BAMBERG - The Rev. Rufus Jamison of Denmark is sick and tired of the "mule and buggy roads" in and around his neighborhood and came to the Bamberg County Council meeting Monday night for answers.

Jamison charged that roads, particularly McKenna Road and Grassy Road, should be better maintained, including placing drainage lines on them.

"You go down there and have to wait on a level place before you can even let another car pass by. It should not be. It's your responsibility to keep all bushes back and keep the road clear. You never seen anybody build a house that didn't have s.jpg," Jamison said. "That's the same thing with a road."

It was during a meeting in August 2007 that council instructed County Administrator Rose Dobson-Elliott to write a letter to Jamison regarding his request to have Grassy Road and Salley Road adopted into the county's road maintenance system.

While Jamison had been under the impression the roads could be grandfathered in, the letter stated council would not include the roads until the mandatory (50-foot) easement requirements are met under county ordinance rules.

"That's because we have to have that much width ... to operate the equipment and do the things that we have to do on a road," Bamberg County Council Chairman Chris Wilson said. "Now there are some roads that have been in the system that may not meet that, but roads ... have to come in through the new ordinance."

While McKenna Road is already in the county maintenance system, Dobson-Elliott said there remains the problem of one resident's driveway which sits along McKenna but "is not a county road."

The council ultimately referred the matter to its public safety committee, which will meet with Jamison at 5:30 p.m. Monday, March 10 before the regularly scheduled council meeting at 6 p.m. The committee will then bring their recommendation to council, which will vote to determine what to do - or not do - with the roads.

"That way you (Jamison) will get some answer. It might not be the one you want, but you'll get some answer," Wilson said.

In other business, Bamberg County Hospital and Nursing Center Administrator Warren Hammett reported the executive profit and loss summary for December. He said an operating loss of $332,417 was considerably less than the operating loss of $522,000 recorded in November.

Patient revenue is 18 percent under budget, at $953,000, and there is also a net revenue loss of $458,000, Hammett said.

"Our expenses are under budget by six percent, $148,000. That gave us an operating loss of $309,000," he said, noting that salaries are also down $89,000 from December 2006 following a reduction in staff.

"We thought our target would be right at $100,000 with the reduction in personnel that we had, so we're right at it. We had increased patient days in ... December ... so there were some additional costs from that standpoint," he said.

In other business, the Bamberg County Council:

* Approved the following standing committee appointments for 2008: Executive and Finance -- Chris Wilson, chairman; Clair P. Guess III and Dorothy C. Tatum; Personnel -- the Rev. Isaiah Odom, chairman; Clint Carter and Alzena Robinson; Planning -- Guess, Odom and Tatum; Public Safety -- Robinson, chairman; Guess and Carter; Solid Waste/Recycling -- William Nimmons, chairman; Robinson and Carter.

* Appointed Mary Lillian Bamberg from District 4 to the Bamberg County Library Board.

* Heard a report from Dobson-Elliott that the county secured a considerable amount of grant funding in February. Bamberg County Fire Coordinator Brenna Hancock has snagged $150,000 in state grant funding for the Clear Pond, Bamberg, Ehrhardt, Little Swamp and Hunter's Chapel fire departments, she said. The money will be used for firefighting equipment. Dobson-Elliott also announced that the Bamberg County Litter Board has been awarded a 2008 Community Pride Grant totaling $6,000. The Bamberg County Sheriff's Department was also awarded a grant to purchase equipment for litter control enforcement, she said.

* Was introduced to Bamberg native Thomas Thomas, who will replace retiring Bamberg County Finance Director Booker Patrick. Thomas is an 1985 graduate of Bamberg-Ehrhardt High School who received his bachelor of science degree in accounting from South Carolina State University. He was previously employed with the Bamberg Job Corps Center for 17 years as the administrative supervisor. "I'm glad to be here and look forward to learning about Bamberg County," Thomas said.

* Heard from Wilson that he was pleased with the administrator's efforts in cleaning up the U.S. 301 entrance leading into Bamberg from Allendale. "It had gone to pot," he said, but the elimination of overgrowth, bad lighting and inadequate landscaping has greatly improved the unsightly area, Wilson said.

* Wilson reported that the county received a letter from Charlotte, N.C.-based GEM Management Inc. which has developed Ehrhardt Place Apartments located at 385 Mille Springs Road in Ehrhardt. The one-bedroom apartments are financed through Rural Development and have low-income housing tax credits through the South Carolina State Housing Finance and Development Authority targeting low- to moderate-income tenants age 62 and over, or persons with disabilities. For more information, individuals can contact the office from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 803-267-2228. GEM Management can be contacted directly by phone at 704-357-6000 or TDD/TTY 800-735-2905.

T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5534. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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