Full meeting transcript - December 10, 2019

» football team here in this all-american city thanks for coming coach we hope you get these boys back to their studies as soon as we can all right i will with that we have a quorum we're now called to order mr tucker is in route he had a car breakdown but we have sufficient to conduct our business and with that i turn to mr bozart for the invocation and the play sir would you all please stand thank you mr. Bozard we now move to public comments mr. Deboe is there any signed up mr. chairman a member of the council one person signed up that one person is Wesley Crowley was the last name please Crowley Crowley Mr. Crowley, as you come up, this is a time for us to listen and not to exchange questions.

» We ask you to keep your comments focused on an item or two that is useful for us as a county and a conduct of our business. And a reminder to keep your decorum and your comments consistent with this body. Please, sir, Mr. Crowley, Merry Christmas. How y'all doing today? All right. First of all, I'd like to ask a few questions, which I know I won't get no answer to, but the public needs to know. Why are y'all selling this out to Richland County and Annex and Elgin? A lot of people don't even know that. And the next question is, they land on 521 that was bought years ago. Y'all done nothing with. Something was said about the state to do something with. Nothing's never been done. Well, come to find out it's an inside job. Whoever the agent was sold it to you. Y'all know it personally.

» That's one thing. The next thing is, y'all want to sell out to Richland County, that's fine. But remember, these people back here, including me and everybody else in this county, pays y'all to do the right thing. And so far, y'all ain't done the right thing. Y'all took our money, y'all wasted it, bought land, throwing money away in projects that are no good. And it's about time for it to stop. And as of here right now, I'm putting my dedication in to running against y'all.

» and i ain't got the money to run against you but i got the faith of jesus christ that i will run i may not make it to this council but i will run against you and i'm gonna put the bad ones out and it's time for y'all to start helping the people instead of taxing them into poverty i'm living in a rabbit box right now but you know what the good god man above looks after me i work for my room in bolden in a rabbit box you remember that and i pay you i pay your salary i pay taxes so you need to quit taking our money and throwing it away on worthless projects and do the right thing because i'm running against you you can believe that thank you have a nice day thank you mr crowley uh mr devose that concludes the sign up list all right very good on the next item up on the board is a public hearing

» a public hearing regards to an ordinance authorizing the execution, and delivery of a fee-in-lieu ad valorem tax and incentive agreement by and between Kershaw County and Midlands Regional Rehabilitation Hospital, one of more affiliated or related entities to provide for payment of a fee-in-lieu tax. I'll open the hearing and see if anyone will come forward. Mr. Bowes informs me that a representative of that company is here today.

» would you please stand up young man young lady there you go thank you for coming tonight uh seeing no one coming forward and we will close the hearing and move on to the next item which is adoption of the agenda i will note that we are going to drop item number two the resolution recognizing the carolina cup racing association at tab b as they cannot attend tonight they will back here next meeting on the 14th of january can we have a motion to adopt the agenda with that amendment and mr gardner a second second second for mr bozard uh any discussion uh seeing there is none we move to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous to a resolution item number one that's what these young men are here for a resolution honoring The Camden High School football team.

» It's on the board, and it's in your packets, gentlemen, at tab A. I'm going to have Mr. Snodgrass read it, as he is the bill's sponsor, and then we'll vote on it, and then we'll have that wonderful team up here. Mr. Snodgrass, would you do the honors, please? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Whereas Kershaw County recognizes the Camden High School football team on their outstanding 2019 season, and whereas the Bulldogs went 12-2 on their way to claim the Class 3A Region 4 championship, And whereas the Bulldogs made an appearance in the class three, a final four finishing as semifinalist. And whereas the Bulldogs outscored their opponents 580 to 324 during the 2019 season.

» And whereas the Bulldogs led the state in rushing yards and was the only team to have two running backs to each have over 1400 yards, whereas multiple players led the state in multiple categories, both on offense and defense. And whereas Coach Brian Rimpf was named the Class 3A Coach of the Year, now, therefore, Kershaw County Council hereby congratulates the Camden High School football team on their Region 4 championship and outstanding season that took them to the Class 3A Final Four. We wish them success in the seasons to come as they build upon this standout year for their program done this 10th day of December 2019. Thank you, Mr. Snodgrass. Do you wish to... Mr. Snodgrass, do you want to make a motion? Yes, sir.

» make a motion that we adopt and accept this resolution honoring these outstanding young men who are here today yeah who second second oh that's all fight for it mr. Gardner go ahead I'll give it to mr. Gardner any discussion well sir I just want to say mr. chairman go right ahead thank you just want to say boys congratulations on a great season I know you didn't get the goal that you wanted to get but you guys made some some great strides this year and And for the Camden community, it gave us a sense of community on Friday nights. My family and I were able to enjoy several games this year. And you guys were just a very – this team was very exciting to watch. It was just exciting football out there on the gridiron. So you boys should be proud and really excited about where we're going.

» Thanks, guys. Other comments? Mr. Connell. Fellas, as a very proud graduate of Lugolf Elgin High School, I have to say I couldn't be more proud of you. I actually know a little bit of what you've experienced just because Coach Mack used to beat me up when I was in high school. And Coach Speaks as well. And whenever Coach Rimp came to town, we got he and all the head coaches together and we saw something special in him. So we're just so proud of you. Keep working hard. Other comments? Mr. Jones. You're Tom. Go ahead, Tom. I was just going to say congratulations. It was a great year. It shows you what you can do when you work together. Congratulations to the coaches.

» Coach, I know how much hard work goes into it, but there are a lot of teams sitting at home last week that would like to have been there where you were, so be proud of your accomplishments. We'll look further next year. Other comments? Mr. Bozong. Yes, like Mr. Connell, my children went to Lugolf, but I'm going to echo him. I'm definitely proud of you, proud of you being from Kershaw County, and congratulations. Keep up the good work. Other comments? Mr. Jones, I think you had your hand up. If I could, thank you, Mr.

» Chair, members of County Council guys I'm very proud of you being a competitor all my life course I live in Lugoff my son graduated Lugoff Elgin high let me tell you something right now Camden high school represents this entire county and we are so proud of you guys and I think you got some Lugoff coaches back there don't you Calvin former but coaches we're proud of you you're good mentors for these young men and I tell you what this is just the beginning of their lives and so congratulations and we're very proud now i'll close it out good words all across the board i apologize for my voice but i was out watching y'all work out in july and august when the rest of those young men were chasing the girls or up on the lake or smelling perfume or car fumes and you showed dedication didn't the co

» ach ask me to talk to you I didn't know what to say, so I brought a picture of my dad from 1931 with the Bulldog champions of 1931, and I turned to the coach, and I said, this is an awful young team, and he said, I think they can do it. Coach, you showed great leadership. I will also tell you, you're bringing these young men along with the leadership that we the county, we the nation need. Not too long after 1931, my father found himself tonight in World War II at the Battle of the Bulge. He was wounded and got out with his skin and came home to raise a family, to include me. I don't know what the future holds for you, but you've got a great start. And what you learn on that field from one another and your coaches, especially from one another, will carry you through the rest of your life.

» With that, I think we can vote. All those in favor, signify by raising your hand. And it's unanimous. Coach, you want to get that team up here? Yeah, thank you. They're up here. That was great. - Thank you very much. Move now to the public business for public presentations. Our first item is item number one, led by the great Mr. Phil Gaines, that's redundant. The presentation led by this young amazing opportunity. Over to you, Phil. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of council, citizens, good to be with y'all tonight.

