Allendale County Council gives recognition, notes needed repairs

The Allendale County Council covered a wide variety of topics at their March 16, 2023 meeting.

Meeting Minutes

Out of the eight packets of meeting minutes to be voted on, only five were approved.

Minutes from the Dec. 5, 2022, Jan. 12, Jan. 19, Jan. 24, and Feb. 28 meetings were passed.

The special-called meeting minutes for both Feb. 2 and Feb. 13 were not approved due to not being included in the councilmembers’ packets, therefore they were unable to review them and/or make corrections prior to the meeting for ­approval.

The December 20, 2022 meeting minutes from a rescheduled regular meeting were not passed as needed corrections had not been made.

Allendale County Council meetings are recorded and then transcribed for public documents, however, the auto-transcription feature used by the county is not always completely accurate and requires revision.

Minutes from municipal meetings serve as the official record of what was ­discussed, what decisions were made, and that the meeting occurred. If they are not ­correct, neither is the public record.

“They have to be approved by council before they are legal,” said Councilmember Theresa Taylor at the Feb. 28 public hearing and regular meeting.

At both the Feb. 28 meeting and the March 16 meeting, Taylor explained the importance of these minutes being accurate.

Hospital Repairs Needed

Lari Gooding, CEO of Allendale County ­Hospital, asked the council for their support as he tries to find funding to repair the 75-year-old hospital building currently providing emergency medical services to residents in multiple counties.

The major issue is plumbing.

According to Gooding, the hospital spent over $100,000 in the last four to six weeks to get the plumbing functioning in both the hospital and the nursing home. Both facilities are plumbed with cast iron pipe which has deteriorated to be ‘paper thin’ in some areas.

In the hospital, plumbers can access these pipes through crawl spaces to make repairs and replacements. However, at the nursing home, this pipe is under a concrete slab.

“When a pipe collapses under a concrete slab, then you’ve got real major ­issues,” said Gooding.

The Allendale County Hospital is considered a dual status hospital, meaning it is considered both a county hospital and a non-profit hospital. The county owns the facilities and property that the hospital operates on, but it is operated by a board of trustees appointed by the county council.

Gooding explained in the nine years he has been with the hospital, they have “tried our best to upgrade some of the infrastructure issues, but it’s gotten to the point where it’s almost a burden financially for us to do so.”

“My goal is to make sure we have the hospital ­moving forward, and for me to do that we’re going to have to work on the infrastructure at the hospital to be here long term,” said Gooding.

Gooding projects upgrading the plumbing infrastructure for both facilities will cost $500,000 to $700,000.

The Allendale County Hospital not only serves the residents of Allendale County, but Barnwell County as well since its hospital closed in 2016. According to Gooding, at one point 22-23% of emergency room patients were coming from Barnwell County.

“We became a regional hospital by default. We started seeing a lot of ­patients from Barnwell County,” said Gooding.

A more recent major repair made to the hospital was seven years ago when the county advanced the hospital’s funding to allow them to replace the roof. ­Essentially, the hospital was provided with a zero interest loan for one year to cover this cost.

Gooding explained the hospital is in good standing with its operational reserves, but feels he would not be “prudent in running the hospital if I took all of our operating reserves and upgraded the ­infrastructure.”

“We are in full support of the hospital, we understand and appreciate the importance of it,” said Chairman Matthew Connelly, who also informed Gooding letters were sent to state and federal delegations to inquire about how to get funding for this plumbing project.

Road Repair

Councilmember Willa Jen­nings gave an update on the road conditions in the county and a list of roads previously identified to be resurfaced.

Some of the roads on this list were sections of Fitts Road, Gray Roads, Gillison Road, Mulberry Street, Goodson Street, Pearl Street, Wilson Street, Joe Folk Road, and more.

The total length of the roads selected were 11.78 miles.

“The roads that you see on the sheet were not selected by the CTC committee. This was done by the state,” said Jennings.

“There are some roads on here that you may have questions about, but these roads were identified many, many years ago,” said Jennings, who notes a delegation made this list “before most of us were born.”

Best Loop resident Charles Wright has lived in his home since 1993, and has only seen the road worsen since.

“From then to now, that road has deteriorated,” said Wright, who expressed these concerns during public comment at the Feb. 28 meeting.

Councilmember Jennings stated she remembers the roads that make up Best Loop when she was working with the school district “because buses couldn’t get down that road to pick the students up because of the condition of the road.”

There are around 900 miles of dirt roads in Allendale County, and the morning of the Feb. 28 meeting Councilmember Jennings was informed by members of the Department of Transportation the state was in control of roughly 600 of those miles.

Previously to the meeting she spoke with the Department of Public Works, Public Transportation, and CTC Commission who informed her that to pave one mile of dirt road would cost over $1 million dollars.

