2026-09-08 - Committee on Ways and Means

03:28I'd like to call this September 8th,

03:292026 meeting of the city of Charleston's

03:31Committee on Ways and Means

03:34uh to order. Uh we'll begin by asking

03:37Council member Shealy to provide an

03:38invocation.

03:39>> Let us pray.

03:41Our dear heavenly Father, we thank you

03:42so much for bringing us together tonight

03:44and for the opportunities for us to

03:47serve the people of Charleston. As we

03:48begin our meeting, Lord, will you give

03:50us wisdom for the decisions that are

03:52before us and help us to be good

03:54stewards of the resources entrusted to

03:56us. Lord, give us patience to listen, to

03:59respect one another, and

04:02to do what's best for the citizens of

04:03our community. We ask for your

04:05protection over our first responders and

04:07all our city employees and their

04:08families, and we thank you for the

04:10service that they give us. Lord,

04:12continue to guide and bless the city of

04:14Charleston and all who call Charleston

04:16home, for it's in your holy and precious

04:18name we pray. Amen.

04:23>> Thank you, Councilmember Shealy.

04:25Item number two, approval of the August

04:2618th, 2026 minutes.

04:30Moved and properly seconded. Any

04:31discussion?

04:33All those in favor, please signify by

04:34saying I.

04:35>> I.

04:36>> Any opposed?

04:38The eyes have it. Item number three is

04:39bids and purchases. This is approval to

04:41add the William Dudley Gregory Pump

04:43Station to the Gateway Grounds

04:45Maintenance Downtown Contract.

04:47>> Second.

04:48>> And approval to increase

04:50the purchase order to include shipping

04:52of an armored vehicle to CPD in an

04:54amount of $5,886.

04:57Moved and properly seconded. Any

04:59discussion?

04:59>> What's the name of the vehicle?

05:03>> I'm not It's It just says armored

05:06vehicle.

05:06>> It's the BearCat. Yeah.

05:08>> Okay.

05:08>> I just like saying it.

05:09>> I'd

05:10like to give that one a test drive. All

05:12right. Um

05:13Moved and properly seconded. Any

05:15discussion?

05:16All those in favor, please signify by

05:18saying I.

05:19>> I.

05:20>> Any opposed?

05:21The eyes have it. Item number four is

05:23BFRC. This is approval of the 27 health

05:26care budget renewal with Signal.

05:29>> Second.

05:29>> Year four in the amount of $34,582,245.

05:34This is a net budget increase of $2.9

05:36million.

05:389.1%

05:40per enrollee.

05:42And Mr. Wharton, were you going to give

05:43us a quick explanation?

05:46I understand that the vast majority of

05:47this is

05:49due to industry increases,

05:52unfortunately.

05:53>> After a 17% increase last year.

05:59>> Okay.

05:59>> questions you might have. So, last year

06:01we had a 17% we still have a high

06:03increase again this year with 11%. Most

06:05of it is industry. A little bit of

06:08because we have high claims, which will

06:11start rolling off we're hopeful. So,

06:13that maybe next year it'll come down a

06:14little bit.

06:17It's insurance.

06:19>> Stuff.

06:20>> Any other questions?

06:22>> I don't think so.

06:23Um

06:25Yeah, lots I could say, but uh

06:27probably this isn't the forum. All

06:29right.

06:30>> [laughter]

06:31>> All right. Uh

06:32do we We had a motion and we have a

06:33second. All right, moved and properly

06:35seconded. Any discussion?

06:37All those in favor, please signify by

06:39saying I.

06:39>> I.

06:41>> Any opposed?

06:42The eyes have it. Uh item number five is

06:44also FRC approval of an MOA with

06:47Charleston Area Visitors Bureau and

06:49sponsorship agreement with ESPN

06:50Productions and sponsoring the Shriners

06:52Children's Classic events in 26, 27, 28.

06:56$157,000

06:58over a three-year period.

07:01We had a motion.

07:02>> Move for approval.

07:04I'm sorry.

07:04>> I didn't hear the second. I'm sorry.

07:05Moved and properly seconded. Any

07:07discussion? All those in favor, please

07:10signify by saying I.

07:11>> I.

07:11>> Any opposed?

07:13The eyes have it. Item number six is uh

07:16Economic and Neighborhood Services

07:17approval to submit a grant to Trident

07:18United Way in the amount of 50,000 for

07:20costs associated with the Financial

07:21Empowerment Center.

07:24>> Move for approval.

07:26>> Moved and properly seconded. Any

07:27discussion?

07:29All those in favor, please signify by

07:30saying I.

07:32>> I.

