Olanta could replace wastewater pumps by summer

OLANTA — Olanta should be getting two new wastewater pump stations by the summertime if all goes well, an engineer told the town’s council during a meeting this week.

The town is planning to replace two long-dead electric pumps so that it can stop using a temporary diesel-operated pump, which would be relegated to backup status, Kevin Strickland, senior project manager with the Columbia-based company, said Monday.

The pumps must push the water 11 miles to Lake City, which treats the sewage, he said.

Alliance Consulting Engineers is about four months away from giving the town its recommendation of a contractor for the project, he said.

The company will submit the design for the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control’s approval, which Strickland said should take about 60 days, he said.

Strickland said the recession should bring many bidders to the table.

“Twenty to 30 contractors would not be unheard of on a project like this,” he told council.

Therefore, it’s crucial for the company to recommend the lowest qualified bidder to the town.

“If they’ve never done a pump station, it’ll be thrown out,” he said, then clarifying that his company wouldn’t recommend a bidder that didn’t meet specific qualifications for the project.

Olanta will fund the improvements with $360,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds from the S.C. Commerce Department, while the town’s share is $36,000, a 10 percent match, council said.

One of the pumps will be near the intersection of S.C. 341 and South Powell Street on land the town intends to buy for $2,200, council and Strickland said.

During Monday’s meeting, Mayor Betty Sims also read a letter she’d written regarding recent gossip in Olanta. In the letter, she asked residents to support their town.

“When people outside see and hear this type of stuff going on, they’re not going to want to come here to live or start a business,” she said.

Olanta resident Woodrow Lawhon said he appreciated Sims’ letter, but asked council how the town could hire an administrator at a point when he’d heard it couldn’t pay all of its employees.

Sims said council had talked with Glenn Lane, who also works as Pamplico’s administrator and with Jefferson and Clio through the Pee Dee Regional Council of Governments.

Hiring Lane on an as-needed basis could cost $200 a day, but would help the town obtain and process grants and find other ways to save money, she told residents.

Sims said after the meeting that no town employees have missed any paychecks. The town’s pay day always takes place on a Friday, although employees who will be out of town because of vacation or other circumstances often can pick up their paychecks on Thursdays, she said.

At the end of the meeting, council held an executive session to discuss a personnel matter, but took no action after returning to open session.
Lawhon also asked whether the town was up to date on its assessments and money it owes to the state from police tickets. Sims said the town is about three months behind.

Lawhon told Sims he wanted to know who developed the town’s budget, as well.

Former councilman Dickie Kirby responded that he’d taken the previous fiscal year’s budget and “tweaked” it for this year because the 2006-07 general ledger wasn’t completed. He said he did so in hopes that the ledger would arrive and that the budget could be amended to be more accurate.

The town employed a different clerk at that time and the ledger was unavailable until this past September, Kirby said.

The town also must submit its fiscal year 2007-08 audit to the state. Sims said last month that the town’s fiscal year 2006-07 audits are in. The state treasurer’s office has announced it will withhold state payments to Olanta and 13 other towns until it receives their audits.

Present at Monday’s meeting were Sims, Mayor Pro Tem Willie Mae Gallegos, and council members Robert Thompson and Mary R. Welsh. Absent was councilwoman Dr. Sondra Holt.

Town hall meeting
Olanta Town Council will hold a town hall meeting at 6:30 p.m. April 16 at Olanta Elementary School. Town residents and those who live in surrounding areas are invited, Mayor Betty Sims said Monday. For more information, call Olanta’s town hall at (843) 396-4301.