[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:01] Hi, everyone. I've got three o'clock. Looks like our clock's about two minutes slow, but
[0:07] we'll go ahead and get started. I don't see anyone else heading up to the building. I'd
[0:14] like to welcome everyone and call our Rethink Folly Road meeting to order. For those who
[0:21] will, join me in prayer and we'll follow that by the Pledge of Allegiance. Dear God,
[0:28] Thank you for the ability to gather here today to work together for the betterment of our
[0:34] island or James Island.
[0:36] I'm in.
[0:55] Everyone would please sign in.
[0:57] We have a sign-in sheet back there as well.
[1:01] I know Mike, thank you for sending out that list every couple of months when we have a
[1:09] meeting of everyone's names, addresses, and emails when y'all get a chance, please
[1:13] Please check those and make sure we have everyone's accurate information.
[1:18] I'd also like y'all to consider, well, to please keep Fred Whittle in your prayers.
[1:23] He had surgery yesterday, so that's why he's not here with us today, and we sure wish
[1:28] him well and a very speedy recovery.
[1:33] Is there a motion from the steering committee?
[1:37] I hope everyone's had a chance to review the minutes.
[1:39] If so, is there a motion to approve the minutes and a second for approval?
[1:47] Any corrections or discussion on the minutes from July 16?
[1:55] Hearing none, all in favor, aye.
[1:57] Aye.
[1:58] Opposed?
[2:00] Minutes are approved unanimously.
[2:03] I don't think we had any public comments signed up yet.
[2:07] Any public comments, Mike?
[2:11] Okay, great. We'll wait for the sheet.
[2:45] Mike, is the microphone on over there?
[2:52] Test.
[2:53] Okay, great. Maybe we should turn it around so they can speak. Thank you very much.
[2:59] I'll call your name as you sign in. Richard Sturd, did you want to address...
[3:05] Okay. Leslie Skardin, did you want to address the group?
[3:09] Okay, just signing in. Deanna Miller, did you want to address the group?
[3:14] Okay, if you would please come up and state your name and your address, and you have up to three minutes.
[3:22] Thank you. Really quick. Deanna Miller, 1568, Ocean Neighbors. Just a question.
[3:30] So I represent a community on an online page that is comprised of ocean neighbors,
[3:37] and we've opened it up to Secessionville and Fort Lamar, over 650 residents,
[3:41] and mainly, you know, on South Side of Grimble Road.
[3:45] And so a question that's been asked is, I know that Phase 1 has been starting to ramp up,
[3:52] but the question that everyone keeps asking is,
[3:56] do we have a date for phase one to start, a goal date?
[4:02] We, I do not have that on the top of my head,
[4:06] but we can find that out if we don't have it here today.
[4:10] I'm a project agent,
[4:33] no type of bid.
[4:37] We can't accept their bid, and so we have to move
[4:39] to the next lowest bidder, so we're working with them
[4:42] to get them in for a contract,
[4:43] So, good night to the DOT and hopefully they will be awarded the contract.
[4:49] Awesome.
[4:50] Next
[4:52] three levels.
[4:53] Okay, perfect.
[4:54] Great.
[4:54] Awesome.
[4:55] Thank you.
[4:55] And once they're contracted, yeah.
[4:57] And hopefully then this will be a big hit.
[5:02] Great.
[5:03] Well, hopefully we'll have more of a closer update at our next meeting.
[5:07] Yeah.
[5:07] Thank you.
[5:09] Next up, Annette.
[5:12] Ann, you're here.
[5:13] Hi.
[5:14] Would you like to come up and speak?
[5:15] Okay. Well, we'll consider everyone else signed in. We're glad y'all are all here.
[5:24] First up of old business is the Folly Road Safety Audit.
[5:29] We have been in touch with some of the engineers for that.
[5:35] It's my understanding they're still working.
[5:37] They have mixed the idea so far of a stoplight that we were so hoping to get
[5:43] an additional stoplight over there by the Chick-fil-A, I'm sorry, my brain. Thank you.
[5:52] So they have nixed that idea at this point at Santee, unfortunately.
[5:58] As long as everyone in Centerville and everyone in day front understands that the
[6:05] semis with the trailers will be going for their neighborhoods to deliver to
[6:10] to the businesses on that side of follow-up rate?
