NEWBERRY COUNTY COUNCIL

MINUTES

NOVEMBER 15, 2006

Newberry County Council met on Wednesday, November 15, 2006, at 7:00 p.m. in Council Chambers at the Courthouse Annex, 1309 College Street, Newberry, SC, 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

Wayne Adams, County Administrator

Gary T. Pope, County Attorney

Susan C. Fellers, Clerk to Council

Media: Cindy Pitts, Newberry Observer

Heather Hawkins, WKDK

Tarla Wilber, 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. Adams had the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Additions, deletions and adoption of Agenda

The following amendments were made to the agenda:

Ø Add Andy Morris to make some comments. (Agenda Item 14.1)

Ø Add request for overtime in Treasurer’s Office. (Agenda Item 16)

Ø Add at the end of the meeting an opportunity for the Press to ask questions.

Ø Add John Caldwell to on the SCAC meeting. (Agenda Item 2.1)

Ø Add Pugh Road bridge (Agenda Item 17)

There being no further additions or deletions, Mr. Summer moved to adopt the agenda as amended; second by Mr. Morris. Vote was unanimous.

1. Norman Whitaker, Central Midlands Council of Governments.

Mr. Whitaker thanked Council for its support to the Council of Governments (COG). This year the COG received two national awards for work force development in its aging services and a statewide award for transportation planning. Appointments from Newberry County include Henry Summer (Executive Committee); Vina Abrams (Executive Committee); Hodge Harmon (Board of Directors and member of Rural Transportation Planning Committee); Representative Walt McLeod (Board of Directors); and Mayor Ed Kyzer (Board of Directors). The COG is beginning to put together a work program for next year and Mr. Whitaker asked that all member governments start thinking about what types of projects and services might be added to the work program. Mr. Whitaker reviewed the services provided by the COG.

Mr. Hawkins recognized Buddy Livingston, Council Member elect, who will take office in January, 2007.

Mr. Hawkins requested Council’s consent to allow a change in the agenda. Some of the people who signed up for public comments want to talk about taxes, and they may want to do that before Council sets the tax levy, which is Agenda Item 2. Mr. Caldwell moved to allow the public comments prior to Agenda Item 2; second by Mr. Summer. Vote was unanimous.

Public Comments.

Elsie Fields apologized to Council for her antics at the last Council meeting and requested that the public record indicate that she apologized to each of them individually and all of Council together.

Rhonda Moore set forth an example of how much more her taxes in Newberry would be compared to taxes in Swansea (located in Lexington County) and Greenville. She requested justification of the tax increase.

Nancy Owen, County Auditor, stated it is not simply a County Council budget. Comparing the overall levy last year, the overall levy increase for this year is 3 ½%. When you talk about levy, we are talking about the budget adopted by both the County and School District to pay back all the bonds and for the special education levy. The total cost of living went up 3.4% so we are talking a one-tenth of a percent increase in millage. She has been asked about the mold in the Sheriff’s Office, and we have wagged that dog’s tail to death because that is not the reason for the major increase in taxes. That has nothing to do with the County and school budgets or with bonded indebtedness. We are talking about a 3 ½% increase, which all of us could live with, but that is not all that is happening this year. The South Carolina General Assembly in 1995 gave all of us in the State of South Carolina big tax relief on our school operating taxes. It amounted to $512 last year, but they froze what they are sending for school operating taxes. For the last six or seven years in Newberry County the School District has not received one additional more penny this past year than what they received in the year 2000. Not only have school operating taxes increased, but we are sharing that same one dollar with more people than we shared it with seven years ago. We have more legal residences in Newberry County, and we have to cut that piece of pie smaller each year, but the School District has to eat that loss until the year of reassessment. The law says that the year of reassessment that millage has to be adjusted. That residential exemption millage is dropping from 128 mills down to 91.5 mills.

If our levy remained the exact same as last year, you would still be paying $146 more than last year because the General Assembly froze that money. Based on a $100,000 home that is a 14% increase. You can talk with Council about the 3 ½% increase from last year on all of your taxes including vehicles and rental property. That 3 ½% increase is because of the budget adopted by Council. 14% on the first $100,000 market value is the General Assembly’s fault because they froze the residential exemption funds.

The rest of the huge increase is called reassessment. Reassessment by State law for all 46 counties is based on market value on the sales in your area. If you get a sky high price for your home, and two or three more get a sky high price for their home, you drove the other neighbors’ homes up when it comes to paying taxes the next reassessment year. This is South Carolina State law.

