These are the minutes of the Latta Town Council:
REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING OF THE LATTA TOWN COUNCIL
March 12, 2015-7:00 PM
The Latta Town Council held a regular meeting at 7:00 p.m.on Thursday March 12, 2015. The following were present: Council members Taylor, Shelley, Drawhorn, Mason, Williams, Reaves, and Bullard. Mayor Pro-Tern Mason called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance; Councilwoman Williams offered the prayer.
Mayor Bullard said the numbers we owed the IRS need to be put into the minutes and how much it was going to cost for Webster Rogers needs to be dollar amounts put in the minutes. He also stated that everything that they ask for dollar amounts need to be put in minutes so in the future we can look back in the minutes to see.
Motion was made by Councilwoman Williams with changes made by Mayor Earl Bullard and seconded by Councilman Drawhorn.
It was unanimously approved by roll call vote of the council.
Special Council Meeting on February 19, 2015. Motion was made by Councilmen Drawhorn and Seconded by Councilwoman Williams. It was unanimously approved by roll call vote of the council.
Special Council Meeting on February 24, 2015. Mayor Bullard and Councilman Reaves names were mistakenly left off of the meeting. Motion was made by Mayor Bullard with changes made and seconded by Councilwoman Williams.
It was unanimously approved by roll call vote of the council.
Special Council Meeting on March 5, 2015: Motion was made by Councilman Drawhorn and seconded by Councilwoman Williams.
It was unanimously approved by roll call vote of the council.
Report
(This report was given by Judge Janette Dupree.)
The first packet I give every month breaks down the total of closed cases for the month. I have been employed with the town since August 2010. I am the Municipal Clerk of Court, Judge/ Secretary. The second thing I want to draw to your attention is the municipal job description. There are several things that I do and here is a list of all the things that I do.
Municipal Court Judge
Job Description
1. Open and process all mail which requires locating the case and posting the payment, running receipts and mailing notice of withdrawal if applicable.
2. Separate traffic citations and file by court date.
3. Listen to individuals situations and advise or determine whether or not legal action can be taken.
4. Type, print and sign all Warrants and Courtesy Summons.
5. Transmit all Warrants that are out of Municipal Court jurisdiction to General Sessions which requires certified copies of all charging documents, bond paper and incident reports be placed along with a transmittal list be clocked at the Dillon Clerk of Court and then given to the Latta Police Department.
6. Print dockets for pending Municipal court date.
7. Hear all Traffic and Criminal court.
8. Fill out and sign off on all traffic citations after court. If the case is reduced, all copies have to be stamped front and back and certified with an original signature.
9. Take and post payments from walk-ins and run receipts.
10. Run financial reports and make deposits.
11.Run traffic citation transmittals and mail to DMV at least twice a month.
12. Bond Court: Notify victims, set Bonds, fill out all bond forms, check lists, preliminary hearing requests and take pleas at the jail for all defendants detained at the jail by Latta Police Department.
13. Take all phone calls for the court.
14. Type, print and sign all Commitments.
15. Type, print and sign all Bench Warrants
16. Code dispositions of all cases in Lawtrak.
17. Schedule and hear all Preliminary Hearings which requires sending out notices to the Solicitor, defendants, their attorney (if they have one) and to the charging officer.
18. Schedule jury drawings, which requires running the jury pool, sending out letters to the potential jurors, the defendants, their attorney’s (if applicable), and notifying the arresting officers.
19. Schedule and hear jury trials once jurors have been drawn.
20. Print, stuff, stamp and mail all NRVCs (Notices of non-paid traffic violations)
21. Print and mail all Notices of Suspensions (Notices sent to DMV when individuals do not pay after NRVC notice)
22. Print and mail all Notices of Withdrawals (Verification to DMV that an individual has paid their citation)
23. Issue Subpoenas
24. Issue Search Warrants
25. File all traffic citations, Warrants, Commitments, Courtesy Summons, Bench Warrants, reports, dockets and deposits (originals and copies) after they have been disposed of in the system.
26. Issue refund checks when applicable.
27. Run month end financial report, check off and verify all closed cases and issue check to Clerk Treasurer along with a copy of that report.