» What a special time to be with the Camden Bulldogs and it really ties together what part what we're trying to do with with the visitor center and the tourism we'll talk more about but it really epitomize a sense of place the Kershaw County is so we'll go ahead and get started I'm gonna use my magic clicker like this so one of the things that you always hear being a native of South Carolina and the son of the South when you hear about the Revolutionary War every community talks about the particular battles that happened in that community and it was the turning point of the revolution right everywhere is the turning point of the revolution so we took a different idea that looked at what we were doing here in Kershaw County and particularly at the visitor center that you see coming up out of t

» he ground and this will be the starting point of your excursion your journey on the southern campaign of what happened in Revolutionary War it started right here in Kershaw County so we're in process telling that story and the Camden experience exploring Kershaw County and we're doing this what we've kind of talked about as bookends on one of the bookends would be as you come off the interstate as you come into town where the visitor center is going to be and you get that first experience of telling the story you're right beside historic Camden so there's a lot of natural energy there it'll be able to tell the story the other end of the bookend is the battlefield site the Battle of Camden site that is going through the transformation of sense of place to where it's a real tangible place tha

» t you can go see feel and touch and we're working on and the county is working on with the American Battlefield Protection Society or Association doing tangible stuff to tell that story so you got the bookends on one side of the county and the other side of the county you got multiple agencies and people working on this to tell this story right here in Kershaw County.

» This is an artist's rendition of the visitor center that probably a lot of y'all have seen in the newspapers and around town that kind of sees it now you can start seeing it come out of the ground as you come into town the biggest structure that you see coming out of town is the focal point of the center where the exhibits will be what would tell the story of the American Revolution in this in in the southern campaign so Christmas time so here we go it's a we're finishing talking about it and now we're really doing it so that's still coming out of the ground hope to pour the concrete in the next few weeks and before you know it you'll start seeing this transformation of this this lot the visitor center that will be the starting point of telling the story of the southern campaign which in tu

» rn changed the world and changed this nation there's still a lot of work to do we're excited about what's going to happen there we're also excited about the product development that's going on at the battle of camden site tremendous tremendous opportunities uh down at that that site that really tells the story this the actual place where you can tangibly understand shaw county Inside this facility we'll tell the story of not only what happened in Kershaw County but how this changed the route of the war and in the southern campaign. We'll go through different exhibits that will take you from why the war started until the end of the war, the turning point, and more importantly the very last thing you will do is now what do I do.

» It'll be the opportunity to go explore Kershaw County and some of the things that are that are very special and unique to our community. These are some renderings of some of the inside where the visitor center will be with some of the exhibits that we'll be talking about. That'll be spectacular, state-of-the-art. When you come in you'll really get the sense of a first-class facility, a world-class facility if you will. And our and our timetable is, the steel is coming out of the ground now, so this time next year we'll start talking about when we're going to open this facility and we'll start incorporating the exhibits in. My guess is we're looking for spring of 2021 grand opening. So again some more renderings of what it'll look like inside.

» We're finalizing some of these things with the exhibits. This is the last exhibit that you'll go through and it's this tree that will have these virtual images of things to see and do around Kershaw County, not just a visitor center, but this concept of the bookends and all the stuff that's in between and about why come to Kershaw County, what else is here, and really think that we do this right with players that we have will make a tremendous impact, not only on the sense of place that we have here in Kershaw County, but also economic development ideas that will bring people here not to come and go this visitor center for one time but to stay spend the night look at other things to explore with that I've been telling this little version of we've been talking about doing something with the

» Battle of Camden and in the visitor center for a long time it's it's now it's real it's coming out of the ground and my advice is company's coming so we got it ready companies coming ready or not so part of that is there are tremendous opportunities for this community to make an impact and to use this as an economic engine this sense of place this green infrastructure if you will it not only provides economic impact but also provides a sense of place in this quality of life that we're so proud of with things that we saw tonight with the Camden Bulldogs and the things that are going on but there's a lot of work to be done there's some product development that needs to be done because companies come in and we're going to encourage them to leave this visitor center and historic Camden to go to

» all these other assets that county has chairman burns has talked to me several times about the tourism product and how to develop that tourism product and a plan for that and i think now is the time for us to start thinking about that you have tremendous tremendous resources in this town in this county and when people come to visit and they and they explore and know the things that are out there they'll be back they'll spend the night they'll see these things sometimes people who live here uh people who live not only in kershaw county but in south carolina we're the last ones to say what a great resource we have because would sometimes take it for granted. I started my career at Lake Watery State Park.

» I was the very first superintendent at Lake Watery State Park and I'm originally from Greenville, never heard of Lake Watery and I was hooked the first time I saw a sunrise over Lake Watery and you know and then a sunset over Lake Watery. It's a special place just like the rest of this county. I'm excited and humbled to be a part of this, enjoyed working with members of council chairman burns and vic enjoyed and uh enjoy working with you guys and looking forward to working with this community in making a difference looking for an opportunity to make a difference not only in this sense of place this quality of life but this economic engine that these projects can be for this town mr chairman thank you for your opportunity to let me be here if you don't mind we can submit to a few questions y

» es sir and as you can tell uh phil doesn't have a a lot of passion for this uh members of council any discussion comments that was hard to do because the chairman says 10 minutes is all right go back to the chart with the tree on it and explain that that's intended to i think it's too bad get people to go out there it is to go out into the county And it'll have representational directions to Lugov, Elgin, Watery, Bethune. Go ahead, can you explain that? Yes, so you'll go through and you'll learn this experience of what's happened in the Revolutionary War and why it happened here and what happened after the events of the Battle of Camden. So you're intrigued about that, and you'll go to an exhibit that the Liberty Trail is doing about all their other skirmishes throughout this area.

» then you'll say that's a lot to do and then you go to this tree where this virtual tree is with some visuals like screen TVs flat-screen TVs that will show powerful images of interesting and fascinating places around the county like sunrises and sunsets at Lake watery and you know miss coming off the at the steeplechase grounds and and all the things of Liberty Hill and the topography and the granite and all the things that make this community very special and you'll say if you're a visitor coming off I-20 you'll go where is that where's the lake and how far is it and what can I do when I get there and then that's our opportunity to hook folks and say this is more than an hour visit through a visitor center this is a two or three day visit and you need a place to stay and you need a place t

» o eat lunch and you need a place to buy gas and we want you to stay here longer because there are some really really interesting cool things in Kershaw County we just need to showcase it and tell folks how to get there and what to do when they get there any other mr. chairman I've been caught one question I'm wondering overall for the Liberty Trail do we know the completion for that and where does this fit into it I'm sorry the first little trail overall supposed to go from the upstate down to the low country right so here at the visitor center the Liberty Trail will have an exhibit in there that will be state-of-the-art where you'll be able to know where all these battles and skirmishes were and then the development of that virtual trail for lack of a better word so that you'll be able thi

» s will be the place where you find out where the Liberty Trail goes from Charleston all the way up to Guilford courthouse and all those spots in between from Hopkirk Hill to Blackstock to Kings Mountain Cowpens Guilford courthouse in north carolina and there'll be exhibit in this visitor center that the american battlefield uh folks are sponsoring and are working on diligently to do that so again another way start your visit here in kershaw county and expand it out come back make this your home base and we have spent a lot of time in the last three years getting other people's money to do this opm Absolutely. We have money coming from several national organizations in Washington that are helping us expand the battlefield to pay for this, to pay for some of the infrastructure.

» And one of those guys is a Mr. Lighthizer. His brother is national security advisor to the president. And he's the guy that brought forward the Mexico deal. We've met with the French, the British and German ambassador embassies, and they're very interested because they all fought here, and others. So all that's coming together in wonderful ways, thanks to people like Mr. Gaines. Further, at the state level, our governor has agreed on a thing called Rev War 250, which would be the 250th anniversary, and this facility and what we're doing for the county will bring in a lot of folks at the state and national level. Mr. Carpenter is on the board advising the governor. So you can see the city of Camden and the county of Kershaw is nationally and statewide known to get some stuff happening.

» And I want you to know we're adjoined at the hip with our mayor in Camden and things are moving forward very well. We got work to do. We'll talk a little bit of that during the budget cycle coming up and in the next budget cycle for the year 21-22. But for now, I wanted y'all to have this appreciation. Any further questions for Dr. Gaines? Sir? Quick comment. Appreciate what you're doing. The city, I guess, hired you or did the historic cabinet hire you? The city. Well, tell us something about the city of Camden. They got it going on. They're really doing well. I see buildings going up everywhere.