[6:13] They understand.
[6:14] If those medians go in, they definitely understand.
[6:19] It's my understanding that Representative Wetmore,
[6:22] who could not be here today,
[6:24] she's pushing to make some more additional changes
[6:28] from the revise that we got
[6:31] and hopefully we can push those back even further.
[6:36] It does seem like they are all kind of right
[6:38] in front of the town, businesses.
[6:41] Making one road safe is that of many others of neighborhoods.
[6:45] Can you grab a mic there?
[6:48] Making one road safe at the expense of many others doesn't seem logical.
[6:56] I'm sorry, no one from the DOT is here, are they?
[7:00] And that's in reference to Centerville and Day Front being impacted by the SEMIs and
[7:07] their trailers delivering to the restaurants and other businesses on that side of Folly
[7:11] Road. It will impact the neighborhoods. There's nothing they can do to stop it if they put
[7:16] the medians in. We'll get a copy of the map to have at our next meeting for those of
[7:22] y'all who have not been following this closely and you can understand a little
[7:27] bit more. I know there's been a number of meetings with the DOT about the Folly
[7:32] road safety audit. A lot of the businesses are pretty upset about it, wanting to put
[7:37] the medians in the roads. I know we have a lot of folks here running for office, so
[7:41] please take note. Please help us join the fight if when some of y'all went to
[7:49] help us, you know.
[7:54] It's not it's not etched in stone, but they they they did
[7:58] cut some of them back, but not the ones that we felt like we're going to run the people
[8:03] through the Bayfront and the Centerville neighborhoods.
[8:10] Is there a map available?
[8:13] Mike, do we have a map handy?
[8:17] Find it and put it up here.
[8:19] If people have a link on our website,
[8:26] it was proposed, hopeful, would have made more
[8:30] sense.
[8:31] Which intersection is this?
[8:32] It's Santee and Fallow.
[8:37] So I know a lot of our town businesses were especially sensitive to this because it seems
[8:44] like those medians are all in front of a lot of the commercial that the town has.
[8:51] Locally owned commercial businesses, not franchises, not national businesses, locally owned commercial
[8:56] businesses.
[8:58] And if there's medians in the road, then when the delivery trucks come they can't
[9:03] turn directly in. They have to go right into a neighborhood, turn around, try to come out at a light. It will be a nightmare.
[9:13] Did you get any feedback from DOT regarding your thinking on that?
[9:17] Sorry, can you speak in your mic?
[9:19] Did you get any feedback from DOT regarding their thinking about why they decided not to do the...
[9:26] They said that it wasn't warranted, but they didn't do a traffic count out of the center's parking lots.
[9:33] which common sense would dictate that's where the cars are coming from,
[9:37] that's where they should do the traffic count. They did not.
[9:40] And they say the medians will help prevent accidents. That was a higher account of accidents.
[9:47] I remember we had a lot of discussion around that, so I just wanted to see their rationale for where they landed.
[9:55] So they ignored a data set. That's the answer.
[9:57] At
[10:25] one point we had the big map.
[10:26] Well, while you look for that, why don't we,
[10:29] is there any more discussion without the map on that?
[10:33] Okay.
[10:38] The Camp Road Middle School traffic.
[10:43] Talked to Carol this morning.
[10:44] She's here, yay.
[10:46] So glad to see you.
[10:46] We do have some good news on the Camp Road Middle
[10:49] and the traffic.
[10:52] It's my, would you like to,
[10:55] well it's my understanding that y'all are y'all being the school board and the
[11:02] school they've made arrangements for some of the children to be dropped off at
[11:06] the library where their parents can pick them up to help alleviate some of the
[11:10] car lines so that should be very helpful and they're looking into a
[11:15] second lane to for the drive-through so is did I get that great
[13:03] so we need
[13:04] more bus drivers. Anybody who needs a part-time job needs to go drive a bus. It's
[13:17] like a split shift.
[14:19] I'm hearing the personal reasons that
[14:23] students can't mitigate that, but anyway.
[14:27] So if they don't line up, I'm just curious
[14:31] and they're lining up the block of traffic, is there any
[14:34] more applications for that? I mean, does any three block there
[14:36] say keep on moving and get a ticket?
[14:40] Well, that's when you at least
[14:43] would have to come in to have
[14:46] and the school district can't do that.
