City Council - Regular Meeting

All right. I'd like to call the December 16th meeting of city council to order. Madam clerk, please call the role. Council member Greg here. Council member Sheileely here. Council member McBride here. Council member Mitchell. Council member Brady. Council member Gregory. Council member Wearing, Council Member Seekings, Council Member Tinkler, Council Member Bowen, Council Member Appel, Council Member Parker, Mayor Cogwell.

Here, I'd now like to ask Council Member Brady to give the invocation and lead everybody in the pledge of allegiance.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, please prepare yourselves in a manner in which you are comfortable. Heavenly Father, divine light, spirit of all religions, as the world celebrates Christmas, a time of hope and new beginnings, we come with open hearts, seeking unity and understanding. Help us to see the divine spark in each other regardless of our paths or beliefs. May the love that brought light into the world fill our homes, communities, and nations. Remove barriers of prejudice, selfishness, and division, replacing them with compassion, forgiveness, and empathy. Inspire us to extend kindness, grace, and a helping hand to all, fostering peace beyond our own traditions. May this season renew our commitment to walk together in love, celebrating our shared humanity and reflecting the best of all our faiths. Let the spirit of this holy time bring healing, joy, and true lasting peace to all people on earth. Amen.

Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, liberty and justice for all.

Okay, lot going on tonight. We have the last meeting of three long-standing council members. But before we get to parting with such sweet sorrow, uh we have another special thing to u present tonight and that is we have the Susan Griffith customer service award employee of the year for 2025. So tonight, it is my honor to recognize one of the highest distinctions we bestow upon employees again, the Susan Griffin customer service award and the title of employee of the year. This award embodies the very spirit of public service, dedication, compassion, and excellence in meeting the needs of our citizens. Over the past year, 31 quarterly winners have stood out for their remarkable contributions and count countless additional nominees, both internal and external, have demonstrated the extraordinary talent and commitment that makes our city thrive. From this outstanding field, one individual has risen above exemplifying the very best of who we are and what we strive to be. Their work has touched colleagues, residents, and partners alike and setting a standard of service that again inspires us all. So, it is with great pride that I announce the winner of the Susan Griffith Customer Service Award and our employee of the year 2025, Mr. Rossy Brown.

What's great about this award is he had no idea. So, he's as shocked as everyone else is. But I did want to read the nomination because I think this is really uh just talks about how uh Mr. Brown has gone above and beyond literally for this city. And this is from this was the uh um nomination that came from Mr. Terry Williams. And by the way, uh Rossi is an in the accounting BFRC an accounting technician in finance and who's been with the city for two years. But this is what Mrs. Terry Williams provided uh the nomination. This is her words. On Friday, February 28th, I was sitting at my desk getting some work done, picking at some breakfast. I'm not sure what happened, but the next thing I knew, I was choking and I was totally unable to breathe. I approached Rossi holding my throat and he immediately asked if I was choking. I turned and he started with the Heimlick. Rossi never lost his cool and continued until I was finally able to breathe. At no time did he ever seem to lack the confidence or knowledge to help me. He sent me a text message that evening checking on me and only then did he tell me how concerned he was that he wasn't work that it wasn't working and was contemplating getting help. He showed the courage and confidence to step up and I'm very thankful for him and for having him as a part of the AP team. So again, everybody, please join me in congratulating Mr. Rossy Brown for this welldeserved honor. He truly is a lifesaver.

Good stuff. Good stuff. All right. Now, we are on to three individuals who have also gone above and beyond for their community. We have three retiring com council members tonight. This will be their last meeting. So, I would first like to ask Council Member Robert Mitchell to join me up on stage and he is also the mayor pro Tim. Come on.

Get a lot of hardware tonight. Mayor Pro Tim.

And I'll just say briefly that it has been quite an honor to serve with Councilman Mitchell. He is somebody that uh has a deep love and appreciation and connection to this place. Uh his institutional knowledge has proven invaluable to me. is a new mayor. He's been very patient with me, uh very supportive, um especially when I've done stupid things. So, I just want to say thank you for uh all that you have done for this city and your time here and would love to give you an opportunity to say a few words. I think I've spoken enough host here, but I always say let the work I've done speak for me. and I have uh worked in this community for years and um just sorry to leave my colleagues here and leave you all alone. Now it's on you councilman seekings I leaving I leaving it all to you as a city member.

So uh but right now the thing is about me is that I always consider myself as community person. It's all about community not about self. And from the time I was young, that's what I was doing. And I always alluded to the mayor and they always they always hear me say this even back from the civil rights time. And I got lock up 15 times back then when I was 14 years old. So everything is about me is about community, bringing people together. That's all people. Not white, not black, not blue, not green, but it's everyone. We have to work in the community together. And this is all about working together and huming in peace. not going to agree on everything, but we still can work together and make things better for all the residents of city of Charleston. So, I don't have too much more to say, but thank you very much to my colleagues. I will miss you all, but I'll still be around. And if you need me, you can give me a call, but I'm not going to be here as a council member just as you know, just as a citizen of residents of district 4. And I'm to my colleague, Councilman Poke K. I'm just going to tell him to lead and make sure when he lead with honesty and make sure with the honesty integrity and also with integrity faithfulness and make sure that when he even do that make sure that he be honest with everything that he does for the people in the community and I believe he would be able to go a long way. Thank you very much. Yeah. Thank you, Councilman Mitchell. you you will be missed. And I think it very

fitting and proper that uh the action we took at the last council meeting to uh ask the housing authority to rename or to name the upcoming affordable housing development that is being constructed that the city's contributing substantial money towards on UG Street. Uh which I understand is a area where you actually lived uh for a time. Uh very proper and fitting. So congratulations to you. uh and look forward to I'm sure you will be around again. I respect though not at these meetings uh anymore. Um next up we have Councilman Dudley Gregory who uh may needs I think no introduction. Uh Councilman Gregory too is been a stalwart of this city uh for quite some time. He is clearly very passionate about uh or and and his love for for Charleston. He too has been uh a great role model for me and his institutional knowledge. We haven't always agreed, but he's always been incredibly respectful and he shows what uh I think civility and politics is all about and he really does embody that. So, I want to thank him for his service uh for this city and his service again to me uh as as a young mayor and thank him for his patience. With that, I'm gonna turn it over to Mr. Gregory for a few. Yes. Appreciate. Well, folks, there's a generational shift going on, and I think it's a good thing. Um, I think that the generation of council members that we have now are right for this job.

The only thing I would advise advise them to do is when we disagree, leave it on the floor and come back like nothing's ever happened. I'd like to first of all thank staff but for staff. I could not have accomplished these 16 years. I think we have the best staff in the world. They'll let you know what you can and you can't do. They'll also let you know what we can do to make it happen. and we did that. I'd like to thank the mayor. He's a young mayor.

Love that. [laughter]

I think that's a good thing. Um I'm jealous of the youth. But I'd like to to just close by saying this has been an unbelievable experience for me. This marks about 49 years of public service. There are very few things that can come before me that I've not seen before. Sometimes that's the reason why I'm so passionate because I don't want us to go down that rabbit hole. One that I've been in and I know it's there. But in closing, I just like to thank the residents of the city of Charleston who gave me the opportunity to serve them for 16 years. I'm always asked, "What is the best thing that you think you have done, Council Member Gregory?" And my answer is to serve the little old lady who calls me and says my house is in foreclosure. To serve the man who says I need a new roof, Mr. Gregory. These are the kinds of constituents that I served. These are the kind of constituents that for me makes it the greatest achievement in my career to be able to help somebody. Yeah, we did the big things, but I'm talking about the little people who don't know how to get through the maze of the bureaucracy. Those are the people I serve and those are the people for me conotes the best part of the things that

I've done for this city. Again, thank you. I really really appreciated the honor of the residents of the city to allow me to serve for 16 years. But you know, sometimes the universe say enough is enough. [laughter] And I think enough is enough. And I said earlier, I'm on the corner of glory. And hallelujah. You have no idea. This will be the first time in my life that I don't have to get up and find a tie and a suit and what to wear and what to say. I can get up now and do whatever I want and I work hard for that. Thanks folks. I appreciate all of you.

