Columbia County approves consent agenda including donations and service contract renewals

Columbia County commissioners approved a consent agenda that accepted several donations and renewed multiple service and rental agreements during a regular meeting.

A staff member recommended acceptance of a $375 donation from Robert Schenkel to the senior center and a set of animal-services donations — Community Foundation of Greenville $1,600, Donna Anderson $100, Kim Daroma $100 and John Kenny $100 — and asked the commission to approve several contract renewals, which the commission moved to approve without recorded roll-call votes.

The consent package included a one-year independent contractor agreement with Goran Simic of Simki Tennis Academy to run the county’s junior tennis program at Patriot’s Park. According to staff, the program serves about 200 children annually and generates roughly $16,000 in revenue to the county; Simic is permitted to run camps and lessons while courts remain available for leagues and open play.

Also approved were annual facility-use and rental agreements: a YMCA agreement primarily for summer camp at the Patriot Park gym with estimated county revenue of $6,637.50; a renewal with Event Staffing Specialists for front-of-house event staff at the Performing Arts Center and related venues; and an Outdoor Augusta renewal for canoe, kayak and paddleboard rentals at Riverside Park, which staff said produces about 2,500 rentals a year and roughly $7,500 in county revenue.

Library-related items on the consent agenda included a short-term annual agreement with the Greater Clarks Hill Library System that covers six months through Dec. 31, 2025, while the county transitions to a single-county regional library service model, and a separate renewal (number three) with instructor Alex Cooper for classes at county libraries; staff said Cooper’s classes attract about 1,600 participants per year and the contract pays $30 per hour for up to 30 hours per week depending on class schedules.

Commissioners handled the package by motion and second; the meeting transcript records motions to approve and the chair saying "so moved," but does not include a roll-call vote tally in the record.

The commission’s discussion was limited and procedural. During remarks about the YMCA agreement, a staff member said the YMCA’s leadership is “working with the team...on the project across from Patriot’s Park” and is exploring a potential relocation or partnership as part of ongoing fundraising, a point noted by commissioners but not resulting in any separate action.

Items were presented as staff recommendations and approved on the consent calendar; no follow-up assignments or deadlines were recorded in the meeting transcript.