IOP City Council Highlights - February

• City Council approved wage adjustments for the Police Department officers. The City conducted an analysis of the City's existing compensation structure and compared it to other departments in the area, including those that recruited some of our former officers. The starting salary for an uncertified police officer is over $3,000 less that the average starting salary in our neighboring municipalities. The approved wage adjustments will address this disparity and create a more competitive Police Department.
• City Council approved increasing the NPDES stormwater fee fund from $48 to $72. Increasing the NPDES stormwater fee from $48 to $72 would generate additional revenues of $136,992 for the City's stormwater fund to fund stormwater related projects, such as paying for upgrades and maintenance to the existing infrastructure, and install new infrastructure where none exists.
• City Council approved increasing the residential rental license fees to a base rate of $350 for revenues from $0 to $2,000 and the incremental fee to $4.60 for each additional $1,000 of revenues.
• City Council approved standardizing the building permit fees to a $50 base fee plus $5 per $1,000 of project value.
• City Council approved increasing the Comcast franchise fee from 3% to 5%.
• City Council approved a recommendation from the Public Works Committee to commit $25,000 from the City's NPDES fund for materials for the replacement of failed cross-line pipes along Ocean Boulevard. This area was severely affected during the historic rain and flood event in October 2015. The City encountered multiple sink holes that were temporarily repaired by Charleston County.

Ordinances

City Council approved Second Reading of Ordinances 2019-02 and 2019-03 - As the City moves forward with the process to hire a permanent City Administrator and Police Chief, the Personnel Committee thought it prudent and timely to look at those sections of the Code and recommend changes. The changes include eliminating some redundancies and adding language to make it consistent with the job descriptions recently approved by Council.