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Tag: Fairfield County Council

  • Rezoning Effort Dies on First Reading

    An effort to rezone nearly 7 and a half acres of land on Toatley Road in Winnsboro died at Monday night’s County Council meeting when the first reading of the ordinance failed to garner a second.

    The property is owned by Melvin Stevenson, who sought to have the land rezoned from RD (Rural Resource District) to B-1 (Limited Business District) in order to make way for the Williams Center for Counseling. Stevenson was represented at the meeting by his brother Al Stevenson, who told council that the proposed Williams Center would cater to at-risk children, between the ages of 5 and 18, in the county. The clientele would be recommended to the Center by the School District, Stevenson said, and would include children who had not yet entered the legal system, but were at potential risk for doing so. The Center would have served between three and five children a day, Stevenson told council, and would be headed by Dr. Karen Williams.

    Councilman Kamau Marcharia placed the motion on the floor after council heard from Stevenson as well as several members of the Toatley Road community who spoke against the rezoning.

    “I was a little dismayed, that when folks come forth and speak about trying to do something to prevent something before it happens – not just when someone is a criminal or has gotten in trouble – we’re going to try to prevent this,” Marcharia said near the close of the meeting. “No more than three children a day would be (at the facility), who had never been in serious trouble, and try to keep them out of trouble, and that was denied. We either pay now or we pay later. I don’t understand it, that when it comes down to looking out for our children, there’s such apathy, indifference. I would like each council member to tell me, what was really the harm, if that place was put there, what was the danger to the community? Who is going to be hurt by that? How could we stop these kids from getting some kind of service they really need and probably deserve? We just passed it by and didn’t really act on it. It’s kind of embarrassing.”

    Carrie Matthews, who lives in the community, spoke against the facility.

    “This is not a mom-and-pop store or a backyard beauty parlor that would be fulfilling the needs of the community,” Matthews said before presenting council with a petition of signatures against the zoning request. “These are clients who have a history of behavioral problems. There is a concern among vulnerable people in the community. We feel strongly there are surely other services available in town, and if not, Winnsboro would be the more logical place to locate such a facility.”

    The possibility of increased trespassing, crime and traffic, Matthews said, were major concerns among the residents of the isolated, quiet community.

    Ron Stowers, the County Building and Zoning Department Director, told council that B-1, while consistent with other land uses in RD zoning, also includes 71 other uses.

    “Anything that is permitted use in B-1 would be allowed to go in there,” Stowers said, “either in lieu of what they’re talking about or in addition to that.”

    “That makes you stop and think about it a little bit,” Council member Mary Lynn Kinley said.

    “Once it’s zoned, that’s what it is,” Council Chairman David Ferguson said. “If that business goes in and ceases to operate there, that piece of property is still zoned in that new zoning area. That’s also a concern of mine. You have to look past that one initial thing that it might be because it could turn into some other things. And 70 is a pretty big list.”

    Ferguson said some questions about whether the proposed clinic would be offering services not offered elsewhere in the county would have to be addressed before third reading of the ordinance. However, with the failure of the first reading, those questions will remain unanswered. After the meeting, Marcharia said he was surprised the ordinance did not at least pass the first reading and move on to the next phase where questions such as those could have been debated.

  • Fairfield County Considers Water Authority

    With a deadline for committing to a proposed countywide water authority a little more than a month away, Fairfield County Council held a special called meeting Aug. 15 to weigh the benefits of participating and the risks of turning their backs on the effort.

    Under the proposed plan for a water authority, members will be expected to contribute $5,000 to a Charter Committee bank account to raise capital for incorporating costs. If at least $15,000 hasn’t been raised by the Sept. 30 deadline, the entire project goes up in smoke.

    “If we haven’t raised that money by the September deadline, then the Town will probably have to look at phasing distributors off the system,” John Fantry, special counsel to the Town of Winnsboro, said earlier this month. “It is a ‘pay to play’ system. If Winnsboro is the only one putting up any money to do this, if other people aren’t committed, then we’re going to have to take care of ourselves, and that means cutting people off of wholesale water.”

