CITY OF DARLINGTONREGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING

December 7, 2010

The Regular Meeting of Darlington City Council was held December

7, 2010 at 7:00 P.M. in the Council Room of City Hall at 400 Pearl Street.

PRESENT AT MEETING:Councilpersons Mrs. Dyan Cohen, Mr. Coleman Cannon, Mr. Wayne Chapman and Mr. John Segars. Also present: Mayor Watkins, City Manager, Mr. Howard Garland, Mr. Robert Garland, Mr. Freddie Kinsaul, Fire Chief Stone, Mr. David Brown, Mr. Ken McRae, and Mr. & Mrs. Tony DiLeo, Bond Attorney, Mr. Ben Zeigler, Mr. Dannie Satterfield, Ms. Kathy Elliott and other visitors.

PRAYERCouncilman Segars gave the invocation which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

APPROVAL OF MINUTESUpon motion of Mr. Chapman, seconded by Mrs. Cohen, to approve Minutes of Regular Council Meeting November 2, 2010. All approved the motion. DDRA MANAGER – MR. TONY DILEOMr. DiLeo said signage was approved for Peebles and also for a new business on Governor Williams Highway called Happy Nails. He said they had the merchants Halloween Dress-up contest was a success. He said Carolina Bank had the best business participation. The Business Pride Award will be given to C. Boan Steakhouse on Cashua Street. The Residential Pride Award of Darlington will be given to Mr. Shaw Dargan. He said Crystal Cleaners moved from their N. Main Street location into a building on Pearl Street behind Burger King. Mr. DiLeo said the Mayflower Restaurant on Hartsville Highway has asked him to do a ribbon cutting for them, so hopefully they will be doing that really soon. Mr. DiLeo was he has two parties interested in the former Arthur Barber Shop building and the 101 Pearl Street building. Another party is interested in the Baker Street Café Building and/or Cromer’s. Mr. DiLeo said the Christmas decorations

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are up and he has the music ready to be played but he was told by officials at the courthouse that he can’t start playing music until the 15th. Mr. DiLeo said he helped Dr. Eads distribute turkeys during the give-away. Mr. DiLeo said he confirmed with Darlington Raceway that the next “Taste of Darlington” will be on Thursday, April 11, 2011 in the same area as it was this year. He said they had a very successful Open House last Thursday. Mr. DiLeo said he was asked to make a parking sign to put up on Cashua Street saying “11 compact cars only”. Mr. DiLeo said after twenty-two years he has decided to call it quits. Mr. DiLeo introduced Mr. David Vaughan and said he will be his replacement as DDRA Manager.

SECOND READING ON ORDINANCE FOR ISSUANCE OF WATER/SEWER REFUNDING REVENUE BOND (MASTER BOND ORDINANCE)Mr. Ben Zeigler, Bond Attorney for BB&T, said the Master Bond Ordinance will replace our old bond. Mr. Zeigler said the new master ordinance will provide the framework under which we can issue bonds now and in the future. Mr. Zeigler passed out copies of the ordinances to Council members. Mr. Zeigler said the second ordinance is a series ordinance. Mr. Zeigler said the only bond we have outstanding is the one we issued in 2002 with approximately $590,000 at an interest rate of about 4.46%. Mr. Zeigler said he suggested to Mr. Garland was to refinance the old debt, wipe the slate clean, put everything under one bond and we’ll only have one annual payment to make rather than two payments. Mr. Zeigler told Council they have an amortization schedule which shows the $2,200,000 waterworks and sewer system revenue bond with an interest rate from BB&T of 3.96% on a fifteen year term. He said this is payments of approximately $181,000 a year beginning in fiscal year 2012 and ending in fiscal year 2026. Mr. Zeigler went over the proceeds of the bond. He said approximately $25,000 of this will go toward the cost of issuing the bond; $591,141.37 will be the payoff of the old bond and we’ll put approximately $1,403,000 in our construction plan. Mr. Chapman made a motion to approve Second Reading on Ordinance No. 2010-14 for Issuance of Water & Sewer Refund Revenue Bond (Master Bond Ordinance). The motion was seconded by Mr. Segars. Mrs. Cohen asked if we would only pay interest on the amount that we borrow and Mr. Zeigler said, “Yes”. Mrs. Cohen also asked if there was a penalty for prepayment. Mr. Zeigler said there was a penalty provided for, but BB&T was to render on the initial loan and on this new loan they have waived the prepayment penalty. Mrs. Cohen asked if Darlington County Water & Sewer Authority would own the towers. Mr.

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Kinsaul said Darlington County Water & Sewer Authority will own all major infra structure as far as communication. Mr. Kinsaul said Darlington County Water & Sewer Authority will have eight towers around Darlington County and all of the towers will pick up our meters. He said if one of the towers is down, then another one will pick it up. Mr. Kinsaul said the towers will belong solely to Darlington County Water & Sewer Authority and they will be responsible for all maintenance and upkeep on them. Mr. Kinsaul said we will have a radio network interface at their office to read our meters, but they will not access to our numbers or anything pertaining to our meters. Mr. Cannon asked if there will be a limit on the time limit that we would do this with Darlington County. He also asked if there would be some type of contract with Darlington County Water. Mr. Kinsaul said we will make an agreement with Darlington County, but right now there is no time limit set. He said hopefully we will continue with them as long as the system is functional. Mr. Kinsaul said the Town of Chesterfield has a written agreement with all of the people they associate with and we will be working on the same type agreement with Darlington County Water. Mrs. Cohen said Council would like to see a written agreement also. Mrs. Cohen asked Mr. Kinsaul if he feels confident the system will work. Mr. Kinsaul said Chesterfield has had this system for two years and Brunswick County has had their system in for about six months and they both have been more than satisfied with the system. Mayor Watkins asked if we will be able to read the meters in the event there is a problem. Mr. Kinsaul said, “Yes”. He said we have been reading them initially like the other meters. He said the digital readout is across the top of the meter, but these meters are a lot more accurate than the other meters, they read down to the gallon rather than the thousands. Mr. Kinsaul said this system has a guarantee accuracy of 1/300th per gallon. Mr. Kinsaul said hopefully we will start installing the new system in early 2011 and hope to complete in a six month time frame and this will be using all of our workers. Mr. Kinsaul said Franklin Dowdy said he and the workers can install the new meters themselves. Mayor Watkins asked about training. Mr. Kinsaul said the Town of Chesterfield has offered whatever support they can give. He said their people will come down and our people can go to them if necessary. All voted in favor of the motion.

SECOND READING ON ORDINANCE TO BORROW $2,200,000 WATER/SEWER BOND (SERIES ORDINANCE) the series ordinance (the smaller of the two) has the details of the issuance of this bond. Mr. Zeigler said once the old series ordinance is paid off the ordinance becomes invalid and the new ordinance will be in force.

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Upon motion of Mr. Chapman, seconded by Mrs. Cohen, Second Reading on Series Bond Ordinance to borrow $2,200,000 Water/Sewer Bond for telemetric water meters, which unanimously carried.

FIRST READING ON ORDINANCE TO TRANSFER 0.35 ACRES OF PROPERTY TO DARLINGTON VENEER COMPANY Mr. Cannon made a motion for First Reading on Ordinance to transfer 0.35 acres of property to Darlington Veneer Company. Mr. Chapman seconded the motion. Mrs. Cohen wanted to know how much of the land next to the line will have an easement on it for use by the City of Darlington. Mr. Kinsaul said there are currently no easements, but Darlington Veneer has agreed to stipulate that a sewer line is there and exists. Mr. Kinsaul said with the updates that the City will be doing, we will have to work with Darlington Veneer on other easements because we will have to access Darlington Veneer property to do the sewer upgrades. Mr. Kinsaul said the easements they are working on now are for the Westend and will be working on easements for all of the new sewer upgrades. He said the sewer line that runs through Darlington Veneer Mill property will be upgraded with EDA grant funds. All approved the motion.

DARLINGTON COUNTY RECREATION DIRECTOR – MR. KEN MCRAEMr. Ken McRae appeared before Council to let them know they have formed a Recreation Committee made up of several officials. He said they have laid the ground work for the Darlington area to look at future recreation in terms of facility. Mr. McRae said they are putting together a group that can meet and come up with ideas about building a recreation complex for the City of Darlington area. He said the majority of people involved in recreation are outside the city limits. Mr. McRae said he looks at Byerly Park as a regional type facility, but we’re not looking for something on that grand a scale. He said we want to concentrate on the citizens and bring the community together in a recreation sense. Mr. McRae said the biggest thing now is trying to make sure they put together a good group of people who will stay focused on this because we are in tough times. He extended an invitation to Council to join the committee. Mrs. Cohen wanted to know what type sports would be included in the complex. Mr. McRae said baseball, softball, and basketball. Mr. McRae said as far as the City is concerned, there has been so much done to the football fields that we may or may not have football at the complex. He said we have such a good relationship with the school district and they have worked so well with the recreation department

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for so many years that we really don’t have a need for football at the complex. Mr. McRae said they looked at things like the expansion of tennis program, soccer has come up in their discussions. He said they would certainly want to have picnic areas and a playground system. He said the key to this will being able to acquire a really good piece of property that’s strategically located. Mayor Watkins asked Mr. McRae if he anticipate this property to be owned by the City of Darlington. Mr. McRae said since the County has not been officially approached at this point because of the change that’s going on with them, since it will be a city type facility, he would envision it being owned by the City. Mr. Cannon said since Mr. McRae said the majority of the children are from Darlington County, maybe he needs to approach the County of Darlington as well.

FIRST READING ON ORDINANCE TO ANNEX PROPERTY (#166-00-02-115 - 1524 S. MAIN STREET (BOJANGLES)Upon motion of Mr. Chapman, seconded by Mr. Cannon, First Reading on ordinance to annex property of 166-00-02-115 at 1524 S. Main Street (Bojangles). All approved the motion.

MR. DANNIE SATTERFIELD SEMI-PRO FOOTBALL TEAMMr. Danny Satterfield appeared before Council once again to talk about starting a semi-pro football team in Darlington. Mr. Satterfield asked the City if they will buy the shoulder pads and helmets. Mr. Garland said the cost for thirty (30) adult shoulder pads and helmets will cost $3,750. Mayor Watkins asked Mr. Satterfield when does the season start and he said in April. Mayor Watkins asked Mr. Satterfield if he talked with Mr. Bradley and Mr. Ken McRae. Mr. Garland said they have met twice since Council instructed them to. Mr. Garland said Welch Stadium would work, but there are other issues to address such as security and insurance for players. Mayor Watkins asked Mr. Garland if he’s come to any conclusion as to the liability involved. Mr. Garland said his and Mr. Langley’s opinion is Mr. Satterfield’s group still has some organizational work to do. They need to demonstrate to the City that they do have insurance and they do have a plan for some type of security at the stadium. Mr. Garland asked Chief Cox if off-duty police officers could help out. He said there are issues of concessions and other things that need to be worked out. Mr. Garland said we can look at this some more, but the issue that Mr. Satterfield wanted the City to look at was the cost of helmets and shoulder pads. Mayor Watkins asked Mr. Garland if the City would be in any shape financially to make a commitment that would be contingent to working out some of these issues

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that he mentioned. Mr. Garland said he don’t have a problem with this is insurance and security issues are worked out, but the city can’t let the group use the facility for a sanctioned football game without insurance. Mr. Chapman wanted to know the difference between this type football and church softball. Mr. McRae said a church team would be considered a part of their program. They register through the recreation department, they pay the recreation department and the teams are set up through the recreation department. Mr. McRae said insurance for any of sports is covered under their Pearce & Pearce policy. Mr. McRae said his advice would be for the City to give a sub-lease agreement which would hold the City harmless. Chief Cox asked if it will make a difference with insurance if the team is just a recreation department team, an adult football, semi-pro or professional team. Mr. Garland said it seems like this needs to come back to administration again. Mr. Garland told Mr. Satterfield to come to his office on Friday at 3:00 PM. Mr. Cannon told Mr. Satterfield if he has a manager who is over this league maybe he should be the one to come so they can get the info they need. Mr. Satterfield said the manager lives in Anderson, SC, but he will see if he can get him to come. RELAXATION OF SUNDAY BLUE LAWS FOR CHRISTMAS SEASONMr. Garland said Citi Trends and Peebles made a request that the City allow them to open their stores earlier on Sunday, December 12th and Sunday, December 19th for the Christmas season. Mr. Garland said its management recommendation that we allow them to open earlier for the holidays. Mrs. Cohen made a motion that Council resolve to relaxing of Sunday blue laws for the Christmas season. The motion was seconded by Mr. Cannon. All approved the motion.

INFO – COUNCILMAN CANNON Mr. Cannon passed out papers concerning B.A. Gary Complex. He said he would like the complex to have the name of A.W. Stanley on the gym. Mrs. Cohen asked Mr. Cannon if he knew Mr. Stanley well. She said it would be good if there was research done on Mr. Stanley of his contributions. Mr. Cannon gave Mrs. Cohen a list of some of Mr. Stanley’s accomplishments. CITY MANAGER’S UPDATE1) Mr. Garland said the heat pumps are in at the new street department building 2) A letter about a grant that the City received for $25,000 grant for South Darlington 3) We received word from our grant consultant, Ms.

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Haidee Stith & Ms. Teresa Young that there’s a $300,00 that’s available for improvements to sewer pumps, lift stations, aerators and generators and there’s no match involved. Mr. Garland said we will be applying for this grant. 4) On November 8, 2010 he and Mayor Watkins at the request of Hartsville Mayor Pennington, met with several other officials from Darlington County at a restaurant in Hartsville to discuss different concerns the City and County may have together. Mr. Garland told council he included a synopsis of the meeting in their packet. 5) Mr. Garland went over the hospitality tax balance. 6) Mr. Garland said Council gave approval for him to work on a deal for the fire truck. They were able to work a deal with United Financial, a 3.9% APR for ten years with an annual payment of $35,500 a year. The total finance cost of the truck is $355,000. The first payment is not due until December 7, 2011. Chief Stone said there is a target date of December 15, 2010 for delivery of the truck. 7) Mr. Garland gave Council members the meeting schedule for 2011. 8) Mr. Garland went over general fund and water & sewer balances. 9) Mayor Watkins said Ms. Betty Carnes called and complained about rats around her house. Mr. Garland said the City put rat poison out around her house. Mayor Watkins said Ms. Carnes said she has an infestation of chinch bugs and asked if the City would pay $135.00 to have her house fumigated or have extermination done. 10) Mr. Langley and Mr. Shaw Dargan met with the County Transportation Committee last month and Mr. Langley requested $50,000 for the Cashua Street drainage project. Mr. Garland said they took Mr. Langley’s information and said they were going to meet. Mr. Garland said we should have a decision on this some time this month. 11) Mayor Watkins said Pastor Maxine Richardson is on the Board for the Veteran’s Outreach Center and she said someone stole the heating and air conditioning units which set them back so they can’t open the facility. Mr. Garland said Pastor Richardson came by the office on Friday and he told her to write a letter which we would put on file for next budget year. He said we will consider this along with other budget requests. 12) Mr. Garland said he needs to have an executive session to discuss an economic development issue.

REMINDERSDarlington YMCA Reindeer Run, 8:00 AM on Saturday, December 11, 2010; City Offices will be closed December 23rd, 24th & 27th for Christmas Holidays; City Offices will be closed Monday, January 3, 2011 in observance of New Year’s Day; Regular Council Meeting will be held

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Tuesday, January 4, 2011 at 7:00 PM in the city of Darlington Council Chambers.

EXECUTIVE SESSIONUpon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Mrs. Cohen, to go into executive session at 8:25 PM to discuss an economic development issue.

Upon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Mr. Cannon the executive session ended at 8:51 PM. ADJOURNMENTUpon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Mr. Cannon, the meeting adjourned at 8:53 PM.

Mayor

ATTEST:

Clerk & Treasurer

CITY OF DARLINGTONREGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING

November 2, 2010

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The Regular Meeting of Darlington City Council was held November

2, 2010 at 7:00 P.M. in the Council Room of City Hall at 400 Pearl Street.

PRESENT AT MEETING:Councilpersons Mr. Cannon, Mr. Wayne Chapman and Mr. John Segars. Also present: Mayor Watkins, City Manager, Mr. Howard Garland, Mr. Rodney Langley, Mr. Robert Garland, Mr. Freddie Kinsaul, Fire Chief Stone, Police Chief Jay Cox, and a room full of visitors.

PRAYERMayor Pro-Tem Cannon gave the invocation which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

APPROVAL OF MINUTESUpon motion of Mr. Cannon, seconded by Mr. Segars, to approve Minutes of Regular Council Meeting October 5, 2010 and one Work Session on October 26, 2010. All approved the motion.

MR. WILLIAM JACKSONMr. Jackson said he has a concern about the quality of life where he lives on St. John’s Street. He said over a period of time properties are run down and there’s a problem with people walking through his yard. Mr. Jackson wanted Council’s feelings on this. Mr. Jackson said a lot of the homes have been turned into section 8 housing and with this brings its own issues. Mayor Watkins said they all are concerned with the quality of life and also different characters for different neighborhoods. Mayor Watkins said as a City, when someone approaches us about a problem, the first question we have to ask is if that person is breaking the law. He said we don’t have a lot to do with rental home and Section 8 housing. Mr. Jackson said it makes him pause and wonder if he wants to keep putting money into his piece of property here in town. Mr. Jackson said worked up and down the East Coast and his wife works in Florence and they chose to live in Darlington because they like it. Mr. Jackson said he grew up here and he likes the historic older homes. He said he doesn’t want to think about moving because they enjoy their neighbors, but it’s disturbing to him what seems to be the trend. Mayor Watkins said it’s difficult to go above the limits of the law. Mr. Cannon asked Mr. Jackson if people come in his yard. Mr. Jackson said, “Yes, they cut through his yard and there’s also a lot of paper that ends up in his yard. Mayor Watkins told Mr. Jackson he would address his second concern

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because they previously talked about it. Mayor Watkins said a couple of months ago Mr. Jackson attended a meeting in which he came in later in the meeting. When discussing the trees on Cashua Street Mr. Jackson had an idea about what could be done to make the situation better or look for someone who could take care of the drainage problem, Mr. Jackson raised his hand to be recognized so he could speak and Mr. Garland would not recognize him nor allow him to speak. Mayor Watkins said Mr. Jackson’s complaint to him was why Mr. Garland would stop him from talking when he wanted to be recognized. Mayor Watkins said he told Mr. Jackson that Mr. Garland should not have done this because he is the Mayor, he runs the meetings and he recognizes people that want to speak at the meetings. Mayor Watkins said he told Mr. Jackson that this would not happen again. Mayor Watkins said Mr. Jackson asked him if Mr. Garland would apologize for his behavior and he said that he would because this was something that Mr. Garland should not have done. Mr. Garland apologized to Mr. Jackson for hurting his feelings. Mr. Garland said he just wish Mr. Jackson would have come to him with this issue because the first he heard about it was at the last Council meeting. Mr. Jackson accepted Mr. Garland’s apology.

Mayor Watkins said with the transition from Mr. Langley to Mr. Garland in January of this year, these second readings were not done.

SECOND READING ON TAX LEVY ORDINANCE 125 MILSUpon motion of Mr. Chapman, seconded by Mr. Cannon, Second Reading on Ordinance for Tax Levy of 125 mils. All approved the motion.

SECOND READING ON BUSINESS LICENSE ORDINANC E Upon motion of Mr. Cannon, seconded by Mr. Segars, Second Reading on Ordinance for Business License Tax, which unanimously carried.

CASHUA STREET DRAINAGE LINE UPDATE – MR. LANGLEYMr. Langley said on the Cashua Street drainage problem, we have five options 1) Do nothing; 2) Take down the existing healthy trees, grind the stumps and DOT would come in and replace the line itself and cover it back up. Mr. Langley said just guessing, it would cost the City approximately $6,000; 3) Mr. Langley said a company from Pembroke, NC by the name of Porta Scientific gave a price of $6,912 to come in and clean the terra cotta pipe. Mr. Langley said at first the company said they would not touch terra cotta because it is extremely brittle and will break. The price they gave of

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$6,912 would be to clean only and they said they would not be responsible if the line collapsed or if it collapsed with what they did; 4) Mr. Langley said he received a price of $21,000 from another company to go in and clean the roots out with the same type hydro-blast system. He said they would then put a root cutter in and cut roots out. Mr. Langley said this company said they would put someone in the line if they had to. Mr. Langley said they also talked about putting metal rings at the joints to keep the roots from coming back through the joints. He said this was all based on cement pipes and when they found out the pipe was terra cotta; they strongly suggested putting in a slip-line. Mr. Langley said the company guarantees they can get through the line. They gave an estimate of $41,000 to put in a slip-line; 5) Mr. Langley said he had a local engineering firm look at putting a parallel line in and cap off the existing line. Mr. Langley said both option #4 and #5 would require a new catch basin near the corner of Spring & Cashua Streets. He said if we put a new line in and by this being a state highway, the highway department will not let us patch the area, they will require that we resurface the entire street from the beginning to the end of the project. The total for this option of $114,000. Mr. Langley said the committee and his preference and recommendation is option #4 (the slip-line). Mr. Langley said its 201 feet to the corner of Spring & Cashua Streets. Mr. Langley said he initially thought about asking Council to budget one-half of the money next year and the other half the following year, but if we do it this way, it will be 2 1/2 years before we would have the money and the committee wants it done sooner. Mr. Langley said we could borrow the money from our surplus fund and pay it back. Mr. Segars asked about the option to relocate the line under the sidewalk. Mr. Langley said the committee discussed this and felt that this could do as much damage to the trees as taking them out because you are going to cut so many roots while doing this. Mayor Watkins asked what was in this year’s budget where we could borrow the money. Mr. Garland said we will be talking about our bond and if we come under, it’s possible we could use some of the surplus for this if the bond attorney says it’s ok. Mr. Segars asked if DOT could do the project cheaper than $114,000 and the City possible pay part of the bill. Mr. Langley said in retrospect he sees what they will probably say; you take the trees down and we’ll put the line in. Mr. Langley said we can ask DOT to help us with the slip line if that’s what Council wants to do. Mr. Segars suggested that we negotiate with DOT on the street part of the project first and if not, see if they will share part of the slip-line expense.