» You know, it may not be manufacturing jobs but bottom line is you guys are creating jobs you're doing a good job whatever you're doing we need to ride your coattail thank you for being here tonight you're doing a great job as well and I really enjoyed thank you councilman and if I could I'll say this right here one of the things that make this project work and from the very beginning when the general public comes to this facility they're not going to say is this a city facility or is this a county facility or is this they don't care and and the bottom line is is that the reason this is going to work is because the city the county and the state and the federal government and these private folks and the chairman's talked about see that this is worth doing and if if you do that old saying if y

» ou don't care who really gets the credit watch what'll happen it's uh this will be a project that'll be associated with this community regardless if you call it camden kershaw county state of south carolina this is a significant national project as the chairman has said that we've we've grown drawn the attention of folks from all over because of it's it's not a city project it's not a county project it's a it's the right project that'll that'll change this community it's an opportunity to make a difference and i'm excited and humbled and proud to be a part of this team thank you sir well done thank you very much phil and safe journey home and merry christmas next item is item number two the clean community commission miss wanda swan wanda can you come forward good evening chairman councilma

» n um thank you for having me his um comment that company's coming is so true and that's why we have a commission Companies coming and we've got to be ready and we're not ready as a county as far as the beautification and the cleanliness of our county. That's why it's so important of the job that we're doing and we need your support. I'm here tonight to give you an update on our latest pickup. It was held on November 2nd.

» We had conflict after conflict with football games and festivals and those type things people were pulled in a lot of different directions so we really struggled to get 92 volunteers we covered 26.5 miles and we collected 321 bags of trash that was with a minimal amount of people that we could get together for this cleanup I am so pleased to tell you that Chairman Burns was out there helping us pick up trash, pick up litter, and I want to encourage each one of you councilmen to please join us.

» I know Councilman Connell was with us in the spring, but what would it say to the community if each one of you joined us with a team to help with litter situation in our county it would speak volumes we need you we need your position we need your influence we need your friends to help us combat this litter problem that we have on the particular day i want to say a special thank you to the south carolina highway patrol trooper white came out to help keep us on highway 97 a little more safer this gentleman came out and within an hour had issued 11 citations for people speeding in excess of 10 miles over the posted limit as they saw our vest and our signs with us out picking up trash on the side of the road so a big thanks to them and to Kershaw County Sheriff's Department who also assisted in

» helping us stay safe I have a list of the volunteers that that came and helped us that day and i have to say a special thanks to the city of camden and to tom couch he was able to get 24 city camden employee volunteers to come out and pick up so this is just a sample of what can be done when we really put forth a lot of effort with publicity with radio newspaper that type of thing to get the word out we have selected March 21st to be our spring pickup and I'm asking you to please put it on your calendars and plan to join us if you have any questions feel free to call me or any of our council our commission members will be happy to we would love to have you on our team representative Laurie Funderburk was with us both times she has been wonderful in helping us it's a wonderful photo op for y

» ou so please consider joining us in March our team learned a lot from this past pickup and I'm going to go over a few of things that we learned we learned that there was no way to sugarcoat this beer drinkers are one of our biggest offenders I'm not sure how we're going to tackle that I need your help on how we can tackle that particular situation but it is definitely a problem we also learned that a lot of trash is falling off the back of vehicles as they head to the recycle centers we have obtained another 500 tarps from Palmetto pride to be distributed and to our recycle centers to be handed out to folks that are coming in without their their loads being tarped we also need to monitor how those tarps are being given out haven't been able to find a lot of evidence of where they've been go

» ing so that's another item that we need to really look at boaters are not removing their trash even though we put signs up at the ramps we're still seeing a lot of styrofoam coolers beer cartons ice bags is a big big thing they're flying off the back of boats and they're ending up on the side of the roads so we're going to need our new officer our new litter officer to monitor those boat ramps maybe on a Saturday afternoon as people are leaving and if he did that we could probably eliminate a lot of that litter another item that we have recently realized is we're seeing a lot of bags of deer corn empty deer corn from hunters, and they're flying off the back of their trucks. I'm not saying that these guys are doing it deliberately.

» They're probably innocently doing this, but we've got to somehow bring attention to that. Our next problem that we realize that we have is we've got to have more volunteers. We have got to spend more on publicity, on radio, newspaper, whatever we can to get out the word that we need help with this situation we need to educate the public we're going to do that we have applied for a grant from Palmetto pride and we should hear by December 15th about that grant and how much we will receive hopefully we're looking at at $10,000 that we can use for billboards and education and to also to make cracks for businesses that are compliant and also do a really good job in keeping their business fronts clean nice and neat their parking lots clean nice and neat we want to recognize one business per month

» we're going to start that program in January the most important need that we have guys is for you to stand beside us and work with us as we as we try to to get our County cleaner and more beautiful we are going to be working with South Carolina DOT on beautification that has seemed to be a real stumbling block and I'm trying to work through that I've been in touch with Jean Branham who is the chairman of South Carolina do I'm not sure his position in the DOT the district then we're so located in he's gonna be helping us to work with the DOT to see what kind of beautification if you go to to Spartanburg to Greenville to Charlotte you see where intersections are beautiful they're beautiful they have shrubs they have plants they have trees and there's no reason why we can't have that as long a

» s it's safe so that's another thing that we're going to be looking at for next year community awareness is key that's why we're going to be in the parade the two local parades this weekend just to bring an awareness that we're here we see that there's a problem and we're attacking it so what I'm asking you is to please stand beside us help us as we start our new year thank you very good thank you mr.

» chairman thank you so much for what you do you know you're being here is in hearing what you're the message you're delivering is really inspiring that's exactly why Sammy took her myself make sure we reenacted and renewed this commission because it was really sort of down and out and I want to he's not here tonight but applaud councilman Tucker was standing by me to make sure we get this commission back on board and members of County Council one thing I'd like to do is uh yeah i'm a member of the lugoff ottomans club and we're going to be picking we have sponsored a long strip we clean up in lugoff and i'd love to have you come over and speak to them at some point in time i'll get in touch with you on that and you can maybe we can even coordinate this and run it through you guys okay so but

» thank you so much for all you do and i really appreciate it thank you other comments uh mr snodgrass thank you mr chairman i want to thank you so much for uh the work that you're doing uh it's very important work sorry i couldn't be there in the fall i was out of town but uh i've got march 21st on my calendar and uh got a market as a priority and uh really really want to be there and i echo some of the frustrations that you have my you know my church is about a half a mile or so from the airport recycle center and i'm i'm constantly picking up things out of the highway and taking it down to the recycling center for somebody else um things that have blown out and things of that nature so um thank you so much for what you do it's not it's i think it's coincidence that we had phil speak to us

» about uh the rev 250 and the welcome center and then you came up after him because they really go hand in hand company is coming and as i when i when i drive around my camp our county i sometimes i get worried you know and because i like you i understand that litter can be a it can be a deterrent of many things we don't think about it in that in that manner but it really can be so So thank you for your work, and thank you. Appreciate it. Okay, Mr. Bozard, sir. Wanda, thank you. Thank you and your committee both. And I appreciate the signs that somebody's making and putting up. I see them all over the county, and I do appreciate that. And that's some of that advertisement you were talking about. But I do appreciate you and your committee. Thank you very much. Thank you. Ben, please.

