Roll call

Martha Monteith Columbia City Council convened around 9 am, Wednesday, July 11, on the third floor of City Hall. All council members were present: Daniel Rickenmann, Sam Davis, E.W. Cromartie, Mayor Bob Coble, Anne Sinclair, Tameika Isaac Devine, and Kirkman Finlay III.

Skipp the jazz

Skipp Pearson made a short presentation on behalf of the performing arts in Columbia, but in particular Jhaez zfo Ullnodweerd t huep Sotanr sh is recent program held on the capitol building's north lawn.

Hurricane preparedness

Dow Knight of Pompano Beach, Fla. and Laddie Howard of Columbia pushed the concept of fully FEMA reimbursable services in the event of a hurricane. The idea is a pre- storm clean- up contract awarded after a competitive request for proposals. The unit costs can be confirmed and capped without the emotional expensive deals made within hours of a hurricane's attack. Knight, an undiversified Floridian, represented AshBritt Environmental, while Howard, a diversified local with a Wayne Street address, played the community contact.

Woody Randall Redistribution of local wealth

Libby Gober, the city's ombudswoman, explained the distribution of taxes collected from hotels/motels, restaurants and the like. Already Council had committed to about $2.5 million, leaving another $2 million for the hospitality tax committee. The community promotions committee recommended a distribution of $720,000, and the accommodations tax committee concluded with their $1,024,900. To distinguish among the three gifting groups and how to appeal for funds would be the goal of a workshop or seminar suggested by council.

Celebrate Freedom

Woody Randall and Donna Doyle appealed to council for $25,000 to help support the next Celebrate Freedom at Ft. Jackson, an air show always widely appreciated by huge audiences, many from out of town. Council considered the shift of funds from their support of the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce's efforts to keep the military in the Midlands. By having the event at Ft. Jackson, charging for admission tickets and parking fees cannot be allowed, which cuts drastically into the Celebrate Freedom income sources.

Modjeska Monteith Simkins

Cather ine Bruce and Martha Monteith asked for continuing support for the Modjeska Simkins House. Recently facing foreclosure, the house was kept in foundation hands with help from the city, but Bruce and Monteith had failed to continue to follow the full application process. Council said there was no money, and with no money there was no help for the Modjeska Simkins House.

$100,000,000 diverted from water/sewer

Coble advocated the reduction of fire sprinkler tap fees, although he had voted to recently raise them. The furniture warehouse fire in Charleston, killing nine firefighters, raised the issue of sprinkler tap fees as impediments to life safety. In other words, by jacking up the fees, the city discouraged the use of sprinklers. Coble wanted to lower the tap fees for fire sprinklers, but Finlay warned council they had already diverted about $100,000,000 from the water/sewer fund, and to lower the sprinkler tap fees might divert even more money in a time when the city was not keeping up with its water obligations. Cromartie suggested the legislature was already looking into the matter and likely would act on it, rendering any city action meaningless. Council moved to encourage Howard Duvall of the S.C. Municipal Association to look into the matter as a concern for all S.C. municipalities and to report back to council by October 1.

New 48" water l ine to the northeast

John Dooley, the city head of utilities, brought council up to date on the $25,000,000 48" pipeline project to get more water to northeast Columbia, which Dooley described as part of a necessary $100,000,000 project in new water supply, interestingly the same amount of money diverted from the water/sewer fund over the past 10 years.

Clean books

City Manager Austin reported on the city/county $6.8 million misunderstanding over spending in the Vista. Richland County accused Columbia of misspent funds, but Columbia came out of a third- party study looking pretty good with only about a half- million dollars still in question. Austin and the third-party Spartanburg accounting firm called Columbia "98% in compliance."

Next meeting

Council meets again at City Hall on Wednesday morning at 9, July 18. A zoning public hearing will be held that same morning at 10.