Town Council

Wiley Johnson, Mayor Town Administrator Colin L. Martin Council Members: Bob Jackson, Mayor Pro-Tem Town Clerk Walter Bailey Beth Messervy Aaron Brown Christine Czarnik Town Attorney Kima Garten-Schmidt G.W. Parker William McIntosh Town of Summerville COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES December 14, 2017 ATTENDANCE Present: Mayor Wiley Johnson and Councilmembers Aaron Brown, Christine Czarnik, Kima Garten-Schmidt and Bill McIntosh. Walter Bailey and Mayor Pro-Tem Bob Jackson were not present. Town Administrator Colin Martin and Town Clerk Beth Messervy were also present. Members of the press and the public were duly notified of the meeting and were also present. CALL TO ORDER The regular monthly meeting of Summerville Town Council was called to order at 6:01 p.m. on Thursday, December 14, 2017. The meeting was opened with prayer by Worship Pastor Eddie Sayetta. Mayor Johnson followed with the Pledge of Allegiance. PRESENTATION OF EMPLOYEE LENGTH OF SERVICE AWARDS Town Clerk Beth Messervy announced that there were 35 recipients of the employee length of service awards this year. She called each attending employee forward, Mayor Johnson congratulated them, and Town Administrator Colin Martin presented them with their length of service awards. PUBLIC COMMENTS Mayor Johnson called for any comments from the public. Adrian Kwist of 109 Reynolds Road spoke to express his disappointment in Council in their continued actions to remove more executive power from the Mayor’s position. He continued to say that Mayor Johnson wanted and has established a more transparent form of government. Mr. Kwist questioned why the Town has a Mayor if there are no executive powers associated with the position. He reaffirmed that the actions of Council are not in the best interest of the Town of Summerville. Linda Ensor with the Summerville Dorchester Museum spoke to report of a window that will not shut as well as a broken-out window in the Museum. The Town owns the building and was supposed to be getting estimates to fix the windows. The Museum has been waiting for over two years, but nothing has been done about them yet. Ms. Ensor asked that the Town please move this project up on the list of things to do. Heather Lambert, Chiropractor at Atlantic Coast Physical Medicine, spoke of her safety concerns regarding lighting and crossing Trolley Road by the Fellowship of Oakbrook Church. There is not enough parking in her business’s parking lot for her staff, so the church across the street Council Meeting Minutes December 14, 2017 Page 2 allows the employees to park there. However, the crosswalk and lighting where the staff cross the street are inadequate. She has contacted the SC Department of Transportation, SCE&G, and the Police Department to try to get a solution for the problem, but she has not had any success. She is asking Council to please consider making this a safer place to cross the road. Catherine Kcuik of Weatherstone stated that she voted for Mayor Wiley Johnson. She continued on to say that by voting away his powers, Council is voting to take away the voice of the people who elected him to the position. Beth Blango with Atlantic Coast Physical Medicine spoke again of the safety concerns regarding lighting and crossing Trolley Road by the Fellowship of Oakbrook Church. She reiterated the need for some safety measures to cross Trolley Road. William Harbeson of 403 West 2nd South Street stood to speak about a sinkhole on his street. Mr. Harbeson’s wife emailed all of council to report the sinkhole. Councilman Jackson was the only one to respond. Mr. Harbeson called the Summerville Police Department on Sunday, December 10th, 2017 to report the sinkhole. The Police Department came to the sinkhole and put cones up around it, but nothing has been done since. Mayor Johnson and the Department Head of Streets met Mr. Harbeson at the site; they contacted the State to come and fix it. Mr. Harbeson said that the bridge that was built on West 2nd South Street was not constructed correctly, and the garbage trucks make the bridge shake when it goes over it. He does not think that he should have to be the one to report these problems to the State. Robin Dudley, a resident of White Gables, thanked the Town for making Hutchinson Square beautiful for the holiday season. In regards to the