Monthly Archives: July 2016
Balanced Easley budget includes salary increase for city employees
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
EASLEY — The City of Easley’s 2016-2017 budget focuses on employees, quality-of-life improvements and equipment needs.
City administrator Stephen Steese gave a presentation on the proposed budget prior to council’s final budget vote on June 13.
The budget totals $16,618,450 and includes a general fund budget of $13,243,950. Overall, the budget represents a 6.91 percent decrease over the 2015-2016 budget and a general fund budget decrease of 0.4 percent as compared to the 2015-2016 operating budget.
“It is a balanced budget, as required by state statute,” Steese said.
The general fund budget is “what we use for our daily operations,” Steese said.
The budget includes a 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment for all city employees, he said.
It also reduces out-of-pocket health insurance costs for employees while increasing benefits. For the third year, the city will offer gym discounts for city employees as part of its wellness program.
The budget creates three new positions — two in the police department and a stormwater engineer.
“Even with these additional positions, the city is still below the level of personnel prior to the Great Recession,” Steese wrote in his executive summary.
Equipment needs addressed by the budget include five new vehicles for the police department, two fire vehicles and a new brush truck.
“On the expenditure side, you’ll see that the vast majority goes to public safety,” Steese told council.
The budget includes $50,000 for demolition of substandard residential and commercial properties.
“This is a continuation of what we’ve done for about four or five years now,” Steese said.
“In addition, this budget includes $200,000 for parks and recreation projects that city council will decide on how to spend on parks and recreation/quality-of-life issues and projects during the fiscal year,” Steese wrote. “We have received bids from consultants to update our parks and recreation master plan for the city. These funds are help to use for any recommendations from this study that council wants to move forward with in FY 16-17.”
The budget also includes funding for the Nalley Brown Nature Preserve, which will be created on land donated to the city. The budget recommends using $150,000 in fund balance in the city’s hospitality fund to begin the development of the park.
“These funds would be used to create an entrance and parking area and begin the development of natural trails,” Steese wrote in his executive summary.
He added that the trails would be similar to the Cottonwood Nature Trails in Spartanburg.
“These are natural flow trails that also label plants, trees and shrubs along the trail,” Steese wrote. “This would be the start of the project and would provide the spine to expand on in future years.”
Other quality-of-life issues addressed by the budget include $110,000 for special events and fireworks throughout the year, $50,000 for the completion of a parking lot in the downtown area and $25,000 to fund loans in the community development program.
The city’s hospitality fund continues an upward trend, Steese wrote.
“We should also see an increase in revenue from removing the discount for early payers,” he wrote. “This should provide over $30,000 in additional revenue. Between increased volumes in tournaments, an improving economy and more restaurants opening, we hope the growth continues.”
The city continues to retire outstanding debt.
“This is a good position to be in financially,” Steese said, adding the city has leverage for any larger projects if needed.
Following a public hearing on the budget, council voted unanimously to adopt it.
The budget is available to view online at the city’s website, cityofeasley.com.
Six Mile principal moving to district
By Greg Oliver
Courtesy the Journal
goliver@upstatetoday.com
COUNTY — Clif Alexander has spent all 31 years of his education career as a teacher, assistant principal and principal at Six Mile Elementary. However, that is now changing, as Alexander is leaving the only school he has ever known professionally.
But while Alexander will no longer be at Six Mile, he will remain in the School District of Pickens County. The school district announced last week that Alexander was approved for one of two interim positions in the school district, as he will be interim assistant superintendent of administration in the absence of former Pickens High School principal Marion Lawson.
Lawson, named to that capacity earlier this year, suffered a severe stroke May 30 and has taken an indefinite leave of absence as he undergoes physical therapy to recover. The district announced late Monday that Alexander would serve in a part-time capacity in his new role until Sept. 6, at which time he will become full-time in the interim position.
Alexander said he has mixed emotions.
“Serving at Six Mile Elementary for three decades has been such a blessing — it will definitely be hard to leave,” Alexander said. “I have had so many personal connections to this special place, which is part of my hometown — especially the people and my youngest daughter, who still attends there.”
