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HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS
PG 5
 
Sullivan’s Island
 
Isle of Palms
 
Goat Island
 
Dewees Island
 
Since May 2005
December 13, 2013Volume 9 Issue 16 FREE
R S  OR S  NDRD U S  O S  GI  D C HR S  O N , S  C RMI   N O 4 3 7  O S R O N
CONGRATSMISS SC
PG 18
INSIDE THE ISLAND EYE NEWS
 
Council
continues on page 3
Coast
continues on page 8
FAR, FAR AWAY
PG 6
 T 
he issue of addressing reghter retention in Isle of Palms appears to have divided the City Council. The department has lost 11 members over the past 12 months, the majority to other higher-paying local departments. After presenting her case to various committees over the last few weeks, Chief Graham addressed the Ways and Means committee on Nov. 19 asking for the addition of one reghter position (3 full-time employees), a 10 percent increase in wages, and an increase of 3 percent to the city-wide annual merit pool (taking it to 6 percent).  The total cost for all recommendations approached $220,000. According to City Administrator Linda Tucker, since the City has historically ended the scal year with a positive net result in the General Fund the Fire Department recommendations could be absorbed in the scal year 2014 General Fund’s positive net gain. If those funds proved not to be enough, Tucker identied three potential funding sources for scal  year 2014, including monies from the state accommodations tax fund, a portion of the $75,000 budgeted for undergrounding of utility lines and a portion of the $30,000 budgeted for a Disaster Relief Team. For scal year 2015, possible sources of funding include close to $100,000 saved through the consolidated dispatch and over $300,000 from the retiring of a beach restoration loan in June 2014.“So, we are doing this based upon projected surpluses. Is that correct?” Council member  Jimmy Ward said at the meeting. “HIstorical [projected surpluses], yes,” said
H
olding back the ocean is as futile an exercise as trying to move a mountain. Geologists have been warning coastal communities for decades that they need to retreat from the advancing ocean waves. With sea levels expected to rise up to 5 feet in the southeast by the end of the century, it looks likely that solutions such as beach re-nourishment won’t be implemented quickly enough to stop the inevitable march of Mother Nature.But such sweeping statements about coastal communities don’t resonate well with the individuals who actually live in those communities. Especially when the ocean has already begun swirling up underneath their homes.For Deron Nettles, 44, the sight of the sea eating away at the foundations of his family’s home on Sullivan’s Island prompted him to take matters into his own hands. The result is a US and international patents-pending “Wave Dissipation System,” designed to limit the damage waves inict on a structure and to slow sand erosion around a property. According to preliminary results
Deron Nettles stands with his Wave Dissipation System outside the Seascape condos on Isle of Palms. Nettles hopes the system will be an alternative option to the nearby sandbags as a way of preserving and restoring the shoreline.
Saving the coast one home at a time
STUDY SHOWS WATER DISSIPATION SYSTEM DESIGNED BY SULLIVAN’S ISLAND NATIVE COULD HELP PRESERVE AND RESTORE OUR SHORES
BY JENNIFER TUOHY
ISLAND EYE NEWS EDITOR
No new
reghters for
IOP this year 
WAGE AND MERIT INCREASES  APPROVED BY COUNCIL
BY JENNIFER TUOHY
ISLAND EYE NEWS EDITOR
“THE RESULTS SO FAR SHOW THAT THIS IS  AN IDEAL SOLUTION FOR SHORT AND LONG TERM PROTECTION OF STRUCTURES AND NATURAL LANDSCAPE FEATURES WITH NO NEGATIVE SIDE EFFECTS.”
~ Dr. Timothy Mays
 
