Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Meeting Votes Summary topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Votes at a glance: Beaufort County Council approves Transportation Advisory Committee, signs, appointments and pay-step resolution
Summary
In a single meeting the council approved a Transportation Advisory Committee roster and its Feb. 4 start date, selected a new county welcome sign, approved a property purchase first reading and adopted a retroactive step pay-scale resolution; several reappointments were handled individually and a Bluffton fire-district reappointment failed to reach the required tally.
Beaufort County Council handled a string of formal actions on Jan. 26, approving a Transportation Advisory Committee, voting on multiple appointments, selecting a new "Welcome to Beaufort County" sign and adopting a county step pay-scale resolution while a set of reappointments to the Bluffton Township Fire District failed to reach the required vote threshold.
Transportation Advisory Committee: Council unanimously approved the 15-member TAC roster that staff will use to develop a prioritized project list, a recommended sales-tax rate and collection duration for a referendum. The TAC will begin meeting Feb. 4 at 5:30 p.m. in the County Administration Building executive conference room, with staff and engineering support to develop cost estimates and collect public input.
Appointments and the consent agenda: Council removed reappointments from the consent agenda for individual votes. Several reappointments and appointments (including airport board nominees and reappointments to design review, parks and other boards) were approved after individual votes. The reappointments block for the Bluffton Township Fire District required 10 votes for reappointment due to term lengths; the reappointment motion received eight affirmative votes and therefore did not carry, leaving vacancies on the fire board and preventing quorum for the district.
Dock change order and property purchase: Council approved a change order to O'Quinn Marine Construction for Melrose Dock repairs for an additional $161,315. On first reading council approved an ordinance authorizing purchase of property at 1451 Bridal Road (TMS R1100090000310000) from Drayton Parker Companies LLC for $700,000 plus closing costs; the item had cleared the Finance/Admin/Econ Dev committee 9–0.
Welcome sign: Keep Beaufort County Beautiful presented three designs; council debated legibility at highway speeds and Department of Transportation encroachment rules and voted to adopt design option 1 with a modification to add “Welcome to Beaufort County.” The motion carried with eight members voting in favor.
Step pay-scale resolution: Council adopted a resolution implementing a step pay scale for county employees with a retroactive effective date. Staff said the fiscal impact is roughly $587,000 and will be covered this year through vacancy-savings; a merit policy is expected later and the step plan will be built into next fiscal year’s budget.
Adjournment: The meeting ended after the resolution vote.
