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| The following summary minutes have not been approved by Simpsonville City Council. An official copy of the minutes will be available after adopted by City Council at City Hall 118 NE Main St. Simpsonville. Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, notice of this meeting date, time, place and Agenda was posted on the bulletin board at City Hall and faxed to the newspapers, radio stations, television stations and any concerned citizens. |
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SIMPSONVILLE CITY COUNCIL Workshop and Special Voting Session October 28, 2008 6:30 p.m. City Council Chambers – 118 N.E. Main St .
CALL TO ORDER:
Mayor: Call the October Workshop Meeting and Special Voting Session of the Simpsonville City Council to order.
ROLL CALL: Ms Zeller would you call the roll please?
Ms Zeller: Councilmember Bridges: Here Councilmember Garrett: Here Councilmember Sanders: Here Councilmember Bagwell: Here Councilmember Curtis: Here Councilmember Larson: Here Mayor Waldrop: Here
Mayor: Thank you. Welcome to all of you tonight.
INVOCATION: Mayor: Is there anyone here who would like to ask blessings upon this meeting in your own personal way? Alright Councilmember Larson would you ask blessings on this meeting in your own personal way please?
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:
Mayor: We are happy to have with us tonight Pack 725 Jr. Webelos, Wolverine Den 3, Cub Scouts of America. Why don’t you all stand up? Welcome. We are very happy to have you here tonight. We hope you will learn something and be somewhat entertained maybe and we would like to invite you to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance to our Flag. Would you do that for us? If you will all stand please?
Mayor: Thank you. Great job you are welcome to come back anytime and we will let you do that anytime you are here.
Mr. Hawes: Mayor
Mayor: Yes
Mr. Hawes: I think the Scouts had a couple of questions a little bit of Q&A for City Council that was part of this presentation. Mayor: That is where I was about to go on the agenda.
Mr. Hawes: Ok I wanted to make sure.
Mayor: I appreciate you pointing that out.
Mr. Hawes: Alright I’m sorry I wanted to make sure that occurred before we moved on.
Mayor: Alright and Den Leader Don Croke is here.
Mr. Croke: Rob
Mayor: Well, I’m sorry about that on my agenda it says Don. Why don’t I just call you Mr. Croke how about that, Leader Croke? I’ll let you lead off you wanted to ask us some questions.
Mr. Croke: The boys are learning about Government and they wanted to ask a few questions about what the City Council does.
Mayor: Ok we will let them ask how about two real quick questions.
Jr. Webelos: Where does the money in the budget come from exactly?
Mayor: You picked a great night to ask that question. That is so simply to answer that I’m going to let someone else answer it. Who wants to answer that?
Mr. Curtis: I’ll answer it.
Mayor: Alright Mr. Curtis here will answer that.
Mr. Curtis: The money in the budget that the City spends comes from the taxpaying citizens of our City so it is absolutely their money that we spend so that is why we are so careful how we spend it.
Jr. Webelos: Thank you.
Mayor: Thank you that is a great answer. Alright, good question too.
Jr. Webelos: What is the most fun thing you have done as a Council?
Mayor: As a Council as a whole or individually?
Jr. Webelos: As a whole.
Mayor: Council as a whole. Boy, I don’t know. Does anybody want to try that one? Freedom Weekend? There is a good answer Heritage Park the whole process of the visioning process and the creating the dream and the building of Heritage Park and watching wonderful kids like you have fun down there and win World Championships and things such as that.
Jr. Webelos: Thank you.
Mayor: Thank you. Thank you all for coming. Good luck with those badges.
CITIZEN COMMENTS:
Mayor: Next item on the agenda is citizen comments if you called ahead and asked to speak we placed you on the agenda and we will give you four minutes to speak. If you signed up at the door when you came in we will give you two minutes to speak. We had one person well no we’ve got several people it looks like on the agenda to speak so we will begin with Ernest Hinson from First Baptist Church. Mr. Hinson if you will approach the podium and we ordinarily ask for your address for the record and I guess that would be appropriate. Your name and address.
Mr. Hinson: 3 Hedge Street First Baptist Church. Do you want my personal one?
Mayor: That will work?
Mr. Hinson: Ok great.
Mayor: Thank you.
