County Council - Regular Meeting

Um, I'm Joe Boy and I represent Charles County District 8. Currently serve as chair and I'm going to ask uh council members to please introduce themselves along with our key staff. Starting with Mr. Moody. Oh, this is going to last. Brantley Moody, District 7. Steve Thman, number four. Herb Sass, uh, district number one, Mount Pleasant. Kristen Salsbury, clerk of council county administrator. Larry Kapowski, District 1. Daddy Bry, District Five. District, District Three. Natalie Ham, County Attorney. Jenny Honeyut, District Nine.

Middleton, District 6. Right. Thank y'all. Um, okay. This time we will begin our transportation sales tax special committee. Um I am chair and all members of council are members of this committee. Um approval of minutes April 14th. Second. Second. All those in favor say I. I. Eyes have it. Um at this time u item 2, Miss Honeyut.

Yes. Uh Mr. Chairman, I'd move to approve the proposed transportation sales tax program with the following modifications. Add Seabbrook Island Road as a name project to be funded within the pavement management allocation. Replace the Door Road at Seawe Road intersection project with the Steed Creek Road at Highway 17 Rut intersection project. And finally, set the Green Belt urban rural split at 50/50. Do I have a second? I'll second for discussion, but the question I have is this is just to make changes. This is not the we sending to the public, right? I believe it is it would it would move forward uh to county council for the next stop.

Mr. Hikat, if you would do up to third reading, you know, and there was amendments after third reading, you know, that's something I can pardon me. I'd be happy to. Yeah, that's something because there's some changes that might be need to down the road that might need to be changed and I don't want us to get caught up in that. So, if we can do this up to 30, I concur, Mr. Prior. Absolutely. Okay. All right. Uh any discussion? Yes sir. Something else which would come under the subject matter. Um according to a member of cage in terms of transportation sales tax and the surveys were there two surveys because there were some comments which were not recorded

according to cage. So I don't this may not be the place to discuss but I'd like to find out how do we know that the uh the comments were made or not because it was clearly stated that the comments made were not published. So to whom do we speak? I would refer to uh Mr. Mr. Adams. So we can address that with our consultant make sure that those comments were part of the record. All right sir. And if it's permissible, Mr. Administrator, if your staffing press get with Mr. Freeman from Keyage to to ensure what they were saying would be done, sir, because I think that was the um the terminology that I received, sir.

Take care of that, Councilman Thickpin. All right. Yes, sir. All right. Any further? Yes, Mr. Prior.

Um just just to add to um I I think most of us got a letter, a email from the mayor of North Charleston. Uh, and so I wanted to be go on record that they have some changes that they might make themselves, but um, what I did uh, and and I'm going to ask the mayor them to do is get a an opinion from the attorney general just like they did downtown, bring it back to us whether they can use transportation sales tax for the um, the noise wall or songw wall, what they're looking for, and then if we have to adjust their allocations based on what they submit. You know, I don't mind doing that, but we have to have an opinion first, madame attorney, if you will look into that, too, to make sure they do that. And then we can make changes up to third reading. But I want to also advise my council members. You don't want to be making too many changes with this thing now because we don't want the public to come back and say, "See, this is what we wanted and now you're making changes." So, I want this to be on record that he did submit it that not and I don't mind looking into it.

Thank you, Mr. Mr. asking.

Yeah, just to build on what Councilman Darby said. I believe that was from my district and it had to do with another proposed road from Highway 17 to deal with access or 41 and so forth. And that's the one and I want to make sure that was part of the record because they did reach out to me too. So, thank you for picking up on that. And chairman, I I wonder if this is the time I'd like the for the green belt to to put specific language that using tax funds for financing green belt initiatives, including but not limited to purchasing property for conservation, purchasing conservation easements, procuring land for parks, securing passive and active green space, protecting natural resources. Mr.

Sorry, I hate to interrupt you, but that's going to come when we direct staff to do the ballot language. Okay. So there there'll be an opportunity there to weigh in on that. All right. Thank you. Yes. Okay. Mr. Wearman, shut it off.

Um, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yeah, I I want to echo a good bit of what uh Councilman Prior had to say. You know, I know that this issue with the um soundwall is has a long history and uh if we have an opportunity to solve that, I I think we we should uh help the city in doing so. um understand that that's been a priority in that community for a long time. We obviously need to make sure we can check all the boxes, dot all the eyes, and cross the tees um in doing that. And you know, it's going to have it's going to be a little bit of a lift to make sure we can do that. I' I'd urge the city and um you know, I hopefully we can we can assist them in whatever way we can on that. And you know, I think we we the other thing I'd like to do is kind of put that on the record to just make make it clear on the record that that is a potential change that could be considered in the future. So that if folks want to weigh in on that, I mean, we've put a lot of effort into public input here and we're kind of having to uh address this a little bit on the back end of the public input period. And look, we've got to be flexible. Well, we've got to be realistic about the fact that um you know, things come up and uh I'm certainly open to helping out on that and I think it'd be great if we can, but um I do just want to have that on the public record that that's potential change that might occur when we talk about, you know, amendments in the future. That's kind of the one that I've got in mind um moving forward.

Well, just for full disclosure, uh the mayor reached out to me. I went over and met him uh at North Charleston City Hall. We discussed all this and that's when I referred him to Mr. Adams so that we are consistent in how we do this and you know we're uniform and so and also that it would be brought before council as a public process. So yes sir. Uh Mr. Brandt Mr. Moody.

Um good comments Mr. Worman uh Mr. Prior. I I um I think it does need to be noted coming from the city of North Charleston. I I think an attorney general's opinion while needed is is I think is granted based on what the petitioner asks them to submit. Um, I think it's as questionable as a seaw wall. So, I I just I say that for the record, but I know Miss Jameson has been fighting for that for for years and years and it's it is a needed project. I just wonder if it can be funded under that. Miss Ham, question for this amendment. I I support all three of these items, but you know, my position on TST going forward at this time. I do not support that. So, I I would like to support these. When will this come back before this body? Will this come back? Tuesday. When will this come back to us?

So, Mr. Moody, it's my understanding that what you're currently considering is u the projects simply what projects move forward. Uh and once the this body directs my office to um propose to submit a proposed ordinance, then it will go through the normal ordinance process. You didn't answer my question, but okay. You did answer my question. Not you didn't give me the answer I wanted, but but that's a good attorney. Thank you, ma'am. Any further discussion? All right. Um, madam clerk, we call the role on this one. Yes, sir. Mr. Darby, I. Mrs. Honeyut,

I. Mr. Kabowski, I. Mr. Middleton, Mr. Moody. I'm going to support this tonight. I tonight. Mr. Mr. Prior I. Mr. Sass I. Mr. Warman. I. Mr. Boyin. I. The motion passes with eight eyes and one nay. Okay. At this time, I'm going to direct the county attorney to draft ordinance language that reflects these program updates to and to bring back to the transportation sales tax special committee. Mr. Chairman. Yes, sir.

Wouldn't we this to make us official? We'd have to vote on this on Tuesday. So yeah, I think it would move on to Tuesday and then you if it passes Tuesday, you can you can direct her, but it has to pass Tuesday before you direct it. That's probably right. Then I'll withdraw that, Mr. M. I'm sure you are absolutely right on that. Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. All right. This time we're going to adjourn the transportation uh special committee and uh turn it over to the finance committee. I serve as chair and all members of council and members of the committee. Uh item one, approval. Approve. Second.

I I have it. All right. Uh now we uh recommend 2A future transportation sales tax allocation of projects. Do I have a motion for committee recommendation? Move for committee recommendation. Second. Any discussion? Came back sooner than I thought. All those in favor say I. I I opposed. I nay. Okay. Um, moving on to item three, boards and commissions. Uh, on 3A, I already nominate. Well, Mr. Take and see if anybody's here like to speak real quick. Okay. Well, okay.