28. Submit electronic monthly report to the State of South Carolina.
29. Type letters, make copies, fax.
30. Key in traffic tickets as needed.
31. Print Criminal History as needed.
32. Fill out Notice of Compliance as needed
33. Fill out and keep up with Referrals, AEP, ATV, Trinity and Community service workers that are ordered in court.
34. Issue and file Ishmell Orders
35. Print, process and mail all Expungement Orders to SLED, DMV, and Detention Center as well as to Latta PD for destruction. Pull and Shred all cases and documents attached to the case that has been expunged.
36. Process yearly traffic ticket audit.
37. Collect and disburse any restitution that may be ordered through the court.
38. Maintain required yearly CLE hours.
39. Schedule Bond Estreatment hearings.
40. Attend training whenever possible and affordable.
41. Be available to Latta Police 24-7 for Search Warrants and Warrants.
42. Maintain a positive and trusting relationship with the citizens of Latta, Law Enforcement, the Legal Community, Council, the County and visitors.
43. To remain fair and impartial in all cases scheduled to be heard before court.
44. Be courteous and respectful to everyone regardless of the circumstance or situation.
Police Report
Chief Moore gave her report and also gave her job description as followed:
POLICE DUTIES
See Rank Structure, Plus the following duties:
PROTECT AND SERVE
Officers must be ready 24 hours a day on stand by for calls, must work 12 hour shifts, ready to serve and protect the Town of Latta. Officers must answer 911 calls, also respond to calls from the police department, walk ins, flag down calls, etc. Officer must enforce all state and local laws, traffic and criminal offenses, investigate accidents and incidents, work funeral escorts, work school crossings, assist county and state officers on calls, routine patrol, and drug enforcement, respond to EMS and Fire Calls within town limits. When a defendant(s) is locked up the officer must transport the defendant(s) to Dillon County Detention Center in Dillon. Officer must stay at the jail until the defendant(s) is released to the jail and booking reports and photos are given to Latta officer for his paperwork. This could take an officer up to an hour to get the defendant(s) processed into the system. It is time consuming but it is protocol for Latta and Dillon County. During this time the second officer on shift will patrol the town. We do not use Latta Police Department Jail Cells anymore. Officers must keep up with all new laws, training and certifications. This is done by all officers from the Chief to the Private First Class.
FRONT DESK OFFICE
Latta Police Department has no secretary or clerk so the Chief and Asst. Chief answer incoming phone calls and answer messages on the voice mail. The office is open 9-5 pm. along with Town Hall. We talk to citizens, victims and subjects during the day who come in to the office. These duties are done by the Chief and Asst. Chief
SLED REPORTS
Handling and reporting each individual incident report and monthly reports to SLED/FBI, correction of reports, authorization of reports, validation of the reports, emailing reports to SLED by due date. Filing all the monthly reports by the 3rd day of the month. These duties are done by the Chief or Asst. Chief
VICTIM ADVOCATE
Talk to the victim(s) and families about the incident. Take pictures and statements from the victim(s). Set up doctor’s appointments, or other appointments needed. Transport the victim(s) to court, or any other appointments. Help fill out the SOVA forms, and also paperwork at the appointments I drive them to. I make contact with the victim(s) during the investigations to update them on the case, also contact the victim(s) for any jail appearances, court hearing and release of subject(s) as I am notified. The Chief is the Victim Advocate.
SCHEDULES
Officers work 12 hour shifts, two officers work together on assigned shifts for safety of citizens and officers’ safety. The schedule is done months in advance so officers can schedule personal events, vacation, or appointments. Officers rotate days and nights. If officers call in for sickness, death, injury, or have been suspended we must adjust the schedule immediately. The officers, Chief or Asst. Chief will fill in during this time. The scheduling is handled by the Chief and Asst. Chief.
CLERK OF RECORDS
Must handle all records including filling the reports out from jail, filing them, sending dispositions to SLED/FBI, handling walk-ins for incident reports, accident reports, criminal histories request, expungments to be pulled from records and destroyed, respond to mail, e-mail, and faxes requesting any records for Latta Police Department. These duties are done by Chief and Asst. Chief.
