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At the Fairfax Town Council’s June 17 meeting, the council voted in favor of the first readings of three ordinances to establish “good government practices.”
The three ordinances were regarding the attendance of town council members at meetings, abandoned vehicles and the inauguration of elected officials in town.
Mayor Butch Sauls said he wants to see increased cooperation between the town’s committees. For too long, Sauls said, the town council and government have been reactive to Fairfax’s issues, rather than proactive.
“It’s important for me that [council members] work, that they meet, because you can’t take an office and do nothing except meet once a month,” Sauls said. “You need to be involved in making a difference, in helping make things better.”
The first reading of an ordinance to handle abandoned vehicles was approved. The ordinance declares abandoned vehicles a nuisance that “creates a hazard to health and safety.” Abandoned vehicles can be a fire hazard and can interfere with local traffic.
During the finance report, Sauls announced that the town’s general fund has $78,310.40, while the town’s payroll account has $5,871. The town also has $300,000 in unpaid invoices, an amount Sauls said has built up over years and will take time to pay off.
“That’s a lot of money,” Sauls said. “We are getting a system set up, we’re paying [the] bills, but we can’t pay them all.”
Sauls said the town is currently swapping between making payroll and paying back invoices every other week. In May, the town hired Wanda Mulligan as a financial director to help organize the town’s paperwork, an issue that has prevented the town from forming a budget, as previously reported by The People-Sentinel.
Elijah de Castro is a Report for America corps member who writes about rural communities like Allendale and Barnwell counties for The People-Sentinel. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep Elijah writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today.
