City Council did not meet on July 13 because that was Election Day. Their next regular meeting will be July 27 at 7:00 p.m. in Council chambers. Agenda items were to include ordinances amending the current rules for dogs on the beach, requiring non-residents to purchase a license tag for pets they bring to the beach, and establishing rules for the use of golf carts within the City of Folly Beach, but Mayor Goodwin has decided to have a workshop on those issues so residents can come forward to express their ideas and opinions. The date of the workshop will be announced soon. On the agenda for the July 27 meeting are the repeal of the Red Bay Laurel Ordinance and discussion of the vacation rental management ordinance. Residents are encouraged to attend and speak their minds. To make a citizen comment, all you have to do is show up and sign in. It is not necessary to be placed on the agenda in advance.

Planning Commission

The Planning Commission met on July 12 and the first order of business was to swear in Elton Culpepper, Pennell Clamp’s appointee to the Planning Commission. Then the Planning Commission got down to business.

Zoning Administrator Aaron Pope introduced an ordinance he described as “a regulatory mechanism to manage short-term rentals and the problems associated with them” that will establish requirements for obtaining a business license to rent property on a short-term basis.

One of the issues discussed was limiting the number of occupants and including a list of all occupants on the rental agreement. Sam Robinson said there should be a maximum number of renters based on the number of bedrooms. “It’s a health issue because of the demands on the septic system,” he said, “and a safety issue in the event of a fire.” Kirk Grant thought it would be difficult to enforce occupancy limits, but LaJuan Kennedy said two guests per bedroom plus two additional guests conforms to maximum occupancy guidelines elsewhere and should be enforceable.

Another major issue was how to make sure owners as well as renters were aware of the rules regarding such issues as noise, trash, parking, animals, sea turtles and golf carts. “Some people don’t have a clue,” said Chairman LaJuan Kennedy. “The agents will abide by the rules, but we need to educate the people who don’t have agents.”

There was some squabbling about whether the rules should be included in the actual rental agreements that resulted in a vote of three for and three against with Kennedy recusing herself from the vote since she works for a rental agency. Tie votes fail, so the Planning Commission will recommend to City Council that the rules become part of the rental agreement vacationers must sign. The listing of all renters was scrapped, but Planning did vote to require the number of occupants to be included on the rental agreement.

The rules and regulations must also be posted in a prominent position in the homes. It was agreed that the door would be the best place to post the rules. “Keep it short so they will read and understand it,” said Millard Smith. Culpepper went even further. “It needs to be something a ten-year-old can understand,” he said. Grant suggested that the City provide a bulleted poster.

Carl Hally made the point that under current law, the owner is responsible for violations. “This will make the renters responsible, so they should know what the consequences are.” Culpepper agreed. “The owner is getting rental income, but he is not the one creating the problem.”

“How do we determine what constitutes a violation?” Pope asked. “That’s where we got derailed last time we tried to do this. The City has the right to revoke licenses, but we don’t have any parameters.”

“If we are going to have it this year, we have got to get something to City Council,” said Kennedy. “If we don’t have it in their hands by October, we will have to wait until next year.”

The Planning Commission voted unanimously to have their suggestions incorporated into the ordinance that will receive first reading at the City Council meeting on July 27. Council will hash it over and send it back to Planning for a public hearing. That’s when residents who will be affected by the new laws – and isn’t that just about everyone? – as well as owners of vacation rentals can most effectively contribute to the dialogue. The Planning Commission makes recommendations; City Council makes laws.

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At 7:00 p.m. on July 13 it will all be over. Folly Beach residents will have chosen the City Council member who will represent them for the next two years. Either Susan Breslin or D.J. Rich will take the empty seat once occupied by Tim Goodwin and serve the remaining two years of his term.

Both candidates agree that the key to winning will be getting their supporters to the polls. Rich said personal matters kept him from really campaigning hard the first time around, but he still performed well and barely missed the cut-off for the run-off. Since then, he said, he has been focused and working hard to win. For Breslin, it’s her third campaign this year and she hopes the third time’s a charm.

“I think this is a crucial time for Folly Beach, Breslin said. “We have to choose the kind of place we want Folly to be and we’re running out of time to make that choice.”

Breslin’s “Residents First” slogan has at times annoyed Rich. “This town is made up of residents, businesses and vacationers,” he said. “The interests of all of them need to be represented. I’m a resident, too, but we need balance.”

