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  • Suspicious death investigation

    FAIRFIELD COUNTY – The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office has released a report that it is currently conducting a suspicious death investigation after deputies were called to a residence on Douglas 1 Rd in the Winnsboro area of Fairfield County.

    On Sunday, September 13, 2020 shortly after noon, deputies found Melissa McClain, 43 of Douglas 1 Rd, deceased inside of the residence.

    Sheriff’s officials would not confirm whether a suspect was in custody at this time.

    “The information that can be released to the public is very limited at this time,’ the press release stated. “Our investigators are actively working on this case and interviewing witnesses. More details regarding this case can be expected in the coming days.”

  • Fairfield seeks broadband expansion

    FAIRFIELD COUNTY – With the announcement of $3.3 million in approved grant funding, Fairfield County is a step closer to its plan to extend broadband Internet service to rural residents.

    The funding approval announced Aug. 26 by the South Carolina Broadband Infrastructure Program will help local communications provider TruVista extend access to households in the county that don’t currently have broadband. And because the money comes from the Coronavirus Relief Fund, it must be spent by the end of the year.

    “They’re going to be connecting homes between now and Christmas,” said Jim Stritzinger, whose Columbia-based consulting company has been working with local leaders on their broadband efforts.

    The $3.3 million for Fairfield is part of $26.7 million approved for broadband expansion statewide. In TruVista’s service area, it also includes $1.4 million for neighboring Chester County and is targeted for communities impacted by COVID-19.

    It’s a helpful step in the effort as officials await word on a much larger grant that TruVista applied for (with the enthusiastic support of Fairfield County leaders) earlier this year through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which if approved would put more than $20 million toward new broadband infrastructure in the county over the next five years.

    County officials began looking at the issue in earnest two years ago and were awarded a small grant for training to help them access broadband funding. But this year, during the pandemic, the disparity between areas that have broadband access and areas that don’t has taken center stage.

    In the time of social distancing, those who lack broadband access – an estimated 193,000 people across the state – have faced difficulties in three areas needed to carry on life and the economy: education (online schooling), telehealth (online doctor visits), and telecommuting (online work).

    “Households are becoming increasingly reliant on fast, reliable, and always-on internet connection for learning, work or to seek medical care and advice,” said Carla French, President and COO of TruVista, in an emailed statement.

    “Between our partnership with the state of South Carolina and the potential of further USDA ReConnect grant money, we look forward to bringing broadband services to underserved areas in Fairfield and Chester counties.”

    In addition to the planned expansion of infrastructure, TruVista has also been working with school districts to provide broadband connections to households with school-age children, according to the company.

    The immediate concern with education is that, without a reliable connection to participate in online classes, rural students could quickly fall behind.

    Broadband has become so essential in today’s world, Stritzinger compares it to electricity. The effort to expand rural broadband access he compares to the rural electrification effort of the 1930s, which likewise subsidized infrastructure with public funds to connect less populated areas.

    The programs work, he said, by offsetting the higher cost of rural infrastructure enough for the remaining private investment to make sense within the broadband provider’s normal business calculations, making a company’s return on investment similar to that of building infrastructure in more densely populated places.

    Beyond immediate needs, Fairfield County Economic Development Director Ty Davenport said broadband infrastructure will have a major impact on the county’s development future. And it’s critical for any rural community that seeks to be competitive in today’s economy.

    “Internet service is foundational, just like water and sewer. If it’s not there, industry, business – whether it’s commercial or manufacturing – probably isn’t going to come,” Davenport said.

    “[In addition to that], more and more you’re going to see people working away from the office or the plant or whatever their normal workplace is, and they’ve got to be connected. And if they can’t be connected, they’re not going to build or buy a home in a rural part of Fairfield County or any county.”

    Stritzinger said the two grants together – the $3.3 million that was just approved and the larger grant applied for with USDA – will have a major impact on extending broadband access to Fairfield County’s rural communities in need.

    “If the USDA grant comes through as well, the combination of the two of them will help solve Fairfield County’s internet vacuum, or most of it, which is extraordinary,” he said. “It’ll make a major impact – a life-changing impact on Fairfield County. No doubt about it.”