Mr. Hinson: Thank you. Sir to start this off we have a short presentation on video we would like to let you to look at before I speak. We do have sound if you can get it. Yes, we have two statements, first do we feel or can you tell us that you are in agreement with us that we will or would like to close that street and do you feel that is a reasonable request closing it from 8:00 am – 8:30 am in the morning to 11:30 am in the morning only on Sunday?
Mayor: Well as you know because you and I have talked about this and some of us have talked with other people over at the Church and initially it sounded like a workable idea but we did have some concerns to arise and I was looking to see if the Police Chief was here tonight and I guess he is not here but talked to him about it and he seemed to think it was a good idea but then I think we discovered it was a State Street and so we’ve got to deal with the State and we’ve also had some comments from some of the community so I would imagine and I can’t speak for all of Council but perhaps Counsel not Council can help us with this but I would imagine that we would need to have a public hearing of some sort to get public input before we considered it further and then beyond that we would have to have permission from the State, etc. etc.
Mr. Holmes: Having a public input would be a good idea and you are also going to need to get State permission so DOT will have to be involved.
Mr. Hinson: We are very happy with a meeting to have a discussion public input on this. The other question we propose to you would there be any consideration that the City may be able to take over that one block from the State call it a City road City maintenance because Jonesville Road actually stops at College Street so that would put Church Street the one block of it into the City limits and we would ask you to give that a consideration if you will. Do you have any questions before I sit down?
Mayor: Anybody have any questions? No but I’m sure we will have plenty when we have this hearing. I will suggest that we put that on our next workshop meeting and if you folks will follow up with that.
Mr. Hinson: We will appreciate that and we will be in touch with you.
Mayor: Fantastic.
Mr. Hinson: Thank you very much.
Mayor: Thank you. Alright next is Mr. Will Arndt who wants to talk to us about a Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting or perhaps Deborah.
Mr. Arndt: I’d like to defer the rest of my time Mr. Speaker to Deborah Hardwick the Chamber President.
Mayor: Thank you very much. Ms Hardwick if you will give us your address for the record please.
Ms Hardwick: Deborah Hardwick my home address is 117 Dunbarton Avenue, Simpsonville, SC. Mayor and Council first of all I’d to address you and thank you all for all of your hard work. I know sometimes that you are under appreciated it probably seems like but going back to I don’t think we have reported back to you all since our Labor Day Festival and it was very successful and I really appreciate all the excellent support from the City Council Staff and employees of the City. The Chamber really does and so we wanted to go ahead and tell you that and then we wanted to ask permission to have the Christmas Parade on Main Street. We have scheduled it for or would like to have it Sunday, December 7 th at 3:30 pm. That is generally we generally have it the first Sunday of December and we usually have it at 3:30 pm and that seems to be a good time for the community and for the entrants. We also are planning on which we usually have the Star Lighting afterwards but we are trying to change that this year and maybe come up with something new. Maybe get a tree maybe try to actually get a tree maybe we are working on it but we can’t promise it get a tree donated and that we would have that on Monday and try to have some local schools involved and maybe a chorus and try to up the participation in that instead of having it right after the parade. So we are just trying to ask your blessing on that.
Mayor: Well it was good that you softened us up before you asked and I’ll return a little of that I want to thank the Chamber for the many years of sponsoring and putting this Christmas Parade on and the Labor Day Festival and all that you do and particularly lately you have gotten more involved in City issues with the Committee for the Sign Ordinance and that sort of thing so I want to thank the Chamber publicly for all that you are doing now. This is a voting meeting so I don’t see any reason that I can’t entertain a motion at this time for the Christmas Parade. Mr. Larson.
Mr. Larson: I’ll make a motion that we approve the Chamber’s request for the Christmas Parade and Christmas Tree lighting.
Mayor: Thank you Mr. Larson. Do I hear a second?
Ms Bagwell: Second
Mayor: Ms Bagwell seconds. Thank you, Ms Bagwell. Any discussion? Okay Mr. Curtis
Mr. Curtis: I’d like to know how, unfortunately we don’t have the Police Chief here, but I’d like to know how we plan to have the parade what the plan is relating to the downtown streetscape program?
Ms Hardwick: Well, I think what we have decided and we called about the measurements that the units can not be wider than a certain width and right now they will just go on one side or the other when they have the where the medians are. We have put like a maximum 18 width I mean maximum width of 18 feet I’m thinking I don’t have my application right in front of me and we actually checked with the Police Chief and that is plenty of clearance to get by there.
