Richland County rules and appointments committee fills vacancies, names Cecilia Fernel to Riverbanks Park Commission

The Richland County Rules and Appointments Committee on Nov. 14, 2026 approved the March 3 minutes, adopted an amended agenda and made several appointments, including naming Cecilia Fernel to the Riverbanks Park Commission.

The appointments came during a meeting in which the committee voted to enter executive session to conduct interviews for openings on the employee grievance committee, the hospitality tax committee and the Riverbanks Park Commission. The appointments fill multiple vacancies on county advisory bodies and preserve the county’s pool of applicants for future openings.

Clerk’s announcements and agenda changes: The clerk reported that several applicants had withdrawn but asked that their applications be kept on file, including applicant numbers 4 and 6, Antonio Mena Gold (item/applicant number 9), Monica Owens (number 11) and Bianca Schuler (Riverbanks applicant number 2); Mark Taylor withdrew from consideration for the grievance committee. The clerk also noted there are four vacancies on the employee grievance committee — three permanent positions and one alternate — and said applications will be retained for one year and pulled when vacancies are advertised.

Employee grievance committee appointments: The committee approved a motion to appoint applicants numbered 1, 2 and 4 to fill the three permanent vacancies on the employee grievance committee. The motion was moved and seconded and was approved by the committee.

Appointment to Riverbanks Park Commission: A committee member moved to appoint Cecilia Fernel to the Riverbanks Park Commission. The chair explained that the seat is on a rotation among Lexington County, the City of Columbia and Richland County and said she would vote no on the appointment because she wanted to see more diversity on the board, but she nonetheless described both applicants as “amazing.” The motion to appoint Fernel carried with two members voting yes and one voting no.

Administrative notes and next steps: Staff noted the vacancy schedule and the clerk’s office thanked staff for maintaining application files. One committee member requested page numbers on printed application packets to make name lookup faster; the clerk said the office could add page numbers and noted that paperless viewers (for example, Adobe Acrobat) include pagination. The committee then moved to adjourn and ended the meeting.

Votes at a glance: minutes approved (unanimous), agenda adopted as amended (unanimous), motion to enter executive session for interviews (approved), employee grievance committee appointments (approved), appointment of Cecilia Fernel to Riverbanks Park Commission (approved, two yes, one no).