WINNSBORO – The Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce held a moving sale last Saturday in preparation of their move back to the Town Clock this week. Dillon Pullen, left, helped shoppers Tommy Richardson and Robert and Bobbie Pemberton while Betty Gutschlag, right, visited with Chamber Director Terrie Vickers. Following Saturday’s sale, the Chamber relocated to the Town Clock on Wednesday.
WINNSBORO – The Fairfield Chamber of Commerce welcomed Alltemp Comfort Services to town last Friday with a ribbon cutting. Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy and Alltemp owner Chris Griffith, center, wielded while co-owner Amy Griffith, left of Gaddy, and other members of the chamber assisted. Holding the ribbon are Chamber Director Terry Vickers, left, and Chamber secretary Susan Yenner held the ribbon. Alltemp is located on Peays Ferry Road in Winnsboro.
WINNSBORO – Winnsboro leaders think Fairfield County is barking up the wrong tree by asking the town to emulate the county’s animal control ordinance.
On Monday night, Winnsboro Town Council members resisted the request, saying the county’s law is overly superfluous and restrictive.
“I think the ordinance is relatively lengthy and cumbersome and may impose some difficulty and cost in enforcing it,” said Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy. “We still have to deal with issues with animal control without passing something consistent with the county.”
For example, Gaddy said he opposes a provision that would limit households to owning three dogs or less.
“I have six, and as far as I know they’re not a nuisance,” Gaddy said. “I don’t want an ordinance limiting the number of dogs I have as long as they behave and believe me, they’re treated right.”
Councilman John McMeekin said he was open to enacting a reasonable animal control ordinance, but noted the town needs adequate resources to enforce the law.
Councilman Clyde Sanders agreed with Gaddy that the county law was burdensome, but also said he’d support higher fines for animal abuse. He proposed increasing animal cruelty fines to $500.
“The one thing I would like to see the town do is have a fine of that amount,” Sanders said. “I can’t stand seeing dogs chained in the yard without anything to eat. If we catch someone, the fine ought to be high enough to prevent them from doing it.”
Winnsboro Police Chief John Seibles said officers handle several animal cruelty cases, including a few felonies. He noted manpower is the greatest challenge.
“We don’t have a full-time dedicated animal control officer, though our officers do a good job with that,” Seibles said. “If it is on the books, we’d be charged with enforcing it in some kind of way, but we don’t have the means to.”
Council members accepted the county’s request as information, but took no action.
“We have ordinances on the books that we don’t enforce now unless someone complains about it,” Gaddy said. “I don’t want us to vote on something if we’re not able to fulfill the letter of the law.”
In other business, the council voted unanimously to appoint McMeekin as an ex-officio member to the Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce.
The vote mirrors a similar action Fairfield County Council took last month.
On May 14, the council voted to authorize the chairman to appoint a county council member to the board as a condition of receiving its annual grant of $87,507 in its entirety.
The county’s appointee can vote, but cannot hold an office, such as president or secretary. The town’s appointee, however, would serve as an ex-officio member with no voting powers.
“I think it would be a great idea. I think it would help give the chamber input from the town, and give a liaison from the town the opportunity to let us know what’s going on with the chamber,” Gaddy said. “There can be a line of communication, but not conflicted when it comes to voting on matters affecting the chamber.”
First reading of the budget and annual tax levy by title only was also on the agenda Monday night.
Second reading and a public hearing on both budget ordinances will take place at the next council meeting.
WINNSBORO— In a span of two weeks, the Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce went from facing an inactive status to being fully funded.
Fairfield County Council voted unanimously Monday night to appropriate $87,507 to the Chamber, satisfying the group’s annual funding request, but with some caveats.
The Chamber had to provide the county with a plan for how it plans to spend the money.
It must also allow the council chairman to appoint a council member to the board. The appointee will have voting powers, but will not be an officeholder, such as secretary or treasurer.
“I appreciate folks at the Chamber stepping up and giving that to us,” Council Chairman Billy Smith said. “That was a big step.”
After the meeting, Smith said the conditions boiled down to providing accountability for Fairfield County taxpayers.
“We asked [the chamber] to come in and speak with us in regard to those type of concerns,” Smith said. “What I expected to be routine-type questions and answers turned into routine questions and strange answers.”
