DOWNTOWN TRAFFIC PROBLEMS: On Thursday after careful deliberation with State officials, the City and SCDOT jointly decided to scrap the new downtown traffic system and revert to the old system with some yet to-be-determined minor changes regarding circles and left turns. The project was not a total loss according to City officials since the traffic light hardware was old and aging necessitating upgrades and replacement. Additionally, the pedestrian light system was installed which is very important near intersections used by children. Finally, the cameras and street sensors should improve traffic flow with full synchronization of the traffic lights. That said, we probably could have minimized many problems had there been more detailed planning.
DATES TO REMEMBER- Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 3:00 p.m., a reading for The Secret of Telfair Inn, a children’s book by noted local author Idella Bodie, will be held at the Aiken County Historical Museum. Tickets are being sold at the Aiken Center for the Performing Arts. This event is part of Celebrate Aiken!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., we will hold the first in a series of public meetings for Aiken’s Tomorrow: Local Acts – Global Impacts at the City of Aiken Conference Center. After a large group meeting, citizens attending will be divided into small groups to discuss three questions about what works, what needs fixing, and what they expect to see in Aiken 5, 10, 15, and even 25 years from now when Aiken will celebrate 200 years as a South Carolina city. Citizens can attend this or other public meetings as part of this update. We are developing an online survey as well.
Thursday, April 1, 2010 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., Celebrate Aiken! is sponsoring an art show by acclaimed South Carolina Heritage Artist Jim Harrison, at the Aiken Center for the Arts.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. will hold our second public meeting for Aiken’s Tomorrow at the Smith Hazel Gym on Kershaw Street.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 will be our annual Mayor’s Luncheon to honor our volunteers who freely give of their time and talents in service to our city Boards, Commissions, and Committees. We are planning to meet at noon at Newberry Hall, 117 Newberry Street, SW in downtown Aiken.
Thursday, April 22, 2010 from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. is a free, and open to the public, energy conference entitled Going Green – It Starts With Me. It will be held in our City Hall Conference Center and is being sponsored by the US Housing and Urban Development agency. Several distinguished speakers will present practical and simple methods to save on energy costs, reduce our carbon footprint, and make our homes more energy efficient.
Friday, April 23, 2010 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., our annual Earth Day Celebration will again be held in Hopelands Garden. Several exhibits on-site will explain our unique Aiken environment and responsible ecological practices, local programs and agencies, and other fascinating information
PRESENTATION FOR THE LADIES OF PEARLS - In February at the Smith-Hazel Black History program, ten ladies were recognized as Ladies of Pearls. These are ladies who not only work at their day-time jobs, but also volunteer and work with youth and parents in various programs. Listed below are the ladies that Council would like to recognize tonight and present them a Character pen for the time and effort they have given as volunteers at Smith-Hazel and other locations around Aiken.
1. Charonica (Velma) Pope - Big Brother & Sister Club of Aiken, Program Coordinator for 18 years. Charonica Pope coordinates programs for children of all ages. She also works alongside parents of troubled and ill children. She has continuously provided food, shelter, clothing, and counseling to families in need.
2. Bridgett Collins Peoples - Former teacher of Aiken County for 34 years, now retired. Since retirement she has been teaching night school to youth (ages 7 - 18) and adults (ages 18 - 70). She also works with out-of-school youth (OSY) who are seeking to complete their education and achieve their full employability potential.
3. Colandra Thomas - A retired Functionary, Calandra has been working with children since 2002. She is now the director of two ministries (drama and mime). She works with children and adults ranging from 3 years old to approximately 80 years old.
4. Latisa G. Folk - Latisa has a Master's Degree in education for Divergent Learners and has been a 5th grade teacher at Chukker Creek Elementary for 9 years. She believes in school improvement and the future of our youth. She is also the Chairperson of Mr. Anna Baptist Church Education Ministry. She is always working above the margin to make sure her kids stay active.
5. Kimmerae Lee - Kimmerae has been working as a Guidance Counselor at Aiken Council School for the past 11 years. She has taken her job beyond the school grounds and has served as a counselor to many parents and grandparents. She, too, works with her community and church.
6. Barbara J. Dillard - Barbara has worked with children all of her adult life. She has been a Staff Assistant at Children's Place for 30 years. She has served as a chaperone and sometimes guardian for many children in her workplace. She has paid close attention to disabled and mentally ill children. She always gives a helping hand.
7. Jane Timmerman - Jan is a member of St. John Baptist Church in Aiken. She actively assists in community service for youth, adults, and homeless individuals. Through her church and her home she provides shelter, food, and clothing to those in need.