Don't take it. Council McGregory, don't act so happy. Um, I did want to uh uh take a point of personal privilege and ask council if they would join me and um a way to I think honor Councilman Gregory for his 16 years worth of service. uh thought about this and one of the things that Councilman Gregory would often say to me when we were discussing infrastructure needs is it's all about the water. He was obsessed, understandably so, with his district with water. And so when contemplating how best to potentially honor Councilman Gregory, uh, I thought it might be appropriate if you all will entertain a motion that I'm going to put forward to rename or to name the new pump station that is a huge piece of infrastructure on the September Clark Parkway in between the two bridges that is short soon to open up. that will help the drainage across the entire peninsula but particularly in his district to name that the Dudley Gregory pump station.

That is my motion Mr. Mayor. That is my So we have a motion made proper second Mr. Mayor. Uh all those in favor signify by saying I opposed eyes have it. Congratulations Greg. Well well deserved. Thank you. And Mr. Mayor, it is the water stupid. Thank you very much.

Last but certainly not least, we have Councilwoman Parker. uh Councilwoman Parker has represented James Island and she uh when I first met her, she said, you know, I'm just a mom on James Island. And I and I got to know her and I quickly became uh evident that she was a lot more than just a mom on James Island. She's been incredibly passionate about her district, about this city. uh she has been extremely detailoriented in a good way uh with regards to the committees that she has run particularly uh the rec uh committee as well as HR which is not something that everybody wants to take on but uh she she was an incredible advocate for the staff or employees uh and though she only served for really one term her presence here I think is going to be felt long long after So, Councilwoman Parker, thank you for your service to this city. Uh, we are going to miss you, but you uh your your legacy will be long remembered. So, if you could join me up on stage,

you know, that was really nice. [laughter] Don't try to choke me up. Yeah. Well,

um I mean, and it's kind of hard to follow y'all, too. I mean, um, big shoes to fill for sure. Um, your combined years of service, I mean, certainly outnumber my my one year one or my one-time wonder here, but, um, y'all, I, uh, my the greatest job God ever gave me was to be a wife and a mother. I love it more than anything. Um, being elected and doing something I had never thought of. Um, this is definitely a close second. This has been an true honor to serve with y'all um to serve my community in this capacity. I have grown. I have learned so much in this um room and with all of you. Um it was it was truly an honor. It really was. And I will miss all of y'all, the staff. Y'all are just incredible. Um you have made this so worthwhile um fighting for y'all and and the citizens every day. But um thank you all so much. Genuinely, I love it. Thank you so much. Right. We do have a few special guests. Uh so I'm going to again take a point of personal privilege. We have Mr. a former council member who would like to say a few words. I think there are a few council members themselves who would like to say a few words to their departing colleagues. Um and also uh uh Mr. Rick Deru who I think needs no introduction served under Mayor Technburgg as chief of staff. So I'd like to call on Mr. Jaru if you'd like to say few words at this time and we'll follow up with uh Councilman Shade.

Uh uh Mr. Mayor and and members of city council, thank you. It's I haven't been in this room for two years, so it's uh it's kind of interesting.

Welcome back. Thank you. I'm a uh resident of district 3 uh 1935 Mitnik Lane on John's Island. And I when I knew my uh three friends were leaving, I had to come up here and say something. You know public service is really really hard work and uh but without it the city wouldn't function, government wouldn't function and uh many times the efforts of hardworking public servants go unnoticed and I did I wanted to take this opportunity to uh say that citizens like me really understand the hard work you do. you don't have to do it. And uh and I want to say thank you uh Council Member Parker for four years. You've represented James Island and many times the whole city uh with dedication, passion, energy, and commitment. I think you've challenged the city to do better and uh I don't think you would understand how much you've been successful. So, thank you for that. Uh, Councilman Mitchell and Gregory, I can't even begin to count the number of years of service you've given to this city. It's uh, it's incredible. Every day and every night, you've uh, you've worked to make this city confront its wrongs and its sins. And you become and the city's become more fair, affordable, and equitable for all of its citizens and not just a few of its citizens because of your work. And I want to thank you. I mean, you've been the voice of folks who are not often heard and uh because of your eloquence, you've made their concerns and their issues the issues and concerns of the city. So, thank you. So, as the three of you uh leave, uh I know you've never yielded in your efforts despite the many many challenges you faced and and they have been many, but uh Charleston's not a perfect city. Uh

but you've made it a little more perfect because of the work you've done. So, thank you for that, Council Ch. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I want to leave you all with two thoughts. Number one, that there is life after serving on city council. And as our uh wonderful former bishop, the bishop of Charleston, David Thompson said when he retired, I highly recommend it. And um I would recommend that to you as well. The second thing that I wanted to uh say to you is thank you. Thank you for all y'all service. I know how hard it is of eight years of doing what you all have done. And I know council moment Parker how you struggled with family time and representing I think one of the toughest districts in the in the city is on is on James Island. It really is. And so thank you all for that. But also I just want to thank Council Member Mitchell and Gregory from a personal standpoint. Yes. All the things that you have done you did out of your heart and out of sincerity for the betterment of the community, but you also served me. And that's why I wanted to stand up and talk to you about this for a second. As we get older, we never can stop to learn. And y'all taught me so much. You opened my eyes up to things I had not seen before. And our our work together on on various committees and commissions over the years helped make me grow. And from a personal standpoint, what you have done in your public life, you've done for the betterment of the community, for the betterment of of our city, and for the betterment of our state, and probably for the betterment of our our nation. And that men like you and women like you who serve are a perfect example is a perfect example of the folks that

we need and the level of integrity that you have that you have served to the community and that needs to be replicated over time. But also thank you for what you've done for me and opening my eyes to certain things which I will cherish forever. God bless you all. Have a great Christmas everybody and wonderful job well done. Thank you all very much. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Good stuff. Good stuff. Okay. Um, we are now moving on. Well, few council members I think wanted to say a few words uh if they wanted to give an opportunity. I think Councilman Seekings I would like to wait till the end if you don't mind. Mr.

That's fair. Okay, we can do that. Um, we now have a very special presentation by the students of Hawkgap Middle School uh who have spent uh several months designing the John's Island Rec Center. So, Councilman McBride has invited uh that class along with Brett Sheridan, their teacher, uh here with us tonight to give us a presentation on the new John's Island Rec Center. So, we look forward to hearing what they have come up with and I believe they have a presentation for us. Come on up.

Absolutely. Thank you. How are you, gentlemen? Very good for you. Like the suit.

Mr. Mayor, I can give some context while he's getting set up really quick if you like. Um, so Mr. Sheridan uh reached out to me and wanted to have his students design the John's on Recreation Center, which of course is uh really big news spreading across the island. Obviously, a lot of people excited about it and so I reached out to Mr. Kronsburg and he brought uh Gable Stubs, one of the architects for the city to the school and they showed them the actual architect architectural designs at the time and his students took that and ran with it and made what you're about to see here.

All right. Thank you very much. Uh, first I'd like to thank Jim McBride for making uh this opportunity possible, as well as Gable Stubs, Jason Kronh, and the entire LS3P architect team. Our Hotcap Middle School students were incredibly fortunate to be among the first to see the design plans for the new John's Island Recreation Center. Uh, since becoming the CT teacher at Hot Gap, I've been looking for a meaningful project that would connect my students with their community. When I learned that John's Island had completed the designs for a future recreation center, I knew it was the perfect opportunity. I created a project where students designed and built their own recreation centers using Minecraft education with a unique opportunity to present their ideas to the actual project managers. After the project team introduced the official design plans, students created a a a list of features that they would want in their ideal recreation center. They then individually sketched layouts of their property on this piece of paper. Once they designed their uh once their designs were complete, students worked in groups to collaborate and create a final plan for the site. From there, we transitioned into Minecraft Education where I built a scaled template of the John's Island Recreation Center property. Over a course of a month, student built their students built their recreation centers from the ground up. During this time, Gable and Jason visited the classroom to observe students at work and offer them valuable feedback on the layout, lighting, and overall design. To conclude the project, students presented their designs to their peers who voted on the best projects. The top two designs from each class had the opportunity to formally pitch their ideas to Gable, Jason, and Mr. McBride who served as judges and

selected a winner. And today we have uh we are proud to uh share our winning group from the presentation. uh this this [clears throat] project has been a powerful way to connect the classroom learning to our community and I look forward to continuing the partnership as the actual recreation center moves forward. All right. So, uh thank you for your time and I would like you to in I would like to invite you to uh Colin White, we have uh Russell Tim and Hart Anderson to present their recreation center. So first they designed uh on a piece of paper and that was their design right there and then they spent the month going through. So what would you like to share with them?