07:33>> Any opposed?

07:35The eyes have it. Uh

07:36this is Item number seven is a big one.

07:38Approval of the West Ashley City Office

07:40Building change order number two design

07:42build contract with Trident,

07:44$33,385,282,

07:47bringing the total to

07:50$49,583,114.46.

07:55Moved and properly seconded. Any

07:57discussion?

07:59All those in favor, please signify by

08:00saying I.

08:01>> I.

08:02>> I.

08:02>> Any opposed?

08:04The eyes have it. Uh item number eight,

08:06capital projects, approval of the UG

08:08Street streetscape fee

08:09>> approval

08:10>> with JMT, $66,816.80.

08:16Uh moved and properly seconded. Any

08:19discussion?

08:20All those in favor, please signify by

08:22saying I.

08:23>> I.

08:24>> Any opposed? The eyes have it. Item

08:26number nine, also capital projects,

08:29uh approval for the mayor to enter into

08:30a use and management agreement with

08:31Charleston Miracle League

08:33to use and maintain certain areas of

08:35Forest Park.

08:37>> Second.

08:38>> Moved and properly seconded. Any

08:39discussion?

08:41All those in favor, please signify by

08:42saying I.

08:43>> I.

08:44>> Any opposed? The eyes have it. Item

08:46number 10 is approval to authorize the

08:48mayor to execute a construction

08:49agreement with Norfolk Southern Railway

08:52>> Second.

08:52>> regarding the reconstruction of King

08:53Street adjacent to the railway in the

08:55vicinity

08:56of mile post 2.55 to 3.0. Moved and

09:00properly seconded.

09:02Any discussion?

09:04No cost associated with this work. Uh

09:06all those in favor, please signify by

09:08saying I.

09:08>> I.

09:09>> I.

09:10>> The eyes have it. Item number 11, storm

09:12water management, approval of an

09:13agreement with uh Pinnacle Mountain

09:15Holdings to fund a city project to

09:16modify sections

09:18of the brick brick arch on Meeting in

09:19Cumberland to allow utility crossings.

09:23>> Move for approval.

09:24>> This is uh I believe part of the

09:26undergrounding effort. Is that Is that

09:28right?

09:28>> Undergrounding and utilities uh related

09:32to the um

09:34uh four season

09:35>> four season

09:35>> All right. Moved and properly seconded.

09:37Any discussion?

09:39All those in favor, please signify by

09:40saying I.

09:41>> I.

09:42>> Any opposed? The eyes have it. Item

09:44number 12, uh

09:46storm water management approval of a

09:47sole source construction contract to

09:49modify the brick arches along Meeting

09:51and Cumberland in five locations.

09:53>> This is related to the 11.

09:55>> Yeah.

09:55>> Yeah.

09:55>> Uh $492,000

09:57and uh

09:59$492,510.

10:02Um

10:03uh fully funded by the MOA with Pinnacle

10:06Mountain Holdings.

10:07>> Second.

10:08>> Moved and properly seconded. Any

10:09discussion?

10:11All those in favor, please signify by

10:12saying I.

10:13>> I.

10:13>> I.

10:14>> Any opposed? The eyes have it. Uh item

10:17number 13, storm water management

10:19approval to accept additional funding in

10:20the amount of $1,035,033.89.

10:25>> Move for approval.

10:26>> Uh

10:27for the the Barberry Woods project. Um

10:30moved and properly seconded. Any

10:32discussion?

10:34All those in favor, please signify by

10:36saying I.

10:36>> I.

10:37>> I.

10:38>> Any opposed? The eyes have it. Item

10:40number 14, Police Department approval to

10:43accept an award for the fiscal year 26

10:45Paul Coverdell Forensic Science

10:47Improvements Grant, $58,344.

10:51Moved and properly seconded. Any

10:52discussion?

10:54All those in favor, please signify by

10:55saying I.

10:56>> I.

10:56>> I.

10:57>> Any opposed?

10:59The eyes have it. Item number 15, BFRC

11:01with the request to

11:03uh approval to allocate $5 million

11:05towards merit bonuses for employees

11:09uh funded by 2025 general fund reserves.

11:13And I believe this amounts about 3 and

11:151/2% of

11:17uh total total salaries.

11:20>> Yes, so um let me give a little bit of

11:22an I'll I'll move for approval.

11:26>> Moved and properly seconded. Uh Mayor

11:27Conville with some discussion.