» Wanda, I was thinking back to, like, the mid-'90s when, as youth or teenagers, we would clean up with local churches that seemed to be kind of the mode back then a lot of churches would adopt a portion of road or highway and you would see the same issues then it'd be drink containers uh food wrappings and cigarette butts maybe it's more vaping uh canisters or something nowadays but in the cleanup we did in the spring i remember seeing a lot of cigarette butts as well that's why i think what you said about education and people understanding the importance of personal responsibility that is wrapped into liberty is so important to to not uh one violate the law as far as littering goes but also take pride in your community and understand that this is not real glorious work but it's so necessary

» and the end result of what you do is very beautiful so thank you very much thank you uh mr gardner again thank you for what you do i think you find that lots of job security on that commission with kind of trash that we have don't think that that will ever go away uh well i'd just like for you to introduce the rest of your committee thank you tom everybody stand up yeah bill um would you read off the names please bill nattles um doug fielding and tom webb and judge hardest had to leave he he tried to hang in there but he had another obligation thank you very much you're very welcome and i must say that we we got some shirts um which we're very appreciative for but thank you very much well the whole basic point here is is that government is only as good as the people and in this case you cer

» tainly set a high mark wanda thank you very much and i appreciate it uh with that we move the next item on the agenda if my voice holds out which is the approval of minutes stated 12 november helpfully compiled for us by lauren reader tab c and on the board can we have a motion to approve the minutes mr gardner a second second second from mr snodgrass any discussion uh none welcome back mary with that we move to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your and the moving the minutes are approved we move now to a series of ordinances and vic i'm gonna need your help here the first one is at tab d and it's also on the board it's a third reading uh of a zoning map redesignation mr carpenter can you talk us through it mr chairman members council you have tonight for third reading a rezonin

» g of two parcels of land approximately 13 acres in total from r15 to r2 to rd2 it was previously approved by the planning commission by a 4-2 vote and county council has passed it on its first two readings very good can we have a motion to approve on the third reading mr chairman i'll make a motion to approve on third reading uh thank you david a second second from mr gardner any discussion uh seeing there is none we can move to a vote on his third reading all those in favor so signify and it's unanimous we move to item number two the third reading of an ordinance uh again a zone map redesignation uh danny is that on the board yep and it's a tab e for your reference uh mr carpenter bring us up to speed mr chairman members council you have in front of you tonight on third reading rezoning of

» two parcels of land of approximately 14 acres of land from r15 and gd to rd2 council's previously approve this and two separate readings very good can we have a motion to approve mr chair make a motion to approve on third reading uh mr snodgrass a second was that from you uh ben uh mr bozard mr mozart records the second uh with that um any discussion uh seeing there is none we move to a vote all those in favor on the third reading so signify and it's unanimous mary we move to item number three another third reading of an ordinance in this case uh ad valorem taxes and incentive agreements with the rehabilitation hospital uh it's a tab f and as i previously noted we have a representative from that organization mr carpenter can you take us through it please mr chairman members council we have

» tonight in front of you on third reading a fee in lieu of tax agreement between Kershaw County and the Midlands Regional Rehab Hospital, LLC. This agreement will result in the opening of a hospital, approximately $17.8 million investment, 133 jobs with an approximate salary of $25, previously had the public hearing. Very good. Can we have a motion to approve? Mr. Gardner, a second? Second. From Mr. Connell, that's his district. Again, Ben, I should have given you the right. With that, we move to discussion.

» any discussion it's a good way to close out the year uh with that we move to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous and thank you ma'am for coming i wish you a safe journey home thank you very much item number four is a first reading of an ordinance for an official zoning map redesignation at j.o farms i believe that's johnny outlaw at tab g and it's shown on the chart with that mr carpenter can you bring us on board mr chairman members of council tonight you have in front of you on first reading an ordinance to rezone approximately 772 acres of land in antioch rezoning this from rd2 to gd previously been approved by the planning commission on a five to one vote very good can we have a motion to approve i'll make a motion uh mr snodgrass uh got a first a s

» econd from mr bozard uh discussion uh mr mr jones go right ahead mr outlaw you had him fighting over making the motion go ahead is johnny here he is where's mr outlaw there you are i don't remember all that white hair johnny all right very good uh mr snodgrass go ahead hi mr chairman just wanted to uh just echo my support uh for this this is in my district. And Mr. Outlaw, thank you so much for what you do for the community. And he's used the community center for various things to bring people together and about the project that he has. Absolutely. I agree with you on that, Council Snodgrass. I don't think we have anything else like it in Kershaw County. You know, we were out there a couple of weeks ago and Henry Powers and myself, you know, my son making some music.

» I think we packed a house. And what great host. And if you hadn't eaten at the Whistle Stop Cafe, you need to go out there and eat because they've got some good food as well. But anyway, thank you for what you have done for our community. We look forward to coming back out and having some more fun. Other discussion? Ms. Connell. Just looking at Kershaw County and the demand that you have for gun-related activities, shooting range at 601 has been quite successful. There's an indoor shooting range that came into Lugoff that's been successful.

» and to the extent that's incorporated in this one it looks like another opportunity for the community to particularly in the eastern portion of the county to take advantage of that so thank you uh any other discussion uh mr bozard thank you sir i had an air from the sheriff's season definitely support it so you've got a lot of people behind you sir i know and you i know it's gonna be a first class place and i appreciate you doing it thank you very much thank you jim for very good i would echo what mr jones said about the type of county we're in where citizens without help from government and certainly when government gets out of the way citizens can step up and make us a better county and when antioch school closed johnny outlaw had a plan and if you haven't been to one of his radios i reco

» mmend you do but he's the heart and soul of that area out there and i I'll tell you, Johnny, it's an honor to have you in the county. Well done, sir. With that, I think we can go to a vote. All those in favor on the first reading, so signify. And it's unanimous. Thank you, Mr. Outlaw. Appreciate you being here. We move now to new business. Item number one is the county council meeting schedule, which we are required to approve tonight on the last meeting of the year.

» As you know, we have one meeting in December, and this one kicks off the opportunity for us to announce our schedule for the new calendar year it's at tab h and on the screen and with that i pass mr gardner for making the motion please i move to approve the calendar as presented very good uh do we have a second mr chairman yes could i make an amendment to that motion let's go to uh get a second because we don't have the motion and no i can make i can do that okay i need a second i second it okay we got a second um now we open discussion let me defer to the lead here i have a motion do you want to say you want to go ahead well the calendar that i presented is two meetings in the first six months and one meeting each in the last six months uh we used that this year and it proved very successf

» ul i don't think that after we get through with the budget that our agendas are so strong where it requires two meetings uh if it did we can always call a meeting so i present to you this calendar for uh two meetings january through june and one meeting each in july through okay very good mr jones take off thank you so much for your attention mr chairman i appreciate it um i'd like to make an amendment to the motion and amendment would be to go back to two meetings a month and of course we'll do one meeting at 5 30 then let's do another meeting at 7 30 so we can give folks time to get off from work and be here and participate in the process that's my motion let me restate it uh your amendment is to go to two meetings a month go back to two meetings a month yep and uh go to 1937 30 at night

» to start first meeting would be 5 30 the second meeting would be okay 7 30 is everybody okay do we have a second uh okay we do not have a second mr jones uh and so that dies is there another any other discussion. Mr. Snodgrass. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment. I recognize you for an amendment. Go ahead. Thank you. I'd make an amendment to the motion that we add September 22nd and we add October 20th to this proposed calendar. And can you explain that or? No, we'll get it into on the floor first. Do we have a second for that? I'll second it. Okay, Mr. Jones seconds it. Go right ahead, please. For me, it just, I feel like it meets in the middle. I recognize that the fall, Our fall schedule can be a little bit more light.

» It wasn't much this year, but it can be more light than the spring schedule with doing the budget. But I feel like this is a compromise. It meets in the middle. So it gives us one meeting a month for July and for August. And we can go back to two meetings a month for September and October. And then November of 20, that fourth Tuesday would be the week of Thanksgiving anyway. So we wouldn't want to meet that Tuesday. And then, of course, December would be historically what we've always done. and I feel like this would be a good compromise for us. There are great arguments on both sides for this schedule, and indeed, there are times where zoning things have come up.

