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Good Evening,

Before I get started I want to clear something up that I said in the February minutes. I have upset a few people about my comment about the town missing out on the Chinese restaurant and I said that was ok we already had one restaurant. I was not complaining about the one restaurant, it was my way of stating without water and sewer it will be very hard to have additional restaurants in our town. Not only additional restaurants, but any business that has a water and sewer demand. Businesses not only provide jobs to our citizens, they provide tax revenue to our town. This to me is very important to keep our town viable. This is why I wanted water and sewer. Another reason was because with water and sewer comes storm drainage. I have pictures of how bad our drainage is in town. Mr. Card has suffered long enough through three administrations with no relief. I have had an engineer working on a plan to address this problem. This plan will be something that a construction firm can bid on to clean up this problem.  People will have to act as neighbors and help the town with access to their property. This is something that must be done. I’m not trying to scare anyone but look at the pictures I have, this lake resides on the top of Mr. Cards drain field. I don’t think I need to say anymore. The scdot will help with some of the problem but they can’t do it all. The time estimate they gave me was four to six weeks.  Highway 17-A had two lanes that were just about impassable last Thursday.

Along the water lines the ground water report is back. Anyone that would like to read it can come to town hall and do so. It is not available to copy because the report is very large. From what I understand by briefly reading the report, there is still testing and assessments to be made. The line of the plume currently extends past Salley Ackerman road.

The new town hall complex first phase is nearing completion with the next council meeting to be held there. This building will provide safety to our citizens with ample parking and being off the main street. There is plenty of room for court. Security will be easier to handle. The room is large and comfortable. We have had to do more work than what was estimated. The roof leaked, the plumbing was bad, electrical was inadequate, and the ceiling had water damage. We still have a way to go. We have all worked extremely hard to get this facility to the point it is now. We have received donated items such as carpet and labor. Employees have worked on week-ends. This has been an effort on everyone’s part that has been involved. If you see the doors open and people working, come in and take a look, it is your facility.

I attended a meeting in Kingstree on the President’s stimulus package. Senator Clyburn spoke. I do want to say there are a lot of programs at this time for the town to apply for. Business owners need to look closely at the programs for small business. The town has applied for some of the infrastructure programs and will continue to do so. I want to say that this will be Cottageville’s best shot at infrastructure money.

I attended the LCOG meeting. There was talk about the stimulus package and also the employment figures for the county.

I will be introducing a prescription drug plan through the NLC. This card will provide up to a twenty per cent savings at the local pharmacies. It not an insurance plan, but it is a discount plan through NLC. We have submitted our application and will have more info in May. This card is of no cost and it may not benefit everyone, but it may help someone that really needs it. This will be offered to everyone in the town.

We have had a busy month; I want to thank our employees for their efforts.

I went to Colleton County Council meeting and asked for increased jurisdiction in an area of 3 miles around Cottageville. I was told by Colleton Council that we are a speed trap and need to establish a town with property taxes. In this economy I don’t think this is the answer.

Let me explain why I wanted increased jurisdiction.

1. 1. Our department assists Colleton County on almost a daily basis. I was hoping that increased jurisdiction would help offset the cost of Cottageville providing mutual aid for the County because the Colleton County does not help pay for our department and these cases could come thru our court. I was told this idea was illegal, but other counties in the state are doing just this. The fact is in the Cottageville area our officers are the first on the scene the majority of the time and the town pays for all cost of the call. If the officer gets hurt the town insurance pays. I will tell you this; one council man was open to supporting this effort. Mr. Whetsel, the others were against our department and our town. I requested to explain our position to County Council; I requested to be on the agenda. I was brought in during executive session told how council felt and never given the chance to speak in open session. The vote was taken and that was it. I don’t think that Colleton County will help us anytime soon. Just remember, who you pay taxes to. If the presentation Mr. Seago gave to County Council was correct, County Council has the highest taxes of our surrounding counties.
2. 2. We are not the only area that is concerned about finances, and Colleton County Edisto Beach complaints falls on deaf ears too. If the information is correct from Edisto Beach they pay approximately 1/3 of the county’s budget in property taxes. On another note, State Aid to Subdivisions, I reported they want to make an 11% cut. Right, now it looks like 42% with a total elimination down the road. This will reduce our state money from about 26K to 12K in about one year.
3. 3. The court house/council chambers work at the old cafeteria is coming along well. I have performed a good bit of the wall and bench construction myself to prevent cost to the town. We did some the large mural. Terri research allowed us to save on the seating. We are working hard to stay within budget and these items will definitely help.
4. 4. It is the time of the year to start working on the 09-10 budget. Terri has the budget calendar for approval.