So start by going up and showing the whole blueprint. go down the building. All this. So, first off, when you come into the room, you have the lobby area and you have a receptionist right here.

So then, okay. We'll go in here and we have pool like a water slide sler coaster type thing and going here. Show them how it works.

See? Oh, put that down. And then it's like a thing for people who cannot use the stairs. They can go in this to get in. Then we have stairs right here with railings. We have some like pool floaty type things. Um we have show the showers like accommodations. Um you get up and then we have this more stairs on the other side. Then we have shower right here.

Basketball. We have elevators over there. But first, we'll go in here. We have the gym right here with a titanium weight. Um, we have a treadmill which works. Let's see there. Oh,

well, didn't work. Whatever. Um, then we have meeting rooms right here. have the presenting area. And then we have the bathrooms and lockers. We have the locker room right here. Then we have the rest of the stuff. Okay. We have the rest stuff over there. And we have another door to reach the basketball. Just give it a sec. Go. Okay. Yeah. All right. We have the basketball court. Then why don't you head on outside the rest of the

We have I guess the basketball court here. We have seats and then we have some drinks in here. We go. Then we can go upstairs. And there are elevators right here on this side. There you go.

So, we have some seats here. It's like a food court area. We have more seats so you can watch the basketball game. And then we have a vending machine right here. We have um something from the Minecraft movie, I think, which can get some lava chicken is what it's called, which is free. Just need to this and then and the chicken comes out. Yeah, I think I messed it up if I started. There you go. That's the button, right? That's for something called McDonald's.

Okay. You want to go show them the outside of the property? Use the use the elevator this time. See, we go this way first. Handicap. We have handicap parking right here. And then more parking. Playground.

Playground. Okay. And we have a sidewalk right here which we have like an axelottle. Um, see here we have something called barrier blocks which will like that. So we have like a little water area, the splash p the garden like a a giant tennis racket greens. We have a playground here, which there's a ladder here, like the spinny things. And then same thing that we use for the um the way to get into the pool, you can as a slide. And we have stairs. And then we have down here a little.

Yeah. Show them the pickle ball courts. Okay. We have pickle ball court slashtennis courts here. Why don't you flip the zoom? There you go.

We use fences as nets since that was the closest thing we could think of. Then if we go in here, basketball court with more. We use snowballs as the basketball. You can shoot right here. And then if you keep going, see, let's go this way. We have There's an door right there. You could probably see through the window. You can show them the water fountain that may bank the road. Maybank over here.

We have a fountain with some benches. Now, if we go along the road and go through the parking with some lamp posts, we have a yoga center right here. First off, we have

this is a construction worker off work. And then we have this a random we have a yoga granny and then we have a person here a participant of yoga. Then we have a VIP area which is the yoga teacher. Um then we have a VIP of yoga. So show show them the walking area out back. I think that'll round it off. this area. Yeah. Off to the left.

Okay. Well, we have more parking over here which leads to this road and then we have this sidewalk with a end for the road right here. We have a trail you can go on. We'll go this way. Then show them the the fish pond. And that pretty much rounds it out. So, we go through here. Then you have this. Then we all go this way. When you get there, fly up in the air a little bit so they can see how frozen.

So, that's their pond. Yeah. And then we have a in this barrel right here, we have fishing rods you can fish off of. And then we have all the fish in here. Good job. As you can see, they put in everything that they would wish they had at the recreation center. And then if then we'll fly just fly up here and see the view and Colin Hart, is there anything you two would like to say? I can just add one thing really quick. The the first floor of the recreation center is actually what the it's actually what's going to be in the recreation center. Second floor is the food court. Minor modification. We can add that, I'm sure. That was a great job.

Thank you. Yeah. All right. If I could get a motion to approve the upgraded budget for this uh new rec center. [laughter] Thank you.

Good stuff. Good stuff. Very impressive. Uh I mean and and as Councilman McBride said, I mean it's pretty spot on in terms of the uh floor plan that we're proposing. Okay guys, we are now on to public hearings. Uh there are 14 public hearings tonight. Uh item number 10 has been deferred. Let me get Christopher Morgan if you would please, sir. Uh I'll turn it over to you.

Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. Okay, we'll run through these. Uh the first one before you tonight is an amendment to a pud that you all saw in the last year. This is a pud known as the wedge given the name of the uh the kind of configuration of the land here. But um this is at the West Ashley Circle at Bees Fairy and Glenn McConnell Parkway. Um 25 years of work to finally get some some things going on here like the uh commercial that's going to be coming in this development. And this is an all commercial development. This would just be an addition to that area. This is former highway rightofway that the developers are buying from the or have bought from the SC DOT. And this would allow for the site to uh Oops. There we go. There's an aerial image of uh Wester Circle area and the the extra area that would be added to this pud shown here. Uh and just uh some of the pages from the PUD that are going to be amended to add this increased acreage. the same uses would still apply. It's just more area for them. And um the uh site plan shows how they would put use the area for storm water detention that would have taken up other areas so they can have more commercial development on the site which I think folks are interested in getting more services and restaurants and things like that out in this area. So this was presented to the planning commission and recommended for approval. Then we have some recent city property purchases that we have annexed and are getting zoned. Uh number two is a parcel off River Road which is uh part of the new water uh storm water park that we're building around the Barbar Woods area. Uh this uh comes almost up to River Road uh back behind Barberry Woods and it connects to another parcel just to the south of it. Uh this would be zoned it's 19 acres and it would be zoned um conservation. Uh and here is an aerial. This also shows the other parcel to the south.

It's item number three on your agenda. Um and uh this is the parcel here and this would also come in as conservation for this new water park that is under construction in that location. Then we move on to Bees Road where another parcel that the city recently acquired 1436 Bees Fairy Road. Um it's uh just to the west of the Verdier PUD that is shown with purple here. It's across the street from some new town houses that were built in Charleston County and a new school that was built charter school that was built in Charleston County. And uh this parcel uh is in what we call our low impact and conserved area in our comprehensive plan. So, it's really going to be best for um storm water uh and natural areas and um it could help us with the uh development that would happen in the verdier bud to put the storm water in this location there. That's one of the ideas with this, but it would be zone conservation which is our least intense uh zoning category. Uh and uh we just have some aerials here. You see how a creek traverses the site. So, it's definitely a low impact and conserved site. Uh then uh and in our conference of plan it shows that as well. And then move on to 712 Savage Road. This is a recent annexation or annexation that is moving through the process. This would come in the city as general business. It was zoned CC in Charleston County. It is the um uh uh CarMax car dealership. And you see the site in uh on the map here just at Savage and Savannah Highway. It doesn't actually have an access point on Savannah Highway. All its access is off Savage Road. And uh here is the CarMax entrance from Savage Road. And then also across the street is some new land that CarMax is going to utilize for car storage. You see these two parcels that are at the corner of Edelin and Savage. These would also come in the city as general business and uh would uh be area that other car sp cars are parked on for

the CarMax. Uh they are also utilizing this extra land. It gives them room on their CarMax proper site to the right to have a proper vehicle uh car um vehicle that brings the vehicle that brings the car. Carrier, that's the phrase I'm looking for, carrier unloading site on the our CarMax site that will enable them to not do what we see a lot of other dealers do along Savannah Highway, which is the unloading in the middle of the road, which is a huge problem for everybody. So this is a very positive thing for the area and brings other properties into the city. So we have those and uh then we move on to Clemens Road where there is a small parcel that was uh part of the road widening that the county got. It's at the front of the um Point Hope development. Uh basically it is a a very narrow tight parcel. Uh it's adjacent to other general business. We would bring it in the city's general business. It would just be utilized here. you see an aerial image of it um for a driveway area and parking area at the front of the Point Hope development and again that would come in as general business. All these have been recommended approval by the planning commission. Then we move on to some residential residences that have recently been annexed. 4041 Kalin Street would come in the city as SR2. Here we see the parcel and it's a vacant parcel at present. Um then we have uh 1441 Casanqua Lane that would come in the city's SR1. It was R4 in Charleston County and it is in adjacent to the Edgewater parcels that you're going to see in just a minute. And there's an image of the property and we have 2147 St. James. This has been deferred. We're going to get some corrective maps on this one because we had some incorrect information from the applicant on this. So those will be coming back to you later. 15656 Pier Pont would come in the city as SR1

uh and there's a residential track at the corner of Pier Pont there and it is cleared out on the image there. And then we have uh 1469 South Edgewater Drive that would come into the city as uh SR1. And then there's an image of the property. And then 1448 North Edgewater Drive, SR1 again near these other properties that we've been talking about. And you see an image of it there. And then uh 814 Melrose Drive would come in as SR1 as well. And property. And those are all your public hearings for this evening. And Mr. Mayor, we have three people signed up for public hearings.

