The Beaufort County Finance, Administration, and Economic Development Committee met Monday, March 16, followed by the Public Facilities Committee. Below are some agenda highlights from each meeting.

Finance Report
County Chief Financial Officer Pinky Harriott gave an update on general fund expenditures and enterprise funds during the first quarter of the year. She noted that spending in some departments is below previous years, while ad valorem tax collections are ahead of previous years. Watch her presentation here.

Presentation of Options to fund USCB's Convocation Center
USCB is requesting $47 million in matching funds for the project. Four funding options were proposed. A motion was made to choose Option 4; the vote failed 4-4. This item moves to full Council with a committee recommendation to deny. Watch the presentation of options and discussion here.

Agenda Items

The committee voted to move the following ordinances and one contract forward to full Council for discussion and a vote:

• reallocating American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to projects already in progress
• authorizing the County Administrator to execute documents and provide funding to purchase property at 641 Sea Island Parkway 
• reallocating funds previously appropriated for Daufuskie Island Ferry embarkation points to Sun City Joint Fire/EMS Station #39
• approve a contract amendment for construction of Sun City Joint Fire/EMS Station #39

Watch the full Finance, Administration, and Economic Development Committee meeting.

2018 Sales Tax Quarterly Update
Bryan Bauer, Director, County Engineering Department and Jennifer Bragg, J. Bragg Consulting, 2018 One Center Sales Tax Program Manager gave project updates. The Two public meetings have been scheduled: March 26 to discuss the Broad River Sidewalk Project and  April 2 to discuss the US 21 Corridor on Lady's Island. 2018 Penny project updates included Lady's Island Airport Road Right of Way acquisition, Hazel Farm Road/Gay Drive Right of Way acquisition, and Lady's Island Middle School access road.

Presentation of Energy Initiatives in County Facilities
Frank Stroncheck, County Facilities Director introduced Billy Blackburn of Harris Controls. As a long time County-approved vendor, Harris Controls was hired as energy consultants to help with energy initiatives that would reduce usage and cost. Last year the County saved upwards of $100,000 due to the initiatives.

Agenda Items

Contract approvals:

• To APAC Atlantic for a 9 year resurfacing project
• A task order to Kimley Horn for design services for a right turn lane on Lady's Island Drive to Ribaut Road
• To Mead & Hunt for Buckwalter Intersection improvement, design and permitting
• To Stantec Consulting Services for Beaufort County 2018 Sales Tax project US 21 Design and Engineering Services Projects
• To Davis & Floyd for Beaufort County 2018 Sales Tax project Lady's Island Access Road Design & Engineering Services Project
• To Nix Construction for design services for Daufuskie Island Frances Jones Park Community Center

All contracts were voted on and passed unanimously.

To watch the Public Facilities Committee Meeting, click here.

Note: this is a selection of items from the Council Committee Meeting Agendas. To watch the meeting in its entirety, download the agenda and packet, view minutes and more, please visit www.beaufortcountysc.gov. 

Looking for more details or a specific item not covered in this release? Check out BCTV for full meeting recordings, agendas, and other details! BCTV can be found on cable channels Comcast - channel 2; Sparklight- channel 9 and 113; Spectrum - channel 1304. BCTV also streams live on ROKU and Amazon Fire.