 Thank you all of you who are here today. Thank you so much for being here. As you know, this is our time to come and do the business with the work of the city and to hear and to respond. Let us all now stand and recite the pledge of allegiance. Would you please? To the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. We now have an invocation by Councilman Brown. Heavenly Father, please bless this meeting to do the people's business. Please bless all those that are here. Bless those that are committed to the public service for this city and to all the people in Columbia. Please make us forever mindful of how important you are in our lives and how you have empowered us to do what's right for this city and to make Columbia the best city it can be in the state of South Carolina. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. Madam? Mr. Palin? Mr. Palin? Mr. Mayor, Mr. Pro Tem, I move we adopt the agenda with deferment of item 16. Alright, you've heard that adoption. Are there questions? I'll second that. Alright. Madam Clerk, would you call the roll? Yes, sir. Mr. Brown? Here. Ms. Herbert? Hi. Mr. MacDowell? Yes. Mr. Brennan? Yes. Mr. MacDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Thank you. If there are issues related to our agenda, if there are questions or issues during our public, during the public input of the agenda before you, are there concerns or questions? If so. No one has signed up to speak at this time. Thank you. Thank you very much. Approval of the minutes. I'll make a motion to approve the September 19th Council meeting minutes. Is there a second? Second. Madam Clerk, would you call the roll please? Mr. Brown? Aye. Ms. Herbert? Aye. Dr. Bussells? Aye. Mr. Brennan? Yes. Mr. MacDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Thank you. Madam Clerk, would you call the roll please? Mr. Brown? Well, since I wasn't actually on Council on March 14th or March 21st, I will abstain from voting. Ms. Herbert? Aye. Dr. Bussells? Aye. Mr. Brennan? Yes. Mr. MacDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Thank you. Moving into presentations, item number three is the National Customer Service Week Proclamation. The Honorable Edward H. MacDowell, Jr., Mayor Pro Tem. What a wonderful time it is to celebrate the life of our city and those who involve themselves in customer service. Ms. Tiffany Latimer is our Director of Customer Service. Tiffany, would you say... I was going to say, would you stand? What a fantastic job you do for our city and we are grateful. And with that in mind, I'd just like to lift up our hands. I am. So you're asking me to preclude the proclamation and let you talk? Why don't you do that, Ms. Latimer? Go right ahead. I'm going to get to the top. This is the top of the list of customer service reps. I'm sorry. I am. So you're asking me to preclude the proclamation and let you talk? Why don't you do that, Ms. Latimer? Go right ahead. to my staff, the jobs that you do matter, and are very good to the lives of me. I'm grateful for your service and dedication. I am truly honored to recognize you have been part of such an amazing workbook employee. In conclusion, I am certain to see that you are the founder of every interaction tool for us to continue to embrace the spirit of the week, and may our commitment to equity and customer service shine and the beacon of our many successes we achieve each and every day of the program. Customer staff attendance please stand. If you all will just remain standing for just a minute. I was going to read this resolution, but you did it for me. Now be it resolved that I, Daniel J. Rickerman, Mayor of the City of Columbia, and my fellow members of the City Council of Columbia, do hereby proclaim October 2nd through the 6th, 2023 to be Customer Service Week. In this great city of Columbia, and urge every fellow citizens to recognize and participate in the service thereof. Thank you so much, and please come forward for a photo-off. How about that? Are we going to do it up front here? Our next item is Item 4, National Community Planning Month Proclamation. The Honorable Edward H. McDowell Jr., Mayor Pro Tem. Who's going to, do we have a appointment? Come right ahead. Go right ahead. I don't have any formal remarks prepared today, but I just wanted to thank Council, Mayor, and for your continued support of planning. We've got some exciting planning efforts coming up in the next few months. We'll be kicking off the downtown strategic master planning process, and I'd also like to remind you and everyone that we just published our third annual departmental report for planning and development services, so it's linked to the website, and it's got some really exciting updates from the whole department, so thank you very much. Thank you. Stay right there if you would. You want to sit down, right? Just a word of thanks for all that you do for this great city of ours and the planning and the implementation of that. As you know, change is constant, and of course when that happens, it benefits our city, and we are thankful for that. And because of all that is done as it relates to planning, we do want to present a proclamation. And of course, what you said just a moment ago sort of equals into a proclamation that I will read, and I will just simply say be resolved that I, Daniel J. Rickerman, Mayor of the City of Columbia and members of this council in Columbia, do hereby recognize all of the wonderful and strategic work you've done and continue to do. We are thankful for a community planning month and in this great city of ours until all of our fellow citizens we recognize your participation in this city. Thank you so kindly, and again, a photo op. Thank you very much, and I want to recognize too we have several planning staff here today and also a new member of our team, Amber Mathis, just joined us yesterday for her first day at work, so we're really excited to have her on board as well. And I just wanted to a personal note of privilege that I say that correctly to the planning department. You all helped earlier this year. We did an update to the North Columbia plan and it was the first time that we had done a update to a regional plan. Did I say that correctly? So I appreciate you all for helping us out with that. