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I attended the LCOG meeting.  There was lot of talk about the stimulus package there and also the unemployment figures for the county.  They were pretty bleak, over 10 percent.
Next month — Well, I’ll go ahead and I’ll let Terri talk about that, too.  I’ll be introducing a prescription drug plan.  It’s a discount card through the National League of Cities and Terri, she had more information on this, also, because she received some today.
I do want to say that it may not benefit everybody in town; it’s something that you’ll just have to look at and see whether it will help you or not and thing’s accepted at all the local pharmacies, so that’s one good thing.  Some people may be able to get a benefit out of it; some people may not but the fact that it will be available later on.
And since I overran, I’ll thank you very much and at this time Clerk of Court Terri Crosby.
MS. CROSBY:     This past month I’ve been very busy.  I paid one assessment last month.  I still have been graphing our local opt sales money which we receive each month.  The numbers are still going down compared to the last year money.
I’ve apply through the NLC – National League of Cities – for prescription discount card program for the citizens of Cottageville.  And this afternoon I received an e-mail, said that it would take about eight weeks before we can offer this plan.
This plan is for 20 percent off of a prescription if you don’t have insurance.  If the insurance doesn’t pay it you can get 20 percent off.  It’s only at participating pharmacies.
Also, when it comes out we will have it posted on the web page – I will get it to you – and also in the paper we’ll be advertising it.
The mayor and I cleaned up three bags of trash in front of the old elementary school along with other debris that were left behind.  Please, if anyone is using or you know someone who is using the basketball goals, we ask them to please don’t litter.  If you look at the front of the old school, it looks very nice and we’re trying to make the area around there very professional.
Also, I’ve been helping out with the chamber/courtroom at the old cafeteria building.  We’re coming along well on the place.  Everyone will be surprised next month.  It will be a big improvement compared to where we are now.
I attended a session with Representative Clyburn on the stimulus money in Kingstree.  There’re money grants out there and we continue working on them.
I met with Elizabeth Allen who helped me with the sidewalk grant.  The grant for sidewalks was turned in on March 30.
We’re now working on a walk grant which is through the Parks and Recreational Development Fund for a walk trail that we would like to have in front of the old elementary school.
I sent out business license applications, also sent out additional 15 business applications for other persons that are doing business in the town of Cottageville.
I started to collect on the money on the licenses.  Deadline for the licenses is April 15.  After that there will be a 5 percent penalty charge for each month that it’s late.
I met with Terry Jones (phon.) from Identify Theft Shield on Red Flag.  Mr. Jones will be helping me to comply with the federal laws of identity theft at no cost to the town.
We held a mandatory training class for the employees and I will be — and he will be speaking to the council at the retreat.
I’m working on the ‘09-010 budget, which council received their worksheets on their committee tonight.
I’ve also been asked to serve on the ADHOC committee for census 2010 participation by the mayor, which is through the Colleton County Planning and Development.
And that’s it.
MAYOR WHITE:     Thank you.
One thing I want to say.  Terri and Elizabeth Allen did prepare a really nice package, sidewalk package, and that’s — You’re welcome to take a look at that after it’s over.  It’s broken down in priority so just leave it up here, if somebody wants to look at it after the meeting, but, of course, the number 1 priority is for the different phases would be down Pierce Road.  Well, not Pierce Road but going down Sally Ackerman to Pierce to the school.
Okay.  Let’s see.
Police report, Shane Roberts.
CHIEF OF POLICE ROBERTS:     Okay.
Real quickly, I’d like to speak about the litter over at school.  Terri and the mayor have done a great job over there.  They collected a good bit of trash.
It is, the basketball goals are being used and that’s exciting for me because it gives the youth something to do around here.
One of the things that I do see when we see the juveniles involved in crime, boredom.  Boredom seems to just — Their mind’s idle; they’re not — There’s nothing to do for them and stuff like that there, so here is an opportunity for the town to have something.
She also mentioned about a walking trail and so forth.  These are great things that we could have.
Now, also, we, we can have other events and I’ve discussed it with the mayor and Terri as well and even Dawn brainstorms, as well, things.
I, personally, would like to see Cottageville have like a — later on in the year, like a — like a 5K run or something.  It’s feasible.  Our department can handle it.  We can actually do it with DOT roadways but in order to implement it we need to have support from the town, so I’m actually asking people to contact me reference maybe putting together little committee.  So if you can, if you’d like to serve, I’d love to have you and, like I said, I think we can do something for this fall and I think it’d be great for the town.  I think it’d give the youth something to do and we can actually incorporate it in to some type of event, that morning type event.
