Serving Barnwell County and it's neighbors since 1852
Council member Phyllis Smart said the Town of Fairfax was in a state of emergency at an informal meeting with the Fairfax community on January 6.
At an informal meeting called "Coffee and Conversation," the Fairfax Town Council wrote down questions from the community.
The Town of Fairfax is in a state of emergency and is operating on a week-to-week basis, town public officials said at an informal meeting with the Fairfax community that was held on January 6.
“We are in a state of emergency, that’s just it,” said council member Phyllis Smart. “I don’t know how to say it any different.”
The meeting, which was called “Coffee and Conversation,” was put on by Fairfax Mayor Butch Sauls and the Fairfax Town Council to have open discussions with the Fairfax community. Sauls and the new town council, who took power in November 2023, have emphasized increasing transparency between the town council and its residents. At the meeting, questions and concerns from the community were taken and written on large pieces of paper for the town council to consider.
At the meeting, Smart, Sauls and other members of the council also emphasized a message of unity and progression within the council. Smart said she wants to see increased community involvement in council meetings.
“We don’t have 50 people in the building,” Smart said, hoping that future community meetings bring larger turnouts.
Lack of a budget, grantmaking and audit
Since the previous mayor Dorothy Riley’s administration, the town has been operating without a budget, which has had wide-reaching implications on the Town of Fairfax’s municipal operations. Getting the town a budget has been the new council’s top priority, according to Sauls. Without a budget, the town cannot apply for the grants that would allow it to make needed improvements in its utilities.
“It is not good,” Sauls said in reference to the town’s financial situation. The town is currently working on getting an audit of its finances completed, which is one of the first steps in getting a municipal budget started. However, the town’s audit will date back two years and as a result will cost $25,000 to complete, according to Sauls. In a December 29th interview with The People-Sentinel, Sauls said the budgeting process is not going as fast as he would have liked. However, progress is being made.
Council members also spoke about reviving the town’s planning commission, which has been inactive for five years and was responsible for long-term planning for the town. Additionally, the town is considering hiring a grant writer to help it compete for economic development grants.
“[There is] tons and tons of federal funding, but if no one ever seeks it out, how can we get it?” Smart said. “If nobody ever knows that we have a problem, how can we get it? We are looking at grants and we are looking for people who literally know how to get money into a town.”
Water system failures and billing
At the meeting, Sauls shared that the town has $84,000 of unpaid water bills.
Many residents of the town have received bills that are in the thousands of dollars, according to Sauls. One bill, Sauls said, was over $10,000. At the town’s Nov. 28 meeting, Smart suggested that the town should reach out to Orangeburg-Calhoun-Allendale-Bamberg Community Action Agency (also called OCAB), a poverty alleviation organization to help residents set up payment plans.
Concurrently, the town has received criticisms from residents for the speed at which water bills are sent out. Council member Ken Ready, who served on the town’s Water and Sanitation Department until the town’s council changed in November 2023, attributed the issue at previous council meetings to understaffing.
The council has been working on establishing a digital payment system for the water bills called QS1. Since the council changed in November 2023, council member Dorothy Kennedy has been leading the town’s Water and Sanitation Department.
The People-Sentinel is currently working on a larger story about the water systems in the Town of Fairfax and Allendale County, and has submitted multiple Freedom of Information Act requests regarding the subject.
Lack of a grocery store
The town’s lack of a grocery store has been a persistent issue for the Town of Fairfax, as previously reported by The People-Sentinel. At the meeting, Sauls shared with the community the steps that have been taken since his inauguration to increase access to nutrition within the town.
One of the biggest obstacles for getting a grocery store into the town is the town’s lack of buildings, as well as the sustainability of a story in a town with a shrinking population.
“Some people want us to do that tomorrow,” Smart said. “That’s not going to happen tomorrow. Some people want us to do that three months from now. That’s not going to happen. … Realistically, a grocery store will come into Fairfax due to the demographics of how many people you have and how many people are gonna really support it.”
During the meeting, resident Yvonne Wilson praised the council’s transparency.
“I know everything’s not going to happen instantly,” Wilson said. “We want to speak to you and for you to at least hear us.”
Sauls said the council plans to have more informal meetings with the Fairfax community.
