Council Meeting - Sept 9, 2024
YouTube address for Council Work Session
YouTube address for Council Meeting
Voted NO: Ordinance 2024-07 - to offer the conveyance of any and all interest in certain real property in the City of Easley (Second Reading)
This property is located at 106 Glazner Street and was given to the City of Easley by the School District of Pickens County Jan. 22, 2018. I voted NO because the city did not have a current appraisal. I felt voting ‘Yes’ on this ordinance was condoning the action of the city in not getting an updated appraisal per state code. As I stated previously, the Dream Center is an excellent organization that does awesome work. But that does not negate the city from abiding by state laws/ordinances.
Voted YES on tabling Ordinance 2024-08 – to amend section 30.08 (‘Compensation and Expenses’) of chapter 30 (“City Council”) of title III (“Administration”) of the Easley City Code. (First Reading)
SC Code of Laws 5-7-170 reads “The mayor and council members may also receive payment for actual expenses within limitations prescribed by ordinance”. In addition to this as a state law, the Attorney General’s office was contacted numerous times by others in the state requesting an opinion on paying a per diem for expenses. The attorney general has concluded each time that paying a per diem would be in violation of state law.
In the council work session, several questions came up including the “limitations”. A suggestion from Councilmember Davidson to table this until more information can be gathered. The motion to table passed unanimously in the regular council meeting. I also made the request to Mayor Talbert to put this on the agenda for the “Council Retreat” next week and she replied it would be a good idea.
Voted YES: Ordinance 2024-09 - to amend fiscal year 24/25 operating budget to authorize a lease/purchase agreement, series 2024 in the principal amount of not exceeding $2,600,000 relating to the authorizing the execution and delivery of various documents including the leases/purchase agreement; and other matters relating thereto. (First Reading)
The Fire Chief and the Finance Director explained this purchase in the work session (see the YouTube video recording of this meeting for more details) and what it boiled down to was this is NOT additional money for this down payment, it was moving previously allocated money from a cancelled order of another fire truck. In addition, the lease/purchase agreement to finance the fire truck was needed because the price of the equipment was going up, therefore if the city waited, the truck would cost a lot more. The finance director did say there were three loans being paid off soon. The fire truck would be replacing a 35-year-old truck. With saving money in purchasing now and some loans coming off the books, I felt voting yes was the best for the citizens. Yes, it is a lot of money but keeping the ISO rating low will keep our insurance rates low. If interested in reading about ISO, check out this article.
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