Revenues had a positive gain this month. This is the first time in several months we were in the black.  But we will not meet our revenue predictions for the year.  We suffered some financial setback due to several factors. One was the economy, the cut in our aid to subdivision monies and also people spending less decreases our local option sales tax.  The changes in our police dept, the cost of uniforms and the change to a more effective force that handles more than traffic has an adjustment period to go through.  The settlement of a costly lawsuit reduced some of our contingency money.  I am looking into several areas to increase revenue for the town.  It is hard to impose anything new because of the financial outlook this year.  I feel that we need to watch spending as much as possible, but there are still some things that must be addressed.  We will continue to work on grants and Terri and Shane have done a good job with this.  I wish that the water and sewer referendum had passed because this is a project that could have been listed on the infrastructure grant and a good part of this project if not all could have been paid for by the stimulus package.  Sooner or later water and sewer will come to Cottageville, and the cost only gets higher.  We did get several projects listed on the package and I will keep you posted on those developments.  I will continue to support business development because local option sales taxes provide such a large part of our revenue, and we do not have personal property taxes in place at this time.  That is why water and sewer in some form is so important to every citizen in this town.  Along those lines I will say this, a restaurant wanted to come to Cottageville a few weeks ago.  The water restrictions are so hard that they will probably go somewhere else, but that’s right we already have one restaurant.

We will be approaching county council tomorrow night on the increased jurisdiction for our police department. This will allow us to bring the cases through our court for the calls that we have been answering and turning over to the county.  Mutual aid is expensive and the town pays for all of the expense.  We perform mutual aid on almost a daily basis.  Increased jurisdiction will also provide safety for our citizens who are outside of our town limits.  Several items will have to be worked out, but this would be a great help to our town and the response time in the county.

I will be asking council, after executive session tonight, to approve renovation to the old school cafeteria to be used as a council chambers/court room.  We must get court off of this main road because of the limited parking.  There is no place to park, and safety is an issue.  In inclement weather people need to get out of the rain. These renovations will cost approx. $13,000, but I feel that this will provide safety for our employees and the start of the use of the old school facility.  If council approves this motion, we will be as cost effective as possible.  Anyone who would like to volunteer to do anything is welcomed.  We need things as simple as cleaning and picking up trash.  At the completion of this facility, I would like to dedicate this building to an individual or group of people, male or female that gave something back to the town.  I would request people to think of that person and make a recommendation to the town clerk in the form of a letter.

The town has been approached by several people wanting to use certain portions of the old school facility.  We will be looking at each of those to see what is best for the town.  People are thinking and some good ideas are out there to benefit of all of us.

I do want to thank all of the employees this month.  Things have been busy and I am impressed by their work. Terri has been working on our new business license ordinance, Dawn fought the battle of computer problems for about two weeks and the Officers have put in some interesting days to say the least.

Thank you all.
George M. White
Mayor of Cottageville

Good Evening,

This start of a New Year I would like to bring council and the town up to date on a few things. Before I get into what we have been working on and what needs to be addressed, I would like to recognize some people for what they did this past month.

I would like to say thank you to the town people that decorated their homes for Christmas. I received some very nice compliments on how the town looked and how much they enjoyed the parade. I know the kids enjoyed it. This was the first parade for my new grandson and he had a great time. Thank You.

Speaking of the parade, I would like to thank Terri and Steve Crosby and Howard Sanders. I don’t know if anyone realizes how much goes into a parade and getting the town decorated but it wouldn’t have happened without their hard work. I also want to thank Debbi McMillan and Dawn Boren who assisted Terri the day of the parade. I want the town to know that these are people who give something back to the town, on their own time without compensation. What a great concept. Thank You. BREAK. Also thanks to the Police dept. and Sheriff’s dept with their help in Traffic control and participation in the parade.