[14:48] Oh, I'm just curious.
[14:49] It's a neighbor and somebody who gets lost on the road.
[14:53] It's pretty annoying.
[14:54] I mean, I've got my kids in school too,
[14:56] and we all did it.
[14:57] So I'm on bus, I think we got two.
[15:32] I
[15:50] think it's 315. I think they don't allow the parent, right, they don't allow them to come
[15:55] until then they have it blocked off. I know we've gotten some complaints here at the town
[16:00] who, you know, from citizens who are just mad and they want to be able to go at 230 and
[16:06] just be the first in line and sit there which does stack it up. And I think that's helped.
[16:11] I think everybody loves the new principal and some of the changes that that she's doing and
[16:15] You know, I think it's better. You know, I've heard that it's better. It just you know, we still have work to do
[16:21] We
[16:29] did not receive anything from Michael. Not yet. Maybe he's still working on it
[16:35] We'll follow up on that on
[16:42] any other questions comments for camp road mental traffic
[16:50] discussion for a consultant
[16:53] is, I talked to Alex last week with the county. He was going to try to come or send someone,
[16:59] but I don't.
[17:11] Okay. Well, thank you for being here. I'm glad the county's represented. Yeah,
[17:17] I had reached out to him. I talked to him about the county participating with the town and the city.
[17:23] We were looking into hiring a consultant so we can move forward. We feel like we've been kind of
[17:29] languishing and we come and we meet and it's like great that we're getting bids
[17:35] and we're gonna move forward with that but we need to start making concrete
[17:39] plans for the next phase and and moving on but thank you thank you so much okay
[17:46] that would be great yes yes
[17:54] thank
[18:06] you and unfortunately Jenny Honeycutt
[18:09] couldn't be here today so anyway we had hoped to have a representative so
[18:15] so we could discuss it in a little more detail.
[18:18] I know we had talked about the past consultant
[18:22] who was so helpful before,
[18:24] and I know some folks are interested
[18:26] in potentially hiring them again.
[18:30] So, we will,
[18:32] we'll adjust the conditions.
[18:36] Correct.
[18:37] Well, and Folly Beach, I did not mean to leave you out too,
[18:40] because y'all chip in as well, so thank you.
[18:45] Yes, Katie.
[18:46] Can you please speak into the mic, Katie?
[18:48] You're very soft-spoken,
[18:49] and you might sway over there.
[18:51] Thank you so much.
[18:52] I'm trying to be better about being louder and more obnoxious.
[18:56] Oh, no, you're never obnoxious, Katie,
[18:58] but if you are soft-spoken.
[19:01] I might be misremembering.
[19:03] I feel like it was the last time the county's portion
[19:07] was budgeted.
[19:08] It came out of the planning department's budget.
[19:11] Do you know?
[19:12] I should have let it go from
[19:26] the public works
[19:27] because TST is not wild about funding studies and people growth.
[19:44] So we...
[19:46] I feel like we're in a circle.
[19:47] I do too.
[19:49] So...
[19:51] I don't know what to do to make people come.
[19:58] What we need is for council members Honeycutt and Boykin to say this is a priority for our districts
[20:10] And because in the past it's that funding has gone through all of the municipalities budgeting cycles.
[20:17] So this is we're not at that point right now with the county.
[20:22] So council members need to say we need to find this money somewhere.
[20:28] And we just that's that's been the barrier every single time.
[20:42] I mean, I think and then we also have to then city of Fallow Beach City of Charleston and
[21:03] I certainly thought that they brought value, the consultants brought value to the table.
[21:08] We were better organized than they said. We were better organized.
[21:14] Not for lack of leadership, by the way. There's been changing leadership, so it's been under several chairs.
[21:23] Well, something like this, you need a consultant. No, you're right.
[21:27] It helps with the grant applications that, you know, it's comprehensive.
[22:05] Great.
[22:06] Do you know what grant program they're applying for?
[22:12] I often talk and I don't know, but it's, I think in by July they have to have the application.
[22:20] So they're working on it.