2December 13, 2013
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Message from the Mayor 
DICK CRONIN, ISLE OF PALMS
CIVIC
D
uring the holiday season,
I reect on what being a municipality means. Local government is the closest to our homes and families. Home is where we rally and feel we have a safe harbor. It is where we rest, play, nurture our families
and strengthen and restore our
spirits. It is a place where we expect to feel protected. Our City renders services to our citizens and visitors. Delivery of those services is what we all collectively want and expect. The most key and central role for a local government is service, and it is the employees of the city who deliver that service. Every department of the City is essential. Police enforce laws. Public Works cleans the island. Recreation keeps us happy and healthy.
Building, Planning, and Zoning
ensures safe construction. City Hall stewards nances, enacts policy set by Council and ensures  justice. Fire, our largest and most visible department, keeps our homes and safe and cares for us during medical emergencies.  These people are our everyday heroes.For several months, the Personnel and Public Safety Committees of Council have discussed the stafng in the Fire Department. The Isle of Palms is such a unique place both geographically and seasonally. Fire personnel need to be able to protect both small and large homes in a sensitive eco-system, and they need to be able to respond to medical emergencies on land and in water. It is important in a community like our island to have continuity among trained personnel. Losing experienced personnel to other entities forces the Isle of Palms to continually train new people. Broad inexperience creates possible risks both to those receiving service and those rendering service. It is important for the City to invest in its people—to make sure they are competitively paid, there are an adequate number of them to fulll the service demand and they are appropriately trained. In order to ensure that its citizens receive the standard of service they have come to expect, City Council has made steps in that direction. Related to these steps, the City will be carefully monitoring expenses and revenues presently and in the future. Going forward, City Council will also consider the possibility of adding one more re personnel for each the three shifts to Station 2, located near the marina, a total of three personnel. This would create balance at the two stations, with a total of ve personnel at each station on each shift, and allow for more consistency in training and responding. Council will visit this structure when planning for the Fiscal Year 15 budget. The City’s primary role is to provide services to citizens, and a strong, experienced people infrastructure is necessary, especially in emergency situations and in the protection of our homes, families, and health. Allowing our City the ability to retain experienced personnel is crucial. I hope that the Isle of Palms
makes you feel safe, and you are
able to enjoy the holiday season with the assurance that home town services will be provided for  you and your loved ones. Have a happy holiday!
Mayor Dick Cronin.
 
December 13, 2013
 
3
Lynn Pierottipublisher 
lynn@luckydognews.com
Jennifer Tuohymanaging editor 
 jennifer@luckydognews.com
Swan Richardsgraphic designer 
swan@luckydognews.com
Lori McGee 614.0901Catherine Lambert 452.9903advertising executivesChristian LeBlancsocial media
christian@luckydognews.com
Steve Rosamiliaphotographer 
Contributors:Katherine Saenger Dick CroninRobert StockdaleEmily AbedonLisa Van BergenBarbara Millen PatrickGlenn ThornburgJohn NelsonBright McConnellSusan St. HilarieBob Hooper 
Published by:Lucky Dog Publishingof South Carolina, LLCP.O. Box 837 Sullivan’s Island, SC 29482843-886-NEWSSubmit your letters to the editor to: info@luckydognews.com Future deadline: December 21 for our January 3 issue
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OG
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UBLISHING
 
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Publisher of the
Island Eye News 
and the
 Island Connection 
The Island Eye News, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lucky Dog Publishing of SC LLC, is a free, independent newspaper published every two weeks and is for and about the Isle of Palms, Sullivan’s Island, Goat Island and Dewees Island. Copies are mailed free of charge to every ac-tive mailbox in our coverage area and are also available at area businesses and by subscription to non-islanders. Subscriptions are $39/year for non-residents.. Contributions of information, pictures and articles are welcomed and are used according to space limitations and news value and cannot be returned except by special request. Op-ed articles and letters to the editor do
not necessarily reect the opinion of Lucky Dog
News, or its writers. All advertising rates are listed at:
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 under “advertising”.
Isle of Palms 886.6428 www.iop.net 
Wednesday, December 18
Municipal Court
9 a.m.
 
1207 Palm Boulevard
Sullivan's Island 883.3198 www.sullivansisland-sc.com 
Friday, December 13
Finance Committee of Council
4 p.m.2050 Middle Street
Tuesday, December 17
Regular Council Meeting
6 p.m.2050 Middle Street
Wednesday, December 18
Coffee with the Chief!
Stop by for a chat about SI with Police Chief Howard at Cafe Medley.
8:30 a.m.
 
