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  • Grant Request Dies in Committee

    WINNSBORO (Sept. 22, 2016) – The Administration and Finance Committee, on a 0-3 vote on Sept. 12, let die in committee a request from the Town of Ridgeway for $20,000 – $8,683.28 for matching funds for a Parks and Recreational Development (PARD) grant for a kiddie park and an additional $11,616.62 for fencing for the park.

    In order to receive PARD grant money of $64,200 for the park, the Town had to come up with matching funds of $16,050 for a total of $80,250. After the Pulpwood Festival Committee kicked in $7,366 toward the matching fund amount, $8,683.28 was still needed. Tacking on an additional $11,616.62 for fencing, Ridgeway’s total request of the County came to $20,000, just shy of the total needed for the project.

    While County Administrator Jason Taylor suggested the funds could come out of Council’s contingency fund, Councilman Marion Robinson (District 5) was the first of the three Committee members to balk at the request.

    “I think they (Ridgeway Town Council) would have had to know they were going to apply for a PARD grant back before our budgeting process began. They should have come then to talk with us so we could have considered putting it in our budget,” Robinson said.

    Councilwoman Mary Lynn Kinley (District 6) asked if it was a requirement that the Town should have come to the County before applying for the grant if they planned to ask for money.

    “It’s not a requirement,” Taylor said, “but it would have been nice if they had.”

    “We as a Council do not give money to Towns,” Chairwoman Carolyn Robinson (District 2) added. “You start that process and everyone will be coming with their hands out. We’re looking at (renovating) a courthouse. It ($20,000) would go a long way to help us not have to use other moneys. Also, two years ago, they (Ridgeway) had the opportunity to have recreation in the Town and turned it down. For something that was a top priority, they should have come to talk to us. I’m not in favor of this since they knew about all this before the budget process.”

    “Since they’ve waited this long, maybe they can wait till next year’s budget time,” Kinley said. “It’s not that we don’t want to support them, but it’s after budget.”

    “PARD grants are applied for by the end of April or May,” Carolyn Robinson said.

    “If they had applied then, it’s something that could have been considered in the budget. If we do anything now, we have to amend the budget, go through three readings and a public hearing,” Robinson added.

    With that, the Committee voted against sending the item forward for Council’s consideration.

     

  • No quorum? No problem.

    WINNSBORO – When a quorum of members didn’t show up for a special called County Council meeting Monday evening, that didn’t deter the three members (out of seven) present from meeting and then voting to go into executive session to discuss what Chairman Carolyn Robinson (District 2) said was “a legal matter relating to the Fairfield Memorial Hospital.” However, no attorney was present to advise members regarding that legal matter.

    And there were other problems as well, according to Jay Bender, First Amendment attorney with the S.C. Press Association.

    “There was no meeting because there was no quorum,” Bender told The Voice in an email on Tuesday. “There should not have been an executive session because an executive session can only be entered into from a publicly convened meeting following an affirmative vote on a motion.”

    When Robinson called the 6 p.m. meeting to order with only Council members Kamau Marcharia (District 4) and Mary Lynn Kinley (District 6) present, she immediately called for a motion to go into executive session. With a vote of 3-0, they did so even while County Administrator Jason Taylor could be heard advising Robinson that they did not have a quorum.

    “We don’t have a quorum, but we’re still going to discuss,” Robinson could be heard saying even though the Council members’ microphones had been turned off.

    Marcharia also questioned the advisability of meeting without a quorum as the group left the Council chambers for a private meeting room for what turned out to be a 20-minute session.

    Reached this week by phone, Robinson defended her use of the executive session without a quorum.

    “We had an unofficial meeting without a quorum,” Robinson said. “So we called it to order and made a motion to go into executive session, came out and reported nothing out of executive session. It’s just a discussion. It’s nothing you can report out.”

    When confronted with the irregularity, if not possible illegality, of conducting a meeting without a quorum, Robinson was irritated.

    “I’m so sick of you trying to usurp and understand the rules when you don’t understand the rules,” Robinson said. “I’m not going to go into it. Everything I try to do is by the rules. Basically what people don’t like is that I know the rules.”

    But Robinson may not be as up on the “rules” as she claims.

    In his email on the subject, Bender further wrote, “‘discussion of a legal matter’ is not an allowed topic for an executive session.”

    The meeting was called on Sept. 16 and both Councilman Dan Ruff (District 1) and Billy Smith (District 7) told The Voice that they had not expected the Monday meeting and had plans that could not be changed on short notice. They said they received no other communication about the meeting or why it was urgent. Councilman Marion Robinson (District 5) was also not present at the meeting. One seat on Council, District 3, is currently vacant.

