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 at the Richland County Council, September 15, 2009 meeting.

Administrator’s Report

County Administrator Milton Pope introduced two new employees. Sara Sallie is the new grant manager, and Randy Cherry takes over as the research manager. Both new employees bring experience to Richland County and replace departed employees so there is no budget effect.

Benedict College has complied with the county’s fire safety rules and the county has dropped any charges or citations. Pope also reported that Richland County now has an AA+ credit rating for the first time. This will enable the county to acquire bonds at a better rate and offset some of the pain from the current economic situation.

Ongoing Millage Battle

Jim Manning proposed an adjustment to the current millage estimate proposed by County Auditor Brawley to offset claims made by Richland Two school board members who say his numbers are incorrect.

The issue has been argued most of the summer and has not been resolved. The school district brought the matter before the council to decide who is right. Brawley has given the Richland County Council an estimate of millage and dollars for each county entity based on calculations he believes in. The school district thinks his numbers are incorrect based on a 41% estimate on automobiles and other personal property figured in the equation. The district contends that 100% of the value can be assessed in that instance.

Brawley stands by his numbers and how he got them. After several weeks of neither side budging, the council voted to agree with the school district and reject Brawley’s calculation. Since the school board proposal is higher, the state mandated cap on tax increases won’t affect future years as much if their numbers are right. In the proposal, the SC Attorney General is being asked to give a legal opinion about which set of numbers to accept.

Advertising Kiosks

Getting into the spirit of not cooperating with one another, the council spent several minutes trying to decide what a kiosk is and how it will affect the natural beauty of North Main, Decker, and other scenic roads in the county. Several council members were unsure exactly what a kiosk is until Joe Koce explained it.

The idea is for a property owner to erect a six slotted sign on a major road to advertise or alert people to the existence of schools, churches, and other businesses that might be off the main road. The county gets licensing fees from the owner of the sign and anyone who fills a slot. The proposal was defeated.

Electronic Billboards

Xan Skinner from the Community Mediations Center opened the discussion on electronic billboards by reading a series of amendments agreed on by the billboard industry and environmental and community leaders.

An ordinance to regulate electronic billboards has been under discussion by this council for over two years. No consensus is evident yet. Val Hutchinson said she was worried the ordinance hadn’t been discussed enough. In her defense, she was talking about a three hour meeting between the parties on Monday, not the last 24 months. Norman Jackson disagreed, pointing out how long this issue has been unresolved.

Kit Smith said she was disappointed with the final ordinance and said it was written by the advertising industry. Smith said the votes to approve the proposal had been there for more than six months and the council and local business leaders did a poor job of protecting the community. Smith said the process has not been fair and she thinks the county is making a serious mistake. The proposal passed by a 7–4 margin.

After a lengthy executive session, the meeting was adjourned.