Two weeks before the vote, the Chamber told The Voice it had voted to become “inactive” effective June 30, citing “limited financial support” as a driving reason.
The vote to become inactive was held in a meeting that was not advertised as required by state open meeting laws.
Citing concerns over the Chamber’s plans, Council members signaled they would slash annual funding from $87,500 to $25,000, and gave the Chamber a May 9 deadline to detail how it would spend council funding.
The ultimatum paid off.
Smith said he thinks the Chamber is now heading in a positive direction, noting former Chamber president and CEO Terry Vickers, appointed to temporarily lead the Chamber, is working to turn things around.
“The chamber is a great asset to the county and it would be greatly missed,” said Councilman Dan Ruff.
The council’s vote also drew praise from at least one member of the public.
“I’m seeing more accountability. You’re holding people accountable, you’re holding each other accountable,” Ridgeway resident Randy Bright said during public input. “You held the chamber accountable and you got good results.”
WINNSBORO – Council wrapped up its fourth budget workshop recommending several changes in agency allocations as well as a proposal to encourage the county’s elected officials to buy in to a merit based system of salary increase.
After considering agency requests and County Administrator Jason Taylor’s budget recommendations over the last six weeks, Council is looking at continuing to pay $15,150 for Behavioral Health Services’ annual audit. It will also begin paying $11,000 for the Council on Aging’s annual audit. Council will also provide lawn maintenance at Behavioral Health Services’ new facility which is not county owned. Councilman Billy Smith said the County generally only provides lawn maintenance for agencies occupying county owned buildings.
Of the $65,000 recommended by administration for Disabilities and Special Needs, Council is pulling out $19,000 DSN requested for a new van. Smith said he recommends withholding that amount since the agency still has several vans with low mileage.
No consideration was given to allocating $4,000,801 requested by Fairfield Memorial Hospital or $1,043,000 recommended for the hospital by administration. With the exception of the current rehab departments, the hospital is expected to shut down operations by the end of 2018 when construction of a new standalone Emergency Services facility is expected to be completed on the bypass by Providence Hospital.
The full $87,500 the County allocates each year for the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce was been placed in a holding pattern earmarked for tourism after the Chamber’s interim director failed to present a plan of action for the agency for the 2018-19 fiscal year two weeks ago.
“We’re leaving it in tourism for Council for a future date to decide how to allocate that money,” Taylor said.
“The latest word is that the Chamber has gone inactive, so it would not make sense even for us to allocate $25,000 at this point,” Smith said. “So we’re going to put that in a new line item right now?” Smith asked Taylor.
“The money will be there should the Chamber come forward with a plan that you all find acceptable. If it is not acceptable, then that money could be reallocated for another project to be tourism related,” Taylor said. [Note: since the budget workshop, the Chamber’s new interim director has submitted a plan of action that is being considered by the County.]
Looking at salary increases for county employees and elected officials, Smith suggested said he would like to see the county’s elected officials buy into a merit based system of salary increases.
“If elected officials buy into the merit based program, then we would give them a full three percent increase to be dispersed throughout their departments as they see fit. If they don’t want to do that,” Smith said, “then we’ll allocate two percent for them to be used across the board.”
Council is expected to vote on the 2018-19 fiscal year budget at the May 14 meeting to be held at 6 p.m. in council chambers.
WINNSBORO – The elephant in the room was not mentioned during the Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce’s monthly breakfast on Wednesday. That elephant was the surprise announcement on Monday that the Chamber Board voted for the Chamber to become ‘inactive’ as of June 30, 2018.
While Facebook pages lit up with the news, neither the Chamber’s Board Chairman, nor any of the Board members mentioned the issue at the breakfast.
Following the breakfast, when two Board members were asked by The Voice when and where the Board had met to vote for the ‘inactive’ status, neither would divulge the information. Board member Lou Ann Coleman accused The Voice of harassment for asking the question. In an email later that day, Coleman did respond that the vote was held during a meeting at the Chamber offices on April 19. However, no meeting had been posted for a Chamber Board meeting on that date.
The S. C. Freedom of Information Act, Sec. 30-4-60 states, “Every meeting of all public bodies shall be open to the public unless closed pursuant to Sec. 30-4-70 of this chapter. In Sec. 30-4-80, it further states that notice must be given of meetings of all public bodies.
