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Tag: Brian Cook

  • Town admin leaving Blythewood for Goose Creek

    BLYTHEWOOD – Blythewood Town Administrator Brian Cook announced Tuesday he will be leaving his post on December 23, for Goose Creek S.C., where he will serve as the Assistant City Administrator.

    Cook

    Cook has served Blythewood since January 2018 after working for the City of Columbia and prior to that for Richland County Planning and Zoning.

    Besides overseeing Blythewood’s planning, zoning and budget for the last two years, Cook launched a major beautification project for the town shortly after being hired.

    “Obviously, we’ve still got a lot of work to do, but we’ve started down that path with the area around the town hall, where you can definitely see a change – re-sodding, new shrubbery, flowering plants and trees,” Cook said. “To make sure that the town can continue down that path, we’ve planned in the budget, each year, for certain projects, not only around town hall, but everywhere around the town.”

    One of the things he had planned for the town moving forward is improved signage.

    “You can already see some of the utility boxes around town with new town signage. The plan is there for other aspects of beautification as well,” Cook said.

    As for the town’s finances, Cook said the town is in good shape and continues to be more and more so every year.

    “Even with COVID, I think we will still be okay with our hospitality and accommodation tax revenue where we’ve taken a little bit of a hit. But we’ve not been hit as hard as some of the larger cities that heavily depend on tourism,” he said.

    Cook said the upcoming scheduled rewriting of the town’s comprehensive land use plan is a big deal for Blythewood.

    “The town is kind of at a crossroads where it could go one of two ways – maintain its small town feel and focus on building that or continue to grow.” Cook said. “Managing that growth will be super important with our comprehensive plan and our land development code. I hope they’ll continue on that after I leave, because that was one of the things that was pretty top on my list.

    “Those are the things that pop out the most,” he said. “The beautification plan is so important, especially as Blythewood’s bread and butter comes from hospitality and accommodation taxes and business licenses fees. We need to create an area that stands out from other places.

    “We need to continue marketing Blythewood for what it wants to be or doesn’t want to be. That, obviously, kind of works hand in hand with how it looks, so I would say that what we’ve done around town hall in the way of beautification is just kind of the tip of the iceberg that needs to be done for the downtown,” he said. “The town probably needs to be rebranded with a look at how the accommodation and hospitality tax should be spent to enhance the town, you know, to use that money for advertising and promotions,” Cook said. “That’s a pretty big source of marketing money for us, equal to a fulltime marketing position. The town leaders are going to be looking, sooner or later, at how better to spend the accommodation and hospitality tax revenue.”

    Mayor Bryan Franklin said the Town appreciates the work Cook has done for the community.

    “He’s an outstanding administrator and we will miss him. He’s brought a lot to the town in many areas and we hate to lose him,” Franklin said.  “Nevertheless, we also wish him well in his future position with Goose Creek and in all his endeavors.”

    Franklin said the town is advertising for a new administrator to fill Cook’s vacancy.

  • Council adopts RC animal ordinance

    BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council voted last week to amend its animal care ordinance to be compliant with the Richland County animal care ordinance.

    In a memo to Council, Town Administrator Brian Cook commented that because the Town contracts by intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with Richland County for animal care, the town would have to operate under the County’s animal control agreement.

    “To secure the enforcement and uniformity of animal control regulations within the Town [and be] in compliance with the animal control ordinances of Richland County and in accordance with the laws of the state of South Carolina,” it would be necessary to adopt the County’s animal care ordinance into the Town’s.

  • Council to relook at H-Tax allocations

    BLYHEWOOD – Town Administrator Brian Cook gave an overview of the Town’s proposed FY 2019-20 budget last week and announced a workshop schedule for council to work out the details of the $1,621,696 budget, which is up from $1,565,114 last year.

    Looking at possible changes in budgeting for the coming year, Cook said council will be giving some attention to how it allocates hospitality funds in the future. He said there are several ways council might want to make changes.

    “In the past, we’ve allocated sporadically without knowing at any one time how many groups we are allocating money to for the entire year,” Cook said in an interview with The Voice. “I would like to see us look at the allocations for the whole year at one time so we don’t spend it all before we get to an event or project that we really want to do and then realize we don’t have any left for something that  we feel is important. Council is going to look at the best use of the money.”

    Cook said he would like to also look at specific projects that can be paid for with hospitality tax funds but that have been overlooked in the past. The new budget includes $10,000 for re-sodding and landscaping plantings and $500 for a new weed eater. About $7,000 was allocated from the current budget for a lawn mower, Cook said.

    “We are going to do the mowing of the park and town hall area in-house now and discontinue the contract we currently have for mowing the park. We’re going to be saving money right out of the gate,” he said. “We’ll pay for the lawnmower in the first year.”

    “There are a lot of things we can use hospitality funds for that are not event based,” Cook said.

