Representatives from Orangeburg County organizations made pitches for more money to lawmakers Monday night.

Orangeburg County Council on Aging, State Retirees Association and Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College representatives appeared before the six-member legislative delegation during its quarterly meeting in Orangeburg County Council Chambers.

OCtech President Dr. Anne Crook provided delegates with an overview of the college's plans to construct a two-phase transportation and logistics center as well as an advanced and emerging technology center.

The planned transportation and logistics center will house the college's current and future transportation programs and possibly automotive programs. The classes and programs are scattered throughout the campus. The facility will be located in the lower rear part of the campus near Cook Road.

Phase 1 of the project will house the college's programs on refrigerated tanker repair, truck driving components, forklift repair, mecatronics, computer lab and welding, fabrication and industrial maintenance.

Crook said the college will need about $800,000 in state funding for the first phase, which she says is down about $500,000 from the original estimate.

Currently, the college has received $1.5 million in federal money, $200,000 in state money and $2 million from college funds, for a total of $3.7 million. The cost of the first phase is estimated to be $5 million.

In phase II, the college plans to provide space for paint and body, automotive and machine shop programs. The estimated cost for this phase is about $4.5 million.

Crook said the college needs to start phase 2 of the project by December or it would lose about $1.5 million in federal support. Congressman James Clyburn has set aside earmarked funds for the project and some grant monies from the National Science Federation of about $800,000, she said.

Crook said the construction of the facility is based on the intent of Dubai World subsidiary Jafza International to locate near the Santee area in the future.

Other funding and support requests from Crook related to the technical college system, with the top priority being $58 million for Lottery Tuition Assistance to help with the increasing amount of students eligible to receive the assistance.

Crook said if the colleges can receive $58 million rather than on a needs-based funding formula, it would bring about $12 to $13 million to the technical college system.

She said if the $58 million was funded, OCtech would get an additional $1 million rather than the $300,000 to $500,000 under the needs-based funding.

She also requested legislators support the Statewide Enterprise Campus Model legislation, which would allow technical colleges to enter into private partnerships that would allow industry and business incubators to co-locate on OCtech property. Midlands Technical College and Trident Technical College both already have this model, Crook said.

Also during the meeting, Orangeburg County Council on Aging Director Sheryl Cartwright asked for $2.9 million in recurring funds to help support and serve the organization's 5,200 seniors.

Mary Beth Fields, Triple A coordinator for Aging Services with the Lower Savannah Council of Governments, said it was crucial for the monies to be recurring to keep service operating and costs low.

She said if the $2.9 is not received, senior meal costs will increase by 5 percent.

"It is a small investment with a great output," Fields said.

Dr. Oscar Butler of the State Retirees Association encouraged lawmakers to support health care insurance funding.

"We have not had to increase the co-pay for our medical needs," he said.

Retired educator Kermit McCarter said it was important to provide public money for public schools and not for private education.

"There is nothing wrong with private education," McCarter said, noting that his son benefited from a private school education because a public school did not have the courses his son needed. "But historically, ... if you did not use a public school, you pay for a private education. Only in recent years, did the private school people ... say, 'Oh, we need public money to do a better job.' That is fine, let them raise their tuition."

In other business:

* Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce President David Coleman presented preliminary data from a survey of 425 chamber members. Some issues members strongly supported included infrastructure funding for Jafza International, funding for rural development, an increase in the cigarette tax to the Southeast average of about 37 cents and a state immigration law to standardize legislation.

Chamber members were strongly opposed for tolls on highways, he said. About 25 percent to 30 percent of surveys have been returned.

* The delegation voted to review various Parks and Recreation Department applications submitted.

* Cobb-Hunter encouraged any towns that want a project funded to contact Ruby Sanders, delegation administration assistant, before the next delegation meeting in April.

* The delegation heard from a concerned resident about the time, date and general publicity for the meeting.

Delegates said they will look into the possibility of moving the meeting to 6 p.m. instead of the 5 p.m. start so more people may be able to attend.

T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5551. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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