The Public Safety and Judiciary Committee of Spartanburg County Council met on Monday, April 16, 2001, in Conference Room Two of the County Administrative Office Building. In compliance with the Freedom of Information Act, notice of this meeting was provided in advance to the local news media and other interested parties. The following were in attendance: Honorable Rock Adams, Chairman; Honorable Frank Nutt, Committee Member; along with Karen Floyd, David Britt and Jeff Horton, Johnnye Code-Stewart, Council members. Also attending were James K. Hartmann, County Administrator; Bill Dennis, Deputy County Administrator; Glenn Breed, Assistant County Administrator; Chris Story, Assistant County Administrator, and Roy McBee Smith, County Attorney.

1. Mr. Breed stated we have received a request from Croft Rescue Squad #18 to solicit funds from motorists at the intersection of Highway 295 and Highway 56 on Saturday, May 12, 2001, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Motion made by Mr. Nutt to approve request. Motion seconded by Mr. Adams and carried.
2. Mr. Hartmann and Judge Paslay have been working together to sort out some of the conditions of the request in reference to the appointment of additional Magistrates pursuant to the State Statutory formula. The Court Administration’s figures indicate based on the Census and on the Accomodations Tax Collections the maximum number would raise by approximately two Magistrates. We are out of space in the Courthouse. In order to accommodate another Magistrate, we will have to shift people around. Chairman Floyd recommended doing an audit of Accomodations Tax Collections. Mr. Hartmann will proceed on getting an audit done. Judge Paslay advised the general guideline is each county should have one Magistrate for every 28,000 people. If it is not a very heavily populated county, one Magistrate for every 150,000 square miles within the particular county. Using a formula, South Carolina Court Administration is charged with determining the number of Magistrates for each county. As a result of the release of the most recent census, Spartanburg has been designated to add one more Magistrate as a result of the population increase. It is now 253,000 up from 228,000. In addition, all counties that collect $500,000 or more in Accomodations Tax are allowed an additional Magistrate. We have reached that with $511,000 in collected Accomodations Taxes. We are to have two new Magistrates in Spartanburg County as a result. The law is set that we must fund the maximum number the law allowed. One of these full-time positions has been confirmed. This was filled with a part-time Magistrate leaving a part-time position to be filled with a minority. This leaves us with one more full-time position to be funded. Judge Paslay’s recommendation to the Senators is to fill this by dividing into part-time positions to be utilized at the Jail and three of the positions would simply substitute for the rotation of existing Magistrates into the Jail now. There would be no increase in the cost of operation other than the cost of benefits. Chairman Floyd proposed we hold off on this now. Councilman Adams to convene a meeting with Judge Paslay on this before a decision is made on this.
3. Information was received regarding activities of the Building Codes Department with no action taken.