City Council - Regular Meeting

Councel Brown. Good good evening. Uh we're actually going to start the North Charleston City Council meeting uh December 11th, 2025. Uh we actually will ask you guys to stand. We have the invocation uh by Dr. Sharma Charmaine Palmer Roberts and the pledge of allegiance. If our hearts and minds are clear, Father God, we come before you this evening, God, thanking you for another opportunity to serve this great city of North Charleston. Grant us wisdom. We ask that your presence be in this room as we guide with integrity, humility, and courage. In Jesus name we pray and we say thank you. Amen.

Amen. United States of America nation. We'll have the recognition of new employees. When I call your name, please come to the front. with planning and zoning. I have Ella Dodd Pheliz Vera Barbara and Joshua Klein. Good evening. Would you guys do about face? I'm going to get you back to these folks over here a little later. But um based in the audience that is and I want to say welcome to the city of North Charleston. I know and um you guys are probably like a lot of people when you're first time going to a job you're excited and I know we're welcome that we're looking for that to be for you throughout your tenure here. But one of the key parts that we look at is that the service we provide to our uh citizens not only the one that is the residents there there's coming in each day. I think we're looking at somewhere 120 uh population for the city of North Charleston, but during the daytime we have some work. 250 people pass through. So, we knew all of them looking for one thing and that is service. And that's we're expecting for you guys. Um and these are the people you'll be giving that service to. These are some of them. But the other folks when you do that about face again, could you? I smile at these folks all the time. they they're the one who also uh help give you the tools to do your jobs better. Uh so uh but you'll be working

for your directors and once you reach out to them for things that you need, I think uh these are the council bodies will be able to help supply those. I know the mayor would like to say something to you guys on the night.

Welcome. Welcome aboard. Uh you couldn't be any any other better place than the city of North Charleston. I love my city. I'm hoping and praying that you do the same. I walked in these doors at old city hall in 1989. Got a guy back there. Uh he was a deputy chief code. He came here and spent 40 years, you know, and he was born and raised in this city. You don't have to be born and raised in here, but we would love you to love it. So, thank you all. Be safe. And your number one priority, turn around. That's your number one priority, the people. Thank you again. Thank you. [applause]

Now we'll have the presentation of the North Charleston Police Department Citizens Academy. Good evening, North Charleston and good evening to all visitors. Good evening, mayor, members of the city council. Tonight, we are proud to recognize the participants of an 8week citizens police academy. Over the past two months, these community members dedicated their time to learn more about our department, our responsibilities, and the challenges and rewards of modern policing. They asked thoughtful questions, engage in hands-on activities, and built a meaningful connection with our officers. Their commitment reflects the very best of community partnership by choosing to step forward and learn. They help strengthen trust, transparency, and collaboration throughout our city. It is my honor to present each graduate with a certificate of completion. We thank them for their time, their engagement, and their continued support of our mission to serve this community with integrity and professionalism.

Joselyn Smalls

[applause]

Nicholas Castella. [applause] Steven Slaughter, [applause] Roslin Wright. [applause] around. Thank you.

[applause]

Connor Langelia, [applause] [applause] Angelo Frasier. [applause]

Bonia. [applause] Don't forget [applause]

[applause] [applause]

Just so you know, this is my top shooter. Amazing with the trigger. Edar [applause] means [applause] Yes. S, can you real quick at the mic, can you explain uh why we why we're doing it and explain to them the the shoot simulation that's over at Trident Tech? Can you explain it to them?

[snorts]

So, we do the Citizens Police Academy uh because we want to give the community a better understanding about what it is we do, the laws that we enforce, actually what we can't do um and what we can do. Citizen Police Academy allows the citizens who sign up to come in and they'll be exposed to our virtual reality training system. So, they experience uh scenarios in a controlled environment and they can react however they wish to react. It gives them a better understanding of the situations that we face um and also the laws that we can implement and enforce um and also the case law uh that we can apply whenever we're conducting our law enforcement action. It generates tons of conversation. It's uh it's very eye opening for us as well because we get feedback from them. Um so it's just a very beneficial program that we found uh and incorporated over the last couple years. So, who who who can actually come out and sign up? Um, how how do you guys go about doing that?

