Lloyd resigns from Lamar Town Council
By Samantha Lyles, Staff Writer, slyles@newsandpress.net
Lamar Town Council member Mike Lloyd turned in his resignation at Council’s August 14 regular meeting, citing personal reasons following the recent passing of his wife. Lloyd served almost 20 years on Council, including nearly three full terms in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and then from 2008 to the present.
Lloyd’s primary responsibility for the past several years has been the town’s water department, which was hit hard in February of 2016 when South Carolina DHEC shut down the second of Lamar’s two water wells due to trace radium detection.
The Town of Lamar has been purchasing all of its municipal water from the Darlington County Water and Sewer Authority (DCWSA), and Lloyd has worked steadily to find and repair multiple leaks that cost the town thousands in unbilled water losses.
Lamar is currently pursuing a loan/grant package to finance nearly $3 million in repairs and updates for its municipal water system. The project would address several key system needs, including building a new water treatment plant at a cost of $1.2 million, painting and upgrading two water towers at a cost of nearly $500,000, sinking a new 250 GPM (gallons per minute) well for $362,700, and replacing dated and unreliable water meters with new RF (radio frequency) models.
The water tower rehab project is funded by SC Rural Infrastructure Authority and Lloyd said at the August 14 meeting that engineering ground work has begun at both towers. He noted that the project could take up to one year to complete.
Lloyd had a spot of good news to share: a resident discovered a massive water leak on his property and reported it to Town Hall. Repairs were made to the broken ¾ inch line, which Lloyd estimated was dumping 15,000 to 20,000 gallons per day into a ditch. The savings from fixing this leak will be fully reflected on the town’s next water bill from DCWSA, but even a partial month’s bill shows a huge difference.
“We saved 235,000 gallons of water over the month before, which was about a $655 savings,” said Lloyd. “We have made a big hit on the water losses…right now, it’s repaired and the numbers are looking excellent.”
He said the estimated monthly savings of around 600,000 gallons should deeply cut into the 1 million gallons of unbilled losses the town incurs each month.
Also at this meeting, citizen Inez Lee spoke about stormwater flooding problems around Pearl Street and Davis Street. She offered thanks for the town’s efforts to clear a blocked ditch near her mother’s home, and asked if there is any way citizens and the town can team up to help ease the problem of clogged ditches and standing water at multiple locations around Lamar.
Mayor Randy Reynolds said that many of the troublesome ditches were dug by Darlington County and subsequently covered over the years at the request of property owners who objected to the appearance, odor, or liability presented by open ditches. He added that covering the ditches might improve aesthetics, but it can seriously impair their drainage function.
Reynolds suggested Lee and other concerned citizens meet with Council member Angele White Bradley and form a committee, which could then lobby Darlington County Council to deploy some heavy equipment and manpower to clear up some of the major problem ditches.
“If we as a town make a presentation or go to the County Council meeting and say, ‘Hey, you all dug some ditches, they are stopped up, and we’re stuck. Our citizens are complaining and we don’t have the equipment or the wherewithal to know where the ditches are and dig them out,’” said Bradley. “We can’t do anything. We don’t know where (the county ditches) are and we can’t dig them.”
Bradley planned to meet with citizens on Wednesday, August 23 at Town Hall to discuss specific problem drainage areas and determine a course of action on the matter.