A - Town Council Meetings

Emergency Video Conference Meeting Mount Pleasant Town Council Tuesday, May 5, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. Amended Agenda Public Access Live Stream Link: https://youtu.be/-3TQjQi3rcM Agenda amended to include links to Ordinances 20028 and 20029. MINUTES I. Call to Order Mayor Pro Tempore, Tom O’Rourke called the meeting to order at 4:01 p.m. II. Roll Call Tom O’Rourke, Mayor Pro Tempore and Council Members, Brenda Corley, Laura Hyatt, Kathy Landing, Jake Rambo, Gary Santos, and Guang Ming Whitley were present. Mayor Will Haynie was not present. Council Member Howard Chapman was serving the National Guard on active duty and was not present. III. Public Comment Lauren Gellatly, Director of Operations, Lowcountry Local First - Lowcountry Local First supports and urges Town Council to approve the proposed ordinance to temporarily authorize use of new or additional areas for outdoor dining and retail services. The Town will be leading the way in implementing safe and creative solutions to provide regulatory relief for local restaurants and retailers suffering tremendous economic hardship. Thank you for your service to the community, Kevin Cunnane - As you discuss the discontinuation of the local Emergency measures, I submit the following points for your consideration. 1. The initial local emergency power grab by Haynie has shown itself to be overdone. One of the first acts was to restrict park access by groups, including for free speech. Haynie used those very spaces for his own self-promotion, including press conferences where he needed to attach his name to orders legally issued by the Governor. Although we may always remember how the beach communities abused the emergency powers to exclude, it is also important to remember how Haynie excluded free speech on public lands, including the right to redress grievances, the right to assemble and right to free speech. While that alone in itself is egregious, it is even more so because of the use of those same public spaces for the Mayor's personal promotion type speech. He would make a good totalitarian dictator. I suggest if you cannot reign in Haynie, that you just further buy in to his tyranny, and go around town painting all the stop signs to say MAYOR HAYNIE SAYS STOP. Doing so would be a natural extension of what he has been allowed to do during this crisis. If you buy into his tyranny, at least have the courage to go all in so we, the people know where you stand. 2. Our police never should have to enforce policy directives by a mayor. According to criminal justice/ constitutional scholar Charity Prosser, legislators make the laws and that requires a process of debate and dissent by representatives and the people.... those are laws and what police are sworn to uphold. They are not a political force, they are a police force, sworn to protect the people and the constitution NOT the politician and his policies. We need to get politicians OUT of policing, they are corrupting the justice system. It should be noted that our outstanding police leadership clearly recognized the dynamic with the current seat warmer in the Mayor's chair, thankfully, but the MPPD is not the policy police. The fact that our Police did not overstep this time does not abdicate your responsibility to ensure that the Constitution remains the supreme law of the land, with proper safeguards against tyranny. After all, you all swore an oath to defend the Constitution, not a fellow official. 3. Haynie has been roundly criticized for injecting himself into enforcement activity by posting his interpretation of a photo of a small group using a town park. Why does he continuously bring families into his political promotion/ smear campaigns? He has done this at least two times previously. Does Council have the courage to put a halt to this activity, or will it take legal Page 2 of 11 action? The Mayor, any Mayor, is not an enforcement arm of town government, that is the role of sworn police officers, not of the weak/ ceremonial Mayor. The fact that he is untrained and highly incompetent places the town at continued risk if left unaddressed. Do any of you have the courage to even ask about this activity in public? Thank you for your service to the citizens of the town, I look forward to a return to the ideals this country was founded upon, and also a recognition of what tyrants like Haynie have done during this crisis in order to prevent recurrence in the future. Shelby Olinger - I would like to comment about reopening businesses in the town. Based on the data, there should be a complete reopening. First, the shutdowns started so that the hospitals would not be overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, not to prevent anybody from contracting COVID (which would be impossible). The hospitals are far from overwhelmed, so there should be no more lockdowns. Second, the data shows who is overwhelmingly at risk-those with health conditions, especially older people. That means that everyone else is at low risk. We can protect those at risk and leave those not at risk alone. Third, damage in the form of unemployment and permanently closed businesses will affect many more people than the lockdowns have saved. Unemployment and the poverty it brings cause far more health issues to far more people than COVID-19 ever will. Lastly, the data shows COVID-19 is much like the flu in terms of transmission and mortality rate, and is most likely going to be with us for the foreseeable future. There are also treatments available for COVID-19. It does not make sense to delay a full reopening any longer. Thank you for your time. Mr. Barry Wolff – Mr. Wolff called to make sure you know a lot of people on BOZA are taking a stand against virtual meetings. He said they do not think it can accomplish