I went through the resume or something. Okay. Is anybody here for the library board of trustees tonight? I am. Well, would y'all please come up and introduce yourselves and and take about a minute or two to tell us about yourself and

Good evening. My name is Sarah Moise Young. I am a native Charlestonian and I live in West Ashley. I received my mers in library science from the University of South Carolina in 2018 and have been a school media specialist for both Bell Hall Elementary and Charleston Day School. It's the best job in the world. Not only do I get to help kids find great books, but I teach research skills, digital literacy, robotics, and information literacy. I help teachers and families find the resources they need to support classroom learning and a love of reading. Most recently, I served as chair of the South Carolina State Book Awards Program, leading the committees of over a 100 teachers, librarians, parents, and students to create the top 20 list of the best books in each group for students of our state. public, private, and school libraries across our state purchase from these lists to promote programs like Battle of the Books choose visiting authors and for our state's readers choice awards which are awarded at the annual conference of the South Carolina Association of School Librarians at which I am an active member. My goal as a librarian is to serve on the Calicott or Newberry committees at the national level. Prior to my term as chair, I served as vice chair of the book awards program and have served as chair and vice chair of the children's book award committees. What I found most affirming about serving on these committees is hearing from librarians, teachers, and families who are passionate advocates for their disperate communities across the Palmetto State. Excuse me. It was incredibly validating to meet so many people working on behalf of literacy and learning for the children of South Carolina. As to my personal history, my husband, Simmons Young, and I have been married for 20 years this June, and I have two sons who attend Charleston County School of the Arts and Woodbury Forest School. I'm an active member of Grace Church Cathedral downtown, and I'm adult an adult leader for my two sons, Cub Scouts Den and

Scout Troop. I camp once a month whether I want to or not. And man, do I use libraries. I go to Maine, West Ashley, Edisto, and Hollywood branches to find books on my reading committees. I check out telescopes for Cub Scouts. I use the South Carolina room to find resources for my eighth grade um eighth graders research projects with the Gibbs Museum and annually invite annually invite librarians into my school to promote library membership and summer reading. Abby, my favorite librarian at the West Ashley branch, calls me her best customer. I have written several letters of recommendation for the volunte program for kids at multiple schools for West Ashley and Baxter Patrick and I have helped my running partner find reading sources and programs for her teen foster child. As someone whose day job is to meet the needs of hundreds of families of different ages, nationalities, values, and faiths in my own library, I have watched the growth and support of our county library system with tremendous pride. Charleston County is home to over 400,000 residents, including over 50,000 school children, 80,000 retirees, 20,000 rural residents, 42,000 people who live under the poverty line, and 20,000 who currently make 20 times the income of our lowest 20%. How incredible that our amazing library system meets all of those needs. Each branch is like a completely different and exciting mic microcosm of our county. Their programs are original, creative, and engaging. I believe very strongly in the importance of both reading and public service, and I can think of no better way to use my professional experience than to support our 18 branches and bookmobile with enthusiasm, practicality, and professionalism. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening. Um, I'm Clara Heinson, and I'm I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to address you tonight. Um I am I hope you had a chance to look at my resume. I am a former teacher. I taught for 25 years. I taught 15 in public schools, 10 in the Jew in at the Alleston Hebrew Academy. I then I went to Colombia and I was a research director for the Senate Education Committee where I worked on education policy also on on language for legislation to do with literacy. Um, I was appointed by former governor David Beasley to serve on the pass commission which was the precursor to the education oversight committee. I was the only teacher appointed and we put together a very strong education accountability act. Um, I was very pleased when Governor Beasley gave me the order of the Pamea. I was very um I was very taken by that. although my daughter likes to remind me that um on the week he gave it to me, he gave about 20 other ones too. But anyway, I was happy to get it. And um I had after I left Colombia, I came back and worked in in the Charleston School District. And in in that capacity, I worked with the um legislative delegation trying to seek funding for our school district. I also worked on getting volunteers and I worked on getting partnerships. In fact, at one time I served on like nine different boards because we were getting partnerships for the district. I am very intentional about being on this library board. Um I don't consider myself a politician. I'm an educator and I very much realize that the centerpiece of our educational system is the ability to read. And what better place to learn how to read than in a library. And not only

in our 19 branches are we providing wonderful reading uh resources for adults as well as children. We have many members of our f many family members in our community that don't have the advantage of having um Wi-Fi or some of them don't have computers so they utilize that. Also there a great number of programs geared to children. um after I retired uh when superintendent Anita Huggin became the um superintendent uh two years ago, she urged me to come out of retirement and to assist her. Um so I've set up a couple of roundts. Um Councilman Wyman, you're we appreciate the fact that you attend our business roundt. I just met with a literacy roundt today. I had over 20 different leaders in different literacy organization come to the round table and we exchange ideas. We donate books. Um chairman Boyin right now we just gave I think about 200 books out in St. Paul's for a program a summer program. We just decided today to give a 100 books to MUSC so they can have a library for the children who are there. And so I I want to make sure that we can continue doing that. And also I want to make sure that every one of our 19 branches have a viable library system. So anyway, I want to thank you so much for the opportunity. I also want to thank you for your public service. I know it's a lot of work, but it's very important. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Julie Youngman. I I don't always sound this bad. I'm feeling a little punk, but I wanted to make sure that I came tonight because I thought it was important. I did submit in my application. I think you all had a chance to read it. And I also sent you individual letters. The my background, which I think is germaine to this program, is that in both the public and the private sector, I've been involved with literacy for the last 40 years. I owned a bookstore in Mount Pleasant for um 10 years, the Littleit Foster Book Center, and I know some of your children attended there when they were very young. Um I left there and I went to MUSC where I started the Reach Out and Read program which started in one clinic in MUSC which brought books for children at every well visit from ages two weeks to 12 years. And I expanded that. I became the regional director and expanded it from one clinic from Ory County all the way to Buford and we went to 30 different clinics. Um I now work as a school uh on the school board. I'm a social worker and I've worked in the majority of the schools here in in the Charleston County. I will be retiring next month and um so then that opens a more opportunity for me to um work. So I felt it was fertuitous that this position opened up at the same time. The only other thing I'll say in passing is I am an author of 362 books which are available on Amazon under um Julia Young. So I have a because I see that you're discussing substance abuse also. I um have a background in substance abuse and I have a lot of recovery books that are um so I have combined my social work experience and my literacy to um do

journals and workbooks that um are germanine to recovery issues. Um I would humbly request that you consider my um application. Thank you. Thank you ma'am.

Good evening. Thank you for your service. My name is Cynthia Morton. I'm a lawyer. I have no experience in public education, but I have experience with commercial real estate. And what libraries are are located in locations that are accessible to people where the people are moving the demographics that dictate that there's a sufficient population to dictate the need for a library in that area. And so I live in North Mount Pleasant and absolutely love the Wando Mount Pleasant Library and how it was built and how it was designed and would love to see libraries like that all throughout the Charleston County area through expansion or through land acquisition. Um so that is the reason why I'm asking for this role. I've been a lawyer since 1994 um in the Charleston area primarily. I moved to Charleston in 1998. Before that I was an accountant and worked with um Mr. Moody's father with Gamble Gibbons in Moody. Thank you for considering me.

Thank you.

Hello. Uh good afternoon everyone and thank you for this opportunity for me to introduce myself. My name is Samantha Harvey and I am a preschool teacher in one of our North Charleston schools. And on top of the 3 to four years that I have of preschool teacher experience in a literacyriich environment backed by the science of learn the science of reading I also have over 10 years of experience in social service positions. Now that's been a variety of working in a group home with a bunch of teenage boys. We all know how fun teenage boys are. But also working with their families. It's really important to have that communication and to build trust to know that you want what's best for their kids and you want what's best for their family. Also, I have worked here in the Charleston area linking people with resources that they otherwise did not have or did not know how to access during COVID 19. I was one of the people that had found resources before in linking to financial assistance, food banks, housing and when COVID happened, all of those res uh resources went away and I had to find new ways from a different non-conventional angle on how to find and link those people to resources that they need in a safe way. I think that what I can bring to the table is the understanding of how to work with people, how to communicate and make sure that they feel that they're trusted and that they know that we want what's best for them. The library has always been a staple in my life. It's been a safe place for me where I know I can ask for questions and know that there's no such thing as a silly question. Also, I want that to be a key stone for the rest of our communities, especially for the North Charleston families that I work with on a daily

basis. I want them to be able to know the resources that are out there that I work with one of our librarians once a month in order to share those resources when I connect with them, but also to know that what they want for their children, which is the absolute best, is possible. and the library is such an integral part of connecting them with those resources. And being on the board of trustees, I feel like I can bring a new perspective and to show that we can build each other up as a community and taking that experience to our community in person. Thank you so much for your consideration and have a good rest of your evening.

