Full meeting transcript - April 23, 2019

» It's a great day in Kershaw County and in All-American County. The baseball playoffs begin at Lugoff here very shortly. And soccer starts at Lugoff and in Camden. So if you're watching out here on Facebook, why don't you go watch it from the ball field and get yourself a hot dog. We're now called to order. Mr. Gardner is recovering nicely, I'm happy to say. And we're now called to order with a quorum. I would ask you now to stand with me as we pray and say the Pledge of Allegiance. I recall to your view the Psalm 33 where it says, Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. And I hope we've all had a blessed Easter and let him enter into our heart. Let us pray. Dear Lord, may the Lord be before us, besides us, and within us.

» Guide us in these deliberations and everything we do from here forward. All this we ask in your holy name. Amen. Amen. Join me now in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, the republic for which it stands, God, indivisible. With that, we are called to order, and we ought to say hi to Tom Gardner, who's watching us on Facebook. We move now to public comments. We ask Mr. Morgan now to bring forward those speakers, please. Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. We have two speakers this evening.

» the first is mr henry power speaking on economic development all right henry please come forward and as you know we limit to around five minutes it's not a q a it's just for us to hear from you and any follow-up can be done at a later time ask you to with refrain from offensive remarks or attacks and just stay on the policy please sir okay thank you very much first of all i started by saying when i was growing up as a little boy my mom always said when you get in front important people whatever you say it should come from right here that's exactly where i got mine right here but uh as far as being offensive that'd be the last thing i'd come in here and do but first of all i want to say thank you gentlemen for serving your county uh i appreciate every one of you everything that you do i know

» you put a lot of time in it and um i did want to share one thing on uh economic development and i'm not here to criticize anything that's been done in the past anything that's going on the present or criticize anything you're going on the future personally i agree with some of the things y'all did. You know, that's not a problem. Nor am I representing any group or anyone or any agency. And the reason I said that, because I want to mention a few people and I'm not here on their behalf, I'm just using them as an example. But I asked myself the questions I was reading the paper one day about economic development. If I was an investor, I'm going to spend five or six million dollars in a town.

» What would I really look for as an investor? I started thinking about, I think I want the safest town in South Carolina. Or maybe I want the town that had the best recreation department or had the best education system. which one would i want which one would you want they're all three good i'd take either one of them so my point is this what if you could use one of these items or anything along that line in addition to what you're doing now as it could as part of your economic development plan in other words you could take an investment say look i want to show you our schools most schools have one resource officer part of our economic development plan we want three we want two we got the safest schools in the state of south carolina because we make that part of our plan and and just think o

» f an investor thinking my tax dollars is going to have the safest part in school that's you know that'd be pretty impressive i think i'd like to know that my tax money is going to increase the safety in the schools or the best recreation or if we had the best recreation department bring the tournaments and stuff i'm just saying outside the box a little bit maybe we could think of some ideas in addition to what you're already doing a great job on is maybe there is an investor that wants these things just think of those terms thank you so much thank you henry mr morgan yes sir mr chairman next we have jeff maddox also speaking on economic development i'm sorry who's that mr jeff maddox okay thank you good afternoon council good afternoon kershaw county is open for business congratulations to

» our economic development team for securing a wonderful new business to our county. I've been waiting for the media headline, Economic Development is Working, but for some reason, they missed the scoop. If it were not for our outstanding team, the $17.2 million bond County Council borrowed, along with the massive pay raises for our development team, we would have never seen such investments in jobs coming to our area. It appears I was mistaken and government incentives are essential to compete with other governments who seek the same businesses. Council was right that the only way to get business to invest is for the government to bribe them more than other governments.

» After all, that is the American way, right, gentlemen? What business has the economic development team and county council brought to us, you ask? Why, the new Love's Travel Plaza, of course. You would think county council and the economic development team would be shouting from the rooftops about their success. But wait, that was a dream. The fact is, our economic development team had nothing to do with Lowe's choosing White Pond Road, nor did the council have to bribe them with incentives to get them to choose to invest in Kershaw County. The fact Love is investing in the new truck stop without government handouts flies in direct contradiction with this council's basic premise that business will not invest unless government bribes them.

