City of Aiken, SC City Council Meetings, 27 Sep 2021

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From YouTube: City Council Meeting September 27, 2021

Description

City Council Meeting
September 27, 2021
7 PM

CALL TO ORDER
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE TO THE FLAG
GUIDELINES
ADDITIONS OR DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA

MINUTES:
1) Consideration of the Minutes for the September 13, 2021, Meeting.

OLD BUSINESS: Further Consideration of:
1) Approval of Appointments and Discussion of Appointees.
2) Second Reading and Public Hearing of an Ordinance to Sell Lot on
Monetta Street in Governor Aiken Park to Susan Joline.
AN ORDINANCE APPROVING THE SALE OF PROPERTY
LOCATED ON MONETTA STREET TO SUSAN JOLINE.
3) Second Reading and Public Hearing of an Ordinance to Adjust the 2021-22 Budget to Include the Brownfields Grant.
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE BUDGET OF THE CITY OF
AIKEN FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING JULY 1, 2021, AND
ENDING JUNE 30, 2022.

NEW BUSINESS: Consideration of:
1) Approval of a Master Services Agreement for Professional Airport
Engineering for the Aiken Regional Airport.

PETITIONS AND REQUESTS:
1) Recommendation from Accommodations Tax Committee for Allocation of Unspent Funds from the Fiscal Year 2020- 2021.

INFORMATION
a) Issues and Updates.
b) Human Resources Report for August, 2021.
c) Parks, Recreation & Tourism Report for August, 2021.
d) Public Services Department Reports for July and August, 2021.

ADJOURNMENT

A

Good evening and welcome to the aiken city council meeting we're officially called to order. Our mayor is not with us this evening. He is with us in spirit, but he's not physically. Here um he is in washington dc with members of the south carolina municipal association, uh and there are meetings taking place as we speak um with that group and some of our congressional leaders and delegation members.

A

uh Our mayor serves as the vice chair of the state municipal association of south carolina representing 271 cities in this state, and we pray for his uh successes to the meeting and his safe travel and return the entire delegation back to south carolina.

A

We will now have our invocation and pledge to the flag. Our city manager, stuart biedenbaugh, will lead us into in prayer, and our chief of public safety uh chief branco will lead us into the pledge of allegiance to the flag. Better stand. Please.

B

If you're so inclined, please bow your head gracious god. I pray that you bless us in this meeting. Father make your face shine on us and be gracious to us. I pray that we will fill your presence during this meeting because you are with us wherever we go.

B

I pray that those in this meeting are granted wisdom to make the best decisions and the courage to carry them out. Let our actions in this meeting be valuable to our aim, which is to build up and edify one another amen.

C

I pledge allegiance of america and to the republic for which it stands.

B

One nation, under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

A

All of our meetings begin with meeting guidelines and I'd like to share the guidelines to the public meetings are public forums in which many opinions are expressed and the business of the city must be conducted as such. Disciplined honorable and professional decorum is paramount.

A

Courteous and respectful communication is required during public hearings are questions and statements from the public shall be directed to the chair. If you wish to speak, raise your hand- and I will recognize you- please approach the podium and state your name and address in order to allow an opportunity for everyone who wishes to address counsel.

A

Speakers should limit their comments to the subject being discussed. Each speaker will be given five minutes to address an issue and may only address an issue once unless questions from counsel opposed to the speaker, and we would appreciate adherence to these council guidelines.

A

We are on the agenda for additions and deletions to the agenda and I'd like to call on councilwoman andre gregory to uh determine if there's any addition or deletions. Thank.

D

You mayor protap price. I would like to ask for a motion uh to add to the agenda under petitions and requests item, two: a request for banners in the downtown promoting a concert and halloween celebration at rose hill estate.

A

Thank you, there's a motion by councilwoman gregory's, your second, I second, we both said all right, second by gail diggs, uh all in favor of these votes. This morning, known by by raising your hand, that is a unanimous vote.

A

There is consideration.

A

Of the minutes, consideration of the minutes for the september 13th 2021 meeting is there a motion I so.

