Democracy at Work

The city council held its regular meeting last night and was joined by a standing-room-only crowd. The fuzzy picture at left shows some of the early arrivals. (I got a new camera phone yesterday and took the picture with it. I can’t figure out how to make the thing focus right.)

The crowd on hand last night attended to hear council discussions on three zoning issues. First, the council approved a request to rezone a piece of property on North Main Street. Next, the council received more information on a request to rezone the former Abney Mill property to allow a concrete pumping and mixing operation to locate there. The petitioner, Ron Small, presented council and the planning commission with details about the type of operations that would take place there. Lastly, the council heard public comment about WK&B’s request to allow light manufacturing in the city’s central business district.

All told, about fifty interested residents attended the meeting where they spilled into the hallway. Usually, the city council meetings draw only four or five folks. So, it was great to see such a large crowd on hand. The folks on hand last night all had a stake in the city council’s decisions on the various issues. Unfortunately, most people don’t realize that all of the city council’s decisions, no matter how mundane they may be, directly affect their lives. And it’s because of this effect that citizens should attend council meetings regularly to ensure their elected leaders follow their will.

Democracy was at work last night. And over the last few weeks the city council has received lots of input from people regarding all of the zoning issues before it. That input from citizens will allow the council to make sound decisions for the future. It allows them to do the work of the people, according to the will of the people that elected them.

Don’t get caught napping. Go to your local elected officials’ meetings and let your voice be heard.

Another FEMA Meeting

The SC Emergency Management Division (SCEMD) held its orientation meeting this morning to cover the basics for filing for December’s ice storm-related expenses. FEMA representatives will meet with local officials this week to conduct “kick off” meetings (following this week’s Super Bowl theme I suppose) that will start the reimbursement application process for the seven Upstate counties included in the President’s declared disaster area.

There was good crowd on hand at the Spartanburg County offices for the meeting. Everyone has some level of expense they hope to recoup including Woodruff, which has about $10K worth of expenses. FEMA will reimburse 75% of the eligible expenses, but only after careful documentation of those expenses. That won’t be too difficult in our case. The hardest part will be determining whether or not our expenses are eligible for reimbursement. But that’s where the FEMA folks come in. They have the expertise and bureaucratic know-how to weed out expenses that aren’t covered. They hope to have the entire process completed by the end of February. I hope they do too.

The folks from SCEMD told us it has asked the state legislature to pick up half of the remaining 25% of expenses. Don’t know if the legislature will do that, especially since one of its members (who’s also a member of the Spartanburg County legislative delegation) suggested over the weekend that taxpayers might be better served if cities didn’t exist. Of course, if cities didn’t exist, then we wouldn’t have to go through all of this rigamarole because residents would be responsible for collecting and disposing of their own storm debris. And we all know that Grandma’s fully capable of getting out in the yard and picking up her fallen limbs on her own and then carry them to the landfill for disposal. And we all know that she’s got enough money to pay a tree service to come to her house and remove her debris. So, I suppose we really don’t need cities and the services they provide.

I realize I have ranted quite a bit lately about the state legislature and its attitude toward municipalities. But the irony between the service we provided during and after the ice storm (and beyond) and some legislators’ calls to eliminate cities only serves to inspire my defense of cities. Enough of this.

I meet Wednesday morning with FEMA officials and I expect to have a good feel for the final expenses Woodruff will submit and how much we can expect back. No one discussed today when to expect checks from the feds, but maybe it will be soon after this process ends. I’ll keep you posted.

Woodruff Elementary Career Day

I got to do something really fun today, thanks to two good friends of mine, Lori Patterson and Nancy Gibert. Both are teachers at Woodruff Elementary School, and they invited me to speak to students today as part of the school’s career day. I take advantage of opportunities like this every chance I get. The chance to talk to kids about jobs in government exposes them to careers they may not otherwise think about.

I wear a lot of hats in Woodruff as city manager. Today, I wore my firefighter hat. I wore that hat because trying to explain the job of a city manager to a 10 year old kid would surely bore him to death. But a firefighter has lots of things to show kids to keep their attention. I took my turnout gear, an air pack, and a Haligan tool to class today. I talked to the kids about the Woodruff Fire Department’s apparatuses. I discussed the difference between a volunteer, career and junior firefighter. Then I put on all the gear I brought and demonstrated it to the kids.

I’ve coached youth softball and soccer in the past. And of course I have a five-year old and an almost three-year old. So, I’ve learned a few tricks for holding the kids’ attention. I asked a lot of questions to see if they’re paying attention. I passed around some of the equipment I brought. This held their attention and generated questions from them that I was happy to answer. I spoke to seven classes today for about 25 minutes each. Didn’t know if I could speak for that long each time, but we managed to fill up the entire amount of allotted time.

The kids asked great questions. “Do you get scared?” “Have you ever pulled someone from a building?” “Is it fun sliding down the pole?” My response to the last question was that I’m sure it is fun. But, sadly, we don’t have a pole.

