City Council Update from Dick Dewar

SILVER BLUFF REZONING REQUEST: Silver Bluff Associates has rescinded its request for its property on Silver Bluff Road to be rezoned to General Business (GB). In his May 29, 2009 letter, Neil Farfour has informed the City that he has sold this property to a developer who may build patio or duplex style homes on it instead. You may recall that this rezoning request was approved at a recent Council meeting.

FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY: If you visit the South Carolina Comptroller General’s site cg.sc.gov you will see that the City of Aiken is the first one listed under the Local Government Transparency link. Visitors to this site will be able to view city expenditures at this link. Of course, this information remains available at www.aiken.net , our city website. Aiken is a pioneer in this effort, according to Richard Eckstrom, Comptroller General. I raised this issue several weeks ago and am pleased with the rapid response of City Staff. The South Carolina Legislature also passed a similar law relating to School Board transparency.

SUMMER THURSDAY NIGHTS AT THE FARMERS’ MARKET: The Farmers’ Market will be open each Thursday night from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. These additional hours began May 28, 2009. Current plans are to continue to be open Thursday evenings in June, July, and August.

CITY BOND RATING: Finance Department Director Kim Abney has shared the Moody’s Investors Service rating of Aiken’s Water and Sewer Revenue Bond rating. Our rating is reviewed every three years. Our current rating of A3 represents what Moody’s describes as:

“. . . outstanding water and sewer revenue bonds, secured by a senior lien on net revenues of the enterprise system. The rating reflects the water and sewer system’s mature customer base, manageable debt position with limited plans for additional debt financing, and satisfactory financial operations.”

The systems debt ratio is only 8.9%, which Moody’s considers to be low. They also point to our system’s increased liquidity up to 71% in 2008 from 54% in 2004 – a 17% improvement in just four years.

TRAFFIC SIGNAL IMPROVEMENTS: To improve traffic flow in Aiken’s central business district, SCDOT will work this June and July on all of our downtown signals to test a new method of traffic signal operation in August and September. New traffic signals, turn arrows, and pedestrian signal heads will hopefully ease the flow of traffic downtown. We are also working with SCDOT on traffic flow improvements for Whiskey Road. It will be a state-of-the-art system using sensors and cameras to more efficiently manage traffic flow. Cameras will not be used for traffic enforcement.

EQUINE COMMITTEE RESOLUTIONS: Lucy Knowles, City Equine Committee Chair, has forwarded two resolutions. The first seeks city support of Whitney Trust projects. We have contacted the Trustees, and will bring this before Council once they provide us with a detailed list of projects. The second involves use of LOST III monies, to be voted on in 2010, for equestrian green space acquisition

COMMENDATIONS: Mary Goins, State League Director, USTA/SC, has written PRT Director Glenn Parker commending them for hosting the 2009 USTA state tennis championships. They are looking forward to another great state championship series in Aiken next year...

Tom Lex, President, Aiken Bicycle Club, has taken time to write and commend the Department of Public Safety for its support of the annual Aiken to Ride Century event.

Dean Porter and Tracey Bradley of Atlantic Broadband have also written in to commend Sgt. Bob Patterson, Fire Division, ADPS for his assistance training employees in proper fire extinguisher use. In addition, Sgt. Patterson has also trained several of our staff in fire extinguisher use at our annual safety cookout on June 3rd.

SECOND READING OF AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE CONCEPT PLAN FOR UNIVERSITY HEALTH SERVICES, INC. – This ordinance passed at our last meeting. I cast the only negative vote because of my concerns about traffic on Silver Bluff Road. The Traffic Report clearly stated that this road is at “near capacity”. While we have approved a new right turn lane from Silver Bluff Road to Daugherty Road, we do not know whether or how much capacity for Silver Bluff will be added. If Silver Bluff Road is modified in the future, even more capacity may be added. I saw no sense in approving a project on a road that is near capacity.

SECOND READING OF AN ORDINANCE TO SET THE MILLAGE RATE OF THE YEAR 2009-2010 – Every year the Council sets the millage rate. It has not increased in 21 consecutive years, assuming tonight’s approval to retain the current rate. This is largely caused by the steady growth the City of Aiken has experienced and excellent management of city funds. In fact over the years, the millage rate has reduced on five separate occasions including last year when it was reduced from 71 mills to the current 66 mills. This outstanding record has occurred despite recent revenue losses during these economic times and the loss of revenues from reduced telecommunication and vehicle taxes amounting to well over $1 million every year.

