Full meeting transcript - March 10, 2026

» you guys hear me hello hello how's it going how are you good let's be called to order i'd like to welcome everybody else tonight on this march 10 2026 kershaw county council meeting we've been called to order we'll have an invocation and pledge by councilman brant tomlinson thank you mr chairman please bow your heads as we go to the lord in prayer dear lord thank you for this opportunity today for us to come together serve kershaw county and the citizens of our county please give us the knowledge the wisdom and the guidance to make decisions that are best for the county and please let everybody get home safely in your holy name we pray amen amen of the united states of america to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all i just want t

» o confirm that we have mr tucker mr jones uh participating remotely are you there gentlemen thank you mr tucker mr jones yeah okay may have popped off and i think mr bowes will be joining us a little bit lately from uh later from a business meeting next up on the agenda is adoption of the agenda do we have a motion i'll make a motion we adopt the agenda do we have a second second any discussion on the agenda seeing none we'll move it to a vote all in favor of adopting the agenda raise your hand miss hannah it's unanimous for those who are present and voting mr tucker how do you vote remotely vote yes it's unanimous for those who are voting miss hannah next item on the agenda is item 5a we have a beautiful group uh here tonight and many families and i'd like to see if we have a motion on thi

» s proclamation mr chairman i'd like to make a motion we adopt the proclamation as listed in the packet okay we have a motion is there a second mr chair i yield i yield mr cato has a second any discussion or should we move to a vote and then do the discussion call it for a vote all in favor who are present uh raise your hand it's unanimous in favor for those who are present mr tucker how do you vote remotely about yes mr chairman okay it's unanimous by those who are voting miss hannah for the record mr schumacher you have the floor so if it is all right mr chairman would like to do is read the proclamation then invite some of the students up and potentially yes sir to speak proclamation in honor of samantha gladden and marianne large whereas samantha gladden and marianne large were beloved d

» aughters loving sisters students and friends whose lives touched many throughout lugoff elgin and all of kershaw county whereas samantha was known for her loving spirit her kindness and her dedication to the arts serving as a talented member of the lugoff elgin high school band program and marching band community where she practiced hard and cared deeply for those around her during her winter guard years she played the flute for l.e concert band since the sixth grade and made the utopia varsity team in seventh grade she was also captain of the marching band color guard in the 10th grade with plans to continue after graduation whereas marianne was an exceptional student at the golf elgin high school who was pursuing an early graduation with honors and had already begun preparing for a future

» devoted to teaching and caring for children through her work in the early childhood education program at wtc marianne was a country girl at heart and found joy being in nature hunting and running dogs she also enjoyed reading drawing music children and being with her family whereas both young women brought joy to their families classmates and community whereas the lugo felgin high school class of 2026 has chosen to honor the memory of samantha and marianne in a meaningful and lasting way through the installation of two memorial benches at the front entrance of the high school ensuring their presence will remain part of the school community for generations of students to come whereas these memorial benches are modeled after the historic the historic charleston battery benches that have lined

» the waterfront since the 1800s with the ironwork cast from the original molds featuring designs inspired by native south carolina wildlife whereas the wooden cypress slats and memorial plaques for these benches were crafted locally in lugoff reflecting the pride craftsmanship and community spirit of kershaw county whereas through this tribute the students of lugoff elgin high school demonstrate the very best of our community honoring friendship remembering those they have lost and ensuring that a compassion and remembrance remain part of the school's story whereas the memories of samantha and marianne continue to live on in the hearts of their classmates teachers families in the entire kershaw county community now therefore be it resolved kershaw county council proudly dedicates this 10th d

» ay of march 2026 as samantha gladden and marianne large day in kershaw county south carolina in their honor thank you mr shoemake any other discussion um mr chairman i do believe we have a representative of the senior class who happens to be my daughter the senior class president who has some remarks and then i'd like to invite any of the family up to speak if they'd like miss you make several years ago one of my friends samantha gladden took her own life then the following school year another one of my friends marianne large passed the same way hearing the news of both their passings was devastating and shocking and to this day it still feels unreal both sam and marianne were people who bettered my life in significant ways and i would not be the person that i am today had i not met them th

» ey showed me how to remain positive and friendly in a world riddled with negativity i know that i'm not the only person who saw the light inside of them and was inspired by it i would like to honor that light forever on behalf of the graduating class of 2026 i am donating these two memorial benches that you see right here to be placed at the entryway of luga felgin high school on a symbol of the impact that sam and marianne had on the school and on the people inside of it these two benches that you see before you will replace the current red benches at the school's entryway they will be six feet long wooden with plaques that stay in loving memory of sam and marianne these benches are planned to be unveiled on friday march 13th at luga fudge and high school with just the families and anyone

» that they may choose to invite i would like to thank those who made this project possible that being mr corey wright and the staff at lugavadgen high school roy's wood products in lugoff along with keltsman brazel connell law firm in lugoff along with chairman connell charleston battery bench company jada diaz the student body president who is unfortunately not able to be here today but was a huge collaborator in this project and flowers for any occasion in lugoff for donating these beautiful bouquets that you see in front of you i would also like to thank the family of samantha gladden and of marianne large for allowing me to create this project and to honor their daughters in such beautiful ways thank you thank you miss shumake mr shumake you saw the floor i do would just like to invite i

» f any of the family members of either samantha marianne would like to speak they are not compelled to but i wanted to extend that opportunity for them certainly if any of the family members have anything to share yes sir i want to thank everybody involved in this program and what y'all do for the kids in the county i've been a few years coaching ball here in crystal county and i'm glad to see this year program is continuing to look at our children we need all the help we can get and again i appreciate all y'all just done this thank you yes sir thank you and we do need all the help we can get every one of us anyone else wishing to speak yes ma'am i just want to say thank you marianne's mom and this will really give us somewhere to go and for everybody to remember them at thank you so much fo

» r sharing that Any of the other family members? Dan, I appreciate it. If you could text out to make sure I'm on. Mr. Brazel? Thank you. We're in the middle of... Mr. Jones. We're in the middle of... Mr. Jones, please yield for a second. We're in the middle of comments by family members relating to the public proclamation. You'll have a moment to speak in just a moment, okay? If you could mute your phone, we can hear everything. Thank you, sir.