Whenever I go to events like this, my appreciation for what teachers do, day in and day out, grows immensely. Handling 24 elementary school kids all day, every day, takes great patience and dedication. People who complain about our public schools forget that. They forget the fact that teachers deal with their kids 24 times over every day. And they manage to get some learnin’ in them along the way. What’s more, the teachers find the time to put together a program like today’s.

I saw a list of all the folks who came to speak today. There must have been 25 or 30 people. Most of them were from Woodruff because, as Lori and Nancy told me, they wanted the event to have a local flavor. It did. I saw lots of local folks I know. And I saw a bunch of kids I know. Some of the business people and some of the kids didn’t know I was a firefighter when I wasn’t at the office. Now they do. Hopefully, the kids learned a little more than that though.

Below is the weekly update for 1/27/06

TO: Woodruff City Council

FROM: Scott Slatton

SUBJECT: Weekly update

DATE: 27 January 2006

Administration Department
1. Mayor Bell, Council members Bettis and Smith attended the Peggy’s Diner grand opening this week.
2. Scott attended the ACOG City/County Managers meeting this week.
3. Scott participated in Woodruff Elementary School’s Career Day this week. He spoke to approximately 120 students.

Fire Department
1. Chief Godfrey has identified a potential truck swap that would upgrade the department’s fleet. The chief will provide details to council Monday night.

Police Department
1. Katrina Huggins attended the quarterly Law Enforcement Victim’s Advocate meeting in Columbia.
2. New computers were ordered to replace the failing computer donated to the department by the Federal government and the computer Jackie Bailey has used for seven years.

Street Department
1. President Bush issued a disaster declaration for the Upstate as a result of the December ice storm. The city has requested reimbursement for up to $10K in eligible expenses that it may receive now that the disaster area has been officially declared. Most of the expense is found in the Street Department.

Sewer Department
1. The Department of Commerce discovered a calculation error on the city’s CDBG bid paperwork that resulted after deletions to the project were made. After the deletions, Kris Mechanical, Inc. of Easley became the low bidder for the project, rather than Payne, McGinn & Cummings. Caliber Engineering and ACOG are working to draft appropriate contracts to sign in the coming week or so.

No Respect

"I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridiculous - everyone hasn't met me yet." - Rodney Dangerfield

Joe Newton of the Appalachian Council of Governments holds quarterly meetings to bring together city and county managers from around the Upstate. Today was the first quarter meeting for 2006 and, as usual, the discussion among the managers was informative and entertaining.

Joe typically invites a speaker to come in to discuss a topic of interest. Today’s speaker was one of our own, Greenville City Manager Jim Bourey. Jim discussed the challenges Greenville faced during and after the ice storm last month. City crews are still collecting storm debris and expect to be finished in about two weeks. Jim talked about what worked well, like his use of the local media to keep the public informed about what the city was doing to manage the storm’s effects. Most people believe Greenville did a good job with its storm management and now the debris cleanup.

One frustration that we all agreed upon was the lack of communication with the state. From the DOT to state emergency management folks, it seemed that hardly anyone at the state level noticed that the Upstate was in the dark and buried under tons and tons of fallen trees and limbs. In fact, Governor Sanford suggested that it was Greenville’s fault the state didn’t help because no one from Greenville asked for help. Well, Jim and his staff had their hands full trying to manage the storm and coordinate activities with Duke Power. In fact, Greenville city crews have worked 11-hour days, six days a week since the storm hit on December 15. And they’re still not done. So I hope the governor will excuse them for not taking the time to fight through bureaucratic red tape to enlist the state’s help. Quite frankly, Greenville has done very well without the state’s help by enlisting its staff and the assistance of sister cities from around South Carolina.

Nine cities sent help to Greenville after answering a call to action from the Municipal Association of South Carolina. This group’s efforts were illustrative of the way in which cities help take care of their own. In the face of attacks on home rule by the legislature and indifference toward cities by the governor and some state agencies, South Carolina’s cities have been forced to work together to get things done. Greenville’s response to the ice storm only added to the growing body of municipal work confirming this fact.

A great deal of the time, cities in South Carolina are treated like the late Rodney Dangerfield (whom I saw perform in Las Vegas in 1998 because I figured he wouldn’t be around much longer. I was right). We’re attacked for taxes. No one wants to be annexed, except business, sometimes. And the legislature is constantly working on ways to incrementally repeal the Home Rule Act of 1975. We get no respect. But the responses to the ice storm by Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, Clemson, Travelers Rest, Mauldin, Greer and Woodruff prove that cities deserve respect.

Mountain Out of a Molehill

I met with one of Woodruff’s best businessmen today to discuss a right-of-way issue related to the city’s sewer project. The city will have to acquire some right-of-way across his business’s property and he was understandably concerned about his loss of control over the piece of property. So, in order to allay his concerns, I met with him this morning.

