NEWBERRY COUNTY COUNCIL

MINUTES

SEPTEMBER 5, 2007

The Newberry County Council met on Wednesday, September 5, 2007, 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

Mike Hawkins, Councilman

John 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

Absent: John E. Caldwell, Councilman

Press: Cindy Pitts, The Newberry Observer

Heather Hawkins, WKDK

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. Livingston had the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

1. Personal Appearances.

a. Palmetto Trust Historic Preservation – Mike Bedenbaugh.

Mike Bedenbaugh, Director of the Palmetto Trust for Historic Preservation, which is a state-wide non-profit organization with a mandate by the Board to preserve and maintain as many historical structures as we can in the State. Mr. Bedenbaugh proposed holding a Historic Preservation Easement on the Library putting it under the auspices of the Palmetto Trust to insure that any preservation work would be done according to the standards of the Secretary of Interior for Historic Preservation. Copies of the standards were given to Council. [Copy attached to minutes.]

The Palmetto Trust has a revolving fund. They find properties that may be endangered and try to gain control of them for the purpose of marketing them to preservationists of their choosing. They have to submit a plan of what they want to do and the work has to be done within 18 months to 2 years.

Mr. Dawkins asked if the old Library was not within the downtown historical district and asked if this would create a conflict. Mr. Bedenbaugh stated it would not. Being in the historic district gives certain rights and privileges for tax credits and things such as that for persons who want to invest money into the structure through State law. The standards the Palmetto Trust has are the standards that every historic district needs to go by. This is what the Archives go by for anything that is in historic districts or on the National Register. There would be no conflict whatsoever.

Mr. Adams asked if the Trust took a position of oversight in terms of the plans and the actual work. Mr. Bedenbaugh said it was according to how it was done. Under normal circumstances when a piece of property is privately held, we get an option on the property and market it. Then when the property is sold it would pass through the Trust as fee simple owners and we would place all the easements on that, and it would be an easement in perpetuity so whenever it sells, it would be written into the contract that the Trust would have first right of refusal so that the Trust can enter into every negotiation and every change of hands and oversee what the new owners do. In this case, that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. We could either have an option to market through the Trust or the County could put it in the Trust’s hands to oversee it while the County owns it and then when the County sells it.

Mr. Adams stated the proceeds of the sale wouldn’t necessarily go to the Trust. Mr. Bedenbaugh said that was correct.

b. Update on Pugh Road Bridge – Randy Cannon, TRC, Inc.

Randy Cannon, TRC, stated the plans are completed and the contract is ready to go. They hoped to let it out for bid sometimes this month. Once bids are received, it will come back before Council to award.

Mr. Cannon stated this bridge was identical to the Pineland Road Bridge. It will be approximately 24 foot roadway width; a two lane road.

Mr. Dawkins moved to ask Mr. Cannon to make the presentation to the County Transportation Committee (CTC) at its September meeting and that Council request funding for the bridge from the CTC; second by Mr. Waldrop. Vote was unanimous. [Councilman Caldwell absent.]

c. Presentation of video from Chamber of Commerce – Mike Davenport.

Mike Davenport, on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, advised the Chamber applied for, and was awarded, an allocation from the Newberry County Accommodations Tax Committee. These funds must be used for tourism or tourism-related expenditures. The Board of Directors elected to commission a video featuring officials of the County, City and other outlying communities extolling the virtues of our County. The intended targets of this video are industry, developers, builders, travel and leisure professionals and individuals looking for a superior quality of life. The Board of Directors presented a copy of the video to each Council Member and the County Administrator.

2. Adoption of Consent Agenda.

Mr. Baker moved to adopt the consent agenda; second by Mr. Livingston. Vote was unanimous. [Councilman Caldwell absent.]

3. Additions, Deletions and Adoption of Agenda.

The following amendments were requested:

· Mr. Summer asked that Item #15 be moved to 3.1.

· Mr. Dawkins asked for an addition of Item 17.1 concerning the County’s Road Improvement Fund.

· Mr. Dawkins also asked for an Executive Session prior to Item #7 for a contractual and legal matter updating Council on the Fee in Lieu of. (Item 6.1)

There being no further amendments, Mr. Hawkins moved to adopt the agenda as amended; second by Mr. Waldrop. Vote was unanimous. [Councilman Caldwell absent.]