renovations to the square, she encouraged everyone to look at the plans for parking, the right turn lane from Doty, and the pavilion. She also expressed her concern in getting out of the White Gables neighborhood. She is worried that the annexation and future development of the Tupper property will add to the traffic becoming even more dangerous. Josh Taylor, another employee of Atlantic Coast Physical Medicine, came to speak about the shortened length of time the stoplight at Beverly and Trolley gives people to cross the road. It needs to be extended. The light changes too soon, he said. There being no further comments from the public, Mayor Johnson closed this part of the meeting. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS Prior to the introduction of minutes from the November 9, 2017 meeting, Ms. Messervy stated that the wrong document was included in the agenda packet that was distributed for the December 14th, 2017th meeting. The recommended ordinance change for Section 2-132 that should have been included was the document showing the original proposed changes to the ordinance that were given first reading on November 9th, 2017. Mr. McIntosh made a motion, 200 South Main Street, Summerville, SC 29483-6000 * 843.871.6000, Fax: 843.871.6954 www.SummervilleSC.gov Council Meeting Minutes December 14, 2017 Page 3 seconded by Mr. Brown to approve the minutes of the November 9, 2017 Town Council Meeting as amended by Ms. Messervy. The motion carried. Ms. Czarnik made a motion, seconded by Ms. Garten-Schmidt, to approve the minutes of the 2018 Budget Public Hearing held on November 9, 2017. The motion carried. Mr. Brown made a motion, seconded by Ms. Czarnik, to approve the minutes of the Budget Mini-Retreat, held on November 17, 2017. The motion carried. APPROVAL OF COUNCIL COMMITTEE REPORTS Mr. Brown made a motion, seconded by Mr. McIntosh to approve the Parks and Recreation Committee Report from December 11, 2017. The motion carried. Ms. Czarnik made a motion, seconded by Mr. McIntosh, to approve the Planning and Development Committee Report from December 11, 2017. The motion carried. Mr. Brown made a motion, seconded by Ms. Czarnik, to approve the Public Works Committee Report from December 11, 2017. The motion carried. Ms. Czarnik made a motion, seconded by Ms. Garten-Schmidt, to approve the Finance Committee Report from December 11, 2017. The motion carried. It was noted that the Public Safety Committee did not meet on December 11, 2017. PETITIONS Mr. Brown made a motion, seconded by Mr. McIntosh to accept first reading of the petition by Patricia A. Wheeler to annex Dorchester County TMS# 136-15-06-012 (approximately 0.48 acres) located at 223 Wilson Drive, currently zoned R2 Single-Family Residential in Dorchester County and will be zoned R-2, Single-Family Residential upon annexation into the Town of Summerville’s municipal limits. (Proposed Council District 1) Planning Commission held a public hearing and made a recommendation for approval at their meeting on November 20, 2017. The motion carried unanimously. PENDING BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS Mr. Brown made a motion, seconded by Ms. Garten-Schmidt to approve on second and final reading of authorization to accept petition by Tupper Joint Properties LLC to annex Dorchester County TMS#s 144-00-00-022, 144-00-00-179, and 144-06-07-035 (approximately 166.09 acres) located along Tupperway Drive, Orangeburg Road, White Fence Lane, and O’Malley Drive, currently zoned R-4 Multifamily Residential and CN Neighborhood Commercial in Dorchester County and will be zoned PUD, Planned Development District upon annexation into the Town of Summerville’s municipal limits. Ms. Czarnik expressed her continued concerns with the 70-80% impervious surface issue in the suggested PUD plans, as well as the need to follow the guidelines set forth in the Town’s own Green Infrastructure Plan. Ms. Czarnik made a motion, seconded by Mayor Johnson, to table the original motion to approve and send the request back to the Planning Commission for further review. Ms. Czarnik and Mayor Johnson voted to table the motion. Mr. McIntosh, Mr. Brown, and Ms. Garten-Schmidt voted against the motion to table. The motion was denied. 