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Tag: Blythewood Town Council

  • Chamber financials still in disarray

    BLYTHEWOOD – Almost a year after the Blythewood Chamber Commerce was not able to produce a credible set of books to Town Hall for the previous budget year, the Chamber’s Board Chairman Phil Fry told Council Monday evening that it still does not have a working budget, or even a draft budget, to present to Council.

    The occasion was an aborted attempt by the Chamber’s Executive Director Mike Switzer (as listed in the agenda) to request $20,500 from the Town’s FY 19/20 budget – $17,000 for an economic development work subsidy (previously called a grant by town officials) and $3,500 for an ‘elite partner’ annual membership for the Town at the Premier Level.

    Standing in for Switzer, the Chamber’s Chairman-elect Phil Frye asked council to withdraw a funding request that appeared on the agenda.

    “The chamber is making its internal budget cycle (inaudible)…we’re in the process of (inaudible),” Frye said. “We feel it is premature to make any further request of council at this time. Therefore, I respectfully request discussion be deferred to a later date, for the chamber to present any and all requests for discussion during the council’s budget workshops on May 9 and May 23.”

    Mayor J. Michael Ross, who is co-landlord of the McNulty Plaza offices rented by the Chamber, did not participate in the Chamber discussions. Mayor Pro Tem Eddie Baughman conducted the discussion.

    “Do you have a working budget at this time?” Baughman asked, then answered, “You said you do not. You do not have even a draft of your budget? We want to see a hard copy of your budget and how the funds requested by the chamber are spent,” Baughman said. ”We’ve asked for financials [in the past] and haven’t gotten them. We would like to see some monthly financials from the Chamber.”

    Baughman also asked about a business [The Guilded Iris] that the Chamber is now subletting a portion of its offices to.

    “Now that you have a business operating in your Chamber space, how is that going to affect your budget and your request as you’ll be receiving rental income from the business operating inside the Chamber,” Baughman asked. “And will you be expanding the business’ space and decreasing the space used by the Chamber?” Baughman asked.

    “You should be transparent,” Baughman continued. “I think the public has a right to know how public money is being spent. I don’t know how much rent you pay or the percent [of your rent] that the Guilded Iris pays you for rent. How will that affect your upcoming budget request and your year-to-year budget?”

    “When we come back for the budget [work sessions], these are some of the things I’d like to see,” Baughman told Frye. “The Town’s budget is transparent. We share our financials with the public monthly, and we expect to hear from you [Chamber] monthly.”

    In May 2018, after an investigation by The Voice of the Chamber’s financials, Council called for the chamber to turn over its complete financial records by June 12. Copies of those documents were subsequently provided to The Voice by two different town officials. After reviewing the documents, CPA and former Town Councilman Bob Massa concluded the submitted financials were “confusing, lacking in detail and sometimes impossible to follow and understand.”

    On June 25, 2018, with no further submission by the Chamber of credible financials, council voted to stop funding the visitor center after Dec. 31. However, that vote also continued full funding ($9,250 for six months) of the visitor center through Dec. 31.

    During that meeting there was no specific criticism of the chamber’s financial records by council and council did not set forth any clear expectations for how the chamber was to spend the $9,250.

    There was no mention of the chamber’s announcement that it would be increasing the amount it was charging the visitor center for the chamber’s operating costs. Even though the visitor center was fully funded for the first half of the budget year, Switzer announced in a letter to members in September that the visitor center hours were being cut back.

    In voting to continue to fund the Chamber through Dec. 31, Councilman Eddie Baughman said he “wanted to be fair to the chamber,” and not pull the rug out from under them. There was a suggestion, as in the past, that no more funding would be provided unless the Chamber provided council with complete financial records of how the funding was used.

    When the question of the Chamber’s finances came up during Council’s retreat last month, Councilman Bryan Franklin defended the Chamber saying its books were being audited by the same auditor the town uses – Love Bailey.

    “As soon as that audit is completed, they are going to present it to the board based on the conversation we had before when we found out there were some issues with their internal auditing,” Franklin told Council. “So they have agreed to do an audit with our town auditor.”

    When asked about the audit, Ed Parler, Council’s liaison with the Chamber, however, told Council there was no audit, but that Love Bailey had ‘reviewed’ the chamber’s books.

    Neither Parler nor Town Hall have been able to provide The Voice with any of the Chamber’s monthly financial statements since June 2018.

    At Monday night’s meeting, Frye told The Voice that while no financial statements have been produced by the Chamber since last June, the chamber is working with a CPA to prepare them.

