Brian Newman’s swearing-in ceremony

By Adam Beam | Published: July 30, 2010
The new Columbia City Council, from left: Sam Davis (District 1), Leona Plaugh (District 4), Brian DeQuincey Newman (District 2), Tameika Isaac Devine (at large) and Steve Benjamin (mayor). Not pictured: Belinda Gergel (District 3) and Daniel Rickenmann (at large).

The new Columbia City Council, from left: Sam Davis (District 1), Leona Plaugh (District 4), Brian DeQuincey Newman (District 2), Tameika Isaac Devine (at large) and Steve Benjamin (mayor). Not pictured: Belinda Gergel (District 3) and Daniel Rickenmann (at large).

Columbia City Council is back to full strength after District 2 City Councilman Brian DeQuincey Newman was sworn in last night to fulfill the remaining two years of former Councilman E.W. Cromartie’s term.

Cromartie, as I’m sure most of you know, was forced to resign in March after he agreed to plead guilty to federal tax evasion charges. He has not been sentenced yet.

Newman was sworn in by his father, Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman. Judge Newman said it was 10 years and one month ago that his son held the Bible for him as he was sworn in as a judge. It was a nice moment.

During his speech, Newman called Cromartie the “most effective councilman in our history,” which earned a few “that’s right” from people in the audience, made up of mostly longtime District 2 residents. His comment got at least one opposite response from a Twitter user, showing that Cromartie is still a divisive figure in city politics.

Newman ended his speech this way:

“The election was the easy part. The hard work begins now.”

His first council meeting will be Wednesday at 9 a.m. An agenda has not been released yet.

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How the new council dealt with its first controversial issue

By Adam Beam | Published: July 29, 2010
Columbia City Council met in the dark last night because of a power outage at the Eau Claire Print Building.

Columbia City Council met in the dark last night because of a power outage at the Eau Claire Print Building.

It didn’t.

Mayor Steve Benjamin, in his second full council meeting, suggested the council not vote on a controversial ordinance that would exempt cigar bars from the city’s smoking ban. The reason was because Councilman Daniel Rickenmann, a former restaurant owner, was not at the meeting and couldn’t vote. Also, newly elected District 2 Councilman Brian DeQuincey Newman, won’t be sworn in until tonight so he couldn’t vote.

It will be until at least the middle of September until council members take up this issue again. That’s because Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine will be out on maternity leave until then, and Benjamin said he wants to have the full council take up the issue. It’s probably a smart idea, because it would avoid the possibility of a tie vote.

Devine was at the meeting last night because it was an evening meeting. She can’t make the morning meetings because she has to care for her newborn.

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Your guide to tonight’s City Council meeting

By Adam Beam | Published: July 28, 2010

The Columbia City Council meets tonight at 6 p.m. at the Eau Claire Print Building (3907 Ensor Avenue). Council normally meets at 9 a.m. at City Hall, but once a quarter they have an evening meeting out in the community in one of the four council districts. This meeting is in District 1, represented by Sam Davis.

You can read the full agenda by clicking here.

Here is a summary:

Consent Agenda

For a reminder on what a consent agenda is, click here.

This week’s consent agenda includes purchases of $5,797,272.54. The largest purchase is $3,570,000 for improvements to the North Columbia Pump Station. The smallest purchase is $10,879 for Sgt. Melron Kelly to attend the 124th Administrators Officers Course at the Southern Police Institute.

The consent agenda also includes all of the annexations, zoning amendments and ordinances that were approved last week. A second vote makes them final.

Presentations

Nothing crazy here. It’s an evening meeting, which means Councilman Sam Davis will have a “welcome to District 1″ and will recognize the various community leaders present. The North Columbia Business Association will make a presentation, and one of the city’s community liaisons will give an update on the upcoming National Night Out activities.

City Council discussion/action

City Manager Steve Gantt will ask for permission to lease the city’s hydroelectric power plant to a private company, which I mentioned at the end of a story I wrote last week.

Councilwoman Belinda Gergel will give an update on the Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority, most likely stemming from the authority’s Monday meeting, which my colleague Dawn Hinshaw wrote about in Monday’s Tuesday’s newspaper.

Ordinances — First Reading

City Council members are scheduled to vote on a proposal to exempt cigar bars from the city’s smoking ban, an issue I covered in a previous post.

Most evening meetings have a light agenda, and this one is no exception. But they do usually include one controversial issue, and this time it’s the smoking ban.

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First test for Columbia’s new council

By Adam Beam | Published: July 28, 2010

The post-Mayor Bob City Council will get its first look at a controversial vote tonight when it considers a proposal that would exempt cigar bars from the city’s smoking ban.

The proposal originates from Bill and Jackie Slicer, owners of The Tobacco Merchant on Bower Parkway. As its name suggests, it’s a tobacco retail store. But last year, the Slicers put in a bar and started serving beer and wine to its customers.

City business license officials, who enforce the city’s smoking ban, wrote them a ticket and threatened to take them to court. They said the inclusion of the bar means The Tobacco Merchant is now a bar and therefore forfeits its exemption.

The Slicers appealed the ticket, but their case has yet to be heard in municipal court. Meanwhile, City Council members will vote tonight on whether to exempt “cigar bars” from the smoking ban, which would effectively end the issue.

“If you go out for a fine French meal, do you have to have a fine French wine with the meal? No, but does it make it better? Absolutely,” Bill Slicer said, explaining why he wants to serve beer and wine (but not liquor) to his customers. “It’s just convenient for customers, nothing more.”

But Louis Eubank, executive director of the SC Tobacco Collaborative, is concerned about City Council passing an ordinance to appease one business.

“What’s to stop everybody else form coming up and saying, ‘Hey, listen, you did it for this guy can you do it for me? That’s what we don’t want,” Eubank said.

Granted, new mayor Steve Benjamin dealt with a hot button issue in his very first meeting when he presided over a public hearing on the proposal to ask Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott to manage the city’s police department. But in that instance, the council did not have to make a decision. Tonight, they are supposed to vote.

To read the proposed amendment, click here.

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Runoff election day strategies haven’t changed

By Adam Beam | Published: July 27, 2010

Election day strategies for District 2 candidates Harold “Puff” Howard and Brian DeQuincey Newman are largely the same as they were two weeks ago in the special election.

Howard is spending most of the day in Ward 7, where he received 105 of the 195 votes cast in the July 17 special election (Newman received 19). Newman is spending most of the day in the Edgewood precinct, where he received 80 of the 205 votes cast on July 17. (Howard received 38).

Even their election night parties are the same. Newman will be at the Sheraton rooftop bar on Main Street, while Howard will be at BJ’s Cafe next to Palmetto Health Richland hospital.

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