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Herbert. I understand our planning team, you're leaving. They've seen this. You're planning to leave. Thank you all so much. Thank you so much. Mr. Palin. Yes, sir. Up next is the Consent Agenda. Council is asked to approve Consent Agenda items 5 through 15 and 17 through 19. That consent agenda is before you. I move approval. Is there a second? Second. Madam Clerk, if you would call the roll. Yes, sir. Mr. Brown. Mr. Herbert. I'm Dr. Bussells. I, Mr. Brennan. Yes. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. I. Thank you. Mr. Bailey, that moves us into Ordinance's second reading. Item number 20. Ordinance number 2023-116. Amending the 1998 Code of Ordinance's of the City of Columbia, South Carolina, Chapter 2, Administration Article 2. Mayor, Council and City Manager Division 1, Generally Section 2-31, Compensation City Council Members Only. I move approval. Is there a second? I've been moved improperly. Second. Madam Clerk, if you would call the roll. Mr. Brown. No. Mr. Herbert. I, Dr. Bussells. I, Mr. Brennan. No. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Thank you. And Mayor Pro Tem, can I make, I just wanted to make one comment. So when we went through this the first time, I was talking about black people who have served on City Council and diversity issues. And I listed all of the black council folks that we've had. And I forgot one. Yeah, I forgot one. So, and for those of you all who weren't here, the concern was that we try and get more diversity into City Council positions. I think that money is a factor in the ability to be compensated for your time and effort is a factor. And so we had EW Cromartie, Lutha Bates, Brian Newman, Tamika Devine, Tina Herbert, and I forgot this gentleman named Steve Benjamin who also served on City Council. But the significance of it was we've only had eight African-Americans to serve, six of them have been attorneys. And I think that that's because it's an economic issue. And so I wanted to make sure I didn't leave out the gentleman in DC, make sure his name was recorded as one of our attorneys that have represented this great city. Thank you so much, Ms. Herbert. It's good to know we've got everybody in now. Thank you so much. Steve who? Mr. Palin. Up next is ordinance first reading item 21, ordinance number 2023-117, amending the 1998 code of ordinances of the city of Columbia, South Carolina chapter 23, utilities and engineering article three, water service section 23-65, right of the city to shut off water and mains, article five, water and sewer rates section 23-145, installation of water meters and cross connection control devices and section 23-148 sewer tapping fees. I move approval of ordinance 2023-117. I'll second, but would like some clarification from staff about the specifics of the language that will be changing in this ordinance. Would you like that clarification before or after, Dana? Let's do it during the discussion period, which is now. All right. Well, we've got a motion and a second. And what I'm hearing is that you want to do that prior to doing the vote. Is that right? Right. If you would, Dr. Bussells. Dana. Yes, sir. So just to give some clarity on this ordinance, or yeah, ordinance, we actually have been having some issues with striped piping of our system. So the first item, section 23-65, we're going to enact a temporary construction meter instead of having fire hydrant meters. Fire hydrant meters are picked up by contractors and after construction, they move on to their next project and sometimes to get a CEO, property owners sometimes striped pipe and then we forget to go back or they forget to come in and apply for service. So this will allow us to go ahead and have the contractor apply for the appropriately sized meter at the time of construction. We will build them at the irrigation rate. After construction, they would terminate their relationship with the city and the property owner would come in and start the water service agreement at normal rates. In addition, we have a couple other cleanups that we were going to do. We had four, six, and eight, and 10-inch meters defined in two different sections of our ordinance. So we are actually removing the redundancy and what our practice typically is is to charge the city's cost of the meter times 1.15 for these fire hydrant meters. In addition, we also have our backflow preventer boxes are the owner's responsibilities. We have a little bit of clarity in our section 23-145, just stating that. And in our sewer tapping fees in 23-148, we are defining how we calculate our typical tap fees and that is by our SED hack unit contributory loading. So those are just kind of helping us clean up the ordinance. Okay. Dr. Bussells, does it help? That does help. And just to clarify for the public, it's there's no actual increase in our sewer tapping fees or no fan increases. Thank you. Okay. Are there other questions? All right. Let's move to previous question then. It's been moved and seconded. Madam Clerk, if you would call the war roll. Yes, sir. Mr. Brown. Aye. Ms. Herbert. Aye. Mr. Brennan. Yes. And Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Thank you. Our next section is event resolutions. Item number 22, resolution number R, 2023. Die 070. Authorizing consumption of beer, wine and liquor at the SC Pride Parade on Friday, October 20, 2023 and the SC Pride Festival on Saturday, October 21, 2023 in the 1200, 1300 and 1400 blocks of Main Street. Motion to approve. Second. Second. Been moved and seconded. Madam Clerk, if you would call the roll. Mr. Brown. Aye. Ms. Herbert. Aye. Dr. Bussells. Aye. Mr. Brennan. Yes. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Item 23, resolution number R, 2023. Die 083. Authorizing consumption of beer and wine only at the Rosewood Art and Music Festival on Saturday, October 7, 2023 at Rosewood Park, 901 South Holly Street in the corner of South Holly Street and Airport Boulevard to South Holly and Gardenia Street. Motion to approve. Is there a second? Second. Been moved and seconded. Madam Clerk, would you call the roll. Mr. Brown. Aye. Ms. Herbert. Aye. Dr. Bussells. Aye. Mr. Brennan. Aye. Thank you. Thank you. And our final event resolution is item 24, resolution number R, 2023-084, authorizing consumption of beer and wine only at the Earl Jam neighborhood concert in Earlwood Park on Sunday, October 22, 2023. Motion to approve. Second. Been moved and seconded. Madam Clerk, if you would call the roll. Mr. Brown. Aye. Ms. Herbert. Aye. Dr. Bussells. Yes. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Moving on to other matters, item 25. Council has asked to approve the fiscal year 2023 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant JAG application for community-based violence intervention and violence prevention and reduction efforts as requested by the Office of Violent Crime Prevention in the amount of $87,277. And I will also add that we were informed this afternoon that the grant has been approved, but we will still need to have this reading as part of the application. Approved as in we already... Done. The grant, the funds. We've got to get the paperwork in. So the paperwork is not in, but it's... So we've already been approved for the funding? Yes. Now this is... And you've only been here at three months. I love it. That was my point. He's setting a new standard, a new level, so we always want our grants approved before we even finish the application. All right. Before we go through a vote, Brett Trevon is here. Say a word to us, please. So with this fiscal year FY23 funding from the DOJ, Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Edward Byrne's JAG Memorial, with this is a local solicitation that the award is $87,227. And it would allow us to provide funds for community-based violence intervention efforts. So that's a host of different things from setting up, whether it's peace teams, street teams, and everything that Department of Justice lists under CVI or community violence intervention. What our focus as we put in our application is for prevention and education, which is going to be on the front end. So I provided the award package that outlines our narrative, our application, everything like that. And part of us accepting it as a city is for the governing body of the city to actually review it, hear it, and actually give their approval and also as a certification from the city manager for we can accept the funds from the Department of Justice. There is no match on this project, so it's just the funding directly from the DOJ. All right. So moved. Any questions? Yes, ma'am. So moved if you need a motion. All right. Is there a second? Second. All right. You've been moved and seconded. Thank you so much. Madam Clerk, if you would call the roll. Mr. Brown. Aye. Ms. Herbert. Aye. Dr. Bussells. Aye. Mr. Brennan. Yes. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duhal. Aye. Thank you. Next up we have City Council reports, referrals, and new business. All there, referrals. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem. Yes, ma'am. I'd like to give an update from the Health Environmental and Social Health, Social and Environmental Affairs Committee. We met last week and received a very useful update on current community health initiatives, including potential opportunities for us to engage with Prisma Health. Ms. Angela Jenkins, the Vice President of the Office of Community and Social Health came and spoke and provided us some insight on the ways in which Prisma Health is engaging with the community. We also continued our efforts to improve and understand the ways in which we can streamline some of our resources. We also continued to work with the Animal Services Department. Ms. Victoria Riles came in and talked about our differential licensing program that we would like to hopefully move towards. And those details are still being worked out, but she came in to talk about a proposed plan that would allow for citizens to apply for a lifetime lease, or a license, not lease, lifetime license for their pets that are in the city. And some coordination will be included in the plan. And so, we've all given that most of our animals come from Richland County, so we are in the midst of those discussions and hope to get an update at our next meeting. And then finally, we had Councilman Duvall's favorite conversation point, Trees. We discussed boundary Trees and talked about scenarios and instances where it would be the private property owners, responsibility versus the cities, and I think we left that at a little bit earlier. So I think that's the possibility of the city would be for trees that are