At my monthly meeting held on August 26 (scheduled meetings are held the fourth Thursday of each month beginning at 4:00 p.m.) Sheriff Donnie Craig presented a report which was very informative and eye-opening.  The Sheriff’s Department has responded to over 26,000 calls this year routed to them thru our Pickens County 911 center, and the Sheriff gave some very interesting data concerning his department’s effort to reduce the response time for each call.  Sheriff Craig also reported that over 6,300 hours of training have been completed so far this year by personnel in the Sheriff’s Department.  I want to compliment Sheriff Craig for his leadership and his vision for law enforcement in Pickens County.

Several items of business were on my Agenda for August that I believe will be of importance to citizens.  After having to work and use as reference flood plain maps that were originally drawn in 1976, I am pleased to report that new flood plain maps are now available for Pickens County and the Resolution adopting these new maps was completed last week.  We have had numerous public hearings to review these new maps, but anyone who would like to view the new maps can do so at the Pickens County Planning and Development office.  If you should be a property owner located on a lake or pond or have a stream running thru your property, I would encourage you to locate your property on the maps and identify those areas that would be considered floodplain.  The participation of Pickens County and the adoption of a flood prevention ordinance enable our citizens to purchase flood insurance if they desire or possibly may be required by their lending institution.

I am also pleased to announce that we have expanded our land use district ordinance to add an additional zone in the residential area.  The newly created district will allow property owners and developers to split their property into minimum three acre lots if they so desire.  Under the previous version of the land use district ordinance the residential zone jumped from 1.5 acres to 10 acres with nothing in between.  This new zone will be a handy tool once development activity picks up again.

September has been designated as National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month and I would ask each of you that know someone or their family to encourage them to keep up their good work.  Addictions such as these have to be fought every single day, and encouragement and understanding can do wonders for those folks who are involved in those daily battles. 

Until the next time, stay safe and be healthy.