    County Councilman David Brown, who said he has, in the past, been a proponent of the County establishing its own water and sewer service, said a water authority appears to be a much more viable option.

    “How can we justify speeding millions of dollars with no customer base, other than the industrial park?” Brown asked. “How can we go out and tell our constituents were going to spend $100 million on water and sewer when we don’t have a single customer? That’s my concern with us getting in the water business.”

    “I suggest we go along with it,” Brown added.

    Council vice chairman Dwayne Perry said he was concerned with the apparent lack of participation by other water providers in the county.

    “If we’re going to make this a partnership, we’ve got two purveyors who are not at the table, in Jenkinsville and Mitford,” Perry said. “If we’re going to look at growing this entire county, we need to be joined as partners. If we don’t have all the stakeholders at the table, I think we’re missing a great opportunity.”

    The Town of Ridgeway and Mid-County Water are the only two water providers to have so far expressed any positive interest in joining the Town of Winnsboro in forming the Regional Water Supply Authority for Fairfield County. The Jenkinsville Water Company (JWC) purchases approximately 50 percent of its water from Mid-County, which in turn buys water from Winnsboro; but Gregrey Ginyard, president of the JWC Board of Trustees, said two weeks ago that his company is not interested in joining the authority.

    “At this time, we don’t feel like that would be beneficial for us,” Ginyard said. “We can’t see turning the Jenkinsville Water Company over to someone else.”

    Ginyard added that he was not overly concerned about the possibility of being cut off from Winnsboro water.

    “We’re working on other water sources,” Ginyard said. “We’re looking at putting in more wells and we’re applying for grants for a treatment plant so we can pull water out of the river.”

    The Mitford Water Company said they would like to have joined in the project, but were locked into a contract with Chester County for the next 30 years or more. Mitford Water serves approximately 900 customers in Fairfield County.

    David Ferguson, Council Chairman, suggested Council ask Margaret Pope, of the Pope Zeigler law firm, to come before Council and present on an overview of how a water authority would work and what the benefits would be. Pope’s firm is assisting Santee Cooper and the Town of Winnsboro in forming the proposed water authority.

    “If we don’t get in on this, we’re shot in the foot,” Brown said. “There’s got to be some mechanism (to get water throughout the county). It’s going to either be through the water authority or we are going to have to get into the water business, and how much is that going to cost?”

  • County OK’s Zoning Officers

    With two of its members in attendance at the Town of Winnsboro’s water authority meeting and one member out for personal reasons, a bare quorum of Fairfield County Council gave the final OK July 9 to administration to hire two new code enforcement officers as well as create an assistant director of planning and zoning position. The move is designed to help the County enforce new and stricter zoning laws put in place by Council earlier this year.

    The new code enforcement officers will have to complete training with the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy in order to be certified as Class 3 officers (with the ability to issue citations) within a reasonable amount of time after hire, Council Chairman David Ferguson said. The assistant director of planning and zoning will essentially be an understudy of the director, Hinely said at Council’s June 25 meeting, and will move into the director’s spot when that position comes open in the next two years.  At that time, the assistant director position will be discontinued.

    Hinely also said it was his plan to divide the department into two sections – building inspection, and planning and zoning/code enforcement – as well as initiate community outreach programs in order to notify property owners of County’s intent to enforce the more rigid codes.

    “We’ll have some community awareness meetings to let people know what’s going on before we start mailing out notices,” Hinely said July 9.

    Fergus said he had already received some negative feedback from the community regarding the County’s new codes, but said the tighter codes were necessary if Fairfield County is going to move into the future.

    “First of all, we didn’t have a plan to help people realize just how negative these housing situations have gotten,” Ferguson said. “And since we never brought it to anybody’s attention, everyone just accepted that that’s what our expectations are. Well, those are not what our expectations are. Unless we move forward, Fairfield County is never going to be the place we all dream it can be.”