on both private property and in the right of way. Thank you very much. Anything, any other reports? Let me just ask this question. We just wanted to make sure. There's nothing we recommend to Council today. This is for information. This was just for information. And so, briefly, we did meet just today, the Community Development Council Committee met. We are excited about bringing to Council a grocery store rebate, business license rebate policy for consideration. We will not be bringing it today, but I think we finally put the final touches on that. And of note, the NUSA conference is coming to Columbia. We're going to be talking to the director of the Richland County Council of neighborhoods to come to give us an update and presentation and we're going to continue to do that every month. They are trying to do a conference that normally takes a year and a half to 2 years, I believe, and they're trying to do it in 7 months. And so we want to make sure that we're doing a rest of what's happening with the development of that conference so that we can make sure that Columbia is well represented when it happens. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Herbert. Mr. Duval. I'd like to ask Councilman Brown if they can help get the Vista-Gill's request for additional scatters to the other parts of the world. They want to be able to plant this fall and you have a request in your committee to review that item. It will be scheduled to be reviewed at our next meeting. Thank you, sir. Any additional reports? Yes, Reverend, because I wasn't finished before Mr. Duval I'm sorry. Last thing I wanted to make sure everyone's aware that we're going to be doing an information session for churches and nonprofits called Let's Build Together. This is an affordable housing initiative for there are tons of nonprofits and churches who are land banking or have tons of property and they have no idea how to move from owning property to becoming developers or and you will be doing the invocation for us if that's okay with your schedule and of course everyone else is invited to attend. Thank you very much. Thank you for giving me something to do. Thank you. Thank you for being so willing. We look to be there for that for this very informative gathering. Thank you so much. Any other reports from committees? All right, Mr. Palin? Okay. Next up we have public input. Madam clerk are there have anyone signed up for that? Yes, sir. We have Mr. Jason Lyon. Who's that now? Mr. Jason Lyon and as he come forth we will remind speakers that there is a three-minute time limit. Okay. Mr. Jason? How you doing, sir? My name is Jason Lyon. I'm coming today. Erica Brown is not able to join us and I think it's worth something worth celebrating. She is actually helping a young lady move from staying in a hotel routinely to moving into a permanent residence so she's not able to join us. I think it's absolutely fantastic what she's doing. However, I'm here today because on last Friday we had experienced something that we were told is not happening here in Columbia and we got to witness I personally got to witness police harassing the homeless down at the library. While Erica was serving in front of the library right off to the side of the bank there was an individual sitting up against the tree eating his meal and was planning to leave. The officer who was sitting in the bank parking lot was standing on the side of his car door opening and was waving for the guy to leave and I calmly walked over and I started my recording and what we witnessed was something I think is very problematic and I think it's more systemic than just an isolated incident that this officer believed that you the council and the mayor had passed an ordinance saying that people can't be congregating can't be loitering on the streets in any way shape or form and said that you guys had passed this in either September or August. As this conversation continued as he realized that that was not something realistic something that had actually occurred he had transitioned on to saying that now this individual who was sitting against the base of a tree was now obstructing the sidewalk and what I think was slightly comical was in my interaction with this officer I actually was obstructing the sidewalk on accident and somebody was trying to pass by on their bicycle and I apologize on the video in the recording, apologize for being in this guy's way and allowed him to move where I was standing was exactly where this individual, this gentleman, was sitting in no way was he obstructing the sidewalk but he was being harassed and he was by the presence of a police officer being threatened. I'd given that police officer the courtesy and the common ground to explain to this gentleman at the very beginning of the conversation that he was there to protect the property rights of that bank and he absolutely was he was making sure that people were not transitioning and walking through and that's the right thing. If people do not want people to transit across their property that's fine and that's okay but in order to weaponize and harass people of the community for trying to eat a meal and not obstruct the traffic and the sidewalk I think is wrong and is immoral and I think it needs to stop because it's not the mayor but the actual mayor Mr. Rickman has the video and he has his team already looking at it I would request that if you guys are interested in helping create an action plan to make a solution here to where this doesn't happen anymore in Columbia you guys get involved and help with that because that's why you are the powers been here is because we don't want good people