On behalf of council, I want to thank you all for stepping up to serve your community. It's clear that y'all are both passionate and well qualified. So again, thank you. All right. Uh it's open for nominations. Clarinson. Okay. And Michael Lions. All right. Any other nominations? All right. Move to motion. Motion be closed. All right. Second. Anybody got a second? Second. Okay. All right. All in favor say I. I opposed. Eyes have it. Um Madame Clerk. Yes, sir. So, I will call the role. Oop, sorry. I will call the role and each council member can vote for one person. Mr. Darby,

Miss Heinson, Mrs. Honeyut, Lions, Mr. Kabowski, Michael Lions, Mr. Middleton, Einson, Mr. Moody, Mr. Prior, Mr. Sassinson, Mr. Worman Heinson Mr. Boyin uh Lions. Okay. Miss Heinson will be the nominee. Okay. All right. Um Madam Attorney, do we have need to go into executive session to discuss a personnel matter?

Yes, sir. We have a need for an executive session to discuss personnel matters related to library board member trustees. All right. Um do we have a motion? Can we just move the agenda alone and and and and do this last? That's fine by me. We can do that. But so we won't have the audience hold out. We will delay going to executive session. Um that's a good idea. All right. Move for approval on 4 A. Second. All in favor say I. I.

I. All right. Eyes have it. Um Mr. Tolbert. What are we what Mr. see this what are we presenting what we just approved I'm sorry you chairman are we presenting what we just approved this is this is for small business week oh we have we voted on it yet

you you have staff has a presentation as well

congratulations Yeah.

Supposed to be a presentation. I'm seeing the mom's wife. What's this?

Good afternoon, members of council. Uh tonight, uh we're going to have a presentation from our office of business opportunity, our small business office. U I'm going to present to you the two people who run the office for us and they will talk to us about the small business program some of the things they're doing in the community some of the things they have done and give you an overview of the program and path going forward program is headed up by Miss Holly Chester who's the OBO manager and Javia Aaron who's the small business program manager so please sit back let them present to you and then we'll if you have any questions they'll be glad to Okay. Uh, good afternoon. First, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank council and the administrator to for providing us this opportunity to talk more about our office. I'd like to begin by highlighting uh the services our office provides to support our local small businesses. The OBO's mission is to certify, develop, connect, and advocate. We offer guidance, connect business owners with valuable local and state resources, and provide support to help them overcome challenges and seize new opportunities. We also work to foster strong relationships within the business community by encouraging collaboration, sharing information, and advocating for policies that promote a healthy and thriving local economy. So, I'm going to let Miss Chavia Erin take it over from here. Good afternoon. In 2007, council revised the procurement ordinance to include the SBE program. The county's SBE program was the first of its kind in the state of South Carolina. Since implementation, other county governments, municipalities, and state and federal

agencies have mirrored our program. The program is simple. A business owner completes a one-page application and submits it along with required documentation. Once certified, a business simply renews each year. To qualify for our program, a business must have an annual gross sales volume not exceeding 7.5 million averaged over the previous three years. You also have to ha be in operation for at least one year and be actively managed and controlled on a day-to-day basis by the owners. So far this year, we have certified 33 new firms, renewed 180 firms, and have had five firms graduate from the program. The program is designed to increase contract competition, reach subcontract requirements for SBE part participation on county contracts, and conduct outreach programs that will aid the small business in developing. At each level of purchasing, there are provisions for small business inclusion. As you can see on the slide, departments are encouraged to utilize certified firms on PECAR purchases at the quote level. One quote must come from a certified firm if available and on formal solicitations valued over 100,000 SB requirements are assigned based on the project and scope. Many of our small businesses have successfully bid and been awarded county contracts as primes with our facilities and public works department. for the county. The supplier diversity benefits of this programs are it promotes innovation through the introduction of new products, services and solutions. It provides multiple channels from which to procure goods and services and it drives competition between existing and potential vendors for the small business. This program

offers exposure to the procurement the public procurement process. It ensures that businesses are included in all training, networking, and development opportunities. And it levels the playing field for those companies that would otherwise not be able to compete at the county contracting level. Not only does supplier diversity benefit under reppresented businesses, but it also uplifts the communities where those businesses are located through job creation, increased wages, and tax revenue, which turns to be a benefit for Charleston County. A key focus of our office is to connect and develop small businesses. We work to bring business owners together with the resources, partnerships, and opportunities they need to grow and succeed. Whether it's linking subcontractors with prime contractors, connecting them with funding and training, or creating spaces for collaboration, our goal is to build a strong and supportive business network. This past year, we have hosted and attended 18 workshops, training, and outreach events. Many of you stopped by our meet our annual meet and greet in February. We hope that you saw how important that one night was to our small businesses. Our primes always leave with new subcontractors in mind, and our SBEs leave with new opportunities and free business resources.

I had a really good time tonight at the Charleston County SBE. I already work with some of the contractors here. So, it was really great to reconnect, check in, reintroduce ourselves, talk about projects ahead, but I also made some nice new contacts tonight. And it really is great to just see what's going on current around us. And this was a great opportunity. And thank you for having us. We are committed to de developing small businesses by providing guidance, sharing be best practices, and helping them navigate challenges. We believe that when businesses are connected and supported, they are better equipped to innovate, expand, and contribute to thrive to a thriving local economy. By strengthening these connections and investing in development, we are not only supporting individual businesses, we are building a more resilient and vibrant business community in Charleston County. We are also here to advocate for small businesses. This includes engaging with county leadership, attending project meetings, visiting job sites, supporting businessfriendly policies, and excuse me, identifying ways to reduce barriers. We serve as a voice for our small businesses, working to ensure their needs, challenges, and opportunities clearly represented in conversations and decisions that affect them. We are committed to listening, gathering feedback from business owners, and using that insight to inform our efforts and priorities. We believe strong advocacy leads to stronger businesses, and stronger businesses lead to a stronger community. That is why we remain dedicated to standing alongside and speaking up for our small businesses. So, in closing, we'd like to remind you that the first week of May is National Small Business Week. It is a time to recognize the vital role of small businesses in our community. They are more than just storefronts. They are the result of hard work, innovation, and a

deep commitment. From long-standing family enterprises to new and emerging ventures, these businesses create jobs, drive growth, and support local initiatives, and give our community its unique character. It is also time to reaffirm our commitment to supporting them, ensuring they have the resources, opportunities, and environment they need to succeed. So, we are partnering with economic development, the cities of Charleston and North Charleston to host workshops and networking opportunities to uphold our commitment to supporting their success. Small Business Week is not only a time to celebrate, it's a time to recognize the lasting impact they have on Charleston County. They continue to demonstrate resilience and adaptability in the face of ongoing challenges. We encourage continued support for them, whether through local partnerships, community engagement, or policies that help them thrive. We are proud to support, connect, develop, and advocate for them. So, thank you again to council and the administrator for this opportunity, and we hope that we'll see y'all the week of Small Business Week.

Thank you'all for presentation. M question. Um first of all, Mr. Tuton, thank you and the county and staff on behalf of that. That's um our support of small business, especially in our procurement area, is invaluable to helping. We've got to get something, buy something, might as well be from one of our small business partners. I think that's wonderful. On page one, you had a number 7.5. What was that number? I missed that on the deck. That 7.5 million is what we do. It's a graduation program. So, you can't stay in the program forever. So once a business hits that 7.5 threshold, they graduate out of the program. Okay. Um that number's a little high, but um whatever that seems to me

just just to add and Mr. Prior, Mr. Darby, if you go back 20 years ago, and I don't want to put age on us, but because of you, because you were here when we started this program and because of your insight, this is how this program started and developed over the 20 years. I guess my small business I may be 25 and less or something but that's that's well the federal government now has moved theirs up to 50 million as a small business banking in the wrong section.

