The minutes of the regular meeting of the Town Council of the Town of James Island held Tuesday, August 5, 2003 at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 1246 Camp Road.

Mayor Mary Clark called the meeting to order with Councilmen Joe Qualey, Bill Wilder, Parris Williams and Bill Woolsey attending, as well as attorney Mike Socha and clerk-treasurer Marie Copeland. 

Following the invocation given by Councilman Williams, the group recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

Motion was made by Councilman Qualey to approve the minutes of the July 15, 2003 meeting with no changes, additions or omissions.  Councilman Wilder seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

Mayor Clark noted that the meeting was being held in compliance with the Freedom of Information Act following proper notification.

Mayor’s Comments:

“You have before you up front the Annual Report that it a little blue book. I copied from the town before because they had marvelous book with a lot of information, and we decided to do the same thing.  It has maybe a few glitches in it, but it has a world of information and tells about what the Town stands for.  I made a statement in the beginning, and I will let all of you take that and read it.  I do want to thank all of you for the last month . . . the love and the caring that you have shown me from my fall downtown on Broad Street to the death of my mother and then surgery this past week.  The many cards and calls have been very uplifting; I thank you very much.  I look for some weeks of, I don’t know how long – some of you who have had this before me can tell me how long I am going to go into this rehabilitation mode.  Hopefully I will be able to put my hair up one of these days or find somebody who will do it for me.”  Later in the meeting, the Mayor commented that donations had been sent to the Special Events Committee Fund in memory of her mother; she thanked those who had sent them and noted that the memory of her mother will live on in the Town through the special events.

Citizens’ Comments:

Jim Palmer asked what regulations the Town has enforce related to animals running loose in neighborhoods.  During the past week a child on his street had been attacked by a St. Bernard and his own dog had also been attacked. 

Mrs. Thelma Bagley announced that the South Riverview and Clark’s Point subdivisions are having a meeting on Friday, August 8, 2003 at 7 p.m. here at the Town Hall.  The purpose of the meeting is to slow, if not stop, the proposed 21 house subdivision for the end of Midvale Avenue.  There is in question the presence of a cemetery on the property. 

Committee Reports:

Arts Commission:  Written report attached.  In addition Jim Palmer announced that the Display Case Committee is taking applications for display; the artist’s work will be shown for 1 month.  Currently the work of Doris Taylor and Bill Cox are shown, plus the students from the workshop.   Applications are available in the Town Hall.

Environment Committee:  No report

Grants Committee:  Written report attached.  Bob Kline asked that attorney Mike Socha fill in the details he may have omitted.  Socha reported that part of entering into the cooperative agreement with the County and some of the entities who provide the grant money have various requirements which the Town must meet, one of which is having a drug-free workplace. The majority of the others will be HUD related requirements and he plans to meet with them to find out exactly what those requirements are and what policies will have to be put in place to meet them.

Planning Commission:  Leonard Blank stated that 2 subdivision requests will be presented on Wednesday, August 13; one is between Midvale and Julian Clark.  He emphasized to those interested in participating in the hearing that they will need to have facts; any factual information or research being done that relate to the cemetery will assist the Commission in taking the appropriate action.  He encouraged the residents of the two existing subdivisions involved to be present and to speak up at the hearing on Wednesday.  The second subdivision to be proposed is in Secessionville.  He proudly announced that the Planning Commission has completed its work on the Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan; this will be sent to Council for approval soon.  He also reported that the Land Use Ordinance has been tentatively approved and has been sent for final revisions.  The Commission is currently working on the Community Facilities Element which asks that goals be listed in the areas of roads and drainage, recreations, sewer and water services and schools; these are not just for the Town of James Island, but for the island as a whole, so please pass them along to members of the Commission.  Once these three sections are completed and approved by Council, the Town will be in the position of doing all of its own zoning. 

Planning and Zoning Committee:  Councilman Qualey did not have a formal report, but congratulated the Planning Commission for working diligently and getting the Comprehensive Plan going.  He also brought up the fact that there are several subdivisions on the island that have restrictive covenants which may be in conflict with the zoning regulations.  Often there is no knowledge of these covenants because they are not mentioned in the presentations of the Planning Department.  But Councilman Qualey believes that the Town should be looking at them very closely since these covenants create a private cause of action, and he feels that the Town can enforce some of these covenants if thought to be necessary. 

Public Safety Committee:  Written report attached.

Recreation Committee:  Written report attached.

Roads and Drainage Committee:  Councilman Williams reported that a letter had been sent to Jim Hutto at Public Works to find out the status of the 12 roads that the County was to re-surface on James Island.  He also stated that the County is still working on the drainage problems at the new school on Grimball Road while the state is working on the road.  He commented that a lot of the priorities have been changed and that James Islanders will have to wait to see what happens in the months to come.  Marie Copeland reported her findings related to the new school as follows:  (1) request was not made to DOT for any signs, principal has been given information to make request; (2) County board did not notify Sheriff’s Office of new school, so no plans were made to provide crossing guards – department manager will juggle her people and get someone there as soon as possible.   

Ways and Means Committee:  Mr. Socha reported that the Committee has made decisions on the LOST and carryover funds in order to make a recommendation to Town Council this evening.

Old Business:

Councilman Woolsey offered Resolution 2003-14 for the handling of Local Option Sales Taxes received for the year 2003-2003, as well as 2003-2004.  A copy of the resolution is attached.  This resolution is recommended as written to the Town Council by the Ways and Means Committee.  Councilman Wilder seconded the motion; there was no discussion and the vote was to pass the motion unanimously.

The next motion was for Resolution 2003-13 which is as follows:

THAT the Town of James Island amends the 2003-2004 budget to account for the $266,520.10 in funds carried over from the 2002-2003 budget by adding $200,000.00 to the budget for Roads and Drainage and put the balance of $66,520.10 into the Reserve.

Councilman Wilder seconded, there was not discussion and the vote was unanimous in passing the motion.

New Business:

Councilman Wilder moved that the agenda gets amended to include a proposal to add members to the Environment Committee.  The motion was seconded by Councilman Williams and there was no opposition to the addition.

Councilman Wilder moved

THAT Ken Godwin and Don Heine are made members of the Environment Committee.

Councilman Woolsey seconded. 

Councilman Woolsey then questioned the need for formal approval of the members of the Environment Committee.  It was then explained that the committee chairman was doing this as a courtesy.  Again the vote was unanimous to approve.

Citizens’ Comments:

Sandy Just stated that she thought that, if a committee chairman did not submit a written report, an oral report could not be presented.  And she also thought that Council wanted approval of the members of her committee.  She stated that there had been a good response to the notices that appeared in The Journal and on the Town’s website requesting resident comments on where they were seeing litter problems on the island; the sad part was that the entire island was reported to her.  She reminded everyone that the solution to the litter problem is, of course, not littering, but the problem is convincing the people who do litter. 

Mayor Mary Clark commended Frances Simmons for her work on the preparation of the annual report and she thanked Bob Kline for making the initial request.  

Councilman Wilder moved for adjournment at 8:15 p.m. as there was no further business to come before Town Council; Councilman Qualey seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

The next meeting of Council is Tuesday, August 19, 2003.