  • Be sure you’re counted in 2020 census

    BLYTHEWOOD – Doris Green, a representative from the U.S. Census Bureau in Atlanta, addressed Blythewood Town Council members at their March 25 meeting, outlining why citizens need to be encouraged to participate in this year’s census.

    Green said that participating is critically important for several reasons.  The results determine Blythewood’s share of the $675 billion of federal funds available to states and communities. The data from census results are used to ensure public services and funding for schools, hospitals and fire departments, and census results determine how many seats each state is allocated in the House of Representatives.

    She also said that registering for the 2020 census will be easy, since online and phone options are available for the first time, in addition to mailing options.

    The U.S. Constitution requires the tallying of America’s population every 10 years. The census collects basic information about the people living in each household. When completing the census, everyone who is living in a household on April 1, 2020 should be counted.

    Green added that census workers will never ask for social security numbers, bank or credit card account numbers, money, donations or anything on behalf of a political party. She emphasized that all responses and personal information related to census questions are securely protected by strict federal law and robust cyber security practices.

    She said that over the next few months, the community will hear and see a lot of information about the upcoming census. April 1, 2020 is census day, and every person in every household should be included in order to have that most accurate count. Green said the census workers are in the process of building an accurate address list and automating field operations.

    Green said there are many temporary employment opportunities within the census program, as well. For more information or to apply, visit www.2020census.gov/jobs or call 1-855-JOB-2020. Additional information about the 2020 census can be found online at census.gov.

  • Chamber finances still in question

    Parler: There Was No Audit, Just a Review of Financial Statements

    BLYTHEWOOD – Former Blythewood Town Councilman Tom Utroska picked a scab at the Council retreat on Saturday when he suggested Council has never resolved its questionable financial relationship with the Greater Blythewood Chamber of Commerce.

    “I continue to harp on the Town’s fiduciary responsibility regarding the GBAC,” Utroska said. “My concern about the Octoberfest is that you are giving them [Chamber] $14,000, and they are going to make a $21,000 profit…16-18 months ago we required that the Chamber give [council] an accountable audit of their finances before you would give them any more money. In fact,” Utroska said, “you stopped giving them money for the Visitor Center. According to a former Town Council member, CPA Bob Massa, the Chamber gave you a bunch of numbers but didn’t give you anything to prove those numbers. Before the Town gives the Chamber more money, I’d like to see us have an audit [of the chamber]. I’d like to understand that what they say they’re spending is what’s actually happening.”

    For openers, Utroska criticized council for allowing the chamber to spend event advertising money provided by council on two of three newspapers, leaving out The Voice which he said is the one of the three that is a town business.

    “Don’t leave out someone that you’re supposed to be representing – a town business,” Utroska added. “The Council has done a good job with the Town’s finances. But I am concerned that you are not fulfilling your fiduciary responsibility [regarding the chamber.] I think you’re setting yourself up to be criticized more in the future.”

    Councilman Bryan Franklin defended the chamber saying it is having its books audited by the same auditor the town uses – Love Bailey.

    “As soon as that audit is completed, they are going to present it to the board based on the conversation we had before when we found out there were some issues with their internal auditing,” Franklin told Council. “So they have agreed to do an audit with our town auditor.”

    “Is there an actual audit that’s been done? That’s been completed on [the chamber’s] last year’s finances?” Mayor J. Michael Ross asked the Town’s Economic Development consultant Ed Parler, who also serves on the Chamber board as a liaison with town council.

    “As far as an audit that goes into depth – a management audit – no. It’s just purely on financial statements. We’ve been told that an organization the size of the Chamber really doesn’t need a certified financial audit, that their statements are accurate and are being independently reviewed by [Love Bailey].”

    Ross asked chamber board secretary Mark Cruise, seated in the audience, for a copy of that review.

    “We submitted a copy of that review with a final report on the A-tax Visitor Center funding at the year end and the numbers matched up,” Cruise said. “We made sure that Mr. Bailey’s review matched up independently with the chamber’s financials and they did.”

    Cruise went on to say that the reports are on the chamber’s website. A review of those reports by The Voice, however, revealed that the year-end report submitted to council in June, 2018 for the Visitor Center (and which is not posted on the website) does not match the financial review on the website produced by Love Bailey.

    According to a 2018 ruling by the S.C. Supreme Court, Chambers of Commerce in South Carolina are now only required to disclose financial information to the funding government which, in this case, would be the Blythewood Town Council.

