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  • Need 200?

    Complete The Voice’s fillable March Madness bracket on page 12 of our March 8 edition for your chance to win $200 from Road Runner Cafe! Only one entry per person, and entries must be postmarked by March 14.

  • FMH asks Council for $4 M until end of 2018

    WINNSBORO – It was the request County Council members had been expecting from Fairfield Memorial Hospital (FMH) for almost a month – $4,000,801 to keep the hospital open until Dec. 31, 2018.

    During Council meeting Monday evening, the hospital’s Chief Financial Officer, Tim Mitchell, broke the numbers down this way.

    “Included in that number is $1,043,000 for the hospital’s emergency room services,  $154,130 to replace heating/air conditioning unit, $50,000 to paint the exterior of the building and over $1 million for accounts payable 60 days past due. The balance of the request would be potential cash losses through Dec. 31, 2018. Because Mitchell did not always speak into the microphone, other numbers were not audible and Mitchell could not be reached for comment before press time. (A more complete breakdown of the funding request will appear in the March 8 edition of The Voice.)

    Before Council went into executive session to discuss the hospital’s funding request, Council chairman Billy Smith said it is his feeling that the citizens of the County need to get something tangible in return for the funding that’s been requested and that has been paid over the years.

    Smith suggested the County purchase the hospital property and have a tangible return on the County’s investment. As for the timetable for that to happen, Smith said he could not be specific.

    “Providence has a 90-day right of first refusal on the hospital property, so we would need a letter from them saying they are not interested in purchasing it,” Smith said. “There are a couple of leans that would need to be taken care of and we’d need an appraisal of the property which will take some time. I think the hospital [FMH] has expressed that they have enough money to get by until we can work these things out,” Smith said. “But if for some reason we can’t purchase the property, then we’ll have to have an entirely different discussion.

  • BW man arrested for grand larceny in Ridgeway

    RIDGEWAY – A Blythewood man has been charged with grand larceny, theft of alcohol valued at more than $60,000 from a beverage distributor on Highway 34 in Ridgeway.

    McGoogan

    Neil Daniel McGoogan III was arrested on Feb. 15, 2018 after the management of the beverage distributor where McGoogan worked began looking into a large inventory loss, according to sheriff’s deputies.

    After multiple system checks, the company’s management observed McGoogan’s gate used at unauthorized times. The video system showed the suspect exiting and re-entering the gated facility on a golf cart and then in later videos, after other employees had left work, the suspect’s truck showed up on the video, the incident report stated.

    The report stated that an inside video captured the suspect loading a pallet with cases of Ciroc and Crown Royal liquor and then entering the ‘cool’ room and exiting with the pallet wrapped in foil blankets that the company uses to wrap temperature sensitive products.

    The suspect then placed the pallet on the shrink wrap stand, wrapped the pallet, and moved the pallet outside the building, the report stated.

    According to the report, the suspect is then seen exiting the facility with the pallet in the back of his truck. Deputies reported that these events occurred between Nov. 8, 2017 and January 16, 2018.

    The sheriff’s department is still investigating whether additional dates are involved in the heists. McGoogan was released on a $500 bond.

  • County sides with Rimer Pond residents

    BLYTHEWOOD – Rimer Pond Road and LongCreek Plantation area residents sat stunned for several seconds Tuesday evening after Richland County Council voted quickly and unanimously, 10-0, to deny a commercial zoning request the residents have fought for the last four years.

    The residents had anticipated this would be their most difficult fight. Their own council representative, Gwendolyn Kennedy, wasn’t backing them. She was the only council member to vote against them last year.  Worrisome, too, this was the first time the residents would not be allowed to address council about their concerns prior to the vote.

    The Rimer Pond Road case was first on the docket and things moved quickly once the residents arrived and took their seats, almost filling the 140-seat chamber.

    As Council Chairwoman Joyce Dickerson gaveled the meeting to order Tuesday evening, there was an elephant in the room – Kennedy’s seat at the dias was empty. The residents were puzzled what that would mean for them.

    But the palpable clue that the night would be theirs came soon from Councilman Chip Jackson, a Councilman who had come to Blythewood to hear their concerns prior to the December meeting.

    “In the absence of the District 7 representative, I’d be willing to make a motion for the purpose of discussion,” Jackson said. He followed the second of his motion with words that hung in the air, savored by the residents.

