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RIDGEWAY (April 15, 2016) – During a special called meeting of Fairfield County Council last week at the Fairfield Commerce Center on Peach Road, Councilman Kamau Marcharia called 9-1-1 when three members of the public showed up for the meeting which was, in fact, open to the public.

Macharia’s call was placed just before 2 p.m., before the April 6 public meeting was called to order and before Council had voted to enter executive session for the purpose of interviewing candidates for the County Administrator’s position.

“We’re holding an executive session,” Marcharia told the 9-1-1 dispatcher, “and folks from the Saving Fairfield County, and, even though we haven’t started in our meeting, (are) asking questions. They have threatened me before. We need an officer down here now!”

Marcharia went on to say, “They’re intervening in the process, even though we haven’t gone into executive session. They’re in there questioning us and demanding information and they need not be here.”

Bob Carrison, who along with Jeff Schaffer and Elizabeth Jenkins had showed up at the meeting, characterized their presence and behavior differently. And none of the Council members who were present when the three arrived reported them being threatening demanding or intervening.

“Obviously that Council member (Marcharia) has a limited understanding of democracy and the Freedom of Information Act,” Jay Bender, a First Amendment attorney in Columbia who represents the S.C. Press Association, said. “If an elected representative is threatened by a citizen’s question on a public matter, that representative doesn’t deserve to hold office.”

Bertha Goins, who lives in Marcharia’s Council district and is running against him in the November elections, agreed and made her feelings known at Monday night’s Council meeting during the public comment time.

“Our community can no longer survive under weak, frivolous, childish nonsense such as using our law enforcement as a scare tactic against the very people you represent,” Goins said in a prepared statement.

Carrison said he asked members of the Council when the three arrived at the Commerce Center if Council had entered executive session.  When Council told him the public meeting had not yet been called to order, Carrison said, “We sat down and told them we were here because we want them to know how important this is to us.

“We talked a little more,” Carrison said. “I would call it a reasonable dialogue. There were no threats. No yelling. Jeff said nothing. Beth said nothing,” Carrison added. Carrison’s “reasonable dialogue” was conducted with Chairwoman Carolyn Robinson (District 2).

After Monday night’s regular Council meeting, Robinson similarly characterized the conversation she had with Carrison, calling it “respectful.”

It was during that conversation at the Commerce Center that Marcharia reportedly packed his things together and left, making the 9-1-1 call from the parking lot.

“Kamau came in with Sgt. Mull,” Carrison recalled. “Another deputy arrived as Carrison, Schaffer and Jenkins were leaving, and according to the Sheriff’s report, all three left without incident. In a WIS-TV news story the following day, Jenkins said she left feeling intimidated by the 9-1-1 call. Also in that news segment it was reported that Fairfield County Sheriff Will Montgomery said no one was arrested and that he did not plan to arrest anyone.

Explaining to The Voice on Monday why he called   9-1-1, Marcharia said “I wanted the police there. They were supposed to be there. They were running late. I didn’t want them (the public) to compromise our executive session.”

Meetings of public bodies like the one at the Commerce Center are open to the public, according to the S.C. Freedom of Information Act. Provisions of the law allow public bodies to conduct portions of meetings in executive session, out of public view, but not before first calling the public meeting to order and voting openly to enter into the closed session.

Members of the public can be removed from meetings if they are being willfully disruptive; however, both Carrison and Robinson said this was not the case. Councilman Billy Smith (District 7) agreed.

“I did not see a reason that would necessitate 9-1-1 being called,” Smith said Monday.

WINNSBORO (April 15, 2016) – Fairfield Memorial Hospital got a shot in the arm Monday night as County Council agreed to loan the healthcare facility more than $400,000; albeit, with strings attached.

The loan of $423,092.38 comes less than a month after Council voted to OK the early release of $366,750.54 in quarterly budgeted hospital funds, and was the culmination of Ordinance 661, which amended the County’s 2015-2016 budget in order to accommodate the financing.

“Fairfield Memorial Hospital provides care to thousands of residents a year, many so critically ill that they couldn’t make it to another hospital,” Sue Doscher, the hospital’s CEO, told Council during Monday night’s public hearing on the ordinance. “If that was your family, cost is not an issue. Spare no expense in saving the lives of our loved ones.”

Doscher was one of 10 people – Council’s maximum – to speak during the hearing and urge Council to pass the ordinance.

The hospital’s original request, made on Feb. 15, was for $451,773. Interim County Administrator Milton Pope told Council during the Feb. 15 meeting that $305,523 of the requested funds was targeted for a CT and MRI maintenance agreement. The remainder, he said, was to cover the implementation fee of the new Wellness Works program, for which the hospital at that time had already signed up.

Radiology generates about two-thirds of the hospital’s revenue, Harry Palmer told Council last night. A radiologist with Fairfield Memorial, Palmer said the hospital performs approximately 20-25 CT scans a week, to the tune of $40,000, and five to nine MRI scans a week, for about $14,000 – if the aging machines are up and running. If the CT or MRI machine goes down, he said, the hospital is not only faced with a loss of revenue, but also the expense of paying out of pocket for replacement parts, which can range between $100,000 and $300,000.

