Mr Chairman and County Council Members, I am writing this to you because of my concern with the way you are conducting business. I think most of my concerns need to be made public, but I will wait to see what council can do to address them. Just within the last couple of years, as I have followed most of the council meetings, I have noticed that there are only a few council members fighting for the people of the county while trying to protect and spend the funds in a better way. I will list a few of the issues that I have noticed which should raise the level of concern for its citizens. I have been asked by several people to come to the meetings, but I must admit that I am not the type of person that can sit and not speak against things that I think are 100 percent stupid. This letter may not be politically correct, but should convey my message nonetheless.
My concerns are as follows:
1) Only a couple members of council seem to care about spending money that we do not have!
2) It is obvious that the remaining council members are truly power hungry and refuse to listen to their colleagues or even their constituents because it does not fit their agenda.
3) Also, you have the members that are there just to fill a spot; they are nothing but “YES” people who have no guts to stand on their own.
These are just a few items that I have noticed. The more I look around this county, money is being spent in very ridiculous ways, and if someone gets mad at this statement then it is meant for them because they are the problem. As you and a few others may know, I try to be very active in the community and although I am not a politician, I will just tell you like I see it.
I am involved with the baseball program here in the county, but I for one would truly like to know why the county spent money on the purchase of flood property in which the prospective plans are to put a boardwalk instead of taking that money to finish several of the projects already taking place within the county.
Example: We have lost four ball fields on Wildwood Road with the removal of the old Wateree Elementary School, so the ball programs suffer from that loss. Then over a year ago, they took bids and construction was started on the replacement of a field located off of Hwy. 1 in Lugoff behind Hunters Crossing housing area. Now looking at the site, it is very obvious that only one field will have lights, and none of the fields in Kershaw County have scoreboards.
It is also very clear that the majority of council refused to construct a building between the fields including a tower which would be used to house scorekeepers so that tournaments can be held at that location, and fields could possibly be rented out to bring in more revenue to offset the total cost.
The ballfields were approved prior to the purchase of the other property mentioned before, yet the ballfields still were ignored because the majority of council are either too old, too fat, or just too lazy to be involved with the children of the community. As I see it, the majority of this council wants the boardwalk so that they can walk up and down the river regardless of what the children want.
Yes, I can say this because I am almost 70 years old, but I still fight for our children and future generations because they deserve opportunities to keep them off of the street and involved in something that will keep them fit.
They do not deserve the huge debt that the majority of council has put this county in: a $17.2 million bond that was passed in 2015 would cost the taxpayers of this county $30 million over the next 30 years, and has had little to no success since it has been enacted.
As best as I can tell, the majority of council needs to be replaced because they have been in place far too long and continue to prove they are not for the community, but are only for themselves and what they want. I say it is time to stop excessive spending, pay off some of the bills the majority of council has created, and get this county in a better place. This county has grown so much in the last 10 years, and we should be sitting in a great place, but this council has proven that nothing can be done in this county that is above and beyond.
The small town of Andrews has a baseball/softball complex that is one of the best in the state, and we can not even come close to what they have because the majority of this county council has their priorities in the wrong place. Lugoff is approximately four times the size of Andrews, yet we have far less than they do.
Please explain this. I would love to see these issues addressed and if not, I will vote against the county council members that have created this debt and supported these pork projects. In the process, I will convince as many others as I can to not vote for those council members as they will need to be replaced.
Allan Judy, Lugoff