8. Julie Davis - Julie is a member of St. John Baptist Church. She actively assists in community service for youth, adults, and homeless individuals. Through her church and her home she provides shelter, food, and clothing to those in need.
9. Rosetta King - "Susie Reedy". At age 17, Rosetta took on the responsibility of rearing four brothers, three sisters and a child of her own, ages 13 and younger. She later also reared her 3- month old niece. "Rosetta put a lot of things in her life on hold so that her brothers and sisters would not be separated by the state or so that other family members would not have to split them up."
10. Beverly Clyburn - Councilwoman for District 1. Beverly Clyburn is a long time educator and public servant in Aiken County. She has served 19 years on the Aiken City Council and has served as Mayor Pro Tem. She was instrumental in putting forth a plan for the redevelopment of North Aiken, and she has been honored for her work in chairing the first four NLC Diversity Breakfasts.
PARKING IN DOWNTOWN AIKEN – At our last meeting, Council voted unanimously to eliminate the downtown parking restrictions. This is not a perfect solution to the downtown parking problem, but it seems to be what the majority of downtown businesses wanted.
RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING ACCEPTANCE OF DEED OF DEDICATION FOR WOODS END WAY- At our meeting in February, 2010, we deleted an item for the deed of dedication for Woods End Way. This was due to conflicting information that we had received from the developer concerning what he wanted us to accept. Originally he was asking us to accept the roadway and detention areas for this development. He is now asking us just to accept the deed of dedication for the water and sanitary sewer lines pertaining to lots 1, 2 and 3. Lots 4 and 5 are being served by the Valley Public Service Authority under a court ordered agreement with the City in the 1980's. This land was originally annexed into the city by Aiken Preparatory School with the understanding that they would eventually build a school on this property. As plans changed they decided not to relocate and sold this property to this developer. Our Engineering Department has reviewed the water and sewer in this development and is recommending its acceptance.
FIRST READING OF AN ORDINANCE TO ANNEX PROPERTY AT 1551 REDD STREET NW – The owner of a .4 acre lot at 1551 Redd Street NW is requesting annexation under the RS-10 zone. The applicant is interested in receiving sanitary sewer and the other benefits of being in the City of Aiken. The Planning Commission at their March 9, 2010, meeting voted unanimously to recommend approval of this annexation.
FIRST READING OF AN ORDINANCE TO ANNEX PROPERTY AT 1045 PINECREST AVENUE – The owner of a .78 acre lot at 1045 Pinecrest Avenue is requesting annexation under the RS-10 zone. The applicant is interested in receiving sanitary sewer and the other benefits of being in the City of Aiken. The Planning Commission at their March 9, 2010, meeting voted unanimously to recommend approval of this annexation.
FIRST READING OF AN ORDINANCE TO ANNEX PROPERTY AT 815 CUSMAN DRIVE – The owner of a .14 acre lot at 815 Cushman Drive is requesting annexation of a mobile home under RS-6 zone. Under an emergency request in December, 2009, the City connected this mobile home to our sanitary sewer requiring the owner to immediately apply for annexation. The property is in a neighborhood which currently consists of mobile homes, manufactured homes, stick built homes and vacant lots. The RS-6 zoning is compatible with other property within this area. However, the 50 foot width lot does not meet the minimum 60 foot requirement for RS-6. The current mobile home on this lot is in poor condition. The City does not allow under the current ordinances mobile homes to be moved into the city limits; though land with a mobile home on it could be annexed by City Council as a legal non-conforming use. As the City Attorney states in his attached memo Council will need to weigh whether it is appropriate to annex property with a mobile home occupying the lot.
The Planning Commission recommended approval of the annexation of 815 Cushman Drive with the following conditions:
1. that the manufactured unit is removed from the site;
2. that no other manufactured or mobile home is allowed;
3. that the conditions be recorded at the County RMC Office;
4. that conditions 1 and 3 be met within 120 days of City Council approval.
If the owner decides not to remove the mobile home and therefore not to be annexed, the emergency service should be discontinued within the next 60 days.
APPROVAL OF ACCOMODATIONS TAX COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS: - The Accommodations Tax Committee recently met to review the applications for the upcoming awards cycle. There were 14 applications this year requesting $319,841.91. Last year we had 15 requests requesting nearly $500,000. The Accommodations tax funds available this year will be $169,850 not including $2,336.11 which will remain for contingencies.