» Any other family members wishing to speak? Thank you for your bravery in getting up sharing those heartfelt remarks council members any other discussion i just just sort of close out i just want to thank the family for coming obviously this is a i can't imagine the difficulty you guys must bear with this but know that i can tell you in our own household that you know marion and samantha both loomed large and um you know this project wasn't you know abby came to us with this project and this idea really even before she was ever president of the student senior class she wanted to honor these young ladies and you'll have a place you can go and their memories are going to live on no one's going to forget their names thank you mr shoemake for organizing this and for your comments as well council

» members who were present any other discussion i just want to commend the senior class of le and for coming up with a project such as this this is it's awesome to see that our young people still have a heart for one another so i thank you and commend you for this to the family my deepest condolences and at least maybe the memory of these two young ladies can live on at lugo felgin high school thank you all for being here tonight thank you very much mr cato mr thomason mr chairman thank you um god bless their time does not make anything easier this is a huge symbol of what kershaw county is a community coming together with the senior class of luke off elgin high school i commend you and my deepest condolences to the family i i know that time does not change anything but the community is here

» for you and god bless you thank you mr thompson mr tucker do you have any uh comments or discussion remotely uh yes sir and uh mr jones is online with me too mr chairman so i'll have to unmute for the both of us okay but what i would like to say is uh thank you to uh uh chairman carnell uh councilman brazil and councilman a shoemaker. I won't call him shoemaker today. But I really want to say thanks to Miss Abby and the senior class. I'm in that club of a parent who has lost a child for whatever reason. And I know how those parents may feel. And as the other council members have said, time doesn't cure it.

» But I appreciate my niece Abby and her team doing an exceptional job of not forgetting those who are no longer with us who made a difference in our lives and our careers in our community um that's what we have to do more of let's love up on one another and care for one another and support one another so thanks again great job thank you mr tucker mr jones any comments or discussion remotely hearing none i'll just close with a few comments one of the most powerful statements i've heard in relation to loss is that grief is all the love that you never got to share and so please recognize that the intensity of the grief or the pain that you might feel reflects all the love for you had that had for that child or that individual or friend or family member and embrace it my heart goes out to you an

» d as a graduate of Lugolf Elgin high school some 26 roughly years ago I can't think of anything else I'd rather have marking the entryway to the high school that taught me so much thank you very much mr. Wright for approving this as well and having these these benches and really signals to everyone to minister to one another at Lugolf Elgin High School we appreciate that Mr. Brazel yeah go ahead Mr. Tucker Mr. Jones is online I'm not sure if he wants to speak yes sir Mr. Jones Sammy that's the second time we've given him opportunity I haven't been able to hear from him okay yeah thank you Mr.

» Brazel on item number five eight thank you my apologies for my tardiness uh had two conflicts that neither one would budge so got here just as quick as i could i would like to say that um to the families um god bless you i hope that that in doing this uh proclamation and and these these benches that that that you're able to find strength and peace through uh through christ and that um it's absolute honor to be able to offer these to the community and the families thank you thank you mr brazel mr jones yes sir mr jones thank you i think i apologize i think i'm on now uh no no question i agree with council's remarks 150 percent thoughts and prayers though with these families and i absolutely uh appreciate council doing this thank you thank you mr jones and in closing i'll just say with easter

» right around the corner we have great hope in the resurrection with that mr shoemake um did you the benches were going to stay or someone the benches will be moved but i wanted to if they i wanted to invite the school officials up and the family up if they'd like for a picture with the proclamation certainly we have a proclamation anyone who's comfortable and wants to come up family members or school officials please come up near the benches and around the benches crowd in we'll get a picture for for this event make sure you smile for me council members online we're taking a quick picture i'll let you know when we're off yes sir filter on in just like that if the kids won't sit in on this okay y'all feel free to sit down come on in make it two rows back here that's my filtering back here co

» me on in thank y'all we'll make sure you get copies okay god bless y'all we'll make sure you get copies make sure he gets the right family member any help again thank you so much to the to the family members, to the friends, to the school administrators who helped make this happen, and the council members as well that participated. We're just clearing out the benches right now. Family members, feel free to take a moment to clear out yourselves. You don't have to stay for the rest of the meeting if you don't want to. Council members, thanks so much for your assistance with that proclamation and supporting the family as they continue to mourn. All right, that will put us back onto the agenda. Item number six, public comments. Mr.

» DuBose, do we have anyone signed up for public comments? four speakers this night uh tonight uh first speaker is tom webb subject to scalia mr webb yes sir no we're not i would make comments but what a uh what a welcome return hey good to see you mr webb told me lately i had to borrow my wife's car to get here only reason i was able to get it because she wanted something from town my suv has been broken down for about a year now a terribly complicated mess of computers and wires and fuel injectors fuel injectors would cost 400 if they come from china a lot more if they came from somewhere else it's a shame but uh trump is doing some deregulating be nice if eventually some company would start being made would start making automobiles again with points and carburetors wouldn't be near as expe

» nsive to maintain it worked really good for a long time from world war one right on through vietnam points and carburetors and the reason uh automobiles may be uh cleaner now is because the catalytic converter didn't have anything to do with a computer and the reason they get better mileage is they're lighter and they have more gears my son has a patriot a jeep patriot i think it is cut five forward years used to be only had three anyway that's probably wishful thinking on my part they will never get back to points and cooperators it's a shame though but um i proclaimed february to be um who killed anthony antonin scalia the supreme court justice and i'm a few days late but i'm here to mention it again don't want to forget him he uh went hunting down in west texas on a tremendous ranch, 35,

» 000 acres, Cibola Creek Ranch, and they didn't come for breakfast. They found him dead in bed with a pillow on his face, so I thought maybe it was an assassination. People say, oh, you wouldn't find anybody assassinating a Supreme Court justice, but he was pretty important. He was a very important person to our country and to the world because of our country. He had the ability to sway the other people on court, had a good sense of humor, and he was an originalist. He said the Constitution means what it says, and that's that. He didn't need to stretch it or do anything to it. There are other strange circumstances associated with his death, like he didn't get an autopsy. One of the most important people in the country, and he didn't get an autopsy. Seems really strange.

