Clinton City Council has decided to maintain its first Monday (except holidays) of the month meeting schedule and add a workshop-style meeting once a quarter.
Lately, the council has been having two meetings a month - first Monday for regular business and third-fourth Monday for more informal discussions as a new mayor and council members have come on-board. That has placed pressure on the city staff, to develop topics and information, so the quarterly schedule for workshops was proposed.
Council Member Megan Walsh said, as a proponent of more informal, discussion-type meetings, in her opinion, the workshops should not involved business voting. That should be left to the regular, first Monday of the month meeting.
“The second meeting has become a business meeting, and the intent was to be a workshop - no motions, not passing things - it’s for us to understand what’s going on in the city. (With business instead of discussions) we lose the ability to get good planning. We need to get information that does not need to be acted on that evening; it’s knowledge, in a more casual atmosphere.”
All meetings, no matter what they are called, are open to the public under the state’s Freedom of Information Act. The City live-streams its meetings on Facebook.
The quarterly workshop meetings likely will start in 2024 - January, March, June, September.
City Manager Tom Brooks said, at the August 7 meeting, the council needs to have an August 14 meeting for some action items.
Then will come the council’s September meeting, after Labor Day, and possibly two meetings in October, to transition into 2024 and the two meetings a month, formal schedule.
Clinton City Council meetings are at 6 p.m. in the P.S. Bailey City Council Chambers of the M.S. Bailey Municipal Center, 211 N. Broad St., Clinton.
The council also can have a called meeting, with proper notice, and in rare cases can have an emergency meeting (weather disaster, civic violence and so forth). The SC FOIA defines a meeting as any gathering where a quorum (4 of 7 council members is present) - technically, that can happen at public events, like the upcoming Aug. 15 ribbon-cutting for the new USC Union Laurens (location) at Bell Street, the former high school-middle school campus in Clinton, and the recently past July 20 ground breaking for a new Clinton Public Library. Normally, these public events are not announced as “council meetings,” and council members generally are careful about not acting on business at these ceremonial functions.
In other business at its meeting on Monday, the Clinton City Council authorized Brooks to negotiate with PMPA the sale of excess electrical power, over and above Clinton’s needs and growth. (PMPA is the Piedmont Municipal Power Agency, based in Greer.)
The supplemental power comes from the PMPA ownership of a quarter of Duke Power’s Catawba Nuclear Plant.
These power sale proceeds normally go into the city’s Rate Stabilization Fund, an account designed to keep residential power bills stable within the city.
Terms of the sale come back to the full council for approval.
Brooks informed council that city staff is drafting a No Vagrancy ordinance, after looking at other cities’ similar ordinances, and said the city is seeking a grant to establish and maintain an Electric Vehicles charging station in the Uptown area.
Council Member Anita Williams thanked Clinton area churches and businesses for their support of a very successful Back to School bash at the Martha Dendy Park, serving more than 250 schoolchildren and families.
Council Member Gary Kuykendall congratulated city staff for a successful Town Rhythms performance by beach music legends The Tams at the Uptown Depot. “It was a hot day and we were worried about the participation,” he said; but a large crowd turned out for the always-popular R&B and Beach group’s energetic show.
He also informed the council of Davidson Street Baptist Church’s Aug. 20 revival and gospel singing.
Mayor Randy Randall congratulated Hebron Baptist Church on its 240th anniversary, and expressed appreciation to Fire Chief Jeremy Marshall for a report on fire trucks acquisition and participation in a State Fire Marshal’s program resulting in 650 smoke detectors and 59 carbon monoxide detectors being given away free to city households.
The Clinton Fire Department intends to donate a surplus truck to Clinton High School for its firefighters’ training course.
Randall said the donation and the course will help with education and recruitment. He said, “Our working together is what makes this happen.”
THE NEXT MEETING:
MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
CITY OF CLINTON
Mayor – Randy Randall Danny Cook – Ward 1 Anita Williams – Ward 2 Robbie Neal – Ward 3 Gary Kuykendall – Ward 4
Mayor Pro Tem-Ronnie Roth- Ward 5 Megan Walsh – Ward 6
City Manager- Tom Brooks Assistant City Manager – Joey Meadors
Agenda
Special Called Council Meeting August 14, 2023 6:00 PM
P.S. Bailey City Council Chambers
M. S. Bailey Municipal Center 211 N. Broad Street
MEETING MAY BE VIEWED ELECTRONICALLY ON CITY OF CLINTON’S FACEBOOK PAGE @CITYOFCLINTONSC
https://www.facebook.com/cityofclintonsc
A. CONTRACTUAL MATTERS – DISCUSSION REGARDING RECREATION COMPLEX
THE AGENDA IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT ANY TIME PRIOR TO 24 HOURS BEFORE THE MEETING. A FINAL AGENDA WILL BE AVAILABLE 24 HOURS BEFORE THE MEETING DATE.
