heated space in winter) for rest, rehydration and treatment for smoke inhalation, which in turn prevents life-threatening conditions such as a heat stroke or a heart attack.

    Immediately upon convening the regular June 27 meeting, Chairwoman Carolyn Robinson (District 2) asked for a motion to amend the agenda in order to add an item “C” under new business, which would allow the County Council to consider whether to purchase the rehab vehicle. This motion passed, 5-1, with Council Vice-Chairman Kamau Marcharia (District 4) opposed.

    Before the meeting, Smith had gathered information to create a timeline on the need for a rehab truck, which was shared with Council members. Smith stated that previously the County had a rehab truck but it was involved in an accident last fall and was no longer in use. The only replacement was a rescue squad truck that did not even have air conditioning.

    The Council had been requested to fund a new rehab truck in the 2016-2017 budget, but that request never made it to Council because the County Administrator at that time (J. Milton Pope) decided that the need could be met with an existing transit vehicle.

    However, according to Smith, none of the transit trucks owned by the County would have been appropriate due to various factors, such as the age and mileage on some of the vehicles and the fact that some had been purchased with state and federal funds which would not allow the vehicles to be re-purposed.

    Smith said he didn’t find out about this situation until last Friday, and at that time contacted administrative staff to discuss options, which would have been to fund the truck in the next year’s budget or to purchase it under the current budget cycle, which ends June 30. Since there was money left over in the current budget that could be used for the rehab truck, Smith felt that was the better option.

    Meanwhile, the county has had three fires in the past week, Smith said. In one fire, the firefighters were battling a blaze that reached up to 900 degrees, and had nowhere to cool off in the temperatures outside, which were 105 degrees according to the heat-index.

    When the Council came to the “new business” section of the agenda, Councilwoman Mary Lynn Kinley (District 6) made a motion to allow the County Administrator to move the funds needed to purchase the rehab vehicle into the appropriate budget line.

    These funds will come from unspent money in two existing budget lines: $19,267.04 from the budget line item for “Firefighter Supplies and Equipment” and $13,032.96 from an insurance claim on the former rehab vehicle, for a total of $32,300.

    This time Marcharia along with the rest of the Council voted to approve the purchase. Marcharia explained that his previous “no” vote on amending the agenda was based on his concern that this could set a precedent.

    “I do understand the nature of this situation,” Marcharia said, “but I am concerned that when issues like this come up we get less than 24 hours’ notification about spending thousands and thousands of dollars in taxpayer money. But the proper procedure for this is to bring it to the finance committee like we always do.”

    “I understand what Mr. Marcharia is saying and to a point certainly agree,” Smith said, “but this was the only opportunity to do this in the current budget. This is such a safety sensitive item.”

    Reached after the meeting, Smith said the request was justified as an emergency purchase under the procurement code given the extreme conditions that the firefighters, who are mostly volunteers, often have to operate under and the serious safety hazards they face.

    “The sooner we get these guys a rehab truck, the better,” Smith said.

    He also said this would benefit all emergency responders in the County.

    The County Purchasing Manual allows for emergency purchases, and states that an “emergency shall be deemed to exist when it creates a threat to public health, welfare, or safety, as may arise by reason of floods, epidemics, riots, equipment failures, fire loss, or any other reason as proclaimed by the County Administrator or his designee. The occurrence of emergency conditions must create an immediate and serious need for supplies, equipment, and services which cannot be met through normal procurement methods and the lack of which would seriously threaten … the health or safety of any person. … Purchases in excess of $25,000 must be approved by County Council.”

     

  • Board Questions Student Trips

    WINNSBORO (June 30, 2016) – Field trips and senior trips were once again on the Fairfield County School Board’s agenda earlier this month with some Board members arguing against the District sponsoring the trips.

    Dr. Claudia Edwards, Deputy Superintendent of Academics, first asked the Board to approve a field trip to England in 2017 for the high school’s Early College Academy, so the students could experience real-life applications of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) concepts. Edwards said the trip would cost $3,635 per student.

    According to Edwards, a payment plan will be offered for both students and adults who take the trip.

    “Does that (the payment plan) mean the students will be paying for this trip, the entire trip?” Board member William Frick (District 6) asked.

    Edwards said the students are planning to have fundraisers to help offset the cost of the trip. District Superintendent Dr. J.R. Green added that the Board is only being asked to approve the trip so that students can begin fundraising and collecting money.