All right, we got a full agenda. I'm gonna give everybody a minute. All

right. Anthony G. Bryant. Uh Anthony G. Bryant, President Ag Bryant Group Bank, 21 Courtland Avenue, Charlton Line 29403. This is a point of a point of uh of of information regarding the US Army co-eng engineers because we're dealing with this overall city plan here. I filed a lawsuit in Supreme Court, US Army Coen Engineers, city of Charleston, the mayor, chairman of public safety in 2019 recognized by the court. Okay. So I believe from 2019 to now that the army cog engineers in my opinion with the flooding with the dredging of the port where was the water going to go okay so now they're selling union pay for a quarter of a million dollar billion dollars to Navaro but really what we're doing is paying for cleaning up the ports authorities mess getting rid of their property to start it anyway so so all these all that and then secondly I did a public comment service commission recently about the 5% franchise fee we've got. Are we going to collect all that franchise fee to come back to affordable housing? Lost two council members as black.

Muhammad Dice. May you all have a nice holiday. I took the mayor to court and they dismissed the charge. Now I'm taking windard and Logan Mcb because they was witness to what took place between me and the mayor. I pray that you all have a excellent holiday. Thank you.

Malcolm Glenn.

All right, I think those are all the speakers that we had.

Okay. Any comments or questions from members of council? If not, I'm sorry. Uh, Councilman Sheiley. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um just want to mention that the wedge there the on number one um there will be no residential in that area from my understanding and uh look forward to all the new businesses that's going to come and support that area of Charleston. So thank you.

Anything else? Councilman Wearing. Oh, sorry. I thought you saw itching on the button. Uh that's right. Um well, can I entertain a motion again? Uh item 10 has been deferred. Mr. May I make a motion items one through 14 accepting 10 be approved. Second

a motion made probably a second if any further discussion if none all those in favor signify by saying I opposed eyes have it. We are now on to approval of council minutes. Motion made properly seconded. All those in favor signify by saying I. Opposed eyes have it. Uh we are now on to citizens participation uh which we have 30 minutes. Madame clerk, how many people we have signed up? We have 12.

All right. So give everybody a minute. I just want to remind everybody the rules of decorum. We are here to uh allow you to have your voices heard to hear from the public. Um we ask that you again honor the rules of decorum. If you do not, I will give you one warning. If you persist, I will ask that you be escorted out of chamber. So, madame clerk, please call the first speaker. And what is the time again? I'm sorry. One minute. All right. The time is one minute. Anthony G. Bryant.

Corum. The doors were locked for the second time. I come in the door. a black c a black person was called by a white woman, a chief of staff on a 6'2 275 pound black man and basically said that this black man me threatened her and therefore threatened the mayor. That's like 10 to 20 years in jail for a black man this size. So since y'all leaving with y'all decorum and y'all love for staff, is he a full-time rare, a part-time mayor, we have a strong former mayor and weak former council or a strong council, whatever. You done left, you gone and ain't no we came as six black folk in this room. Now we down to two black people. What's good about that? Maybe it's generational. Maybe your generation is about raceneutral policy. Why we still suffers poor black people in the city of Charleston with just two council members. Look about the jury we gonna have. Jury's gonna be all white. If you pouring black in Charleston, you gonna get a all jury. So, how how does benefit black people?

Muhammad Adris. When I look at the city, it look like a U. a horse shoe and then you got a horse up there. I'm kind of happy because they got that block that the council is looking at the horse backside and the mayor looking at the council. So what that is telling you all, you should think about it. This city, this city is something I voted for him. I helped him and he double crossed me and I told him I'm going to fight him to the end. If I got to go to the Supreme Court, I'm going get what he promised to do. Thank you.

All right. And Rick, were you did you want to Okay. All right. Charles Duffy.

My name is Charles Duffy. I live at three Short Street. Members of the council, I'm here in opposition tonight um to the ordinance to remove the words women, minority, and racial consiliation from our documents, which therefore removes them from the goals of the city. And because public input on this topic is so limited, I just simply say that this ordinance, Mr. Mayor, I think is disgraceful. I think it's shameful. The people of Charleston are better than this and deserve more than this from their city council and their mayor. The ordinance, in my opinion, is an insult to the people of the city of Charleston, black and white, and I'd ask you to be leaders and not followers, and vote no.

Former Councilwoman Jackson. Uh, thank you, Carol Jackson, Patterson Avenue, James Island. Uh, I'd love to salute my two former colleagues. Thank you so much for your service. I'll be uh sending you your champagne and whatever else you want enjoy in your retirement very soon. I'd also like to ask the full council to support the mayor's um proposal to purchase or offer a purchase agreement or 899 Morrison Drive. He explained the reasons uh very cogently to the housing authority commission last night and I support that. Most importantly, I'm here to ask two of you. one to make the motion and another to second a motion to make an amendment that repeals the section division 11 sections 2-206-212 which would remove the new commission the changes to HARK which honestly are a low water mark for the accomplishments that you all know we have made since 2015. Thank you very much,

Suzanne Hardy. Suzanne Hardy, 32 Prelude Street. Uh, I want to express my deep disappointment in this body for gutting the intents of HARK. Uh, disappointment for capitulating to potential threats by an administration that's acting from racism and for capitulating really pretty easily. In this act, I think the city reverses its previous commitments to equity and inclusion for everyone and lays favor to those already favored. The city leaves hollow their apology for slavery and the declaration of Charleston strong after the Mother Emanuel massacre. I'm saddened that it amazed me ask these questions. Do we let a new political admin administration change our moral compass? Or were the declarations we made just good press at the time? How can the gutting of these programs be characterized as merely a name change? Focusing on civility has nothing to do with an equitable Charleston or a Charleston strong. I support Hark's vote to disband rather than rebrand the commission.

Travis Folk.

Good evening. I am a wildlife biologist as well as a board member of the Charleston Museum and Low Country Land Trust and I'm here to advocate for the city's support of the conservation easement on the Dill Track which we'll speak about later. Um this is a significant piece of property both historically as well as ecologically. It has significant water frontage on the Stone and this is an opportunity for the far side of James Island to remain somewhat the way it is. uh traffic will be less, water quality will be maintained by uh placing a conservation easement on those hundreds of acres as opposed to the potential um in the future for development. So, thank you

Matt Williams, Matt Williams, Carl Borick.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, City Council. Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight. I'm Carl Borick. the director of the Charleston Museum and uh just asked for your support uh for the green belt funding for the Dill property on James Island. It's just an absolutely remarkable property. Uh these very rich in cultural natural resources. Uh there's uh two African-American cemeteries on the property. There's four Civil War batteries. Uh 15 are identified archaeological sites including an enslaved uh quarters that was excavated several years ago. and uh in addition a wildlife pond which uh South Carolina DNR has has deemed one of the best uh rrookeries in the state for uh nesting woodstos. So u just tremendous resources on the property. Uh museum has programs throughout the year uh that allow public access. Um we you know if if if we get the funding it would go towards uh land management uh practices, ecologically motivated land management practices as well as uh increasing programming uh to allow greater access to the public. So uh thank you all um for considering this uh request and appreciate the city of Charleston support for the Charleston Museum which goes back to 1850. So thank you so much. Charles Hayward.

Reverend Charles Hayward, 4037 Gift Boulevard, John's Island. Mr. Mayor, this section had 30 minutes. I was hoping to get two minutes. The math says the 12 of us. It would have been 24 minutes and you would still have more time. I want to ask this council to not for um number 14. uh to amend a thing is so that it will be not to amend and create. You would have to discontinue or eliminate in order to create. So I would ask that the council reconsider this language and um it's another image where those of us black uh see ourselves being excluded from participation. The language here is good in terms of naming, but you're actually moving to stop, eliminate, to create something new. And there's no evidencing here that was what before will be going forward in what is to come. I would ask the council to vote against number 14,

Tony Lewis.