During the course of our conversation, he asked me if I thought he was making a mountain out of a molehill. He asked me to be honest. So I was. I told him that, yes, I thought his concerns about the right-of-way were unnecessary. I told him that chances are, the city will never have to use the right-of-way, but there’s always that possibility. And though I can’t guarantee this claim, I assured him the city would be conscientious in the event the right-of-way had to be used.

We went on to discuss options for moving the sewer line to avoid some structures on the property and limit the amount of right-of-way the city would need. We questioned why the engineers drew the lines the way they did. I then called the engineer and obtained answers to the questions that had been posed.

From the very beginning, the businessman made it clear to me that, though his concerns were important to he and his partners, he didn’t want them to slow the sewer project’s progress or cause the city to incur additional expense. He told me that if I think his suggestions would hinder the project, then I am to tell him and he would drop it. I thanked him for the offer, but pledged to explore the options to accommodate his request.

I covet the kind of honest relationship this businessman and I have. Though we’re not close, we think alike and have the city’s best interest at heart. Too often folks are reticent to tell you what they’re really thinking. And they certainly don’t want to hear your honest opinion on an issue. Which is why today’s exchange was so refreshing. We both were comfortable enough with one another and respectful enough of one another to speak frankly and to the point.

He will go back to his partners and discuss options. I will continue to discuss options with the engineers. I know we will resolve the issues to mutual satisfaction. And the reason the resolution will come is because of the reasonable, rational approach we began today.

Taking Stock

Periodically I have to stop and take an inventory of my office. I collect all manner of stuff during the course of my work and today’s inventory confirmed it’s time for some materials management to occur.

On the bottom three shelves of my bookcase are several interesting items. A really old alkaline battery charger, a safety coordinator training video, three 20 amp breakers (they don’t work), a bunch of maps, a pile of recycled manila folders, a half dozen City of Woodruff trucker caps (the street department guys like the trucker hats. They say they’re cooler in the summer. By cooler I mean temperature cooler, not cooler as in Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli cool), a box of the city’s health benefits booklets and a box of personal items I’ve collected and dragged around with me since I worked in Washington, D.C., ten years ago.

Then, on the floor, there’s a box of payroll records that haven’t made it back to storage, the original artwork for our new city welcome signs and an A-2000 PVC sanitary sewer pipe coupling. The sewer pipe just appeared in my office last week while I was out of town. (See I don't put it all there.) It’s a pipe we considered using for our Jimmies Creek outfall replacement, but our public works guys have decided upon a traditional, smooth-skinned PVC pipe. They didn’t trust the A-2000’s ribbed construction versus the solid construction of a traditional pipe. Really, it’s a Ford versus Chevy kind of argument.

In the far corner is my garbage can of maps. This map-filing system is my predecessor’s legacy. He apparently liked maps. Lots of maps. I do too. This can of maps covers all manner of subjects and this particular filing system can be a bit cumbersome. The biggest problem I have with it is finding a map that has fallen below the taller ones. And none of them are labeled, so when I want to find a specific map, I end up dragging them all out and unrolling them to see what they are.

I just had an idea! I can take some of the maps out of the garbage can and place them in the sewer pipe. Nope. I forgot. Mike Jurew asked for the pipe so he can make a planter out of it.

On the top shelves of the bookshelf and on the wall are pictures of my family and of course my Hurricane Hugo radar/satellite photo. I picked that up in the early 1990’s after experiencing Hugo as a student at Winthrop University. It always generates conversation.

I suppose I’ll find a proper place for all of this stuff. Admittedly, my office isn’t the messiest one I’ve ever seen. I’ve had colleagues and supervisors who couldn’t see the floor in their offices. But this kind of clutter is foreign to me. I know of course, that once I move this stuff, more will come along and replace in the weeks to come. So why bother, right? I’ll move it tomorrow. Except for the sewer pipe. In my line of work, it may prove more useful to me than the sewer department.

Joint Planning

I attended the SC City/County Management Association’s winter meeting last week and heard about some interesting projects in which colleagues around the state are involved.

The one that piqued my interest most was the joint planning process Jasper County and its municipalities have recently adopted. The towns, Ridgeland and Hardeeville have partnered with one another and the county planning apparatus to create a one-stop planning and zoning shop. In doing so, they have streamlined the vetting and approval process for developers and builders. They embarked on this joint venture in anticipation of the explosive growth that has recently begun in their area.

All three entities agreed upon planning zones around the towns and county in order to preserve the unique character of their respective jurisdictions. In doing so, they ceded individual planning and zoning to a joint body that considers development in terms of benefits for the entire county. This approach is cutting-edge in South Carolina and makes a lot of sense for other jurisdictions.

