Open government victory in the 2015 legislative session

While news reports during the final days of this legislative session have recounted much of the work that legislators didn’t get done, one bill that did pass was S11. This bill requires public bodies to have an agenda for all regularly scheduled meetings and lays out the procedure for amending an agenda after the meeting begins.

Although having a meeting agenda is a customary practice for cities and towns, this new law makes it mandatory. S11 lays out the circumstances by which an elected body (this means councils, planning commissions or any other body appointed by a council) can add an item to an agenda after the meeting begins. The Municipal Association and the SC Press Association have created a flow chart to explain the process.

The legislation also includes new language regarding posting of agendas for special, called or rescheduled meetings.

All of this came about following a series of decisions in the Lambries v. Saluda County Council case where the Supreme Court ultimately determined that the Freedom of Information Act’s notice provisions do not require an agenda be prepared for a regularly scheduled meeting.

This ruling led the General Assembly this session to clarify the law. Governor Haley signed S11 on June 8, and it is effective immediately.

Last summer following the Supreme Court decision, Association staff began meeting with legislators to hammer out a bill that would address this issue in the early days of the 2015 session. The Association also met with the SC Press Association about the issue and gathered input from municipal officials during the 10 Regional Advocacy Meetings last fall.

The issue of open government was one of the Association’s advocacy initiatives for 2015. Throughout the 2015 legislative session, the Association provided testimony and background information to House and Senate committees about this legislation and in support of the agenda requirement. 

“Although the practice of amending an agenda should be rare, such as in the case of a clerical error or emergency situation, councils need the flexibility in those cases,” said Miriam Hair, executive director of the Municipal Association. “We believe this legislation meets the needs of both the public and the council.”

The Association has developed “best practices” language for councils to use when voting to add an agenda item based on the procedures in S11.

This new agenda requirement will be added to the Municipal Elected Officials Institute’s Freedom of Information Act online class by July 1. The next live session of this class will be held next May.

Today meets the future at the Annual Meeting (with a little Jetsons humor thrown in)

Remember watching the old Jetsons cartoons? Many of their futuristic technologies are actually a normal part of our lives today – video phone calls, interactive watches, flat screen televisions and microwaves just to name a few. It’s funny to watch these old cartoons today and see how the Jetsons' creators 50 years ago envisioned the future.

Today, the future comes at us faster than ever before. Consider this…it took 30 years for electricity to gain a 10 percent reach of American households and 25 years for the telephone. Compare that to less than five years for the cellphone and tablet (Harvard Business Review).

Technology is changing the way everyone does business, and local governments are no different.  From self-driving cars to IT hacking and drones to the sharing economy, technology we would have deemed futuristic just years ago is rapidly becoming the norm.

The Association’s Annual Meeting in July will give attendees a glimpse of how cities need to be prepared to adopt a mindset for the future and accurately evaluate new technologies that are showing up daily.

The Annual Meeting’s keynote speaker is Rebecca Ryan, a noted “futurist” who has spent many years researching and teaching about how local leaders can be prepared for the future. From technology and demographics to transportation and policy development, Ryan’s talk will get local leaders thinking about the fact that the future really is here today.

Some of this technology will be at the forefront during Annual Meeting sessions. Attendees will learn about cybersecurity, broadband deployment, police body cameras, and the challenges and benefits of drones.

A technology guru formerly with the Florida League of Cities will lead a break-out session looking at how specific technologies will affect city operations and how residents interact with cities using technology. Read Frank Hagy’s book, The Future is Closer than You Think: Cities Take on Technology, to get a glimpse of what his session will cover.

The director of research at the National League of Cities will speak during a break-out session about the sharing economy and how companies like Uber and airbnb will affect municipal policy and finances. Learn more about the sharing economy in NLC’s recently released study and video.

So hop on the Jetson’s moving sidewalk and buckle yourself into George’s flying car and get ready to take a leap into the future at the Association’s Annual Meeting.

(And for quick shot of Jetson nostalgia, watch the program’s intro here)

June is National Safety Month

Join the Municipal Association and the National Safety Council in recognizing June as National Safety Month. This year, we are celebrating your passions with the theme of “What I Live For.” 

Everyone lives for a specific passion, whether it’s family, meaningful work or a love of the outdoors. Reminding employees that engaging in safe behaviors allows them to work to support their families, and enjoy what matters most. 

The NSC has developed free promotional materials to engage employees in safety concepts for the month of June, including template posters on which employees can answer the question, “What do I live for?” Personalizing what is at stake can increase buy-in for city safety efforts. 

This year, the National Safety Council is also focused on prescription painkiller abuse; transportation safety; ergonomics; emergency preparedness; and slips, trips and falls.

Opioid painkillers, which are sold under the brand names Vicodin, OxyContin, Percocet, and Dilaudid, are highly addictive and should be used carefully and only when necessary. The NSC recommends that patients refrain from work while taking them and encourages patients to ask their doctors for alternatives to opioid prescription painkillers.