» I know recently we've had people, they've had to wait all the way till December to get some zoning things to go through, so I feel like adding these two meetings for September and October will help us with that. That's my motion. thank you other discussion if i could yeah mr jones thank you mr chairman members of county council um i don't i don't like your idea i don't like it at all but bottom is well no no i don't mean that ugly or anything i just believe there's only one argument that's to go back to two i don't think there's a good argument on both sides i think it's uh one good argument that's to go back to two meetings a month i think that um we get just a little disconnected with 30 days between meetings you know something comes up planning and zoning or whether it's a rezoning or or

» anything as we say we'll call a special meeting you know when you call special meetings you you hope to have four people show up that's usually what you get and any of our other business that calls for multiple readings ordinances and things like that I just I hate to say this because I use this word I just think it's sloppy government and I would like to see us go back to two meetings I definitely would like to see us at one meeting later in the evening because I've had so many folks mentioned that they aren't able to get here at 5:30 that's why I said 7:30 at night that would really give folks a good chance to get here but but let me tell you why I made my second I appreciate it because yours is certainly better than what the alternative is going to be one meeting so I thank you for that

» I will support yours because of that reason it is certainly better than the motion on the floor the first motion on the floor in my opinion so appreciate it this chairman thank you thank you other comments very good there are none let's move that to a vote we have an amendment to the original schedule shown on board that we add to that amendment to that schedule 22 September and 20 October all those in favor signify by raising your hand uh mr jones and mr snodgrass those opposed signify by raising your hand mr connell mr bozard mr burns and mr gardner and the amendment fails i now propose we move forward to a vote on the schedule as presented by mr gardner having had a lot of discussion uh all those in favor of mr gardner's proposal signify by raising your hand and it's mr snodgrass mr gard

» ner mr burns miss bozart and mr connell all those opposed as mr jones and the motion passed and that's signals our intent to meet again on the 14th of january uh with that we move to item number two which is blaney ems station it's at tab i this is very exciting um mr carpenter can you explain this mr chair members council as you recall when we in the budget season uh we're discussing the creation of a professional fire service one of the steps we had to take to move in that direction was to build an ems station in in elgin the blaney station as the ems station has been borrowing the fire station the builder that we have under contract for the first two stations is committed to keeping the price the same that we had for the first two station so he's committed to keeping it at or under 550 0

» 00 both stations have come in so far at under 550 000 but we're requesting the ability to transfer 560 from the ems reserves in order to begin processing the aspect of building this building i imagine there'll be some discussion on that uh with that can we have a motion to approve mr connell a second second second from uh mr bozard i defer to you this is your uh district ben you want to talk about it yeah the first question i have is can you remind me of the square footage of the facility just so we can get an idea of value i refer that to gerald by 900.

» it's equivalent to the other ems building the other two same design yes sir okay and as far as the driveway cut and any requirements from d.o.t have we looked that far ahead you know where would it come out in relation to uh a fire call coming out as well if you need us to bring expertise gerald or gene if you can come forward and help vic out on some of these particulars Generally, what happens is first responders are toned out, and then approximately one minute later, then EMS is toned. So you would never have—I don't see us having a traffic jam issue there. It was discussed to go out towards the thermoid driveway and then back to the left, but there's a strip of land that is owned by that company that, in previous attempts, we've been unable to access.

» So we would be using the same curb cut. Okay, and so as far as we know right now through the research, there's no DOT requirement, different? Everything is checked out to this point. Okay, and for the public to understand, one of the reasons this is important is as we move to a full-time fire service at that location, you're going to have to have the additional office space, place to sleep, and house the fire equipment needed to actually accommodate a full-time fire service. Is that right? Correct. Correct, yes, sir. That's why the EMS station will actually be completely separate behind the fire station. Living areas will be separate for each discipline. Okay, so as EMS is totally displaced by our growth in fire service, we've got to find somewhere else for them to go.

» That's exactly right. Thankfully, we own some land nearby. Yeah, the square footage of the current fire station wouldn't accommodate. Gene, we need you over at the microphone. Thank you. Yeah, right now we own seven and a half acres behind, well, with the Blaney Fire Department. Right. So the EMS station is going to be built directly behind Blaney Fire Station. Roads connecting into the driveway at the Blaney Fire Department. So there won't be any interference by separating them like that. Okay, thank you. Just stay up there, Gene. I got a feeling you'll be hearing more. Mr. Snodgrass. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Carpenter, so this is coming from EMS reserve budget, is that correct? Yes, sir.

» What's the current balance on that ballpark? can get that for i didn't bring that with me but okay it's it's well over that well over that so this transfer is not going to no sir okay yeah other comments well this is great as this is the third of of of ems stations that we've created in the last uh 12 months is that the time frame of gene yes sir third one this will be the third one built out of last year this is very exciting and along with the new equipment and the great personnel management of gerald and your team gerald shows excellent leadership good equipment good training good people now good facilities uh yeah this would not create uh operating or very little operating experience we're already operating already operating out of blaney fire station it would increase probably a little

» bit the abilities or what have you but uh this would be a newer station in theory in theory it can be me less more energy efficient or better better appliances very good mr bozard what's the time frame for starting uh if we can get the approval they told us they could start january the second does this imply that you've already had the bid oh when we bid out previously we bid out for four stations all right so bids have already been put out and this is the same builder out of cassette yeah okay he's got a new jersey accent ask him to work on that would you yes sir yeah but it's a local businessman and he's done a great job mr jones yeah i just want to say something um gene you and gerald both you're doing a great job and i appreciate it thank you no question for you tonight thank you mr jer

» emy yep ben go ahead one other comment um just on value so in the past certain structures that we've done if you attach uh some federal funds to them like davis bacon act funds or bond or debt service on it those uh those projects have cost us anywhere from 25 percent to 33% more than what this would cost us an internal transfer to spending the money directly without debt service as a capital project so I think this is the smartest way to do it thank you other comments what fun it was to cut the ribbon on that last one and the most fun is not having anything but the sound of crickets when people complain about accessibility responsiveness of our EMS Gerald I put that in your in your credit and that was Jean and the support from this council use seven seven up here that give resources to a v

» ital item for our county I believe mr. Bozart as a late breaking news here hey dance I want to hear you're hearing a squealing up here it's kind of need to adjust it now okay that's a better answer thank you so essentially how you were concerned about both sides of the river thank you and you're satisfied with that all right uh with that i think we've had enough discussion this is very exciting uh this is great news for the county and what a great year it makes it for all of us with that let's move to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous thank you gentlemen thank you very much indeed The final item is under new business is for discussion of change to county council policies regarding the use of appropriated travel funds.

» I'll turn this one over to you, Jimmy. Do you want to make a motion? I'll open for a discussion. How do you want to frame this, sir? Julian, I'd like to just open for a discussion. Okay. With that, do you mind if I read what's on here so that everybody will know what we're looking at to include the public? I don't think it's up on, no, we don't have it on the words on the screen. So let me read this. And it says, all ticketed travel, air, and train, and lodging to events deemed worthy of their participation by a member of county council must be booked through the clerk to council, period.

» Upon receiving appropriate confirmations of their reservations, the clerk shall present this information to the county council and the next agenda package as an item for information only uh mr john lead us off thank you i appreciate it no transparency for travel by council members not total waste of the taxpayers money south carolina central alliance is self-promoting i think unnecessary expense for the taxpayers has not brought a single industry to curtail County in over 10 years. I think we put $75,000 into that. Mr. Carpenter, is that correct? $72,000, excuse me. You know, I think it was a waste of the taxpayers' money and unnecessary travel to Washington. I think Mr. Carpenter should have gone. He's the acting economic development director.

» And I also went down, let me just say this to you, I went down and met with Warren Reeder and Stuart. What great people. They got it going on. They really do. I hope the new economic development director will at least listen to them you know what they have to say and get some strong consideration because I was very impressed with what some of the ideas that they not doing the same old thing over and over and over buildings you know typical whatever but anyway you know we talked about well we went up there we met Ralph normal Lindsey Graham well that's just fine but Lindsey Graham Ralph normal will come meet us here anytime we give them a call I think they would look for the opportunity to come here and say also if you think about I want y'all to really really want you to listen what I'm say

» on this we have five layers of economic development bureaucracy in Kershaw County five layers and I just want to share that you have the South Carolina Department of Commerce funded by the state markets Kershaw County here the second electric cooperatives South Carolina power team they're funded by the electrical operatives in Marcus Kershaw County I actually like them I can't believe you call a point of order on that so what you're saying is that you want to call a point of order for what you shut me down No, I just want you to talk about what this says, you're not talking about economic development, you're not talking about policy of travel, that's all I'm talking about. If I may, Mr. Chairman, excuse me, Mr.

