At the Winnsboro Town Council meeting held on Aug. 18, Council passed two spending motions that in my opinion are a waste of town money. Both of these motions were presented and passed unanimously by the three council members who were present. Councilman Miller was not present.
The first spending approval has to do with painting the inside of Town Hall: the complete first and second floors are to be painted for a total of $9,615. There are currently four employees who work daily in the building. And they use four separate offices, which is about 40 percent of the space. So we are paying for painting approximately 60 percent of building space that is now totally not used. Remember, the utility department has moved out of Town Hall.
I am a regular visitor to Town Hall, frequently attending Council meetings, and while the first floor hallway could use a paint job, and maybe Council Chambers, this represents maybe 20 percent of the building. It seems to me that we are spending a lot of money to paint unused space.
The second spending approval has to do with buying an artificial Christmas tree costing $4,800, and decorations costing $3,500, to be placed in front of the Town Clock. The total cost for this is $8,300, not including the town workers’ time for assembling, setting up and decorating the tree, plus taking the tree down, disassembling and storing the tree until next year.
The thinking given to me by two of the councilmen is that the Leland pine tree in Gazebo Park is just not adequate. I personally think the town looks very presentable with the decorations that are put up by the electric department every year, and do not see why we should spend a total of $8,300 additional for a tree and decorations.
Town Council has passed resolutions to spend the above monies, which totals $17,915. The only way to stop this is for you to contact your Town Councilman and make your feelings known. If you think the above expenditures are a good idea, then you should say so. If you are like me and think they are a waste of money, then you should make your opinions known, or the money will be spent.
Richard Driscoll
Winnsboro