While Alexander is leaving Six Mile Elementary, his successor will be a name familiar to those affiliated with the school. Melissa Terry, a longtime Clemson Elementary teacher and assistant principal who has served in recent years as principal of A.R. Lewis Elementary, will become part-time interim principal at Six Mile Elementary until Sept. 6. After that time, Terry will become the full-time interim principal.
Terry, who has also served as assistant principal at East End Elementary during her career, was recently appointed the transitional principal overseeing the Pickens-area elementary school merger.
Ironically, Terry’s husband, Troy, served as principal of Six Mile Elementary for four years, when Alexander was elevated from the classroom to assistant principal.
Superintendent Danny Merck said the district “is blessed to have so many capable people on our team who can help us bridge the gap during Mr. Lawson’s absence.”
“We’re hoping for a full recovery from him, and I’m very confident that Mr. Alexander and Mrs. Terry will do an excellent job of leading our principals and Six Mile Elementary School, respectively, in the coming months,” Merck said.
goliver@upstatetoday.com | (864) 973-6687
Follow on Twitter @JournalGO
Turner named Liberty AD
LIBERTY — Liberty High School has named former Seneca High School head football coach and assistant athletic director Brett Turner as its new director of athletics.
The news was made official last week via a news release from Liberty principal Josh Oxendine.
“Coach Turner brings a wealth of experience to Liberty High School,” Oxendine said. “We are excited to have someone leading our athletic program with the knowledge of high school athletics that he has as well as his passion for developing young people.”
As head football coach of the Bobcats in 2016, Turner led Seneca to a 12-1 record, the Bobcats’ first Western 3A championship since 1996, and a spot in the third round of the Class 3A playoffs.
Before becoming head coach of the gridiron program, Turner had been on staff at Seneca since 2009, serving as the co-defensive coordinator as well as the defensive line coach.
During his time as head coach at Pickens High School from 2004 to 2008, Turner compiled a 29-26 record and orchestrated four playoff appearances.
“This is a great opportunity for our student-athletes and our community,” Oxendine said. “Having someone with great character and integrity in charge of our athletic department will continue to build a strong culture at Liberty High School.”
Turner, who is associate pastor of New Hope Baptist Church, is a 1992 graduate of Presbyterian College.
Courier Letters to the Editor 7-6-16
Saitta talks SDPC budget
Dear Editor,
I voted against the School District of Pickens County budget for 2016-17 for three reasons.
This budget again eliminates classroom teaching positions, boosting class sizes. A total of 65 classroom teachers have now been eliminated over three years. As families break down further, and some children become more difficult to teach, the board should be reducing class sizes, not making them larger.
In good economic times, when revenue is growing, the board should be putting money aside. Thus, when the bad economic times hit, the district will have a savings nest egg to fall back on to cope with falling revenue, and it will not have to cut spending as much. This budget runs savings down $1.7 million in good economic times, so little savings (if any) will be available when the next recession hits.
There are a variety of extra pay raises in the budget. It is well intentioned — I support most of them, but too many are being done at one time. It is like with the extra teacher pay raises. I thought it was a good idea to phase them in over a few years, as was originally proposed. However, I opposed the last minute change to give three teacher pay raises in one year, because it threw the current budget into deficit and caused more of a drawdown in savings.
You can see the stress the aggressive spending plan is causing. Look at the actions taken to try and make it all work — closing schools, eliminating teachers and raising tax rates (1.5 mils) on the borrowing side. None of that the public supports.
Alex Saitta
School board trustee Pickens
A letter to America
Dear Editor,
America continues to display the foolishness of man by trusting in man rather than God the Creator. Many now foolishly claim that science proved there is no God. That of course, is man’s lie.
Ironically, God’s truth is questioned by man, who God formed from “the dust of the ground.”
According to the word of God, before God created time, he “created heaven and earth.” And Earth was void (no life), completely covered by water, it was dark, “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”
And then God lit up the sun when he “said, let there be light: and there was light.” That was the beginning of time, the first day.
