Full meeting transcript - January 14, 2020

» [Part 1 of 2] the quorum and all-american county uh i remember the expression uh that we are not defined by our losses and we've had the roaring 20s begin in a rather fascinating way with this tornado and we thank god that nobody was hurt uh as it summed up in uh in the chronicle newspaper this morning it i think we're stronger when we act together and the county indeed has done that that's the spirit of community that we have we lost a high school but no lives and we will rebuild and we will take care of those children and their families and as it says in mark chapter 4 jesus rebuked the storm and we were spared significant damage to our lives and property of the people around that school but we also during the holidays lost a great man we lost gene falconberry and his legacy persisted on

» sunday for those of you who are out there and you watch the men and women that he had trained and the cooperation that he had garnered with other agencies like our good sheriff lee thank you for being here today and the school district all pulling together it was a great moment for our county and it remains that way and tomorrow we'll have school for those children and in remembrance of him uh it was as if gene was present the first person on the scene at midnight that morning in that rain was a volunteer fireman, one of Gene's men, Brandon Price, a volunteer, a fireman, one of Gene's men. He would be proud and I hope he'll be proud of us in the year ahead. And I ask you to join me in a moment of silence in memory of our great friend that we've lost. Amen. And with that, I'll ask Mr.

» Connell to lead us into the new year with the invocation and the pleasure of allegiance. Please stand. Thank you very much indeed, Mr. Connell. We move now to public comments. Mr. DuBose, can you tell us how many we have signed up? Mr. Chairman and members of the council, seven people signed up. so they'll get a little over four minutes each. The first person signed up is Penry Gustafson. And as Ms. Gustafson comes up, I would remind you it's an opportunity for members of the public to share information with council, not a time for debate or the exchange of question and answers. I ask you also to keep your comments within the purpose of this body and maintain the decorum and the serious businesses that we carry forward here on behalf of the people of Manhattan. Please. - Thank you.

» I'm Henry Gustafson, and tonight I wanted to share some thoughts regarding the the trends that are happening across the country in regard to Second Amendment rights, discussions, firearms, et cetera, et cetera. So I think the Second Amendment was written very brilliantly, and I think it still stands today. But this, no offense to anyone here, but this Democratic push to ban handguns has been distressing to me. It's come forward. District of Columbia versus Heller, 2008. A lot of us are familiar with this Supreme Court proclamation of the Second Amendment, which actually established an individual right to possess firearms, and it struck down the DC handgun ban.

» And then the Second Amendment was further strengthened with the Supreme Court rulings in 2010 with the decision of McDonald versus City of Chicago. But again, seizing guns and creating special local ordinances and all that, I just would not have guessed we would be there, but we are there today. I do not agree with a collective rights theory that citizens don't have an individual right to possess guns and and I don't believe governmental bodies should be having the authority to regulate firearms. I think that should be up to our states, up to our local leaders and all those people were made fun of after Obama was elected when they went out and bought their firearms and their ammo. Everybody mocked them.

» I remember this very clearly went up through the roof they got made fun of but it turns out um complete gun control has been part of this democratic agenda for decades they were not paranoid they were just observant so i think we do need now we do need bolder voices stronger voices on every level to stand up for individual rights and liberties i think for the safety of every citizen we need to monitor and speak out against any legislation that might support a gun registry I don't know that's that's a state and federal thing but I think things do trickle down to local levels I don't support a gun registry and while I'm here I'm just gonna add a gun-free zone I'm against gun-free zones because I think they target innocent lives by just providing a road map for the criminals out there just put

» s a big target on their backs so I know there's a lot of discussion a lot of I hope this is be a good public discourse we can continue this as an open discussion and not be combative and divisive about this but I do I do support the resolution tonight because I think that's what we need to do we need to stand up for Second Amendment rights because they're getting shot down at every level, everywhere. And we've got to be strong and support them. And I think this, again, again, years ago, this wouldn't have been necessary. It'd be a waste of time, but not today. I think today it's a good day to do it. Thank you so much for all of your work. Happy New Year. - Thank you, ma'am. Mr. DeVos, the second person that signed up is Bruce, Brett, Brett Schlitz? - Brucci.

» - I can't read, I can't read your writing. - Yeah, I was kind of scribbling. - All right, Mr. Brucci, please. Hey, I'm Bruce Brucci from West Columbia, and I felt this was so important to drive over and offer support and pat you guys on the back for what you're doing. And as I stand here tonight, I want to share some good news. In Virginia, which we're all aware of, the gun confiscation was just stopped because of the pro-gun crowd that showed up at the legislature. You guys are the first council in the county to take a proactive step to protect the Second Amendment. Because here's the thing that's so good about what y'all are doing. Crooks will not follow the rules. So by turning law-abiding citizens into criminals, you have made your county and our state less safe. I commend you.

