City Quick Connect Podcast from the Municipal Association of South Carolina

Branding your city isn’t just designing a logo or creating a catchy tagline. It’s a coordinated effort to inspire people to visit, live and work in a community. The panel discussion features Catherine Dority, director of marketing, Explore Charleston; Seth Kines, executive director, Visit Lake City SC; and Eric Vinson, city administrator, City of Travelers Rest. Mayor Lisa Sulka of the Town of Blu...

Scott Slatton, director of advocacy and communications for the Municipal Association of SC; and Melissa Harrill, research and legislative liaison for the Municipal Association of SC; discuss key issues from the current legislative session.

Mayor Cornelius Huff of the City of Inman, and president of the Municipal Association of SC; and Todd Glover, executive director of the Municipal Association of SC, deliver remarks during HLAD.

Sens. Tom Davis, Shane Massey, Ronnie Sabb and Katrina Shealy discuss key 2020 legislative issues.

South Carolina Senate President Harvey Peeler delivers the keynote address.

Casey Fields gives an update on the business license bill and discusses how local officials should engage with their legislators during and after Hometown Legislative Action Day.

Casey Fields discusses the subcommittee meeting testimony on H4431, the business license bill, and what comes next for the bill and for all stakeholders.

Casey Fields and Scott Slatton discuss the return of the legislative session as well as what city and town leaders need to do now about H4431, the bill that would strip authority from cities and towns to collect a business license.

​South Carolina law allows municipalities to organize under one of three forms of government, each with a structure defining the role of council, the mayor and city managers or administrators, if applicable. Charlie Barrineau and Jeff Shacker, the Municipal Association's field services managers, discuss the differences and similarities of each of the forms.

Manager for Municipal Advocacy Casey Fields, Research and Legislative Liaison Melissa Harrill and Legislative and Public Policy Advocate Scott Slatton discuss H4431, a bill which could make significant changes to business licensing for cities and towns. They also discuss what local officials can do to advocate for business license standardization and steps that have already been taken.

Legislative preemption of municipalities is any attempt to take away the abilities of cities and towns to make local decisions. Scott Slatton, legislative and public policy advocate, discusses the ways that local ordinances have made a difference in recent years and how to advocate for local decision making.

Manager for Municipal Advocacy Casey Fields takes a look at the beginning of the second half of the 2019 – 2020 legislative session, including bill prefiles, ways to stay involved, and Hometown Legislative Action Day in February.

Municipal Association General Counsel Eric Shytle continues the discussion of First Amendment audits, in which residents create recordings in public places, sometimes aggressively. He covers ways in which cities and towns can prepare facilities and staff for this practice. Find Part 1 here: https://soundcloud.com/user-597239619/first-amendment-audits-s1-ep48

A relatively new phenomenon, “First Amendment audits” involve residents testing their rights to create video recordings in public places, such as city hall offices. In Part 1 of this podcast, Eric Shytle, general counsel for the Municipal Association, explains the legal and historical background of the trend. Find Part 2 here: https://soundcloud.com/user-597239619/first-amendment-audits-part-2-s1-...

Annual renewals begin in January for the Municipal Association’s affiliate associations, which cover many professional development needs for cities and towns. Ken Ivey, manager of member services, as well as Elizabeth Copeland and Sara Snell, both of whom are staff associate for affiliate services, discuss the affiliates and the training opportunities they provide.

Sara Snell, Staff Associate for Affiliate Services, explains how cities and towns can use the data on wages and salaries in the Municipal Compensation Survey, and how they can submit the information for each year's survey.

The Municipal Association of SC awarded the 2019 Hometown Economic Development Grants to 14 cities and towns in amounts of up to $25,000 each. Scott Slatton discusses how grant applications are evaluated, and takes a look at this year's winning projects.

Eric Shytle, general counsel for the Municipal Association, continues the discussion from the last episode on some recent federal court cases that impact how cities and towns should handle physical forums and social media forums, as well as how they handle zoning regulations for religious uses.

Eric Shytle, general counsel for the Municipal Association, discusses some recent federal court cases that impact how cities and towns should handle physical forums and social media forums.

Venyke Harley, the Municipal Association's loss control manager, discusses how loss control can help keep employees and property safe.

The Municipal Association recently conducted its annual disaster recovery IT exercises. Krystal Dailey, the Association’s information technology manager, explains these exercises and how they can help with any organization’s capacity to continue doing business after a disaster strikes.

After Main Street SC's recent training meeting in downtown Orangeburg, Main Street SC Manager Jenny Boulware sat down to talk with Downtown Orangeburg Revitalization Association Executive Director Candice Roberson to talk about local projects, including the construction of the new farmers market pavilion.

Hurricane season gives many good examples of why cities and towns should understand their property insurance coverages. Director of Risk Management Services Heather Ricard talks through several things to think about, including the need to keep property schedules updated and named storm deductibles.

Annexation is an important issue for the development of cities and towns. Municipal Association field services managers Charlie Barrineau and Jeff Shacker discuss annexation methods in SC, and important issues to consider when planning or executing annexations.

The Municipal Association’s Raising Hometown Voices to a New Level of Influence handbook digs into the specific steps city and town leaders can take to advocate for their needs effectively at the State House. Manager for Municipal Advocacy Casey Fields talks through some of the key takeaways of the guide, and how it ties into the curriculum of the Advanced Municipal Elected Officials Institute of...