But Breslin is focused on the number of residents, especially the full-time residents who have left Folly Beach. She said four years ago more than 30% of the homes on Folly Beach were owner occupied, but now it’s down to 20%. “So many people I have talked to are thinking about moving because they’re fed up.” She said reasons for resident dissatisfaction include noise and traffic issues, drunks in the street, and the feeling that they are losing control over Folly Beach, that Folly Beach controls them.

Rich says Folly Beach cannot exist without a viable business community to support the city. “We don’t need more growth, but we need to manage what we have,” he said. “We need to make sure we have a thriving business community.”

Breslin agrees with Rich on that point, but she said it should not be at the expense of the residents. She said the downtown area is about more than the shops and food and beverage establishments that line Center Street. “Center Street isn’t owned by a few bars. Center Street belongs to all of us and we are all affected by what happens there,” she said.

A major concern for Rich is that some people see him just as a business owner and think that’s all he cares about, but he said he is concerned about all the issues Folly faces just as any resident would be. “I talk to people seven days a week and, believe me, it’s easy to know what’s going on, to get opinions from people. Between the Planet and the Crab Shack (which he says are heavily frequented by locals) it’s not hard to keep track of the pulse of Folly Beach,” he said.

Both candidates think they could work well with the present Council members. “We need a cohesive Council this time around,” Rich said, adding that he feels he would bring needed balance to the group. According to Breslin, what the city needs most on Council is a middle ground on the issues. “People square off and don’t talk to each other, they don’t say ‘I can live with this, can you live with this?’ It’s really important to cooperate with other Council members.”

It’s the middle of the summer, people are busy with houseguests or have left town because of the weather or the crowds. It may seem like a ho hum election, but that’s not true. The person elected to City Council on Tuesday will be sitting in that chair for two years. And a lot can happen in two years.

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You know summer’s right around the corner when City Council spends half its meeting hearing requests from groups wanting to hold events on the beach. On March 23 Council heard requests for the third annual Army Wives Beach Party at which 250 guests are expected, the “Big Gay Beach Party” for 300-400 people and a Post “Palmetto Relay” Party for 400 racers and their friends. Then of course there was the request for street closings and open-container permits for the 20th annual Sea & Sand festival. Omar Colon was on the agenda, but did not appear, to request permission for Bert’s Customer Appreciation Party, which used to be held every year and closed off 2nd Street East between Ashley and Cooper Avenues and offered free wine and beer to everyone who showed up.

Two of the four ordinances on the agenda concerned how the City will deal with events such as these. The ordinance (02-10) creating the Staff Event Planning Committee was enacted into law. The one dissenting vote came from Councilman McCarty, who reserved the right to “cast my standard vote against more bureaucracy.” The law establishes a committee composed of the City Administrator; the Director of Public Safety or police alternate; the Deputy Director of Public Safety (Fire Chief) or alternate fire official; the Director of Public Works, or public works alternate; and the Comptroller or financial alternate. Its purpose is to allow for a comprehensive review of public events that utilize public property within the City limits to insure the safety and welfare of those attending the event. Councilman Dave Stormer voted to postpone an ordinance(03-10) dealing with where and under what circumstances open containers of alcohol would be allowed until the new City Council meets on May 25. “It would take up a lot of time to talk about it tonight,” he said. “Let the new City Council deal with it.”

The biggest and most far-reaching legislation – the new zoning ordinance – was passed unanimously with little discussion. Zoning Administrator Aaron Pope came to the podium to discuss the results of the Planning Commission’s public hearing on the ordinance. He said eight people had commented on the proposed law and six of them had been residents of multi-family complexes who were mostly concerned about being able to rebuild in the event of a catastrophe. The Planning Commission had sent the ordinance back to Council with no changes. Pope told Council that any changes they made tonight would result in the ordinance being sent back to Planning, which would hold another public hearing. He recommended that Council pass the ordinance and fine-tune it later. Several Council members said there were minor changes they would like to discuss later, and Tim Goodwin echoed their sentiments by saying, “This is a cohesive piece of legislation and a vast improvement and I’m not going to bring up any minor changes that would prevent its passage tonight.” Mayor Beckmann thanked Council and Planning Commission members for their hard work and said it normally takes three to four years to pass such a comprehensive legislative product. “We’re right on track as far as the time-line is concerned,” he said.

