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Town Council - Finance Comm - Mar 26, 2007 |
The Finance Committee for McClellanville Town Council, composed of the Mayor and all Council Members, met on the above noted date with all members present: Mayor Rutledge Leland and Council Members Aaron Baldwin, Bob Gannon, Gussie Humes, and Jim Scott. Also present at the meeting were Town Clerk/Treasurer Mary Duke, Building Official Paul Fields, and Awendaw District Fire Chief Mike Rakoske. Notice of the meeting had been published in the Charleston Post and Courier and the Town Newsletter. Mayor Leland called the meeting to order. He asked to move Chief Rakoske from third to second place on the meeting agenda, so that he would not be detained unnecessarily. Council agreed to make this change, and Chief Rakoske then addressed the Committee regarding the Fire Department budget and the contract payment for Fiscal Year 2007/2008. Chief Rakoske said that revenue to the fire district had decreased somewhat, due to annexation of some parts of the district into the Town of Mt. Pleasant. He said that Mt. Pleasant would reimburse the District for this loss of revenue, but it would be paid in installments over the next seven years. He said another reason for the increase in the fire protection contract payment was the proposed addition of three new full-time employees for the department. Chief Rakoske told the Committee that the tentative figure for McClellanville's fire protection payment for 2007/2008 would be $197,137. Rutledge pointed out that the Town has no authority to provide input on the County's Fire District budget, and that the Town must accept the proposed contract payment if Council wished to continue the present fire protection agreement. Bob asked whether the fire department might be able to improve the Town's ISO rating from the present "6" rating in the near future. Chief Rakoske said that this might be possible, although lack of a public water system made improvement of the rating more difficult. Mayor Leland next recognized Town Building Official Paul Fields, who had asked to speak to the Committee regarding a proposal to expand his duties and hours of work for the Town if additional compensation could be provided. Paul said that he had left his former full-time job with another company and was looking for new employment. He asked the Finance Committee to consider expanding his present part-time position with the Town to 30 hours per week for a proposed compensation of $30,000. Paul pointed out that the Town is growing as are the responsibilities for building inspection. He said that he felt that the current level of construction in Town justified a greater number of hours for the building inspection position. He added that he would be willing to take on additional responsibilities for the Town, suggesting that he could add management of any capital projects as well as Community Rating Systems and Building Code Effectiveness Grading Schedule compliance activities to his duties. He said that additional efforts toward CRS and BCEGS participation could improve our rating with those organizations and thus result in lower insurance payments for Town residents. Paul Fields then left the meeting, and the Finance Committee/Council discussed his proposal. Jim Scott said he felt that Paul had done good work for the Town and that it was important to try to keep him on staff. He said that he felt it would be worth the extra expense if the Town could manage to keep him. Aaron asked when the Town had last raised building permit fees, pointing out that an increase in the fees could help offset the additional expense of expanding Paul's hours of work. Mary said that she believed fees had not been raised for at least five years, and Council agreed that this might be an option that should be considered. Mary said that she had heard a suggestion that, if some boat landing administration or permit enforcement duties could be added to Paul's job description, this could justify using some boat landing permit funds to help pay his salary. Council agreed that this could also be taken into consideration, if Paul was agreeable to undertaking some responsibility for boat landing matters. The Committee then reviewed the memos from Zoning Administrator Kathryn Basha, including information on a grant that the Town has been awarded by the State Dept. of Archives and History to fund an updated survey of the properties in the Town's Historic District and also development of design guidelines for the local Board of Review. Also, Kathryn informed Council that she would be submitting an application for funding through the County's Greenbelt program for acquisition of property on Lofton Court to provide public access to the Intracoastal Waterway for passive recreation uses as well as possibly a crabbing/fishing dock. The Committee members expressed some concern that adjacent property owners might object to establishment of a public facility in a residential area. They agreed, however, that if the Town received a positive response from all affected property owners, they would not object to the project. Aaron asked whether anyone had ideas on other properties that the Town might acquire through the Greenbelt program for preservation and/or public use. The Committee discussed the possibility of purchasing the Forest Service property and possible uses that could be put in place there. Rutledge then suggested that the Committee study Mary's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 07/08 over the upcoming days. He said that at the April 2nd regular meeting of Town Council, the members could set a date for another Finance Committee meeting to try to finalize the budget. The Committee instructed Mary to work on a job description for Paul's proposed new hours and duties and to try to find the funding in the budget to compensate him for the additional work. There being no further business, a motion was made, seconded, and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at 8:30 PM. Mary S. Duke Town Clerk |