2213 Middle Street
DRB Meeting
6 p.m.2050 Middle Street
Monday, December 9
Council Workshop
6 p.m.2050 Middle Street
Civic Calendar 
Recycle - THURSDAY-HOLIDAY SCHEDULE
, December 26 -
Recycle
 
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Holiday Schedule
City Ofces CLOSED
Isle of PalmsDecember 24-25Sullivan's IslandDecember 23-26  Tucker. “If y’all decide that you want to do this we should spend a couple of months tracking the impact on our budget as it may not be necessary to reallocate the budgeted money.”Ward responded stating he had a problem funding expenditures now on the hopes of budgeted surpluses. “You don't consider this busting the budget?” he asked. “No,” Tucker responded. “I do,” countered Ward.
“I feel condent we can more
than justify this expenditure,” Councilmember Sandy Stone said. “I feel very strongly that this is a safety issue and if it’s
 justiable we need to move
forward for the safety of our visitors and residents.”Councilmember Ryan Buckhannon voiced his opinion that this should be worked into the next budget, as he objected to
the idea of three new reghters
coming out of accommodations tax funds. “We’ve spent more time dedicated to this issue in the last three months than we spent on our entire budget,” he said. “We need to wait and look at it in our next budget cycle.”Councilmember Barbara Bergwerf stated that she felt
the re department had made
its argument succinctly and made it clear that the city is way behind other departments with regards to compensation. “The administration has found a way to fund it,” she said. “It’s a public safety issue and we need to move forward with it.”Mayor Cronin remarked that there is nothing more important than the safety of people on the island and their properties; if the City has to give up doing certain other things then that is what will be done he said.  The three requests presented by Chief Graham were voted on separately. The motion to hire an
additional reghter for each shift
was defeated 5-4, Buckhannon, Carroll, Loftus, Thomas and Ward cast the negative votes.  The motion to increase wages by 10 percent passed 3-6, with Buckhannon, Carroll and Ward casting negative votes.  The motion to increase the merit pool to 6 percent effective  Jan. 1, 2014 passed 5-4, with Buckhannon, Carroll, Loftus and Thomas voting against. The latter two motions went on to be approved at the city council meeting that same evening with the same dissensions.IOP CITY COUNCIL MEETING NOV. 19
Seascape Condo Erosion
Steve Traynum of Coastal Science and engineering announced that the city had received the requested permit
modication to allow it to
proceed with assuaging the erosion problems at Seascape, Ocean Club and the 18th green in Wild Dunes. Since the permit application however, citizens have placed sandbags out to protect their property, which are permitted through the end of the  year, and could stay longer if the erosion threat continues. If council proceeds with the project to move 80,000 cubic yards of sand in 2014, the sandbags may have to be removed, leaving the residents in a vulnerable position once again. Delaying the project until 2015 would allow time for the beach to build out naturally and time for CSE to come up with a longer
term x to the erosion problem.
At the Nov. 4 meeting of the Real Property Committee it was agreed the City should delay a project until the winter 2015.
Breach Inlet
 Traynm also reported to the council that a quarterly survey of Breach Inlet in October showed the beach has been stable since  July and actually gained about 30,000 cubic yards of sand.
Tidal Wave Watersports Dock
Because of the decision not to proceed with a complete replacement of the watersports
dock but instead to just x some
of the safety issues at this time, $7,250 of the total contract amount awarded has gone unused. The Ways and Means Committee recommended that council use these monies towards Ocean and Coastal Consultants developing a preliminary marina redevelopment plan. Council approved the motion 8 to 1 with Councilmember Loftus casting the negative vote.
Santec Signing
A motion to award a contract to Stantec for Phases III and IV
of the waynding sign initiative
in the amount of $15,790 passed unanimously.Councilmember Bettelli reported that to address the problem of people turning around on 46th Avenue because they are being directed by their GPS to turn right there to enter Wild Dunes, Stantec is preparing a sign to direct drivers to turn left and Wild Dunes is adopting
1 Sundial Circle as its ofcial
address in resort literature.
Council 
 continues from cover 
At a special city council meeting held Dec. 3, the following IOP City Council Member were appointed to these committees and boards:
Public Safety: 
 Bergwerf, Bettelli, Carroll
Public Works: 
 Ferencz, Loftus, Ward
Real Property: 
 Bergwerf, Buckhannon, Loftus
Recreation: 
 Buckhannon, Carroll, Harrington
Personnel: 
 Bettelli, Ferencz, Harrington

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