    “This [hospitality] money can be used to beautify the town and landscaping,” Cook said. “The entrances to the town, maybe lay some new sod at the entrance to the park, places that are weedy and pretty much dying. When you go around to other places like Killian’s Crossings and look at the medians planted with color, we could be looking at doing some of that.”

    “Once we get to the May workshop, that’s when we will really get down to it,” Cook said.

    Cook said council will also be looking at other ways they allocate hospitality tax money – where it’s going and how it’s being used.

    At the April council meeting, Mayor J. Michael Ross told one event group that if they did not turn out better attendance numbers, the town might not continue to allocate hospitality funds for that event. He addressed the lack of local advertising by the event organizers.

    At the April meeting, council heard requests for event funding from Blythewood Bikes & Beers for $8,750; from The Red Barn for $12,051.20, and The Blythewood Chamber of Commerce withdrew a request for $20,500 that Chamber Chairman-elect Phil Frye said would be requested at the May 9 workshop.

  • Commision endorses vendor ordinance

    BLYTHEWOOD – After more than a year of handwringing over whether to allow temporary vendors in the Town Center District, the Planning Commissioners voted Monday night to recommend that Council adopt the City of Columbia’s vending ordinance, presented by Town Administrator Brian Cook, with a few tweaks. That modified ordinance, basically, allows temporary vendors and food trucks the same rights and privileges as brick and mortar buildings, but with almost none of the costly architectural or other restrictions imposed on brick and mortar buildings.

    That modified vendor ordinance would allow vendors to sell merchandise, goods, services, or forms of amusement from a temporary structure, such as a tent, awning, canopy, umbrella, stand, booth, cart, trailer, from a vehicle, or from his person. A temporary vendor does not include a person who conducts the majority of his business from within a permanent and enclosed building located upon the same lot.

    Unlike brick and mortar buildings, vendors would not be required to provide handicap restrooms or any restrooms at all.

    While the Commissioners initially worried that aesthetics of temporary vendor’s vehicles, tents, trailers, etc, could become a problem, they concluded that aesthetics for vendors would be too difficult to regulate by ordinance and moved on. Brick and mortar buildings in the Town Center District are required to adhere to certain types, quality and colors of building materials, architectural styles, signage, lighting and landscaping. There are no such restrictions on vendor vehicles, tents, trailers, etc.

    Cook said he presented the same modified ordinance to the Board of Architectural Review two weeks ago and they expressed concern regarding the fairness issue when it came to food trucks locating within 100 feet of a brick and mortar food establishment.  The Commissioners responded by requiring a distance of 250 feet between vendors and certain businesses.

    Commission member Rich McKenrick suggested that multiple temporary vendors might want to set up on a single property.  Cook indicated that the ordinance itself did not prohibit that but that other restrictions regarding number of parking places, safety regarding ingress and egress would apply.  The modified ordinance also restricts vendors from operating within 400 feet of residences.

    After flirting with a few concerns, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to adopt the modified City of Columbus ordinance with the following tweaks:

    Allow the Town Administrator to have sole authority to give written permission for a temporary vendor to operate in the Town Center District,

    Increase the distance between a vendor and the front door of a lawfully established restaurant from 100 feet to 250 feet, and

    Limit occupancy of a vendor to no more than 10 hours a day (24 hours). At all other times the vendors must vacate the parcel they occupy.

    It was confirmed by the Planning Commission Chairman, Donald Brock, that the modified ordinance would not affect Grace Coffee. After Grace Coffee refused to continue moving its trailer off the parcel every night as it had initially agreed to do, Cook interpreted the Town’s zoning laws to confirm that Grace Coffee is now a business in good standing, compliant with the Town’s necessary zoning approvals.

    Town Council will vote on the Commission’s recommendation on the vendor ordinance at its next regular meeting on June 25.

  • Blythewood Town Council names new Administrator

    BLYTHEWOOD – Blythewood Town Council has named Brian Cook, the Zoning Administrator for the City of Columbia, as the Town’s new Administrator. Cook replaces Gary Parker who announced in November that he plans to retire sometime in March.

    Cook

    Cook grew up in Charleston and graduated from the College of Charleston with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology. He has worked for the City of Columbia since 2012. Prior to that, he spent seven years with Richland County in Planning and Development.

    Cook also spent six years as a police officer with the City of Charleston and at the Medical University of South Carolina.

    Council voted unanimously on Jan. 10, to extend to Cook a two-year, $75,000-a-year contract.

    “We’re excited for you to be here,” Mayor J. Michael Ross told Cook. “I know you’re going to hit the ground running.”

    While Cook lives in Cayce, he said he spent the weekend driving around Blythewood looking at homes and properties.

    “I’m not married, but I have two awesome daughters, Kate, who is in high school, and Sara, a middle schooler,” Cook told The Voice on Tuesday. “I spent some time working on projects in Blythewood when I was with the County, and I’ve always liked it out here,” he said.

    Cook reports to work Feb. 10.