Richland County Council meeting

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 County meeting February 2, 2010.

Citizen’s input

Two citizens were signed up to speak about storm water and the ordinance, but they were denied the time to speak since there was a public hearing on the subject during the last meeting. Kelvin Washington asked for the rules to be set aside and the folks be allowed to speak, but the procedure requires unanimous consent, which wasn’t the case in the vote.

Reconsideration

During the approval of previous minutes, Damon Jeter asked for reconsideration of the storm water ordinance. His request was approved, and the item was back on the table. Jeter proposed a change in the “sunset clause” affecting land owners’ requirements to abide by the new ordinance. (www.richlandonline. com/departments/p ublicworks/storm.asp).

Anyone already in the process of developing property is supposed to be allowed a grace period before having to comply with the new ordinance. Currently, anyone who plans to develop land has seven years to start work before having to abide by new regulations.

Jeter’s proposal would give anyone who has spent at least $100,000 on the development as long as needed to comply. Anyone spending less than $100,000 would have only three years to comply with new regulations.

Greg Pearce pointed out the change would reduce the number of people who could take advantage of the rule and not comply with new restrictions. County Attorney Lar ry Smith asked Jeter why $100,000 was the dividing point. Jeter said that amount was an average of what might be expected of a land owner actually serious about developing the property.

Val Hutchinson said she was worried about the fairness of the new language and whether it would be fair to both large and small developers. She was also worried about large tracts of land being exempt from the storm water ordinance.

Norman Jackson had a concern about the “magic number” of $100,000. He also wondered why farmers were exempted from the ordinance in the first place. Gwen Kennedy and Joyce Dickerson both needed more information to make a decision. Dickerson first asked for a deferral but later asked for the original motion to be passed like it was during the last meeting.

Pearce said the intent of Jeter’s motion was honorable, to narrow the focus of the seven year grace period. He proposed passing the existing motion but sending it to the Planning Commission and let them address the concerns of both large and small developers and find a solution. This motion was approved.

Smoking ban amendments

Bill Malinowski proposed passing the smoking ban with the amendments he added, which were primarily designed to protect business owners from being prosecuted when they had done all they could to prevent someone from smoking in their business.

Jeter wondered whether more staff was needed to enforce the ordinance but was told most people comply when given information about the rules. Kennedy said the county needs to stop coming up with new laws that can’t be enforced and just enforce the ones already in place.

Voter registration workers

Dickerson told the rest of the council she had heard back from the governor about adjusting the salaries of treasurer, voter registration, and assessor, and making changes to those offices to better reflect what other counties are doing. She said she is waiting on an attorney general’s opinion about what can legally be done under state laws. Jeter made a motion to accept the committee’s salary numbers and handle the increase in pay during the budget process. After much of the same discussion on this matter that has been offered for four months, the council approved Jeter’s motion.

Day after Christmas

A motion to allow the county employees a paid holiday for the day after Christmas was rejected after much discussion about whether it would really cost $250,000, as County Administrator Milton Pope reported. The council felt the cost could not be justified in these tough economic times.

Citizen input

Last meeting a lady asked the county to do something about a school that had infringed on a buffer between her property and the school. Trees were removed and a track and playground were installed against covenants requiring that land be left as a buffer.

At this meeting, her husband was on hand to speak about the same issue. He said based on the questions being asked by the staff people who had visited his home, no one was taking his problem seriously. Neither would give their name.

Jean Rutkowski told the council she lost her father to a heart attack recently and felt the county’s policy of not allowing first responders to drive cost valuable time that might have saved her father’s life. She felt like at least 40 minutes was wasted before her father was treated and taken to a hospital.

Al i Fel schow told the council this was the third meeting in a row she had attended and it was crazy. She didn’t understand how they could allocate money for the asking but couldn’t resolve the EMT issue. She said the council needs to be better prepared for the meetings and to make smart decisions with taxpayers’ money. She said she ran a business and had a budget and was able to make the tough decisions when necessary. She felt the county should make better decisions and provide for people who were needed like EMTs.

A complete Richland County Agenda can be accessed from the Richland County website www.richlandonline.com before each council meeting. Minutes from past meetings are also available for anyone who has questions or needs more detail about a specific issue.