Voter registration office to relocate

DARLINGTON - The Darlington County Board of Elections and Voter Registration will have a new home by the end of this year.

Darlington County Council gave its approval Monday to a request from the agency to move its offices from their present location in the Mozingo Building on Russell Street into the former Darlington County Economic Development Partnership office facility on Cashua Street. The partnership, formerly the Darlington County Development Board, vacated the building and moved its offices earlier this year to the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing Technology on the campus of Florence-Darlington Technical College.

The building the registration office will occupy is the former Carolina Power & Light Co. office building. The county owns the building.

Hoyt Campbell, executive director of the registration board, said the move was in response to a need for more space. The current office space affords about 600 square feet, and the new offices will nearly double that, he said.

Campbell said the staff will make the move to the new office around the first of December.

“We didn’t want to try to do it this close to the election,” he said. Municipal elections are scheduled in Hartsville and Lamar for Nov. 3.

Voting machines will continue to be stored in the Mozingo Building, Campbell said.

On another matter, Councilwoman Wilhelmina Johnson of Darlington voiced her opposition to a proposal to enlarge the size of the county planning commission from its current five members to eight.

In August, Councilwoman Anne Warr asked council to consider such a move with each commission member appointed from one of council’s eight single-member election districts. Warr said that would help ensure that all areas of the county are more fairly represented on the planning commission.

But Johnson said board and commission members are not appointed to represent council districts and should not be.

“They were never appointed to represent a particular district,” Johnson said. “I want you to know if we’re going to change one thing, we’re going to have to change it all.”

Council has made no decision on whether to expand the planning commission. Members referred the issue to the planning commission in August for a recommendation on the matter and are still waiting to hear from the commission.

In other business, council gave second-reading approval to an ordinance amending the county’s Development Standards Ordinance to comply with new federal and state guidelines for elevating structures in flood-prone areas.

Council also approved a joint resolution Florence County and the City of Florence supporting the development and implementation of a regional and watershed-focused storm water education strategy. The effort will be overseen by the Florence Darlington Storm Water Consortium and their respective municipal and county representatives.

Council also approved applications for grants-in-aid from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) for licensed ambulance services in the county. If awarded, the funds will be divided among the county Emergency Medical Services and rescue squads in the county based on emergency call volume.

The county is requesting funds for a trauma course, two EMT-intermediate courses, a paramedic course, a printer, software upgrades for the GPS units on each county ambulance and a cascade system to support the tactical stretcher. Matching county funds for the grant were included in the 2009-2010 budget.

Lake Robinson Rescue Squad is requesting a color printer, and the Darlington Fireman’s Rescue Squad is requesting funds for Vertex handheld radios. Those agencies will provide their own matching funds.

Finally, council approved a request from Darlington County Fire District Chief David Williamson for permission to apply for three grants, one to purchase personnel accountability system, one for the purchase of additional protective gear for firefighters and one to purchase a fire command vehicle.