Awendaw council appoints town clerk, weighs code-enforcement contract and approves budgets and ordinances

The Awendaw Town Council handled routine municipal business and several formal votes during the meeting.

Town clerk appointment: Council moved to fill a long-vacant town-clerk position and voted to appoint a staff member. The motion was made, seconded and recorded as carried in the meeting minutes; the record contains inconsistent name spellings in the spoken record (the motion references 'Miss Gwy' while the roll-call vote references 'Mr. Kiser'), and staff will publish the official appointment name in the minutes once the clerk's office posts the final record.

Code-enforcement contract: Council considered a proposed agreement with CCNI Services to provide building inspection and code-enforcement support. Staff explained the contract will not take effect until the town adopts updated code-enforcement permissions and court procedures (either by mutual agreement with the county magistrate court or by appointing a municipal judge and clerk of court). After discussion the council approved the agreement; the meeting record notes the vote passed with one abstention.

ADA ramp inspection: Architect Gary Freeman publicly reported alleged code violations on a recently installed ADA ramp adjacent to town hall and warned of potential liability for the town. Staff responded that the contractor has not yet passed final inspection and that invoice payments are withheld pending receipt of the full inspection report. Council directed staff to provide the inspector and legal counsel any submitted letter and to return with the official inspection findings.

Playground renovation and park updates: The parks foundation reported a successful April 18 ribbon-cutting for a newly opened park area. A local contractor (BEC) will demo the existing central playground element and install new, custom playground equipment with an expected 6–10 week lead time; a volunteer/cleanup day was proposed for May 20. Council members asked for more municipal input into final playground design and signage placement.

Budget and ordinances: Council conducted several ordinance readings and votes, including adoption of the fiscal-year general-fund and water-fund budgets for FY2026–27 and amendments to zoning and subdivision regulations related to minimum lot sizes, lighting and water/sewage provisions. Multiple measures were approved by voice or roll-call vote (many recorded as unanimous); staff will publish full vote tallies in the official minutes.

What happens next: Staff will circulate the final inspector report on the ADA ramp and the formal CCNI contract; town administration will publish the official clerk appointment in the minutes; and the town will schedule follow-up meetings (including a special meeting on May 18 for deferred ordinance work) to finalize outstanding ordinances.