Anybody in the community essentially, as long as you don't have a felony, you are able to attend the Citizens Police Academy. We put out a signup sheet. We try to we try to do it every try to do it twice a year. So, we'll put out a signup sheet. Um, Officer Dalo is our PIO and she actually advertised quite a bit for the Citizens Police Academy this goound. So, we had a lot of people sign up and be involved. So, I think that's going to help us as we move forward as well. Um, the advertisement through the PIO system, but anybody can sign up. We encourage you to sign up. The more the marrier. Um, we will navigate an extreme amount of people if they sign up. We will still make it happen. So, um, but the more citizen ambassadors that we can have out there, being able to explain to the rest of the community that doesn't attend why we do certain things and helping them understand why we do certain things, the better. So,

thank you, Sergeant. Thank you. Thank you very much, [applause] Mr. Mayor. Yes, ma'am. Um, I want to congratulate all the North Charleston Police Department Citizen Academy citizens. Your willingness to learn, engage, and partner with our police department shows true dedication to our city. So, thank you for being active participants in strengthening community and police relationships. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. Thank you. [applause] Our first item on the agenda is a request to approve the minutes from the November 25th, 2025 city council meeting. Move for approval.

Second. We have a motion in the second. Any changes or corrections? Hearing none. Madam clerk, please call the role. Miss Jerome, I. Dr. Palmer Roberts, I. Dr. Ganoway Paisley, I. Mr. MD, I. Miss Brown, I. Mr. Brown, I. Mr. Hudson, hi. Mr. Skipper. Hi, Mr. Brown. Hi, Mayor Burgess. I Our next item on the agenda is the final reading of an ordinance authorizing the mayor or his dexine to execute a slope agreement with the Charleston Mayor. Yes. Can we Mr. Mayor? Yes, sir. Without objection, can we bundle uh 2, three, and four? Okay. Without objection, we would like to bundle. [laughter]

I'm sorry. By title only.

By Okay. Two, three, and four. By title only. We have the final reading of an ordinance authorizing the mayor or his designate to execute a slope agreement with Charleston County on the Collins pro property for the airport connector road project in council district 6. We have an ordinance amending the business license ordinance of the city of North Charleston to update the class schedule as required by act 176 of 2020. and the final reading of an ordinance authorizing the mayor to execute a purchase and sales agreement and any and all documents necessary and appropriate to purchase 1.1 acre portion of property identified as TMS number 404 partial 13 from Dorchester Whan Baptist Church for the appraised value of $440,000.

Move for approval. Second. We have a second and a for a motion and a second. Any discussions? Hearing none. Madame clerk, please call the role. Mr. Ro. Hi. Dr. Ganway Paisley. Hi. Dr. Palmer Roberts. Hi. Mr. MD. Hi. Miss Brown. I. Mr. Brown. Hi. Mr. Hudson. Hi. Mr. Skipper. Hi. Mr. Brown. Hi. Mayor Burgess. Hi.

We have the first reading of an ordinance amending sections 3-2, 5-4.2, 2 5-4.3 5-11 5-13 5-12 5-14 5-17 5-18 5-9 and 6-13 of the zoning regulations of the city of North Charleston to define loading zones and to relocate and consolidate the loading zone screening requirements.

Good evening. Uh as you heard by the the title, the uh planning department realized that we had screening requirements in many locations throughout the zoning ordinance which resulted in some uh confusion because it was slightly different in certain zoning districts and overlay districts and other places. We also realized we didn't have a definition of a loading zone. So what we chose to do was provide a a actual definition of what a loading zone is and then pull the screening requirements out of all of the various locations and put it into a single consolidated location for consistency across the zoning districts as well as the overlay districts. And that's the basis for this text amendment. Without any objection, this item will be referred to the public safety committee for further review and consideration.

We have four speakers tonight. When I call your name, please come to the front. State your name and address for the record. And you have three minutes to speak. Mr. Theodore Jones, Jr. Thank you. My name is Ted Jones, 8121 Popular Ridge Road, North Charleston. I'm here tonight to uh kind of complete a circle that started a long time ago back in the day before becoming the first director of the North Charleston Recreation Department. I was athletic director for the Cooper River Park and Playground Commission and in that capacity I presented trophies to two youngsters for their success in our youth sports programs. They learned many life lessons that led to their success today. These two are with us tonight and I would like to show my appreciation and thanks for their contributions that have helped make North Charleston the city it has become today. The first is Coach Kenny Wilkinson. Coach, if you would come now [applause] from youth athletics to this day. Thank you for your teaching valuable life lessons through baseball to our young men. And thank you.

Appreciate [applause] you. And this the second and not the least is Mayor Reggie Burgess. [applause and cheering] Mayor, [applause] from youth athletics to this day, thank you for your contributions that make North Charleston the city it has become. Thank you. [applause] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much, [applause]

Maya Brown.

