WHITMIRE — Whitmire Town Council recently passed a resolution which will commit the Town of Whitmire to provide a local cash match for a Community Development Block Grant Project (CDBG).
This grant would fund a sewer line upgrade along Sims Street from Broome Street to Reed Avenue.
The resolution was passed after a motion by Councilwoman Debbie Harris and second by Councilman Galen Roche — Councilman Michael Thomas voted against. The resolution passed in a 4-1 vote.
The resolution states that “the Town of Whitmire hereby commits to provide a local match in the amount of $64,400, which includes $50,000 for engineering and $14,400 for reconnecting nine vacant residential units served by the sewer line along Sims Street. These funds will count towards the minimum 10 percent local match required by the South Carolina Department of Commerce for the CDBG awarded to the town in the amount of $566,800 for the purpose of upgrading the sewer line along Sims Street from Broome Street to Reed Avenue. The total estimated cost of the project is $631,200. Community Development Block Grant and local matching funds will be used for construction, engineering and grant administration.”
A resolution was also passed by Council to support the purchase of the brick building behind Town Hall on Gilliam Street — the resolution was passed after a motion from Thomas and seconded by Harris.
The resolution states “whereas, the Town of Whitmire has been unable to proceed with its restoration project known as “Whitmire Town Hall” since approximately February 2019, and whereas, a portion of Setzler Alley and Gilliam Street were shut down at the recommendation of a structural evaluation report provided to the Town of Whitmire by Johnson, Laschober and Associates and whereas, this recommendation was made due to the dangerous and extremely unsafe condition of that building location on the property known as Newberry County TMS #314-1-4-4 (hereinafter “The Property”) and whereas, Town Council voted to offer to purchase The Property on May 13, 2019, so as to allow the Town of Whitmire remedy the dangerous and unsafe condition of The Property which in turn would allow the Town of Whitmire to continue “Whitmire Town Hall” project and whereas, the Town of Whitmire, by and through its attorney has negotiated a fair purchase price of $3,150.00 and whereas, Town Council believes it is in the best interest of the Town of Whitmire that The Property be purchased and be made safe.”
In other business, Whitmire Town Attorney Robert Lake IV gave a step-by-step presentation on the town’s nuisance ordinance, highlighting the section which deals with notice and abatement.
“First, somebody, it has to be somebody out of the Council, officer or employee of the town, has to notice that there is something awry or a nuisance that needs to be abated — once that happens a property owner has to be served with a notice, he’s got this nuisance that he needs to take care of,” Lake said.
Once served with the notice, Lake said that within 15 days the property owner needs to address whatever their nuisance is — whether it be grass that is too tall or shrubs that are too big.
“He’s got 15 days to fix it or he has the option of 10 days of receiving this notice to appeal — he has to ask for a hearing before Council. Within that request for a hearing, within 30 days of that, there needs to be a hearing before Council where the property owner can say ‘there’s nothing wrong with the property,’” Lake said.
“Prior to that, the property owner has to receive two days notice; let’s say the Council says ‘yes, it is a nuisance, it needs to be fixed — you’ve got 15 days to fix it.’ If he does not fix it in 15 days he could either face a fine up to $500 and/or up to 30 days in jail,” Lake said. “If he fails to do it within that 15 day period, the Town could then take it upon themselves to fix that nuisance or whatever it may be — in some instances, the Town may be required to get estimates from at least three different companies or individuals depending on the nature of what the nuisance is.”
Lake continued to say that if the Town fixes the nuisance then it will get to collect whatever is spent, plus 30 percent of that cost.
“So if it’s $100 to fix, it could be $130 the property owner owes the town — the property owner must pay that within 20 days of the nuisance being abated, but if within 10 days of that nuisance being abated, the property owner could then have a hearing in front of Council and state their position,” he said. “When I first took this job, I think we were contemplating Newberry County collecting our liens, the fee we’re talking about, plus that 30 percent — it would be collectible by the County, at the end of the year when taxes are collected so would our lien.”
Lake also spoke with Newberry County Attorney Jay Tothacer — the program that the County was contemplating buying, they did not buy.
“The reason being it’s $4,000. He’s said he’s had some interest from the City of Newberry, the Town of Prosperity and I know we’ve got some interest — nothing says we can’t all go in together and split this $4,000 fee — right now, that’s what’s stopping Newberry County from buying this program,” he said.
Other business:
• The Town of Whitmire had a beginning balance of $80,081.08, deposits of $69,152.50 and expenditures $118,987.56 for an ending balance of $30,246.02. On the Public Works side, the Town had a beginning balance of $130,166.87, revenue $69,771.93 and expenditures of $103, 275.80 for an ending balance of $96,663.00
• The Whitmire Police Department filed 81 incidents for July and issued 80 citations for the month. Some of the department’s calls included: larceny, possession of marijuana, domestic violence, shoplifting, arson and pointing and presenting a firearm. Two traffic collisions were investigated.