NEWBERRY COUNTY COUNCIL
MINUTES
MARCH 15, 2006
The Newberry County Council met on Wednesday, March 15, 2006, at 7:00 p.m. in Council Chambers for a regularly scheduled meeting.
Present were: Mike Hawkins, Chairman
William D. Waldrop, Vice-Chairman
John E. Caldwell, Councilman
Henry B. Summer, Councilman
John David Dawkins, Councilman
Andy Morris, Councilman
Edgar Baker, Councilman
J.E.
Klugh,
Gary
T. Pope,
Susan C. Fellers, Clerk to Council
Press: Heather Hawkins, WKDK
Cindy Pitts, Newberry Observer
Cassie Fowler, Whitmire News
Notice of the meeting was duly advertised as required by law.
Mr. Hawkins called the meeting to order and determined a quorum to be present.
Mr. Caldwell had the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Adoption of Consent Agenda:
Mr. Dawkins moved to adopt the Consent Agenda; second by Mr. Baker. Vote was unanimous.
Additions, Deletions and Adoption of Agenda:
The following amendments were made to the agenda:
1. Postpone Agenda Item #8 to the next meeting.
2. Reassessment (Agenda Item #8)
3. Under Executive Session, add an intergovernmental agreement; Lynch’s Woods Contract; three personnel matters.
4. Ordinance confirming inclusion of Trucast in Newberry/Fairfield Industrial Park (Agenda Item #12)
There being no further additions or deletions to the agenda, Mr. Morris moved to adopt the agenda as amended; second by Mr. Dawkins. Vote was unanimous.
Mr. Caldwell requested that the
1. Proclamation for
Annette Bledsoe, Newberry County Disabilities and Special Needs, David Clamp and Connie Coleman, members of the Voices for Pride, requested that County Council proclaim March as Disabilities Awareness Month.
Mr. Caldwell moved to adopt the Proclamation; second by Mr. Waldrop. Vote was unanimous.
Mr. Hawkins read the Proclamation into the record (copy attached) and presented it to Ms. Bledsoe, Mr. Clamp and Ms. Coleman.
Mr. Dawkins stated that the banner displayed in Council Chambers was made and presented to County Council by the Newberry County Disabilities and Special Needs and that the County is proud to display it.
Public Comments:
No comments from the public.
2. An
Ordinance authorizing the issuance and sale of not exceeding $600,000 Bond
Anticipation Notes of fixing the form and details of the notes; authorizing the
Administrator of the county to determine certain matters relating to the notes;
providing for the issuance of $600,000 General Obligation Bonds of the county
to provide for the payment of the notes; providing for the disposition of the
proceeds of the notes; and other matters relating thereto.
Mr. Hawkins called for the public hearing. There being no comments from the public, Mr. Hawkins declared the public hearing closed.
Mr. Morris moved for third reading; second by Mr. Waldrop. Vote was unanimous.
3. An
Ordinance making an amendment to Ordinance No. 01-02-04, known as the
Purchasing Ordinance, to restrict the provisions of goods and services to the
County by elected officials and employees of the county, or by businesses in
which they have a financial interest.
Mr. Dawkins moved for second reading; second by Mr. Summer.
Mr. Caldwell requested an example of what this ordinance is talking about.
Mr. Pope advised that if an elected official or an employee of the county had an interest in a business that wanted to do business with the county and that person had an ownership interest in it, no person may bid on or be awarded a contract by the county for the provision of any goods and services. The Forfeited Land Commission would be exempt because those members are required to place bids on property. It also extends to prohibition of bidding at property conducted by the Delinquent Tax Collector for delinquent taxes. It provides that in an emergency situation County Council can vote to override it. This goes further than the State Ethics Act.
Mr. Caldwell asked why the county needed an ordinance stronger than the State Ethics Commission. Mr. Pope was asked to prepare it after discussions.
Mr. Caldwell asked if these were public discussions or telephone calls. Mr. Pope advised discussions have been held here and in Executive Session where Mr. Pope was not present. The idea of the amendment was that anyone who is an elected official of the county or an employee of the county would not have a business relationship with the county at all whether it is themselves or a firm that hires them or in which they have an ownership interest.
Mr. Pope advised this ordinance would not add anything to the ethics law requirement. This is only a local requirement.
Mr. Hawkins stated it put the
Mr. Dawkins stated this ordinance went further that desired to include county employees, but strongly felt that County Council members should not bid on a county project. It puts Council in a difficult position if a stand has to be taken against or for a Council member concerning a contract.
