About fifty fellow employees and friends said farewell with refreshments and gifts to Assistant County Administrator Laura Johnson, who is retiring, and former County Administrator Jason Taylor, who will take over as Winnsboro Town Manager next month.
WINNSBORO – Time’s almost up for Fairfield County to designate an interim or permanent administrator before running afoul of state law.
In spite of four failed attempts in as many weeks to seat an interim administrator, the county’s top elected official asserted Tuesday night that one would be confirmed by Thursday evening, June 3.
At the special meeting called on Tuesday night, council was set to discuss the fourth candidate. Council Chair Moses Bell emailed council members Tuesday morning that the candidate would be David L. Rawlinson, an upstate educator for more than thirty years. There was no mention in the email that Rawlinson had government experience.
By mid-afternoon the same day, The Voice learned that Rawlinson had declined the job offer, citing turmoil on council, and that Bell had put forth two other names for consideration at the evening meeting – Michael Squirewell, a home builder who lives in Ridgeway, and Brad Caulder, the county’s human resources director.
Both men were interviewed in executive session for more than an hour, but council took no action on selecting either of them.
Bell told The Voice following the meeting that he anticipated interviews will resume during a special meeting tentatively planned for Thursday, June 3, at 5:30 p.m.
Asked if council would continue the selection process with Squirewell and Caulder or interview another candidate, Bell said he didn’t think a new candidate would be considered at this point.
Rawlinson’s candidacy for the interim position was preceded by three other failed considerations for the job. The first candidate, a former Richland County government official, didn’t make it to the vote before he was dropped from consideration because of reports linking him to sexual harassment in the workplace at Richland County. The second candidate, educator Jim Rex, dropped out the day after council voted to approve him for the position, citing turmoil on council. The third candidate, former Richland County administrator Gerald Seals, said his offer for the position was withdrawn by Bell the day following the vote. It was formally withdrawn by council four days later.
Fairfield County has until the end of business Friday, June 4 to appoint an interim administrator to comply with state law.
It was only three weeks ago that Bell issued an RFP for a search firm to advertise and bring candidates to the county for the administrator job. After securing a firm to search for qualified candidates, Jason Taylor, the current county administrator, said it could take as much as six months to fill the position.
Section 4-9-620 of state law states the following: “The council shall employ an administrator who shall be the administrative head of the county government and shall be responsible for the administration of all the departments of the county government which the council has the authority to control.”
Taylor and Laura Johnson, the county’s assistant county administrator, are both leaving their posts June 4.
Tim Winslow, executive director of the S.C. Association of Counties, said the county could merely designate an interim administrator by council vote while continuing to search for a full-time administrator, noting that’s how Pickens County proceeded with a recent vacancy.
Numerous top-level employees have departed Fairfield County in the wake of the November general elections, which saw a dramatic shift in the council’s balance of power. The council now routinely votes 4-3 on most issues of consequence, including votes on appointing an interim administrator.
In light of the fact that the county will have neither a county administrator nor an assistant administrator after Taylor and Johnson depart the county offices on Friday, council members voted 5-0 to give Anne Bass, the county’s finance director, signature authority for county checks. Council members Doug Pauley and Mikel Trapp were absent for the vote.
The vote is contingent on the county confirming the legality of giving Bass that authority.
WINNSBORO – In a third attempt in three weeks to hire an interim county administrator, Council Chairman Moses Bell has called a special meeting of council Thursday, May 20, at 6 p.m. to put forth Gerald Seals’ name for the position.
Seals served as county administrator for Richland County, making headlines when the county fired him in May, 2018 in a close 6-5 vote. He walked away with a $1 million settlement and resumed teaching at Newberry College where he had taught previously.
Seals served as county administrator in Greenville County prior to coming to Richland.
Seals is also pastor at the Living Word Church and Fellowship in Northeast Richland County.
He is the third candidate the majority four on county council has considered for the interim job. Three weeks ago, Bell called an executive session to discuss hiring a former City of Columbia official who, it was learned, left the City after he was accused of sexual harassment. When that information was revealed to council, the majority four declined to move forward with a vote.