[22:22] If they need letters of support or any public support, I think I know I can speak for Charleston moves
[22:30] Submit a letter of support. I can speak for the town. We definitely will support letters of support
[22:36] That
[22:42] was the part of the data that I had asked
[22:46] or was
[22:47] Do we know how many and sort of without
[22:52] Where
[22:57] So that could give us some focus areas on where we can focus our energy as a committee on biped improvements as well
[23:27] Thank
[23:38] you so much
[23:52] I've got one question about the funding for the consultant.
[23:55] Do we have a ballpark?
[23:57] I'm just trying to estimate our commitment as far as what funds would be.
[24:01] I think it would depend on what we're going to do.
[24:03] I think we need to define that to really make the next step kind of decision.
[24:08] I personally, you know, am still pretty new and don't have experience with the past funding.
[24:14] I don't know, Katie, if you were involved with that or Kristen, I know Kristen was.
[24:19] Did
[24:58] they build a municipality separately, Kristen?
[25:02] Who was there?
[25:04] Like, a rethink folly checkbook that we all put money in and then paid it, or was it built
[25:09] separately?
[25:24] They would reimburse us and we would just pay.
[25:27] We would certainly be willing to do that again.
[25:32] Do you remember who we worked with there?
[26:10] Yeah, I'd like to see like a scope as far as what the investment is going to return and that type of things.
[26:22] Yeah.
[26:29] Well, Kristen and I can get together and it's Kristen, you've worked with them in the past.
[26:35] We can reach out to them and get some ideas, some figures and at least have a ballpark to present for, you know, at least to get them back on board
[26:47] and work with us to figure out how much we want to do, what we want to spend,
[26:52] and maybe come do a presentation for us.
[27:05] Would y'all want to share that at our next meeting then
[27:08] and before we bring Tool in?
[27:13] Okay.
[27:16] So you've got time, our next meeting is not until November 19th
[27:21] over two months. And then in the meantime
[27:24] I know that this honeycut had requested
[27:28] today from Mike, an Outlook invitation instead of the general email.
[27:36] So you'll all start getting an Outlook invitation instead.
[27:40] So maybe that will help.
[27:43] And hopefully we'll get Honeycut Boykin.
[27:47] Let's see, we actually will have our new city rep by then as well.
[27:52] So that'll be great from the November election.
[27:57] So hopefully, we can get the ball rolling.
[28:01] Construction on phase one will also help.
[28:04] Yes.
[28:05] We can encourage.
[28:06] Yes, it'll give momentum.
[28:08] Yes.
[28:09] And we'll have an updated report.
[28:12] So, all right.
[28:13] And actually, since so many people have been waiting so long for this to start,
[28:19] I wonder if we should do some kind of a groundbreaking?
[28:24] Yes, I think we should do a big groundbreaking.
[28:26] Yeah
[28:27] So when you get a date, can you please let us know and we'll schedule something we
[28:36] have a lot of golden shovels will bring
[28:42] That's a great idea. Thank you.
[28:52] Well, that's that's exciting
[28:57] Folly Beach Center Street stormwater project update Jenna Jenna here. Hey Jenna
[29:50] We are with our consultants, with the national department.
[30:08] Great.
[30:09] The reason why I was looking at that is because I was thinking about what a great accidental
[30:17] tactical urbanism project this is going to be because you're going to natural energy
[30:21] gains on Center Street for a little bit and we'll be able to sort of see how that works
[30:27] from a traffic comment perspective. So it could be really interesting.
[30:39] Yeah, it's helpful. When they were doing some big construction on the Peninsula on King Street
[30:44] where King Street for six months was one lane of travel and it worked beautifully.
[30:51] So it was funny to have that data and then have people read gals about the idea later.
[30:57] So it's just good to have that.
[31:01] We're on top of it. We're definitely looking at it from that perspective.
[31:06] So allowing people to stay through but also capturing.
[31:15] Any other questions for Jenna?
[31:19] We've been advertising it on our Facebook, too, so we're trying to
[31:23] help spread the word, yes. Thank you. Thank you for your report.
[31:29] Charleston County Central Park Road Update. Do either one of you ladies from Charleston
[31:33] County have an update? But
[31:40] there are too many complaints, so it must be going really
[31:42] Well,
[31:58] great. Maybe at the next meeting, that would be great. Thank you so much.
[32:05] And under new business, so we had two crosswalk requests, one at Prescott on Folly and one across Folly at Wilton.
