Pelzer, Williamston to vote on referendums today

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By David Meade

Registered voters in Pelzer and Williamston will go to the polls today (Tuesday) to decide two issues that will affect the future of both towns for years to come.

Voters in the Pelzer Voting Precinct have the opportunity to make history by expanding the town boundaries to include both the upper and lower mill villages by approving an annexation referendum.

Williamston voters will decide by referendum if they want their town managed under the current strong mayor form of government or if they prefer to have council more involved and responsible under the strong council form of government.

Pelzer voters have the opportunity to approve or deny a large scale annexation referendum being presented to them.

If approved, the Town of Pelzer will double the current town boundaries by including the upper and lower mill villages. In addition to that, the footprint of Pelzer will double again by including unincorporated areas located adjacent to and between West Pelzer and Williamston that are included in the Pelzer Voting Precinct.

In addition to the mill villages, the unincorporated area that will be brought into the town of Pelzer includes properties located between Depot Road, Palmetto Road, Palmetto High practice fields, both sides of SC Highway 20 including Fred’s, and along Courtney St., to the town owned lagoon property. The Pelzer town limits will border Williamston’s town limits at Palmetto High School and along and across from properties annexed by Williamston in anticipation of an unconfirmed Walmart location on Roberts Blvd.

Properties on the Williamston side of Courtney Street including Brookview, Page and Tripp Streets just outside the Town of Williamston are not included in the annexation.

The Pelzer annexation grew from an increasing number of area residents who want to be a part of a larger and growing Pelzer. Many have hopes of eventually having police protection.

While their neighbors in Pelzer are deciding whether their town boundaries will be extended to Williamston, Williamston voters will have the opportunity to go to the polls to decide whether the town should operate under a different form of government.

Williamston currently operates under the strong mayor form of government in which the mayor makes executive decisions in day to day operations of the town and hiring and firing.

Unlike the Pelzer situation in which there is a grass roots effort by citizens driving their referendum, in Williamston, the change of government referendum is being driven primarily by three of the town’s four councilmembers who want to go to a strong council form of government.

The issue was raised by the councilmembers after the mayor repeatedly made decisions about projects and expenditures without council input or approval.

Councilman Otis Scott, who initiated the steps to change the form of government said the “ribbon annexation” that came up over the last week is another example.

Although Scott voted in favor of the proposal last week, he said “We didn’t know anything about it until the council meeting on Monday.”

(See separate story)