The Department of Public Service provides services to the citizens and also to other city departments that enhance public safety and health. The department is comprised of two technical and three operational divisions.
The technical divisions, Building Inspections and Engineering, enforce building codes and development building and utility construction standards.
The Department of Public Service works with numerous other local and regional agencies including:
Berkeley County Water and Sewer
Charleston County Emergency Preparedness
Charleston County Public Works
Charleston County Solid Waste
Charleston County Transportation Committee
Charleston Water Systems (formerly Charleston Commissioners of Public Works)
Clean City Commission
South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control
South Carolina Department of Transportation
Sea Level Rise Strategy Report
The City of Charleston's multi-disciplinary staff task force has developed a comprehensive inventory of initiatives to provide an overall strategy and guiding framework to make the City more resilient to sea level rise and recurrent flooding. View a full copy of the report (PDF).
FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant
The city has begun work to complete the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant application which will be directed towards the buyout of certain repetitive flood loss properties on behalf of property owners. The pre-application is due in April this year, and final applications are due in October. Then there will be a period of review before grants are awarded. We are confident that our grant request will be successful, but it is going to take time to get through the multi-step process. At the appropriate time, the city will solicit input from residents about how the buyout process is structured.