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FIRST READING ON ORDINANCE FOR ISSUANCE OF WATER/SEWER REFUNDING REVENUE BONDMr. Ben Zeigler, Bond Attorney for BB&T, said now is as good a time as any to take out our old debt and putting on new debt. He said this will save us some money because the bond market is more favorable to borrowers now than it’s been in decades. Mr. Zeigler gave Council copies of two ordinances. He told Council they have two ordinances because they will be wiping away all of the old debt which was issued under an old master bond ordinance. Mr. Zeigler said the second ordinance is a series ordinance. He said state law allows municipalities to borrow money to make improvements to a “system” in our case, our water and sewer system and pledge the revenues of the system, but also to give a lien to the bond holders against the system. Mer. Zeigler said this basically what’s included in the first ordinance (the Master Bond Ordinance). Mr. Zeigler said this ordinance will allow us to have that lien and secure not only this bond, but also future bonds. Mr. Zeigler also said City is definitely on mark this new ordinance pays off the old bond. He said the Series Ordinance has the payback terms included and the details of the bond. Mr. Zeigler said the bond ordinance includes a lot of covenants, operational requirements regarding the system. He said the terms in the bond ordinance are pretty standard. Mr. Garland said he had Mr. Langley to look over the bond ordinance also since he has had previous experience with this. Mr. Garland said Mr. Langley agreed that the language was standard and everything looked fine. Mr. Garland told Council said he is recommending a fifteen year payback at approximately $181,172.24 and our first payment will be 2011 and the last payment would be in 2025. Mr. Zeigler told Council if they approve the bond ordinance and the series ordinance tonight and have second reading in December, we will be able to close sometime before Christmas. Mr. Garland said timing is the key here because if we are not able to do this now and we try to do it later, we will have to furnish our own tower and lose the volume of power of not working with the City of Hartsville and Darlington County. Mr. Zeigler reiterated again that the bond ordinance (the larger ordinance) has most of the detail of the covenants and the series ordinance (the smaller of the two) has the details of the issuance of this bond. Mr. Zeigler said once the old series ordinance is paid off the ordinance becomes invalid and the new ordinance will be in force. Mr. Garland said the savings projection is $146,000 per year according to our engineers. Mayor Watkins said Mr. Kinsaul expressed his confidence in this endeavor by saying in a work that with the new meters, we should be able to contain our cost and we would not have to go up on our water and sewer rates for two years. Mr. Kinsaul said

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unless we get a major hit from the sewer side, he feels confident that we would not have to raise water rates for a couple of years. Mr. Kinsaul said Chesterfield Rural Water has had this system in for over two years and their savings has been astronomical not to mention the customer service. Mr. Kinsaul said this is the only working system in the Country that they have seen. Mayor Watkins asked if Hartsville is committed to this project. Mr. Kinsaul said Hartsville has gone to Rural Development (RDA). Mr. Garland said the County is committed as well and they are waiting to hear back from the State. Mr. Garland said we plan to use our staff to install the meters. Mr. Chapman made a motion to approve First Reading for issuance of water and sewer refunding revenue bond. Mr. Segars seconded the motion. All approved the motion. FIRST READING ON ORDINANCE TO BORROW $2,200,000 WATER/SEWER BOND Upon motion of Mr. Chapman, seconded by Mr. Segars, First Reading on Series Bond Ordinance to borrow $2,200,000 Water/Sewer Bond for telemetric water meters, which unanimously carried.

MR. JOHN KENNEDY - SEMI-PRO FOOTBALL TEAMMr. Danny Satterfield said he has been playing with a semi-pro football team at Myrtle Beach and he was wondering if they could bring something like this to Darlington. He said they are registered with IRS as a non-profit organization. He said this program is to help young men with their lives. He said you really don’t know how a sport can really change someone’s life. Mr. Satterfield said they practice at the high school every Sunday evening. Mr. Satterfield said he feels this would be a big success for the City of Darlington. He said they can get the recreation department, the high school and the middle school involved along with the marching band. He said it’s not that much of a cost to do this. Mr. Satterfield said they were looking for sponsors, but this didn’t work out. He said they are asking if the City can help them buy helmets and shoulder pads. Mayor Watkins asked Mr. Satterfield if there were leagues in other towns that they can play against and Mr. Satterfield said, “Yes”. Mr. Satterfield said they played for Myrtle Beach this year, but their team had to fold because they had no means of getting to different areas. He said the person who is in charge of the league was supposed to be sending them some paperwork. Mr. Satterfield said the league is organized through the State. Mr. Garland asked Mr. Satterfield how many people he was looking to buy helmets and shoulder pads for. Mr. Satterfield said some of the guys have their helmets and shoulder pads, but

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they are looking to suit up thirty players. Mayor Watkins asked the young man if he talked with our Recreation Director, Mr. Wallace Bradley and he said, “No”. Mayor Watkins told Mr. Satterfield that they need to get with the City Recreation Director and the County Recreation Director and see what they can come up with. Mr. Garland told Mr. Satterfield to come to his office tomorrow at 3:00 PM and he will have both Mr. Wallace Bradley and Mr. Ken McRae there. Mayor Watkins told Mr. Satterfield we will see what we can do.

CITY MANAGER’S UPDATE1) Mr. Garland said the decision is due next week for the Renaissance Planning Grant that we applied for S. Darlington. 2) EDA Grant implementation has not changed. The engineering is due in January and we will bid out in February and hopefully finish in July, 2012. He said this is the industrial grant for Georgia Pacific, and our head works for Polyquest and Nucor. 3) The CDBG West Darlington sewer grant has been delayed. We have to get a railroad permit from S.C. Central Railroad to work on their property since the sewer line runs under their property. Mr. Kinsaul is working on this. 4) Mr. Garland said this was discussed in the last work session that Darlington Veneer has asked for one-third of an acre of property that the city owns. Mr. Garland said the property is not used by the City and it sits between two pieces of property owned by Ms. Jean Quick. Mr. Garland said Darlington Veneer has asked that the City convey this property to them with no fees involved. Mr. Garland told Council that Darlington Veneer wants to push this through in a hurry, but we can put this on the December agenda. Mayor Watkins said this is a piece of property that the City did not know they owned. Mayor Watkins said there is a sewerline that runs through this property to our old headworks. Mayor Watkins said we don’t know if there’s a recorded deed. Mr. Garland said Mr. Howle and the attorney for Darlington Veneer are working doing a title search. Mayor Watkins made a suggestion that we could pass a resolution of intent to convey the property. Mr. Segars made a motion of our intent to convey the property to Darlington Veneer. The motion was seconded by Mr. Cannon. Mr. Cannon said we need to get in writing that we will be able to go on the property to do work or whatever needs to be done. All voted in favor of the motion. 5) Mr. Garland said for several weeks the City has been meeting with Blanchard Caterpillar about leasing a 416E Backhoe Loader. He said the backhoe we have now is pretty old. He said a Caterpillar salesman came in about a month ago and he said Sumter, Orangeburg, Florence, Georgetown and Horry Counties are moving toward

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leasing equipment rather than purchasing. Mr. Garland said the salesman pointed out the advantages of leasing vs. owning. Mr. Garland said he would like to lease the backhoe for five years and the cost per month will be $1,190 for sixty months with a balloon payment of $24,692. Mr. Garland said after checking with other municipalities and counties, when the lease is up, the equipment is worth more than the selling price. Mr. Garland said the equipment is covered under a warranty and if anything happens to it, Blanchard Caterpillar is responsible for fixing it. He said the City is only responsible for changing the tires and buying the gas for it. Mr. Garland said the lease price will be split between the water & sewer department and the street & sanitation department. Mr. Garland said we would sell one of the other backhoes to help cover some of the cost per year. Mr. Segars made a motion to lease the 415E backhoe loader for five years @ $1,190 per month. The motion was seconded by Mr. Chapman. All approved the motion. 6) Mr. Garland gave Council the general fund balance.

Mayor Watkins said we need to try and get Burger King into the City Limits.

REMINDERSThursday, November 18, 2010 @ 6:30 PM – City Supper at Recreation Department Gym on Sanders Street; Thursday, November 25th & Friday November 26th, City offices will be closed in observance of Thanksgiving holidays; Thursday, December 2, 2010 – Christmas on the Square; Sunday, December 5, 2010 at 4:00 PM will be the Annual Christmas Parade followed by the Tree Lighting ceremony at 5:00 PM; Tuesday, December 7, 2010 @ 7:00 PM – our next regularly scheduled council meeting.

EXECUTIVE SESSIONUpon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Mr. Cannon, to go into executive session at 8:28 PM to discuss an economic development issue.

Upon motion of Mr. Cannon, seconded by Mr. Segars to end executive session. ADJOURNMENTUpon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Mr. Chapman, the meeting adjourned at 9:18 PM.

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Mayor

ATTEST:

Clerk & Treasurer

CITY OF DARLINGTONREGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING

October 5, 2010

The Regular Meeting of Darlington City Council was held October 5,

2010 at 7:00 P.M. in the Council Room of City Hall at 400 Pearl Street.

PRESENT AT MEETING:Councilpersons Ms. Gloria Hines Williams, Mrs. Dyan Cohen, Mrs. Annette Thomas, Mr. Cannon and Mr. John Segars. Also present: Mayor Watkins, City Manager, Mr. Howard Garland, Mr. Rodney Langley, Mr. Robert Garland, Mr. Freddie Kinsaul, Fire Chief Stone, Police Chief Jay Cox, Mr. Jim Brunson, and a room full of visitors.

PRAYERMrs. Thomas gave the invocation which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

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APPROVAL OF MINUTESUpon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Mrs. Cohen, to approve Minutes of Regular Council Meeting in September, 2010. All approved the motion.

MS. WANDA WINGATE – SOUTH MAIN STREETMs. Wingate said there was a rut in S. Main Street for seven or eight years and with the big trucks coming thru town and hitting the holes in the street caused her steps to separate and damage her columns. (Ms. Wingate said DOT has recently paved this area in the street.) She said she fixed her steps in 2000 and where the rut was running through the street it runs directly to her column and caused it to rattle apart. Ms. Wingate said the late Mr. Preacher Muldrow had columns built on his house and they were level, but in a short period of time they already look like the leaning tower. Ms. Wingate said she called someone at the City today and they told her she should get her lawyer and go see DOT. Ms. Wingate said she pays her taxes to the City and County of Darlington and she thinks they should fend for her as far as getting her columns like they were before the trucks caused damage to them. She said she wouldn’t have anything to say if she hadn’t fixed the column. She said one side of her columns are still intact. Ms. Wingate asked Mayor and Council what can be done as far as them taking care of the matter. Mayor Watkins said he doesn’t know if there is any precedent for the City to fix someone’s home or foundation because vibration from trucks. Mr. Watkins said the City has an ordinance that prohibits trucks from coming through the City Limits, but he knows there are some that do get through. Ms. Wingate said her thing is, she asked for this to be fixed several years ago and nothing was ever done. Ms. Wingate said when she first asked for something to be done, there was nothing wrong with her columns at that time, but after years of waiting, the problem occurred. Mayor Watkins told Ms. Wingate that the City is not in a position to fix her steps. He said he doesn’t know if they can make a connection, maybe it is and maybe it’s not. Ms. Wingate said she is not asking for ram-jack to come, which is what really needs to be done to re-level her whole house, but she is only asking about her steps. Mayor Watkins said the thing is is the City liable. Ms. Wingate said this is the same as a pothole in the street. She said if a person hits a pothole and damaged their car the City would be liable for that. Mayor Watkins told Ms. Wingate there is a clearer connection between potholes this scenario. Mayor Watkins said he doesn’t think they can make the decision as to whether the City is liable because it is a state highway.

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Ms. Hines suggested that we contact DOT and see what they can do about this problem because it has been going on for a long time. Ms. Hines said a letter was written to DOT and they came in and paved that part and it has stopped the problem, but the problem that was there before they came in still there. Ms. Wingate asked Mrs. Thomas how she feels about the problem since she lives on S. Main Street. Mrs. Thomas said our local police officers are allowed to enforce laws on this street, but where do you draw the fine line whether it’s a state controlled street or city controlled street. Mrs. Thomas said we didn’t have any liability to the boys that drowned at the pool, but money was pulled from somewhere to pay for their funerals. Mrs. Thomas said there needs to be some sort of conference between the City Manager and Ms. Wingate. Ms. Wingate said she talked with Mr. Garland this morning and she was not satisfied with what she was told. Ms. Hines-Williams made a motion to instruct Mr. Langley to write DOT about the three houses that were affected by the street. Mrs. Thomas said she doesn’t want to be included because she had her house repaired. Ms. Wingate said she can repair her house also, but that is beside the point. Ms. Hine-Williams restated her motion-to instruct Mr. Langley to write DOT to see what they can do about the two houses on S. Main Street about the upset from the highway from previous years. Mr. Cannon seconded the motion. Mrs. Thomas asked Ms. Hine-Williams why instruct Mr. Langley and not the City Manager. Ms. Hines-Williams said with all of the attitudes, she thinks Mr. Langley would be best suited to handle the situation. Mrs. Cohen said Council is not empowered to instruct anybody under the City Manager to take action. Ms. Hines-Williams amended her motion to include: City Manager, Mr. Howard Garland to find someone other than himself if he doesn’t want to handle the matter to see what can be done about Ms. Wingate’s house on S. Main Street. Mrs. Thomas seconded the amended motion. BOY SCOUT TROOP #547Mayor Watkins recognized Boy Scout Troop #547 and their leaders. The troop has to do community involvement in order to earn merit badges. Mayor Watkins thanked the troop for coming and told them they were welcome to stay as long as they like.

BOND ATTORNEY BEN ZEIGLER- POSSIBLE W&S BONDMr. Garland said he and Mr. Kinsaul has been in conversation with Mr. Zeigler for about three or four months. Mr. Garland said with interest rates as low as they are he feels this is a historic time to refinance what we owe

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(approximately $700,000) and look at adding on additional debt for 1) telemetric meters where we can read all the meters at one time and 2) have enough money to match storm drainage grants that we have applied for. Mr. Garland told Council after they hear Mr. Zeigler’s numbers they have a work session to talk about specific projects. He said whatever date council chooses, someone from Chesterfield Rural Water that has telemetric meters, will come to the work session and tell us about what the improvement upgrade has done for their company. Mr. Zeigler said he is a bond attorney with Haynesworth, Sinkler and Boyd and has done a great deal of work for the City of Darlington over the years. He said he represent a lot of counties, cities, and school districts and help them borrow money in compliance with the law and make their borrowing is done properly under the law as well as cheaper and efficiently as possible. He said Mr. Garland contacted him earlier this year about helping to finance the proposed improvements. Mr. Zeigler said he looked at the outstanding debt that the City has. He said after the City makes their bond payment December 1st, the City will have about $590,000 outstanding on the bond that was issued in 2002 at a rate that considerably higher than available rates on the market now. Mr. Zeigler said in addition to looking at the new borrowing for the new project, they looked at rolling the old bond over into the new bond and have one single bond outstanding. He said you would get cost savings by doing this. Mr. Ziegler passed out an amortization schedule showing the payment schedule for refinancing our current bond at 10 and 15 year repayment. He also included a schedule combining the old bond loan and the new bond for 10 and 15 year payments. Mr. Zeigler told Council if would like to move forward with the improvements Mr. Garland discussed, they can do the improvements as a bond by itself leaving our old bond outstanding or they can combine the two by refinancing the old bond, wipe the slate clean and have a new set of documents and a new structure. Mr. Zeigler said if Council decides to move forward with this they will come to our next meeting with two ordinances (a master bond ordinance and a series ordinance for this particular series of bonds that will be issued). He said the commitment from BB&T is dated September 22, 2010 and is good for 45 days, but the bankers have indicated a willingness to extend this date or issue a new letter. Mr. Garland said this new system will improve our revenue stream and we won’t have to raise water rates for another two to three years. Mrs. Cohen asked if we are in a rush to do this. Mr. Kinsaul said we are trying to rush with this because Darlington County Water & Sewer Authority is installing new meters at the end of the year and they have offered the City a chance piggy-back their infrastructure which will save us

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approximately $250,000. Mr. Kinsaul said the County made the offer to the City of Darlington and the City of Hartsville. He said the County will put up towers which the City would otherwise have to put up (and pay for) if we don’t use their system. Mrs. Thomas asked Mr. Kinsaul if he talked to the County during his negotiations about adding in all the areas in the City of Darlington that have water and we can’t collect sanitation. Mr. Kinsaul they have a wonderful working relationship with Darlington County Water & Sewer and they will cut the water off if a person doesn’t pay their sanitation bill. Mr. Kinsaul said he is looking at a 5% efficiency increase. Mrs. Thomas asked if we looked at this so that we don’t have to raise our water rates in order to make the payments on this bond. Mr. Garland said this new system will improve our revenue stream and we don’t see a need to have to raise water rates for another two to three years. Mayor Watkins said Council should have enough info for them to empower the City Manager to move forward and we can schedule a work session. Mrs. Thomas had concerns about not accepting bids from other companies. Mr. Kinsaul said this is the only company that has this system. Mrs. Cohen said she would like to see numbers before making a decision. Mrs. Thomas wanted to know what we will do with the new meters we just purchased. Mr. Kinsaul said the company will buy back any of their meters and all others will be sold for scrap. Mr. Segars made a motion that we move forward and finish discussing this at the work session. Mr. Zeigler told Council he don’t think they need a resolution but he will go ahead and prepare the ordinances and have them ready if they decide to move forward after the work session. Mr. Segars withdrew his motion. No Council action needed.

INFOMayor Watkins said Council will need to go into executive session to discuss an economic development issue immediately after reminders.

REQUEST TO CHANGE DATE FOR HALLOWEENMayor Watkins said it was suggested to change Halloween from Sunday, October 31, 2010 to Saturday, October 30, 2010. Upon motion of Ms, Hine-Williams, seconded by Mrs. Thomas to change Halloween from Sunday, October 31, 2010 to Saturday, October 30, 2010, which unanimously carried.

WILLIAMS/FARROW MONUMENT UPDATEMr. Langley gave a report on the Elloitt Williams, Billy Farrow statuettes. Mr. Langley said the committee would like to have life size statues of the

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two monuments and have them placed at Carnegie Library. He said they cost approximately $75,000 each. Mr. Langley said the committee has been meeting for about a year and a half and they have raised approximately $2,400. Mr. Langley said the committee voted and wants to move forward with fundraising projects. Mr. Langley said the committee is not asking for any funds at this time, but they are asking for Council’s endorsement of the project. Mrs. Cohen made a motion to endorse the committee’s efforts to raise money. The motion was seconded by Mr. Segars. Mrs. Thomas said since we are such a small town is there some way we can incorporate this and put the statutes on the front lawn of the Carnegie Library. Council told her that is the plan to put them at the Carnegie Library. Mrs. Thomas said it might be a little haphazard to put the statues in the yard of the Carnegie Library and the inside of the building needs to be repaired first. Mr. Langley said in his opinion, since a different committee was not able to raise the money to do the interior, if they raise the money to put the statues on the outside may generate enough interest that they can get something started for the inside. Mrs. Thomas wanted to know who picked these two people. Mr. Langley said these are two local heroes. There was discussion between Mr. Langley, Mr. Garland and the Mayor about how these two people were chosen. Mrs. Thomas said she wants it to go on record that Mr. Langley said the committee is not asking the City for any money, but this a community effort. Mr. Garland said the committee asked the County if they could put the statues on the courthouse grounds and they said “No”. Ms. Hines-Williams said there can be another committee at another time that can have a statute erected of the person of their choice. Mayor Watkins said if the City endorses this he thinks we should offer the committee City property to put it on. Mrs. Cohen withdrew her motion. Mrs. Thomas made a motion for the City to endorse the concept to allow the committee to raise money and give them a place for the statues and that’s it. The motion was seconded by Mr. Segars. All approved the motion. BIDS FOR CASHUA STREET STORM DRAINAGE LINE CLEANOUTMr. Langley said he met with Mr. Bill and Joe Ervin about the possibility of putting a parallel line on Cashua Street and they suggested putting in a catch basin. Mr. Langley said he does not have the bid information tonight. He said Mr. Ervin is working on a price and engineer drawings to put a parallel line in, but he’s not prepared to give a price.

INFO

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Senator Malloy stopped by the meeting on his way to Hartsville and Mayor Watkins invited him to say a few words.

SAFETY IN WORKPLACE RESOLUTIONUpon motion of Mrs. Cohen, seconded by Mrs. Thomas to approve “Safety in the Workplace” resolution, which unanimously carried.

INFOMrs. Hines-Williams had Senator Malloy to come back in the meeting once he left, to give clarity on the Preservation of Evidence Act. Senator Malloy said if it’s a case that’s pending, evidence must be preserved. He said you must petition the courts to get items back if sentence is 10 years or more.