    Both Parler and Town Hall have been unable to provide The Voice with the Chamber’s monthly financial statements since June, 2018, but Ross said he would be happy to meet with The Voice, Cruise and Parler to discuss the Chamber’s financials.

    In response to Utroska’s criticism of council voting unanimously to award the Chamber $14,000 for a fundraiser that is expected to raise $21,000 to benefit the Chamber, Ross explained council’s actions as, perhaps, a rushed decision.

    “We got that 48 hours before our meeting,” Ross said. “We sat up here looking at that for the first time and they needed approval for some of the vendors, performers, etc. and I think we rushed through that. But it’s [the event] not until 2019-20 budget approval, so we may have to revisit that.

    “For an organization to have a $21,000 profit, that’s great, but maybe they don’t need the money,” Ross said.

    “I wish the Chamber had gotten inside the true town center district, the businesses in town that should be the real nucleus of support,” Ross said. “I see new members being the United Way of the Midlands. But I still charge the Chamber to somehow be a voice for businesses in Blythewood…to reach out to the mom and pop businesses that really do make up Blythewood.”

  • Council retreat open to public

    BLYTHEWOOD – The community is invited to the Town Council’s planning retreat on Saturday, March 16, from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., at Doko Manor.

    “We always invite the community to all of our meetings, but I especially like them to come to our annual spring retreat. That’s when we plan for the next year, and I think everyone in the community should have input into that planning,” Mayor J. Michael Ross said.

    Topics of discussion include the budget, town planning, the Winnsboro/Blythewood water agreement, Richland County road projects, business signage and more, a town press release stated.

    A Taste of Blythewood will be featured at noon, featuring fare donated by some of Blythewood’s restaurants. Lunch is open to all who attend the retreat.

    Doko Manor is located in the town park adjacent to Town Hall. For more information, call 803-754-0501.

  • Mayor Ross: ‘No one rides that bus’

    BLYTHEWOOD – After being asked to appoint a member of the Blythewood Chamber of Commerce to the COMET bus board, Mayor J. Michael Ross didn’t mince words about whether the bus service is needed in Blythewood.

    “Nobody ever sees anybody on that bus,” Ross said. “Initially we had some riders, but for me to vote to put someone on that board, I need to know how many people catch the COMET in Blythewood and come back on it to Blythewood.”

    Ross told COMET executive director/CEO John Andoh that Council needed some real ridership data for the Blythewood route.

    “We need to be clear,” Ross said to Andoh. “We have been asking for this data way before your time, but we get data that tells us about the bus, the 52-X Express. That’s wonderful. But that bus stays in service after it runs its routes here in the morning – two buses going into Columbia and two going out [back to Blythewood.] We as a council want to see how many people from Blythewood have used the services of the COMET this year,” Ross said.

    “We’re not sure that money is being spent in the best way if no one is riding the bus,” he said. “I believe a vote to appoint a board member should be postponed until the March 16 council retreat, until we get actual data that shows how many [Blythewood] people ride that bus.”

    Andoh explained that each boarding is recorded as a person boarding.

    “If you board 3 times in a day,” Andeau said, “we treat that as three people boarding.”

    Again Ross pressed for Blythewood rider data.

    After looking at data on his laptop from May through November 2018, Andoh agreed with Ross.

    “I can tell you that I’m not impressed with the numbers of 52-X,” Andoh said. “It is one of our lower performing routes and I believe that when this pilot program ends in May, we may need to look at doing something else with this service, maybe have two or three routes from Blythewood to Killian Road/Walmart and back and maybe priced for low-income residents and seniors.”

    Looking further at the data on his laptop, Andoh said 52-X carried 1 passenger per trip on average and that the subsidy was $67.97 with a fair box recovery ratio of 1.5 percent.

    “When you measure that to the rest of the system, that is very poor,” Andoh said.

    Ross repeated his desire to postpone the vote for the appointment of a COMET board member until the March 16 town council retreat. Council agreed with a unanimous vote.

  • Council bankrolls fundraiser for Chamber

    BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council voted Tuesday night to award $14,000 of Hospitality Tax revenue for a fundraiser for the Chamber of Commerce.

    In an application requesting the funding, Sarah Ballard, an event manager hired for the event – a Bavarian Oktoberfest – noted that it was being held to raise funds for the Greater Blythewood Chamber of Commerce.

    She added that it will also provide an opportunity for residents of Blythewood and the surrounding areas to gather to build community and learn about Bavarian culture.

    The request said the total project cost would be $37,394 and would be partially funded by the proceeds from food, merchandise and beer sales ($14,500), cow paddy bingo ($18,450) and sponsorships ($10,000) plus $1,520 in in-kind services.

