Blythewood Online 691

Category: News

  • Blythewood Area Schools Slated for Improvements

    At its regular bi-weekly meeting Feb. 12, the Richland 2 School Board approved the issuance of $11 million of general obligation bonds to fund the Budget for Capital Improvements for the 2013-2014 year that will be paid for by the 8 percent Bond Fund. April Lucas, an attorney with the advising legal firm of Nexsen Pruet, told the Board that “it is a good time to issue bonds, as the rate for tax-exempt bonds are expected to go up later in the year.”

    Eight Blythewood area schools were funded for the following projects:

    Blythewood Academy: $89,000 for new flooring in the auditorium and re-roofing the gym;

    Blythewood High: $4,100 to re-buff the gym floor;

    Blythewood Middle: $42,600 to rebuff gym floors, build an outdoor classroom and create a media center design;

    Kelly Mill Middle: $67,000 to carpet, paint, re-buff gym floors, add a sidewalk and upgrade the reception area;

    Bethel-Hanberry Elementary: $35,000 to upgrade its playground equipment;

    Langford Road Elementary: $2,500 to tint the cafeteria windows;

    Lake Carolina Elementary: $70,000 to re-carpet 20 classrooms;

    Round Top Elementary: will receive $24,000 to re-carpet administrative space equal to seven classrooms.

    District wide, nearly $6 Million will be used for computer technology.

    Mueller Road Middle School is not slated for improvements due to its recent new construction. The most significant recipient of school improvements was the continuing improvements for athletic facilities to Richland Northeast for $922,000. All projects are expected to be completed the next school year.

  • Reward Without Review

    In absence of a school board meeting this week, I will discuss some of the ongoing questions that remain about whether annuities have been inappropriately paid to Richland 2 Superintendent Katie Brochu, the School Board’s evaluation of her performance and her apparently incomplete Dec. 5, 2012 response to the Board’s evaluation of her.

    While some details have emerged, most of my questions go unanswered.

    Here’s what we know:

    Brochu’s contract calls for annuity payments of approximately $17,000 to be paid to her each January following a satisfactory review by the Board. While not a single satisfactory review of Dr. Brochu’s performance was completed by the Board, it has now been confirmed that the annuity payments were, indeed, paid to Dr. Brochu three times.

    When asked about this discrepancy, Board members tell me that they have sought legal advice and are prohibited from discussing the matter at this time.

    Dr. Brochu was hired March 23, 2010, yet the Board didn’t conduct their first (and only) performance evaluation until Oct. 22, 2012. Six weeks after that evaluation, on Dec. 5, the Superintendent delivered her response to the Board.

    That response, as we now know, did not include the required “comprehensive professional development expense report,” yet her response was enthusiastically accepted in an online statement from then Board Chairman Chip Jackson on Dec. 14, even though the Board had not even met.

    So how did the Board discuss Dr. Brochu’s response and formulate an acceptance of that response if they had not met? Was this Jackson’s personal response without input from the Board? Plus, it is important to note that Dr. Brochu’s response was incomplete in that it lacked the comprehensive professional development expense report that was required.

    Even though Board Members initially reported that they had received a 75-page response from Dr. Brochu that included a 25-page report on the District’s underperforming schools and a comprehensive professional development expense report (assumed to make up the remaining 50-pages of the response), no Board member was able or willing to produce the comprehensive development expense report for inspection.

    After submitting a Freedom of Information Act request for the comprehensive report, the District gave me a 147-page report that was not a comprehensive professional development expense report but a list of financial data that is incomplete in its content, listing expenses without the name of attendee, date stayed and sometimes not even the name of the hotel, etc.

    This lack of information renders the ‘report’ meaningless and suspect. I expect to have more on the inadequacies of this financial listing in coming weeks.

    Although, to date, the Board has not discussed the Superintendent’s response to their evaluation, they have scheduled a work session in March that is purported to include such a discussion.

    But it is likely that the reasons why the School Board chose not to give Superintendent Katie Brochu either of her first two reviews and have declined the opportunity to tweak any of her initiatives will remain hidden in executive session discussions involving “personnel issues.” And I might note that ‘personnel issues’ alone is not provided for under the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act as a reason to go into executive session.

    The reason must be more specific.

