NEWBERRY COUNTY COUNCIL
MINUTES
APRIL 16, 2008
The Newberry County Council met on Wednesday, April 16, 2008, at 7:00 p.m. in Council Chambers at the Courthouse Annex, 1309 College Street, Newberry, SC, for a regularly scheduled meeting.
Present were: Henry B. Summer, Chairman
William D. Waldrop, Vice-Chairman
John E. Caldwell, Councilman
Mike Hawkins, Councilman
John David Dawkins, Councilman
Edgar Baker, Councilman
Henry H. Livingston, III, Councilman
Wayne Adams, County Administrator
Gary T. Pope, County Attorney
Susan C. Fellers, Clerk to Council
Debbie S. Cromer, Finance Director
Press: Cindy Pitts, The Newberry Observer
Notice of the meeting was duly advertised as required by law.
Mr. Summer called the meeting to order and determined a quorum to be present.
Mr. Waldrop had the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Mr. Dawkins moved to adopt the Consent Agenda consisting of minutes of March 12, March 19 and April 2, 2008; second by Mr. Baker. Vote was unanimous.
Mr. Summer requested the addition of a legal matter regarding the Highway 219 lawsuit under Executive Session and that this matter be moved to agenda item 2.5 since Frank Smith, the county’s attorney, was present for discussions with Council.
Mr. Adams requested the deletion of items 14 and 15 concerning Project Sun.
There being no further amendments to the agenda, Mr. Dawkins moved to adopt the agenda as amended; second by Mr. Waldrop. Vote was unanimous.
2.5 Executive Session on a legal matter
concerning the Highway 219 lawsuit.
Mr. Hawkins moved to go into executive session for discussions with Frank Smith regarding the Highway 219 lawsuit; second by Mr. Waldrop. Voting for the motion: Councilmen Summer, Waldrop, Caldwell, Hawkins, Dawkins and Livingston. Councilman Baker abstained from voting and excused himself from these discussions because of a conflict of interest. (See attached Statement of Disqualification.) Motion passed by majority vote. The Sheriff was invited to attend executive session.
[EXECUTIVE SESSION 7:05
P.M. – 7:22 P.M.]
Mr. Dawkins moved to return to open session; second by Mr. Waldrop. Voting for the motion: Councilmen Summer, Waldrop, Caldwell, Hawkins, Dawkins and Livingston. Councilman Baker abstained from voting. Motion passed by majority vote.
Frank Smith, attorney for Newberry County, reported that progress has been made in the discovery phase of the lawsuit. Mediations have been held but the negotiations were unsuccessful. Further negotiations were entered into following the mediation with the anticipation of reaching a settlement. Some of the discovery was delayed in anticipation of that with expectations that we might get a settlement. Those expectations have not been met. At this point it appears that no settlement is imminent. We will continue with discovery and the case is scheduled to go to trial in Newberry County not before September 1 of this year. The Court will have to set a specific date on when it will be tried.
Mr. Summer called for the public hearing. There being no comments from the public, Mr. Summer declared the public hearing closed.
Mr. Summer advised there would be a third public hearing after the work session. The work session is scheduled for May 8 at 7:00 p.m.
Mr. Summer called for the public hearing. There being no comments from the public, Mr. Summer declared the public hearing closed.
Mr. Pope said the actual document was not attached to this ordinance yet but it will be 20 feet in width and approximately 875 feet long and will be immediately parallel to the existing right of way for the public road that goes back into the Country Club, on the County’s property. It will be touching that right of way.
Mr. Waldrop moved for second reading; second by Mr. Baker. Vote was unanimous.
Mr. Summer called for the public hearing. There being no comments from the public, Mr. Summer declared the public hearing closed.
Mr. Hawkins moved for second reading; second by Mr. Livingston. Vote was unanimous.
Mr. Pope explained the way it is set up now is that after approval by the Planning Commission, it comes to County Council for further approval, which sort of holds things up. This amendment would allow it to be an administrative determination and if anyone was dissatisfied, they would have the right to appeal to County Council. This would cut about 30 days off the developer’s process, which the subdividers would like.
Mr. Dawkins moved for first reading; second by Mr. Waldrop. Vote was unanimous.
No reports.
Mr. Dawkins recommended the appointment of Jane Mundell to fill the at-large position on the Planning Commission. Since this position expires June 30, 2008, Mr. Dawkins requested that her term be continued on for the next four years so he would not have to reappoint her again in two months.
There being no further appointments, Mr. Dawkins moved to approve the appointment; second by Mr. Waldrop.
Mr. Caldwell had no problem with the appointment but asked if it was legal to extend the appointment. Mr. Pope said it was; that you didn’t have to wait for the seat to be empty to nominate the person to fill the seat.
There being no further discussion, Mr. Summer called for the question. Vote was unanimous.
Mr. Adams said Little Mountain Fire Department has a generator and needs assistance in the amount of $5,500 to get it wired. If Council approves the request, he recommended that the money come from Council contingency.