The greatest benefit they described is that this approach to planning eliminates jurisdiction “shopping.” Before, developers would visit each town to mine for the best deal for his development. The more the developer could wring out of each town or the county, the more leverage he had for negotiating with the neighboring one. Since all three entities now operate under the same rules and fee schedules, developers no longer are able to play one town against the other. And that’s good.

A similar approach here in Spartanburg County probably would not be feasible. Too many towns fighting for the same development. Even more towns fighting for development of any kind. (Woodruff being in the latter category.) I admire Jasper’s approach though. It took forward-thinking leaders to put together such a system. And in the face of revenue losses and bitter competition between cities, a little cooperation will benefit the entire county.

While I was at the meeting I also picked up some pointers about development from some other colleagues that I believe will prove useful to Woodruff in the very near future.

Weekly Update 1-20-06

TO: Woodruff City Council

FROM: Scott Slatton

SUBJECT: Weekly update

DATE: 20 January 2006

Administration Department
1. ***The Spartanburg County Municipal Association has rescheduled its Christmas dinner for officials and spouses for Thursday, January 26 at 6:30PM. If you plan to attend, please call city hall no later than Monday, January 23 so staff can get a count.***
2. Scott attended the SC City/County Managers Association winter meeting this week in Spartanburg.
3. Mayor Bell attended the Greater Woodruff Area Council annual retreat to deliver a state of the city message.
4. Peg’s Diner (the former Old Brick Café) will hold its grand opening Monday, January 23 at 10AM. Please make plans to attend if you can.

Fire Department
1. The department acquired, at no cost, a new wood-burning furnace that better moves heated air throughout the entire building.

Police Department
1. Routine week.

Street Department
1. Electrical work on the Armory continues. The department purchased the wood-burning stove from the fire department for heating the bay area in the new garage.

Sewer Department
1. Scott and ACOG officials met with representatives from the Department of Commerce to resolve potential problems with the CDBG project. Commerce was pleased with the information staff presented and gave the go-ahead for the construction phase. The contract for the construction should be approved this week and work should begin within the next couple of weeks.
2. At the city’s request, Piedmont Natural Gas conducted a quick study to determine the feasibility of installing a natural gas line to the wastewater treatment plant. The purpose of the line would be to supply a natural gas-fired electric generator to power the plant during power losses due to inclement weather. Piedmont shared its initial figures with staff this week. The plan calls for the city to perform the primary excavation work. Details will follow.

SCCCMA Winter Meeting

The South Carolina City/County Management Association’s (SCCCMA) winter meeting starts today in nearby Spartanburg and I'll attend today and tomorrow. This is the first time Spartanburg has hosted the meeting since it previously didn’t have enough meeting/hotel space to do so. Since the Marriott at Renaissance Park was built a few years ago, Spartanburg has been better able to attract large meetings like this and the facility beautiful. Spartanburg Assistant City Manager Evelyn Tice coordinated this year's meeting agenda and she has worked hard to make the meeting a success.

This year’s winter meeting will provide cities and counties from across the state an opportunity to showcase some of their best practices and projects. Spartanburg’s downtown has undergone a renaissance of its own over the last few years, so the city’s progress will be a key feature of the meeting. In fact, a tour of the downtown and other project sites is set for tomorrow’s afternoon sessions.

The SCCCMA brings together local government administrators from around the state twice a year. The meetings are typically very informative and involve a lot of networking as well. Though the formal presentations are great, the opportunity to commiserate with colleagues is invaluable to someone like me who’s career has been underway for only a short while.

I detest reinventing the wheel. It’s a waste of time to develop something from scratch when you can easily borrow and adapt someone else’s successes to your own needs. The SCCMA meetings give me the chance to ask questions of seasoned managers and learn from their mistakes. So, I’ll report back tomorrow what I pick up during the course of the meeting.

Miracles Do Happen!

Had another good session on the radio at WDRF this afternoon. This week T.C. invited former city council member Lisa White to appear with me to further discuss the zoning issues that have been so dominant in the city over the last few weeks.

Surprisingly, Lisa and I agreed on a solution to the WK&B request to allow light manufacturing in the central business district. Lisa proposed that the city amend the zoning ordinance to allow light manufacturing in the central business districts, so long as the businesses established some element of retail along the street front. She stated this is how the ordinance read when she was on council and didn’t realize it had been changed to exclude light manufacturing altogether.

Now, since few of you know of the history between Lisa and me, the notion that she and I agree on something may not seem odd. But, when Lisa was on city council, she and I clashed often in public and private. But today, we were in complete agreement on a resolution to this current issue. I was surprised she was unaware of the change in the zoning ordinance. And her ignorance of the change helped explain away of lot of the confusion I’ve seen over this issue. If Lisa was confused, then I can understand why others might be. Lisa is usually quite well-versed on policy issues.

We went on to agree that the WK&B issue has been blown out of proportion and is easily solved. Now, whether or not it turns out to be, I can’t hazard a guess.

One thing’s for certain though. If Lisa White and I can agree on issues, then anyone can agree on anything.