    Contact Stevie Johnson at

    stevie@blythewoodonline.com

  • Committee Plans for Fields, Tournaments

    BLYTHEWOOD – Three members of the Blythewood Ball Field Committee met Tuesday afternoon at Town Hall to discuss plans for the proposed Bethel-Hanberry baseball/softball four-plex to be built next year on 8 acres behind Bethel-Hanberry Elementary School. Chairman Bob Mangone told Committee members Paige Brown and Ed Parler that negotiations are being finalized for the Richland County Recreation Commission to lease the acreage over a long term where it will spend $500,000 to build four baseball/softball fields. Use of the fields would then be contracted for by the Blythewood Baseball/Softball League. Construction on the proposed four-plex is expected to begin early next year and be ready for the spring season.

    Mangone said he wants to be sure how much the Commission can build with $500,000.

    “Will that cover everything – the fields, bullpens, restrooms, concessions, parking and all that we need?” Mangone wondered out loud. “Or will we have to go to the businesses or the Town Council for additional funds to complete the project properly?”

    Mangone said it is the committee’s responsibility to come up with what Blythewood wants in the four-plex — field dimensions, architectural costs, etc. Then the Recreation Commission will build it. Mangone said he hopes to have the necessary information for the Commission in the next couple of months.

    Mangone said he understands from the Blythewood Baseball/Softball League that the new temporary field prepared by the Recreation Commission behind the Blythewood Community Center will be used primarily for practice and that the girls’ softball teams and the boys’ baseball teams will share the three current fields at the Blythewood Park Recreation Center on Boney Road during the spring season and again for the fall season. Once the four-plex is finished, that will be the primary playing fields for the Blythewood softball and baseball teams, Mangone said, and the current three fields at the Blythewood Park Recreation Center will be used for practice.

    Blythewood resident Brian Fisher who has 16 years’ experience as a travel ball coach and is the B-team baseball coach at Blythewood High School, presented information to the committee about the possibility of his newly formed travel ball company, Carolina Proving Grounds Athletics, hosting as many as 35 to 42 baseball tournaments at the four-plex on weekends throughout the year. He said the tournaments would bring families to Blythewood, which could translate into revenue for Blythewood businesses.

    Fisher is currently developing a 2-acre private recreation/baseball training facility near the intersection of Highway 21 and Farrow Road, the former location of the Blythewood Best flea market. The facility will be membership-only for the families of Fisher’s travel ball team, the Longhorns, and will include a playground, basketball court, fitness center, full cardio room and track for the families of the players, as well as traditional indoor and outdoor baseball training facilities for the teams.

    Time of the next meeting of the Ball Field Committee will be announced at a later date.

  • Softball Registration Ends Saturday

    Girls 8 and under who are interested in joining a Blythewood softball team are invited to participate in open practices Feb. 22 and 23, starting at 5 p.m. at the Blythewood Park Recreation facility on Boney Road, field 3. To register online, go to leaguelineup.com/formpreview.asp?url=blythewoodsports&sid=933356381&t=77896. Registration has been extended until Feb. 24.

  • Ridgeway Man Killed in Weekend Crash

    KERSHAW – A Ridgeway man died Saturday night at Kershaw Health Hospital from injuries sustained in a one-car crash on Springvale Road, just off Highway 34 in Kershaw County.

    According to Kershaw County Coroner John B. Fellers III, 36-year-old Richard E. Boykin Jr., of Centerville Road in Ridgeway, was pronounced dead at Kershaw Health at approximately 8:30 p.m. Saturday from a blunt force trauma to the head he suffered in the accident.

    The S.C. Highway Patrol said Boykin was driving a 2002 Chevrolet south on Springvale Road at approximately 7:48 p.m. Boykin passed another vehicle on the road, and when returning to his lane, lost control of his vehicle and ran off the right side of the roadway, striking a ditch. The Chevrolet overturned and Boykin was ejected. The Highway Patrol said Boykin was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident. Fellers said Boykin had evidently hit a patch of ice in the road when returning to his lane, although the accident remains under investigation by the Highway Patrol.

  • R2 issues $11 million in bonds

    The Richland 2 School Board meeting was held at Polo Road Elementary Tuesday night. Board member Barbara Specter was out of town on business.

    Thirty-five teachers received recognition for their National Board Certification. Forty-four received 10-year renewal certification.

