WINNSBORO – After two postponements due to Hurricane Helene, the Fairfield County Council Candidate Forum was finally held last week. While neither of the two incumbents – Dist. 2 Councilwoman Shirley Greene and Dist. 4 Councilman Tim Roseborough – came to answer questions about their service on council or their plans if they are elected, all but one of their challengers attended.
Greene notified The Voice just hours before the event that she would not be attending, and Dist. 4 incumbent Tim Roseborough never responded to any of The Voice’s emails or phone call concerning the forum. Dist. 6 challenger Oren Gadson also did not attend and did not respond to communications from The Voice during the last weeks prior to the forum. Dist. 6 Councilman Neil Robinson is not seeking re-election.
In attendance were Dist. 2 challengers Ann Corrao and Don Goldbach, Dist. 4 challenger Carl Bell, and Dist. 6 challenger Sarah Bryant.
The forum, which was streamed live on The Voice’s Facebook page (The Voice of Blythewood and Fairfield County) was held at Christ Central Community Center on S. Congress Street in downtown Columbia.
About 90 voters attended the forum, sponsored by The Voice, to hear from the candidates.
Two moderators, former mayor of the Town of Winnsboro Dr. Roger Gaddy and educator and comedian Kennedy Robertson, asked the candidates questions that were submitted by members of the audience. Each candidate answered the eight questions in rotating order.
The top issues were how council spends money, council’s lack of transparency, economic development, and the animal shelter.
Goldbach, Bell and Bryant said they were committed to transparency. Corrao gave ways to help insure transparency, including vetting the candidates before electing them.
Goldbach said transparency would be key to his service on council, listing some specifics, including, “If elected, I will call for the reinstatement of the illegally eliminated second public comment session back on to the monthly meeting agenda.”
Bell said his reputation and his license depends on being truthful and transparent. He said the lack of transparency in the government is one reason he is running for office.
“Being transparent and honest is paramount to getting people to trust you,” Bell said. “The government should not take the people’s taxes then ignore them.”
Bryant agreed that there is a lack of transparency on council.
“When I come to county council meetings, I don’t know what’s going on. I sit there for 45 minutes while little is said and hardly anything is done,” she said. “My whole aim is to put out what I can so you [the public] knows what’s happening. I will remember my frustration so you don’t feel that same frustration.”
All four said they would favor using town hall meetings to keep the public informed. Corrao said she already had two locations picked out to hold her town hall meetings. When asked by moderator Robertson about the two locations, Corrao said she would disclose them if she is elected.
When asked if they would spend hundreds of thousands of the county’s dollars on outside, unrequired agencies when the county’s first responders and animal shelter are not fully funded, Goldbach, Bell, and Bryant made it clear they would not.
Bryant: “No!” Bryant said she wants to “get in there and learn more about that.”
Goldbach: “Our first concern should be the safety and health of citizens. Our county is the top county for revenue per person. So, I can’t understand how we can be in that position and be struggling to provide needed services.”
Bell: “As I’ve campaigned, I’ve heard over and over: services, services, services. People need help. People in western Fairfield County have been forgotten.”
Corrao: While she did not address the question specifically, she talked about balancing the budget and not over spending. “I have written a data analysis program for the budget that’s coming with me if I get elected. Clay [Killian, interim administrator] said, ‘I want that.’ We [the county] are constantly spending more than we bring in.”
One question that drew chuckles and interest was: “Do you get along with your neighbors?”
Bell: “My neighbors love me. They adore me,” he said with a big smile.
“My neighbors love me, and I love them,” Bryant also said with a laugh.
Goldbach: “My current and past neighbors are here in the audience. I invite anyone to ask any of them or our other neighbors about us as neighbors,” he said as he got a laugh from the audience.
Corrao: “If anyone in this room says they get along with their neighbors …No. We know the reality,” she said. “But if you do want to say you get along with everyone, that’s fine. I have people in my neighborhood, in Winnsboro, Ridgeway and Lebanon and my organizations who love me.”
Each candidate gave opening and closing comments.