Um well I wanted to point out too having the South Carolina Community Loan Fund is a great great resource there. Um they have some creative financing. They have there's money in the street. There's there's quirky things that they can do that help help these people find capital. So I think it's a great week and I appreciate us having it Mr. Tuton. Thank you. And internally, I like to say this as well because a lot of times we don't recognize each other. Uh Eric Adams and public works, Phil Sabatino and facilities and loyal Smalls and housing have been a very big part of this because they always make sure that we reach out to small businesses and they have small businesses work within their infrastructure and their departments. Thank you, sir. All right. Uh moving to our consent agenda.

We can we take them one at a time. Second on 5 A cuz I got some questions. All right. 5 A. Oh, we can go A, B, and C. No, I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman. I'm on the wrong thing. All right. So, move for approval on 5 A through D. Second. All right. All in favor say I. I. I. Any nays? Eyes have it. Moving on to our green belt items. Okay. Uh, I got questions on on D and E. Okay. Motion for A. I have a question on A. Okay. Well, we'll take them one at a time then. I don't I'll move for approval 6A. Second. I'll second. Uh discussion question. Um

I love this project. Um the score is off the charts, but my question is and the money is not coming from us. It's coming from elsewhere, but there are a lot of improvements going on. I understand there's an exist existing structure on that property, but are we okay with funds being used to improve or build upon our green spaces, our green belt projects? Am I clear as mud?

Mr. Moody, we we have done that in the past and we actually have considered those match. There are actually three structures I believe on this property. at least two of those are um historic recognized as historically significant and I believe the work is related to stabilizing and improving the buildings and we have but it seems like we're pushing the envelope but we've had park benches and you know like Brantley Park on James Island what a wonderful place um we did some benches you know which was kind of passive then we you just I want to make sure we're not pushing the envelope too much where we're going to run a foul of anything I think this project's fantastic but I just wanted I just wanted to make sure I was clear that make sure we're not putting too any structures on our green green belt properties. Thank you. All right, Mr. Weman,

just wanted to clarify. I mean, this is one where the gab recommended approving the project on the condition that the impervious service limit be increased to 11,000 square ft. Correct. That's correct. That was a request by the That limitation is part of this. I will I will my it'll be gab recommendation would be my motion, please. Thank you for bringing that to my attention. Do we have a second? I mean, I'll second that. Okay. All right. Any further discussion? All right. All in favor say I. I. Any nays? Eyes have it. Approval 6B and C. Second. All right. Um, does both of these have public access? I think so. B and C.

Check. Mr. Prior, A through D have full public access and E has restricted public access. Eric. Okay. But all right. So B. All right. Okay. That's fine. So, are we doing B and C? Yes, sir. Okay, we got second. Any further discussion? All right. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed? Eyes have it. Moving on to 6D. Do I have a motion? Move approval. Second. Yep. Properly moved and seconded. Uh, any discussion on 6D? Who was the second? I'm sorry. By Mr. Kapowski. Okay. Any discussion? Sorry, Mr.

I'm sorry I couldn't E is the one I think I got discussion on. E yeah and D has public access. Yeah, but E is the one I got discussion on. Okay. All right. Um no further discussion. All those in favor say I on 6D. I opposed. Eyes have it. All right. Moving to 6E. Um Mr. Prior. I'll move for move for recommendation. Second. All right. M. Thank you, Mr. Chair. A discussion would be so this property is owned by the Charleston Museum, right? Yes, sir. Okay. So, which I consider almost to be a public entity. Do don't we don't they receive funds from out of our yearly budget?

I am not sure about that. I would have to defer to someone. I think they do. But my my question is, you know, if they are afraid of future council coming in and maybe selling or developing this land, why don't they put an easement on it themselves without having to come in the taxpayers for $3 million? I mean, what are they going to do with this money? Are they going to put it back in the general fund? Where's this money going to go at? because it's like we fund them, we help them, and now they come and say, "Well, I want $3 million for this property and just putting a a regular easement on it themselves where it can never be developed." So, what benefit is this going to going to benefit the taxpayers? And what are they going to do with this $3 million?

Um, they have stated that a portion of the county contribution would go back to expanding public access and public programming at the site. And we do have representatives from the museum here as well. When you say a portion, what is that portion? of moneywise. Uh the GAB did not make a did not add any special condition to their recommendation requiring any portion of that. So at this point it's a a gentleman's agreement. Sir,

for me it's hard to support something and I mean it's like it's double dipping and it's costing the taxpayers. So if they own the property and they really want to keep it from being development, they can do that without taxpayers dollars by just putting the easement on it. you know, and it's hard for me to support this knowing that it's going to be $3 million of taxpayers money to put easement on something they already own that they can do themselves. And what are they going to do with the funding? Mr. Um, Mr. Davis, would it be correct that we can put conditions on this approval? Uh, absolutely. That's uh council has the ability to add a condition to any approval.

So, I mean, yeah, I mean, I'd be open. I I've got some concerns about this as well to be honest. Um, you know, it feels like you kind of feel like this is already protected and it seems unlikely that you would ever have a situation where the museum would want to sell it and put a bunch of houses there. I mean, I get it. They are a nonprofit. Um, assets are assets and they have a responsibility to to manage those assets and get some sort of value and and they are contributing uh for the record, I think, $15 million of the value of the easement here. Um, but I would want to see a condition on this that the funding is going to go to that expansion of public access if I'm going to vote for it because I think that's, you know, kind of critical to me being able to justify it. Um, in this case,

Mr. Weman, Mr. Prior, um, so this was a charitable donation of this land to the museum. Uh, there are no restrictions that I'm aware of on it presently. a board uh could decide if the museum hit bad times and they needed their top priority is the museum, they could certainly sell this asset and it could easily be developed once it's sold. The county doesn't own it. It's not technically state or governmentally owned. It's of the museum itself. Uh this is actually in my districts right adjacent to uh the James Island County Park. um they're going to use those funds to probably support the activities of the museum, I'm sure. And they they they're trying to draw some equity out of that property, but also protect it at the same time.

And so I don't think there's anything nefarious here, but but it is not protected. And so I I and that's my point. If they want to protect it, they're going to do that right now with the current bold without even spending taxpayers dollars. They can just say, "Okay, we going to put an easement, but the property can't ever be developed." And it it would be the same thing as instead if I spend on $3 million, the property is protected without spending taxpayers money.

You're absolutely right. I think they're using this as an opportunity to try to raise some funding for the museum itself, its operations and the expansion and everything else. So I just I think that's what you're saying, but again, they're reasoning on the backs of taxpayers. I mean, these people are, you know, I mean, the green bells fund wasn't intended to be uh for fundraising. It was intended to protect actually property that someone actually was going to sell. Yes. But they're not going to sell this property. If we don't do this, they're not going to sell it. If they want to keep a future board from doing it, you can put stuff in place right now by placing in the easement. The only other thing I would add to this is that this is fully supported by the city of Charleston.

Yes, Mr. Boy. The city passed a resolution back in January allowing the applicant to utilize their funding. But that's again, if they want to spend their money there, I would be in support of it. But I I hear your concern. I I I agree if they want to spend it, but we need to be responsible cuz we responsible to the taxpayers, not the city of Charleston. And if we see if I see something that I think is questionable, I'm asking. But, you know, I can't support giving up $3 million and it's actually by the stroke of a paying the vote of the board. So, this property is going to be, you know, forever. And Mr. Chairman. Yes, sir. If I may. Yes, sir.

Um, we we're having a discussion back and forth. Uh, the Mr. Mr. Wman asked a question. There was I think there's somebody here from the museum. I I would like to hear from them and Bob person is coming up. If they are here, if everybody's okay with that. Uh Mr. Worman, I'd like to amend my motion to recommend the changes that the gab had had forwarded about the appraisal. Uh before we do that, I think just to be clear, I don't think there is a gab recommendation on that. Um I think that might be that might have been I Mr. Davis, can you clear up where we're on here? There was there was boy we're getting in the that was the Humber Woods project Mr. Booty and we did receive that appraisal which that's on me that's on me. I'm sorry.