» Gardner, let me just say, we had a council member go to Washington for economic development, but that is part of it. I think I could take the point, but the idea is not to shut down. Could I just finish? No, I've got a point of order and I'm ruling on it. I have a point of order here that says that the discussion for Mr. Jones is off the point of the motion, and it's broadly in the characteristic of economic development. Mr. Jones, if you could focus on the motion. I'm going to. Yes, sir. And that's what I'm doing. And that's exactly what I'm doing. You call it a point of order. I want to get the attorney's opinion on this. Points of order. He's ruled. I think he's ruled you can go ahead and continue to speak, but he wants you to talk to us. I want you to talk to the motion, please.

» I am going to speak to the motion. thank you very much and as i said you have five layers of bureaucracy you know and we were there for economic development of course you have the economic development office which i think is totally overfunded and paid by taxpayers you have private consultants that are paid by taxpayers you have the south carolina central alliance which i think is unnecessary to put 72 000 in i'm talking fast because i don't want another point of order to try to shut me down get it out um but as i said But I do think that electrical is an asset and Kershaw County does cost us over a million dollars a year. Let me just say this. We need a policy if we're going to travel for economic development out of this, we will travel anywhere for anything. We need a policy.

» And I'll be honest with you. I hope it would have passed if I put it on the agenda tonight, but we'll find out because I'm gonna put it on the agenda in the future. It's just responsible government. That's what it boils down. I think when you don't have a policy on county council members' travel, I have a question. Maybe the administrator can clear this up for me. Is there a policy on travel for the employees of the county? Employee travel must be approved by the administrator. Mr. Bozeman. Budgeted. Okay, I just didn't know. Listen, okay, so we do have a policy or not? Yes, sir. Okay, but yet we do not have a policy on county council's travel. Yes, sir.

» as the acting economic development director have a question why did you not take the trip to washington well because i'm also the administrator and i've been on this trip once several years ago so i didn't see the value in taking the trip again you didn't see the value in it i've done that once uh i'd also like to say um thank you for this time i think that's going to probably conclude our comments uh that we do have a policy and that is one that i think we faithfully followed is that when council travels and that includes the retreats and things of that nature a report is rendered to this body um there is a copy now in your enclosed below and the fyi fyi part of the budget of the uh agenda is a full report on the trip taken by mr snodgrass other comments mr snodgrass uh question uh mr jone

» s did you do you know do you know how this department of commerce is structured in a way that they encourage i want to say maybe required but they encourage all counties to be a part of an economic alliance. Were you aware of that? I am aware of that. So do you have another alliance that you suggest that we should be a part of? Do you have another solution? I do. I do. We can go ahead and stop spending money on a system such as this alliance that hasn't produced anything in the last 10 years. It probably hasn't. I can't remember where they have actually been effective in helping us produce any industry whatsoever in Kershaw County.

» let me ask this too i've got the floor you're answering my question you asked me a question okay but yes i think that we should uh do away with this the money we're spending and i'm not i'm not here to defend central uh a fact one of the for me one of the reasons to go on the trip was to see central for myself to meet i've never met anyone from there and uh got my own questions about it so i was able to to see it you know firsthand that's that's a whole nother discussion but i just want to make sure that you were aware that the way the department of commerce works the way the ball game works and we may not like the rules of the ball game but this is this is how the state of south carolina says how you play ball and so i just i just want to make sure that we are we're aware that that these a

» re within the rules of the department of commerce yeah mr jones thank you so much mr chairman let me just say this whatever the what are the rules are that that are that is the rules however we have been unsuccessful for the last 10 years what we're doing with the Department of Commerce, with the Alliance, you know, with the private consultants, everything that we're doing has been a failure. We have not succeeded. So when you have that happen, why would you not consider maybe doing something different? And no, no, no, no. I still have the floor now, Mr. Snodgrass. I mean, I have the floor. You're answering my questions. But I just been, I was recognized by the chairman. I didn't mean to interrupt.

» Out of courtesy, would you continue mr snoggrass no i just you know mr jones i got a lot of respect for you and you know i've worked with you on some things i just i look forward to my council briefings because and i i told you this earlier for me it puts me in an awkward position that you bring this up i'm the last one that traveled and then you bring this up and uh would even i don't think that you have suggested this but it does create doubt in perhaps in their minds and and i look forward to my briefings to let everyone make sure everyone's aware that that this this trip was i was asked to go on this from a county official to represent Kershaw County and of course that's I'm getting into my briefing so I'm going to I'm going to stop there but I yield the floor. Okay Mr. Jones.

» Okay thank you Mr. Chairman very much. And then I'll go to Mr. Bozar and Mr. Connell. Well just as much as you I guess you're you're somewhat offended that I would bring this up in open session of county council I'm somewhat taken back Mr. Snodgrass that over here on the street that you're in Washington you're a member of county council and I didn't know anything about it I find that unfortunate I find it disappointing so I think we need to do a little bit better job on identifying who's going where and especially when you're doing it on the public's money okay and let me say this to you why would you not send the county minister the county minister just said he didn't see any value in the trip he didn't see any value for him to go because he's already been but I think he knows a lot I thin

» k he knows a pretty good bit about economic development and more so than you sir myself or anybody else sitting here on county council nobody up here has produced not a thing and you keep doing the same thing over and over now i let okay let's get back to the policy well we i asked council and gentlemen i asked to get back to the policy that mr jones has put in front of us i will read it again that we should go through and i will read extracts county council must be booked through the county clerk and upon receiving appropriate confirmations this information shall be presented by the county clerk and the agenda package to follow for information only uh with that i go to mr bozard i'm giving it to mr bozard go ahead mr bozard thank you very much i appreciate it i have been on two trips to wa

» shington by invitation only i couldn't have went nobody went mary did both of my bookings for me. She booked my motel. She took care of my allowance and everything else. So we do have a policy as far as that goes. The only thing that hasn't been done is this statement here says, send this information to County Council next agenda. And I don't see where that would be a big deal.

» Other than that, she's doing everything that's in this thing right here already yeah mr connell mr khan right now thank you sir you're welcome it's um sometimes we don't have a choice whether we get somebody else to go or not as i just stated some of these is by invitation only come down by name you don't have a choice you either go or you don't go mr chairman thank you uh mr connell please chairman um i think there's actually a policy in practice it'd be fine to write it down make sure it's formalized if needed i don't see any issue with that um i think i heard that kershaw county has been a complete failure in economic development that's something i would have to just completely disagree with if we forget i think we voted just a moment ago on a 17 million dollar investment that's represen

» ted by midlands regional rehab hospital llc if i'm not mistaken that is an area in which the county organized and set up probably upon advice of consultants i wasn't here when they did it seems like a good move now in hindsight but that was uh designed to attract business and lo and behold uh we just voted tonight on a 17 million dollar fee low uh for that advanced physical rehab facility i know i'm a little far abreast from the topic of the motion but i just feel like we have to correct the facts um on the same in the same vein um that park in particular is ripe for further Kershaw Health has just received a CON or certificate of need for a surgical center that will go there. That's a private business that's going to be investing millions of dollars in Kershaw County.

» I fail to see the failure and actually I'm excited about the growth. I'm glad that we had a representative from a local business here tonight and that we've been able to assist in any small way we can. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Okay, I'm going to take the floor for a moment. Mr. Chairman, may I? I'm taking the floor for a moment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. I first have to agree with Mr. Connell. You cannot say we totally failed. As to the best methods, number two, we'll certainly pursue those aggressively. Number three, we've had a consistent discussion about the Central South Carolina Alliance, and there will be more of those. And maybe at the budget, we can take that up in January and February.