Speaking of the Police dept. Congratulations on two major drug stops. One involving prescription drugs and the other a mobile meth lab. This gets the criminals and the stuff out of our town. The meth lab stop was handled so well that it did not end up costing the town anything in the removal of the chemicals. The people involved were not from in town, but as I said before this is the kind of stuff that is moving our way. We need to keep this and other dangerous activities away from our children. Harve Jacobs of Live 5 news commended our chief and said what a great job he is doing. Thank you.

On a different note Terri, The Chief and I attended the County Council meeting to ask for increased police jurisdiction. I will let the chief explain more of that in his report. We will be attending the February meeting to continue this effort. I do want to say one thing about the county council meetings. If you get the opportunity to attend, please do so. A lot goes on at these meeting concerning your tax dollars. I hope this increased jurisdiction receives Colleton council approval; it would be a great benefit to the town and its people.

Other events this past month were attending the Colleton county delegation Meeting. I was asked to speak concerning what is going on in Cottageville. I gave a report and also mentioned the town being hurt by the cuts in aid to subdivision monies.

Terri, Elizabeth Allen and myself worked on getting an infrastructure grant prepared for the old school building. I gave each member a package prepared by Ms. Allen and the town it shows what we submitted. If this infrastructure grants program passes, it could bring something great to the town in the form of jobs and facilities. I would like for council to review the package. The package also list Ms. Allen’s credentials and resume.

CTC.
I will be going back to find out about the pierce road project. I did notice in December SCDOT was doing a survey at Salley Ackerman in December. Last time I talked to Alvin Brown he was waiting on that survey. I did call Charles Byrd to see if the local office has any info and we have not gotten back in touch yet.

Alternative sources of revenue
I will be meeting with the Municipal Association next month concerning revenue. We have got to get away from a ticket based economy. This next budget I will be trying to formulate the separation between Administration and Police functions. I will be working on the budget calendar and also the preliminary figures this month.

Zoning and Planning
I understand that the planning committee will meet next Monday evening. I have concerns that were passed to me from citizens that I will be giving that info to Ms Addison.

School Lease
Today I signed the lease on the Old School facility. We have a lot of interest in the use of the buildings. We cannot do anything until the insurance company makes an inspection. The other issue is that the school has not removed all of the equipment yet. We will have more information in February.

Last month when I addressed council and the town, I told you what the problem areas are. Now I feel that I will tell you what I plan to do about each one of them.

I have decided not to go into each one of them blindly, but with careful consideration. My decisions will not always be popular, but as you can tell we have some serious problems, and as I said they will not go away.

1. Revenues – I will look into several areas here. Local option sales tax, Property tax reinstatement and the attraction of new business. I will be discussing this further at each meeting. We cannot burden the police dept. on any quotas. This hampers the way they conduct business and will never remove the ‘Speed Trap’ name that the town has. Even though the chief is concerned with his budget, I am ultimately responsible for the town’s finances.
2. Assessments – I am still working on the best settlement with the state. Our attorney’s will advise us on that solution.
3. Zoning – I will have a rough draft to send back to the zoning committee after the New Year. I want to advise you that it will be a starting point and once in place may require changes. Bottom line is that the town must have zoning.
4. The Old School – The council gave me permission to sign the lease. I will do this sometime between now and January. My plans are to hold town meetings and court in the old cafeteria to start out with. The reason is that it will give us time to figure out where we want to take the facility and to get the traffic for court off the main road. I will ask council for permission to obtain bids for the painting, the purchase of seating, and construction of council desks for this area.
5. Water Sampling – I will contact DHEC to find out what the current status is. I will be contacting Art Schrader and asking him to notify us when any further work is done in the town.
6. Even though it is a hard and thankless job, Terri will continue to work on grants. As I said last month, it is hard to get grants when you have the debt level that we have. Recently Shane completed a grant for litter control. Terri has received some small grants for bullet-proof vests and anything is a help. We will be working on grants for this coming spring.
7. Judge Butterfield held his first court this month. His no-nonsense approach to the law is welcomed. I was very impressed by his fairness and honesty to all parties. I can only say that I hope it continues, and if I ever have to approach his bench, I can be assured that I will be treated fairly and within the law.

I want to close by saying that a lot of work has to be done in the town. It is time to decide to support the town, get involved with the town, or be quiet and get out of the way.

