Tag: Horry County Council

Political Candidates and the Details

Filing of political candidates for local and state political offices ended Friday and the craziness, foolishness and inattention to detail that marks politics has already struck.

Already one candidate, Dick Withington, has been arrested and released on bail and the story surrounding that incident will play long after the June 2016 primaries are gone.

Withington was arrested for accepting money to drop out of the Horry County Council District 4 race in line with an email he sent to four members of county council soliciting the money. Withington claimed statements to local media that he accepted the money either as proof that he was being bribed or as a mysterious campaign contribution.

Despite the arrest, Withington has promised to continue with his campaign for county council as well as his campaign for SC Senate District 34.

If we assume the old political adage that any publicity is good publicity, Withington is already leading in the name recognition area for the two races in which he is a candidate. Somehow, I don’t think that rule applies in this case.

In the 2012 election cycle, failing to file a Statement of Economic Interests at the same time that Statement of Intention of Candidacy papers are filed cost over 50% of candidates that year a place on the ballot.

Failing to file an SEI at the proper time will no longer keep a candidate off the ballot (the state law was changed in the 2013-14 legislative year). But, that failure can draw fines for a candidate from the Ethics Commission.

It only took me a spot check on the SC Ethics Commission website of two Horry County Council races to find failure to file an SEI is still a problem.

In the special election for Horry County Council District 7, Republican candidate Mike Roberts filed an SEI properly while Republican candidate Robert Shelley was several days late in his filing. The Democratic side was even worse. Candidate Orton Bellamy filed his SEI properly while candidates Harold Phillips and Lee Sherman have yet to file an SEI.

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Horry County Council Rejects HCSWA Board Requests

Horry County Council members recently rejected two requests from the HCSWA (Horry County Solid Waste Authority) board demonstrating which group holds final say on HCSWA decisions.

Several weeks ago, a group of council members told HCSWA officials to forget any ideas of raising tipping fees at the Hwy 90 landfill in the fiscal year 2016-17 budget.

HCSWA board and staff said a $5-$6 per ton increase in tipping fees was needed to offset a projected deficit in next year’s authority budget.

Council members said ‘Not going to happen.’

More recently, council informed the HCSWA board it supported authority board member Dan Gray remaining on the HCSWA board.

Several months ago, the HCSWA board tried to build a case for removing Gray from the board. The case was built on a foundation of sand and, frankly, was completely without merit.

The comments about Gray’s supposed transgressions, by five board members during a two hour discussion, were petty, personal and totally unprofessional by those involved.

Nevertheless, the HCSWA board voted 5-2 to request county council remove Gray from the HCSWA board.

Again council replied, ‘Not going to happen.’

What these denials mean is this group of Horry County Council members is going to exercise its ultimate right of oversight on HCSWA decisions.

For far too long, a succession of councils meekly allowed HCSWA officials to effectively do what they wanted with regard to waste handling policy without oversight.

This resulted in increased taxes on citizens in the unincorporated areas of the county to support increases in the unincorporated waste collection centers. It resulted in millions of dollars of public money being spent by HCSWA officials on such unnecessary items as lobbying, public relations and advertising and legal expenses to defend questionable decisions.

The ultimate transgression was county ordinance 09-02, which established flow control. This ordinance gave the HCSWA dictatorial power over all waste generated within Horry County while attempting to squeeze the private sector out of waste handling.

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Important Week for Political Junkies

One of the most important weeks of the year for political junkies in the area is upon us.

On Tuesday, they should get a reasonable idea of how long the Republican Party can hold off the nomination of Donald Trump for president with another round of ‘Super Tuesday’ primaries in five important states.

For locals, however, Wednesday is even more important as filing opens at noon for a number of local offices and all seats in the SC General Assembly.

And the dynamics involved in this year’s political races make them even more interesting for those who follow politics.

Five countywide statutory offices are up for election – Auditor, Clerk of Court, Coroner, Sheriff and Treasurer. Normally these races bring little excitement, but this year two will be open seats and two more are expected to be contested.

Clerk of Court Melanie Huggins Ward and Treasurer Roddy Dickinson have announced they are retiring leaving their seats up for grabs in the primaries and general election.

Two others, Auditor Lois Eargle and Sheriff Philip Thompson are reported to have opposition this year for the first time in a number of years. Only Coroner Robert Edge appears not to have any opposition as filing opens.

Horry County Council will have five seats, Districts 3,4,6,9 and 10 up for election, as well as a special election to fill the unexpired term of retired member James Frazier in District 7.

To make it more interesting, council member Jody Prince is retiring, leaving his District 10 seat open and council members Jimmy Washington in District 3 and Cam Crawford in District 6 will be running for election for the second time in two years as both were elected to office in special election in 2015.

We are hearing reports of possible contested elections in Districts 3 and 9 at this time with District 10 having a number of possible candidates for the open seat. The District 7 seat is expected to have contests in both party primaries as well as the general election.

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Horry County Council Looking at Deficits

Horry County Council is taking a close look this week at projected deficits in the Horry County Solid Waste Authority and Horry County Department of Airports.

The HCSWA board heard of a revised projected deficit of nearly $600,000 for the coming fiscal year earlier this week.

The deficit comes mainly from higher costs, including personnel pay and benefits and increased construction cost projections for the authority’s landfill expansion.

However, the recycling agreement with Charleston County also continues to operate in the red.

The airport deficits all come on the general aviation side of operations, according to a report by HCDA to the Horry County Transportation Committee earlier in the week.

According to HCDA statistics, Grand Strand Airport is losing approximately $304,000, Conway Airport approximately $200,000 and Loris Airport approximately $100,000. The only thing keeping the fixed base operations at Myrtle Beach International profitable are fuel sales to military aircraft using the facilities.

The above number for Grand Strand Airport does not include approximately $165,000 spent in legal fees during the current fiscal year for the ongoing lawsuit with Skydive Myrtle Beach.

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International Drive Delay SCDNR Fault

The delay in completion of International Drive can be laid directly at the feet of SC Department of Natural Resources.

I saw where a local media outlet attempted to get information on bear population in the Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve from the SCDNR recently, only to be told the documents sought would cost $133.64.

Many South Carolina governments and their associated agencies attempt to hide behind the clause in the FOIA law that allows them to charge requesters for the cost of providing the informatiion. They frankly hope the cost won’t be paid and the information will stay secret.

Our own Horry County Solid Waste Authority is one of the worst transgressors.

But, this response to a request that has direct bearing on the continuing delay over permitting for International Drive was to be expected.

Specifically, SC Department of Natural Resources officials have, seemingly, intentionally held up finishing and paving the road bed of International Drive for over 10 years.

Initially the SCDNR attempted to keep Horry County from even considering expanding International Drive from its original dirt track through the woods into a passable, two lane road because of alleged red cockaded woodpeckers supposedly nesting in the right of way.

It was ludicrous, but underneath lay a bigger problem – for whatever reason, SCDNR did not want the road built.

After several years of being stalled, the county managed to solve problem by changing the position of the International Drive right of way to avoid the alleged woodpecker habitat.

As the county got into serious planning and acquired the funds to complete International Drive, SCDNR shifted its concerns to black bears in the woods near the road. This included forcing the county to plan for bear crossing tunnels underneath the road, raising the cost of construction and further delaying the start.

This SCDNR roadblock was, again, ridiculous. By this logic, most roads in Horry County, at least west of the waterway, should include bear crossing tunnels.

Retired Army Lt. Gen. James Vaught, a strong supporter of the International Drive project, asked a meeting of Horry County Council the question, “Where is a black bear going to cross the road?” He provided the answer in his own inimitable style, “Any damn where he pleases!”

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Skydive Myrtle Beach FOIA Deadline Passes

The deadline for the Federal Aviation Administration to provide Skydive Myrtle Beach with copies of the alleged 112 investigated safety complaints against the company passed yesterday with silence.

The FAA issued a 73 page report, allegedly based on the safety violation documentation from Horry County Department of Airports. Horry County officials used the FAA report to shut down operations of Skydive Myrtle Beach at the Grand Strand Airport.

Skydive Myrtle Beach initially sought to get the documentation on the alleged safety violation reports through an FOIA request to Horry County. The response from Horry County attorney Arrigo Carotti was that the only information the county had was the 73 page FAA report.

According to Horry County officials, none of the underlying documentation, upon which the report was allegedly based, was available from the county, the governmental agency that supposedly documented the 112 safety violations in the first place.

Beginning last August, Skydive Myrtle Beach sent an FOIA request to the FAA for all documentation related to the 112 safety violations and any other documentation used to generate the 73 page FAA report.

The FAA denied the first FOIA request in October 2015 stating the request was too broad. A second FOIA request was sent by Skydive Myrtle Beach to the FAA, which was accepted.

The following FOIA status report was sent by email from Duke Taylor of the FAA to Skydive Myrtle Beach owner Aaron Holly on January 21, 2016:

“On Jan 21, 2016, at 3:49 PM, duke.taylor@faa.gov wrote:

“Mr. Holly by statute your response is due February 2, 2016.

“At this time our tracking system shows the status as Search and Review.

D”

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Mike Roberts Seeking Horry County Council District Seven Seat

Lifelong Conway resident Mike Roberts announced last week that he was a Republican candidate for the open Horry County Council District Seven seat.

Roberts was the Republican nominee for the District Seven seat in 2014. After winning the Republican primary, Roberts lost to longtime Democratic council member James Frazier in the 2014 general election. With Frazier’s retirement from the position on March 1, 2014, Roberts is again seeking to represent the citizens of District Seven.

Keeping taxes low will be the number one priority for Roberts if he is elected to county council.

“Government is too quick to raise taxes when it faces some kind of problem,” Roberts said. “We must first look to cut needless spending so we can keep taxes low.”

Horry County Council passed the largest property tax increase in history last summer by a 6-5 vote margin. Frazier voted with the slim majority to raise taxes.

It is safe to say, if Roberts had been the victor in 2014, the tax increase would not have passed.

“I would not have voted for it,” Roberts said. “County council passed first reading of the budget with no tax increase. By second reading, we supposedly needed the largest tax increase in history. Nothing changed except the politics.”

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James Frazier Resignation Stills Questions

The resignation letter submitted by Horry County Council member James Frazier last week stilled questions that have been making the rounds lately.

Frazier is the record holder for service on county council having been the representative for Horry County District Seven since the county established single member districts. He has represented the citizens of District Seven for 35 consecutive years.

Recently, however, Frazier became notable for his absences, having not attended a council meeting since September 2015.

State law provides that three straight unexcused absences, by elected or appointed officials, create an automatic vacancy in the seat they hold. The law further provides that the chairman of the council, board, commission or committee the absent member sits on is required to immediately notify the governor of the vacancy.

This was not done in Horry County. Frazier missed six straight council meetings beginning in October 2015, but no notification to the governor was given. While Frazier was absent due to medical conditions, numerous sources agreed they were conditions from which he would not recover.

This is not about individuals or their service. The law is in place to assure continued representation to the citizens affected by these absences.

Frazier’s letter makes his resignation from his seat on council effective March 1, 2016. It could be argued, according to a strict interpretation of state law, a vacancy has existed in the District Seven seat since November 2015.

James Frazier served the county long and honorably for 35 years, a record not in danger of being broken. Like many athletes and politicians, he probably stayed a bit too long, but knowing when to quit is often difficult for the person involved.

Below is a Public Servant profile featuring Frazier that I did for Carolina Weekly several years ago:

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I&R Committee Hears Charleston Recyclable Update

The Horry County Infrastructure and Regulation Committee heard an update on the Charleston recyclable deal yesterday.

As with any new operation, several months of experience is needed to determine if projections in the deal are becoming reality.

With five months of solid numbers now in place, it is possible to look at what Horry County residents can and cannot expect from the Charleston deal.

First and foremost, the HCSWA can forget any expectations of making a $1 million dollar per year profit on the contract that brings recyclables from Charleston County to Horry County for processing.

When Horry County Council reconsidered second reading of a budget amendment needed to approve the deal, council member Harold Worley asked if this deal would make money. HCSWA officials answered yes.

Not realizing too much of a loss will be considered a good result.

There are several reasons for this. The assumption of 14.5% reject rate of recyclables processed is much too low. The reject rate has been in the mid to high 20’s range and that is with the best interpretation of exactly what constitutes rejects.

For example, the months of Aug through Dec 2015 saw 21,382 tons of recyclables processed at the HCSWA. Of that amount, 13,192 tons of recyclables have been sold, leaving 8,190 tons not sold.

The HCSWA does not consider all of the 8,190 tons as rejects. Some is glass that is ground up and sold at $5 per ton by the HCSWA. In December, approximately 200 tons of glass was processed, according to the HCSWA. Another 600 tons remained processed on the floor waiting to be shipped out.

You get the idea, assuming only 14.5% rejects was a pipe dream.

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Charleston Contract Costing HCSWA

The contract between Charleston County and the Horry County Solid Waste Authority for the HCSWA to process Charleston County recyclables is costing Horry County money.

With five months (Aug thru Dec) of solid numbers behind us, the HCSWA has lost approximately $130,000 processing Charleston County recyclables.

When the HCSWA entered into the contract with Charleston County, it was estimated the contract would bring a profit of approximately $1 million per year. That certainly does not seem to be the case with revenues from sale of recyclables over those five months totaling approximately $1.860 million and expenses totaling approximately $1.990 million.

The only thing saving the HCSWA from even greater losses was a three month amendment to the contract, which allows Horry County to not pay Charleston County for transportation costs related to bringing the Charleston County recyclables to Horry County.

The contract calls for Horry County to pay Charleston County $425 per truckload of recyclables shipped from Charleston County. These payments have been suspended for December through February. The suspension allowed the HCSWA to realize a modest $20,000 profit in December.

Several other line items are puzzling from the HCSWA’s latest report. Expenses associated with Charleston recyclables are less than expenses associated with Horry County recyclables. However, Charleston County recyclables are approximately double the amount of Horry County recyclables.

Additionally, a total of 21,382 tons of recyclables have been processed in the five months while only 13,192 tons have been sold. This leaves 8,190 tons of recyclables unsold.

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