The first 14% is due to the residential exemption. You are not going to get $512 exemption this year. You will get $366 at the most. Council had nothing to do with that nor did anyone else in County government. We have 170 members of the South Carolina General Assembly, and they did it. They froze that money. They promised us all the school operating taxes would be exempt from now on. They just put a penny additional sales tax on. That money is supposed to exempt all school operating tax. This is the second time they have tried it. That percentage is due to the South Carolina General Assembly.

Anything over the 17 ½% increase is due to the market in Newberry County per South Carolina State law that actually went into effect for the first time in 1969. This is nothing new but if you want it changed, Council can’t do it. It will happen in the South Carolina General Assembly. All we can do when you come to the County level is try to relay the message to the Senator and House Members.

Last week we voted in the State of South Carolina to put a 15% freeze any time we reassess in the future. That will hurt the middle class homes and the poorer homes, but it will help the people in the retirement areas wherever you have water. If you can get a fishing boat on that water, you are going to greatly benefit with that 15% cap. Those persons are the winners. The losers are going to be those in areas that have the poorest of houses in the State of South Carolina. If this Council had not implemented reassessment this year, it would not have been a small impact next year with the 15% cap, it would have been a nightmare impact on the poorest of our poor.

Mr. Morris stated $.71 on the dollar last year went to support schools in Newberry County. Only $.29 on the dollar supported local government. The State Constitution says that education funding is a responsibility of the State, and they aren’t coming close to meeting their obligations. The 15% cap that was voted on still has to be ratified by the General Assembly to make it official. Approximately 80% of us in Newberry County will see a drastic increase in our property taxes because of the cap. We will be subsidizing the people who live on the water, the people who can pay their taxes. Our taxes will go up because of a special interest piece of legislation that got passed. If you don’t want it passed, talk to your Senator and House Member. The problem is in Columbia, not sitting in this room. Our hands are tied. State government dictates many things in our budget, and we have no control over it.

Tom Crooks, 759 Hughey Ferry Road, Pomaria, SC, spoke about fire protection and the lack of fire plans beyond what is already in place. Why are we tearing down and replacing fire facilities that work and provide services but yet we don’t provide fire service to all the people in the County? Should the fire facilities being replaced go back in the exact same location or is there a better location? Peak could have been better situated. They got $50,000 of county money and got some of the one cents sales tax money. That is a nice facility, and they built that facility for approximately $175,000. It is a four bay fire station with two trucks and the other two bays vacant. If somebody had been more involved, we may not have had to spend all that money.

Is it the County’s priority to build these premium stations, replacing the existing stations with more modern facilities, or is it your priority to provide fire protection to everybody in Newberry County? Mr. Crooks pays the tax but gets no fire service. He also pays a premium on his insurance because he is an ISO 10, which is a rural area with virtually no fire protection. Council has to decide whether to press forward and accept the bids and build the stations that are functioning well as they are.

Mr. Dawkins stated that Fairview, Consolidated, Prosperity and Silverstreet were voted on by the citizens of Newberry County in the one cents sales tax. All of the projects of the one cent sales tax were not chosen by anybody on Newberry County Council. They were chosen by the one cent sales tax committee, which was made up of people by State law. We have room for improvement with the fire service. The fire service in Newberry County was created in 1962-63, and Newberry County was the first rural fire service in the State of South Carolina and the second in the southeast United States that created a rural fire service. It was created with 11 stations. The very next substation was done in 1972, which is St. Phillips. Newberry County hadn’t added a single fire station since 1972 until five years ago Council implemented a program to set aside money in each year’s budget to try to create a new substation. In those five years 4 substations have been created in the county in areas where there was no coverage. It would take at least 5 more substations for everybody in Newberry County to have coverage. This Council has not hesitated to continue moving forward on building these substations.

Mr. Crooks said the stations were authorized under the penny sales tax, but they weren’t built with the penny sales tax. Money has had to be added, which changes the whole equation, and probably gives it a new set of rules of whether to go forward since they are not being built with sales tax money.

Mr. Dawkins said we could not build them at all or take the money available and build them, and it would be half adequate.

Mr. Crooks asked if Council’s priority was to replace the stations or to give everybody fire coverage.

Mr. Dawkins said what was voted on by the people clearly stated to build a Prosperity fire station. We can’t change that. We have to follow what was voted on by the letter of the law, and we can’t vary from that. If it says to build a new one, we can’t remodel.

