Politics

Reconsidering the HCSWA

A Horry County Council workshop scheduled for February 6, 2014 at 5 p.m. will consider amending Ordinance 60-90 to add a formal process for dissolving the Horry County Solid Waste Authority (HCSWA).

Free standing, quasi-governmental authorities are the worst form of public agency. They have a tendency to forget they are public agencies trusted with implementation of public policy through the use of public dollars. The HCSWA proves this statement every day.

Since its creation, in December 1990, the Horry County Solid Waste Authority board has acted as if it was the board of a private corporation rather than the implementation arm of Horry County Council’s solid waste policy. And the HCSWA board quickly developed its own peculiar form of corporate arrogance.

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HCSWA Flow Control Lobbying

The Horry County Solid Waste Authority is looking for a way to continue lobbying activities in Columbia despite last week’s vote by Horry County Council to amend the county’s flow control ordinance.

The HCSWA Finance Committee will consider a request by HCSWA executive director Danny Knight to approve approximately $30,000 initially for continued lobbying activities.

If the committee approves the request, the HCSWA board will consider giving approval at its regular meeting in February.

In the meantime, Knight has approval of the HCSWA board to negotiate a temporary, month-to-month agreement in the $5,000/mo range.

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Snowplows at Myrtle Beach International Airport

Approximately 10 years ago, the Myrtle Beach International Airport bought eight trucks with attachable snow plow blades with a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The airport really didn’t want snowplows. It wanted trucks to use in maintenance around the airport and it wanted a maintenance building, built with another FAA grant, in which the trucks and other things would be stored.

The snow plow grant was approximately $300,000 and the grant for the maintenance building was approximately $1 million.

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Carl Schwartzkopf Not Seeking Re-election

Horry County District 8 council member Carl Schwartzkopf announced Monday that he will not seek re-election in the upcoming 2014 general election.

Schwartzkopf said he was announcing his retirement from county council early so that candidates would know District 8 was an open seat in 2014.

Schwartzkopf said at age 73, he believes it is time for him to retire.

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Delaying RIDE III Vote

With the RIDE II capital project sales tax set to expire in May 2014, there does not appear to be enough support among Horry County Council members to immediately push for a RIDE III program.

This is a good idea.

For those of you who may not remember, or not have lived in Horry County in 2006, the process of establishing projects to be funded by a one cent local option sales tax (that’s what a capital project sales tax is) is not one that should be rushed.

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Dissing Motorcycle Helmet Laws

Nothing seems to get the juices flowing in South Carolina more than proposing motorcycle helmet laws.

This year’s legislative agenda again has a proposed bill to require motorcycle riders to wear helmets.

Below is a letter from a reader who takes difference with the proposed bill:

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Flow Control Amended in Horry County

Almost five years after solid waste flow control was made county government policy, Horry County Council moved to take control of that policy as a management tool rather than the hammer it has been until now.

By a 7-4 vote, council amended its flow control ordinance to allow construction and demolition debris to go to SC DHEC approved landfills, both public and private, outside of the county rather than mandating all C&D go to the Horry County Solid Waste Authority landfill on Hwy 90.

The final vote was not without several desperate, last minute attempts to delay it, which included the spreading of HCSWA propaganda that had become quite old.

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Curtis Loftis Visits “Big Talk”

S.C. Treasurer Curtis Loftis made an appearance at yesterday’s taping of the “Big Talk” television show.

In the area to address several Republican groups, Loftis agreed to be a special guest on “Big Talk” where he spoke of his conservative approach to government and duties as state treasurer.

Loftis said government should be simple, open and accountable to the citizens, but it is often the bureaucracies surrounding government that make it anything but.

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Politics and Garbage of Flow Control

As the ordinance to amend the county’s flow control ordinance comes up for third reading at the January 21, 2014 regular meeting of Horry County Council, the political rhetoric of garbage is reaching its apex.

Garbage has two meanings in this article – that which is buried at the Hwy 90 landfill and that which comes from the mouth of some Horry County Solid Waste Authority officials and their supporters.

The garbage that is buried at the landfill will be somewhat less if county council passes third reading of the ordinance.
While the data from the HCSWA says this will result in lost revenue of $927,500 annually, an independent study says the actual cost to the HCSWA will be a miniscule $19,000 annually.

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Bureaucracy to prevail at expense of the taxpayer

SC DSS Scrutiny, Doris Holt and Southern Holdings

A SC Senate subcommittee investigation into DSS brings to mind the case of Doris Holt and its ties to the Southern Holdings lawsuit.

The Senate subcommittee this week began an investigation into what is described as “major problems” at the SC Department of Social Services (DSS), the agency that supposedly handles the welfare of children and families.

At the top of the list of DSS failings were a large number of child deaths in cases where DSS was already involved.

This investigation is long overdue of an agency whose goals do not appear to complement its mission.

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