Mayor: Ok well I was asked that question a lot during the whole streetscape project that was going on people already thinking about the Christmas Parade and I told them that I was sure you were going to do something like Shriners on go carts and that is weaving in and out of them.
Ms Hardwick: Well we will ask the walking groups and they will probably split and go around on both sides.
Mayor: Ok alright any other discussion? Hearing none I’ll call for the vote all in favor signify by saying aye, opposed no, aye’s have it, it is unanimous and we will look forward to seeing you there.
Ms Hardwick: Thank you very much.
Mayor: Thank you. Alright, Mr. Frederick Lintz I have a note that says he cancelled did he cancel? I’ve already checked that off I can’t go back to that. Bill Wilson Simpsonville United Methodist Church. Mr. Wilson if you will give us your address or your Church’s address or your neighbor’s address or something.
Mr. Wilson: My name is Bill Wilson my home address is 309 Deer Spring Lane, Simpsonville.
Mayor: Thank you.
Mr. Wilson: I’m a member of and a representative of Simpsonville United Methodist Church and I’m here to request permission to use a portion of Main Street to stage and secure cars into our annual event known as Journey to the Manger. The 8 th annual Journey to the Manger will be December 12 th , 13 th and 14 th and I appreciate your time in considering this request.
Mayor: Thank you very much. I’ll entertain a motion. Ms Sanders.
Ms Sanders: I move we approve the Simpsonville United Methodist Church Journey to the Manger.
Mayor: Thank you and do I hear a second? Mr. Larson.
Mr. Larson: Second
Mayor: Thank you Mr. Larson. I wish we had the Police Chief here because every year we ask is all of that going ok and any problems that we can imagine ok so we’ve got clearance from the Police Department. Mr. Curtis
Mr. Curtis: Now I have a question about your plan as far as I know in the past we’ve you have brought cars into the front of the Church and now with the streetscape program the way it is that would block traffic entirely so what is your plan to avoid that scenario?
Mr. Wilson: We have address the issue and I’ve spoke with Lieutenant Davis last month and then he spoke with Chief Reece and the three of us have basically came to the decision that it would be best to enter the cars into Crisp Street instead of in front of the entrance to the Church. Because Crisp Street is a little bit back from the where the new medians are coming in so instead of Crisp Street being blocked off we are going to pull cars into that street and begin the event right there and Chief Reece and Lieutenant Davis agreed that would be fine.
Mayor: Ok anyone else? Alright hearing no further discussion I’ll call for the vote all in favor signify by saying aye, opposed no, aye’s have it. It is unanimous and we will look forward to that wonderful event again this year.
Mr. Wilson: Thank you very much.
Mayor: Thank you. So Mr. Lintz is not here. Alright Jima Dunstone, Jima Dunstone, last call Jima Dunstone am I pronouncing it correctly? Ok wanted to talk to us about Internet service. Anybody want to talk to us about internet service? Alright I’m going to scratch that off then. Ok and then we had a couple of people sign up and we will give you two minutes to talk to us. Mr. Hinson signed up but you have already spoken so ok. Alright Jack Cox Mr. Cox if you will give us address for the record please you may begin.
Mr. Cox: Jack Cox 707 Davenport Road. I’m here to thank you for something that you also had fun doing in addition to Heritage Park is putting stop signs on Davenport Road. Unbelievable it’s made the street safer and much quieter there and wanted to thank you for it especially Russell Hawes and Tammy Bagwell for their involvement in this. The people who live there really appreciate it and we are looking forward to the construction starting in the spring so thank you very much all of you.
Mayor: Thank you very much. Alright those are all of the folks that we had to sign up so we will move on now to Council Comments. Who wants to go first? Ms Bagwell.
COUNCIL COMMENTS:
Ms Bagwell: Mr. Hawes I noticed I’ve come down South Street a good bit lately up to trying to think it’s not Curtis Street there it’s
Mr. Hawes: Trade?
Ms Bagwell: wherever the right there in front of the, I can’t talk tonight sorry, right there in front of the Senior Center at the old Mill and there is an azalea bush and I hate to just bring this up but I just saw it again today and just a few minutes ago and just about got creamed because I can’t see around that azalea bush if we could just have somebody go out and I’m sure that is probably on right-of-way at that point because it is over so if we could just have that trimmed back some.
Mr. Hawes: We can take a look at that with no problem whatsoever I appreciate you bringing that to my attention.
