Our View: Goals and wish lists worthy of exploration

Greenwood County Council members are up to some good.

People who are more than a tad wary and distrustful of governmental bodies will typically say the opposite, but news from Tuesday’s council meeting should be viewed in a more positive light.

There, they individually and collectively discussed goals and plans for the coming years — even with sights set on 2025.

We concur with Melissa Spencer who suggested council set a date for a retreat that would give them more opportunity to connect with each other beyond their regularly scheduled meetings and to have any necessary training.

Longtime member Edith Childs also set a goal dealing with training, only her goal was to see more county staff cross-trained on areas of responsibility. A good idea, especially in these current days when employees are increasingly harder to find or retain.

Also on Childs’ list of goals is an item that, unfortunately, has a bad reputation, largely because of a poor label assigned to it. While she did not use the term “defund the police,” Childs did say she thinks the county should consider hiring a mental health specialist who could assist first responders in deescalating certain situations.

As one of the county’s leading longtime proponents of neighborhood watches and Crimestoppers hotlines, Childs has also long been supportive of law enforcement’s efforts. She is not advocating to take money from law enforcement, but rather to have someone with a particular area of expertise that might net better results than, say, an officer responding to a situation. Definitely worth exploring.

Mark Allison touted an info desk at the courthouse to make various information readily available. Granted, much or most of the information is or should be on the county website, but having a kiosk equipped with a computer that also has restricted access, might be a good idea. Saves on paper waste too.

And fresh to council, Dayne Pruitt talked about keeping tabs on the Lake Conestee Dam and the need to hold back any of the toxicity a dam break would send our way. He’s also suggesting it’s time the county get out of the volunteer fire business and consider paying and recruiting more personnel. We do appreciate all our volunteers, but this sounds like something that ought not be taken off the table.

Surely one that will raise a stink among some residents involves Chuck Moates looking ahead to 2025 and additional opportunities to float another capital project sales tax for potential countywide projects. The penny tax, he said, has proven beneficial to the county at large, which is hard to deny.

We were fairly sure the current CPST endeavor would not be a one-and-done. Its hefty project list is getting funded, but there’s no reason to think there won’t be future projects in need of funding, and that will benefit the county in general.

We supported the current CPST effort and are interested to see what might be on the next wish list. What we do know is that when such projects come up and when the general consensus is that they are needed and worthy, it’s good to have the burden of costs shared by those who visit and make purchases in our county. Such a funding source lightens the load on the residents a good bit, after all.

Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Feb 5, 2022

Article Link: https://www.indexjournal.com/opinion/editorials/our-view-goals-and-wish-lists-worthy-of-exploration/article_a9682980-6a9e-5b5c-b003-a598bf8cf5f7.html