Um, Courtney. All right. I just want to say um, congratulations again to Mr. K. Well, thank you, sir, for your presentation, but congratulations again to Mr. to Kenny Wilkerson and his baseball team for winning the World Series yet another year, representing District 6 strong. And I do appreciate you giving me every opportunity to involve myself and everything that you guys do over at the Collins Park um stadium. Um it is a great place where he's dedicated to our youth and he's continuously working in the community, working in the fields to make sure that they have a great place to just play. And if you guys get a chance, I would definitely recommend go visit District 6 Collins Park and see the work that we've done over in Collins Park. All thanks to Mr. Kenny. Can y'all please give him a round of applause again cuz this is a great man, [applause]

Maya Brown. Hi, my name is Maya Brown and my address is 5667 Ellington School Road, Ravenel. Um, good evening, Mayor Burgess and city council members. My name is Maya Brown and I am presenting for Girl Scout Troop 37 at Aelia Church of Christ. We are working towards our silver award which is one of the highest Girl Scout awards that you can get. Our project is called Feeding 29405. Our goal with this project is to provide 150 families in our local food desert with fresh food because they might not have the transportation or the resources to get this fresh food consistently. We estimate that $50 will feed a family of four which amounts to a total of $7500. We are asking for support through nutritious food donations or sponsorship. Thank you. Are there any questions?

You have any questions of us? [laughter] No, not particularly.

So, I just wanted to jump in and recognize that. Um, but the ask is grocery store. Do y'all have a a website or a QR code or a link or some way to share that? that Caroline's gonna pass out to you right now.

And are you guys open to work with other um [clears throat] food pantries? Yes. Okay. Open to partnerships as well. Okay. goal is really how we get there. [clears throat] [snorts]

Thank you all very much. God bless. Thank Have a good evening. [applause]

Our next speaker is Christian Debs.

How you doing, mayor? How you doing, council? Good to see you.

How's everyone? My name is Christian Dubose. Do I have to tell y'all my address? I don't want y'all to know where I live at. I'm just kidding. I live at 100 Ashboro Avenue, Somerville, South Carolina. And I come with I come to you guys with a open heart and just a [sighs] I wrote a lot of stuff down that I was going to say and then I got my wife to write some stuff for me because she's kind of intelligent, more a little bit more intelligent than I am. But I say I threw that all away. You ever noticed that sometimes when you remember when you was growing up and your mom or your uncle or your grandparents told you something and you didn't do it, but someone in the community or something told you and it may have resonated a little differently. It might not that you didn't respect your parent or the person that told you initially. It just might resonate a little differently and that's what I'm here to do and I want to say it in a respectful way. Now, Mayor Burgess, I love you. You're my guy. I want to work with you. I've init like we've g to work together. But I need to tell you emphatically as a friend like some what you have here is not going to work. Like the community is looking like this is we're in North Charleston. This is the first time we had a black mayor in this city. And soon as we get a black man, what's happened? We'd already done had three individuals in situations and now this couple of weeks ago we had two other individuals in a whole another state that is causing us to be embarrassed as a city. It's not just you, it's us. It's all African-Americans in this city. And I'm not trying to discredit any Caucasian, but to have a black mayor in North Charleston and North Charleston is really the metrop the metrop metropolis of South Carolina. If you think about it, we have Borne, we have Mercedes, we have a lot of industry here. There are a lot of businesses that want to come do business with us, but they don't want to do business with us now because they see all the type of stuff that's going on in the news, all the stuff, all the scandals and all the type of stuff that's going on under this administration. Soon as we get a black mayor, then we doing all this extra stuff. you have individuals and I was I was going to come here and I was going to kind of ridicule some people but that that that wouldn't work. I need you to understand where I come from. Like I came to you and work with you but there was a someone tried to get in between us

and and I it is what it is. It was Miss Kathy Love. I just like I like to be transparent about it cuz the facts are the facts. But I still will work with you. There are people that want to support you, mayor, but you have the some some people that are with you. And I know you can't do anything about it right now, but whatever you got to do, like if you can get another term, brother, if you can get another term, and I'm trying to get you another term, I want you to get another term, but if you don't get another term, what will your what would your um your tenure stand for? What is it going to be known for? Did like what are we doing? Sometimes you got to discontinue being cool with certain people that you're cool. And that's and and it's okay. You still love them, but they can't take us where we need to go. Like some people that we have in place up here, y'all not it. And I'm just being honest with you. Some of y'all not it. Just being honest with you. You don't have integrity. You're embarrassing us in other cities. You're embarrassing us in this city. And it looks bad. And it's not just North Charleston. It's Charleston. It's Somerville. It's Ladson. It's Goose Creek. It's everywhere. It's some It's everywhere. The entire state. And it looks bad. So, I I want to just implore you guys, help this man with his legacy. It's not just your legacy. It's his legacy. It's a legacy of the of our city. And I don't live in the city, but I have business in the city. I love y'all. Thank you. Thank you, [applause]