what it needs to accomplish and what the rules say. He understands the Planning Commission is doing the same. He said Council needs to be smart and wait another month. He said there is nothing that cannot wait. We are talking about a situation where lives are being lost. No lives will be Page 3 of 11  lost if we delay meetings on a tower or an annexation. Thank you and be well. IV. Presentation by Charleston Regional Development Authority on re | IGNITE regional steps to safely re-open businesses Brent Jonas, of CRDA stated that he would like to introduce General Hank Taylor. He stated that the CRDA was approached by Mayor Tecklenburg of the City of Charleston and Chairman Elliott Summey of Charleston County Council with a request for CRDA to lead the region’s Return to Work Safely. He said over the past two and a half weeks, through their One Region program they have partnered with approximately 28 organizations, which continues to grow, to discover a way to open the region safely. General Hank Taylor, Chairman of the One Region Executive Committee, stated that they have been working together as a region for quite some time, particularly when it comes to economic development challenges. He stated that this goes back to the closure of the Naval Shipyard when the three counties decided to come together to form the CRDA to work together as a region for economic challenges. He said there has been good success over the past twenty years and they continue to work together and execute strategies. He said One Region is based on four basic values; (1) To be a strong and resilient economy; (2) to have opportunities where everyone strives; (3) to be balanced on how opportunities are accepted and making sure we continue to keep what makes us unique in the region; and (4) to be a connected community. He said they are executing a One Region strategy to take on the economic challenges and at the same time, there is a new challenge - a public health challenge. He stated that they have been working with their medical community to strategize how they can safely balance the public health challenge as well as the economic development strategy. They have in place a cross section of the community on their executive board; from non-profits to businesses to banks and volunteers. He said as they go about getting commerce back open and running, they added values. The first value is that they are putting together an overall plan to indicate how they will approach this as a region – one region to reignite the economy, and at the same time, balancing and making sure that safety is at the forefront. The first step, in the next week or so, we will see an overall plan that comes from the CRDA. Secondly, they will be looking at individual Page 4 of 11 industries and scouring the country for best practices to put together in one place, with easy-to-access best practices, industry by industry. He said they would like to ensure the employers are safe, the employees are safe, as well as the general public. He said to get commerce up and running, they will need consumers, who will only come out if they feel safe. He said they are well on their way with their first value. Immediately following, Council should see the guidelines. He said they also have two foundation members supporting their efforts; one being the CRDA and the other being the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce. John Hagerty, Chairman of CRDA is also present on the video conference and asked if he had any information to add. John Hagerty, CRDA Chairman, confirmed that the effort began in its initial phases by CRDA, which represents the three counties, all educational institutions, and businesses in the area. He said they have teamed up with the Chamber of Commerce, which represents 1,700 local businesses to be the initial support for One Region and have great partners. He said there is a great deal of buy in by the community. He said they feel fortunate to have General Hank Taylor take on the role as Chairman of One Region and CRDA is there to help. Mr. O’Rourke thanked Brent Jonas, General Hank Taylor and John Hagerty for their presentation and support. He said it gives the Town great comfort to know that this is being led by a great team. He asked if they could be direct with Council as a political entity in their opinions of whether they believe governments can harm their efforts by jumping the gun or by doing things that may not be in accordance with their plans. He said Town Council at this time is very aggressive in their efforts with safety and opening up this community. He said General Taylor mentioned one or two weeks to present their plan. He said the purpose of this meeting today was to see what Council could do to assist the restaurants who must provide outside dining. He said the government has asked CRDA to do this; however, what advice could they provide to make this a success without undermining their efforts. General Taylor stated that when they meet as a thinking and leadership group, recognizing the equity of the elected officials and the medical professionals, as well as the businesses and safety of the public, they attempt to manage all of this. They respect the role that Page 5 of 11  government must take and will do their best to work in coordination with local government. He stated that members of the Governor’s Taskforce (Accelerate South Carolina), also sit on their executive committee. He stated that they would like to align things that will help everyone move forward which is why they are going industry by industry. Mr. O’Rourke asked if the Town of Mount Pleasant has representation on this committee. General Taylor stated that the Town does not; however, they do have Mayor Haynie’s support, who participated in their video along with the other Mayors and County