CITY MANAGER’S UPDATE1) Mr. Garland said the hazard tree grant has been completed and they were able to take down fifteen trees. He said they have money left over and they may be able to take down three or four more. 2) Darlington School District is having Principal for a Day on October 13, 2010 if anyone wants to take part. 3) Mr. Garland said the Police Department received a DUI Enforcement Program Award for the eighth straight year in the amount of $45,273. 4) Mr. Garland said the USDA Fire Truck Grant is in doubt and as of today he still hasn’t heard from them. He said the current quote they have for a fire truck is $275,000 fully equipped. He said Fire Chief Jim Stone would like to go ahead and get the truck with a ten year payback and financed by the company itself with around 3%-3.5%. Mr. Garland said if we lose this truck, a truck of similar size with equipment would cost $350,000. Chief Stone said the company is holding this truck and if we don’t get this particular truck because of the size, it will cost us a lot more to get one later. He said if we have to purchase a truck it will cost more than $275,000 and it won’t come with the equipment that this company is willing to put on it. Chief Stone said this is a 2007 fire truck and it carries a full factory warranty. Chief Stone said he has a payback amount of $31,000 already budgeted. Mr. Garland said he still don’t have word back from USDA and it would be about a month of a window and we would put in the order for the truck and if we happen to get the grant we would apply it toward the purchase price. Mr. Garland said if get the grant before the truck is delivered, we can still apply it, but once we agree to purchase the truck and agree to our own terms, we can’t go back and retroactively use grant money. Mr. Robert Garland said the problem is the size of the truck and when we go to replace this truck we will spend $75,000 plus to get back to

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where we are now. He said the price includes putting this truck to their exact specs which they were not willing to do until we sign an agreement. Mr. Garland said putting the truck to our exact specs will take approximately three or four weeks which gives us that window to possibly get the money from USDA. Mrs. Thomas said it seems like Council just voted on buying three fire trucks in the last few years. Chief Stone said the last several trucks purchased were used trucks. He said the last truck purchased was a 1995 model that we are paying on. Chief Stone said the size of the truck that they purchase is an issue in order to get it in the fire station. Mr. Robert Garland said Council has approved buying this truck with the grant money, but it doesn’t seem they are going the grant money but they need to go ahead and buy the truck anyway. He said if they wait and buy a truck like this later with equipment, it will cost a lot more. Mr. Segars made a motion to move forward on purchasing the fire truck with the caveat that we buy as much time to keep the grant possibility open and ultimately purchase the truck with or without the grant. The motion was seconded by Mrs. Cohen. All approved the motion. 5) EDA Grant that was awarded has a large engineering process to go through which should be finished sometime in January, 2011 and then we will put the grant out for bids with the idea that we will award the bid sometime in Spring and the project will be completed around June, 2012. (The grant was for $1.8M and a match of $204,000 from the City) 6) Mr. Garland said he worked out a deal with Allied Waste to save approximately $28,00-$30,000 on recycling. He said if a person has a Thursday recycling day, it will be picked up Monday and if you have a Friday recycling day, pickup will be Tuesday. Mr. Garland said this will start Monday, November 1st. He said he asked Allied Waste to do a study of how many homes were using recycling and only 900 homes out of 3,300 were using recycling. Mr. Garland said we will publicize this heavily this month by putting in News & Press, put on the water bills and also have flyers placed in resident homes. He said they negotiated a new contract with Allied Waste for two years which will save us additional money. Mr. Garland said looking back in 2008, we paid Allied Waste $383,000 and this amount will be reduced to around $290,000 7) Mr. Garland went over general fund balance and hospitality tax fund balance. 8) Mr. Garland said an executive session is needed to discuss an economic development matter. REMINDERSWednesday 6, 2010 MASC Regional meeting in Dillon, SC at 11:00 AM; Saturday, October 9, 2010 S.C. Sweet Potato Festival-Public Square from 9:00 AM-4:00 PM; Saturday, October 16, 2010-DDRA Yard Sale on the

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Square; Tuesday, November 2, 2010 Regular City Council Meeting at 7:00 PM.

EXECUTIVE SESSIONUpon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Mrs. Cohen, to go into executive session at 9:40 PM to discuss negotiations.

Upon motion of Mr. Cannon, seconded by Mr. Segars to end executive session at 10:05 PM.

ADJOURNMENTUpon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Ms. Hines, the meeting adjourned at 10:05 PM.

Mayor

ATTEST:

Clerk & Treasurer

CITY OF DARLINGTONREGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING

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September 7, 2010

The Regular Meeting of Darlington City Council was held September

7, 2010 at 7:00 P.M. in the Council Room of City Hall at 400 Pearl Street.

PRESENT AT MEETING:Councilpersons Ms. Gloria Hines Williams, Mrs. Dyan Cohen, Mrs. Annette Thomas, Mr. Chapman and Mr. John Segars. Also present: Mayor Watkins, City Manager, Mr. Howard Garland, Mr. Robert Garland, Mr. Freddie Kinsaul, Mr. Lee Bass, Fire Chief Stone, Police Chief Jay Cox, Mr. Tony DiLeo, and a room full of concerned citizens.

PRAYERMr. Chapman gave the invocation which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

APPROVAL OF MINUTESUpon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Mrs. Cohen, to approve Minutes of Regular Council Meeting in August, 2010. Mrs. Thomas said she was not present at the August, 2010 meeting and asked if the name of the lady mentioned in the City Manager’s Update on page 6 of the minutes. Mr. Garland said the ladies’ name is Ms. Jackie Breland. All approved the motion with the amendment noted by Mrs. Thomas.

MR. TONY DILEO – D.D.R.A. MANAGERMr. DiLeo said signage was approved for Title Max and for Mr. Charles Boan’s Steakhouse. In October, 2010, the Business Pride Award will be presented to the Jeweler’s Bench and the Residential Pride Award will be presented to Mr. and Mrs. Michael Sprott at 310 Wyandot Street. Mr. DiLeo said he is working on and has several quotes for a historic fence for the front of the City Admin Building. Mr. DiLeo said a new roof was put on Baker Street Café and the contractor is going to give him a quote to redo the interior of the building. He said he also has quotes for roof repair for the Emmanuel Building (the former Coggeshall Building) and the Crystal Cleaners Building. Mr. DiLeo said two sets of race driver hand-prints have been added to Liberty Lane - Mr. Jeff Burton and Mr. Ward Burton.

AGENDA CHANGE

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Mayor Watkins asked Council and Ms. Jackie Anderson if they would allow him to go ahead and address item #6 (Dixie Youth Machine Pitch Team Presentation) and then address item #5 (Anyone wishing to appear). There was no objection from Council.

DIXIE YOUTH MACHINE PITCH TEAM PRESENTATIONMayor Watkins presented each Dixie youth and the coaches with a “Key to the City of Darlington” for winning the State Championship.

MS. JACKIE ANDERSON – COUNCIL ON AGINGMs. Anderson asked Council to consider paving or resurfacing the parking lot at the Council on Aging building. Mayor Watkins said we have a tight budget this year, but we’ll take a look at it.

MS. JANICE BAROODY – PDRTAMs. Baroody appeared before Council to thank them and the community for giving them a chance to bring the DART bus to Darlington. She gave them an update on how things are going with the new transit system in Darlington. She said the average pick-up is about 30 people a day. Ms. Baroody said the commuter route picks up about 30-40 riders everyday. She said they get a lot of phone calls everyday about the service. She said they will continue to have “travel training” to educate locals on how to use the bus service. Ms. Baroody said they will be looking at the comments that they are getting to see how they can improve the service. Ms. Baroody said they have been asked about work transportation. She said this is critical right now and if they need to add an hour here or move things around so people can get to work, they will work on this because it is the most important thing right now. She said they put the bus stop sign information out for bids about a year ago. Ms. Baroody said it will take a few more months because it has to be bid out part by part. She said there is a lot of permitting involved and everything has to pass DOT specs. Ms. Hines wanted to know how long of a trial period there will be before they add another bus route and also when a bus route would be going to Society Hill because a lot of people from Darlington go to the doctor there. Ms. Baroody said they will have a public hearing to see what the need is for the community. Mrs. Thomas asked Ms. Baroody if she could let Council know an approximate amount of money that was granted for Darlington to do this and when will they get information for inclement weather. Ms. Baroody said PDRTA didn’t get a grant for Darlington. She said seven vehicles were purchased through SCDOT. They received stimulus money and it was dedicated to the rural areas. She said

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stimulus money paid for the vehicles and as far as inclement weather, they will update their website with this info. She said they do have an inclement weather policy posted on their web. Ms. Baroody said PDRTA generally follows what the Highway Patrol and the police departments tell them about the roads.

MR. DEAN SIGMON – DARLINGTON LION’S CLUBMr. Sigmon, who is past president of the Lion’s Club, gave an update on what was done by the Lion’s Club for the tornado victim’s in Darlington. Mr. Sigmon said the Lion’s Club received a grant of $10,000 to provide emergency assistance to the citizens that are affected. He said those funds allow them to issue vouchers for food, clothing, water, medical needs, but not addressing any sort of building material or suchlike. Mr. Sigmon said they assisted approximately 250 individuals and disbursed most of the $10,000. He said these funds come from international funds whereby individuals are honored with a $10,000 honorarium which goes into a large fund and this fund provided the Lion’s Club with the $10,000. Mr. Sigmon said they had never provided a $1,000 donation to this fund until this past year. He said the Lion Clubs in district 32C started sending them money also. He said twenty-four clubs sent a $100 each, so the Lion’s Club has $2,400 of undesignated money which they can use for building materials and to assist individuals who still have a need. Mr. Sigmon said they don’t want to hand out money, but can give vouchers or provide to the community a way for them to get building materials and supplies. He asked Council for their guidance for the $2,400. Ms. Hines said there are three houses left to be repaired. She said when we get the Chamber funds and the $2,400 from the Lion’s club, they will be able to complete all three owner occupied houses. She said if they don’t get the money from the Chamber, they should be able to complete two of the houses.

SECOND READING ON ORDINANCE TO ADOPT 2009 ICC BUILDING CODE – LEE BASSUpon motion of Ms. Hines, seconded by Mrs. Cohen, Second Reading on Ordinance 2010-06 to adopt 2009 ICC Building Code, which unanimously carried.

SECOND READING ON ORDINANCE TO ADOPT 2009 ICC FIRE CODE – LEE BASSUpon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Mrs. Cohen, First Reading on Ordinance 2010-07 to adopt 2009 ICC Fire Code. Mrs. Thomas wanted

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to know if the Fire Inspector gives any type instructions to the business as to the maximum number of occupants that can be inside a building. Chief Stone said they do this if it’s an assembly or something similar. Mrs. Thomas wanted to know if a person has to request this. Mr. Bass explained the inspection procedure to Mrs. Thomas. Mrs. Thomas asked if it would cost too much for the City to give some type of certificate to post showing how many occupants are allowed within a building. Chief Stone said all businesses would not require that you post the occupancy. Mr. Bass said whenever he does his initial inspection he can add this to the certificate of occupancy. He said they can add a line that says “maximum occupancy” for the building. All voted in favor of the motion.

SECOND READING ZONING REQUEST ON GROVE STREET – LEE BASSMr. Bass said Mr. McIver Odom asked to rezone the property at 113, 115 & 117 Grove Street from Core Commercial (CC) to General Commercial (GC) for purpose of converting the property from old washerette into a mini storage building. Mr. Bass said the Zoning Board approved Mr. Odom’s request. Upon motion of Mrs. Cohen, seconded by Ms. Hines Second Reading on zoning request to change 113, 115, & 117 Grove Street from Core Commercial District to General Commercial District. All approved the motion.

BID APPROVAL FOR HEAT PUMPS AT NEW STREET DEPT. BUILDINGMr. Garland said ten bids were received to install heat pumps at the new street department building. The low bidder was Kentco Heating & A/C with a bid of $21,000; MKA Mechanical was next with a bid of $21,800; the high bid was from W.L. Heating & Cooling for $51,589. Mr. Garland said Kentco is a reputable company with a solid reputation and has stood behind their work. Upon motion of Ms. Hines, seconded by Mrs. Thomas to accept low bid from Kentco Heating & A/C, which unanimously carried. Mr. Garland said to note that this grant was given to us last December with the City putting in approximately $2,500 and the balance is being paid with a weatherization grant of approximately $19,200.

BID APPROVAL FOR HAZARD TREE REMOVALMr. Garland said three bids were received for hazard tree removal:1) The low bid of $15,150 was received from Clearways Tree Service; J&J Complete Tree Service gave a bid of $18,900 and Hultgren’s Tree Service

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gave a bid of $23,900. Mr. Garland said the grant award was around $20,000 and with the extra money, he suggests that we work in areas that had tornado damage and work with them first. This does not include the four trees on Cashua Street that the citizens had a dispute about. Upon motion of Ms. Hines, seconded by Mrs. Thomas to accept low bid of $15,150 from Clearways Tree Service, which unanimously carried. Ms. Hines said a lady on Jessamine Street said at one time the City asked her to remove a tree on her property because the magnolia leaves were clogging the drain. Ms. Hines said the ladies’ husband was living at the time and he said, “No”, but he has since died and the wife asked her if the City would reconsider taking the tree down because it is stopping up the drain. Mr. Garland said if we can get the approval of the owner of the tree we can look at it in our regular tree maintenance. CDBG PLANNING RENAISSANCE GRANT – SOUTH DARLINGTONMr. Garland said this is a planning grant where we would bid it out and have a company come in and see where our greatest need is for massive neighborhood improvements in S. Darlington. Mr. Garland said this not only includes housing rehab, but storm drainage improvements, street lighting and sidewalk improvements. He said Ms. Haidee Stith found this grant and if we qualify through the planning, the City can receive up to $1M over two years. Mr. Garland said right now we need to apply for $25,000 to plan it and the City would have to match it with $2,500. Mr. Garland told Council if they approve this, the City will apply for the grant which will be due September 20, 2010. He said the Council of Governments (COG) will write the grant and we will bid it out sometime next winter. He said we will apply for the first $500,000 in September, 2011 and the second $500,000 would be in September, 2012. Upon motion of Mr. Chapman, seconded by Ms. Hines, for City to apply for CDBG Planning Renaissance Grant for the S. Darlington area. Mrs. Thomas said she was looking at the boundaries noted in paragraph #2 of the proposal and it states the West-South Darlington neighborhood which the infrastructure was already replaced in a previous grant. Mr. Garland said this is a comprehensive grant, not just a grant for water and sewer. Mrs. Thomas said from reading the proposal, she doesn’t see where it’s named in the proposal what’s going to be done. Mr. Garland said this is about the need, not about what’s going to be done. He said we will have a planning grant to see what’s going to be done and which areas have the greatest need. Mr. Garland said this is the pre-application which includes the narrative in order to get an application.

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Mrs. Thomas said she doesn’t see anything in the proposal about the specifics that he mentioned, such as sidewalks, etc. Mr. Garland he had to put this in for the pre-application in order to get an application. Mr. Garland previously stated that this grant not only includes housing rehab, but storm drainage improvements, street lighting and sidewalk improvements. All approved the motion.

CITY MANAGER’S UPDATE1) Mr. Garland said the Beautification Committee wants to appoint Ms. Sue Kilgo to the committee. Mr. Segars made a motion to appoint Ms. Sue Kilgo to the Beautification Committee. Mrs. Cohen seconded the motion. All approved the motion. 2) Two trees fell due to the thunderstorm Friday-one on Jackson Street and one on the corner of Maryland and Kentucky Drive. 3) Mr. Garland said there is a large hole in the Council on Aging parking lot and he asked Mr. Merrill Sheffield to fill the hole with dirt and pack it. Mr. Garland said he asked Mr. Sheffield to get a quote on fixing the parking lot and by looking at it Mr. Sheffield estimates it will cost approximately $15,000 to pave the entire lot. Mr. Garland said there is also an issue with tree roots. Mrs. Cohen made a motion for the City Manager to get bids on repaving the Council on Aging parking lot. Mr. Chapman seconded the motion. Ms. Hines said if the City does the paving, as large as the tree roots are, they will pushing through the pavement. Mr. Garland said we will have a recommendation on the paving and also on the tree roots. All approved the motion. 4) Mr. Garland said Friday at noon, there will be a CDBG check presentation for the sewer grant for West Darlington at the Admin Building for the. All Council members are invited to come for the photo shoot. 5) Mr. Garland said Darlington County hired Ms. Allison Peterson as the new Tourism Director. 6) Mr. Garland said he, Ms. Haidee Stith and Dr. Fred Carter will meet on September 14th to discuss uses of the old post office building. 7) Mr. Garland said Mr. Langley received a bid from Eaddie’s Construction to vacuum tree roots on Cashua Street. Eaddie’s Construction gave two estimates, one on sections of 22” pipe being 8’ (feet) in length at an estimated cost of $19,000; and the other for sections of the 22” pipe being 4’ (feet) in length at an estimated cost of $23,500. Mr. Garland said Mr. Langley investigated this and this is the best way for us to clean the lines without us having to go in the middle of the road which would cost anywhere between $80,000-$100,000. Mr. Garland said we would use line item 801-279 or take the money from the reserve fund; whatever Council decides. Mr. Garland said his recommendation would be to try this

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otherwise we are back where we were a month ago. Mrs. Cohen asked if we couldn’t find anybody else to bid on this. Mr. Garland said this is a very specialized area of work. There was a gentleman in the audience that said there is a lady out of Wilmington who has the ability to do this and she has the equipment to cut the roots out. The man in the audience said he gave the info to Mr. Bass, but Mr. Garland told him Mr. Langley is the one who would handle this. Mrs. Thomas asked if we can wait and get another bid. Mrs. Thomas said she has concerns about money coming out of the reserve fund and not being charged to department 630. Mrs. Thomas said when it’s time for the bids to come in she wants to know where we are going to get the money from to pay for it. Ms. Hines said one thing Council needs to consider is that the gentleman in the audience said he gave info to Mr. Bass about the lady that had the equipment to do this. Ms. Hines said they need to talk with Mr. Langley about this and see company would be the best to choose. Mr. Garland said he will instruct Mr. Langley to look into the other possibility. 8) Mr. Garland gave Council balances of the general fund and water & sewer accounts.

REMINDERSSaturday, September 18, 2010 at 9:00 AM-Williamson Park 5K Run/Walk on the Public Square; Thursday, September 28, 2010 at 6:00 PM – The Water Quality Association Meeting at the gym on Sanders Street; Saturday, October 2, 2010 at 10:00 AM – the Elk’s Club Parade, Downtown Darlington; Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 7:00 PM the Regular City Council Meeting.

ADJOURNMENTUpon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Ms. Hines, the meeting adjourned at 8:25 PM.

Mayor

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ATTEST:

Clerk & Treasurer

CITY OF DARLINGTONREGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING

August 3, 2010

The Regular Meeting of Darlington City Council was held August 3,

2010 at 7:00 P.M. in the Council Room of City Hall at 400 Pearl Street.

PRESENT AT MEETING:Councilpersons Ms. Gloria Hines Williams, Mrs. Dyan Cohen, Mr.

Cannon, Mr. Chapman and Mr. John Segars. Also present: Mayor Watkins, City Manager, Mr. Howard Garland, Mr. Robert Garland, Mr. Freddie Kinsaul, Mr. Lee Bass, Fire Chief Stone, Mr. Tony DiLeo, Ms. Susan Alexander, and a room full of concerned citizens.

PRAYERMrs. Cohen gave the invocation which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

APPROVAL OF MINUTESUpon motion of Mr. Chapman, seconded by Mr. Cannon, to approve Minutes of Regular Council Meeting in July, 2010. All approved the motion.

MR. TONY DILEO – D.D.R.A. MANAGER

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Mr. DiLeo said Baker Street Café and the finance company both had new roofs put on. The contractor is going to give a quote on doing the interior of the Baker Street Cafe. Mr. DiLeo said they also have a problem with the roof at the old Coggeshall Building. He said they also have a pigeon problem because there are holes in the side of the building. He said there are three trees on the Square that are diseased and they have to be cut down. Mr. DiLeo thanked Council for the landscaping that was done at the City Admin Building. Mr. DiLeo said there was a successful appreciation Day for Dr. Altman. Mrs. Jenny Altman opened up “Doodlebugs” on Exchange Street.

AGENDA CHANGEMayor Watkins said if there was no objection from Council he would like to move item nos. 7 & 8 before item #6 (anyone wishing to appear) on the agenda. There was no objection from Council. MS. TRICIA LECQUE – UNITED STATES CENSUS BUREAUMs. Lecque, Partnership Specialist-(Charlotte Region) with the US Census Bureau said that at the State level, South Carolina finished the mail response rate at 73%. She said this is 1% above the State and 8% above what we did in 2000. We were ranked at 49, but now we’re at 23. Ms. Lecque said there will be a final mail response and hopefully we will remain at #23 or go even higher. Ms. Lecque said this will make a difference with our funding. She said Darlington County maxed the national rate and the City of Darlington is 74%. Ms. Lecque told council that the Census Bureau sent her here to thank them for what they have done and also to let them know it’s not quite over yet. The Census Bureau will be sampling households to make sure they have an accurate and complete count (field verification). She said in September they will be providing training for use of the census data.

PRESENTATION TO MS. SARA HARDEEMayor Watkins said Ms. Hardee has been named by the Morning News as “Pee Dee Player of the Year”. Mayor Watkins presented Ms. Hardee with a “Key to the City of Darlington” for her accomplishments in baseball.

CONCERNED CITIZENS – TREES ON CASHUA STREETMayor Watkins said a situation arose from complaints about flooding on Cashua, Russell and S. Main Street. He said several years ago Council instructed the City Manager to write a letter to SC Department of Transportation (DOT) to request their aid in seeking a solution to the flooding problems. The problem on S. Main Street was because of

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insufficient sized pipes on S. Main and this would be a major fix costing in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The problem on Cashua Street was determined to be caused by pipes blocked by roots from trees growing along the tree wall. We requested DOT to come and see what could be done about it and they made a couple of attempts to free the line, but could not. Mayor Watkins said DOT came to the conclusion that they would not attempt to route the line out and suggested that we place a parallel line and agreed to do the drainage if the City of Darlington will take the trees down. Mayor Watkins said several trees in the area have become diseased and it’s really only one tree that is in question. Mayor Watkins said this was a possibility for the City because it was a very low cost solution to a problem that has existed for a long time. He said the City was in the process of looking at doing this, but by no means are we close to actually beginning work. Several citizens from the area spoke to Council stating their displeasure about the trees being cut down. Mrs. Martineau said the trees are what create beauty. She said the two properties on the corner of Cashua Street (the pretty white house and the pretty yellow) have made Darlington a show place. She said with all of the work that has been put into those two properties, there’s got to be a better way than to cut the trees down. Mrs. Martineau said she will do everything in her power to keep the trees standing. Mr. Shaw Dargan said to not take away the one thing that makes Darlington beautiful-our trees. Mr. Dargan told Council for them to remove the trees is a travesty. Dargan said his company has been in business for over fifty-five years because they do not base decisions on the bottom line. He said they base decisions on what is the best thing to do for the client, the community and for the people involved. Dr. Barry Clark lives on Cashua Street said he is concerned that because of the water that’s been allowed to collect and stand on the street has caused settling of the street. Mr. Clark told Council even if they repair the storm drains and remove the trees, he doesn’t think we will fix the water issue. He said some of the water will drain off, but the majority of the water won’t drain off. Mr. Clark said it’s a simple plumbing problem and he feels the only solution would be to raise the street and re-channel the street to drain to the drains. Mr. Clark asked if there was a way to run the drains underneath the street. Ms. Peggy Sheffield said she would like to see a comprehensive plan to drain the City of Darlington because this is not the only location. She then started talking about tractor trailer trucks coming down Columbian Street. Mayor Watkins said we have a truck ordinance to prevent the big trucks from coming into town. Another lady said we need to wait until the economy gets better and research this some more before removing the trees. She said there are things

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that can be done to make this livable because they have dealt with it this many years. Mrs. JoEllen Carroll said she and her husband feels that something can de done without taking the trees down. Mr. George Dargan wanted to know why the City couldn’t run the pipeline down the middle of Cashua Street. Mayor Watkins said DOT refused and told us they wouldn’t do it. Mr. Eugene Vaughan said to run the pipes under the sidewalk. Mr. Cannon made a motion that Council takes a second look at this in order to save the trees. Ms. Hines seconded the motion. Mr. Garland told Council they need to direct the management to look at engineering solutions with a plan A, B & C. Mr. Garland also suggested having a citizens committee (no more than 5-6 people) consisting of some of the citizens present tonight that can meet with staff on this issue. Mrs. Cohen amended the motion that we ask DOT and an engineer to look at the possibility of placing the pipe under the sidewalk and also have an outside engineering firm look at options which would include looking at Dr. Clark’s point (about there still be additional problems) and to ask DOT to articulate in writing what the cost would at taking another approach that would save the trees. Ms. Hines seconded the motion. Mr. Langley wanted clarity on which trees they were speaking of. Mayor Watkins said they are addressing the healthy trees on Cashua Street. Mr. Chapman amended the motion to include five (5) members of the community to work with city staff on the issue. All voted in favor of the motion and the amendments.