    “My motion is to deny,” Jackson said, referring to Hugh Palmer’s request to rezone 5.23 acres at the intersection of Rimer Pond Road and Longtown Road West from Medium Density Zoning (MD-RS) to Neighborhood Commercial (NC).

    “I feel strongly about this situation and how the process is working. I believe that the process for approving zoning changes is flawed and needs to have its guidelines reworked. I shared these comments with Ms. Hegler (Director of Richland County Planning and Development Services) and she’s indicated that in the code rewrite, they are going to do that, but in the interim, I want to state my views and concerns.”

    Of the several concerns Jackson addressed about the zoning process, he said it does not accommodate and weigh community support and non-support for any zoning requests. He also said the process does not accommodate support or nonsupport by the school district if properties are affected by a zoning request.

    Because these and other processes are not in place, Jackson said, “we have situations like this one tonight in which Council is being asked to make difficult decisions without the kind of input that I believe is critical and fair. Because of that, I cannot make a decision without those levels of involvement and participation,” Jackson said.

    Councilman Jim Manning became eloquent in his comments.

    “I hate to vote against business development in this county.”

    “I hate to vote against someone selling their property to make money.”

    “I hate to vote against businesses opening because somebody may rob them.”

    “I hate to think a county council would get in to the area of determining if certain businesses are needed.”

    “I hate to think we would do things to stifle growth that helps to financially support our school districts.”

    “I hate to think our staff spent so much time and energy to create a comprehensive plan and we would disregard it.”

    “I hate to think that the owner has adjusted the request based on what they have heard at public hearings previously in chambers in the past.”

    “However, when I saw the number of people that showed up the Tuesday night before Christmas and have continued in their efforts to communicate with me as a council member through 100s of emails over the course of a couple of months and repeated that again, I have to go with the power of the people,” Manning said.

    Councilman Bill Melanowiski weighed in on whether the Richland County Planning Commission’s tie vote (as in the Rimer Pond Road case) should be interpreted as no recommendation at all or as a recommendation of denial of the zoning request.

    “In commenting on [Richland County Planning Director] Tracy Hegler’s response regarding the tie vote of the Planning Commission, if we have a tie vote on Council, it is a denial of the request. So why wouldn’t the same rules apply to the Planning Commission’s tie votes?” Melanowski asked.

    Dickerson then called for the vote on the motion to deny. Except for the absent Kennedy, the vote was unanimous for the residents.

    According to the rules of Richland County Council, Palmer cannot bring a new Neighborhood Commercial zoning request for the property to Council for a year.

  • County OKs increased pay for EMS

    WINNSBORO – After asking his fellow councilmen to defer a vote on salary increases for the County’s Emergency Services employees last month, Councilman Neil Robinson was quick to reverse course when the item came up on Monday night’s Council agenda.

    As Emergency Services Director Mike Tanner began a repeat of his appeal last month for salary increases, Robinson interrupted him.

    “Mr. Tanner, I think due diligence has already been done, and I would like to make a motion to go ahead and approve EMS for the raises you are asking for,” Robinson said.

    “Second,” Councilman Jim Ray Doulas jumped in.

    With no discussion other than Councilwoman Bertha Goins’ praise for the EMS’s service to the County and a clarification requested by Councilman Douglas Pauley regarding overtime pay, Council voted 7-0 for the salary increase request.

    Tanner had requested the increase in salaries after Richland County offered a 10 percent pay raise for its EMT’s and paramedics, immediately opened eight new positions and budgeted for 48 new positions next budget year with a $2.5 million budget increase for equipment and supplies. Tanner said the potential draw of that offering on Fairfield County emergency services employees is putting the county at risk.

    “Starting pay for Richland’s new paramedics is 19 percent higher than Fairfield’s,” Tanner said, “even with last year’s increase. Our employees work 14 hours a week more and make $19 a week less than those in Richland and Lexington Counties.”

    County Administrator Jason Taylor said the overall increase would cost the county $357,000 annually.

  • Town breaks ground for Broad River Project

    WINNSBORO – HPG engineer Ken Parnell, Danny Stuck with DS Utilities, Blythewood Mayor J. Michael Ross, Ridgeway Mayor Charlene Herring, Winnsboro Town Councilmen Clyde Sanders, Jackie Wilkes (former), John McMeekin, Town Manager Don Wood, Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy, attorney John Fantry, Fairfield County Councilwoman Bertha Goins and Fairfield County Administrator Jason Taylor broke ground for the Broad River Water Project on Wednesday.

