Emergency DSS roof repair leads council business

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By VICKI BROWN

vbrown@lowcountry.com

Colleton County Council recently discussed an emergency roof repair request by the county’s Department of Social Services.

Council met on Tuesday, December 7th, 2021, during which the emergency roof repair request was made.

According to Kevin Griffin, county administrator, a new roof was planned for that building, but recent developments and roof damage has required the immediate necessity for repairs to be made. The roof replacement at the DSS headquarters will cost about $126,000. “The roof on the DSS building has had ongoing issues over the past several years, and has recently developed several severe leaks, and needs to be immediately repaired,” said Griffin. “A county employee was trying to make repairs and almost fell through the roof. This cannot wait for the next January business meeting.”

Typically, the county purchasing procedures for a project of this cost require sealed bids; however, in the interest of preventing a threat to public health and safety and completing the roof replacement as quickly as possible, three written quotes will be obtained from commercial contractors.

Staff recommended that council suspend the requirement for sealed bids and award the low bidder with the contract so that replacement work can begin immediately.

Funding for this project will come from the Capital Fund - Fund 115 Fund Balance.

In other Colleton County Council business:

New fire stations discussed

Council issued the sale of $7.5 million in Fire Protection Service General Obligation Bonds, to acquire property for the construction of new fire stations.

A portion of the cost will be for acquiring land and constructing and equipping new fire stations, renovating and improving existing fire stations, and acquiring fire trucks, vehicles and equipment for use by the Colleton County Fire-Rescue Commission.

“The funding will be used to refinance an existing bond, allowing the county to take advantage of the current lower interest rates. Additionally, the remaining funding will be used to replace nine, 20-to 36-year-old fire trucks,” said Barry McRoy, Colleton County Fire-Rescue chief. “We had hoped to replace 12 units, but the high cost of the new apparatus only allowed us to replace nine. We are grateful for the County Council making this possible. The new units will allow Fire-Rescue to better serve this community.”

Surplus computers to be sold

The county’s technology department and Colleton County Memorial Library staff have evaluated various pieces of computer equipment and deemed it to be no longer suitable for county operations. The council authorized the equipment surplus to be sold.

The surplus equipment includes: 18 Dell Desktop Computers; two Cisco Access Points; 10 Monitors 1 Surveillance Receivers; 16 Printers 10 Ethernet Switches; two Projectors; one USB Switch; 3 Televisions; one Bitronics Switch; three Xboxes; one Digital Answering Machine; nine Headphones; one Disc Cleaner; two scanners; one Computer Speaker; one Dual DVD/VHS Player; four Misc. Items (Hubs, Transceiver, Multiplexer); one Video Recorder; two boxes of keyboards; four Security Routers; one Box of USB Mouses; threeWireless Routers; two Boxes of Various Power Cords; two Satellite Receivers; one Box of Various Cables; and one Label Printer.

Equipment will be placed for sale on GovDeals or for trade in on upgraded equipment.

Board vacancies to be filled

Council also approved new members to fill board vacancies.

Billy Wayne Chambers, Rodney Colson, Sr., Mark Tomedolskey, and Josh Bell were appointed to the Colleton County Recreation Commission; Kimber Santorella and Sallie Stephens were appointed to the Colleton County Library Board of Trustees; Zetoya Pinckney was approved to fill one of four vacancies at the Colleton County Accommodation Tax Advisory Board, but three other vacancies need to be filled; and Henry pinckney was appointed to fill the Colleton County Board of Alcohol and Drug Abuse. Anyone wanting to submit public comments to County Council can do so at www.colletoncounty.org/comment.