RIDGEWAY – Ridgeway will be colorfully yarn-bombed and read for visitors on Saturday, May 4, when the 13th annual Arts on the Ridge festival kicks off with a farmer’s market opening at 9 a.m. and festival activities from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
This year’s focus is on Opening Doors to Literary and Artisan Expression featuring 17 published local authors, panel discussions and book giveaways, arts and crafts vendors and unique handcrafted items.
Plein Air painters will be at work along the streets, there will be free musical performances, the Fairfield County Farmers Market will be open from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. and attendees will be welcomed to visit the town’s new library.
At straight up 10 a.m., the festival organizer, Phyllis Gutierrez, will welcome the crowd and present the Fairfield County Arts Association will present the 2019 Friend of the Arts Award. The remainder of the day will be filled with musical performances, literary discussions, giveaways and drawings.
Stores and restaurants will be open all day with specials for Mother’s Day and other sales.
“The weather is expected to be great and the shopping will be too,” Gutierrez said. “It will be a really fun day for the whole family.”
The old Ridgeway Post Office is being renovated for the temporary library.
RIDGEWAY – During a special meeting last week, county council voted unanimously to execute a two-year lease on the old Ridgeway post office property at Palmer and Jones streets for a temporary library site in the town.
The deal includes an option to renew for another two years and possibly purchase the property. Rent would cost $850 a month the first year and $892 a month in year two.
Fairfield County Administrator Jason Taylor said at its previous location, the library had already been paying $600 a month out of its millage for operations. The county would pick up the difference, he said.
“[The property owner] wanted to go up in the other two years, and we pushed back on that,” Taylor said. “We looked at a number of locations and did determine this was the best. Others would need a lot more upfitting, or had no parking or would be much more expensive.”
When the time comes to build a permanent site, the county will consider pursuing a Community Development Block Grant, or CDBG, to help pay for it.
Eric Robinson, director of the Fairfield County Library has told Council that the library board wants the permanent site to be in the town.
Ridgeway resident Moses Bell, who has announced he is running for the Ridgeway District 1 seat on county council, voiced concerns at the June 25 council meeting that the proposed temporary site is near what Bell said is a liquor store.
Bell told council members he was contacted by a woman who called him, hysterical about the temporary site at Palmer and Jones street.
“She had stated that in many municipalities, they have ordinances stating that liquor stores and bars cannot be located next to a public building,” he said. Bell did not identify those municipalities or the ordinances.
Bell said he wants a library built outside the town next to the county waste and recycle center.
Councilman Dan Ruff, who represents District 1 on county council, said the Palmer and Jones site is only temporary, noting the long-term plan is to build a permanent library elsewhere.
“We’ve looked and looked. I’ve been looking for months for a good location,” Ruff said. “This one became available.”
“We’ve been without a library for a year now,” Ruff continued. “We don’t want to wait two to four years until we can get another permanent site.”
As for the library’s surroundings, Ruff didn’t see any issues.
“Actually there’s a road and a cyclone fence before you get to the convenience store (City Gas) which has a liquor store attached,” Ruff said. “There’s also a church behind the liquor store, directly behind it. We have not had any issues with the store and I just don’t think that would be an issue.”
County administrator Jason Taylor said the county will take over the leased property on July 1, and that renovations should be completed before the start of the school year in August.
The Ridgeway branch of the Fairfield County Library closed in September 2017. It shut down after the building experienced leaks and mold issues.
On June 15, the Ridgeway Town Council considered five proposed sites for the permanent library location.
“[The county] asked us as a council to review some options that have been floating around for a while,” Ridgeway Mayor Heath Cookendorfer said.
Those sites included:
Old Fire Department, Palmer Street
Teacherage, Means Street
First Citizens Bank property, Palmer and East Church streets
Charm Parking Lot, Means and Church streets
Fork of U.S. 21 and S.C. 34.
Ridgeway Council members identified the Teacherage location as the preferred site, with the Charm Parking lot location as the runner-up.
The Town of Ridgeway owns the Teacherage site. Fairfield County would have to purchase the Charm Parking lot site, though Cookendorfer said that when the county leaves a location, the property typically reverts back to the town.
