City of Darlington

CITY OF DARLINGTON SPECIAL MEETING & REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING June 5, 2012

PUBLIC HEARING ON 2012-2013 BUDGETS

A Public Hearing of Darlington City Council was held June 5, 2012 at 6:00 P.M. in the Council Room of City Hall at 400 Pearl Street.

PRESENT AT MEETING: Mayor Watkins, City Manager, Mr. Howard Garland and Councilpersons: Segars, Cannon, Cohen, and Chapman. Also present: Mr. Lee Bass, Mr. Kinsaul, and Chief Watson.

NEWS REPORTERS Also present was News Reporter, Ms. Lisa Rock and Mr. Dwight Dana.

Mayor Watkins said the public hearing is to discuss the 2012-2013 budgets, which is required before final reading. The floor was opened for questions. News reported Ms. Lisa Rock wanted to know what changes were made to the budget. Mr. Garland said a change from the last copy of the budget she received was made in “Planning & Grants” Department. Mr. Garland said on page 23, the salary line item was adjusted from $36,000 to $32,000 to reflect that Mr. Langley will be working three days a week as of July, 2012. He said insurance and bonds, workers comp insurance, tort insurance and retirement were adjusted as well. Mr. Garland said these are the only changes that were made from the last copy of the budget that Council and media received. Mr. Garland said is estimates that our cash on hand as of July 1st will be $580,227.00. He said we’ve had a fairly good savings by consolidating the street & sanitation operations into one building; we’ve saved considerably due to a decrease in gas prices. Mr. Garland has budgeted for a 2% increase in salaries and a 9.8% increase in health insurance. Mr. Garland said he is supposed to meet with Blue Cross on Friday morning and if the numbers are not to his liking, he will bid out the insurance. Mr. Garland said as of July 1st, he would like to take half of all seatbelt and parking ticket fines collected each month and dedicate those to the capital fund reserve for the police department which would be used to pay down any debt on vehicles or capital purchases. Mr. Garland said since we don’t have to give any of this money to the State right now, so why not

1 turn some it of it back around and use it for capital purchases. He said we’re going to always need vehicles. Mr. Garland said this is something that he and Chief Watson would like to do with Council’s approval. Chief Watson said currently they have collected $47,621, but he expects the total for this budget year to reach approximately $53,608 and a little over $26,000 would go into the capital fund. Mr. Garland said what they would do is pay off existing debt and use the other money as matches for USDA grant applications for vehicle purchases. He said we would not have to pay money out of the general fund; it would come out of the reserve account. Mayor Watkins asked Mr. Kinsaul if he’s seen a significant savings since installing the new meters. Mr. Kinsaul said he’s seen an increase in revenue. He estimates about a 5% increase in revenue. They will concentrate on installing the larger meters at the schools and hopefully have them all in by the time school starts back and also concentrating on installing the larger meters at other sites. Mr. Garland reminded Council of the EDA Grant was awarded September, 2010 for approximately $2 million for work on our sewer lines around Georgia Pacific and replacing our old head works at the old treatment plant. We will all be doing some sewer upgrades that will help Polyquest and Nucor. The biggest part of the project replacing our trunk line between our head works and Georgia Pacific. Mr. Garland said that Georgia Pacific is going to be using new dyes which will put new requirements on our treatment system, but with a larger line it will help us move the waste water quicker and help us with our storm water situation. Mr. Garland said there is also some work that will be done at Graham Packaging, but since the grant was approved, the plant has closed. He said they may not be doing that part of the grant. Mr. Kinsaul said right now the City can’t get an easement on the property because someone has a lien against the property. Mr. Garland said the idea with doing the Wellman/Graham pump station was to get the line ready to send our industrial wastewater to Florence one day. Mr. Kinsaul said the Wellman/Graham tie-in was the reason the City qualified for the grant. Mr. Kinsaul said a little over $100,000 was allocated in the grant for that lift station, but we may not be able to do this unless we can get a clear title for the property. Mr. Garland said EDA gave us permission to move forward with the bid process and if necessary, we’ll put this part of the project on hold until the end of the project.

There were no other questions or comments, so Mayor Watkins ended the meeting at 6:20 PM.

