Serving Barnwell County and it's neighbors since 1852
The City of Barnwell met on Nov. 7 to discuss a state insurance policy for all city employees, detail required updates to police policy, and update the community on future events.
Insurance
The City of Barnwell approved a resolution to participate in the South Carolina Public Employee Benefit Authority (PEBA) insurance plan for all city employees in a four-to-three vote. Once finalized, the city will be locked into this plan for four years.
While each individual plan will differ from employee to employee based on factors such as number of dependents, tobacco use, or frequency of doctor visits, PEBA is understood to ultimately save both the city and its employees money.
“The City will save approximately $37,300 per year, while its employees will save nearly $34,000, equaling nearly $71,300 in savings across the board,” said Mayor Marcus Rivera in a statement made on Facebook. “Our employees will also benefit by having a lower deductible. I think this is a huge achievement considering inflation is happening everywhere, and yet our employees will see some of their paychecks grow, while both save money.”
In February, Administrator Lynn McEwen sent all city employees a survey asking about their feelings on switching insurance policies. The results varied– some were for it, some were against, and some were indifferent.
The purpose of this survey was to gauge the feelings of employees before presenting the policy to the council to make a final decision on. The survey showed that almost half of city employees were satisfied with their now former insurance plan, and complaints against the previous plan pertained to things such as high deductibles and copays.
Barnwell Police Chief Lamaz Robinson explained to the council at the Nov. meeting that he and his officers were in support of PEBA, and how most of them have held prior positions that offered PEBA where they found it worked for themselves and their family.
BPD Officer David Greene spoke to the council about his wife's struggle with carpal tunnel syndrome, and how a plan like PEBA would make the care she needs accessible and affordable.
Greene feels the current insurance provided by the city “will not pay for things that should be paid for,” and wants to see the span of medical coverage expand for city employees.
“The monthly premiums would be lower with the state plan [PEBA], but changes in the benefits and administration should also be considered,” stated the October meeting minutes.
Councilman Ron Still explained he has heard mixed reviews from department heads shortly before the Nov. meeting about PEBA, and feels council should not accept a policy that would majorly disappoint any percentage of city employees.
Councilman Still motioned for PEBA to be tabled until the next council meeting to give Administrator McEwen time to explain the policy in detail to each city employee.
Councilman John Moody suggested employees then take a private vote on whether or not they want to participate in PEBA if the resolution is tabled.
PEBA has been in question for nearly two years, according to Mayor Rivera. If the city council tabled it at this meeting, they would miss the set November deadline to participate and would need to wait until there was another opening which is an indeterminable timeline.
Each city employee will be impacted differently by switching insurance based on personal factors, meaning every employee may not be satisfied with this plan.
The PEBA plan will begin in April 2023.
Policy Updates
Ordinance 2022-4, which repeals and replaces divisions of the Building Code Ordinance of the City of Barnwell, was read by title only. This update to the existing codes is required by the South Carolina Building Code Council, whose primary purpose is to adopt or modify building codes in the state.
Police Department
The Police Department’s Operations Manual was amended to include new policies regarding take-home vehicles. The addition states, “Anyone hired on or after November 7, 2022 must reside within 35-miles (as the crow flies) from the city limits of Barnwell” to qualify for a take-home vehicle.
The phrasing ‘as the crow flies’ is an idiom meaning distance measured in a straight line regardless of road mileage. It was added to identify the 35 mile radius around City Hall where new hires must live.
Currently, there are four BPD officers who live outside this radius.
BPD was provided with a credit card with a $5,000 limit per month for training and travel. This alleviates officers from paying for their training, travel, and lodging and then being reimbursed by the city, as discussed at the Oct. meeting.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Training Council is responsible for establishing minimum standards for all SC law enforcement agencies, and recently introduced nine standards that must be adopted and implemented by all agencies by January 1, 2023.
BPD is already in compliance with three of these standards such as policies on the use of force and officer response to resistance, uniform vehicle pursuit standards and the use of lethal options during pursuit, and uniform implementation and use of body worn cameras.
The six standards requiring BPD policies to be edited are regarding an officer’s duty to intervene in the actions of other officers, hiring and terminating practices, mandatory and uniform post academy field training, the use of ‘no knock’ warrants, a system to file complaints, and an early warning system.
These policies were adopted as of Oct. 27, and the department is now into the next phase which is initial training on these revised policies and procedures, according to BPD Captain Mark Howard.
Firehouse Upgrades
At their last meeting, the City of Barnwell approved the remaining $1.2 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to be allocated to the initial stages of rebuilding the City of Barnwell Fire Station.
This would be in addition to $350,000 in funding already secured from the state by Representative Lonnie Hosey.
The fire station is planned to be completely rebuilt to house trucks, and eventually the dorm space and offices. According to Administrator McEwen, the end result is to demolish the current building housing the fire department.
To do this, the City of Barnwell has approved ownership of the .07 mile section of Madison St. (S-6-151) that runs from Academy St. to Washington St. in order to establish a back entrance to the upcoming new fire station.
Ownership allows the city to widen this area without requesting an encroachment from SC Department of Transportation (SCDOT) as well as make decisions on how traffic will flow through this area.
If approved by SCDOT, the street will be removed from the SCDOT system and fall under the care of the city.
Citizen of the Year/Business of the Year
Mayor Rivera and Administrator McEwen energized the city’s Citizen of the Year and Business of the Year awards for 2022.
Each award will be given to an individual or business who make a large impact on the community through their commitments to bettering Barnwell.
Nomination forms can be found on the city’s website or at City Hall. Nominees must live within the city limits of Barnwell and will be selected by City Council until the program is self-sufficient to be judged by previous winners.
Nominations must be submitted no later than November 30.
Updates
Administrator McEwen gave updates about city happenings in the administrator’s report.
The city council is considering a new logo to represent the City of Barnwell and are still discussing if one of the designs made by the South Carolina National Heritage Corridor will replace the current logo.
Administrator McEwen detailed upgrades being made to Lemon Park and Fuller Park, and the city’s newly-created website where citizens can pay bills and access fillable forms.
The website also houses information about upcoming Christmas Downtown events such as the parade and tree lighting.
Visit https://www.cityofbarnwell.com/ to see all the new online facets.