So this would be this what I'm proposing is a condition that we would be putting on absent you know input from the gap but um anyways I I do want to hear I agree Mr. Moody. I think we should hear from the uh from the applicant. Mr. Mr. Davis do we have a representative and would he please come forward? Thank you. Thank you Mr. Warman. I'm sorry for that. Thank you. Uh uh members of the county council, I'm Carl Bourke. I am the director of Charleston Museum and uh happy to field any questions you all have. Mr. Bri, Mr.

I just asked the question. I mean, my question is why can't they just put an easement on themselves without being paid if that's what they if the objective is not to ever develop the property, they can do that right now with a vote of the board without even seeing any funds. And then secondly, to Mr. Davis, to Mr. Moody's point. So, I think they're going to put about five or six affordable housing units on this property here. Is this the property right here? No, sir. That that was the Humber Woods property which is not part of the green belt request. Yeah, because well, I'll go back to that but on by Tuesday, but I'll let him answer the question.

So, uh our whole point of putting the the desire to put the easement on the property is to make sure it's protected in the future. Our current staff, our current uh board of trustees are absolutely committed. Uh Ory Parker, our board chair is with me tonight. We're absolutely committed to protecting the property. Our concern is 20, 30 years down the road because the property does not have restrictions on it. Uh the the lawsuit that had the restrictions on it, uh expired in 2022. And so, um you know, we obviously want to protect it, but we don't know that that will happen in the future. Um, as far as funding, we want to make sure that uh we have a new land management plan. We want to we have a uh we've done really nothing but passive management in the last uh 40 years or so because we just didn't have the funding for it. So, uh the funds would would go towards uh imple implementation of our land management plan, but also enhanced programming. Uh going back to to what Mr. Davis said, uh we want to make sure that we make the property more accessible uh to the public. We have programming there throughout the year right now, but but that's, you know, another part of what the program or program funding would go towards. And then um you know, also we've got uh an education pavilion on the property. We've got education uh restrooms related to that. There's a caretaker residents. You funding obviously would go towards support of the uh structures on the property.

But you still didn't answer my question. And the question, what prohibits this board? What prohibits this current board from placing an easement on the property right now? Y'all can do that. If y'all want to protect this land in the future, y'all can vote to say we're going to put an easement on it where it won't ever be the value. That's true. Um Sam, do you want to comment on I've got Sam Su with me as well. He's from Low Country Land Trust. Y'all saying we don't want this to happen 30 years from now, but you can stop that, you know, by by a simple vote next week.

Uh yes, sir. Hi, I'm Sam Su from the Lo Country Land Trust. So, I think we're all pretty familiar with the financial incentives that come with the conservation easement. Um, they're pretty much entirely wrapped up in um tax deductions that come from a charitable contribution to Low Country Land Trust via the conservation easement. Obviously, the museum would not be eligible to receive any sort of financial incentive for protecting this property. This is the easement was valued at $21 million and so they're, you know, willing to give up $15.5 million worth of value aart as a part of this project. So, um, this is a 3070 split for the easement. So, typical conservation easements that we do that are bargain sale, the land owner will will purchase 30% of the easement. The land owner will donate 70. And I will note that's for private land owners who are also able to generate tax deductions from the 70%. When oftent times when we work with nonprofits, we're pushed to go towards the more 50 60% for the bargain sales. So I will say the Charleston Museum has been was very generous and very willing to to do that 30% which is not typical for for nonprofits, you know, in terms of managing the having the financial responsibility of their assets. So, um, we feel we're very confident in in the, you know, financial leveraging of this deal. I think the the fiscal the financial match is 617%. Um, so this is this is where, you know, we're this is $1 to every six green belt dollars or one green belt dollar to every $6. So, I think it's a I think it's a good good deal.

Yes, sir. Just ask. Yes. You still had you still hadn't answered the question, but um because you know, you keep saying what we going to do and what we going to do. My my question was simple. Y'all can protect us without having to come to the taxpayers. So, if we if we don't pass this, what are y'all going to do? Put the property out for sale? Um sir, I I mean, I can't speak to the future of the property is I'm not That's what I'm saying. But y'all can protect the property now if you're not sure of the future.

This and that is exactly what we're we're trying to do. You know, we've been working on this this for the last three years. You know, we've we're have funding approved from the South Carolina Conservation Bank. We submitted a National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant in July 2025. That's in the process. So, we have federal funding. We have state funding. So, this is a wellleveraged funding, you know, to bring this. And like I said, I think, you know, for as a an employee of a nonprofit, I would, you know, I don't know many nonprofits that are willing to give up 70% of the value and one of their largest assets. And I think that's just truly a sign of intent and and um in good faith from the museum. You know, we're talking this is 15.5 million dollars that they're willing to just let go.

Mr. Sass.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um Quite frankly, when I started looking at this application, I was really surprised that it already wasn't protected and and it it needs to be protected. Um, just because you never know, you never know what could happen in the future. It needs to be protected. And I understand y'all want to do a land management plan so that you can figure out different ways to get more public access out there. You can't do that without without hiring some people to help you do that. That's going to cost some money. you're giving up $15.5 million worth of value forever and you're giving away those rights. And that's that's the one thing about a conservation easement that is so important or what rights you're giving up and what rights you're retaining. And so you will retain the right to be able to have public events out there, but you need to need to do some preparations before you can do that. I've been out there many times. It's a beautiful piece of property. um it's not really set up for um large events and they need to do some work to be able to get to that point. So, I mean, I'm I'm all I'm like the idea. I'm glad y'all are thinking about this and quite frankly, the fact that it was not protected, I was I was astounded when I saw that and I just it needs to be protected. Thank you.

Any further discussion, Mr. Beman?

Yeah, I I mean, I got to tell I I am struggling with this. I I will say this. Uh I mean I understand you've got assets and we all may have thought it was protected before. Turns out it's not. Um and I understand that that y'all are taking a a pretty heavy discount to get this done. Um it it does still seem to me that apart from you know fixing something we already kind of thought existed uh which is a little frustrating. um it seems like there isn't an opportunity to move things forward a little bit with the expansion of public access and that's why I keep coming back to it. Could you maybe describe like what the public access is like right now and what it would look like with the programming that um would exist in the future because I got to say that's like really the the thing that I kind of have to hang my hat on if I'm going to support this.

Sure. Absolutely. So um we anyone can access the property. So we don't as as Mr. Sass pointed out, we don't have um a staff person at the Dill Sanctuary right now. You know, our operations are focused uh with the museum and our our two historic houses. So, but we do have programming throughout the year. Um for instance, we have a sunset on the Stono program about four or five times a year where people can come out and see Battery Pringle and they can um they can uh you know watch the sunset there on the Stono River. We have four weeks of summer camp uh for kids. We have regular school groups uh that come out to the property in including title one schools. We have um indigo workshops out there. We have um uh bird walks and and ecological tours. So there's there's numbers of opportunities now to do that without a staff person on the ground that it does, you know, put a burden on the museum to be able to do that. And so that's you know uh the funding would would go to a you know board designated fund that would support those kind of like as I mentioned earlier the land management plan but also uh the enhanced programming.

So but I'm just saying so if someone drives up there today I mean can you get on the property right now? You would have to make a reservation in advance uh to be able to come out and typically we require you know anyone can come out to the property uh if they have a a group of 10 or more. I mean technically you could come out uh with less than that, but you would have to pay the group rate. So again, that goes back to what I was saying, just not having the staff. We've got to bring somebody from the museum to do that. So what I'm sort of thinking is like if you can get away from having to make a reservation and it can be a thing where folks can just openly access it. Is that the type of thing we're talking about doing with $3 million or

we won't be like James Allen County Park, for instance, where we would be open every single day. I mean, we'd like to move toward that in that direction of having, you know, more uh public access and, you know, one of the things that's been if we had a resource manager, full-time manager on the property, um, you know, maybe we could do that a couple of Saturdays a month or or but, you know, we're sort of exploring those those those options right now, but but absolutely uh the funding would would help us increase programming out there. Okay. Any further All right. Do we have a motion for I'll do all this? I I motion for approval. Second.