Then in the next five days, God separated the waters, made about 70 percent of the earth surface rise above water, ordered earth to produce all sorts of grasses, herbs, flowers, fruit trees. Then “God, out of the ground, formed every beast,” and every fowl. On the sixth day of creation, he formed Adam (the first man) from the dust of the ground and gave him life.
Then “God said, It is not good that the man should be alone.” So God put Adam to sleep, removed one of his ribs, and from that rib, formed the first woman, Eve, for Adam’s wife. And we thank the LORD for that.
God saw that his creation was good. Unfortunately, a few thousand years later, man became very wicked and every imagination in man’s heart was evil. This “grieved Him (God) at his heart” and He “Said, I will Destroy man” and “every living thing.”
But because God found Noah righteous, God gave his living creation a second chance. He had Noah and his family build the ark (a very large ship) to keep them and the animals safe during the “great flood” so they would “replenish the earth,” as God commanded them
Now Noah’s descendants are denying God’s word and denying that God created the heavens and earth and every living thing, including man. But God has said, He created everything that was created, and He rightfully claims he owns everything. Including you and me. It is time we give God his deserving glory. Glory be to God.
Manuel Ybarra Jr.
Coalgate, Okla.
Brexit — Britain Exit
By now, most folks have heard the term “Brexit.” Many have been left with many more questions than answers in the aftermath of the historic decision.
What is it?
Brexit was the vote last week by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. While this one sentence is true, it’s a little like saying “the South lost the Civil War” — true, but there is a whole lot more to the story.
Let me explain. Culminating with World War II, for the past few hundred years the countries of Europe periodically chose up sides and killed each other with frightening regularity. After 70 million people died in World War II, the politicians of Europe decided that they did not want to do this again and they began a long process of tying the counties of Europe together with even increasing economic, social and political agreements. Over time, these agreements created the European Union or EU.
The theory was that if the countries were so closely connected, then another war would be impossible. This process continued and expanded until today the European Union is made up of 28 countries with a population of over 500 million. They essentially have open borders, free trade and exchange of good and (with the exception of UK and eight other countries) a common currency called the Euro.
What happened?
Over the years, many people in Europe (and especially in the UK) became increasingly resentful of the political elites and the EU government in Brussels “telling us what to do.” Think about all the bad things that Donald Trump says about Washington and substitute the word “Brussels” and that pretty much sums up how lots of people feel about the EU.
In time this gave rise to a new political party, the UK Independence Party (or UKIP for short) who fiercely opposed immigration and most everything that the EU did. UKIP largely drew their support from segments of the Conservative Party (think Republican Party) voters who were white, older, non-urban, lower education and lower income (think Trump voters). Supporters of the “stay” campaign were more racially diverse, young, urban, well educated, higher income voters.
Although he personally supported the EU membership and led the campaign to stay, UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party has been deeply divided on the EU issue for years. So, in 2013 in hopes of placating the right wing of his party and stopping the defections of his party’s voters to UKIP, Cameron promised an up or down national referendum on staying in the EU.
In the last year or so came the immigration crisis that swamped Europe (sound familiar) and increasingly people became fed up and said it’s time to leave the EU. Last week all these anti-EU chickens came home to roost, and by a margin of 52%, UK voters decided to leave. To most observers, it was a shock.
Why does it matter?
Well, let’s start with what happened the day after the vote — stock markets in the U.S. and pretty much everywhere else in the world, took a huge nose dive. No, not a nose dive, they fell off a cliff. The Dow dropped 610 points or 3.4% and the other markets in the U.S. and around the world were about the same or worse. In the first few days after the vote, over $2 trillion in wealth evaporated in the global stock markets.
If there is one thing that businesses, from global corporations to the corner store, dislike it’s uncertainty and right now everything is uncertain. The question everyone is asking is “what now?” and the truth is that no one knows.
In the short terms at least, most of what is being discussed is mostly bad. Not “board up the house get your gun and head for the hills” bad but, still not good. What we will have to do is all that we can do — wait and see.
