Emotion was high at the Chester County Commission Meeting Monday evening. The commission worked through the agenda in front of a packed house with questions from the audience ranging from the county budget to the $1.3 million appropriated for a new Election Commission facility. Chester County Mayor Barry Hutcherson, left, addressed the commission as Commissioner Jerry Lowe, right, made a comment during the meeting.
A packed house was on hand Monday night when the Chester County Commission met in special session for the purpose of authorizing someone to sign the contract so that construction of the new Election Commission could begin. County Mayor Barry Hutcherson had previously refused to sign the contract when it was presented to him, saying he was against the project because it would cause taxpayers to bear the expense.
Commission Chairman Barry Smith laid down some ground rules as the commission prepared to tackle the volatile item on the agenda. “The authority of the chairman is to conduct the county commission,” Smith said. “It does not include signing contracts. That’s the job of the mayor.”
In November 2022, the county commission voted 11-5 to approve spending $1.3 million of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds on the project. In addition to the election commission building, funds have been allocated to Dixie Youth, Chester County Library, Southwest Electric/ Aeneas, the Highway Dept. and Solid Waste. The county received just over $3.3 million from this federal program.
Smith went on to say that since there had been inclinations that the Election Commission was contemplating legal action that would force Hutcherson to sign the contract it was his intention to take the item off the agenda and, “not even discuss it.”
The gallery had other ideas. What began as one person questioning the decision quickly erupted into shouts from the back of the room raising questions as to why Smith was serving as chairman instead of Hutcherson, which was done in the past.
“You weren’t elected to this job,” one person exclaimed. “Mayor Hutcherson should be in that position and not you.” Smith said that commissioners had appointed him chairman, and he was elected by voters as a commissioner, slamming his gavel to regain order.
Hutcherson approached the microphone and said, “The contract for the building was presented to me by the contractor, and I explained to him that I wasn’t going to sign it because our budget wasn’t completed. And from the calls that I have been getting from the citizens of the county, they were not for the building. So, I refused to sign it because I knew eventually it would lead to high taxes.” The crowd then erupted in applause.
Hutcherson also said that he had requested a resolution that would have allowed him to veto the decision, but commissioners said they never saw such a document. Smith said that if he had requested it he would have received it.
Commissioner Jerry Lowe said that approximately $100,000 had already been spent on the project, including architect costs and other fees.
Members of the audience questioned the $1.3 million contract on the new building and the itemized breakdown of the expenses. Administrator of Elections Kathy Vest said, “We have a copy of the bid, but we have not gotten it broken down from the contract yet. We have actually asked for that as well because we were looking to see if there were any ways we could possibly cut more costs.”
Smith said that these expenditures had been approved by the commission and signed by Hutcherson. Then, the question was then raised whether Hutcherson physically signed the checks or were they auto signed. Election Commission Chairman Steve Morris said that he could produce a copy of the document that Hutcherson signed.
Morris said that the election commission would ask the Chancery Court to rule to force the mayor to sign the building contract. “The position that we are taking as a commission is that the county commission voted in November to appropriate money for our building, which it did after public meetings and public hearings,” Morris said.
County Attorney Marty Phillips clarified that Morris was correct and that the county would be responsible for paying the attorney’s fees for both parties, which was unpopular among the crowd.
Someone in the audience brought up the question as to whether a report issued to the election commission by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recommended a new building for the election commission.
Hutcherson said that he had seen the report, which has been kept under wraps, but had not had time to thoroughly read it. He was told the report could not be released. He did say that some of the photos in the report were old and taken when the roof at the Public Safety Building was leaking due to storm damage. “It showed water standing on the floor,” Hutcherson said. Since that time the roof has reportedly been repaired, the floor replaced, and the room has been repainted.
Vest read from the DHS report she signed stating, “This document contains protected critical infrastructure information in accordance with the provisions of the Critical Infrastructure Information Act of 2022. This is exempt for relief under the Freedom of Information Act and similar state and local disclosure law, unauthorized relief may result in criminal and administrative penalty.”
There were also questions from the audience concerning the status of the budget. As per comments from the audience, there has been speculation that this year’s budget was going to fall short by approximately $1 million. However, the county’s accountant, Gary Irwin, said that as of yesterday he did not think that would be the case.
Smith said if we took the ARPA out of the budget and spent it for something else there would be no shortage in the budget.
Commissioner Renee Phelps said that property taxes would more than likely increase to fund next year’s budget. “We haven’t had a tax increase since 2013.” Phelps said that she did not know what has happened in the last nine months since the commission approved the funds for the new building and in another vote accepted the low bid from E & T Construction. “Now all of the sudden people are saying we’re going to raise taxes because of this building. If we were to save the $1.3 million on the building, taxes will still go up.
A member of the audience said, “If we knew we were already going to have a shortfall why did we (you) go ahead and vote for a $1.3 million. We knew we couldn’t afford it.”
Smith said that budget committee will meet on Monday, July 3, 2023, to discuss the 2024 county budget and make recommendations that will be presented to the full commission. According to state law the county can continue to operate under its current budget until August 31.
The commission also passed an ordinance by a vote of 15-2 that will require charitable organizations to provide the county with current financial statements along with their request if it is over $2,000. Those seeking amounts less than $2,000 are not required to submit the financial statements. Commissioners Brenda Matthews and Mike Alexander voted against this motion. Commissioner Carolyn Higgins was absent from the meeting.