FIRST READING ON ORDINANCE TO ADOPT 2009 ICC BUILDING CODE – LEE BASSUpon motion of Mr. Chapman, seconded by Mr. Segars, First Reading on Ordinance 2010-06 to adopt 2009 ICC Building Code, which unanimously carried.

FIRST READING ON ORDINANCE TO ADOPT 2009 ICC FIRE CODE – LEE BASSUpon motion of Mr. Chapman, seconded by Mrs. Cohen, First Reading on Ordinance 2010-07 to adopt 2009 ICC Fire Code, which unanimously carried.

SECOND READING ON ORDINANCE #2010-5Upon motion of Ms. Hines, seconded by Mr. Cannon, Second Reading on Ordinance Number 2010-5 to sell 101 Exchange Street to Mr. Charles Boan for $5,000. Mrs. Nock will get one-half of the money

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($2,500) received and the city will get the other half ($2,500). All voted in favor of the motion.

ZONING REQUEST ON GROVE STREET – LEE BASSMr. Bass said Mr. McIver Odom asked to rezone the property at 113, 115 & 117 Grove Street from Core Commercial (CC) to General Commercial (GC) for purpose of converting the property from old washerette into a mini storage building. Mr. Bass said the Zoning Board approved Mr. Odom’s request. Upon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Mrs. Cohen to grant zoning request to change 113, 115, & 117 Grove Street from Core Commercial District to General Commercial District. All approved the motion.

USDA FIRE TRUCK GRANT FINANCINGMr. Garland said we haven’t received word from USDA yet, but we understand the application has been approved at state level. Mr. Garland told Council he would like permission to bid this out for financing which has been included in this years’ budget. (Reminder: This is a $125,000 grant and the truck costs $275,000) Mr. Garland said the City’s portion would be $150,000 with approximately five years for payback. Mrs. Cohen made a motion for Mr. Garland to bid this out for financing. The motion was seconded by Mr. Chapman. All approved the motion.

YEAR END FINANCIAL STATEMENT – MRS. DYAN COHENMrs. Cohen said she was given the information that all of the bills for the previous year would be in by July 17th or 18th so we would know how much we really spent for the year. Mrs. Cohen said she is interested in seeing the year end statement. Mrs. Cohen said she asked Mr. Garland about the statements and he suggested she bring it before Council and they consider it as a whole. Mr. Garland showed Council a copy of the year end statement, which is over 1,000 pages. Mr. Garland said he just charged to the 2009-10 budgets last Friday, so we still have items coming in that have not closed out the prior year. The City Clerk told Council she can print them a summary of revenues and expenses and if they need to look at something in more detail they are welcome to come by the office and look at our records.

FUNDING REQUEST – COUNCILWOMAN GLORIA HINESMs. Hines said last month it was discussed and she backed down from asking for funding from the City. Ms. Hines said she will ask the City for $3,500 to help renovate five houses (owner occupied) damaged during the

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tornado. Ms. Hines made a motion to use $3,500 of the funds in the building improvement grant to help renovate five of the homes that were damaged during the tornado. The motion was seconded by Mr. Cannon. Mr. Segars said he is still opposed to spending public money for private property. Mayor Watkins said he agrees with Mr. Segars and doesn’t think we should do this without having an emergency fund. Mr. Cannon told Council they need to remember what goes around comes around. Ms. Hines withdrew her motion. Ms. Hines then made another motion to instruct Mr. Garland to see if he can find $3,500 that we can use as an emergency fund to help the people that are helpless. The motion was seconded by Mr. Cannon. Mr. Garland said he can use two account in non-departmental - #801-272 (special contracts) or 801-279 (other operating expenses). Mr. Segars and Mr. Chapman opposed. All other members voted in favor of the motion.

CITY MANAGER’S UPDATE1) EDA second submittal was made July 15th which included our new engineering report; 2) Mr. Garland said a letter was received from Governor Sanford announcing that the City has received a CDBG in W. Darlington area for sewer line upgrades in the amount of $447,450; 3) Mr. Garland said the owner of the property at 114 Fleming Street put in a claim with the City and we sent it to the insurance reserve fund and they did pay the owner $3,349.83; 4) Senator Malloy asked Mayor Watkins for a list of streets that needed to be paved and they included the area in front of G.P. Gandy swimming pool and also Haynesworth Alley; 5) PDRTA will begin the City route on Monday, August 16th. Mrs. Cohen said the route will run Monday-Friday from 7:00 AM-5:00 PM; 6) Mr. Garland said he met with a lady who is an accountant that has worked with some large cities at the recommendation of Councilwoman Cohen. Mr. Garland said he would like to put the firm on retainer in the event we have an accounting question. He said the retainer should be no more than $2,600 a year. Mr. Garland said the firm would not bill us unless we called. Mr. Chapman made a motion for City Manager to put the accounting firm on retainer. The motion was seconded by Mr. Segars; 7) Mr. Garland told Council he fired two employees for stealing old water meters and selling them to Nucor Steel. He said another person took crush and run and put it in a customer’s yard. This employee was reprimanded in house, but not fired. Ms. Hines said some other things need to be checked on as well. Ms. Hines said a lot of things have been ordered in different departments, but no one has checked on these things to see if they are still there. She said a lot of our revenue is being

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spent for the same things over and over again. She said these particular employees got caught, but she knows there are a lot of things that have been missing in the past. OTHER INFO Mr. Chapman said it’s sort of embarrassing to drive through Darlington on Friday afternoon and there’s a group on the Square begging for money. He said a couple of weeks ago the Florence Soccer Association was on the Square. Mr. Chapman said the kids are in the middle of the street and this is dangerous. Mr. Chapman said he would like to see some type of regulation on begging for money. Mayor Watkins said there should be some sort of guidelines for this. Mr. Garland said he will look into guidelines for solicitation on the Square. REMINDERSSaturday, August 7, 2010 – 10:00 AM-2:00 PM Back-to-School Bash on the Public Square; Saturday, August 14, 2010 – 8:00 PM NASCAR Truck Race at Darlington Raceway; Monday, August 30, 2010 – 6:00 PM City/County Supper hosted by Darlington County School District; Tuesday, September 7, 2010- 7:00 PM-Regular City Council Meeting.

ADJOURNMENTUpon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Mrs. Cohen, the meeting adjourned at 9:10 PM.

Mayor

ATTEST:

Clerk & Treasurer

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CITY OF DARLINGTONREGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING

July 6, 2010

The Regular Meeting of Darlington City Council was held July 6,

2010 at 7:00 P.M. in the Council Room of City Hall at 400 Pearl Street.

PRESENT AT MEETING:Councilpersons Mrs. Annette Thomas, Ms. Gloria Hines, Mr. Cannon,

Mr. Chapman and Mr. John Segars. Also present: Mayor Watkins, City Manager, Mr. Howard Garland, Mr. Robert Garland, Mr. Freddie Kinsaul, Mr. Lee Bass, Mr. Tony DiLeo, Ms. Susan Alexander, and other visitors.

PRAYERMayor Watkins gave the invocation which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

AGENDA CHANGEMayor Watkins said if there was no objection from Council, how would like to add item #14-A short executive session to discuss a legal issue. Upon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Ms. Hines to add item #14-executive session to discuss a legal issue. All approved the motion.

APPROVAL OF MINUTESMs. Hines made a motion to approve the minutes of the May 4, 2010 and June 1, 2010 Council meetings. The motion was seconded by Mr. Chapman. Mrs. Thomas said to note on page 6 of the June 1, 2010 minutes under the “City Manager’s Update” that the name of the business does not appear in the minutes and it would be helpful to include the name “Polyquest” as the name of the business. All approved the motion with the noted change. Ms. Hines said she left the meeting for a few minutes and when she came back in Council had already voted on the water & sewer increase. Ms. Hines said on page 5 of June 1, 2010 minutes, she should like for the record to show that she opposed second reading on ordinance to increase water and sewer rates.

MR. TONY DILEO – D.D.R.A. MANAGER

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Mr. DiLeo said they approved signage for Kilgo Law Firm & Merle Norman. The Residential Pride Award was given to Ms. Shelley at 112 Woods Street and the Business Pride Award was given to the McClellan Building at 20-22 Public Square. Mr. Anthony Outlaw and Ms. Janice Murray with Premier & Partners moved into one side of the McClellan Building. Mr. DiLeo said he has two parties interested in the building on S. Main Street where Premier & Partners were located. The roof has been completed on Baker Street Café and Mr. DiLeo will be getting a quote on redoing the interior of Baker Street Café soon. He said Mrs. Jenny Altman leased the building next to Attorney Dan Causey where she plans to have a children’s workshop. Dr. Altman had a very successful Appreciation Day. Upcoming Events- On Thursday, September 2nd – Sunday, September 5th, The Mayo Alumni Association will have their homecoming; On Saturday, September 18th is the Williamson Park Road Race; Saturday, October 2nd-The Elk’s Parade at 10:00 AM- 11:00 AM; On Saturday, October 9th – The Sweet Potato Festival; Saturday, October 16th-Annual Yard Sale; On Friday, October 29th-Halloween Dress-Up Contest; Thursday, December 2nd is the Downtown Open House from 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM and on Sunday, December 5th The Kiwanis Christmas Parade followed by the Kiwanis Tree Lighting Ceremony.

MS. SUSAN ALEXANDER – CHAMBER UPDATEMs. Alexander gave Council an update on relief funds collected to repair damaged homes. Ms. Alexander said right now they have a commitment of a little over $4,500 but she spoke with Mr. Garland and he thinks we will be able to give an additional $3,500 from the City of Darlington. She said they have collected enough money to fix three homes that were damaged by the tornado. She said The Welsh Neck Baptist Association is offering free labor to repair the homes. Ms. Alexander said she found a site where they are able to design their own website in house and it will cost less than $200 a year to host the site. Ms. Alexander said the site should be up and running in about two weeks. Ms. Hines asked Ms. Alexander what three homes are going to be repaired.

MRS. VIVIAN FLYNN – Mrs. Flynn appeared before Council to ask their support for a back-to-school kick-off which would include some type of entertainment around the Courthouse. She said they will ask people as they come, to donate school supplies which will be donated to the elementary schools. Mrs. Flynn said she will meet with Dr. Knight one night this week and ask if she will bring a

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school bus to the Square and as supplies are collected, they will be loaded on the bus. She told Council she needs their support in doing this. She will be meeting with County Manager, Ms. Phyllis Griffith to see what dates are available. She will also meet with the Chamber of Commerce to see if they can help with the kick-off. Mrs. Flynn said she knows she will need help from the Police Department with traffic control. Mrs. Flynn said the following week she plans to have an open house for her business which will include a concert on the property at 509 S. Main Street.

PRESENTATION TO MR. J.C. WASHINGTONMayor Watkins presented Mr. J.C. Washington with a “Key to The City” for his seventy-one years of service as a barber on the Square in Darlington. Mr. Washington is 86 years young and has been barbering for seventy-one years. Mr. J.C. told Mayor and Council he appreciated very much what they had done. HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION NOMINATIONS – LEE BASSBuilding Inspector, Mr. Bass gave the following names to Council for consideration to the Historic Landmark Commission: Ms. Janet Clark who lives on the corner of Columbian and Cashua Streets; and Mr. James Hinson who lives off of S. Spain Street. Upon motion of Mr. Chapman, seconded by Mr. Segars, to appoint Ms. Janet Clark and Mr. James Hinson to the Historic Landmark Commission which unanimously carried.

MS. PATRICIA WILLIAMS – WATER/SEWER ISSUEMs. Williams read a letter she wrote to Council addressing the recent renovation to the water meters and the charge they will impose for turning a customer’s water off. She said she is on a fixed income and cannot afford to pay $15.00 every time she has a busted pipe or plumbing problems. Ms. Williams said the Water & Sewer Department will charge $15.00 to turn the water off and then another $15.00 to turn the water back on. Ms. Williams said she lives in an old house with galvanized pipes and she will have problems from time to time with her plumbing. She said she uses Stuckey Plumbing and he told her it would cost around $5,000 to replace all the pipes in her house. Mayor Watkins asked Mr. Kinsaul about the $15.00 charge. Mr. Kinsaul said they do charge $15.00 to turn a person’s water off and another $15.00 to turn the water back on. Mr. Kinsaul said he talked with Mr. Stuckey and he recommends putting a customer cut-off right outside the new box for approximately $15.00-$20.00. Mr. Kinsaul said every house

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should have a customer cut-off. Ms. Williams said she was not aware this could be done. Mayor Watkins told Ms. Williams since Mr. Kinsaul has talked with Mr. Stuckey she needs to contact him and have him install a customer cut-off at her meter. Ms. Hines asked Mr. Kinsaul if he mentioned about locks being on the meters during his discussion. Mr. Kinsaul said he didn’t know they were going to have locks on them. He said the meters are coming with the locks on them. Mayor Watkins said despite that, an individual is not supposed to go into the meter box.

FIRST READING ON ORDINANCE #2010-5Upon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Mrs. Thomas, First Reading on Ordinance Number 2010-5 to sell 101 Exchange Street to Mr. Charles Boan for $5,000. Mrs. Thomas wanted to know if Council would be able to suggest where the income from the sale of the building goes. Mr. Garland said the building was given to us and when we took possession of this building in December of 2005, it was stipulated that when the building was sold, Mrs. Knox would get one-half of the money ($2,500) received and the city would get the other half ($2,500). All voted in favor of the motion.

VIRGIL WELLS STADIUM USESMayor Watkins said we now have lease of the stadium property for twenty-two years and they need to decide what they will use the stadium for. It was suggested to use for a walking track. Mr. Garland said Mr. Wallace Bradley suggested that we use the area for teams to practice during football season since they can’t practice at the Blue Street Field. Mr. Garland said the teams have been practicing at the First Church of God on N. Main Street, so the stadium would be a good place to have football practice. Mr. Garland suggested that we have a community meeting at Mayo High School to get input from the public about uses for the stadium. Mr. Garland said he would get with Mr. Bradley on a date and time and get back with Council.

USDA POLICE CARS GRANTMr. Garland said Capt. Danny Watson found funding for police cars through a USDA Community Facility Program. Mr. Garland said The City would like to apply for two police cars (Dodge Chargers) and two golf carts with a $38,700 match from the City. Mr. Garland said he included a grant match of $32,500 in the budget and Chief Cox said he could find the remainder of the money in other line items. Upon motion of Mr. Chapman, seconded by Mrs. Thomas to allow City Manager to apply for USDA grant to purchase two police cars and two golf carts, which unanimously carried.

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CITY MANAGER’S UPDATE1) Mr. Garland said work has started on the Syracuse Street portion of the waterline grant. 2) Mr. Garland said they expect to hear word on the sewer line by July 20th. 3) The first cut was made on the EDA Grant. 4) Mr. Garland said the Eastern Carolina Community Foundation gave the City $3,500 to be used for house repairs to uninsured residents from the April 25th

tornado. Mr. Garland suggested the City match this with $3,500 from the building improvement grant. He said this would give us $7,000 to go along with what the Chamber has raised making the total over $10,000. It was discussed that only owner occupied residences should be eligible for repair. Ms. Hines said Mr. Wilds lives in the house on Avenue H and has lived there as long as she can remember. Ms. Hines said since money was raised to fix homes, we should fix the house for Mr. Wilds if we can. Ms. Hines said she got an estimate of $1500 for another home at 200 Southern Pine Street. Mr. Garland said if Council approves this, staff recommendation would be to use city funds this one time. Ms. Hines said the estimate for the home at 127 Gandy Street is only $600. Mr. Segars and Mrs. Thomas had concerns about using public funds to repair private property. Mayor Watkins said they can stipulate that the public funds of $3500 cannot be spent for anything other than individuals that own their own homes (owner occupied) that has suffered uninsured damage as a result of the tornado. There was discussion about which homes or homeowners should have their homes repaired with the funds. Mr. Chapman said to return the money or give it to United Way and let them distribute it. Mrs. Thomas wanted to wait and have a work session concerning this. Mr. Garland said if Council can’t make a decision tonight, he would suggest that we give the $3,500 that was given to us (not taxpayer funds), to the Chamber to add to their pool of funds and get the work done on the homes that need it. Ms. Hines made a motion for us to transfer the $3,500 that was donated to the Chamber of Commerce for them to disperse. The motion was seconded was by Mrs. Thomas. All approved the motion. 5) Mr. Garland went over general fund balances 6) He said the Water & Sewer accounts have been transferred to Carolina Bank. 7) As of Monday, July 5th, 255 people have been to the pool since it reopened after the drowning.

EXECUTIVE SESSIONUpon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Ms. Hines to go into Executive Session at 8:40 PM to discuss a legal issue.

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Ms. Hines made a motion at 8:55 PM to end executive session. The motion was seconded by Mr. Segars.

REMINDERSJuly 15th-18th, 2010 - MASC Annual Meeting in Charleston, SC; Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 at 7:00 PM Regular City Council Meeting. ADJOURNMENTUpon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Mr. Chapman, the meeting adjourned at 8:55 PM.

Mayor

ATTEST:

Clerk & Treasurer

City of Darlington Special Meeting MinutesThursday, June 24, 2010

A Special meeting of the Darlington city council was held Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 6:00 pm in the City Council Chambers of City Hall at 400 Pearl Street.

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Present at the meeting: Mayor Anthony Watkins, Councilpersons, Ms. Gloria Hines, Ms. Dyan Cohen, Mr. Coleman Cannon, Ms. Annette Thomas, Mr. John Segars, and Mr. Wayne Chapman along with City Manager, Mr. Howard Garland, and City Planner, Mr. Rodney Langley. Also present were Mr. Patrick Cavanaugh, Mr. Bill Howle, Ms. Jean Bacote, Mr. Robert Thomas, Mr. Cleveland Jordan, Ms. Delores Jordan, Mr. Bobby Ross, Mr. Willie Muldrow, Mr. Wayne Byrd and a room full of visitors.

Copies of the agenda were faxed to The News & Press, The Morning News and the Hartsville Messenger with place, date and time of meeting.

Mayor Watkins called the meeting to order a 6:00 pm. Mayor Watkins read a brief statement concerning the current deaths of the two young men at the City of Darlington swimming pool.

Mr. Langley presented to council the recommendations made by the Pool Committee, which included himself, Mr. Wallace Bradley, Mr. Pat Cavanaugh and Mr. Lee Bass. The committee recommended that the pool be reopened and the Police Department be allowed to continue to run the pool. All children age 13 and under must be accompanied by an adult over the age of 18 and be limited to signing in no more than two. All Children 13 and under must be supervised by the adult that signs them in at all times. Whistles are currently being used, but horns will be used in the event of an emergency exit. All non-swimmers and poor swimmers will not be allowed in the deep end. All swimmers must wear a wrist band, non-swimmers will be indemnified with a different wrist band, highly visible from a distance. A lifeguard on duty of least the age 21 years old at all times. There will be a limited number of people allowed in the deep end. A weather radio will be purchased to help aid in forecasting weather. The trees will be trim back around the fence near the deep end. A camera system is to be installed. The lifeguards on duty will have their on CPR masks. A defibrillator will be keep at the pool while open and all the lifeguards will be trained to use it.

Ms. Jean Bacote approached council and explained that she feels the pool should remain open. She feels the children need the pool to have something to do during the summer.

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Ms. Cohen said she appreciated the work of the committee, but she feels that the city needs to get an outside consultant to look at the plan and fine tune it. She thinks it is important to get outside expertise help. She also said the YMCA has offered in helping run the pool, but probably would not be able this summer. They could look at next summer.

Mayor Watkins said that there were obviously rules and regulations prior to the drowning, but these recommendations are improvements. Mr. Cox said that they did previous make them wear wrist bands but now the non-swimmers and weak swimmers will wear an additional band that signifies them as such. Ms. Thomas asked Chief Cox if anything was done for the community healing and the children being uncomfortable to get in that pool now. Jay said most of people he has talked to it has not been an issue, not to say that it doesn’t bother them. Mayor Watkins thanked Sheriff Wayne Byrd for all his help in assisting our personnel.

Motioned by Ms. Hines, seconded by Mr. Cannon to go into Executive session at 6:45 pm to discuss personnel issue with our attorney, Mr. Bill Howle. Motioned by Ms. Cohen, seconded by Mr. Segars, Executive Session ended at 7:07 pm.

Mayor Watkins said we have received a proposal from the committee to reopen the pool. Mr. Garland agrees with the committees recommendations. Motioned to approve recommendations by Mr. Chapman, seconded by Mr. Segars. Mr. Chapman said that he had some suggestions. He said that he thinks that the $1 a day should be raised especially because of the new changes made. Mr. Chapman said he thinks that swim lessons should be required, some kind of id card in reference to there swimming ability, signing a liability release form, master swim lessons and the banning of cell phones. Mr. Cox said the cell phones haven’t been a problem. Mr. Chapman said he liked the wrist band idea but would like to see it go a step further and have color coded area in the pool to correspond with the wrist band color. Motioned by Mr. Chapman for the City Manager to keep the committee open to consider the items that Mr. Chapman presented, seconded by Ms. Cohen. Mrs. Thomas said she thinks it is not fair that city personnel should be the ones to be making this decisions, the community should be

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involved. Ms. Hines said she also feels that they need citizens input. She said you can’t just do all this overnight, and cannot be decide in one meeting. Mr. Segars, Mayor Watkins Ms. Cohen and Mr. Chapman all in favor. Mr. Coleman, Ms. Thomas and Ms. Hines were not in favor.