Why does it matter to S.C.?
It matters a lot to South Carolina; arguably it matters more to South Carolina than to any other state.
Yes, really. South Carolina has more direct foreign investment per capita than any other state and of the eight countries with the most investment in South Carolina six of them are in the EU. It’s about the 1,200+ facilities of international business that are located in our state and the tens of thousands of jobs of South Carolinians who work in these places.
Does this mean that lots of these folks will immediately lose their jobs? No, probably not, but the Brexit vote will have an impact. Don’t expect to see any UK or EU companies announce any new large investments or expansions in South Carolina any time soon i.e. see business uncertainty above.
Why does it matter to YOU?
Well first, check your 401k or stock account today and see how far it dropped — and it did drop, the only question is by how much and for how long. The same thing applies to your pension fund at your company and the state retirement fund that covers 200,000 South Carolinians.
If you work at any of the 1,200 foreign owned facilities — talk with your boss. Some will try and tell you otherwise, but no one really knows what the short, medium or long term impact will be — but I’m pretty sure ‘no impact’ is not the right answers.
What can you do?
In one sense, there is not a lot any of us can do on the individual level. The global forces at work are beyond any of our individual control. This sense of helplessness against “them” is a big part of the frustration that fueled the anti-EU (and Trump) vote.
These feelings — on the part of UKIP and Trump voters — are real, justified and valid and critics should not dismiss them as otherwise. People are afraid, uncertain and have much to worry about.
But, there is something that we can do: we cannot give in to the voices of those demagogic politicians that blindly rant against “them” — the immigrants, the Muslims, the media and the political establishment. Yes, there is a lot to be frustrated about (with Washington, Columbia or Brussels) but the answer is not to be found in simplistic sound bites and appeals to our fears and prejudices.
The American writer H.L. Mencken famously said, “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.” And so it is.
We need political leaders — in Washington, Columbia and elsewhere — who understand this, people who understand that the world is complex and that there are many big issues involved and the answers are not clear, simple or easy.
We need leaders who have the honesty and integrity to tell us these straight truths.
Phil Noble is a businessman in Charleston and President of the S.C. New Democrats, an independent reform group founded by former Gov. Richard Riley to bring change and reform. He can be reached at phil@philnoble.com
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They came to Miami
My cousin Gwynne was waiting for me in front of the Hertz Rental Car counter in the Ft. Lauderdale airport. She’d flown in earlier, as we couldn’t work out flights that arrived at the same time.
We were meeting our cousins Scott and Elizabeth in Coconut Grove and were all heading to our cousin Becky’s 50th wedding anniversary celebration.
Gwynne lives in McMinnville, Tenn., and had rolled out of bed at 3 a.m. to drive to Chattanooga and catch a flight to Charlotte. She changed planes there and got to Ft. Lauderdale after lunch with no time or opportunity to eat. She did have three pretzels on the plane. I’d driven to Charlotte that morning, caught a flight to Atlanta, changed planes there and arrived in Ft. Lauderdale at 4 p.m. with only the plane pretzels keeping me going.
Liz and Scott had snagged a direct flight from Greensboro. Of course they had to fly out at 6:30 a.m., so they were safely checked in to the hotel before we arrived.
We were supposed to be at Becky and Tom’s house for supper at seven and were afraid to take time to eat. So we picked up our rental car and loaded up to begin the 32-mile drive to Coconut Grove. Neither of us had ever been there, but we were confident we’d have no trouble as soon as we figured out how to get out of the airport.
We knew we were going south on I-95 — we had a map and Gwynne had a GPS. No worries. We made it safely to I-95 and chose the center lane. We’d been happily making progress when we suddenly had to move into the left lane to avoid exiting to a place we didn’t want to go.
That was when we realized that the side mirror on the car was mashed tightly against the car and was completely useless. I found the little control button on the door and tried to adjust the thing, but it ignored all my attempts, so Gwynne would watch for me and tell me when we could get over.