    The issue under discussion on Monday evening came up at an Administrative and Finance Committee meeting on Sept. 7, when Taylor called members’ attention to an item on the agenda requesting action to engage the services of Parker Poe Consulting, LLC for assistance with legal matters relating to the hospital.

    Because Parker Poe’s legal and consultation services are expected to be more than $25,000, above what is allowed to be approved by the Administrator, some members of Council questioned whether the services should be subject to sealed bid.

    When the item came up for discussion on Council’s Sept. 12 agenda, Taylor told Council that new information had come to light and suggested they discuss the issue further in executive session before voting. Following that session, Councilman Billy Smith (District 7) told The Voice he thought the discussion had been beneficial and felt Council should go through proper procurement procedures in procuring legal services.

  • Neighbor Provides Pointe Fence

    BLYTHEWOOD (Sept. 22, 2016) – The Board of Architectural Review (BAR) finally got its fence, though not exactly the one it wanted. After negotiating for months last year with the developers of The Pointe apartment complex to install a decorative fence (instead of the developer’s proposed chain link fence) on three sides of the Main Street apartment project, the developer, Prestwick Developers, backed out at the last minute, pointing out that the zoning ordinance did not require a fence.

    On Monday evening, Harold Boney, who owns the property on the west side of The Pointe, came before the BAR offering to build a fence between the two properties if the Board would approve a 6-foot tall, black vinyl-coated chain link fence that, he said, would be hidden in the landscaping. The 450 linear feet of fencing would stretch from a previously determined setback point near Main Street straight back to the back property line of the adjoining properties.

    “It’s a liability issue for me,” Boney said. “There will be lots of children over there and if they are playing on my property and get hurt, I’ll be liable.”

    Boney said the fence is part of an agreement he has with Prestwick.

    “They needed a place to bore under Highway 21 for sewer connections,” Boney said. “So I let them bore on my property in exchange for them paying for the fence.”

    Boney said Prestwick has already paid him for the cost of the fence, which is estimated at $7,980.

    As a condition of their approval, BAR members asked Boney to add a decorative column on the end of the fence nearest Main Street, and that the brick on the column match the brick on the apartment buildings. Boney agreed.

    “We appreciate very much what you’ve done for us. (The fence) is something we’ve wanted,” Jim McLean told Boney. “My disappointment to some degree is that Prestwick has had us again, because they knew a chain link fence was not going to be approved for them. So they went into this agreement (with Boney) deceitfully.” Though McLean was quick to say the Board did not blame Boney.

    The Board voted unanimously to approve the fence on the conditions that the setback from Main Street that was previously approved would be used, and that specifications for the decorative column could be hammered out.

     

  • Phillips Granite Co. Enters New Era

    Grady Phillips with the last load of granite to leave his shop.
    Grady Phillips with the last load of granite to leave his shop.

    WINNSBORO (Sept. 16, 2016) – After 83 years in business, Phillips Granite Company has decided to partner with Gulden Monuments of York County. The granite company has been in the family for three generations and was the last monument manufacturer in South Carolina.

    “My grandfather moved here in 1933 and started his own granite business and saw it as an opportunity,” manager Grady Phillips said. “I learned (the business) from my father who engaged in the business all his life, and we worked side by side for three decades together.”

    Phillips said he has known the owners of Gulden Monuments for many years and has always thought highly of them.

    “Now it’s time to finish up the remaining manufacturing orders and move onto the next chapter,” Phillips said. “That’s just the economics in the way of business these days. I didn’t have a successor in my family that wanted to continue the business. Now the business will be able to continue after I retire, and hopefully after I die.”

    Phillips said this merger will have little outward change for the public, however. The business will stay in the same location and clients will still come to the office to place their orders. The only major change is that Phillips Granite will be working strictly in sales and services, not in manufacturing.

    “You’ll see the same two ladies at the front, and you’ll still see me there. I’ll still be a manager of the granite company,” Phillips said. “We are very blessed and I thank the Lord every day that we have been able to do this for 83 years. We’re still in business and we appreciate all the support from the community.”

     

  • Winnsboro Man Charged with Murder

    Cornelius L. Alston
    Cornelius L. Alston

    WINNSBORO (Sept. 14, 2016) – A Winnsboro man was arrested and charged with murder earlier this month after a domestic dispute spiraled out of control, leaving one man dead.

    The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office said Cornelius Laderrick Alston, 39, was arrested on Sept. 3, not far from the home in the 1700 block of Smalls Chapel Road where 44-year-old Marvin Dejon Young lay dead, the victim of a stab wound.