  • FMH asking Council for almost $4 million tonight

    WINNSBORO – Tonight, the Fairfield Memorial Hospital (FMH) CEO is expected to appear before Fairfield County Council to request almost $4 million to cover the hospital’s operating expenses through Dec. 31, 2018, sources have told The Voice.

    That request includes a little more than $2.7 million for operating expenses for the hospital and another $1+ million, which is the amount the County already gives the hospital each year.

    In addition, Council is expected to discuss, in executive session, a possible acquisition of the hospital property by the County. The executive session agenda includes,” the discussion of the potential purchase of real property identified as Fairfield County TMS 126-03-01-001″ (the hospital property).

    The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. tonight at the Fairfield County government complex council chambers, second floor, 350 Columbia Road in Winnsboro.

  • Providence, County break ground for ER

    Breaking ground for the new Providence Health-Fairfield Emergency Room are: Bertha Goins, Vice Chairman of Fairfield County Council; Dr. Roger Gaddy, Fairfield Memorial Hospital Chief of Staff and Mayor of Winnsboro; Susie VanHuss, Chair Board of Trustees Providence Health; Scott Campbell, Market CEO, Providence Health; Catherine Fantry, Fairfield Memorial Hospital Board Chair; MaryGail K. Douglas, Representative District 41; Victor Giovanetti, President Eastern Group LifePoint Health; J.R. Green, PhD, Superintendent of Fairfield County School, Providence Health Board of Trustees Member; Mike Tanner, Director Emergency Medical Services, Upper Midlands Rural Health Network; Suzy Doscher, Fairfield Memorial Hospital CEO; Dr. Cale Davis, Carolina Care; Mark Hood, President and CEO Hood Construction. | Barbara Ball

    WINNSBORO – Ground was broken Feb. 15 for the new Providence Health-Fairfield Emergency Room that will be located on the corner across from BI-Lo Shopping Center at 1810 US Highway 321 Bypass in Winnsboro. Approximately 100 county, town, health care and community officials attended the ceremony and gathered to watch the first dig marking the beginning of construction of the facility.

    Exterior rendering of Providence Health – Fairfield Emergency Room

    “We are proud to collaborate with Fairfield Memorial Hospital (FMH) and Fairfield County to preserve critical access to emergency care for residents of this community,” Scott Campbell, Market Chief Executive Officer of Providence Health, said in opening remarks at the invitation-only event. “This new facility will allow you to have access to 24/7 care from board certified emergency room specialists, and we’re excited about that. This Emergency Room will help transform the delivery of local healthcare services to a sustainable model that better meets the needs of this area.” Campbell said.

    The new emergency room will be approximately 20 miles away from Providence Health’s Northeast hospital campus where patients needing more intensive care can be quickly transferred.

    Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy, who serves a Chief of Staff at Fairfield Memorial Hospital and has been on staff at the hospital since 1979, addressed the crowd, reminiscing how, as a young intern, he was recruited to Fairfield County 40 years ago by current fellow FMH Board member William Tuner who was then serving on Fairfield County Council. Gaddy expressed his appreciation to the County, to Providence Health and its partner, LifePoint Health, for bringing the new emergency room to Fairfield.

    “It’s a great day for Fairfield County,” Gaddy told those gathered.

    Interior rendering of Emergency Room in Fairfield County

    The one-level, 18,000-square-foot building will dedicate 12,000 square feet to emergency services and include 6,000 additional square feet of space for future expansion. Plans for the facility include: six exam rooms (including four treatment rooms and two for future expansion), two trauma rooms, an onsite laboratory and imaging services such as a CT scann, ultrasound and x-ray.

    County Council budgets $1.2 million annually to support FMH’s emergency room, and it passed a resolution in May, 2017, stating that it would continue to financially support FMH’s emergency room operations for up to 18 months or until the new Providence emergency facility is open for business. That resolution also stated that the County will provide $1 million annually for 10 years to Providence Health in support of the new emergency room.

    The new emergency room was made possible in part by the state’s Hospital Transformation Program which supports rural access to healthcare resources and has contributed $3.9 million to this project.

