New Life for Old Liberty Middle School

The former Liberty Middle School site will be used by the community in a variety of ways – including housing the county's magistrate court system.

The county purchased the former middle school property from the school district for $150,000, County Council Chairman Neil Smith said.

“We have taken the old gym, the locker rooms and we're planning to transfer that to the City of Liberty, which saves them a tremendous amount of money,” Smith said.

On Monday, county council approved giving the former school's cafeteria to Pickens County Meals on Wheels.

“Which will allow them to use that old facility to cook and prepare the meals for all the shuts we have in the county,” Smith said.

The school site's 100 building will be knocked down to make room for an access road.

The 200 building will be renovated and turned into a consolidated magistrates court.

Smith said the $150,000 price was a bargain, considering all the uses the facility will be put to.

“From our standpoint, this is a major win for the taxpayer, because you're not knocking down buildings that someone's going to want to rebuild for a million dollars in five or six years,” Smith said.

Councilman Jeff Martin agreed, stating the new magistrates facility would be “somewhat in the center of the county.”

Smith agreed. “If a person is going to see a magistrate and that magistrate is involved with something else, that allows them to just step down the hall to the second or third magistrate,” he said. “That's one of the biggest complaints we've had, from businessmen who've gone there and the magistrate's not there, so they have to drive somewhere else.

“This is convenient, center of the county, easy to access from all over the county,” Smith continued.

Councilwoman Jennifer Willis is frustrated at requirements from the state regarding magistrates.

“Magistrates are a state function, but we're required to house them,” she said. “We're spending a great deal of money to consolidate these people and put them in one location.”

Willis said the county could save a large amount of money if the state would allow online filing and processing at magistrates court, “which other states are doing.”

“We could streamline these operations significantly,” she said.

Willis said she's taken the issue to South Carolina Chief Justice Jean Toal.

“I've asked for permission to do it in Pickens County as part of a pilot program, with a software company that's volunteered to do it for free,” Willis said. “But we've been turned down by the state and told we could not do this.”

The software company as agreed to walk away from the pilot program if and when the state brings its own filing and processing system online.

“But once again, we are spending money in Pickens County for state functions and we're getting things rammed down our throats and we're losing home rule,” Willis said. “I'd like to run the county without interference from the state.”

Because of this issue, Willis said she could not vote for an amendment to the 2012-2013 budget, because it called for improvements to the former Liberty Middle School site to consolidate the magistrates offices.

“Not because the accounting principles are wrong but because the principle is wrong that we're doing state functions with your tax dollars,” Willis said.