Travel expenses heat up Florence City Council meeting

FLORENCE — A special Florence City Council meeting to discuss the 2009-2010 budget was derailed Thursday afternoon when talk of cutting out-of-state travel expenses erupted.

Councilman Bill Bradham said the current policy needs revising with new members on council. He said he was going to suggest that council eliminate all out-of-state travel, effective July 1.

Bradham said an exception could be made if a member can justify a trip to Washington, D.C., but that member would have to bring the matter before the whole council for approval.

“Last year our travel expenses were way up there,” Bradham said. “I’m not going to bring up individual expenses, but they are available for anybody who wants to request them through the Freedom of Information Act. This year’s budget has $30,000 for travel and I think we can cut that.”

“I’m going to say what I’ve got to say,” Councilman Ed Robinson said. “I think that the comments that were made just a few minutes ago were racist. You are trying to preserve what you think is good.

“If you want to stop the years that we’ve worked with the national legislature to build up the relationships that we’ve built up to get where we are now — and all of a sudden we don’t need to do that anymore. We don’t — a certain group don’t go to Washington — so nobody else needs to go?”

Robinson said a group that goes to South Carolina doesn’t bring any money to Florence.

“That group that goes to Washington does,” he said. “We’re getting ready to try to build a city and you can’t build a city if you don’t spend some money. And the money that we — Councilman (Billy D.) Williams and I — I mostly for the areas that need the money. We built up a relationship to bring money into Florence and that’s what we’ve done.

“You look at this (travel) as pleasure, but it’s work for us. We go up there (Washington) to work. I’m chairman of the Municipal Black Caucus. Those kinds of things I worked hard to get. The money that we bring in is millions more that what we spend.”

Williams took particular umbrage with the thought of having to ask council for permission to travel to Washington. He alluded to all the money he’s brought into Florence for such projects as the old BellSouth garage and for removal of the old Bush Recycle site.

“I been trying to get that junk yard moved for 18 years, 18 long years,” he said pounding on the table for emphasis. “And it’s gone. That money didn’t walk in here by itself.

“Every time I step foot out of this town I lose personal money, but I think it’s more important to represent the people. When you got to Columbia the only thing you get is the chance to come back home. When we go to Washington, we come back with something.”

Discussion about the need for additional police also met with dissension between Robinson and Mayor Stephen J. Wukela.

“When you look at Florence being 48 percent black and you’ve got all these black folk in jail, I say there’s a problem,” Robinson said. “I think a study needs to be done.”

“When I visited that lady on Sumter Street and she said she couldn’t sit on her front porch because people are dealing drugs, I think something needs to be done,” Wukela said. “I don’t think you can go to her and say we’re going to get some programs that will encourage people not to do this. There isn’t any substitute for the presence of police.”