    The Board voted 6-0 to approve the District’s new Mission Statement: “In partnership with our community, Richland School District Two prepares all students for success by providing meaningful, challenging and engaging learning experiences.”

    Also approved was the issuance of $11 million of general obligation bonds to fund the Budget for Capital Improvements for the 2013-2014 year that will be paid for by the 8 percent Bond Fund. This is a fund that has the ability to issue bonds based on the collateral owed by the district. April Lucas, an attorney with Nexsen Pruet, told the Board that “it is a good time to issue bonds, as the rate for tax-exempt bonds is expected to go up later in the year.”

    District Policy revisions were presented for information purposes with votes to be taken at the next Board meeting:

    Policy JIJC – This involved middle schools requesting to be included in the new expanded use of cell phones that was recently granted high schools. Schools individually determine when and where cell phones can be used on their campuses. High schoolers are given permission to use cell phones in class for classwork when deemed appropriate by teachers. Mueller Road principal Lori Moreno told the Board that safety was her community’s biggest concern in wanting cell phones to be used on her campus. Board Chairman Bill Fleming and member Chip Jackson expressed concern over internet safety and difficulty in monitoring sites being accessed via a cell phone.

    Policies JJ-R and JJ-E would put the district in compliance with state law that provides opportunities for charter school students and homeschooled students to participate in after-school programs like athletics, chorus and band.

    The Office of Accountability, Assessment and Evaluation formed a committee last fall to study the issue of transiency – students that move in and out of the District. Transient studies were divided into three groups: military families, immigrant families and families deeply impacted by poverty. The research cited by the board was outdated – having been published more than 10 years ago. Board member Melinda Anderson, who has been instrumental in hiring 19 full-time social workers in the District, said she will continue her advocacy of a social worker in every school to assist transient students.

    The meeting ended on a celebratory note when the parent of three children in three different district schools spoke earnestly about the merits of giving do-overs to children who were struggling. He introduced his son who had found academic and personal success at Blythewood Academy. The high school son personally thanked Board members for their tough love.

    The next Board meeting will be at Bookman Elementary, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m.

  • Planning Commission Outlines Roads PLan

    BLYTHEWOOD – At the Feb. 4  Planning Commission meeting,  Chairman Mike Switzer reported on a meeting held by a Right of Way subcommittee, which was appointed at the last Planning Commission meeting. The subcommittee met in January, but the meeting was not posted for the public as required by the S.C. Freedom of Information Act for all public government meetings.

    Perry had asked the subcommittee to set priorities for surveying rights of way in the town in order to initiate a ‘complete streets’ framework of roads in the downtown area.

    Switzer outlined the four priorities for survey work related to road widening and other changes set forth by the subcommittee.

    First Priority: Blythewood Road from I-77 exit 27 interchange to Main Street.

    Second Priority: Main Street from Blythewood High School through McNulty Road intersection.

    Third Priority: McNulty Road/McNulty Road Extension from future roundabout at Creech Road to Main Street, including segment between Exxon and Pope-Davis and Boney Road from Blythewood Road to McNulty Road.

    Fourth Priority: Creech Road, new Creech Connector from Creech Road to Main Street and new street from Blythewood Road to Creech Connector along IGA entrance.

    Having selected the roads, the next step is surveying existing rights of way, for future rights of way (95-foot wide rights of way for the first two priorities and 74-foot for the second two), above-ground and below-ground utilities, easements and a roundabout at Creech Road and McNulty Road Extension.

    Perry said he will put the surveying costs into the budget which will be presented again to the planning commission as part of the new Capital Improvements Plan. Then the Planning Commission will vote on whether to recommend that Council initiate the surveying.

    In other business, the Planning Commission passed first reading to change the zoning of a 2-acre parcel on Farrow Road near Highway 21 from Limited Industrial (LI) to Community Commercial (CC) District.

    The property is owned by J. B. and M. L. Bishop and was previously used as a flea market. Bishop told The Voice that he plans to sell the property for recreational use.

    Wayne Shuler of Central Midlands Council of Government gave a short interim report on the updating of the Town’s Comprehensive Plan. He will give a full report at the next meeting on March 4.

