City Meetings
By Lauren Dean
City Council Work Session: October 26
Items on the workshop agenda were discussion of the rules to post in rental houses and the traffic study recommendations. Both topics require more discussion before legislation is enacted.
Posting the rules
Posting of rules in rental houses was part of an ordinance passed last month. Public Safety Officer Jay Wooley had come up with a list that Councilman Charlie McCarty called a “nice effort” but he made the point that “we need to make sure people have read them so we can justify enforcing them.” Fines for some of the offenses could run as high as $500. Councilman Paul Hume thought the wording should be very specific: “tents, chairs, coolers left on the beach overnight will be removed and . . . .” The other issue was where inside the houses to post the rules, with most members settling on the refrigerator door. “Every time they go in there for a beer, they will see them. We can’t expect them to know the rules unless we tell them 2,000 times,” said Hume. Councilman D.J. Rich offered to collect everyone’s input and tweak the list for discussion at the next council meeting.
Traffic gridlock
The discussion of the traffic study centered on stop signs and sidewalks and where to put them. No consensus was reached. Speeding up traffic on one street, slows it down on another street; sidewalks swallow up parking spaces and you can’t have both. The City paid Wilbur Smith & Associates a large chunk of money last year to prepare a traffic study with pages and pages of recommendations, none of which, to my knowledge, have yet been enacted.
City Council Meeting: October 26
The Consent Agenda lumps a bunch of resolutions and ordinances together to pass in one fell swoop. It’s assumed these are straightforward, noncontroversial laws requiring no discussion, but any Council member can remove a piece of proposed legislation from the agenda. The entire Consent Agenda was pulled by Councilman Pennell Clamp. Items Clamp felt merited more discussion were adding mileage caps for Public Safety vehicles to the Folly Beach Personnel Handbooks, approving approximately $15,000 for Charleston County Public Works to install a new tide gate behind 301 West Hudson, and adopting the study of water rates prepared by B. P. Barber & Associates and the ordinance that would put these new rates into effect in January.
Variance
Hugh Thomas petitioned Council for a variance on his property located at 114 West Cooper that would enable him to retain the two small cottages presently on the property and build a small retirement home in the rear. The two small cottages currently on the property are often cited as an example of the “old Folly” look residents want, but several Council members objected. “I have sat here too long to see us grant a variance. Next thing we know there’s a For Sale sign in the front yard and the property has a variance for three structures. You have no recourse once you grant a variance,” said Mayor Tim Goodwin. Clamp agreed. “I don’t want to make a decision tonight that will affect people down the road,” he said. Qualifiers can be put on a variance, but that can get tricky, and Laura Beck moved to postpone the decision for one month so Council could obtain legal advice to determine if deed restrictions can be applied to the property that would allow construction of the third structure. All members voted in favor of the motion to postpone.
Citizen Comments
Susan Breslin addressed water rates, which she says fail to encourage water conservation and are unfair to many residents. “The minimum water charge is for 6,000 gallons and I use only 2,000,” she said. “I have leaky faucets, but there’s no use fixing them. I’m paying for the water anyway.” But that was not her point. Her point was that there are many island residents who use far less than the minimum and are paying for the excessive usage of other properties.
Then came a barrage of protests from residents opposed to the sudden termination for the winter of the Beach Management Patrol. At very little cost to the taxpayer, they said the program has had a more positive impact on the cleanliness of the beach and the livability issues we are always clamoring about than any single program ever instigated. Nancy Smith, who has worked on the turtle nest protection program for 13 years, said she was thrilled when Folly Beach established the Beach Management Patrol and strongly encouraged them to reinstate it. Other speakers were more passionate, demanding to know why the program had been suspended and what would happen to the litter that would now accumulate. Council promised to find a solution by integrating three existing competing programs by defining the scope and duties of each.
Cynthia Wiles read a lengthy statement regarding cutting of trees on her property on Shadow Race Lane by Charleston County Public Works, which is responsible for clearing and maintaining the rights of way in Sunset Point. When her ten minutes was up, Wiles adroitly handed off to Roberta Karnofsky, who finished reading her statement. Karnofsky owns a home on Shadow Race Lane and was upset at the over-aggressive pruning of her fig tree that, to be fair, is in the right of way. Betty Howle, a long-time Shadow Race resident, thanked the City for finally getting the County to come out and spruce things up. “I’ve been here for 16 years and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen it cleaned up,” she said.
New water rates (O26-10)
The new water rate study calls for a major increase in January 2011 with smaller annual increases for the next four years. “I don’t think we paid very close attention to this during the work session,” said Clamp. “I think the citizens in this community are going to be astounded when they see their first water bill next year.” Clamp said the bill calls for a 24.3% rate increase the first year with 6.2% yearly increases for the next four years. He also questioned having only two rate classifications – residential and business. “Why not three rates?” he asked. “We’re always talking about looking out for the residents first. Why can’t there be separate rates for residents and non-residents. Why hit the permanent residents so hard?” The ordinance was postponed until December 14 in order to give the City Attorney time to investigate the constitutionality of having a different rate for residents. According to City Administrator Toni Connor-Rooks the last water rate study was done in 2004 and the last rate increase was in 2008.