EVIDENCE
Chief, Asst. Chief and Lt all help with the inventory of all evidence recovered or seized in an arrest, or investigation for Latta Police Department. It must go with signed chain of in. Procedures for dog bites are in the office for the officers to follow in case of a dog bite command and custody forms. It must be appropriately put in evidence bags, sealed, reported attached, and put into the computer evidence log and locked in the evidence room. If evidence is to be tested by SLED the Chief, Asst. Chief or LT. must then log it out of evidence and put in destination of evidence Example: SLED), date and time checked out. We must then transport in to Columbia to SLED to be tested. Once tests are done we must drive back to Columbia and pick evidence and again place back into our evidence system and room until court. Evidence is required by law to be saved for a state set amount of time; sometimes it can never be destroyed. These duties are done by the Chief, Asst. Chief and Lt.
GRAND JURY
Officer must go to Dillon County Courthouse on First Thursday morning of month.
The Dillon County Solicitor’s Office will have the indictment for officer to read to the Grand Jury. Officer must describe charges, read indictment, and give brief description of the incident and why the defendant(s) were charged, and answer any questions from the jury. Then the Grand Jury will decide if the charges will go forward to General Session Court with a True Bill; or if the Grand Jury feels there is not enough evidence, it could be No Billed and Dismissed. This is done by the Chief.
INVENTORY
All items purchased by the Town of Latta, purchased by grants, or donations to the Latta Police Department MUST be inventoried. State Issued Warning Books and Uniform Traffic Tickets MUST be inventoried and assigned. All of these items are put into the LawTrak Latta Police Department System. This includes, but is not limited to, some of the following items; patrol cars, guns, uniforms, rain coats, duty equipment, ticket book holders, Accident Report Books, Municipal Ordinance Books, coats, sweaters, tasers, badges, name tags, OC spray, ammunition, ballistic vest, boots, safety vest, radar units, cameras, body camera’s, handcuffs, chargers, rifles, shot guns, flashlights. All 1033 items from the Military must be inventoried. These items are then assigned in the computers to designated officers, and patrol cars. This is done by Chief and Asst. Chief.
LAW ENFORCEMENT NETWORK (LEN)
We are part of the network in the region with officers from around the following counties; Dillon, Marlboro, Chesterfield, and Darlington. We have mutual aid agreements with these agencies. We network together to benefit our personal agencies for the betterment of our town. We do monthly meetings with LEN by sending officers to meetings and checkpoints in each others’ towns. We also host a few meetings here in Latta. We MUST do monthly reports on DUI Challenge, conduct aggressive enforcement of state safety belt and child passenger laws, conduct special check points, saturation/directed patrols during special campaign events. Reports are due by the 10th of each monthly. Chief or Asst. Chief do these reports.
PURCHASES
Any purchases for the Latta Police Department must come from the Chief to the Supervisor to Town Council. At least three bids must be requested and brought to the Council on items or repairs. After approval for purchase the Chief or Asst Chief MUST do a purchase order with the entire vendor’s information listed and final bill will go to the clerk’s office for payment. These duties are done by Chief and Asst. Chief.
DATA MASTER
Officers MUST be certified with the Data Master Machine which is the Breath Alcohol Analysis Test Report for Driving Under the Influence. The officers go to special training to get certified with this test. If the officer arrests a defendant for DUI, the officer must take the defendant to Dillon County Detention Center in Dillon to perform the Data Master Test. The officer must use one of the two the terminals there in the jail which is being recorded by SLED at all times. They must observe the defendant for twenty minutes and read several forms and rights to him/her. After the observation period the test can be performed. This could take an officer up to an hour to handle at the jail and then additional time to book the defendant in for the charges. The second officer on shift will cover the town. All officers from the Chief to the Private First Class will do this job.
MAINTENANCE
The maintenance for the Latta Police Department building falls under the job of Chief. If we have any problems with the building including plumbing, electrical, phone lines, roof, locks, computer, printers, office radios, cell phones, ceiling, etc. Chief or Asst. Chief must call supervisor and advise the problem and then call the appropriate vendor to assist in fixing these problems.
The maintenance for the patrol cars falls under the job of Chief. Lt. Jones is assigned to maintain all vehicle logs into the computer. He must inspect the patrol cars for problems or damage. He inspects to make sure they are clean and safe for officers to drive on the highway. Officer must do daily check on cars and do work order request by form. Chief, Asst. Chief and Lt sign and agree to where the car is sent for repair. Lt Jones is responsible to log in work order in the maintenance log on LawTrak system for Latta Police Department. Chief, Asst. Chief and Lt. may sometimes have to take the cars for repair in Latta, Dillon, Mullins, Florence, Darlington or Columbia.