    According to the incident report, Alston’s 15-year-old son told investigators that he and his father had been out all day and had returned to his mother’s home at 1726 Smalls Chapel Road at approximately 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 3. Once there, Alston and the juvenile’s mother got into a verbal argument that quickly escalated and became physical. The argument intensified, with both Alston and the juvenile’s mother going out into the front yard and flattening the tires on each other’s cars.

    The juvenile’s mother sprayed Alston in the face with a shot of pepper spray and eventually drew a pocket knife to force Alston to leave the home. Young, of 59 N. Wisteria Lane, soon became involved in the altercation and, according to the report, leapt onto the top of Alston’s car, shattering the windshield.

    Once back inside the house, Alston reportedly snuck up behind Young and stabbed him in the lower left side of his back. Fairfield County Coroner Barkley Ramsey, who pronounced Young dead at the scene, said Alston had used a large kitchen knife to stab Young through both lungs. The wound cut through Young’s aorta, Ramsey said, and Young rapidly bled out internally.

    According to the report, Alston’s son told investigators that after Young had been stabbed, the victim collapsed onto the floor. The juvenile placed a towel underneath Young and began chest compressions while the juvenile’s mother attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Alston fled the scene, the juvenile said, right after Young collapsed from the wound.

    Deputies arrived at the scene just after 6 p.m. As they turned onto Smalls Chapel Road, they spotted Alston sitting on top of his car at the end of the road, trying to flag the officers down. After securing the scene, and after investigators had arrived, deputies returned to the end of Smalls Chapel Road to find Alston still there waiting for them.

    Alston, of 470 A Pine St., was arrested and charged with murder. At press time he was still being held at the Fairfield County Detention Center.

     

  • Council Rethinks Poe Hire

    Hospital Negotiations Land in County’s Lap

    WINNSBORO (Sept. 15, 2016) – During Monday’s County Council meeting, County Administrator Jason Taylor called members’ attention to a request for action to engage the services of Parker Poe Consulting, LLC for assistance with legal matters relating to Fairfield Memorial Hospital. The issue had been sent forward to Council by the Administration and Finance Committee on Sept. 7.

    At that meeting, attended by Parker Poe attorney Ray Jones and Milton Pope who is on retainer to the County, Taylor reviewed with Committee members Marion Robinson and Carolyn Robinson (Mary Lynn Kinley was not present) the situation – that the hospital is looking to partner with someone who would come in and take over Fairfield Memorial’s services.

    “It appears that the hospital is leaning on us to work up and develop a contract with this third party partner,” Taylor said. “Initially, we had the concept that they were going to take the lead on this, but they asked us where we were in the process. In order for us to move forward, and even if we continue to work with the hospital, which obviously we have to do, I think we need to know what we expect for the millions of dollars the County may contribute toward this new plan.”

    Taylor said that since Council members are not health care experts, they might need to make sure they get this right, legally. He suggested that Council probably does need to hire someone to assist in the legal process.

    “There are things we think we know, but there are probably a lot of questions that we aren’t going to know to ask because, again, we are not experts in health care,” Taylor said.

    Turning to the County Association for guidance, Taylor said they advised looking at how this same kind of thing has unfolded in other areas – Barnwell being an example.

    “I talked to Pickens Williams in Barnwell about their situation,” Taylor said, “and I talked to several legal firms besides Parker Poe.”

    Marion Robinson (District 5) had questions.

    “I guess I’m a little confused. Why, all of a sudden, is this a County contract deal instead of a hospital contract deal,” Robinson asked.

    “I don’t know,” Carolyn Robinson (District 2) said. “It is just the perception of what came down and the information that was passed to us last week when we met. Regardless of what they’re (hospital) doing, we still have to be totally responsible for protecting the interest of the citizens and protecting their funds and going forward and doing the best we can.”

    The committee voted 2-0 to send the issue forward to Council for discussion.

    But a sticking point with some Council members is the fact that Parker Poe’s legal and consultation services will come to more than $25,000, above what is allowed to be approved by the Administrator. According to the County’s Procurement Code, any amount above $25,000 must be subject to sealed bid.

    When the item came up for discussion on Council’s agenda Monday evening, Taylor said new information had come to light. He suggested that before taking action to engage the services of Parker Poe, that Council discuss it further in executive session.

    While Council did not take a vote on the issue following executive session, Councilman Billy Smith (District 7) said after the meeting he was glad Council held off and discussed the issue further.

    “I do think we need to procure legal services in regard to the hospital and continuing to provide health care in Fairfield County,” Smith said. “And we need to go through proper procurement procedures in doing that.”

