Mortgage Broker in Lexington, SC

LEXINGTON COUNTY, S.C. (WIS) - The Lexington County Council passed a new fireworks ordinance this fall which says that no fireworks can be set off after 12:30 a.m. on Jan 1.

Anyone who violates this ordinance could be fined as much as $150.

”I’m sure it will have maybe some minimum effect on people who are planning on having late parties at night but as far as a large effect on our business, I’ll say it’ll be minimal,” said Andrew McKay, manager of Rodney’s Rockets in Lexington County.

Across the Midlands, there are similar firework ordinances that are put in place for those ringing in the new year.

The City of Columbia’s Ordinance states no fireworks can be set after 1 a.m. and anyone violating the ordinance could be fined as much as $250 dollars for a second offense.

In Richland County, Fireworks can be set off until 1 a.m. Violators face a $500 fine for a first offense and as much as $1,000 for a third offense.

”The council had reviewed the policy, which there was no policy that really controls the use of fireworks,” said Lexington County Councilman Todd Cullum. “We decided that it would be best that the fireworks ordinance would be a part of our current standing noise ordinance, so we just amended the noise ordinance in order for us to hopefully be able to have some semblance of control [over] the use of fireworks.”

The county urges residents to be considerate to neighbors and to be mindful of celebrating New Years Day.

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LEXINGTON, S.C. (WIS) - Voters in Lexington made history last November when they elected former town council member Hazel Livingston as the town’s first female mayor. On Monday, she was officially sworn in.

“I felt like it was the right time for me to step in and run for Mayor,” Livingston said.

Livingston is no stranger to implementing change in Lexington, having served on the town council for the last 25 years. She also has served as Mayor Pro Tem since 2004.

She hopes continuing to serve her community in this new role inspires younger generations to follow in her footsteps.

“They are our future generations; they are what tomorrow holds for us,” Livingston said adding, “I think it’s important they’re involved in the beginning (and) learning the processes we go through at Town Hall.”

While working on the town council, Livingston watched the town grow more than triple in size. She first plans to focus on traffic control and managing the growth of Lexington.

“It was about 7,000 people here (before), and now we’re at about 25,000, so growth is something we have got to manage properly,” Livingston said, adding, “With growth comes traffic issues (and) we’ve got to find solutions, money, and ways to fund the traffic.”

Mayor Livingston says another priority she has started to work on is building a strong foundation for communication between her and the town council. She says she’s already asked for their input on what to address first as they head into the new year.

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LEXINGTON, S.C. (WIS) - Until Thursday, the FBI’s Columbia agents were spread across the city. With the new Columbia field office now open, everyone is under one roof.

“This new facility employs modern technology and information sharing capabilities, which allows us to perform and get ahead of the threat and keep America safe,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Philip Tejera

The 87,000 square foot facility provides a large office space for investigators to conduct their work and solve crimes. It aims to serve as a hub where local, state, and federal agencies can share information and resources.

FBI Director Chris Wray was in attendance Thursday morning to help Columbia’s Special Agent in Charge, Steven Jensen, cut the ribbon on the new facility.

“As we begin our new chapter, let us not forget the spirit of collaboration this building represents,” Jensen said. He added, “It’s a hub where local, state, and federal agencies can converge and share intelligence, expertise, and resources to protect South Carolinians.”

Assistant Special Agent in Charge Philip Tejera says the new space makes it easier for him to meet with his supervisors and investigators. He feels it not only makes it easier to share resources, but also easier to collaborate with other agents and organizations.

“It gives me the opportunity to get in front of not only my supervisors but my investigators on a day-to-day basis to interact with them, understand what they need, and how I can support them.” Tejera said, adding “It’s been exceptional to provide that type of service for the employees here (in) one location.

FBI Columbia plans to use the new office space here to continue expanding its network in hopes of working with more local organizations.Notice a spelling or grammar error in this article? Click or tap here to report it. Please include the article’s headline.

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LEXINGTON, S.C. (WIS) - A new town administrator has been appointed Monday by the Lexington Town Council.

Officials said Rachelle Moody was appointed during a Special Called Council Meeting after the former town administrator appointed in 2010, Britt Poole, resigned in June to accept a position with the Central Midlands Council of Governments.

According to the town of Lexington, Moody will become the first external candidate to become town administrator in (50) years and the first female to serve as Town Administrator for the Town.

Following Poole’s resignation, officials said Lexington Town Council retained Greenville, SC-based executive search firm, Find Great People to lead a nationwide search. More than 75 qualified applicants applied for the position.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome Rachelle as our next Administrator in the Town of Lexington,” said Hazel Livingston, Town of Lexington Mayor Pro Tem. “Rachelle’s leadership, breadth of knowledge, and fresh perspective positioned her as the ideal candidate, and we’re excited to welcome her back home to Lexington as she joins us in our continued work to make Lexington the greatest place to live, learn, worship, and raise a family.”

