After saying the prayer before the start of the town council meeting, John Weaver, pastor at St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Whitmire, stayed around and later asked Mayor Tim Carroll about the town’s plans to reinforce the retaining wall that runs in front of the Main Street church.

“Because it’s getting worse,” Weaver said. “That thing’s bowing out…”

“If it falls in, Main Street is going to wash out. Ain’t no doubt in my mind,” said Carroll.

Carroll told Weaver that the town is working on the issue, but that the State Highway department carefully selects its work projects now because of a budget crunch, and because neighbors complain when the department does one thing for one person, but not for all, said Carroll.

“The highway department’s gotten real particular what they do and what they don’t do. It’s not like it used to be,” he said.

But the State Highway Department visited Whitmire Tuesday to look at the wall to determine if the department owned the wall and was responsible for its repair.

As far as repair, Carroll says the wall needs some type of support.

“It’s going to have some type of bracing,” he said.

There is no word yet, however, on who is responsible for the wall, Carroll said.

delinquent debt letters

Whitmire sent out 112 letters at the beginning of this month to anyone that owed past water bills or money to the town, said Carroll.

“In the past, we would let people make payments and if they didn’t pay, there was no penalty,” said Carroll.

Whitmire town council members passed a reading in September that allows the town to receive overdue payments citizens owe.

The act withholds money from citizen’s state income tax and gives it to Whitmire to cover offender’s unpaid town bills, or “anything the town charged that they would have owed us,” said Carroll.

Some citizens haven’t paid town in seven years, but the new ordinance will only cover debts up to three years old.

The “delinquent debt” covers collection costs, court costs, fines, penalties, interest and other money due.

Whitmire contracted with the S.C. Municipality Association to submit claims on its behalf to the state’s Department of Revenue.

“And it does suspend their driver’s license if they don’t pay before a certain day,” said Whitmire Clerk- Treasurer Carla Taylor.

Trash News

“The cans are here. We just have to put them all together,” said Carroll of the town’s new 750 trash cans.

Each can has a serial number with a blue town seal on the side. The town will assign one can to each Whitmire house.

The cans still have to be put together, and Carroll says high school students will help assemble them through a school help project.

Also, the trash truck that the town paid for with a $134,000 rural development grant from the United States Department of Agriculture should arrive today or tomorrow, Carroll said.