I do have a crime watch meeting.  I spoke about it last time.  Due to circumstances I wasn’t officially able to organize it for this past month but I do have it set up for April 22 at 7 p.m.  That’s on a Wednesday night, 7 p.m. here.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     Shane.
CHIEF OF POLICE ROBERTS:     Yes?
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     What’s the — It’s really, really tough, especially with church going on.  Is there another night you can do that?
CHIEF OF POLICE ROBERTS:     The only problem that, that I have with that, as well, is that one of my many hats that I’m wearing is I am a baseball coach for the little league and most of our games are on Tuesday and Thursday and right now I’m actually guesstimating that I do not have a game on that day.  My schedule is just so booked.
Now, I’m gone go with April 22 right now as we speak.  This will be publicized through the paper and through radio.  So if something changes, Rick, if something is able to change I’ll make every effort -
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     I would like to be part of something like that.  I just -
CHIEF OF POLICE ROBERTS:     But we’re only — We’re only — We’re right three weeks away from it, so, you know, we can have a little flexibility if at all possible.  But I think it’s important for participation throughout the town, not just businesses but residents as well and people who are looking to move to the town.
Incident reports were pretty light this month; however, we still seeing theft as, as a — as a problem and with the effects of our economy is having, of course, that’s one thing that goes hand in hand, so we’re constantly addressing that, you know, with our patrol and stuff.  I’m having officers get out more into the neighborhoods and stuff like that there, so if anything suspicious and so forth, you know, please report it.
Which brings me to another point.  Whenever contacting the police department, I am requesting that the town citizens or anybody else passing through the town, if you need to contact the police department to, you know, let us know that something suspicious going on or so forth, dial 9-1-1.  That is — That — We go through Colleton County dispatch and it’s very important.
I think in the past, under previous administrations they were able to call the chief or call other officers and that worked for that period of time.  Well, what we’re having now is things are different.  This is a whole different world that we live in and we — If you call me specifically and say, hey, look, I’ve got a problem here, well, I’m the only one that knows about it, whereas if you call 9-1-1 the dispatcher there, who’s a trained professional, can make the determination of who actually needs to respond, whether you need fire, whether you need EMS and exactly how many law enforcement.  It may be something that’s going on that we may need assistance from other agencies.  They’re trained to be able to do that.
If they feel like it’s not an emergency they’ll tell you, ma’am, sir, please call back on this line.  And that prevents me from getting the calls and nobody else knowing about it because when I get the calls there’s no documentation.  If one of my officers gets the call there’s no documentation.  So it’s kind of hard, especially in trying to prosecute certain crimes, to go back and say we had a — this is the fifth time we’ve had to respond to this if four of them have come through our cell phones or just here to department and not through dispatch.  So it’s very important for us to do that.
Stimulus money.  I did apply for a grant and, and, hopefully, if the governor sees fit, that we will be able to receive funds for the town on that. The stimulus money will go to equipment; it will go to manpower and also if we’re able to carry over to the new facility over here and this can be the police department, it will allow us to have money for renovations to this department to bring us up to the level we need to be as a department.
In my opinion, our building is outdated and, and so forth, and it, it needs a lot of work and with bringing that will bring a pride.  We’ve gone through changes of uniforms, of cars, personnel.  You know, we need to take a step further to have that full evolution for, for the department.
And that’s, that’s pretty much all I have, Mayor.
MAYOR WHITE:     Thank you.
Dawn Boring, judicial report.
MS. BOREN:     Walk-ins and phone calls were average last month.
The chief, town clerk and myself have discussed putting our best efforts forward in trying to receive grants to make the town better.  They both have agreed to help me understand the grant process and assist me if I need help on a grant.
I have been searching for grants for our government — from our government to help improve all our judicial system.
I sent out nearly a hundred letters back in from my first day of work in hopes to collect money from mandatory minimum fines that need to be sent to the state.  These fines usually arrive when people have been incarcerated, served their time and never paid the mandatory minimum fine that the state wants from us. So they go to jail, time served, we never see them again but we still have money that we have to give to the state from those funds.
MAYOR WHITE:     Thank you.
Peggy Thomas, revitalization committee.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     No report at this time.
