Bamberg County further defines the company’s broadband expansion footprint; works to hire an animal control officer | Government and politics

County administrator Joey Preston told a December 6 council meeting that Phase 1 of the Palmetto Rural Telephone Co-Op work consists of Hadwin Road, Orange Grove Road and the Clear Pond area.

Preston said work in the Hadwin Road area is scheduled to be completed in February 2022 and work in the Clear Pond area is expected to be completed on March 1, 2022. Work on Orange Grove Road is expected to be completed on April 1, 2022. .

“Hadwin has 103 homes, Clear Pond has 187 homes, and Orange Grove has 151 homes,” Preston said.

Phase 2 includes the Lodge community, where work is expected to be completed by June 1, 2022, and Pocketville Road, where work is expected to be completed by July 1, 2022. Work on Ashton Road and Rivers Bridge Road is expected to be completed by July . 1, 2022 and October 2022, respectively. The works at Ehrhardt were to be completed by mid-October 2022.

Lodge has 80 lodgings and Pocketville Road 106 lodgings in the service area, Ashton Road 106 lodgings and Rivers Bridge Road 66 lodgings. Ehrhardt has 379 dwellings.

“They’re moving pretty quickly there and they’re doing the job in that part of the county. We keep moving forward working with the state to try to get… broadband to the rest of the county. You’ll hear more, hopefully in the first quarter of next year, ”Preston said.

Individuals can contact the PRTC website at prtc.us to learn more about services and pricing, or call 843-538-2020 directly.

In other cases, South Carolina Alliance project manager Garrett Dragano reported, saying there are currently 17 active projects in the county.

The economic development group serves the counties of Bamberg, Allendale, Barnwell, Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper.

Dragano said the two Bamberg County announcements this year included South Carolina Oak to Barrel LLC with a capital investment of $ 6.8 million and the creation of 122 new jobs, and Arnett Engineered Solutions LLC, with an investment in capital of $ 2.5 million and 19 jobs.

“I continue to work with the barrel company. I am working on their training and working with ReadySC to work on recruiting and hiring. They had a slight setback. Some of the equipment that was there has remained. previous owner’s not supposed to sit in. So some of them had to undergo major repairs and replacements… but they’re still moving forward, ”said Dragano.

He said the barrel company is expected to be operational early next year in January.

Regarding SCA’s regional achievements, he said: “We have 124 active projects. We have had 18 announcements so far in 2021, with $ 121 million in capital investment, creating 615 jobs. . “

One of the three promising industrial projects is located in Bamberg County, with the others in Allendale and Barnwell counties, he said.

Dragano continued: “We are continuing to work on improving the infrastructure of the Wolf industrial site located in Denmark. SCA received a grant to fund a Palmetto Pride Litter Coordinator. You can find more information about this on our website and the publication for that. “

Preston gave a COVID-19 report, indicating that 58.3% of residents have had at least one vaccine, with 52% having had their second dose. The percentages reflect all citizens aged 5 and over, who are now all eligible for the vaccine.

“Children aged 5 to 11 are now eligible to receive the Pfizer vaccine. Booster injections are also allowed and recommended for those 18 years and older who were vaccinated more than six months ago with Pfizer or Moderna, or more than two months with the J&J vaccine, “he said. noted.

Preston also read a comment emailed by County resident Kenneth Ahlin expressing his displeasure at the inability for individuals to make public comments in person rather than having to email their comments, which are reviewed by the county council.

“The requirement to send an email by noon on the day of the meeting is a drawback for those who work. It also suppresses communication from those who do not have access to email or those who are not inclined to use it, ”Ahlin wrote.

“Why do comments need to be reviewed? There is no logical reason to support this. Please consider removing any barriers that restrict our verbal communication with our elected officials, ”he continued.

County resident Miriam Beard, who was present at the meeting, said she wanted to be able to register to comment on the meeting.

President Larry Haynes said, “We are not signing comment sheets since COVID. We have adopted an ordinance. You must send it by post.

Councilor Sharon Hammond said, “We are here now.”

City Councilor Phil Myers said: “I think we need to get this out of the way,” Hammond agreeing and saying it didn’t make sense.

Beard was allowed to speak, stating that she was still concerned about animal control.

“We need a new impound area. It needs to be updated. You need a full-time animal control officer so they can go around and give tickets or items to people who break the law and don’t control their animals, ”Beard said.

Councilor Myers said, “I think we need to look at this. I have also received complaints about this in various areas. Some areas are worse than others. “

Preston later said, “The sheriff has always been responsible for animal control in the county. Cities are responsible for theirs. The sheriff wants to hand it over to the county. I will hire a full time officer dedicated to this.

County Sheriff Kenneth Bamberg said the new officer would not be “attached to the sheriff’s office.”

“We did the animal control duties for the county right down to picking up the stray animals. Since animal control functions should not be the responsibility of the sheriff’s office, we have talked about this, and the county administration is trying to find an animal control officer to deal with the problem of the sheriff. animal control here in the county, ”Bamberg said.

County Treasurer Alice Johnson delivered the October financial report, indicating the county had revenues of $ 1,036,066.77 and expenses of $ 1,067,016.72, leaving a negative balance of 30,949, $ 95. When the negative bank balance at the end of September ($ 146,702.82) was added, the county’s regular account stood at a negative amount of $ 177,652.77.

Councilor Clint Carter asked Johnson what can people do who dispute the amount of their property tax bills, as was the case with a taxpayer he knew.

Johnson said individuals are urged to call the county auditor, assessor or treasurer’s office if they notice any changes in their tax bills that they might have a question about.

“It pays everyone to check their bills because if there is a big difference, call one of those three offices. If we don’t know, the person answering the phone knows who to send them to to try and get them. get the answer, ”Johnson mentioned.

County comptroller Gina Smith later explained that Johnson’s financial report was just the cash balance in one of the county’s many bank accounts.

“It is not an unusual situation to have negative balances in this regular account for the first six months of the year. In fact, every year since 2015, we have negative balances reported as book balance,” a- she declared.

Smith said the county was not short of cash as other bank accounts held money, including the $ 67,070 in his property tax reduction account at the end of October.

“There are checks issued on that regular account and all the overdue accounts, which means they haven’t cleared the bank. We talked a little bit last month about how we hold these checks and don’t mail them all out when they’re cut. Based on cash flow and availability of funds, we mail the ones we need and then hold them, ”she said.

Smith continued, “Alice gives you a list of all those outstanding checks in her report. So if you have a little time you might want to check that out … Of course if you have 1.4 million. dollars in the bank, you’re not going to send checks worth $ 1.6 million. If you do, they’ll be bounced, and we sure won’t allow that to happen. “

“I just want you to kind of understand the dynamics of this. Even though in the books it shows a negative balance, it’s not a negative balance at the South State Bank or any other bank,” he said. she declared.

County financial director TM Thomas said the county general fund had cumulative revenue at the end of October of $ 1,297,260, with expenses of $ 2,532,385, for a negative general fund balance of $ 1,235. $ 125.

Smith said that despite a negative balance in the general fund, the county will have a fund balance because the bulk of the county’s revenue is made up of taxes, much of which comes in December and January.