I will continue to support anyone who wants to bring something positive to the town. The question may be, “Is this ethical”. Well I think paying our bills is very ethical, and if it means trying to attract business to do that, well, I’m guilty as charged.

The bottom line is this… I have the best interest of the town at heart. The people who work for me can tell you of my commitment to the town. I will not stand by and let a few determine the course of this town. I want to pay our bills and move forward this coming year. The question is, what kind of town do you want to turn over to your children? I do not intend to leave anything for people to clean up, like it was left to me.

I wish each and everyone here tonight a joyous Christmas season. May your families be blessed this coming year.

The Christmas parade is Saturday 13th, a lot of people have put in work to make this event a success. My wish to you is that you put your feelings aside and come out and enjoy the day. Terri’s husband Steve has worked hard to bring the military here. He is planning on having several units here along with the band. Last year was the first year that we had the military band. If you didn’t see them last year come out this year. If you see Steve on the street, thank him for his involvement. Thank the soldiers you see, because they may be the very ones being deployed next. Steve was also instrumental in getting the decorations ready to be installed.

Cottageville can be a great place to live. But with all things it needs work to grow. Please consider helping and volunteer. We may have our differences, but we are neighbors and I’m sure you want to see Cottageville be the best it can possibly be.

Thank You.
George M. White
Mayor of Cottageville

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I have been labeled a Scaremonger in the paper, not by the paper, but by a citizen in the editorial section of the paper. This is a free country so you can say what you want, but I want to set the record straight. I have never tried to scare the people in Cottageville on anything. I have always tried to give you the financials and to tell you what is going on. I’ll give you the facts tonight on several issues, you can talk outside tonight and talk about me and my employees behind our backs, but when it is all said and done, it won’t change a thing. Cottageville will still be Cottageville, and Cottageville problems will still be right here in our faces. So here are the problems, not scare tactics, problems. You detractors and criticizers with all the answers here is something that you can sink your teeth into. I’m sure you will be able to solve them tonight out front of town hall after the meeting is over. I’m tired of worrying about them.

• Revenues- the State continues to cut aid to sub-division money. Three per-cent this year, another eleven per-cent next year. The state takes more money on ticket assessments each year. We still owe the State $165,000 in old ticket assessments and they want their money. Why don’t the detractors ask the people responsible where the money is? This will not go away and we will have to pay.
• Tickets-The State court controls the amount we can charge on a ticket. Approx. 58% goes to the state of each ticket other than seat beat violations. The amount gets larger each year. The state does not want us to use tickets to generate the majority of our revenue, but that is exactly what they do. Along with this, people continue to complain about the police dept. We had a business crime watch meeting set up by Chief Roberts. One business owner came. Me. Well, maybe the answer is turning the police dept. over to the county. The sheriff’s dept. is under-manned for what they have to handle. Last week alone there were 21 arrests in the town of Cottageville. These men and women put their lives on the line every time they stop a car or go to a domestic violence call. This is what one officer said to me, “I thought I wasn’t working in North Charleston any longer.” The problem is crime is moving this way. Our officers do an outstanding job, and to top off everything else I get petty complaints about them. Boy, what would happen if you ever thanked one of these guys, or if you ever listened or cared to listen to what they have to put up with on a shift. Let’s not forget, they provide the revenue for the town and the state. When a citizen of the town gets caught here for breaking the law they feel the department should look the other way, the law is enforced fairly to all citizens, if you live here or not.
• Zoning- Our current zoning ordinance is not worth the paper it is written on. It was enacted in 1986 and then an ex-mayor went through with a pen and lined-out stuff that he didn’t like. An attorney fighting against this ordinance would have a field day with it. The new zoning ordinance presented to council is, I Quote,” too restrictive.” So basically, at this time we have nothing. The public hearing for the new zoning ordinance was nothing but grilling of the Chairperson, who serves without compensation. There is a developer right now that owns almost forty acres in the center of town. He has had so much resistance here it is unbelievable, because he wanted to do something different in the town. Yes, I support him, but not for the reasons the detractors think. It is because a business provides revenue in two ways, Business license and local option sales tax. Never considered that one, huh. This is what he is trying to accomplish. A grocery store and a town center. He is fighting sewer and water issues. Well, the town can hang up that revenue we fought that battle and lost. He said to me the other day, “Maybe I should turn it into a mobile home park.” Yep, let’s keep Cottageville, Cottageville. Scare tactic on his part, maybe. Reality, probably more so a mobile home park than a grocery store. This was one of the things that were lined-out in the original ordinance. Mobile home parks can go anywhere in Cottageville, but remember we don’t need zoning. Here’s another interesting fact, drive down Bama road. There sits the old planing mill. Nine acres of land. What can it be used for? The answer, anything.
• The Old School- The school board wants the town to lease it. It will cost the town $30,000 a year just to cut the grass, insure it and test the water. This includes no electricity. If the town doesn’t lease it, it will go to auction. I will make a recommendation to council tonight for me to sign the lease. But here is some homework for the detractors, go out and look at some of the old schools that were auctioned off. Find out what they are being used for. Some of you went to that school. Maybe it doesn’t mean anything to you. Where is the Town supposed to come up with the money? We can lease it for awhile, but it will be the first thing to go if revenues cannot support it. But wouldn’t it be wonderful to have this become a community center, a place that children could go and play. A place for seniors. A place that a grandparent could take his or her grandchild, oh I forgot, let’s keep Cottageville, Cottageville. We don’t want to pay for anything, so even though we can lease this building we probably can’t afford to do anything but cut the grass.
• Ground water sampling- I have gotten proposals from several firms, but why, DHEC is in charge of it. The contractor they use does not even clean up their own mess. I have had to call to get drums removed from the side of the road. I have been accused of using this as a lever for water and sewer, even though I never brought it up during the referendum. I could tell you what some of the engineers told me, but I would just get accused of scare tactics. Maybe you like benzene and diesel compounds in your ground water, but I think it stinks. You don’t think it is there, think again. What do you think a test well is for. Can the detractors against municipal water guarantee you that this crap won’t get into your drinking water? DHEC has the reports under the FOI act. They cost about $95 a piece.

