Questions detailed language
By Stan Welch
The Anderson County Council held an unusually brief meeting Tuesday night, running through a short agenda of items largely related to economic development projects.
Before they could get to the actual legislative portion of the agenda, however, the Council listened as District Two Councilwoman, during her regularly reserved ‘news you can use’ portion of the agenda,
By Stan Welch
In a split vote Tuesday night, a deeply divided Anderson County Council decided to pursue its appeals in its case against former county administrator Joey Preston all the way to the state Supreme Court.
The decision came after a fractured and fractious session, which began with Councilwoman Gracie Floyd challenging the presence of the resolution to pursue the appealsono the agenda. She stunned the crowd when she challenged Councilwoman Cindy Wilson’s right to place the item on the agenda, citing portions of the ruling to be appealed; sections which disqualified the votes of Wilson and former Councilman Bob Waldrep because they were being sued by Preston at the time.
Motions denied in Preston case
By Stan Welch
In the latest rulings by Judge Roger Crouch in the case of Anderson County vs Joey Preston, issued Friday, November 8, the judge denied all three motions filed by the County to reconsider previous rulings in the case. Those rulings were unanimously in Preston’s favor, and were related to his $1.2 million severance package, awarded him by the 2008 lame duck county council.
By Stan Welch
Economic development projects dominated the agenda at Tuesday night’s County Council meeting, as the Council advanced or approved a series of economic incentives for seven different projects.
Final approval was given to a fee in lieu of taxes (FILOT) arrangement with an existing company in Anderson. Mergon Corporation is a company that provides solutions and products to the automotive industry. A joint industrial park was also expanded to include the Mergon facility, as well as to allow inclusion of a project in Greenville county, code named Reno.
Anderson County Council
By Stan Welch
The Anderson County Council heard from Belton officials Tuesday night, seeking funds for the reconstruction of the town’s well known tennis courts.
Town Councilman Jay West addressed the County Council, and explained that the courts, which annually host the Palmetto Tennis Championships, are in bad shape and require reconstruction to the tune of $130 – $140,000. He requested an additional fifty thousand in funding towards the project on behalf of the town.
By Stan Welch
The contentious and often prickly relationship between County Council Chair Francis Crowder and District Two Councilwoman Gracie Floyd was showcased Tuesday night, as Floyd took advantage of a special segment of the agenda to rail against a recent decision not to seek funding for a bus to serve a route that Floyd favors.
By Stan Welch
During their meeting Tuesday, Anderson County Council approved a resolution asking the SCDOT to investigate the possibility of increasing the speed limit on Highway 153 in the Powdersville area, from the intersection with I-85 to the Anderson / Greenville county line. The speed limit is currently thirty five miles an hour. The resolution seeks an increase to forty five miles an hour.
A change in the distribution of revenues produced by fee in lieu of taxes arrangements between the county and the county’s five school districts has been withdrawn by District Seven Councilwoman Cindy Wilson. The decision to withdraw the proposed change in the ordinance governing those funds means that the current arrangement, in which the schools receive more than seventy per cent of those funds will continue.
By Stan Welch
Anderson County residents now have a new set of rules regulating how they can restrain their dogs. The Anderson County Council gave third and final reading approval to a tethering ordinance that puts a number of restrictions on how a dog owner can keep that dog on his or her property.
The ordinance, sponsored by District Three Councilman Eddie Moore, establishes the minimum length and the maximum weight of the tether that can be used.
Based on recent ruling by judge
By Stan Welch
Anderson County is hoping to turn Judge Roger Couch’s reasoning in his ruling in the Preston case against him. Couch, after months of delay in ruling on the County’s suit to recover the severance package awarded Preston in 2008, disqualified the votes of former council members Michael Thompson, and Ron Wilson based on economic interests the two had in the outcome.