» I thank you, Councilman Jones. Thank you for leading with this. and i'm glad we are breaking out the second amendment and standing with it you know i know we all stand and agree with the constitution but what's under attack right now is the second amendment i think it's very important that we stay with that and on that theme thank you for your time thank you council thank you sir mr devos the third person signed up is sheriff lee bone all right sheriff i'm also up here thanking our county council this is a good step protecting our second amendment rights i'm all for you i support it 100 um i also want to talk about our checks and balances even if we didn't have a council that was supportive of our second amendment and you were to come up with some kind of ordinance to violate the second ame

» ndment i would not enforce it so that kind of works both ways we are glad to have a council that supports the second amendment and a sheriff that supports it. That's a win-win for Kershaw County. I want to thank every one of you for it. Thank you, Mr. Sheriff. Mr. Bowes. Thank you. Four persons signed up is Justin Jones. Good evening, gentlemen. It's been a while since I've spoke and it's good to see all of you again. I had a somewhat more eloquent speaking notes drafted, but I'm going to sum it up with this. Don't give up your guns, period, dot.

» Anybody who asks you to give up your guns is planning to do something to you that you will wish you had kept them for uh but more succinctly those who beat their swords into plowshares end up plowing for those who kept their swords uh and the second amendment is never more than just a few council members away from being stripped from us i've had a council member tell me basically that he doesn't have to convince me if he convinces himself and that's all it takes all it takes is four of you to convince yourselves that I do not have this right to my guns and you will vote to try to take them away from me and then we're going to fight and that's period. That's the end of the story right there.

» I hope it never comes to that and I hope the fact that the second amendment is not did not get created in the 1700s but stems all the way back to the middle ages and English common law would be enough to convince us that their traditions and collected wisdom of our ancestors has shown us that a armed populace is a peaceful populace and a protected populace. There's a mantra I like to live by, and I heard it only recently, but it really stuck with me. And it goes something similar to this. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create hard times. And hard times create strong men. And oftentimes we find that good times and these weak men forget how important the rights that the strong men gave us are to our future prosperity.

» In conclusion, I'd like to say the second is not up for debate. It is not quibbling over semantics because our comma is here, our comma is there. The militia is us. It is us. It is all of us. This is the organized and the unorganized militia. The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. They do not understand how that could be confusing, but apparently it is to some. And if you are afraid of guns, I've got no issue with you. You don't have to have them, but I'm not afraid of them. And I know how useful they can be for our protection. And it is not about hunting. It is always about personal protection. It has been about having weapons on par with those that are in common military usage, not muskets, nothing archaic, not English longbows, common military usage.

» Thank you for your time, and I support you in this measure. Thank you very much, sir, Mr. DeVos. The fifth person that signed up, and the next person is alan alan cobb mr cobb thank you gentlemen i want to start out i also support second amendment resolution we got to protect our gun rights uh next thing i want to talk about this evening is good things i understand we have custom profiling coming to the county 70 new jobs 1.7 million dollar investment and i keep hearing some good things about the water walk the river walk rather That's coming along pretty good. With that being said, let me go on to some other things I want to talk about. One is starting at 5.30. Gentlemen, working men and women have a hard time getting here at 5.30. Most people work at 5.

» It's kind of hard to go home, do whatever it is you got to do, get ready, come to this meeting and be here by 5.30, especially if you want to speak. If you want to speak, you really need to be here a few minutes early, correct? So I'd really like to see this bumped on up to 6 o'clock so we can get the working men and women. The pond out there is not for, well, like Walmart has to build a pond for the water to run off of all the concrete. The school had to build a pond. Well, we've got a lot of industry here, don't get me wrong. But when are we going to get another do-pond, another investor, something big, something that pays really good? Continental Tire would have been a good opportunity for Kershaw County. And for some reason, we didn't even have a crack at it.

» What are we doing wrong? We've got to have a better deal. We've got to work on better deals. Wasteful spending is pretty much what I'm hitting at. When it started out, people didn't like it. They thought it was a bad deal. How valuable another section of land not fall part of our Constitution. I hope that in the future, this same support that you're showing for the Second Amendment will also, some discussion of it is regular. Second Amendment, it's supposed to be well-practiced so that we show up on time if anybody calls us out. We don't do that. It's a shame. There have been some militias. Right before the Murrah building was blown up, there were militias here in South Carolina and locally. I knew some of the people. I never did.

» [Part 2 of 2] the old guy gone now and we move now the next item which is the adopt thank very much discussion on the agenda seeing there is I will move to a vote all those and areas unanimous chairman YouTube is not working maybe okay thanks and we'll get it recorded later and get it back out live feed not working we'll take a motion whether to act on it or not I see we have members of the Association here Let me read that.

» A resolution recognizing the Carolina Cup Racing Association, whereas the Carolina Cup Racing Association has successfully supported and promoted the finest of steeplechases in North America for 87 years since 1932, and whereas the association has distinguished Kershaw County and the city of Camden as the locust animals in this sport, And whereas the annual races attract lovers of the sport and sustains this county as a recognized national leader of the sport of horse racing, uniquely celebrating an abundant recreational tourist and societal life of the horse industry and its advocates.

» And whereas the Cup and its staff have thereby supported important industries and regional spinoffs in adjacent sports, such as the growth of horse shows at the Equine Park, equestrian supply and support enterprises, and extensive clubs and private owners with fox hunting, rodeos and trail rides and the like. And whereas, as economic and public support has changed over the years, the COC Association has had to innovate and find new ways to attract support. And the association has rejuvenated its marketing and management, has built and managed a most sought-after venue in the Steeplechase Museum, and shown entrepreneurial skill in new uses for the facilities and their management for trainers and owners.