The resolution (R14-10) awarding the bid for the expansion of the Public Safety Department facilities to Hill Construction Company for $1,396,621 generated quite a bit of discussion, but was passed with dissenting votes from Dave Stormer and Eddie Ellis. “If we vote on this tonight, we’re buying into an unknown,” said Stormer, who was concerned that costs for refurnishing or relocating personnel were not included in the figure. Mayor Beckmann said these costs had been taken into consideration and that the City planned to relocate Public Safety equipment and personnel to the County boat landing on the Folly River. Beckmann said the two fire trucks would be housed in a large tent (40 feet x 80 feet) that the City plans to buy at a cost of $12,000 and the on-duty personnel would sleep in a trailer the City plans to rent for $400 per month.

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A resolution (R08-10) authorizing the expenditure of $7,400 to install a surveillance camera, drop box and security phone inside the foyer at City Hall was passed. The drop box is used primarily for complaints or other communication from the public and for the payment of parking tickets. Discussion centered on the merits of having the box and camera outside vs. inside or whether they were needed at all. The telephone is automatically linked to the 911 dispatch system, according to Chief Boatwright who said the phone could be used as an “on the spot” means of reporting emergencies and would be particularly useful to people who don’t have cell phones.

Councilman Dave Stormer challenged passage of a resolution (R10-10) authorizing a contract with Glick & Boehm for engineering services on the City Hall expansion project. Stormer questioned what he referred to as a “secret, sweetheart deal” and claimed that the contract dated August 7, 2008 had been signed by Mayor Beckmann, but had come to the attention of City Council members only two weeks ago and had not yet been seen by the City Attorney.

“This contract was not one entered into by the City of Folly Beach,” Stormer insisted. He suggested that the contract be sent to the City Attorney and the Comptroller for “stringent assurance that it is in the best interests of the City.” Of particular concern to Stormer was the stipulation that the architect would receive 8.25% of the construction costs, which he said was out of line with other contracts he had seen. The resolution was rejected by Council.

First reading on the new Zoning Ordinance, which had been scheduled for the February 23 City Council meeting, was scratched from the agenda at the last minute. The Mayor said he and the Planning & Zoning Commission chairman decided not to bring the plan forward at this time because of some interesting ideas brought forth recently that he said could result in significant changes to the document. However, Council and the Planning Commission had voted in a joint session to put the ordinance on the agenda so it could receive first reading and go to the Planning Commission for public input before the election. On the Monday before the Tuesday City Council meeting, three Council members – Beck, Goodwin and Stormer – petitioned to put the Zoning Ordinance back on the agenda for the February 23 meeting, and it passed unanimously.

“Let’s not make this a political football,” Beck said. “What we have now is a patchwork quilt. We need to hit the ‘save button’ and continue to move forward with this ordinance.”

“This ordinance is head and shoulders above what we have now,” Stormer added. “Let’s turn it over to the people and let them have a stab at it.”

Goodwin said passage of the ordinance would stop a moving target. “Sure it will be amended when we get comments from the public,” he said, “but we need to get it in front of them for their input.”

The ordinance was sent to the Planning Commission and will be up for discussion at the March 1 regular meeting. The formal Public Hearing will be in Council chambers on March 8. Residents are encouraged to attend both meetings. Beck said since the ordinance received first reading at the February 23 Council meeting, the same Planning Commissioners who have worked on the plan for the past three years will be the ones to present the ordinance to the public, and it will be possible to pass the ordinance before the April 6 elections.

In other business, a resolution (R11-10) approving the sole sourcing to B.P. Barber for engineering services in the relocation of sewer lines off the Folly River bridge passed unanimously; an ordinance (02-10) creating a Staff Event Planning Committee passed second reading with dissenting votes from Mayor Beckmann and Councilman McCarty; an ordinance clarifying the language on requests for “open containers” (03-10) passed first reading unanimously.

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The Folly Beach City Council held its monthly workshop and regular meeting, back-to-back, on December 8. Council member Tim Goodwin was absent from the meeting and Mayor Carl Beckmann explained that he was sick.

Council coup fails

Council member Tom Scruggs surprised the rest of Council when he made a motion to hold a special meeting on January 19 to discuss the possibility of inserting a referendum during next year’s April 6 election that would allow residents to change the City’s form of government from a “Strong Mayor” to a “Strong Council” system. Scruggs argued that the current form of government is not working and is evident in the fact that Council has done a lot of talking but can’t seem to get anything done. Maybe with a Council form of government, they would have made more progress over the past few years, he said.
Council member Dave Stormer concurred. “Something a little more collegial would be more appropriate in a community this size,” he said adding that the entire Council would share in the responsibilities and decisions that the Mayor currently wields. “It’s just a bad system.”
However, Council members Ellis, Beck, and McCarty all argued against the concept saying that the timing is terrible and that there is way too much going on with the litter issue, City Hall/Public Safety Expansion, bridge replacement, traffic study among other things. Furthermore, the City’s staff is already overworked they said. Ellis wrote the idea off as a simple personality conflict saying that Scruggs’s motion “is a direct response to him [Mayor Beckmann]”. Instead, he said it should be a campaign issue and the voters could decide that way. Beck argued that such a huge referendum needed more time to be digested by the Council and the citizens. Putting this on the April 6 ballot was too soon, she said. Scruggs retorted that his motion only opens the floor for a formal discussion among Council and does not actually create the referendum.
The Council voted 2-4 against the motion with Scruggs and Stormer casting the two affirmative votes.