Council members. Mr. Santos stated that he served on that committee during the Navy Base Closure and looks forward to their input. Ms. Landing stated that it is important for businesses to know that we are all behind them. She said having this Committee there to support the businesses and having them take a proactive role will mean a great deal to the business owners. V. First and Final Reading: An Emergency Ordinance to temporarily authorize the use of new or additional areas for outdoor dining and retail services. (Ord. No. 20028) Mr. DeMoura stated that from the staff perspective, they have been listening to members of Council and with the leadership of Councilwoman Landing, Chair of Economic Development, as well as members of this committee, this ordinance is a way to assist retailers and restauranteurs during this time. Ms. Corley stated that the ordinance is very well done. Mr. Pagliarini stated that this is an emergency ordinance and requires an affirmative vote by two-thirds of Council members. He said with seven Council members present, this will require five favorable votes to pass. Mr. Santos made a motion to approve; seconded by Ms. Corley. Mr. Rambo stated that being part owner of a restaurant, he does not feel this meets the guidelines for him to recuse; however, out of an abundance of caution, he would like to abstain. Ms. Landing stated that in reference to the first item, for those restaurants who do not typically provide outdoor service, the Page 6 of 11  ordinance indicates that they must first apply to the Planning Department. She asked how this will be handled in terms of volume. Ms. Farrell stated that everything is in place and staff’s intention is not to slow anything down. Staff has been working since yesterday on this ordinance as well as an application that they will likely launch this evening or first thing in the morning. She said there will be a link to the Town’s website. The business owner will receive an acknowledgement from the Planning Department and if there are any issues, the Planning Department will contact them. Otherwise, they are able to operate their business. She said what will be beneficial to the business is that an external map will be available so the public will be able to see those businesses participating on the Town’s website. She said this is a benefit to help promote any of the businesses that are participating. Ms. Landing asked if a restaurant that currently provides outdoor dining and wishes to expand their outdoor dining area, will also have to apply. Ms. Farrell stated that they would still need to fill out the form, because part of staff’s thought is that the restaurant may wish to use parking spaces or more sidewalk and staff needs to review to determine if those spaces are used as handicap parking or impedes emergency access. She said the process is very simple. Mr. Rambo abstained. All others voted in favor. Motion carries 6- 0-1. VI. First and Final Reading: An Emergency Ordinance replacing Emergency Ordinance 20025 and Temporarily Suspending the Operating Procedures of Town Council Meeting and other Boards and Commissions; and Other Emergency Provisions related to COVID-19 Outbreak. (Ord. No. 20029) Mr. DeMoura stated that Legal Counsel is prepared to discuss both items VI and VII. Mr. Pagliarini stated that this is essentially a replacement of emergency ordinance 20025, which was passed by Town Council on March 17, 2020. This ordinance was only valid for 61 days by State Law; therefore, a decision must be made either to allow it to expire or move forward essentially renewing it with a new ordinance. He said the Police, Judicial and Legal Committee voted to extend the ordinance with minor changes, which are: normal operating Page 7 of 11 procedures for Town Council are suspended just as they were on March 17, 2020 and also included Planning Commission, Board of Zoning Appels and Commercial Design Review Board. He said this does not mean that this is a vote for approval that those bodies must meet; however, if they must meet, it allows them to do so. He said this is the first change. He said the second change is that the termination date on this ordinance is not shown as 61 days, but the Committee felt that June 30, 2020 was appropriate as a termination date. He said Council may change or extend if they so wish. This also includes the same provision as previously passed, which is that the Town Administrator is authorized to enact plans to ensure continuity and delivery of government services. The Town Administrator may revoke or cancel special events or permits and it also discusses the price gouging prohibition, as well as deadlines imposed by Town ordinance are continued to be told. He said there is very important information in this ordinance. Mr. Rambo directed his question to Legal Council and stated that at the Police, Judicial and Legal Committee yesterday, Committee members were discussing the timeframe for when this should end. He said it was originally suggested for the end of May 2020 and it was then changed until the end of June 2020, because Ms. Whitley addressed the price gouging rule. He asked if this was necessary, because the price gouging law is state law; therefore, whether this ordinance expires or not, the law would still be in effect. Mr. Pagliarini stated that Mr. Rambo is correct. He said as reflected in the ordinance, it is South Carolina Code Section 395145. He said this was requested by a Council member the first time to be included in this document; however, it is not necessary. Mr. Rambo stated that with this in mind, he would like to make an amendment. Mr. Rambo moved to amend the new ordinance to have an end date of May 30, 2020; seconded by Ms. Corley. Mr. Rambo stated that he meant the last day of May which is actually May 31, 2020 and would like to