» Number four, every council member was told by me in a text that mr snodgrass was going in my place and it was necessitated at the last minute as a part of a regularly scheduled meeting that i was to have in washington dc on economic development and i could not go and i didn't to those council members i could reach i offered them the opportunity to go and reaching finally mr snodgrass he gainfully stepped forward and i thank him for doing that so every one of you received a text or at least I sent it I'm sorry for the short-term notice but this was budgeted and anticipated and I had to drop out at the last minute now let me structure the discussion mr.

» Jones a point of order has been filed and I've ruled on it that we need to get on to the point that you have here for discussion let me ask you this mr. Jones let me ask you this mr. Jones, do you want to frame these words as a motion to be voted on? Because I'm hearing generally approval of what you have in these words. They seem to be carefully crafted. Is that what you wish to vote on? Well, I actually put it on there for discussion because I thought the consensus or Vice Chairman Tucker said he just wanted me to wait.

» So I said, since he was so cooperative with me working with me on this and he didn't know about this either he didn't know that you were in washington i didn't know you were in washington well but let me say something about your point of order you want to sit there mr chairman with all due respect and hound a point of order on me but yet you let each one of these council members respond and you didn't interrupt one single time when they were they were coming at me about this issue and they so they were pretty much off schedule too if you consider me off schedule i guess i'd like to ask you why would you do that i i don't agree with that characterization i want to move it on to business uh do you i think you got a helpful amendment here to our procedures and if that if you would like to put

» that on the before us as a motion jimmy i'd certainly have to entertain a first and second well you know what i will because i think it's that important okay as said earlier we have a policy we do not have a policy um okay i'll make the motion that we have i can do that i've invited it and i'm gonna i'm gonna carry it forward go ahead mr uh correct on that right mr attorney chairman departmentarian he said you could thank you very much everybody go ahead mr jones all right the motion is that a change to county council policy regarding the use of the appropriate funds for travel all ticketed travel air and train and lodging to events deemed worthy of their participation by a member of the County Council must be booked through the clerk to council upon receiving appropriate confirmations of t

» heir reservations the clerk shall present this information to and place it in the agenda packet where we have future and for further information or future information very good can we have a second I'll second that because that's thank you mr. Snodgrass I think I'm ready to support that as any further discussion if I could yeah I would like to say thank you to each and every one of you for that I think this is a good move in the right direction and I'd also like to miss Snodgrass I don't know where you're getting your advice but you're getting your advice from wrong people on County Council thank you thank you other discussion mr.

» Gardner when you read that that was my point of order you got off on track that was not there i'll support i support this but when you got off on economic development you talked about everything else but this that was my problem if i if i may mr chairman sure thank you so much mr garner you're so wrong on that bottom line is this is a policy on travel we just did travel the travel was for economic development so therefore economic development was a part of the travel i mean of this conversation or discussion for this issue we just vote or we're fixing to vote on okay all right Mr. Snodgrass I just want to say Mr. Jones I don't get my advice from anyone this was an opportunity for me to go and represent Kershaw County in Washington D.C.

» and to make connections for my constituents and to brag and to talk about Kershaw County and that's what I did no one advised me to do that you know who advised me to do that me because I was elected to represent the people of Kershaw County and in the words of Martin LUTHER HERE I STAND I CAN DO NO OTHER SO I'M THIS IS THIS IS THIS WAS ON NO ONE ELSE'S ADVICE MR. CHAIRMAN THANK YOU RIGHT QUICKLY MR.

» SNYDER WELL IN THE WORDS OF JIMMY JONES I'M GONNA ALWAYS ASK QUESTIONS WHEN THERE'S SOMETHING THAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND I DON'T KNOW ABOUT SOMETHING WHEN I FEEL DISRESPECTED BECAUSE A MEMBER OF COUNTY COUNCIL IS GONE SOMEWHERE AND OTHER COUNCIL MEMBERS DON'T KNOW AND SAMMY TUCKER AS WELL WAS UPSET THAT HE DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THIS ISSUE AT HAND AND LET ME say this i made it clear in the beginning mr snoggrass because you seem to be a little upset so let me just say this i made it clear in the beginning nobody did anything wrong nobody broke any laws you are transparent sir you take enough selfies of you up here as well as on in washington we all know where you're at so bottom line is i just don't understand why there was so much discontent in what i was talking about okay everything i was talkin

» g about was the absolute truth it's just maybe it just sounds ugly because you're uncomfortable some of you are uncomfortable discussing this but bottom line is it was the truth thank you I'm ready to call the question with that we have the motion before us to change our operating policies as a council to use the clerk to schedule all our travel and those items would be placed in the archives of our of our agenda packages for information only with that all those in favor signify by raising your hand uh mr jones miss it's unanimous thank you very much we move on now to council briefings beginning with mr bozard thank you okay i want to say merry christmas to everybody i hope you have a happy new year um a couple of months back we had a lot of discussion on the roads and you uh lew golf area

» and what was going to happen to them and i'd like to know what happened to all that discussion the paperwork that was generated by mid carolina and credit union and so forth and uh what can we Why are we done with it? We just let it drop now? Thank you. Okay, so you're asking for the staff to get back to you on that? I sure would like to. Okay, very good. I'll ask Mr. Carpenter. Mr. Connell. One thing I wanted to share, the Elgin Catfish Stomp Christmas Parade. I tell my friends from up north, oh, yeah, we got a catfish stomp parade. They always ask me, why are you stomping catfish? That's not what it's about, of course. The parade was outstanding, and all the proceeds from the parade, the vendors, The entries go to the Toys Roundup charity.

» I want to give you a few stats to let you know a little bit about this community and what they do. So overall, they had 45 vendors out at Potter Park selling, there was some catfish stew and various other wares and foods. There was over 120 entries in the parade, and they raised over $5,900 for 95 families that have been adopted this Christmas season. Those are kind of the selfless things that I like to think about this holiday season. people organizing, getting together, and getting a lot done, raising a lot of money to help those who are in need or less fortunate. And I'm just grateful to be in the community and see that it happens. I wish everybody a Merry Christmas. And thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yep. Mr. Jones, sir. Thank you so much.

» I would just like to say that I appreciate this county council voting on this policy. I think it's the right thing to do. And the question was asked to me earlier about, did I know about the department of commerce and the alliance well i would say we have an attorney there's no law that says we have to do economic development that way am i correct on that mr devos or not not that i'm aware of no no law it's just a suggestion uh mr snoggress about the alliance so i just don't agree with their suggestion that we have we'd be a member of the uh alliance and uh i would like to say to everybody i'm gonna floor one on you now okay merry christmas to each one of you thank you uh mr snodgrass mr chairman members of council uh as as we talked about there is in the fyi portion of of your uh packet a

» summary on on on my dc trip on our the dc trip our dc trip that we represented kershaw county just want to just want to give a couple highlights you i'm not going to read it to you you can you can read it for your own interest but the purpose of this trip was to was to go along with the delegation from central sc alliance along with uh with their other member counties lexton county clarendon county richland orangeburg newberry fairfield ourselves as well as the city of columbia and calhoun county and it was an honor to to be there with representatives from from those counties both elected and as well as staff but we're there to update our federal delegation on the economic progress of of our of our counties and so i was i was proud to be able to tell um our our house members uh from from no

» rman to representative clobber and staff to our senators about how kershaw county is leading the way in work workforce development with our partnership with cctc it was discovered that we are leading the way when it comes to raising up the next generation and making them aware of the opportunities that are afforded to them in manufacturing we do that through our eighth grade manufacturing Expo and as I talked about that in there and in the office with with representative Norman it was we realized we're leading the way on that no other counties are are doing that type of program we bust in eighth graders and we expose them and make them aware of the opportunities so we were able to to do some cheerleading to let them know what's going on and to make them aware about how the legislation that

