Restaurant Deal Clears First Reading

BLYTHEWOOD – At its regular monthly meeting on Monday evening, Town Council passed first reading on an ordinance to lease the restaurant it plans to build across from Town Hall to Jonathan Bazinet, owner of Sam Kendall’s restaurant. The lease agreement includes a guaranty of lease payment with both Bazinet (for five years) and Red Fox Development, Inc. (for the full 10 years.)

In other business, the Town’s CPA, Kem Smith, reported that the Town’s audit is clean and that the preponderance of the information of the audit is very good. Smith also told Council they need to be aware that the Gasby 68 (Government Accounting Standards Board) is a new standard that will require the Town to start picking up its portion of the unfunded pension liability from the S.C. state retirement plan.

“While the portion our Town will have to come up with is small, it still amounts to $500,000 to $700,000 and will be due by 2015,” Smith said. “My concern is that the South Carolina retirement system is $14 billion underfunded.”

Smith said the Town would have to book a liability for that underfunded amount.

Councilman Ed Garrison said this was worrisome to him about the Town’s future.

“The requirements that government has to meet the community’s needs, has got to be looked at in terms of how we develop our revenue streams,” Garrison said. “Towns like ours that have no millage make it even more difficult.”

Town Planner Michael Criss discussed the need to reign in realtor and other signs that have been popping up along roadways and on private properties within the Town. He said he will be talking with the sign owners to ask them to remove those signs. Town Administrator John Perry said the Town will also be working with Richland County to take up unpermitted signs in the County surrounding the Town. Perry said off-premise signs are illegal in both the Town and County.

Council’s next regular meeting will be Nov. 25.

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