“Right now with 900 miles of dirt road, I think that the county council should have a conversation about how this is going to get done,” said Councilmember ­Jennings.

The county currently has one motograter – a machine used to maintain unpaved roads.

At the March 16 meeting, Jennings explained County Administrator Bert O’Rear is looking into leasing ­another motograter and providing training to Allendale County residents to be able to run this equipment.

According to Jennings, Allendale County Council passed an ordinance in 2007 that requires every vehicle owner in the county to pay a roughly $30 fee in return for maintained roads.

“We promised the citizens that we were going to scrape their roads if they paid that fee,” said Councilmember Jennings.

“If you know of any roads you feel need to be resurfaced, you can provide that list,” said Jennings. “The names would have to go to the state and they would make a decision.”

According to Administrator O’Rear, two of the three employees able to drive the motograder have since returned to work since the Feb. 28 meeting.

Coroner’s Office

“The coroner’s office right now, or the morgue, does not have any security and really doesn’t have much of anything,” said Councilmember Jennings of the lack of security lights and ­cameras.

Renique Riley is currently serving as the Allendale County Coroner and is entering her second term serving the county.

Currently, the coroner’s office does not have internet access.

Councilmember Jennings explained there is a major need for updates due to the requirements and regulations around child fatality outlined in Chapter 5 ­Article 7 of the SC Code of Laws under Title 17.

“If you have a child fatality in the county, you will be having agencies coming from all over the state,” said Councilmember Jennings.

The coroner’s office was recently awarded a $14,000 grant from the National Network of Public Health Institutes, but is unable to access it as the office does not have its own bank account with the county. This grant funding can not be ­allocated to the county’s general fund.

According to Councilmember Jennings and Administrator O’Rear, the coroner’s office also has an over $2,000 reimbursement from the Hampton County Coroner’s Office for storing a body for almost a year at the facility.

These funds will be granted to the coroner’s office once an account is set up.

First Responder Recognition, Hiring, Grant

“This is the first major incident since the short time that I have joined the Allen­dale County team as the Director of Public Safety. It was a time where I was able to see the passion and commitment of all our emergency service personnel,” said Marshall Morehead, Allendale County Executive Director of Public Safety.

Morehead presented locally made plaques recognizing the continual and dedicated service of emergency service personnel in the county. Emergency medical service (EMS), the fire department, and dispatch was recognized.

“On the night of Jan 20, 2023 on Highway 300 just inside of Barnwell County, an off duty Allendale firefighter responded to a multiple vehicle collision. This set into motion Allendale County Emergency Response personnel from multiple departments,” said Morehead.

Very quickly, Allendale County 911 dispatch coordinated with the fire department, EMS, and law enforcement in addition to establishing landing zones for patients to be airlifted to medical facilities.

“Both Allendale and Barn­­well County Emergency units worked together, seamlessly, to provide life and scene safety,” said Morehead.

In Morehead’s 22 years of serving as a first responder in many capacities, he learned “very few emergency personnel do what they do for fame or fortune. The vast majority of dispatchers, EMS, firefighters, and law enforcement do what they do because they love their community and want to make a better place for their families and friends.”

“I know that Allendale is a better, safer place, because of the women and men who are our first responders,” he said.

As County Fire Chief Franklin Stanley stood among his fellow firefighters to accept the plaque, he said, “To all of you, thank you for what you do. You’re dedicated folks, and the citizens are lucky to have a group of people like you.”

Executive Session: Hiring

After the executive session, the council decided to open a position for another full-time EMS employee. This will bring the staff from nine to 10 members.

Finance & Grant Updates

According to Administrator O’Rear, the county applied for a grant to better equip emergency service personnel when responding to an overdose.

“It is a $2 million grant for our firefighters and EMS, which would provide them $500,000 per year for the next four years to be able to carry and get training on how to administer ­NARCAN for drug overdoses on the firetrucks as well as ambulances,” said O’Rear.

The effects of a drug overdose rapidly lessen when NARCAN is administered.

Administrator O’Rear had a “very detailed conversation” with S.C. ­District 6 Congressman James Clyburn regarding applying for South Carolina Infrastructure Investment Program (SCIIP) grants when he and Chairman Connelly visited Washington, D.C. in early March.

“There have been about $800 million leftover that’s available for those individuals and those agencies that applied for grants on those two deadlines, and if you did not apply on those two deadlines, you’re excluded from the $800 million leftover,” said Administrator O’Rear.

Administrator O’Rear was not with Allendale County at the time these deadlines were due, and wanted to look into applying for these leftover funds.

“We did not get any promises, but we did let them know of our concerns and wishes,” said Connelly of their trip to Washington, D.C.

For more information on SCIIP grants, visit //ria.sc.gov/sciip/.