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 Edgefield Town Hall meeting sees challenges to purchase of Calliham property, recreation funds, and disputes of “facts” web posted August 20, 2009  EDGEFIELD – County
Councilman Rodney
Ashcraft held his second Town Hall Meeting Wednesday night at the
Edgefield County Council Chambers with around fifty people attending.
Also attending the meeting was County Council Chairman Monroe Kneece,
Vice-chairman Willie Bright, and Clerk to Council Barbara Stark,
producing not only a quorum of the county council but also one in which
all three members of council discussed county business. Councilman Ashcraft welcomed everyone to his Town Hall meeting and immediately opened the floor to questions. “I guess the Calliham property is going to be the first question,” former county councilman Bill Vaughn stated. “The council has already voted it down, now it comes back again, what’s the purpose of it? Edgefield Construction, is just for their benefit? Because to me, they’re the only ones that get a contract in Edgefield County and it just doesn’t look right.”  Mr. Ashcraft (Left)
pointed to Edgefield Mayor Ken Durham, who is also
president of Edgefield Construction, and asked if he would like to
respond. Durham stated that if the county were to select alternate
building sites, be it Railroad Avenue or Star Road he would bid on the
jobs, but when it came to the Calliham property, “I may look crazy,”
Durham said, “but I’m not crazy enough to touch something like that.”
Durham admitted his involvement in working towards the county
purchasing the property and that would take him out of bidding on any
work if the purchase went through.Mayor Durham stated that from the town’s standpoint he would like to see the old Calliham building “recycled” for the benefit of the town so that they did not have another old building sitting and falling into disrepair. Durham stated that Penn Street, where the property is located, is one of the main entrance corridors to the town and wants to see it remodeled and improved to benefit the town’s appearance. So much so, that he again stated that, though it has not been voted on by the town council, he, hopefully with the blessing of town council members, would be willing to “throw in” $15,000 towards the purchase of the Calliham property. Councilman Ashcraft said that he guessed he was looking out for the town as well as the county in that regard, “If I don’t think it’s worth paying $315,000 for the property I don’t think it’s worth spending your money on it either.” Durham offered several sets of numbers to state that the purchase and remodel was a better deal for the county and he felt comfortable with the estimates given not only by Edgefield Construction, but by Mike Reed with the Building and Planning Department and felt that the remodeling would be complete within the budget, which worked out to the penny, excluding the additional 9,000 that remains as a third rail not to be discussed. Mr. Durham then stated that the County Council Chambers where the meeting was being held was an example of an old building being “recycled”. “Every time we have a building, the same as this one (which Edgefield Construction was awarded the contract) you’re way up above the bid on it when you got through with it,” Vaughn said. Mr. Durham suggested that was because they did not know that the building was going to need a new roof and other problems that were found when the job started. Durham said that was because you never know what is going to be needed until you begin the work and find unexpected problems. “That’s the point”, Mr. Vaughn stated arguing that due to the age of the Calliham building there would no doubt be more problems found that would drive the costs even higher. Mr. Durham admitted that he expected to find asbestos in the majority of the building but that, “it is no big deal”. Former Planning Commissioner Norm Stephenson, a retired engineer, stated he was dismayed that the county spent $5,000 to test core samples for the Railroad Street property “in that hole down there” rather then where the building was proposed. Mr. Stephenson stated that there are more locations on the property that would be suitable to build upon and asked why samples were taken from the worst location. “We have a lot people here who know, can anyone give me an answer?” Chairman Kneece, Vice-chairman Bright, Mr. Durham, and Bettis Rainsford, another proponent of the Calliham property purchase, remained silent. As the question was pushed, no suitable explanation was given. Chairman Kneece did stand several times to defend the vote to buy the property but said that the county was not locked in to buying the property until further studies could be conducted. That drew a question from another man in attendance that asked if that was the case, then why the county council voted on a final reading of an ordinance to buy the property if it did not lock the county into a purchase deal. “If it didn’t matter, why was it voted on?” he asked. Many of those who spoke in favor of the purchase of the Calliham property, Mayor Durham, Bettis Rainsford, and another man seated with them, stated that it was important to preserve the beauty of the Town of Edgefield and how it would benefit the town. It was also pointed out that the town would benefit in revenues but the county would actually lose revenues from the property taxes being removed from the building, the cost of improvements and liability insurance and the fact