At Council's May 4 meeting, Todd Smallwood, Council member for District 7 and Finance Committee chair explained how the utility had “approached us with some interest in some real estate the county owns on Highway 9 and Hillian-Edwards Road.”

After some negotiation, the utility offered $17,000 for a slice of a larger property on the corner for $6,000, he said.

“The benefit for the County is the increased water quality and availability of pressure for many citizens [and fire hydrants] on the east end of the county ... not just the citizens on Hillian-Edwards road,” Smallwood said. “After confirming that was a fair price with the county appraiser, the finance committee voted unanimously to bring their recommendation to full Council, which is to move forward with that.”

Council voted unanimously on the motion to sell the property.

Council Member Ethan Foard, District 3, said that in a phone interview that the $17,000 price tag was reasonable in light of the “lack of current market demand,” adding, “If it was in Pageland, I would totally be in a different position.”

The Finance Committee had discussed the sale at its April 15 meeting. That corner property currently serves as a storage site for Chesterfield County. Foard had raised the possibility of using the proceeds of the sale to acquire affordable storage containers to be used at another County-owned site and selling the remainder of the Hillian-Edwards Road property.