» So people would say, though, you know, why would you think he was assassinated? Well, there were assassinations before, and there have been plenty of them since. People trying to assassinate. Trump had his ear assassinated, Charlie Kirk was assassinated, that CEO on the streets, I think it was New York, Menangioli, I can't remember his name now, but he shot him in the back with a pistol with a silencer, and I would say some very important people have been killed, or been threatened, tried to kill, but there are some normal people too who have disappeared under unusual circumstances, all human beings and all terrible to have somebody assassinated. Anyway, I guess that very well covers what I wanted to say today.

» I'm complaining about my vehicle being broken down, and I wanted to remind you all of Antonin Scalia, a really fine fellow, dead and gone 10 years, and I'm not satisfied with any kind of investigation. The pillow on his face may have been a threat by the assassin. Don't investigate too much. After all this time, there's still loose ends. It's not tied up. Who knows what happened? I still ask the question, who killed Antonin Scalia? - Thank you, Mr. Webb. Mr. DuBose, who's next? - Next speaker is Ann Newell, EMS is the subject. - Ms. Newell. - Good evening, how are y'all guys doing? Ladies, gotta get more ladies up here. As I said, my name is Ann and I'm here tonight as a concerned resident of this district.

» I have several questions and concerns believe deserves answers from this counselor first I would like to formally request that Kershaw County Council conduct a study on the number of registered voters in our district along with that I believe it is equally important to conduct a study comparing the number of primary residents in our district today versus five years ago or ten years ago ma'am just which district Oh, sorry. Liberty Hill. Okay. Yes, ma'am. Please go ahead. Sorry. Where did I get? Our community has grown and changed, and decisions have been made today should be based on accurate and current data. My question to the council is simple.

» Why hasn't this type of study already been conducted before making major decisions that impact our little town, Liberty Hill, South Carolina? Second, I want to address what appears to be a serious imbalance of priorities. Recently, this council voted on projects involving millions of dollars for recreation parks and other amenities. While recreation is important, it should never be at the expense of essential services that protect lives. Our EMS services are not luxury, they are a necessity. When someone calls for help in a medical emergency, minutes matter. Delay in response times can literally mean the difference between life and death.

» It is deeply concerning to many of us that emergency services appear to be sacrificed or underfunded with recreation projects moving forward finally kershaw county has six districts if resources are being allocated fairly across the county then the budget should reflect one-sixth of ems funding and resourcing being directed to our district our residents deserve the same level of emergency protection as any other district in this county at the end of the day this is about accountability transparency and the safety of the people who live here we deserve answers we deserve to know that our council is prior towards prioritizing the basic safety and needs to its citizens before anything else thank you for coming out miss newell appreciate having you mr rabose next speaker is lee reed budgeting i

» s the subject mr reed yes sir i want to kind of follow up a little bit on what ann had to say i sent a message to councilman brazel earlier this week and i'm going to pick and choose a little bit from that message to share with you i was curious about the bethune recycle center office construction approved at the meeting last so i dropped the count by the county offices last week to investigate a bit further in light of a 91 600 price tag i obtained and reviewed the drawings and specs and very candidly i and others in the community are disturbed by the appropriations for the project and by extension what it might mean for cost and approval of future projects the recently approved bethune's recycle center office a simple 12 and a half by 20 foot 250 square foot building on cmu blocks with of

» fice restroom closed closet and storage internal facilities appear ada compliant while the outside access as quoted does not appear to be ada compliant i may be incorrect but that is how i interpret ada compliance since this is a raised building with only stairs to access the office specs call for guttering on the entry side only formal specifications call for guttering on the entry side only but the approved plans include guttering on the front and back with multiple downspouts four to be exact standard for a roof this approximate size is one possibly two down spouts not four has approved the one and a half ton hvac split system appears substantially oversized for this building one and a half tons equals approximately 18 000 btus per hour of cooling capacity whereas six thousand to nine th

» ousand btus per hour should be sufficient unless extenuating circumstances in that case nine to twelve thousand btu should be more than sufficient county agreed to provide contractor a dumpster for existing building disposal and debris and also to transport said debris to the county landfill at the county cost an additional and unquantified cost of the project county administrator indicated at the last meeting that this not only is being built to provide a restroom facility but it is a shelter-in-place facility for employees by definition a shelter-in-place facility indicates a structure designed for people to remain safely protected during hazardous events severe weather security threats wildfire smoke and so on i'm not sure one can legitimately classify this structure built on cmu blocks

» off the ground as a shelter in place facility for anything other than rain snow and maybe a little hail all in all the simple recycle center is being built for use by mostly part-time employees at a cost of 366 dollars and 38 cents per square foot put that in perspective average new construction residential in kershaw county is 150 to 225 dollars per square foot typical 25 225 to 350 high-end custom 350 to 600 very high-end luxury rare and this building is being built for 366 38.

» the current median price of a house in the county is 166 dollars per square foot it is i think it is fair that we to say that we have a disconnect this is not intended to be a complaint or to badger but rather a documented review and a clear statement that we must do a better job more thorough job evaluating and utilizing our financial resources for the good of all kershaw county residents did bethune need this new building maybe either that or renovation to the existing structure which doesn't appear to have been a consideration again that's all i know hopeful takeaway because a bid is the lowest of all available bids does not make it reasonable or even acceptable as best i can tell 366 dollars and 38 cents per square foot for a simple 250 or 250 square foot building is not reasonable is n

» ot rational nor should it be acceptable to the people of kershaw county especially in light of other more significant needs that impact hundreds if not thousands of lives thank you mr reed mr bowes who's the fourth person final speaker is benjamin garnett the subject is columbia green i believe mr garnett yes sir good evening gentlemen thank you for taking the time my name is benjamin garnett i'm a resident of lugoff lived there a couple years now since my family and I moved in here and transferred in to work at Fort Jackson I have a couple of kids in the Lugoff Elgin high school Chris just about to finish his sophomore year Allison about to finish her senior year I wasn't aware of the the proclamation and what was happening at the beginning of this meeting when I came in so for that just a