“The South Carolina Freedom of Information Act requires not just governmental entities, but ‘any organization, corporation, or agency supported in whole or in part by public funds or expending public funds,’ to abide the Act’s transparency requirements,” S.C. Press Association attorney Taylor Smith said. “The Act provides that such organization must have meetings open to the public and that the public be notified of the time, location and agenda for the meeting. The failure to notify the public of an upcoming meeting of an organization is a violation of the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act,” Smith said.
“After carefully evaluating its feasibility, the Board of Directors unanimously voted to take this action,” the Board’s press release stated. “The primary factors that led to this decision included limited financial support, reduced participation during the traditional Chamber structured events, as well as limited volunteers,” the release stated.
Asked to clarify whether the Board planned to disband the chamber on June 30, 2018, a source on the Board who asked not to be identified said the chamber will still file with the Secretary of State as an organization, but that it will become inactive as of June 30. Until that time, activities will go on as normal, the source said.
The source also said all Chamber employees will be let go as of June 30, but that the Chamber will remain in an inactive state after June 30, the end of the Chamber’s fiscal year.
Asked by The Voice to clarify ‘inactive,’ Shull answered in an email, “Inactive means not in operation.”
In the email, Shull also stated that the newly hired Interim Director of the Chamber, Chris Timmers, who was hired March 1, would not be employed through June 30. On that same day, in a Facebook post, Board member Lou Ann Coleman posted that Timmers “is no longer employed by the Chamber. Ms. (Susan) Yenner is.”
Asked to clarify Mr. Timmers’ employment status further, whether he would continue receiving a salary until June 30 even though he is no long employed, or if he received a separation package, Shull has not, at press time, responded.
The Chamber is funded primarily by the County, at $87,500 annually, and by the Town of Winnsboro for Town sponsored events at $35,000 annually. In reference to the Chamber’s reported ‘limited financial support,’ County Council Chairman Billy Smith said he was surprised to hear that was a factor in the Board’s decision to go inactive.
“No, the County has not cut the Chamber’s funding,” Smith said. “We have contemplated the idea of reducing it, but only because their representatives couldn’t answer basic questions Council members had about their plans for the future during our second budget work-session.
“In a letter from Council that was delivered to the Board on April 17, Council offered the Chamber every opportunity to keep their County funding the same as it has been in the past. I offered assistance on planning. Now, I really don’t understand the suggestion of ‘limited financial support,’” Smith said.
“Between County funding, the money the Town of Winnsboro gave the Chamber for the first time this year, and the proceeds from their golf tournament (which they said they aren’t going to do anymore),” Smith said, “ I’d think the Chamber had more financial support now than at any time before, at least in recent history.”
Asked if he had seen a decrease in attendance at Chamber sponsored events, Chief John Seibles with the Winnsboro Department of Public Safety, which oversees safety of the festivals in the Town, including Rock Around the Clock and the Pumpkin Festival, said the crowd at last year’s Rock Around the Clock was large and orderly.
“It [Rock Around the Clock] was larger than in past years and it ran smoothly as I recall,” Seibles said.
Board Chairman Harper Shull has not returned phone calls from The Voice at press time.
Related: FC Chamber Board votes to become inactive, Council gives Chamber notice
WINNSBORO – The Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce board has named Chris Timmers of Columbia as interim director of the Chamber. He replaces former Chamber Director Terry Vickers who retired from her post in October 2017.
Timmers, 70, previously spent four years with the Columbia Chamber of Commerce in membership sales where he set a number of sales records. Prior to that, Timmers was a consultant in the plastics industry.
Timmers said his goal is to increase the Chamber’s visibility within the greater Fairfield community, including securing membership renewals at the rate of 80 percent and increasing new memberships the first year by 10 percent. Timmers said he hopes to do this short term by bringing in new member businesses from the three contiguous counties surrounding Fairfield, but his long term goal is to sell memberships to businesses in the surrounding 11 counties. He said those merchants and businesses would then be promoted in Fairfield County by the Chamber just as the Fairfield merchants and businesses are now.
“Fairfield has a great deal to offer potential and existing members,” Timmers said. “It’s location in north central South Carolina make it an attractive site for manufacturing and distribution. Its proximity to highways, rail lines and municipal airports is a key draw to executives pondering where in our state to locate new or expanded facilities.”
Timmers will commute from Columbia where he and his wife Cindy make their home.