Watercraft stored on Beach (O24-10)
Concern that abandoned Hobie Cats left on the beach for years are creating hazards yet are difficult to remove, City Council earlier this year sought to make permits more costly and to impose fines for improper storage or illegal boats. After amendments by D.J. Rich in September that increased the cost of permit fees and fines and an amendment tonight by Charlie McCarty that specified the information required from a boat owner in order to obtain a permit, the ordinance was passed unanimously. Permit fees are $150 for a yearly permit and $100 for a seasonal permit and fines can go as high as $500. In order to obtain a permit, boat owners wishing to store their boat on the beach must provide their legal name, all addresses, all phone numbers, an emergency contact number, craft type and hull ID, current state of registration and that ID number and proof of ownership.
New Police Cruisers (O25-10)
Councilman Rich proposed an amendment to decrease the number of new Public Safety vehicles from three to one in view of the fact that Folly Beach has lost two officers whom it does not intend to replace any time soon. “I think we need to back off for now,” Rich said. “The longer we keep the money in our coffers, the better off we’ll be.” Clamp said that the Department of Public Safety currently has 10 officers and 11 police cruisers. “So we’ve got our spare on the lot right now,” he said. Mayor Goodwin explained that the unspent money would go back into the reserve fund and be earmarked for police vehicles that will be needed when the force is beefed up again for the summer season.
Mileage caps for City vehicles (R39-10)
Recent discussions on the purchase of new Public Safety vehicles have raised concerns that excessive mileage is a critical factor on how often new cruisers are purchased as well as a major expense. Councilman Clamp pointed out at the September 26 City Council meeting that it cost $80,000 per year to gas up and maintain Public Safety vehicles. “For an island that’s six miles long and less than one mile wide, that’s way too much,” he said, adding that much of this expense was generated by the cruisers being driven home at night. A resolution was introduced to put a cap on mileage and impose disciplinary action on repeat offenders. City Administrator Toni Connor-Rooks said the mileage limits differ for each vehicle and the purpose is to ensure that the City isn’t paying for personal use of vehicles, not to penalize officers who live a greater distance from Folly Beach. Rich was in favor of a mileage reimbursement plan for going over the limit and Eddie Ellis said he was under the impression that the City was already doing that. “Isn’t there a mileage compensation based on how far they live from home?” he asked. I thought they were paying for excess mileage. Have we not received one dime of compensation?” Paul Hume and Clamp said they would like to define “established limitations” and see the chart used to determine these limitations. The other issue is how to punish offenders. Laura Beck said charging for excess mileage “hits them in the pocketbook” but she favored a well-articulated disciplinary procedure spelled out in the Personnel Manual. “I’m concerned about too much discipline and not enough repayment,” countered Rich. The resolution was postponed until the December City Council meeting. Police work is hard and because it doesn’t pay well, Public Safety officers cannot afford to live on Folly Beach. We want accountability and disciplinary action when necessary, but we should also encourage and reward our officers, who by and large are doing a good job. Making the bottom line the only consideration could cost the city more money in the long run.
Tide gate on West Hudson (R41-10)
A resolution to spend $15,506 in storm water management funds to install a new tide gate behind 301 West Hudson Avenue was approved. In 2007, the City implemented a comprehensive storm water management program and a portion of the fees collected by the County are placed into an account for Folly Beach and used for various storm water projects that will help the City. The installation of the tide gate was needed to prevent tidal flooding in the 200 block of West Hudson, according to Mayor Goodwin.
Council comments
Hume said he was disappointed in the pace of City Council’s accomplishments. At issue was the fact that very little legislation has been passed since the group finally sat down together as one governing body. “I don’t think we’re doing what we were elected to do,” he said. He said the council should meet more frequently in work sessions if that was what it would take to get the job done. “We need answers, we need to get these issues resolved and move on.” Eddie Ellis said the issue was transparency and more formal communication was needed from city staff personnel. He cited the recent suspension of the Beach Management program as an example. “I should not have to pick it up on the street through the grapevine.” It’s not too bad, Clamp said, considering that last year’s City Council session at one point had 32 ordinances pending at one time. Beck said members were sometimes operating under false assumptions and that legislation would continue to be deferred until “we reach a point of comfort with what we’ve got on the table.” Rich agreed that too much legislation was being postponed. “I don’t like postponing,” he said. “But we need to get it right. We’re asking the right questions.” Mayor Goodwin said the council had done a lot of good in the past six months. “Don’t feel bad yet,” he said. “We don’t have 32 ordinances hanging over our head.” “Yeah,” someone in the background said, “and we all still like each other.”
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