E

Move, madam chairman, thank you.

A

uh There is a motion by councilwoman uh kate brawl. We have a second second by ed wills, all in favor of this motion. Let it be known by raising your hands.

A

That is a unanimous vote. Thank you. Our next item is the approval of appointments and discussion of appointees. There are no appointments that has been recommended by the council members. So do we have new appointment.

B

We do have two, we do have two.

A

D

A

Will you state those.

B

uh Yes, yes, uh good evening, uh we do have two for a reappointment. uh Councilwoman diggs is recommending gary yant to the community development committee and councilwoman gregory is recommending the appointment of chad matthews to the aitkin municipal development commission.

A

We have uh a motion.

A

We have a motion to submit move by ed dorado. Second, second, we have a motion and second to approve chad, matthews and gary yount to the committees.

A

All in favor of the motion, you raise your hands, please. I see some puzzle here, so I know that that was not quite the order that our school manager would our mayor would take it, but it.

D

Worked so this was a nomination. Mine was a nomination.

A

Oh I'm sorry, chad, matthews, is the nomination for the aid development commission and we will have that at the next meeting. Correct.

D

A

C

So we have on municipal development how.

B

Many positions.

A

We have eight serving now.

C

Tom williams dropped off okay.

A

So that is, chad is being offered as a potential appointee for, as a ninth commission.

F

A

Gary yachts, we voted, but I got a new one. All right, councilwoman diggs has a new individual to recommend for future consideration. Our next meeting.

F

Yes, I recommend ricky brown for the design review board.

A

Is there another nomination for council at our next meeting.

C

I do I have a nomination for our general aviation commission. Graham reynolds has served his full term. We appreciate graham's service in that and I nominate doug cruz sick did. I say it right because acoustic doug who said sitting right there in case y'all, didn't know. Doug comes to all the meetings. He's got a background as an air traffic controller. So.

E

I think he'll.

C

Be a good addition to our general.

F

I aviation commission honor of meeting his wife the other day, she's a very nice person, so I think they work well together. Well,.

C

His wife's nice- I guess it's okay,.

A

All right we have councilwoman diggs has recommended ricky brown for an as an appointee, and we have our council when um rick dorado that has recommended doug cusick for the general aviation commission and those uh and andrea.

D

Gregory ted matthews for the aiken economic development committee.

A

Right those three individuals will be considered at our next public uh meeting.

E

A

E

A

For guiding guidance here, our next item on the agenda is the second reading and public hearing of an ordinance to sell lot on moneta street in governor's aiken park.

A

Do we have a motion.

C

F

C

A

Move by councilwoman, this is seconded by councilman dorado, we'll hear from staff.

B

Thank you. uh We do have this ordinance approving the sale of property located on moneta street to susan jolene.

B

uh This individual is offered to purchase this vacant lot owned by the city for a three thousand dollar cash transaction.

B

Ms jolene is, uh will be moving from out of state and will be constructing a residence on the lot and any proceeds will go into our lot cleanup and building demolition fund, and it is before council tonight for second and final reading.

A

A

Do we have any comments from the audience any comments from staff?

A

I'm sorry any comment from council city I'll get it together after a while yeah any comments from city council members, if not uh all those in favor of the second reading of this ordinance. Please raise your hand.

A

This is a unanimous vote by council and the motion is carried. The third item is the second reading and public hearing of an ordinance to adjust the 2021 and 2022 budget to include the brownsfield grant.

A

Is there a motion by eduardo.

E

Our second second.

A

Councilwoman uh raw um we'll hear from staff.

B

Thank you, madam chairman. We do have an ordinance amending the budget for the city of aitkin for the fiscal year, uh beginning july 1, 2021 and ending june 30th 2022. We did receive a brownsville grant of three hundred thousand dollars from the united states environmental protection agency epa. It funds uh allows us to assess uh inventory, characterize and conduct cleanup planning and other related activities for brownfield sites in the downtown and north side areas of the city.