» And whereas its management has now found new ways that the course and facilities can be used, and most recently attracted state-level cross-country races with as many as 3,500 runners at a time. Now, therefore, be it resolved, Kershaw County Council commends the leadership and management of the Carolina Cup Race Association and its executive director, Toby Edwards, and its chairman, John Cushman, for vision and skill in promoting the sport of steeplechase and through which our county and our city are promoted. With that, can we have a motion to approve? We'll make the motion that we approve. Mr. Tucker, a second? Or Mr. Gardner, any discussion? Quick comment. Yeah.

» Each and every citizen in this county, when the largest event that we sponsor every year is held there and finding new ways to use that ground given to us by Marion DuPont Scott and supported over the years by important people throughout, to include most recently the sponsored race this year by Mr. Tom Mulligan, all lends great support to our economy and to our society here.

» all right any further discussion uh with that let's move to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous uh mary you got the proclamation over there and if toby and john cushman can come up we'll take a quick photograph please next item on the agenda which is a resolution by kershaw county council expressing its support of second amendment rights uh with that i'll follow the the same protocol read through it and then we'll take motion whereas the second amendment of the united states constitution states in part that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed and whereas the same language is also contained in article 1 section 20 constitution of the states a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state the right

» of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed and whereas the kershaw county council feels that the right of citizens to bear arms as stated in both the united states constitution constitution of the state of south carolina is a fundamental right that should be protected to the greatest degree possible and whereas the legislative assemblies of several states have begun adopting measures regarding gun control and it is expected these proposed measures which would greatly encroach on the constitutional right in the aforementioned states as part of their 2020 legislative sessions Whereas the Kershaw County Council, by adopting this resolution, wishes to express its strong support for the rights of citizens under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, and the Const

» itution of the State of South Carolina urges the Governor and members of the General Assembly to take no action which would violate the freedoms guaranteed in both constitutions. Now, therefore, be it resolved by Kershaw County Council. Kershaw County Council hereby expresses its strong support for the rights of citizens to bear arms pursuant to the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution and of the Constitution of South Carolina and urges the members of the General Assembly and the governor to take no action which would violate the freedoms guaranteed in both constitutions. I will now entertain a motion to approve this. Mr. Jones. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the council. I so move. We have a second. Second. From Mr. Snodgrass, any discussion? Mr.

» Jones, you have the privilege. I do. I would like to very quickly, I'm going to sum it all up. I have introduced this resolution because of events that are taking place in other states across America. In other jurisdictions, legislation has passed or is being proposed that could limit citizens' access or possession of certain firearms, ammunition, or gun accessories. Such legislation has not passed here in South Carolina at this time. I think that's important for us to know. But I want our federal and state elected officials to know that Kershaw County supports the Second Amendment rights of its citizens. My resolution here tonight, it doesn't, it hasn't got any power, it doesn't affirmatively take action.

» Rather, it only supports rights already granted by the United States and South Carolina constitutions. This resolution, this is what's important to me, urges the governor and the General Assembly to take no action which would violate the freedoms guaranteed by both constitutions. And I want to thank the individuals that got up and so bravely spoke tonight and even mentioned in their conversation the entire Constitution is important, but this is what we're dealing with here tonight. And I thank each and every one of the got up and said let's focus on this tonight. That's what we need to do So, thank you so much. Mr. Chairman as a council that includes my comments. Thank you. Mr.

» Bozard One question do we intend to send this on up to the Capitol building up to Columbia asking me? Yes, sure You need to send it on up we don't need Correct. Thank you. Thank you Other comments? Mr. Snodgrass? Sure, I just, I'll say that I do feel like we are blessed that we live in a state in which, personally, I don't feel, I don't feel like a resident, I don't feel like we're forced to try to make this resolution. Luckily, we have an environment in the state of South Carolina that is very second-minute friendly.

» Now, we all realize that can change, and so I think that if that wind does begin to shift, that they understand how Kershaw County fields um more importantly and uh mr webb brought this up uh i think i think more than the second amendment i i fear that i fear our freedom of religion uh tends to be to tends to be under attack and uh and so i would i would encourage us to uh to not not just this amendment but to be aware of all the amendments of all the freedoms all the liberties that that that is afforded to us that has been bought with the price of those who have served uh that we that we are aware of all those liberties and uh and not just not just this this one but but that we do live in a country that recognizes that all men all women are created equal endowed with inalienable rights by

» their creator and uh so thankful thankful that we live that we live in this in this nation uh other comments uh mr connell please sometimes you have a unique experience whenever you're sitting on council not that this is about me or any one of us but people from different uh times in your life will just be in the crowd it brings up real strong and poignant memories and that's happened to me tonight I remember growing up way five mr. Holland and his kids and he was one of the first individuals that taught me in addition to my father about the importance of gun rights and gun safety and we grew up with guns out there for defense but as kids it was for recreation and hunting primarily I see mr.

» Craig Hudson at school as he traveled around he would teach us about the importance of guns in school. Mentioning school, in high school, I can recall several of my friends who would have that cool gun rack in their truck. How quickly things change, huh? You'd have your shotgun and you go hunting after school or go out over the weekend, try to make it to the deer stand real early, and then go to school afterwards. And that was totally fine. That was just Kershaw County. And I miss that. I totally support the Second Amendment. A few of the comments tonight by those who signed up to speak, I think stick out. Mr. Jones' comment about common military usage. I see an FN hat in the crowd.

