On behalf of the Aiken County Council, Aiken County Administrator, and Aiken County Employees, we would like to welcome all new hires for the 3rd quarter 2008. We hope that your transition is a success.

The Aiken County Sheriff’s Office plans to purchase In-Car Camera equipment with funding from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant.

Download the Public Notice for more information.

In 2006, Aiken County Council approved Ordinance No. 06-10-31 which authorizes the establishment of a Business Registration System for businesses located within Aiken County, including those business located within the corporate boundaries of municipalities within the County.

The hot pink handcuffs, belly chains and leg irons are not intended to be a fashion statement, but the sight of a teenage offender dressed in brightly colored restraints attracts attention from officers at the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice.

“They thought it was a unique idea,” said Aiken County Sheriff’s Office Investigator David Blevins, who routinely transports juvenile offenders to DJJ.

Since late summer, the ACSO juvenile section has used the brightly colored restraints. Lt. Vicky Gaskins came up with the idea.

Aiken County property owners have received their 2007 reassessment notices this week and there have been several questions concerning these figures.

The reassessment notice is not a tax bill, but simply a way to notify property owners about a change in their property's value. Some property owners mistakenly interpret the total assessment as the amount of their taxes, however their taxes will be a small fraction of the total assessment.

State law gives property owners 90 days to file an appeal with the County Assessor’s Office if they disagree with the assessed value. The Assessor's office can be contacted at 803-642-1583.

The following is a brief explanation of each column on the reassessment notice.

Download a Sample Assessment Notice

The exhibits at the Aiken County Historical Museum are changing! The updated exhibits, designed to delight visitors of all ages and interests include: a golf exhibit, nature room, architectural hall, the pottery exhibit and the equine exhibit. The Golf Exhibit highlights signature holes from some of the courses throughout the county. The Nature Room features the very special urban forest Hitchcock Woods, with photographs provided by the great Ken Perrine. The Architectural Hall showcases many old homes, and the works of Willis Irvin and Julian Peabody. In the Equine Exhibit, there will be a changing exhibit about the equine community, while the Pottery Exhibit has sherds from Lewis Miles Site and several broken pieces of Dave the Potters works.

Pouring grease down your kitchen sink is more costly than you would imagine.

In Memorial of SGT JASON L SHEPPARD

Major studies have found tobacco smoke is a major contributor to indoor air pollution, and that breathing secondhand smoke (also known as environmental tobacco smoke) is a cause of disease in healthy nonsmokers. Some of these diseases are heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease and lung cancer.

Aiken County has been awarded two grants of $200,000 each from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). One grant is for the cleanup of the Seminole Mill property and the other is for further assessment of the Clearwater Mill property, both in Clearwater, South Carolina.

Everyone knows Vanna White. But not everyone knows that Vanna is a big recycler. Vanna spells that out clearly in a new public service announcement that recently began airing statewide. White, who grew up in North Myrtle Beach and is now an international household name as co-host of "Wheel of Fortune," stars in a 30-second public service announcement encouraging South Carolinians to recycle. The television spot is part of an outreach campaign developed in partnership with SCDHEC. The campaign also features a color poster of White standing by the television game show's famous puzzle board with the message "Recycle South Carolina."

You can download SCDHEC's poster here.

Sergeant Jason L. Sheppard of the Aiken County Sheriff's Office died December 7 after being struck by a vhicle while he directed traffic at an industrial fire. Click here for ACSO press release.

Aiken county is seeking volunteers for the Adopt-A-Highway program. Program volunteers are assigned a 2-mile section of an adopted highway or county road in Aiken County.

If you or your group are interested in participating in the Adopt-A-Highway program, contact the Adopt-A-Highway Coordinator at 803-642-1533 or email at sovercash@aikencountysc.gov. You can download a copy of the Aiken County Adopt-A-Highway agreement form.

Under new federal regulations, unincorporated county areas and municipalities must provide stormwater management to regulate runoff from all properties and activities that have the potential to pollute local water systems.

To fund this new, federally required program, property owners will be charged a yearly stormwater fee.  Property owners will receive a fee included in their tax bill beginning in 2006 and continuing each year thereafter.

Residential, commercial, and agricultural parcels with improvements will be billed a flat rate of $24 annually. Manufacturing properties, fees will be calculated using the commonly accepted rate for stormwater fees known as the Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU). This is a descriptive value based on the property’s size and the amount of solid surfaces on it, such as parking lots. 

by Brian Sanders, Director of Parks, Recreation and Tourism

Last month, the Aiken County Council and the Operations Recreation Association (ORA) reached an agreement that will transfer ownership of the ORA Complex to the Aiken County Parks, Recreation, and Tourism (PRT) Department. This acquisition will open up the 210 acre parcel for full use by all citizens of Aiken County and will enable an influx of sorely needed funds for immediate maintenance needs for the developed portion of the park.

On Sunday, October 29 from 3pm - 5pm, the Friends of the Aiken County Historical Museum will hold their Annual Meeting at the Aiken County Historical Museum located at 433 Newberry Street in Aiken. For more information, please call 803-642-2015.

We are all aware that Aiken County’s pet population is growing by leaps and bounds. We also know if a family pet is lost without permanent identification, he may be lost forever. Losing a pet can be heartbreaking; however, an unsuccessful search to locate your pet is even more heartbreaking. Over the years many different methods of keeping track of pets have been developed including license tags for local identification and tattooing for nationwide identification. But, these options are not permanent.

Pet microchips have been useful in the return of lost pets. Microchipping is permanent and is offered by Aiken County Animal Control for a nominal fee.

The Aiken County Animal Shelter has many adorable stray and unclaimed pets who are seeking responsible owners. You can visit Aiken County Animal Shelter’s list of adoptable pets on petfinder.com or come in for a visit! We are located at 411 Wire Road, just north of the Aiken SPCA.

During a news conference in Aiken on June 21 Sheriff Michael Hunt unveiled the newest initiative to encourage citizens to report drug activity and other crime throughout Aiken County.

Sheriff Michael Hunt of Aiken County has been selected by the South Carolina Sheriffs’ Association as the organization’s 2006 South Carolina Sheriff of the Year.

The fourth annual County of Aiken/City of Aiken Employee Safety Fair, held on April 27, 2006 at Odell Weeks Activity Center was a huge success.  303 County and 182 City employees came over and enjoyed the free hot dogs & hamburgers cooked by department and division heads as well as going through the various safety related exhibits.  The slogan for this year’s event was “Safety Isn’t Expensive, It’s Priceless” and the slogan winner was Brian Key from the City of Aiken’s Public Safety Department.  Heyward Cotton from the County’s Public Works & Engineering department won the grand prize – a $300 check.  We also had many other winners of door prizes which included restaurant and store gift certificates from places such as Outback Steakhouses, Fatz Café, Applebee’s, and Ruby Tuesday’s, just to name a few.

Aiken County’s new online service request system, "At Your Request", offers citizens 24 hour access to County services and information.

Aiken County's Register of Mesne Conveyance (RMC) office has implemented a new document indexing and imaging system. The new system offers many benefits, including cost savings, reduced need for physical storage space, increased accuracy, and increased document security.

The Aiken County Registration & Elections office has begun using a records imaging system to reduce the need to maintain paper records of voter registration forms. Approximately 90,000 voter registration records will be scanned using a high-speed scanner and stored as digital images. These images will be indexed so the records can be rapidly retrieved for reference.

Sheriff's Office to Purchase In-Car Camera Systems for Patrol Vehicles

Aiken County Awarded EPA Grants for