Tuesday night’s Winnsboro Town Council meeting began with the presentation of a gift. This gift was in the form of a large check, large not only in size, but also in the dollar amount. The Town was bestowed with a $50,000 donation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, represented Tuesday night by Nancy McElroy, to help purchase a new street sweeper for the town.
Afterwards, Richard Winn Academy made a request to park vehicles and horses on the Mt. Zion green. RWA is planning their annual Patriots Day event for Oct. 25. During the event, fifth-graders will be able to experience life as a patriot during the Revolutionary War. After school on Oct. 25, the students will attend a formal reception at the Cornwallis House on Zion Street. The request was passed unanimously.
In old business the Council was set to nominate the new municipal court judges. Jonathan Goode was named municipal court judge, Vanessa Hollins was named chief judge and Trey Spong was named judge.
Mayor Gaddy congratulated the full slate of judges and was especially grateful to Hollins.
“Vanessa, we appreciate your hard work and what you’ve done of the last several months,” Gaddy said. “You have gone above and beyond the call of duty and we deeply appreciate it.”
Hollins had been handling a full load since the retirement of two municipal judges. Gaddy then turned his attention to Goode.
“Mr. Goode, we look forward to having you as a municipal judge, taking care of our citizens, protecting the ones that need protecting and locking up the ones that need to be locked up,” Gaddy said.
Finally, Council announced they would hold a work session Sept. 13 to discuss the International Property Maintenance Codes. At a work session on Aug. 27, Councilman Bill Haslett stressed the need for the Town to follow the County’s lead on cleaning up derelict properties.
“The look of a property has a direct impact on the value of a property,” Haslett said Aug. 27. “As people come through town we need to put our best foot forward.”
The County has adopted parts of the International Property Maintenance Code, which Town Council has considered doing as well. For the Town to get on board, however, it could be required to hire at least two code enforcement officers.
“It seems to me there has got to be some sort of compromise,” Gaddy said Aug. 27. “I think the codes need to be looked at and maybe not passed in total.”
Gaddy said violations of the code could not simply garner a recommendation from enforcement officers to clean up property, but that there would have to be consequences associated with violations.
“There would be fines with some teeth in it,” Gaddy said.
The next regularly schedule town council meeting is on Sept. 18.