All right. All right. Any any further discussion? All right. Uh roll call, please. Okay.

Mr. Darby, you want to expand right now? Mrs. Honeyut. We'll say she's absent. Mr. Kroski I. Mr. Middleton. Nay. Mr. Moody. I. Mr. Prior. Nay. Mr. Sass. I. Mr. Worman. Nay. Mr. Boyin. I. The motion passes with four eyes's, three nays, one absent, and one abstension. Say it again, please. Ma'am. It passed. Four eyes's, three nays, one absent, and then you abstained. Let me change my vote, please, ma'am.

Yes, sir. I'm going to do a nay. Okay. Then the vote ties with four um eyes's and four nays and one absent. So, it'll move on to council with no recommendation. Recommendation. Miss Honey will have an opportunity to vote. All right. All right. Uh this time, I'm going to adjourn the finance committee and turn it over to Mr. Kowski is the chair of the audit committee. So, all right. Thank you. As the chair of the item seven, sorry, excuse me. I got hung up in the prior item. Didn't see this one. Uh, so 7A offer project funding reallocations. Request to approve. Motion. Move to approve.

Second. All right. Any discussion? Sir, just a clarification. This is a reordering of some projects to make sure we get this money allocated and spent before the end of the year. Is that right, Mr. Tuten? All right. Um, all those in favor say I. I. And opposed. Eyes have it. Now, at this time, we need to go back to 3B, Mr. I'm sorry to interrupt, Mr. Chairman, we could suspend the finance committee to and come back to executive session at a later point. Okay, that's fine. That's fine. Well, we will suspend the finance committee and then go on to um the audit committee. Thank you. And then come back to that as a

So you have it now, Mr. Brasa. As chairman of the audit committee, Councilman Middleton, Moody and Prior are also on this committee and all members of the council can ask any questions. The first item is approval of the minutes of August. So moved. Second. All those in favor say I.

I. The motion passes unanimously. Then for agenda item 2A, um we have the F the annual financial statement audit for the fiscal year ending June 30th of 2025. And we have a presentation by Michael J. Slapnik, CPA of the Scott company to um explain and we accept external audit from the presentation. Thank you, sir. I'll turn it over for you and then ask anybody can ask any questions. Thank you.

Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Uh thank you, council, uh folks and Mr. Chairman. Um we did meet briefly before uh the meeting to discuss the audit with the audit committee and went into a good bit more detail with them, but I'll try to keep this brief as I know you have a um full agenda. Um but the audit for 2025 went very well. I' like to just thank um Mr. Mac, Lori, Reggie, and the entire finance team here at Charleston County for all their help. Um, an audit is not an easy thing to go through, as you can imagine. Uh, we ask a lot of questions. We asked for a lot of information. Um, but they did a great job of responding to all of our questions and providing the information we asked for. Uh, there were no proposed adjustments detected by the audit, which means exactly the trial balances that were provided to us is what went into your um audited financial statements. And usually when you have no adjustments like that, um you also don't have what we call any internal control deficiencies. And we talked about that um prior. Um so we did not have any um improvements or excuse me any recommendation for improvements in the county's internal control over financial reporting. We did issue what's called an unmodified audit opinion and that's a good thing. That's what you want. might not sound like a good thing, but that is the highest level of assurance we can give that the financial statements are fairly presented in all material respects. And we also issue um an opinion on your compliance with federal award programs. You were just talking about the ARPA. Um this year, our major programs we audited were the ARPA grant and also deotas grant and then what we call the skip grant, South Carolina investment um program grant. Um, the county did receive what we call the GFOA award for excellence in financial reporting for 24 and we plan to submit that again for 25 and any comments we receive for 24 will apply to 25 and then if we receive any comments for 25. We'll obviously um make

sure we address those for fiscal year 26. Um overall the the county is in very u strong financial position. and you had an unrestricted net position in your governmentwide uh statements of approximately $385 million. Um you're making all your regularly scheduled debt payments. Um as you've been discussing, you will continue to invest in your capital assets here in the county and there were several um significant uh capital additions prior year. Um, if you look at your uh revenues and expenses, overall revenues increased this year approximately $74 million. That was largely just due to the increase in your tax base and also increases in sales taxes. Uh, conversely, uh, overall expenses also increased and that was to the tune of about 193 million compared to prior year. Uh that was largely due to an increase in public works expenses as there was higher project activity in 25 compared to 24. U just talking about new accounting pronouncements briefly. We did have to implement a new pronouncement this year which was Gazsby 101 and just want to make sure you're aware that we're staying on top of those and that actually um required you to go ahead and record a liability this year for your sick leave. Previously we only had to um record a liability for your vacation. Um sick leave is a little bit harder to compute, but we were able to do that and um we were able to uh we had to restate beginning position to to book the sick leave liability. Um again, it's a pleasure to work with you and your finance team on the 25 audit. Um look forward to working with you again for 26. There will be a new Gazsby for 26, Gazsby 103, and we've already discussed. Um, and I understand that the county has hired GFOA as a consultant to help with some of the questions and things that will go into that because that one is um, that one is not small. That one's going to require a little bit of effort for fiscal year 26. And that's it. I know that was a lot. I will be quiet. Let me know if you have

any questions. Any questions? Council Moody. Thank you, Mr. Kroski. Um, thank you, Mr. Thank you for for that report. A couple questions that Gatsby 101, the sick leave, what why do we record that now? Is that because when people if people leave our employee, we've got to pay them for sick leave. Why is that have it to be noted in the notes? You can take it if you want. But so that's an estimate of the expected sick leave that we will have to pay out over the duration of their time here with Charleston County. Yeah, it was just it was just a new throw a dart at that.

It's notough it's not an easy calculation. They gave up the JFOA gives guidance on that so that you we have an estimate. We had to look at a group of people that were that were employed with Charleston County for 18 years and get an estimate of what they've used and carry that and project it forward. And is this in government accounting or is this in all all accounting? This is strictly this is for governmental accounting. Nonsense. All right. Um it was it was a large n number also.

It's just it's just overreach. Um the pension is that still a note that we have that long-term pension. Yes. That you know just crazy out there. Are the rating agencies still kind of noting it but looking away on that that sort of notation that we have to account for that pension? And that's it that's required for all of us. Yeah. And that liability is still out there.

Okay. Um, from a comparison standpoint, does your firm do you I don't know if I've asked this before. Do y'all look across other counties comparable sized uh to see how, you know, we're AAA credit, we're getting all these awards for financial. Do y'all look across? And if you don't have the answer, maybe we can you can follow up and get it to us Tuesday. But I'd be interested to know how we stack against similar similarly sized counties, budgets, you know, southeast, northwest, wherever. Um, just kind of to see what where we stack up. I think I know, but it might be nice to hear from the from the accountant. And from everything I see, you're very competitive and you're very well off. So, um haven't seen anything that would give me any concerns about um the county's finances as it compares to other counties. Okay. Yep.

Thank you. Thank you, sir. Yep. Any other questions? Yes, sir. Just want to make a comment, Miss Rona. Thank you for the excellent work that y'all have done over there on your staff and everyone. Um, and you know, it's amazing that y'all can keep this going, you know, year to year with the money involved and and the complexities of what y'all deal with. So, thank y'all. Thank you. Any other questions for any council members? Thank you again for taking the time to come here and excellent work you did and the good report that you gave us. Thank you, sir. Sir, thank you. That concludes the meeting. Okay,

Mr. Prior. Okay, we're going to go into our administration policies and rules committee where the members of this committee are myself, Miss Honeyut, Reverend Middleton, and Mr. Sass and the chair as exopicio. Item number one, approval of the minutes of October 9th, 2025 to approve. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. I. All oppose. Eyes have it. Item 2A is an amending rule. Miss Salsbury. I'm going to turn this over to you.