[32:16] And Spencer Webmore had indicated that she would talk with the SCDOT safety study engineers
[32:26] and try to get that incorporated that because they have money budgeted safety.
[32:32] It's part of it.
[32:33] I'm sorry?
[32:34] So the...
[32:35] And get it paid for that way.
[32:37] The one at Wilton Street, that's part of phase one for Wink Hollywood,
[32:41] and the one near Prescott Street is the mid-block crossing that is proposed in the audit.
[32:47] That's what?
[32:48] Now, Katie, there's a mid-block crossing near Prescott
[32:51] proposed in the red safety audit.
[32:54] It's in the safety audit?
[32:58] Yeah, so as long as they haven't removed it as they've been assessing.
[33:09] Well that
[33:14] will make some folks very happy.
[33:17] Is there any other new business?
[33:22] I think it would be, if Representative Wetmore was going to reach out to DPT,
[33:28] it would be great and I'm happy to text her.
[33:32] but just if she's reminded that that mid-block crossing is already proposed
[33:37] and if she could just let DOT know that there is support for that I think that
[33:44] would be helpful just
[33:49] given how much pushback they've gotten on other stuff.
[33:56] Thank you. Any other new business?
[34:02] Irristictional updates.
[34:07] Chris?
[34:09] Jenna kind of summed it up with the Center Street stuff. We're also doing
[34:12] some waterline updates on East Hudson. So we basically from East Erie, Hudson and
[34:19] Huron are all pretty much blocked right now. So you got to go around. So just be
[34:23] prepared when you come into town. There's a little bit of driving.
[34:29] I'm glad traffic's
[34:30] a little bit lighter than it was a month ago. It's a good time to do it.
[34:34] Definitely. Any updates from the county?
[34:41] I'm sorry. Okay. How about the
[34:45] James Allen PSC. I see Ashley and Tamara back there.
[34:49] Y'all have any updates for us?
[35:17] Thank you, Jenna.
[35:20] Yes.
[35:57] Thank you.
[36:13] That is wonderful news.
[36:16] Yay. Thank you so much.
[36:23] That's great. Thank you.
[36:30] So as far as the town of James Allen goes, we
[36:35] We're still waiting on the jack of cups to open.
[36:37] We're really excited.
[36:38] They're getting close and the bagel place has decided to hold off for now.
[36:44] We're still waiting to see.
[36:46] We're just always looking forward to new restaurants.
[36:49] The well, as many of you know, Mondos has been undergoing a lot of new renovations.
[36:54] We're excited.
[36:55] They've expanded and I think we're still hoping to get someone in next
[37:03] to the Hymes and the empty lot there where the Kentucky Fried Chicken tried to go a while
[37:08] ago. So hopefully we'll get someone there. There's another interested party in the Jimmy
[37:14] John, the place that was going to be at Jimmy John's right there in your camp. So
[37:19] we're hoping to get something nice for our citizens and visitors there as well. We do
[37:26] have a lot going on in the town. We're having an election like many of the other
[37:30] municipalities. I know that we voted two years ago to add two additional
[37:36] council seats. We have four people running for them. I know there's a mayoral
[37:40] and council race at Folly.
[37:44] I think what five folks are running for one seat of
[37:48] mayor, what Chris has won, and then there's five for three council spots.
[37:54] And then we have all three of the ladies who are running for the city district here today.
[38:04] So we welcome y'all. Do y'all want to introduce yourselves?
[38:14] Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Annette Begner. I'm running for District 12, James Island.
[38:19] I'm standing on the infrastructure, taking care of that, taking care of the flooding, building the sidewalks.
[38:26] I also stand behind small business owners.
[38:28] I do own my own small business and realize their struggles.
[38:33] I like to work closely with the police department to make sure everyone's safe as well.
[38:37] So I do believe in a balanced government and I believe our national politics need to stay out of our local community.
[38:45] So I just wanted to say hi and thanks for having me here.
[38:48] Thank you.
[38:48] And great job, by the way.
[38:50] Great job on all of you for doing this.
[38:52] Thank you for your interest in coming to Rethink Folly.
[38:54] Yeah.
[38:55] It's nice to meet you.
[38:56] I think it's really important that we all work together on this.
[38:59] Yes.
[39:00] I do.
[39:01] Yes.
[39:02] Ms. Dana, would you like to come up and introduce yourself?
