In executive session
By Stan Welch – Williamston Town Council met in a work session Tuesday night and previewed a brief agenda for next Monday’s Council meeting. The council will approve a resolution recognizing the Palmetto High School cheerleaders accomplishment this year in winning first place in the 3A division.
The agenda also includes two executive sessions, one for a personnel issue,and the other for a contractual matter. The presence of the two items on the agenda was confirmed after the town attorney and the representative from The Journal agreed that Councilman Burgess’s suggestion that the matters be addressed in the work session would not comply with the S.C. Freedom of Information Act.
In a discussion of other matters not specifically related to the agenda, Mayor Durham informed the council that the Pinecrest project is completed. He also informed them that the town is exploring alternative financing for its pending water meter update.
“We have been approved for financing by the USDA, but they did not offer the grant/loan arrangement that they often do. Usually, thirty per cent or so of a project is funded through grants, but that was not the case on this project. Without that grant option, there is no special advantage to financing through them; at least not until we explore our other options.”
The mayor also mentioned several official functions coming up in the next few weeks, including the annual employees’ Christmas gathering, a dinner with officials of the various municipalities in the county, which will be hosted by the Pelzer Town Council, and the town’s Christmas parade.
He assured Council members Burgess and Hagood that he included them in his remarks at the opening of the Christmas lights display at the Mineral Water Park. Both men complained that they did not receive notice of the ceremony, for which Mayor Durham apologized, adding that improved communication would be a focus in the coming year.