B

It is very similar to the grant we were awarded in 2018 and since these were not part of our budget, the council approved in june. We must do a budget amendment to put this in the budget, and uh this is before you tonight for consideration of a budget adjustment. We did approve the grant at a prior meeting. This is just again to them in the budget.

A

Thank you, city, council city manager, any comments from the audience any comments from city council members, yes fam. Madam chairman, I just.

E

Want to thank joy lester for all the work that she does and getting us these grants grants they're! Wonderful! Thank you. I know a lot of paperwork and time goes into applying for them, so we certainly appreciate it. Thank you. I think.

A

We will all applaud that any other comments from council members.

D

Just that it does there's a talent behind grant writing and so definitely doesn't go unnoticed. Joy, god blessed her with it.

A

Thank you. Yes, we have a motion in a second. We are going to move this forward all in favor of this, let it be known by raising your hand, it looks like there's unanimous vote with this, and this motion passed next item is under new business, and this is the approval of master services agreement for professional airport engineering for the aiken regional airport.

A

Do we have a motion moved by councilwoman gregory any second, I second, second, by dale diggs comments from our city manager. Thank.

B

You, madam mayor pro tem, we do have uh before you approval of an agreement for professional airport engineering. We are required to solicit for engineering services uh every five years by the faa. We did issue this rfq in uh in july, we received responses from six firms reviewed by myself and staff. uh All firms met the rfq requirement. uh We are recommending that we continue uh with michael baker, which is uh michael baker, international.

B

They and, I guess, a prior uh firm which the michael baker purchased uh has been working with us for the past 18 years, and we asked for consideration of this uh of this master services agreement to continue the relationship. We've got a lot of things potentially in the docket there's a lot of funding available from the faa. That would require minimal action from the council and we felt like they were best poised to help us uh be competitive for these uh faa funds.

A

Thank you, mr speaking, bob any comments from the audience.

A

Any comments from the city council members again, joy, lester thank.

E

You good job, george.

A

All right, this requires a vote so all in favor of the motion, let it be known by raising your hands, no opposition, so this carriage and approved by city council members unanimously.

A

The next item is under petitions and requests and we will take the recommendations from accommodations tax committee for allocation of unspent funds from the fiscal year 2020 through 2021., and we will have a motion.

E

I so move, madam chairman.

A

Thank you, miss brawl, councilman brawl. Do we have a second.

F

A

Second, by councilwoman diggs, uh we'll hear from our city manager.

B

Thank you. um After we paid out accommodations tax funds uh for the 21 2020 2021 year, we had a unspent amount of six thousand dollars in funding due to cancelled events or projects that were not fully submitted for reimbursement. um So the a tax committee chaired by peggy pendleton, met on september ninth and agreed that a portion of this money needs to be recirculated to the groups that have asked for funding for this year. So uh we notified those uh from those entities and those that have submitted. We've got a memo from peggy pendland.

B

To me that notes uh what the recommendations are: uh totaling, thirty, nine thousand eight hundred and fifty dollars. uh Some didn't either did not request additional funds or events were cancelled, but most of the entities are getting additional funds based on the allocation.

A

A

Any comments from the audience any com, any comments from city council members, all in favor of the motion, let it be known by raising your hand.

A

Oh all right, thank you. This is unanimous vote and the motion carries our last item on the agenda is the addition that we had under petitions and requests, and that is a request for banners in the downtown promoting a concert and halloween celebration at rose hill estates.

B

Yes, the only amendment staff is making is we typically don't hang banners for more than two weeks they requested uh about 19 days, but uh we're recommending just the uh 14 days from the 15th through the 29th.

B

By the requester at rose hill.

A

A

We have a motion.

A

F

I just had a question.

A

Okay, I'm sorry.

F

um So this is in october for 14 days.

B

F

What do we have going up for breast cancer awareness month since october? Is.

B

We've got, I believe, a request for breast cancer. uh I don't remember if it's uh ribbons or banners, but there is a request. That's the downtown ribbons that council.

F

Approved so no banners, so this was going to fill with it.

B

There are a competing and, as we know, banners are on a first come first serve basis. So um if we'll try to accommodate their request, but um they uh so they will get with public safety uh to determine the best locations. If the requested locations are not available. Sounds.