» Not that I'm one of their salespeople or anything, but they contract with the government to produce scars and other heavy weaponry. It would be nice if citizens could have access to it and afford them. Also, Mr. Steele, one of the things that sticks out to me is whenever your second amendment rights need to be invoked it's typically because most of the other ones have already been uh infringed upon your freedom of speech as mr snodgrass mentioned your freedom of religion your freedom to associate uh the right to not having reasonable searches and seizures all these rights tend to have been violated in some way by someone and yes it has to be the government i understand that but i want to make sure that we embrace what he said and if we're going to do this one we got to start looking for oth

» er opportunities i guess to uh support uh the entire bill of rights in the future as it comes up you know there are rights are under attack all the time one of the portions of the bill of rights i think that gets overlooked is the reservation of rights to the people in the states anything that hasn't been particularly spelled out in the constitution to the federal government is your right and it's reserved to the states so while this resolution admittedly by mr jones doesn't have any uh real teeth um it represents i think the feeling that the people in this room and those who are watching at home and those in kershaw county and the state of south carolina do have teeth that we have the ability to defend ourselves if we need to and for that reason i would support the uh the resolution thank

» you mr connell and other comments uh mr gardner i'm a gun owner i firmly believe in the Second Amendment. We've got to protect that at all costs. There's no better example than the church shooting a few weeks ago. A prime example of somebody with a gun that probably saved a lot of lives in that. You think about the laws and regulations, those things. You know, the laws are for honest people. You know, if you follow the laws, that's who they're for, because criminals don't care about the laws. You can follow all the laws you want to.

» If you're criminal you don't care about those so laws are for honest people laws are for you know those of us sitting in this room that follow them and so that's that's the the criminals don't care if i you know if there's a gun law but you know that that did take our guns criminals not gonna give the guns so it's vitally important that we keep the second yeah other comments now seeing they are done it looks like we can move to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand and mary it's unanimous and it passes thank you and mary you and i can talk about how we get this up to the people that need to see it all right very good well thank you very much mr jones we move now the next item on the agenda which is approval of the minutes can and they're on the board thank you uh can we mov

» e to uh having a motion to approve the minutes please move to approve minutes as submitted thank you mr gardner second second for mr connell uh any discussion mr chairman i will be abstaining due to absence that's right very good all right and no discussion we move to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous and if you'll record mr tucker as abstaining that's it move now to the next item which is a series of ordinances now the first of which is a second reading of an ordinance of the county council kershaw county to amend the official zoning map or parcel belonging to mr johnny outlaw and i see see Mr. Outlaw here, your silver white hair, sir. Good to see you. Mr. Carpenter, can you take us through this, please? Mr.

» Chairman, members of council, I have before you tonight for second reading an ordinance to rezone a piece of property of approximately 72 acres from its current zoning of RD2 to GD. It has previously been submitted to council by the Planning Commission on a five-to-one vote, and council has passed it on first reading.

» Very good, and the map is up on the board showing antioch can we have a motion to approve mr chairman i make that motion uh mr snodgrass uh second second uh second from uh mr bozard thank you al uh any discussion mr chairman i will say while the last resolution that we just passed may not have any teeth uh our the the action the proof is in the pudding uh if you've read this on your quest you know that there's a proposed pistol range going on this on uh for this project so if you were wondering where council thought or where we were on the second amendment rights that's passing unanimously last time and i would imagine it's going to pass again uh the discussion uh mr jones mr johnny outlaw and his lovely wife minnie pearl thank you so much for what y'all do for the community i'll say it aga

» in we enjoyed ourselves when we were out there and i look forward to coming back and i'm excited about the range cr miles is as well thank you other discussion i just say it's a well-built facility mr outlaw you can really build it man well done with that no further discussion we move to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous and we'll move on to a third reading at our next meeting uh the next item is an ordinance number two at tab e and it's up on the board second reading of an amended restated ordinance determining rules and orders of business I propose we go through this way as Mr. Tucker's, as a sponsor, we will have him place it on the floor. And I'm led to believe that he's going to take us through an amendment.

» So with that, can we have a motion to approve? I make a motion to approve second reading on our council rules and order of business. And can we have a second? Second. Second from Mr. Gardner. I'll now turn to mr tucker uh yes sir mr chairman just like to um make a point of clarity before i do my amendment um the proposed uh ordinance that's in your packet and went out to the news media um has the underlying parts that was the changes in the first reading in november the only thing different in this one as you recall is that i spoke about two uh appendix that were going with that which was APPENDIX 1 WAS THE PUBLIC HEARING GUIDELINES, AND THEN APPENDIX 2, WHICH WAS THE PUBLIC PRESENTATION GUIDELINES. SO, THAT SHOULD BE IN YOUR PACKAGE AS WELL, JUST WANT TO MAKE THAT CLEAR. OKAY.