» n aside that is somebody who also lost a classmate during my senior year of college I appreciate your attention and sorry I only saw her up here for about 15 seconds but very impressive young lady your daughter she has lots to be proud of I'm here tonight to put the nonprofit organization of Columbia green on your radar this is a 501c3 down in Colombia with many tree planting related and environmental goals and one of their programs is one that I'm very interested in as a resident of Lugov it's called beat the heat it's a partnership that currently exists between them and the city of Colombia and several other municipalities in the area to give away shade trees native to the area to property owners in Greater Columbia and surrounding areas which could include Kershaw County to reduce amount

» s of urban heat improve air quality all of the benefits of having more trees planted that I won't list here because there are other people who could do it better than I can since the program's kickoff in July of 2024 they've given away over 1,550 trees to property owners in Greater Columbia. I stumbled upon this program just about a year ago and I signed up on the the sign up button and that's when they replied to me and said that they needed an agreement with the municipality in which I reside before they would be able to bring trees to constituents or residents of those areas.

» They have participation agreements right now with several municipalities including City of Columbia, West Columbia, Casey, most of Richland County and they I've talked to them in detail about a couple of other projects that I'm trying to get started on Fort Jackson concurrently. And I have, if I can pass it on for your review, a sample memorandum of understanding between Columbia Green and insert counterparty here for your review, if this is something that you would like to do. You can just hand it to staff. We'll make sure we get a copy. Thank you. They're working out some modifications and updates to their program now so that next year they'll be able to fulfill tree orders for everyone outside of Richland County and surrounding areas.

» It's just, I think, as far as I'm aware, it's an agreement on the municipality part to pick up trees from the city once or twice a year and then transport them to the location. And I believe Columbia Green does the rest. But that's the memorandum. Their contact information is available. I hope it's something you'll consider. Mr. Garnett, thanks so much for coming out tonight. Thanks for your time. Appreciate you. And thanks, everyone, for coming out tonight for public comments.

» one matter before we move on to the minutes i'd like to give mr brazel and mr jones an opportunity to reconcile their support for uh the proclamation on 5a to have their vote included if they so choose on 5a in support yes absolutely thank you okay mr jones on 5a yeah would you like to have the vote amended to include your support yes yes okay so we're fully we're fully unanimous mr parlor mr bows hold my hand if there's any other procedural requirement i think council fully consents thank you gentlemen all right that takes us to approval of the minutes do we have a motion on the minutes i'll move to read out the minutes we have emotions or second second any discussion on the minutes seeing no discussion we'll have a vote for those who in person first raise your hand if you're in support it

» 's unanimous uh for those who are in person remotely we'll go first to mr jones how do you vote on the minutes in favor that's a yes from mr jones remotely mr tucker how do you vote on the minutes yes that's a yes for mr tucker remotely ms hannett's unanimous the minutes are approved this takes us to item number 9a planning zoning commission uh various appointments on the agenda mr tomlinson is there a motion yes sir i'd like to make a motion that we appoint miss jackie montgomery to planning commission is there a second second sorry i'll say it all right we have a second for mr schumacher any discussion on the appointment um just wanted to say that appreciate Jackie's willingness to serve and we've had the opportunity to have her join us on smart growth committee and she's provided a lot o

» f good insight and taught us a lot of things and I think she'd be it's gonna be a great asset to Planning Commission and I got way ahead of myself I just noticed I checked I checked the boxes I was crying house on 5a I missed the EMS presentation all right so any other discussion we'll bounce back in the agenda um any other discussion on jackie montgomery no sorry that was the delay for my second because i was looking at the thing thank you i'm sorry i had a tear in mind i was checking things like crazy down here i mean i know rms folks like to dress up but i didn't figure we're not bypassing you mr dubose you should have called me out honestly okay uh any other discussion on miss montgomery seeing none from those who are present any uh discussion remotely mr chairman uh yes sir I just want

» ed to say to Brent, thank you, great appointment, and thank Ms. Montgomery for being willing to say it. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. Mr. Jones, any discussion on the appointment? Hearing none, we'll move it to a vote. For those who are present, all in favor on the appointment on 9A, raise your hand. Is unanimous for those who are present. Mr. Tucker, how do you vote on 9A? Yes. That's a yes remotely for Mr. Tucker. Mr. Jones, how do you vote remotely on 9A? Do we still have Mr. Jones? Jimmy, if you're trying to communicate, we're unable to hear you at the moment. And so we won't record that vote. It's six in favor for those who are voting. Thank you, Ms. Hanna. All right, gentlemen, if you'll let me catch up with myself, let's go to item number 7A.

» This is a presentation related to EMS put on by the county administrator. Do we have a motion? I'll make a motion. Mr. Shoemake has a motion. Is there a second? I'll second. We have a second. Any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor of having this public presentation, raise your hand for those who are present. It's unanimous in favor for those who are present. Mr. Tucker, how do you vote on the EMS presentation? I vote yes. That's a yes remotely for Mr. Tucker. Mr. Jones, if you're able to hear us, how do you vote? Still unable to hear Mr. Jones, so that'll be six in favor, Ms. Hanna, for the record of those who are voting. Mr. Administrator. Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of council.

» This presentation was a little truncated from what was given to the finance committee, but it has some interesting facts and data as well, and I think it's actually timely in light of our last meeting and some of our public comments with just sharing with the county at large just some deeper information from what I consider the most important department we have at the county. It's a very complex department as it relates to just providing medical care. So I'm going to ask Will Glover to come up. He's our emergency services director, and he has a presentation to give, and feel free to ask any questions you may have. Yes, sir, Mr. Director. Thank you. Chairman, members of council, thank you for this. I've got Chief Edge behind me, so he'll keep me straight if I get off line.

