Richland County Council meets March 20
By Mike Cox
MWC423@bellsouth.net

Roll call

Joe McEachern, Val Hutchinson, Joyce Dickerson, Norman Jackson, Damon Jeter, Paul Livingston, Bill Malinowski, Mike Montgomery, Greg Pearce, Bernice Scott, and Kit Smith were present.

Presentations

Chuck Beamon , CEO for Richland Memorial Hospital, gave the annual report to the council. He said the state of the hospital was good, and the patients were receiving good care. The emergency room at Richland saw 68,000 patients since last year, and the hospital system has seen 135,000. In the last decade, the hospital has re-invested $20,000,000 in Richland County.

Citizen's input

Bill Edmonds , a representative from Kahn Construction, notified the council it was about to award the sewer project contract to a company who presented an illegal bid. The unnamed company failed to provide a list of subcontractors to be used. Edmonds asked the council to abide by the rules and award the contract to the lowest bidder who followed the rules.

Regular agenda

Kit Smith asked for a rezoning item in Bernice Scott's district to be deferred until the council has an opportunity to study the issue more closely. The rezoning of a condo project in an industrial area has some of the businessmen in the area worried about property values and almost caused a throw down between Scott and Smith. Scott took offense at Smith's suggestion, saying she should have been informed rather than having this brought up during the meeting. Pearce said he had heard from another businessman in that area who was concerned. He had referred the man to Scott.

The item was deferred until Scott and Smith can schedule a steel cage match to settle things. The two had a heated discussion after Smith's proposal passed.

Bill Malinowski asked for the sewer tap fee to be raised to $4,000 and the monthly fee to also be increased for the Broad River water treatment bond issue. He told the rest of council it was better to charge the increased rates now and fully fund the sewer system, rather than partially fund it and have to raise rates later if the numbers didn't work out. After much discussion, most of the rest of the council agreed.

The awarding of the contract was delayed until after executive session to address the concerns of Edmonds. Mike Montgomery asked if the contract was being protested. When told yes, he asked if the county had procedures to deal with the situation if the protest was upheld after work began. When told they didn't know, the council decided to discuss this one in private.

Earl McLeod told the council they did not allow the public to have a hearing on the rates eventually voted for in the Broad River water treatment bong issue. The information before the public hearing was for a $3,000 tap fee and $35 per month. The Malinowski proposal, which passed council, asked for $4,000 and $42 each month.

After executive session, the council voted to award the sewer construction contract. Stay tuned for round two of the sewer contract and Smith versus Scott.