Roll call

Chair Paul Livingston, Vice Chair Damon Jeter, Joyce Dickerson, Val Hutchinson, Norman Jackson, Gwendolyn Kennedy, Bill Malinowski, Jim Manning, Greg Pearce, Kit Smith, and Kelvin Washington were present for the June 2 Richland County Council meeting.

Regular agenda

The new budget took up most of the agenda, but the council demonstrated its expertise and coordination on a couple of other items. During the motion period an ad hoc committee was formed to study public transportation in the Midlands and possible long term solutions to the stop gap bus funding measure currently in place.

The committee will uncover long term funding solutions for when the ordinance expires in June 2010. The committee will also look into additional transportation needs like paving dirt roads, bike lanes, greenways, and sidewalks. The idea is to develop a long range plan to address the entire transportation needs of Richland County. It has been at least five months since the county last discussed the findings of such a committee and chose not to do any of the things suggested.

James Blackwell and Daniel Wilson were added to the Accommodations Tax Committee and Ralph Walden was voted onto the Building Codes Board of Adjustments and Appeals. John Cullum was retained by the Historic Columbia Foundation.

Richland County council began the process of naming new members to the Richland County/City of Columbia Animal Care Advisory Committee. Rules and Appointments Chairman Bill Malinowski told the council his committee had interviewed six candidates for two positions and recommended Louise Emmett and Edwin Sorrell for the vacancies.

Joyce Dickerson asked for a full council vote on the candidates. Norman Jackson asked for the item to be deferred so the council would be better informed to make the right decision. The deferral was defeated by a narrow margin. Then the council voted to decide if Dickerson's motion would pass.

Then the council spent several minutes trying to get everyone acquainted with the six candidates. Gwen Kennedy wanted to know what districts the candidates lived in and how the existing members were scattered in the county.

Since this is a new committee, there are no existing members and Kennedy was evidently satisfied the candidates were spread out enough to be effective committee members. The vote was then taken with each council member allowed to vote for two people. When the dust cleared, Emmett and Sorrell, the two candidates suggested by the committee, were elected to fill the vacancies.

Budget

The budget process has been less painful in the last several years but with reduced revenues and no stomach for raising taxes, the 2010 budget is proving difficult. The primary issues involve school district two funding and a general fund reduction.

There is a discrepancy between what the county auditor and the district say is last year's number, which is what every agency is trying to match. The auditor is firm in his belief that his number is correct, and the district is putting a little pressure on the council to listen to them. Since the difference is about three million, this is a serious chasm. The district two budget was passed but expect detailed inspection of the auditor's numbers between now and the next meeting, and probably the minutes won't be approved until changes are made.

During the last meeting an ordinance was passed asking the county administrator to reduce expenses so the budget can pass with no tax increase. Pope brought that back to the council tonight. Reducing medical supplies on EMT vehicles, stopping new projects, not fully manning EMT stations, and a six month hiring freeze were some of the drastic measures Pope suggested to the council.

Either services must be curtailed or taxes will have to be increased.