  • PC votes for council to rezone Red Gate

    BLYTHEWOOD – As was expected, the Blythewood planning commission voted 5-0 Tuesday evening to recommend that Town Council rezone the Red Gate property and a smaller adjoining property from Planned Development (PD) zoning designation to Development (D-1) zoning.

    But the properties’ owners, who sat in the audience during the commission’s proceedings, say they are not happy with the commission’s recommendation, and that it will keep them from developing their properties as they had planned.

    The rezoning of the 143-acre property has been discussed by Blythewood town government for the last couple of years. Annexed into the town in 2007 from Richland County where it had been zoned Planned Development District (PDD), the property was subsequently zoned PD by the Town. Before it could be developed, however, the property went through several transitions. After the larger parcel (Red Gate) went into bankruptcy, its ownership was assumed by Arthur State Bank. It was purchased last month by Blythewood resident Byron Dinkins.

    The 2.41-acre corner parcel was purchased by Larry Sharpe, who said he had planned to construct a service station and convenience store on the property.

    “I don’t know what’s been going on over the years. It seems like it’s always one thing or the other,” Sharpe told the commission.

    “At first, Winnsboro couldn’t supply us with water. Now we don’t have the sewer. We’re trying now to work with DOT (SC Department of Transportation). The curb cuts have already been approved, but they can’t tell us exactly where the new road is going to be,” Sharpe said. “I’ve already cleared the property and brought it up to subgrade and built a detention pond off site according to the recommendation of the engineers. Everything is approved on that site, except we still don’t have sewer. That’s the only thing that’s actually holding us back – that and the DOT recommendations. So, if those things were in place, I would be ready to move forward.

    “I would like to see the zoning stay as it is, because the property is already predesigned for that use,” Sharpe said.

    But the Town of Blythewood code of ordinances places a time-specific condition upon the established PD zoning district, with a mandate for the planning commission to initiate a rezoning under certain circumstances. The commission determined at its Aug. 3 meeting that the Red Gate property fails under those ‘certain circumstances,’

    Town Administrator Brian Cook confirmed that if the zoning were changed to D-1, and Sharpe planned to construct the service station and convenience store, he would have to apply to rezone that corner parcel.

    Dinkins attended the meeting with commercial real estate broker Tom Milliken, who told The Voice following the meeting that Dinkins had purchased the property with the intent of developing it according to the original PD plans, and that the rezoning to D-1 would make it impossible for him to do that.

    The original PD zoned property was to be comprised of 232 single family units, 300 multi-family apartment units and 36 acres of general commercial.

    The D-1 zoning designation provides for large tracts of land located primarily on the fringe of urban growth where the predominant character of urban development as not yet been fully established, but is predominately residential or agricultural with scattered related uses.

    Council will met at 7 p.m., Monday, Sept. 28, at Doko Manor for the first of two votes on the zoning fate of Red Gate.

  • Fairfield County to auction 66 properties

    WINNSBORO – Sixty-six properties owned by Fairfield County will be auctioned online to the public from Sept. 11 through Sept. 24.

    The properties were acquired by the county through tax sales over the years, according to Terry Howe of Terry Howe Associates, Inc., who will be conducting the auction.

    Howe said the list includes vacant land, waterfront property and land with homes or other structures.

    “When a property goes to a tax sale, the county’s Forfeited Land Commission has the opening bid. These particular properties, for whatever reason, didn’t get another bid,” Howe said. “In order to put these properties back on the tax rolls, they need to get back into tax payers’ possession. To that end, the county is selling them through the online auction.”

    Howe said the county wants to get the information out as soon as possible to as many people as possible.

    Bidding will start at $100 for each property and will be sold to the highest bidder.

    General information on the properties to be auctioned and instructions on how to bid can be obtained on the Fairfield County website, www.fairfieldsc.com. Go to the Departments tab and select Forfeited Land Commission. The website will include a list of the properties as well as photos and addresses, tax map numbers and GIS and tax assessor information.

    For more information, call Terry Howe & Associates at 864-268-4399.

