Fairfield County Council District 7 Constituent Newsletter

November 2015

Greetings, Resident of Fairfield County Council District 7,

I hope this newsletter finds you well; and I want you to know that I am very grateful to you for allowing me to serve
and represent you on Fairfield County Council. I take great pride in being your Council member, and I always take
this role very seriously.
When I sought out this responsibility, I committed to you that I would always do my very best to advance Council
transparency and to be as open with you as the law would allow. Since being sworn in as a member of Council, Ive
worked continually to live up to these promises, and I hope Ive done so satisfactorily. In an attempt to do even
better, Im going to begin periodically sending around newsletters like this one, out into the District. Since I cant
send the newsletters to every home in District 7, Ive randomly selected addresses to send them to. To maximize
the number of District 7 residents wholl have an opportunity to read the newsletter, Ill be posting a copy of it to
my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/smithforseven); and I hope youll help out by sharing it with your
neighbors, family, and friends, who live in District 7, as well. Your help is much appreciated!

FY 2015 - 2016 Budget Set: On June 8, County Council voted 4 - 3 to set the FY 2015 - 2016 General Fund
Budget at $27,003,068.29. Though I voted not to approve the budget, as I didnt think spending areas were
examined extensively enough to find additional cost savings, I do believe Council and Staff did a good job in
revamping the Countys overall budgeting process. For the first time in a long time, Council required Staff to
explain each individual line item in the budget, ensuring a more transparent and understandable budget as a
result. Another reason I voted not to approve the budget was because it included a $5 road maintenance fee
tack-on for every vehicle registered in the County. While I am not opposed to a road maintenance fee in theory,
I was not in favor of it in the context of the budget proposal, as, again, I didnt think enough had been done to
find savings in other spending areas.

Millage (Property Tax) Rate Lowered: At Councils September 28 meeting, a resolution was passed to lower
the Countys millage rate by 4.8 mills. I voted to approve the resolution, and am glad that Council was able to
lessen the property tax burden on our Countys home and business owners. While the savings dont amount to
a large sum of money for most of us, its that much more that well get to keep in our back pockets.

Portions of Recreation Plan Approved: On October 12, Council decided to move forward with recreation
projects in Winnsboro, Dawkins, and Mitford. Winnsboro will gain a new walking trail and the addition of
lighting at the Drawdy Park football and soccer field, while Dawkins and Mitford will soon be getting new
recreation and community centers. The Dawkins and Mitford parks will both have indoor half basketball courts
as well as outside walking trails. Council chose to move forward with these projects at a cost of $1,719,954.
They were originally included in a consultant-driven plan estimated to cost over $4,100,000, although the
County only had a total of $3,500,000 budgeted for recreation as part of a 2013 IPRB Bond. I voted to approve
moving forward with these projects, even though I was opposed to the overall plan, as I was glad Council was
able to come together and compromise on not pushing forward with the entire plan, which I considered to be
severely ill-conceived and what would have been a very poor use of taxpayer dollars without proper
opportunities for citizen input. While I do see and understand the need for more recreational opportunities in
some of our Countys outlying communities, I think the vast majority of Fairfield County residents would be
much better served to have one or two large, first class, multi-recreational facilities that could be enjoyed and
utilized by all.

Strategic Planning Started: County Council voted to move forward with a strategic planning effort at its
August 10 meeting. International company, T.Y. Lin will be assisting the County through the strategic planning
process, and the plan will take around a year to complete. The plan will be centered on and has the ultimate
goal of positively positioning Fairfield County to take advantage of the regional growth expected in the coming
decade, structuring community and infrastructure improvement action plans for implementation. The planning
process will include a minimum of 6 public input-gathering meetings, and I hope you will be able to attend at
least one, and share your thoughts with the planning team. I voted to approve moving forward with the
strategic plan, and I will do my best to get the word out on when and where the public input-gathering
meetings will be.

Council Seeking Permanent Administrator: Since July 2013, Fairfield County has been without a permanent
full-time County Administrator, and has operated under an Interim Administrator ever since. On October 12,
Council voted to procure the services of an administrative search and recruitment firm to help us in finding a
good, qualified person to fill this role. I voted to approve this measure, as the County Administrator position is
arguably the most important job within Fairfield Countys government, and we need stability in this role. I can
assure you that I will do my very best in helping Fairfield County find and select the best possible candidate for
this position.

Employee Performance Evaluations Being Conducted: To my surprise, after I was sworn in as a member of
Council, I came to find that the County hadnt conducted any performance evaluations on its employees in
quite a few years. Actually, a member of staff once told me he couldnt remember the last time performance
evaluations had been conducted. I shared this news with some of the other Council members and, after
discussions on the matter with Administrative Staff, employee performance evaluations are now being
conducted for all County employees on an annual basis. Fairfield County has a lot of very good and talented
employees, and I greatly appreciate their service to our citizens, but theres always room for improvement; and
we should now be able to better and more expeditiously improve our County services by knowing what areas
to focus and provide further employee training on.

Coming Vacancy on Behavioral Health Services Board: District 7 will soon have an appointment vacancy on
Fairfield Countys Behavioral Health Services board, and Ill need to find a District resident to fill that role. Since
the Behavioral Health Services board is currently on a mission of improvement through expansion, I'm looking
to bring someone to the board who has a strong desire to help others, who believes in rehabilitative services,
and who understands fiscal responsibility and its importance and role in successful planning and goal
attainment. Please let me know if you're interested in this role or if you know of someone who may be. To
learn more about Fairfield County Behavioral Health Services, please visit www.fairfieldbhs.org.

Thank you for taking the time to read over this newsletter! If you have any questions or concerns about something
in this newsletter, or about anything else, ever, please dont hesitate to contact me by email at
wbsmithj.fcc@gmail.com or by phone at (803) 718-3877. To ensure you will receive all future communications,
please email me your contact information.
It is truly my pleasure to represent and serve you on Fairfield County
Council, and I very much appreciate your continued support!
Please remember to share this newsletter.

Together, Lets Move Fairfield Forward!