200 South Main Street, Summerville, SC 29483-6000 * 843.871.6000, Fax: 843.871.6954 www.SummervilleSC.gov Council Meeting Minutes December 14, 2017 Page 4 Mayor Johnson said that he continues to hear concerns about greenspace and stormwater for the PUD of topic, and he is not sure that the Town staff is satisfied with the plans. Mr. Brown has spoken with the Town Engineer, and he feels confident about the development. He has no fear of impervious surface issues. Mr. McIntosh stated that he has not heard any staff concerns, and he has been reassured that the property owner has no plans to connect to White Gables. Mayor Johnson said that the plan as presented today would not be approved by the County or by the Town’s own planned Unified Development Ordinance. Mayor Johnson would like to be reassured that the Town is doing what is best for Summerville in approving this annexation and rezoning request. With no further discussion, the original motion was voted on and carried, with Ms. Czarnik and Mayor Johnson voting against the motion to approve second and final reading. Ms. Garten-Schmidt made a motion, seconded by Mr. Brown, to approve on second and final reading of an ordinance to rezone TMS#s 136-16-10-051, 136-16-10-052, Simmons Avenue and Parkwood Drive, approximately 1.93 acres, and owned by G Tupper III Construction Inc. from R-1, Single-family Residential, to R-2, Single-family Residential. The motion carried unanimously. Mr. Brown made a motion, seconded by Mr. McIntosh, to approve on second and final reading of an ordinance to authorize the Mayor or Town Administrator to execute a quit-claim deed to Michael B. Murray as Trustee of the Margaret B. Murray Revocable Trust dated November 6, 2014 for the property at 208 E. Carolina Avenue. The motion carried unanimously. Mr. Brown made a motion, seconded by Mr. McIntosh, to approve on second and final reading of an ordinance to rezone TMS# 144-06-07-033, 120 Tupperway Drive, approximately 0.88 acres, and owned by Tupper Joint Properties, LLC from B-3, General Business, to PUD, Planned Development District. Ms. Czarnik and Mayor Johnson voted against the motion. The motion carried. Mr. Brown made a motion, seconded by Ms. Czarnik, to approve on second and final reading of an ordinance to rezone TMS# 130-15-06-001, 504 W. 5th North Street, approximately 0.97 acres, and owned by Judy Elizabeth Myers from R-1, Single Family Residential to B-1, Residential Business. The motion carried unanimously. Mr. Brown made a motion, seconded by Ms. Czarnik, to approve on second and final reading of an ordinance to rezone TMS# 130-15-06-003, 502 W. 5th North Street, approximately 1.04 acres, and owned by Trust BGM from R-1, Single Family Residential to B-1, Residential Business. The motion carried unanimously. 200 South Main Street, Summerville, SC 29483-6000 * 843.871.6000, Fax: 843.871.6954 www.SummervilleSC.gov Council Meeting Minutes December 14, 2017 Page 5 Mr. McIntosh made a motion to amend the amendments to Chapter 2, Administration, Article II, Mayor and Council, Division 4, Council Committees, Section 2-132 entitled Standing committees of the council. Mayor Johnson said that the motion was out of order. Mr. McIntosh then made a motion, seconded by Mr. Brown, to approve on second and final reading of an ordinance to amend Chapter 2, Administration, Article II, Mayor and Council, Division 4, Council Committees, Section 2-132 entitled Standing committees of the council. Following that motion, Mr. McIntosh made a motion, seconded by Mr. Brown, to amend the original amendments. The following are the amendments to the original amendments: 1) Subsection A: Strike “budgetary,” “personnel,” and “legal” in the second sentence. Add “not requiring an ordinance of the council” to the end of the second sentence. 2) Subsection B: Strike “by seniority method” in the first sentence. Change “December” to “January” in the first sentence. Stroke “the finance committee” from the third sentence. Add “parks and” before “recreation committee” in the last sentence. 3) Subsection C: Strike “The” as the first word in the first sentence. Add “In addition to the finance committee sitting as a committee of the whole, each councilmember other than the mayor shall serve on two of the remaining standing committees” after the first sentence. 