Florence County Council to hear options for cutting pollution

Florence County Council at its Thursday meeting in Lake City will hear specific solutions for improving air quality and hold public hearings on a new county museum board.

Florence County is close to exceeding federally allowed amounts of the pollutant ground-level ozone, county planning officials said in August.

If an area doesn’t meet EPA’s standards, it will have a harder time recruiting industry that must receive state air quality permits — and ultimately could lose its federal highway funding.

In dealing with the county’s vehicle fleet, planning officials have suggested buying hybrid vehicles now and compressed natural gas vehicles in the long run. They also said the county could install GPS devices on its vehicles to help employees take the most efficient routes to work sites.

Long-term suggestions also include anti-vehicle-idling and clean-air campaigns and creating “electrified” truck stops so tractor-trailer drivers don’t have to idle their vehicles all night to keep a refrigerated load from spoiling.

Suggestions for home, business and vehicle owners include rebates for purchases of hybrid vehicles and newly installed green power as well as curbside trash pickup to reduce residents’ cost for taking garbage to convenience centers, as well as the cost of running those centers.

Council also is scheduled to hold second reading of an ordinance to change the Florence County Cultural Commission into a 13-member Florence County Museum Board.

The county’s budget passed in June includes a 2-percent hospitality tax on prepared food and beverages, which was designated to establish the cultural commission. The group’s mission is to help the Florence Museum of Art, Science and History find $7.8 million to match $3.9 million in state money for a new museum.

Collections of the tax also would benefit Lake City’s National Bean Market Museum, where council will hold its Thursday meeting.

The Florence County Museum Board will consist of nine appointments, one by each councilman, plus two appointments each from the boards of the Florence and Lake City museums. The members would serve four-year terms, which will be staggered at first with some ending as early as June 30, 2010.

The board would meet at least quarterly.

The ordinance also states the county administrator can recruit and supervise an executive director for the board. That director could hire other employees depending on funding and authorization.

The hospitality tax applies in unincorporated areas of the county. The county’s municipalities — except for Florence and Pamplico, which already have a 2-percent hospitality tax — would see a 1-percent increase and could opt to add an additional 1 percent to the tax.

Timmonsville Town Council in September failed to pass the additional 1-percent tax in a 3-4 vote.

Council also will hold a public hearing on the proposed exchange of property to help Ebenezer Baptist Church access a Florence city sewer main and relocate a driveway along Old Ebenezer Road. The church had asked the county to grant a 20-foot easement so it could reach the public sewer line. It also sought to buy property to move the driveway to its youth house to a safer location.

IF YOU’RE GOING

WHAT: Florence County Council regular meeting, public hearings on Florence County Museum Board restructuring and proposed property exchange with Ebenezer Baptist Church

WHEN: 6 p.m. Thursday

WHERE: National Bean Market Museum, 111 Henry St., Lake City

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