11:29>> Yes, so um we've been pretty focused on

11:34two different aspects of employee

11:35compensation. One is

11:38uh getting everyone to the base level

11:39based on a compensation study that was

11:41done about 2 years ago. We had to make

11:44some tweaks to it because

11:46um

11:47there was some information in there that

11:49was inputted incorrectly, but that is

11:51being wrapped up and being folded into

11:54this year's budget recommendations that

11:56will be coming to you all for review in

11:59the upcoming weeks and months. And that

12:01is again year-over-year salaries for our

12:04staff, just getting them in line with uh

12:08competitive set in the market. But we

12:10also wanted to put some money in the

12:13budget um for bonuses. We've been um

12:18doing uh

12:20uh employee reviews and kind of brought

12:23that back into the city uh to reward

12:27employees that uh go above and beyond

12:29and are rated by their peers. And so,

12:32the funding source for that is we we're

12:34looking at

12:36savings from previous year and taking

12:40that a

12:42a portion of that money, in this case $5

12:44million, uh and

12:45uh and providing bonuses, one-time

12:48bonuses to employees that would be

12:50spread out based on these employee

12:53performance reviews. So, it's a bonus uh

12:56and it's something that I think will

12:57make a big difference to folks uh

13:00particularly um

13:02that are

13:03uh on the lower edge of the salary range

13:06uh in our city that do oftentimes the

13:09hardest work or most manual uh intensive

13:11work. So, uh really excited about this.

13:15I think it's going to go a long way for

13:16employee morale and is something that um

13:21uh I think would show our dedication to

13:23the people that work here uh in a pretty

13:26meaningful way. So, that's what this is.

13:28Again, it's a one-time thing. We hope to

13:30do it annually. Uh, we can't promise

13:33what savings there might be next year,

13:35but we're going to collectively look at

13:37that every year is the goal. And from

13:40those savings that these employees help

13:42generate, uh, we would be looking to

13:44give them a bonus based on, um,

13:47this analytical, uh, approach. So,

13:50that's what this is and, um, I'm excited

13:53about it and fully support it and, uh,

13:55hope you all do, too.

14:00>> Sir. I want to say thank you for the

14:02employees. Uh, we've probably talked

14:04about that since COVID.

14:06Uh, which is now what, kind of long in

14:08the rearview mirror, like 5 years ago.

14:10So, finally getting to the action step

14:12on that because obviously

14:14most valuable asset we have

14:19is our employees.

14:20>> Dion, I I also do want to give a

14:22shout-out to HR, Tammy, uh, kind of

14:25putting this together and kind of

14:26leading the charge on this. Same with

14:29Liz Deeg, but also BFRC for looking

14:31under the cushions and figuring out

14:33where the savings are. So, this has been

14:35very much uh, a group effort to get us

14:38to this point and, um,

14:41again, I think it's a it's an exciting

14:43initiative.

14:44>> Oh.

14:46All right, uh, Council Member Brady.

14:49>> Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I was

14:51hoping the mayor could just explain,

14:53um,

14:54so that members of the public and

14:56everything can understand,

14:58uh,

14:59you know,

15:00this helping with retention, why is it

15:03important for us to retain employees in

15:05terms of service delivery? Because I

15:07think a lot of people don't understand

15:10that uh, us keeping our employees and

15:13and keeping service delivery is

15:15something that really helps the city.

15:17So, I was hoping you might be able to

15:19touch on on

15:20>> No, I appreciate it. Absolutely. And

15:22again, besides just making sure that

15:23your garbage gets picked up or the

15:25baseball stripe gets

15:27gets laid down before a game

15:30that these folks are doing it day in and

15:31day out.

15:33The cost to lose an employee,

15:35particularly employees that have been

15:37here for a long time and have incredible

15:39institutional knowledge. The cost to

15:41lose an employee, hire a new one,

15:44retrain them

15:46for their jobs

15:48is incredibly expensive and it's a

15:49burden that is put on us

15:53that that

15:55you know in always a line item in our

15:58budget that that you can you can

16:00capture. So turnover is incredibly

16:03expensive. So anything that we can do to

16:06show our appreciation to the folks that

16:08work here

16:10and keep them in line with an ever

16:12increasing market pressures for

16:15them to go into the private sector. I

16:17think we need to do

16:20because it's a it's a smart economic

16:21move to to your point Councilman Brady.

16:27>> All right. Do we have

16:29We have a motion and a second on that.

16:30>> quick question? Can I just ask a quick

16:31question?

16:32>> Yeah, Councilman Brady.

16:33>> Once we approve this money as a

16:34practical matter, what happens? This

16:36goes through what you said as a peer

16:37review process and it gets paid out.