» Gentlemen, the free market is working despite your best efforts. While this council borrows on our children's futures and spends the loot on failed central planning boondoggles, the real drivers of economic development, the entrepreneurs, are risking their own money in an effort to satisfy customers and make a profit. Love's market analysis showed them that there was a need for a truck stop to compete with the pilot on 601. Love weighed the risk and potential rewards and decided to risk their reputation and capital to fill a need and make future profits. Love did not ask the economic development team if this was a good idea. Love did not ask this council to rob the people to pay for the truck stop. Love is here to make money on their investment, unlike this council.

» This is not how county council does things. has no skin in the game and the only thing they risk is losing an election. Those who plan this great vision are not even working in the private sector and have no way to analyze market signals thus leading to a misallocation of resources and failure of their collective visions. How many jobs can our economic development team claim to have created over the past year? The fact is council spent $750,000 last year and created no jobs at all. In fact, county council and its economic development team have created 25, I repeat, 25 jobs over the last four years while spending over $3 million. That is about $134,000 per job.

» That's a fine return on investment, don't you think? Will the people being forcibly robbed to build this mega-site ever see a check from the county when this investment turns profit? Of course not. The funny thing is, economic development is a government non-profit for the benefit of big business and government. Big business gets more free stuff from government, and government gets more tax slaves, which brings more money into the extortion fund. Government then cites the growth as the reason for it to spend and grow in a symbiotic relationship that benefits both entities at the expense of the people. Even the employees of the new business suffer from the higher taxes. Gentlemen, get out of the way and let the free market do what you cannot.

» Gentlemen, you are committing generational theft by borrowing today and forcing our children to pay later. In fact, the $17 million bond will cost our children around $32 million over the next 30 years. Quit borrowing on our children's future to create your political legacy when, in reality, your legacy is going to be one of failure and debt for many generations to come. Thank you, Mr. Maddox. Any further, Mr. Morgan? Nobody further, Mr. Chairman. Very good. We'll move on to the next item, which is the adoption of the agenda. Make a motion to adopt the agenda. Mr. Tucker, a second? Second. Second from Mr. Connell. Any comments? Very good. The agenda is on the board. All those in favor of the agenda, so signify. And it's unanimous, and we move now to approval of minutes from 9 April.

» It's at tab A and on the board. Can we have a motion to approve? I'll make a motion to approve the minutes. Thank you, Mr. Snodgrass. Second? Second. Second from Mr. Connell. Any discussion? Mr. Chairman, I'll be abstaining. Mr. Tucker will abstain. Very good. We move to a vote. All those in favor, so signify. And it's unanimous with Mr. Tucker abstaining. And they are approved. We move now to the first item on the agenda. We're pleased to welcome the Clemson University Extension, Mr. Ryan Bean. It's shown incorrectly on the agenda as Beam. Ryan, you can be whoever you want to be. Welcome aboard.

» that's what they told me when i was growing up to you look at me i work for clemson now delighted to have you uh unlike public comments this is for an exchange and please uh limit your remarks to somewhere short of 15 minutes please sir not a problem thank you for the opportunity to be here i'm glad we were able to work out our schedule despite our differences of uh planning um so first of all last this time last year david de witt was our county coordinator here KERSHAW COUNTY FOR THE EXTENSION OFFICE SINCE THEN HE HAS MOVED ON TO BIGGER AND BETTER THINGS DOING SPECIALTY CROPS IN THE STATE NAMELY THE HEMP PROGRAM SO HE IS TIED UP AS YOU CAN IMAGINE FIELDING THOSE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERING ANY KIND OF ISSUES THAT MAY COME UP WITH THAT NEW PROCESS SO MY NAME IS RYAN BEAN LIKE I SAID I'M THE NE

