Richland County Council meets September 11, 2007
By Mike Cox MWC423@bellsouth.net
Richland Council Meeting

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

Reports

Clemson's Ben Boozer gave the council a preview of the process for the upcoming strategic planning sessions. Each district will have two meetings, and the council will get together at least four times to absorb community moods. Boozer told the council the process was as important as the final results. The group hopes to have information gathering complete by Christmas and a final plan by May of 2008.

The animal shelter agreement with Columbia is complete except for a no kill shelter, and Lexington County is working with Richland to resolve that issue.

Tony McDonald gave an update on the agreement with the Homebuilder's Association over subdivision roads. The new rules no longer require a bond, and the warranty has been reduced to one year. McDonald said the county will adjust to the new rules by making more inspections early in the paving process to insure the roads are built to accepted standards.

Joe Cronin reported the first RTA technical memo has been rewritten and approved, and the second technical memo has been delivered to the committee.

Agenda

The first item to actually be discussed was an ordinance to place a funeral home on Hardscrabble Road. Val Hutchinson said it was appropriate to have a cemetery on the crowded and dangerous road, but she would vote against the ordinance because funeral traffic would add to the existing congestion. The ordinance passed anyway.

The Rules and Appointments Committee, chaired by the Mike Montgomery is advertising four vacancies on committees. The Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee, the Employee Grievance Committee, the Township Auditorium Board, and the Music Festival Committee are all seeking new members.

Ear l Brown Jr. and Stephen Corboy were elected to the Central Midlands Council of Government; Jennifer Butler joined the Community Relations Council, and LRADAC added Julie Marie Brown and Roosevelt Garrick Jr.

Kit Smith, Bernice Scott, Norman Jackson, and Chairman Joe McEachern contradicted each other on what needed to be in place to streamline the process for motion period. The ordinance was sent back to committee to be licked again.

In a similar vein, an attempt to establish rules for discretionary fund use was also argued about. The most astounding revelation of this disagreement was the contention by both Scott and Joyce Dickerson that county funds should be used for flowers sent to private citizens. (Maybe the county can enact a mandatory flower fund where each citizen has to put in so much of his property tax to be used for sending flowers to the sick and grieving.)

During citizen's input, Sherry Stoddard told the council she wasn't aware who her council member was and said she recently moved and didn't know who her previous council member was. She mostly wanted to know who was responsible for a ditch in her neighborhood that needed repair.

After a lengthy executive session, the meeting was adjourned.