Due to the large amount of requested funding the Committee had to make some difficult choices as to whom to fund and to what extent. They decided to fund all the projects based on the interviews held at their February 24, 2010, meeting. Each of these events is listed separately in the memo with the amount requested versus the amount recommended. We also listed the previous year's grant and amount used. Based on the awards given we will have a small amount of money left in contingency for any new event that may come forward later this fiscal year.
RESOLUTION APPROVING A MEDIATION SETTLEMENT WITH PEPPER HILL NURSING CENTER - In 2003 an issue was brought forth from a citizen concerning Pepper Hill Nursing Home's unpaved parking area. After several discussions and variances before the BZA, in March, 2009, the BZA denied Pepper Hill's request for a permanent variance from the City's off street parking design standards.
Pepper Hill appealed to the Circuit Court which sent this case for mediation settlement to resolve the law suit. State statutes require settlement when it involves BZA cases and only final settlement must be approved by City Council. If you approve this tonight, it would then go back to the Circuit Court for final approval. If not, it will go back to court and the case may possibly not be resolved for another three to four years.
The basic settlement calls for Pepper Hill to fully comply with our Zoning Ordinance within two years or by March 31, 2012. We feel that the settlement is the preferred option because it sets an ultimate date for compliance that cannot be appealed. There are also some other compliances and deadlines that are outlined in the timeline on the last page in the Memorandum of Settlement. We believe this will ensure that Pepper Hill is working with us in good faith to become compliant.
PARK AT RICHLAND AND YORK – At the last City Council meeting, you approved funding for the new park to be located at the northwest corner of York and Richland Avenue. We have included the approved plans for that park along with the Council minutes from that meeting for your information. We are currently developing the final set of specifications in order to hire a contractor to build this park. Either at this time or some time in the near future we would like to include either a plaque or sign identifying this park. Therefore, we would need Council to determine the name for this park. If you are ready to do so at tonight's Council meeting we can include this in our specifications for this project.
WATER AND SEWER RATES – At our Horizons meeting we discussed last year’s Utility Budget shortfall of more than $1 million. Based on our preliminary projections this year's budget will be the same or possibly worse. In order to meet next year's budget we will need to increase our water and sewer rates by approximately 11.3% or hope for a major increase in water sales due to a dry summer.
We have attached several exhibits showing why we are experiencing this short fall and why we need the increase. The first exhibit lists the charges from the Aiken County Public Service Authority for the treatment of our waste. As you can see our rates have more than doubled in the last 10 years amounting to more than a 10% increase per year. Some of this is due to the additional costs which they are passing along and the rest is due to the loss of a major customer, Graniteville.
The second exhibit shows our water and sewer rates in comparison to other major cities in the state and some smaller cities in the surrounding area. As you can see our closest comparison is North Augusta and our water and sewer rates are approximately 20% below their rates. In comparison to the rest of the state we are over 50% below the state average.
The third exhibit charts the rate increases we have had over the last 10 years. As you can see we have not kept up with the increasing rates in our state and have been relying on growth and dry period when we were receiving high revenue sales of our water.
Exhibit 4 shows our projected capital expenses over the next 10 years versus depreciation, and the debt repayment plan for these expenditures. As shown we would be making smaller payments initially and increasing the payments once our bonds are paid off in approximately four years. Next year we will use all of our accumulated depreciation and will need to borrow funds sometime during 2011 to meet future utility expenses. Our goal is not to use bonds, but to borrow the money internally to meet our future needs.
SETTING DATE FOR BUDGET WORK SESSION - We typically hold a budget meeting the first Monday in May. Therefore, we would like to schedule a meeting with City Council for May 3, 2010, at 3 P.M. or whatever time best suits Council to review this year's budget. Please review your calendar so we can determine at tonight's meeting the time for the budget work session or let me know if we need to change this time or date.
SECOND READING OF AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 32 OF THE AIKEN CITY CODE REGARDING COMMERCIAL GARBAGE - Over the last several months, City Council has discussed our commercial garbage rates and whether or not to maintain this service. At our last Council meeting the general discussion based around keeping the service and increasing the rate in order for us to break even. Last year City Council decided not to increase the rates due to the recessionary period, but to maintain the rates even though it meant a loss within the City of Aiken. We are now experiencing a shortfall of approximately $85,000 and are recommending increasing the cubic yard collection fee from $5.20 to $6.60 and maintaining the rate for each service trip at $48.27. We will still allow the four private companies currently providing commercial garbage in the City of Aiken to serve any new or existing business. With the rate increase the City of Aiken will be lower than two of the providers and higher than the other two. This rate increase would take effect with the April 1, 2010, billing.
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