where people live in their lives to be threatened and so again I'm pleading for you all to help and make this a better thing for all of Columbia. Thank you Mr. Lyons. Thank you so much Mr. Lyons thank you so much for that it's appreciated but I do I just need to say a word I know our police chief is committed to constitutional fair and impartial policing I do know that I would ask that you contact him after this meeting and of course he's here yes sir to further discuss that matter you will find Chief Holbrooke to be empathetic you will find him to be approachable and I would ask that that conversation ensues itself after this meeting thank you sir. Thank you. Yes sir Yes ma'am Madam Clerk Mr. Wade Fulmer are you here? Yes sir Thank you Thank you for hearing me today. Yes sir I started this journey of the nuisance dog barking nuisance noise dog barking two years ago this month and then this January on September the 26th it repeated again I had been to the VA and had four biopsies here you see this car two of those turned out to be skin cancers but I was not feeling well that Saturday night after the Tuesday so I went to bed about 10 minutes till 11 the dog barked from 10 till 11 till 3 in the morning when the owner came home this has been something that happens periodically and unfortunately the Division of Animal Control they're only there money through Friday until 5 and that leaves the Columbia Police Department and dispatch who have been responsive and helped me if I had not had them these last two years I feel bad enough now about what's happened so this began in September of 2021 two years ago and I delivered a letter to my neighbor's mailbox my last line on the letter was please do something well there were breaks but it always came back 99% of it has been during a normal person's sleep time I don't go to bed before 11 o'clock most of the time the barking might start at 7 o'clock it may go for hours it may go to mostly it'll go till 12 30 and then on the weekends or maybe something else that's going on late it will continue until 3 o'clock as it did on Sunday morning January the 29th I did I was feeling badly when I went to bed early that night I did not sleep at all till 3 o'clock I did not sleep after 3 o'clock but periodically a little bit and just felt terrible the next day but I did call dispatch Columbia Police Department as much as they have to do I know they have to put me down on the priority list with everything that goes on especially on the weekend I understand that I respect that if I did not have them to respond and help me again I would be by myself and this is going on for two years so finally after the January 28th this year incident till 3 o'clock in the morning on Sunday I have a follow-up and I made a call to Columbia Police Department I had met with the chief and administrative officials back in August and September of 2022 so they were aware of the problem but the chief said I can get something done for you to his credit he did get something done for me and the dog barking subsided somewhat it never stopped but what I would do during the week watch very little TV I read a lot I do veterans advocacy I'm on my computer doing that kind of thing a lot so if I've got the radio or the TV on between 7 and 10 I just turn the radio up and I just kind of block it out that way thank you sir we've got three minutes to do this and I understand the annoyances and of course the nuisance indication that you've raised today I'm going to ask Animal Services in cooperation with CPD to make sure that information is passed on to committee and that we look at perhaps a nuisance indication indicator and what we might be able to do we don't want anything to disrupt your sleep habits and I understand the medical condition that you've indicated we don't want that to happen so we've heard you and we wanted to help as much as we can thank you sir well I'd like to say I've made contact with animal control okay most of the time when I call during the day to report they don't answer the phone this last incident there's been two more incidents which a finally after 17 months a ticket was issued then after that there's been two more incidents it's again it's not been animal control that's done anything to reduce that ticket it's been Columbia Police Department and Dispatch we hope though somebody needs to be involved other than animal control even when I call to try to schedule an appointment with the director that call is not returned this has been two years I know my time up time is up but I want to say this should not be happening to anybody I have lived in my home I am retired I am an Army Bronze Star Vietnam War veteran I am 75 years old when this started I was 73 I continue in my volunteer advocacy for veterans care health care common sense gun laws and end of gun violence for peace and justice by nonviolence I have yet more to do desiring to not be barking times affected not be a repeat victim of the harms of nuisance code non-enforcement and that's what it is and I am not blaming the officers the officers the officer will come out and talk but I'm going to give you one little quote just a few words from this letter from my neighbor sir your issue is it was wonderful chatting with the officer about their day-to-day life and how much a burden certain reports can be for them yes sir so who can you get to me I want somebody else your issues are dualistic in nature animal services and cpd what we plan to do is coordinate a facilitated conversation that will help in this process sir what was your address in Rosewood 605 south Woodrow fantastic we'll follow up with you sir sir thank