SECOND READING OF AN ORDINANCE TO APPROVE A BUDGET FOR THE YEAR 2009-2010 – Each year City Council adopts a budget for the City of Aiken representing the policies and goals for the city’s upcoming year. It should not surprise residents to know that we are facing difficult times. Our revenues are projected to be lower than last year with Building Permits down 55%, State revenues down 27%, Interest Earned on Investments down 73%, Vehicle Taxes down 11%, and Business License Fees down 8%. All of this represents a decrease of $1.8 million in revenue. Nonetheless, the City Manager has done an outstanding job of preparing a budget without recommending a tax increase at this time. Some programs have been reduced, hiring delayed, travel expenses reduced, and some maintenance items reduced. Capital purchases have been delayed saving $800,000 and $640,000 has been shifted from Reserve Funds. Depending on water usage, a rate increase may be imposed later in the year.

AN ORDINANCE TO ANNEX TO THE CORPORATE LIMITS OF THE CITY OF AIKEN CERTAIN PROPERTY CONSISTING OF 5 ACRES OF LAND, MORE OR LESS, OWNED BY NORTHPOINTE DEVELOPMENT GROUP, LLC AND TO ZONE THE SAME PLANNED COMMERCIAL (PC). – The owner of an undeveloped 51.4 acre tract on the south side of University parkway near Arbor Court is requesting annexation of 5 acres under the Planned Commercial zone. They would like to develop the site as a cosmetology school and later some office buildings. They would like to receive city water and sewer. The property is contiguous by means of the University Parkway right of way. The layout of this concept plan does not comply with the proposed Corridor Overlay District.

AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF AIKEN TO SELL LOTS TO HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: Council will consider approval to sell a lot at 731 Abbeville Avenue NW to Habitat for Humanity. Also included are lots at 442 Ridge Avenue, 636 Hampton, and 724 Abbeville Avenue.

PARKS, RECREATION AND TOURISM SECURITY RECOMMENDATIONS – Many residents are aware that on Sunday, May 17, 2009, in the middle of the afternoon a shooting took place at the Odell Weeks gymnasium. It occurred during a pickup basketball game and to our knowledge is the first shooting that has ever occurred within the Weeks Center for the past 25 years. Although we believe this is an isolated incident, we feel we need to consider several security measures to make this location as safe as possible for our staff, citizens and visitors alike.

For the last several years the staff has been looking at measures to increase security within our parks system. We feel the following four items listed in order of priority would help to achieve this goal.

Card System: For the last two years, the PRT staff has recommended a security card system. These cards would be given to all city residents at no cost and a small fee would be instituted for those living outside the city. Non-residents could either purchase a day pass or an individual or family season pass. During events or organized basketball games those visitors would be admitted at no charge. This will allow us to know who is in our gym, and those that have been put on trespass notice could no longer get into our buildings without our knowledge. Currently we have several individuals on trespass notice, but due to the number of entrances and doorways and lack of a security system these individuals could easily enter our gyms without our knowledge. This system can be instituted immediately with little or no cost and over the next several months we could begin issuing these cards to all of our residents and have the system fully implemented sometime this fall or winter. Eventually the main entrance would be moved to its former location to the north and all the other doors would become exits only.

Additional Personnel: For the last couple of years staff has talked about adding a position called Community Service Officers (CSO). These individuals would act as security persons for our parks and also have the ability to investigate accidents on private property. These individuals could also do a variety of duties that occupy the time of our current accredited police officers. They would be in a police type uniform and spend most, if not all of their time, within our park system. We recommend hiring two part time individuals who would work 20 hours per week with the city from approximately 5 P.M. to 9 P.M. Monday through Friday and all day Saturday and Sunday when our recreational centers are open. Their duties would consist of walking and riding around our parks and building during those hours. We feel their daily presence would alleviate some of the concerns we currently have at Virginia Acres and Smith Hazel. The budget for these two individuals would be approximately $25,000 per year.

. Security Cameras: Currently there are 27 cameras throughout the Odell Weeks Center. Many of these cameras do not have the resolution or wide angle lens that are currently available today. We recommend hiring a security consultant to do an assessment of the cameras at the Weeks Center, its system, their possible adaptable reuse and what new areas we should monitor. Additionally, we feel cameras in outside areas such as the parking lots, playgrounds, skate park, tennis center, soccer fields and basketball courts are necessary. The total cost for this recommendation is approximately $50,000.

Call Box System: In discussions with USC-Aiken and Aiken Tech we found out that they have recently installed call boxes throughout their campuses and in their parking lot areas. We feel the same type of system is needed along the Virginia Acres walking track and the tennis/basketball/skate park area. This will provide security plus a call system for any medical emergencies that may occur in these areas. These calls would go directly to the Public Safety Dispatch Office. At this time we do not have a price for this system, but we feel its cost would be reasonable.