Florence County Council OKs museum architects

FLORENCE — Florence County Council has selected a consortium from New York and Columbia to design the new Florence Museum of Art, Science and History.

Council on Thursday voted unanimously to authorize a contract with Cooper, Robertson and Partners of New York and Watson Tate Savory of Columbia to design the museum’s new downtown site, as recommended by the Florence County Museum Board.

The design will be done for a fixed fee of $905,200, plus an estimated $90,000 in reimbursable costs to be funded from previously approved museum construction money, according to county documents.

After offering a public request for qualifications, the museum board received 37 statements of qualifications and interviewed five responders.

The $11.7 million new museum building is being funded with $3.9 million apiece in money from the state, the Drs. Bruce and Lee Foundation, and Florence County.

Council also voted Thursday to proceed with bidding for a new county voter registration building along Third Loop Road.

In addition, council emerged from an executive session lasting more than an hour to approve and introduce a slew of economic development measures. They included:

• An ordinance for a fee-in-lieu-of-tax agreement between the county and Wellman Plastics Recycling, as well as the county’s acceptance of Wellman’s former human resources building in Johnsonville.
• An infrastructure financing agreement with Smurfit-Stone Container Corp.
• An incentive and inducement agreement as well as a fee-in-lieu-of-tax agreement with JP Morgan Chase.

The ordinances were introduced in title only, and Florence County Administrator Richard Starks said after the meeting the county hadn’t coordinated with the companies to release any additional information on the agreements.

Council’s Public Service and County Planning Committee met just before the full council’s meeting and discussed the proposed ordinance on the abatement of unsafe buildings. The ordinance was deferred amid continued concerns that a code official can enforce it only when a law enforcement officer in Florence County submits a written complaint about a property.

Schofield also spoke in response to letters recently written by members of Florence County Citizens in Action and published in the Morning News and the Lake City News & Post.

Schofield said letters to council members asked for balances in what the group calls council members’ discretionary funds and that said council members provided balances but didn’t the identify projects that were funded.

He said the people who wrote the letters asked only for balances, not specific projects. He also said he provided one letter writer with a detailed account of his district’s funds, including specific project expenditures.

One letter referred to Schofield as a “big spender” with $468,867 spent from his district’s funds this year. Schofield said $458,810 of that amount is this year’s portion of a commitment to a Florence tennis complex and that the commitment was made before he took office.

He said that this year, he’s spent $10,057 of the district’s road maintenance and infrastructure funds, mostly for a new traffic signal at Second Loop and Bellevue Road.

“If you don’t like the specific projects I’ve voted for, such as the traffic signal, let the public know,” Schofield said. “We will let the public decide whether or not they approve of this funding; that is the voter’s responsibility.”

Council on Thursday also approved $106,975 from the county general fund’s fund balance to pay five additional sheriff’s patrol deputies previously approved by council.

In other business Thursday:

• Buddy Bateman of AT&T said the company had given the county a $35,000 check as a utility tax credit for the H.J. Heinz facility when it is built.
• Council members voted to change the scope of the U.S. 76 widening project to use a twin bridge design that should cost about half of the original $1.2 million design, council Chairman K.G. “Rusty” Smith Jr. said. They also voted to use concrete pipe instead of an open ditch on both sides of Ebenezer Road in front of Ebezener Baptist Church during the widening of Pineneedles Road, councilman Morris Anderson said.
• Council recognized Rachel Lindsey Chavis as the winner of the county’s 2009 Christmas card contest.
• Council recognized Henry Arthur Brunson with a resolution of recognition and appreciation for his community service through establishing We Care, which developed into Cooks for Christ.
• Florence County Library System Director Ray McBride received the 2009 S.C. Library Association Outstanding Librarian award, which was presented by Barry Wingard.
• Council approved a resolution for Florence County to participate in the S.C. Procurement Card Program.
• Council approved third and final reading of the land-use element to the county’s comprehensive plan, which is undergoing an update after 10 years, as required by state law.
• Council voted to set the county’s Christmas holidays to be the same as the state holidays — Dec. 25, which is a Friday, and with Dec. 28, the following Monday.