» Councilman Jones, can you hear us? Hey, we were losing you in and out. Just making sure you're good. I mean, I can't hear nothing. I can't see nothing going on. And my phone just absolutely just dropped it. I don't know why. Okay, we got you back now. If you want to hit your mute, Director, Chief Glover is about to give us a presentation. Yes, sir. All right, so like Mr. Templer said, this was part of the budgetary presentation that we gave to the Finance Committee. Trimmed a little bit out of it, but a statistical update, you know, based off of some previous year's data. So, of course, I'm not going to spend too much time on this one.

» everybody knows is kershaw county 740 square miles the estimated population in 2024 was 71 698 that was an increase of 2.5 percent from 2023 and since the 2020 census that was a 9.4 percent increase so you know in four years a 9.4 percent increase is is moving up pretty quickly this graph right here is the population per fire district for kershaw county derived from the 2020 census data okay we don't have anything that we can update this until we do another census because of how they gather the information and and the granular level our gis department has has helped us out tremendously and so this map shows and i know some of it may be hard to read just because of the font but um but this shows you the the general population of each fire district across the county uh from camden to buffalo

» to beaver creek to uh blaney or elgin district and i'll leave that there for a minute for y'all can y'all can look at it this this shows that highway one corridor uh coming from columbia is is what has been booming you know uh in terms of population is everybody good with that one i didn't want to move it too quickly yes sir okay just making sure kind of derived from that like like i said we can't get more data as far as population from until we do another census but what we can do is track the number of residents so these are the number of residents uh within each fire district again this does count multiple say mobile homes on one piece of property uh i i don't have the answer yet about if it counts the multiple apartments uh per per building so if there's 30 units to an apartment i don't

» know if that counts in this or not but i do know if there's one parcel with three or four mobile homes on it it does capture that so you can see the the distribution across the county per fire district of how many residents how many homes are in each district so trying to gauge this moving forward we look at the new permits per district coming into the county with with gis's help they broke this map out i might need to make some of the numbers bigger for for all of our eyes but the the deeper the red the more permits there are so you can see where most of the permits have been pulled i don't have the data for the town of elgin or city of camden we don't track that in-house i'll have to get that from them so that's why those areas are just completely clear and don't have a number on top of t

» hem but you can see where the the most permits have been pulled in the past five years i'm sorry everybody good with that one are y'all still still yes sir this is call volume per district for ems so we track call volume per district this is the past since 2019 call volume you can see the percent change in the in one column to the right and then you can see the percent of total call volume across the whole county when you look at number of residents population and then so elgin lugoff and camden were the highest populated districts of course they're going to have the highest call volume within those districts i'll give you all some time just let me know if y'all are ready to click forward you can go ahead okay uh 2024 heat map versus 2025 heat map the type of heat map is slightly different

» as far as how it shows up on the map itself but you can tell population call volume uh that trend on the highway one corridor from richland county moving through camden going going north not not tremendous amount of change from one year to the other and where the most calls are these are the average response times to each district as we've noted the more rural areas do have the highest response times and you know some of the other areas are are lower where our units are are pre-positioned diving into the response times again last year we ran about ten thousand over ten thousand calls bumping up to eleven thousand um out of those we had 143 calls that we had a greater than 30 minute response time to and you can see the calls spread out per district on that bar graph on the left and then on t

» he right 13 calls with a greater than 45 minute response times multiple things can play into this we're diving into this data and research a little bit more some of it is distance some of it is we were staging because the scene was not secure depending on whether it was assault whatever it may have been so sometimes we have to stage until law enforcement secures the scene and they have to come from different areas of the county and work to secure the scene so multiple different reasons for this but we're deep diving into those numbers also i believe that's the last slide so that's pretty much the data presentation from the finance committee for everyone's benefit thank you mr glover any uh discussion council members who are present any discussion from council members who are remote mr jones

» yes sir mr chair oh mr tucker yes i yield um i would like for mr glover or even mr edge um i don't know if he mentioned um what was our difference in our um no coverage area from last year 2020 well year before last 2024 and 2025. are you speaking about medic 5 so our our station in Bethune and I may have that directly in front of me so I don't misspeak what I'm thinking about is when we weren't cover it because we were just that booked up there but we were somewhere else servicing and we didn't have that area covered for how many hours or days yeah in 20 2023 EMS 5 which is the station out on Porter Road that covers Bethune buffalo mount pisgah cassette 2023 it was shut down 85 days 2024 we reduced that to 12 days i believe and then in 2025 we reduced it to a couple hours so we've been pos

» itively making sure that unit stays up to try to cover those areas in in the buffalo area so compared to several years ago that unit used to get shut down quite often because of staffing issues and different things here recently we've been able to keep that unit up a whole lot more than than previously so we've narrowed it down to hours thank you thank you thank you mr tucker mr jones any discussion remotely chairman thank you mr jones mr brazel this one uh question um and this this can be for uh the director and um our administrator did have we explored the uh mobile on forward deployable medical units is a stop gap for the rural communities okay um i did get an email i think pushed to me from somebody uh with that information on there but i have not had a chance to dive into it as much as

» i would need to to see how that would fit into our our scheme and how we could respond here okay um mr administrator we had talked briefly about setting up a um a zoom call and it's uh i think it's 185 000 and it's basically a 15 minute set up deployable unit that could be used anywhere in the in the community would would you be interested in uh at least having a zoom meeting to find out if that's something we can utilize yes and uh based on our conversation we're going to get with staff and have them kind of think about it and i i really think however it would be deployed i think there's uses beyond that it could be a multiple unit um main thing i think about is uh you know like when the uh tornado hit north central should have that have been at three o'clock you know in the afternoon that

» would have been a markedly different scene so something like that could be very useful in a situation like that as well so very interested in it um one thing i do want to mention in the big beautiful bill there were funding for these these opportunities and i think that the deadline may be the end of march for the grant and the company can assist with the grant writing capabilities and i think all that's in the email so if we're genuinely interested i would think we need to get involved pretty quick um i'm happy to facilitate any kind of conversation um all i want to do is make an introduction and get out of y'all's way so happy to do that anytime thank you thank you mr brazel any other uh discussion council members seeing none mr glover thank you so much mr administrator anything else to a