A Big Relief

Sorry no post yesterday, but I was on Lake Murray communing with stripers. Back today though and here’s what happened.

I attended a meeting with officials from the SC Department of Commerce this morning, which allowed the city and me to finally breath a sigh of relief. Here’s why.

As you know, the city has been planning for its major sewer system rehabilitation project for over a year. The engineering was completed and bids for construction were opened last month. As expected, the bids for all seven of the pieces of the project came in way over the amount of available funding from our CDBG grant funds and city funds. In fact, the work was awarded to the lowest contractor at a bid of $697,000. The budget for the construction phase of the project is only $433,000. So, as you can see, the city had some tough choices to make. Actually, they weren’t too tough. The Jimmies Creek sewer outfall replacement and replacement of the effluent pump station control panel at the wastewater treatment plant have always been the two top priorities.

Because the city had to drop the rest of the parts of the project from consideration for construction, the folks at Commerce were concerned the city-wide benefit of the project would be lost. Indications from Commerce in the two weeks leading up to our meeting today, caused city and Appalachian Council of Governments (ACOG) officials a bit of angst. Commerce at first told the city it would have to fund the shortfall through other means. (Of course, the reason the city applied for the grant is because it has no other means of funding the work.) Then the word was the city would have to survey every resident to determine whether or not the residents are low to middle income (LMI). That would have taken too much time from our tight construction schedule and represented a large, unexpected expense.

So, off to Columbia I went to meet with Commerce and our friends from ACOG. During the meeting, the officials reiterated the same statements from above. It seemed the Commerce folks would leave the city with few options to go forward with the project. However, once we spread our city sewer maps across the table with the corresponding US Census maps that show that the entire city is LMI, the Commerce officials were very pleased. We explained that the Jimmies Creek outfall serves more than half of the city’s residents and that the effluent pump station serves every resident. Coupled with the LMI data, our case for moving forward was solide. Based on the information we presented today, Commerce gave the city the go-ahead for the project.

I have been worried about the outcome of this meeting since I first learned of the concerns Commerce raised a few weeks ago. I was unconvinced of the validity Commerce’s worry about the benefit of the project. I thought to myself, “Here we go. Bureaucratic red tape is going to rob the city of this great opportunity.” But my worries were unfounded. We made a good case to Commerce and allayed their fears.

So, the project construction schedule is still on track and dirt should start to be turned soon. It’s certainly disappointing the city cannot complete the entire project, but we’ll take what we can get and address the rest in coming budget years.

Weekly Update 1-13-06

TO: Woodruff City Council

FROM: Scott Slatton

SUBJECT: Weekly update

DATE: 13 January 2006

Administration Department
1. Attached is a review of the city’s achievements in 2005. (See post below.)
2. Mayor Bell asks that each council member complete the city manager annual evaluation form and return it to him no later than the night of the January 30 meeting.
3. Attached are the Economic Interests Forms required to be filed with the state ethics commission. Please complete the forms and bring them to city hall to be copied and mailed. The deadline for submission of the forms is April 15.
4. David Arning with Palmetto Preservation Works submitted the city’s National Historic Register application for city hall to the SC State Historic Preservation Committee this week. The committee will review the application for follow up inquiries and hold a hearing for the city’s application at 10:30AM on March 3. Please put this date on your calendar and plan to attend this review to show your support for the project. Preliminary comments about the application indicate that it will be well-received by the state.

Fire Department
1. Routine week.

Police Department
1. The department has been awarded five new in-car cameras by the SC Dept. of Public Safety.
2. Scott met with a representative from RedFlex Traffic Systems to discuss enhancement of the department’s speeding enforcement. Attached is a brochure on the systems and some statistics. Chief Wood will discuss this subject at the council meeting on Jan. 30.

Street Department
1. The SCDOT was informed of the beaver dam along Pearson Street that is clogging the drain pipe that runs under the street and cleared it this week.

Sewer Department
1. The SC Dept. of Commerce has requested additional information about the city-wide benefit of the CDBG sewer system project. Commerce is concerned about the overall benefit given the need to drop most of the project from consideration because of cost. Scott met with ACOG officials this week and will meet next Tuesday with Commerce officials as well.
2. Water cutoffs were performed this week for non-payment of sewer bills. Approximately 135 customers had their water service interrupted.

2005 Year in Review

Below is a brief review of some of the achievements reached by the City of Woodruff in the year 2005:

Financial Achievements
· Cut property taxes by 5 mills, which equals 4% of the property tax rate.
· Increased fund balance by 32% from prior year.
· Received a clean audit for the second year in a row.
· Paid off police car purchase two years ahead of schedule.
· Provided employees with much-needed 5% pay increase.
· Passed the local Hospitality Tax.
· Reached and maintained sewer fee collection rate of more than 91%.