    Ferguson later addressed the absence of Council members David Brown and Carolyn Robinson, both of whom attended the Town of Winnsboro’s meeting to consider the viability of creating a county water authority instead of the County Council meeting.

    “We have a couple of Council members who chose to go to the water meeting the Town of Winnsboro chose to have tonight,” Ferguson said. “Their hope is to get all five purveyors of water on board to form a water authority.”

    Councilman Dwayne Perry said he would have liked to have attended the Winnsboro meeting, but felt the regularly scheduled County Council meeting took precedence.

    “If there’s another meeting, I hope to have the opportunity to go,” Perry said.

    Council member Mary Lynn Kinley said the Town of Winnsboro was aware of the conflict in County Council’s schedule and knew the majority of Council members could not attend a July 9 meeting.

    “We did have an opportunity to tell them when we could and could not meet,” Kinley said. “The Town sent us a letter and I think all of us stated that on the second and fourth Mondays we could not be there. But they chose tonight.”

    Ferguson said County Council sets its meeting schedule at the beginning of the year, but that his impression was that most of the people who were invited to the Winnsboro meeting could only attend that night.

    “We vote on our meeting schedule the first meeting in January,” Ferguson said, “and we don’t deviate from that unless an emergency comes up. We all would like to have been there (at the Winnsboro meeting), but Council’s agenda is Council’s agenda. I didn’t postpone this meeting or have an early meeting because this is the appointed Council time on this appointed night and the four of us are here to do business.”

  • Tighter Codes Putting Fairfield County Staff to the Test

    Fairfield County’s new building codes are putting a strain on existing staff, and during the June 25 meeting of County Council, County Administrator Phil Hinely informed Council of his intent to bring on help.

    “Recently Council updated the zoning and building codes to reflect the current national codes, and added an initiative to address the existing buildings in deteriorating condition,” Hinely said.

    The additional workload created by updating the zoning and building codes has not, by itself, been significant enough to warrant additional staffing, Hinely said, but the more stringent codes regarding existing buildings have stretched the effectiveness of the County’s two code enforcement officers.

    “Unfortunately, we have a large inventory of existing housing stock that is in violation, and we don’t have any additional staff to take care of that,” Hinely said. “Without that (additional staff) it will take us years to realize our outcome.”

    Hinely said the current director of planning and zoning is planning to retire in the next two years and suggested creating an assistant director position in order to train an individual to replace the director. When the current director retires, the assistant would be promoted to director and the assistant director position would be deleted.

    “When we know we have someone who is in a critical management position in the County, we should bring someone in to understudy him,” Hinely said. “He (the current director) has a lot of institutional history and knowledge.”

    Hinely said it was his plan to divide the department into two sections – building inspection, and planning and zoning/code enforcement – and hire two additional code enforcement officers.

    “The new codes are a lot more broad and touch a lot more people,” Hinely said, “and to give people due process, it takes longer to go through process.”

    “If we don’t get additional staff, is it the end of the world?” Hinely asked, rhetorically. “No. But the things you want done are not going to get done.”

    Hinely said he also plans to have additional legal assistance lined up in order to combat any potential litigation as the County begins enforcement of the tougher codes.

    “Some of the worst property in this county is right here on (Highway) 321,” Council Chairman David Ferguson said. “You can look straight across the street and (see) a boarded-up house right on 321, the main thoroughfare to get to the town of Winnsboro, right across the street from our headquarters. One of the worst environments in the county is right across the street. It’s because we’ve got two code enforcement officers and a million things for them to look at.”

    Councilwoman Mary Lynn Kinley said the new codes went hand in hand with potential economic development.

    “When Sumter County had a big industry that wanted to come in there, they went into the neighborhoods before anybody knew they were in town,” Kinley said. “If they did that here, they would tuck and run from Fairfield County if they came down this thoroughfare. We’ve let them get by with too much for too long. There are going to be a lot of growing pains, but we will all benefit.”