    Forfeite Land Commission Property List

    014-00-00-014-000       Off Ashford Ferry Road, Carlisle

    020-00-00-045-000       Bull Run Road, Winnsboro

    026-02-05-014-000       Peay Ridge Road, Great Falls

    026-03-04-044-000       183 Quarry Road, Great Falls

    026-04-01-005-000       Off Peay Ridge Road, Great Falls

    026-04-01-006-000       Off Peay Ridge Road, Great Falls

    026-04-01-034-000       Off Wrangler Drive, Great Falls

    027-03-01-011-000       336 General Sumter Drive, Great Falls

    027-03-01-023-000       General Sumter Drive, Great Falls

    027-03-01-029-000       Off General Sumter Drive, Great Falls

    043-00-00-028-000       Lot C Catawba Road, Great Falls

    045-00-00-027-000       99 Road, Blair

    045-00-00-033-000       6328 99 Road, Blair

    046-00-00-040-000       Lot 5 Off John Brice Road, Blair

    048-00-00-007-000       5216 State Hwy 215 North, Blair

    065-00-00-002-000       Tract D Off State Hwy 215 North, Blair

    065-00-00-041-000       State Hwy 215 North, Blair

    065-00-00-075-000       State Hwy 215 North, Blair

    066-00-00-035-000       44 Blue Rock Lane, Blair

    071-04-01-002-000       915 Toatley Road, Winnsboro

    071-04-01-007-000       Toatley Road, Winnsboro

    071-04-02-012-000       Toatley Road, Winnsboro

    081-00-00-014-000       Off 99 Road, Blair

    090-01-02-013-000       Off Smallstown Road, Winnsboro

    098-00-00-010-000       Old Blair Road, Blair

    099-00-00-017-000       17867 Newberry Road, Blair

    099-00-00-037-000       Strother Road, Blair

    099-00-00-061-000       212 Strother Road, Blair

    099-00-00-062-000       Lot B Strother Road, Blair

    107-03-02-004-000       1120 Newberry Road, Winnsboro

    107-03-07-001-000       Old Chester Road, Winnsboro

    118-04-02-008-000       3645 Pearson Road, Blair

    120-00-05-012-000       Twisted Lane, Blair

    126-01-44-006-000       124 South Zion Street, Winnsboro

    126-01-47-012-000       Moultrie Street, Winnsboro

    126-02-12-002-000       Off Zion Street, Winnsboro

    126-02-12-007-000       Cemetery Street, Winnsboro

    126-03-08-014-000       419 South Garden Street, Winnsboro

    142-00-00-028-000       222 Comet Drive, Winnsboro

    144-04-03-006-000       Wheat Road, Winnsboro

    145-02-05-013-000       608 Golf Course Road, Winnsboro

    145-02-11-013-000       Doty Road, Winnsboro

    146-01-03-006-000       2170 Old Camden Road, Winnsboro

    146-01-03-027-000       Old Camden Road, Winnsboro

    150-00-00-006-000       Blazing Star Circle, Ridgeway

    150-00-00-030-000       Off Old 21, Ridgeway

    151-00-00-033-000       Off Longtown Road, Ridgeway

    151-00-00-080-000       Off Branch Lane, Ridgeway

    159-00-00-037-000       Off Candy Cane Lane, Jenkinsville

    161-00-04-009-000       Reservoir Road, Winnsboro

    162-00-04-025-000       Off Rion Road, Winnsboro

    162-00-04-029-000       Rion Road, Winnsboro

    163-03-00-026-000       110 Stoney Circle, Winnsboro

    172-00-00-056-000       Blink Bonnie Road, Ridgeway

    184-00-00-114-000       Off Hwy 34, Ridgeway

    185-04-02-001-000       Ridgehill Road, Ridgeway

    186-01-12-012-000       Hwy 34, Ridgeway

    186-02-04-041-000       Lot D Off Long Leaf Road, Ridgeway

    189-00-03-023-000       Off Wood Duck Road, Ridgeway

    196-00-02-020-000       107 Family Lane, Winnsboro

    200-00-00-049-000       Syrup Mill Road, Ridgeway

    203-00-02-066-000       Off Macedonia Church Road, Ridgeway

    203-00-02-069-000       Off Macedonia Church Road, Ridgeway

    210-00-01-006-000       Off Fish Hook Road, Jenkinsville

    211-00-01-037-000       Off Hwy 215 South, Winnsboro

    223-00-01-009-000       Off Hwy 215 South, Winnsboro

  • Winnsboro man charged in fatal hit and run

    Thompson

    WINNSBORO – The driver of the vehicle in a fatal hit and run collision that occurred Sept. 6 on 11th Street in Winnsboro has been located and is in the Fairfield County Detention Center.

