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Town Council - Jan 8, 2007 |
McClellanville Town Council met on the above-noted date for a regularly scheduled meeting. Mayor Rutledge Leland was present to preside at the meeting. All members of Council were also in attendance: Bob Gannon, Gussie Humes, Aaron Baldwin, and Jim Scott, as were Town Clerk Mary Duke and the following guests: John Hyland and Matt Coale from Hyland, Ruddy and Garbett, CPAs; Steve Wright from SCE&G; Eddie Stroman, Zack Stroman; Sylvia Enos; Cammie Jessen; Jill Coley from the Post and Courier; Pat Gross; and Mr. and Mrs. Oran Baldwin. As the first order of business, Council reviewed the minutes from the December 4th meeting. Gussie made a motion to accept the minutes as written. The motion received a second from Bob Gannon and was carried by unanimous vote. Mayor Leland then recognized John Hyland and Matt Coale, CPAs with the firm Hyland, Ruddy and Garbett, who presented their report on the audit of the Town's financial statements and the management discussion and analysis for fiscal year 05/06. Mr. Hyland explained the audit procedure, including confirmation of reported bank balances, review of revenue collected and payments disbursed, confirmation of property tax receipts and debts. He said that they conducted tests of reported revenues and expenses and compared these to records from previous years. Mr. Hyland said that, based on this audit, their opinion was that the general purpose financial statements for the Town presented fairly, in all material aspects, the respective financial position of the governmental activities, each major fund, and the aggregate remaining fund information of the Town as of June 30, 2006. He added that part of the audit was also a review of the internal control of the Town's financial reporting. Mr. Hyland reported that this review also resulted in an unqualified opinion on its compliance with certain provisions of laws, regulations, contracts, and grants. Mr. Hyland provided copies of graphs for Council, which illustrated comparisons of revenue and expenditures for the past 10 years, as well as property tax receipts, salaries and benefits, and unrestricted net assets during that time period. He pointed out that income and expenditures have almost doubled since 1996. Graphs also provided analyses of revenue and expenditures for the past fiscal year. Bob Gannon asked why franchise fee collections had been lower for the 05/06 fiscal year than recent years. Mr. Hyland and Mr. Coale said that may have been due to receipt of a franchise payment for 05/06 in either the previous or following fiscal year, so that it was not recorded in 05/06. Mary pointed out, also, that under new State law the Town no longer collected a 3% franchise fee from the telephone company but only a 1% business license fee. She said that this had reduced the franchise income by around $4000. Bob also asked about the decrease in fund balance as compared to the previous fiscal year, and whether the Town had enough reserve funds to ensure its ability to operate and meet obligations. Mr. Hyland said that analysis of expenditures showed that operation of the Town costs approximately $1000 per day. He said that the current fund balance would allow the Town to operate for almost six months. He said that each Town had to decide on the appropriate amount of fund balance, as too little could put the Town at risk and too great a balance could indicate a need to reduce property taxes. Bob also asked about the Town's credit risk for deposits in excess of the FDIC insured amount of $100,000 plus the $50,000 of collateralized securities held. Bob asked whether the approximately $19,000 currently uninsured should be placed in an account at a separate bank, so that it would be insured. The accountants agreed that this would secure these funds, if Council wanted to avoid all risk of loss. Bob then asked about collection of delinquent taxes. Mary and the accountants said that Charleston County collected these for the Town throughout the year. The next item on the agenda was a second public hearing on the proposed "Ordinance to Amend the Code of the Town of McClellanville to Include in Article II of Chapter 7 Thereof Provisions for Maintaining Private Property and Providing for the Statement of Public Nuisances." Rutledge pointed out that the original ordinance had been sent to a committee consisting of Councilmen Aaron Baldwin and Bob Gannon and resident Cammie Jessen for study. He said that Council had reviewed the committee's recommendations as to revision of the ordinance and that the current version incorporated many of the suggested changes and had been "pared down" from the original version. Cammie Jessen said that she did not see some of the suggested changes in language for the ordinance. Mary said that she did not believe that Cammie had the latest copy of the revisions, and provided her with the version that Council was presently considering. Cammie said that she thought that the committee had agreed to remove the word "tree" from the definition of public nuisance in Section 7.203.1(d). Council said that in discussion at prior meetings there had been some consensus that trees, by virtue of their location or condition (dead or dying, low branches) could pose a threat to safety. Cammie said that she thought tree issues were dealt with in the Town's Tree