» W COUNTY COORDINATOR I'VE BEEN IN KERSHAW COUNTY WITH EXTENSION NOW FOR A LITTLE OVER SIX AND A HALF YEARS PRIOR TO THAT I WAS WITH THE FORESTRY COMMISSIONER SO I'VE BEEN HERE FOR A GRAND TOTAL OF 13 YEARS DOING FORESTRY OUTREACH AND EDUCATION FOR LANDOWNERS WE SUBMITTED OUR BUDGET OVER THE YEARS WE HAVE BEEN VERY GRATEFUL TO HAVE SUPPORT OF THE COUNTY COUNCIL IN MAKING THINGS HAPPEN WE HAVE NOT SEEN A MUCH OF AN INCREASE OVER THAT TIME BUT IN THE LAST TWO YEARS WE HAVE HAD A ENORMOUS INCREASE IN NUMBER OF ACTIVITIES PEOPLE INVOLVED and services being offered through extension in the county namely last year we hired a 4-h agent my name is sarah marsengill who we came and presented to y'all several months ago and if if you have not seen her out in the county your eyes must have been shut she

» has been beaten on doors she has been meeting with people she has been doing programs in schools like i have never seen before and it's amazing to watch the people are responding people are always in our office is asking to join 4-H, and so we are looking to grow that program. And what I provided to you was our budget request. As you can see, last year, I asked each of our agents, and by the way, we have six agents that use the Kershaw County office. Myself and Sarah, the 4-H agent, I'm the forestry agent, are the only two that are housed in Kershaw County. I am also an area agent, so I have five other counties that I'm responsible for, but the other thing to take note of there is that I am the only forestry agent north of 26 from Richland County all the way to the coast.

» So I do spend a bunch of time on the road too. I asked all of the agents that do participate in programs here in the county to provide some kind of an idea what expenses or needs they had in the last year's time frame since our last appropriation up until February 15th of this year. As you can see there It's a quick rundown and totaling somewhere around $4,700 was our out-of-pocket cost to make programs happen in Kershaw County. Those are not area programs. Those are actual programs in the county. And then below that, you'll see just anticipated expenditures that we forecast based on the programs that we would like to host in the county. Last time we spoke to you with Sarah being here, one of her biggest things that she was moving forward with was a shooting sports program.

» Y'all provided some great feedback on that, and she has really hit the ground running with that. At this particular time, she is in our FCL building next to our office, holding a meeting with around 15 youth that are interested in participating, as well as several volunteers in the 4-H shooting program. That will be a large endeavor, cost-wise, time-wise, and everything in between.

» as you can see there she's listed targets training range time uniforms entry fees and awards all of those things will cost money and rather than putting that on the shoulders of our youth it'd be great if we can get some support rather than having to beat down doors constantly for sponsorships the other thing she did last year was the annual poultry show that was a huge success we had people from several counties away from kershaw county come just for that program a lot of great awards were given out those people moved on to other local fairs and other local programs to do the same type of event and did well this year that program was expected to grow again and you can see the cost there is somewhere around 2200 one thing let's move back to the shooting sports thing another thing the clemso

» n extension is known for is utilizing our volunteers without volunteers it would not happen so one of the things that is going to take away a little bit of that cost up front is the lawlings here in kershaw county have volunteered their property to be used as a range and mr lawing is involved with the military so he is also very well versed in setting up the range to specification and will help assist and volunteer to his time to make that happen um so any case running down there for those two programs as well as i was forecasting two programs that i was looking to put on in the county were a tree identification program that have been asked for by several of our forest landowners here in the county as well as a forest herbicide workshops we all know herbicides are always changing the way we

» put them out is always changing and that's something they constantly ask for all of those things are a cost on us and or the landowners that attend the programs total there 5921 is what we project to be our cost for the coming year as far as programs go that does not take into account our office expenditures which are shown up there at the top so that was a reason for our increase in budget requests this year i appreciate any support you could continue to give us and we will do our best to serve the citizens of kershaw county questions comments uh mr bozard yes i want to thank you for coming and i want to thank you for all you do i've used some of your services in the past with uh farming and it was Mark out of Anderson with the pecan trees and y'all have been quite helpful.