Mr. Mayor, council members, thank you all for hearing me. I'm actually I'm here to lo advocate and lobby for the Harmon field to be named as after Mr. Oscar form senior who put 65 years in that area. Okay. So, I'm asking y'all to lobby to uh support me in naming that after Mr. Oscar form. I spoke to his son. I'm not going on against him. I spoke to his son. He says fine. Give me the thumbs up. So, I'm lobbying for y'all to please name that after Mr. Oscar for and possibly let's get a statue cuz he been in there for 60s something years and then he produced a lot of our youth and doing great things. All we doing and Councilman Mitchell and Councilman Gregory and Councilman um Parker, thank y'all. Y'all ain't doing nothing, God. Kingdom's work. That's all you're doing. We're all doing kingdom's work. So, again, we got to please him before we can please man. Okay. So again, thank you, Mr. May. Thank you for the job you're doing, man. Okay.

And we'll move on to our online list, Jerry Harris.

Congratulations and thank you for to the uh retiring members of city council. Uh I stand here to oppose the preemptive compliance ordinance uh M14. I think is important for city council to recognize the danger of unnecessary and possibly illegal section four of this ordinance which states that all city programs, plans, ordinances, regulations, policies, initiatives, directives to commissions and committees and practices related there to that conflict with current and future federal and state law are hereby amended to ensure there are processes for amending ordinances. uh this omnibus language I think uh is questionable and unnecessary and obviously um there are problems that remain to be addressed to not the least of which we celebrated uh the legacy of slavery at the ancestry burial monument uh on uh Sunday and today we're here uh actually reversing course uh I think city council current city council and future council needs to think about this thank you

and we did receive some comments online. Mr. Mayor, we had 35 comments in opposition to the annexation of Zero Folly Road. Justin Moffett was in support of the proposal for the former fuel location. One comment from Anthony Bryant was sent to council in full. 13 emails were received in opposition to the annexation of Zero Folly Road. And we received um one uh email from council, former councilwoman Jackson in regards to agenda item M14 and proposed amendments. And those are all the comments that we received.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Um we are now on to petitions and communications. Uh we have um a memorandum of agreement regarding a third thirdparty storm water review which is being fasttracked from public works and utilities due to time constraints. Approval M second.

Motion made properly seconded on this item. Any further discussion on it? If none all those in favor signify by saying I opposed eyes have it. Uh, next on the agenda is a discussion relating to our current contract purchase and sale agreement with 99395 Morrison Drive and a proposed u uh contract for the purchase and sale of two parcels uh that constitute what we're calling the ILA property at um Eugene and Morrison Drive. So, just a little bit of background on this. You all know the conversations that we've been having with the county. It's been very constructive. However, uh as discussed in community development and at this council meeting uh last go around, our appraisal that came in on the county site, the 6.5 approximately 6.5 acres, um was significantly lower than what our purchase and sale agreement price is. When we asked the county to have the two appraisers get together because they had a higher appraisal, they said um they did an update on their appraisal saying that it is actually worth more than the purchase and sale agreement. So, we had a very I think constructive meeting with council members, county council members, some city council members, Councilman Appel, Councilman Wearering and I. Um and I would just want to say this. I I I think even if we uh are do not move forward with the purchase and sale agreement for the county site, which is what I am going to recommend, I think there is an opportunity to continue working with the county to ensure that this property is developed in a way that meets our affordable housing goals, but also gets the county uh the funding that they are looking for. So, I think there can be a win-win scenario here. We talked a little bit about it uh with the county.

Um, and I'm happy to go into a little bit more of those details. Um, but what I would like to ask of you all tonight is given we are far apart on uh this property in terms of the value that we go ahead and terminate the agreement, work with them on um opportunities to reszone their property uh to uh allow for affordable housing to give them clarity uh in terms of some of the hurdles that we came across um in our due diligence on the site which I don't think I need to get into right now, but we would terminate that. But in order to continue moving forward uh with asurances on the Build First program and our partnership with the housing authority, we would uh uh move forward on the 899 Morrison Drive contract uh with the ILA, which a copy of which you all have on your desk. Now, a few things I do want to just clarify for for the record. Um, this is an $18 million aggregate purchase price. The county, what we were proposing is $30 million. It's roughly half. So, it is a higher price per acre for the ILA site, but it is a much lower dollar amount. And we have a finite amount of money in the Cooper River Bridge TIFF. So, one of the things that has led me to this conclusion is that we have a lot more money to do design work and go vertical uh with the TIFF funds versus putting it all into the land. Uh, also a few things just point and I think this is really important for future comps that might go out there in the market. Uh, setting a benchmark for properties in this area. Uh this is owned our most aggressive zoning that we currently have which is

upper peninsula. This is 899. It also doesn't have a linen line obstruction which the county site does have which is one of its challenges. And third and perhaps most import well third uh it is currently zoned for I think up to 12 stories whereas the county is capped at eight. Uh and then lastly, uh which is probably the biggest issue that I saw on the county property, um that could prove a real challenge is they have a strip of land in the middle of it that we were under the impression you could have access across uh that divides the two properties uh that's owned by somebody else. They'd sold it to the owners of uh Laurel Island for a future bridge uh drop dropdown. There's actually no recorded cross access easement on that parcel whatsoever. So, we really can't plan anything associated without without getting approval from the property owner. And they did pay the county 5 to7 million for that strip. So, it could potentially be a more expensive uh acquisition. So, again, these are a lot of complexities, guys. I don't really need to bore you with all the details. I'm happy to discuss them. Um, but suffice it to say, uh, it is, I think, incredibly important to get moving on this uh housing initiative. the ILA property allows us to do that. It's actually contiguous to housing authority property. Um, and so I think it uh makes sense to move forward on that and again work with the county and be very helpful to them on making sure that their property u can be sold, can be used for affordable housing, can perhaps be co-arketed with ours uh uh our initiative and there seemed to be some receptiveness to that from the county. So again, could get them more money for the property, get us uh the additional housing that we need, but have us have asurances plus more money in the bank to

do other things. So again, that's a lot to take in. I can appreciate, but I'm making the motion that we terminate the agreement with the county and you authorize me to enter into the agreement with the ILA on 899, the two contracts you see on your desk. Um, with that, I've made a motion. I'd like we open it up for discussion. Uh, Mr. Mayor, you being the presiding officer, I'd be more the motion. Yeah, there we go. Makes sense. I was going to make the motion. I'm still learning, guys. Still learning and I'll second that motion. So, we have a motion made, properly seconded. Any any further discussion on this questions? Yes, sir.

I think you explained it very well, but I think it'd be very good to share with all council members and cause council member Pel was there obviously along with the mayor, myself. It was a very good meeting with the with uh county council. Uh even to the tune of if we don't buy the property, which I'm going to support not buying that property, um we would help them, if you will, tee up their property to help make it to be more marketable, as the mayor said, for a a private developer to come in if necessary. Um, we have a new zoning category for affordable housing as uh in the draft form and um we promised to get a copy of that to um the county and Josh Martin has done that very expediently. So, the county is actually looking over u a draft version of a affordable housing initiative that will come before this council for approval that will make the county site more marketable for affordable housing and mixeduse type development. Now, this is something that the county wants and this is something that we want. So, working together makes so much sense on this one. uh some of the money is being saved from 30 million versus 18 million. Uh we can dedicate some of that again towards uh design potentially uh uh potential site work, not work but drawings again to enhance the county site. So there's that proverbial win-winwin uh on this transaction. So, um, this is not closure, but a Hannah a Hannah fellowship reaching up to the county. Thank you.

Well put. Thank you, Councilman Seag. And I'll come to you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, so I I think it's important just to make sure that we whatever we do going forward as we think about the affordable housing, the attainable housing, the missing middle, all the things that we as a city and a region have needs for is to make sure that every step of the way we remain as partners with the county.

Um, they've been there with us through this process. It's been a long process and I do think there's still some opportunities out there and no matter what we do visav 9993 and 9995 to work with the county to make sure that that site ultimately lands in the hands of someone who develops workforce house right I mean that is really important I think to all of us and it's always been the vision that we've had um I want to personally thank the county for taking all the time that they did um I know that council members appel and council wearing were there in person last time I was actually out of town but I was on that call and it was kind of the last of a series of of meetings we've had with them. And so, um, whatever we do as a council, I I think the communication with the county needs to remain solid and as we're looking towards 3,500 units ultimately, we're never going to be able to do it without their help and cooperation. Anyway, so um I'm going to support this with the footnote and caveat similar to what I said last time is that we just need to keep an open line of communication and make sure that we've, you know, got their buy in as we go forward.

