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COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     Thank you, Randy.
MAYOR WHITE:     Thank you.
I want to just show y’all some numbers.  I want to just show y’all some numbers.
Oh, before I forget, too, before I show you the numbers, anybody that’s interested, here’s a discount card provided through the National League of Cities for prescription drugs.  Not everybody has insurance.  This is just a card that provides up to a 20 percent discount.  Charleston just introduced it to the City of Charleston’s residents and we’ve had it here for about six months now.
It’s through the National League of Cities.  If anybody’s interested in picking it up there it is.  It may help you, it may not.  It is accepted at all the pharmacies in Walterboro.
I just want to go ahead and show where we’re at.
This is just some information.  This is April, ‘09; May, ‘09 and June, ‘09.
And this is accredited to Dawn and Terri.
If you can see, LawTrack, that is the amount that Dawn takes in and that, the amount under QuickBooks is what’s deposited by Terri.  And there’s a difference of $2,360.
Now, I’m not the best one in math but I will tell you that that looks like, you know, well, less than 10 percent difference but let’s go on to May of ‘09.  Thirty thousand dollars in tickets was taken in.  It was deposited — Thirty-one thousand dollars was deposited in QuickBooks, a difference of ninety-one dollars.
Now, those differences are made up because of, you know, some — We may have made a refund to — for a ticket or we may have — You know, additional money may have come in from the previous month.
June of ‘09, $33,000 came in to LawTrack, 40,000 — I mean $34,000 was deposited at a difference of $1300.
But you can see for those three months that are picked up there that the difference is well less than 10 percent and the reason I’m showing this is I want to show you how beneficial it is to have, one, a judicial clerk or clerk of court; the other one to have a town clerk and having those two people and the separation that we’ve actually been able to perform in the town.  This has helped us to ensure that the money goes where the money’s supposed to go.
This is court fines.  This is — We didn’t have LawTrack.  We had gotten a grant for LawTrack but we didn’t put it into place until I got in here and, you know, it has really helped out.
The ticket report from the chief January, ‘03 was they wrote $60,844 in tickets.  QuickBooks shows a deposit of $29,000, a difference of $31,000.
I’ll just go through. Sixty-two thousand dollars.  QuickBooks, 31,000; difference, $30,000.
December, ‘03, tickets, 62,000; QuickBooks, 43,000; a difference of 18,000.
Now, in January and August there was a 50 percent difference between what was reported and what actually made it in to QuickBooks and this, you know, and I have documentation for that.
The other thing, we’ve been called a speed trap.  The last time I took a lot of heat for the amount of tickets that we wrote.  If you notice, back in January of ‘03, $60,000; August, 62 and December, 62.
We’re trying to make a difference here.  Look at the court fines.  Thirty-seven thousand, thirty-one, thirty-four.  So it looks like to me that we are trying to get away from being dependent on court fines alone.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     Mayor White?
MAYOR WHITE:     Yeah?
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     Can you put your numbers back up again?
And I’m sorry to kind of get you off track.
MAYOR WHITE:     No, go right ahead.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     But one of the things I just noticed which was different from the previous numbers is that the LawTrack numbers 35, 30 and 33, you actually put more money in the bank, not less.
MAYOR WHITE:     Right.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     Which is different than the other numbers you showed which there’s a — You’re missing 50 percent of the money.  So with your numbers you’re actually putting more money in, is that correct?
MAYOR WHITE:     That is correct.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     Okay.
MAYOR WHITE:     Yeah.
I don’t mind going back to that, either.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:    Mr. Mayor, may I ask a question?    And I’m not trying to be cute or anything but I think that’s a little . . . (inaudible) . . . because you’ve got it disbursed as three months hand running and on the other here you’ve got — you’ve got eight and four months difference in it.
MAYOR WHITE:     Well, I’ll be glad to — We have January, August and December and it’s not — It’s not fair to, to break that up like that.
We’ll go ahead and, you know, I may find it in my notes here but I’ll be more than happy
to . . .
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:    I mean was there any reason it was done like that?  I mean.
MAYOR WHITE:     No, it wasn’t.  We just selected.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:     Okay.
MAYOR WHITE:     Three months.
But I’ll be more than happy, Jimmy, to give you the whole year.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:     Excuse me.  I’m curious as to why you picked those three from ‘05 or another year.
MAYOR WHITE:     Because I had documentation of it.
Let me get back on track.  Let’s see.