     

  • Ridgeway Woman Killed in Rock Hill Car Crash

    ROCK HILL – A Ridgeway woman was killed last week after the car in which she was a passenger was involved in a three-vehicle crash in Rock Hill.

    York County Coroner Sabrina Gast said Virginia Bartell, 72, died at Carolina’s Medical Center at approximately 11:49 p.m. on Sept. 7 as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.

    According to the S.C. Highway Patrol, Bartell was a passenger in the right front seat of a 2013 Toyota Prius being driven by Phyllis D. Brown, also 72 and also of Ridgeway, on S.C. 901 (Heckle Blvd.), near Clinton College.

    At approximately 4:17 p.m. on Sept. 7, the Highway Patrol said, a 1973 Buick being driven by Stevie Lemont McClinton, 23, of Rock Hill, was traveling east on Crawford Road and disregarded a traffic signal, crossing into the intersection of Crawford Road and 901. McClinton’s Buick struck a 1986 Chevrolet pickup truck being driven by Arthur Lewis June, 67, of Rock Hill, forcing the pickup truck to crash into the Prius.

    Bartell was trapped inside the Prius, the Highway Patrol said, and extracted mechanically by emergency responders. She was then airlifted to Carolina’s Medical Center.

    The crash was still under investigation by the Highway Patrol at press time.

     

  • Questions Raised Over County-Pope Contract

    WINNSBORO (Sept. 15, 2016) – A contract signed by the County last June to retain former interim County Administrator J. Milton Pope as a consultant may have skipped a step on its way to execution, according to some members of County Council.

    According to the minutes from the May 23 meeting, Council came out of executive session and voted unanimously “to extend an agreement of retainer to Parker Poe Consulting, LLC for six months, pending approval of terms.”

    The motion was put forward by Mary Lynn Kinley (District 6) and seconded by Dan Ruff (District 1).

    While Ruff said this week that he did not recall the exact details of the motion, Kinley initially told The Voice that it was her impression that once the terms had been hammered out, the contract would come back to Council for a final vote.

    But that did not happen.

    On June 3, Chairwoman Carolyn Robinson (District 2) signed the deal on behalf of the County.

    “Who was supposed to ‘approve the terms’ is my question,” Kinley said.

    Noting that more than three months have passed since the vote and that her memory was not entirely clear, Kinley later added that it was possible that the terms had in fact been approved by Council by the time the deal was signed.

    The memory of Councilman Billy Smith (District 7), meanwhile, is crystal clear.

    “The phrase ‘pending terms’ is not confusing,” Smith said this week. “It means we would be bringing those back to look at them and approve them. That’s why it was put in the minutes that way – we would send it (the contract) out to them (Pope and Parker Poe), we would look at the terms and see if they were amenable. My understanding was Council would look at those terms and approve them, revise them, negotiate them, send them back – whatever. We never did that.”

    Smith said it was approximately three weeks after the May 23 vote that he learned that the contract had been signed, sealed and delivered – without Council approving any ‘terms’.

    Councilman Kamau Marcharia also said he was under the impression that Council would have a final review of the terms before the County officially entered into the deal.

    “I think it should have been brought back,” Marcharia (District 4) said. “Somebody’s got to make a decision on something like that. ‘Approval of terms’ – by who?”

    The minutes do not answer that question, but Smith said Council has a track record of delegating responsibility when it should not be doing so.

    And while Kinley said Council should possibly revisit the matter, Smith said such a thing was not likely.

    “Maybe I’m just resigned to the point that Council has in the past had a Chair who was allowed to do whatever they wanted, unrestricted, without any oversight,” Smith said. “It’s not something I support, but at the end of the day, a Chair can only do as much as Council will allow them to do. This is just one of many different things where the Chair has gone beyond the scope of our bylaws.”

    Phone calls to Robinson were not returned at press time.

    The agreement between the County and Pope (doing business as Parker Poe Consulting, LLC) keeps the former interim Administrator on retainer for six months, terminating on Dec. 31. The County agrees to pay Pope $3,500 a month for, among other things, Pope to “monitor” legislation that may impact the County’s fee-in-lieu of taxes deal with the SCANA Corp., as well as to assist in the “transition process” of new County Administrator Jason Taylor.

    Pope will also, according to the contract, serve as “a resource to County Council regarding past County projects, policies and/or operational questions.”

    The addendum to the contract comprises a list of 38 County projects for which Pope will make his services available, including an Animal Control ordinance, economic development plan/implementation, recreation and public safety projects, the budget process and phase two of Commerce Park. The list also includes Courthouse relocation, the hospital, the County’s proposed commerce mega-site in Ridgeway and water and sewer issues.

    The deal went into effect on July 1.

