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Category: News

  • Lab OK’s Cobblestone Water

    BLYTHEWOOD (March 3, 2016) – The results are in, and by all measurable standards the water in Cobblestone is fine. At least at the source.

    But Cobblestone residents served by Winnsboro Water are still complaining of foul odor and unpleasant taste when they turn on their faucets, Otis Williams, Director of Winnsboro Water, said Tuesday.

    “We think more and more that it’s an internal plumbing issue,” Williams said.

    Williams said he hopes to get confirmation on that assessment in coming weeks. The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) has taken test samples from internal faucets, Williams said, and the results of those tests were still pending at press time.

    Winnsboro, meanwhile, took samples from fire hydrants in the Primrose, Goldenrod and Summersweet Court – as well as other areas – in Cobblestone last month. Those samples were sent to the Engineering Performance Solutions labs in Jacksonville, Fla. for testing.

    Blythewood Town Council, during their Feb. 22 meeting, reviewed the results. Town Administrator Gary Parker told Council that, in short, the water was fine and fit to drink. Parker speculated that stagnant water was building up in lines in newly developed areas. In those areas, he said, not enough homes are yet connected to the lines to provide a constant, steady flow of water.

    “You have water that isn’t being circulated enough through the water lines because there are not enough houses built onto that line drafting water out of that line and keeping water circulating,” Parker said. “That can lead to some people noticing a taste or odor. That’s a common problem in lines.”

    But Williams noted that complainants were not having issues throughout their homes – only in one or two faucets. The odor and taste dissipates with the running of water, Williams said, but the isolated nature of the irregularity leads him to believe the problem is with the plumbing.

    “I don’t want to speculate about what kind of plumbing materials that were used (in construction),” Williams said. “They’ve got something going on, though. We just can’t put our finger on it. We want to make sure we cover all our bases.”

    The Florida lab tested for bacteriological matter that could build up in water lines that were not flushed regularly. According to the lab, the threshold for such matter becoming problematic and causing a foul taste or unpleasant odor is between 5 and 10 nanograms per liter. Winnsboro’s samples taken from Cobblestone hydrants all came in at less than 2 nanograms per liter.

    “As far as the bacteriological component goes,” Williams said, “it’s clean as a whistle.”

     

  • Lady Eagles Win 4th Title

    SUMTER (Feb. 27, 2016) — The  Richard Winn Academy Lady Eagles basketball squad racked up their fourth consecutive SCISA Class A title Saturday, knocking down Dorchester 43-30. It was the fifth straight appearance in the championship game for RWA.

    Check back for complete coverage.

  • County Moves on Mitford Rec

    WINNSBORO (Feb. 26, 2016) – County Council, during their Feb. 15 meeting, passed first reading on an ordinance to purchase the final piece of property in their recreation plan. The purchase would also end the debate on how best to serve district 2 and 3 under the plan.

    “It’s going to be a good deal,” District 3 Councilman Walter Larry Stewart said. “The next step is to get a permanent EMS station there.”

    The 5 acres at Camp Welfare and Wateree roads will be the site of what Stewart called a “community center.”

    “It’s not a recreation center,” he said. “The emphasis will be on a community center, not so much a recreation center. It will be designed mainly for community functions, to get things going for seniors, and as a meting facility for clubs and organizations.”

    But Interim County Administrator Milton Pope said after the meeting that the building could be used for recreational purposes.

    No price was disclosed in first reading of the ordinance. Pope said the purchasing price would be disclosed at the next meeting (March 14).

    According to County tax map records, the property is currently owned by Morris W. and Brenda Worthington, with a total market value of $27,500.

    Pope also told Council that a similar facility slated for land on Ladds Road near Lake Monticello had hit a snag. The County leases the property there from SCANA for recreation; however, Pope said, permitting issues with federal regulators would have pushed construction back at the site as much as six months. Instead, Pope said, the County is moving the facility to Monticello Park, also known as Overlook Drive Park.

    The move will generate a cost savings, Pope said, as a walking trail and outdoor basketball courts – planned for the Ladds Road location – already exist at Monticello Park.

    FMH

    Council also passed first reading on an ordinance to amend their 2015-2016 budget to account for nearly a half million dollars for Fairfield Memorial Hospital. Pope said the hospital was requesting $146,250 for a wellness works implementation fee, as well as $305,523 to catch up on their CT and MR maintenance agreement.

