County commissioners added a list of names to the Citizens Advisory Board during their meeting Monday night, filling one of Pee Dee WALL’s requests to update the board that oversees the landfill.
The board did not remove current members, but added names commissioners selected. County Clerk Bonnie Huntley said the board meets four times a year, and that the board’s next meeting will be July 28.
Commissioner Ross Streater suggested that the new members be informed of the meeting time by letter and that the board meet more frequently until Anson County’s future with coal ash and the Polkton landfill is decided.
Cary Rodgers, a member of Pee Dee WALL (Water, Air, Land and Lives) and representative of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, asked the commissioners if there was an update to the groups’ request for the commissioners to sign a resolution against coal ash. The resolution would state the commissioners’ opposition to Duke Energy sending coal ash to the Polkton landfill for disposal.
Chairman Anna Baucom said the board has not yet reached an agreement on the resolution, but will soon.
“Nobody on this board wants it, either,” Commissioner Bobby Sikes said of coal ash. “We have to figure out how to handle it.”
Minimum housing code
The commissioners continued a discussion from previous months about whether to pass a minimum housing code for rental houses.
Baucom reminded the board that she has heard concerns that landlords will increase rent if they are forced to comply with housing codes and meeting standards.
“If we insist that housing, rental property meet certain standards, then the property owners are going to jack the rent up and we’re going to end up with more homeless people in Anson County,” she said. “So what do we do?”
Commissioner Dr. Jim Sims said that he understood the concern, but believes a minimum code necessary, though he said he would go along with the majority’s vote rather than voting against them.
“I guess it comes from being a school superintendent and going out and seeing where people live,” he said. “I’ve seen children in chicken coops. I’ve seen children where they had to cook outside. I’ve seen children where they had to walk two miles to get water. I’ve seen children where the only form of warmth they had was five quilts to put on the bed at night. I’ve seen children that lived in what I would call a lean-to. I’ve seen just about everything you can imagine.”
Streater said that in his years visiting homes while working for Windstream, he has also seen families living in deplorable conditions.
Both men said they’ve seen families living with dirt floors.
“There’s no excuse for it,” Sims said.
Sims said that while he supports a minimum rental housing code, he does not want to see it become too much of a burden for property owners and create further problems.
Commissioner Jarvis Woodburn agreed.
“You’ve got to have something that encourages the landlord to keep the property at a certain standard,” he said.
Baucom said the code needs the basics.
“Routine maintenance, the septic tank dealt with, the roof not leaking, windows not broken,” she summarized.
Baucom asked Huntley to add the issue to the next month’s agenda, and encouraged the board to think about it and be prepared to vote.
Animal shelter
Three positions with the animal shelter still have not been filled, but the county is working on it, County Manager Megan Garner said.
The shelter needs a director, part-time shelter attendant and an animal care coordinator.
The commissioners voted to change the position title from “vet tech” to “animal care coordinator” at the recommendation of Garner, who said it would better describe the position they are filling. The coordinator would administer rabies vaccines, provide recommendations on whether an animal should be adopted out or rescued and more, Garner said.
Even with gaps in staffing, the shelter passed a surprise state inspection, Garner said. She is working with the inspector to improve the shelter.
Sims pointed out that the shelter does have issues, but cannot fairly be compared to shelters that have been operating for decades.
Garner said that an adoption event held at Tractor Supply in Wadesboro had some success, with three kittens and one cat adopted out at the event. Three dogs shown at the event were also adopted, though after the event.
Library
Aaron Mehaffey, director of the Hampton B. Allen Library, Dr. Anthony Chow and Jesse Gibson presented the library’s finalized strategic plan to the commissioners.
The plan was the result of resident surveys and planning board discussions over several months. Working with the community, the planning board identified the primary areas the library should address and what its goals will be year-by-year.
The plan recognizes the need to improve technology in the library, provide children’s programming, work with school libraries, renovate the library, improve signage, add parking and more. Adding weekend hours to the library was also a top priority.
Baucom said she was particularly interested in the idea of adding wi-fi to the library’s bookmobile and asked Mehaffey to look into what it would take to add that service.
Chow noted that the commissioners should take the plan as support, not criticism.
“Don’t look at it as condemnation of the past, but looking toward the future,” he said.
The next regular commissioners meeting will be at 6 p.m. Aug. 2 on the second floor of the Anson County Government Building.
Reach reporter Imari Scarbrough at 704-994-5471 and follow her on Twitter @ImariScarbrough.