Cayce City Council meets May 1, 2007
By Kristin Lavender
kblavender@gmail.com

Roll Call

The May City Council meeting convened in the Council Chambers at 6:05 pm on May 1, 2007.

All Council members were present: Mayor Avery Wilkerson, Mayor Pro- tem Rick Myers, Skip Jenkins, Kenneth Jumper, Bob Malpass, City Manager John Sharpe, and Public Safety Chief Charles McNair.

Mayor Wilkerson called the meeting to order. Jumper led the Invocation. The minutes from the April 3, 2007, Regular Meeting were approved with one change, called to attention by Myers.

Presentations

The first official presentation of the Employee of the Quarter Award was presented by Wilkerson to John Kirk . Kirk has been an employee of the City of Cayce for 10 years. Having received two nominations, Kirk was given the award for his outstanding service to the City. He was chosen for his friendliness, dedication to service, and for always carrying out his duties with a smile.

The Council then approved a proclamation to declare May Mental Health Month. A motion was made by Jumper and seconded by Jenkins.

Mary Harris then came before the council for a presentation about a drainage issue between her property at 907 L Avenue and the neighboring property at 903 L Avenue. Having addressed the council twice before, once being at the March Council Meeting, attention was once again brought to her problem with the surface water flow. No action has yet been taken on the issue, as the on site drainage is not regulated by city, county. However, there is a state regulation requiring that rainwater be disposed of within three days, that may apply.

The issue presented to the council involves water standing in the ditch from the last heavy rainfall on April 6. One and seven tenths inches of rainfall remain in the drain. This problem has now continued for 20 days. A drainage channel maintenance ordinance for the city allows them to take some action, but it is only a limited remedy.

An order by the council to remove the pipe was granted a 30 day extension for the neighboring family to correct the problem, which expired April 26. Violators of this ordinance may face action in the City Court.

Cayce City Attorney Danny Crowe suggested meeting with the city manager and property owners. However, he noted the problem goes back to the original developers of the property and the effect of time." The council can have no remedy unless indeed they are impeding the removal of rainwater. A meeting of the property owner, renters, and Harris would have to be set up, be it that all three parties are willing to cooperate. If the case were to go to court, city staff rather than the council would be responsible for this matter. The council can merely suspend a fine or a penalty on condition. The order can be enforced by fining but not correcting. This would enact a fine per each day of violation. A Circuit Court can order the removal of the pipe, though this action must be directed by Harris.

Ordinances

The council then addressed the first and second readings of ordinances for property annexations, rezoning, the sale of real property, and city codes. The second reading of an ordinance addressing the serving of beer and wine on City-owned property was also heard.

Contracts and Settlement Agreements, as well as the acceptance of the Palmetto Pride Grant Award were then heard.

A number of positions are still available for appointment and reappointment on varied Cayce boards. The committee moved to address those issues before approving the minutes from all remaining meetings in March and April. Following this was the report from Cayce City Manager Sharpe.