4) Subsection C / Item 3: Add “parks and” before “recreation” in the third sentence, and then start another section (Item 4) with the sentence beginning “the parks and recreation committee.” Ms. Czarnik asked how it will be determined which Councilmember serves on which Standing Committee if “by seniority method” was struck out of Subsection B. Mr. McIntosh responded that it would be done by motion and vote of Council. Mayor Johnson questioned the true reasoning behind the proposed ordinance changes. He stated that he would have been willing to make such changes if someone had come to him personally to ask. Mr. McIntosh replied that this has been discussion amongst Council for the better part of the year and that last year’s amendment to have each Standing Committee be a committee of the whole was made without the advice of Council. The motion to amend the original amendments carried, with Ms. Czarnik and Mayor Johnson voting against the ordinance changes. Mr. McIntosh made a motion, seconded by Mr. Brown, to carry the approval and second reading of an ordinance to amend Chapter 2, Administration, Article III, Boards, Commissions, and Committees, Section 2-160 entitled Appointments until the January 2018 meeting. The motion carried, with Ms. Czarnik opposing. Mr. McIntosh made a motion, seconded by Mr. Brown to approve on second and final reading of an ordinance to adopt an operating budget for the Town of Summerville for the fiscal year of 200 South Main Street, Summerville, SC 29483-6000 * 843.871.6000, Fax: 843.871.6954 www.SummervilleSC.gov Council Meeting Minutes December 14, 2017 Page 6 2018. Ms. Czarnik made a motion to move $56,900 in the HTAX budget to the line item for improvements other than building. Town Administrator Colin Martin stated that the HTAX budget is not included in the operating budget, and therefore is not up for vote at this time. It can be addressed in January. Ms. Czarnik withdrew her motion to amend. Mayor Johnson explained that there are a number of items that the Town can save money on this year, and that he still has a problem taking money out of fund balance to balance the budget, as this is unsustainable. Mayor Johnson made a motion, seconded by Ms. Czarnik, to amend the funding of the fire truck of $1.4 million to be divided into thirds. Ms. Czarnik seconded the motion to amend in order to open up discussion. Ms. Czarnik stated her position that she is not in favor of taking 40% of the excess fund balance and using it for the upcoming year’s fiscal budget. Because the Town is able to add money into fund balance this year, it makes her less nervous to pass the budget as is. However, she argues that the Town reevaluate their capital improvement plan. Mr. Brown stated his view that the small amount of money that the Town has ever drawn out of fund balance for the budget makes him believe that the Town is being as frugal as possible with taxpayers’ money. Mr. Brown urged the citizens to understand that Council is protecting their tax money and providing them excellent service such as fire and police. He further argued that the Department Heads remain well under their budget year after year, and that Council will find a way to use fund balance money to the benefit of the citizens. Mr. McIntosh agrees with Mayor Johnson, as well as Mr. Brown and Ms. Czarnik in that the meetings in January will be very helpful to the Town’s budgeting process. He pointed out that every year, the Town has balanced the budget using money from fund balance, but the Town has never actually spent the money that money except for 1 year. In addition, the fund balance total continues to rise. Mayor Johnson reiterated that the Town needs to have a better budgeting plan for the future. He insisted that the Town look at the comprehensive plan at least once a year. Mayor Johnson and Ms. Garten-Schmidt voted for the motion to amend the budget with the change to the funding of the fire truck. The motion did not carry. On the original motion to approve second and final reading of an ordinance to pass the operating budget for the 2018 fiscal year, Mr. Brown, Mr. McIntosh, and Ms. Czarnik voted for the motion, Mayor Johnson voted against the motion, and Ms. Garten-Schmidt abstained from the vote. The motion carried. 