Anson County commissioners continued their discussion about zoning parts of the county and amending its housing ordinances during their Nov. 3 meeting.
Tax assessor Larry Newton received permission from the commissioners to bring the county’s zoning ordinance to the planning committee. Concerned residents have complained about issues such as mobile homes grouped close together and creating problems, he said.
The issue is getting residents to see that zoning is the answer to their problems, he said.
“We’ve got to somehow let the citizens see that this is in their best interest,” Newton said.
Newton asked for the commissioners’ blessing to work with the planning board to see if the county can increase the minimum lot size required in its ordinance, which would keep homes from being “clustered” so closely together. The planning board may have additional recommendations for the commissioners.
“I think Newton made good suggestions to consider,” board Chairwoman Anna Baucom said. “We have had several emergency situations that zoning would have addressed.”
The county’s water contracts also came up. With the contract to sell water to Union County coming up for renewal, attention turned to all of the water contracts.
Baucom said that the board needs to review the older contracts to make sure it knows what the commissioners understand the terms. She also wanted to ensure that the county has formal agreements with each water customer.
“We need to pull all of our agreements and look at them for all of the people we sell water to,” she said. “I think we need to have letters of agreement or contracts with every entity we sell water to, and to know the details.”
If there are customers without formal agreements, it may be harder to get potential future water customers on board, she said.
“We will have a hard time going to new customers asking for letters of agreement or contracts if we don’t have one with the others,” she said.
COURTHOUSE SECURITY
Sheriff Landric Reid was unable to attend the meeting, but in his absence, commissioners briefly discussed the security concerns Reid had.
Baucom said that the board had Reid’s ideas in a notebook, and that it was a thorough security plan.
“It’s a comprehensive plan for security for the courthouse,” Commissioner Jim Sims said. “All of the entranceways, even down to the bathrooms, what deputies will wear in term of weaponry, to make sure that people can’t even hide things in the bathroom. It’s real inclusive and covers almost everything.”
Chief Deputy Scott Howell of the Anson County Sheriff’s Office answered commissioner questions in the sheriff’s absence.
Commissioner Ross Streater asked Howell if the jail could buy food for inmates from a local restaurant to generate income and jobs.
Howell said that the idea has been considered, but has several health and policy concerns.
“They have done a brief study on that,” Howell said. “I know that Sheriff Reid has spoken to the jail administrator about that. I know that one thing that is a little bit of a hangup when you start contracting with one of the local restaurants is that you might have an inmate or someone that has a special diet need or something like that, and some of the regulations set on meals for the jail is so strict for the state. A lot of the restaurants, they put in a lot of sodium, butter and stuff like that to make it taste better when you go, and some of those things do not meet the regulations set out by the state.”
Potential food allergies or special individual diets present another problem with buying from local restaurants.
The sheriff’s office has looked into buying food from a prison, but that brings its own problems.
“If something happens at the prison and you have a lockdown, then you can’t get meals out, or if you already have personnel in there, you can’t get them out, so it doesn’t work very well,” Howell said.
Some inmates’ families have brought up concerns about the inmates’ portion sizes, but Howell said that has been addressed.
Howell said that no decision has been made yet, however. He did stress that his office uses local vendors whenever possible.
TRANSPORTATION
Commissioners unanimously approved a request from Scott Rowell to apply for a community transportation grant for fiscal year 2017. Rowell, director of the Anson County Transportation System, said he needs four new vehicles, three computers and to upgrade his security system.
To cover everything, the commissioners also agreed to Rowell’s request to sell four old vehicles and apply administrative funding to meet the 10 percent match requirement for the grant, which would pay for the new items.
During the public hearing for the grant request, Jeff Boothby, chairman of the Anson County Tourism Development Authority, said he was pleased with Rowell’s plan.
“It’s always nice to hear when we can make something pay for itself like that,” he said.
The commissioners also unanimously approved a request from Jeff Waisner, director of building maintenance, to begin repairs to the grand jury room of the county courthouse. The county originally ran out of funds several years go, but Waisner received a new quote to refurbish the room.
Baucom said the room has been in disrepair since the 1990s.
The board approved Waisner’s request to spend $19,184 out of the contingency fund to make the necessary repairs.
The next regular commissioners’ meeting will be at 6 p.m. Dec. 1 at the Anson County Government Center.