Daniel Prince
Council donates to sheriff's office backpack program
At Tuesday’s meeting of Union County Council, the council unanimously passed first reading of the budget ordinance in title only. The work of filling in the details of the budget will begin in earnest next Tuesday, April 18, at 5:30 p.m., as elected officials will make their budget requests to council. The following Tuesday, April 25, at 5:30 p.m., council will hear funding requests from outside agencies. On Tuesday, May 2, at 5:30 p.m., Supervisor Phillip Russell will present his budget requests. Second reading on the budget ordinance will take place at the May 9 regular meeting. The finance committee, which is comprised of all the council members, will be meeting on Tuesday, May 23, at 5:30, to finalize the budget ahead of the June 20th council meeting, where a public hearing and 3rd reading will be scheduled.
In other news from the meeting, council unanimously approved $1000 from the Community Development Fund to go to the Union County Sheriff’s Office’s third-annual backpack giveaway this summer. Sheriff Jeff Bailey made the presentation on behalf of Investigator Kristen Spencer, who was sick and could not attend. He said the event has grown from giving away 100 bookbags the first year to giving away 550 last year. He said they ran out of bookbags with an hour left in the event, but they took the names of those who came and did not receive a bookbag there, and thanks to private donations, they were able to purchase more backpacks and supplies to get to those students later. Having donations committed several months ahead of the event will ensure the sheriff’s office can go ahead and order the backpacks and school supplies in advance. He said their goal is to give away 800 bookbags this year.
Council also unanimously approved an appending application to PEBA to allow employees who qualify as firefighters to participate in the Police Officers Retirement System. He said there are no current employees in that situation, but the county needed to go ahead and get into that system in case anyone ever did qualify. He said when Dennis Merrifield was hired as the county’s fire coordinator, he qualified to be under the retirement system, but the county was not part of it at the time.
Council also unanimously approved two new agreements dealing with the SC opioid litigation. Supervisor Phillip Russell said the county will receive money from those settlements that can only be used for drug prevention and efforts to eliminate opioid-related addiction. He said the Union County Detention Center, Healthy U Behavioral Health Services, ReGenesis Health Care, and others can benefit from the funding. He did not provide a specific figure, noting that the final allocations will depend on if others are added into the settlement or if the parties involved go into bankruptcy, and other factors. He said one lawsuit deals with the drug manufacturers, while the other lawsuit deals with those who sold the opioids in retail settings.
We’ll have more from the meeting coming up tomorrow.