that the county would not be receiving any rents from the building for the next three years. Some at the meeting openly stated that if the plan was to improve the look of the town perhaps the town should make the investment to buy and improve the property, not the county. Bettis Rainsford took the floor to explain that expanding the jail would make the Calliham property “extremely valuable” and “In the past week, Edgefield Daily published a statement saying that a prior study indicated that was not the case that they could expand on the (current) site. What they failed to point out is, though a few additional cells could be created on the existing site, on regular occasions and we are already in substantially in excess of the rated capacity of the law enforcement center.” Mr. Rainsford then went on to say that the plans showed that the Detention Center would have to construct a “two story” facility on the site to accommodate the expansion. EdgefieldDaily.com’s Editor Roy Blackwell spoke up to defend the report stating that Mr. Rainsford’s claims the plans show the county would have to build multiple stories was false. “The plans that you refer to, from the study that was reported on, the next two phases, there are three phases, does not require going up (additional floors) at all,” Blackwell said, “and it does cover us through the year 2024. That’s what the report reads.” “I don’t think it reads that,” Rainsford responded, “I’ve got it right here.” Mr. Blackwell then stated the report published gave the page numbers of the report to support the claim. “Maybe you should read that. It shows all the expansions being done on the level (no upward construction).” Blackwell also stated that there were not just a “couple of cells added", but many cells and the expansion of the entire Law Enforcement Center and all of it located on the present site. Mr. Rainsford then changed the subject towards the insurance proceeds and how not taking advantage of that to purchase the Calliham property was not in the best interest of the town or the county. Many argued that the purchase of the Calliham property would in fact saddle the county with additional debt when the county is forced to remodel the remaining 9,000 square feet of space. This fact was ardently ignored by Rainsford, Durham, and Chairman Kneece saying that no one knows what the future costs would be in three to five years. Councilman Ashcraft reiterated that even using the figures currently available, referred to by Durham and Rainsford, will see the county “locked in” to a debt of at least $1.2 to $1.3 million. “I don’t expect costs to go down,” Ashcraft said. As Bettis Rainsford and Ken Durham continued to stand and answer questions, commandeering the floor, others at the meeting began getting disgusted and began walking out. As one couple walked out the man turned to Councilman Ashcraft and stated, “I’ve been waiting, I’m tired, I’m done. There’s been nothing but speeches on this side of the room (Durham and Rainsford) and no one is answering any questions,” and walked out. Mayor Durham and Bettis Rainsford were eventually asked to take a seat and the meeting took other questions relating to the recreation department and concession sales at Bettis Park. Mr. Ashcraft stated that the funds that were to be deposited with the county were not being adhered to and “Either we enforce the ordinance or we change it.” Ashcraft said according to the last recreation meeting he attended this week the consensus was to change the ordinance, which would take a vote of the county council. After some discussion of where the money was being deposited Mr. Blackwell spoke up and stated that, ”according to a request for information on the funds sent by Recreation Director Nick Wates, he stated that the funds were being deposited with the Mt. Canaan Baptist Church Association.” County Council Vice-chairman Willie Bright spoke up saying that was not true. “Mt. Canaan doesn’t’ get any of that money.” Mr. Blackwell said, “I have the letter from your recreation director saying it does. I have a copy of it and will be happy to show it to you,” which Bright ignored. Bright said that the money collect was put “in an account” that would be used, “toward something at Bettis in order to get volunteers to get them to work it”. Another question raised was about the current reassessment taking place by the Assessors Office. “Have there been any reforms in the Assessors Office?” one man asked. “Not that I’m aware of,” Ashcraft responded. Chairman Kneece spoke up and stated that, “The Assessor’s Office is the worst run outfit we got, we’ve been trying to get it changed, but we can’t seem to get the cooperation.” This seemed to be a dig at County Administrator John Pettigrew who oversees the operation of county offices as directed by the county council. “We’re working on changes now,” Kneece said, “and hopefully we’ll get to them.” Another question was asked about the hiring of a new county administrator at which time Councilman Ashcraft said that the Upper Savannah Council on Governments would conduct the initial screenings and send the county three to five qualified applicant for the council to review, “and hopefully we’ll make a choice from there.” One man asked, “Why do you use the word ‘hopefully’”. Ashcraft responded, “Because it didn’t happen last time.” After a few other questions the meeting ended and Councilman Ashcraft thank everyone for attending. © Copyright 2009
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