Earlier this week, the majority four voted 4-3 to offer the job to former State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex. However, Rex turned down the offer on Tuesday, saying the deeply divided vote as well as the current turmoil in the county government made the job ‘not a good fit for me.’
Council is expected to vote on Seals tomorrow (Thursday) night, though his name was not mentioned in the executive session agenda item that was sent out Wednesday afternoon. Bell announced his choice of Seals in an email he sent to county officials about 4 p.m., Wednesday, May 19.
WINNSBORO – Fairfield County Council Chairman Moses Bell has scheduled a special called meeting for 6 p.m., Monday evening to consider his nominee to serve as interim county administrator.
“[The] agenda will consist of a executive session item to include an interview and discussion with Dr. Jim Rex to potentially serve as interim county administrator for Fairfield County,” Bell wrote in an email to all council members a little after noon Friday.
“If approved by council to serve as interim county administrator, he will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to this role,” Bell wrote in the email. “Dr. Rex has a prestigious professional career and will be able to support any ongoing and new economic development efforts the county has or may have in the future.”
Rex, 79, served as South Carolina Superintendent of Education, and lives on Lake Wateree. Both he and his wife, Sue, supported Fairfield County Councilwoman Shirley Greene in her campaign for council in November. The Rexes are also staunch backers of Superintendent Dr. J.R. Green’s proposed Teacher Village. Rex is founder of a new political party – the American Party of South Carolina.
Rex holds a bachelor’s degree in English, a master’s degree in education administration, and a doctorate degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Toledo.
Prior to his position as SC Superintendent of Education, Rex was an English teacher and football coach in Ohio, the dean of education at Winthrop University, the dean of education at Coastal Carolina University, president of Columbia College, vice president for development and alumni relations and vice president of university advancement at the University of South Carolina.
RIDGEWAY – The County’s Director of Economic Development, Ty Davenport, is tickled pink that the county has a potentially interested buyer for its only spec building, a 75,000 square foot big box in the Walter Brown Industrial Park off Cook Road, but his elation is exceeded by his worry that the County doesn’t have the marketable industrial properties that it needs to stay up with its competition.
Some Fairfield County residents, however, have voiced objection when the County considers purchasing more land for economic development.
“When it comes up that the County is looking to buy several hundred acres of property for economic development, the perception is that the County owns all this property and has a tremendous amount of inventory,” Davenport told The Voice last week during a tour of the County’s 600-acre Fairfield Commerce Center off Peach Road, the second of its two industrial parks.
“But we don’t,” he said. “Our marketable territory is pretty slim today compared to the main counties we compete with. We have a total of about 600 buildable acres. Chester County has 1,353 marketable acres available, twice what we have. Kershaw has 1,000+ marketable acres and Orangeburg County, a big competitor of ours, has 1,850 acres ready to go,” Davenport said. “Orangeburg has 10 industrial parks compared to our two – the Fairfield Commerce Center and the Walter Brown Industrial Park. And these numbers don’t include mega sites.”
Davenport said the County has about 475 buildable acres in the Fairfield Commerce Center and only 32 total buildable acres in the Walter Brown Park.
“When recruiting industry, we have to be ready for them. Things happen faster today than they did 20 years ago, and the county that has marketable, ready-to-go property is going to do better,” Davenport said.
Asked what other inventory there is in the County, Davenport said there are six available buildings – the former Mack Truck building, (676,000+ square feet), the former Caterpillar building (50,000+ square feet), the spec building (75,000 square feet), the 123,000-square-foot Charm building in Ridgeway that has only 22,000 square feet available, the Fazio (Plastec) building (175,000 square feet) on Highway 34 and about 20,000 square feet available in the 65,000+ square foot Ying Zin building in Walter Brown Park. All but the spec building are privately owned but marketed by the County.
