Daniel Prince
Council allocates bond money for vehicle replacements in the county's fleet
At Tuesday’s Union County Council meeting, council unanimously adopted the Needs Assessment list for the year. The Catawba Regional Council of Governments had gone over the list with council in the February meeting and came back with the finalized document for approval. The list is required to apply for Community Development Block Grants from the SC Department of Commerce.
For capital expenditures, Supervisor Frank Hart informed council that the four Chevy Tahoes they had approved for the Union County Sheriff’s Office for the next fiscal year have arrived on the lot way ahead of the time that Sheriff Bailey thought they would, and the county has to take delivery of the vehicles if they want them. Council voted to appropriate up to $220,000 from this year’s budget to pay for the vehicles, with the understanding that this was the vehicle allotment for that office for the next year.
Kindra Horne and the sheriff have been working on a school resource officer grant, which was approved by the state Department of Public Safety for $173,611. Council voted to spend up to that amount to purchase three Chevy Tahoes and equipment for three school resource officers, with the understanding the money would be reimbursed by the DPS grant.
The supervisor provided council members with a list of vehicles in need of replacement in other county departments, many of which he said are 20 years old or older and have more than 200,000 miles on them or more. He said the county has bond proceeds they can use to purchase replacement vehicles. Council member Dr. John Flood said in looking at the list, replacement has been long overdue. Council member David Sinclair noted that council has put it off in the past due to lack of funds, but with the good financial year the county had, now is the time to look at starting to upgrade the county’s fleet. Council unanimously voted to spend up to $620,000 in bond proceeds to replace the vehicles on the list.
Council unanimously voted to seat four new members on the Building Appeals Board, which has not been able to meet due to lack of a quorum. Hart said they have a written appeal from a contractor waiting to be heard. Jon Kendrick, Paul Sanders, Tradd Bruce, and Howard Gibson were all appointed to the appeals board.
Supervisor Hart gave his report to council, which will we highlight on Monday. He also said the fair board wants to meet with the committee to discuss the proposed plan for the stadium and fairgrounds. Tracie Campbell is chair of that committee, and she said she will work to get a meeting scheduled. Hart also gave the dates for the county’s budget workshops for the upcoming fiscal year. They will be held Tuesday, April 19, starting at 9 a.m., and Thursday, April 21, starting at 2 p.m. An additional session will be held Thursday, May 5 to review budget requests, and any additional meetings needed will be scheduled at that time. First reading of the budget in title only will be held during the regular April meeting, with the second reading at the May meeting and the public hearing and third reading at the June meeting.