RIDGEWAY – One of Mayor Charlene Herring’s agenda items at last week’s Ridgeway Town Council meeting brought attention to Council’s new habit of earmarking or spending money (more than $113,000 since June) from a capital improvements fund that does not exist. Another such expenditure popped up last week.
Ridgeway, SC
“When we made our capital improvements list this year, Mr. Porter reminded us that the exterior of the teacherage needs painting,” Herring told Council members. But she said the painter said repairs must be made before he could paint.
The only bid for repair work on two porches came in at $5,675 which would include repairing and replacing the beadboard ceilings, repair doors, windows and trim and replace screen and lattice on both porches.
“We have the funds in capital Improvements…or whatever,” Herring assured Council, dismissing the fact that the town has no capital improvement fund. “So do we have a motion to approve this?”
“We talked last summer about holding back on expenses until we get our water system right,” Councilman Don Prioleau said. “Let’s get our finances in order, then think about something like this.”
“If you look at our budget, we have money for this,” Herring insisted.
As Prioleau tried to make his point, both the mayor and Councilman Doug Porter interrupted.
“We have the funds,” Herring insisted, “based on the (bank) account and on the consultant we brought in. We have more money than we thought we had.”
Councilman Heath Cookendorfer agreed with Prioleau.
“You’re talking about spending money on something that’s cosmetic,” Cookendorfer said, questioning whether the Town should fix up the exterior of the building without knowing how much it would cost to restore the interior.
“It’s like putting lipstick on a pig,” Cookendorfer said. He then guesstimated at the cost of the restoration.
“Ten years ago, we were told it would only cost $35,000 to restore the inside,” Porter said.
“Do you have a report saying that?” Cookendorfer asked.
“That’s what I’ve been told,”
Porter said.
At Prioleau’s suggestion, Council voted to table the item until more information could be gathered.
The current spending spree stems from the June, 2017 Council meeting when Herring brought in Larry Finney with Greenwood, Finney & Horton Certified Public Accountants to prepare the Town’s budget for fiscal year 2017-18. Finney OK’d taking the $400,000 that Ridgeway received from an insurance settlement and another $200,000 in savings from other sources and transferring $175,000 of the roughly $600,000 into the general fund and $200,000 of it into the utility fund for a rainy day. The slated projection, he said, would be $185,000 left in unrestricted funds. With $60,000 budgeted for Pig on the Ridge and the Arts Festival, that $185,000 would be trimmed down to $125,000 along with $104,000 in the utility fund. The total, $229,000 is what Finney said the Town would have available to spend, but he stipulated that those funds should be spent on one-time purchases.
While Finney conceded that would cause the Town to be in a much tighter financial condition, he suggested the Town could rebuild its savings by raising water and sewer rates as well as business license fees and millage rates. Those rates and fees were subsequently raised.
Since June, the Town’s financial reports document that, of the $229,000, Council has made more than $113,000 in purchases/earmarks, leaving a balance of $116,000 available to spend.
The purchases/earmarks since June include Town Hall painting ($4,700), Town Hall shutters ($3,150), railroad purchase/survey/legal fees ($40,000), legal services associated with removing Town Clerk’s dog from town hall ($6,022.91), security cameras ($6,900), maintenance building ($30,000), welcome center air and desk from H-Tax funds ($4,000), Christmas events from H-Tax funds ($2,000), Town Hall deck maintenance ($450) and part-time administrator David Hudspeth ($16,000 for 30 days of work).
“There are some things you’ve approved since you did the budget that were not included in the budget,” Hudspeth reminded Herring in addressing the above list. During the Nov. 9 Council meeting, Hudspeth suggested Council would need to amend the budget at the December meeting to reflect this spending.
ROCK HILL – A Ridgeway woman was killed last week after the car in which she was a passenger was involved in a three-vehicle crash in Rock Hill.
York County Coroner Sabrina Gast said Virginia Bartell, 72, died at Carolina’s Medical Center at approximately 11:49 p.m. on Sept. 7 as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.
According to the S.C. Highway Patrol, Bartell was a passenger in the right front seat of a 2013 Toyota Prius being driven by Phyllis D. Brown, also 72 and also of Ridgeway, on S.C. 901 (Heckle Blvd.), near Clinton College.