Mr. Crooks understood you would build what the one cents would pay for. If you took all the one cents money for fire protection and used it wherever you had to and left the pot of money you just allocated, you would have a big pot of money still left to build. There are many ways to get around specific rules particularly when you added the new equation.

Mr. Crooks urged Council to get a fire plan together.

Mr. Caldwell asked for an explanation as to why Peak was built with four bays and they only have two trucks. Mr. Dawkins stated the Town of Peak built the Peak station, and the County had nothing to do with that. They received one cent sales tax money, and they got $50,000, but they built a four bay station and they have two trucks.

Mr. Morris stated the Pomaria Fire Department sponsored them. There were procedures in place that Peak should have gone through, and it was not followed to the letter of the law. Last month that fire station was deeded to the County and is now county property.

Robert Enos presented the following Resolution adopted by the Board of Directors of Plantation Pointe on November 14, 2006:

Whereas, the County of Newberry is a rural county with a population of limited socio economic means, and

Whereas, the voters of Newberry County have generously voted in favor of an additional one cents sales tax to fund designated community facilities, and

Whereas, construction costs for these projects are exceeding tax revenues, and

Whereas, the County is currently in litigation with the contractor/builder of an existing Sheriff’s facility which County Council and others deem to be uninhabitable, and

Whereas, County Council has elected to proceed with construction of a new Sheriff’s facility subsidized by funds to be borrowed, and

Whereas, despite reassessment of County properties with an overall increased value of residential properties exceeding 30%, County Council has elected to increase rather than decrease millage rates, and

Whereas, Council members were provided with erroneous, conflicting information about the net effect on each citizen’s taxes and this erroneous, conflicting information adversely affected the objectivity of the individual and collective votes.

BE IT KNOWN AND RESOLVED THEREFORE:

That the actions of the November 1, 2006 Newberry County Council show no compassion for any Newberry County resident with valuable property, regardless of location of residence within the County, and

That the Board, on behalf of the entire Association, hereby objects to the County incurring additional indebtedness to fund any of these projects. Rather, the projects should be scaled back to conform to the original budgetary allocations, or otherwise postponed, and

That the Board respectfully requests full review and revision of the 2006/2007 County budget, to lower the millage rate, and

That the Board openly requests other Newberry County taxpayers to join this Resolution via signature, and

That the Board charges County Council with redirecting its focus to the fiduciary responsibilities to which it is assigned.

/s/ Paul Matthews, Chairman of Board

[Original Resolution attached]

2. Setting of Tax Levy – Nancy Owen, County Auditor.

“As Newberry County Auditor, I am officially setting the 2006 Tax Levy for all County and School Bonded Indebtedness Purposes as authorized by ‘Sections 4-15-150 and 59-71-150’ of the 1976 Code of Laws of South Carolina. I am presenting the 2006 Tax Levy for School Ordinary Purposes as set by the Newberry County Board of Education per letter dated October 18, 2006 which stated in part, ‘due to reassessment, the requirements to comply with the per-pupil maintenance of local effort requirement of the Education Improvement Act of 1984 can be met with a levy of 178.5 mills. The Board has chosen to exercise 3.6 mills of its fiscal autonomy as authorized under Act No. 1117, 1966 Statutes at Large, Section 3 as well’ for a total of 182.1 mills. I am recommending to the Newberry County Council per Ordinance No. 06-18-05 [sic] [should be 06-18-06] the 2006 Tax Levy for County Ordinary Purposes and for Special Education Purposes.

As Newberry County Auditor, I do, hereby, levy and recommend to the Newberry County Council to levy the following 2006 Tax Levy for the 2006-2007 Fiscal Year:

For County Purposes – I am recommending County Council levy 135.5 mills for County Ordinary Purposes; County General Obligation Bonds of 1995 – I am levying 1.1 mills; County General Obligation Bonds of 2001 – I am levying 2.9 mills; and, County General Obligation Bonds of 2005 – I am levying 5.8 mills for a total 2006 levy for County Purposes of 145.3 mills.

For School Purposes – the Newberry County Board of Education has levied 182.1 mills for School Ordinary Purposes for the 2006-2007 Fiscal Year. For Special Education Purposes, I am recommending County Council levy 6.6 mills. For School General Obligation Bonds of 2004 and 2006, I am levying 53.0 mills for a total 2006 levy for School Purposes of 241.7 mills.

The total levy for County Purposes is 145.3 mills and for School Purposes is 241.7 mills. The total 2006 Tax Levy for both County and School Purposes is 387.0 mills.