    Council asked Hinely to provide detailed job descriptions for the proposed new code enforcement officers, and requested that the new officers be certified as Class 3 officers, with the ability to issue citations, within a reasonable amount of time after hire. A final OK on the matter was tabled until Council’s next meeting.

    Council also discussed a possible revision to their policy concerning subdivision development. Council said they have encountered problems with developers who, when ground was broken on their subdivisions, signed a document pledging to not ask the County for services, including paved roads or the repair of those roads. But, after development is completed, residents, who may have been unaware of such a provision, have come to Council asking for services.

    In fact, at the outset of the meeting, a resident of Reservoir Road asked Council to come in and patch up roads in her subdivision.

    “That’s the way it was with Paradise Lane,” Ferguson said, referring to a similar issue encountered by Council in the past. “We will do everything we can to get it rectified. We can’t just go out there and fix it because the property was never deeded to the County. There’s not a quick, fast, in-a-hurry fix to it because you have to work through all the legal stuff.”

    Hinely suggested Council may want to consider modifying the existing subdivision ordinance to the effect that if developers do not get the deed recorded, they will not be able to acquire a building permit.

  • After Injection of County Cash, Hospital Turns Corner

    Fairfield County Council received an update Monday night on their $1.2 million investment into Fairfield Memorial Hospital in a meeting on the Midland’s Tech campus with the hospital’s Board of Directors.

    “The good news is that it’s good news,” Tim Mitchell, the hospital’s Chief Financial Officer, said.

    Mitchell reported that the hospital, for the first time this fiscal year, turned a profit in May, with revenue exceeding expenses by $40,255, according to his report. While the hospital’s operating numbers were more than $39,000 in the red, non-operating income came in at $79,293. Year-to-date expenses are also down for the hospital by more than $474,000 over last year.

    Mitchell also reported that the hospital was now current on its payments into the State Retirement System, as well as the employee insurance program. The hospital has also met its obligations to the Town of Winnsboro for utility payments, Mitchell said, and all outstanding taxes have been paid and all liens satisfied.

    Patient days and admissions were up in May, something Mike Williams, the hospital’s Director, accredited to the hospital’s partnership with Palmetto Health.

    “Over the last two and a half, three months, we’ve worked very closely with Palmetto Health getting a collaboration with them,” Williams said. “They have staff members that come to Fairfield, and we have staff members that go there.”

    Mitchell said the Senior Connections program, launched in April, also contributed to the May turnaround.

    “But I would caution you that we are entering a very slow period,” Mitchell warned. “The summer months are not typically a high-volume period.”

    Williams said patients coming in from clinics are actually down in recent months, and County Council Chairman David Ferguson said he had expected the Eau Claire clinic to have had more of an impact on the hospital’s numbers by now.

    “I have been a little bit disappointed in the coming out of Eau Claire,” Ferguson said. “They really haven’t hit the community like I feel like they’re going to have to if they’re going to be an interested part of the community, and they haven’t done that yet.”

    Ferguson said the County was in the process of setting up a meeting with Eau Claire to determine what role they could play in the future of the hospital.

    Another potential future for the hospital is a new home closer to I-77.

    “We’re thinking long-term,” Williams said. “We’ve got to look at the stability of the hospital and where a hospital can survive. I-77 can help support the hospital. It is very, very difficult to survive in Winnsboro. It’s something we’ve got to look at if you want to have a hospital in the county.”

    Ferguson said that once the first of the new reactors comes online at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station, and that tax money begins to flow into the County, the hospital and the County should give consideration to the idea of relocating the hospital.