Mayor: Ok is that it? Alright anyone else? Mr. Larson.
Mr. Larson: Mr. Hawes I was going to say that I think that the cross walks turned out really well on the streetscape and I just wanted to ask you if there is any other plans on what’s going to happen with the road surface there? Is it still going to have the remains of the previous grindings and Mr. Hawes: That is something we are working with SCDOT on to this day. We’ve got a meeting with them next week. We are not satisfied with the appearance of those markings. When they were ground they were worse than what they are now.
Mr. Larson: They look better than what they did but it still seems like it would be a little bit you could somehow blend that all in together and make the street look.
Mr. Hawes: Well the intent was to put a black top type treatment on it a sealant type treatment but DOT would not allow that they said we would have to grind the entire street and resurface it not just resurface it above what we have because it is already above the level of the curb now so there were some issues there. They have since come back to us and said the strips on the road right now which blend to the color of the of surface as it is may have to be ground out and gone back to that black which to me the appearance now is better than it was before we put the gray down. It is a little bit of aesthetics, the functioning of the project overall I think is quite positive we’ve got protected left turns, we haven’t had an accident through Downtown since the completion of the streetscape when the stop lights went in and the left turn arrows were turned on we just haven’t had any issues at all and we used to have one or two a month where we would have a rear end accident or a side swipe or t-bone at the intersection because people were crossing in front of two on-coming lanes now they have a protected left turn in front of one on-coming lane and you have a much better view point of on-coming traffic with a single lane than with two. The traffic flow at peak hours wasn’t perfect before and at peak hours it’s still not perfect now but it doesn’t seem to be any worse than it was at peak hours and it is quite better at non-peak hours because the left turning traffic gets out of the road.
Mr. Larson: I think it is a lot better. I mean I haven’t been through there once when all the people turning left didn’t make it through on one light whereas before you would sit there two or three times and still have to go on yellow or even on red.
Mr. Hawes: Right and we want to encourage people to turn at the protected areas now and enter the business from the rear such as City Hall rather than turn in from the front and the banks both banks on this side of the block have rear access to their parking facilities and rather than turning in the middle of Main Street turning at a protected left turn where you don’t have to cut across traffic and I think people are learning to do that. That is the way a good Downtown functions.
Mr. Larson: I just hope we can keep working with the DOT to improve that road surface and just make it a little bit more attractive.
Mr. Hawes: We are we would love to do that because that is the one sticking point of the project. The aesthetics of it are really impeccable other than that one aspect.
Mr. Larson: Thanks.
Mayor: Well and while we are on that subject I want to thank I guess Joe and DOT and maybe even you on one of the most significant things that has happened is the timing on these lights on East Curtis Street we had for a while a real problem with people stacking up through the Hedge Street intersection and you got the timing changed on that and it is flowing much better now and even in the peak hours that you mentioned I believe that traffic is moving better during the peak hours to because of that timing change of the turning lane so thank you. Mr. Curtis.
Mr. Curtis: On that same note, I remember when we got started with this there was a mention of pedestrian crossings for the tracks is that still something that is being looked at, is that something that we are going to be able to provide? I know that there is sort of pavement there but it is not really well defined and marked where the pedestrians are suppose to cross the tracks. Is that something that we are still looking at or is that is it the way it is going to be?
Mr. Hawes: It is completed as far as this project right now. We are still looking at it and trying to work with the Railroad on the best way to treat the crossings of the tracks. They are very strict as to the types of things they will approve at their location they really didn’t want what we’ve got right now but we worked with them to allow that because when there was a change to the overall approach to a non-upgraded intersection such as that at Main and Curtis doesn’t have crossing arms they would normally require crossing arms there but we worked with them and we didn’t feel the crossing arms were necessary there so and they agreed.
Mr. Curtis: Along that same line, I’ve noticed that the arrows that indicate for people to move over as you approach on both ends there are I believe two arrows that indicate that people should move over, would it be possible for us to get some additional arrows indicating a little further back? Because I’m noticing people going down to the end before people move over and I think that for those that are not as familiar with Simpsonville a little bit more warning might be appropriate. I’ve seen other intersections where there is more warning so I was wondering if that might be
Mr. Hawes: Yes, I understand those were designed by SCDOT they are per their specifications on the locations of the arrows and on the signage that leads to the median lane reconfiguration. We can certainly work with them to see if they would allow furtherance of those arrows beyond where they are now but they required the chevron type treatment leading up to the medians, the signage on the medians, the signage approaching the first medians and they are set at intervals 500, 1000 and 1500 feet but we can work with them. I understand your concern particularly at North Pine.
