Lexington County Council took action at the April 23 meeting to address the concerns of local municipalities about the cancellation of a decades-long road maintenance agreement.

The council officially restored the old agreement for three municipalities: Cayce, West Columbia and Springdale.

In an interview with the Chronicle, Councilman Todd Cullum said similar agreements will be worked out with other municipalities, but will involve some negotiation.

“We’re just hitting the reset button,” he said.

The council was in agreement to work with municipalities on future road maintenance needs.

“It’s getting everybody on the same page,” Councilman Scott Whetstone said during the discussion.

But the council’s action to limit the agreements with just three municipalities didn’t go over well with Lexington Mayor Hazel Livingston. In a public statement sent out April 24, Livingston said she was optimistic that the town would reinstate the 40-year-old agreement for all of the municipalities after a recent meeting with county officials.

“Now my optimism has faded because Lexington County Council voted to only offer the prior road maintenance agreement to four municipalities. This action seems inconsistent with the 'spirit of cooperation' the County publicly promotes.”

The county sought to end the agreement because of the increasing road maintenance costs resulting from the frequent annexations in the growing towns throughout Lexington. The new annexations do not impose the various growth restrictions required by the county’s ordinances.

After cancelling the agreement, the county did provide towns and cities an opportunity to sign off on a new agreement on road services. But it would require that any new residential developments annexed into a town or city must meet Lexington County’s development standards.

Most municipalities did not sign on to the agreement.

Many of them have sent out resolutions to the county expressing their concerns that the county has a responsibility to maintain roads in accordance with local needs.

Cullum said the county should have taken action to address all of those concerns before canceling the maintenance agreement, which was adopted 40 years ago.