So back to revenues. We have several options. Try to attract businesses. How? Limited commercial area in Town with no services. Annexation, we have nothing to offer anyone outside of town. Town taxes, probably the only answer. We are one of the only municipalities in the state without it. Things must be paid, remember bills from 2003 and 2004. I am fighting a lawsuit right now with an ex-chief of police for comp. time from 2006. 2006. I’m tired of fighting things like $40,000 in drug fund money used improperly, Lawsuits with companies and people out of Chicago when state purchasing was available. Missing town records. Old bills not paid. You know one of the things that is looked at when you apply for a grant is the town’s debt. Maybe this is why it is so hard to get one. Why would they give us one when we already owe them money? It was said that I wanted a blank check to pay for water and sewer; I want one to pay for old bills.

So when you leave here tonight, remember I gave you the truth. You can run me down and my employees too, but the state will still want their money. My charge to you is turning that energy into something good. Turn a complaint into a compliment. Volunteer for something. We have positions that come open on every committee, but it’s hard to find people to fill these spots. Have you ever noticed that the only thing a complainer can do is complain, what a sorry existence. The town has the best staff it has ever had. The people that work here are concerned about every dollar that comes in and the best way to spend it. Remember you live here, and I do too. Everything I do to the town I do to myself. Cottageville will change and grow, and it is up to us to steer its course. Our employees don’t live here, but they are very concerned and work like hell to make this a better place.

So I ask you, what did you do to help support the town today, and to make it a better place? And to the people who call me a scaremonger, Boo. Hope you can handle a dose of reality.

At the January meeting I will be presenting a list of goals to council for the coming year. This would be a great time to step up for your town and get involved. And like the town meetings, anyone can come and get involved.

George M. White,
Mayor

This is the Mayor’s Meeting Report for September 2008

1.  The paperwork has been filed for the water referendum in November.
2. We have a new Chief of Police who, if you have not meet him his name is Shane Roberts. Shane comes to us from the State of Transport Police. He has already made some positive changes for the town.
3. I am looking at dates for the Public Hearing for water and sewer. That will be announced at the Oct. 6 town meeting.
4. Christmas Parade, I have been questioned about it several times, so there is a lot of interest concerning the event. We will give you the date at the Oct. meeting. 
5. I have serveral meetings planned to get additional information on water and sewer.Also concerning ground water sampling. The firm I was hoping to get a bid from is too busy at this time. We are trying to get several bids from local contractors, so we can get this sampling completed.