Mr. Hawkins asked if Mr. Dawkins would agree with striking “employees” and just make it County Council members. Mr. Dawkins felt it should be elected officials.
Mr. Waldrop asked if the problem was addressed and fixed would Mr. Dawkins still have a problem. Mr. Dawkins had a problem with any County Council member bidding on a county job.
Mr. Caldwell stated that as Council members, they could pay taxes but can’t have any voice. Mr. Dawkins said according to state ethics rulings a Council member can’t have any discussion of any project, can’t fund the revenues for the project and then bid on it. Some of the projects have been discussed in work sessions. Mr. Dawkins didn’t feel it was right for Council to vote to approve the money and then a fellow Council member bids on it who has participated in the discussion and the approval of the money making the revenue possible to do the project.
Mr. Baker asked Mr. Pope to state the Ethics Commission ruling. Mr. Pope advised that the General Assembly passed a statute which says if you are following the appropriate competitive bidding procedures and as long as the elected official does not participate in formulating the specifications, funding, etc., it is permissible under the State Ethics Act to do that. A public official may not have an economic interest in the contract with the political subdivision if that public official is authorized to perform an official function relating to the contract. Official function means writing or preparing the contract specifications, acceptance of bids, award of the contract or other action on the preparation or award of the contract. It does not prohibit the general discussion of the general desirability of whatever the project.
Mr. Hawkins advised Council had been told over and over again that the Ethics Law allows us to bid. The question is whether or not Council wants to go beyond what the Ethics Law requires.
Mr. Waldrop called for the question.
Voting for the motion: Councilmen Hawkins, Summer and Dawkins.
Voting against the motion: Councilmen Baker, Morris, Caldwell and Waldrop.
Motion for second reading failed.
4. An
Ordinance to amend Ordinance No. 105 and the Subdivision Regulations contained
therein.
Mr. Hawkins called for the public hearing.
Steve McKean,
Mr. McKean also talked about lot
sizes because people felt
Mr. Hawkins asked Mr. McKean to provide any additional details through e-mail to the Clerk to Council. Mr. Morris requested that he be given a few more minutes, which was granted.
Mr. McKean also requested some type of opaque or natural buffer because of safety issues and privacy to people already leaving there.
Hank Bufkin felt it would be unreasonable to mandate that the lot sizes be too big. If we dictate the lot sizes too big, almost all of the mill village houses could never be replicated, which is a whole portion of the community. It will take a certain amount of dollars to put in the roads, storm drains, and infrastructure. If the county is to grow and provide housing for the industry to go here, there has to be room for the $100,000 houses, which are small houses on small lots. He requested that the county not regulate the size of the lots so that the working class people we want to come in have to live somewhere else because they can’t afford to live here.
Mr. Bufkin said no to the buffer zone. If the neighbors want to have eight feet around their house, they should have bought the eight feet. It is not up to the county to legislate the size of the lots that the people have. If they need to build a fence around their lot, then they should put the fence in. It is not up to Council to regulate the quality of life for every senior citizen in the county.
The roads should be 66 foot roads. The developer should build the roads to those standards. We don’t want the county to pick up the burden on all that. All property should have access. There are a lot of small roads in the county, and we can’t turn blind eyes to the 30 and 40 foot roads that the public has been using for the last 100 years. It is not reasonable for us to say we only take 66 foot roads.
Ralph Liscio, Spring Valley,
Frank Downs,
Mr. Pope advised that these
regulations have been on the books of
There being no further comments from the public, Mr. Hawkins declared the public hearing closed.
Mr. Morris moved for second reading; second by Mr. Baker.
Mr. Morris requested that the
Planning Commission obtain copies of the subdivision regulations from
There being no further discussion, Mr. Hawkins called for the question. Vote was unanimous for second reading.
5. An
Ordinance to amend the Budget Ordinance for the 2005-2006 fiscal year,
Ordinance No. 06-18-05, so as to incorporate supplemental revenues and
appropriations into the budget for the current fiscal year, and to approve the
administrative transfer of certain funds.
Mr. Dawkins moved for second reading; second by Mr. Morris.
Mr. Hawkins said this was money
in the budget for
Mr. Dawkins advised the money was appropriated in fiscal year 2004-2005. It was not needed because the projects had not been started, and it was overlooked and did not get rolled over to the current year.
Mr. Pope advised that in looking back at the budget provisos. It was in the line item but not in the provisos themselves, and Mr. Pope recommended that this be put in the provisos so it is very clear which fire stations in the future will get the funds so we won’t have the same kind of problem.
There being no further discussion, Mr. Hawkins called for the vote. Vote was unanimous.
5.1 An
Ordinance to amend Ordinance No.