3.1 Awarding of bid for Library construction upon confirmation of compliance with the County’s purchasing requirements.

Donza Mattison, Architect, reported that bids were opened last Thursday for the Newberry County Library. The budget as prepared by Mr. Adams was a little over $3.8 million, and the low bid for the project came in at $3,594,000 from Sherman Construction. Only three companies submitted bids out of the seven who were pre-qualified. Ms. Mattison recommended awarding the bid to the low bidder, Sherman Construction.

Mr. Baker moved to accept the low bid of Sherman Construction in the amount of $3,594,000 subject to compliance with the County’s Purchasing Ordinance; second by Mr. Dawkins. Vote was unanimous. [Councilman Caldwell absent.]

4. Ordinance #06-23-07: An Ordinance to amend the Official Zoning Map established pursuant to Zoning Ordinance #12-24-01 so as to rezone a tract containing 3.24 acres, designated as TMS Parcel No. 340-1-34 and 340-1-35, from Single Family Residential (RS-3) to General Commercial (GC).

Mr. Hawkins moved for third reading; second by Mr. Waldrop. Vote was unanimous. [Councilman Caldwell absent.]

5. Ordinance #07-24-07: An Ordinance enacting and adopting Supplement 2007 S-3 to the Code of Ordinances for the County of Newberry, South Carolina.

Mr. Summer called for the public hearing. There being no comments from the public, Mr. Summer declared the public hearing closed.

Mr. Dawkins moved for third reading; second by Mr. Livingston. Vote was unanimous. [Councilman Caldwell absent.]

6. Ordinance #07-25-07: An Ordinance amending Section III of Ordinance No. 04-14-07, the Newberry County Budget Ordinance for County Ordinary and Other Purposes, to provide for revised revenues and expenditures related to capital projects for the Rescue Squad 14 building and the Newberry County Library.

Mr. Summer called for the public hearing. There being no comments from the public, Mr. Summer declared the public hearing closed.

Mr. Baker moved for third reading; second by Mr. Waldrop. Vote was unanimous. [Councilman Caldwell absent.]

6.1 Executive Session.

Mr. Hawkins moved to go into Executive Session to discuss a contractual and legal matter; second by Mr. Dawkins. Vote was unanimous. [Councilman Caldwell absent.]

[EXECUTIVE SESSION 7:17 P.M. – 7:40 P.M.]

Mr. Waldrop moved to return to open session; second by Mr. Baker. Vote was unanimous. [Councilman Caldwell absent.]

7. Ordinance #09-26-07: An Ordinance authorizing pursuant to Chapter 44 of Title 12, South Carolina Code of Laws, 1976, as amended, the execution and delivery of a Fee Agreement between Newberry County, South Carolina and Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc.; the application of an infrastructure credit to fee in lieu of tax payments; and matters relating thereto.

Mr. Hawkins moved for first reading; second by Mr. Dawkins. Vote was unanimous. [Councilman Caldwell absent.]

Mr. Dawkins recognized the representatives from Schweitzer-Mauduit in attendance at the Council meeting and expressed appreciation to them.

8. Ordinance #09-27-07: An Ordinance authorizing a Fee Agreement by and between Nasmyth Precision Products, Inc. and Newberry County, South Carolina whereby, under certain conditions, Newberry County will provide certain economic development inducements to Nasmyth Precision Products, Inc. to induce Nasmyth Precision Products, Inc. to locate an industrial project in Newberry County, South Carolina.

Mr. Waldrop moved for first reading; second by Mr. Livingston. Vote was unanimous. [Councilman Caldwell absent.]

9. Ordinance #09-28-07: An Ordinance to amend the Official Zoning Map established pursuant to Zoning Ordinance #12-24-01 so as to rezone a tract containing approximately 1.6 acres, designated as TMS Parcel No. 651-30, from Rural (R-2) to General Commercial (GC).

Mr. Dawkins moved for first reading; second by Mr. Baker. Vote was unanimous. [Councilman Caldwell absent.]

10. Ordinance #09-29-07: An Ordinance setting aside a one-half acre parcel within the Lynch’s Woods Park as an area protected by restrictive covenants, as a means of providing for wetland mitigation of small areas of wetlands disturbed during the Newberry County Airport Improvement Project, and matters related to the implementation of the Mitigation Plan.

Mr. Baker moved for first reading; second by Mr. Waldrop.