Rick Eustler put out a newspaper article . . .
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     You want a copy?
MAYOR WHITE:     Yeah, I want a copy of it.
I just want to clarify some points.  And I got kind of off track but I did want to say one other thing, too.
I went back through the minutes and one thing that I thought was real interesting is this was from July 15, 2002.  Even back then people realized we have got to get away from ticket revenue.  This was Billy Thomas.  Billy Thomas has passed away.  He was a councilman here in Cottageville.  Yes, he was my father-in-law.
Billy said he had some questions about some of the figures on the budget but was able to get them cleared up with the clerk since the previous meeting.  Billy still feels like we should create some other form of revenue and not depend on ticket revenue so much.
So I mean even back then we knew that we had a problem.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:     I have a question, then.
MAYOR WHITE:     Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:     Mr. Eustler just pointed out that you’re depositing more ticket revenue now than you did back then.  I don’t understand why you’re . . . (inaudible) . . .
MAYOR WHITE:     Well, we’re actually depositing more ticket revenue because more of it is actually getting in to the bank
If you notice —
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:     But getting away from ticket revenue, getting away from it you’re depositing more now than you did back then.
MAYOR WHITE:     Well, what I’m trying to make there is that probably $60,000 should’ve gone in instead of.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:     . . . (inaudible) . . .
MAYOR WHITE:     Well, I’m getting there; I working to that point.
Okay.
Number 1, years of unpaid payroll taxes.  Here they are.
Number 2, years of unpaid retirement funds.  Here they are.
I presented these boards to council and also to the town two years ago and it’s the same information I presented to the town back then.  What was owed, what was done, no difference.  It’s the same information.
Number 3, years of unpaid state assessments.  Here they are.  Victims’ advocate fund unfunded.  Years of incorrect and possibly illegal application business license tax.
Here is the business license ordinance from ‘92.  It never changed until Terri Crosby came in here.  We were charging for retail business $20 a year.
No comprehensive plan.  I went ahead when I came in.  It was started back in ‘03, never approved and we ended up getting that thing passed and now we’re working on zoning which, of course, you know isn’t the most popular thing around.
Okay.
This is the zoning ordinance that we talked about.  A bunch of line-throughs in there so that basically makes it any section that’s lined through that we can’t really use it for in a court of law.
Six years of missing town records.                  And I went back to the minutes which was December 2, 2002.  The first order of business was reading of November minutes.  The minutes were read by C. J. Sapp (phon.).  Bert (phon.) made a motion to accept the minutes.
The second order of old business was reconstructing the records.  To this date there has been no response.
And then there was a response further on which says it would be — About the only thing they could do is reconstruct the, actually, the checkbook.  That’s the only thing that they could actually come up with, was to reconstruct the checkbook.
Eight or more pages of unpaid bills against the town.  A pending lawsuit.
This I brought up before.  It’s the first on that board right behind Jimmy.  Said police cars purchased through a firm other than the state.  This was — This was one of the most interesting things I ever got to work on.
First Government Leasing Company to where we had three leases.  What we ended up doing is when it came in we had a lawsuit for $80,000.  That lawsuit settled for $46,000 and today, today we’re still making payments of $1300 towards that lawsuit.  And that one was actually combined with the unpaid payroll taxes for $25,000.
When I came in we hadn’t made the payments.  We started paying that down.  So, you know, that’s where we’re at with that.
Even though the town being nothing more than a speed trap.  You know, you can see by the minutes, you know, back in the ‘90’s till now, that’s what we have.
It was a mention of me going to county council and addressing increased jurisdiction and they shot us down on it.  And I’ll tell you one of the reasons they shot us down on it was because even what was thrown up in my face by Joe Flowers (phon.), was we’re nothing but a speed trap.
Our officers work hard; they do a good job, just like Randy was saying about the meth lab and we’re trying to get away from that stigma but we have got to find other sources of revenue to do that.
I just want to say a few last words.  I think about how far we’ve come and in every step we have faced disappointment.  Our biggest one was the fact that some people want to do away with the town.  We have asked that input at every council meeting, asked for help with different committees, asked for help with renovations here at town hall, asked for help for cleaning up and at every turn we have tried to prevail.
. . . (inaudible) . . . We try to go forward.  They push that.
Christmas parade, Halloween, Community Day, all good ideas and we need people to help.                  I have never seen anything like it, that people will come to a town meeting just to sit, talk during the reports and never, never say anything positive, never help but complain.