Officials said Moody lived in Lexington while serving as the assistant to the city manager in Cayce before joining the City of North Augusta in 2019.

“I am humbled and excited by the opportunity to serve as the new Town Administrator for the Town of Lexington,” said Moody. “It’s my privilege to join a community that has such rich history and so much to already be proud of. I am committed to hitting the ground running and working collaboratively with our staff, elected officials, and residents to build on our collective success as we aim to take our Town to even greater heights.”

Moody, currently serves the City of North Augusta as assistant administrator. She was also formerly appointed by North Augusta City Council to serve as the city’s acting administrator. In her current role, Moody is directly responsible for preparing, managing, and overseeing the City’s $50.4 million consolidated budget, according to officials.

Moody will begin her tenure as Town Administrator for the Town of Lexington on Monday, Nov. 20.

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LEXINGTON — Virtually all new residential development in Lexington County will require a nod from area emergency departments, school districts and waste management under an ordinance given initial approval by County Council on Oct. 10.

The new regulation was prompted by long-held concerns over traffic, emergency response times and overcrowding in schools within the Midlands’ fastest-growing county.

“It’s very hard to continue to produce neighborhoods for people to move into when we don’t have the services,” said Council Chairwoman Beth Carrigg of her support for the measure.

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The new rule went into effect immediately following two 6-2 votes and applies to new subdivisions of 10 or more homes on lots less than 1.5 acres, mobile home parks, duplexes, townhomes and apartments that have not yet made a formal application with the county.

The change is just the latest effort by the Lexington County Council to slow an explosive pace of development in the historically rural county.

About two years ago, the county enacted limits on density and increased green space requirements within new subdivision proposals that hold developers to as few as one or two homes per acre across a large portion of the county. As part of that process, the county put a monthslong moratorium on new neighborhoods as it finalized changes.

Before that, the council had enacted a countywide housing-density limit, holding subdivisions to no more than four homes per acre.

Carrigg said these actions by the council have been to ensure a safe and healthy environment for residents.

She said the county’s struggle to hire first responders since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic is of particular concern. For example, Lexington County’s fire department has 40 open positions.

“It’s wholly unfair to burden our first responders with continued development when they can’t meet expectations,” Carrigg said.

Lexington County increased its emergency services and law enforcement spending to $108.2 million in 2023, expanding its fire services. And for 2024, the council voted in its first property tax increase in a decade to cover pay hikes for county staff in an effort to address vacancies.

Despite all this, Carrigg contends that the county is still understaffed and “running on fumes.”

Columbia News

The concept of seeking buy-in from the county’s various public service providers, a process known as concurrency, is largely new to the Palmetto State, county staff told council members. Director of Community Development Robbie Derrick said a number of counties in the Lowcountry had considered concurrency but never enacted it. He found himself looking to towns in Florida when researching the topic.

“It’s a very untested regulation,” he said. “Very few folks in South Carolina have tried to do this.”

Still, the council chose to use a special provision to enact the ordinance in draft format, with plans to finalize the language and put enforcement policies and procedures in place at a later date.

Despite having no set plans for how the ordinance process would ultimately work, several council members said initial conversations they had with members of area school boards were positive.

Not everyone on the council thought it was a good idea.

Councilman Todd Cullum worried about the council abdicating its own decision-making authority and voiced concerns about not having a process to provide recourse for those who wish to develop their property.

“They can say no, and then we have a disapproved project,” he said. “We’re going to approve and put something in place that if you get turned down, you’re just put in landowner purgatory.”

Councilwoman Charli Wessinger saw it less as an abdication and more as a “courtesy” to service providers and other governing bodies.

Councilwoman Debbie Summers chimed in, raising the issue of possible economic development ramifications.

“It was stated within our meeting that we did not feel like we can handle any more stress on our basic services here in the county,” she said. “The message that we send to corporations and businesses looking to move to Lexington County, to me, that’s not a very positive message ... that we might not be able to handle their facility or their employee safety.”

Summers and Cullum were the only two to vote against the proposal.

Columbia Education

The council had previously discussed the possibility of seeking outside buy-in when it came to new apartment development, but the ordinances passed Oct. 10 expanded that to nearly all residential development.

The council could have chosen to enact the changes through its traditional ordinance process, requiring three separate votes and a hearing allowing for public comment before rules take force, but Carrigg said this special process allows the county “to push the pause button now instead of three or four months down the road.”

“It’s very difficult to make responsible changes when you’re still operating business as usual,” she said.

Carrigg expressed confidence in the county’s various department heads to make judgment calls on any development proposals that may come to the county between now and when final processes for determining a project’s viability are put into place.

Columbia Business

Editor’s note: This story has been changed to correctly attribute a statement made by Lexington County Councilwoman Beth Carrigg.

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