Ordinance. Rutledge said that the Tree Ordinance could be studied, but that he did not believe that it dealt with nuisance problems. Karen Shuler said that she questioned some of the language in the ordinance as being too general, such as "discarded materials" in Section 7.203.1(d)(7). Council pointed out that this subsection read "...discarded materials in which flies, mosquitoes, disease-carrying insects, rats or other vermin may breed," and that it was very difficult to eliminate all general terms from the ordinance. In the same section, there was question over the necessity of inclusion of "decayed animals" in the listing of prohibited public nuisances. Council agreed that this would not likely be a common problem, but Mary said that there had been an actual occurrence in which she had to hire someone to bury a deer that had died on someone's property in Town. There was renewed discussion between members of the public and Council as to whether Town investigation of public nuisance conditions should be triggered by one report or should require additional reports from other citizens. Bob Gannon said that he continued to believe that one report should be sufficient, as one resident or neighbor could be more affected by nuisance conditions than another. After discussion, Council agreed by unanimous consent to postpone any vote on the ordinance until the next meeting. Council requested that Mary provide copies of the Tree Conservation section of the McClellanville Zoning Ordinance for them before the next meeting, so that they could see whether that ordinance adequately addressed safety problems involving trees. Mayor Leland then addressed the next item on the agenda, appointment of Kathy Livingston to fill the vacant seat on the Planning Commission. With no objection, Council agreed unanimously to appoint Kathy to that position. Council next considered Mary's question regarding the insurance requirement in the proposed lease agreement between the Town and the Sewee to Santee CDC. Mary said that the CDC currently had Directors and Officers insurance, but that Insurance Reserve Fund representatives had told her that they should carry commercial general liability coverage. Mary said that Town Attorney Frances Cantwell had advised her that, should someone be injured while doing business with Sewee to Santee at the Government Services Building, both the Town and Sewee to Santee would likely be named in a lawsuit. Council agreed that they would prefer that Sewee to Santee provide this insurance coverage to help reduce risk to the Town in case of any accident that might result in a lawsuit. Bob made a motion to allow the Mayor to sign the lease agreement with Sewee to Santee upon resolution of the insurance question. The motion was seconded and approved by unanimous vote of Council. Council then considered the request from Mt. Pleasant Waterworks for a representative for the Sewee to Santee Advisory Committee, which would study and make recommendations as to ongoing water and wastewater issues in the area. Aaron volunteered to serve as the representative for this committee. With no objection, Council agreed by consensus to appoint Aaron as the McClellanville representative. Next, Council noted the complaint by a resident regarding discharging of fireworks in Town. Mary noted that a section of the Town Code does prohibit discharging fireworks, other than paper caps. Council agreed that the ordinance should be enforced or removed from the Code. Gussie said that he thought the young people in Town should be allowed to enjoy fireworks. Bob said that he had some concerns that some of the fireworks discharged in recent New Year's Eve celebrations had not been handled safely and that the noise had caused some disturbance for neighbors and their pets. The Mayor suggested that a committee of Council should study the situation. Aaron and Gussie from the public works committee agreed to look into possible revisions to the fireworks ordinance. Mary said that she had been contacted with a request for permission to hold a wedding on Town property at the bandstand or the Deer Head Oak. Mary said that the woman who contacted her had stated that she wanted permission for the wedding ceremony only, not a reception, and that she expected no more than around 30 people to attend the ceremony. Council indicated by unanimous consent that they had no objection to this plan, but they felt that the requesting parties should submit the request in writing, stating that they planned no reception at the site and that no alcohol would be served. Mary then told Council that she had received a call from the Town Clerk from Awendaw, who told her that Mayor Alston had agreed that Bob Gannon could continue to serve as the Awendaw-McClellanville representative for the Council of Governments Full Membership Board, should Bob feel willing to do so. With no objection, Bob agreed to continue to serve in this position for the upcoming term. Mary next distributed a letter for Council from Town Attorney Frances Cantwell, concerning the discussion of alternatives for the Legare Street right-of-way question. Because of the late hour, Council decided to review the letter and discuss the issue at the February meeting. There being no further business, a motion was then made, seconded, and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting. Mary S. Duke Town Clerk |