According to the NSC, 44 people die in the United States every day from prescription painkiller overdoses, and 70 percent of people who abuse prescription pain relievers get them from friends or relatives. Educating employees about the dangers of these drugs can keep them safe at work and at home.

The Association’s self-funded workers’ compensation pool, the South Carolina Municipal Insurance Trust, helps member cities to reduce frequency and severity of claims through regional training events each year.

In May, SCMIT offered joint training with the Association’s self-funded property and liability pool that included tips for mitigating safety hazards and investigation incidents to prevent future injuries.

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Good news for economic development in SC

This week’s announcement of Volvo’s decision to locate in South Carolina is a great time for us to take a look at many of the other economic development successes happening in our state’s cities and towns.

And while manufacturing companies like Volvo often locate outside of a city limits, it’s often the amenities, services and quality of life in the nearby cities and towns that executives focus on when considering where to locate a large facility such as this.

In the May issue of Uptown, we look at the role of cities in economic development from several perspectives.

 
Commerce Secretary Bobby Hitt gives a synopsis of South Carolina’s business recruitment efforts. His article not only reinforces why Volvo made a decision to come here, but it also points out how the state is actively pursuing entrepreneurs and high growth companies with the support of Commerce’s Office of Innovation.

The president of the SC Economic Developers Association also weighs in about the important role city officials play in local economic development strategy and implementation. Jeff Ruble points to SCEDA’s Handbook for Economic Development as a great resource for local leaders involved in recruiting and retaining local businesses.

The May Uptown also features several economic development resources for cities and towns. One article focuses on the Bailey Bill which offers tax abatements to rehabilitate historic buildings. Another looks at planning resources available through the SC chapter of the American Planning Association for underserved cities and towns. Also, the Appalachian Council of Governments has released an Entrepreneur Friendly Toolkit that Pickens and Simpsonville are already using in their local economic development efforts.

Celebrating the past, Embracing the future - 2015 Annual Meeting

If you could predict the future, what would your city look like? This question will be a focus of this year’s Annual Meeting July 16 – 19 at Hilton Head.

This week, municipal officials get their first glimpse of the wide variety of topics and issues on this year’s Annual Meeting agenda.
Tying to the meeting’s theme of “Celebrating the Past, Embracing the Future," many of the sessions will examine trends affecting cities’ long-range planning and put forth forecasts on topics as diverse as demographics, the sharing economy and technology. You might even see a drone hovering overhead.

The meeting’s keynote speaker is a well-known “futurist,” Rebecca Ryan, who will share some of the tools and techniques futurists use to imagine what communities could become under various conditions. Also, we’ll dive into how cities need to be prepared for future technology developments such as driverless cars, drones and services such as Uber.

Plus, to celebrate the Association’s rich history of serving the state’s cities and towns, the Annual Meeting will feature a look back at issues, challenges and successes through the decades.

But, here’s something funny about history…you just never know what will turn up when you start digging into it. When initially making plans to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of the Association’s first Annual Meeting, the staff discovered the Association has been around longer than we originally thought. And this year is actually the 76th Annual Meeting.

The first informal gathering of mayors happened in 1926, not 1939 as we originally thought. The first “official” Annual Meeting of municipal officials took place in February 1940, just weeks after the Association hired its first full-time executive director and moved into its first office building.

 

So this year, we celebrate the 76^th Annual Meeting of an organization that has been serving cities for almost 90 years!

Regardless of her age (and we all know you never ask a lady her age), the Association has long served local officials giving them the tools and resources they need to be effective public servants. The Annual Meeting will celebrate this rich history and give local officials the tools to be prepared for what the future holds.

History repeats itself…state transportation challenges

The General Assembly is debating a proposal to issue millions in state bonds for South Carolina roads. The plan is designed to solve the state's crumbling infrastructure problem. Municipal governments want a share of the money to meet their local road improvement needs.

Sounds familiar in 2015, right? 

No. This is taken from a 1930 report to the Municipal Association board about a legislative proposal to issue $65 million in bonds to pave more than 600 miles of crumbling roads in the state.

To generate support, proponents took out full–page newspaper ads showing the pitiful condition of roads in the state. The paving program was designed to solve the state's infrastructure problem and provide needed Depression-era jobs.

Municipal governments wanted a share of the money to meet their local road improvement needs. Existing law allowed the state to pave roads only in towns with less than 2,500 population.

Details may have changed but our state’s crumbling infrastructure challenges haven’t.

This is one of the many interesting parallels of history revealed during the extensive research of the history of the Municipal Association. There’s lots more where this came from…especially related to annexation and taxation issues.

This summer, the Association is publishing a book that reflects on our history, impact and legacy since the early 1900s. It provides snapshots, milestones, stories and photographs that catalog the events, advancements, decisions, people and partnerships that shaped the evolution of both the Municipal Association of South Carolina and the state's cities and towns.

Stay tuned for more snapshots of history between now and mid-July when the book comes out. It’s really interesting to see how many times history repeats itself in the 20th and 21st centuries.