you sir but please involve the people who have been affected because it's their resources that you're stretching and they have so much to do and it's prolonging me as a victim for two years thank you thank you sir thank you sir and we hope your health is improving thank you sir it will not improve as long as it's don't know when it's going to happen next but it's going to happen next and it happened last week thank you thank you very much madam clerk where is she I'm going to sign up to speak but I think he's left the chambers he's outside talking Miss Amelia Kelly alright who's the next speaker Amelia Kelly Miss Kelly Miss Kelly will remind you that you have three minutes Miss Kelly yes I just want to thank everybody for coming today we need to talk up just a little bit who will let things close is that better so I just have a short request for y'all today and that is regarding my and I feel like a large populations love of ASAP Rocky an amazing rapper artist overall of the 2010s I think he's really served our overall population of people who love that kind of music so that's why I came here today to ask for possibly a statue to be made and erected on the city state house grounds and here is one of his breakout songs Peso made in 2011 that I feel like might convince y'all we don't allow audio video during public comment you can state your comment so that's pretty much all I have to say we thank you for being here Miss Kelly thank you very much thank you for being here today and expressing your concern for ASAP Rocky thank you very much Madam Clerk Mr. John Crangle has re-entered the chambers Mr. Pringle he re-entered oh here he is Mr. Chairman members of the Columbia City Council my name is John Crangle I've been here since 1963 I came here in September 1963 at the same time as University of South Carolina was racially integrated I came as a graduate soon today I want to talk to the council briefly about the issue of the council voting to raise its own pay that obviously is a conflict of interest situation but it's been a long time I first went to the state house as a lobbyist for common cause in 1987 and the legislators were living off the lobbyists and I testified repeatedly before committees from 1987 to 1990 about the toxic corrupt relationship between lobbyists and legislators Operation Laws Trust occurred in July of 1990 resulted in 17 legislators being convicted of corruption one state court judge six lobbyists two people who work for the governor and three business people we've also had a problem with corrupt sheriffs 23 corrupt sheriffs in the last 50 years I just finished a book which was sent to the publisher a couple weeks ago about the large number of corrupt sheriffs we have I also worked on ethics reform I was a person that made a number of suggestions that have been incorporated into the 1991 ethics law that governs all public officials in South Carolina including members of the Columbia City Council I also worked on magistrate reform and one of the things I became aware of is the great inequity and compensation that occurs between the various magistral districts some magistrates are very poorly paid and others are paid much better I've seen the same problem with regards to sheriffs departments where the compensation paid to sheriffs department employees varies a lot from one county to the next bottom line is this I would suggest to the Richland County Council that it ask Richland County legislative delegation to propose legislation that would set uniform minimum standards of compensation for all local government officials in the state of South Carolina that nobody has to live at slave labor wages I personally believe that low compensation for public officials is one of the reasons we have so much corruption in South Carolina we currently have a county councilwoman under 24-count indictment the solicitor just got out of prison a few months ago and another county councilwoman she's liable to get it too so we've got a problem with public corruption low compensation local government employees and officials I believe is a major factor so what I'm asking the council to do is to consider asking the Richland County delegation to introduce legislation and get hearings on this issue where police chiefs sheriffs the head of the magistral association the 282 city council took 71 now school board association as well those people need to be considered for adequate compensation as well we can't live, we've talked about local government as being advantageous but we can't live with a dinosaur system of compensating our local government officials I'd be glad to respond to any questions you might have thank you so much thank you so much for that for that information I'm sure my colleagues will take that under advice man thank you so very much thank you I talked with Joe Taylor just four days before he died about and he told me how burdensome and difficult it is to be on the Columbia city council and I didn't realize it's as bad as it is so it's pretty obvious that you need to raise but I don't like the idea of a city council raising its own salary I do think it raises by the way an issue under 813-700 which is a prohibition on use of public office personal gain I would suggest if you're going to go ahead with it you get an advisory opinion from the attorney general's office thank you very much Madam Clary we have no other individual signed up to speak alright I just want to make sure that all minds are clear all persons who signed up to speak are spoken is there a motion is there a second Madam Clary would you call the roll Mr. Brown Mr. Herbert Dr. Bussell Mr. Brennan Mr. McDowell