New town hall, you know, it’s — You know, did the town have the money to build a new town hall?  No.  We were able to renovate the cafeteria.  We pay $1 a year for a lease from the school system.  We have a 25-year lease.
We went ahead and did these renovations to it.  Lot of hard work went in it, you’ve heard before.  The thing that disappoints me, I hear it’s a bad idea.
A bad idea.  I’ll tell you a bad idea.  This was — When I came in here this was one of my original chairs that we all sat in.  Doesn’t even have a cushion.  I bet y’all are comfortable right now sitting in a nice, cushioned chair.  That’s what I was thinking of.
My employees deserve better.  The people in Cottageville deserves better.
In the back room back there I got the two old council tables.  They’re post board. They’re nothing but post board, you know, and they’re bent in the middle.
Y’all remember them.  Y’all sat at them.  And I mean, you know, that’s all we had.
Dawn said 13 feet where I would sit at.  Thirteen feet is right here.  Can you imagine a night if we had a meeting with this amount of people in that little council chambers?
We’re growing.  The town’s growing.  We’ve got to get ready for it.
Let’s see.
I showed you reports from last year.  I give a report and it’s not a problem — Wasn’t last year; it was the year before.
I gave a report that’s not a problem until Rick puts it in the newspaper for everyone to see.
Same facts, same info.  Remember those reports?  They’re right there.
Now we have accountability.  We have people that want to rip it down.  We save our records.  Our clerks’ numbers match, just like I show you.
Yes, we are putting more money in the bank.  Isn’t that a novel idea?  If you take in $60,000 you put $60,000 in the bank. Take in 30, you put 30 in the bank.  Great idea, I think.
Our clerks’ numbers match.  I am so proud of the job they do.  If I go in there – and I’ve done it on a regular basis – and ask Dawn where we’re at and ask Terri where we’re at the number is very small between the two of them, just like I showed you on the board.
Granted, you know, we do have more money, more revenues going in but, boy, are ticket numbers coming down.  You know, all I wanted to do is find out where that other 30 grand’s at.  That’s what I would like to know.
Yes, we will always be considered a speed trap until we get away from the main source of revenue.
Who created this system?  Who got it out of control?  To rein in this monster and keep up services has been a struggle for each one of us. Planning, zoning and growth are all nasty words.
How do I feel when I get a phone call from someone in town complaining about a trailer being moved in and they don’t want it next to them, they don’t want that thing coming in here. That’s what zoning does. Two trailers on a one-acre lot doesn’t go.  Fight against zoning and then complain when something affects you.
It’s time for Cottageville to do the right thing by the book and get things right.  We’re like a train on the track.  Some of us are pushing, some of us are pulling but if we just wait we’re gonna get run over.
It’s up to you to decide.  You want a town or do you want to be a part of something else where the county will tell you and will decide for you?
One other thing that I thought was interesting.  I was talking to somebody today and they were telling about the number of calls that the sheriff’s department handles here in Colleton County.  I think it was 4,000, 4,000 calls.  And where do we fall in there?  Are we any better than any other spot in the county?
We have a police department that responds.  Guys aren’t perfect; none of us are.  I’m not perfect.  We’re trying to do a good job for y’all but, you know, we have got to move forward.  We’ve got to take charge of our own fate and be part of something bigger than just saying, well, I’ll live in Colleton County.
People worked hard to make this place a town and we need to take responsibility for it.
I’ve showed council everything I have; I’ve talked to our attorney about it.  I’m tired about it.  I’m tired of hearing about it and the reason I brought it up tonight, I’ve lost sleep over it.  I’ve been in Columbia over it.  I’ve worked weekends on it and I’ll tell you what, I have tried to move this town forward and every time I do I get a request, dig up stuff.  Here it is.  Okay.  So here it is.
Talked to the attorney today.  He recommended that I go ahead and get a motion from council to turn this stuff over to a forensic auditor and let them hash it out.  And Danny has already — He already has copies of all these documents.  They’re in his office.  All I need is a motion from council for Danny to proceed.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     I make a motion we send this to a forensic auditor and have it reviewed and whatever measures need to be taken, taken.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     I second.
MAYOR WHITE:     Do I have a vote?  Or any discussion?
COUNCIL MEMBER COOK:     Well, I mean, I have questions.  I knew, in retrospect, some of it; some of it I don’t.  I have to look at it.  You’re doing something on my mind for me to vote on it tonight and I can’t do that.