Then you might want to explain what what is this for? Yes, sir. So, um, first of all, this is just a notice that we're considering changing the rule. So, there won't be a vote on this tonight. No,

just discussion. Um what um this rule if we amend it would do is you have some rules in place regarding how we would remove members of boards and commissions. Those rules were put in place before we required people to take an oath and do mandatory training. It's becoming kind of cumbersome to come to you all when people um fail to take the oath or take the mandatory training to come to you once in executive session and say, "I have cause to remove these people and I need your permission to let them know we're considering removing them from their from this board." What I'd like to do is you grant me the authority to notice them that we're considering removing them. um when they missed their oath deadline or their training deadline and then come to you after we've given them that oath and say we wrote to them. This is why they said you know what what they've said and I recommend that you remove them or I recommend that you don't remove them but I think I'd always recommend that you remove them if they haven't um completed the things that you're asking them to do.

Thank you Mr. Osbury. I think that's takes a lot off of us too and and uh it gives you the ability to to vet these people. So, is there any more discussion on this, Mr. Moody? Yeah, I'm not on the committee, but thank you. I agree. I think Mrs. Salsbury, we have all we have employees that are directed to do that are empowered to do their jobs. She's our employee. So, if a committee of board member, somebody's not doing what they're doing, she's noticed them, let it it should be within her authority, and I'm not on the board, but it should be within her authority to make that call. Agree. Perhaps she would let us know after the fact that, you know, here I I noticed them. They didn't show up. They didn't cure. They're gone. And that's just a matter of notification. I maybe we could we could have her do that. And I think she probably would, but she should be empowered to do that. I would

Well, I I think the way she would send him a notice and then she would come back down and says, "I'm recommended these people be removed and we'd have to vote on it." No, no. She's I think she's asking for the ability to No, no, no. Mr. Prior is right. I would I would just be asking for the the permission to let them know we're going to remove you because of this and then Dana it comes with a bowling bring it back to you all. Well, I say let her let him go to say, you know, I I do not want that. I don't want to I don't know that you could transfer that authority to want to put her in. Fine. I I may have overstepped her her willing her her desire to do that, but I think I I would support that if that was her desire. But I agree that whatever y'all want to do. All right, Mr.

Mr. Chair, I'd move to accept the We got to wait. We can't vote today. We got to come back at a another meeting. We can only discuss it today. All right, Mr. I would just second what council Moody said. I agree with him on this. I think that's good advice. Anybody else? Okay. Hearing none, that concludes our plan, our rules and policy committee meeting. Now we move in our planning and public works agenda committee where all members of council participate. I'm the chair of this committee. Item number one, approval of the minutes of March 19th, 24. Second. Any discussion? Additional additions. Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I.

All oppose. Eyes have it. Item number 22A is a presentation from the town of Kioa Island, Bessie Carrison Parkway. Is someone there from Kio to make that presentation? Mayor Bell. Mayor Brad. All right. All right. The mayor's there. Okay.

Um, thank you for the invitation to appear this evening. Uh, Mr. chairman. Uh this is with regard to uh the desire of the town of Kio Island to assume ownership of and responsibility for about a third of a mile of Betsy Carrison Parkway currently owned and the responsibility of the county. U three principal reasons for doing so. Uh first and foremost is just to be able to timely deal with ongoing and routine maintenance issues and I'll touch upon a couple of those in a minute. Second is to enhance public safety on that stretch of the road, particularly given the fact that um there is an ongoing issue with regard to the ability of longtime South uh South John's Island residents to be able to safely access Freshfield's Village. uh if they don't own a car uh and the the bike path ends well short of Freshfield's Village right now, what they're doing is walking their uh riding their bikes or walking down the middle of Betsy Carson Parkway with cars speeding along at 50 miles an hour. We also want to be able to deal with some aesthetic issues uh that tr lead a transition into Freshfields Village. And the third reason is noted is to facilitate implementation of some future infrastructure infrastructure projects, fairly major ones in part related to the new uh $15 million civic and cultural center addition that we're adding to the town municipal center. And the part portion of the part of Betsy Carrison that the county currently owns and uh is responsible for is in directly adjacent to the town's municipal center. There is a visual image that will help kind of tie all this together. So, uh, in the yellow, uh, forget the yellow and Resurrection Road. Uh, but we're talking

about that portion of Betsy Carrison Parkway, uh, north of Hullover Creek right up to Resurrection Road. Like I said, about a third of a mile.

Um, the types of projects, just to give you an idea, that we're in in the process of or contemplating. Oh, I should note that I'm here at the invitation of Chairman Boy and this follows on a meeting that uh I would also hear with the town administrator Stephanie Tillerson that she and I and our staff had with the chairman uh with the county administrator uh with the county council on March 10th uh kind of initiating this discussion. And this also follows on the heels of the town's um uh acquisition from the state of South Carolina, the southbound portion of Betsy Carrison Parkway that runs along the same stretch. We've now annexed that portion into the town of Kioa Island. So what we want to do is match that. Um but a couple of projects just giving you an idea of what the purpose of this is. Uh and if we can kind of go to the next. Um so the first is some tree trimming in the median. Uh fairly minor but about a five mill $5,000 project. There are 12 crepe myrtles in the median in this stretch that according to the arborist have never been addressed or touched at all uh since they were planted a number of years ago. So this is for tree trimming for tree health for aesthetic improvement and also some branches are overhanging into the ride ofway potentially hitting trees. Uh the next and probably a little bit more important right now uh is asphalt patchwork. We should be able to scroll through and see exactly where these are. Uh uh that's the tree trimming. Asphalt patchwork is right up at the intersection of Resurrection Road and uh and Betsy Carrison Parkway on the southbound lanes. It's an area that's been in a chronic state of disrepair um for ever since I've been on the island, which is about six years now. Uh and the

real problem there is chronic ponding because of the absence of any drainage. Uh and it gets several inches deep after significant rain. uh creates a safety hazard in and of itself as it covers the entire left inbound lane and cars are coming along 50 miles an hour and then hitting potentially seven several inches of ponded water. Uh we're going to be undertaking a project to u remill and uh repave a portion of the road there and also deal with some grading and drainage issues so that goes away. That's about a $40,000 project that will actually be starting, I believe, uh this ne next Monday. Um uh restriping is a safety issue just in front of the town hall uh entrance. Um there is no safe ingress and egress from town hall. Right now there are just a series of double lines across the road. Uh we p had petitioned uh South Carolina, the state department of transportation for a number of years to be able to create uh left turn stripe left turn lanes, stripe left turn lanes kind of like you have coming in here off the road into the uh uh into the uh into this building complex. And so this would make it a little safer to get in and out of the town hall complex just to do basic restriping project. Uh overall landscape enhancement. Uh we are in the process of undertaking landscape enhancement at the roundabout right now. And what we want to try to do is kind of match that entire aesthetic uh all the way up to Resurrection Road. So you have a a a kind of consistent theme coming in. So the median that is now just dirt and uh and uh and weeds uh would be landscaped and we would have low impact lowmaintenance native plantings in that to match what we do on on uh uh on the roundabout leading into Freshfields

