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County Council October meeting Edgefielddaily.com web posted October 5, 2005 EDGEFIELD – The Edgefield County Council held their regular monthly meeting Tuesday night and addressed several issues and ordinances. After the usual invocation and pledge council voted to approve the minutes of the previous council meeting and the special called meeting and looked over reports before continuing on to the ordinances with votes of 5-0. First on the agenda was a third reading of Ordinance number 05-06-568 which provides for the administration and collection of solid waste user charges. Councilman Joel Hudson address the issue that every single resident pays the user fee of $80 except those in Oak Creek Subdivision which elected to become part of the City of North Augusta. Administrator Wayne Adams explained that North Augusta picked up their garbage and it did not have to be disposed of in Edgefield County. However some Merriwether residents claim the residents of Oak Creek do indeed use the centers and regardless of the situation, all other city residents pay the fee. Council voted 5-0 to pass the ordinance and continue to allow the Oak Creek residents who chose to become part of North Augusta to be exempted from paying the fee. The next item on the agenda was a second reading of Ordinance number 05-06-571 which provides for monies to be used to purchase road maintenance equipment. The measure was passed with a vote of 5-0. The third ordinance addressed was number 05-06-572 which creates a joint Industrial/Business Park in Trenton for the expansion the newly obtained business of Trenton Plastics. Dawn Baetson, a company representative, told council the company would be expanding their original plans to an additional five million dollar investment in new buildings and jobs. She stated the company would be creating 190 jobs with an average pay scale of around $10.17 per hour. After she finished Chairman Kneece began reading the next item when council was reminded they did not vote on the previous matter. The vote was taken and passed with the standard 5-0 vote as was the next item; ordinance number 05-06-573’s first reading which set up a fee in lieu of taxes for Trenton Plastics LLC. Under resolutions council passed resolution number 05-06-285 which also was needed for the fee in lieu of taxes for Trenton Plastics. The next resolution was to honor Bob Bowie on his retirement from Natural Resources Conservation Service and for, “His contributions to the betterment of Edgefield County.” Resolution number 05-06-286, which would renew Northland Cable TV’s Franchise, was placed on hold due to there being arrears in franchise fees in excess of $3,000 which have not been paid to the county. “I think we need to wait until they get things in order before we vote,” Chairman Kneece stated. Under new business County Auditor Bill Gilchrist presented the millage rate for the coming year and stated the rates have dropped 4 mills for the next tax year as EdgefieldDaily.com has already reported on. Dr. Lex Walters addressed council on Piedmont Technical College’s addition of the Center for Creative Economics in an 8000 square foot building that had been donated by Bettis Rainsford. The program will deal with teaching pottery and will cost the exceed $250,000. Belinda Cooper also addressed council concerning Heritage Drive and Williams Road which she said was becoming impassable during rains and getting stuck in sandy areas when dry. Howard Gibson, Building and Planning Director, stated he has been in touch with Mrs. Cooper over the past years and has placed her road on the “pave list” and it would be tied to the paving of Padgett Road which would be completed before the end of the year. Tying the roads together Mr. Gibson said would save the county about twenty thousand dollars. Mr Gibson stated there were 271 dirt roads the county has to maintain. Discussion on the distribution of Parks and Recreational Department (PARD) funds were addressed and Councilman Hudson pointed out that Merriwether does not receive any PARD funds. The reason was pointed out that to be eligible for the funds the area has to have a recreation facility in place. The twenty-two thousand dollars will be divided between existing facilities. It was passed with a 5-0 vote. Edgefield County Coroner Thurmond Burnett informed council that since the discovery of a body had been determined to be in Edgefield County he may need extra funds to perform DNA tests to identify the remains. “We have some prints,” he said but the results were not back yet and if those failed to identify the body DNA was the only way to confirm the identity. The cost of the tests would be around $5,000 in order to get the results back within six weeks or less. Council voted 5-0 to wait until the results of the fingerprints were received. Next up was consideration of placing surplus equipment and vehicles for auction. The items would be placed for online bids to be taken so the items will not have to be moved in order to be sold. Council agreed to place all surplus items for sale with a 5-0 vote. Counil then moved on to consider purchasing a mobile concession stand for Bettis Park. Councilman Willie Bright said the cost would be around $60,000 but had no solid numbers since he had not worked out the specifications of the trailer. Councilmen Hudson and Kitchens balked at the cost and stated they believed a structure could be built for far less money. The item was postponed after twenty minutes of discussion until Mr. Bright could give more information on the unit he wished to purchase. Council voted to set the meeting date for the Bi-annual County Council and School Board Joint Meeting for October 19 at 6:00pm. A request concerning SC DOT’s request for State Road 453 was postponed since SC DOT officials were unable to attend the meeting.
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