MAYOR WHITE:     I’ll be glad to show you these documents.
Let me show you one other thing.  Drug seizure fund, $46,000.  By the time Terri got done sorting it out $600 of it was left.
And I’ll tell you what one of the purchases was.  You know about the Cottageville boat, right? To the police department . . . END OF TAPE . . .
That kind of stuff there.  Trips to Hawaii, Puerto Rico, all paid for by Cottageville.
Yes, I go on training.  I go on trips.  I send my officers on trips.  Right after Randy came back from one of his trips is when he made that meth lab bust and if I’m correct, in talking to Shane, he said part of the information he got was useful in that, in that bust.  What Randy saw when he walked around that car is what helped him make that bust.  Training, it’s invaluable.
I really think, we want to wait on this, that’s fine.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     I don’t think we should wait.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     I think we need to take —
MAYOR WHITE:     Well, we’ll take a vote.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     I think we need to take a vote.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     Take a vote.
COUNCIL MEMBER COOK:     I mean I’m gonna vote no.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     Okay.
MAYOR WHITE:     All in favor?
(Council Member Eustler, Council Member Thomas and Mayor White Voted in favor.)
MAYOR WHITE:     All opposed?
(Council Member Cook and Council Member Strickland voted against.)
MAYOR WHITE:     We have two opposed and that’s Charlie Cook and Carlie Strickland.  And in favor was Rick Eustler, Peggy Thomas and George White.
That is the end of my presentation and at this time I’ll go ahead and open up the floor to whoever wants to speak.
Please come to the podium, state your name and let’s keep it within three minutes, if you will.
MR. FOXWORTH:    My name is Bill Foxworth and I have three questions.  Simple questions.                  One, I don’t live in the town but I’ve heard concern from at least five or six people and I’ve seen it twice where the police car is chasing a guy, it going well in excess of 70 miles an hour down through the town. And I’m questioning or asking you can you do something about that, if they’re not in hot pursuit.
And when I followed them, the couple times that I saw it I got in my truck and followed them, they pulled the guy over.  Now, you know, hot pursuit is you’re opening yourself up.  If they hit — somebody hit my car or hit my parents’ car or anybody else, then you’re opening a suit.  Just a concern.
Second question, I’d like to know how many new businesses have started in Cottageville from, say, ‘05 to ‘08 or ‘05 to now.
Okay.
And the third question is what are we doing to condone or to attract new businesses here?  Because I haven’t seen it and I’m unaware of it and we may be doing something. That’s why I’m asking the question.
MAYOR WHITE:     Well, that’s a good point.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     I apologize.
MAYOR WHITE:     No, go ahead.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     But if it’s okay.
With regards to the new business, attracting new business, there’s two things that I believe are very important that need to happen to make Cottageville viable.  One, we’ve got to have a working zoning ordinance, which we are, hopefully, very close to having.
Two, we’re gonna need water and sewer for it to be really cost-effective for businesses to come in.  Now, we tried to look at that last time, put it to a vote.  The people voted no.  We put that to a vote, to the people last time and they said no and we tabled it.
But in order for Cottageville to really be a viable place, cost-effective for somebody to come bring in a business we’re gonna need water and sewer.
And as I wrote my article, there’s two ways you can have it.  We could do it, either have it dictated to us by a third party or we could try and do it ourselves, would be feasible and hopefully reap both the financial benefits of it and also the economic benefits of it.
So as far as attracting new businesses there’s infrastructure that has to be developed and we’re doing what we can and as much as we can to develop them.
MR. FOXWORTH:    Do we happen to have any numbers available like, I think there’s about 10 or 12 businesses here and I don’t know how many there was in ‘05 or so but it appears to me like businesses are going away, for example, the flower shop, you know, and a couple other things that I know have gone away.  Is that — Are we staying on keel?  Are we going up?
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     I personally don’t have those numbers but I think we can get them for you.
MR. FOXWORTH:     Where do we stand?  I mean I understand the business fee thing and I think $20 is way too low but, by the same token, I’m asking what are we doing to attract of it.
And, yeah, the fact that you don’t have water and sewer is a deterrent but it’s not — It’s not an all inclusive deterrent because we have empty buildings downtown.
COUNCIL MEMBER EUSTLER:     Yes, let’s talk about the empty buildings, one of which is at the end of my road.  It’s got a busted window and it’s been busted for three years.  If that’s — If that’s what we are going to present as available office space who would want to rent it?