2 CITY OF DARLINGTON REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING JUNE 5, 2012 – 7:00 PM

PRESENT AT MEETING: Mayor Watkins, City Manager, Mr. Howard Garland and Councilpersons: Segars, Cannon, Cohen, Chapman, Hines and Cooper. Also present: Mr. Lee Bass, Mr. Kinsaul, and Chief Watson, Robert Garland, David Vaughan, Ms. Rosena James, Mrs. Rita Pegelow, Mr. Will Isgett, Mrs. Mary Capers, Ms. Dana Moore, Ms. Jannie Lathan, Miss Darlington, Mr. Danny DuBose, Mr. BoBBy Ross, Ms. Barbara White and other visitors.

NEWS REPORTERS Also present was News Reporter, Ms. Lisa Rock and Mr. Dwight Dana.

The Regular Meeting of Darlington City Council was held June 5, 2012 at 7:00 P.M. in the Council Room of City Hall at 400 Pearl Street.

PRAYER Councilman Cannon gave the invocation which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

AGENDA CHANGE Mayor asked Council’s approval to amend the agenda by moving item #7 immediately after item #3. There was no objection from Council.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES Mr. Cannon made a motion to approve the minutes of the Regular Council Meeting on May 1, 2012 and a Special Meeting on May 7, 2012 and the Storm Water Work Session on May 14, 2012. The motion was seconded by Mrs. Cohen. All approved the motion.

SPECIAL PRESENTATION – MAYOR WATKINS Ms. Kelly said she is a rising senior at Florence Christian School, her talent is singing and dancing and she will represent the City of Darlington at “The 2012 Miss South Carolina & Miss South Carolina Teen Pageant” in Columbia, SC July 7-14, 2012. Mayor Watkins presented a “Key to the City” to Miss Darlington Teen, Ms. Rebecca Kelly. Ms. Kelly was

3 accompanied by her mother, step-father, grandmother, grandfather and her adopted grandmother.

DDRA MANAGER – MR. DAVID VAUGHAN Mr. Vaughan said the “Market on Darlington Square” will be June 16, 2012 from 9:00 AM-1:00PM. Mr. Vaughan had a visual presentation of some of the things Kalmia Garden Study Club has done in the area. He had before and after pictures of some areas. Mr. Vaughan said this is “National Garden Club Week” and the Garden Club came this morning and fixed arrangements and placed them at eight different places in the City. He said this is a nice presentation to say thank you for what the City does for them. Mr. Vaughan said tomorrow morning at 11:00 AM they will have a “Blessing of the Garden” on North Main Street at the Psillos Garden.

MR. DANNY DUBOSE – GREATER DARLINGTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Mr. DuBose said the Car Haulers Parade and Race Fest were a success. He said a ribbon cutting ceremony for Park Florist was held the same day. The Business Assistance Network is planning a fall workshop series which will involve internet marketing on different levels. He said there will be three main full workshops starting late September or early October. Mr. DuBose said they will launch an information program on 101 – Consulting through the Business Assistance Network. Mr. DuBose said the Chamber is still working on the outdoor movies on the “Square”. He said he met with Dr. Knight and Dr. Harrison at the high school about doing an entrepreneur class for second semester seniors next year. Mr. DuBose said he is trying to involve the entire community in what they are doing.

MRS. MARY CAPERS – PASSAGEWAY OF HOPE SHELTER Mrs. Capers, a representative for Passageway of Hope, said they now have their registered site for which is at 512 Second Street. She said to note that this is not the location of the shelter, but the location of the registered site for the shelter. Mrs. Capers said the last heavy rain we had last week there’s a flow of water from Avenue E that turns to Second Street and comes directly to the registered address for the shelter. The last heavy rain caused four inches of water to settle in the yard and she asked if Council they could help them with some dirt and rocks for the yard. Mr. Garland told Mrs. Capers the City will be able to do this for her.