Mr. Pope advised that as a part of the Airport Improvement Project, an environmental survey had to be done. The runway construction impacted three small areas of wetlands on the Airport property, which comprised less than a one-half acre of land. The Army Corp of Engineers has to issue a permit, and DHEC has to approve a Mitigation Plan. They want us to substitute other areas of wetlands for the wetlands impacted by the Airport Project. Since the County has the Lynch’s Woods Park, the Engineers recommended that would be the best and most natural place to pick a wetlands area. In the future it is likely that whole Park will be preserved in one way or the other. This is actually the first formal preservation easement that County would be putting into place on County property.

We had calls from concerned citizens about why we were doing this piece-meal and a few other questions. We have to do it piece-meal because this is the first time the situation has come up where we had to mitigate a wetlands.

We do not think it will have an adverse impact on Lynch’s Woods since it will preserve permanently a 10 to 20 foot area on each side of the stream in the ravine area of the Park. All it will do is have a positive impact on the way the Park is now. It will not have a detrimental impact on any future preservation efforts in the Park since all that will be done in the future will be to add more preservation easements, if Council chooses. Mr. Pope did not see a down side to it.

The Engineers have asked that we move forward with this unless there is a serious objection to the site selected. Mr. Pope recommended that Council go forward with this. There are some other sites in the Park, but the site selected by the Engineers is probably the least accessible by the public and would have the least impact on people using the Park.

Mr. Summer’s understanding was if you disturb wetlands and don’t have some wetlands to put in the bank to offset that, you have to buy credits and that is very expensive. Mr. Pope indicated that was correct.

Mr. Hawkins felt that would be an advantage to do it piece-meal. We don’t know what we will run into with other projects, and if we do it piece-meal, we would still have land left to use to offset any disturbance.

There being no further discussion, Mr. Summer called for the question. Vote was unanimous. [Councilman Caldwell absent.]

11. Resolution #19-07: A Resolution identifying a certain economic development project to be located and constructed in Newberry County, South Carolina by Nasmyth Precision Products, Inc., and authorizing a Fee Agreement by and between Nasmyth Precision Products, Inc. and Newberry County, South Carolina, whereby, under certain conditions, Newberry County will provide certain economic development inducements to Nasmyth Precision Products, Inc. to induce Nasmyth Precision Products, Inc. to locate an industrial project in Newberry County, South Carolina.

Mr. Hawkins moved to adopt the Resolution; second by Mr. Livingston. Vote was unanimous. [Councilman Caldwell absent.]

12. Resolution #20-07: A Resolution authorizing an Equipment Lease/Purchase Agreement in the principal amount of not exceeding $1,300,000 relating to the financing of various equipment for public purposes; authorizing the execution and delivery of various documents including an Equipment Lease/Purchase Agreement; and other matters relating thereto.

Mr. Dawkins moved to adopt the Resolution; second by Mr. Waldrop.

Mr. Dawkins pointed out this money has been budgeted. Mr. Adams stated this funds all of the lease/purchases in the current fiscal year budget.

There being no further discussion, Mr. Summer called for the question. Vote was unanimous. [Councilman Caldwell absent.]

13. Committee Reports.

No reports.

14. Appointments.

Mr. Livingston recommended for reappointment the following persons:

· Board of Rural Fire Control – Pomaria: Larry Koon

· Board of Rural Fire Control – Consolidated #5: Wayne Blount

· Community Hall: Joan Odell

· Library Board: Bonnelle Yarborough

Mr. Dawkins nominated the following persons for appointment to the Board of Rescue Squads:

· Dr. Alan Paysinger as an at-large member to replace Dr. Ron Price, who has resigned.

· Carold Wicker as an at-large member to replace Bill Grigsby, who has resigned.

There being no further nominations, Mr. Baker moved to accept the nominations; second by Mr. Livingston. Vote was unanimous. [Councilman Caldwell absent.]

15. Moved to 3.1.

16. Request by Newberry County Haz-Mat Team to “Sole Source” purchase truck.

Mr. Adams reported at the most recent Emergency Services Board meeting the Haz-Mat Team presented three options for fulfilling the needs of the Haz-Mat truck. The Beverage Body, Peterbilt, was the least expensive of them, and they recommend that Council allow them to sole source purchase this. The reason for sole source is that even though they had three different alternatives, none of them were identical. When you talk about used equipment, it is very difficult to spec these things and compare apples to apples.

Mr. Waldrop asked what kind of engine it had.

Mr. Livingston advised their presentation was very extensive and very convincing that this would be the better purchase.