Mayor: Ok Ms Bagwell.
Ms Bagwell: All this talk about sidewalks made me think, first of all I’d like to thank Wade Shelley I’m sorry he is not here tonight but the Kruger Brothers concert was an excellent concert at the Arts Center. The side walk over there is pretty beat up over in the street right in front of the old school and we might want to there is two or three areas that look like it is going to be an easy trip up if we could have somebody take a look at that as well because that is a potential hazard there.
Mr. Hawes: That is something that we may be able to work with the State on is there is a State road at that location so we may be able to work with them.
Ms Bagwell: Good deal.
PRESENTATION OF COMPETETIVE GRANT:
Mayor: Ok anyone else? Alright, hearing no further comment we will move on. Next on the agenda we are pleased and honored to have with us tonight our State Representative from District 27, Garry Smith. Garry if you will come forward I believe you have some good news for us.
Mr. Smith: First of all let me say I want to also say that Senator David Thomas who worked with us on the Community or the Competitive Grants for the Park to put the electrical lines and all underneath the ground was not able to be here with us tonight he was certainly looking forward to this apologize his mother is not doing very well and he is there with her tonight so that is why he is not here. If I could have the Mayor come forward I’d like to present you with a check for $88,000 for reimbursement for the work that the City has already done on the Heritage Park putting the utilities underneath the ground. They did a great job with that and thank you for all the work that you did with that and I think that it went real well you can certainly tell a big difference this year in the Freedom Weekend Aloft without all of the wires all over the ground and everybody tripping over all of those things. With everything underground I think it made for a much better festival as well as I think it is going to make the Park much more useable for those types of events in the future and we are happy we are able to participate with the City in furthering the development of the Park and look forward to doing more things together like that in the future.
Mayor: Well we appreciate it and I know you worked real hard on this because I was down there in Columbia one day when you were running me ragged back and forth between the Speakers office and the Chairman’s
Mr. Smith: This is why you have lost so much weight.
Mayor: That is exactly what it was $80,000 so but I can lose a few more pounds so just call me anytime. Thank you very much Garry we appreciate everything you do for us. Alright next item on the agenda Mr. Hawes I believe we are going to delay that the Tax Anticipation Note?
NEW BUSINESS:
Mr. Hawes: Yes we are going to discuss that after Executive Session.
Mayor: Ok so we will move on to Mr. Dyrhaug you are going to talk to us about a Text Amendment I guess it is for a Landscaping Ordinance.
Mr. Dyrhaug: Yes sir thank you Mayor and Council. At the Council Workshop in September while we were discussing the proposed Design Review Ordinance some of the members of Council expressed dissatisfaction with some of the current provisions of the City’s Landscaping regulations and its inability to promote some of the desirable landscape practices we would like to see here within the City and so I went back and reviewed the Landscape Regulations and identified some of the weakness therein and I found some of the following weaknesses that I perceived to be in that ordinance. Some of these are consistent with some of those concerns that were expressed at the Workshop in September. The first is that the requirements for the landscaping of parking areas do little to actually promote the planting and preserving of trees throughout the parking area. The second is that the tree protection ordinance does little to promote the protection of trees. The third is that the tree protection ordinance doesn’t address the issue of cleared and graded properties which are sometimes left untreated and undeveloped for a good period of time. Fourth the landscape regulations themselves do little to coordinate planting of trees from property to next. Fifth plan developments are unregulated to a large degree. The last is that some standards are difficult to locate because of the piecemeal organization of the landscape regulations and so I’ve worked on a draft ordinance that I believe addresses some of these perceived weakness. I just want to let you know that this draft is scheduled to be reviewed by the Planning Commission at their meeting coming up in November but I wanted to give you a heads up that that is something we are working on and looking at and I have gone ahead in your packet and given you a draft of what might be a proposed ordinance bearing in mind that that could still be tweaked as the Planning Commission reviews it but I just wanted to take this opportunity if you would like to discuss that at all or ask me any questions about that I’m here to respond.
Mayor: Ok does anyone have any questions for Mr. Dyrhaug regarding this Landscaping Ordinance? Well, you must have done a pretty good job of putting it all together for us.