amend as such; Ms. Corley amended her second. Ms. Whitley asked Mr. DeMoura if the Town is prepared to go back to in-person Town Council meetings and Committee meetings with staffing for the month of June. Page 8 of 11  Mr. DeMoura responded in the affirmative. Mr. O’Rourke asked if all the amendments should be stated and vote once or should each amendment be done individually. Mr. Pagliarini stated that they should be done individually. Mr. O’Rourke stated that there is a motion and a second to change the date to May 31, 2020. Mr. Pagliarini clarified that this is on Mr. Rambo’s amendment to change the date from June 30, 2020 to May 31, 2020. All present voted in favor of the amendment. Mr. Rambo moved to approve ordinance 20028 as amended; seconded by Mr. Santos. All present voted in favor. Mr. Pagliarini stated that he believes the intention was to approve 20029 as amended and believes it was an error and if Council would just make the motion again to approve 20029 as amended, it would clear this up. Mr. Rambo so moved; seconded by Mr. Santos. All present voted in favor. VII. Discussion and possible action to allow Emergency Proclamation to expire as of 11:59 p.m. on May 7, 2020 Mr. Pagliarini stated that Mayor Haynie asked for this item to be put on the Police, Judicial and Legal Committee agenda so that the committee could discuss or consider a status of these Mayoral proclamations moving forward. He said what the PJL Committee decided was that the State of Emergency, as decided by Proclamation would end at 11:59 p.m. on May 7, 2020. He said the Committee vote was to allow this to expire and not have that state of emergency moving forward. He stated that we are under a State of Emergency in the State of South Carolina through May 15, 2020 and a relevant question asked as to whether the Town State of Emergency was somehow a qualifier for funding. He does not believe there is any and if such existed, it could also be reimplemented by the Mayor or Town Council. Mr. Santos moved to allow Emergency Proclamation to expire as of 11:59 p.m. on May 7, 2020; seconded by Ms. Landing. All present voted in favor. Page 9 of 11 VIII. Discussion and possible action to amend gathering rules in parks Mr. Santos moved to modify Phase 2 of the Mount Pleasant Recreation Department’s re-opening plan to allow groups to gather in accordance with the CDC guidelines in the Town’s parks and facilities that are currently open. This will take effect immediately. He stated that this would also include Pitt Street Park to open effective Friday, May 8, 2020; seconded by Mr. Rambo. Mr. O’Rourke stated that he believes there will be some very happy residents regarding Pitt Street Bridge. He asked if there was an operational discussion by Police Chief Ritchie as it relates to assisting with a traffic pattern that would not enable people to actually gather. Mr. Santos stated that Chief Ritchie may comment on this; however, as proven by the gatherings previously, there would be no need. Ms. Landing asked if people are allowed now to put a blanket down at Memorial Waterfront Park and not have to keep moving. Mr. Santos stated that residents will still need to abide by CDC guidelines and as long as they follow the six foot rule, then they are able to sit on a blanket and picnic. Ms. Landing stated that a family can be together but maintain six feet with anyone else. Mr. Santos responded in the affirmative. Mr. O’Rourke stated that there appears to be more consistency with what is going on in the Town anyway. He said it only makes sense to do this in the parks as well. Ms. Whitley asked if the playgrounds with all the shared equipment will still be closed in Phase 2. Mr. Santos stated that there are no changes in the initial Phase 2 that was approved. He said it is only being amended to include the gathering and to include re-opening of the Pitt Street Bridge Park. All else remains the same. Ms. Whitley asked if Police Chief Ritchie or Recreation Director, Steve Gergick could provide Council with information on how things have gone thus far since the parks have re-opened. Police Chief Ritchie stated that his department has been working very well together with Mr. Gergick and the Recreation staff. He said there Page 10 of 11  have been no issues at the parks. He said the few that were not really considered an issue, were people sitting down and when asked to move, they complied. He said thus far, it has gone very well through the entire pandemic. Mr. Rambo directed his question to Legal Counsel. He stated that the public is allowed to sit eight people at an outside restaurant table, and they do not have to be your own family. He said with what is now being done with the parks, may a group of four or five kids get together and have a group workout or throw the football around or play two-on-two basketball. We are now saying this is not illegal. Mr. Pagliarini stated that this was discussed at PJL Committee. He said executive order 2020-31 issued by Governor McMaster over the weekend states that Law Enforcement Officers of the State may prohibit or disburse any congregation or gathering of people unless authorized or they are in their homes, in groups of three or more people, if any such congregation or gathering is deemed to pose or could pose a threat to public health. He stated that it is gray; however, it seems to provide some leeway to Law Enforcement to impose as they see fit. Mr. O’Rourke stated that the reason there have been no issues is due to the culture of the Town’s Police Department. They are going to make sure that people are safe, and they do so with discussions, not force. All present voted in favor. IX. Adjourn There being no further discussion, Council adjourned at 4:42 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Barbara Ashe May 5, 2020 Page 11 of 11