    Providing rural access to health resources is a statewide initiative,” Fairfield Memorial Hospital CEO Suzanne Doscher said. “We are pleased to have found a partner that will continue to offer emergency services to the residents of Fairfield County.”

    Until the new facility opens, in-patient hospital and emergency service will continue to be offered at the FMH location. When the new ER opens, emergency services, radiology and lab services will be offered there.

    County Council Chairman Billy Smith said providence will offer employment opportunities to current FMH employees who satisfy Providence’s customary pre-employment screening requirements and are qualified for comparable positions in the new facility to the extent that these positions are available.

    Smith emphasized that Providence Health is committed to providing needed emergency care to all of Fairfield’s residents and that it has a charity care policy that provides support for community members who lack the ability to pay for needed healthcare services.

    Construction on the new emergency room is expected to be completed in the fall of this year.

  • Tanner: County at risk as more EMS employees exit

    WINNSBORO – Fairfield County was facing a critical personnel shortage in its emergency services department a year and a half ago, with paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMT’s) chasing better pay in neighboring counties.

    But a salary increase passed by Fairfield County Council in November, 2016 stopped the bleeding – that is, until Richland County recently upped the ante by again raising the pay for its EMT’s and paramedics.

    “Richland is offering a 10 percent pay raise for EMT’s and paramedics, immediately opening eight new positions, budgeting for 48 new positions next budget year with a $2.5 million budget increase for equipment and supplies,” Tanner said. “Starting pay for Richland’s new paramedics is 19 percent higher than Fairfield’s, even with last year’s increase. With 75 percent of our EMS employees living out of the county, we’re in a difficult spot,” Tanner said.  “While we must be doing something right for them to drive 30 miles over here to work, our employees work 14 hours a week more and make $19 a week less than those in Richland and Lexington Counties,” Tanner said.

    As a result, Tanner said it is increasingly difficult for Fairfield to attract and retain paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMT’s). He said the shortage has become critical, putting the County’s residents at risk.

    To that end, Tanner asked Council to raise hourly rates for EMT’s from $8.55 to $9.85; paramedics from $13.42 to $15.81; sergeants from $14.77 to $17.66; lieutenants from $16.11 to $18.50 and captains from $17.45 to $19.35.

    County Administrator Jason Taylor said the overall increase would cost the county $357,000 annually.

    Tanner explained the potential crisis for the County.

    “We’ve had to shut down substations, and that has increased response time, affected patient care and could cause us to lose our advanced life support (ALS) care.” Tanner said.

    “DHEC (Department of Health and Environmental Control) requires us to have a paramedic on the truck 95 percent of the time [to maintain ALS service],” Tanner explained. A truck with only basic life support (BLS) service, manned only by EMT’s, cannot perform procedures involving IV’s, defibrillation, intubation, chest tubes, and invasive procedures or administer medication, Tanner said. Paramedics, he said, can perform these and other life-saving procedures.

    “There aren’t many calls we can send a BLS truck to and maintain our DHEC certification. There is a massive difference between BLS and ALS service,” he said.

    “I’ll show you the impact that would have on this county,” Tanner said, backing up his claim with examples of the kinds of life-threatening calls the department makes on a daily basis.

    “EMT’s can do nothing for low sugar diabetics in crisis except put them in the back of the truck, take them to Richland and hope the patient doesn’t die or get permanent brain damage on the way. A paramedic can immediately treat the diabetic on the spot and may not even have to transport them to the hospital. In car wreck situations, when only EMT’s on the truck, a patient with broken ribs can die on the way to the hospital when tension pneumothorax builds from punctured lungs. In that same situation, a paramedic can perform pleural decompression, can manage pain and the patient arrives in stable condition and is taken to surgery,” Tanner said.

    “To run all six trucks every day in the county we must be fully staffed with at least one EMT and one paramedic per truck.

    “Because of the shortage of paramedics, in November we were fully staffed for only 9 days. We were down one truck for 16 days and down two trucks for five days. In December, it got worse and by January, those numbers had deteriorated to the point that we were fully staffed for only one day. That means that an area of Fairfield County was not covered for 30 of 31 days. We’re that short staffed now. We were down to 14.5 days at five stations, 14.5 days at four stations and one day we were down to three trucks running in the county,” Tanner said.

    “When you’re down like that, is it caused because you don’t have lower ranking staff?” Councilman Neil Robinson asked.

