City Council - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call this September 8th meeting of City Council to order. Madam Clark, would you please call the roll?

Here. I'd now like to ask Councilmember Seekings to give the invocation and lead everybody in the Pledge of Allegiance.

You all please rise. Thank you. Heavenly Father, bless us all and keep us under your wing. May your divinity shine on us and fill us with your grace. Allow us all to feel your presence as we set about in our duties, mindful of your humble guidance. For those in need or feeling the effects of ill health, we pray for your gentle hand of relief and recovery. Let us strive all together and with your guidance to make this a better world. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right. We have... one recognition tonight i'd like to ask judge condon and staff from charleston county probate court to join me up here as well as terry smith and jackie fussell hustle uh from favor low country come on up

Whereas substance use disorder affects individuals, families, and communities throughout the city of Charleston. And recovery is possible when people have access to support, resources, treatment, connection, and hope. And whereas September is nationally recognized as Recovery Month, providing an opportunity to celebrate individuals living in recovery, honor families and recovery professionals, raise awareness of effective recovery supports, and remind our community that people can and do recover. Whereas stigma remains one of the greatest barriers of preventing individuals from seeking help, m

Councilman Bowden. Thank you. I just wanted to reiterate what Judge Condon said that, you know, if y'all get time, I know everybody's very busy. y'all should reach out to the court and find out when there's going to be a graduation ceremony. You'll never see anything as moving as this. And they'll do a very good job of making sure that you understand where this person was when they started the program and where they... uh where they are that day um it is this program really does amazing transformations and it's um i assume the veteran treatment court still exists it did when i was when i was a

Good stuff. Okay. Um, we actually have no public hearings tonight, believe it or not. So, uh, we're on to approval of council minutes. Can I get a motion? Motion made probably seconded all those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed ayes have it. We are now onto citizens participation. This is an opportunity for people of the community of Charleston to have their voices heard. Um, madam clerk, how many people do we have signed up to speak?

17, wow, okay. Let's give everybody, because this is limited in time to one minute per speaker. I ask that the speakers adhere to the rules of decorum. Again, we are here to have your voices heard. This is not a question and answer. So we ask that you respect the rules of decorum. If you do not, I will give you one warning.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. David Dismukes Jr.: Before we move on to committee reports just want to let the public know there's some question about the first amendment ordinance several people tonight spoke on that. David Dismukes Jr.: For clarity there's no vote on that tonight what was discussed at the Community development meeting. was that uh some potential edits were going to be proposed brought back to community development meeting for discussion and then potentially move to city council uh for review and or a vote at that point so the next discussion and a potential vote on community develo

a lot of considerations go into uh considering whether or not to add a bathroom every park's different sometimes it takes a lot to just bring water and sewer to where a bathroom might be located its potential use it in like in the case of stephen washington when we had a defined dollar amount we asked the community would they like x A or B and they chose the bathrooms, for example, so we try and work with the Community to determine what the most cost effective approach might be so it kind of all depends, to be honest. Any any further questions sorry to have moved through on REC any other quest

Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Uh, the committee did meet, uh, we had a hearty discussion on the first amendment thought there was some, um, and we did potentials for some, um, working together and, uh, that process not finished yet when that does get finished. It'll go back to public safety, as you just said early, and then come forward to city council. So just for information.

All right. Thank you, Councilman Waring. Moving now to committee reports. We have first up Chairman Pell on community development.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The City of Charleston Committee on Community Development met back on August 20th, 3 p.m. There were three items on our agenda. The first was a resolution certifying 141 Meeting Street for the South Carolina Abandoned Buildings Tax Credit. That was approved unanimously. And then next up, we had a very lengthy discussion about Dash Hall. We heard extensively from both Ashley Hall and its representatives, as well as the Preservation Society. and if you're interested in this topic i encourage you to check out the city's youtube page i'm not going to attempt to cover everythi