Grant Awards
· $550,000 CDBG Sewer Infrastructure grant.
· $550,000 CDBG Housing Rehabilitation grant.
· $25,000 SC Parks and Recreation Development Fund grant.
· $2,500 Modern Woodmen of the World grant.
· Pro Bono National Register of Historic Places Application preparation services.
· Total Grant Awards for 2005: $1,127,500.00

State/National Recognition
· Won the 2005 Municipal Achievement Award in Woodruff’s population category for the Fire Department/Armory rehabilitation project.
· Exhibited the Fire Department/Armory rehabilitation project at the National League of Cities’ 82nd Annual Congress of Cities.

Infrastructure
· Removed over 450K gallons of sludge from the wastewater treatment plant for the first time in 12 years.
· Replaced 1,635 linear feet of city sidewalks.
· Initiated a plan to reconstruct downtown parking lots.
· Constructed new welcome signs for city entrances.

Quality of Life
· Cleared 204 code enforcement cases including the demolition of 4 derelict structures at owners’ expense.
· Adopted the International Property Maintenance Code.
· Relay For Life Chairman and city employee Katrina Huggins raised over $40,000 in Woodruff during the Relay event.
· Revived the city’s Neighborhood Watch Program.
· Fought to reopen B.J. Workman Memorial Hospital.

Though the city accomplished a lot last year, there are challenges that lie ahead. With the continued work and professionalism of the city council and the city staff, perhaps 2006 will yield even more results.

Double U....D....R....F

Visited with T.C. Lewis (at left) today at the plush studios of WDRF Radio, Oldies 1510 AM. T.C. bought the radio station last year and has turned it into a great asset for Woodruff. Though he struggled through several different formats before landing on oldies, his determination to make WDRF go never wavered.

T.C. invites local folks to appear on the radio with him each Wednesday at 12:30PM. Today was my turn to appear and he and I always have great conversations about local goings on in Woodruff. T.C. always asks me what’s going on in Woodruff, and I ask the same of him. But because his ear is pressed to the door of the Woodruff rumor mill, he’s up to speed on all the latest in more ways than me.

Today our conversation was dominated by a request to the planning commission to recommend the city council amend the zoning ordinance to allow light manufacturing in the central business district. (I hope you got all that.) The commission met Monday night to discuss the request and it will deliver its recommendation to the council soon. But a large part of the controversy surrounding this request was borne out of a lot of folks' ignorance of the planning commission’s role, the city council’s role, state laws and the facts of the request itself. Which is where T.C. and my appearance on his airwaves comes in.

T.C. methodically led his audience and me through the rumors and misinformation today in order to get out the facts. He asked me pointed questions that left me little room to bob and weave. (Not that bobbing and weaving is in my nature, but I was once a political hack on Capitol Hill for a national political party. So, I can do it when necessary, though T.C. rarely puts me in a position to do so.) We talked about what we know, we discussed some of the points of the current debate and we hopefully left the case for people to decide upon on their own.

WDRF-AM, The Woodruff News, Bill Drake at 103.3 FM (with whom I appear every other Wednesday morning at 8:25AM) and The Spartanburg Herald-Journal are the media outlets with whom the city has the closest relationships. The city depends on all of them to spread its message and quell the rumor mill. WDRF, of course, most immediately reaches the city’s residents. And because of that, T.C.'s impact is significant. I hope we get to take some calls next week when I make a special appearance because we didn’t get to another zoning issue he wanted to discuss today.

I listen to AM talk radio almost exclusively. I switch between WBT-AM and WORD-AM. And then I get the privelege to go on the radio and talk with T.C. and Bill. T.C.’s doing a job that was once his hobby. I can tell he enjoys radio and I’m grateful he and Bill allow me a little bit of their airtime every once in a while.

Good News for a Great Organization

The Woodruff Community Center, a non-profit organization that provides a variety of valuable services to the Woodruff area, was today awarded a grant from the Verizon Foundation for $6,000. The Woodruff Community Center was the only Upstate area organization to receive the grant, an accomplishment for which its board should be very proud. On hand for the grant presentation were, from left to right: Woodruff Mayor Paul Bell, Woodruff Community Center Board Chairman Shirley Howell, Verizon Regulatory Specialist Amber Landsman, Woodruff City Council Member Kenneth Gist and Spartanburg School District Four Superintendent Rallie Liston.

The Center provides after school programs, teen parenting classes, literacy programs and a variety of senior services. Supported in part by Spartanburg District Four Schools, the Center is funded primarily through grant proceeds. So even though $6K may not sound like a lot of money, it is! And the folks who run the Center will ensure those funds go a long way.

While I was there, I spoke to the Center’s Chairman Shirley Howell who is enthusiastic about partnering the Center with the city in meaningful ways. Though the city council has always been supportive of the Center, the two organizations have rarely worked closely on specific projects. Mrs. Howell mentioned that the provision of more senior services in the city should become a higher priority for all of us. I agree. In fact, I told her about a few seniors who were in need of shelter services during the recent ice storm. While this would have been a valuable service to provide, the city doesn’t have the capacity to staff it. That’s where the Center and the city could partner and provide help to those in need. Now, admittedly, that was a short-term problem and our partnership should involve long-term projects. But that’s the direction in which Mrs. Howell wants the two to go for the short and long term.