The maintenance on duty weapons, tasers, uniforms, duty gear, etc. must be brought to the Chief or Asst. Chief to handle. These items must be taken by one of us to get repaired or mailed off to the company to repair or replace.
We deal with vendors from Latta, Dillon, Mullins, Florence, Darlington, and Columbia. We do have to package and mail some items to go to Arizona. All of the maintenance duties are done by the Chief and Asst. Chief.
AUDITS
Chief helps with the audits done for the Latta Police Department within the Town of Latta audit done yearly. They will check all accounts versus the paperwork. The audit includes the SC assigned tickets for each officer. Each booklet of tickets is randomly picked and several tickets will be checked. Chief must pull the report and help the Auditor to confirm where each ticket is located. SLED does their audit also with our records and will come to the department to make sure everything is adequately done and we are following their laws and rules. Military Program 1033 is also audited.
GENERAL SESSIONS COURT CASES
Officers make a lawful arrest and do the incident reports and turn in evidence to be processed. Chief and Asst. Chief must take these reports, statements, and make a file. A copy must be made for the local judge, solicitor’s office, and one for court records. The Chief or Asst. Chief must run SC Criminal History on defendant(s) to put in each case. These are run by dispatch in Dillon County 911. We must drive to Dillon and add them into the case file before hand delivering them to the Solicitor’s Office.
We get a court date set, we start negotiations with lawyers and solicitor’s office for plea deals and sentencing. Officers input on the case and pleas are used to help prosecute the cases. We sometimes plead cases, but we also prepare for jury and bench trials in General Session Cases. Sometimes the cases go fast and only uses hours in a day in court. Some cases take up to weeks, months or years. We are always on stand by for General Session Court each month. We must have case ready for court at all times. Compiling the cases takes officers doing the reports. After initial reports officer must investigate. The Chief and Asst. Chief help in investigations. The duty of compiling the case for court is handled by Chief and Asst. Chief. Officers will be on stand by for testifying in court. The case is handled in court by the Chief.
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
Officers must answer calls in reference to children and elderly being neglected or abused. Officers will call DSS as needed to these types of calls. Officers will investigate with the help of Chief and Asst. Chief. Incident reports and pictures will be taken of the homes and victim(s). Once the report is done, the cases are handled by the Chief for further interviews and court case(s). If the child or elderly is placed in Emergency placement with DSS, the officer or Chief must go to a hearing within 72 hours prepared to testify to case. Then an investigation is done for up to 45 days with DSS and Latta Police Department. Most of these cases are completed by the Chief due to officers working different rotating shifts. The Chief handles the cases until finished in court and the children and elderly are safe again.
DEPARTMENT OF JUVENILE JUSTICE
Officers must answer calls for children under the age of 17 years old. Officers must investigate, and if needed, call DJJ. After the officer finishes the report, it must be taken over to Dillon to the DJJ office and a petition must be requested for charges on the juvenile. Most of the time the Chief handles these cases due to the rotating shifts of officers, it is hard to complete cases working on nights. The Chief handles the cases until court cases and juveniles are handled.
TRAINING
Officers must be certified by SC Police Academy within one year of hiring. Until they are certified they must be in training with a Certified Law Enforcement Officer at all times. After you are certified, the officer MUST continue to keep updated on all city, state and federal laws. Officers MUST keep up the required hours of continuing educational hours for law enforcement. These hours in classes for training must be turned in by certificate of proof of classes, hours and location. The Training Officer is required to turn in all officer’s certification documentation to the SC Police Academy. These requirements must be met by law or the officer will be stripped of his/her SC Police Certification. This duty is done by the Asst. Chief. Chief and Asst. Chief try to find free trainings as much as possible to help keep all the officers up to date on the continuing changes with law enforcement, training and today’s society. Sadly most training cost from $60.00 to $700.00 for one to three days of training. Starting in 2014 we have to pay $5.00 for training class at the Police Academy, plus pay officers during training. Rooms are provided at the Academy but the meals are not anymore, so we must pay for meals for the officer.