    “We can put an EMT in the truck but without a paramedic in the truck 95 percent of the time, we will lose our ALS license,” Tanner said. Last year, Tanner told Council that it is critical to keep the trucks staffed.  “If we can’t keep them staffed, people will die. Paramedics are the primary emergency health care providers in this county. They are the ones who save your life,” Tanner said.

    To the County’s credit, Tanner said, Fairfield EMS has the best equipment and substations of all the surrounding counties.

    “[Long-term], we have a mentoring program in the school system and have reinstated the Explorer Post program to create home grown employees. Our benefits are great,” Tanner said. “We just need to keep up with the competitive pay market.”

    “If we made it competitive a year ago and employees are searching for the higher paying jobs, if we grant it now, what’s to say we won’t find ourselves in this same situation a year from now?” Councilman Douglas Pauley asked.

    “There’s no guarantee,” Tanner said. “But I believe you get what you pay for, and I think every citizen in Fairfield County deserves the best shot at life by getting the top quality paramedic to come save them in their medical or trauma crisis.”

    “But my main concern is their dedication to Fairfield County,” Pauley said. “Do we offer longevity for staying in the county to offset raising the salaries?”

    “We are working for long term solutions. But we don’t just compete against Richland and Lexington Counties. A private service on the DHEC website offers a $20,000 signing bonus to paramedics and $10,000 to EMT’s,” Tanner said. “That’s why we are trying to get more home-grown employees who are dedicated to staying in the county. I think we have a long-term solution in place, but we have to bridge the gap to get there.”

    “I recommend we postpone this until we have further information on it,” Robinson said.

    “The Administrative and Finance Committee recommended the pay raise, not to compete with other counties, but to raise it enough to keep the people here that we’ve got and get some new ones,” Douglas, a member of that committee said.

    “Neil, what is it you need to know?” Douglas asked Robinson. “He’s here now. You can ask him what you need.”

    “I’m not comfortable with the increases,” Robinson said. “I think we need to revisit it.”

    “Mr. Robinson, is your concern, and you and I talked about this earlier, is your concern not with [pay for] the EMT’s and paramedics, but with the leadership positions?” Smith asked.

    “Throwing money at EMT’s is what we’re doing,” Robinson said. “If we’re going to continue to throw money, let’s do it where we need it the most.”

    “I made a personal phone call to Lexington County and got some salaries of EMT’s, paramedics, lieutenants and captains, and their figures were substantially less than the finance committee gave me,” Pauley said. “So, I, too, would like more information before we make a decision on this.”

    But Tanner came armed with current pay stubs of paramedics and EMT’s from Richland and Lexington Counties to back up his requests for higher salaries.

    “The Director of Lexington County EMS told me yesterday that he does not have an EMT who makes less than $60,000 a year. He’s in charge of payroll and budget and there’s no reason for him to give me false information,” Tanner said. “As for salaries at the top, I would get half the increase that paramedics and EMT’s would get. But there needs to be a separation of pay between the paramedic in the field and the people with the most responsibility. Otherwise, why wouldn’t I just go back in the field where there is less responsibility?”

    Council voted 4-3 to defer a vote on Tanner’s request. Council members Dan Ruff, Neal Robinson, Bertha Goins and Douglas Pauley voted to defer the vote. Mikel Trapp, Jimmy Ray Douglas and Chairman Billy Smith voted against the deferral.

  • Sheriff seeks ID from burglary

    WINNSBORO – The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office and Crime Stoppers need your help identifying an unknown black male suspect who burglarized a residence in Fairfield County. On Jan. 2, 2018, the suspect entered the residence located at 140 Sixth Street in Winnsboro.

    The suspect entered the residence by breaking out a back bedroom window with a rock or brick. He went directly to the safe in the living room, which was covered with a cloth to look like a table, and then walked out of the front door with the safe. The safe contained approximately $4,700 in money and collectible coins. The safe was recovered several weeks later in the woods in Fairfield County near the White Oak Community. The door on the safe had been forced open.

    If you know something about this case, you can provide information anonymously. Your tip could earn you a cash reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible for this crime. Call toll-free, 888-CRIME-SC, log onto: www.midlandscrimestoppers.com, and click on the red “Submit a tip” tab or, download the new P3 Tips App for Apple or Android devices. Information can also be provided directly to Investigator Karen Castles with the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office at 803-635-4141.