Greenwood County Council hosts first meeting after Chairman Brown’s passing
Steve Brown was missed dearly at Monday’s Greenwood County Council meeting.
The meeting was previously set for Aug. 17, but Councilman Chuck Moates, now serving as chairman following Brown’s death, said they rescheduled it.
“Council felt out of respect to Mr. Brown’s family and him that we would not conduct a public meeting until after his funeral service,” he said. “Monday was the first time we could do it, and do it respecting his family.”
In their district reports, each council member paid their respects to Brown, a longtime public servant who spent nearly four decades in service to Greenwood city and county. But Moates said he would serve as council chairman according to procedure until Brown’s District Five seat is filled in a special election, then council will elect a chairperson and vice chairperson. Until then, he said members will continue to serve Greenwood County to their utmost capacity, like Brown would have wanted.
Humane Society of Greenwood Executive Director Connie Mawyer presented her quarterly update, sharing that the trap-neuter-return program for reducing feral cat colony populations has been a success. The group trapped, neutered and released 62 cats in the area of Crosscreek Connector, and through the past year the colony reduced to 16 total cats. HSOG has provided shelters and food for cats in the area that keep them away from heat and food sources from area businesses.
The animal shelter has struggled to handle its increased population, but Mawyer said HSOG is working on adoption events and working with pet owners to reduce the number of surrendered animals that come into the shelter.
“The strategies that we’ve put in place, we call them managed intake, but really it’s about managing sometimes the intake, the output and the in-between because of the population,” she said. “Typically from June to the end of August is our peak season.”
Many shelters are facing a crisis as populations expand. This year has seen fewer owner-surrendered animals, though, and Mawyer said she wants to target lowering the number of public strays in the following year. Last year featured about 1,000 animal adoptions, with a 90% live release rate, she said. Council members Theo Lane and Mark Allison complimented Mawyer on her work, and the HSOG and shelter staff for their smooth and effective operation.
Capital Project Sales Tax Coordinator Josh Skinner had two requests for council. His first was to spend an additional $10,000 on the Promised Land Walking Track project, which was originally budgeted at about $66,000. The Promised Land Community Association asked for the additional funds to rubberize the surface of the walking track, but Lane expressed concern about giving additional funds for an expense not included in the approved project application.
The request was shot down, and Councilwoman Edith Childs suggested to her constituents a community fundraiser to finance the rubberizing.
Later, Skinner gave an update on the work at the J.C. Fox Boozer Complex in Ninety Six. Funds from the first phase of construction are spent, but additional costs arose for the work at this county property when the county had to re-bid renovations for the park’s restrooms, along with the addition of LED lighting, overflow parking and irrigation.
The county has reached its original $1 million budget for the current site work, he said, but it will cost an additional nearly $600,000 to complete the remaining work. Skinner requested transferring $150,000 from the special appropriations fund to the CPST fund, along with an additional up to $500,000 from phase two of the Greenwood County Athletic Facilities project budget.
Councilman Robbie Templeton said some of these funds are being redirected from a project to put an all-inclusive playground at the Wilbanks Sports Complex — the site of the former civic center — and that funds from the American Rescue Plan Act will be secured to cover the playground. Council unanimously approved the funds transfer.
Council had first readings on two ordinances: One to allow the Lost Lure Special Tax District to dissolve, the other to rezone 28 acres on Sagewood Road from R-1 to R-2. For the first, County Treasurer Steffanie Dorn said there are only six or seven people in the Lost Lure tax district, and none objected when she asked about dissolving. The rezoning ordinance would allow for 10,000-square-foot lots on the property, potentially adding up to 40 units there. County Planning Director Phil Lindler said that many units is unlikely, given the geography of the land, and the owner said they weren’t intending to develop all of the property.
The state Regulator and Fiscal Affairs Office will help the county with its upcoming redistricting, as council approved a resolution to have the state agency serve as an impartial third party in the process. County Council’s districts will be redrawn based on the 2020 federal census data set for release next month. The fiscal affairs office will have public hearings and help with the process, although council will have the final vote for approval of the changed maps.
Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Aug 25, 2021
By DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ ddominguez@indexjournal.com
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