By CHRIS SHIPMAN Hometown News shipman.news@gmail.com Monday night�s city council meeting had a larger than normal audience, and former council member Marty Smith was recording the proceedings on video. There was a public hearing for the amendments to the zoning ordinance sign regulations. No one spoke, and council began its regular meeting. In council business, the proposed rental property inspection ordinance and the proposed amendment to the sign regulations both failed to get a first reading. Council member James Smith, who put the proposals on the agenda, made a motion to accept the bills as they were written, but there was no second. Both can still be put back on the agenda in the future since no action was taken. Brad Burnett, who led the rental property inspection ad hoc committee that wrote the ordinance, said council asked him for a bill and that he and about ten or twelve others spent hundreds of hours researching and writing to give them what they wanted. It�s an issue that many agree has to be dealt with, he said, so he didn�t understand why there was no vote at all. If council didn�t approve the wording or took issue with parts of the ordinance, he said he didn�t know why they did not bring it up for discussion. �There is one part of it that needs to be done,� he said, �and that�s the rental property registry.� City Manager Scott Slatton said that the intent behind the bill was still �very much alive, but it�s just a matter of council figuring out what they want for them to pass it.� Council approved the bid of $28,000 from Bohemian Touch to renovate the Timrod Library, $18,000 for labor and $10,000 for material. The Historic Preservation Committee will go forward with the project and write a contract for the project. Council also approved the HPC�s strategic plan for preserving the Historic Woodruff High School. It is an eight-part plan to raise support and money for the project. Mayor Paul Bell called a meeting for 6 p.m., May 8, to continue budget work. The first reading of the 2008-2009 budget is scheduled for next month�s regular council meeting, 6:30 p.m., May 19. In other business, a motion to approve the police department�s standard operating procedures was tabled because Police Chief Darrell Dawkins was unable to attend the meeting. Council also discussed the sewer provision contract between the city and the Woodruff - Roebuck Water District in executive session. Terry Knighton, who is running for Spartanburg County Council District Four, appeared before council briefly. He is retired. He has worked in law enforcement and for Adidas. �I live here, and I shop here,� he said. He feels he is a part of the community and believes the Woodruff area needs a stronger voice in county council. District Four forms a V in the lower part of the county from Pacolet, through Roebuck, Woodruff, Reidville, and part of Greer, to the Union and Laurens County lines. The district is currently represented by Rock Adams. There will be a county council candidates� forum at 6:30 p.m., May 14, in the Barrett Room of the Spartanburg County Main Library. Tara Prochaska was appointed to the Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Committee. Prochaska is currently co-hosting the morning show with T.C. Lewis on WDRF 1510AM. She has lived in Woodruff for two years and wanted to be more involved with the city.