Something stinks, and it’s not the sewer

Whether they care or not, members of Pageland Town Council lost the town about $500,000 in new taxes during the Nov. 8 meeting.
Our “leaders” are at odds over how to handle mandated improvements to the town’s wastewater treatment facilities. On one side of the argument is an articulate, well-researched faction that can make a case and support it with numbers.
On the other side of the argument are a bunch of petulant children with their fingers in their ears who refuse to accept the facts. Not because the facts are wrong, but because they don’t like messengers.
Mayor Carroll Faile is letting his personal feelings for Glenn Odom and Alligator Rural Water (not to mention councilmen Tommy Rivers and Brian Hough) negatively affect this town’s future. I don’t know what kind of past these men have, but Odom is certainly willing to work with Faile to provide for Pageland’s infrastructure for the next, say, 50 years. Faile doesn’t even seem to be willing to say Odom’s name.
I run the risk of ticking off some of our readers, because Faile is popular in some circles, while most of you wouldn’t know me from Adam. But I’ll run that risk, because I have no intention of letting an issue pass that could have such a profound impact on Pageland’s economy — and future.
If you want to know where Pageland’s future is, look north. The Charlotte market is breathing down our necks and we have two options: start looking forward and be part of the economic boom, or continue to look backward and let Pageland become a parking lot for Monroe.
For those of you who missed last week’s newspaper, Alligator Rural Water is building an 800-acre regional treatment facility for wastewater. Should Pageland sign a contract with the company to handle its sewer services, it would expand the town’s capacity to handle new businesses and create new infrastructure stretching from McBee to the North Carolina line outside of Pageland.
Faile seems to believe there is a conspiracy to make him look foolish. The conspiracy involves DHEC, Alligator Rural Water, Chesterfield County Rural Water, Chesterfield County Economic Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, members of town and county government, and pretty much anyone else who has an interest in seeing Pageland grow.
The truth of the matter is there is no such conspiracy. And you don’t need a shadowy cabal to make Faile look like a fool — he can handle that task on his own. During the last meeting he made a motion that Pageland maintain its current wastewater treatment facilities without offering any kind of suggestion, realistic or otherwise, for how Pageland would pay for this multi-million dollar effort.
After this motion passed he then suggested the town create a regional wastewater treatment facility with Jefferson — the same kind of facility in McBee that he demonized in his comments just minutes before. Again, there are no plans on how to pay for this project, but you can bet it will come from your pocket.
What happened during the last meeting was an appalling display of juvenile, short-sighted behavior that succeeded in alienating an unknown number of new businesses before the meeting was even over. A representative for a North Carolina developer approached council in good faith to explain the goals of a massive, 850-planned development north of Pageland that would have created new homes, retail and industrial businesses and a new golf course.
What council didn’t know is that the developer was in the audience, too, and heard members of council — most prominently the mayor — say repeatedly that they didn’t care if Pageland ever received new industry. Councilwoman Martha Hamilton then proceeded to badmouth Wal-Mart Distribution, to what ends I can’t even imagine.
I was told last week that the developer decided to take their business elsewhere, prompted by the lack of professional behavior shown by some members of council.
What did the developer’s decision mean to Pageland? As much as $500,000 in new taxes for the town, and probably as much for the county. So, those additional police officers you wanted on the streets of Pageland? Full funding for the recreation center? New jobs that don’t require you to make sandwiches with names that all begin with “Mc”? Maybe some other time.
When the numbers were available it was clear that Alligator Rural Water’s land-treatment system is not only the best option for Pageland’s future, but also the most cost effective. Faile hurled insults at the group that collected these numbers, stopping short of accusing them of out-right lies. He said he didn’t “agree” with those numbers, but wouldn’t — or couldn’t — explain what was wrong with them.
Among those on the receiving end of Faile’s implications was Roland Windham, the town’s interim administrator and resident overachiever. He’s probably the most competent public official in Chesterfield County right now, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s penciled a smiley face on the Jan. 1 block of next year’s calender. I certainly haven’t heard him offer his services beyond the end of the contract term in December.
There are too many people making faulty decisions for Pageland, and not enough people getting involved with guiding this town in a proactive direction. I was happy to see representatives of Conbraco present during last night’s meeting but wondered where the folks were from Wal-Mart Distribution, Lynches River Electric Cooperative, the Pageland Chamber of Commerce, etc. In a perfect world (or heck, even Hartsville) all of these groups would have a seat at the table when it came to making recommendations that impact the town’s future.
It’s possible that some of them have tried, though, and had the same experience the North Carolina developer had during last week’s meeting. But things need to change. Immediately.

- Wallace McBride,
editor