    “No one is requesting any funding of the Board,” Green said. “We are simply approving the trip, which gives the students the opportunity to begin fundraising and making payments on the trip. So if there is a question about whether the Board will be accepting (financial) responsibility for sending these students abroad, the answer to that is no.”

    The trip was approved 6-0, with Board member Annie McDaniel (District 4) abstaining.

    Similarly, the Board was asked to approve two senior trip options for the 2017 graduating class of Fairfield Central High School – a cruise to the Bahamas and a Grad Bash in Orlando, Fla.

    Again, it was made clear to the Board that only Board approval for the trip was being requested; the students would be responsible for coming up with the money.

    “We have been discussing this for a couple of years . . . about getting away from sponsoring this,” Frick said. “When we attach our name to it we assume responsibility – why are we still doing this?”

    Green said he had some conversations with the senior class members several years ago, and the consensus was that if the school didn’t sponsor it, it wouldn’t happen. The students felt they could not get enough support to organize the trip on their own

    Board Vice-Chair Carl Jackson Jr. (District 5) and Board member Henry Miller (District 3) also expressed concern about the school being involved and liable for the students’ welfare. Despite these misgivings, the trip was approved 5-1-1, with Board Charwoman Beth Reid (District 7) voting no because she also believed that “we should get out of the student trip business.”

    New Grading Policy

    The Board approved the second and final reading for the new grading policy required by state rules.

    The new grading policy, adopted by the State Board of Education in April, implements a 10-point grading scale for students in grades one through 12, effective for the 2016-17 school year. For example, students entering ninth grade will start on the 10-point grading scale; at that point a “90” will be considered an “A.” Previously, under the seven-point grading scale, a student had to score a 93 in order to receive an “A” grade.

     

  • County Hires Economic Leader

    Ty Davenport
    Ty Davenport

    WINNSBORO (June 30, 2016) – When County Council introduced Jason Taylor as their new County Administrator earlier this month, they also filled another long-vacant position by announcing the hire of Ty Davenport as the County’s new Economic Development Director.

    Davenport, 52, took office on June 6. The County has been without an Economic Development Director since July 2, 2015, when Tiffany Harrison resigned to take the Executive Director position with the Midlands Education Business Alliance in Columbia. Harrison had been the County’s economic point person since 2006.

    Davenport holds a Master’s degree in economic development from the University of Southern Mississippi. He earned an undergraduate degree in business administration from Presbyterian College in Clinton.

    Prior to coming to Fairfield County, Davenport spent the last eight years as the owner of Charles T. Davenport Investments, LLC, a commercial real estate company. For 10 years before going out on his own, Davenport was the national accounts manager for Nucor Corp. in Columbia, where he was responsible for promotion and sales of Nucor Building Systems products. He spent 1996-1998 as the Economic Development Representative for the SCANA Corporation, and began his career as the Senior Project Manager with the Central Carolina Economic Development Alliance.

    It was while he was with the Alliance that he first became acquainted with Fairfield County, when he helped recruit both Isola and Lang Mekra to the Walter Brown 2 Industrial Park.

    “While working for the Central Carolina Alliance, I had some success in Fairfield County with some projects I worked on,” Davenport said. “The people here were great, they wanted to grow and they had the right attitude.”

    So when the opportunity to come back to Fairfield County arose, he said, he jumped at it.

    “It’s kind of like coming home,” Davenport said.

    Nearly 20 years later, Fairfield County is in a great position to grow further, he said.

    “There’s tremendous opportunity here,” Davenport said. “The new Commerce Park is up and there’s infrastructure in the ground, which is huge. It makes it really attractive to industry. It’s a great county from an economic development standpoint; where it is located, between Columbia and Charlotte. It’s tough to find property. We have property here.”

    Davenport’s job is not without its challenges, however; water being at the top of the list.

    “We’ve got infrastructure requirements,” he said. “We need more water and sewer in the ground, but that will come. We have adequate services for moderate users, but if you have a major mega-water user, we’re off the list. Typically, they’re the big investments. That’s an opportunity we don’t want to miss.”

    Davenport said since coming to work he’s already had his first visit with an interested company, and there are four or five others, he said, that appear “viable.”