Mr. Garland said it was up to Council to instruct him on what to do. Ms. Thomas said she feels this meeting should have been cancelled and feels like this all the plans and strategies were decided on before the meeting. Motioned by Ms. Cohen for the committee to take into consideration the fee that they charge does not adversely effect under privileged families. Seconded by Mr. Chapman. All in favor.

Motioned by Mr. Chapman, seconded by Mr. Segars to accept the committee’s recommendations. Ms. Cohen suggested that reopen the pool soon. She also suggested that we look at outside plans and consider a proposal from the YMCA. Ms. Hines wants stricter supervision at the pool. Mr. Cox said that they have ran the pool for the last 13 years and they have done a good job. All approved the motion.

Ms. Cohen had to leave at 7:45 pm

Ms. Thomas expressed her concern for opening the pool, that the community needed psychological healing.

Mr. Segars made a motion for the Police Department to open for the rest of the season when they are ready to open. Seconded by Mr. Chapman. Mr., Langley stated that they do not have all 14 recommendations in place. Ms. Thomas feels that if they are not in place, we don’t not to open until they are. All in favor, except Ms. Hines and Ms. Thomas.

Motioned by Mr. Segars to adjourn meeting, Seconded by Mr. Cannon. All in favor. Meeting ended at 7:56 pm.

Mayor

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ATTEST:

Gloria Pridgen

CITY OF DARLINGTONPUBLIC HEARING &

REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING

June 1, 2010

A Public Hearing of Darlington City Council was held June 1, 2010 at 6:30 PM with all Council members present to discuss the 2010-2011 budgets. There wasn’t any public comment. Ms. Hines said there are a few things she wanted explained to her, but she did not get a chance to go over the budget in its entirety because of the incident that happened at the pool this weekend. Upon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Mrs. Cohen, the public hearing ended at 6:45 PM.

The Regular Meeting of Darlington City Council was held June 1, 2010 at 7:00 P.M. in the Council Room of City Hall at 400 Pearl Street.

PRESENT AT MEETING:Councilperson Mrs. Dyan Cohen, Mrs. Annette Thomas, Ms. Gloria

Hines, Mr. Cannon, Mr. Chapman and Mr. John Segars. Also present: Mayor Watkins, City Manager, Mr. Howard Garland, Mr. Robert Garland, Mr. Freddie Kinsaul, Ms. Susan Alexander, and other visitors.

INFO ONLYThe Mayor said since there will be a coroner’s inquest into the deaths of two teens at the B.A. Gary swimming pool, Council should wait before trying to question person(s) about what happened because this could create problems

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with the investigation. Mayor Watkins said after the inquest is held, Council is free to investigate what happened. Mayor Watkins said he hoped that we would do this because it is in our best interest. He said we need to know exactly what happened. Mr. Segars asked if they, as a Council are prepared to investigate something that SLED and the coroner’s office has already investigated. Mr. Garland said they will be looking at what to do with the pool as an ongoing concern; do we keep it, do we give it to a non-profit organization, and what is the liability going to be moving forward or do we open it up at all. Mr. Garland said these are some of the things Council will have to consider about the pool. Mrs. Cohen said she prefers that we get comment from our City Attorney. Ms. Hines asked who has the highest authority-SLED or the coroner. Mayor Watkins said the coroner’s decision would supersede the City’s. Ms. Hines said we can’t make any decisions until all of the information is in. Ms. Hines agrees that the pool should stay closed until the investigation is over and then council will come back and make a final decision as to what the outcome of it is.

Copies of the agenda were faxed to the News & Press, The Morning News and the Hartsville Messenger with place, date and time of meeting.

REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING

The regular meeting was called to order at 7:00 P.M. by Mayor Watkins.PRAYERMr. Segars gave the invocation which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

APPROVAL OF MINUTESCouncil did not receive their minutes early enough to read, so approval of minutes for May, 2010 will be done at the July meeting.

AGENDA CHANGEMayor Watkins said if there are no objections from Council, he would like to amend the agenda by moving item #7 up to item #4 since Council will not be approving minutes; add item #6A-discuss incident at B.A. Gary Pool. There were no objections from Council.

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PRESENTATION TO MS. LOIS EDWARDS-S.C. FORESTRY COMMISSIONMayor Watkins said Mrs. Edwards is retiring from the S.C. Forestry Commission after working for a number of years. Mayor Watkins presented Ms. Edwards with a “Key to the City of Darlington” for all her years of hard work and dedication.

MS. SUSAN ALEXANDER – CHAMBER UPDATEThe Chamber had their Annual Spring Golf Tournament; The Lunch and Learn will be held on Thursday, June 10th; The Restoration Relief Benefit concert featuring Derrick Bull & Remnant Ministries will be on the Square Saturday, June 12th at 6:00 PM. The money collected from the benefit will go to help the families that suffered loss during the tornado. Ms. Alexander said new to the Chamber will be weekly webinars. Starting next month they will be working with board nominations. The Chamber will also be working on “Taste of the Farm” and the Yam Jam Festival.

MRS. ADDIE WILLIAMSON – VACANT HOUSE @ 105 REID STREETMs. Williamson said about four years ago a vacant house caught on fire about 3:00 AM in the morning causing minimal damage to her house. Mrs. Williamson said she and her husband hosed her house down so it wouldn’t catch on fire. She said that particular house is gone now, but there’s another vacant house on the opposite side of her and she gathers there is some activity going on in the house at night. She called the police department and they said they had problems with people going in and out of the house. She said the house is not boarded up or anything. Mrs. Williamson said if that house catches on fire it is going to cause her house to burn. Mrs. Williamson is asking that the City get in contact with Ms. Graham and find out what she plans to do with the house. Mayor Watkins told Mrs. Williamson he would turn this information over to our building inspector. Mrs. Williamson said she talked with a man who she believes work for the City. She asked him what he planned to do with the house and he replied, “We plan to tear it down”. She said this has been a while ago. Mr. Garland told Mrs. Williamson she did not have to call Mr. Bass; he would take care of giving Mr. Bass the message.

B.A. GARY POOL

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Mayor Watkins said two teens drowned at the B.A. Gary pool and the coroner has asked that Council not get involved. Mr. Garland said when they do have their committee of Council members and staff, they will not only see if the pool will reopen this summer but they will consider if the City will continue to operate the pool or turn it over to a non-profit organization. He said there is also the issue of liability and what that will entail for the City moving forward. He said these are some of the things that the committee will be looking at once we get clearance from the Coroner’s Office. Mayor Watkins said he planned to ask Council if they would establish a committee and to weigh any information received about the drowning at the pool. The members of the committee would work with Mr. Langley and he would be the single information voice to speak to the Council, the public and to the media. Ms. Hines made a motion that we close and the pool and keep it closed until after the investigations of SLED and the Coroner and until after Council come back, sit down and take their time and take the recommendation of the City Manager as to whether we want to keep the pool or whether we want to get some non-profit organization or what they want to do with it. Ms. Hines said she feels the City should not reopen the pool until that time. The motion was seconded by Mr. Cannon. All approved the motion.

MRS. EVELYN JETT – B.A. GARY POOLMrs. Evelyn Jett said her concern is that she would love to see the pool to stay open because a lot of the children on that side of town don’t have anything to do. Mrs. Jett told Council to think of the parents of the two children that drowned and show love toward the families. She asked Council if any of them has contacted the parents and several said that they had. Mrs. Jett told Council if they reopen the pool make sure they have the proper supervision at the pool. She said to put someone there that is responsible, qualified and can take care of her kids (all the children). She asked Council to get together and stop thinking about their side of town. Mrs. Jett told Council they are going to see her, they are going to hear from her, and she’s not stopping. She said we are going to do better in Darlington as a community. Mrs. Jett told Council to think about the families and pray for them and let them know you all care. Mayor Watkins said he spoke with the step-father of Justin McKay and told him the City will pay for the funeral expenses. Mayor Watkins said the same will be done for the other young man that drowned (Timquan McAllister). Mayor Watkins expressed condolences on behalf of all Council members and the City as a whole.

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SECOND READING ON SETTING TIME LIMIT FOR ADDRESSING COUNCILUpon motion of Mrs. Cohen, seconded by Mrs. Thomas, Second Reading on ordinance to set time limit for persons addressing city council; five (5) minutes for people not on the agenda and ten (10) minutes for those who are on the agenda. Mr. Segars said he feels the time limits are excessive for the meeting. All approved the motion except Mr. Segars who opposed the motion.

B.A. GARY HEAT PUMP BIDS – WALLACE BRADLEYMr. Wallace Bradley said he received bids to replace five heat pumps at the B.A. Gary Gym. He said he received a bid for $23,900, a bid for $27,000 and a bid for $28,750. Mr. Bradley recommends we accept low bid of $23,900 which was received from Carolina Mechanical, Inc. located on Graham Drive here in Darlington. Mayor Watkins asked Mr. Bradley if he mentioned the SEER rating on the units. Mr. Bradley said that he didn’t. Ms. Hines made a motion to accept the recommendation of Mr. Bradley to accept low bid of $23,900 from Carolina Mechanical, Inc. The motion was seconded by Mrs. Thomas. All approved the motion.

SECOND READING ON ORDINANCE FOR 2010-2011 BUDGETSUpon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Mrs. Cohen, Second Reading on ordinance for 2010-11 budgets. Mrs. Thomas asked Council to please return the amount given to Pine Center to $8,000 because the condition of the building is such that it takes a lot of money for the upkeep of it. She said the use of the building has increased so much, but they only charge a minimal fee. Mrs. Thomas made a motion to amend the budget under Community Promotions to increase line item for Pine Center from $6,400 to $8,000. The motion was seconded by Mrs. Cohen. All approved the amended motion. Mr. Garland said to delete line item 550-02-Christmas decorations for $1,600 and move those funds to the line item for Pine Center.

SECOND READING ON ORDINANCE TO INCREASE WATER & SEWER RATESMr. Segars made a motion to approve the proposed rate increases for water and sewer and capital fund. Mrs. Cohen seconded the motion. All approved the motion except Mr. Chapman, who opposed.

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REQUEST FOR COUNCIL TO MEET TWICE MONTHLY – COUNCILMAN CANNONMr. Cannon said it will be to our advantage to meet twice a month rather than once a month. He said our agenda is so long and feels meeting twice a month would shorten it. Mayor Watkins said in his opinion, a work session would be more advantageous. Mr. Cannon said it was just a thought that he wanted to bring before council. Mrs. Thomas said she hopes we don’t have any more work sessions.

INFO ONLYMr. Cannon feels the City needs to offer incentives to get businesses to come to Darlington to stay. He said maybe we can exempt them from paying taxes for a year. Mayor Watkins said the State legislature recommends not offering incentives to companies to get them to come to their towns. Mr. Garland said he talked with Mr. Cannon and he is specifically talking about Burger King. Mr. Cannon made a motion that the City work toward an incentive to waive a year’s property tax. Mr. Cannon said whatever Burger King pays in taxes, the City will reimburse them. Ms. Hines seconded the motion. There was discussion as to whether Burger King’s property was contiguous or not. Mayor Watkins said it’s contiguous from the backside of By-Pass from Clanton’s Auto Auction. All approved the motion except Mrs. Thomas.

CITY MANAGER’S UPDATE1) The first payment in the amount of $167,867.55 was made on the hospitality tax loan. 2) The Mickey Moss Building roofing contract has been signed. 3) The MASC Annual Meeting dates are July 15-18, 2010. 4) The City of Darlington was named “Tree City USA” for the thirteenth year in a row. 5) The floor at B.A. Gary Gym was finished Friday, May 28th. 6) The EDA Grant letter was received and they are committed to thirty jobs and $8M in improvements to the plant (Polyquest). 7) CDBG waterline grant application was approved. 8) Mr. Garland said he has not heard anything yet about the sewer line grant for West Darlington area.

EXECUTIVE SESSIONUpon motion of Mrs. Cohen, seconded by Mr. Segars to go into Executive Session at 8:50 PM to discuss an economic development issue.

REMINDERS

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Thurday, June 3rd at 6:00 PM PDRTA Meeting at Mayo High School; Saturday, June 12th at 6:00 PM, Derrick Bull Concert for Tornado Victims on the Square; Monday, July 5th- Independence Day Holiday Observed for employees; Tuesday, July 6th at 7:00 PM – Regular City Council Meeting.

Upon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Ms. Hines Executive Session ended at 9:01 PM. Mayor Watkins said a local business person wants to purchase the Nock Building and make apartments out of it. The City Manager is to negotiate with the City Attorney to come up with a time frame for the development of the apartments. Regarding the Nock property, a motion was made by the Mayor to sell the property for $5,000 and let the City Manager enter into negotiations which would go through the City Attorney. Mrs. Cohen amended the motion to include that any agreement would include preservation of historical characteristics as designated by the appropriate historical registry and that the agreement specifies a time frame for making the planned improvements. The motion was seconded by Mr. Segars. All approved the motion.

ADJOURNMENTUpon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Ms. Hines, the meeting adjourned at 9:05 PM.

Mayor

ATTEST:

Clerk & Treasurer

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CITY OF DARLINGTON REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING

May 4, 2010

The Regular Meeting of Darlington City Council was held, May 4, 2010 at 7:00 P.M. in the Council Room of City Hall at 400 Pearl Street.

PRESENT AT MEETING:Councilperson Mrs. Dyan Cohen, Mrs. Annette Thomas, Ms. Gloria

Hines, Mr. Cannon Mr. Chapman and Mr. John Segars. Also present: Mayor Watkins, City Manager, Mr. Howard Garland, Mr. Robert Garland, Mr. Freddie Kinsaul, Mr. Lee Bass, Ms. Susan Alexander, Mrs. Wilhelmina Johnson, Mr. Rob Jordan and Hiral from Hill and Jordan, CPA’s, Mr. Derrick Bull along with a few members of his group Remnant and other visitors.

Copies of the agenda were faxed to the News & Press, The Morning News and the Hartsville Messenger with place, date and time of meeting.

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 P.M. by Mayor Watkins.

PRAYERMs. Hines gave the invocation which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

APPROVAL OF MINUTESMrs. Cohen made a motion to approve the minutes of our last regular meeting, minutes of March 30, 2010 work session and a special meeting held April 27, 2010. The motion was seconded by Mr. Cannon. All members approved minutes.

AGENDA CHANGEMayor Watkins said if there are no objections from Council, he would like to amend the agenda by adding Ms. Susan Alexander to item #4 since Mr.

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DiLeo is not here. Mayor Watkins said we will add item 5A-Bids for Demolition Project.

MS. SUSAN ALEXANDER – CHAMBER UPDATEMs. Alexander said the Chamber had two successful “Business After Hours” one at Wachovia in February, 2010; and at Pee Dee Health Care in April, 2010. She said the Lions Club approached her today and said they received a grant for tornado victims and they will contact the victims, but the Chamber will be the site for giving out the vouchers. The Race Fest will be Thursday, May 6, 2010 from 5:00-10:00 PM on the Square. Ms. Alexander said they will have a collection bucket in front of the Chamber for the tornado victims. On May 13, 2010 the chamber will have “Introduction to Microsoft Windows 7”. She said this event is being sponsored by Microsoft. She said they will be giving them all of the materials as well as copies of Microsoft Office 7 and several things to give out as door prizes. On May 14, 2010 they will have a “Moonlight Golf Tournament” at Beaver Creek Golf Course. Ms. Alexander said Beaver Creek talked about promoting “moonlight” golf in the off season to help promote their business and what better way than for the Chamber to introduce it and see how well it goes. Ms. Alexander said they will have two golf tournaments this year; one on May 21, 2010 at Darlington Country Club and the second tournament will be at Beaver Creek in the spring. Ms. Alexander said Society Hill will have a golf tournament on May 22, 2010 to raise money for the town. Ms. Alexander said they announced today in their news letter that they have four new board members. She said they had two seats that have been vacant since the first of the year and two members to drop from the board in order to spend more time with their business. They have been replaced with Charles Woodle, Tracy Norris, Steve Vandenburg and Mark Delemo. She said in the next couple of months they will be doing the board nominations for the following year. Ms. Alexander said she is in the process of forming the nominations committee which consists of at least six non-board members. She said she spoke with Mr. Garland to represent The City of Darlington; Randy Reynolds will represent the Town of Lamar. She is hoping to get the Mayor or someone to represent Society Hill as well as someone from County Council so that the board will consist of county-wide representation. Ms. Hines said those eligible for the vouchers will be able to pick them between the hours of 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Ms. Hines said the vouchers can be used for food, bottled water, clothing, blankets, medicine and cleaning supplies. Ms. Hines said she was told there may be a very little that can be used for roof repair. Mrs. Thomas asked Ms. Alexander who in

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her office might be able to advertise about the funds that the Lions Club received. Mrs. Thomas said there is concern among the citizens as to why the City has not notified them that there is no FEMA money and why and who’s eligible if there are other funds available. Ms. Alexander said her understanding with the Lions Club is that they received a list of people that experienced loss from the tornado. She said they are contacting those people individually to come in and pick up the vouchers. Ms. Alexander said the Lions Club asked her not to publicize about the vouchers because they already had a list of who was supposed to receive them. Mrs. Thomas asked who is responsible for letting the citizens know why they are not eligible for assistance. She wanted to know if there is any way people can find out why they can’t get assistance. Mayor Watkins said the City did not meet the threshold to qualify for FEMA assistance. Mrs. Cohen said she agrees with Mrs. Thomas that the citizens need to know why we are not getting FEMA funds. Mr. Garland said the threshold for FEMA assistance is $5.2 million for Darlington County. He said the uninsured damages weren’t 20% of that value. He said the insured damage was well over this amount because the schools received most of the damage and they were insured. Mr. Garland said their initial survey showed that fifty-two homes were damaged in the City limits. Mr. Garland said there have been more than three hundred volunteers from local and regional churches that have come in and worked on private property. Mr. Garland said he received calls from several people wanting the City to give them money to work on their houses, but this isn’t something the City does because we can’t afford it. Mr. Garland said beginning July 1st we will have the building improvement grant in the budget again, but this is only a small amount of money. He said he checked with USDA and they have money available for single family housing rehab, but the application period is competitive. Mr. Garland said this money wouldn’t be available for six months to a year. Mrs. Thomas said she knows this, but her main interest is informing the citizens so they are aware of why the City didn’t receive FEMA assistance.

MINISTER DERRICK BULL – RELIEF CONCERTMr. Derrick Bull appeared before council along with several members of his group to offer their support for the tornado victims by doing a benefit concert. Mr. Bull said he and his group were supposed to go to Haiti to do a benefit concert for the victims there a week before the tornado hit Darlington, but since this happened here he feels obligated to do something at home first. Mr. Bull asked Council to support them in getting something set up. He told Council they can get whomever they want to handle the

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money. Mayor Watkins asked Mr. Bull if he had a location in mind. Mr. Bull said the SIMT Building at Florence-Darlington TEC, but the building was booked for this date. He said maybe the concert can be done May 15th or June 12th because he’s trying to be time sensitive so it’s not so far away out of the minds of the people. Mr. Bull asked Council what ways they would be able to help with the concert- collecting money, etc. He wanted to know what Council’s suggestions and ideas are so they can move forward with this and help the people in need. Mr. Bull had his agent pass out brochures to Council with information about the group and he also left a copy of his CD for their listening pleasure. Mayor Watkins asked about a place to have the concert. Mr. Garland suggested the amphitheater. Mrs. Thomas said maybe it could be downtown. Mr. Bull said they had the Square in mind. Mr. Bull asked about the sound equipment that’s used for the Sweet Potato Festival. Mr. Garland said they rent the equipment for the festival. Mr. Garland said the Rec. Dept. has three speakers and a microphone. Mayor Watkins asked Council to put their heads together and see what they can come up with to support this benefit concert. Council discussed a couple of places to have the concert so they can control the people coming in. Mr. Bull told Council when he does a concert the people comes in at no cost. He said they normally have a collection box set up at the door in the event people want to donate some money and then there would be a time during the intermission that they would take up donations. Mayor Watkins said we will look at some possibilities. Mr. Garland told Mr. Bull if he or someone from the group would call him tomorrow morning, he will get with Rec. Director and they will come up with a date. Mr. Garland said the date farthest away would be better. Mrs. Cohen said as far as the proceeds, since the Lions Club is set up and have identified the people, maybe the group can work with them. Mr. Bull wanted to know how soon it would be before he hears something on this. Mr. Garland told Mr. Bull if he sends someone up tomorrow morning, he will get with Mr. Bradley and they will work on it.

MR. LEE BASS – BIDS FOR DEMOLITION OF PROPERTYBuilding Inspector, Mr. Lee Bass, said they received six bid packets for five houses to demolish. Mr. Roosevelt Scott was low bidder with a bid of $13,000. Mr. Garland said there is a part “B” of the demolition project but he is not sure about the funding. Mr. Bass said he took bids for list “B” houses and awarded it to the low bidder contingent upon the availability of funds. Mr. Bass said the bid covers complete demolition and removal of all debris from the site. Upon motion of Mr. Chapman, seconded by Mrs.

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Cohen to accept low bid of $13,000 from Mr. Roosevelt Scott to demolish five houses. Ms. Hines asked if Mr. Scott knows he has to pay for the landfill charges. Mr. Bass said, “Yes” and when the people came and picked up the bid packages all of this was explained to them and what their responsibilities were. Mrs. Thomas asked Mr. Bass who owns the property on Whipple Street. Mr. Bass told her he didn’t have the information with him, but he properly notified the homeowner and was informed of the City’s intent. Mrs. Thomas wanted to know if the homeowner would have to pay the City back for tearing down this house. Mr. Bass said the City will issue a bill to the homeowner of record and if they don’t pay this bill it will be assessed as a lien against their property taxes and will be included in their property tax bill. Mrs. Thomas then asked Mr. Garland if the money collected for previously demolished houses goes back into the fund where the money is in now. Mr. Bass said whatever we’re being charged the City is responsible to pay that to Mr. Scott, so that price would be attached to the property plus either a 15% administrative fee or $100.00, whichever is greatest. Mr. Garland said we haven’t had any demolitions in the last few years. He said it’s been in the budget, but we haven’t done any. Mr. Garland said if a person doesn’t pay their bill, then we can collect it through the set-off debt collection program where debt will be taken out of their state refund. He said we don’t go back and reimburse the specific line item. Mrs. Thomas said about three years ago, the Municipal Association talked about this and they said there were ways cities were able to recoup this money. Mrs. Cohen said they have been checking on this and the County Treasurer informed them recently that the City can add this cost to the tax bill if the homeowner doesn’t pay the City//If they don’t pay the bill, the County won’t let them pay their property taxes. Mrs. Cohen said the homeowner can either pay the City the money or have their house put up for sale. Ms. Hines asked about the fire department burning some of the homes that need to be demolished. Mr. Bass said he discussed this with the fire department but they have not indicated to him if they would be able to burn any of the houses. All voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Cannon said on the corner of Whipple Street and Avenue F there are about thirty-five cats and they are really doing damage to people homes. Mr. Bass said he can meet the animal warden at that location and assess the situation. Mrs. Thomas said from an authentic source, there are only thirteen cats there, not thirty-five.