The anticipated value of one mill for the 2006-2007 Fiscal Year for County Purposes is $100,433 for recurring mills and $93,535 for new mills and for School Purposes is $103,262 for recurring mills and $96,363 for new mills.

Respectfully submitted

/s/ Nancy P. Owen

Newberry County Auditor”

Ms. Owen stated that almost 50% of the taxes paid is School Operating Tax. There will be a breakdown on the tax bills this year that says “School Operating Tax ‘x’ amount of dollars.” That amount next year will be completely exempted off of the tax bills.

Ms. Owen reviewed the 2006 Tax Levy breakdown; the Comparison of 2005 & 2006 Levies; and the 2006 Tax Levy-Municipalities.

[Original packet as handed out by Ms. Owen attached]

Adoption of Resolution #13-06 setting the tax levy for the 2006-2007 Fiscal Year and authorizing the County Treasurer to collect taxes on the property subject to such taxation within Newberry County.

Mr. Summer moved to adopt Resolution #13-06 setting the tax levy as recommended by Ms. Owen; second by Mr. Waldrop. Voting for the motion: Councilmen Hawkins, Waldrop, Caldwell, Summer, Dawkins and Morris. Voting against the motion: Councilman Baker. Motion passed by majority vote.

2.1 John Caldwell – report on SCAC meeting.

Mr. Caldwell requested information regarding the Voter Registration Act during the October Board of Directors Meeting of the SCAC. Every 25 years this Act must be reapproved, and if not, African-Americans will not be able to vote. If this is based upon the Constitution that gives everyone the right to vote, why does it have to be revoted every 25 years.

Mr. Pope explained the Constitution guarantees the right to vote to everybody. The Voting Rights Act gives special scrutiny to areas that have had historic problems with people asserting those rights to vote, and it requires the pre-clearance as a method of being sure that the law is being obeyed. This Act allows the Federal government to oversee the voting process to be sure it is fairly implemented, and it requires that anything that affects a substantial vote to be submitted to the Justice Department for pre-clearance, and if not, then it is subject to challenge.

Mr. Caldwell addressed the problem of illegal immigration. The Senate Immigration Study Committee has appointed Senator Glenn McConnell to review and draft legislation relating to illegal immigrants in this State.

3. Ordinance #10-41-06: An Ordinance enacting and adopting Supplement 2006 S-1 to the Code of Ordinance for the County of Newberry, South Carolina.

This updates the Code through Ordinance #06-22-06 and corrects technical errors to the Zoning Ordinance. The corrections will not be attached to this Ordinance since they are about 100 pages long, but will be adopted by reference.

Mr. Morris moved for third reading; second by Mr. Dawkins. Vote was unanimous.

4. Ordinance #10-42-06: An Ordinance to amend the Newberry County Purchasing Ordinance.

The name of the Purchasing Coordinator will be changed to Purchasing Director. During the October 4 meeting Council voted that no member of County Council may bid on or be a subcontractor on any county contract. Also, anyone who works under County contract has to have proof of workers compensation insurance, and accordingly, the small businessman exception was taken out.

Mr. Dawkins moved for third reading as amended; second by Mr. Summer. Voting for the motion: Councilmen Hawkins, Waldrop, Caldwell, Summer, Dawkins and Morris. Councilman Baker abstained. Motion passed by majority vote.

5. Ordinance #11-43-06: An Ordinance to amend the Official Zoning Map established pursuant to Zoning Ordinance No. 12-24-01so as to rezone a tract containing 3 acres, designated as TMS Parcel No. 651-58 from Rural (R-2) to General Commercial (GC).

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

Mr. Baker moved for second reading; second by Mr. Dawkins. Vote was unanimous.

6. Ordinance #11-44-06: An Ordinance to amend the Official Zoning Map established pursuant to Zoning Ordinance No. 12-24-01 so as to rezone a 2 acre portion of a three acre tract, designated as TMS Parcel No. 530-13, from Rural (R-2) to Limited Commercial (LC).

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

Mr. Dawkins moved for second reading; second by Mr. Summer. Vote was unanimous.

7. Ordinance #11-46-06: An Ordinance authorizing the transfer of a fee in lieu of tax arrangement between Newberry County, South Carolina and F.G. Wilson (USA) LLC under Title 4, Chapter 12 of the Code of Laws of South Carolina (1976), as amended, to an arrangement under Title 12, Chapter 44 of the Code of Laws of South Carolina (1976), as amended; authorizing the inclusion of an expansion in the Fee Agreement under the terms of the original Lease Agreement; authorizing the issuance of a special source infrastructure credit; and other matters related thereto.