    As Harrison said in her final days with Fairfield County last year, “The county is in great position for growth and success. We have the building blocks in place so the next person coming in will be able to continue that success.”

    Davenport, it appears, is wasting no time in fitting some of those building blocks together.

     

  • Council OK’s Budget

    BLYTHEWOOD (June 30, 2016) – Blythewood Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Mike Switzer and his assistant Kitty Kelly made one last stand Tuesday evening to persuade Council to increase funding for the Chamber from $9,500 to $20,000, but Council passed on the request, instead increasing the funding for the Chamber to $12,500 as they previously voted to do at the budget workshop on June 14.

    Mayor J. Michael Ross praised the Chamber for what it did for the business community, and he said the Chamber actually received the largest increase of any outside group funded by the Town government.

    Referring to a comment Switzer made at the June budget workshop emphasizing the Chamber’s strides in recruiting large businesses outside Blythewood like the new giant Killian Road Kroger, Ross said, “I’m thrilled that the Kroger is coming. My wife is thrilled. However, when a Blythewood resident buys groceries at that Kroger, they will be taking business away from our IGA and Food Lion here in Blythewood. That’s something to think about.”

    Councilman Tom Utroska asked Switzer what percentage of Blythewood businesses made up the Chamber.

    “About 25 percent,” Switzer said.

    After the meeting, however, Switzer said he thought it was closer to 40 percent.

    Council voted unanimously to adopt the $1,596,679 proposed budget with only a few minor changes from the second reading on June 14.

    “We were able to balance the budget with existing revenue sources, which was helped by cost savings like the transition from outsourcing accounting services to bringing those in-house with the new software, reducing audit, legal and IT costs, and bidding out some services which reduced annual contract costs,” said Town Administrator Gary Parker.

    But Parker warned, as he did last year, that it might soon be necessary to find additional sources of revenue, suggesting the possible necessity of a property tax.

    Parker said, on the revenue side, that even if there is no change this year in the business license law regarding what fees can be charged, that change may come next year and could result in substantial reduction in Town revenues.

    “Currently,” Parker said, “the Town receives $180,000 to $200,000 in business license revenues depending on the number of businesses. If the maximum fee allowed becomes $100 per business, our revenues would drop to $18,000, or about one-tenth of the current amount.”

    Parker said the Town’s big revenue sources are mostly the state-controlled insurance tax collection program and local option sales tax program which are dependable sources for now but not necessarily in the long run.

    “A large source of revenue for the town right now is building permits and fees,” Parker said. And he reminded Council that, potentially, the biggest, most flexible and controllable revenue source would be a property tax if, subject to Act 388’s limiting formula, the Town is ever able to establish one.

    Accommodations Tax (A-Tax) and Hospitality Tax (H-Tax) revenues will most likely increase next year, according to Parker, which will allow the Town to do a number of things, including transferring some of the H-Tax revenues to the Enterprise Fund for the Manor.

    “The dollars available for funding Town events like the S.C. Diamond Invitational baseball tournament, the Christmas Parade and other events will not decrease. In fact,” Parker said, “available tourism-related funding increases from last year’s $106,000 (total A-Tax and H-Tax dollars) to this year’s $200,000.” Parker said if all that funding is not used this year to fund events, the unused amounts can roll over to next year’s fund balances.

    Parker said the Town is finalizing its transition to SmartFusion accounting software as it moves its operations into the Cloud.

    “There is no doubt that these expenditures will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Town’s operations, and that, in turn, will result in lower costs and improved services to citizens,” Parker said.

    The newly adopted budget includes a Capital Project Budget for the construction of the amphitheater that will be funded by donations that include a $125,000 contribution from Palmetto Citizens Federal Credit Union, a $75,000 grant from the Central Midlands Community Foundation and H-Tax funds.

     

  • Fanning Surges to Runoff Victory

    Mike Fanning
    Mike Fanning

    WINNSBORO (June 29, 2016) – In a dramatic swing from the June 14 Democratic Primary numbers, challenger Mike Fanning ousted two-term District 17 State Sen. Creighton Coleman from the ticket in Tuesday night’s runoff by nearly 13 percentage points. Fanning will face Republican Mark Palmer of York in the Nov. 8 general election.

    The swing came largely in Coleman’s home county of Fairfield.

