Hilton Head pulls non-coronavirus issues off agenda after inadequate public notice
Coronavirus has upended nearly every government process across the United States, and while local officials have tried to continue with regular business, on Tuesday, emergency-meeting rules stopped Hilton Head Island council members in their tracks.
The Hilton Head Island Town Council was supposed meet at 2 p.m. Tuesday and, for the first time in three weeks, discuss items not related to coronavirus: amendments to the land management ordinance and a mid-year budget amendment, among others.
But the non-coronavirus issues were pulled because the emergency meeting agenda hadn’t been published 24 hours prior to the meeting, as required by law, and council members worried that they hadn’t given the public enough time to submit comments.
The budget amendments would have included morsels of information about the town’s desired $65 million parks and quality-of-life referendum campaign and additional money for marketing and communications during the pandemic.
The meeting agenda also included one coronavirus-related issue: a reading of the town towing policy used to enforce the closure of beach access points and parking lots.
The attempt to hold an emergency meeting about non-emergency items, especially a meeting not announced 24 hours in advance — and one that hindered public-comment capabilities — bothered some residents and elected officials. They wondered whether the government was adapting appropriately to the pandemic and whether the missteps are simply due to disorganization or something worse.
The budget items and land management ordinance changes will be discussed at the regularly scheduled April 21 town council meeting, Mayor John McCann announced prior to any discussion at Tuesday’s meeting. The public will be given a week prior to that meeting to submit comments on the issues.
“The town has authority to call emergency meeting less than 24 hours in advance,” McCann said Tuesday. “We have heard the concerns of some council members on some of the items on this agenda ... and we’re going to pull those items from today’s agenda.”
Budget items
One of the items pulled from Tuesday’s agenda was the first read on a budget amendment that aimed to provide money for some major plans prior to the start of the second of a biannual budget on July 1, 2020.
In that amendment, the town proposed increasing the amount of money it can use to relocate historic St. James Church from directly north of the Hilton Head Island Airport to a place near Union Cemetery Road.
In addition, it proposes approving spending $75,000 on a consultant for “project education initiative” — the town’s campaign to persuade voters to approve a $65 million ballot issue in November 2021. The consultant on the project, NP Strategy LLC, was chosen in January and will be paid $75,000 in four installments to market the referendum, according to NP Strategy’s contract with the town.
Finally, the budget amendment includes replenishment of the town’s disaster marketing fund, which has oft been used by the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce to market the island following recent hurricanes.
The amendment mentions a replenishment of $175,000. Contacted Tuesday, Town Manager Steve Riley said the chamber has not requested money for marketing during or after coronavirus, but the town is likely to use disaster marketing funds to pay fire rescue and communications staff overtime for their work during the outbreak.
Riley said the money will also be used for purchasing personal protective equipment.
Late notice
Tuesday’s emergency meeting was announced last Friday. Although it falls on the same day as a previously scheduled council meeting, it is billed as an emergency meeting and it started at 2 p.m. instead of 4 p.m.
Non-emergency town meetings outside of the regular schedule must be approved by the council as an ordinance, which the council did not do for Tuesday’s meeting.
The six emergency meetings already held by Hilton Head leaders have been used to discuss beach closures, short-term rental limits and council members’ frustrations with state leadership. Since March 17, the council has voted only on coronavirus-related issues.
While the normal functions of government must continue, the emergency meeting called for Tuesday to discuss non-emergency items may not have been legal if it continued.
All public meeting agendas must be posted 24 hours prior to the meeting’s start time in order for the public to review them. The agenda package was sent in an email to news media around 7:30 p.m. Monday, and the public announcement misreported the time of the meeting.
Opportunities for public comment were available in an online forum on the town’s website, and town staff have told The Island Packet that the comments are being summarized and presented to the council members prior to the meeting.
The window for public comment closes two hours before the meeting and, to date, no council member has referenced a comment submitted online in the portal in a meeting. However, council members have referenced personal emails and phone calls from constituents about coronavirus.
What’s missing?
A few major requests from a town council meeting held Friday morning were also missing from the Tuesday agenda.
There was no plan to discuss the statewide “stay home or work” order, and no opportunity for council members to make general comments about issues they are facing related to the coronavirus or now — a specific request of one council member on March 30.
Hilton Head leaders have not met in person since March 21. The meeting is being streamed on the town’s Facebook page.
This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 1:45 PM.