Mr. Dyrhaug: Well, it is a lot and I imagine you might not have absorbed it all yet but you will have time
Mayor: Well, I was about to say we do reserve the right to ask you questions at a moments notice about this
Mr. Dyrhaug: Sure thing.
Mayor: before we vote on it. Thank you for that.
Mr. Dyrhaug: Thank you.
OLD BUSINESS:
Mayor: Alright and I believe you are still up no Russ is going to handle this so take a break. Moving on to old business now Mr. Hawes you are going to talk to us about the Ordinance regarding the Planning Commission.
Mr. Hawes: Yes sir Mayor and Council at the prior Workshop we discussed a change as requested by City Council to Planning Commission Enabling Ordinance and regarding membership, creation, organization and general powers and duties. The current ordinance you have a copy of in front of you and the proposed ordinance which is 2008-09 is also in front of you so that you can compare them basically side by side that was requested so we understood what the differences were. I gave a little bit of an overview before and as I remember the Mayor had a couple of questions and we said we would take it to a Workshop so if you want to ask those questions now Mayor I’ll be glad to address them.
Mayor: I had a couple of questions? I think I’ve had all of my questions answered but the one thing I was interested in was how we changed the appointment of members another words as I’ve noted here and you may want to go over that for us how we now accept applications for and appoint members to that Commission and the process that has changed a little bit.
Mr. Hawes: Ok
Mayor: If you will go over that for everybody please. I think that will answer the questions that I had.
Mr. Hawes: That is in the policy which was adopted by City Council at the prior meeting not in this ordinance.
Mayor: Well then I have no questions. Thank you very much.
Mr. Hawes: Ok, I’ll be glad to answer that at any time if you have got a question about that policy. It is a little maybe not as clear as it could be.
Mayor: Well if I recall, let me just comment on it if I recall this sort of clarifies how we go about it, it gives us a definite date to make these appointments and it also requires that we’ll have perspective members actually come before us so that we can question them and in fact interview them before we (inaudible) so those were the main changes that I recall and those were the things that were important to me to find out about so.
Mr. Hawes: Yes sir.
Mayor: Anyone else have any questions about that? Alright I think you have done that one then. Alright do you have anything else to say about that Mr. Hawes?
Mr. Hawes: No sir.
Mayor: Ok alright.
Mr. Hawes: The only thing that I would add is that this will be on the agenda for the next meeting for the first reading on the ordinance.
Mayor: Got you. Alright Mr. Dyrhaug you are back up again for the Sign Review Ordinance.
Mr. Dyrhaug: Alright as you are aware we have been working on this ordinance for a little bit of time now and I came to understand that there were concerns that Council had with the level of regulation that we had in the first run of the proposed ordinance or draft ordinance that reviewed and so I went back and modified that proposed ordinance by easing some of the level of regulation that was contained in there. At our September Workshop, I presented to you two drafts of this proposed ordinance and we called them Draft A and B and A was what was presented at the first run and B Ordinance was the modifications to it that eased up a little bit while still trying to achieve the same intent. I did since then make just a couple of minor modifications to Draft B based on some of the feedback we had at that workshop but I just wanted to provide you with this opportunity for a discussion before this ordinance is formally presented to you if there were any questions on that.
Mayor: Ok does anyone have any questions? Mr. Curtis.
Mr. Curtis: I’d like for you to go over what changes you’ve made in Draft B from the last Draft B.
Mr. Dyrhaug: From the last meeting certainly. The first thing that I did was we had talked about how important the build to lines are in Downtown where we encourage buildings up to the right-of-way so that we can create the type of atmosphere that is commonly associated with Downtown so I have added that into that particular Overlay District. The second modification from the last Draft B is that there is more consistency in how pedestrian amenities are provided in that we would like to see that where neighboring properties or properties in close proximity are providing pedestrian amenities that there is some consideration and consistency of the types of materials and styles and appearance to those amenities so that it builds a theme so to say in that area. And then the last modification that was made is that the purpose section was slightly massaged and how that was massaged is that there was some language in there about mixed used developments and how we want to make sure that the different components of mixed use developments are compatible with one another and I’ve just moved that another section actually on mixed used development so that it makes our purpose and intent more succinct and concise and addresses the issues pertaining to mixed use developments in their own section. I think that pretty much sums up all the minor modifications I made to Draft B other than that it is largely the same Draft that was reviewed at the last Workshop.