    On June 14, Coleman edged Fanning 2,281 votes (49.01 percent) to 2,066 (44.39 percent) in a three-man race that included Morgan Bruce Reeves, who picked up 307 votes. Tuesday night, however, Fanning upped his game for 2,583 votes (57.64 percent) to Coleman’s 1,898 (42.36 percent).

    And the bleeding didn’t stop there.

    Both candidates lost votes in Chester County, where on June 14 Coleman topped Fanning 2,097 (52.24 percent) to 1,681 (41.88 percent), and where Reeves accounted for 236 votes, but Coleman experienced the biggest drop-off. Fanning squeaked by in Chester Tuesday night 1,447 (51.11 percent) to 1,384 (48.89 percent).

    Coleman also dropped votes in York County. On June 14, Fanning trounced Coleman 583 (56.66 percent) to 379 (36.83 percent), while Reeves picked up 67 votes. Tuesday night, Fanning increased his margin, 644 votes (64.59 percent) while Coleman’s totals fell to 353 (35.41 percent).

    District-wide, Fanning outpaced Coleman 4,674 (56.25 percent) to 3,635 (43.75 percent).

    Between the June 14 Primary and Tuesday’s runoff, Coleman dropped 940 votes, while Fanning picked up 344 votes.

    Voter turnout was also lower Tuesday than in the June 14 Primary, which traditionally favors the incumbent. Tuesday, that tradition was turned on its head.

    Turnout in Fairfield County Tuesday was 29.02 percent, down from 31.44 percent two weeks ago. In Chester County, turnout was down to 13.87 percent from 21.61 percent on June 14. In York, turnout was a dismal 3.11 percent, down from 10.62 percent two weeks ago.

    The Voice reached out to both candidates after Tuesday’s results, but neither returned phone calls before press time.

     

  • Board OK’s Tax Anticipation Loan

    Meeting Ends in Turmoil

    WINNSBORO (June 23, 2016) – During its regular called meeting June 7, the Fairfield County School Board approved a $38,047,384 budget with no millage increase, which remains at 203.1 mils. The Board also approved a Tax Anticipation Note (TAN) not to exceed $4.3 million.

    Superintendent Dr. J.R. Green explained that the purpose of the TAN is to allow the District to receive an advance on tax revenue that will not come into the District until the beginning of the next year in January.

    Board Secretary William Frick (District 6) thanked Robinson and his staff for bringing the amount of the TAN down about $2 million from what it was last year. Last October, Frick had asked Robinson if the Board might potentially not have to take out a TAN for the FY 2015-2016 budget since the District had “an anticipated $9 million in the fund balance and considering that each year we’re looking at about a $6 million TAN.”

    “I understand these are necessary from time to time but . . . on my time on the Board this is at least one million dollars lower than any other TAN we have voted on,” Frick said.

    Board member Paula Hartman (District 2) also asked Green if the District could forgo a TAN this year due to the money the District has in savings. However, Green replied that the District does not have enough cash on hand not to do a TAN.

    “We are not at the point where we don’t need a TAN at all,” he said.

    The budget and the TAN each passed on a 5-2 vote, with Hartman and Annie McDaniel (District 4) voting against both.

    Meeting Ends Contentiously

    The Board meeting ended on a contentious note when McDaniel asked Board Chairwoman Beth Reid (District 7) for a list of the teachers who have left each school during the current school year.

    “I think they have all been in board docs,” Reid said, referring to the information packet provided to Board members. “They are all there, we have looked at them, you have voted on it.”

    The Board routinely votes on all terminations/resignations of certified District staff, but McDaniel has complained that Board members are never allowed to see teachers’ resignation letters.

    “My question is, could we have a comprehensive list of all the teachers that have left each school?” McDaniel repeated.

    Reid said they could not unless that is the consensus of the Board.

    “That’s extra work on the staff. That is why the Board as a whole must request it,” Reid said. “This in the Board policy manual.”

    Hartman tried to rally the Board to vote to request that McDaniel be given the information, but Reid would not allow a vote since she said this was not an action item on the agenda.

    At that point the meeting disintegrated further with accusations of untruthfulness and name calling back and forth between McDaniel and Reid. Reid banged her gravel continuously, and as the arguing continued, she called both McDaniel and Hartman out of order. The din continued until a motion was passed to adjourn the meeting.

    McDaniel got in the last word: “I want it in the record that you (Reid) won’t let Board members get information to be able to (function) as Board members.”