    Timothy James Thompson, 35, of Winnsboro has been charged with ‘leaving the scene with death,’ according to Master Trooper Gary Miller with the S.C. Highway Patrol.

    The vehicle he was driving at the time of the collision wa a 2004 Chevrolet Impala. 

    The case remains under investigation by the Highway Patrol.

  • Coroner releases name of hit and run fatality

    WINNSBORO – Fairfield County Coroner Chris Hill is releasing the name of the person who was fatally injured in a hit and run around 1 am Sunday morning.

    Bruce Antonio Gibbs, age 33, of Winnsboro was struck by an unknown vehicle on 11th Street in Winnsboro. Gibbs was pronounced deceased on the scene.

    This incident remains under investigation by the Fairfield County Coroner’s Office and the South Carolina Highway Patrol. 

    The Voice will update this story as information is available.

    Read more here: Pedestrian killed in hit and run in Winnsboro

  • County improves Alston Trailhead

    Click here to view a larger version of the map.

    FAIRFIELD COUNTY – The planning process is moving forward for park improvements around the Alston Trailhead of the Palmetto Trail that runs through western Fairfield County, and now there’s a visual: a recently created rendition lays out what the project will look like once it’s complete (see pages 4 and 5).

    The finished project holds the promise of tourist revenue not only for western Fairfield, but for the entire county, County Administrator Jason Taylor said.

    In the plan, the trail connects to a hard-surface loop that links all of the proposed Trailhead amenities: a kayak launch, fishing pier, picnic areas, both primitive and developed campsites, picnic shelters with fireplaces, an amphitheater that is ADA-viewing compliant and more. There’s also an expanded gravel parking area planned for the trailhead.

    A grant from outdoor outfitter REI will provide two new primitive campsites that should take shape in the next couple of weeks. A total of six campsites are planned for the grounds.

    Roe said that in addition to the information kiosk that was recently completed, a bicycle repair station – a bicycle stand with a variety of tools and an air pump – will be installed within the next two weeks or so, as will as a counter that will track the number of people who use the trail, all thanks to a grant from Fairfield Forward.

    Taylor added, “Having the Alston Trailhead is a tremendous asset for Fairfield County.  We are delighted to have the opportunity to partner with Palmetto Conservation Foundation and others, like REI and Fairfield Forward, to make this great asset to the community even better for generations to come.”

    Fairfield County has dedicated the funding to design the improvements and has secured local granite to construct several structures including a new kayak launch that is ADA compliant. 

    While the project is a partnership between Fairfield County and The Palmetto Conservation Foundation, the Foundation manages the trail. Additional partners are being sought to help with funding and construction.

    “We’re just really excited to have this opportunity to work with the county to provide hikers, bikers, fishermen and kayakers from all over the state with a multi-recreational trailhead,” said Mary Roe, executive director of the Palmetto Trail. “The Alston Trailhead is the gateway to one of the Palmetto Trail’s most popular passages, the Peak to Prosperity Passage.”

    Trail and county officials say some pieces of the two-year project, like the REI-funded campsites, can be completed soon. Other parts will take longer because of the need to obtain permits and to find partners to help fund and/or build the amenities.

    If the architecture of the planned picnic shelters looks familiar, that’s not an accident. The choice is intentional; it comes from a book that was used by the 1930s infrastructure-building and jobs program that built much of the U.S. park infrastructure, Clauson said.