PRESENTATION OF CITY OF DARLINGTON AUDITMr. Rob Jordan and Mr. Hiral Goupaldas presented the 2009-10 audits to Council. He gave copies of the preliminary audit to Council members. Mr.

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Jordan went over pages 3, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 38, 60, 61, 62 and 64. Council members had an opportunity to ask the auditors questions. Mr. Jordan mentioned the $244,000 transfer from the water & sewer fund to the general fund. Mrs. Cohen said it was determined this was for paying of bills for the water & sewer department. Mrs. Thomas asked if it was mentioned that we need to try and separate the two funds. Mr. Garland said we are going to separate this, so that the water & sewer department will have their bank account and the general fund will have their bank account to that it will alleviate the crossing of funds. Ms. Hines wanted to know if this was a software problem. Mr. Jordan said he can’t make that determination since this is not his expertise. Ms. Hines said she has been on council for nine years and there’s always been confusion about something with the software. Mrs. Thomas said if you have the right program you can program it to show what went where and when it was put back. Mr. Garland said this is becoming an old argument (transfer of funds from water & sewer fund to general fund) because this is going to be switched in the new budget year. Mrs. Cohen said she along with the other audit committee members (Mrs. Annette Thomas, and Mr. John Segars) want to thank the auditors for their hard work and everyone for the part they play in city government. Mrs. Cohen suggested that we keep detailed statements of the hospitality tax money. Mrs. Thomas asked the auditors if there is a way there could be an amortization statement as an addition to the budget to show what grants were received, how much we had to pay to match the grant, and the payments that came in for the grant. She said it seems like everything is scattered in different accounts in the budget and it’s hard for her to put it together. Mr. Jordan said they could probably structure something, but it wouldn’t be proper for it to be a part of the audit. Mr. Jordan said this is more of a management issue. Mrs. Cohen asked if something like this could be done for the hospitality tax money. She said it would be good to have a statement detailing hospitality tax activity. Mrs. Cohen told council if they are interested in doing something like this, they can ask the City Manager, Mr. Garland, to look into devising a statement of activity for hospitality tax money. She said maybe the City can look into the audit firm helping us devise a statement. Mr. Jordan said they can help us set up a spread sheet. Mr. Garland said this will probably be done once a year because we are getting to the point that the money will be gone soon. Mr. Jordan said they will get with Mr. Garland and the audit committee and devise a statement detailing hospitality tax activity. Mrs. Cohen made a motion to direct the City Manager to look into the City devising a statement on hospitality tax activity and look into the possibility of having Hill & Jordan work

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with the staff and to recommend that the statement be prepared once a year or twice a year, whichever is appropriate. Mrs. Thomas seconded the motion. Mayor Watkins asked Mr. Garland if we needed to use the auditors to devise a statement and Mr. Garland said, “No”. Mayor Watkins amended motion not to include the auditors to prepare a statement detailing hospitality tax activity because Mr. Garland said staff can handle this and will be done at the City Manager’s choosing. The motion was seconded by Mrs. Thomas. Mr. Garland said 30 days after the completion of B.A. Gary project will be reasonable time to prepare a statement of activity. All approved the motion.

VIRGIL WELLS STADIUM LEASEMr. Garland gave Council copies of the lease agreement. He said the pertinent points of the contract is item #3-lease has a term of twenty-two years beginning July 1, 2010 terminating June 30, 2032; item #4-the lease is for public recreation purposes; and item #10-states that in the event that we cease to use the property for public recreational purposes for 90 consecutive days, the lease agreement shall terminate unless we give the lessee 60 days written notice of intent to terminate. He said everything else in the lease is standard. Mr. Garland said there was damage to Virgil Well Stadium, but he talked with the building supervisor for the school district and he said they will put a fence up where the blocks came down. Mr. Garland said he talked with Mr. Wallace Bradley and he said they are looking at using this for an entrance area. Mr. Garland said he had city Attorney, Mr. Bill Howle to look over the lease agreement and everything is in order. Mr. Garland recommends Council approve the lease the way it is written. Mr. Garland said the City will take possession of the stadium July 1, 2010. Mrs. Thomas asked about item #11. Mrs. Thomas had concerns about the wording of item #11 where it states that at the expiration of this lease, the lessee shall give peaceable possession of the property back to the lessor. She asked if at the end of twenty-two years the City just hands the property over to the school district with all of the improvements that have been done. Ms. Hines said there is something wrong with the wording and she can see what Mrs. Thomas is saying but in twenty-two years the school district might abandon all of the property at that location. Mr. Garland said this is a standard lease like we did for Blue Street. Mr. Garland said the City suggested a twenty year lease, but the school district said for insurance purposes, it should be twenty-two years. Ms. Hines made a motion to accept the Virgil Wells Stadium lease as written. The motion was seconded by Mr. Cannon. Mayor Watkins said we are accepting the lease that gives us control over the

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property and we are making no commitment, but at this point it does. All approved the motion.

MRS. WILHELMINA JOHNSON – CRC CENTERMrs. Johnson said the Cultural Realism Charm Center (CRC) is in foreclosure after thirty-eight years. She passed out flyers listing the fore- closed properties with an area at the bottom for interested persons to send in a donation if they like. She said for thirty-eight years they have made a difference and she wants Council to know what she’s up against. She gave Council background info on her organization and different things her organization has done for children. Mrs. Johnson told Council she’s not asking them for a thing. She said she is not just going to go away because of foreclosure proceedings, but she wants us to know the fight is on. Mrs. Johnson said a lot of grants out there, they should have been receiving. She said wealth must be distributed for all people. She said the children now must be saved and if we don’t do it, who is going to do it. Mrs. Johnson said for thirty-eight years she has done it. Mrs. Johnson told Council they have a sheet with the donation portion on the bottom and for give to “give until it hurts”. Mrs. Johnson then asked Council if they had questions. Mrs. Thomas asked Mrs. Johnson if she had an original payoff debt. Mrs. Thomas questioned Mrs. Johnson about she got into this predicament. Mrs. Johnson said she kept refinancing to keep things afloat. Mayor Watkins asked Mrs. Johnson if there was a possibility she would be able to settle this debt without the bank foreclosing on the property. Mrs. Johnson said they are at the stage where she might be able to do that. Mrs. Thomas was trying to get to the bottom of why Mrs. Johnson feels that Carolina Bank did the CRC Center an injustice. Mrs. Thomas wanted to know what Mrs. Johnson wanted the City to do. Mrs. Johnson said she didn’t come to ask the City for any money, she just wants them to be aware of her situation. Mrs. Thomas asked Mrs. Johnson if she passed out the sheets means that she wants them to make a donation. Mrs. Johnson said, “Yes”. Mrs. Johnson thanked Council for listening to her about the foreclosure of her properties. FIRST READING ON SETTING TIME LIMIT FOR ADDRESSING COUNCILUpon motion of Mr. Cannon, seconded by Mr. Segars, First Reading on ordinance to set time limit for persons addressing city council. All approved the motion.

FIRST READING ON ORDINANCE FOR 2010-2011 BUDGETS

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Upon motion of Mrs. Cohen, seconded by Ms. Hines, First Reading on ordinance for 2010-11 budgets, which unanimously carried.

FIRST READING ON ORDINANCE TO INCREASE WATER & SEWER RATESMr. Kinsaul went over proposed increases for water and sewer rates. Mr. Kinsaul proposed a 2.5% increase for in city water and sewer rates, a 5% increase for out of city water and sewer rates and a $.50 per meter increase in the capital fund. He said this will bring in approximately $83,000 a year. Mr. Cannon asked if the water rates went up recently. Mr. Kinsaul said the out-of-city rates went up last year. Mr. Cannon said we have to consider that people are losing jobs; where are they supposed to get the money from. Mayor Watkins said we only have a few sources for revenue. Mayor Watkins said the water and sewer fund is an enterprise fund and they must make money to survive on their own. Mr. Cannon said if a person is on a fixed income and we keep raising rates, how will they survive? Mayor Watkins said we all have to share the cost in maintaining the water & sewer department. Ms. Hines said if we are in such bad shape, why are we buying cars and allowing workers to drive their cars home. Mr. Cannon wanted to know how the water department is charging car washes, etc. He wanted to know if we charge an extra fee for the chemicals running through our sewer. Mr. Kinsaul said at this time, rates are the same. Mr. Chapman said in his seven years on council, water rates have increased every year except one. Mr. Chapman asked Mr. Kinsaul if he has parked all of his vehicles to help curtail expenses. Mr. Kinsaul said he and Franklin Dowdy are the only ones that drive vehicles home. Ms. Hines told Mr. Kinsaul that Council was told that after he was hired, Davis & Brown would be phased out in a couple of years and this hasn’t happened. Ms. Hines said we still are in debt by using Davis & Brown. She said Council was told that Davis & Brown would be called in if we needed them, not continue paying them a monthly fee. Mr. Kinsaul said consulting is basically all Davis & Brown does. Mrs. Thomas said the bottom line is we’re paying them about the same amount of money. Mr. Garland said, “No”, were not paying them the same amount of money. Ms. Hines said she feels they were lied to about what was to be done. Mrs. Thomas said Mr. Garland was not here during a lot of the discussions concerning water rate increases. She said she feels she was misled about the water rate increases. Mr. Segars made a motion to approve the proposed rate increases for water and sewer and capital fund. Mrs. Cohen seconded the motion. Mr. Cannon, Mr. Segars, Mayor Watkins, and Mrs. Cohen approved the motion to approve the proposed rate

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increases for water and sewer rates. Ms. Hines, Mr. Chapman and Mrs. Thomas opposed the motion. Motion passes.

CITY MANAGER’S UPDATE1) Mr. Garland said 180 tons of storm debris was picked up during the tornado; 2) Allen, Hickory, Kirven and Guess Streets & McInnis still have debris, but should be back on target by Thursday. Mr. Garland said he will be sending letters of thanks to Mayors of Chesterfield and Cheraw for allowing their employees to assist us during the storm clean-up. 3) EDA application for Water & Sewer improvements was mailed April 20th; 4) CDBG application was completed and mailed on April 19th and we’re requesting $458,000 for the W. Darlington sewer upgrade. 5) Deadline for police applications was April 30th. 6) Budget work shop with department heads is scheduled for Tuesday, May 25th at 6:00 PM at Admin Bldg. 7) Mr. Garland gave Council members a list of trucks and the numbers corresponding to the truck; 8) Mr. Garland said he received complaints from two homeowners on S. Main saying that the empty trucks that go back and forth are hitting ruts in the road and causing damage to homes in the area. 9) Mr. Garland said he purchased a cherry picker for $22,000 from Amick Equipment. Mr. Garland said he felt like this was a really good deal and will replace the one we had since 1985. He said with all of the stress on our equipment in the last few weeks, we had a breakdown. He said we will pay $11,000 upfront and $11,000 30 days later. 10) July 15th-18th is MASC Annual Meeting; 11) May 13th and 14th – 3 rd Annual Dinner/Concert sponsored by Trinity United Methodist Church.

REMINDERSThursday, May 6, 2010-Race Fest 5:00 PM - 10:00 PM on the Public Square; Saturday, May 10, 2010-Southern 500 at 7:00 PM - 11:00 PM at the Darlington Raceway; Saturday, May 29, 2010-Mayo Health and Fitness Walk; Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 7:00 PM, Darlington city Council Meeting.

Mrs. Thomas asked about Mr. Garland purchasing the cherry picker without it going through Council. Mr. Garland told Mrs. Thomas that Council gave him approval at the meeting the other night to do it. Mrs. Thomas said it is against state law to do that. She said if she is correct, the Manager is not allowed to have a large purchase like this without it going through Council. Mayor Watkins said unless it is an emergency. Mrs. Thomas said it was not an emergency. Mr. Garland said it was an emergency. He said both of our cherry pickers were down and we were using the one Cheraw brought over.

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Ms. Hines said Mrs. Thomas was not at this particular meeting, so she didn’t know both of out cherry pickers were down and we needed to purchase another one.

ADJOURNMENTUpon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Mr. Cannon, the meeting adjourned at 10:05 PM.

Mayor

ATTEST:

Clerk & Treasurer

CITY OF DARLINGTON REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING

April 6, 2010

The Regular Meeting of Darlington City Council was held, April 6, 2010 at 7:00 P.M. in the Council Room of City Hall at 400 Pearl Street.

PRESENT AT MEETING:Councilperson Mrs. Dyan Cohen, Mrs. Annette Thomas, Ms. Gloria

Hines, Mr. Cannon and Mr. John Segars. Also present: Mayor Watkins,

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City Manager, Mr. Howard Garland, Mr. Robert Garland, Mr. Tony DiLeo, Mr. Kinsaul, and several visitors.

Copies of the agenda were faxed to the News & Press, The Morning News and the Hartsville Messenger with place, date and time of meeting.

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 P.M. by Mayor Watkins.

PRAYERMayor Watkins gave the invocation which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

APPROVAL OF MINUTESMrs. Cohen made a motion to approve the minutes of our last regular meeting. The motion was seconded by Mr. Segars. Mrs. Thomas asked if a motion carried for the time limit for visitors. Mayor Watkins asked council what was their recollection. He said in his recollection the motion carried. Mayor said minutes stated that “council agreed to the time limit”, but the minutes are to be changed to read: all present voted in favor of the motion. All members approved minutes with noted change.

MAIN STREET UPDATE – TONY DILEOMr. DiLeo said they approved the colors for Ward Street Café. The Business Pride Award was presented to the McClellan Building downtown. The Residential Pride Award was given to a home on Woods Street. Mr.Dileo said he is still working on the “Taste of Darlington”. He said the flags on the By-Pass were shattered, so new ones were purchased. New signs were made for the McClellan Building. He said a lady is still interested in Mr. David Rolfe’s Building (she wants to open a home for battered women).

MRS. BEATRICE WILSONMrs. Wilson said she is surprised that with all of the renovations and development going on and she’s lived here for fifteen years and her street has never been resurfaced. Mrs. Wilson said there are so many potholes on First Street, Bacote Street and Juleswood Drive. She said she not only has a problem with the streets tearing up your tires, but she has to deal with ball teams that use the field across from her house. She said when they leave, they leave paper and it blows into her yard and her husband has to pick it up.

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Mrs. Wilson said since this is the street where the buses come everyday and the trucks come in to bring supplies, and they have yet to resurface her street. Mrs. Wilson said three years ago she presented the same issue about her street and she was told to go to someone who was over this and he told her they just didn’t have the money. Mayor Watkins said the City can make recommendation to DOT for First Street to be added to the list. Mrs. Wilson said this street is only one block and she doesn’t see why it can’t be resurfaced. Mrs. Wilson said she’s not going to stop this time; she will go to the newspaper, the television station, whatever it takes to get something done. Mr. Cannon said for the last three years he has been asking that something be done about these streets. He said it doesn’t make sense to have a street in front of a school and it looks the way it does. Mayor Watkins asked Mr. Cannon if he was only talking about First Street. Mr. Cannon said there are a lot of streets that need work done to them; First Street, Second Street, Third Street, etc. Mrs. Thomas said she has observed the shoulders on this street as well. She said there are dips and ditches that really need to be filled in with some dirt. Mrs. Thomas asked if we have to ask the State for permission to put dirt in the holes. Mayor Watkins said, “No”, but when it comes to paving the streets, we do.

MR. JEFF JEFFERSMr. Jeffers appeared before council once again to try and get the City to pay some outstanding debts that were incurred by the Little League. Mr. Jeffers then asked Council a series of questions such as who does Mr. Wallace Bradley works for, who is in charge of Darlington Little League, etc. Mayor Watkins asked Mr. Jeffers if he wanted to make a statement. Mr. Jeffers said he was there to ask questions, but he’s not getting any answers so he’s here tonight to get his facts straight. Mr. Jeffers asked if anybody knew whether there was a little league franchise. Mrs. Thomas said the City Attorney established that the City was not responsible in any way for any of these charges. Mr. Jeffers said the City still doesn’t know if the little league has insurance, the City does not know if they have a license to sell food at the ball field. Mrs. Wilson said she has never seen anybody selling any food at the field across from her house. Mr. Cannon told Mr. Jeffers he was acting like a lawyer by asking Council all of these questions, but we don’t an attorney to answer back. Mr. Jeffers said he is asking these questions for himself. Mr. Jeffers wanted to know if the little league field is the property of the City or County. Mr. Garland said he believes the little league field is the property of the City. Mrs. Wilson said Cain ball field is property of the school district. Mr. Jeffers said the City of Darlington or somebody owes

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him up to $10,000. Mr. Howard Garland said he, Mr. Langley and City Attorney, Mr. Bill Howle met with Mr. Jeffers in December and as Council instructed, offered for the City to pay the second debt in the amount of $900.00 the first year and $900.00 the second year. Mr. Garland said Mr. Jeffers asked about the rest of his money and he told him the City couldn’t address that because it goes too far back and this was a one-time offer. He said Mr. Jeffers got an attitude and said he had twenty-five lawyers on speed dial and that is when the meeting ended. Mr. Howard Garland said Council should invite a local representative from the little league to come to a council meeting so we can hear their side. Mrs. Wilson said she hopes to see something done soon maybe within a month. Mayor Watkins said we will do our best. Mr. Cannon asked Mayor Watkins if he heard Mrs. Wilson’s last words. Mr. Cannon said Mrs. Wilson said she hopes something is done within a month. Mr. Garland said if it’s a pothole we’ll take care of it, but anything else more serious we will have to put in a request. Mr. Cannon said there is a problem on First Street because the property of the homeowners is in the street. He said there’s not enough sidewalk clearance on either side to do anything in their yard. Mayor Watkins said they asked every property owner if they would relinquish a portion of their right-of-way. Mrs. Thomas asked if they could address on a future note because all of the people that was against this is dead or just about dead. Mayor Watkins said Mrs. Wilson is one of the people in this area that owns property.

CDBG SEWER GRANT APPLICATION/RESOLUTIONMr. Garland said Mr. Langley is applying for a CDBG sewer grant which will be a continuation of the waterline grant in West Darlington area. The City will apply for $458,000 grant for sewer line upgrades. He said the City will be responsible for any engineering costs associated with the project. The grant application would be done through the Pee Dee Regional Council of Governments (Pee Dee COG – Mrs. Shannon Munoz). Mr. Garland said after this project is done, we will try and get funding for the South Darlington area and sewer lines where we did water line improvements a few years back. Mr. Garland said then we will start looking at storm drainage issues. Mrs. Thomas asked if this resolution could be a little clearer and include language to read: they will waive the 10% costs if the City will pay the engineering costs. Mr. Garland said we can write a letter to CBDG stating that the City is only responsible for the engineering costs and that everything else is covered by the grant. Mrs. Cohen said to also include “not to exceed 10%”. Mr. Garland said he can get them to clean up the

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language some, but the grant is due the 18th or 19th of the month. Mr. Garland said this grant also involves a long trunk line that serves this area as part of the grant, but it’s not as “labor intensive” as the water meters. Mr. Kinsaul said they have already done a lot of the engineering work. Ms. Hines said to be sure to include the area (The Westside). Mrs. Cohen suggested that Council go ahead and change the wording on the resolution now and vote on approving it. Mr. Garland said we can change it tomorrow. He will talk to Mrs. Shannon Munoz, we will change it and have Mayor Watkins sign it in the morning. Mr. Segars made a motion for the City to accept the block grant resolution based on the grant of $458,000 plus the City will pay engineering cost and COG fee which will waive the 10% CDBG fees and this location is on the Westside of Darlington. Mrs. Thomas seconded the motion. Mrs. Cohen asked was the COG fee out of the $458,000. Mr. Garland said the COG fee goes on top of the $458,000 but the City does not have to pay this. He said the grant would pay for the COG fee. The City would only be responsible for the engineering costs. Mrs. Cohen amended the motion to take out the COG fee. Mayor Watkins said the motion will then state that the COG fees will come out of the grant. Mr. Segars restated his motion: motion is approved for a block grant of $458,000 plus the City will pay the engineering costs between $28,000 and $55,000. By paying these fees, this will waive the normal 10% CDBG costs. This will be for the West end of Darlington. Mrs. Cohen seconded the motion. All approved the motion.

EDA GRANT APPLICATION/RESOLUTIONMr. Garland said for the (EDA) Economic Development Administration grant, the City does not have to have a resolution, Council just need to give the Mayor authority to sign a commitment letter stating we will match a $2.1 million grant request with $210,000. He said this grant is for the interceptor line between Georgia Pacific and our old head works and also include head works upgrades and the aerator for the wastewater treatment plant. Mr. Garland said this assist the following industries: Georgia Pacific, Citi Trends, Polyquest and Nucor Steel. Mrs. Thomas said she was lost on the subject and needed further information. Ms. Hines agreed. Mr. Garland said the City was approached by the County to apply for an EDA grant in December, 2009 because they were applying for a similar EDA grant for the Lamar I-20 – 340 Interchange for an industrial park. Mr. Garland said the City agreed to do a pre-application which was put in 45 days ago with the idea we would take care of our consent order which DHEC sent to us

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because of our overflow several years ago and our old head works. He said part the consent order was that we upgrade our head works and by doing this it will take care of some of our industrial needs. He said this grant will give us the money to take care of our industrial sewer needs and to prepare us for a pre-treatment program for industrial waste if DHEC orders it. He said this lays the foundation for us to keep our wastewater treatment plant open for a few more years and it allows us to put off going to Florence for a while. Mr. Garland said there is a 10% ($210,000) match that EDA requires. He said with the original EDA grant it was 50%/50%. He said this grant is part of a stimulus package and the grant for counties that have been affected by layoffs in industry. Ms. Hines asked if this grant would allow the City to get another bed at the sewer plant. Mr. Kinsaul said, “No”. He said the beds are working really well and this improvement will increase the aeration. Ms. Hines said in a previous meeting it was stated that we could put in another bed if we had enough room. Ms. Hines said she made the statement they were told by Davis & Brown a long time ago that we didn’t have enough room to do another bed. Mr. Kinsaul said he hadn’t heard that. Mayor Watkins said he heard the same thing. Mr. Garland said he had a conversation with former Council member Mr. Jay James who was on Council when this plant came online. Mr. James said this land was purchased with the idea that we could go in and add two more beds if needed, but we would have to bring in more sand and dirt to do it. Mrs. Cohen made a motion to approve the City applying for the EDA (Economic Development Administration) grant for $2.1 million and Council empower the Mayor to sign off on the City’s responsibility for the 10% match. The motion was seconded by Mr. Segars. All approved the motion.