City employees to see raises

The City Council unanimously passed a resolution that would add about $61,000 in expenditures to the 2009-2010 budget. The money reflects the results of a compensation study that suggested many of the City’s employees are underpaid in comparison to surrounding communities and similar municipalities. However, the vote did not occur until after Council member Eddie Ellis expressed some issues he had with the study and resolution.
Ellis suggested that the “higher-ups” in the City were getting raises before employees who sit lower on the proverbial totem pole. Furthermore, he asked if raises should occur retroactively since the study suggested employees were being underpaid the entire time the study was being conducted.
City Administrator Toni Connor-Rooks assured Ellis that everyone entitled to a raise would be receiving it at the same time. Council member Tom Scruggs also said that the study was necessary to see how much of a raise, if any, employees needed to receive.
According to Council member Dave Stormer, approximately 71 percent of the compensation adjustments will be occurring within the Public Safety Department. Employees receiving adjustments should expect to see the salary increases starting this month.

Mayor’s Comments

The Regular City Council meeting opened with Mayor Beckmann providing a short commentary on the Beach Management Patrol and Fire Department tours. He expressed a great amount of satisfaction in John Crisco of the City’s Beach Management Patrol which was forged this past summer and is charged with keeping the beach front free of litter and educating visitors on City ordinances.
“He is a ball of fire,” Beckmann said. When asked to provide some suggestions for improving the patrol and beach litter in general, Crisco responded with a 15-page report, according to Beckmann. He added that the patrol is doing a great job.
He also pointed out that the Public Safety Department recently had some visitors in the form of students who were given a tour of the City’s Fire Station. Interested members of the public should contact Public Safety Director Terry Boatwright or Deputy Fire Chief Brad Wade for information on tours.

Wanna do the repeater?

Deputy Fire Chief Brad Wade explained the need for Ordinance 21-09 which would permit the communication tower at the water plant to be increased in height by 50 feet for a total height of approximately 245 feet. The height is necessary for a potential, multi-phased approach to improving radio communication for emergency services as part of the consolidated 9-1-1 dispatch move which allows Charleston County to handle dispatch for local municipalities under one system. However, the transition has been less than perfect.
“We have a communication problem in Charleston County,” Chief Wade said. The problems, he said, are mostly occurring in island communities like Folly Beach. Communication is being disrupted by oceanic interference, which is unpredictable he added. On some days, radios are completely useless and Public Safety personnel have to use their cell phones to communicate.
The first phase of the solution includes creating a “repeater site” on Folly Beach. The current tower does not have any more room as it is filled with other users such as cell phone company. Increasing the height of the tower will provide the necessary space.
Chief Wade says that ordinance is a bit proactive as the County still has to agree on the plan. However, by passing the ordinance now, which requires another vote, the City will be ready if the County moves ahead with the plan. Furthermore, he adds that the City is not expected to incur any cost for the construction since the City subscribes to the County’s service and it is the service that is failing.
Motorola, the company behind the communication system, is sure this will fix the problem.