    The design, making use of local wood for the shelter and granite for the fireplaces, is intended to be sturdy and timeless while showcasing the granite that’s played an important role in Fairfield County’s history.

    Clauson said the granite for the structures is being reclaimed from locations around the county, both from public property and through private donations.

    Among the sources: a collection of massive stones that fell from a railroad car in the 1950s, which the county has had ever since; some old structures in the county; and a local church which has donated its old stone fenceposts.

    While there will be no restrooms on the site, Clauson said — a preference of the foundation which also reflects the fact that the site lacks water, sewer, and power — portable toilets will likely be provided during special events in the amphitheater.

    The Palmetto Trail, a statewide trail network, stretches from the mountains to the coast. The Peak to Prosperity segment (or passage) of the trail, which was created from a former railroad bed, is the part that runs through western Fairfield County. That 10.7-mile stretch of trail is known for its numerous trestles.

    The scenic bridge that crosses the Broad River and connects Pomaria to the Alston Trailhead is a popular spot for wedding, graduation and other special occasion photographs.

    The project, Clauson said, is aimed at improving the quality of life for western Fairfield County and all county residents while also drawing people into Fairfield County to experience the sights the county has to offer.

    “There’s a lot of history on that site, and we’re assuming if people get a taste of it, they’ll be drawn to the town as well to see what else is in the county,” Clauson said. “Basically, we want this area to highlight the history of Fairfield County in a tangible way and be an attractive recreational asset for generations to come.”

    Taking a break after walking across the Broad River on a picturesque train trestle at the Alston Trailhead project in western Fairfield County are, from left: Mary Roe and Furman Miller with the Palmetto Trail Conservation, Fairfield County Councilwoman Bertha Goins, Community Development Director for the County Chris Clauson, County Administrator Jason Taylor and County Council Chair Neil Robinson. | Photo: Barbara Ball

  • Fairfield Electric Co-op linemen head to Louisiana – and into harm’s way

    Fairfield Electric Cooperative linemen who left for Lake Charles, Louisiana before daybreak Sunday morning are, from left: Hunter Dean, Fedward Richmond, Evan Douglas, Ryan Hunnicutt, Zack Lewis, Bubba Tanner, Cliff Collins, Michael Robinson, Eugene Talford and Todd Frick. | Barbara Ball

    BLYTHEWOOD – In the predawn hours of Sunday morning, one by one, 10 Fairfield Electric Cooperative linemen began pulling their pickup trucks up to the big sliding gate that leads to the bucket truck garage area of the company’s Blythewood headquarters.

    As the men hauled luggage, boots and other gear from their pickup trucks onto the floor of the garage and then into bucket trucks, crew leader Bubba Tanner handed out new hats and tee shirts imprinted with the company’s logo.

    A few minutes later, the linemen climbed into seven bucket trucks and slowly pulled onto Blythewood road. The big white caravan then turned south onto I-77.

    Their destination was Lake Charles, Louisiana, where they would spend the next two weeks helping a sister cooperative in Lake Charles, Jeff Davis Electric Cooperative, rebuild hundreds of transmission towers, repair substations and reset thousands of power poles and lines downed by Hurricane Laura four days earlier.

    Making landfall as a category 4 storm, Laura had lashed the Gulf Coast from Port Arthur, Texas to Cameron, Louisiana with 150 mph winds and a 20-foot surge of ocean. It was the strongest storm system to hit the area in generations, killing at least 3 people in Louisiana (14 across its path) with damage estimated between $8 and $12 billion in Louisiana alone.

    Lake Charles was one of the areas hit the hardest.

    Downed power lines in Lake Charles, LA. | Contributed

    “It’s my understanding that the entire system of Jeff Davis is with out power – none of their members had power after the storm,” Fairfield Electric’s Doug Payne, Vice President of Member Services,  told The Voice.

    Talking about the linemen’s mission, Bruce Bacon, CEO of Fairfield Electric, called it dangerous. He said the crew will work 12-hour days, from sun up until sun down, every day for two weeks under the most difficult of circumstances in the merciless, muggy Louisiana heat.