Mr. Dawkins moved to approve the request for $5,500 for the wiring for the generator at Little Mountain Fire Department; second by Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Baker asked how many more would we have making these requests. Mr. Adams said Whitmire has a generator in this year’s budget on lease purchase. Fairview has requested a generator for next time. Ultimately, all of them will want to be outfitted with generators.
Mr. Dawkins said the turn key cost on a generator for fire stations is $65,000 to $75,000 per station. Little Mountain purchased it’s own generator and all they are asking for is the cost of the wiring.
There being no further discussion, Mr. Summer called for the question. Vote was unanimous.
Tommy Whitehead, Public Works Director, reported that the Roads Committee requests Council’s approval for the tar and gravel surfacing of 3/10 of a mile of Ballfield Road at a cost of $3,000 with County machinery and equipment. This funding will come out of the matching funds. After the payment of the $3,000, the account will have a balance of $37,500.
Mr. Summer asked the Sheriff about a road behind his office that he had requested for the tar and gravel. Mr. Whitehead said his department planned to do that when the season and weather permits with the tar and gravel. That is a drive, and it will be taken care of.
Mr. Whitehead reported overall the paving account has a balance of $148,253.
Mr. Caldwell moved to approve 3/10 of a mile of Ballfield Road at a cost of $3,000 for the tar and gravel surfacing; second by Mr. Baker. Vote was unanimous.
None.
No public comments.
No additional Executive Session.
a. Economic Development – Project Sun.
This item was deleted.
This item was deleted.
Mr. Adams reported that staff work was complete on the county budget except for J.F. Hawkins and Springfield Place enterprise fund. The budget recommendations will be presented to Council at the workshop scheduled for Wednesday, April 23.
Mr. Hawkins said the last time Council had a short meeting, we were taken to task by the local paper. The editorial said we were putting off pressing items that needed to be attended to. One of them was the landfill on 202. His understanding was it would go to the Supreme Court in May.
The other was video poker. Mr. Summer said they didn’t have enough signatures for the video poker.
The recreational vehicle deal was part of it, and we have scheduled a work session on that. The editor didn’t like the fact that we were having the work session because fewer people would be there than are normally at Council meetings. Mr. Hawkins felt it would be more people at the work session than are present tonight.
Mr. Summer said they claimed we were putting off the retreat because we were working on the budget.
Mr. Hawkins felt at the end of each meeting report on the items we are not handling that evening.
Mr. Pope said for a long time we have been talking about cleaning up derelict vehicles and mobile homes. Due to recent changes in the law and a recent Supreme Court opinion, we are in the process of fine-tuning the ordinance we need.
Mr. Baker said the Airport was busy last week because of the Masters and asked Mr. Whitehead to report on that. Mr. Whitehead said the Airport fuel sales price has been kept in competition with Union, Laurens and Saluda. Here on the Interstate, our Airport has gotten more and more. Mr. Baker and Mr. Whitehead attended the South Carolina Aeronautics Legislative Breakfast. Newberry is well known for what they are doing in this area. With the improvements we are getting 4,000 feet of runway paved, new lighting and 75 foot wide. With that the taxiway will be the old runway presently at 60 foot and 3,500 feet. We have a new beacon, and AWOS (Automated Weather Observation Station), which rivals anything in Columbia that Donaldson Center has. You call in either on a frequency or by telephone, and it gives you weather, wind, clouds, speed of the wind and even fog. If it is light snow, it will tell you that.
One radio commentator flew in from Durham, North Carolina with a very large plane on his way to the Masters and filled up with about 124 gallons of fuel at almost $4.00 a gallon. He was glad to get it at that price because where he came from it was $6.00. We are getting a lot of touchdowns and takeoffs and a lot of visibility in Newberry County. We have gotten corporate airplanes in out there now. Sometimes they even meet in our small administrative building out there.
The Airport is growing. We met with W.K. Dickson and consultants today and future plans are fencing and things of that nature on the facility. What Council is doing for the Airport is great. The federal government is footing 95% of the bill at the Airport with the paving and runway. The county pays 2.5% and the state pays 2.5%.
Mr. Baker asked how much gas was sold during the week of the Masters. Mr. Whitehead said it was upwards of almost 1600 gallons that week. We generally do about 2,000 a month and during the week we had people coming in on their way to and from the Masters using our facility for fuel.
Mr. Summer asked how much profit the county made. Mr. Whitehead said it was fifty to fifty-four cents a gallon.
Mr. Adams said the annual net revenue on the fuel sales is about $13,000.
April 30,
2008, 7:00 p.m.
Mr. Waldrop moved to adjourn.
Mr. Summer declared the meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m.
NEWBERRY COUNTY COUNCIL
________________________________________
Henry B. Summer, Chairman
________________________________________
Susan C. Fellers, Clerk to Council
APPROVED: May 7, 2008