By Stan Welch
The West Pelzer Town Council adopted a resolution proclaiming November American Diabetes Month (see story elsewhere) at their Monday evening meeting.
The council also decided to decline three bids received for repairs to the roof of the town hall, and seek new bids. The reason was that the request for bids was not specific enough, resulting in three very divergent bids. One bid was for labor only, and would have simply cleaned and repaired the damaged areas of the soffit and fascia board on the exterior of the town hall.
Two other bids, both significantly higher, would include installation of vinyl soffit and fascia. One of those bids included the installation of seamless gutters and four downspouts. Councilman Blake Sanders pointed out that the bids do not “compare apples to apples. These are pretty different when you look at them.” After discussing the various options, Mayor Paxton suggested simply delaying any action until the more specific bids could be obtained.
The Council also learned that the replacement of lime used in the town’s wastewater system with magnesium hydroxide instead will likely result in an increase in operating costs of $12,000- $16,000 a year. The latter chemical, used to affect the alkalinity of the system, helps reduce the production of hydrogen sulfide, an odorous gas, in the system.
Mayor Paxton said that the increase will probably require some adjustments in the budget. “We’ll have to move some funds around from time to time, but we’re working on that.”
Mayor Paxton also reported that the issue of rights of way (ROWS) for the proposed sewer upgrade work have been resolved, and the necessary information sent to the Rural Development Authority (RDA). Town attorney Carey Murphy said that the delay now is that the bond attorney used by Pelzer and West Pelzer has not been heard from.
Despite the removal of the issue of the town’s open burning ordinance being removed from the agenda, the mayor spent several minutes reviewing the ordinance which is now in effect. The ordinance restricts open burning to yard debris only, during certain hours on the first and third Saturday of each month between October 1 and March 31.
