I'd like to call this August 18th meeting of City Council Order.

Adam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Councilmember Gregg.

Councilmember Sheeley.

Here.

Councilmember McBride.

Councilmember Polcay, Councilmember Brainy, Councilmember Dalessandro, Councilmember Waring, Councilmember Seekings, Councilmember Tinkler, Councilmember Bound, Councilmember Apel, Councilmember Scardon, Mayor Cogswell.

Here, I'd now like to ask Councilman Waring to give the invocation and lead everybody in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you, Mr.

Mill.

Let us pray.

Eternally Father, as we come before you today to do the people's work, help us to come with our best of abilities on behalf of those who gave us the privilege to serve them.

We pay for areas of strife around the globe, war zones, help the better minds come together to build a bonding peace and do away with the hate and strife that creates war.

We pray for those in our military who put themselves on the line to protect the law so we can be safe at home in America.

Pray for them and their families that they get returned safely.

We pray for the less fortunate and for us to use our best abilities and intellect to help them see better days.

These prayers and all prayers we offer in your name, let us all say amen.

One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all family, as well as Councilmember Scardon to join me up on stage here, we have a proclamation honoring the late Eugene Frasier.

How are you, sir?

Y'all come on in, come on in, make some, we'll make some room.

Whereas Eugene Frazier Sr.

was born on James Island, South Carolina on May 7th, 1936 and passed away on Wednesday, August 5th, 2026, at the ripe age of 90.

And whereas Mr.

Frazier honorably served six years in the United States Army, rising to the rank of Sergeant E6, where as a drill sergeant, he trained and inspired recruits, including many from his native James Island.

And whereas in 1965, Mr.

Frazier was among the first to integrate the Charleston County Police Force, embarking on a 25-year career in law enforcement, marked by courage and integrity in the face of discrimination.

And whereas in 1972, he was named policeman of the year by the Exchange Club of Charleston, the first black officer to be so honored, before retiring as lieutenant from the Charleston County Sheriff's Office and going on to serve an additional eight years as a court security officer with the United States Marshal Service.

And whereas Mr.

Frazier became a devoted historian and author, writing and co-writing multiple books preserving the history of James Island, the Gullah Geechee community, and the descendants of enslaved people, and for these contributions, was inducted as a donor in residence at the Avery Research Center and received the award of merit from the Confederation of South Carolina Local Historical Societies.

And whereas Mr.

Frazier was a driving force behind the preservation of McLeod Plantation Historic Site, helping shape its interpretation from the perspective of the enslaved and working tirelessly across the low country to locate, uncover, and protect African American burial grounds and cemeteries.

And whereas Mr.

Frazier's decades of civic leadership included service on the Charleston County Constituent Board as a Sunday school teacher and a trustee board member of the James Island Presbyterian Church, and as a 32nd degree Mason and past worshipful master of the Sons of Elijah Masonic Lodge, number 457.

And whereas in recognition of his extraordinary and ongoing volunteer service to the community, Mr.

Frazier was named the City of Charleston's 2016 recipient of the Harold Kuhn Award and is survived by his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, as well as a wide circle of friends, mentees, and admirers across the low country.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, William S.

Cogswell Jr., mayor of the city of Charleston, on behalf of all of our citizens hereby celebrate the life of Lieutenant Eugene Frazier Sr.

And all that he helped accomplish and did for our community.

Thank you.

Giving honor to God, who is the head of my father's life, and the head of our family's life.

We know that if it were not for God, my father would not have made it through some of the roughest times in the history of Charleston County.

Being the one of the first five to integrate Charleston County Police Department was no easy task.

Not at all.

And instead of using their privilege for bad, they used it for good to help people like my father and the late George Gathers and James Owens and all Fred Strobel, all of those veterans who fought hard to show that justice should be extended to all, everyone, regardless of color of skin.

They understood what it meant to enforce the law, but also to help where they could.

So my honor, I and I am honored to be Eugene Frazier's daughter, to fight the good fight, and the fight is about racism wherever it lurks.

My father understood that all of us together, collectively, could lift the city up.

That's what it's about.

It's about lifting the city that you love, and we can only do it if we work together.

Both of them, over 20 years in federal court, and also in Charleston County with the solicitor's office.

Whenever I could, I use whatever little power I could for good.

One person told me this, and you know, I'll defer it to my brother.

Um, but we had a client call in at federal court, and she was an officer, I believe, in the Navy or something.

She was checking on her husband in his case, and she said, I know he's a mess, but he's my mess.

Understand this, we are all each other's messes.

My father understood that all it would take was one slip of the rug, and he would be, he could be where our clients were.

We're one step away from falling.

But if we lift each other up, then we can break the fall.

That's what he wants.

He wants us to be accountable to each other.