FINGERPRINTS
Suspect(s) fingerprint cards are done by the correctional officers when they are booked at the Dillon County Detention Center. Officers bring back the booking report and fingerprint cards for the Chief to mail within three (3) days to SLED/FBI. Chief must make sure the state code and charges, name, date of birth, social security number, address and police department information is correct before mailing to SLED/FBI. The jail is going online with the system. The only thing that this will change will be that Chief will not have to mail cards in. Chief will only have to fill out and check the reports to make sure charges and information are correct and mail disposition of charges to SLED/FBI. This is how subject(s) Criminal Histories are complied for SC. BULLETINS/BRIEFINGS. Officers must be up to date with BO-LO’s, Safety bulletins, daily briefings on investigations, complaints, risks and awareness issues, house and business check request. Chief, Asst. Chief and Lt. will post for officers on the officer bulletin board.
INVESTIGATIONS
Officers must do their own reports and start the investigation also. We do not have set investigators. The Chief and Asst Chief help with the investigations and sometime due to shift work, we have to finish these investigations. If it is a major crime scene will call for SLED to assist us in crime scene and investigations also. Chief must request this first by phone call then in writing to SLED. They do not take over, they only assist the Latta Police Department.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Officers must help work special events for the town and school system. Officers help work security at sporting events, graduation, Dr. Seuss Parade and backing up SRO’s. Officers work Latta Revitalization sponsored events such as Springfest, Harvest Festival, and Latta Christmas Parade. Boy Scout, Cubs and Girl Scout meetings request tours and officers to speak at their meetings. Churches and the Latta Area School have requested special training and presentation on gangs, crimes and safety awareness.
MEETINGS
Latta Police Department has regular meetings with officers during shifts and special called meetings. Chief has to go to meetings for Latta Police Department for Disaster Preparedness, Red Cross, SC Highway Patrol Evacuation Meetings, SLED, Police Chief Meetings, Solicitor called meetings etc.
TRANSPORTING EVIDENCE TO SLED
The Chief or Asst. Chief transports any evidence from Latta to Columbia, SC for testing in their labs. After the test is finished we must go back and pick up the evidence and store it back into Evidence Storage.
ACCIDENT REPORTS
Officers work the wrecks on scene and finish the rest of the report which is a full front and back form. Officer’s turn in the report to Chief and Asst. Chief to be reviewed, copies made and the original mailed in to the Financial Responsibility Office in Columbia, SC. When an insurance company requests it the Chief or Asst. Chief must then mail the copy to the company with a $5.00 charge. We can not destroy any accident forms; they must be saved and stored.
ANIMAL CONTROL
Latta Police Officers also handle Animal Control problems. The street department helps us with cages, pens, catching and storage of the animals until the owners pay the fine or DHEC releases the animal from quarantine.
VALIDATION OF MISSING, STOLEN OR WANTED PERSONS
Chief will receive a list of any items that are missing, stolen, or wanted by the Latta Police Department. These items will always need to be verified by the Chief as still active. Chief MUST fill each case number out on a form individually to keep it in the National Crime Computer (NCIC) and return to SLED monthly.
NOTICE OF COMPLIANCE
Officers that make an arrest for DUI and take the driver’s license on the spot of the arrest must turn in the suspension notice and driver’s license with the report. The Chief MUST mail the paperwork and license to Columbia within three days of arrest. These are just some of the duties that the Chief and Asst Chief have additional to patrol and serving the Town of Latta.
1033 Program
You get a list of numbers just like we get a list of numbers. When we recognition something we may put in for 40 items and we may only get 25 items. It could wrenches, sockets, screwdrivers, pouches, boots, trucks, tires, brakes, toilet paper, office supplies, boxes out back, staples, your 4000 some items may be 10 cases of staples.
Street Report
I called DHEC and asked them how the mulch field was supposed to be maintained, so he came out and showed me and gave me one year to get everything in order.
Water Department
We have an agreement with Grandstrand to help us with the certification as far as our water and sewer concerns. Mayor Bullard asked how much do we have to pay Grandstrand, Councilman Taylor responded 1300 dollars 7 days a week. Blackman Lab charged 1500 dollars a week. Grandstrand came to our rescue right away when we didn’t have anyone.
Fire Dept.
