BENNETTSVILLE — During the Bennettsville City Council’s regularly scheduled meeting, members heard from the public about concerns regarding transportation access and utility costs in relation to the Pee Dee Regional Transportation Authority [PDRTA], and, cognizant of its upcoming vote on the fiscal year budget, the council focused discussion on key issues like staffing shortages in water and wastewater operations and the role of outside consulting in keeping the city compliant with state requirements.
Protecting Transit — PDRTA is needed
During public comment, one resident and regular rider warned that PDRTA is discussing limiting its bus schedules—particularly the “Cheraw Connect” route that links communities in Marlboro County with Northeastern Technical College in Cheraw.
“People need the bus. They need to get around,” the rider said, citing trips “for work, school … doctor’s appointments, and the hospital.” The speaker also stressed that for many residents, transit is “their only way of transportation.”
When it comes to utilities — the bill is in the mail!
Council also reviewed an agreement to lease equipment from the PAAC billing company to bring utility billing production in-house.
When asked by Councilwoman Caraline Harpe what the process of in-house billing would look like, City Administrator William Simon Jr. said the new system will allow the city to print, seal, and mail bills locally instead of having to rely on a third-party, out of state vendor, as the city currently does now. Simon pointed out this archaic practice causes a delay in bills reaching residents.
Councilman Tyrone R. Davis questioned the benefit the city might see from this change, and Simon reported an anticipated savings of roughly $1,100 per month, though he emphasized reliability over savings.
“Now, that’s not a huge savings, but what we’re after here is the control for the quality control of getting bills to citizens on time and being able to put information on the bills as we see fit. So, if there’s some additional information or other advertisements that we want to attach to the bill or include physically on the bill, we’re able to do that now with our software with our current vendor,” Simon said.
Councilwoman Wanda Weaver made a motion to approve the lease of equipment, allowing for in-house billing that will cost the city $277.89 a month in leasing fees; her motion seconded by Davis. The council voted unanimously to approve the lease.
Simon said he hopes to begin setting up the new equipment in May, with operations fully up and running by June.
Bond compliance: Consulting approved to avoid federal tax risk
Council also reviewed requirements tied to a 2022 tax-exempt bond, including IRS arbitrage rules that can require rebate payments if invested proceeds earn more than the bond’s interest rate.
Simon explained, “The IRS requires periodic arbitrage calculations every five years,” and he warned violations could lead the IRS “to declare the bond taxable,” which would “increase borrowing costs retroactively” and “damage the city’s creditworthiness.”
Simon added the recommendation came from the city’s bond attorney, saying, “It’s not a lot of money… but it can keep us out of trouble on the federal level.”
Making a motion, Councilwoman Harpe said, “I move that we allow the administrator to enter into this contract with AMTEC for financial consulting regarding the arbitrage process.” Harpe’s motion was seconded by Davis and the council voted to unanimously adopt the proposed contract.
Water and wastewater staffing gaps drive debate over outside help
Turnover and retirements have left critical roles unfilled, including leadership and supervisory positions that require credentials in the city’s utility department. What to do about these unfilled positions led to much discussion among council members.
“We had two key retirements to happen. One in our wastewater and one in water, the two guys at the top of those two different departments. So, we did lean on the consultant here to help us out on a temporary basis,” Simon said, continuing. “The dust has since then settled, and we found someone who is going to help us out on a part-time basis that’s going that has the credentials to at least sign off on our paperwork so that we stay compliant with the state and then we have advertised for all other positions to be filled.”
Simon also reminded the council the issue has been debated by members for over a year — analyzing the structure of the city’s water and wastewater departments for ways it can work better together.
“For some reason those departments were really broken up into several different smaller departments doing the same thing. And so, we are aligning those more where they can help us out so that the number of people is not the issue, it’s how they work that’s going to help us be effective. If you approve this, this will allow us to send that 30-day notice to Stevens Pump and LLC for the council list of the contract.”
When Councilman Cy’Heim McRae pushed back on what he believed were past consulting dollars wasted, Simon said he did not feel council wasted any money.
“I don’t feel like we’ve wasted a penny here because the consultants did a great job for us as of yesterday,” the administrator said. Simon added staffing constraints remain acute, because required licenses “would actually take a few years to get,” and “it takes a while to get those credentials.”
Following a lengthy back and forth discussion on the matter, Weaver made a motion for the council to cancel the wastewater services contract, seconded by McRae. The motion failed with Councilwoman Harpe voting with Mayor Pro Tem William Jennings Jr., Councilmen Davis and Councilman Gregory Scott Sr., keeping the contract in place.
Project funding
“It’s called project funding. We were issued a bond to the US Bank for $2.4 million that was meant to handle supplemental cost with the $10 million SKIP grant that we received some years ago,” Simon said. He added, “We have since then gotten through a lot of our SKIP projects. We’re actually at the very end. That deadline is this year and we’ve paid out 95—96% of our engineering costs. I think we’re making final payments now. And we anticipate having a balance of $1.7 million with that bond because that bond accrued interest over the three years that we had it.”
Simon said the bank stipulates money must be spent on utility improvement.
“You cannot spend it outside of utility improvements and you must spend it by the [November] deadline of the SKIP grant and so that’s where the dilemma is — these monies must be spent. However, the good thing about that is we have four ‘shovel ready’ projects I would call ready.”
Projects mentioned were the Cheraw Street Bridge and dam repair, along with electric meter installation. Council discussed the possibility of allocating about $1.4 million for citywide meter replacement, citing benefits like a reduction in manual reads and human error. A timeline for meter reader installation anticipates readers being in place within roughly three to four months.
Another “shovel-ready” project to be potentially covered by the SKIP grant discussed by council is bringing one of the wells back online, a move Simon estimated will cost approximately $180,000, but that he believes is imperative because he says it would increase the funding necessary for the city to again draw raw water from the lake.
After the discussion, Councilmen Davis and McRae advanced a motion to approve Simon’s recommendation to use the remaining SKIP monies on the four discussed “shovel-ready” projects, rather than returning the money to the federal government. The motion carried with all council members in favor of its passing.
Public safety administration: Annual DJJ agreement discussed
Council reviewed an annual memorandum of agreement with the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice [DJJ] related to its holding and transporting of juveniles. According to Bennettsville Police Chief Sammy Crosland, the city is always billed for juveniles held until their court date and the DJJ is increasing their fee throughout the state, leaving no way for any municipality to get around the added costs.
Public comment: Animal welfare, stray populations, and contracts
When hearing from residents, council listened to concerns about the tethering of animals and their outside shelters during bouts of extreme heat. One resident warned that “Peak exposure without shade or water can quickly become fatal.”
Another resident urged a more proactive approach to stray dogs and cat colonies, requesting council show “accountability and enforcement in a proactive approach.”
One speaker suggested council “Be careful in these contracts, these few utility charges … they’re just too much,” and suggested the city “check out your software” for potential billing issues.