    The requests would require an amendment to the budget, Pope said. Council met in executive session during a work session on Feb. 17 to discuss the payouts. They will take the matter up again during their March 14 meeting.

     

  • Intergov Meeting Focuses on Economic Development

    RIDGEWAY (Feb. 26, 2016) – Intergovernmental meetings have a reputation of being either mundane, elbow-rubbing affairs, or fur-flying cat fights between elected officials. Last week’s meeting at the Century House found a middle ground.

    With the focus of the Feb. 18 meeting on economic development, particularly in the wake of last month’s closing of Walmart in Winnsboro, State Sen. Creighton Coleman (D-17) set the tone.

    “I think this is a time to unite,” Coleman said, then told County Council officials, “I’m excited about the (strategic) plan that y’all are doing. I think it’s time the County and City sit down and try to work together jointly on Winnsboro, the town of Winnsboro, to make it a viable entity in our county.”

    Fairfield County is at a critical state, Coleman said, and the County holds the purse strings.

    “Let’s face it: Winnsboro’s got a little bit of money, the County’s got a lot of money, going to have a lot of money coming in the future,” Coleman said. “I don’t mean to be casting stones and don’t want to, but sometimes I think the County doesn’t want to help downtown because it’s downtown. I know y’all do the Courthouse and Town Clock, but to me there’s more to it than that. Correct me if I’m wrong.”

    Interim County Administrator Milton Pope said he was not aware of any request for assistance from the Town of Winnsboro that has not been honored. However, he added, the respective roles of the elected bodies were “terribly misunderstood.” There is a mindset, Pope said, that the County has all the money and should therefore “be able to do anything and everything.”

    “To a certain degree that is reality,” Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy interjected. “The County does have all the money. We are the richest poor county in South Carolina. Because we get all this money from V.C. Summer we have tremendous amount of expectations from the county, and I think sometimes you can fulfill those and sometimes you can’t.”

    But, Gaddy said, he did not know of anything the County had not helped Winnsboro with when Winnsboro had asked.

    “I think that the shortcoming between the Town and the County is in economic development,” Gaddy said. “There has been little or no communications between the County and the Town on economic development. The Town has been totally left out of it and we’re the ones who provide the utilities.”

    Terry Vickers, President of the Chamber of Commerce, said there were plenty of opportunities for businesses in the county, but the trick was promoting and selling Fairfield. That is difficult to do, she said, when even the leadership cannot get on the same page.

    “We shoot ourselves in the foot every day,” Vickers said. “I was absolutely mortified at the social media comments that went online when Walmart made their (closing) announcement. I have never been so put out and disgusted with the citizens of Fairfield County that were so negative. Even leaders who have people who look up to them, talking so negative about leadership, about taxes, about theft. And of course, everything on the street was that Walmart closed because of a theft issue. That was not the major reason and that came straight from Sen. Coleman who had met with the executives from Walmart. But still we have people in a position where they are looked up to and they talk about theft in our community. I’m sorry folks, that’s not how you attract tourists or businesses, developers or housing. Nothing.”

    Vickers said businesses are looking at space in downtown Winnsboro, but the buildings that are available are in such disrepair – some costing as much as $300,000 to upfit – companies are reluctant to settle here.

    “When they look at the upfitting, the rent and property taxes,” Vickers said, “are they willing to take a chance on Winnsboro that just lost a Walmart to come in here? Those are the things we need to look at. If we truly want to attract business in this community, we need to be an attractive community.”

    Vickers said Ridgeway was thriving with only one block of merchants. Winnsboro, meanwhile, has three blocks, she said, with two restaurants, a gift shop, two consignment shops and a thrift store. Taking up one of the largest spaces on Congress Street, she said, was a building filled with antiques that, sadly, were not for sale.

    “If the paper would come out of that window, if that door could be unlocked, that would be the hook for Winnsboro’s success,” Vickers said. “There would be interior designers from all over the east coast that would come to Winnsboro to shop, that’s how fantastic they are. But no, it is a warehouse for a hoarder. How did that happen?”

    Vickers said if Downtown Winnsboro and the county at large is to survive in the wake of Walmart’s closing, businesses need their local governments behind them.

    “We have got to change our communication, we have got to change our reputation, we have got to change our outlook,” Vickers said. “The businesses need the support of the decisions that elected bodies make. I have seen so many opportunities missed because we could not come together and agree.”

