By Betsy Finklea
The Dillon County Transportation Committee met on Thursday, May 8th and heard from two Dillon County citizens.
Members present included Chairman Stacey Griffin, E.L. Ford, Billy Powers, Russell Nelson, Tommy Smith, Freddie Jackson, Jimmy Meekins, and Earl Gleason, Jr. Also present were Melissa Thompson of the Dillon County GIS office, Mitchell Carter of SCDOT, and Dillon County Administrator Clay Young.
Randy Goings, a Dillon County Councilman, was the first to address the committee. He said he had been getting calls about the way the committee has been paving and resurfacing roads. He said he was there to make sure it is being done fairly.
Goings asked who was responsible for the Newtown area, and when anyone had been down to the area to look at the roads. Griffin said he was responsible; but later it was noted that Lisa Bethea, who was not present, represented the area.
Griffin said they had paved dirt roads and resurfaced roads, and that they just haven’t forgotten the area.
Goings said a few roads may have been hit where the bus travels. “You need to come look,” said Goings. “We’re not being dealt fairly.”
Griffin said the committee is getting blamed for not doing this and that. He said he got a call a couple of weeks ago about a road he thought qualified, but later found out it didn’t. He said everything is not perfect, and they make errors.
Goings said they need to get someone to come and look at the roads. He said some have not been touched in 35 years.
Goings said when he was at a previous meeting he was told they can’t take in subdivisions. He asked what they called a private subdivision. Griffin said they have a list that they use to see if roads qualify. Griffin told Goings that he and 500 other people could not do a better job than what they were doing.
Griffin said Goings was referring to a private road. Goings said anybody can drive in.
Melissa Thompson of GIS said a plat is filed and a name is given to a subdivision.
Goings said he knew of an area that was paved, and it was a subdivision – Rosewood. Thompson said she did not disagree. She said they were trying to get it online so people can look.
“What do I tell the people in my district?,” Goings asked.
Griffin said that it costs about $135,000 a mile to pave a dirt road, and the committee gets about $750,000 a year. Griffin said the law requires that at least 25 percent of the money go to resurfacing.
Griffin said the problem is that they do not have funds. Griffin said these people will “never, never get roads paved. They will never, never get roads resurfaced until we get a one cent sales tax and have it on for five, six, or seven years.”
“We don’t have money to work with,” said Griffin.
Goings said he was asking that they deal fairly with everyone and go through and look at the roads. He said every now and then that they may can do some of them. Goings said that he wanted them to disburse the money evenly. These people pay taxes too, he said, and they have got to do what is right. He presented a list of roads that he would like considered. Griffin told goings he should push for a one cent tax.
Zina Manning was the next citizen to address the committee. She said that she had talked with Chairman Griffin and County Administrator Young. She said she would like to take her hat off to Griffin for going into depths with her and answering her questions. She was there about Cardinal and Canary Roads in the Oakland area. She said if she had funds she would move to a paved road. She said these roads do not even have rock. She said the mud is ridiculous, and the clay made it worse. Manning said after talking with Griffin they did get some sand. She said that she is told where she lives is a subdivision. She said they want the roads paved, but they don’t want any clay whatsoever because it is messing up their cars. She said when it rains, they have a problem. Manning said they would take rocks. She said they needed something so their cars were not fishtailing. Manning showed some photos she had taken. Young said he would take a look at it. Griffin said, “See Ms. Manning, you’re getting some results here … We’re going to help you.”
Manning said she would appreciate anything you can do. Young said he would send somebody to help.
Griffin told her that they needed her to help push the one cent sales tax because he said that this is the only way they will have funds.
After Manning’s remarks, Griffin made some remarks about what he and the committee had done. “Perdue. I got it and put the roads there. The cement poured, I got it,” Griffin said. “Signode. We put it there,” said Griffin. “Who put Harbor Freight there? We did,” Griffin said. He said they put in the 48 places in the parking lot behind the Gibson Building.
“We got all the jobs. Frank Ellerbe never got nothing. Gene Butler never got nothing,” said Griffin, who said he had given his life to it.
The committee then went on to discuss driveways. There was a list of places where roads had been paved, someone built a house, and they wanted a driveway put in. The cost is about $23,000-$24,000. Freddie Jackson said if they can get the financing to get them all done.
Griffin said he had received several telephone calls since the article he put in the newspaper.
Griffin said he got 16 calls – 14 were private roads and subdivisions, and two were eligible to be paved.
Griffin noted that they had gotten the right of way and drainage easements and they were letting out bids on the paving at Lucky Run in Latta.
Griffin talked about some resurfacing that was needed at the Dillon Recreation Park because a state championship is to be held here. He said that he had someone look at it, but he was told it would not qualify. Young said they were looking at some PARD recreation funds for this. Griffin said they were not giving up. They were doing everything they could do to help this county.
Griffin said they were not going to be able to be done unless the petitions are signed and they were not.
Griffin then went back to Goings’ appearance at the meeting. He said he wants to do what is the right thing. He said he does not appreciate a county councilman coming in “with this crap.” He said it would never get done without a one cent sales tax.
Griffin then went over the financial statement. He said the funds they received were down. Jackson said gas prices were so high that people are having to be conservative so they should be thankful for what they got.
Griffin then said that “we ain’t got nothing to work with.” He said they were going to do the right thing, and everything they do is for the right thing. “Stacey Griffin never put ten cents on a private road,” he said.
At the end of the meeting, Thompson said all of Goings’ complaints on his list were paved roads. E.L. Ford said some roads have been paved a long time and have not been resurfaced.
Griffin said he (Goings) can’t say that they we’re not in the area. “Talk is cheap,” he said.
Shortly after, the meeting concluded.
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The Dillon County Transportation  Committee meets the second Thursday of the month at 8:30 a.m. at the Dillon  County Council Chambers.