Not ideal, but it worked. We merrily made our way along the highway when suddenly the traffic slowed to a crawl. We’d hit rush hour, and it was bumper-to-bumper. Oh well. We waited for the traffic to thin out. It didn’t, but we picked up speed. In order to keep up with the flow, we had to go a lot faster than felt safe, but we did it.
We checked the tiny map we’d picked up at the airport, and theoretically we weren’t far from Coconut Grove, but apparently there was no way to get on the road from where we were.
So we called Liz. At least Gwynne called Liz, but it went to voicemail. So then Gwynne called the hotel and talked to the desk clerk for directions.
He apparently thought Gwynne was difficult to understand, as she had to repeat herself a number of times before he understood our problem. She thought the same about him.
He gave us directions to Coconut Grove, but after Gwynne called him the third time, we realized he was giving directions from the Miami Airport, not the Ft. Lauderdale Airport.
We were on our own. We backtracked, got back on the highway and went in the opposite direction. Finally, we saw a sign that said, “Welcome to Coconut Grove.” We were on Brickel Avenue and kept going, thinking we would eventually hit the ocean and find Bay Shore drive, the street our hotel was located on.
Nothing doing. We drove very slowly, looking for something promising. By now it was 6 o’clock and we were losing hope. Suddenly we saw an older lady who looked respectable strolling along the street.
I pulled over, Gwynne rolled down the window and told her we were lost and asked for directions.
The lady said, “You’re not that far. All you have to do is go straight down this street, take a right, take another right and drive until you come to a really ugly intersection. Take a slight right there, not a hard right, and you will run into Bayshore.”
We thanked her, followed her directions and began looking for a really ugly intersection. As we approached each intersection, Gwynne would say, “Do you think that’s a really ugly intersection?”
I’d say, “I don’t know. Ugly as compared to what, I wonder?”
Finally, we came to an intersection that wasn’t particularly ugly, but it did have a hard right and a slight right, and sure enough we found Bayshore Drive. Three blocks later, we saw our hotel.
It was 6:30, but Liz and Scott had patiently waited for us, so although we couldn’t shower as we’d hoped, we did get to change clothes. We made it a little late, but they were glad to see us, dirty and almost hysterical with exhaustion though we were. The cheese plate and wine before supper helped a lot.
And then, as always, we had a wonderful time. So despite the few hitches along the way, it was well worth it.
Pickens County YMCA Piranhas Swim Team wins home meet
COUNTY — The Pickens County YMCA Piranhas Swim Team captured a home meet in Pickens, where numerous swimmers improved their times.
Teams attending the meet were YMCAs from Pickens County, Anderson County, Cherokee County and Greenwood County. Pickens won the meet with 649 points, followed by Anderson with 353, Cherokee 170 and Greenwood 65.
Pickens had 22 swimmers in the meet. All swimmers improved their times from previous meets. One swimmer from Pickens County, Avery Woodall, swam in her first meet at Pickens after beginning swim team practice less than a week earlier!
Angela Lucas/photo
The Pickens Piranhas Swim Team is coached by Rachel Rahn, left, and Larry McMahan. Rachel has been swimming with the Piranhas for eight years and also coaching for the last two years. June 25 was the final Pickens home swim meet for Rachel, who begins her college career this fall at Anderson University.
Many Pickens County YMCA swimmers made impressive gains at the June 25 swim meet:
Mallie Couch (11) cut an impressive 48.73 seconds from her 200 Free
Karlee Richardson (9) improved her times by 29.35 seconds
Heidi McKever (4) improved her times overall by 27.96 seconds
Tamara Boysworth (12) made the A time standard in 50 Back and 50 Free
Ivy Hyder (9) made the A time standard in 50 Back, 200 Free, and the 50 Fly
Davia Simmons (10) has made the AA time standard in the 50 Back and the A time standard in 50 Free
The next swim meet will be at the Laurens County YMCA on July 2, followed by the Central YMCA Swimming League Summer State Championship Meet hosted by Georgetown YMCA July 16-17.