     

  • Layoffs at TV Plant

    WINNSBORO (Feb. 26, 2016) – Element Electronics, manufacturer of television sets for Walmart, has laid off nearly 85 employees, Interim County Administrator Milton Pope told County Council during their Feb. 15 meeting. The layoffs occurred in early February, he said.

    Pope said the company, operating at 392 Highway 321 Bypass N., still has more than 250 employees at work. Element was still in line, Pope said, with their Fee-in-lieu-of taxes agreement with the County.

    Before the layoffs, the company had as many as 370 employees at work, Pope said.

    Phone calls to Element for comment were not returned to The Voice.

     

  • Quarry Foes Win Points

    WINNSBORO (Feb. 26, 2016) – Opponents of a proposed granite quarry off Rockton Thruway may have gained considerable concessions from the Mining Council’s Board of Appeals, following hearings before the board last week.

    The Council has 30 days in which to issue a written decision, and the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) would not confirm those concessions in an email to The Voice last Friday. Dorothy Brandenburg, community liaison for the quarry opponents, also would not confirm what concessions her group achieved, instead saying citizens wanted to wait on the official written document.

    “The citizens are happy,” Brandenburg said Monday, “but that’s about all we can say.”

    However, a source who attended the hearings in Columbia but wished to remain anonymous said the Mining Council is requiring DHEC to remand the permit for Winnsboro Crushed Stone, LLC until concessions are made. Those concessions include the installation of monitoring wells, which must be operational in time for construction to begin on the quarry. The company will also be required to construct berms along areas close to neighboring properties, the source said.

    According to the source, the Mining Council has also mandated the metering of the water flow in nearby Horse Creek. Winnsboro Crushed Stone will also have to present a plan for funding neighborhood wells that may run low or dry as a result of mining, including a plan for furnishing emergency water and replacing wells.

    Properties near the site that have not yet given leases and mining rights to the company must do so before mining can begin, the source said.

    Winnsboro Crushed Stone intends to mine granite on 365.8 acres of a 923.2-acre tract off Rockton Thruway. Residents of the area appealed DHEC’s mining permit in hearings held in Columbia Feb. 16-19.

     

  • New Digs –

    IMG_9231 copy

    Blythewood Chamber of Commerce executive director Mike Switzer and assistant Kitty Kelly show off the Chamber’s temporary office located in McNulty Plaza after recently closing the doors on the group’s Blythewood Road office. Switzer told The Voice that the Chamber has been offered the space by the owners of the Plaza until which time it becomes leased.

     

  • Penny Tax Funds to Pave Blythewood

    Councilman Larry Griffin questions Tyler Clark of the DOT on Blythewood road improvements. (Photo/Barbara Ball)
    Councilman Larry Griffin questions Tyler Clark of the DOT on Blythewood road improvements. (Photo/Barbara Ball)

    BLYTHEWOOD (Feb. 25, 2016) – Enticed by free Chick-Fil-A sandwiches and super food salads at a Chamber meeting on Tuesday at The Manor, a large crowd of Blythewood Chamber members and guests lunched and learned what’s in the Richland County Transportation Penny Program for Blythewood 29016.

    Bob Perry, Transportation Director of Richland County and Tyler Clark of the S.C. Department of Transportation explained that Blythewood transportation penny improvements, totaling $29 million, will include a myriad of projects – road widenings, bikeways, sidewalks, intersection improvements, paving of dirt roads and resurfacing.

    The crown jewel of the Blythewood improvements is the widening of Blythewood Road from I-77 to Highway 321. The first phase of that project will widen Blythewood Road to five lanes from I-77 to Syrup Mill Road at a cost of $10,519,000, not to include preliminary engineering costing $300,000 slated to begin this year. Right of way acquisition is expected to begin in 2017 and construction in 2018.

    The second phase of Blythewood improvements includes the following:

    -Widen Blythewood Road to five lanes from I-77 to Main Street.

    -Widen Blythewood Road to three lanes from Syrup Mill Road to Fulmer Road.

    -Widen McNulty Road to three lanes from Blythewood Road to Main Street.

    -Construct traffic circles at Blythewood Road and Creech Road and at Blythewood Road and Cobblestone.

    -Extend Creech Road to Highway 21 with a three-lane road.

    When asked where on Highway 21 Creech Road would exit, Town Councilman Malcolm Gordge told The Voice that consideration was being given to two exit areas: 1) the road would run behind the IGA and on out to Highway 21 or 2) Creech Road would extend down to run Firetower Road and then exit Firetower Road out to Highway 21.