  • County Votes to Abolish Committees

    Fairfield – After nearly an hour of discussion, County Council Tuesday night passed their amended bylaws in two parts. The first part, to do away with Council’s long-standing practice of using committee meetings to hash through important issues and replace them with open work session, drew the protest of Council members David brown (District 7) and Carolyn Robinson (District 2).

    “I am very distraught over the fact that we are doing away with standing committees and committees of council,” Brown said. “This is taking council more and more out of the communication with their constituency and taking the debate out. I think we’re kind of disenfranchising about 90 percent of the people in the county by not having committee meetings. This whole document just puts more and more emphasis on the chairman making decisions and administrator making decisions and taking us out of it. I just don’t think that’s what government should be and I hate to be a part of it. This whole document, in my opinion, is just throwing our weight around and disenfranchising the people.”

    Brown said he felt the committee process made people feel more at ease with standing up and speaking their minds, out of view of the media and the larger crowds in attendance at regular meetings. Brown also said he had a problem with the new provision that prevents people from speaking in work sessions without permission from the Council Chairman. Committee meetings, Brown said, are more heavily attended than work sessions, but Vice Chairman Dwayne Perry (District 1) disagreed. Perry said he has seen many more people attend work sessions than committee meetings, and, he added, work sessions are a more open forum.

    “I remember times when I was not on council and I had the opportunity to sit out here in the audience and saw how business was constructed as a constituent and I did not feel that things were transparent and people were being forthright,” Perry said. “I was blind-sided as a constituent many times sitting out there in the audience. Now we’re trying to be more transparent, giving our constituents an opportunity to come out and sit in the audience if they choose. I do think the work session process has been effective.”

    Robinson said government at the state and federal level operates on the committee system, and that the vast majority of counties in South Carolina did as well. She also said that committees keep Council abreast of important issues.

    “The committee system works well when the administrator hands down documents that need to be discussed and the chair then takes it and sends it to the appropriate committee,” Robinson said. “Too often we have things thrown at us at the last minute. So many things come down now that we never even hear about because it’s already passed out. I think what this entire bill is going to do is discard us as a council member and leave it up to one man who’s not elected by county wide voters and the administrator.”

    “I don’t know if I would use the federal government or the state government as an example of how things work,” Perry said. “The gridlock that I’ve seen over the last five or six years is unbelievable on both sides of the aisle. I think, unless I’ve lost count here, I don’t see how an administrator or a chairman can make decisions for this council. There are seven members on this council, we all have a vote. We talked about the changes in this document ad nauseam Wednesday night. I personally have seen this document because I know we took three hours to discuss it last Wednesday night. The information does come down, I think we do have an opportunity to review information, whether it comes down from our administrator or if it’s shared with us on council.”

    Perry also said that work sessions are no different from committee meetings in their treatment of public comment. Both methods require permission from the chairman, he said.

    “I don’t think it’s about us trying to exclude someone,” Perry said. “I think it’s just the opposite. We’re trying to bring more people in.”

    Kamau Marcharia (District 4) said he agreed that people were more comfortable speaking before the smaller committees than before full council in work sessions. In his experience, Marcharia said, committees have worked and worked well.

    “I was chairman of the facilities and transportation committee for several years,” Marcharia said. “We have had meetings with constituency that had genuine questions to ask. That committee gave me the chance to go back and reassess my research. I find people are definitely more comfortable before three people than whole council. All the years I’ve been here, it’s worked for me.”

    But Chairman David Ferguson (District 5) said the goal of changing over to a work session system was to ensure that all Council members had access to the same information, and that it was not about wresting control away from the majority.

    “I’ve sat here and I’ve learned quite a bit,” Ferguson said. “First of all, that Mr. (Phil) Hinely (County Administrator) and myself can run the county without the other six voters up here sitting on the bench. I didn’t realize I had that authority, but I must have since it came from a Council member.

    “I think that everybody in here that comes and listens to these proceedings would rather sit out there and listen to the seven of us debate and vote in public and know that everything every council member siting up here knows is just what the others know,” Ferguson added. “I have council members sitting up here saying they can’t say what they want to say up here on this podium. No one’s ever told them they couldn’t say anything. This council has been very open. The years that I’ve been chairman on this council, it’s been very open. Nothing has been kept from anybody. Everybody knows the same thing I know as soon as I know it. I don’t know how much more transparent you can get. Some folks don’t like the way council is going now because they’re not in control of it. What you did 20 years ago doesn’t mean it was right or wrong, it only means it was what you did 20 years ago.”