Village. Uh some of the bigger projects uh that uh this is all going to relate to. One is a bike path connection. I alluded to the fact that there isn't great pedestrian and uh bicycle connectivity to John's Island now to Freshfield's Village. Uh what we want to do is change that so it's safer for everybody. Our plan is to enhance uh uh the leisure trail connection from Freshfield's Village uh across Hullover Creek up to the municipal center complex. that will provide connectivity to uh the new civic and cultural center edition and community meeting rooms there and park spaces we'll be creating. We'll continue to run a a bike path up along Betsy Carrison Parkway along our property. Uh and then uh it really goes to number seven, a pedestrian crossing. We would later on put anticipate putting a pedestrian crossing much like exist or being put in place right now on Maybank Highway on John's Island so the pedestrians could safely cross from the bike path on the other side onto the new pedestrian trail. Also would provide access to the area that you funded uh that the conservancy now owns a few hundred yards up the road which is their new nature trails and nature uh center complex. uh discussed with the chairman that the goal and I desire to work together in a partnership on a proactive basis in the future to try to extend a pedestrian trail all the way up Betsy Carrison Parkway uh to provide better access for citizens up and down the Southern John's Island to Freshfields Village to Beachwalker County Park uh to uh Kiwa River Estates to Kiwa River Rosebank Farms and now the new South Market Stations. being developed up at at Betsy Carrison uh at the intersection Betsy Carrison River and Bo Hickot. Uh

and then uh we also this is important because we are we do have underway now our 15 approximately $15 million expansion of the municipal center to provide the new civic and cultural center addition. Uh right now we're on septic. Uh we are in discussions with Seabbrook Island utility in order to be able to provide sewer connections. So we get off a septic right next to H Hallover Creek. We hope we would be able to do that to but to be able to do that we would need to cross uh the counties right away the road and go under uh Betsy Carson Parkway uh along our property. Uh and and the last thing is once we finish that project uh we uh would plan to undertake a full mill rem and repave of that approximately a little over a third of a mile of all of Betsy Carrison uh including over Hallover Creek and the covert from uh from Resurrection Road to the roundabout and uh we've got a anticipated estimated cost of that of about a million dollars to be able to undertake that project. So that kind of encapsulates uh what the objective here, the reason why we are hoping that uh that the county will follow suit with what we just done with the state. Uh relieve the county of uh any obligations associated with this particular third of a mile. No, it's not that important to the county and you've got a lot of other priorities and I drove through past some of those priorities to get through here today. Uh, but it's very important to the town of Kiwa Island and Lower John's Island, town of Seabbrook Island that this stretch of road is appropriately maintained. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Any questions for the mayor, Mr. Moody? Yes, sir. Thank you for being here, mayor. Um, road maintenance is these days. Okay.

I just want to make sure because I want you to remember what you said, relieving us of our responsibility, financial responsibility on this road. A and and and I appreciate uh uh uh that uh admonishment and indeed we've onboarded that responsibility. We have the willingness and ability without for example relying on TST dollars to be able to undertake this. We've got sufficient reserves. We budgeted for this project. We've already have baked into our capital plan not only the all the cost associated with the civic and cultural center but as well is all the maintenance associated with this particular stretch of road including the full mill and repave. So the gates for the entrance into Kio Island go up beachwalker pardon the gates the the the security and the gates at K for Kio Island are the into the Kioab area. The gates are at Beachwalker Park is what I'm referring to. Correct. Uh uh I think you're referring to the gates maintained by the Kiwa Island Community Association.

That's correct. That uh that go on to most of Ocean and all that stuff island. Uh the town owns Kiwa Island Parkway and Beachwalker Drive. Those are public roads that provide access to Beachwalker. That's where I was going. I wanted to make sure that the that the KIC KIC was not going to want to come out any and and impede the public's access to fresh fields or anything like that.

Not only do they not have any legal ability to do so, I can tell you that any interest in that regard would be vigorously objected to by this administration and by this council. Uh, one of the things I think it's important to note in the context of kind of all of this is, um, one of the things that I've been advocating very strongly during my tenure as mayor and while I've been on council is improving engagement with all our neighboring all our neighbors in Lower John's Island and and in Seabbrook Island. And you may be aware of the the fairly long-standing lawsuit involving Captain Sam Spit and Beachwalker County Park. Um I've stated on the record many times that the objective from the town uh perspective of the lawsuit that we filed against Kiwa partners along with the community association and um and the Kia Conservancy now the conservancy of the Sea Islands was twofold objective. one to maintain Captain Sam Spit in its n natural pristine state and the other was to preserve and protect in perpetuity public access to that park through Beachwalker Park. Thanks, sir.

Um and and it's part of the settlement we've entered into because Beachwalker Park is now actually in owned by a private uh uh private entity uh subject to a long-term lease. the the town of Kiwa Island would become owner of that parcel, ensuring that that is in public domain in perpetuity. Thank you, sir. Mr. Chairman,

good evening, Mayor Bill. Thank you for all that information. I've enjoyed working with you on this and u I'm in full support of this. You've already got one half of it. More than happy for you to have the other half and all the connectivity, you know, the work that y'all are in a position to do and carry on for pedestrian safety and otherwise. Um, and I just want to bring to light that we have been working together to try to get an IGA for uh an urban growth boundary agreement between us and y'all. And I want to applaud you for that. And just to kind of lay any concerns this is anything more than y'all just trying to maintain uh the roads to a certain standard down there.

Uh uh again ma maintain road I maintain roads not only to a high level standard but to improve the overall aesthetics. And I know you've indicated before the county really doesn't have the budget to get involved in aesthetic issues, landscaping, uh, you know, viewp pruning of trees and things like that, but also in in order so that we can go ahead and have the ability to to actually implement the types of projects we're talking about without kind of get mired in in an additional kind of bureaucratic process as well. We to uh uh council member Moody's point, we have the willingness and we have the wherewithal to actually undertake some of these projects and uh with with your support, we'll be able to continue down that path.

Thank you. Anybody else? Just to follow up on what councilman Moody said, he asked the question I was going to ask and you said uh it wouldn't be no type of uh gate put up, but I would ask the question, would you and your council be willing to make that as a part of us signing this contract uh deeding this land over to you that if in fact in the near future another council decides that they want to put up a private interest and negated community the land reverts back to Charleston County.

Uh I would our town attorney is not here but I would be happy to have him confer with Miss Ham on you know whether that would be an appropriate condition this substantively no issue with it at all. I I actually don't believe it is necessary because I don't believe that the town would have any authority to gate a public road.

Well, you never know these time with people with all these different lawsuits and different opinions. So, you know, and you know, a reverted clause is always nice. I mean, if if something like that was to happen, at least we know our citizen would be protected, you know, in the future. So, if y'all could look at that, you know, this might be something I can support if it has that kind of language that if it ever cease to be public access, it reverts back to Charleston County. Mr. I mean, perhaps we could convey this property over to them with a restricted uh only deed or whatever. Uh, that's what I'm talking about. They're just prohibiting any gates from being installed rather than getting into all these.

But if it if it is installed by future council, then the land reverts back to to the county because they put up a gate and you know, we have no way to stop them, it belongs to them. Again, I'm I'm I I certainly I appreciate the desire to protect public access. I I would note that the town has already owns and annex has annexed the inbound portion. what we're talking about is the outbound portion. Uh so I I guess a future council could do it on that portion should they choose to do so, but again have no issues whatsoever with the thrust of what you're what you're suggesting, council member. All right. Any other questions for the mayor. Okay. Thank you, mayor. We look forward to working with

Okay. Thank you all very much. I appreciate it. Okay. Um item 2B 97 for the 987 fellows laying partial drainage easement abandoned. What is the pleasure? Move for staff recommendation. Is there a second? Second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. All oppose. Eyes have it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That concludes my two meetings. Okay. At this time, we'll go back into finance committee. And attorney, do we have need for an executive session? Yes, sir. discuss matters.

We're revisiting this because I misspoke earlier. Um, we do have a need for an executive session with regards to personnel matters regarding boards and commissions. I want to correct statement that I made earlier that this was in regards to library board. It is not. Okay. And u do we have for executive session per the attorney's recommendation. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor say I. I. I. All right. Well, we're getting ready to go in executive session. I'm going to correct a mistake I made earlier. Um, Miss Hackberg, it's your shop, not Miss Rona's. And I get the two mixed up sometimes, but so thank you very, very much for the outstanding work y'all done that to give us those kind of results. So, thank you. We are now in executive session, Mr. Mitchum.

motions were made. Okay, we're coming out of executive session. Um, Mr. Chairman, no. No votes were taken. No actions were made. Sorry. Uh, Mr. Chairman, I I moved to I move to remove Justin Fulture from the business license user fee appeals board and authorize the clerk of council to announce a vacancy for that seat. I also move to authorize the clerk of council to provide notice required by rule 5.3 of the rules of council to the other party discussed in executive session that they are being considered for removal from a border commission for cause. Second. Uh any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Eyes have it. We stand. Thank you sir.