Other ordinances and resolutions

The Council unanimously passed Ordinance 22-09 which accepts a “Quit Claim Deed” from Milton Loehr for a property located on East Ashley at the Washout. The property is beach-side and basically underwater. The ordinance also directs the City’s attorney to prepare a Quit Claim Deed themselves giving the property over to the “Folly Beach Nature Conservancy. The TMS number for the property is 4391400029.
An ordinance that would get the Council more involved with special event requests was postponed. A Special Events Committee has been created that streamlines the process people have to go through when getting permission for special events such as Surfers Healing and Follypalooza, for example. However, Council member Stormer, who introduced the ordinance, pointed out that the Special Events Committee may have been introduced incorrectly and may not be authorized to make the decisions they have been making. The ordinance would create another step for applicants to take. The Council agreed to postpone the ordinance pending counsel from the City’s attorney.
The Council simultaneously and unanimously passed the following resolutions in one vote:
57-09: Authorizes Mayor Beckmann to sign a letter of agreement with B.P. Barber to provide preliminary engineering services and acquire an easement to cross the Folly River to replace the City’s sewer for no more than $8,300.
59-09: Expresses the City’s opposition to State House of Representatives Bill H-3272 and urging legislators to vote ‘no’. The City would like the Taxation Realignment Commission to complete its study of the State’s tax structure before the bill is voted on.
60-09: Adopts the 2010 meeting schedule for the City Council, Planning Commission, Design Review Board, Utility Board, Community Promotion Foundation and Official Holiday Calendar.
61-09: Approves the City Administrator’s request to surplus a 1995 Chevrolet long-bed pick-up truck.

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The Folly Beach City Council held its regular meeting on November 10 at 7pm. The work session which had been scheduled at 6pm to discuss litter was cancelled. All members of Council were present.
Expanding criticism
The City did not discuss the City Hall expansion except to debate when and how another meeting on the matter should be held for over half an hour. However, that didn’t mean that the public didn’t have anything to say.
Pennell Clamp expressed his displeasure with the Council’s indecisiveness. “You had the right to vote the way you saw fit,” he said. Then he added, “It doesn’t appear this City Council has the ability to get things done.” He noted the City has “put the cart before the horse” as it expanded its Public Safety Department over the past few years before providing them with a proper place to operate. He also criticized Tom Scruggs’ idea to give employees raises instead of using the money to expand facilities calling it “appalling”. The end result, he said, is that the City has to go back to the hard working residents and ask for more money to do what could not be done the first time.
Local businessman DJ Rich said the City needs to work together and make concessions in order to get things done for the benefit of the City. “Let’s get the ball rolling,” he said.
Finally Ken Holland admitted that the Council’s job is a tough one and he thanked them for serving. However, he added that the public has not been properly informed and did not know there were any other options beside the $1.6 million expansion Mayor Carl Beckmann presented. “Get together. Put the politics behind,” he said.
Part of the rush for those who supported the $1.6 million plan was the low construction prices and the fact that the bids were only good through November 30. However, Administrator Toni Connor-Rooks said that all the bidders agreed to extend their offers for an additional 60 days.
The City scheduled a meeting only nine days after this one for November 19 in which a hired facilitator, Kathy Church, was required for the meeting to progress. Eddie Ellis was the only one who voted against the meeting stating it was a waste of taxpayer money to hire a facilitator. Details on that meeting can be read here.
College of CARTA
Isaiah Nelson, Vice President of the student body at the College of Charleston, returned to Folly Beach to further discuss the CARTA route he helped establish over the summer. Originally, CARTA agreed to two trial routes that each ran for two month periods, mainly to get College of Charleston students and other downtown folks to Folly Beach. The route was considered a great success by Nelson. As a result, Nelson is now asking CARTA for an uninterrupted route that would run from April through September and asked the City Council for support of his goal.
“I’m thanking you for your past support for this,” Nelson said to the Council.
Later in the meeting, the Council unanimously passed Resolution 56-09 which expressed support and approval of the extension of the CARTA route in 2010.
Stalling the bridge
Waterfront neighborhood resident Francis Cantwell asked the City to postpone any decision on which a bridge replacement option was chosen until the South Carolina Department of Transportation and/or the City met with residents of the Waterfront community. At a public hearing regarding the bridge replacement, several members of that community expressed displeasure and concern that their homes would be disproportionately impacted by the suggested alternative which swings the new bridge out at a much larger angle, bringing noise, traffic, and light much closer to their homes. Mayor Beckmann responded by saying the City would have to sign off on any plan before the State could begin the project.
Resolutions and ordinances
The Council unanimously passed all resolutions and ordinances that were before them. The first on the list was R49-09 which authorized the City to assume a claim deductible with the South Carolina Municipal Insurance Workers’ Compensation Fund. They simultaneously passed R56-09, the CARTA resolution mentioned earlier as well as R55-09 which names the memory garden at the Community Center the “David Israel Memory Garden”. The Council also passed second reading of Ordinance 19-09 which gives senior citizens a discount on building fees.