     

  • Confusion Reigns Over Rezoning

    Council Tables Request, Seeks Legal Advice

    RIDGEWAY (Sept. 15, 2016) – Confusion over Ridgeway’s zoning ordinance continued to plague Town Council last week as a motion on second reading to amend that ordinance to rezone .82 acres at the fork of highways 21 and 34 failed to carry. Instead, Council opted to table the amendment and consult an attorney.

    “Our citizens feel like we don’t know what we’re doing up here,” Councilman Donald Prioleau said after the vote on second reading fell 1-3. Councilman Heath Cookendorfer was the only affirmative vote at the Sept. 8 meeting.

    Prioleau was one of three Council members to vote in favor of first reading of the zoning ordinance amendment during Council’s Aug. 11 meeting. That vote stirred controversy in the face of a petition in opposition to the zoning change, presented to Council prior to the Aug. 11 meeting.

    That petition, according to Councilwoman Angela Harrison, represents an official protest, in light of which a three-fourths vote of Council is required to pass a zoning change. While the S.C. Municipal Association last month told The Voice that three-fourths of a five-member council is four, during the Aug. 11 meeting Council was unclear on the mathematics.

    Ridgeway business owner Russ Brown, a former Ridgeway resident and former member of Town Council, owns the lot in question and is seeking a zoning change from residential to commercial. Brown, who has plans to construct a small office building on the lot, told Council last month that any protest of his request should have come before the Planning and Zoning Commission at their July 12 public hearing on the matter. The Commission voted to recommend Brown’s request on a 5-2 vote.

    And while Sara Robertson, a nearby resident, presented Council with the petition – which she said included the signatures of 50 people opposed to the zoning change – before the Aug. 11 meeting, an official letter of protest was not submitted to the Town until Aug. 12, a day after first reading passed on a 3-2 vote.

    As Council began discussion last week prior to second reading, Harrison again cited the protest rule requiring a three-fourths vote.

    “The protest rule is for the Planning and Zoning Committee to hear,” Cookendorfer said. “It’s not for the Council. The Council does not have a hearing. At this point and time, if there’s still any question of legality or illegality, anyone who opposes it and is on the letter of protest, can at this point and time seek legal advisement and file a case with the civil court.”

    Harrison disagreed and said that the protest was of a decision that Council was making.

    In a memo to Council reviewing the process, Zoning Administrator Patty Cronin-Cookendorfer wrote that the Planning and Zoning Commission had correctly followed the Town’s ordinance. Furthermore, she wrote, any protest can only be made by owners of lots “contiguous to the area in question,” according to the Town’s ordinance. Brown’s property, she noted, has only one contiguous lot “according to the legal definition.”

    That lot is owned by Robert Johnson, a signatory of the protest.

    Cronin-Cookendorfer also wrote in her memo that, after discussing the matter with the County Zoning Administrator, a three-fourths vote on a five-member council is three.

    “You’re telling me three-fourths of five is three and the Municipal Association says it’s four,” Harrison said during the Sept. 8 discussion. “And we’re not listening to our citizens at all. I don’t want to debate this issue. I think it’s fair to our constituency that we at least get legal advice and table it until we get advice.”

    After second reading failed, Council agreed to authorize Mayor Charlene Herring to consult Danny Crowe, an attorney she said was recommended to her by the Municipal Association.

    “I’m for that (seeking legal advice),” Prioleau said. “Before, I voted for it. The decision I made, I don’t think was wrong. I’m for rezoning, but I don’t want our citizens to feel like we’re not doing our job.”

    Herring said she was not sure how much an attorney would cost the Town to review and interpret its own laws.

    “Our citizens will pay for it,” Prioleau said.

     

  • IGA Robbed at Gunpoint

    BLYTHEWOOD (Sept. 15, 2016) – A man armed with a handgun held up the IGA grocery store at 135-B Blythewood Road Sunday night, making away with an undisclosed amount of cash.

    According to an incident report from the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, the suspect, described as a black male in his late 30s to early 40s, approximately 5-feet-8, 235 pounds, approached the manager and an employee just outside the store at 9:39 p.m. The suspect ordered the two back inside the store where he ordered a cashier to hand over her cell phone. The suspect then ordered the manager and employees at gunpoint into the office behind the customer service desk, where he demanded that the manager open the safe.

    The suspect cleaned out the safe, stuffing cash into a bag provided by the manager, and ordered everyone to lay on the floor. The suspect then fled the scene on foot. According to the report, it is suspected that the suspect was picked up nearby by an unknown vehicle.

    The Voice asked the Sheriff’s Department for details on the amount of money stolen from the IGA, but were told by Lt. Curtis Wilson, “We don’t release the amount.”