BIDS FOR FLOOR AT B.A. GARY GYMMr. Garland said three bids were received for the floor at B.A. Gary Gym: 1) G&M Builders, Lake City, SC - $49,395, which includes item #2, mobilization licensing and permitting; 2) Sports Equipment & Flooring - $42,000. Mr. Garland said this company was invited to come in and look and give another estimate, but they did not. 3) Mr. Wallace Bradley and Mr. Langley recommend the third bid which was received from Bliss Products out of Georgia - $46,376.02. They will install a maple laminate 18”x18”, 1/2”. Mr. Garland said they will give us 75-100 replacement squares with a 12 year warranty. Mr. Garland said if approved, this company said they could have this done in two to three weeks. Mr. Garland said they recommend that Council approves this bid. He said if we get this done, they

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will then start getting bids for heat pumps. Mr. Garland said the heat pump companies would be able to have their work completed in two to three weeks also, with the idea everything will be ready by the first or second week in June. Mr. Garland told Council if they want to stick with the June time line he would need approval tonight. Mayor Watkins said he was thinking this was hardwood flooring, but this is snap-lock and hardwood flooring is tongue and groove. Mr. Segars said this is a plastic type floor that looks like wood, but it has laminate flooring on top. Mr. Garland said the company told him you can use a floor buffer on this floor with no problem. Mrs. Thomas said she feels that we are taking too great a risk to deal with laminate flooring. She said if we have enough money we don’t need to short change ourselves. She said the gym floor at the old armory is a good durable floor and easy to keep up. Mrs. Thomas said she feels we will have a problem with laminate flooring and over time it will start to buckle. Mrs. Thomas said this company that we are recommending does not state in their proposal what they are planning to do as far as preparing the floor for installation of the flooring. She said it is not stated whether they will prepare the present floor for installation or do we have to get it prepared before they come in. Mrs. Thomas said we have enough money to go with a sturdier, long lasting and dependable floor. Mayor Watkins said to get real hardwood floors would cost a lot more. Mr. Garland had a quote of $51,000 ($8.50 a square foot) from 2007 when the floor was installed at the “Y”. Mrs. Thomas said to go with a good floor like this. Mr. Segars said the upkeep would be more for hardwood flooring. Mr. Segars made a motion to get Mr. Garland to ask Bliss Products to send us a sample of the flooring and Council can look at it along with the second product that Mr. Bradley has and make a decision prior to the next Council meeting. Mrs. Thomas said her question is, what the company plans to do with the existing floor that is cracked up. Mr. Cannon asked if any work has to be done to the floor so the new floor can be installed. Mr. Segars said he would think if this company gave us a quote it would be included in the bid. Council agreed with Mrs. Thomas about her concerns. Mayor Watkins told Council they will look hardwood, look at samples from both companies, answer the question concerning the preparation of the floor and we will come back and vote on it. Mrs. Cohen seconded Mr. Segar’s motion. Mr. Segars restated his motion: To ask Mr. Garland to ask Bliss Products to send us a sample of his product that they are quoting us on so that we can compare it to a second bid that Mr. Bradley has and we will try to get the hardwood company out of Raleigh, NC to give us a quote. And make sure it includes preparation of the floor. Mrs. Cohen

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seconded the motion. Mrs. Cohen amended the motion to include: for us to get information on the company and experience other companies have had with this product. Motion seconded by Mrs. Thomas. All approved the motion.

USDA FIRE TRUCK GRANT APPLICATIONMr. Garland said he found out about six week ago that USDA has stimulus money available for vehicles. He said the federal portion of this would $123,750 with a local match of $151,250 for a 2010 fire truck. Mr. Garland said they have tried to get grants for fire trucks the past six years but has not been able to one because our call volume is too low. Mr. Garland said the fire department fleet is very old some vehicles in the 60’s and 70’s. Mr. Robert Garland said they are looking at a first out pumper with a price quote of $325,000. This new truck will replace a 1970 model fire truck. Mr. Garland said if the City gets this grant we will put it out for bids to finance over four or five years. Mr. Segars made a motion to instruct Mr. Garland to apply for the USDA fire truck grant. Ms. Hines seconded the motion. All approved the motion. CITY MANAGER’S UPDATE1) Industrial Paving completed the paving of Wells & Orange Street on March 15th. 2) Wells Stadium lease was sent to City Attorney, Mr. Newton Howle for his review and the school district will approve it at their next meeting; therefore it will come up at our June meeting for approval. It has a twenty-two year lease. 3) Cookout for City employees will be April 30, 2010 at 12 noon. This is only for full-time employees. Council members are invited as well. 4) Planning for the Street and Sanitation move to W. Broad Street has begun. 5) Stripping for W&S, and Sanitation vehicles is being done so they are easily identified. He said they also put emergency lights (yellow flashing lights) on the vehicles so they are easily identified when they are out working. 6) Mary Altman resigned from the Historic Landmark Commission because of more time needed for her job at the dental clinic. Mr. Garland asked council members to come back with recommendations for someone to replace her. 7) The audit committee meeting has been set for April 26th at 10:00 AM in the Admin Conference Room. 8) Waterline upgrades in West Darlington are almost finished. 9) Mr. Garland gave the balance in the hospitality tax account - $265,493. The first payment of $171,000 for the hospitality bond is due June 1st. 10) Mr. Garland said he had a department head meeting last week and we are partially out of the spending freeze. He said we have a priority for spending

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in certain departments. He said there is a priority for the move for the Street Department from Sanders Street to Broad & Washington Street. He said there is also a priority for the housing demolition which needs to be done for Codes Enforcement. He said Mr. Lee Bass should be getting out invitations for bids on housing demolition. Mr. Bass sent out condemnation letters for approximately twenty homes. He said in the last three of four days property owners have come in and said they will either take care of it or they will do the demo the property themselves which will save the City some money. The Fire Department has offered to burn structures that meet their criteria. Mr. Garland said we want to try and take down between 8-10 condemned homes by the end of this budget year and look at taking down 8-10 more during the next budget year.

Mayor Watkins said we need to go into executive session to discuss negotiations and a personnel issue.

REMINDERSThursday, April 15, 2010-Taste of Darlington, 7:00-9:00 PM at Darlington Raceway; Saturday, April 17, 2010 – Williamson Park/Earth Day, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM; Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 7:00 PM Regular City Council Meeting.EXECUTIVE SESSIONUpon motion of Ms. Hines, seconded by Mrs. Cohen, to go into executive session at 8:45 PM to discuss negotiations and a personnel issue, which unanimously carried.

Upon motion of Ms. Hines, seconded by Mrs. Cohen, the executive session ended at 9:10 PM.

ADJOURNMENTUpon motion of Ms. Hines, seconded by Mr. Segars, the meeting adjourned at 9:10 PM.

Mayor

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ATTEST:

Clerk & Treasurer

CITY OF DARLINGTON

SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING

April 27, 2010

A Special Meeting of Darlington City Council was held in the Conference Room at the City Admin Building on April 27, 2010 at 6:00 P.M. Present: Mayor Watkins, City Manager, Mr. Howard Garland, Mrs. Cohen, Ms. Hines, Mr. Segars Mr. Freddie Kinsaul and Mr. Wallace Bradley.

Mayor Watkins called the meeting to order at 6:05 P.M. The purpose of the special meeting is to discuss the floor at B.A. Gary Gym and we will follow up with a budget work session.

BIDS/DISCUSSION OF B.A. GARY GYM FLOORMr. Wallace Bradley had two floor samples, one which was hardwood and the other which was a maple laminate. Mr. Bradley recommended that the City approves the maple laminate floor because of the upkeep and general maintenance of the floor. Also, this was the lowest bid. Mr. Bradley said the maple laminate floor snaps together and if we ever need to replace a section, it will be very easy to do. He said with the hardwood floor, they

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recommend their company come in at least once a year and this will cost approximately $1800 for them to maintain it. The company also recommends that every 7-10 years their company come in and do a major renovation on the floor with a cost of approximately $7,500-$8,000 at the present time. Mr. Bradley said in 7-10 years from now we know the cost will be much higher. Mr. Bradley said the high school has this same hardwood floor and they had problems during the playoff season and this company had to come in and redo the floor and he’s sure it was no less than $7,000 for them to come in and do it. He said the high school floor is only two years old. Mr. Bradley said the flooring he’s recommending is supposed to withstand what they do at the Recreation Department- senior dances, arts and craft classes, etc. Mr. Bradley said we will be given about twenty-five replacement pieces and if they need to replace a section, they will be able to snap one section out and put another one in. Mr. Segars asked Mr. Bradley what would need to be done to maintain the floor. Mr. Bradley said you would use a clean damp mop to clean the floor. He said we would need to make sure we have good mats at the door for people to wipe their feet. Mrs. Cohen made a motion to accept the recommendation of staff for the maple laminate flooring. The motion was seconded by Ms. Hines. All approved the motion.

Mayor Watkins closed the public meeting at 6:20 PM.Mr. Bradley left after the special meeting.

BUDGET MEETING

Mayor Watkins called the work session to order at 6:21 PM.

UPDATE ON TORNADO DAMAGEMr. Garland gave Council an update on the tornado damage to the area.He said fifty-two residential building sustained damage from the tornado on Sunday evening with a total of approximately $802,000 in damages. The damage at the two schools (Cain Elementary & Mayo) with damages estimated at $3,906,679. Mr. Garland said all the school district damage is insured and in order to meet the threshold for FEMA assistance, we have to have $5.2 million of uninsured damage in the County. He said the County only had damage approximately $240,000 and if we combine with the City, it’s a little over $1 million. Mr. Garland said we had very good volunteer help from regional and area churches that have come in and is helping on private property, which the City can’t do. Mr. Garland said our cost is not as

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much as we had anticipated. We’ve had assistance from the Town of Cheraw. One day the Town of Cheraw sent six people and another day they sent seven. They also brought their cherry picker because both of ours are down. The highway department came in and we used their cherry picker yesterday and today they brought another one. The Town of Chesterfield sent two of their seven full-time employees today with a dump truck. Mr. Garland said to note for future reference that the City didn’t get any help from Lamar or Hartsville. Mayor Watkins 2) Pee Dee Regional Transportation Authority (PDRTA) sent a letter asking for $10,000 to help pay for a trolley they are proposing for the City of Darlington. Mayor Watkins asked if PDRTA has a route in mind for the trolley. Mrs. Cohen said PDRTA has an idea of a route, but they are planning to have a community meeting on May 27th. Mr. Garland said when he was in Mullins, PDRTA requested that they put up $15,000, which they did. The trolley ran for 18 months, but there was hardly ever anybody on it. Mrs. Cohen said PDRTA will start operation with no more than three days a week. She said PDRTA already has the buses to put on the road and the drivers, but they don’t have money to set up an office in Darlington where people can buy passes. Mr. Garland suggested setting this up with the Water Department or Admin Office where people can buy passes. Mrs. Cohen said this could be set up at several different places where people can buy passes. She said PDRTA said they can’t take this on. The trolleys would be kept here in Darlington probably inside the fence at the old Darlington Builders Supply building. Mrs. Cohen said she is hoping to promote this and make people aware of it. Mayor Watkins said he sees the trolleys in Florence and they don’t have anybody on them. Ms. Hines said PDRTA would be cheaper than a taxi because if you take a taxi to Florence it costs somewhere between $20-$25 one way versus a couple of dollars to ride the bus.

2010-2011 BUDGET UPDATEMr. Garland went over the revenues and expenses in the general fund budget and also the capital outlay budget. Mr. Garland told council that all of the figures in the budget include a 2% wage increase for employees. Mr. Garland recommended that we have a public hearing prior to a special budget meeting in May and have second reading at the June Council meeting.

Mr. Kinsaul went over the water & sewer budget. He said water revenue is down, but they are down nationwide. Mr. Kinsaul recommended the following increases for water and sewer rates: a 2.5% increase for water and

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sewer rates inside the City Limits and a 5% increase in water and sewer rates outside the City Limits. He also recommends a $.50 increase in capital fund. (Mr. Kinsaul passed out copies of the proposed rate changes to Council).

The meeting officially ended at 7:54 P.M.

MayorATTEST:

Clerk & Treasurer

CITY OF DARLINGTON

SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING

March 30, 2010

A Special Meeting of Darlington City Council was held in the Conference Room at the Admin Building, 410 Pearl Street on March 30, 2010 at 6:00 P.M. Present: Mayor Watkins, City Manager, Mr. Howard Garland, Ms. Hines, Mrs. Thomas, and Mr. Segars.

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Mayor Watkins said the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance for the City of Darlington which is a requirement for us for people in the flood plains of Swift Creek and Black Creek so that they can buy flood insurance. Mayor Watkins said this would be administered by our Codes Enforcement Officer, Mr. Lee Bass and no cost is associated with it. Mr. Garland said any new buildings that are done under the flood plan will have to be approved by FEMA as well as the Building Official. Mr. Segars made a motion for Second Reading of Flood Zone Management Ordinance for the City of Darlington. Ms. Hines seconded the motion. Mrs. Thomas wanted to know when the State mandated for the Cities and Counties to do this. Mr. Garland said this was supposed to be a part of our 2006 International Building Code of Ordinance, but Mr. Kendall did not attend the training or meeting and when the FEMA official came in December, 2009, he and Mr. Langley found out we were behind on this. Mr. Garland said the FEMA official told them at that time we needed to adopt this ordinance and have it passed or properties will not be able to get flood insurance. Mr. Garland said he doesn’t know when the State first mandated this, but he knows it’s supposed to be an addition to the 2006 building code. Mr. Garland said the only time he knew anything about this was in September, 2008 when FEMA came for a meeting the library and they had some flood maps from 1928 and some flood maps from 1989 that showed how the paths had changed at Black & Swift Creek. He said they wanted to adopt the 1989 map over the 1928 map and they had to have a City official sign off on it which he did. He said this is the only involvement he has had with any of this before December, 2009. Mrs. Thomas said she has her questions as to whether we’re in a flood plan at all of we’re only talking about sixteen people. Mrs. Thomas said it has taken this many years for this to come about and now they want to push this through. She said this is more than she can comprehend. She said they don’t even have a map to show Council of the areas in question. Ms. Hines made a motion to adopt the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance. The motion was seconded by Mr. Segars. All voted for the motion except Mrs. Thomas. Mayor Watkins said there is a need to go into executive session to discuss a personnel issue. Upon motion of Ms. Hines, seconded by Mr. Segars to go into Executive Session at 6:35 P.M. to discuss a personnel issue. Upon motion of Ms. Hines, seconded by Mr. Segars, to come out of Executive Session at 7:07 P.M.

Mr. Segars made a motion to go into the budget work session at 7:07 P.M.

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The motion was seconded by Ms. Hines.

BUDGET WORK SESSION

Mr. Garland passed out a list of the City’s debt to Council. He also passed out budget information to Council. He discussed the hospitality tax fund balance and our payback beginning in June, 2010- $171,000. Mr. Garland said we will have two gyms and the stadium, so we have to hold onto every dollar we have because we are going to need it. Ms. Hines asked about the lease for the stadium. Mr. Garland said the lease will be for twenty-two years. The school district will approve this at their May meeting and we will approve it at our June meeting. He said they looked at a “pour floor” on Monday night, but they said once you pour this down the best that it will look is the first day you do it and it never looks the same again. They also looked at the wooden laminate flooring and it looks really nice. If something happens to an area, all you do is replace the section that was damaged. Mr. Segars asked Mr. Garland if he looked at the same type floor that’s at the Recreation Department now, a rubber type floor. Mr. Garland said there is too much expansion and contraction and wood holds up better and there are fewer issues with cracking and bubbles. He said this is Mr. Langley and Mr. Bradley’s recommendation. Mr. Garland said we will maintain the floor with a large buffer machine. Mr. Segars said if we have a wooden floor at the gym we will have to make sure people don’t come in with a lot of sand on their shoes because the sand will grind up the floor. Mr. Segars asked if the gym will be open without supervision. Mr. Garland said during school hours the gym will be used for school activities which is part of the lease. Mr. Garland said the supervision issue is something that they will need to talk about. He said they will also have a police sub-station in there on a limited basis. Mr. Garland said this is more of a recreation department issue.

Mr. Garland told council he can’t give them any specific budget numbers because he doesn’t have the price increase for our health insurance nor for Allied Waste. Mr. Garland went over some of the line items in the budget. He said we don’t need to go to raise millage this year nor water and sewer rates. He said he would like to increase our capital fund by $.50 because we need to build up the capital fund because we will have to pay this out for the EDA grant. Mr. Garland said he has factored in a 2% raise for employees. Mr. Garland said there are two priorities that he wants to undertake in the new budget year: 1) Street Department taking over the building on

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Washington and W. Broad Street and 2) Codes Enforcement Office taking down buildings. He said everything else will be on an as-needed basis. He said budget wise, the City is in really good shape.

Upon motion of Mr. Segars, seconded by Mrs. Thomas, the meeting adjourned at 7:40 P.M.

MayorATTEST:

Clerk & Treasurer

CITY OF DARLINGTON REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING

February 2, 2010

The Regular Meeting of Darlington City Council was held, February 2, 2010 at 7:00 P.M. in the Court Room of City Hall at 400 Pearl Street.

PRESENT AT MEETING:Councilperson Mrs. Dyan Cohen, Mrs. Annette Thomas, Ms. Gloria

Hines, Mr. Chapman, Mr. Cannon and Mr. John Segars. Also present: Mayor Watkins, City Manager, Mr. Howard Garland, Mr. Robert Garland,

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Mr. Tony DiLeo, Mr. Kinsaul, Mr. Lee Bass, Mrs. Rita Pegelow, Ms. Susan Alexander, Mr. Winfred Flowers, Mr. Orlando Hudson, Ms. Cathy Elliott and several visitors.

Copies of the agenda were faxed to the News & Press, The Morning News and the Hartsville Messenger with place, date and time of meeting.

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 P.M. by Mayor Watkins.

PRAYERCouncilman Chapman gave the invocation which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

OATH OF OFFICECity Attorney, Mr. Newton Howle administered the Oath of Office to Councilman Coleman Cannon.

APPROVAL OF MINUTESMrs. Cohen made a motion to approve the minutes of our last regular meeting. The motion was seconded by Mr. Chapman. Mrs. Thomas said on page 7 line 4, the position that Mr. Langley will be taking was not named and she remembers they discussed it. Correct minutes by adding that Mr. Langley will be moving into the full-time position of Planning Director. Mr. Cannon asked about the terms of employment beyond five years for Mr. Langley. He said Council should leave it at five years. Ms. Hines said the reason it was stated this way was because everybody’s retirement age is not sixty-six. She said it was stated this way because they weren’t sure if Mr. Langley’s retirement age is sixty-five or sixty-six. All members approved minutes with noted change.

MAIN STREET UPDATE – TONY DILEOMr. DiLeo said The Business Pride Award was presented to Kistler-Hardee Funeral Home and the Residential Pride Award was presented to Mr. Jerry Wilson at 127 N. Ervin Street. Mr. DiLeo said signage was approved for the Darlington County Elections & Registration at 131 Cashua Street. A new sign was made for the YMCA. Habitat for Humanity is interested in a building on Grove Street. Merle Norman is moving out of their current location into the old Patricia’s Gift Shop Building. Mr. DiLeo said the Ken Baker building is for sale. Mr. DiLeo said he already has sixteen grillers for

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the “Taste of Darlington” which will be Thursday, April 15th at the infield in the garage at Darlington Raceway.

CHAMBER UPDATE – MS. SUSAN ALEXANDERMs. Alexander said they changed the hours of operation at the Chamber from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM to 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM. The Chamber had their Annual Banquet last week. The Chamber presented Mrs. Denny Neilson with Lifetime Achievement Award; Dr. David Eads was presented with Citizen of the Year award; Billie Hardee Home for Boys was presented with the Community Pride Award, Mr. Tony DiLeo was presented with Outstanding Service Award. Educator of the Year award was presented to Mr. Renny Johnson. Mr. Anthony Outlaw received Future Business Leader of the Year. The Board Members of the Year were Ms. Pat Godbold and Mr. Victor Pizzarro. The Legislative Luncheon will be held March 19th at the Country Club. The Administrative Assistant’s Luncheon will be April 23, 2010. April 19, 2010 will be Premier Night plus they will have moonlight golf.

ORLANDO HUDSONMr. Hudson thanked Council for the signs they put up at two entrances and the sign they presented him with. MCCLELLAN WALKWAY SIGNAGEMr. Garland said the walkway has been open for two weeks now and the Police Department opens and closes it every morning and night. Mr. Garland asked Council’s pleasure for putting up signage. Mrs. Cohen said some of the businesses have signs hanging perpendicular to the store fronts and this is one possibility. Mr. Chapman said maybe it can be done like the parking signs right in front of the parking spaces. Mayor Watkins said an overhead sign would be better. Mr. Chapman suggested asking DOT if we put diagonal stripes on road so that it leads into the building. Mr. Chapman said he doesn’t know if DOT will let us do this on Highway 52. He said he can’t think of a better way to catch a motorist’s eye as they are driving on the Square signifying that you can park on the backside of this building. Mrs. Cohen asked if we would have a sign with this or just a crosswalk. Mr. Chapman said we could write “pedestrian crossing” on the street. Mayor Watkins said we can check with DOT to see what we can do. Council discussed the wording for the sign and also where the sign should be placed. Council agreed to put “Public Walkway” on the sign to place over the back door. Mr. Cannon asked if we were going to put a canopy over the door.