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Addressing concerns that have arisen since the City has begun to pass legislation banning dogs on the north end of Folly Beach for the sake of migratory birds, Mayor Carl Beckmann reiterated his arguments for the ordinance. First, he pointed out that Folly Beach has always been a bird sanctuary and the ordinance is consistent with that dedication. Second, he clarified that the legislation is not a dog ordinance but a people ordinance. He has stated that the ordinance would not be necessary if dog owners would control their pets.
The ban has birthed some controversy. Arguments against the ban suggest that a few people are ruining it for everyone and that a lack of enforcement on the City’s part is, at least, partially responsible for the purported dangers of off-leash dogs playing in areas designated for migratory and nesting birds. The lack of enforcement issue has also been brought up during recent discussions concerning litter and alcohol on the beach.

Bohrn again

Relic hunter Robert Bohrn spoke to Council regarding a monument for 19 Civil War soldiers buried on Folly Beach. Bohrn had participated in the discovery of the soldiers in 1987, and wrote an account of the fallen men – African-American members of the 55th Massachusetts regiment – in the October 30 edition of The Folly Current.
At the meeting, he expressed great passion and appreciation for the soldiers’ service and sacrifice for the United States and asked the City Council to support a monument in any way they could. He pointed out that there are many Civil War era monuments all over the Lowcountry while Folly Beach, a very important locale for the war, has very little.
“They deserve a monument,” Bohrn said. “We should stand up as Americans in a time of war and recognize their sacrifice for our country.”
Bohrn also suggested that Folly Beach could actually celebrate its creation in 1863, which is when the soldiers were documented to have been living on the island. According to Borhn, they created a small town on Folly Beach building roads, digging wells, and opening stores to support the 10,000-13,000 people who were stationed on the island.
“We’ll be glad to help you in any way we can,” Mayor Beckmann said before presenting Bohrn with a coupon for a family dinner in appreciation for his efforts.

CARTA becoming Folly friendly?

Council member Tom Scruggs presented an update on CARTA’s test route that ran during weekend days during the busy college beach season this past year. The route was designed for College of Charleston students. However, the route was so successful that the college is seeking a permanent route that would run 7-8 times a day during the week from a shopping center on James Island. The route would finally provide a regular mode of public transportation for Folly Beach residents to travel the Charleston area. Furthermore, Scruggs stated that he was planning to attend an upcoming CARTA meeting and that the City should attempt to attain a seat on the CARTA board. Doing so, he said, would help make CARTA more considerate of Folly Beach.
“I believe we can get a seat on there,” he said.

Grinch can’t ruin Christmas spirit

Mayor Carl Beckmann announced that Christmas lights will be put back on the bridge in time for the holidays. The Mayor previously had expressed his frustration at a previous meeting after vandals destroyed the lights. Beckmann and his wife have been responsible for putting the lights up and maintaining them. “Hopefully, we’ll have a lot more on them,” he said.

Ordinances

The largest issue of the entire night was the failure of Resolution 50-09, which would have awarded a contract for the Public Safety Expansion to the lowest bidder; Emory J. Infinger & Associates. The measure failed by a 4-3 vote with Council members Dave Stormer, Eddie Ellis, Tim Goodwin, and Tom Scruggs providing the “nay” votes.
Second reading was passed on two ordinances which established the budgets for the Water Utility and Sewer Utility. They were passed by a 6-1 vote with Council member Eddie Ellis voting “no” on each ordinance. He did not discuss why he was against the budgets.
Council unanimously passed an ordinance that authorized and directed the Mayor and City Administrator to switch their Workers Compensation Fund money to the South Carolina Municipal Insurance Trust. It was stated that the current company has largely ignored the City, provided poor customer service, and is increasing their rates.
Senior Citizens could begin receiving discounts from the City on particular building and construction fees. The ordinance seems designed to simply honor senior citizens who are residents of Folly Beach. Council member Scruggs brought to light a couple of potential issues with the ordinance, however, pointing out that builders could claim they plan to live in a new building to be constructed and end up renting it. While there was no resolution to the issue, the Council passed the ordinance unanimously.
The City Council passed five ordinances as part of their “approval of consent , agenda”which means they were all passed with a single vote and without discussion. In the order in which they appeared on the agenda, the resolutions that were passed were as follows:
1. Resolution 48-09 allowed the City to spend $1500 to provide turkeys to all City employees at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
2. Resolution 51-09 provided an unspecified amount of money for the 2009 Christmas Parade.
3. Resolution 52-09 gave an unspecified amount of money to the Folly Beach Senior Citizens Club.
4. Resolution 53-09 approved an historical marker at the corner of West Indian and Center Streets, recognizing and commemorating the 19 Union soldiers that were discovered buried there in 1987.
5. Resolution 54-09 submits that the City will donate $500 toward the purchase of an historical marker at the Community Center “in recognition of one of the most historically significant finds in the State of South Carolina”. The summary provided by the City did not specify if the “find” was the 19 Union soldiers or something else.
For the second successive regular Council meeting, an ordinance to ban styrofoam was postponed.

