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  County Council approves smoking ban, referendum on four year terms web posted July 2, 2008 EDGEFIELD – The Edgefield County Council held their July meeting Tuesday night and quickly approved a final reading of the new building codes and a first reading of an ordinance adopting a supplement to the Code of Ordinances. Chairman Monroe Kneece then brought the attention of the council to an ordinance providing for a referendum on “whether the terms of office for Edgefield County Council Members shall be changed from two year terms to four year staggered terms.” Chairman Kneece explained that the matter has come up before and has always been voted down by county voters. Without discussion Councilman Hudson made the motion to accept the reading and was seconded by Councilman Kitchens with the final vote being unanimous. The question will be placed on the ballot for the November 4 General Election. If passed, the three council members receiving the highest vote totals in the general election would be seated for a four-year term and the remaining two would have to run again in two years and the offsetting years would see two or three council members up for re-election. Also without discussion the council approved a resolution to restrict the use of tobacco products at all county recreation facilities by a 5-0 vote. Smoking or tobacco use within 25 feet of the playing areas will be forbidden. Signs will be placed advising citizens of the new ban. Under New Business Chairman Kneece read a request from the Women In Unity for $1,500 in funding to aid in their youth tutoring program. Councilman Everett Kitchens stated there was no money, “so I don’t think we can.” Councilman Norman Dorn spoke up and said it was not a large request and that the county council can always find money for other programs. Councilman Bright made a suggestion to fund the program with $500 this year and the measure passed. The group was told to get their funding request in earlier in the year so that it could be included in the budget process. The County Council also approved to provide matching funds for a grant received by the Sheriff’s Office for a Forensic Investigator, outfitted truck, equipment, training, and mileage. The 80/20 matching grant left the county needing to fund the grant participation with just under $31,000. Captain Chris Wash, of the Sheriff’s Office, stated the Sheriff was willing to forego the purchase of one of the four patrol cars set for rotation this year to offset the cost leaving the county not having to find the unbudgeted funds. Councilman Kitchens asked why the Sheriff did not delay purchasing the additional three cars and “save $90,000”. Chairman Kneece explained that if that were done the county would have to pay for eight cars next years and place a strain on the budget. A question from the audience asked why the matching funds were not set aside in the budget if the county knew the Sheriff was in the process of obtaining the grant. “We put it in,” the budget request Capt. Wash said, “but it got taken out”. The Sheriff’s budget was cut by the County Administrator before it was presented to the County Council during the budget process. After more discussion the grant participation was agreed to and passed the measure with a 5-0 vote. John Rikard and Faye Vaughan of the Veteran Affairs Office gave a report to the county council on the national association of County VA Offices held in Charleston recently. Mrs. Vaughn gave a breakdown of the hours of continuing education received during the conference and Mr. Rikard noted that Mrs. Vaughn received her national certification while attending. Chairman Kneece also placed forth a measure to allow recreation funds set aside for each county council district to be escrowed each year and allow those funds to build up in an effort to provide funding for projects that exceed current funding levels. The measure passed unanimously. Norman Dorn requested the floor and commenced to slandering one member of the local press calling EdgefieldDaily.com’s Editor a liar, a “crook”, and even accused the top rated news outlet’s readers as “crooks”. Councilman Dorn called the editor by name and made it a point to tell the public in attendance where the editor was sitting in the chambers. Dorn made a not so veiled threat that he wanted to sue EdgefieldDaily.com but said “I can’t have court in Edgefield County and the reason why because the Magistrate screwed up one of my cases.” Chairman Kneece, County Attorney Buzzy Bird, nor County Administrator John Pettigrew (who is also a lawyer) made no attempts to stop Mr. Dorn in his near seven-minute attack on a private citizen. After a brief discussion from a resident from Jimmy Road requesting the road be re-inspected for school bus travel the council adjourned to an executive session to get an update on a potential industry looking to relocated to Edgefield County. ©
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