» GO AHEAD AND MAKE THE MOTION. SO, MY MOTION IS THAT WE AMEND FIRST READING TO INCLUDE APPENDIX 1, WHICH IS THE PUBLIC HEARING GUIDELINES, AND APPENDIX 2, WHICH IS THE PUBLIC PRESENTATION GUIDELINES. OKAY. DO WE HAVE A SECOND? CURRENT. SECOND. ALL RIGHT. DISCUSSION, MR. YES. WHAT WE HAD DISCUSSED AT OUR LAST MEETING WHEN WE READ THIS WAS THAT WE HAD THE GUIDELINES AND OUR ORDINANCE IN TWO DIFFERENT PLACES. SO THIS PUTS EVERYTHING TOGETHER. SO YOU CAN HAVE IT WHEN YOU LOOK IT UP AND THE PAPERS HERE GO THROUGH.

» THE RULES OF PUBLIC HEARING, IT CHANGES THE WORD, WISHES TO SPEAK, MUST IDENTIFY THEMSELVES, THE FOLKS WHO WISHES TO speak in line item number two and then you have in number three and identify it says when the public hearing is open the person to be notified as to how many people have signed up and identified in in what order and then in line item number four it uses the word identify again that's the only changes in appendix number one all right anything further than sammy no sir all right okay and then THEN IF WE MOVE TO APPENDIX NUMBER TWO, WHICH IS THE PUBLIC PRESENTATION, IF YOU GO TO LINE ITEM NUMBER TWO, IT SAYS THE PUBLIC PRESENTATION IS LIMITED TO NO MORE THAN THREE PER MEETING.

» REMEMBER, WE HAD FOUR OR FIVE AND WE WERE SPENDING ALL DAY TRYING TO GET PRESENTATIONS AND DELAYING THE FOLKS FROM BEING ABLE TO HEAR WHAT THEY COME HERE FOR, WHICH IS THE PUBLIC'S BUSINESS. SO WE CAN HAVE MORE, BUT WE HAVE TO APPROVE IT. can extend the time with the 20 minutes but it has to be approved by this body actually I think it's just two and now you're going to three so that's good so it's gonna be three and no more than 20 minutes and if you know that someone's about to go over or the chairman feels he can stop at that time and see if we you know do they have pop do they need five more minutes or ten more minutes they can tell us we can extend it out or not extend it out gonna be left up this body but what we want to do is be consistent on how we treat everybody who comes before i

» t's no up and down it's straight across the board okay works uh mr jones again mr tucker i do when i saw that i just want to say i was very pleased because we were at two and you you your request is to raise it to three so i i think that's really good yes sir good uh mr snodgrass mr tucker questions yes sir uh when you um public comment when you talk about identifying yourself what is kind of define that what parameters on the public comment yeah just name address no just your name you know we've had people come before us and not want to give their name which is unbelievable i've sat here and watched that happen and you know named jane doe i remember it like it was yesterday that can't happen if you want to speak yeah and i would i'm kind of thinking out loud here which is dangerous not thi

» nking through this but um and you see this when you if you testify before a a senate hearing uh committee i mean i'd love for people i'd love to know you know your name and and where you're from and and actually which which one of us represents you um i'm not i'm not making a name i guess i'm just thinking out loud and uh i see the smoke yeah you see the smoke yeah i'm done mr john please sir i'm gonna think out loud for a moment um i think what you said about giving the name is all we need i don't want to be real invasive the thing that uh bottom line is um it takes a lot for someone to come here at 5 30 with their name on a list stand up i don't want them to feel like they're in front of a firing squad yeah and and i think the way you've got it written of just their name i like that a lot

» i think that's that's probably the way we need to keep it and go with thank you other comments uh mr bozard yes i agree with that one gentleman spoke here tonight was from richmond county he didn't we don't represent him they're free to speaking this body absolutely mr mr chairman one more thing too this chairman if i may finish yeah please uh what i was going to say too is that and as far as where they live what district i don't care i represent everybody in this county i get more calls sometimes from bethune antioch tukidu than i do my own district i don't even know what a district is i wish i did my life might be a little bit easier but anyway thank you uh other comments all right well it looks like we seem to be supporting this i i propose we move to a vote all those in favor signify by

» raising your hand and it passes on second reading with the amendment and now we move to a vote on the the ordinance as amended can we have and can we move to a motion to do that uh mr gardner and a second from mr tucker any discussion all right let's move to a vote all those in favor so signify and it passes on the second reading as amended we move now to the next item on the agenda Let me get you my agenda, which is new business, administrator, and evaluation and compensation. For this, we'll need to go into executive session, and I propose we go into executive session with Mr. Carpenter and Mr. DuBose. At first, Ken, we won't need you, but we will need Mr. Carpenter, and then we'll call you in.