F

Good. Thank you.

A

I don't know if I ask if there's any comments from the audience, any more animal comments from city council members. Okay, all in favor of this motion, that'll be known by raising your hands.

A

C

Like it's unanimous, okay, sarah has a question.

A

We have four items there, but before adjourning I'd like to give a shout out to the boy scouts troop 146 on their behalf, they were scheduled to be here this evening, but they are working on uh citizenship of the their community and merit badges and mrs linda johnson, who is the merit badge? Counselor?

A

uh Is it who does a yeoman's job with those those uh boy scouts and so we're looking forward to them coming to our meeting very soon in the near future, so that we can honor them personally and with all prayers and everybody in the same shouting area? I apologize for the few mistakes I've made tonight, but it's not easy, as I've said to the mayor sitting in this chair. So yes, ma'am.

E

Chairman on our issues and updates, I had a question for our uh mr binbow regarding number two.

B

E

A diac new uh mandate- maybe this is- I have to ask why yes,.

B

Basically, uh we were informed by dhec that our land development regulation, our utility dedication process, which has been in our land development regulations since 80 1989 when the ordinance was written, will need to be revised because it is not in compliance with their regulations.

B

They d heck said that something that they should have been made aware or they should have caught before now, uh but we are going to have to make some amendments and we'll have some additional discussion at a work session, but I wanted to once we got notified by dhec. I wanted to inform council of that. This is coming down the pipe uh based on um the recommendation or excuse me a uh kind of a mandate from d heck to be.

E

In compliance with their regulations, this has been their policy for a long time. It.

B

Has- and they told us that um they should have caught this before now and they didn't- and I don't know how long the their regulation has been in effect. But uh we were informed. uh Probably we were informed informally a little over a month ago, but got formal notice since the last agenda.

E

So this would be on us to make sure before we take possession you know in times past. We have wanted to make sure that the water and sewer systems were up and running and there were no major issues.

E

This is uh going to preclude that that.

B

That will preclude that, but we will be it's essentially how other jurisdictions accept due deeds of dedication and we'll have to be compliant. We will not be able to sort of wait and see, let's say.

E

Okay, thank you for answering that.

A

Any other comments, uh questions under issues and updates did.

C

The recycling start getting picked up again today,.

B

C

No more chasing of the garbage trucks.

B

Yes, we uh uh our recycle, uh I guess our recycling partner uh that we take the stuff to in north augusta. Their municipal recycling facility had a piece of equipment that went down and they could not accept any recycling from anyone, and that was it was down for almost two weeks.

C

E

F

I would just like to see if our city manager can look into the possibility of us bringing the dumpster program back.

B

F

Had several communities in my district to ask for a dumpster for community cleanup and of course um we we no longer have that program.

C

For special events.

B

uh This is those roll-off dumpsters that we used to bring into neighborhoods, where folks could bring um items and then they would be collected over like a weekend, and then we would pick the dumpster up and dump.

D

It into the recycle once we had.

C

It just kind of disappeared.

B

Yeah, I'm not sure I will need to follow up on that, uh and- and I will report back to council, but the reason why the dumpster program went away was the dumpsters just due to use over many years fail uh corroded, but I will find out about the ones that were citizens parking at uh virginia acres. Okay,.

C

Okay, thank you, mr depot own. Those.

F

But there's a charge when they turn them out to.

C

That might be why they're not there, no.

F

D

C

Board, I think d-hector somebody gave those to us. Yes, we got a.

B

Grant from d-hec gosh three years ago, you're.

C

On top of it, I know my trash, I'm a.

D

F

Remember you said that.

A

Okay, well, we are at the point of adjourning. Thank you for coming and uh we'll see you take.

C

A

Wait just a minute: we will see all of you, we will all see all of you, the first, the second monday in october. We have a motion to do this.

C

Yeah you're setting a record. This is great.

A

Ed has moved edgarada's move ed wilson ii, all in favor of adjourning, as the mayor says, stand up. That's right.

A