» they're working on is is helping us us we were also able to let them know about our our needs the biggest need that we have is infrastructure as you as we are we all are aware of dc is they're preoccupied with with with some other things right now meanwhile there's trade agreements that need to get passed that would help us economically there is infrastructure that needs to get passed and we were able to share with that and i was able to sit down with with with with the aides and be clear that's that's the more that's the most important people that that's the really important folks that you want to talk to uh not the house member not the senator but their aides and their legislative liaisons these are these young men and women are doing are doing the groundwork and so uh was able to uh to t

» o make sure that they had kershaw county on their radar as they begin to to draft infrastructure bills and things that will that will go forward i was able to talk about our our our mega site that we have and and make them aware of that i was also able to talk with uh senator scott's uh staff about opportunity zones and this is very very important in fact when i knew i was going to washington dc i made central alliance aware of the fact that hey i'm very interested in opportunity zones i need a meeting on that and so they were able to set up a breakfast in which they they brought in senator scott's lead lead staffer on opportunity zones this important legislation that was passed along with with the trump tax cuts two years ago we have opportunity zones in kershaw county and they all reside

» in district 5 kershaw county so you can understand a lot it was very important to me understand this legislation to understand how we can entice and where how we can encourage private development to come into our county and and in return they can get a they can get a break on on their on their federal taxes for five seven ten years depending on how they on how they are able to uh invest that so those are some of the couple things that we did uh was uh was able to to meet with several ceos of the north american uh portions of companies rose royce ups royal bank of canada some others was able to meet an editor from aviation weekly and we were able to talk about the canada airport and talk about some of the things that that we're trying to do and get some ideas off of them so was was very grat

» eful for for the for the opportunity to go and to represent Kershaw County eight years ago I had the privilege to to come and to call Kershaw County home and I had the privilege to understand what kind of special place this is and this is just one of many steps of doing my part to encourage other people to see the beauty that is Kershaw County and that this is a place that they want to call home so it was my honor to represent all of all of you on this desk and all of you citizens of Kershaw County there there are a lot of people who know where Kershaw County as a as a result of this Thank You members of Council blessed Advent season and of course Merry Christmas Mr.

» Gardner yeah very good two more parades this week and we are well into hunting season and we move into basketball season and we're halfway through the budget year it's been a great year we got new business we've got growing current business schools are growing and putting up new and taking down old that visitor center is going to make a real difference to EMS stations one more to go new sheriff and new equipment KC West Veterans Park new leaders in Sheriff's office and the detention center. How you doing? Working on a new library lead and a new EDO. We've got a new leadership at our airport, thanks to Mr. Carpenter, and we've got a new approach to rural fire. That's a lot of stuff in six months.

» The real story is the people in this county, as we heard tonight, Susan Witkowski bringing on school-based health programs. It was faithfully reported in the Chronicle and the WPUB. Wanda Swan helping us to energize leadership in the county for litter and moreover pride. You've got community leaders not elected serving without pay such as those who lead our homeowners association. Tiffany Lee and Lewis Wilson and others.

» You got Bubba henson taking care of the bethune parade you got mr cobb who helped gerald out on the ems and he didn't have to do that but he took time out to do it craig and blankenship up in westville he cooks for every single team in north central high school and not just football and soccer it's amazing what that man does and he runs a church up there too mark mason what he does for us out of his car dealership i could go on all night about that katie candy who is helping us bring wi-fi so this is a volunteer now bringing wi-fi along with mike conley to our rural areas vision 2030 core group we're doing the surveys now names you know scarborough van horn wilson mason stubert george gibson susan wikowski and then you've got some of our non-profits out there like toby edwards and john cush

» man who have found a new entrepreneurial way to tell the story at the steeplechase and even do high school cross country that's all in the last six months ladies and gentlemen and then we've talked about johnny outlaw and what he does and did and then you got the case the kershaw county swim team i think we've got a river we ought to have a swim team you got danny boys and jackie viotto and then the coaches and families that brought us the ponytails. And then you've got Bob, Jen, Georgie, and Ed Kahn, who are leading us with a civilian group, non-profit, no pay to develop bike trails in this county all over the place. And then we've got the volunteers who led us on the voting machines in the recent elections in Bethune and in Elgin, and they've given us valuable lessons that Mr.

» Carpenter can now install for us in the 2020 elections and then all the volunteers that are helping us with the census led by mr. Connolly and mr. carpenter and councilman Tucker what a great place Merry Christmas mr. talk mr. carpenter mr. chairman members council a few items for you tonight first of all does a brief report mr. buzzard wanted an update on where we are with our solid waste department several years after we made the switch as you recall we were number of years under contract to waste management. There was a lot of concern over the quality of the service we were receiving, the timeliness of their efforts, and so council back in 16-17 approved us assuming the hauling ourself.

» And so in those, in the four years since then, we have, after our initial year of coming into the red because we had to pay waste management for part of the year, and it took a little longer than we budgeted. We've been in the black ever since then. Last year on 18-19, finishing with $121,000 to the good in that fund. The vehicles now are hitting about 100,000 miles. Of course, we got vehicles that are designed to hit high miles. So they're about middle age at this point. We know that we're reaching where we're going to have to start looking to try to replace one or two a year in order to have a rotation going on as we bought all five of these at once, and you don't want to have to buy five at a time. So next year, perhaps, we'll look at adding, starting a rotation and replacing them.

» We've had no major problems with these vehicles. Mostly it's been tires. When you're coming in and out of landfills and convenience centers, you can run over a lot of nails, and that's the kind of nature of the business. The tarping system is the biggest damage or repair that we have to do because so many times it comes up and down so many times a day, and generally it's just going to be nuts, bolts, broken welds. We do 95% of those repairs in-house ourselves, so it doesn't really cost us anything. We find that all our trucks are up to date on our services. We have everything is covered with them well. We find that the biggest issue we have with our compactors is hydraulic lines.

» That's generally what's going to be the issue with a compactor is they rupture, and they're made locally, and again, county employees replace them. So all in all, we've got about 105 pieces of equipment out there that we purchased. Those are 80 open-top containers, 25 compactors, and of course, the five vehicles. Staff is maintaining most of them and operating them. Yes, sir, Mr. President. Only damage we had was when there was an accident. Yes, sir. No, sir.

» We haven't had any major repairs that is real yes sir also mr chairman members of council um as you know uh as we discussed uh very briefly earlier we are in the process of looking for our new economic development director the position is live nationally and the search is out and we anticipate closing it in the first week of january which point uh we'll take candidates put them together and start the interview process again we are well on schedule to having on board an amazing leader and sometime in march until then i will be your stand-in leader and maintaining our efforts going forward we are working on it's been a surprisingly busy last 30 days for us and hopefully some of these will turn into projects we'll be able to discuss with you and then finally we do have some parades coming up a

» nd you'll see as always county employees in those parades we think it's important for the citizens of this county to see us and to realize that we live here and we're part of this community to so when you're either in the parade or watching the parade please look out for some of your friends and neighbors who will be in there as well that's my report you did forget to say merry christmas merry christmas yeah mr demose my report is merry christmas chairman uh with that that concludes all our briefings can we have a motion to adjourn for the year move to adjourn uh mr gardner second from mr connell any discussion do you really mean that any more discussion i do have something i want to say but if you would if it bears on the closing of the meeting yes so if i say something it has to be on wha

» t bears on the closing of the meeting i thought if you had any other business you discuss anything you wanted to during this time i don't think i'm gonna no no but go ahead that's also clarification because can i say what was on my mind or do i have to follow in line with what you're saying if it bears on the adjournment and I if you but we all have a lot what would I have to ask about the adjournment let's see any further discussion I just want some clarification does that mean no I'm just asking a question because the answer is the parliamentarian that we're moving to adjournment and if there's any reason we should not I'd like to hear from you so that's when you say any further discussion of the motion thank I would say there is one item if you can make sure these slides are provided to

» the press the media that we had from the several presentations which you would please with that we move to vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous and we wish you a Merry Christmas