» and then i would say the motion should go we move to executive session with mr carpenter and mr devose and we may come out and vote can we have a motion to that effect please i'll make that motion uh mr connell a second second uh for mr tucker discussion uh i would say and while we have discussion mary you've provided everybody a package all right and that is not available to the media is but it can be uh mr jones mr chairman what if i may thank you for recognizing me i was trying to follow us here on this um i would really love to see us move this to the very end of the meeting because we're going to go into executive session let's finish everything else so that the people won't have to sit out here and wait and i just think it'd be more convenient for them yeah i think it is the end of th

» e last meeting agenda item council briefings follow well we council briefings administrative briefing legal briefing yeah that normally okay yeah thank you so much you're correct all right any further discussion okay let's move to a vote all those in favor signify us by raising your hand and we have moved to executive session and we may come back out and vote thank you very much no we're out of executives and we have a motion that we come out of executive session move to come out of executive uh mr gardner so moved second second second from ms snodgrass any discussion uh with that we move back into our second reading excuse me administrator evaluation and compensation take the vote oh you gotta take a vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand for what coming up he said for what o

» kay it's unanimous in one way or another thank you so we're back uh in session the item on the agenda when we departed was the administrator's evaluation and compensation uh we have a motion mr connell yes mr chairman i make a motion that we increase the administrator's um compensation base salary by two percent my rough calculation is three thousand one hundred seventy seven dollars and fifty cent with all remaining uh material terms in the contract being the same for 2020 calendar year do we have a second second for mr tucker discussion uh seeing there is none uh we move now to a vote all those in favor so signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous and we raised the pay by two percent over the calendar year uh with that we move the next item on the agenda which is a council briefings

» uh beginning with mr connell please uh yes mr chairman few things first one the toughest one gene falconberry i uh i'm just sad that i didn't get to know him for a longer period of time and uh you often say you stand on the shoulder of giants having very limited knowledge about fire service and ems as keith and scott can attest to um gene has done a great service to kershaw county in shepherding us to a full-time fire service the legacy of increased safety will be perpetual in Kershaw County because of that move, and I'm so thankful to him for that, and my heart goes out to his family and all those that loved and cared about him.

» Obviously, very concerned for the folks who have been impacted by the tornado at North Central High School, but I've been very impressed and pleased with the response from all the partners in the community who are making it happen for the kids so that they can move forward with their schooling. I wanted to mention great thanks for Mayor Emmons and Chief Brown and Kim Stokes who headed up the Toy Roundup event and fundraiser. They raised thousands of dollars for families in need in Kershaw County and it's just a touching thing to to have witnessed and know that they put that much effort into it each year. I want to update the council that the dog park or the proposed dog park that is intended to be donated to the county has been cleared right near Watery Dental on Highway 1.

» It's over three acres. They plan on having an agility section, a large dog section, and a small dog section, and you can probably expect some fencing and some other things going up out there pretty soon. Maybe summertime it might be ready, so you'll be hearing more about that. August 8th is a possible date for a land jam concert that the county's been working on with some private entities and a promoter locally. It'd be a country music festival out at the Watery River Parcel. They're entertaining the idea of a rodeo out there as well. And the promoter felt like it was just an ideal location for that to happen. And a lot of sponsors have been lining up and interested in making that event happen. So more to come on that.

» And then lastly, I wanted to mention that the Rotary Wild Game Dinner will be February 8th at City Arena. Each year, West Watery Rotary, and now they've teamed up with Camden Rotary, give over $30,000 in scholarships. It is strong for local high school students. And I'll be cooking all the wild pork. If you want to steer away from that, that's fine.

» I won't be offended, but we'll be out there overnight cooking probably 28 to 30 butts and shoulders that have been donated locally from hogs that primarily come from Kershaw County, a lot of them along the watery river and they'll have all kinds of other wild game fair for you to enjoy and that's my report thank you sir mr jones thank you mr chairman members of county council i'm going to start and end with just one thing tonight and i had quite a few i had written them down here that i was going to discuss gene falkenberry was a friend this is keith is my friend we worked together as fellow employees i was here when gene walked in the first day he came to work as i was a county employee as well.

» I was here when Keith walked in the first day, a county employee, and Keith and Gene were there for me when I retired, sat in the office. I don't know if you remember Keith. We sat in the office, and he's going to be missed. I am concerned. I think about Christy a lot. I think about you, Keith, a lot. Y'all were together for, what, how many years? 20 years, and just know that our hearts and prayers are with y'all and with his family as well, and God bless each and every one of you, and I love you guys. I know we have bumps in the road. I know sometimes y'all may not understand my way of thinking or thoughts, but y'all get me a whole lot better than they do, but bottom line is thank y'all for what y'all do.

» Thank y'all so much, and I'm going to stop, or I'm going to be there with you, Keith. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Jones. Mr. Snodgrass. Mr. Chairman, members of council, I did want to begin my remarks by also recognizing um gene falconberry i i knew him the least amount of time up here because i've only been here on council one year but i just i didn't want to take time just to just say when i after i was first elected gene was one of the first people i was introduced to uh when uh the county administrator gave me a tour of of the of the building and my first thought was wow if every if every county director is as knowledgeable about their department as this as this man is uh this county is is ran by some some exceptional exceptional people and so that that would always impress me about him a

» nd was thankful that we had him to get us through the fire the fire service switch that we did this past may he and of course the rest of the fire leadership so a lot of organizational memory i believe we lost there a lot of things that are probably not written down or not in a policy book, but we could always pick up the phone and, hey, Gene, what do you think about this? So I think about those types of things. So just hats off to his life and praying for his family. And I want to also just kind of tip my hat to the solid waste department. Anytime you go through a holiday season, that's really a busy time for them.