Gary Morris reviewed the following changes:

Ø Originally the fee in lieu deal on the building required the company to convey its property to the County. These documents would convert it to a simplified fee, which legislation was enacted after the original deal was done. That will allow the company to get its property back.

Ø The time in which an investment can be made is 5 years by law, but the company is requesting that Council extend that time to 10 years to include the additional investments anticipated under the original deal.

Ø The company has agreed to invest at least $15,000,000 extra in the facility. It projects to hire about 185 people in the facility.

Mr. Dawkins moved for first reading; second by Mr. Baker. Vote was unanimous.

8. Committee Reports.

No reports.

9. Appointments.

No appointments.

10. Acceptance of bid for Silverstreet Fire Station.

Mr. Dawkins moved to accept the low bid of Moose in the amount of $328,175; second by Mr. Morris.

Mr. Waldrop requested that Joe Prothro, DSP Architects, explain why the cost of this station is so high. Mr. Prothro stated economy is a major factor. Since the budgets were set, steel has gone up 50%, and other building materials have gone up equally. There are no frills and the buildings were designed economically.

There being no further discussion, Mr. Hawkins called for the question. Vote was unanimous.

11. Acceptance of bid for Prosperity Fire Station.

Mr. Dawkins moved to accept the low bid of Moose in the amount of $733,740; second by Mr. Morris. Vote was unanimous.

12. Acceptance of bid for Consolidated Fire Station.

Mr. Morris moved to accept the low bid of Custom Steel in the amount of $464,000; second by Mr. Dawkins. Vote was unanimous.

13. Designation of funding source for property appraisals (Library, Clemson Extension Building).

Mr. Adams asked if plans to sell some of the County’s assets including the Library and the Clemson Extension were firm enough to seek appraisals for the property values or would that be better left to a later time.

Mr. Dawkins moved that until Council votes to sell any property, there would be no purpose to having an appraisal done; second by Mr. Baker. Vote was unanimous.

14. Budget for processing of reassessment appeals.

Mr. Adams stated 1600 appeals are presently pending. It takes about an hour for a trained appraiser to adjudicate one of the appeals. The present staff is not able to do this during its normal work week because of the existing work load. Mr. Adams and the Tax Assessor propose this budget to fund the execution of these appeals on the weekends beginning this weekend using both our appraisers and qualified appraisers from other counties who will work for us on a contract basis. We estimate if this budget is approved, and if we begin this weekend, we could possibly complete all of those appeals by February 18, 2007. This does not take into account those appeals that might be made after tax bills go out. After notices go out, taxpayers will have the chance to appeal for 90 more days. We would have to look at the appeal numbers after several weeks into that process to know how much personnel we need and what sort of budget we would need for this. This budget presented tonight in the amount of $71,575 only addresses those appeals that are already outstanding.

A number of property owners have filed appeals but haven’t heard anything for a year. If you have an appeal already on file, you do not need to file again, and we will be sending letters to those property owners who already have appeals on file. Anybody else will have the opportunity to file an appeal during that 90 day period.

If you want to check the appeal status on our website, you can do that and it will tell you whether it is pending or settled. If it is pending, then your appeal will be heard, and we would call you during this period of weeks under which we are going to be implementing this budget.

There are two things that can be appealed - the market value and the use classification. Appeals because the taxes are high aren’t in order.

We envision employing 7 appraisers for each Saturday and Sunday between now and the 18^th of February except for weekends impacted by holidays. Otherwise, staff will be working Saturdays and Sundays to expedite the processing of these appeals. Without this budget and the additional help and extending the work week for our current employees, these appeals could go on for a long time.

Susie Berry, Tax Assessor, stated they have settled 450 appeals thus far, and this request would be of tremendous help to her staff. New construction needs to be measured by mid-December, and there are about 3,000 of those right now.

Nancy Owen said as long as these appeals are outstanding it is a negative impact on cash flow. If when the appeal is settled, the value is less than what they paid on, we owe them interest on their money. It is to the County’s advantage that Ms. Berry has this assistance. Right after the first of the year we will start the budget process for next year, and it is hard to work on a budget for next year when we don’t know where we are for this year. Ms. Owen requested Council’s support to Mr. Adams and Susie Berry on this.