    While Perry said there is no prioritization for the phase two projects at this time, the preliminary engineering is anticipated to begin in 2019 at a total cost of $21,911,000 for right of way acquisition and construction costs and $2 million for preliminary engineering.

    While paving has been completed on five dirt roads in the Blythewood 29016 zip code – Overlook Drive, Annie Entzminger Court, Dunes Point, Peafowl Road, Elton Walker Road and Entzminger Road – 13 more roads in Blythewood 29016 are in the design phase and another 11 are in the planning phase.

    Roundtree Road has been resurfaced and 12 more roads are in the resurfacing construction phase.

    Bikeways planned for Blythewood Road from Winnsboro to Main Street have not begun.

    Perry told the audience that the most important of 14 prioritization factors for completion of the Blythewood projects are public safety, potential for economic development, right of way obtained, design work completed and dedicated funds.

    For updated information on the road improvements in the Blythewood community, go to www.RichlandPenny.com, email info@richlandpenny.com or call 1-844-RCPENNY.

     

  • Costs Rise for Wall, Shell Building

    BLYTHEWOOD (Feb. 25, 2016) – The Wall that Heals, a traveling scale replica of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. destined for Blythewood May 26-30, is going to cost the Town a lot more than the $7,500 reported last month.

    During Monday night’s Town Council meeting, Town Administrator Gary Parker told Council that the cost of hosting the exhibit now looks to run as much as $12,000.

    “When I asked a question a month ago, my real thought process was this is probably going to cost us between $12,000 and $15,000,” Councilman Tom Utroska said. “We’re all in favor (of bringing in the exhibit), but the real issue I have is transparency. I don’t think we need to sit here and tell people we’re going to spend $6,500, then $7,500 and then somewhere down the road it’s like, Jeeze, you said it was going to be $7,500, now its $14,000. Let’s go ahead and put all our cards on the table, this is what we think it’s going to cost. I just want to be straightforward with the people we represent.”

    Parker said the $7,500 was just the upfront cost of bringing the exhibit to town. Hosting the exhibit around the clock for five days will bring additional costs, including, he said, electricians ($200); rope and posts for barriers ($625); electrical power ($200); a pair of deputies for security ($240); two portable outdoor rest rooms ($900); water for volunteers ($100); and promotion and advertising costs ($400). An opening ceremony at the Manor would also add $250-$300 to the price tag, Parker said.

    If one were to factor in the man-hours spent on the exhibit by Town staff, Parker said, the cost would be between $11,000 and $12,000.

    Mayor J. Michael Ross said the Council was being transparent, presenting the rising dollar figures to the public as they came to Council. Councilman Eddie Baughman said the initial price was only an estimate, and there may be some areas where Council could trim some of the cost. Still, he said, it may cost the Town $2,500 a day to host the exhibit.

    “This is a good thing for community,” Parker said. “And we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that this is a solemn patriotic event that goes beyond dollars and cents.”

    Shell Building

    Costs are also up somewhat on the speculative building Council plans to construct on the grounds of Doko Park. Ed Parler, Blythewood’s Economic Development consultant, told Council Monday night that the original contract with E. Ralph Walden & Associates, Inc. for $18,900 only took the Town through the bid and selection of a contractor. Parler asked Council for an additional $3,900 to contract with Walden for construction management of the project, as well as an additional $5,500 for a civil engineering contract with Crescent Engineering, LLC.

    “The $3,900 I thought was included for construction management in the original contract, but it wasn’t,” Utroska said. “I think we were all remiss on that.”

    Council voted unanimously to accept the additional fees, which brings the cost of the project up to $28,300, Parler said.

     

  • President Clinton Coming to Winnsboro

    WINNSBORO (Feb. 24, 2016) — President Bill Clinton will stump for his spouse and Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton at a Get Out the Vote Rally Thursday at Fairfield Middle School, 728 Highway 321 Bypass, at 7:45 p.m. Doors for this public event open at 7 p.m. It will be one of several stops in S.C. for the president leading up to Saturday’s Democratic Primary.
    “I have spent the last five days working with the Clinton campaign to get former President Bill Clinton to visit Winnsboro in the run up to Saturday’s Democratic Primary,” Winnsboro native Boyd Brown said. “Now, it’s official. President Clinton will be at Fairfield Middle School tomorrow evening for a voter rally.  Please sign up for this historic event by following this link (below), where you will also find additional information on the event. Feel free to share with anyone you know!”

    https://www.hillaryclinton.com/events/view/?id=1893780