SANITATION DEPARTMENT UPDATE - MR. LEE BASS

4 Mr. Bass said three bids were received for the sanitation pick-up: 1) Allied Waste; 2) USA Waste & Recycling; and 3) Waste Management with the low bid of $13,510.76 per month from Allied Waste. He said we are losing just under $20.00 a month per 2 yard container. He said the current rate for Allied is $44.28 a month per 2 yard, but the City is charging $25.00 a month per 2 yard container. The new bid price from Allied for 2 yard containers decreased to $33.46, but the City is still charging significantly lower even with the new bid. Mr. Bass said at the present, there are twenty-three 2-yard containers in the City, but if the City replaces them with two roll carts @ $15.00 each, the City would charge the consumer $30.00. He said if the City maintains the 2 yard containers, we need to raise the sanitation fee to the price we are being charged by Allied. The new bid price for a 2-yard container is $33.46 per month. Mr. Bass recommends that we eliminate with the 2 yards containers and go with two roll carts and if a person chooses to keep the 2-yard container, they will be charged the actual rate. Mr. Bass also recommends that we accept the low bid in the amount of $13,510.76 from Allied Waste. Mrs. Hines made a motion to accept the low bid of $13,510.76 per month from Allied Waste and to eliminate the 2-yard containers and replace them with two roll carts and if a business owner chooses to keep the 2 yard container, the City will charge them the same rate we are being charged. Mr. Segars seconded the motion. Mrs. Cohen said the City should put a note on the roll carts as to what and what not to put in the recycling roll cart. All approved the motion. Mr. Bass said they will send out notifications of what and what not to put in the containers and also pick-up days.

SECOND READING ON ORDINANCE #2012-03 FOR CONTINUANCE OF TAX LEVY OF 125 MILS Upon motion of Mrs. Hines, seconded by Mr. Cannon, first reading on ordinance #2012-03 for continuance of tax levy of 125 mils, which unanimously carried.

SECOND READING ON ORDINANCE #2012-04 FOR CONTINUANCE OF BUSINESS LICENSE TAX Upon motion of Mrs. Cohen, seconded by Mrs. Hines, first reading on ordinance #2012-04 for continuance of business license tax, which unanimously carried.

SECOND READING ON ORDINANCE #2012-05 APPROVAL OF 2012-2013 CITY OF DARLINGTON BUDGET

5 Upon motion of Mr. Cannon, seconded by Mr. Segars, first reading on ordinance #2012-05 approval of 2012-13 budget, which unanimously carried.

CITY MANAGER’S UPDATE 1) General Fund Balance - $49,310.08; Hospitality Tax Fund - $251,214.80; Fund Balance Account - $962,640.73; W&S Fund Balance - $157,935.46; W&S Fund Balance - $330,715.73; W&S Capital Fund - $496,439.17. 2) EDA Sewer Project is ready to bid out which includes improvements for Georgia Pacific, Nucor and Polyquest. The completion date for this project should be sometime in December, 2013; 3) Mr. Garland said he will get a copy of the City’s Disaster Mitigation Plan which Mr. Pat Cavanaugh has been working on together with several people from the County. Mr. Garland said we need to have a public hearing to receive comment at the July 10th meeting and if there’s no objection we will vote on it at the July 10th regular meeting. He told council he would get a copy to them in the next week or so; 4) Mr. Garland said a representative from Waffle House came in and requested annexation. He said if they do 1st reading tonight, they can have 2nd Reading at our July 10th meeting. Mr. Garland said they have agreed to pay the hospitality tax and other fees that the City may have. Mr. Chapman made a motion for first reading on annexation of Waffle House on Highway 52. Mr. Segars seconded the motion. All approved the motion.

SEATBELT FINES & PARKING TICKETS FINES Mr. Garland said at the budget work session it was the recommendation from management that we take half of the seatbelt fines and parking ticket fines and set it aside for capital projects in the Darlington Police Department. He estimates this will be a net gain of approximately $30,000 to pay down debt and once the debt is paid off we will use the funds for capital purchases or for grant match in the police department. Mr. Cannon made a motion to approve the resolution to use half of the seatbelt & parking ticket fines to pay off debt and for capital purchases/grant match for police department. Mr. Cooper seconded the motion. All approved the motion.

REMINDERS: Tuesday, June 12, 2012 Baldwin Recreation Center Dedication-4:00 PM at First Baptist Church; Saturday, June 16, 2012 Marketplace on the Square from 9:00 AM-1:00 PM; June 27th – July 1st, MASC Annual Meeting at

6 Hilton Head, SC; On Wednesday, July 4th City offices will be closed for Independence Day; Tuesday, July 10, 2012 at 7:00 PM Regular City Council Meeting.

ADJOURNMENT Upon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Mrs. Hines, the meeting adjourned at 7:59 PM.

ATTEST:

Clerk & Treasurer