I chose to look up a town meeting of Anderson, South Carolina. The date of this town meeting was February 10, 2014. The meeting first starts out with a prayer lead by a the Mayor of Anderson and then the Pledge of Allegiance is said. During this meeting, a lifelong firefighter is being honored for his 27 years of services and is given a plaque to commemorate his accomplishments. Another firefighter was also awarded for his services; he received a Lifesaving Award for helping keep alive a man that had suffered a gunshot wound.

 Following this, the town council went on to review a few items that had previously been brought up. The first was a request of reconsideration of a city ordinance to rezone a property near Anderson University to make it a multi-family residential rather than a single family. The request was passed unanimously. The second item that was addressed also dealt with rezoning a property from limited office to neighborhood commercial. There was one issue that was raised by a citizen. The citizen was concerned about the parking in the proposed area because of the high traffic are that is there; he would also like to see the plans in order to feel better about the issue.  

The second issue was the approval or denial of a contract with Carolina Clear in order to abide by new regulations set up by the federal Clean Water Act where the city had to set up a public awareness and education program. This act was passed by split decision (5-3). The ones opposed did not feel comfortable about spending $15,000 a year when it was possible to do it in-house. They also argued that why go above and beyond following the regulations when they can just get by, still follow the rules, and save money. Those that supported it felt that going along with the contract would save money in the long run. Another item dealt with was with an ordinance that allowed citizens to keep chickens in coops within city limits. The city manager recommended approving the removal of a section that would require the council to keep voting on the section each year. 

The final item that was heard by the town council was about a contract about a storm water line in order to improve drainage and reduce sinkholes. Some questions that were raised by some council members were the lifetime of the new piping. Another question that was raised was why the area of the new storm water line preceded other areas that were worst off and needed priority. The city manager responded that area in question was not a low budget project, but would be addressed when possible.


Youtube addresss of video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeRvAzLlOAs