Florence County Council to hold final vote on fire district bond

Florence County Council is scheduled to vote Thursday on a $1.5 million bond for the Howe Springs Fire District and $100,000 from Progress Energy for infrastructure at a potential economic development site.

The bond, up for third and final reading, would buy four new pumper tankers for the fire district, which has a fleet of several vehicles that have been in service about 20 years, Howe Springs Fire Chief Shannon Smith said in a previous interview.

Parts for the aging vehicles are becoming difficult to find, Smith said last month.

The bond’s annual debt service will be funded through a 3.3-mill tax levy within the fire district, which is included in the county’s 2008-09 budget.

The debt service, at a 5 percent rate, will run about $120,350 a year, according to county documents.

For the possible economic development site, council will vote on an agreement for Progress Energy to give $100,000 of its Rural Development Act funding to improve infrastructure and conduct surveying, County Administrator Richard Starks said.

The property, called the Britton-Bostic-Winona site, is on East Old Marion Highway adjacent to Roche Carolina, Starks said.

With the site, Florence County Economic Development Partnership officials are making long-range plans to ensure the county has ample space for new businesses, but so far have no specific plans for the site, Starks said.

Also Thursday, council will vote on a $118,747 grant for the purchase of public Internet computers at the future Olanta and Timmonsville libraries.

The Community Enrichment Grant comes from the S.C. Department of Commerce’s Community Development Block Grant program. It requires a local match of 25 percent, or $29,867.

The money, to be split equally, will allow each of the two new branch libraries to buy 18 public computers and associated hardware, Florence County Library System Director Ray McBride said.

In other business, council is scheduled to:

Receive proposed designs for a portion of the five-lane widening of U.S. 76.

Vote on a $30,000 SCANA Services Inc. grant for infrastructure costs at the Florence County site of Monster, an online job recruitment and careers resource.

Recognize employees who have completed from five to 30 years of service with the county.

Vote on a 15-year lease, at $1 a year, with Pamplico so the Hannah-Pamplico Youth League can hold football and soccer programs on land next to LaVerne Ard Park. The county also has 15 years remaining on a 20-year lease of the park from the town.

Vote on the use of $6,900 in county utility system funds to bury power lines that cross over a new section of Ebenezer Park at Pineneedles and Old Ebenezer roads.

Vote on the use of $8,800 in county utility system funds toward the drilling of a 4-inch well at Prospect Field.

Vote on a resolution to adopt a more formal surplus-vehicles policy, which would allow county departments to determine whether such vehicles fit an “internal need” of a county department before they are sold to an outside agency, Starks said.

Hold third and final reading of an ordinance to remove antiquated job descriptions from the county code.

IF YOU’RE GOING

WHAT: Florence County Council regular meeting, employee recognitions

WHEN: Meeting at 9 a.m. Thursday; employee recognitions to follow at 10:30 a.m.

WHERE: Lynches River County Park, 1110 Ben Gause Road, Coward

INFO: Call Clerk to Council Connie Haselden at (843) 665-3035.