The Center currently serves more than 70 children and adults through its programs and the board and staff do a great job with the little funding they have. I certainly hope we can partner in meaningful ways in the future. The city stands ready to assist the Woodruff Community Center in any way it can. There’s no question the need for more services abounds. Now we just have to figure out how to deliver them.

A New Start on Life

The Spartanburg Herald-Journal's Business Writer Susan Orr wrote a great story recently about a new city employee, Mike Jurew, that ran in Sunday's edition. The story pretty well sums up my attitude about Mike and the work he is doing for the city. We're all naturally skeptical of people who have served time in prison. I'm no exception. But occasionally, our perception is altered by someone like Mike. Please read the story at the end of the link above and remember we al l can change for the better, no matter how miserable our past. Special thanks to Susan and her friendship with the City of Woodruff.

Weekly Update 1-6-06

TO: Woodruff City Council

FROM: Scott Slatton

SUBJECT: Weekly update

DATE: 6 January 2006

Administration Department
1. Council member Smith’s father-in-law passed away last week and her brother-in-law passed away this week, which will summon her out of town next week. Please pass along your condolences to her.
2. ***Mayor Bell has called for a special council meeting to be held Thursday, January 12, 2006 at 6PM at city hall to take up the recommendations from the planning commission on two rezoning requests and a request for a zoning amendment. Please call city hall if you cannot attend.***
3. Attached is an article from the July 2005 of the MASC’s Uptown that discusses council member attendance at city committee meetings.
4. The Third Annual Woodruff Business Forum Breakfast was held at the fire department. Approximately 35 people attended with only 8 local businesses represented. Mayor Bell, Council members Arnold, Bettis and Kennedy also attended.
5. The planning commission will hold its January meeting on Monday, January 9 at 6PM in council chambers. The commission will hear two rezoning requests.
6. The Woodruff Community Center invites all city council members to a grant award presentation ceremony at its facility on Tuesday, January 10, 4PM. The center is located at 220 E. Peachtree Street at the old Northside School.

Fire Department
1. Department responded to a gas line break on Hwy. 101 Thursday and conducted a limited evacuation of the surrounding area as a precaution. Crews were on scene from 10:45AM Thursday until 2AM this morning.

Police Department
1. Officer Josh Montjoy graduated from the Criminal Justice Academy. Chief Wood and Scott attended the graduation ceremony. During the graduation, Officer Montjoy was recognized by the class leader for his outstanding service as the "Charlie" Squad Leader. Officer Montjoy and his family, after the graduation ceremony, are pictured above. Please congratulate Josh on his graduation when you see him.

Street Department
1. Crews removed Christmas decorations from the downtown area.
2. Ice storm debris removal continues.

Sewer Department
1. Sludge removal resumed and substantial progress was made.
2. Scott met with a property owner to discuss the provision of sewer service to a parcel of land outside the city.
3. An appraiser was hired and began work this week as part of the right-of-way acquisition process along Eastbrook Drive.

Business Forum Breakfast

The 3rd Annual Woodruff Business Forum Breakfast was held today at the Woodruff Fire Department. The breakfast is an event I started with permission of the city council when I came to the city manager’s office. It’s an attempt to pull together the city’s business owners and have them interact with not only the city council, but the city’s state and federal elected officials. The event is usually well-attended and today was no exception.

The guest speaker at this year’s breakfast was S.C. Representative Harry Cato, (above in the extremely dark photo. The camera flashed, I swear) who is chairman of the House Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee. Rep. Cato spoke to the assembled business owners about the hot legislative topics that will dominate the upcoming state legislative session that begins next Tuesday.

Among some of his comments were two that I want to discuss in particular. First, he stated that the legislature has finally begun to recognize the importance of small businesses to the state’s economy. For too many years, state departments of commerce have chased after the next BMW or Toyota plant in the hopes of landing the big employer. Unfortunately, the odds are stacked against them. But in their zeal to land the white elephant, small business enhancement is something that has long been ignored. But that’s changing in small, but important ways. The South Carolina Legislature has passed income tax credit and tort reform legislation that were targeted specifically at small businesses. Though the legislation is long overdue, it’s something that is expected to be beneficial.

But while progress has been made, more is needed. Workman’s compensation insurance reform and elimination of the Second Injury Fund (two things I’ve already blogged about) are desperately needed. Though Rep. Cato held little hope for major progress being made with either of those issues, he is optimistic something will come out of the state house this year. If we don't, I agree with his point that South Carolina's worker's comp system will continue to cost the state new industry where the system used to help the state seal the deal in years past.

