DATE/PLACE: Pawleys Island Chapel MINUTES PAWLEYS ISLAND TOWN COUNCIL PRESENT: ABSENT: Mayor Bill Otis, Mike Adams, Rocky Holliday & Sarah Zimmerman Ashley Carter EXECUTIVE SESSION: 30-4-70 (a) (1) DISCUSSION OF EMPLOYEE CHRISTMAS BONUS PLAN & 30-4-70 (a) (2) LEGAL ADVICE ON PROPERTY USE, BEACH PURPOSES Mayor Otis stated he had been informed by one of our newspapers that the agenda item does not have enough specificity to make the FOI requirements so advice on property use for beach purposes will not be discussed in executive session. Sarah Zimmerman made a motion to step down into executive session. Mike Adams seconded. All in favor. Sarah Zimmerman made a motion to step from executive session. Rocky Holliday seconded. All in favor. Mayor Otis stated that no decisions were made regarding employee Christmas bonus plan. He is asking our Town attorney to give us legal advice regarding the proper specificity relative to executive session agenda items. Understanding, since we are a council form of government, any approach providing more specificity to some items could prove to be a disadvantage to residents and property owners by exposing potential contract negotiations to those we would be negotiating with. PUBLIC COMMENT No one has signed up for public comment. APPROVAL OF November 14, 2016 MEETING MINUTES Sarah Zimmerman made a motion to approve the November 14, 2016 meeting. Mike Adams seconded. All in favor. APPEAL OF GEORGETOWN COUNTY GROIN PERMIT AS AN INTERVENER Town Attorney, Woody DuRant, stated that there has been no response. Mayor Otis asked for Mr. DuRant to contact the Clerk of Court for Judge Linsky and ask when we could expect a ruling and give us a response to that at our next meeting. BEACH COMMITTEE -ROCKY HOLLIDAY Rocky Holliday stated that at their December 5 th meeting the committee discussed the council s decision based on the committee s recommendation on the permit and PRT application and were very appreciative of the support from the council. We had our beach engineers go through a number of other items including a review of the impact of Hurricane Matthew on our beach. We took another 80,000 cu. yd. loss of sand on top of the 70,000 we had already lost. We are looking at a project to renourish the beach with 900,000 cu. yd. of sand required. They reviewed the alternatives we have for beach renourishment and the cost. They talked about government support and funding options as well as other funding programs which communities like ours have used in the past. We ended with a briefing on the Army Corps of Engineers project review which has been ongoing. Right now the committee is pretty much at the end of their plan work scope. Page 1 of 5
The remaining action is to come back now with recommendations to council with a recommendation on the scope of work and cost for the beach renourishment. We will work on this at their next meeting and it should be their last meeting. Rocky stated that the committee also discussed an example of a potential funding of the project. The committee has not made a formal recommendation, but it assumed that the committee chose the full renourishment scope as has been defined by our engineers, including groin repair. This would be a project in the area of $13,000,000. An approach to funding that would include a submittal to the PRT program of 50% of the total hard costs, then using existing Town funds which are around $5,000,000 plus the Town finding another source for funding the extra $1,500,000. That shortfall may be easily handled because of the available future income from the A-tax money. Ryan Fabbri stated that we have all the information for the PRT application, but it just has to be put together and it is his first priority to complete and he hopes to have the OCRM permit submitted by Friday, and the PRT application should be submitted by the end of the following week, just before the holidays. Sarah Zimmerman recommended that we hand deliver the PRT application and review it with PRT to be sure that everything was provided as needed. Ryan Fabbri stated that he will hand deliver it. STATUS OF RELOCATION TOWN HALL, RFP ARCHITECTS, BY INVITATION? Mayor Otis stated that we have had a few architects that have contacted us about this. He looked up some of the local architects listed on the phone book such as Catalyst Group, David Graham, SGA, and Tych and Walker. The potential architect should interview the staff and Town Council and members of the Planning Commission to get an idea of what needs to be in the new Town Hall. The list is reviewed by the Planning Commission and Council to prioritize the list. Rocky Holliday stated that would work but seems like a long and arduous process and thought that having the Planning Commission involved is a good idea. Sarah Zimmerman