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Mr. Garland said the average cost for something like this is over $1,500. Mr. Garland said he and Mr. Langley will work with Mr. DiLeo on this. Mr. Chapman said we could sell advertisements on the walls of the walkway and have them sealed and locked and this would pay for an awning.

WINFRED FLOWERS – SPEEDING ON N. MAIN STREETMr. Winfred Flowers appeared before Council because of his concern for the safety of pedestrians on North Main Street. Mr. Flowers said for safety reasons, if the City could reduce the speed from 40 mph during school hours to 25 mph during school hours. Ms. Hines said she has been trying for about three years now to get something done on Pine Street where she lives. Mrs. Cohen had a copy of a letter that the Police Department sent to DOT requesting this change, which DOT approved. She said the change to make the school zone change would have to be requested by the school district. Mayor Watkins said when Mr. Flowers talked with him about this previously he spoke with Police Chief Cox and asked him to weigh in on this. Mayor Watkins said he mentioned the section between Blue & Main Streets and Doneraille & Main Street. Mayor Watkins said he sees more of a problem at Doneraille & Main Streets. Mayor Watkins suggested a 30 mph sign. Mayor Watkins said a recommendation from Council to DOT should be done. Ms. Hines said Council needs to look at Pine Street as well. Mr. Chapman made a motion to write a letter to DOT asking them to reduce the speed limit to 30 mph during school hours with signage (whether flashing or blinking lights). The motion was seconded by Mr. Segars. Mrs. Cohen said to make sure it is specified this is between Doneraille and Blue Street traffic. Mrs. Thomas said the Police Chief asked for blinking lights on S. Main Street at different intervals to call drivers attention to the fact this is a school zone, but DOT did not approve it. She wanted to know why Council couldn’t ask DOT for blinking signs during school hours. Mr. Cannon told Mayor Watkins, as a Council, a lot of times they put things on the back burner and they forget about them. Mr. Cannon told Mayor Watkins he told Ms. Hines they would talk about her situation later, but he said why not do it all together and get it over with. Ms. Hines amended Mr. Chapman’s motion to include making a recommendation to DOT for Pine Street also. Mr. Garland asked Ms. Hines where on Pine Street. Ms. Hines said there are speeders on Edwards Avenue and Pine Street. Ms. Hines said there needs to be signs stating the speed limit in this area before and after school. Ms. Hines said the hours would be the same as on S. Main Street. Mrs. Cohen said we should let the Police Department

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specify the streets. Mrs. Cohen seconded the amendment. All approved the motion.

ATM MACHINE AT CITY HALLMr. Garland said he, Chief Cox and Mr. Kinsaul feels an ATM machine would be convenient in the hallway near the Police Department. Mr. Garland said he would like to get permission from Council to talk with some of the banks to see what type of deal we can get and see if there is any way we can make some money off of it. Mrs. Cohen made a motion to direct the City Manager to discuss with local banks any kind of arrangements that allow us to put an ATM machine in the City Hall building. The motion was approved by Mr. Segars. All approved the motion.

DISCUSSION – TEXTING WHILE DRIVINGMr. Cannon with all of the disaster and tragedies, Council needs to act on getting something done about people texting while driving. Mr. Cannon said why you would debate about something when you can see the negative results. Council discussed this among themselves for several minutes. Mr. Segars, Ms. Hines, Mr. Chapman and Mrs. Cohen suggested that we investigate the legalities of texting while driving a little more and come back with a recommendation. Ms. Hines made a motion that we do fact finding first before we have any more discussion about texting while driving. The motion was seconded by Mr. Cannon. All approved the motion except Mr. Chapman. It was suggested that administration check with various entities to see what they are doing.

DISCUSSION OF STRAY DOGS IN DARLINGTONMr. Garland gave Council a copy of the City’s dog ordinance. Mr. Garland read certain excerpts from our ordinance that would handle the stray dog issue. Mayor Watkins read from the ordinance the section that says a police officer/and or animal warden that sees a stray dog is to stop and secure the dog. He said the Police Department is doing this and he is not sure that they should. Mayor Watkins said the question is do we have enforcement or do we have a legislative problem. Ms. Hines said our ordinance has a section about dangerous dogs. Mayor Watkins said he doesn’t know if we can specify if a particular breed of dog is dangerous or not. Ms. Hines said our ordinance states that an animal is not a dangerous animal solely by virtue of their breed. Mayor Watkins and Mrs. Cohen said they agree with what is stated in our ordinance. Mayor Watkins said this is one of the questions that

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have been coming up-what makes that breed a dangerous animal. Mr. Cannon said it should be dogs whether small or large. He said if a person has a dog they need to keep a nice place for the dog and take care of him. Mayor Watkins said our ordinance has a good definition of what constitutes a “dangerous animal”. Mrs. Cohen asked if we have adequate personnel to enforce the ordinance. Mr. Garland said whenever we get a complaint we try to answer as best we can. Mr. Garland said he talked with Street Superintendent, Mr. Merrill Sheffield and he said the traps only work about 30% of the time. Mr. Garland said the dogs are so good when they hear the click of the motor, they run. Ms. Hines said the City needs to get more and the traps they have are not large enough. Ms. Hines said they caught four possums under her house. She said they set a small trap there, but the possum was so big he went in the trap each time, ate the food and when the animal warden came back there was nothing in the trap. Mrs. Thomas said in the code prohibits any dog from running at large. Mrs. Thomas said if a police officer, animal control person or anybody comes by, they should be able to get the dog and take it to the pound. She asked if we were doing this. Mayor Watkins said he doesn’t think we are doing this. Mayor Watkins said he doesn’t think that every stray dog is being picked up by the animal warden, it’s mainly by complaint. He said Council needs to decide if the animal warden should pick up dogs by complaint or should he/she pick up every dog that they see. Mrs. Thomas said the ordinance states that picking up stray animals is to be enforced by all means of the City. Mayor Watkins asked Council if they want to make it the duty of the police officer to pick up dogs. Mrs. Thomas said we need to change our ordinance. Mrs. Cohen made a motion for City Council to direct the City Manager to initiate discussions with city personnel who are involved with animals as to the merits of picking up any animal seen running loose versus strictly working on demand approach of picking up animals. (Motion failed for lack of a second) Mrs. Thomas made a motion to instruct the City Manager look into what the City is obligated to at this time and what should be change; whether it’s the responsibility of the Police Department to pick up dogs or not. The motion was seconded by Mrs. Cohen. All approved the motion.

CITY MANAGER’S UPDATE1) Mr. Garland gave Council the Hospitality Bank Acct. balance - $223,196.36; 2) Received award letter from the Forestry Commission for hazard trees grant for $22,000. 3) Williamson Park Boardwalk project is complete. Mr. Garland said they are waiting on the final inspection which

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will be sometime this month. 4) Work is finished on the exterior roof at Darlington Jr. High gym. Mr. Garland said interior roof repairs should start soon. Mr. Wallace Bradley thinks once this is done, we can start looking at bringing bids before council for work on the floor. Mr. Garland said he will try to have estimates at the next Council meeting on the floor. 5) PDRTA will hold a community meeting on February 16, 2010 at 6:00 PM in the courtroom. Mr. Garland said PDRTA wants to add four or five more routes in Darlington and they want public comments. The buses will run more to Hartsville and Florence and also circulate some in the City. PDRTA wants public comment about times and where they should be picking people up. 6) Mr. Garland reported on power outages during the ice storm. 7) Mr. Garland said the preliminary audit reports should be finished in the next two weeks. 8) Mr. Garland said SC DHEC will be offering free flu shots on Friday, February 5, 2010 to all City employees, Council members and spouses or family in the City Admin Building Conference Room. 9) Mr. Garland asked Council to give them a day to unveil the two signs for Orlando Hudson. It was decided that Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 10:00 AM at the entrance near Huddle House for the sign unveiling. 10) Economic Development Administration has started a new grant program, (communities affected by unfair trade practices) and Darlington County is eligible for this because of the closing of Wellman. Mr. Garland said instead of having to put up a 50% match for an EDA grant, we only have to put up a 10% match. Mr. Garland said this money will be available a lot sooner. He said he put in a pre-application last week requesting $2.1M which will cover the interceptor line for Georgia Pacific; the head works improvements at the old treatment plant, the new aerators for the current wastewater treatment plants. Mr. Garland said these improvements put us in much better shape to take care of the consent order from DHEC and a lot of our industrial needs for the next few years. 11) The waterline project in West Darlington is about 40% complete.

MR. KINSAUL – INFO Mr. Kinsaul reported on sewer problems on the corner of Orange and Wells Streets. He said they have encountered two sewer breaks and a possible cave-in by the fire department. He said this will be a slow meticulous process, but they are doing their best to reroute the traffic and keep the road closed off.

INFO ONLY

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Mr. Garland said our new minimum wage for City employees will be $8.00 an hour. He said every employee that was making under $8.00 an hour was adjusted. Mrs. Thomas asked if this was keeping us under budget. Mr. Garland said there were no raises given to everybody, but he has factored in a 2% raise for the 2010-11 budget years which will be approximately $55,000. Mrs. Thomas asked Mr. Garland if he could change the hourly rate for the employees without Council vote. Mr. Garland said the increase is only for the employees that were making under $8.00 an hour. There were only three employees whose hourly rate changed. Mr. Chapman asked Mr. Garland the occupancy rate for the apartments. Mr. Garland told Mr. Chapman he did not know what the rate is for phase 1.

REMINDERSMonday, February 15, 2010 – President’s Day (Work day for City of Darlington); Wednesday, February 17, 2010 – MASC Legislative Day in Columbia, SC; Tuesday, March 2, 2010 @ 7:00 PM – Next Regular City Council Meeting.

ADJOURNMENTUpon motion of Ms. Hines, seconded by Mr. Segars, the meeting adjourned at 8:47 PM.

Mayor

ATTEST:

Clerk & Treasurer

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CITY OF DARLINGTON REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING

January 5, 2010

The Regular Meeting of Darlington City Council was held, January 5, 2010 at 7:00 P.M. in the Court Room of City Hall at 400 Pearl Street.

PRESENT AT MEETING:Councilperson Mrs. Dyan Cohen, Mrs. Annette Thomas, Ms. Gloria

Hines, Mr. Chapman and Mr. John Segars. Also present: Mayor Watkins, City Manager, Mr. Rodney Langley, Assistant City Manager, Mr. Howard Garland, Mr. Robert Garland, Mr. Tony DiLeo, Mr. Kinsaul, Fire Chief, Jim Stone and several visitors.

Copies of the agenda were faxed to the News & Press, The Morning News and the Hartsville Messenger with place, date and time of meeting.

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 P.M. by Mayor Watkins.

PRAYERCouncilwoman gave the invocation which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

OATH OF OFFICECity Attorney, Mr. Newton Howle administered the Oath of Office to Councilwoman Gloria Hines and Councilman John Segars.

PRESENTATION OF EMPLOYEE SERVICE PINSMayor Watkins said service pins are normally given out at our annual city supper, but because of budget restraints the supper was cancelled in November, 2009. Department Heads were to notify their employees that were to receive service pins to be present at this meeting in order to get their service pin. Mayor Watkins presented service pins to the employees that were present at the council meeting. For the employees that were not present, the service pins will be given to the department head to give to them.

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EMPLOYEE OF THE YEARMayor Watkins said each year a single employee is named “employee of the Year”. Mayor Watkins said this is the highest honor an employee can receive. This year’s “Employee of the Year” was presented to Mrs. Cheryl DuBose. The employee of the year receives a check for $300.00 and three days off with pay.

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONMayor Watkins also presented Mr. Rodney Langley with a “Key to the City” for his years of dedicated service to the City of Darlington.

APPROVAL OF MINUTESMrs. Cohen made a motion to approve the minutes of our last regular meeting. The motion was seconded by Mr. Segars. Ms. Hines said on page 3 above “agenda change” where it says Mayor Watkins told Ms. Hines Council agreed upon these terms, this was not said. Mayor Watkins told Ms. Hines she was correct and we need to strike this from the minutes. All approved minutes with noted change.

MS. SHARON BLACK – AIDS AWARENESSMs. Black said they are a community health center and they have offices throughout the Pee Dee. She said one of the things they are working on is an HIV/AIDS awareness on January 16, 2010 at Hartsville Country Club. Ms. Black said South Carolina ranks in the top ten for AIDS cases and has been consistent for the past few years. She said her organization would like to come together and see what can be done to raise the issue within our local community and also let people know what services are available. Ms. Black told Council she would like for them to either come to the event or let people know what services are available. Ms. Black left flyers that can be given out in the community.

MAIN STREET UPDATE – TONY DILEOMr. DiLeo said signage was approved for U.S. Money Shop at 959 Governor Williams Highway and Stephanie’s Income Tax Service at 1034 Pearl Street. He said we had a successful “Open House” in December. Mr. DiLeo said he mentioned previously that the District Manager of the Rotary Club called him about a group coming from Brazil to visit our area. Mr. DiLeo said they have it all resolved and the group will be here on March 20, 2010 to visit The Darlington Raceway and areas around Darlington. Mr. DiLeo said today they presented The Business Pride Award to Kistler-Hardee Funeral

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Home and the Residential Pride Award will be given to Mr. Jerry Wilson at 127 N. Ervin Street. Mr. DiLeo said our Annual Taste of Darlington will be Thursday, April 15, 2010 at Darlington Raceway. Mr. DiLeo said the event will be moved from the tent area to the garage area. Mrs. Thomas asked if we were required to get a certain voltage for the lights downtown because the lights look too dim the in downtown area. Mayor Watkins said we have period lights downtown and they are designed to cast the light downward. Mr. Langley asked Mrs. Thomas if she was talking about Christmas lights or street lights. Mrs. Thomas said she is talking about the street lights. Mr. Langley said one of the things they found was that a lot of the Christmas lights were not burning and the reason being a lot had bad cells, but a lot of them have been replaced now. There was one that had a broken wire that Progress Energy will have fixed, so hopefully that lighting is better than it was a week or so ago.

MR. MIKE WOODALLMr. Woodall said he appeared before Council four months ago and asked Council to take a look and see what could be done at the intersection of Pearl and S. Main Streets. Mr. Woodall said he has been in touch with Mr. Michael Bethea and the State again and they have replaced the post at the corner of his building and this is all they have done. He said they have not braced the three posts like they said they would do. Mr. Woodall told Council he came last time to ask for different resolutions from them and asked them at the end of that time to get back with him and let him know what they are going to do. Mr. Woodall said he can see tractor trailers coming through town all the time and he doesn’t see very much being done to stop them. Mr. Woodall told Council he is coming to them with another resolution since he is getting nothing from the Council or from the City. He proposed having a “No Right Turn” sign put up so that no trucks can make a right hand turn off of Pearl Street onto S. Main Street and enforce it. Mr. Woodall told Council he is not satisfied with their actions. He told Council he’s asking for their help and if they aren’t going to give it to him he can’t understand why. He said he’s not going to stop and he’s going to continue to come back and one way or another he will get this done. Mr. Woodall went on to tell Council he doesn’t know what it will take, maybe a removal of all of them from Council, but he will get it done. He said this is just not right; he’s laid out four months ago why it’s not right and he’s back tonight to ask for Council help since they had one dissenter who did not want tractor trailers to go around the Square and down S. Main Street. Mr. Woodall said he doesn’t think his request his out of line and he don’t think it’s too much

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to ask of Council. Ms. Hines said she doesn’t think it would be such a big problem to stop the trucks, but it’s left up to Mr. Langley and Mr. Garland with Council’s approval. Mr. Woodall said it’s not going to cost the city anything. The only thing it will cost the city is for the Police Department to enforce this. Ms. Hines told Mr. Woodall after he came to the meeting four months ago she was not aware that he had gotten this far. Mayor Watkins told Mr. Woodall that Council doesn’t think the trucks should be in the city to begin with. Mayor Watkins told Mr. Woodall he is asking Council to do something, but they are not going to do that without hearing from everyone because this is a bigger problem than with him. He said this decision affects the downtown. Mayor Watkins said the City has an ordinance that restricts trucks coming through the City. Mayor Watkins told Mr. Woodall that we will look at this issue and if he does not agree with everything that Council does then he’s sorry. Mayor Watkins said City Council represents everyone. Mr. Woodall said understands we have an ordinance in place, but it’s not being enforced. Mr. Woodall said he may be the only voice in this town that saying something about this, but he can’t wait for something to happen to his building. Mr. Woodall said the amount of damage that’s been done to the city property on the Square should be important to the City. Mayor Watkins told Mr. Woodall that the City has the same objective that he has. Mr. Watkins said he doesn’t really want the trucks downtown whether they have a bill of laden or not. Mr. Woodall said when the City passed the resolution he thought that meant there would be no thru trucks allowed in the downtown area. Mr. Woodall said he has created the other resolutions based on the fact that we haven’t been able to get a law that says that trucks are not allowed on the Square to begin with. He said unless you have the enforcement of the law and of the signs people are going to continue to break them. Mr. Woodall said before you can enforce anything you have to have something in place. Mr. Woodall said he would rather scrap the last two things he has proposed, both in September and tonight, for just no trucks downtown and have directional signs showing the drivers an alternative way. Mrs. Thomas suggested to Council to consider listing how many trucks the police department has pulled and begin to study the enforcement of it. Mrs. Thomas said maybe with the Police Department’s cooperation we can begin to study whether we are having an increase or decrease of trucks going downtown. She said we need to try and get a truck route and put up directional signs for the drivers. Mayor Watkins said we will present the following to the City Manager; 1) check ambiguity in the current law; look at the feasibility of restricting tractor trailers 100% from the Public Square and document in writing enforcement of our truck

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ordinance which Mr. Segars put in the form of a motion. The motion was seconded by Mr. Chapman. All approved the motion.

REQUEST TO PURCHASE FORMER DARLINGTON BUILDERS SUPPLY BUILDINGMayor Watkins said there is a request from someone for us to sell them the old Darlington Builder’s Supply building. Mr. Langley said the gentleman did not offer an amount, but he did tell him that our plans were to remodel the building and move the Street & Sanitation Department office there. Mr. Langley said the gentleman wants to use the facility for a distribution point for goods to be shipped to other places. Ms. Hines made a motion that we keep the building for the purpose it was donated to us and not sell it. Mr. Chapman said he disagrees and feel that we should hear what the gentleman has to offer. Mr. Chapman said with the state of the economy it may be a year or two before our department fully move in. Mayor Watkins said it’s the fact that the building was donated to us. Mr. Chapman said we can ask the person who gave us the building their feelings about it. Ms. Hines amended her motion to include “if the gentleman offers us a substantial amount of money to cover the cost of another building that we could purchase or another area where we could build a building without going into our funds she will agree to it. And also ask Darlington Builders Supply owners how they will feel about this. Mrs. Cohen seconded the motion. All approved the motion. FIRST READING ON ORDINANCE REQUIRING PAYMENT OF LICENSE FEESUpon motion of Ms. Hines, seconded by Mrs. Cohen, First reading on ordinance requiring payment of license fees on business occupations and professions. All approved the motion.

FIRST READING ON ORDINANCE SETTING TAX LEVY Upon motion of Ms .Hines, seconded by Mr. Chapman, First reading on ordinance setting Tax levy for 2010. (125 Mils). All approved the motion.

CITY MANAGER’S UPDATE1) Mr. Langley said the roof at B.A. Gym is almost complete 2) Physical work on the Carnegie Library is almost done. Mr. Langley said the next step will be to organize themselves and committees and set up a group to try to help us do some fundraising. 3) Letters were hand delivered to residents in

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the Country Club area concerning trash dumping. 4) Mr. Kinsaul gave Council an update on the credit card machine. 5) Mr. Langley said the signs for Orlando Hudson have been ordered. He ordered one for S. Main Street, one for the City Limits sign on the Hartsville Highway and one for Orlando to keep. 6) For info only – Has hired new Building Official by the name of Lee Bass and he will start work on Wednesday the 15th. Mr. Langley said Mr. Bass is certified in residential codes, but not in commercial codes. Mrs. Thomas asked Mr. Langley to explain the negotiations concerning Mr. Bass’ salary since he doesn’t have certification in commercial building. Mr. Langley said they originally had an idea for Mr. Bass’ salary and when they made him the offer they cut this back with the understanding that as soon as he gets the commercial certification, we will be able to increase his salary to the amount they originally talked about. Mayor Watkins asked if not having his commercial certification would prevent him doing certain aspects of his job. Mr. Langley said he probably won’t be able to sign off on certain things pertaining to commercial. Ms. Hines wanted to know if we gave Mr. Bass a time limit to get his commercial certification. Mr. Langley said reasonable, which is about six months to us.

ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER’S UPDATE1) Mr. Garland said we have the preliminary approval for the weatherization grant. 2) He applied for the hazard tree grant, which was hand delivered on the 18th 3) the following streets are to be added to the waterline upgrade – Syracuse Street (from Strickland Street to Tallulah Street), Player Street, Davis and Harper Streets. 4) Also working on sewer plans for the same streets. 5) As of today, we have over $202,000 in our hospitality tax funds; 6) Carnegie Library exterior has not been closed out yet due to a problem with the brick work and concrete pad. 7) Williamson Park boardwalk should be finished in the next two weeks. 8) Budget meetings for department heads will begin next week and Council is invited to be present. 9) January 7, 2010 at 9:00 AM is the next Census Count Meeting and 10) Signed last document on the McClellan Building.

REMINDERJanuary 18, 2010 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday

EXECUTIVE SESSIONMr. Segars made a motion to go into Executive Session at 8:55 PM to discuss a personnel matter. The motion was seconded by Mrs. Cohen.

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Mayor Watkins asked everyone to be excused except Council members.

Mrs. Cohen took the minutes after the executive session. The following motion was approved unanimously by Council:

The salary of Mr. Howard Garland, who begins his tenure as City Manager, would be set at $68,500 total annual salary including longevity and education. The salary of Mr. Rodney Langley, who is moving out of the position of city manager and into another full-time position for the City, would be set at $50,000 total annual salary including longevity and education. The term of employment for Mr. Langley would be up to five years, and continued employment beyond the five-year mark could also be considered. These salary changes take effect on Monday, January 18, 2010. ADJOURNMENTDid not have this info.

Mayor

ATTEST:

Clerk & Treasurer

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