Bobby Jones was reelected fire chief; he didn’t have a written report but will have one next meeting.
Park & Recreation
Jimmy wasn’t present; he was busy at the field with baseball and softball practices. Basketball season has come to an end.
Harold Kornblut
He has 2 reports; they’re both the same. Page 4 on the summary report is a comparison of 7 months of your operation, July 14 – January 15; it is 7/12 of your budget. Negative means you’re under budget, not negative means you’re over budget so it gives you a chance to look at your departments and see how they’re budgeting. He said he paid the 4th quarter payroll taxes in January, but he has not paid the 3rd payroll taxes for 2014.
The General Bond Ordinance
Just to touch bases, I have looked and done all I can do; we owe the IRS $158,000. The good news for right now is that we are not acquiring interest to the IRS. The reason why they’ve done that is so we can have time to catch up. We had our first reading of our bond ordinances at our last meeting and were set to have the second reading tonight, and we would have gotten our money within 60 days. The trouble we ran into is nobody wants to use it for operational cost. The problem started in 2011 and went through 2014 with not paying payroll taxes. We have very little options. We could raise taxes, and with the General Obligation Bond if you owed a $100,000 dollar house your taxes would go up $51 dollars a year. We can’t get the General Obligation Bond so the interest to the IRS will still continue to grow. We pay about 318,000 dollars a year in payroll tax. What we have actually paid as of right now is 229,000 dollars. We owe the IRS 89,747.95 dollars with late fine penalties added 25,488.72 dollars and late paying interest of 12,333.80 dollars. We had a check bounce last year and were charged 809.75 dollars. So with all the penalties added up, it comes to a total of 63,121.33 dollars in late fines and late penalties. As of March we owe the IRS 161,575.03 dollars. Someone asked was the town getting letters from the IRS, and Councilman Taylor responded by saying all we know is that there were letters on the clerk treasurer’s desk. We didn’t know who knew about the letters but someone was getting the letters. When the auditor would describe as tax liabilities you have liabilities on your credit cards. When the IRS letters would come in to the town hall they were just regular letters. Councilwoman Williams was on the finance committee for seven years and never was the IRS brought up one time. The night Joe Powell was relieved of his duties, the council went in the office and found a stack of papers on the desk and that’s when they learned about owing the IRS. Councilman Mason explained that the auditor went through and explained to the council what had been paid and what hadn’t been paid. Councilman Taylor also explained that when we make payments to the IRS, they don’t put it just to one payment so we can go ahead and pay one of them and start paying on the next bill. They spread it out and so it’s like you are only paying a little on everything, and it is taking longer to pay the IRS off. The General Obligation Bond, if we need it for capital purchases, would make it easy to get bond. Since the mistakes are the town’s fault, we are not eligible. Mayor pro-tem Mason stated the town owns a lot of buildings around town like the sport complex on Academy Street and maybe someone would like to make a 40 or 50 thousand dollar donation and have it named after someone. They would give signing rights to like town hall, park, or water plant and they could ride by and see their name on these buildings. It would take time to get everything arranged, but if someone is willing to donate money to pay off the IRS, it’s something the town is willing to do. The General Obligation Bond is on hold right now so we are going to have to table that.
Councilman Shelley-No report
Councilman Drawhorn-He was concerned with the sidewalk at the new business on Main Street, Community Dry Cleaners. He is going to talk with someone from DOT to see what can be done about trying to get the sidewalk repaired.
Councilman Mason- The CDBG grant and the RIA grant are finishing up and we made our last payment on our CDBG grant and the RIA grant. They are coming Tuesday at 10:30a.m. and will be doing the paperwork to finish up the RIA grant. DOT went over their budget on the street scrape and wants the town to pay the bill, but the town has put money aside and that will be all that DOT will receive from town.
Councilwoman Williams-She thanked all the employees for going above and beyond their duties, for working late at night, and everything they are doing for the town. I would also like to thank council for trying to find ways to get the town out the financial situation it is in. We are going to have to accept chance and we will pull through this.
Councilman Reaves-He had no report but wanted to thank everyone for coming out.
Mayor Bullard-The recorder has gotten a lot of static in it and I can’t hear anything being said after this point.
Rebecca Page, Clerk
Jarett Taylor, Administrator/Council