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“What Council has done proves this Council has no regard for staff, workspace or otherwise,” Beckmann scorned. “This is the 11th-hour, do-nothing Council. I’m looking out for residents of this City and you, my friends, are not.”

His comments conjured a small roar of disapproval from those who voted against the $1.6 million expansion which included Dave Stormer, Tim Goodwin, Tom Scruggs and Eddie Ellis.

“I take offense to that,” Ellis tried to say. However, his comments were diluted by Mayor Beckmann’s gavel who ended the meeting immediately after his comments, preventing any official rebuttal.

There has been no disagreement that City staff is in desperate need of more room among Council members. Instead, they have spent their debates arguing over how the City should go about providing that space and the proper use of PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) money. However, passion for individual ideas created a schism based on a false premise that those who are not in favor of the $1.6 million expansion are playing politics. For example, public comment from Chief Boatwright may have emboldened the nay vote. At the very least, his words were offensive to Council member Tom Scruggs who voted against the project.

Replicating his speech to the City Council from a previous meeting, Boatwright begged for help before criticizing those who were hesitant to the pull trigger on the expansion. He explained that the Public Safety Department was severely lacking, saying that “officers don’t have a place to hang their hat” and that the Victims Advocate Officer who counsels and converses with victims of violent crimes does not even have an office in which to have those private conversations. He then suggested that those City Council members who  questioned the project were playing politics.

“It blows my mind,” he exclaimed while addressing the Council. “You can’t look me in the eye and tell me you care a flipping thing about the employees and not provide them with the tools they need.”

This comment came before the vote.

Of course, that accusation did not go over well with everyone. Eddie Ellis assured Chief Boatwright that there was no politicking going. However, it was Tom Scruggs who was obviously offended. As Chief Boatwright stood at the podium, Scruggs pointed out that Boatwright has a “pretty nice job” with a good salary, and a free car to drive among other benefits. He also pointed out that the Public Safety Chief is not a resident who will be financially impacted by the $1.6 million expansion and that he [Scruggs] is trying to ensure the residents are not being taxed beyond necessity.

“You don’t live here. You don’t pay taxes here,” he said plainly to the Chief.

The meeting ended abruptly with flared tempers. Ironically, five minutes had not passed when the siren of a Folly Beach Fire Truck could be heard and the lights could be seen as it left the station located right behind City Hall.

(We will update this story and provide more details in the November 13 edition of The Folly Current)

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The Folly Beach City Council held their regular workshop on October 13 and had only one thing on their mind: litter. Council member Tom Scruggs had been chosen to emcee the meeting whose complexity had derailed progressive conversation on at least one occasion. A moderator was called in for the initial meeting to help keep the group focused after July 4 celebrations left the beach front filthy with trash and left residents enraged. Scruggs presented the rest of Council and Mayor Carl Beckmann with a five step agenda to guide them to a plan of action before the meeting ended. After three official meetings on the issue, Laura Beck stated that she wanted the Council to have a plan of action before this meeting was over when asked what her goal for the evening was.

Council member Laura Beck discusses how the City can address litter on the beach.

It took more than two hours, but the Council was able develop solid ideas on how they wanted to move forward to address trash not only on the beach, but throughout the island and Charleston community as

