The Isle of Palms City Council finalized a list of candidates for its standing committees and for various boards and commissions at its Dec. 5 meeting.
The list, a collaborative effort of Mayor Phillip Pounds, six incumbent Council members and two newcomers who will be seated early next year, will be officially voted on after Elizabeth Campsen and Ashley Carroll are sworn in Jan. 2.
Two Council members, Jimmy Ward and Blair Hahn, made nominations to standing committees that were different than what was presented by the mayor, which means the Council might be tasked with voting on five different candidates for the Administration Committee and four each for the Public Safety and Public Services & Facilities committees.
The original list would have placed Campsen, John Bogosian and Carroll on the Administration Committee; Jan Anderson, Jimmy Ward and Bogosian on Public Safety; and Katie Miars, Scott Pierce and Hahn on Public Services & Facilities.
Ward, however, nominated himself, Carroll and Hahn for Administration, then Hahn suggested that Campsen serve on Public Safety and Bogosian take a spot on Public Services.
City Administrator Desiree Fragoso explained that no nominations can be made after Dec. 15. However, she said, if a Council member declines to serve on a specific committee or doesn’t receive at least five votes from the nine-member Council, thus creating a vacancy, a Council member could nominate another colleague to serve on that committee.
Fragoso said that on Jan. 2, the Council will vote on each committee member in the order in which they were presented on Dec. 5. Once three members have been approved by a majority of the Council, the voting is over. Therefore, if Campsen, Bogosian and Carroll all receive at least five votes, Ward’s nominees – himself and Hahn – will not be considered. The same will hold true for the other two committees.
Nominations also were presented for three-year terms on the Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee: Ray Burns, Rebecca Kovalich, Park Williams and Mike Boykin; two-year terms on the Planning Commission: Jeffrey Rubin, Suzanne Nagelski, Ron Denton and Richard Steinert; two-year terms on the Environmental Advisory Committee: Laura Lovins, Dane Buckout and Todd Murphy; a one-year student term on the Environmental Advisory Committee: Lucia Spiotta; a three-year term on the Board of Zoning Appeals: Ellen Gower; a two-year term on the BZA: Robert Miller; and a one-year term on the BZA: Susan Wheeler.
Others nominated were Michael Molony for city judge; Chris Skipper for associate judge; Mac McQuillin for city attorney; and Culver Kidd for city prosecutor.