16:39>> It's already been through it. So we have

16:41every

16:42every all employees have gone through

16:47performance review and been rated and so

16:50it's a one two three rating

16:52by managers and so

16:55I'm proud to say that the overwhelming

16:57majority of our employees

16:59way over 90% are

17:02twos or threes which are the top two.

17:04And so if you've if you've scored a two

17:08or a three, you'll get some portion of a

17:11bonus. So it's kind of prorated to

17:14your salary. Uh that's how they've

17:17they've broken it down, but I've got

17:18Tammy looking um

17:20out the out the door there in case we

17:23have any specifics, but there's a

17:25formula to it and um

17:28and it's based on reports that have

17:29already been done. So, these would be

17:31mailed out in the next 30 days. Yes.

17:38>> All right, any other discussion on this

17:39matter?

17:42All those in favor, please signal by by

17:44saying I.

17:44>> I.

17:45>> I.

17:47>> All right, the eyes have it. Item number

17:4816 is capital projects. This is approval

17:51of the Johns Island Recreation Center

17:52GMP Amendment number one to the C Mark

17:55contract for item

17:57in the amount of $7,656,000

18:01uh $848,

18:04uh

18:04bringing the total for this early

18:06release package to seven or I guess

18:0975,000 to $7,731,848.

18:13Moved and properly seconded.

18:15Any discussion?

18:17>> Yeah, if I may, Mr. Chairman. I'll take

18:19this and just uh similar comments for

18:21the next item, which is for the

18:24W. L. Stevens Recreational Facility. As

18:27you all recall, we've been designing

18:29these two facilities kind of in tandem.

18:32Um they were the two prioritized

18:35projects on

18:37the uh 2023 recreational bond

18:41um that was overwhelmingly uh approved

18:44by residents of this city for us to uh

18:48borrow up to $70,000

18:50in funds. And so,

18:53this is the first meaningful step to get

18:55them off the ground. The design is

18:58complete uh by and large. We've had

19:00community meetings with them. We've got

19:02one tomorrow night with um

19:05residents on Johns Island. Had one

19:07I think uh last week with W. L. Stevens.

19:11Uh we're continuing to meet with other

19:13stakeholders and groups that look to use

19:16these facilities.

19:17Um, but I do want to say this and just

19:20go on record. I mean, they are expensive

19:21and there are other items on that bond

19:23list that uh, we intend on fulfilling

19:27the obligations to.

19:29Um, but we're going to have to look at

19:31it collectively is

19:34because the bond will not cover, in all

19:37likelihood, all the cost of all eight

19:39named projects that were on the 23

19:43list. So, what we are doing and this

19:45will be certainly made public, um,

19:48for the for the general public just to

19:50review, is putting together a list of

19:53where we are with each of those

19:55projects, what the funding the proposed

19:57funding sources would be for each of

19:58them, uh, as well as other projects that

20:03either are have been recently completed

20:06or under construction or are being,

20:09um,

20:10uh, um, getting ready to start

20:12construction that aren't necessarily

20:14defined on the rec bonds themselves,

20:16like, for example, Steven Washington.

20:19Uh, we're outlining each of those

20:21projects so that you all have that for

20:23your constituency to see

20:25what's been done and what's getting

20:27ready to happen, uh, in your area as it

20:29relates to,

20:31uh, our rec facilities and and fields

20:33and playgrounds and pickleball courts,

20:35etc., etc., etc. So, um,

20:39uh, a lot of information that'll be

20:41coming your way because there going to

20:43be some decisions, uh, that we're going

20:45to need to make, um, as we get a clearer

20:48picture on what the projected budget for

20:52next year is, what the revenues are,

20:54etc. Um, but generally speaking, I think

20:58it's a lot of really exciting stuff that

21:00candidly, I think we can all agree is,

21:03uh, long overdue a lot of it. So, we're

21:05trying to do some catch-up Uh, and

21:09provide the types of facilities that our

21:12residents can be proud of. Happy to

21:14answer any other questions on that.

21:19>> We've got a motion and a second on this

21:21one.

21:22>> Yes.

21:22>> Any other discussion?

21:24All those in favor, please signify by

21:25saying I.

21:26>> I.

21:27>> Votes.

21:28The eyes have it. Item number 17 is also

21:31capital projects. This is approval of

21:32the W.O. Stephen

21:33>> Second.

21:35>> Total construction in the amount of

21:37$18,448,848.

21:41Final construction GMP in the amount of

21:43$33,532,580.

21:47Moved and properly seconded. Any other

21:49discussions?

21:50All those in favor, please signify by

21:52saying I.

21:53>> I.

21:53>> I.

21:55The eyes have it. If nothing else to

21:56come before this committee, we stand

21:58adjourned.

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