12-48-05 relating to the regulation of manufactured houses in
Mr. Waldrop moved for second reading; second by Mr. Dawkins.
Mr. Pope advised that the manufactured housing ordinance passed in December of 2005 allowed pre-1976 mobile homes to come into the county if they were certified by a HUD inspector. This is a loophole that has been taken out. The second thing is that people who own pre-1976 mobile homes can keep them and use them but they can only move them to other property they own. They would not be able to move them to somebody else’s property. If it is moved to other property of the owner, it still has to be inspected for wiring and set up.
On the “abandoned” definition,
there was a question about the electricity business. Council’s intent before was that if the power
had been disconnected for six months or longer, then it was probably abandoned. The way it was written there were four things
you had to find and not one. It has been
amended to say that abandoned means that a structure has been left vacant or
unused or unoccupied for a period of six months or longer, and it is further
provided that the disconnection of electric power for a period of six months or
longer or failure to ever connect such power to a structure after it is brought
into Newberry County creates a presumption that the property has been
abandoned. The last language was added
because some trailers were found this past week that had been dumped in a field
and have never been connected to power in
There being no further discussion, Mr. Hawkins called for the question. Vote was unanimous.
5.2 An
Ordinance amending Ordinance No. 104, and making the entire unincorporated are
of Newberry County, plus those municipalities which contract with the county
for subdivision enforcement, subject to subdivision regulations.
Mr. Morris moved for first reading; second by Mr. Baker. Vote was unanimous.
6. Committee Reports.
No reports.
7. Appointments.
Mr. Hawkins recommended the appointment of Michael A. Ackerman to the Board of Rural Fire Control representing Prosperity Fire Department.
Mr. Waldrop recommended the appointment of Iris Rodelsperger to the Fairgrounds Commission.
There being no further nominations, Mr. Morris moved to accept the recommendations; second by Mr. Dawkins. Vote was unanimous.
8. Reassessment.
After discussion of whether or not to implement reassessment, the consensus of Council was that all notices be resent and that they show the current and new assessments.
Mr. Baker moved to instruct Susie Berry, Assessor, to start preparing to implement reassessment; second by Mr. Morris.
Mr. Summer advised that by the time the appeals process is over, it will cause a problem with getting the tax notices out on time and didn’t feel we had the time to implement reassessment this year.
Voting for the motion: Councilmen Hawkins, Waldrop, Morris and Baker.
Voting against the motion: Councilmen Dawkins, Summer and
Motion passed by majority vote.
Mr. Baker moved to send out new
notices showing both the old and new assessment; second by Mr. Morris. Voting for the motion: Councilmen Hawkins, Waldrop,
9. Update on Sheriff’s
Office move.
Sheriff Foster reported the move
had been delayed because of difficulty with getting technology to make the telephone
and 911 systems work. We are
experiencing delays in transferring communications gear. We had to engineer a situation where we would
not lose radio or telephonic communications during the switch over time. Decontamination of the property and equipment
is scheduled to begin on April 19. We will
start moving the office the week of April 24 with the whole office system in
place by April 28. We are having issues
between the contractor with the modulars and the City of
10. Report on
Mr. Klugh talked with the
Greenwood County Manager and followed up with a letter requesting that
Mr. Waldrop requested that a copy
of the letter to
Executive Session.
11. Legal Matter
Intergovernmental
Contract
Lynch’s Woods Contract
3 personnel matters
Mr. Morris moved to go into Executive Session to discuss a legal matter, an intergovernmental contract, a Lynch’s Woods contract and 3 personnel matters; second by Mr. Baker. Vote was unanimous.
[EXECUTIVE SESSION 8:48 P.M. –
9:31 P.M.]
Mr. Baker left at 9:23 p.m. when Council began discussions of the legal matter.
Mr. Waldrop moved to return to regular session; second by Mr. Summer. Vote was unanimous. (Councilman Baker absent).
Mr. Pope stated that as part of the
financing for the new Industrial Park it was unclear as to whether Trucast had
been included in the multi-county industrial park with
Mr. Morris moved for first reading; second by Mr. Dawkins. Vote was unanimous.
Mr. Dawkins moved to authorize
the Administrator to go forward with the investigatory stage of the
investigation of the Sheriff’s
Adjournment.
There being no further business, Mr. Morris moved to adjourn; second by Mr. Dawkins. Vote was unanimous.
Meeting adjourned at 9:38 p.m.
NEWBERRY COUNTY COUNCIL
______________________________
Mike Hawkins, Chairman
______________________________
Susan C. Fellers, Clerk to Council