thought that we needed the square footage based on what we want the Town Hall to be. Ryan Fabbri stated that it is hard to get a request for a proposal if you don t know the square footage. The Planning Commission has scheduled a meeting on January 12 th at 4:00 p.m. and Council is encouraged to attend. We will have a Town Hall meeting on January 20 th to get public input from interested property owners to express what they their thoughts on the new Town Hall. Mayor Otis felt that this meeting should be to inform the public about our plan to acquire Pavilion Road, where the building is expected to be built, how it will affect the park, the Pavilion Reunion, etc. and not get into the design at that point. Mike Adams stated that he felt there would be no harm in talking about the location and the functionality at this meeting, but has a concern that we don t have a good grip on this and thought that council should have a step by step process established that would benefit everyone involved. Mike also thought beginning with the Planning Commission is a good start. Ryan Fabbri commented that he would like to talk to other communities that have built a new Town Hall such as Sullivan s Island which has just moved into their new building. They built a structure that looks much like a Pawleys Island house, but a bit more modern. Their process took about 3 years. Mayor Otis stated that our island is unlike any other municipality in the State in that we don t have any commercial activity, we are basically built out and we don t collect property taxes. Ryan Fabbri noted that we may qualify for a hazard mitigation grant. They give the State a certain amount of money every year for hazard mitigation projects and then the State decides who will get a portion of it. Mayor Otis stated that there are two architects who own on the island and they may be good resources for the Planning Commission. Page 2 of 5
Mike Adams stated that a multi-purpose room would be good to have to use for various meetings such as Town Council and Planning Commission; it could be used to for court and it could be used for the police department to have training classes. ACCOMMODATION TAX COMMITTEE VACANCY ROBERT HENDRIX BY MIKE ADAMS Mike Adams made a motion that Robert Hendrix be appointed to the Accommodations Tax Committee for the remaining term of Robert Moser. Sarah Zimmerman seconded. All in favor. A-TAX COMMITTEE EXPIRING TERMS DECEMBER 9, WENDELL CANTRELL, DAVID TEEMS, CORINNE TAYLOR. ALL ACCEPTED BUT WENDELL CANTRELL. FILL VACANCY IN JANUARY Mayor Otis stated that all members accepted a term renewal except Wendell Cantrell. PLANNING COMMISSION EXPIRING TERM DECEMBER 9, 2016 JIM BRASWELL Sarah Zimmerman made a motion to reappoint Jim Braswell to a second term to the Planning Commission. Mike Adams seconded. All in favor. POLICE REPORT Chief Fanning reviewed the November 2016 police report. See attached. FINANCIAL REPORT Mayor Otis stated that receipts received for the month matched the budgeted figure and we were within $1,000 year to date. Everything else is within plan. Christmas Bonus Town Employees and Contractor Rocky Holliday stated that the proposal for the bonuses this year is different from what it was in the past. There are two aspects for the proposal: Christmas Bonus it is recommended that each full-time employee and part time employee get ½ weeks salary with the caveat that the minimum for a part time employee would be $110.00. Storm Bonus In recognition for all the work and effort of all the town employees due to Hurricane Matthew the bonus would be for full time employees $500 net and part time employees would be $160.00. Rocky Holliday made a motion for a Christmas Bonus to each full-time employee and part time employee get ½ weeks salary with the caveat that the minimum for a part time employee would be $110.00 and a Storm Bonus in recognition for all the work and effort of all the town employees due to Hurricane Matthew, the bonus would be for full time employees $500 net and part time employees would be $160.00 net. Sarah Zimmerman seconded. All in favor. Mayor Otis stated that Council may consider a Christmas Bonus change for the future. APPROVE 3 YEAR AGREEMENT, HARPER, POSTON AND MOREE Mayor Otis stated that the prior 3-year contract was for 2013 $12,200, 2014 $12,550 and 2015 $12,900. The proposed 3-year contract is for 2016 $13,275, 2017 $13,600 and 2018 $14,000. Sarah Zimmerman made a motion to approve Harper, Poston and Moree s 3-year contract for 2016-2018. Rocky Holliday seconded. All in favor. Page 3 of 5