And and if I may, uh I want to take responsibility for some of the lack of communication. This is complicated stuff and as you all know that uh I can get into the weeds on some of this stuff and um it's oftent times hard to put into simple bullet points and explain all the different angles. Um but it is incredibly important and I echo your your comments that the county has been very receptive and open and willing. Uh I would ask that the council help me communicate with your colleagues on county council. Uh and and so you all have great relationships with with a number of them to make sure that you have lines of communication uh so that we we um can work this out together. Uh and not just be kind of me between the chairman. Uh I think it'll just be much more effective that way. Uh because this is again going to be a work in progress. This is involved. This is um pretty unique I think but it is exciting and I think could make a huge difference. Uh but we are now into the weeds and there's going to be a lot of discussion on this and we need to uh be very transparent and open with our colleagues at the county. So I just say that I need your help. Councilman Mitchell.

Yes. U Mr. Mayor and colleague colleagues on council. That's what I was saying from the beginning that we need to work together and that's one thing I was saying when we first met that we as two municipalities can work together and work out these fine little problems that we have that we can come up with a solution that can be good for everyone. So I ag I I agree 100% but even uh going back with uh you would talk you know what you're talking about uh working together with the county which we need which we should do anyway right now and um also uh I it's a good thing that even if we have purchased the uh 995 Morrison Drive because it's right there where these complex is located the public houses located. So if we can do that to transition that and build that first built first the people they can move right into that complex which is right there on the east side right where it should be anyway but in my concern and it should be right there and and it's it'll be good for the county to work with it and I believe we working with the county and uh really showing them with affordable housing I think this would be a great thing so I think it will come out really big in the community that both municipalities working together to create affordable housing for everyone in the city of Charleston. And we also remember we have council county council members that represent those areas.

Yeah. Right. Right. On county council, same people, right? So, so we got to get them and and get them on board also and start speaking with them. That's me, Councilman Darby and Councilman Prior. So, they were represent these particular areas. So, we need to contact them and try to work with them and see if they can get them on board to get this done. Thank you. So, thank you all. Uh certainly appreciate the comments. You have one just one one last thought. I mean as we move forward I mean this is sort of parallel and linear. We can't lose sight of 993 and 995 and the need for us to attend to among other things cooperative zoning on that property with the county. Absolutely.

To keep the value but also to make sure that value includes to us the bigger picture which is the housing part of it.

Right. So to to your point and to what what what Councilman Wearing, what will probably be coming back to you at the next council meeting and through community development, uh is uh a potential reszoning for that property that would give it much u more attractive zoning than it currently has, but also potentially uh some funds to go towards planning and marketing that property. um that would go towards our larger effort with the housing uh authority, which I did want to just mention uh and say thank you to former councilwoman um Carol Jackson who was on the housing authority. I did present to that last night. The housing authority has been uh incredibly uh um helpful and excited and willing to work with us on this initiative, too. Uh so again, want to reiterate what I said on the county with with your colleagues and friends on the housing authority board. Again, this is going to be a group effort, folks. Um and just one one last point, work cooperatively with the county to look at that strip in the middle. I mean, that strip in the middle sits in the city of Charleston. It divides a very important two parcels of property. And we also need to work with the county to make sure that there is either access easement or whatever is needed to make sure that those properties become one developable site that's not cut in half, which right now is its biggest challenge.

Right. Agreed. Okay. So, we have a motion probably made and seconded. Uh any further discussion on this? Again, thank you all. All those in favor, please signify by saying I opposed. Eyes have it. Um, next up we have the the list of

TST priorities. A lot of work's going on to this. We have a motion made, probably seconded. Any further discussion on this? The only thing I will add is that um these are primarily the road projects that we've outlined. We have a lot more work to do. Bike pad, sidewalk improvements, um, uh, public public transportation, uh, green belt, those sort of things. We're going to be working with you all, with advocacy groups, with constituents, uh, over the upcoming weeks, uh, to get the details on that. But I really appreciate everybody's hard work on this effort. So, we have a motion made, properly seconded. Um, Councilman Mitchell. Yeah, I saw a letter coming from the Upper Peninsula Neighbor Association. I can say if someone can get with them and try to kind of work with them, explain to

We spoke with them today uh and we're meeting with them again tomorrow and I think um there's been a lot more clarity and uh on that front and I really appreciate their uh willingness to dig in quickly on this and um I think we're going to be very much aligned. Uh all right, so we have a motion made properly seconded. All those in favor signify by saying I opposed. Eyes have it. Mr. Smith. Yes, sir. Just question going back to item two. I know we uh talked about you know the ending the contract with 99395. Did we in that motion did it also includes madam clerk moving forward with $8.99? We did. Yes, it included the LOI. Thank you. The two contracts you have. Yeah.

Thank you for the point. Um I would now like to call on Councilman Greg for committee on ways and means my committee report. So entertaining. uh never gets old. Uh all those in favor signify by saying I opposed. Eyes have it. Uh we are now up to bills for second reading. Uh items 38 and currently 14 as amended. Can I entertain a motion? Uh we have a motion made. Can

um can everyone use it can use the microphone? I'm sorry. One last time. Move for approval 1 through 15 as amended with the uh items that you mentioned that need to be said three of them need to be amended. If well, if I if we could take I'd like to recommend that we take items 1 through 13, items three and eight as amended. Yeah, that's okay. So, I'll second your motion to take items 1 through 13 uh items three and eight as amended. I can't second though. Oh, I'll second it. Sorry. I'll second.

Getting a little excited up here. Um, oh, we have a motion made, properly seconded. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed? Eyes have it. Third reading. Uh, we can I get a third reading on those? A motion made, probably seconded. All those in favor signify by saying I. Opposed. Eyes have it. Now on item 14,

Mr. Smith. Councilman Wearer. I know we have that for second reading, but uh I'd like to put put forth the measure that we let Hart sunset second. And I obviously I have a few words to say afterwards, but I just want to get that motion on the floor. So the motion for clarity, I think what you're saying, um just correct me if I'm wrong. The ordinance as drafted is for all pro uh you know city initiatives etc as the language dictates as well as minority and womenowned business as well as hark and what you're suggesting is striking all reference to HARK. Correct.

Um and because and just letting it naturally sunset. Correct. Okay. But everything else being the same. Correct. Okay. And is that what you're seconding? Yes. Okay. Okay, we have a motion made, properly seconded. Discussion. Councilman Wearing. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm going to ask uh some leeway from my colleagues on council because I may go over my 10 minutes. Okay.

Um I want to go back to how Hark uh in particular came to this council. Uh it grew out of obviously the mother Emanuel tragedy and anybody who was on this council of the people of the 13 people that was on council in 2015 15 when that tragedy occurred only four remain. But I'll never forget and and anybody who was him when that took place, you knew where you were when you got the news of the tragedy of the murders. But I'll never forget the first press interview with um uh then Chief uh Chief Mullen and Mayor Raleigh standing at the side and the question came to Chief Mullen, was this a hate crime? and he was stumped. And Mayor Riley grabbed a microphone and leaned in and said, "When a person comes into a Bible study, sits and prays with them, and then gets up and murders nine wonderful people, that's hate." And the leadership that he brought, there was not a follow-up question to that. One of the things that kept Charleston from rioting because of a hateful event was our community. All races and color were active involved inside government and outside of government. I mean, the national press would in the ensuing days would would

ask Mayor Raleigh u why do you think Charleston um didn't erupt like some other cities? Uh and he was saying that because we think government does less than what our people do in the community is what he said. And you can go on YouTube and pick this up. As a matter of fact, I actually went on and reacquainted myself with some of the leadership that was done during that period time. It was Mayor Rowley served this city for 40 years. Outstanding job, but I think his finest year may have been his 40th. Can you imagine 39 years you're going around taking thanks and praises and salutation and a heinous murder takes place in your town. Um, talk about cream rising to the top. Our church, St. um, St. Patrick's Catholic Church at that time was predominantly African-American. It was on the list that um, Dylan Roof had. The College of Charleston was on that list and certainly Mother Emanuel was on the list. But look at how our community came together inside and out. There was a lady in Gastonia, North Carolina that actually recognized uh Dylan Ruth Rof. She's white. She called her boss. I think I see the guy on her phone. He was white. The people that appar apprehended Dylan Roof was white. And when he was apprehended, Mayor Rally said it was like a collective relief

went through all our community. And it was. And then he went to the bond hearing and the families of those uh people who were murdered forgave him. And there was a prayer vigil over at uh Morris Brown AM Church. The crowd was so big, all the dignitaries there out into the street. Actually reminded me of some of them civil rights days marching. Council member Mitchell. Um, and and when word came that they forgave, I don't know if you remember the movie The Ten Commandments, but when when God was present in the temple, the word went all through the people. Says so be the Mills had all our attention. But that's how the word that those families forgave went through uh all the community at the time. I was not that good of a Christian to have been able to forgive at that period of time. I have to say that and I admitted that to uh Miss Shepard and Miss Saunders uh at later on and it was just they were just wonderful. But when your community is visited by a tragedy like that, uh it's never the same afterwards and you learn and you build on it afterwards. And that's what HARK uh grew out of that. Having conversations with people with different life experiences matters going forward for any community, but Sandy Hook, Coline, Charleston, and the list goes on. Australia, uh this Sunday, uh Brown University, is that becoming a new norm? We can't accept that to become the new normal.

