The Summerton Town Council convened for a regularly scheduled meeting on Feb. 13. It was the first meeting held since the sudden death of Mayor Tony Junious last month. As Darion Canty, Mayor Pro Tem, sat in the center seat, he seemed overwhelmed by the absence of his colleague and friend.
“It’s just very hard sitting up here tonight ... it’s been a rough couple weeks for us, but we managed to press on and move forward. So, thank each and every one of you for being here tonight,” Canty said.
The meeting was called to order, the invocation was read by Councilman James Lloyd, and the notification to media was confirmed. Before the pledge of allegiance, Councilman Keith Bowman asked for a moment of silence for Junious. Canty also addressed the crowd regarding his future career plans.
“I’ll be here until the April special election, until whoever decides to put their name in the hat for mayor. It will not be me. Tonight, actually, is going to be my last night [at council].” Canty explained that he was offered an opportunity to further his career in healthcare and accepted the position. He expressed his gratitude to the town of Summerton for allowing him to serve. “It’s been a great two years for me to sit here on this council. Along with all my council members and the late mayor, we’ve done a lot of great things in this town.” Canty ended his remarks with his hopes that the town continues to honor the late mayor’s vision for progress.
After this announcement, a representative of the Lighthouse Foundation addressed council about the foundation’s Juneteenth Festival. The foundation is requesting permission to hold the festival on Wednesday, Jun. 19 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Railroad Avenue in Summerton, just as they did last year. A corresponding parade would travel through the downtown area at 4:30 p.m., starting at Fourth Street to Duke Street, coming down Larry King Highway and then from the highway to Main Street. The festival will include a pageant to be held on Jun. 1. Girls aged four to 18 are encouraged to participate. Both the pageant and the festival are in need of sponsors and any interested persons can contact the foundation to donate or place an advertisement in the pageant booklet.
Next on the agenda was departmental reports. To begin, Anthony Smith from Public Works, or maintenance, spoke regarding hedging and trimming around town, fixing various water leaks, and pumping flooded areas. “Basically, everything is coming together. One day at a time,” Smith explained.
Canty asked how many outstanding leaks remained and Smith was hopeful that the one remaining leak near the Golden Dragon, a Chinese restaurant on Main St., would be fixed by the end of that week. Smith was also directed by council to trim a large hedge around a stop sign near the Lake Marion
Animal Clinic as the hedge was obstructing the view of drivers.
After Smith, Water and Sewer’s Operator, Joey Oliver, presented. Oliver submitted a printed report to
council but expanded on the report after Bowman asked for an update on the water pumps. Oliver explained that the submersible pump has been installed and is working “fine.” He added that the well at Polly’s Landing campground is also operational.
Chief Donnell Dixon spoke third and offered information regarding traffic violations and service calls
numbers. Bowman asked to be reminded how many full-time officers the town has, to which Dixon responded with six. Dixon later clarified that there are four full-time officers, one part-time officer, and an officer awaiting training. Dixon also confirmed that the department now has six body cameras for their officers.
Before moving onto the Administrative Department report, Bowman did speak to council and Chief
Dixon with his thoughts on supporting the police department. Bowman expressed that while most council meetings tend to focus on the town’s water situation, he believes the police department also needs attention. “I understand we need fresh, clean water but at the same time, we need to make sure that our police department has the right tools to make sure they can do their job effectively ... just like
we found the money for the water department, we need to come up with the money to fund the police department.” Bowman ended his comments by thanking Dixon and his officers for the “good job” they did managing security and traffic logistics for Mayor Junious’ funeral.
The recently hired Town Administrator, Kenneth Geathers, was the last to deliver his report. As this was
his first official council meeting, Geathers took the time to introduce himself and offer his insights on Summerton’s potential and his management approach. “You have a very beautiful community. It’s a good balance of mixed use. You’ve got tremendous potential to grow your commercial footprint, to establish some levels, some kind of neighborhood development and you got good housing stock. So,
from what I’ve seen, I’m impressed. You got a conscientious staff of professionals who care about doing a good job. And it’s a work in progress, right? It’s a marathon, not a sprint. People are learning and growing. And my management style is a bit different. It’s not micro, it’s macro. Once I kind of get a direction from elected officials, I set the context and I get out of the way.”
After the departmental reports and before Finance Director Shantell Moses submitted the finance
report, Geathers clarified how Moses will be presenting the report in the upcoming meetings. Currently, Moses has been presenting a simple cash balance report, but Geathers has instructed her to give a full budget breakdown because “it’s more instructive to see where you’re at in the budget every month.”
Because Moses had been receiving differing feedback from council members on what information should be included in the report, Geathers commended her for trying to accommodate everyone’s needs while still learning what’s to be expected going forward. He prefaced her report with a disclaimer, “it’s an imperfect document ... and we’re going to show what was allotted and where you’re at for the month of January.”
Moses then reported the following: the general fund balance is currently $42, 539.26. The Water and Sewer’s previous balance was $50,349.09 and its current balance is $62,123. The payroll’s previous balance of $7,330.09 with a current balance of $5,957.59. Fines and Bonds previous balance was $90,038.35 with a current balance of $64,156.72. Lastly, the Victim’s Rights Fund had a previous balance of $12,522.91 and that current balance is $12,366.63.
Before moving onto old business, three topics were listed on the agenda concerning old business; discussion of the council retreat, discussion of tiny homes, and discussion of technology bid. It is unclear if council seemed hesitant to plan a retreat due to scheduling conflicts or the mayor’s untimely death, but they were urged to at least set aside one day to determine the budget for 2024 and participate in training. Council agreed to set a
date during executive session.
The discussion on tiny homes was tabled due to the council needing to review additional information
regarding the ordinances needed to build such homes in Summerton.
Next, the council moved onto new business and granted the Town Administrator to enter an agreement and sign any and all documents with Southern Fiber Construction and Management Co. The other matter of new business was an authorization for the Town Administrator to apply for a grant with the USDA for police cars with up to a 20 percent match. This grant would allow Geathers to research additional means for funding the police department.
After the council granted the application for the USDA grant, they made a motion to enter into executive session. The agenda stated that the discussion would be regarding employment, appointment, compensation, promotion, demotion, discipline, or release of an employee, a student, or a person regulated by a public body or the appointment of a person to a public body (Section 30-4-70 (A)(1)). As well as a second discussion concerning Section 30-4-70 (A)(2), which refers to negotiations incident to proposed contractual arrangements, discussions of a proposed sale or purchase of property, receipt of legal claims or discussion of the public agency’s position in adversary situations, discussion about development of security personnel or devices. There were no motions made on these discussions.
The Summerton Town Council holds their regular meeting on the second Tuesday of each month.