[39:09] I'll keep this quick.
[39:12] I'm Deanna Miller and I'm running also for District 12 for City Council.
[39:17] I've been on James Island for 22 years in the same house and raised my kids through
[39:22] the schools.
[39:22] And, like I said, I've said this before, but now they're at an age where I can do something
[39:28] like this because all they care about is money and food as they head into their upper teen
[39:34] years.
[39:35] But I've done a lot of volunteering in the area.
[39:37] I've worked with We Are Family.
[39:39] I've worked with, I'm currently on the discipline committee at James Island Charter
[39:42] High School.
[39:42] This is my third year.
[39:44] I, like I said, have run the Facebook page and keep an eye on developments and I'm
[39:47] constantly involved in watching development and making sure that we're not building in
[39:53] flood prone areas. And I've been managing that for 15 years, so a long time there.
[40:01] And have been involved in the schools too. St. Andrews was on the School Improvement
[40:07] Council and was a part of James Island Youth Soccer Club. I also run a small business
[40:13] and it's a family business, and I'm the managing director,
[40:17] so constantly involved with RFPs and budgeting,
[40:20] so all of that good business stuff.
[40:22] But my website has everything,
[40:24] so if you wanna learn more, just diana-miller.com,
[40:27] and you can read all about me there,
[40:29] but thank you for letting us speak.
[40:30] That was really nice, yeah.
[40:31] Thank you, Diana, it's good to see you.
[40:34] Thank you for your interest in improving Folly Road,
[40:37] and we have, is Leslie here?
[40:40] Oh, she left.
[40:41] Well, and then Leslie Skardon is the other person.
[40:45] So I thought it's nice for everybody to get to know our potential new members.
[40:52] And I don't see anyone here today that's running for town council.
[40:55] So maybe come to our town council meeting tomorrow night at 7 p.m. and you can meet those folks.
[41:01] We are actually having a forum on October the 20th for the four potential council members that will be here.
[41:08] And I think Folly Beach is having a forum on the 16th.
[41:12] So, you know, put those on your calendar if you're interested in meeting the candidates.
[41:17] I'm sorry?
[41:20] The one for the town is on October the 20th, and it's at 6 o'clock.
[41:26] And the one for Folly Beach is on the 16th, and I don't know what time.
[41:30] They're both at 6.
[41:31] We have a 16th and 17th, I believe.
[41:33] Oh, you have two.
[41:34] Each is the council.
[41:35] Oh, yeah, you're right.
[41:35] Oh, wow.
[41:37] Well, that's probably a good idea with that many people running.
[41:44] We'll update on the town, our art and community center that will be built next door on our Hillman lot.
[41:51] We've started working with our team on permitting.
[41:55] We'll be having some public meetings to get input for the design as we move along with that.
[42:01] So that's really exciting. Hope to have a groundbreaking sometime in the spring.
[42:07] We will have our town market here on October the 3rd.
[42:11] We are doing a big silent auction to benefit the James Island Outreach.
[42:18] I know a lot of y'all support that organization and they are getting a new food pantry
[42:23] building and there's a gap of about 70,000 in their funding
[42:27] and we're hoping to make a big difference in that for them.
[42:30] We've got a lot of donations of some really nice artwork and other things and we'll have something going out Friday on that
[42:37] You can either buy it ahead of time for the value or you can come and do the silent bidding at our town market
[42:44] And we've got a great band and some
[42:47] Student dancers and about 45 vendors and it's going to be great as long as it is sunny
[42:54] Fingers crossed, InterGov will be meeting here on October the 30th in the
[43:00] Intergovernmental meeting at 7 p.m. Councilwoman Miniano cheers that and that
[43:08] will be our last one of the year so everyone please try to come that'll be
[43:12] right before the election so hopefully we'll see all of the folks for that to
[43:18] meet and greet. I'm sorry? That's Wednesday October the
[43:24] 30th. And for you animal lovers like me, pet helpers, we're partnering with them to do a
[43:31] rabies clinic here on December the 6th. So if you or know anyone you need, your animals
[43:37] need shots. It's a much more affordable way. You've got great, that's great people.
[43:44] And it's right here in this room. And that will be that Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon
[43:49] or until they run out of vaccines.
[43:51] They also, they were doing microchipping in our last one,
[43:55] so hopefully they'll do that again.