» dd no sir i appreciate the time and and um if y'all want any of these slides for any of your edification we'd be happy to pass them i would i personally like a copy if you'd send them out to council that was some useful data i know we were asking about at last meeting thank you mr glover all right uh back to appointments under 9b back on the agenda board of zoning appeals looks like we have a couple of motions here gentlemen you can take them as you will mr tomlinson mr chairman i'd like to make a motion that we appoint mr ed corey to the board of zoning appeals is there a second i'll second we have a second any discussion um appreciate mr corey's willingness to serve um this has been a board that we've had some openings on and and mr corey is is anxious and eager to to serve so i appreciat

» e his willingness thank you mr thompson any further discussion from those present seeing none any discussion from those who are remote mr tucker will take you first no question i vote yes okay thank you so much mr jones any discussion hearing none we'll take mr tucker's vote as yes for the record miss hannah and for those who are present all in favor of the appointment raise your hand ms hannix unanimous for those who are present and voting as well so that's six total favors uh total votes in favor we have another matter for appointment on the board of zoning appeals mr cato do you have a motion i do uh we'll take these individually uh first um i would like to nominate miss amy uddy to be reappointed and she is with us would you stand for us please thank you miss amy she is a reappointment

» she has done an outstanding job for us and um it's my recommendation that we reappoint miss amy we have a motion is there a second second we have a second any further discussion mr cato no any discussion from those council members who are present we're glad you're here tonight with us thank you that shows us that you really are taking what you're doing seriously so we appreciate that very much she's been back there smiling biggest day the whole time mr tucker any discussion i'll vote yes okay thank you mr tucker mr jones any discussion hearing none uh we'll take mr vote mr tucker's vote as yes remotely miss hannah and for those who are present and voting raise your hand in favor it's unanimous in favor so that's six votes in favor miss hannah mr cato are there any more motions i have one ot

» her chairman miss ashley huff also to the board of zoning and appeals this is also a reappointment she is not with us tonight i don't seer um she is not with us tonight but uh she has also done an outstanding job and i asked it to council reappoint her to this position that's a motion is there a second i'll make the second there is a second any further discussion i'd like to add that she's done a fantastic job and i know just how serious she takes her job and i know she continues to take her appointment very seriously so thank you thank you mr brazel any further discussion seeing none mr jones any discussion hearing none mr tucker any discussion and how do you vote no discussion i vote yes i say yes for mr tucker remotely all those who are present in favor raise your hand it's unanimous we

» have six votes in favor miss hannah thank you gentlemen that moves us to item number c accommodations tax or a tax looks like we have multiple appointments or reappointments uh we'll just take them in order mr cato do you have a motion i do i would like to chairman point of order mr sucker yes sir um i think these are just supposed to be in the packet check with miss hannah uh for vote for the 28th on the apex if i'm not mistaken because he just got submitted in our packet i will have to defer to miss hannah the number of times they've been in the packet hello can you hear me paul one second mr jones we're sorting through a point of order these should be up for vote for the 24th and so so discussion only tonight okay for shoemake and tucker they're up for which date okay 24th those will be

» discussions only uh discussion only gentlemen or tonight but But Mr. Cato has a candidate who has properly been included in the packet, correct? Myself as well. Mr. Cato is in motion. Mr. Tucker, yes, sir. Mr. Chairman. Yes, sir. And what I didn't get a chance to finish, she was also checking with Mr. DuBose. We were talking last week, she and I, they're out of rotation. We're supposed to be in rotation. Since the board has been depleted, we got down to one member. She and I, I won't put it on her, but wanted to re-kick this off in proper order. So that's why I was asking, can we appoint them? We can appoint them tonight, but we need to kind of stagger. I was waiting to get information back from her, from Mr. DeBose, on how we were going to do that.

» So that's why I was asking for the continuation for the ones that's eligible tonight, just to try to get it in order. If they don't want to wait, appoint them. All right, well, let's wait for the 24th to make sure we've got the proper stagger in place. Mr. DuBose is nodding his head yes to make sure we've got those particular candidates staggered in the right seats. But that still has Mr. Cato. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. Mr. Cato, do you have a motion? I do. I have one reappointment for Ms. Monica Frazier to the Accommodations Tax Advisory Commission. Okay, is there a second? Second. There is a second. Any discussion, Mr. Cato? None, none here. Any other discussion from those who are present? Seeing none, Mr.

» Rasmussen, is all you lean in? is uh so we're i'm not going to be here at the next meeting so if if i need if i could make my appointment tonight i would like to if john deboe tells me i can't then i won't legal i think i think it's premised on whether the uh appointee that you wish to appoints appeared in the prior agenda package so i'd like to appoint um thomas mulligan if if he's appeared in the packet if that's okay that's what i'd like to do tonight well let's get through the current motion and and then we'll we'll take it up all right any other discussion on mr cato's appointment seeing none for those who are present uh mr tucker any discussion remotely i have no discussion i vote yes okay that's a yes vote mr jones do we still have him mr jones can you hear me we can hear you now yea

» h any discussion can you hear me yes sir we can hear you yes sir we can hear you no discussion how do you vote on the appointment uh motion by mr cato for atax in favor and they were on they were in the packet prior to this this meeting correct correct that's a reappointment okay yes i'll vote yeah all right that's two yeses remotely and for those who are present and voting raise your hand if you vote in favor it is unanimous miss hannah the reappointment is approved um did you have any other motions or if you want to include it in the 24th pending uh legal counsel's advice any one of us is happy to make the motion for you mr brazel if you won't be present next meeting i will not and i'll be six hour time change so i'll let um would you would you do it in my state please yeah absolutely do

» you want to um i i'd like to have a little amount of it's point of order what we call it to give mr brazel a chance to say anything he'd like to say since he won't be able to say it next meeting about mr mulligan yeah no absolutely yeah thomas is a great guy he's deeply involved in the community and We we need his experience on this a tax Commission is is vacated and frankly we we need to get it put back together as soon as possible and And let everybody get to know one another meet one another and start reviewing things as we're entering the budget process So if it were up to me, I'd get everybody in the night But process and due process tells us that we have to wait in the next week.

