Aiken County Council unanimously approved the authorization of a grant Tuesday to cover Langley Dam leak expenses, which if approved by the federal government, could cover more than half of the associated costs.
- The grant, called a Hazard Mitigation Grant, covers projects that will reduce or eliminate the losses from future disasters. If the grant is awarded to the County, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, will cover 75 percent of the project's eligible costs and the County would only have to provide a 25 percent match.
- The County already applied for the grant in order to fund retrofitting to the Langley Pond dam, which will help eliminate structural deficiencies, which, if ignored, could pose a hazard to Horse Creek residents and property downstream of the dam through flash flooding.
- In February, County Administrator Clay Killian said the County could spend nearly $800,000 to investigate the cause of the Langley Dam leak, which was discovered around November 2014, and install siphons.
- In an update to Council, Killian said installation of the permanent siphons has started, and once installed, those siphons will allow the water's level to get down another 3 to 5 feet.
- Because of the ongoing investigation and repair of the dam, staff has canceled several events at Langley Pond this year, including the annual Augusta Invitational Rowing Regatta.
As part of the unanimous vote, Council approved the acceptance of S.C. Department of Natural Resources water recreation funds and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Federal Sport Fish restoration funds for erosion control and improvements at the Jackson Boat Landing.
- Assistant County Administrator Brian Sanders said $90,000 would come from the State Water Recreation Funds and up to $270,000 could come from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife funds.
In other business, Council members LaWana McKenzie, Chuck Smith and Sandy Haskell, who are members of the Council's Judicial and Public Safety Committee, discussed ways to deter residents from littering.
- Assistant County Administrator Andrew Merriman said he'd like to somehow mimic how Berkeley County handles litter in its county. Merriman said in Berkeley County, there is one magistrate who handles litter court, and for individuals cited for littering, the magistrate assigns that individual with a vest stating "I'm a litter bug" and a stretch of road to clean up.
- Merriman said the minimum fine for ticketing is $470, but usually that fine is lowered to about $90.
- Ideas to combat littering in Aiken County included putting magnets with littering punishments on County-owned vehicles, creating a litter task force committee and installing cameras to catch individuals who litter.
Maayan Schechter is the local government reporter with Aiken Standard. Follow her on Twitter @MaayanSchechter.