well. Every member of Council had a different aspect of the problem to research and present which included: Rules/ordinances, trash removal from streets, trash removal from beach, community involvement, education/public awareness, and enforcement among others. After all the presentations and discussions, Council members picked out ideas they liked that could be implemented in order to create a desired “action plan”.
Residents may have started seeing action as early as October 27 when the Council hoped to vote on a discussed trash ordinance. Currently, the City does not have formal legislation directed at litter. However, Council members were unsure whether an ordinance could be crafted that quickly and that information was not available by our publication deadline.
One of the biggest concepts discussed was changing people’s attitudes. The problem is not litter, Beckmann says, but people.
“It’s not a trash problem. We have to change people’s behavior,” he said. However, it was carefully noted by Council member Dave Stormer that behavior and attitude are two significantly different concepts. The former can be legislated. Passing an ordinance that specifically addresses trash will allow the City to try and control some behaviors that contribute to litter. Changing attitudes, however, is a bit more complicated.
Scruggs had already begun to engage local educational institutions and has received support from the College of Charleston and the Citadel to begin a program that lets students know that Folly Beach is not a place to party and leave all your trash, but a place to be appreciated and enjoyed. However, he argues that the education can start much earlier and suggested the City begin a campaign of speaking to local elementary, middle, and high schools to explain why our environment needs to be protected. Hopefully, by influencing the younger generation, they will also be able to educate their parents and attitudes will begin to change as environmental awareness grows, Scruggs explained.
In addition to developing an education/public awareness plan and a litter ordinance, the City Council has several other items in their action plan. They want the City’s staff to evaluate the City’s capability to carry out a variety of tasks such as overseeing criminals assigned to community service and patrolling the beach to catch more litterers. In addition, while the Council has bantered over the possibility of adopting the State’s litter law since the City does not have one, they are now looking to formulate a litter law specific to Folly Beach. They are looking to create a citizen volunteer program which could mean a way for residents to do beach sweeps but could also mean something as involved as trained residential patrols designed to supplement the City’s strained police force. They also want to look into increasing their recycling capabilities which are largely limited by the County.
Mayor Beckmann expects to have all aspects of the plan defined and “ready to go” in December with everything in place to corral the litter problem by January 1. “That gives the residents time to react,” he says.
The City Council is scheduled to hold its next meeting, a workshop, on November 10 at 6pm in City Hall.

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The September 22 meeting of the Folly Beach City Council had to be a record as the shortest meeting of any municipal Council in the area. Lasting less than 45 minutes, the Council’s huge task of quelling the trash problem was put on hold as they had previously agreed to re-approach the issue at their October work session. A public hearing on the traffic plan proposals was scheduled for two days later, so there was no discussion on that issue. A scheduled appearance by Marta Borinsky was cancelled because she did not show up, and any debate on the Public Safety expansion has been postponed because bids on the project were not due until October 1. However, there was still about 45 minutes of business.

Yahoo!

Mayor Beckmann noted that the City has been having issues with e-mails not being received or being processed properly. The main issue, he said, was with anyone using a Yahoo! address. If you have tried to contact the City through e-mail and have not received a response, it would not be a bad idea to confirm with the City that your communication was received.

In the same vein, Administrator Toni Connor-Rooks recently obtained a $51,000 grant for the City to update and improve the computer systems used for Court purposes. Currently, the City is still using a 14 year-old DOS operating system, which is now inefficient and limiting.

It’s not for dogs

The Town passed second reading of an ordinance that will ban dogs from the north end of the island, also known as the Old Coast Guard Base. The reason for the ban was explained by a DNR representative at a previous meeting who stated that Folly Beach, especially the northern end of the island which is owned by the Charleston County Park system, has become increasingly important to endangered migratory shorebirds for nesting and resting. Dogs running through the area prevent the birds from being able to rest and can crush the eggs of some birds who nest in the sand. However, Mayor Beckmann stressed the fact that this is not a “dog ordinance”, but an ordinance for dog owners.

“If people would control their dogs we wouldn’t have to do this,” he said. He added that all of Folly Beach is actually designated as a bird sanctuary.

Not ready to go green

If it had not been for two ordinances establishing the Sewer Utility and Water Utility budgets, all of the Town’s business would have been conducted without any real discussion whatsoever. However, included in the two budgets was the purchase of a $12,000 “green vehicle”, the price of which had been split between the Water and Sewer budgets. The vehicle was going to be used for reading meters, among other tasks.

Council member Tim Goodwin raised the issue by asking why the City needed to spend $12,000 when a battery operated golf cart, equally green, could be purchased for around $3,000. Mayor Beckmann pointed out that the $12,000 vehicle could carry more things and was “street legal”. He added that the Water Department tested the vehicle for the week and that “it made meter reading very easy”. Currently the Town uses a gasoline powered pick up truck for the task. Council member Tom Scruggs suggested using the truck until it mechanically fails after Goodwin expressed displeasure with the City for accruing more and more vehicles. However, Goodwin did suggest that the City look into purchasing a Toyota Prius’ for the Public Safety Department in the future in order to have a better impact on the environment.

The Council unanimously agreed to remove the item from the Water and Sewer budgets.

Bridge replacement

You may recall in a previous edition of The Folly Current that plans were underway to replace the two aging bridges the span the Folly River and Creek. Mayor Beckmann announced that a final review of the bridge plans would take place in November and that the bridges would be replaced sometime next year. The City was presented with four alternatives for the bridge replacement, each with different traffic and environmental impacts.

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