200 South Main Street, Summerville, SC 29483-6000 * 843.871.6000, Fax: 843.871.6954 www.SummervilleSC.gov Council Meeting Minutes December 14, 2017 Page 7 INTRODUCTION OF BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS Mr. Brown made a motion, seconded by Ms. Czarnik to approve for first reading an ordinance to rezone TMS# 130-15-08-001, 505 N. Hickory Street, approximately 1.1 acres, and owned by Tonia A. Stone from R-1, Single-Family Residential to B-1, Residential Business. (Council District 1) Planning Commission held a public hearing and made a recommendation for approval at their meeting on November 20, 2017. Ms. Garten-Schmidt asked for clarification as to why the parcel was changing to residential business zoning. Mayor Johnson explained that the surrounding parcels have already been zoned B1, and that this area of town was headed in that direction. The motion carried unanimously. Mr. McIntosh made a motion, seconded by Mr. Brown to approve for first reading an ordinance to rezone TMS# 130-15-08-004, 413 W. 4th North Street, approximately 0.49 acres, and owned by Judy A. Gordon from R-1, Single-Family Residential to B-1, Residential Business. (Council District 1) Planning Commission held a public hearing and made a recommendation for approval at their meeting on November 20, 2017. Ms. Garten-Schmidt asked for clarification that this was an adjacent parcel. Mayor Johnson confirmed that it is. The motion carried unanimously. Mr. McIntosh stated that this rezoning is consistent with the comprehensive plan and with the proposed Unified Development Ordinance. He explained that this section of the Highway 78 corridor is headed towards businesses. Mayor Johnson agreed. MISCELLANEOUS Ms. Garten-Schmidt made a motion, seconded by Mr. Brown, to nominate Mr. Bob Jackson as Mayor Pro-Tem. The motion carried unanimously. On the topic of appointments to the Local Hospitality and Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee, Mr. McIntosh pointed out that only 5 names have been submitted for nomination. Mayor Johnson explained that the remaining two would be nominated at another time. With that said, Mr. McIntosh made a motion, seconded by Mr. Brown, to nominate Ben Hough, Bernie Mazyck, Christopher Bauer, Jane Orenstein, and Jerry Crotty to serve on the ad hoc Hospitality Tax and Accommodations Advisory Committee. The motion carried unanimously, Mayor Johnson discussed the creation of a Council policy manual to keep track of resolutions and other policies that are not ordinances. Mr. McIntosh agreed that this type of manual would be a good idea for Council to be able to refer to. Since there was no vote needed to create the manual, no motion was made. Mayor Johnson stated that Council will discuss in January what needs to go into the policy book. 200 South Main Street, Summerville, SC 29483-6000 * 843.871.6000, Fax: 843.871.6954 www.SummervilleSC.gov Council Meeting Minutes December 14, 2017 Page 8 EXECUTIVE SESSION: Ms. Messervy explained that the topics to be discussed in Executive Session were an update on Croft v. Town of Summerville, legal advice on web site content, a personnel matter relating to the hiring of a Court Administrator, a personnel matter related to employee benefits for Municipal Judges, an update on Bunting v. Town of Summerville, and discussion of legal issues pertaining to right of way acquisitions for the Bear Island Road project. Town Administrator Colin Martin stated for the record that Tim Domin would be the legal consultant for the Town of Summerville in Executive Session. Mr. McIntosh made a motion, seconded by Ms. Garten- Schmidt to enter into Executive Session at 7:24pm. The motion carried unanimously. OTHER BUSINESS: Council reconvened at 8:30pm in Chambers. No action was taken on the update of Croft v. Town of Summerville, legal advice on web content, personnel matters relating to Court Administrator or Municipal Judges, or the update of Bunting v. Town of Summerville. Mr. McIntosh made a motion, seconded by Mr. Brown, to authorize Town Administrator Colin Martin to sign an agreement for payment of the right of way acquisitions for the Bear Island Road project. The motion carried unanimously. ADJOURN There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:32 p.m. on motion of Mr. Brown, seconded by Mr. McIntosh. APPROVED: Respectfully submitted, _______________________ ___________________________________ William W. Johnson, Mayor Beth Messervy, Town Clerk 200 South Main Street, Summerville, SC 29483-6000 * 843.871.6000, Fax: 843.871.6954 www.SummervilleSC.gov