I am asking County Council to please support the Fairfield Farmers & Artisans Market by removing the rental fee recently implemented for the use of the building on market days. The market is an asset to citizens, farmers, and county businesses. Fairfield County is a designated food desert, and the market is a way for […]
Guest Editorial: Don’t Let Richland County Pave Our Roads
July 6, 2023 By
At a recent County Transportation Ad Hoc committee meeting, the interim Transportation Director, Michael Maloney, recommended that County Council amend Richland’s Dirt Road Paving ordinance by removing the section in Chapter 21 that, for many years, allowed 25 percent of property owners on a dirt road to decline a road paving project. The amendment would […]
Letter: On To the Broad
July 6, 2023 By
I was disappointed to read where FJWSS has chosen to delay the design and construction of the WWTP again. American Engineering is one of the finest consulting engineers in the state. They are a local firm where many of their competitors are international firms with offices in Columbia. Why would you hire a consulting engineer […]
Letter: Heaven help Fairfield
June 29, 2023 By
Council members seemed overly eager Monday night to push higher taxes despite being reminded that the county’s budget far exceeds the budget of any county our size and even exceeds the budgets of many counties which are double and triple our size in population. Council appears to lack serious interest in exploring how other counties […]
Letter: A Question of Leadership
June 29, 2023 By
An Open Letter to Blythewood Mayor Bryan Franklin, Town Council, Richland School Board 2, and Richland County Council: As a resident of Blythewood since 2001, I have witnessed many changes. If one is to lead one must learn to manage change. Scout Motors will bring major changes to Blythewood. Many positive and a few negative, but […]
Letter: Cedar Creek is the Right Choice
June 22, 2023 By
I addressed council last week about the importance of constructing a wastewater treatment plant as soon as possible. We could have had the Scout Electric Plant if we had one when they came looking. The county now appears to be backing the engineer’s idea of having a low level treatment plant that will discharge into […]
Guest Editorial: Juneteenth Celebration Traced to Freeing of Slaves in Texas in 1865
June 15, 2023 By
Juneteenth, which is coming up June 19, is the newest federal holiday in the calendar. Its origins, however, date to the final weeks of the Civil War. The commemoration arose from the freeing of slaves in Texas on June 19, 1865, eleven weeksafter the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox and the assassination of […]
Letter: We Need An Administrator
June 15, 2023 By
What is the county doing to fill the county administrator’s job vacancy? What ever happened to the plan? We knew in January that we were going to need a new administrator by July. What’s the plan? Administration is looking at recruiters, but why haven’t they contacted the Association of Counties? Why haven’t we posted the […]
Letter: Let’s Move on the WWTP
June 8, 2023 By
Saving Fairfield is as disappointed as any group or individual in the fact that two years after The Settlement we still do not have a final plan to address our lack of waste water treatment capacity, which is a major impediment to our county’s comprehensive vitality and future health. In the meantime, we will continue […]
Guest Editorial: County’s budget planning falls short
June 1, 2023 By
I attended the May 4 budget meeting where the department heads told council what money they needed for the coming fiscal year, the majority of which were increases from the current fiscal year. There were a few things I expected to see during this meeting but didn’t. First, I expected to see all seven council […]