Monica. Mommy Monica Mummy, 2474 Vestavia Road, North Charleston 29406. Um, two kind of items tonight. First and foremost, I want to thank Dr. Ganoway Paisley and unfortunately the chief's not here. Um, and whatever Mr. Corporal Captain Keys title is now Deputy Chief.

Deputy Chief. I always mess it up. Um, we had a shooting in our neighborhood in October and it made all of us very distraught. Um, kind of related to the overall crime problems we have in North Charleston. The community, the residents in the area, the civic league got very involved. You guys had me up here. I was hostile because we were all scared. Um, and in response, after a couple of meetings and some heart-to-heart with the chief and Dr. Ganoway Paisley and a lot of police officers, we were able to come to a good resolution. So now we have cameras up, we have lights in place, we have police that are patrolling and at the house that we have been complaining about, there's been an arrest with one of the residents in the car with marijuana and a guest in the car with methamphetamine. So, the suspicions of the people in the community were very spot-on. These residents know that this stuff has been going on at this house, and we really want to thank Dr. Ganaway Paisley, the chief in Keys, for really listening to us and taking us seriously. We hope that we can stay focused and continue to move forward because I think it was really the vigilance of the community and the pressure that got the things done that needed to be done. Um, and we hope we can continue down that path. It's really hard to come here and be so proud of what has happened and to be so embarrassed by the national news that has occurred recently in regards to what the last gentleman spoke to. Um, I try to bring people into the community. I'm a nurse and we have travel nurses and we have a rental house that we want to rent travel nurses and it's really hard when we've had three felons on our city council and then a brawl brawl in a bar after midnight when we have paid for representatives to go to Utah and represent our city. Um, we received this very nice list of how we're supposed to behave when we come up here and speak at city council. I want to see the same list for what the responsibilities are

for city council members when they're representing our city. Um, the last session was gave out to executive session and there were speakers that were allowed council members that were allowed to speak past that time. Um, we're supposed to follow Robert's rules of orders for these meetings. the mayor has the gavl and the attorney is the parliamentarian. The two of you are both paid um to maintain decorum and that didn't happen and that's not happened several times at these meetings. These are all put out on Facebook. They're public. It's an embarrassment when my family contacts me and says, "Oh, I saw what happened in your city again." Um, it's just if I have this list of two pages of rules that I have to follow when I come and speak to you all, I believe every city council member has to follow the same rules that every employee does for the city of North Charleston, and I'd like to see those published as well. Thank you.

Thank you. [applause]

All right. Uh before we get to any other business um yeah any other business to come before the body. Okay. I I just want to say uh um Mr. Mr. Mr. Ted um I I'm surprised by this. Um I was hoping to put my picture up there when I was in my play at Danny Jones up there. They can't get it coming. Okay. Anyway, we'll have next time. But I started When I moved off of George Degree projects, we moved on Liberty Hill and with my father and I when I moved there, I had we had our own house. We had our own yard. We had I had my own room. I had a community that loved me, a church village. And then when I went down to Danny Jones on Mixon Avenue, I found that thing that made me who I am today. God brought me in this world and he placed people like you into my life because I remembered when you were my uh you were the executive director. I remember you and I went and Danny Jones during that time we couldn't afford my father couldn't afford a helmet because he had three boys. My mother couldn't work because of blood pressure problems. So, he was working by himself. And you took me upstairs and Danny Jones where there was helmets and shoulder pads and pads that you place in your pants. And you did that for me when I was uh on in small fry. I was around nine or 10, I believe. And you showed me the correct way to put a helmet on. And you moved the helmet and you said, "No, it was too loose." And I put another helmet on was too tight. And you said it's too tight. You showed me

that. You showed me how the shoulder pad supposed to lay on my shoulders and and don't choke me when I lift my arm up. You actually showed me how to put my pads in my pants. You did that, Mr. Ted. I'll never forget that. And that took me to college. I got a scholarship and it brought me back home. and it had it placed that picture on that wall the city that I love so dearly and it started with you. I want to thank you sir. Thank you so much. [applause] All right. None nothing else. This meeting is adjourned.

[music]