Mayor: Ok does that answer your question Mr. Curtis?
Mr. Curtis: I think it does.
Mayor: Ok you still have the floor if you want it. Ok anyone else? Ok well I like what you have done and I think it clearly spells out what we are trying to accomplish here in Simpsonville and how we want our Community to work and I believe and I am going to ask you to comment on this Do you believe that this if passed as written will allow us as we have always wanted to do work with Designers, Builders and Developers to get the Design we want for our Town rather than work against them and set up roadblocks?
Mr. Dyrhaug: Certainly
Mayor: Do you believe the overall attitude of this document allows that?
Mr. Dyrhaug: Yes, I certainly think so that is one thing that since I have been here and observed our relationship with many of the Developers around Town is that I think we have a good relationship with Developers and I think they will be understanding and cooperative as we are trying to achieve the intent of this ordinance.
Mayor: Great, well I think that is important to everybody up here and that’s been the history we have had and I want to continue tradition. I know there are bad seeds in every bucket but I have found that most Developers will as long as they understand the rules going in they will be happy to work with you to give you what you want so I am happy about that. Thank you Mr. Dyrhaug for all of your hard work on this.
Mr. Dyrhaug: Thank you.
Mayor: We may have more questions about this too.
Mr. Dyrhaug: That is just fine.
Mayor: Alright Thanks. Okay Council we have a need for an Executive Session to discuss a Legal Matter regarding Administration.
Mr. Larson: Can I go out of order first?
Mayor: Out of order? Well
Mr. Larson: I had a Council Comment I wanted to ask Russ about and I forgot.
Mayor: Ok I’m going to let you do that.
Mr. Larson: Ok I just had one more comment for Council and I’m sorry I overlooked it but I’ve had a couple of people ask me about the website and why the minutes from the meetings are not on the website anymore and why is that not public information and I was trying to explain to them that the website was being reconstructed and could you maybe give us an update on that?
Mr. Hawes: Yes, absolutely we are working with the company that worked with us previously and they had their head designer had a premature death and so it dragged the process back a few months. Also in the time frame while we have been working on that we brought in a new City Clerk and the minutes go through the City Clerk and she has been rightly learning her position and working with Council Members, I know Mr. Curtis has worked with her, on making sure the minutes are truly accurate and we strive for accuracy. The draft minutes are available for review at City Hall at anytime they have been provided to City Council. They fact that they are not on the website does not mean that are not available and folks hopefully understand that we are doing everything we can we just posted for the month of August and the ones for the month of September are under review right now and should go up very soon and then we will be caught up.
Mayor: Good question. I’m glad you did that. Anyone else want to do a backup? Alright.
Mr. Hawes: The ones for September will still have to be voted through in November.
Mayor: Ok thank you Mr. Hawes. Alright now we still have that need for an Executive Session to discuss a Legal Matter regarding Administration and I’ll entertain a motion in that regard. Ms Sanders.
Ms Sanders: I move we go into Executive Session to discuss a Legal Matter.
Mayor: Thank you Ms Sanders. Do I hear a second?
Mr. Curtis: Second.
Mayor: Mr. Curtis seconds. Thank you, Mr. Curtis. All in favor signify by saying aye, opposed no, aye’s have it. It is unanimous. Thank you all for coming. We are in recess before we move into Executive Session. Came out of Executive Session at 9:14 pm no action was taken we are back in regular session now. I’ll entertain a motion Mr. Curtis.
Mr. Curtis: I like to make a motion we issue a TAN not to exceed $1.935 million. dollars.
Mayor: Thank you Mr. Curtis do I hear a second?
Mr. Bridge: Second
Mayor: Mr. Bridges Seconds. Thank you, Mr. Bridges. Any discussion? Hearing none I’ll call for the vote, all in favor say aye, opposed no. Aye’s have it, it is unanimous. I’ll entertain another motion. Ms Sanders.
Ms Sanders: I move we adjourn.
Mayor: Thank you Ms Sanders. Do I hear a second? Ms Bagwell.
Ms Bagwell: Second
Mayor: Ms Bagwell seconds. Thank you, Ms Bagwell. All in favor signify by saying aye, opposed no. Aye’s have it we are adjourned. Thank you all for coming and thank you all for waiting.
Respectfully Submitted,
Melinda B. Zeller City Clerk
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