When hark got started, I think there was somewhere between 40 and 50 people commu community- based peoples that having the dialogue about race, about diversity, about equity, about inclusion, about consiliation. What a wonderful word. We got this thing called the constitution. And I have a colleague on council here that put I believe almost 25 years in the Marines that was willing to put his life on the line because of that constitution. Pay the ultimate price. So when it comes to reducing uh rights in the constitution, now I may get um crammed down for this, but when you've had rights that you were born into, sometimes you can take them for granted. But when you come from a minority group, they had to fight to get rights, you recognize when it is being um infringed upon. So this city has an opportunity to take heart and that's why I say uh let it sund down and I'm not alone in that from underneath the thumbrint of divisive politics national state or otherwise and make us stronger. the frustration that a few members [clears throat] who thank you for coming out and speaking up against uh voting for this measure. Um they want better. I know you want better. We've had those

discussions. Uh I know our council members want better. But sometimes divisive politics creates a knee-jerk reaction and that's what's happened here. Okay. But keep in mind that we're still in a state that when Dylan Ruth was able to purchase that gun, it's called the Charleston loophole. 10 years later, our state has done nothing to close that loophole. That can actually happen again where a deranged person who should not have gotten a gun was able to get it because of a 3-day approval limit and the background search hadn't come back. So when when that type legislation to to close that has been presented consistently on the state of South Carolina, we haven't done it on the federal level. When in when legislation was introduced to close that Charleston loophole, the federal government has failed to do so. I happened to be on something called the economic coordinating council when the flag was on the dome and another gentleman was in your position, Mr. Mayor, who walked from city hall to the state capital to take a racist symbol down. Mayor Rally did that. You know, they refer to the Char city of Charleston sometime as the state of Charleston in Colombia. It's a tongue and cheek joke. So when he was going on that walk, I'm sure a lot of people in other parts of the state thinking he was showboating. Being on that economic coordinating council, the confluences of people from different parts of the community. Yeah,

it needed to come down. Some people say it was our heritage. It can't come down. But that's the most central seat of government for the state of South Carolina. American flag is there. The state flag is there. And the Confederate flag did not represent all the citizens of uh appropriately of um Charleston. Charleston made it through that. But it was a lot of corporations at that time. We had 300 foreign corporations doing business in the state of South Carolina during that time. Michelin was shopping almost a billion dollar expansion. Michelin came to the secretary of commerce at that time, God bless him, Charlie Wake, who's passed on now, and said, "What are you going to do about that flag?" They were shopping that expansion with Canada, city in Canada, South Carolina, and then France. As we just want to let you 10 minutes, we're happy to let you go.

Thank you. I'm I'm I'm going to bring it to closure. Um they say we don't want our products boycotted in the state of South Carolina for a war we had nothing done and a flag we know nothing about. BMW came to the Secretary of Commerce and the governor and said the same. That's when we had 300 corporations doing business in South Carolina. So we had citizens action as well as corporate action. Now we have 900 international uh corporations doing business just in the state of South Carolina. So, some of this legislation that is divisive that may move throughout general assembly, I think they're going to get visited by some of those companies. I think they I think the subject will come up. Is South Carolina moving in the wrong direction. I think some of it pass will be contested legally. But our action should not be as though we did something wrong. Our legal counsel has has assured us we have broken no laws in filing for these grants. So as we emerge on the other side, let's use what we've known from the existing of heart to make us stronger and frankly independent of divisive politics. Thank you for the extra time. uh and and thank you for your consideration and let's hope we stand up a heart on the other side in 2026 that will be better from the experiences that we know about today as we move forward. Thank you my colleagues.

Thank Council Council Gregory.

Yeah, I I I need to explain my seconding on that. Um and I think it's very very important mayor and council that we allow uh Hark to sunset. Um I think it gives a bit more respect for Hark because Hark grew out of an apology for slavery. Um, and as a result of that, uh, the direction that we were going was to try to remove vestages that might have caused, uh, people to be enslaved, um, as well as, uh, things that happened during the the Jim Crow era. Um, and I think it would be a disservice for us to now um move away from um what Hawk's purpose was to something that is very very different. Uh so I strongly support that we let it sunset but as a city as much as we can do to help it to become independent. Um I think we should do no differently than we have done with other organizations. Folks may not know, but the Urban League was created from the city of Charleston so that it could be independent. Same issues. So to me, I think that the direction for us would be to let it sunset because I think as long as it is not independent, it cannot be effective at all. Um, and while I'm in total um

disagreement with um the administration's scare tactics and bullying, bullying people um the federal administration.

Yes. Not you, not you. Not you. Uh however, uh some of us are capitulating as a result of this bullying. And I think when you capitulate, what you do is you foster more bullying. So I think as a city and a safe spot uh is for us to let Hark sunset in respect because folks you have no idea the thousands of hours that were dedicated to HARK by community people who came up with 125 recommendation. We might have gone a little too far that at least some would claim, but [clears throat] uh Councilman Appel, we worked hard when we worked on HARK. And again, I just think that the best thing for us now is to let Hark sunset and start moving forward with any outside organization or group of people who are willing to reestablish HARK as an independent entity nonprofit from the city of Charleston. Please, council members, let's let's respect the contribution of our community by not allowing this current uh rendition of hack to move forward that we need to let it sunset.

So I stand by my second and thank you council member. We have motion bay and probably second. Any further discussion on this? Councilman Bowen.

Just really quickly and I don't I don't necessarily have anything to add and I agree with a lot of what y'all said. I think it's sort of interesting that this is the last meeting of my first term here on city council and this was like the first issue we took up in my [laughter] once I took took office. Um, so it's um in in some ways a little bit fitting if uh you know sad that this is this is where we found ourselves here today. Um, I I do just want to quickly thank um Jerry Harris who was the co-chair uh originally with uh Jason Sackan uh who was um a excellent member of council and has since moved on to um Montana wherever he is uh posting cool pictures now. um you know and um you know it it started with sort of grand ideas uh and gradually worked down to uh some finer details that um I think Hark has has recommended here now or in in the past and uh as as a pardoning gift. Uh there's a list of a number of um suggestions that Hark made in its last meeting that uh I think we will take up uh going forward. um good suggestions that you know leaves us with a lot of work but I just didn't want to let this uh moment pass without thanking the folks who uh served on HARK and I'm one of the co-chairs now going out um but uh you know folks who are you know now serving on uh boards of the you know housing authority and uh various other you know community organizations that are you know carrying on great work and you know now we are here all talking about affordable housing with not and as you know a bit of daylight between us on on our commitment to that. Uh and nobody would call that you know woke or DEI or any of this nonsense. The the

all of this is to divide us. Um and and you know I I view my vote suns setting this tonight as you know just not letting it divide us. um you know getting getting past this nonsense carrying on with the business we have to do serving every one of our citizens in the way that they need us to be to serve them. Thank you. Councilman Ven

for the record um the original chairmans for HARK um was Jason and I um and you have no idea what it took for Jason and I um along with Amber and I have to mention uh how we had to manage all these people all these ideas to come up with something that is comprehensive and cohesive. Um, and I think where we headed right now is the way to go. Mr. Mayor, I just wanted to make the record clear.