2017 BUDGET DISCUSSION, SET DECEMBER DATE FOR PUBLIC HEARING AND 2 ND READING Mayor Otis stated that we did not get a public notice in the paper for a public hearing and there needs to be 2 week notice so the public hearing will be on December 22 nd at 5:00 pm. Ryan Fabbri stated that there were a few changes made from what was discussed last month. In the revenue section under Grants he added in the money we are expecting from FEMA for reimbursement of cost for Hurricane s Joaquin and Matthew for the emergency sand berms. Mayor Otis stated that the $330,000 is money that is dependent on FEMA accepting the work that we have done under section (B) of their program for Hurricane s Joaquin and Matthew and this money represents 75% of what we applied for. Ryan raised the Underground Wire Budgeted Payments from $105,000 to $120,000 which will be similar to 2016. Under Ordinance Review, once the flood maps are adopted we will need to budget to revise our flood ordinance. There was a discussion on a drainage proposal and adding $11,500 to survey and map out our stormwater system. The last survey was hand written and done in 1980 and that is totally different today. Sarah Zimmerman made a motion to include $11,500 in the 2017 budget for surveying and base mapping our Storm Water Drainage system. Rocky Holliday seconded. All in favor. Mayor Otis stated that the system inventory can be added if it is determined to be tied in with the first phase. Ryan Fabbri noted there could be additional money needed to amend the budget in 2017 for things like fixing our storm drains, miscellaneous expenses with the new Town Hall, etc. but this is the budget that we will have 2 nd reading on, on the 22 nd. BUILDING REPORT Mayor Otis stated that there is nothing out of the ordinary. A lot of people are repairing their walkways to the beach. AMEND A-TAX MEMO OF UNDERSTANDING WITH GEORGETOWN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FROM $300/MONTH TO $500/MONTH Ryan Fabbri stated that this MOU is for the Chamber to do advertising for the town. The first MOU was for the cost of $300 a month, but now that they have done our advertising for a few months they have found that the expenses amount to more than they thought, so in the new MOU they have upped it to $500 a month, and they also would ask us to pay $1,300.00 for an audit that they do for our benefit that shows what we have given them and how it has been spent. Sarah Zimmerman made a motion to approve the new MOU to compensate the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce in the amount of $500.00 per month. Mike Adams seconded. All in favor. Mayor Otis did not want to approve the $1,300.00 at this time as it was not in the MOU. ADMINISTRATORS REPORT Status of Post Hurricane Debris Cleanup Ryan Fabbri stated the debris cleanup went very well with the exception of the south parking lot, and he is waiting to hear when it will be cleared. This is the highest priority now. The county will take care of replacing all the railroad ties that mark off the parking spaces once the debris is removed. Status of Town Hall New Temporary Quarters The temporary Town Hall is twice the size of the original Town Hall. Status of the Underground Wire Project Work is being done at the north end on Phase Two and at the south end on Phase Three. Page 4 of 5
Approval of Coastal Science Engineers Invoices $19,068.00 Matthew Emergency, $9,166.83 Renourishment The work has already been approved through the contracts. Sarah Zimmerman made a motion to approve the payment of $19,068.00 and $9,466.83. Mike Adams seconded. All in favor. PILBA Mayor Otis stated that there had been a new re-format of the Pawleys Island/Litchfield Business Association. We belonged to the original PILBA. They had done the original Pavilion Reunion. He suggested the Town pay $150.00 company membership with PILBA for all our council and employees. Sarah Zimmerman made a motion to approve paying $150.00 company membership with PILBA. Mike Adams seconded. All in favor. COASTAL OBSERVER AD THANKS FOR MATTHEW ASSISTANCE? $762.00 OR $438.00 Mayor Otis talked to the Coastal Observer about us doing an advertisement to thank organizations such as Midway Fire Department, the Rescue Squad, the National Guard and others. The pricing for a full page is $762.00 or a half page at $438.00 or we can write letters. Sarah Zimmerman made a motion to run a half page ad to thank everyone for any and every assistance we received during Hurricane Matthew. Mike Adams seconded. All in favor. Names will be given to Diane Allen to then send to Coastal Observer. COMMENTS BY COUNCIL MEMBERS Mike Adams thanked everyone for all their help and community effort after Hurricane Matthew. Rocky Holliday noted that now that the storm is behind us we have probably learned some lessons from it that we hadn t experienced before as a Town, He suggested that we think about a lessons learned review to be better prepared for the next event. Meeting was adjourned. APPROVED DATE ATTEST DATE Page 5 of 5