TRANSCRIPT OF CITY OF COLUMBIA CITY COUNCIL MEETING TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2013 6:00 P.M. EAU CLAIRE PRINT BUILDING 3907 ENSOR AVENUE ******** CREEL COURT REPORTING, INC. 1230 Richland Street / Columbia, SC 29201 (803) 252-3445 / (800) 822-0896 TRANSCRIPT OF CITY OF COLUMBIA CITY COUNCIL MEETING 2 1 MAYOR BENJAMIN: ... that they must be respectful of 2 others' opinions and realize that their -- that 3 their opinions have just as much value as each 4 and every one of ours. Because of the number 5 of copies we have of the agenda tonight and the 6 number of speakers we may have, that we 7 anticipate are speaking, I really want to 8 encourage everyone to limit your comments to 9 three minutes, I mean, it's so important. Or 10 else, we could be here 'til Friday, and I'm not 11 sure if any of us want to be here until Friday. 12 I like you all -- I'm not sure I wanna be here 13 until Friday. We just need everyone -- that 14 applies to everybody. I think mom is here 15 tonight and as much as she might even want to 16 talk about how special her grandchildren are, 17 she'll only have three minutes to do it as 18 well, okay? So, let's try to make sure we 19 limit our comments. Everyone's assembled (ph), 20 that's -- and none of us have had any coaching, 21 but we're -- again, for those of you who -- as 22 you see, Chief Jenkins is over here trying to 23 make sure we're aren't (ph) in violation with 24 the fire code regulations. We do have a -- 25 there's a -- Ms. Dover (ph)? CREEL COURT REPORTING, INC. 1230 Richland Street / Columbia, SC 29201 (803) 252-3445 / (800) 822-0896 TRANSCRIPT OF CITY OF COLUMBIA CITY COUNCIL MEETING 3 1 UNKNOWN FEMALE: 45 chairs. 2 MAYOR BENJAMIN: And 45 -- well, 35 chairs left for 3 someone who might want to sit down and be in 4 the discussion. And some of you are here maybe 5 just to talk about a certain item, look in the 6 agenda, that might be more appealing to you. 7 I'm sure as we get through some items, that 8 some chairs maybe will thin out some. Madame 9 City Manager, let's call this meeting to order. 10 MS. WILSON: (Inaudible.) 11 MAYOR BENJAMIN: And I do encourage you, if you -- 12 if you do plan to speak, please sign up to 13 speak and the clerk will continuously bring me 14 sign-in sheets to -- for consideration so -- 15 thank you. 16 MS. MOORE: Good evening. Mr. Baddourah? 17 MR. BADDOURAH: Here. 18 MS. MOORE: Mr. Runyan? 19 MR. RUNYAN: Here. 20 MS. MOORE: Mr. Newman? 21 MR. NEWMAN: Here. 22 MS. MOORE: Ms. Plaugh? 23 MS. PLAUGH: Here. 24 MS. MOORE: Ms. Devine? 25 MS. DEVINE: Here. CREEL COURT REPORTING, INC. 1230 Richland Street / Columbia, SC 29201 (803) 252-3445 / (800) 822-0896 TRANSCRIPT OF CITY OF COLUMBIA CITY COUNCIL MEETING 4 1 MS. MOORE: Mr. Davis? 2 MR. DAVIS: Here. 3 MS. MOORE: Mayor Benjamin? 4 MAYOR BENJAMIN: Here. 5 MS. WILSON: Thank you. If we can all rise for the 6 pledge of allegiance. 7 UNKNOWN MALE: I pledge allegiance --- 8 UNISON: To the Flag of the United States of 9 America, and to the Republic for which it 10 stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with 11 liberty and justice for all. 12 MAYOR BENJAMIN: That sounded really good, guys. 13 Sounded powerful. 14 MS. WILSON: At this time, we will have the 15 invocation by Captain Dave Wright with the 16 Columbia Fire Department. 17 UNKNOWN MALE: Do you have (inaudible). 18 MS. WILSON: I (inaudible) -- Chief Jenkins, will 19 you do us the honors? Thank you, Chief. 20 Always on call. 21 UNKNOWN MALE: (Inaudible.) 22 UNKNOWN MALE: Bring it on. 23 CHIEF JENKINS: Let's pray. Father, we thank you, 24 Lord, for this gathering here today. We ask 25 just to bless this Council, bless our mayor, CREEL COURT REPORTING, INC. 1230 Richland Street / Columbia, SC 29201 (803) 252-3445 / (800) 822-0896 TRANSCRIPT OF CITY OF COLUMBIA CITY COUNCIL MEETING 5 1 our City Council, our city manager, all the 2 city workers, bless all that are here, open up 3 all our understanding, Lord, give us an ear to 4 hear and a heart to desire. We thank you, 5 Father, for all things in Jesus' name. Amen. 6 UNISON: Amen. 7 MS. WILSON: At this time, we will adopt the agenda, 8 and then we want to -- I'm sorry, it's been 9 taken care of --- 10 MAYOR BENJAMIN: Uh-huh (affirmative response). 11 MS. WILSON: --- an item that I was (inaudible). 12 Council has asked me defer consideration of 13 Item 17, Item 38, Item 39, Item 40 and Item 51. 