Thank you, Council Pel.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I'll be real brief on this. Um, want to give a shout out to uh my colleague, Council Member Wearing for speaking so beautifully a moment ago about these issues. Um, and I also want to highlight um, a YouTube clip that you shared with me a few days ago. It's a discussion between Robert Craft, who you may know is the owner of the New England Patriots, and a gentleman by the name of Dr. Clarence B. Jones, who I believe was um, MLK's speech writer. He's an attorney. He's a friend. I encourage everybody in the public who's listening to this to take a look at that video. It's only about 20 minutes. Um it it really highlights a remarkable uh story in history between um the African-American struggle, the Jewish struggle, as well as um a host of other minorities um at that time during the civil rights movement that were all marching together arm-in- arm for the same goals. And in a city like Charleston that honors history, I think we can learn a lot as we stand up this new organization in the coming year to look back a little bit at our history and our shared history and what we were able to accomplish together when we were united. Um, and I would just encourage people that to take a look at that and maybe we can find some inspiration in that as we um tackle the challenges like affordable housing and some other issues. the whole conversation around affordable housing has dramatically changed around the city of Charleston in recent years. Um, and it's an and it's an incredible thing to see and I think that that's a testament to sort of the improved consciousness around some of these issues that organizations and efforts like um, HARKC have helped bring to the table and um, I look forward to continuing that work and uh, thanks to all my colleagues for um, everything that's been said today. I think it was very powerful.

Agreed. Uh, Councilman Greg, sorry. Thank you. Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I I'm just trying to understand. So, what's the advantage of sunsetting it? Uh, I mean, I understand we don't like the language and the ordinance, but what does I mean, suns setting means it goes away is it? So, if I may, it was HARK actually uh voted to disband as I understand it in their last meeting.

Correct. um it is up for renewal or it sunsets it goes away. Um in discussing this, one of the things we were trying to do is um uh adopt language in the new HARK ordinance or the um new language that would comply with what we understand the current uh uh laws to be or the requirements for these $126 million in grants. So by letting it sunset and has um been pointed out here, allowing it to carry that tradition of leaving under government and going into its own uh uh initiative outside of city government or any government for that matter. Uh it could potentially be much more effective. Uh and it's kind of served its course as I think as I understood it. So we, you know, the issue at hand for us as a city and the grants goes away. Um, and it potentially allows for HARK to continue another day, but not under the opaces of the city of Charleston.

Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. So, uh, I think it's been a very passionate conversation. I appreciate everybody's perspective. Council wear you have a I do uh you know uh council member uh Bowen was eloquent in his speech but

we still going to work you guys. I mean Jerry doesn't get to get off. Mr. Harris doesn't get to get off. You all have the experience when it comes to reconstituting a new initiative come January 26. And and I also wanted to thank um I wanted to thank um council member Pel for bringing up what I sent to a number of council members uh an initiative called the the blue square alliance. Okay, you all everybody in here has probably seen the commercial about it, may maybe not paid attention to maybe the source, but the Blue Square Alliance is an initiative to stand up against hate the Jewish people and other people of religious religion. Hate this year in 2025 against those in our Jewish community has has increased 388%. 388% of people that that uh constitute 2.4% of the population. I would recommend all of you all look at the go online and and just pull up the uh Blue Square Alliance. It's a wonderful thing Mr. Craft has done uh setting up these commercials to make us think. My wife and I contribute to it. It's not going to move the needle that much, but we contribute to it. Uh and I think if enough people contribute to it, uh I always say grow bigger and better because there are more good people always than uh bad. So thank you for bringing that up because I didn't bring all I had to say. I forgot to bring that up. Thank you.

Okay. So we have a motion made properly seconded uh for item 14 um to amend. Uh all those in favor signify by saying I opposed. Eyes have it. Uh can I entertain a motion for third reading on that? Well, so so we so that was just the vote to amend it. We need a motion to approve it as amended. That's my motion. Mr. Smith,

we have a motion made properly seconded. All those in favor signify by saying I opposed. Eyes have it. and motion made for third reading. Properly seconded. If no further discussion, all those in favor signify by saying I. Oppose. Eyes have it. So, we have a one more item. Yes. Item 15. Can I get a motion for item 15? Motion made, properly seconded. All those in favor signify by saying I. Opposed? All right. There's one nay for the record. Council member Parker. Councilwoman Parker. And can I get a motion for third reading? If and we have one abstension.

Yeah. If I can know for the record one and there's one one recusal. Council member Tinkler. Yeah. Okay. Um so we I need a third reading. Do we get a motion? Motion made properly seconded for third reading. All those in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. Nay. Eyes have it. One nay. Council member Parker. One recusal. Council member Tinkler. Okay. Um I can't look at my agenda. How what we got next? Uh there are no first readings. There no first readings. And is that Mr. Mayor? While you're signing, I would like if you don't mind.

Oh yes. A moment of personal privilege. Thank you.

Moment of personal privilege. Councilman seeking. Well, it's no secret in these chambers that we are in one of the great cities, not just in America, but in the world. Um, it by every measure is, and if you had any doubt about it, if you weren't paying attention for the last 15 or 20 minutes, you should now know one reason why we are. And it doesn't come as a mistake, Mr. Mayor. It comes as a result of hard work by a lot of people. Maybe no more so than the people who sit in these chambers twice a month, once once in the summer, and take up any manner of issue. Any manner of issue from zoning to biking to making sure we're as equitable as we can be to agreeing to disagree to all those things. It is um a great honor, but it is a lot of work and a lot of dedication and a lot of giving up a big part of your life. And when you put that gabble down in just a few minutes, by my calculation, 45 years of dedication to this city are going to walk out this door as citizens of the city, but no longer as members of this council. something to celebrate, but also something to remember. To to Council Member Parker, who spent the smallest portion of that, which is no small portion, four years you came in here and you took the bull by the horns and you were your own person for the people you represented. Um, and I think everyone around here has admired you for doing that. It's not easy to do. It doesn't come without hardship and consequence, and you did it with honor and grace and dignity. Um, and I can just tell you that um, that's a hard thing to replicate. It won't be done. Uh, and your four years have made the city great. To Council Member Mitchell, um, I still remember the first day I met you. I don't know if you remember this, but it wasn't in the city of Charleston.

It was in the city of North Charleston. We were being interviewed as we had put in our um, petitions to be on a ballot to be elected to city council. Me for the first time. this son of a gun over here was signing up for a whole new tour of duty. Um, a whole new tour of duty to come back and spend another 16 years representing the city where he was born. Loves and I will tell you and he sings it all the time, but it is true. No one knows the streets of this city better than Robert Mitchell. Whether it's as a kid, as someone who grew up as a teenager, having fought the hard fights to make Charleston his equilib could be, or as a member of the city council for 24 years. Think about that. 24 freaking years he's been here doing this. That's a huge hunk of his life. Um it has been an incredible honor to sit just down the road from you and watch what you've done. Um, I can tell you, um, you and Council Member Gregory have kind of ticked me off a little bit tonight because as we walk out, I went from how'd this happen from being the youngest member of this city council to now I'm about to be the senior member. Um, for that, I'm not sure I thank you, but um, I accept it. So, Council Member Mitchell, uh, we know we're all going to see you around, but what you've done is incredible. And for 24 years, man, that's just unbelievable. and to Council Member Gregory. Um I don't really even know where to begin. Um you and I have grown up in these chambers together and outside of these chambers together. And one of the things that you said in your speech tonight as we honored you for your 16 years of service is um you gave some advice to people coming in that um you have lived and that is for sure you and I have had a very close

relationship. We have definitely not underscored not not always agreed. Do you think that's a fair statement? I think it's fair.

However, however, we have always always agreed to disagree. And 16 years later, I really don't think that I can remember a cross word between us outside of these chambers. Um and that is a testament to belief and to being the person that you were elected to be and you have been that person. So um as the mantle is handed off to us and 45 years leave us tonight, this city is better and it's probably the best it's ever been today because of your service. And for those of you still in this chambers, you all know this doesn't happen by mistake. It's hard, hard work. It's thankless work. Um it doesn't come with glory, fame, riches, but I want you all to know as we walk out tonight, it comes with um so much more. And that is our gratitude for let letting us live in this city that is really as great as it can be. So, um I just wanted to as we close out this year, um not say goodbye because I'm no darn good at that. um say thank you, say Godspeed, and may you all um bless us each day with continuing to be part of this community. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for

Amen. Amen. I gonna follow that. [laughter] Well, happy holidays everybody. See you next year.