The second point Rep. Cato made was the fact that he will be shocked if some kind of property tax “reform” (see previous blog) doesn’t come out of Columbia this year. As he pointed out, this is an election year and legilators are eager to do "something." And though he didn’t commit to any particular plan he likes best, Rep. Cato did seem to favor a point of sale reassessment mechanism.

While I appreciate Rep. Cato’s interest in relieving the property tax burden on fixed-income individuals, he and the rest of the legislature must, at the same time, work to preserve home rule. Within many of the property tax reform proposals is the intent to critically harm local control over spending and revenue generation by limiting local government taxing authority and doling out funds to local governments from Columbia. Rep. Cato acknowledged this fear among locals and I hope he keeps it in mind as the session goes forward.

Today’s breakfast was a great opportunity for local business owners to fellowship and network with people they might not otherwise run across. The breakfast is the city’s way of fostering open dialogue between itself and the business community. Many of the attendees thanked the city council members that were present and I think all appreciate the event. Woodruff is a business-friendly place. And through events like the breakfast, that reputation will continue to grow.

Zoning a zero sum?

It’s been a zoning kind of day. Zoning issues and questions have dominated today’s work and will continue to do so until the end of the month. The city planning commission currently has three zoning issues in front of it that will be heard this coming Monday night. Two involve rezonings and the other involves an amendment to the zoning ordinance to allow a currently prohibited use.

Zoning issues are complicated and involve many interests. Often those interests don’t coincide, so conflict arises when they meet. In Woodruff, zoning has long been placed on the back burner. But when the city council rewrote the zoning ordinance last year, it did so in an attempt to strengthen it and eliminate many points of confusion. Couple the new ordinance with growing interest in the city from developers and business owners and the groundwork for controversy is laid.

The planning commission’s makeup changed last year with three new members coming on board. All of the commission members have the best interests of the city at heart and they take their jobs seriously. The commission will carefully consider the issues before it and make its best recommendations to the city council. From there, the disposition of those issues will lie solely with the city council. Likewise, the council has the city’s interests at heart and it too will make thoughtful decisions.

Unfortunately, not everyone will be happy with whatever the council decides. Try as they might, council members want all of their constituents to be happy, but they know not everyone will be. That’s not to say that zoning decisions involve a zero sum gain. Often, compromises can be negotiated to satisfy disparate interests. Other times however, there are perceived winners and losers. Unfortunately, that’s the nature of local government sometimes.

The council has a tough job. It’s a largely thankless job. Nevertheless, decision-making is a job that must fall to someone. In Woodruff’s case, that job has fallen to the elected members of the city council and the city staff it has hired to assist it. We will follow the law, remain sensitive to the city’s residents and move the city forward, knowing total satisfaction is hard to achieve. But move forward we must. Anything less would be a deriliction of duty.

Welcome to Woodruff!

At left is a photo of a new welcome sign recently erected here in Woodruff on Cross Anchor Highway. The sign’s debut is the culmination of a process that started last spring.

Recognizing the city’s need for a decent sign at its entrances, city staff contacted the Spartanburg County Transportation Committee (CTC) to request funding from the city’s state C-Fund allocation. Normally reserved for road maintenance, the city’s C-Fund money was sitting idle because city-owned streets are in good condition. With the CTC’s permission, funds were allocated for construction of the signs at two of the city’s main entrances, one on the north end of town on U.S. Highway 221, and one on the south on Cross Anchor Highway.

Next, staff contacted Woodruff High School’s Art Instructor Diana Olencki to ask if any of her students would be interested in designing a welcome sign for the city. Indeed, one of her AP art students, April Smith, agreed to work on the project. Ms. Smith created three designs for city council’s consideration. But when she presented them to council, it could not decide on just one. So, the choice was left to the public.

Ms. Smith’s three designs were displayed for a month here at Woodruff City Hall, and visitors were asked to vote for their favorite. The design above obviously won.

Next, construction of the signs was offered to the masonry class at R.D. Anderson Vocational School. The instructor at R.D. met with staff to discuss a design and the masonry class actually poured the footings for the brickwork before school dismissed for the summer. Unfortunately, the instructor left R.D. before the brickwork was completed. Upon learning of this development, staff contacted a local brick mason to complete the work. But when he began work, the SCDOT halted work on one of the sites it owned because the property was slated for sale. A compromise has been reached and the northern entry sign will go forward. The Fast Signs store in Spartanburg worked with the city on the sign construction and delivered them last week. A local landscaper has agreed to landscape the areas around the signs to enhance their appearance.

The entire process for erecting the signs has taken much too long. But circumstances beyond the city’s control have beset the project from the start. Nevertheless, one sign is up and the other is slated for completion by the end of the month. There are at least two other city entrances that need signs, the West Georgia Street entrance and the S.C. Highway 101 entrance. Hopefully these two signs will be constructed in the coming months to complete a collaborative, yet delayed project.