At approximately 4:17 p.m. on Sept. 7, the Highway Patrol said, a 1973 Buick being driven by Stevie Lemont McClinton, 23, of Rock Hill, was traveling east on Crawford Road and disregarded a traffic signal, crossing into the intersection of Crawford Road and 901. McClinton’s Buick struck a 1986 Chevrolet pickup truck being driven by Arthur Lewis June, 67, of Rock Hill, forcing the pickup truck to crash into the Prius.
Bartell was trapped inside the Prius, the Highway Patrol said, and extracted mechanically by emergency responders. She was then airlifted to Carolina’s Medical Center.
The crash was still under investigation by the Highway Patrol at press time.
RIDGEWAY (Sept. 15, 2016) – Confusion over Ridgeway’s zoning ordinance continued to plague Town Council last week as a motion on second reading to amend that ordinance to rezone .82 acres at the fork of highways 21 and 34 failed to carry. Instead, Council opted to table the amendment and consult an attorney.
“Our citizens feel like we don’t know what we’re doing up here,” Councilman Donald Prioleau said after the vote on second reading fell 1-3. Councilman Heath Cookendorfer was the only affirmative vote at the Sept. 8 meeting.
Prioleau was one of three Council members to vote in favor of first reading of the zoning ordinance amendment during Council’s Aug. 11 meeting. That vote stirred controversy in the face of a petition in opposition to the zoning change, presented to Council prior to the Aug. 11 meeting.
That petition, according to Councilwoman Angela Harrison, represents an official protest, in light of which a three-fourths vote of Council is required to pass a zoning change. While the S.C. Municipal Association last month told The Voice that three-fourths of a five-member council is four, during the Aug. 11 meeting Council was unclear on the mathematics.
Ridgeway business owner Russ Brown, a former Ridgeway resident and former member of Town Council, owns the lot in question and is seeking a zoning change from residential to commercial. Brown, who has plans to construct a small office building on the lot, told Council last month that any protest of his request should have come before the Planning and Zoning Commission at their July 12 public hearing on the matter. The Commission voted to recommend Brown’s request on a 5-2 vote.
And while Sara Robertson, a nearby resident, presented Council with the petition – which she said included the signatures of 50 people opposed to the zoning change – before the Aug. 11 meeting, an official letter of protest was not submitted to the Town until Aug. 12, a day after first reading passed on a 3-2 vote.
As Council began discussion last week prior to second reading, Harrison again cited the protest rule requiring a three-fourths vote.
“The protest rule is for the Planning and Zoning Committee to hear,” Cookendorfer said. “It’s not for the Council. The Council does not have a hearing. At this point and time, if there’s still any question of legality or illegality, anyone who opposes it and is on the letter of protest, can at this point and time seek legal advisement and file a case with the civil court.”
Harrison disagreed and said that the protest was of a decision that Council was making.
In a memo to Council reviewing the process, Zoning Administrator Patty Cronin-Cookendorfer wrote that the Planning and Zoning Commission had correctly followed the Town’s ordinance. Furthermore, she wrote, any protest can only be made by owners of lots “contiguous to the area in question,” according to the Town’s ordinance. Brown’s property, she noted, has only one contiguous lot “according to the legal definition.”
That lot is owned by Robert Johnson, a signatory of the protest.
Cronin-Cookendorfer also wrote in her memo that, after discussing the matter with the County Zoning Administrator, a three-fourths vote on a five-member council is three.
“You’re telling me three-fourths of five is three and the Municipal Association says it’s four,” Harrison said during the Sept. 8 discussion. “And we’re not listening to our citizens at all. I don’t want to debate this issue. I think it’s fair to our constituency that we at least get legal advice and table it until we get advice.”
After second reading failed, Council agreed to authorize Mayor Charlene Herring to consult Danny Crowe, an attorney she said was recommended to her by the Municipal Association.
“I’m for that (seeking legal advice),” Prioleau said. “Before, I voted for it. The decision I made, I don’t think was wrong. I’m for rezoning, but I don’t want our citizens to feel like we’re not doing our job.”
Herring said she was not sure how much an attorney would cost the Town to review and interpret its own laws.