be happy to answer any questions all right thank you um miss creech um and i'll just finish this report and i guess we'll go through and prove what we need to approve after that um so the last item on our agenda was a discussion regarding uh an infill um housing uh development over in west ashley at 806 magnolia road and this was uh brought forward because this property was owned in in a local developer was seeking to put some additional uh what we call missing middle housing on this property but was running into some technical challenges again i encourage folks that are interested in this iss

is yes and the resolution okay great um all right so um i think just move for approval of the report we'll take care of it all move for approval report uh on the dash hall uh um agreement uh can i get uh uh counselor or whoever uh Mr. Magalie, to come back to the microphone and go over that part about if it's relocated, can you go over the timeframe? Yes. If there is a nonprofit that came forward, the time that they have to put the plan together, get funding and all of that.

Have we ever had a building in the history of the city of Charleston that's, let's just say it's 75 years old. Let's say it's not Dash Hall. Have we ever had a building that's 75 years old in historic district that we were able to get moved in that short a period of time funded plan? Have we ever had that done? We got a lot of knowledgeable people in this room. Has that ever happened before? The answer is unequivocally no. So that's a plan that's designed to fail. It is demolition by neglect. I don't know how many council people went over and took a look at it, but I did. I actually went over

councilman waring um any further questions or comments on this mr mayor item this councilman polka just from a parliamentary procedure i don't know if there's a a consent version of doing this or i have to do a motion to divide the question but i believe we should vote on number one and two separately because the motion was for the full report consolidated and i believe this might be a separate um consideration so if that's in the form of a motion or a request to the mover

So taking it separately. So let's take up the ABA. Is that the resolution? So we have a motion for approval and properly seconded on that item. Any further discussion on that item? If not, all those in favor, signify by saying aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Now on the item related to 148 Smith Street. Can I entertain a motion? Motion made. Properly seconded. Any further discussion on that?

We can call for a roll call, but before we do that, any further discussion? Councilwoman Scarton. There we go.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm going to vote no on this, and I just want to state for the record, I think the lack of evidence from the 1950 that the building was moved in 1950, the lack of evidence there is what convinced me to vote no on this, just for the record.

Christopher McConkey, i'm just I was a little bit. Christopher McConkey, troubled might be the wrong word, but. Christopher McConkey, The the timing that comes from wearing laid out at the speaker spoke about having you know my my create an issue, how did we get to that timing.

Christopher McConkey, You speak to that terms of the timing.

the only point I would make on that relevant is that um well and I completely respect where Councilman Waring is coming from uh in all fairness this has been being discussed for quite some time uh and as I understand it Ashley Hall has always made the building and uh available to be moved anybody that might want it and that proposal was made months and months ago so i think there is interest in it i think that um it's probably a little bit further down the road uh i agree the logistics might be uh somewhat challenging if it is in fact the jenkins orphanage site um there are a lot of ways to mo

Any further discussion just very briefly sort of in short form going to make a comment similar years. Mr. Mayor the time line that was presented to us. has as part of it a condition precedent, which is someone stepping forward and showing interest in moving the building. I have no doubt that if someone comes forward and has interest in moving that building, which heretofore has not happened, while you've pointed out a lot of time has passed, more importantly, a lot of resources have been expended. And if someone steps forward and we stop expending those resources on talking about it and says w

Any further discussion on this? Councilman Waring.

all that's nice and eloquent but is that an agreement councilman i mean if that's in written in this what we vote knowing right here i'm not saying that this hasn't been debated for a long time but this is the first time it's been in front of this chain second time because it was originally and then we put it back to community development came up with this compromise um thank you i had my safety

Okay, Mr. Mayor, I don't want to hold people up, but it is no secret that I voted no in committee. I will vote again no tonight. I will vote no for the same reasons that I voted no in committee. I believe that Although there have been extraordinarily good faith and meaningful efforts to try to answer a question I posed, which was, can we find some proof of where the structure was and when and how it was moved sometime in the 50s? That's proved to be elusive. And in light of that, therefore, we still have a reasonable or meaningful dispute of fact, material dispute of fact, as to whether or not