14 In addition, we would ask Council's 15 consideration of Item 34a for a first reading. 16 It's on Ordinance 2013-068, Amending the 1998 17 Code of Ordinances of the City of Columbia, 18 South Carolina, Chapter 10, Law Enforcement in 19 regards to resisting arrest and interfering 20 with a police officer, repealing that section. 21 Does Council have any others to include (ph)? 22 UNKNOWN MALE: (Inaudible.) 23 UNKNOWN VOICE: Make a motion? 24 MR. RUNYAN: Uh --- 25 MS. WILSON: (Inaudible.) CREEL COURT REPORTING, INC. 1230 Richland Street / Columbia, SC 29201 (803) 252-3445 / (800) 822-0896 TRANSCRIPT OF CITY OF COLUMBIA CITY COUNCIL MEETING 6 1 UNKNOWN MALE: Yes, I -- this motion's been 2 seconded? 3 MR. RUNYAN: Second it. 4 UNKNOWN MALE: We can probably second (ph) any 5 discussion? (Inaudible) and move to the 6 previous question and the clerk called the 7 role. 8 MR. MOORE: Mr. Baddourah? 9 MR. BADDOURAH: Aye 10 MS. MOORE: Mr. Runyan? 11 MR. RUNYAN: Aye. 12 MS. MOORE: Mr. Newman? 13 MR. NEWMAN: Aye. 14 MS. MOORE: Ms. Plaugh? 15 MS. PLAUGH: Aye. 16 MR. MOORE: Ms. Devine? 17 MS. DEVINE: Aye. 18 MS. MOORE: Mr. Davis? 19 MR. DAVIS: Aye. 20 MS. MOORE: Mayor Benjamin? 21 MAYOR BENJAMIN: Aye. (Inaudible.) 22 UNKNOWN FEMALE: And there's no public incident 23 related to the agenda items. We will proceed 24 --- 25 UNKNOWN MALE: (Inaudible.) CREEL COURT REPORTING, INC. 1230 Richland Street / Columbia, SC 29201 (803) 252-3445 / (800) 822-0896 TRANSCRIPT OF CITY OF COLUMBIA CITY COUNCIL MEETING 7 1 UNKNOWN FEMALE: --- with our public hearing 2 section. Item Number 1, Forms of Government. 3 Mr. Scott Slatton, Legislative and Public 4 Policy Advocate for the Municipal Association 5 of South Carolina. 6 MR. SLATTON: Good evening, Mayor, Council. It is 7 a pleasure to be here with you again and 8 greetings, too, on behalf of the Municipal 9 Association. Mayor Benjamin asked me to be 10 here this evening and talk to you about the 11 forms of municipal government in South 12 Carolina, and you -- I hope that you have a 13 copy of the presentation in your packet. If 14 not, we've got it up there on the screen. And 15 with your permission, Mayor, I will move 16 briskly through this --- 17 MAYOR BENJAMIN: Okay. 18 MR. SLATTON: --- considering the number of items on 19 your agenda. And we'll hit the buttons here. 20 The forms of municipal government in South 21 Carolina were established by way of the Local 22 Government Act of 1975. It's often referred to 23 as the Home Rule Act. And of course, Home Rule 24 granted municipal and county governments 25 expanded powers. They had many powers that CREEL COURT REPORTING, INC. 1230 Richland Street / Columbia, SC 29201 (803) 252-3445 / (800) 822-0896 TRANSCRIPT OF CITY OF COLUMBIA CITY COUNCIL MEETING 8 1 they had derived over time, but the Home Rule 2 Act codified those authorities and powers. And 3 then, of course, the Act clearly states that 4 units are -- that local governments are units 5 of state government. We are creatures of the 6 state and we are often reminded of that by our 7 friends across the state and in the -- in the 8 legislature. There are two distinct areas of 9 responsibility in local governments, regardless 10 of the form, in all three forms. Policy equals 11 council -- the what and why of issues. It is 12 the council in all three forms that are 13 responsible for establishing policy and then 14 ensuring that that policy is implemented 15 according to its wishes. And then, the other 16 functional area is the administration. And 17 that often equals staff, administration and 18 operations -- the how, when and where of 19 issues. Policy is the exclusive perview of the 20 city council and administration is dependent 21 upon one of the three forms that is adopted by 22 the municipality, and we're gonna talk about 23 that in just a second. Further distinctions of 24 the forms of government, the major difference 25 in each of the three forms is where the CREEL COURT REPORTING, INC. 1230 Richland Street / Columbia, SC 29201 (803) 252-3445 / (800) 822-0896 TRANSCRIPT OF CITY OF COLUMBIA CITY COUNCIL MEETING 9 1 administrative and executive powers are held. 2 Who is responsible for the administration of 3 the city? Who's responsible for the execution 4 of the policy that the council adopts? 5 Legislative function, again, always remains 6 with the council.