    “Then we’ll bring them back and probably fly a fresh crew down to switch out,” Bacon said. “It’s dangerous work, and we worry about them getting tired and having accidents. It’s going to be at least eight weeks to get power restored to everyone, so we may be sending down more than one other crew.”

    The Fairfield crew is one of hundreds from around the country that have converged on Lake Charles, according to Bacon. Photos of the staging area around Lake Charles’ Burton Coliseum show a sea of bucket trucks that have been sent to aid Jeff Davis Cooperative and its members.

    “We always want to help cooperatives in other states because we know that, at some point, we could need help and we would hope they would come help us,” Bacon said. “Even now, in the midst of COVID-19, which makes things a little bit more precarious as far as what they have to do, we certainly want to help. I talk to our guys every day. They’re setting poles and working long days.”

    They’ve also texted back photos of forging through downed trees and wading into storm water to do their work.

    “Some of our contracting company’s like Lee Electric also sent crews,” Payne said. “They (Jeff Davis Cooperative) need all they help they can get to restore power as quickly and as safely as possible. It’s hard work. Trees are down all over where the crews are having to rebuild the entire system,” he said.

    Payne said Fairfield Electric was eager to help and he commended the crew for going.

    “Our guys had been working all week and then to head out Sunday morning for this – they’re a good crew,” Payne said.

    Hunter Dean and Evan Douglas on site in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
    • Eugene Talford
    • Bubba Tanner

  • Winnsboro teen dies in crash

    WINNSBORO – A Fairfield Central High School student was the driver of a vehicle that was involved in a collision with another vehicle that took her life.

    Abiyah Fee, 16, of Winnsboro, died in an accident which occurred at the intersection of East Peach Road and Highway 321, according to the S. C. Highway Patrol. The accident occurred at approximately 4:44 Monday afternoon.

    Fee was entrapped in the vehicle and had to be extricated. She was pronounced dead a short time later at Prisma Health Richland, Fairfield County Coroner Chris Hill reported.

    The accident remains under investigation by the Fairfield County Coroner’s Office and the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

    “Our @FCHSGriffins mourns the loss of our own, Abiyah Fee, who was an outstanding scholar student in the Class of 2022,” Fairfield Central principal Tracie Swilley said in a statement on Twitter. “Prayers to the Fee Family, her friends/family & her Griffin Family. Rest in Heaven our Griffin.”

  • Council reverses vote to fund chamber

    BLYTHEWOOD – Under pressure from former mayor Mike Ross, the Blythewood Town Council voted in a contentious 3-2 decision to approve funding to help pay for the Greater Blythewood Chamber of Commerce’s rent and utilities for the current fiscal year. 

    Voting Monday night to award the Chamber $4,000 from the Town’s accommodation tax (A-Tax) fund were Mayor Bryan Franklin, Councilmen Eddie Baughman and Larry Griffin. Councilmen Donald Brock and Sloan Jarvis Griffin, III voted against.

    It was an about face from the July meeting when council voted 3-2 against the funding.

    At that meeting the Chamber asked for $5,500 to help cover its rent and utilities so it could continue to rent the building it had shared with CPA Susan Smith for the previous year. When the lease was up and Smith moved out earlier this summer, the chamber wanted to retain the entire building so it would have an office large enough to also house, free of charge, Bravo Blythewood, the Artist Guild and the Visitor’s Center which is currently housed at Town Hall.

    Following the July meeting, Ross wrote a scathing email to council members Donald Brock, Sloan Griffin and Larry Griffin, telling them they were “slapping the arts and cultural community in the face” by not funding the chamber’s rental/utility costs. Ross then scoffed at council’s funding of the town’s Doko Film Fest.

    Ross wrote that he would, “do everything…to make the decisions of Mr. Brock, Mr. Sloan Griffin and Mr. Larry Griffin known to every member of these groups and their supporters.”

    Two weeks later, without that funding, the chamber signed the rental lease for the office. Ross then sent a second email to Mayor Pro Tem Eddie Baughman, who had voted in favor of the funding in July, asking him to secure a place on the August agenda for the request. In that email, which was copied to multiple people and obtained by The Voice, Ross again pleaded for funds but for a lesser amount of $4,000.