    According to the request, the Chamber expects a total net profit of $21,125.12.

    Council unanimously approved the Chamber’s budget for the event which includes $1,800 for advertising in The County Chronicle, $1,600 in The Free Times and no advertising in The Voice.

    The German Octoberfest-style event will be held on Saturday, Oct. 5 from noon to 10 p.m. at the Doko Meadows Park. According to the request, the theme of the event will be based on the traditional Bavarian beer and folk festival with eating, live traditional German music, drinking, dancing, children’s activities and games.

    Hutto Golf Tournament

    Council also awarded $2,500 for the Parks Hutto Bengal Invitational Golf Tournament set for March 11-12 at the Columbia Country Club. Jason Minkel, golf coach for the tournament, said the funds would be used to pay for gifts, snacks and drinks for the players.

    Now in its tenth year, Minkel said the tournament is the premier high school golf tournament in South Carolina. Formerly named the Bengal Invitational, the tournament was renamed in 2015 in memory of former team member Parks Hutto who died June 11, 2015, after a short battle with myocarditis. He was 14 and a rising freshman at Blythewood High School at the time of his death. Hutto had been on the Bengal varsity golf team since seventh grade.

    Minkel said the tournament has become so popular that he now has to turn teams away.

    “This year we will host state champions from 2A to 5A schools as well as SCISA champions and many other top state golf teams,” Minkel said. “Last year we had 26 teams from all over South Carolina.”

    After learning that the annual tournament brings in almost 200 players, coaches and visitors that stay in Blythewood hotels and eat at the towns restaurants, Mayor J. Michael Ross suggested the tournament might also be eligible for Accommodation Tax (A-Tax) funds and encouraged Minkel and Hutto’s mother, Ginny, who was present at the meeting, to apply for the funds.

  • Blythewood Celebrates 3rd Annual Black History Event

    Dressed for the occasion, Sheila Butler, Maxine Goodwin, Alberta Lewis and Luvenia Gordon-Dukes arrived at the Blythewood Black History program ready to celebrate. | Barbara Ball

    BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood Community celebrated Black History Month with music, dance and refreshments on Saturday at The Manor.

    The afternoon of entertainment and remembrance included performances by members of the Blythewood Churches Community Choir, the Pine Grove Church Youth Choir and a dance team from Westwood High School.

    Jo Ann of Na J Fashions

    Jason Lloyd opened the program singing the National Anthem before Guest Speaker Dr. Joe Kelly was introduced. Viola Sanders entertained with an exhibit of inventions through the years by African-Americans.

    Church awards were presented to local church elders as well as the most senior church elder. Ms. Daisy Mae Belton, now in her 80’s, was honored as a member of the Community Choir since she was eight years old.

    A highlight of the program was the recitation of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech by Ky-Brian Alexander of Blair in Fairfield County. It was followed by the Black National Anthem led by Alexander and Lloyd.

    Following the program, refreshments were served, and attendees were invited to sign their names to quilt pieces to be turned into a remembrance quilt.

  • Blythewood Visitor Center moved to Town Hall

    BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood Visitor Center has a new home – in the lobby of Blythewood Town Hall.

    “Since funding for the Visitor Center is no longer provided to the Blythewood Chamber of Commerce after Dec. 31, we have moved the source of our information for visitors from the Chamber to the Town Hall,” Mayor J. Michael Ross told the Voice on Tuesday.

    “We have all sorts of information about Blythewood and our surrounding area for people who stop in and are looking for something,” Ross said. “We have information about our hotels, our businesses, our local events, and we always have someone here to help visitors find what they’re looking for.”

    Ross said the town government no longer recognizes or funds another physical location as a Visitors’ Center. To that end, Council voted last June to defund the Blythewood Visitor Center as of Jan. 1, 2019.

    The vote to defund came after a six-month investigation by The Voice that called into question how the Chamber spent the $18,500 accommodation award provided by Council each year to fund the Visitor’s Center.

    After the Chamber failed to produce satisfactory accounting documentation for how the funds were spent, citizens increasingly called on Council to order an audit of the Chamber’s books. Council stopped short of a full investigation/audit of the Chamber’s funds, choosing instead to no longer fund the Chamber to operate the Visitors Center.

    “Since we have brought the Center in house,” Ross said, “we probably have more visitors than the Chamber had and we’re not spending $18,000. So many come here to sign up for their water service and other reasons. So it’s a great opportunity for us to let them know other things about the town,” he said.