“With the improving economy, the Mack Truck building has been getting lots of looks lately. It’s one of only six buildings over 600,000 square feet available in the whole state. It has rail and a new $3 million roof. It’s a clean building inside with a clean environmental report. It’s ready to go,” Davenport said. “It’s a big property with a lot of value on 150 acres. It could be expanded up to a million square feet fairly easily. A company that’s interested in a big building in South Carolina will look at it,” Davenport said. “Besides the potential jobs, that building can bring in significantly more property taxes annually for the County than the $400,000 it now generates.”
The only other site that could hold a building the size of the Mack Truck building is a 100-acre site located in the 210-acre second phase of the Fairfield Commerce Center. That site will be ready to market in late spring. Graders are currently adding water and sewer lines and roads. That work is being financed with $7 million from the County’s $24 million bond money.
Davenport said the County has saved about $1 million on the project by redesigning part of the site and securing almost $700,00 in grants. The County harvested a portion of the timber on the property and plans to use the proceeds to pre-grade building pads for new users.
Driving past BOMAG, a mid-size company that sits at the entrance to the Fairfield Commerce Center, Davenport pointed to a yard full of shiny yellow road paving equipment that the company assembles. He described the company as fantastic.
“It’s an international French-owned German company that employees 120 people and owns 120 companies around the world. That’s a good connection for us.” Davenport said.
For some in the County, the 1,200-acre mega site purchased last year on Highway 34 east of I-77 is the elephant in the room. Shortly after the County purchased the site, Val Green, a local engineer, announced during public comment session of a County Council meeting, that the property was full of granite and would be difficult to develop. Davenport said the state conducted geo technical studies on the property that show the granite to be well below the surface and should not be an issue. He also said soil borings were conducted on the site. Davenport conceded that this site, like all sites, has grading challenges. He also said the site would require water, sewer and natural gas before it would be marketable. However, he said the site has two big pluses.
“It’s the only industrial site the County owns that has rail access,” Davenport said. “That’s a top priority for the more desirable industrial sites.”
Another plus is that while the property cost a whopping $8,700,000, the County only had to kick in approximately $3,000,000. The Department of Commerce covered the remaining $6,000,000. The state has also agreed to assist in covering the cost of infrastructure for the site.
“This site is for the big one, the big user, the grand slam, the home run,” Davenport said of the mega site. “But it’s not going to be marketable for 12-18 months. We still have to design truck access. As for rail access, a spur just needs to be constructed from the track to reach into the site,” Davenport said.
In the meantime, Davenport said the County is trying to recruit more good mid-size companies like BOMAG for sites soon to be available in its two existing industrial parks. “I’d like to bring in 10 companies like BOMAG,” Davenport said. “Ten companies bring in 10 accountants, 10 lawn care people, 10 people doing whatever. We want those people in the County. We’re trying to figure out ways to drive the local economy, not the national economy.”
While Davenport said he feels the County is woefully short on marketable properties, he rattles off some of the County’s assets.
“The region is attractive, and the County brings a lot to the table to attract good, clean industry,” he said. “We have 1.2 million people in a 60-minute drive time, giving us access to a good workforce – about half a million employed people – and companies are looking for people who are currently employed. We have Lake Wateree, Lake Monticello, proximity to an international airport in Charlotte and a world class zoo and university in Columbia. We have the Fairfield County museum and Carolina Adventure World in our back door, Gamecock sports, plenty of great housing in Columbia, Northeast Columbia, Blythewood and other rural and small town settings in the County. And the shopping in Ridgeway and Winnsboro is getting better every day. There’s something for everyone here,” Davenport said.
Another plus, Davenport said, is that Winnsboro and the County are becoming big assets to each other. He said the two leaderships are working together now to make things happen.
“County Administrator Jason Taylor has a background in town administration and understands town development. He has a passion for it. We have a new grant writer in the Town, and the County has hired a new community development director who will be working not only with Winnsboro but the smaller towns in the County as well. What he’s doing will make my product easier to sell,” Davenport said.
“More than anything, I hope the people in the county understand that when the County buys land, we are not just land banking. We are trying to acquire an inventory to accommodate different size buildings that meet the needs of multiple end users,” Davenport said. “We have to have outside money coming in or the town and county will wither up. That’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to recruit money into the County.”