Council Options Land for $2.5M Ridgeway Rec Center
WINNSBORO – The majority 4 on Fairfield County Council – Moses Bell, Shirley Greene, Mikel Trapp and Tim Roseborough voted to support the erection of a monument to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the grounds of the renovated Mt. Zion property which will serve as the new county administration building.
The four also voted to support the use of the teacherage, located behind the Mt. Zion building, as a museum memorializing African American heritage in the county.
Prior to the vote, Councilman Neil Robinson expressed his constituents’ disappointment with the monument and the African American museum being situated on the Mt. Zion grounds.
“When I was chair, a consideration was to offset the [confederate] monument with a possible Dr. Martin Luther King monument,” Robinson said. “I formed an ad hoc committee, but I received information from the NAACP and members of the community that that was not what they wanted. So as my constituents didn’t want it over there, I’ll be voting no.”
And he did, along with councilmen Clarence Gilbert and Douglas Pauley in a 4-3 vote.
Speaker Randy Bright pointed out to Chairman Bell that the ordinance was miswritten to leave the option open for a similar historic figure for the monument. But Bright said the settlement agreement specifies Martin Luther King for the monument.
The 4 option land in RW
Bell, Trapp, Greene and Roseborough were again the deciding factor in a 4-3 vote to pass a resolution to option two one-acre parcels in Ridgeway for a new $2.5M recreation center.
Councilmen Gilbert, Pauley and Robinson voted against.
The $2.5M was designated in the Dominion lawsuit settlement last month for the recreation center that council chairman Moses Bell has sought for Ridgeway since being elected to council three years ago.
Recruiting administrator
During executive session, council discussed the selection of an executive recruiting consultant to search for a county administrator to replace Jason Taylor who will be taking the Town Manager position for the Town of Winnsboro.
Following executive session, council voted 5-2 to authorize Chairman Bell and Vice-Chair Greene to handle interviewing of candidates for the position of county administrator and to bring a recommendation back to full council to select a firm.