“We as a board have worked many many hours trying to make sure that we do everything possible to keep that hospital open,” James McGraw, Chairman of the hospital’s board of directors, said during the public hearing. “Neighboring hospitals are closing around us, we have a challenge before us. But believe me we are almost there.”

Prior to the hearing, during the first public comment portion of the meeting, two members of the public questioned Council’s process in how they went from the original $451,773 request to what Pope said in previous meetings was a “placeholder” figure of $200,000 in the ordinance to what the ultimate number would be by the end of the evening.

“I was told that the figure of $200,000 was more or less just a place-keeper,” Bob Carrison said, “that at tonight’s meeting when the ultimate number comes out we’ll all know exactly what’s happened as far as the discussions and what requests were made and what decisions Council had made to try and help the hospital.”

Carrison said he wanted to see the hospital succeed, but that he would “like to see an explanation of your thought process and what you guys decided to do in executive session and how you came up with the numbers and whether or not you considered taking money, making a budget amendment taking money from the general fund that was left over from perhaps the fuel or some other line item and moving it into this item,” he said, “which could have been done through a budget amendment the same way as the $200,000. It’s just a little bit confusing to us.”

Beth Jenkins echoed Carrison’s sentiments, asking Council to vote against an ordinance that was “not transparent” and “not specific” until a breakdown of the funding and where it will go could be made public.

Strings Attached

When Council brought the ordinance to the floor, Billy Smith (District 7) amended the motion to approve, turning the $200,000 placeholder figure into a $423,092.38 loan. The loan carries the following contingencies, which must be met by the hospital before Council will consider any future funding requests:

The funding shall be based upon a two-month period beginning May 1 and ending June 30, 2016. At the end of this period, Fairfield County (all Council members) shall be provided a written ‘term sheet’ of contractual expectations by Fairfield Memorial Hospital and any potential real affiliates(s) or partner(s).

Fairfield County (all Council members) shall receive a copy of Fairfield Memorial Hospital’s application for S.C. DHHS ‘Transformation’ Funding.

Fairfield County (all Council members) shall receive a copy of the regulatory requirement guidelines which must be met for an application to be granted by SC DHHS ‘Transformation’ Funding.

The Fairfield County Council Chairperson or its Council member designee(s) shall be invited to attend all Executive Session or merger/Acquisition Meetings of Fairfield Memorial Hospital.

Fairfield County (all Council members) shall be granted direct access to an potential or real affiliate(s), partner(s), consulting firm(s) or legal representative(s) of Fairfield Memorial Hospital to gather information regarding any potential requests to or financial commitments of Fairfield County (Council).

Fairfield County (all Council members) shall be provided written monthly updates on the financial and operational status of Fairfield Memorial Hospital.

Fairfield County (all Council members) shall be provided a written plan of action on any potential improvements or discontinuations regarding any Fairfield Memorial Hospital departments or services continually operating at a loss for the past three months or longer.

Council passed the ordinance facilitating the loan unanimously.

BLYTHEWOOD (April 13, 2016) – Choosing a security system for the Park and Manor and placing restrictions on the use of grills and bounce houses in the Park will be two of several topics discussed by Town Council at its monthly workshop on Thursday, April 14, at The Manor.

“We expect to have several proposals for security systems available at the workshop,” Town Administrator Gary Parker told The Voice.

Council has, for a couple of months, been discussing the purchase of a security camera system for the Town Park, Hoffman House and Manor.

“Staff has felt that some kind of security system should be installed given the vandalism in the park and other potential issues,” Parker said. “Such a system would cover most of the Town Complex.”

Council is considering a system that will record footage of all activity around Town Hall, Doko Manor, the public restrooms, fields behind Doko Manor and several other locations around the property as well as record the license tags of all cars entering and exiting the complex from Langford Road.

Grills and Bounce Houses

In a workshop preview packet, Parker noted that he felt it was time Council addressed the increasing number of inquiries the Town is receiving about the use of grills and bounce houses for private events in the park.

“Most parks that allow grilling of food have a designated area with picnic shelters and tables,” Parker said. “If we establish a designated area, possibly with fixed-in-place grills, that may be fine. But it’s probably not a good idea to let people bring their own grills and cook food anywhere they have rented some space for their event. I have misgivings about that Park area getting messy with spilled grease or ashes. There is a reason that states, counties and other municipalities have established picnic areas,” Parker added.

Parker said the Town had budgeted for and picked out picnic tables.

“But we have not designated a picnic area,” he continued. Parker said the Park’s picnic area should probably be away from the playground, ball fields and amphitheater.

Bounce Houses

As for bounce houses at private events in the park, Parker suggested Council consider some of the tragic news stories about the inflatable play houses. He said the Town’s Municipal Association of South Carolina Risk Management team recommends against the Town allowing the use of bounce houses in the park.

“There have been several incidents over the year, becoming more frequent with more frequent use of these, in which windy conditions caused them to blow over and, in rare cases, actually become airborne causing serious injury and fatalities,” Parker said.

During the workshop, Council is expected to address whether to allow the use of mechanical rides at private events in the Park such as train ride and hay rides.

Also on the agenda are discussions about the placement of way finding signs in the downtown area, increasing the number of Wi-Fi ‘hot spots’ in the town and painting the Town Hall.

The workshop is set for 9 a.m., Thursday at The Manor and is open to the public.