  • County Considers Future of Water Supply

    Though the agenda was light, the Fairfield County Council had plenty to talk about during their June 11 evening meeting after County Administrator Phil Hinely mentioned a meeting held on June 8 with SCE&G, Winnsboro and Fairfield County representatives to discuss the possibility of using water from Lake Monticello in western Fairfield County. Water from Lake Monticello may help alleviate long-term water shortages that are facing the area. Lake Monticello is owned and managed by the South Carolina Electric and Gas Company and covers about 7,000 acres.

    “The distance from the lake to the Town’s reservoir is 12 miles,” Council Chairman David Ferguson said. “It is about the same distance as from the Broad River, but because of elevation, a lot more in pumping equipment would be needed for getting water from the Broad River. SCE&G said they could provide a million gallons a day, but the Town will have to buy the water from them. It sounds to me like it could be worked out, but it will cost $12 million.”

    Water is provided to Fairfield County residents by five water companies within Fairfield County: Winnsboro, Mitford, Ridgeway, Jenkinsville and Mid-County Water. Winnsboro also provides water to the Blythewood area of Richland County.

    “Someone needs to man up and call all the water entities to the table,” said Council member Carolyn Robinson. “If the Town is not going to do it, I think we should. We need a game plan and we need to bring every water provider to the table.”

    “Does the Town have a plan for the future of their water system?” asked Council member Mary Lynn Kinley.

    “The County has helped out with providing money for a study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,” Ferguson said. “If all five water purveyors came together, it would help for grant and loan purposes.”

    “The Town doesn’t have the finances to upkeep the water system or expand their lines,” said Council member David Brown. “We need to try to get all five water companies together with us to come together to come up with short- and long-term solutions. In the past, the USDA would help out with paying for infrastructure. At some point, the whole country will have this problem with aging water systems.”

    “I envision everyone coming together to provide the county’s water through one central water authority,” Robinson said. “Until we sit down at the table as a group, we will be sitting here again discussing this a year from now.”

    “The Mayor (Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy) told me Mitford was doing fine and didn’t want to be a part of a water authority,” Ferguson said. “Jenkinsville didn’t want to participate either.”

    “Even though the County isn’t in the water business, it’s obvious that having five companies in one county is not optimal,” County Administrator Phil Hinely said. “But sometimes a crisis can help make a decision.”

    Ferguson said he will contact Mayor Gaddy to see what the Town’s future water plans are.

  • County Reacts to Tax Plan

    County Council reacted Monday night to a recent Fairfield County School Board meeting where a presentation was given by Scott Price, an attorney for the S.C. School Board Association and William Halligan of Childs and Halligan, P.A. on a proposed South Carolina Education Finance Restructuring Act.

    The act, which proponents plan to bring to the state legislature in January, would equalize state funding for all students, no matter where they live in South Carolina.

    Council members Ferguson, Kamau Marcharia and Kinley attended the school board meeting, and were opposed to the proposal.

    “The School Board Association hired Fairfield County School District’s attorney Ken Childs to come up with a plan with the help of 16 school board members across the state, not including our own, to take tax money from V.C. Summer nuclear plant,” Ferguson said. “Why didn’t this happen with BMW, Michelin or Boeing? The school board was told they wouldn’t have to go by the County’s millage anymore.”

    “It was a two year study paid for by the S.C. Senate and prompted by representatives in Aiken,” Ferguson continued. “No contact was made during this study with the S.C. Association of Counties. I was disappointed that our senator didn’t mention that this study was going on. If money was expended for over a period of two years — that our delegation didn’t know this was going on — expenditures are supposed to be seen by every senator in the state.”

    “I would like to talk to Senator Coleman,” Council member Dwayne Perry said, “to see what he thinks about taking the power plant money out of Fairfield County. What is his stance?”

    “They think they can come and hire a bunch of high paid lawyers and run ripsaw over us,” said Brown. “They couldn’t go to an Aiken or Charleston County and try to do this.”

    “Let the people who decided not to have nuclear reactors in their county decide how they will get money,” Ferguson said. “People are going to come at us and do their dead level best to get our tax money.”