» I think it's very ironic that when we're at a season where we're getting rid of our stuff, they're at a season where they're receiving all of our stuff that we don't want any longer. And so on a day that is recognized by the Canadians as Boxing Day, I found myself loading up the cardboard box dispenser there at the airport location. And from my view, at my location, they were ready and they were prepared. New businesses that are coming into District 5, Get Well Pharmacy, which is now going to be located in the old Fred's building in East Camden. So I want to highlight them, and they'll be up and running very, very soon. I want to recognize a citizen of District 5 just today. Mr. Gene Parnell was named the Texas Roadhouse Hero of the Month. And, in fact, that's Gary's father.

» he's one of our fire service uh guys and uh so that's just his father and so i just want to anytime i hear about those type of things of citizens being recognized and digit five just want to take time to to highlight that as well i want to i want to highlight the guys in the back of uh first responders fire service ems this past saturday uh night through sunday morning even now how you guys responded to the tornado the tornado landing there at north central high school thank Thank you guys so much for doing that and being there. I mean, obviously, you're doing your job, and I was thankful for you. I know some of you were there for up to 12, maybe almost 24 hours there on scene. So thank you for doing that.

» And obviously, my prayers continue to go with our North Central family and that part of the county. Lastly, guys, I want to thank you for a great first year. Just completed my first year on council. And so thank you for being patient with me when maybe I asked a question that may have been a dumb question or calling every one of you guys, I call on the phone and say, hey, how do we do this? Or what do you think about this? And so thank you. Thank you so much for a great first year. And it's been an honor to serve with you. And I'm looking forward to continue to serve with you. We've just in this last year, we've made some really, really neat strides. Thank you to our executive staff, Ms. Mary, Danny, and Vic. Thank you guys for kind of holding my hand sometimes through this first year.

» So that concludes my remarks. Thank you, sir. Mr. Taka. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just to dovetail a little bit on what Councilman Snodgrass was saying is I want to, the Falkenberry family and all that's related in French terms, express my condolence and my heartfelt love for the family and the loss of this community with that being said as I was up there Sunday morning with all of you walking around and trying to figure out what all took place up that devastation I can only keep hearing the words Jean will be proud and and I did all that because you guys did one heck of a job guys when I say that I'm talking about about the ladies as well um so i um i commend you and thank you um one kershaw makes this place so special appreciate the media coming out i mean um they didn't have to come out o

» n a sunday most people were in church or doing riverside baptist you know bedside baptist whichever one they attend yeah um but they they made their way out there and um we took a terrible situation and made the best and continue to make the best, but continue to pray for the school district, the children, the teachers, and the principals, and the community out there in Cassett and Bethune and Westville and Barony Cab, all that's affected. Be here, and I'm going to speak for all of us, is here to do whatever we need to do and what we can do to help better that situation as we continue to build back in the north central area. With that, I want to say thank you to you, Vic, for the job you've done over 2019.

» I know we're not always easy to see some of us up here to deal with, but I think you always manage how to deal with us, and I appreciate you and the job you've done for the citizens of Kershaw County throughout the years. It doesn't seem like you've been here nine years, almost a decade, but I thank you personally, and I say thank you collectively for this body. I want to make sure that you all know that you're invited this coming Monday. So if you want to hear some good singing and get your praise on, yes, please, please come to the ML Day celebration, which is January the 20th, money at 530. It's in walking distance from here at the Camden First United Methodist Church. And I appreciate the media getting the word out and announcing that day.

» And it's a special day that we all can come together and we'll have different opinions of things in life. But one thing we do know, and I think that we all believe in, that we always fight for the human rights, equality, and justice. And I don't think that's ever questioned when it comes down to the people that's in this room.

» It's just sometimes others are misunderstood or don't get it right so we invite you we invite you with open arms and we just want to love on you and get your spirits up so you can go out and do even better work than what you're doing and i just want to tell everyone in the room that i haven't told a happy new year that concludes my report thank you sir mr gardner uh very quickly uh mr snodgrass your probation time is up so don't expect that level of kindness from us anymore just to keep north central in your prayers uh you know they go back to school tomorrow and uh they're going to have some situations that uh you know you think about the extracurricular like the basketball team's going to be playing all their games away they got to find a place to practice the wrestling team and the other

» extracurricular uh going to be really tough they don't have a cafeteria they don't have a gym uh it's going to be really tough on them for a little while and uh you know but it's so great to see the collaborative effort and the cooperation between you know the community there and the community of kershaw county because that's what we are and uh all of our folks like sammy mentioned and firefighters first responders it's uh you know county staff uh school district uh people from across the state uh it's amazing that you see and you see now that our our sister schools are collecting uh school supplies for them and things like that that's what makes kershaw so great kershaw keep them in your prayers because it's uh hard times are still ahead yes thank you uh and i'll close it out before we go

» oh yeah i missed it i did it again for mr bozard go ahead you do it to me every time every time i want to thank this council for the way they conducted business tonight i do appreciate that vic i want to thank you for this past year and the way you've handled this county and uh i deeply appreciate it stepping up when we've lost people stepping up when you needed to now can you tell me where we stand with the water slide project of my comments oh you got it okay i'm sorry i'll wait i'll wait do i have permission to proceed yes sir go right ahead yeah i'll i'll echo what everyone else said about the spirit of the county uh and i remember some words from martin khan in his editorial but how he kept hearing how can we help and then he helped kept hearing we are here for you and there they are o