I agree with Councilmember Waring. The timeline, especially asking a nonprofit to come up with it, is short. I know several of us around the table either serve on nonprofit boards or have worked for nonprofits. And to come up with a significant sum within 60 days is asking a lot when capital campaigns and everything else take years of planning to go through. So to act as if Through October 31st is enough time for a nonprofit to get something together to move this if they wanted. Just strikes me, as Council Member Waring said, even if this has been discussed over time, that lead-in would still

It would have to be taken back up by the parties and come back to us with perhaps a revised timeline or conditions or what have you. Sounds like there's concern over the time frame.

Well, the parties are the city and Ashley Hall. So I would call for a vote here and let's see how we do. Right.

Okay. Moving on now, we are to Chairman Bowden on Human Resources Report.

We already took up the biggest thing that was on the agenda. We met on August 20th at 4 p.m. We spent the majority of the meeting talking about the health care budget. Unfortunately, some things are beyond are controlled to keep those costs in line and unfortunately they're going up as a result. I will say that the HR department and staff are doing a fantastic job trying to keep costs in line going forward to include more remote care options and more things that will make it easier to do like physical therapy if somebody experiences an injury or, you know, having some backaches, things that, y

Okay, can I get a motion on adopting the report? Motion made, probably seconded. No further discussion on this. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. All right, now on to Chairman Gregg for Committee of Ways and Means. motion made property seconded on adopting the ways and means report did want to uh add one comment here and set the record straight during ways and means meeting i spoke about the last item on this agenda relating to the five million dollar bonus that we are giving to our employees and that it was performance based based on um performance reviews that were provided and um u

I would take one through 12 together and move their adoption.

Can I ask this a quick question about, um, the bills up for third reading as to the why it's been deferred. Has it been deferred while we wait for Berkeley county to do whatever they're doing? Just cause I know we're going to get asked about that tomorrow night on Daniel Island.

Okay. um that is correct you were correct in your assessment all right thank you waiting on berkeley county uh so we have 12 bills up for second reading did i get a motion yeah um any discussion on any of these items if not all those in favor please signify by saying i opposed eyes habit i'd move third reading and ratification for one through twelve motion made properly second for third reading on these 12 items if no further discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye opposed uh is have it um we got one bill up for first reading um a sustainability and advisory committing can i get a

not very slow guys we have a motion made that has been and I would just add that this is part of cleaning up uh some of the boards and commissions as we've talked about before uh making sure that we're um moving things forward at the best rate for the city in terms of our boards and commissions as we know many of us serve on those so just cleaning it up

Anything else you want to add to that, Chairman? Mr. Mayor, I'll add something I learned when I was watching council meetings. I was quite confused during this period of time, Mr. Mayor. Why is this happening? And the reason why this is happening for folks as I am here is because the mayor has got the sign. The ordinances that we approve between something between the 2nd and the 3rd reading, right? So he's up there signing things right after 3rd, right? And he's got to do it while we're in here. So he doesn't like, you know, run while with the city or something. Uh, so, uh, yeah, so this is wh

So, to further fill the air in this awkward time period, um. I represent a few local governments around the state. I'm not going to name any names here, but one of the local governments I represent was sued and it was under FOIA. And the claim was that the ordinances that we were adopting were not following state law because we were not reading them, meaning reading them. like the words of the ordinance, the whole thing, every single one of them. And so we had to argue in court that the word read Doesn't mean read. So the more, you know, um, more, you know, we're, we're, we're doing it the rig

Just the record from district four reads all ordinance. Nice. All right. We've made a motion probably say we do have to vote on that last item. All those in favor signify by saying, I pose as habit. Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 22nd, 5 PM. If nothing further, this meeting is adjourned.