Ms. Owen stated at least 80% of an appeal has to be paid. If the taxpayer asks to pay 80% and it is settled at 90%, you will owe the County interest on that 10% difference.

Mr. Adams advised the funds would come from Council contingency.

Mr. Morris moved to adopt the proposed budget; second by Mr. Baker. Vote was unanimous.

14.1 Andy Morris.

Mr. Morris expressed concern over the accuracy of the Voter Registration records. Last Tuesday night, there was no information shared with anybody. At 10:30 when the last list of votes came in, one copy was handed out and someone in the group had to go to the copy machine and make copies so that 15 or 20 people could share more than one copy.

Mr. Waldrop stated there were problems in some precincts with some of the machines.

Mr. Dawkins stated County Council has to approve and fund the budget for Voter Registration and house them, but we have no control because the Legislators like to appoint those political positions.

Executive Session.

15. Contractual matter relating to the terms of employment of the County Attorney.

Mr. Morris moved to go into Executive Session to discuss a contractual matter pertaining to the terms of employment of the County Attorney; second by Mr. Baker. Vote was unanimous.

[EXECUTIVE SESSION 9:21 P.M. – 9:40 P.M.]

Mr. Dawkins moved to return to open session; second by Mr. Baker. Vote was unanimous.

Mr. Dawkins moved to renew the contract with the County Attorney; second by Mr. Morris. Vote was unanimous.

16. Budget for Overtime in Treasurer’s Office.

Judy Floyd, Treasurer, stated this equates to six days of her hourly employees, but would not include her or Karen Lindler.

Mr. Adams advised the funding would come from Council contingency.

Mr. Baker moved to approve the budget; second by Mr. Waldrop. Vote was unanimous.

17. Pugh Road Bridge.

Mr. Dawkins advised the bridge on Pugh Road, which connects Macedonia Church Road to Highway 76, was washed out approximately three years ago. There are nine residences on the road, and the bridge has not been replaced. The County has to hire an engineer to address the issues as to what can and cannot be done. Mr. Dawkins was hopeful that the CTC would reimburse the County for the engineering fees.

Mr. Dawkins moved to go ahead and send out an RFP to hire an engineer to look at the bridge to advise exactly what has to be done and the funds come out of the Public Works budget; second by Mr. Waldrop.

Mr. Adams advised if the RFP process, the Ordinance states we take the submissions from the firms and bring the top two for County Council to choose.

Mr. Waldrop asked if the County had a study done on all bridges in the County.

Tommy Whitehead, Public Works Director, stated Tom Brooks did a study and applied for FEMA grant money on four bridges. We are still working on the Pugh Road Bridge, which was taken out in September of 2004 by a storm. We will need an engineer’s help, and we are also waiting on the 80/20 grant money from FEMA. We are not sure we will get it but he recommended that we do as Mr. Dawkins suggested with the CTC funds. He was not sure where it would come out of his budget since he is limited.

Mr. Hawkins called for the question. Vote was unanimous.

Questions from the Press.

Heather Hawkins, WKDK:

1. Is there any information to be shared from the Executive Session earlier today with the Magistrates? Mr. Adams stated the Magistrates addressed several issues where they felt security could be improved. They are skittish about talking specifics, and it is not in the best interest of the Magistrate’s Court to talk about the specific things brought to Council’s attention.

2. How will the ruling from the Supreme Court affect all facilities? Mr. Adams advised the security for court proceedings is a constant thing in Council discussions since the Chief Justice sent down her Order. It applies to the Magistrate’s Court. Anywhere you have a judicial function, it appears there will be increased requirements for security staffing. One of the things Council wants to look at is how to economize on that, where we can use as few buildings as possible to contain all of these functions because each of these buildings will require staffing.

3. Was there a deadline to comply? Sheriff Lee Foster said October 30 was the deadline to have your County’s plan in. It is law enforcement sensitive so it can not be turned loose. The Committee will then evaluate those. The Committee established by the Chief Justice is made up of experts in law enforcement and the courts. Sheriff Foster is on the committee.

Comments from County Administrator.

No comments.

Comments from Council Members.

Mr. Caldwell recommended that a Resolution be prepared in appreciation of Mr. Morris’ time on Council. Mr. Pope will prepare that.

Adjournment.

There being no further business, Mr. Baker moved to adjourn; second by Mr. Dawkins. Vote was unanimous.

Meeting adjourned at 9:55 p.m.

NEWBERRY COUNTY COUNCIL

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Mike Hawkins, Chairman

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Susan C. Fellers, Clerk to Council