May 25 City Council Meeting
By Lauren Dean
“I see we have a full house tonight,” Mayor Tim Goodwin said in his opening comments. “I’m happy to see all of you here and I hope you’re all still happy when you leave.” In a concise, well-mannered City Council meeting that came in at just under one hour (I still had time to rush home and catch the finale of American Idol), the mid-year budget unanimously passed second reading since Councilman Eddie Ellis was not present to object. Ordinances establishing the new Official Zoning Map of the City of Folly Beach and adopting the 2010 Comprehensive Plan unanimously passed first reading and both were remanded to the Planning Commission for public hearings. It was only the observations and comments regarding fiscal irresponsibility from Councilman Pennell Clamp that kept the meeting from feeling like a sing-along. Kum-ba-yah!
Mid-year budget
Clamp campaigned as a budget reformer and fiscal conservative. For years before his election to City Council in April, Clamp would come in and sit down with City Administrator Toni Connor-Rooks or Zoning Administrator Aaron Pope to scrutinize City expenditures. He wants Council to catch problems when they occur and budget the money at that time rather than falling short of funds in the middle of the year. “I’d like to see us cut out this mid-year budget baloney,” he asserted.
Mayor Tim Goodwin assured Clamp there would be no more mid-year budget adjustments and then corrected himself. “Well, there will be no more mid-year budgets for the next four years (the term to which Goodwin was elected),” he said. “I can’t promise what will happen after that.”
Citizen Volunteer Program
Goodwin introduced a resolution to create a temporary staff position (June through September of this year) to get the new Citizen Volunteer Program off to an auspicious start. The program, brainchild of Councilman Charlie McCarty, aims to involve residents in support of non-criminal law enforcement and livability issues. McCarty called the program “five years over-due” and said “We have a valuable resource in our citizens that we should tap to help solve our problems.”
Funding for the position is already in the budget, according to Goodwin, and will come from money already allocated for seasonal augmentation of Folly Beach Public Safety and from money recently set aside for the Beach Management Patrol. “Let’s try to get this volunteer program off the ground and on its feet, he said. To volunteer call City Hall at 588-2447.
Citizen Comments
Elton Culpepper came with hat in hand to commend Chief Boatwright on the improved traffic flow into Folly Beach since the implementation of manual manipulation of the light at Center Street and Ashley Avenue. “I came here in January (with suggestions to improve the traffic situation) and I came back in March, and I said I’d be back to say ‘I told you so’ if things didn’t improve,” Culpepper said, adding that it only seemed right to come back and thank Council and the Chief now that things had gotten better. He has a bird’s eye view of the traffic from his perch at the Piggly Wiggly, so who am I to disagree, but his statement that it now takes only 15 minutes to get to Folly Beach seems optimistic. And if it’s so much easier to get to island now, does that mean more people will come?
Margie Horton thinks visitors would behave if they were better informed of the rules. She said staff at the Holiday Inn did not know dogs were not allowed on the beach. “No one knows the rules,” Horton said. “We need more signs stating the rules.” Maybe the people urinating on her property behind the Surf Bar would cease that behavior if there was a sign indicating that it was a no-no. Maybe not. What did work for Horton was putting up flood lights to catch the urinaters in the act. Now we can’t have Folly Beach all lit up like Las Vegas, so maybe we should hire a consultant to figure this one out for us.
Council Comments
Charlie McCarty reminded us this was Safe Boating Week and that there had already been more boating fatalities this year than in all of 2009. “If you wear your life preserver you are far less likely to be a victim of a boating accident,” he admonished us. Duh!
Pennell Clamp announced that Elton Culpepper was his pick for Planning Commissioner.
Laura Beck voiced her concern that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico would impact our beach and urged residents to help prevent that by going to saveourgulf.org and making a contribution.
Paul Hume said we all have the same complaints and problems and he thought Mayor Goodwin had made a real effort to get the word out that we’re not going to take it anymore. “We’ll be good hosts,” Hume said, “but we’ll expect you to be good guests.” He said visitors would rise to the level of our expectations. He suggested taking a couple of extra trash bags to the beach and saying, when appropriate, things like “Hey, do you need a trash bag? We’re really trying to keep our beach clean. . .” If all else fails, he said, take a picture of the violators in the act. Now that Margie Horton has turned on the floodlights, that should be a snap.