» So it's my honor to be able to make the appointment and and publicly state that i would like councilman shoemake to do it in my in my stead and i will do that all right thank you thank you gentlemen any other discussion on the ones for the 24th you had them on the agenda for discussion if you want them i have one i have one for the 24th as well mr chairman yes sir miss hannah already has that name or you want to get it to her before then it doesn't matter how well we we have to wait because it has to be in agenda packet prior before the me that we vote on it i understand that so but i mean i just want to make sure that we understand we had six vacancies right that we had to feel yes sir okay miss miss hannah listen let me finish please sir we had six we had four okay so each one of the coun

» cil members are taken and making a motion correct not tonight we only have one motion uh that we've just gone through from mr cato okay very good but i mean each council member is going to get that opportunity to make a motion or to appoint an individual correct to the extent they're or reappoint him to the extent their particular district has an opening yes okay well anyway yeah i'll save mine for next next meeting okay and i just want to make sure miss hannah mr mulligan's packet's going to be included and you anticipate it's included okay all right great thank you that's a question guys one question mr chair yes sir how many how many seats are available if we after this one we have five miss hannah into the mic please yes ma'am can you hear me we'll have one vacancy once the appointments

» are once the anticipated appointments are made on the 24th assuming those are all uh approved you'll have one vacancy and you're including mr jones's appointment being one of them that will be made yes sir so there's yeah you anticipate three appointments and i'll have uh i'll have miss hannah's email us the chart again i know it's a little bit hard to see it um or participate remotely but we'll we'll email the chart out again just so everybody can see well thank you thank you so much erica yeah i just want to make sure that that my appointment was on there for the proper time and and date okay thank you sir um thank you just because i never know if i'm going to lose you guys or not we're moving on to uh council member briefings and so i'll start with mr tucker on council member briefings d

» o you have any briefing for us mr tucker uh very brief mr chair if i can i just want to uh remind everyone that can make it that we do have a budget workshop thursday which would be the 12th march 12th uh it will start at 4 p.m not 3 p.m so i want to put that out to you um and um want to also let you know that we've had a great two weeks these last two weeks with the workshop and ems um did a magnificent job on the presentation earlier and um they've got stuff in this budget that they're proposing to us meeting council um in a steady system where we can cover some of this territory and data that we're looking at this was in place before we had the public comments and things and meetings um but i'm just letting you know that they're working on a um a system um to make sure that we get more c

» overage as this county continues to grow uh throughout the county so that concludes my report mr chairman thank you mr tucker mr jones any report mr jones any council briefing hearing none we'll move it to mr shoemake any council briefing uh just briefly i just wanted i saw sheriff bone here earlier in uh corner west they looks like they slipped out i want to thank them for coming um mr is it garnett did i say it right or garnett garnett mr garnett thank you for coming that's a really cool initiative and we'll definitely take a look at that i think i appreciate you plugging into the community uh so soon after being here so thank you for coming and for that idea and uh i just want to again thank the you know uh obviously you know i appreciate my daughter coming you know that was her project

» and uh it just means a lot and i just think so much of these families i mean it is my opinion that our young folks in this county are absolute greatest resource and you know to watch both these young folks get honored uh i mean it just means a great deal you know this county doesn't survive if we don't provide a place that young people want to be at and that's why it's important we balance all those things that we have i ems is certainly important but solar recreation industry all those things have to come into a balance and i just appreciate this council for considering that and i just i want to thank everyone on this council who helped with this um you know uh chairman connell who uh who helped with some donations and councilman brazel um it wasn't really expressly said but you know he do

» nated all the wood that was used in these benches made the connection with the charleston bench company convinced them to basically give us all their pieces at cost and on top of that donated an additional piece so you know we we oftentimes you know argue up here but that's all political but you know after the day after the meeting russell and i talked and he was immediately on board to help and the things that bring us together on this council in this community and i believe in this country are far far more adhesive than the things that tear us apart so i just want to thank all my council members and particularly councilman brazel for helping this thing come to fruition thank you mr shoemake mr brazel um derek you're more than welcome uh i appreciate uh i appreciate the appreciation um it'

» s uh absolutely as a father husband son the situation that we were honoring is um something that that i only like to think about so i just like to send my condolences and prayers and uh continued support to the families and i hope that um that what we were able to do um in in the memorializing um benches will bring peace and comfort to the family so i appreciate what you did and and your daughter as well she did a great job and she's she's going to be quite the leader i think she's going to outdo her dad i hope so thanks guys thank you mr bradley one more actually uh one more thing i just want to remote members if you could please mute your phone thank you there we go mr brasil one more thing i just like to kind of update the public on and council um i was able to secure funding for the uh

» the painting the oil painting for the rugley's mill and local businesses donated directly to the painter and so i kind of removed myself and uh kershaw county out of it and helped facilitate sir no no no no no no it's it's not done we're about halfway there um from um from funding opportunities but i hand delivered uh the the deposit this morning in mount pleasant and had a had a great meeting with the artist illustrator dale watson such a nice guy he's going to do a great job it's going to be a really really neat process so still still funding opportunity for about 50 a little more than just over 50 percent and i'm very thankful for to the businesses we'll do a nice plaque and there'll be an opportunity we'll do a plaque with everyone who donated in the sponsorship levels that can hang whe

» rever council chooses and um he will do prints and proofs of of that painting and um the sponsors will get first dibs on the first i don't know however many the first 10 or 15 or 20 however many it is he was very flexible and very excited about the project so i think doing that for the 250th is a really neat and cool thing and just glad to be able to be a part of that and i appreciate everybody's support here um on that project so that was it thank you thank you mr razzle mr cato just a few things uh this evening first of all i want to i want to thank everybody that's willing to serve on any of these committees and commissions it takes a lot of dedication and time from your daily lives and i really appreciate you willingness to serve kershaw county in those capacities um i want to thank our

» administration and will glover and ems for their presentation tonight that provides a little bit of insight into what we're looking at um and i hope it continues the conversation of what we need to do to get better i mean we can always improve and i look forward to that um you know in response a little bit to this issue with the building in bethune you know we all have uh different priorities in the in the budget and we we have different things that we have to continue to look at and we have employees up there that are working in a building that's about to fall apart so you know we don't need to ignore ems by no stretch of imaginations but we still have to look out for other issues in the county as well we can't just stop and concentrate just on one thing this is a government that we and al

