Isle of Palms’ first-ever public town hall meeting on March 26 served as a chance for residents to meet the nine members of city council, ask questions about ongoing issues and express concerns about the direction the island is headed for the near and long-term future.
Approximately 300 people – half in person and half on YouTube livestream – turned up at the IOP Recreation Center to do all three.
“It’s kind of like citizens’ comment,” said Mayor Phillip Pounds at the Feb. 24 regular meeting. “Anybody can speak to that.”
Residents spoke on a total of 15 items, including:
• IOP Firefighter Pay. While this issue has been simmering for years, mainland resident Danielle Murphy not only favored higher pay for her firefighter husband, but pointed out that qualified IOP firefighters are routinely being lost to surrounding communities because of non-competitive pay.
“Colleton County is one of the departments we’ve lost most firefighters to,” Murphy said.
Her comment was borne out this past March by Fire Association President and Battalion Chief Jason Smith, who said the department had just lost three people to Colleton County for a “$30,000 pay raise.”
City Councilman David Cohen, while neither agreeing nor disagreeing about a definite salary, concurred that firefighter pay “is a problem that we need to look into and fix as soon as we can.”
- Beach Groins. With ongoing efforts to control beach erosion, Corey and Sheri Hillis wondered if it would be possible to construct a groin (hard aquatic structure) to trap sand in order to either build up the beaches or significantly reduce the amount of erosion.
- Also suggested was a jetty, which Corey said “could save us a lot of money.”
- Councilman John Bogosian responded by saying that the city has a consultant working on multiple beach management potentials “and a groin is absolutely one of them, especially on the south end. But they’re looking at a whole host of other things to recommend to us.”
- Noise Ordinance Clarification. Rebecca Habbick submitted this dual question regarding the IOP Noise Ordinance: “When are quiet hours? What is the punishment warning?”
IOPPD Chief Kevin Cornett responded that quiet hours will be from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. on weekdays, and 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. on weekends. As for punishment and warnings, he clarified
that the goal of police officers is not to write tickets, but to ensure compliance so that “livability is not impacted in a negative way. And that will continue to be our approach.”
Other concerns included the Waterway Boulevard multi-use path, first responder pay, beach access path trash cans and beach litter.
Sue Cotton, who moved to Isle of Palms in 2021 as part of a lifelong dream, raised a concern that doesn’t show up on a measurable stat sheet: a barely underlying divisiveness that seems to pervade leadership and communication.
“Every time somebody brings something up about our firefighters, our policemen or even our other government employees, we get defensive about it,” Cotton said to the council members. “Why do we have to have this contention between people? This is the first time we’ve had a lot of great dialogue back and forth.”
Given the meeting’s resounding success, IOP Public Information Director Joshua Uys said it is likely that future meetings will continue.
“It is council’s intention to repeat these quarterly,” he said. “The success/ideas for improvement will likely be discussed in council and committee meetings over the coming weeks.”
By L. C. Leach III
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