Roll Call

West Columbia City Council convened Monday evening, July 9, 2007, at 6 pm. Mayor Bob Horton; Mayor Pro- Tem Jack Harmon; Councilmen Eric Fowler, Dale Harley, and Boyd Jones, Tommy Parler, Doug Reeves, and B.J. Unthank; and Councilwoman Marsha Moore were all present.

Harmon led the Invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Presentations

A last minute Request for Appearance was made by Catherine Bruce of the Collaborative for Community Trust. In a continued effort to receive the Council's support, Bruce once again discussed, having previously addressed the Council in February of this year, the details of a plan called the Three Cities Corridor. This is a design intended to expand the Columbia skyline as well as to beautify the entrance to the City of Columbia from various directions. The effort focuses on branding, transit, and beauty, and targets both a tourist audience and a student audience. While funding has not yet been secured from the City of Columbia, efforts to advance the project are still hopeful.

Hor ton drew the attention of the Council and public to the upcoming 2007 Junior Wildwater World Championship, which will finish its race on the West Columbia side of the river. The City of West Columbia will be the host of much of the event, which will occur beginning July. Details for this can be found at www.jwwc2007.com/information. html. An expected 15 countries, including the U.S., will be represented at the event.

The July Yard of the Month was awarded to Frank and Tammy Dodge of 642 Carrington Drive, in their absence.

Minutes of the June 5 Budget Hearing, June 5 Water/Sewer Rate Increase Hearing, June 5 Regular Council Meeting, June 12 Special Council Meeting, and June 18 Special Council Meeting were approved without objection.

New Business

The Council heard the First Reading of an Ordinance to Adopt the Lexington County Stormwater Management Ordinance. Described as an "unfunded mandate," the last thing required in order to have the project associated with this ordinance completed as scheduled by September 1 is to adopt this stormwater management ordinance. The Council requested it be approved subject to dual enforcement, be it that the City of West Columbia and Lexington County must adhere to the same codes, allowing West Columbia to have more authority for their own enforcement. The motion was adopted on first reading with a motion made by Harley. It will be amended before second reading.

Considerations of ordinances for the annexing of property on the north side of Holland Street at the intersection of Greenwood Road and for the annexation of property located on the east side of McSwain Drive were passed without discussion, as was a consideration of a resolution to annex approximately 1,125 square feet of property owned by the City of West Columbia contiguous to Eric Fowler Park on C Avenue. The Council moved to second reading on the consideration of the Planning Commission's Recommendation to deny a text amendment to allow pawn shops in a C- 1 District as a special exception

with no spacing requirements and on the consideration of bids to purchase

675,000 garbage bags for the City. None of these required any discussion.

Bids for engineering services for the ISDE Monitoring Plan ranged from $18,400 to $43,000, the lowest few bids, however, not meeting all requirements. These two unfunded mandates with EPA are, while required by EPA, carried through and regulated by DHEC. The funds, once secured, will be used through January of 2010 to see the project carried through. Unthank made a motion to accept the lowest qualifying bid at around $20,000. Harley seconded with no further discussion.

In acting to approve water service for 30 lots in the proposed Ridge Terrace subdivision on Emanuel Church Road, Horton asked of Sid Varn, director of planning an engineering, "Do we have water capacity?" Given an affirmative answer, which tells the Council that indeed servicing a few more homes helps the city because it won't have to put anything to waste, the Council made a motion to accept this consideration.

No Old Business was before the Council.

A motion to adjourn to Executive Session was then made.

Special Project

Students from USC's College of Social Work were in attendance at the July Council meeting. They have chosen to analyze the West Columbia community for a class assignment, which will require they write proposals for grant opportunities and ideas about how to build the community and its relationships within, also enhancing social opportunities.