The Pickens Piranhas Swim Team is coached by Larry McMahan and Rachel Rahn. Rahn has been swimming with the Piranhas for eight years and also coaching for the last two years. The June 25 Pickens meet was the final home meet for Rahn, who begins her college career this fall at Anderson University.
The Pickens County Piranhas Swim Team practices every weekday at 4:15 p.m. at the Pickens branch of the YMCA. The swim team accepts new swimmers all season long, no matter the level of their swimming ability. For more information, call (864) 878-8380 or visit pcymca.net/swimteam.php.
BPW Club announces scholarship winners
EASLEY — Organized in 1946, the mission of the Easley BPW is to achieve equality for women through advocacy, education and information. It is our goal to elevate women, bring about a spirit of cooperation among women, and to serve our community.
The organization’s 2016 scholarship winners are:
Georgia Childress, a biology major at North Greenville University received a $500 scholarship.
Morgan Trotter, a freshman horticulture major at Spartanburg Community College received a $700 scholarship.
Erica Roy, a rising management and marketing senior at the University of South Carolina received an $800 scholarship.
Tiffany Blassingame, a student at the Upstate Cosmetology School in Easley received a $1,000 scholarship.
The Easley BPW would also like to recognize our corporate sponsors for supporting our scholarship fund: American Carolina Ins. Greenville; Bo Mahaffey Agency, Nationwide Insurance Easley; Contingent Resource Solutions, LLC Duncan; Elrod’s Concrete Construction, Inc. Central; Lowe’s; Marsh/Bell Construction Co. Inc. Easley; The Home Depot; Zorn Co. Inc., Seneca.
For more information about the organization, visit facebook.com/EasleyBPW/ or email president Rise’ Sheriff at risem@clemson.edu.
Duke Energy plans siren test
UPSTATE — The public alert notification sirens around the Oconee Nuclear Station will be tested on Wednesday, July 13, at approximately 11:50 a.m.
The 65 sirens within 10 miles of the Oconee Nuclear Station will be tested for three minutes to assure each siren works properly. This full-cycle siren test is performed once each quarter in cooperation with emergency officials in Oconee and Pickens counties, who are responsible for sounding the sirens.
Hearing a siren does not mean to evacuate. In an emergency, sirens are sounded as a signal for residents to tune to a local radio or TV station that would carry an emergency alerting message. County officials use these stations to provide information to the public. If sirens are heard and residents are unsure if it is a test or an emergency, they should tune to their local radio or TV station.
For more information about the public alert notification sirens, residents can refer to information available on www.duke-energy.com.
Reid named new PHS hoops coach
PICKENS — The Pickens High School athletic department announced recently that Austin Reid has been hired as the head varsity coach of the Blue Flame basketball program.
Reid is a native of Easley and graduated from Easley High School. He is a 2013 graduate of Clemson University, where he earned his B.A. in history. While at Clemson, Reid was the head manager for coach Brad Brownell’s Tigers for four years and worked directly with all facets of the men’s basketball program at Clemson. For the past three years, he has been the assistant varsity boys’ basketball coach at Berea High School under head coach Jeff Maness.
“Austin is a great young coach with a tremendous upside,” Maness said. “His passion for basketball contributed to the success of Berea High School program for the last three years. His work ethic is unparalleled, and he will do a great job at Pickens High School.”
Reid is also the head coach for the Upward Stars Southeast AAU organization.
“Coach Reid’s desire is to be a head coach,” former PHS athletic director and head boys’ basketball coach Steve Corn said. “In his career, he has done everything needed to prepare himself for this responsibility: working camps, serving as manager under Coach Brownell, coaching summer leagues and being a gym rat. He will do an outstanding job and will work well with the entire athletic department at PHS to make basketball and other athletics as successful as possible.”
“We are very excited about the hiring of Austin Reid as our men’s basketball coach,” current Pickens athletic director Stan Butler said. “Coach Reid brings a wealth of knowledge to our program from his combined experiences at the collegiate and high school levels. I feel that Coach Reid will be a perfect fit at PHS because of his passion for basketball and his stellar work ethic.”