[43:57] We haven't gotten that far in the discussion.
[43:59] Yes, Ashley,
[44:05] you are correct.
[44:06] If that's a Wednesday.
[44:08] Yes, ma'am, it is Wednesday.
[44:10] Thank you, Ashley.
[44:11] I really appreciate your catching me on that.
[44:15] Well, I just said something.
[44:16] Well, no, yes, because the 30th is a Thursday.
[44:21] It's the 29th.
[44:24] Intergovernmental meeting is October 29th, here at 7 p.m.
[44:29] So please come.
[44:38] The swim school that we sponsored with the town?
[44:41] The swimming site, call it right.
[44:44] Oh, I'm sorry, so the request was denied.
[44:49] What the question was, there was a request
[44:53] to change the zoning.
[44:55] It had actually been changed to allow the swim school
[44:58] And then there was a change to ups...
[45:00] It's on it to allow for the sale of, she was wanting to put in like those portable sheds
[45:07] like you see going down to Ravenel on the left. The planning commission did not approve it and
[45:14] neither did town council. So that was not approved. And so I'm not sure what's going to happen.
[45:22] I believe the property may still be for sale. So hopefully we'll get something good in
[45:28] there if we can't get the swim school. Any other questions or community
[45:34] happenings or comments? I will say Charleston County Council has developed
[45:44] a new committee, an outstanding committee of council for the transportation
[45:48] sales tax that may or may not be put on the referendum next year but I think
[45:56] I think it's important for everybody to pay attention to that process and participate when
[46:00] the time comes, and I believe that committee's first meeting is next week on September 25th.
[46:08] And Katie, what will that be? Can you explain it to us and what?
[46:12] Yeah. So, yep, thank you. I really thought I was yelling.
[46:19] I am. So most of, well, a lot of our transportation funding within the county, and I'm not with
[46:30] the county, I'm not speaking for the county, just sharing information, comes through our
[46:35] transportation sales tax. So in 2024 there was a referendum on the ballot to extend the
[46:42] sales tax, it was a resounding no from the public.
[46:46] And so County Council has been looking at
[46:50] what a potential sales tax referendum,
[46:54] transportation sales tax referendum could look like
[46:56] to go on the ballot in 2026.
[46:59] So they've been having workshops facilitated
[47:04] by former Secretary of Transportation, Christy Hall.
[47:07] They have hired a firm to work on outreach and data assessment.
[47:13] The Council of Governments is also doing data assessment.
[47:16] They're going to start a public input process at some point later this year.
[47:22] But in addition to all of that,
[47:25] Chairman Middleton formed a standing committee of County Council
[47:28] comprised of all members of County Council to be on a new transportation sales tax committee.
[47:35] and that committee's first meeting is next week.
[47:39] I'm guessing it'll be at 5 p.m.
[47:41] What's the date?
[47:42] The 25th.
[47:43] The 25th.
[47:43] As long as that's a Thursday.
[47:45] Okay.
[47:46] It's not a 5 p.m.
[47:47] It's great.
[47:50] Well thank you for that.
[47:51] It's just something to, I mean rethink,
[47:53] a lot of rethink follies money so far
[47:57] has come out of the transportation sales tax
[47:59] as well as the gas tax allocations
[48:02] as well as federal funding.
[48:03] So transportation sales tax is really important
[48:05] for what we are doing in these meetings
[48:08] and a lot of other things we discuss in these meetings.
[48:13] Well, thank you so much.
[48:15] So the public meetings,
[48:16] will that be like what they had prior to the election
[48:19] last year when they went around and did?
[48:21] I think they'll be better.
[48:22] You think they'll be better?
[48:23] I think they've done some soul searching
[48:25] and realized that the public needs
[48:28] to be actively involved.
[48:31] And so I think we'll see much better public engagement
[48:35] when the time comes.
[48:37] That's great.
[48:38] Fingers crossed.
[48:39] Fingers crossed.
[48:40] Yeah.
[48:42] Good.
[48:43] Anybody else have anything?
[48:47] If not, meeting adjourned.
[48:50] Look forward to seeing y'all in November,
[48:53] and we will try not to be going around in circles in November.
[48:56] We'll have more data, more information,
[49:00] and look forward to seeing y'all.