MAYOR WHITE:    Okay.
Carly Strickland.
COUNCIL MEMBER STRICKLAND:     At our next meeting – I think it’s May 4 – don’t forget we’re gone have Miss Suzanne Gant with the emergency preparedness there and she’s gone have some — the latest updates and hurricane bulletins on what they’re planning on doing this year and what’s gone be new and added to the county.  So she’s gone be at our meeting.
That’s all I have.
MAYOR WHITE:     Thank you.
Charlie Cook, public works.
COUNCIL MEMBER COOK:     Nothing at this time.
MAYOR WHITE:     Rick Eustler, technology.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     Basically, the — Terri let me know that the agendas haven’t been getting on the web so I’ve addressed that issue.  I have the old ones that should be there.
MAYOR WHITE:     Okay.  Thank you.
Sandra Addison, planning commission.
MS. CROSBY:     Mary Crosby taking over for Sandra.  Sandra is ill.
We completed three more articles, two, three and four.  We should have five, six and seven by the time we meet next month.  Worked double time on these, two days a week for the past month and I’d like to present these to you.
MAYOR WHITE:     Okay.  Thank you.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     Mary, did you make any changes to the ordinance or you just -
MS. CROSBY:     It’s mainly just words that had to be corrected.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     So that the actual structural changes as far as the things that were permitted previously, restricted previously, that hasn’t changed?
MS. HARDWICK:     As far as residential and commercial, we — That’s the next piece.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     Okay.
MS. HARDWICK:     What we’ve done so far is the terminology, the signage and things of that nature, just the low key kinds of things that really didn’t — We deleted a few things and little typo things but not really tremendous change.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     Okay.
MS. HARDWICK:     The next part, which is five, six and seven, is the real meat of the zoning ordinance.  So that — So that’s, that’s coming starting next Monday.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     Okay.
Did you look at any changes to the land, land-use map and all or you sticking at the, the proposed lands map?
MS. HARDWICK:     Well, like I said, we’re just now — We’ve done — We’ve done the commercial section but we didn’t have an adequate — That’s where we start, with the commercial district.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     Okay.
MS. HARDWICK:     And we didn’t have an adequate map and now we’ve got a map that we can work with and from that point we’re moving.  It goes from commercial to residential to the industrial.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     Are you gonna stick with downtown commercial or did you guys get rid of that distinction?
MS. HARDWICK:     No, we did not.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     Okay.
So you still have downtown commercial?
MS. HARDWICK:     Yes.
We would like to invite anyone to attend.  Because we’ve had one, one person be our audience, so, and we do allow input.  So, like I said, this is the meat of it coming up and this is critical, I think, for the town so that we’ll grow and grow appropriately, that everyone’s happy.
Well, we’re not gone make everyone happy but most people happy.
MAYOR WHITE:     Thank you.
Okay.
Unfinished business, I’ve already addressed both its.
New business is I have a reading, first reading of the ordinance amending Town Code Section 2.406 relating to filing fees for two elections.
Whereas the council has determined that it’s in the interest of the town to amend the town code section relating to filing fees for the town elections to aid the town and meeting the cost of town elections.  Therefore, let it be ordained by the town council of the Town of Cottageville that section 204 of the town code relating to the amount of filing fees for candidates for offices of mayor and council members is amended to read as follows: 2.406. Same Fees.  Filing fee for the offices of mayor shall be $250.00. The filing fee for the office of council members shall be $150.00.  This ordinance shall take effect upon the final reading.  Done this meeting duly assembled this sixth day of April, 2009.
Just like it says, the main reason we’re doing this is because of the cost of the elections.  It’s really because of the ads that have to go out, involved in the elections and it’s — If you want to run for it, you know, this helps offset the cost of it.
And that is first reading.
Do I entertain — I’d like to entertain a motion for approval of the first reading of Town Ordinance 2.406 relating to filing fees for town elections.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     I make a motion that 2.406, the filing fees be changed.
MAYOR WHITE:     Do I hear a second?
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     I’ll second it.
MAYOR WHITE:     All in favor?
(Council Member Thomas and Council Member Eustler voted in favor.)
MAYOR WHITE:     Nay?  Any Nays?
(Council Member Cook and Council Member Strickland voted against.)
MAYOR WHITE:     Okay.
And I’ll go for it, so, so we’re three for and two against.