    “This allows us to secure residency in the old post office building on McNulty Road,” Ross wrote on Aug. 14. However, the chamber had secured the lease weeks prior.

    There was no mention in Ross’ second email as to whether the chamber would still offer free housing for Bravo Blythewood, the artists guild or the visitors center in the chamber offices.

    When Franklin called for approval of Monday night’s agenda, Brock made the motion to remove the funding request from the agenda. The motion failed 2-3, with Brock and Sloan Griffin voting for and Franklin, Baughman and Larry Griffin voting against.

    Franklin explained why he had granted Ross’s request to place the item on Monday night’s agenda.

    “It was my understanding, and the reason I added it to this agenda as requested, was that there were going to be material changes [in the request] that could change the opinions of the voting body,” Franklin said.

    Larry Griffin also inferred that it would take material changes to the request for him to change his vote to approve the funding

    “I’m curious to see what that information is to see if it will be a game changer,” Larry Griffin said. “I want to put that on record and up front before we get started.”

    Chamber Board Chairman Allan George, who presented the chamber’s request, answered Larry Griffin, saying there were no material changes to the funding request except that it was for a lower amount. Both Franklin and Larry Griffin voted to approve the funding.

    Addressing George, Sloan Griffin questioned the chamber’s financial judgement in securing a year’s lease for an office they couldn’t afford.

    “We made a unanimous decision to enter that lease, and we will honor that lease and all our expenses no matter what it takes,” George said. “We’re just asking for some help in doing that. We’re not going to give up on our purpose just because we’re not getting $4,000 dollars from the town, if that’s your question. Are you questioning the decision we made to enter the lease?” George asked.

    “There you go.” Sloan Griffin answered. “You entered into a lease that you could not afford.”

    “That’s not to say we could not [afford it.],” George said.

    “Then why are you here?” Brock asked.

    “We’re asking for help, that’s all.” George said.

    He went on to say that, “Our entire financial picture Is before everyone in this room.”

    “Where are all these financials you say we have before us,” Brock asked. “We’ve seen no financial reports [from the chamber]. The chamber was $20,000 in the red this time last year. How is now any different than last year? You’re asking for a bailout.”

    After giving a lengthy review of the chamber’s failure to maintain financial records of more than $143,000 the town gave the chamber over a three to four-year period that ended in early 2019, George said quietly, “You’ve made your point,” and sat down.

    The chamber has been criticized by the last council for supporting its larger businesses members and members located in Columbia and other counties over the mom and pop, family owned businesses in Blythewood. George told council Monday night about ways the chamber plans to tweak that perception.

    He noted one member benefit the chamber offers is that non-profit vendors are allowed to participate in chamber events without paying the vendor fee that businesses pay.

    “We’re kicking off a marketing campaign that’s a cooperative effort where we can have a half page in the paper for 48 weeks, with 20 people represented in that ad, but paying a small portion of the cost of the ad. That’s a tremendous benefit,” George said.

    “That’s going to be a little bit of administrative expense to us, but that’s something we’re willing to do to help our very small businesses. That’s a great benefit to small businesses that can’t afford to advertise every week,” George said.

    “Joe Bernard, the CEO of Providence Health, a great guy, has agreed to chair a new committee for us called the industry partners committee,” George said. “It invites members of industry to get together to discuss what’s going on in their world.”

    Both Baughman and Franklin praised the chamber.

    “I stand with the chamber,” Franklin said after reading a list of events and organizations the town funds.

    “We fund these events because these are what our values are,” he said.

    Franklin said any business can receive A- and H-Tax funding from the town.

    “If your business wants to come and run an Octoberfest, and ask for A- and H-Tax money, then come and fill out an application and do it,” Franklin said. “This chamber runs more events for this town than any other non-profit.”

    While the town funds the events, Franklin said the town’s funding is not necessary for the events to happen.

    “If we didn’t spend a dime, every one of these events would happen,” he said.

    Following the meeting, Town Administrator Brian Cook clarified that only non-profits can receive A- and H-Tax funds for events, not for-profit businesses.