Mr. Dawkins advised $150,000 was budgeted for the total outfit, and they came in with $60,000 less.

Mr. Baker stated this truck was available, and if they don’t do something, it will go to somebody else. They have not found one that will match it, so they need to move as fast as they can.

Jerry Koon stated it had a Caterpillar engine and an Allison transmission.

Mr. Waldrop asked how many miles were on the engine. Mr. Koon stated there was a choice of two. One had 86,000 and the other one has about 106,000. They want to try to get a PTO generator, and the one with 106,000 has the transmission already set up for the PTO. If we choose the other truck, it will cost about $5,000 to $6,000 to set it up.

Mr. Koon stated he could get the vehicle for about $80,000, but there are a few things we would like to put on it. He is asking for $90,000 to be sure there is enough money to do it. They probably won’t use that much, but he would like to have that much available.

Mr. Livingston moved to grant the request for $90,000 for the 2001 Peterbilt Beverage Body; second by Mr. Baker. Vote was unanimous. [Councilman Caldwell absent.]

17. Consideration of approval of McBry Drive to be paved by the County Transportation Committee (CTC) during fiscal year 2007-2008.

Mr. Waldrop moved to approve McBry Drive for paving; second by Mr. Dawkins. Vote was unanimous. [Councilman Caldwell absent.]

17.1 Road Improvement Fund.

Mr. Dawkins reported that at the Newberry County Council Road Committee meeting today, a lot of roads in the County do not meet the qualifications for the County Transportation Committee to asphalt, but they do meet the qualifications for tar and gravel. The County has acquired the equipment to do tar and gravel roads. We budgeted $250,000 in the Road Improvement Fund in the current budget. The Road Committee recommended that $75,000 of those funds be taken and go to CTC and ask them to match the $75,000 for a grant total of $150,000 to tar and gravel some of the roads throughout the County. The roads would come before Council for approval. We are asking permission to go to the CTC and see if they will match the $75,000. The roads will be selected through the Newberry County consultant and Public Works and will come before Council for approval.

Mr. Dawkins moved to request a match of $75,000 from the CTC; second by Mr. Waldrop. Vote was unanimous. [Councilman Caldwell absent.]

18. Requests by Councilmen.

No requests.

19. Public Comments.

No one signed up for public comments.

20. Vote for Executive Session, When Necessary.

21. Executive Session.

22. Necessary Action on Matters Discussed in Executive Session.

No additional Executive Session necessary.

23. Comments from County Administrator.

Mr. Adams reported the following:

· Reassessment appeals are down to 188.

· Negotiations have been completed on the scope and specifications for Rescue Squad 14 and Helena Community Center. Those projects will be bid on October 2 at the Courthouse Annex.

· On Tuesday Mr. West and Mr. Adams began meeting with the Maybinton Ball Field committee, which consists of community representatives including Mr. Boisy Shelton and also Mr. Baker. We are trying to reduce that cost as much as we can. It is not realistic to do the field for $80,000, but we are looking to see what we can do the project for.

24. Comments from Council Members.

Mr. Hawkins stated not only is the Assessor’s Office making progress with appeals, but also they are making friends. He has received several phone calls in which people expressed appreciation for the way they were treated during this round.

Also there has been some publicity recently in the paper about violation of the Freedom of Information Act by the County Transportation Committee. The Legislative Delegation appoints the members to the County Transportation Committee. County Council does not appoint members to that Committee.

Mr. Dawkins reminded Council of On the Move with Margaret on Monday, September 10, 2007, at 9:30 a.m.

Mr. Livingston felt Mary Arrowood should be commended for the progress with the reassessment appeals.

Mr. Summer reminded Council in a few weeks we would have Industry Appreciation and expressed appreciation to both the old and new industries in Newberry County.

25. Future Meetings.

Mr. Summer announced the work session on September 19, 2007 at 5:00 p.m. and the council meeting at 7:00 p.m. On October 3, 2007 at 6:00 p.m. we will have a presentation by the Disabilities and Special Needs Board, followed by the Council meeting at 7:00 p.m.

26. Vote to Adjourn.

Mr. Waldrop moved to adjourn.

27. Adjournment.

There being no further business, Mr. Summer declared the meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m.

NEWBERRY COUNTY COUNCIL

________________________________

Henry B. Summer, Chairman

________________________________

Susan C. Fellers, Clerk to Council

APPROVED: September 19, 2007