Main reason I’m for it is because the cost of the — Just the ad cost along is one of the main reasons that we -
MS. CROSBY:     We’re the smallest municipality that costs $25 and 50.  Everybody else — This is low compared to other municipalities.  Other municipalities are 500 and a thousand.  And some’s 500 to 800.
MAYOR WHITE:     This just helps offset the cost to the town.
Public participation.  Debra Hardwick.
MS. HARDWICK:     My first thing was our principal Mr. Naugle (phon.) at the school will be retiring this year and so what we would like to do for him is to have a Carl Naugle Day, like an appreciation day and we were wondering if you could kind of make a little proclamation to that effect and that we could draw some of the businesses in and have them put up a thank you, Mr. Naugle sign and those sort of things, little warm thing.
We haven’t quite come up with a good day yet but we want to do in conjunction with his retirement party and so we were just wondering if y’all would be onboard for making a proclamation for a Carl Naugle Day.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     Sounds good to me.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     Sounds find.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     Yeah, I think we should.
MS. HARDWICK:     Yeah, because he’s been with us for, like, eight years.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     Yes, he has.
MS. HARDWICK:     And he’s made that big transition from the old school to the new school and, and so we’d just like to show our appreciation.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     Good idea.
MS. HARDWICK:     All right.
And the next thing was the ditches. Now — And that’s why I got up and that, like, right after you got to talking about that.
So, like, are you saying that the residents like myself along that road would be required to go in and dig our ditches down and, if so, is there a specification for how deep a ditch is?  I mean are there guidelines for that sort of . . .
MAYOR WHITE:     Well, see, we’ll actually — You know, that’s what I was saying.  I’ll have information from Danny Fausberg for that.
MS. HARDWICK:     Oh, okay.
MAYOR WHITE:     To ensure that, you know, like, if a homeowner says he’s gone go ahead and do it he doesn’t just say, well, I’m done.
MS. HARDWICK:     Yeah.
MAYOR WHITE:     You know, I went out there and took a scoop out of it and that’s it. You know, we’ll actually have requirements.
MS. HARDWICK:     Okay.
MAYOR WHITE:     We’re not trying to invade anybody’s property or anybody’s — You know.
MS. HARDWICK:     Oh, no.
MAYOR WHITE:     Take anything away from them but anybody that — You know -
MS. HARDWICK:     I mean my yard’s a swamp.
MAYOR WHITE:     And if anybody wants to come on my property and dig a ditch they’re more than welcome to.  You know, I mean, honestly.
MS. HARDWICK:     Because I was wondering if what he was proposing to do or what y’all were proposing to do was this, would that also have an effect on other people other than just the road and that area.  I mean would that make it so that some of even my water would go down into this?
MAYOR WHITE:     We’re hoping — Well, that won’t effect yours.  I don’t think that will catch yours.
After we get that and see if we have flow there, there’s several other points that are — You know, there’s that — there’s a pipe behind Subway that’s small and, like, Danny reported, there’s another pipe.
I tried to walk it all the other day but it was kind of a mess so I walked what I could and you got to be careful walking through somebody’s backyard, too, but, you know, it actually gets to this point.
But I think that this, this is like the main — from what I can tell, the main ditch through town but even after we get this cleaned it’s gonna have to be maintained and then we’re gonna eventually have to — You know, that’s why I said we’d come up with some type of storm water project, hopefully with — You know, I don’t know any of this as far as from the engineering level; I just know that stuff runs downhill and that’s just what we’re trying to do right now, is get it to run downhill.
MS. HARDWICK:     Okay.  Okay.  I just wondered.
MAYOR WHITE:     Okay?
MS. HARDWICK:     All right.
MAYOR WHITE:     Anything else for the good of Cottageville?
(No response.)
MAYOR WHITE:     Hearing none I’ll call for a motion to adjourn.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     I make a motion we adjourn.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     Second it.
MAYOR WHITE:     All in favor?
(All council members indicated yes.)
– Meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m. –

I, the undersigned Donna Hartley, Official Court Reporter and Notary Public, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true, accurate and complete transcript of record of all the proceedings had at the Town Council Meeting for The Town of Cottageville, South Carolina at Cottageville Town Hall on Monday, April 6, 2009.
I further certify that I am neither of counsel nor kin to any person attending this meeting nor am I interested in any manner of its outcome.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this eleventh day of April, 2009.

Notary Public for South Carolina
My Commission Expires April 23, 2017