    “The park is a big draw over here, plus our website certainly directs visitors here and to the park,” Ross said. “And the signage at the bridge over I-77 still points this way,” he said, laughing. “I think it’s all working out very well for us and for the town’s visitors.”

    Town Hall is located at 171 Langford Road. For more information about the Visitor’s Center, call 803-754-0501.

  • Council settles Doko Depot deed hitch

    BLYTHEWOOD – The town of Blythewood took the first steps in resolving the latest of several delays in the sale of the Doko Depot building across from city hall Monday night.

    This particular delay was caused by the discovery last year that title restrictions on two slivers of land in the Doko Depot property had not been disclosed to the Town in prior financing efforts with Santee-Cooper.

    Mayor J. Michael Ross put his signature to a contract presented publicly during the town council meeting that will pay Margaret DuBard $25,000 in exchange for her release of her repurchase agreement on a sliver of land that sits under one end of the Doko Depot building. The contract will also release all use restrictions Dubard had imposed by a 2001 Indenture Deed on the property.

    The other sliver of land was originally conveyed to the Blythewood Volunteer Fire Depart ment by Charles W. Proctor in 1971.

    Proctor reserved a reversion of title if the property ceased to be used for fire department or other community uses. When a new fire station was built on Main Street, the land was donated to the Town. But the parcel was still subject to the reversion clause, documents state.

    Proctor passed away in 1976, leaving no children. His wife died shortly thereafter. The heirs, Ross said, are being contacted and a civil action will be brought to determine their interests and compensation.

    The Town received both parcels for community use only. Both parcels contained reversion or repurchase clauses that kicked in when, in 2016, the town re-designated park property that include slivers of the two parcels.

    The property the building sits on was recently appraised at $4.50 per square foot. According to town attorney Jim Meggs, in the past when Dubard had conveyed to the council that she reserved the right to repurchase the building, it had been at the cost of one half of the property’s ‘modern’ appraised value.

    In subsequent talks, Meggs said Dubard requested the $25,000, which was slightly more than half the appraised value, and Meggs stated that he then told Dubard’s lawyer that “if we are going to go to that number, then we would want to release all of the property from the use restrictions and repurchase option”.

    In an unusual move, council unanimously approved a Voice Resolution Monday night acknowledging the contract, even though the document had yet to be signed by Dubard.

    Meggs told the Mayor Monday night that despite his continuous “pestering” of Dubard, she had refused to sign the contract before the town council read and agreed to the Voice Resolution which contained a clause assuring that the Town would uphold an earlier, unrelated, pledge to restructure the town’s priority list for road improvement projects under the Richland County penny sales tax program. That restructuring involved moving the widening of Creech Road to second on the Penny Tax priority list behind the McNulty Road project and ahead of the widening and improving of Blythewood Road from I-77 to Main Street, and finally to widening and improving the east side of Blythewood Road.

    DuBard, who has an ownership interest in the Creech Road property, wanted to be sure that the Town would honor its prior approval of the Penny Tax priority list unrelated to the Doko Depot property.

    Upon the mayor’s signing of the contract immediately after the council meeting, Meggs said he would then be able to obtain Dubard’s signature soon after.

    The council had no discussion before agreeing to the resolution, with only councilman Eddie Baughman saying that he believed the council had previously “discussed this to no end” before making a motion to approve the agreement.

    Upon council’s vote, Mayor Ross called attention two business owners in the audience – Don Russo of Freeway Music and John Clinger of the Old Mill Pub in Lexington – who are purchasing the Doko Depot. He thanked them for their patience with the town throughout the more than a year of delays over the fate of the Doko Depot building.

    “They are committed to this town of Blythewood, to the economic development and to their economic development. If [these businesses] didn’t believe they were going to make money and be prosperous they wouldn’t be here,” Ross stated.

    “They know what the potential is to have their businesses in this park.”

  • Town hires assistant to administrator

    BLYTHEWOOD – Town Hall has a new employee.

    Yarborough

    Saralyn Yarborough has been hired as Assistant to Town Administrator Brian Cook.

    A native of North Augusta, Yarborough is a 2014 graduate of the University of South Carolina-Aiken with a Bachelor’s Degree in History. She also earned a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Augusta University.

    Yarborough has experience assisting the City Administrator of North Augusta and comes to Blythewood after working in the North Augusta Planning and Development Department.

    “Ms. Yarborough comes to us with a great resume,” Mayor J. Michael Ross said. “We’re looking forward to having her work on special projects and possibly writing some grants. “