» l of us have to make sure continues to run properly lastly i've had a lot of calls this week about the ball fields and why they haven't been opened i was saddened to learn today that we had had a little bit of vandalism take place at the newfield and bethune you know that really upsets me to know that we fought so hard to get something and and i know this has happened in kc west also we fight so hard to have nice stuff and then we have people go out there and damage it makes no sense to me i don't understand why you'd want to do that and that's the law enforcement side of me coming out it just burns me up to know that somebody would want to damage our property after we we work so hard and spend so much money to have nice stuff and we're a little bit behind on getting the ball fields open an

» d for that i apologize but you know with weather and different different issues arise that we can't help on the project but it is coming i promise you it's coming um and and it should be coming soon and i know mr temper made comment on this also in his comments but uh i just ask that the citizens respect these these places that we spend this money on and that we enjoy them and have them there for future generations so that's all i've got to say tonight i hope you all have a safe night thank you mr cato appreciate everyone who participated in the agenda tonight and presented staff and otherwise those who came out for public comment as well uh two things i wanted to share and really i'm talking to my son tonight bennett his birthday is tomorrow and if he ever sees this i just want to tell him

» happy birthday very proud of him at the spry age of eight tomorrow and the young man that he's becoming and i also want to congratulate him on his decision to be baptized which will occur this saturday and i want to tell you that that's one of the most important decisions you will ever make in your life and i'm so proud of you that concludes my report uh mr administrator any uh briefing for us yes sir i just have a couple things um past saturday i was able to participate in something over at the uh the veterans park right at the boat ramp there where we were with our stormwater team that that initiated this project and with the huge help of the clemson extension we were able to plant some native species plants along the bank to help control some erosion and stabilize that very interesting i

» hope they do more projects like that throughout the county it was very um educational and obviously functional it's going to go a long way with preventing any kind of erosion and protecting the uh what we put in over there from the hazards of the river but naturally so it's it's it was a really neat project. Going back to the recreation updates, got just a handful of numbers here. Some very good participation numbers for spring baseball, softball participation. Baseball participants were at 830. Softball, we're at 170. That's a thousand, but then when you add tech soccer in there were right around 1,400 kids participating in recreation-driven sports in Kershaw County.

» You know, with our projects coming on with Boyd, Young, and Copeland, we were able to have Mount Pisgah fields as a stopgap while these fields become more complete. What the holdup is right now with Boyd, Young, and Copeland, aside from some vandalism, is the the grass taking root we have sod out there and we don't we we're very close and we just if my mom used to say if it's worth having it's worth waiting i know this is just the final hours of these projects and we're so close you go out there they look really nice the grass is taking hold it's green but we just want to make sure it's right so there's longevity to these it'd be a ashamed to go out there and have to repair if we get out there too soon. Um, the Bethune, uh, baseball area up there. We've, we've been working on that.

» And I think, um, Mr Cato, I think that should be all ready to go and tightened up possibly by by monday's practices. So they've been up there several times this week so they had uh friday monday today and i think they're going to get out there tomorrow and hopefully finish it up so it should be ready to roll up there as another stop gap to take the place of these two fields that um that are still just kind of in the wee hours of their uh completion we did have some fence damaged up there the nice new black fencing the coated fencing was damaged by some individuals climbing over it so it's bent and and things like that so we have to address that back to your point about you know this is these are our parks um it's our money it's your money it's my money and i don't understand the vandalism e

» ither it's just it'll boil boil your blood to go over there and look at casey west where somebody ran through the uh the nice new grass over there and tore it up in a vehicle like you i don't understand it what young copeland uh They did the walkthrough for the punch list. There's a few little, you know, nominal issues over there, but the goal for that is to have them done by 3-20. And then if all the punch list is completed and satisfactory, then right around the first week of April we should get on those fields and start playing and practicing. So that will be real nice there.

» so that's all i have uh any questions on those items i'm happy to answer but that's it council members um councilman uh tucker had uh had kind of briefed me earlier on a qrv uh the administrator would you can you elaborate that or sammy would you like to oh in terms of the yeah let the administrator um the floating qrv we got in the area up there northern county yes and thank you for bringing that up i wanted that we just missed that during the presentation but in response to the concerns up there in that area we have deployed a qrv uh for a minimum of uh 10 hours so increasing presence up there and so we'll keep track we're encouraging crews to you know If you're up in that area, find something to eat up in that area, Beaver Creek or just whatever. So just have more presence up there.

» And that will be a proof of concept. If we can expand on that anymore, we certainly will. But there is an effort and an initiative that was in direct response to the last meeting with the public comments and things like that. We listened, we heard, and we responded. So it's kind of a toe in the water, but we'll see the effectiveness in it, and we'll certainly keep track of the data and certainly explore that. Thank you for moving so quickly on that. I appreciate it. Any other questions? Thank you, Mr. Templer. Any legal briefing? I'm going to keep the streak alive. I have no public briefing. All right. Sounds good. Gentlemen, we have an executive session on the agenda, discussion of a personal unemployment matter under SC Code 30-4-70.

» we have a motion to enter executive session i'll make a motion there is a motion is there a second there is a second any discussion oh we got one mr tucker any discussion on executive session seeing none and just for the public's benefit no vote is anticipated seeing none all in favor of entering executive session those who are present it is unanimous in favor for those who are present and voting mr tucker how do you vote i vote yes but mr jones was on the line i don't know if he got a chance to do his council briefing but he can address it when we come out i yeah we did we did yes you vote yes thank you very much mr jones we're in executive session all right mr jones they're gonna hang out i meant transfers over in the executive session um are you moving around seek a motion to exit execut

» ive session make the motion next make a second we got a motion in a second any discussion seeing none raise your hand if you're in favor of seeing executive session. We are out of executive session. No votes required as previously disclosed. Seek a motion to adjourn. I make a motion we're adjourned. Is there a second? Second. We got a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor of adjourning raise your hand. Ms. Hennis, it's unanimous for those who are present and voting. We are adjourned.