Greenwood County Council approves policy changes
Small tweaks can make a big difference, and Greenwood County hoped to shore up some of its internal rules Tuesday as county council approved changes to three policies.
Anita Baylor, county procurement officer and risk manager, laid out changes to vehicle collision review, workers’ compensation and procurement policies during Tuesday’s county council meeting. First up was a change that would create a vehicle collision review board, responsible for examining all wrecks involving county vehicles.
“The collisions that we have had in the past several years have really cost the county quite a bit of money, so we’re trying to actually bring back our review board so that everybody is held accountable and we have consequences,” Baylor said.
The board, made up of four county manager appointees and one person appointed by the sheriff, will investigate all wrecks involving county staff, vehicles or equipment. They’re tasked with ensuring best practices are in place and providing disciplinary recommendations in wrecks determined to have been preventable.
The policy creates four new categories for wrecks and lays out the penalties for wrecks determined to be because of disregard for defensive driving or disregard for state driving laws. An employee’s first offense comes with a verbal warning and a four-hour training, the second offense is a written discipline and eight-hour training. The third offense comes with a recommendation for suspension or termination.
“This policy will hold individuals more accountable,” Baylor said.
Council also considered a new workers’ compensation policy, which the county did not have prior to Tuesday. The policy outlines the state law’s 66 and two-thirds% rate for lost wages, as well as the number or days a doctor must approve an employee to be out before lost wage benefits start.
Baylor said the workers’ compensation policy was reviewed by the state Association of Counties.
The last policy change dealt with expanding some of the purchase amount ranges under the county’s procurement policy, which details how departments make purchases.
“Things have changed over the years and we do a lot more ordering online, and our threshold for using the procurement card is rather low,” Baylor said.
The changes would raise the minimum range from $1,000 to $5,000, meaning purchases costing less than $5,000 do not require a requisition or purchase order. They can be made with a county purchasing card, billed to the county under a credit account or invoiced to the county. Purchases at this level don’t need any bids, but receipts and invoices must be approved by the department head or someone they designate to approve them.
A second tier, requiring price quotes, raised from $1,000-$10,000 up to $5,000-$10,000. The third and fourth tier costs remain the same.
Council member Mark Allison, after asking a few questions about the oversight of the broader first tier of purchases, asked County Manager Toby Chappell if he was comfortable with this policy.
“I am,” Chappell said.
“Because the buck stops with you,” Allison said.
Council unanimously approved the three policy changes.
Council also unanimously approved an easement allowing Ninety Six Commission of Public Works to do work on a county section of Business Park Road. This will allow them to install a new water line that will serve a Global Supply Bonded WHSE and Mumford Industries.
County Economic Development Director James Bateman said the public utility easement was a condition of a state grant awarded to Ninety Six CPW, and that CPW would be responsible for putting in and maintaining the waterline. The easement was approved unanimously.
In her update to council, County Treasurer Steffanie Dorn shared that staff is gearing up for the 2023 budgeting process. She said hospitality tax collections were up about 9% from July to December of 2021 over the previous year, and building permits were up in December by about 26% over last year.
She gave an update on Capital Project Sales Tax collections, saying they were about 2.5% less than the previous quarter. January collections are usually lower than the previous quarter, she explained, and 2021’s fourth-quarter collections were 12.5% higher than the same period in 2020.
“I still feel like we’re going to get in that 97% or so range of what we originally intended,” Dorn said. “Hopefully we’ll make it to the 100% mark. As you know, it’s just a crapshoot really on where we end up.”
Nationwide, retail saw an 8.5% increase in December, and Dorn said she hopes to see that reflected in the next round of collections.
In other business:
Council approved third reading on rezoning two properties — one 1.95-acre property at 121 Cannon Road to allow the resident to build a modular home, and another of 0.38 acres at 3704 McCormick Highway to allow the owner of Promised Land Grocery to sell the store but retain part of the property adjacent to his home.
Council recognized the county employees of the fourth quarter. They included Josh Skinner, Jeffrey Young, Russell Booker, Wanda Walker, Joyce Kelley, Leisa Hotchkiss, Russell Patterson, Matthew Mills, Sandra Smith and Tammy Watts.
Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Jan 19, 2022
By DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ ddominguez@indexjournal.com