» n the back row back there that's gene falconberry back there uh that's his spirit lives on in us and we'll carry forward i would point out that even in the school district billy smith left his hospital bed to come out and be there and those you know billy well there's a serious situation there in his health but he was there because we are kershaw county uh some administrative things um first of all we return to two meetings a month next meetings of 28th secondly mr carpenter is going to take us through not just the two meetings a month but through the work sessions that now go in towards our budget and that begins now and with surveys with each of you submitting your priorities for goals and objectives and a few other things of that nature the process takes over i want to congratulate our m

» ayor here for her re-election i haven't seen you since then officially but also my counterpart in the school board and all the school board re-elections uh nominated put put back into office the chair the vice chair the chaplain the cfo the cto they were all voted in today at 10 o'clock lastly congratulations to you mr carpenter a great year and i hope for an even better year in 2020 with that the council briefings are done and we turn it over to mr carpenter thank you mr chairman members of council um mr bozard the splash pad is uh of course that's a a city project the county's participating in county staff has been meeting with city staff and the contractors they're um right now we're working on getting the site cleared uh to in order to ensure that um we have the suitable pad for buildin

» g the contractor is under a guidance of having it open by memorial day so the um so the project continues and then we move forward with it who's the contractor i would i'll get that for you sir i didn't have that with me tonight it was it was a bid let by the city so so the city is in charge of all those details but i'll get you those detail sir um members council i want to um i'm really sorry that this is one of those cases where where our citizens aren't all here but i hope they're watching tonight because i want to recognize you see behind me tonight men and women uh and and they are the heart of this county ways they're they're the ones that are making this county a great place you know and i want to first um point out to your attention uh brandon price his name was mentioned uh brandon

» was the first on scene at the school I came upon he he responding to an alarm not knowing what he was gonna find because we already know the tornado didn't hit anywhere else so no one knew that a tornado would hit there until Brandon got there Brandon if you would please stand up so council can recognize you also has been mentioned tonight mr. Falkenberry you know his crowning achievement he was so proud of us moving to a 24/7 a full-time fire service I won't say professional because they've always been professional, but so many of our volunteers drew a paycheck somewhere else and they wanted to be here if they could, and that was one of his passions and dreams, he and Keith, and we moved to it this past year.

» But if you were out there on Saturday, on Sunday into Monday, you would have seen two of our newest men, Stephen Thiel and Gary Parnell. They were there as battalion commanders providing leadership and guidance to the men and women that were there from fire service and the fire service is critical because if you had a building whose condition nobody really knew in order to access any part of that building they had to have somebody with them who is capable and competent enough to save them if they needed saving and so those firemen our our county employees and our volunteers were out there with their full gear on and their job was to protect the citizens to protect the education employees who are out there. Steve and Gary, if you'd stand up, please. Beside them, Scott.

» Scott Wiles, of course. Scott has been thrown into a lot of things, not the least, of course, is trying to pick up slack as well with Gene's passing. Scott was there on site. He quickly took command as incident commander, and one of the reasons why we didn't have issues is because of just how well trained the organization is and Scott exemplified that and I heard one of you all mention about being out there 24 hours Scott how many hours were you there before you went to bed you know 18 straight hours after a full day Scott please stand up Scott thank you our EMS Gerald is here of course Gerald needs no introduction but the the again the the cool competence with which our EMS responded again if someone got hurt and we didn't know they didn't know if a wall was gonna collapse a roof was gonna

» come in an air conditioning unit was gonna fall through and and those guys are there and again you know Gerald was was so quickly on the scene very early on and and putting information out roll the gene would have played in many cases Gerald took on and shared information and made sure that we knew what was going on so Gerald, if you'd please stand up for me. Thank you, Jared. Moving on, I'd like to share with you a different thing the county's doing that's exciting, and it showcases just what we're doing. You'll see coming up on a second our new FAST team. And let me tell you about the FAST team. The FAST team is a quick response that we have put together to very rapidly, within 24 hours, solve problems that are called into our county public works.

» Potholes, signs that are down, things that we can respond to, things that our citizens see. And if we don't respond to them and fix them, it's very clear to them, very evident that it's still there. They drive by them every day. We have utilized existing equipment and existing staff, and we've repurposed it. So the cost to the citizens is very minimal, almost nonexistent. But it allows us to, within, again, 24 hours, solve these problems. And behind me, I've got Artie Allen. And Artie, you see in the picture there, Artie is our leader, our team leader on that. And they're averaging, their goal is to have between 60 and 100 a week of responses taken care of. So as they're called in, and we're not talking one row to seven different responses.

» They're talking seven different issues that they would fix as one issue. And 60 to 100. Artie, if you'd stand up so council can recognize you. I hope members of council you see these men and women and you're excited about where we are as a county and the kind of people you have working for you in the citizens we've got great things is because of them it's because the training the leadership that people like Jeanne provided to them and I'm just proud to represent them to you that's my report thank you thank you very much mr. DuBose um the chairman I have nothing to say except Happy New Year Happy New Year, Mr. DeVos. Thank you very much. With that, that concludes the meeting. Motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. Do we have a second, please? Second. Second from Mr. Gardner.

» Any discussion? Seeing there is none, let's move to a vote. All those in favor, so signify. And it's unanimous, Mary. And we are adjourned for the first meeting of the year. Thank you.