    Ultimately, the changes passed on a 4-3 vote, with Brown, Marcharia and Robinson voting against the amended bylaws. The second part of the bylaws passed as well, 5-2, with Brown and Robinson voting against.

  • Governor’s Plan Impacts Fairfield Memorial

    Fairfield – Gov. Nikki Haley announced last week that the state’s Medicaid agency will begin fully compensating South Carolina’s 18 rural hospitals for their cost of treating patients without health insurance, starting in October. A 19th hospital in Bamberg could also be added to the list, should the facility reopen.

    “Any time you get money, it’s going to help,” said Mike Williams, CEO of Fairfield Memorial Hospital, which is on the state’s list. “But the state hasn’t said how much, annually, each hospital is going to get.”

    Williams said the state plans to distribute $20 million among the 18 or 19 hospitals, but that number could be twice as much if Haley would only accept the federal government’s Medicaid expansion funds under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

    “I’m supporting that she (Haley) go with the Medicaid expansion,” Williams said, “which would mean Fairfield Memorial would receive about $2 million a year.”

    The expansion funds, Williams said, have already been allocated by the federal government, and if South Carolina opts out, those funds will go to other states. Williams said that funds in Gov. Haley’s distribution plan come from larger state hospitals and are simply being shuffled around to the smaller, rural hospitals in South Carolina.

    Currently, Williams explained, the federal government pays 70 percent of the state’s Medicaid costs, while the state picks up the remaining 30 percent. Under the Medicaid expansion plan, the federal government would pay 100 percent for the first three years, with that share shrinking to 90 percent by the year 2020.

    Williams made it clear that Fairfield Memorial, like all rural hospitals in the state, would benefit greatly from the federal expansion of Medicaid.

    “It’s to pay for the uninsured,” Williams said, “and we’re already taking care of these patients.”

    Tony Keck, Director of the S.C. Health and Human Services (DHHS), said the redistribution of funds would have no impact on the state’s larger hospitals. A spokesperson for the HHS office also said that, “the exact figures for each individual hospital are not yet available as it changes each year based on hospital specific expenditures.”

    “This is only one of several strategies that DHHS is implementing or developing with the legislature to improve health in South Carolina,” DHHS said Tuesday. “These strategies focus on payment reform, clinical integration and focusing on hot spots and disparities. More strategies will be announced during the budget process in the next several weeks.”

  • Council Discloses Community Center Appraisal

    BLYTHEWOOD – Town Councilman Jeff Branham, on behalf of Mayor J. Michael Ross, disclosed the results of an appraisal of the Community Center property that he said had been contracted for last fall, but not disclosed to Town Council or Town Administrator John Perry until Tuesday afternoon.

    According to the appraisal, which was addressed to the town’s Attorney Jim Meggs, the estimated market value of the 4.88 acre property is between $1,220,000 and $1,340,000. Sharpe Properties, LLC purchased the property for $1.5 million and closed on the deal with the Town on Jan. 31.

    In an interview late Tuesday, Larry Sharpe told The Voice that the Town government would not divulge the appraisal to him prior to the closing, but that he was fine with the price he paid. He said he felt he got his money’s worth.

    In Tuesday’s email to the media, Branham said the Mayor had just received the official appraisal that morning. He went on to write, “We [passed] this information on to the citizens as soon as we received it. We hope this conveys to our citizens that we were aware of the values of the comparable properties, and that due diligence was performed when the final contract was negotiated.”

    When asked how the Council had performed due diligence in negotiating the contract with Sharpe, considering they had not seen the appraisal, Branham told The Voice last week that Perry had instructed Meggs to contract for the appraisal, but that Meggs was not to tell anyone, not even Council members, the appraisal results until after the sale was final. Branham told The Voice that when Sharpe made his offer, Perry related that offer to Meggs and that Meggs nodded as to whether Council should accept the offer or reject it.

    “He just let us know if we were getting a good price,” Branham said. “We didn’t want the appraisal price to get out in case the deal fell through and we had to put it on the market again.”

    The appraisal was prepared by Mark W. Van Popering, MAI of Van Popering Company, LLC in Columbia.