Click here to read the full agenda from Tuesday’s City Council Regular Meeting

Craig’s Highlights:

Michael Webb Day – Michael Webb was recognized for 50 YEARS of service to the City of Hartsville Fire Department! His father and grandfather also served as Hartsville Firefighters.

Public Comment – I spoke during public comment, asking City Council to direct staff to assess checklists and procedures relating to new business licenses, permits, and building inspections for new businesses. This is in an effort to make City Council aware of all of the fees and other related costs from City & State requirements for small businesses and entrepreneurs. We need to ensure the process is streamlined and there are no unnecessary barriers for new businesses, and that ALL of these costs are taken into account when setting business license fees. See my full comments here: Public Comment

Mini Work-Session Recap

• ARPA Funds Recap – There are approx. $1.486 million in funds not obligated from the American Rescue Plan. These need to be obligated by December 2024, council will be discussing in the upcoming months.
• Short Term Rentals – Sent back for more work and review by the planning committee and city manager.
• Building Incentives – Discussing possible “revenue neutral plan”. The City Manager and Assistant City Manager will put together some more ideas on this. The idea is to reduce building permits for new residential construction in order to encourage more new home construction from builders.
• House of Hope Presented – House of Hope has some prefab shelters that cost about $100,000 to be moved (and need to be moved from their current location) they are presenting to surrounding cities to see if there is any interest in placing on of these in their city. More discussion on this to come.

Lease Purchase Financing – There was a resolution made to approve the lease-purchase financing for capital items. These were items previously approved in the budget and include things like the new fire truck and police cars.

Nuisance Properties – There were several first readings but one of the big ones was Ordinance 4459. This is regarding nuisance properties and grants additional powers to police and fire to regulate nuisassance properties. Previously going through codes enforcement could take longer and for properties that have potential safety issues, this allows them to act faster.