» And I enjoy your breakfasts when I attend your meetings. Thank you. You did too, right? - I did too, yes I did. - But anyway, y'all got a good program there. I was there when the 4-H lady, was the first night she was there, first morning she was there. And they've got some very exciting people working for them there in the county. And I think that this is what we probably ought to help them with. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Bozar. Mr. Chalmers. Yeah, Mr. Connell. Thanks for being here tonight. Does your group have any program that works with farmers markets? It's one of the nicer features we have in Kershaw County on the weekend. I've been attending for the past couple weekends, and it's just awesome, and it's growing.

» Do you team up to increase efficiency or productivity there? I am on the farmers market board. We need to get, the Kershaw County Master Gardeners, which are an association within Clemson Extension across the state, Kershaw County Farmers Master Gardeners, do have a booth there. They set up and answer questions throughout the day. That's our major involvement with the market. However, Sarah has mentioned several times having a booth there and setting up and trying to attract youth into the 4-H program as well.

» But anything you've got on your mind or that you hear that we could help out with, more than well be more than willing to do it okay i'll think on that thanks chairman yeah i'm snargrass hey mr bean thanks for being here tonight and for the work that you do a couple questions would the clemson extension would you guys ever would this be within your lane to team up with the county uh to help with maybe beautification projects as far as the master gardeners and intersections that are blighted and could use a green thumb absolutely okay all right The horticulture agent that is responsible for Kershaw County is based out of Richland. She's actually a turf grass specialist, and she is in charge of the Master Gardener program in the county. What's her name? Jackie Jordan. Jackie Jordan.

» All right. East Camden's got some intersections that could just use a green thumb. And then as far as your shooting experience, have you had any success teaming up with local businesses as far as sponsorship, maybe with Hermitage or other entities? Sarah, I don't remember her last conversation, but she has had several conversations with Hermitage. I'd have to get back with you on that. All right. All right. Good. And perhaps, perhaps County Council, we should get a firsthand experience at this shooting experience that you're doing. And wouldn't that be fun? Well, at least if you'll have me out there. Absolutely. Sounds like a really cool experience. Other comments? I had a couple. You don't mention bees in your retinue. Are bees part of that too? Absolutely.

» We assist the Watery Beekeeper Association. That's an interesting thing. I mean, to go over to your several meetings, I would encourage people to go see the forestry meeting, the 4-H meeting, the bees, which is an amazing bunch of people. But I say all that because Kershaw County, in terms of profitability in the state, is the number one most profitable county in the state for agriculture. And thanks to this body here and those in the audience, the Vision 2030 was written to reflect part of our agricultural culture and legacy. Secondly, we're in the United States with the 17th most profitable.

» And some of that has to do with forestry, some of that with poultry, but it's a part of what we do as stewards on Kershaw County Council with the great help that we get from Clemson University that helps us out, and the other agencies that help us. So I wanted to make sure that was understood up front. Thank you very much. Thank you. And that's Mr. Bean. All right, well, thank you for that public presentation.

» we move now to a proclamation uh the proclamation recognizing the american legion post 17 it's a tab b it's quite lengthy i have a hard copy i'm going to read it and read portions of it but first i'm going to get a glass of water because it's long and then i'm going to ask council to vote so it's a proclamation recognizing american legion post 17 for excellence in 2018 whereas the american legion post 17 is the only post in the state of south carolina to receive the post excellence award for 2018 now think about that whereas it was awarded for their involvement in such things as youth activities and i'll cite a few that are on the uh the proclamation boys state american legion baseball uh sponsoring a campton youth baseball team the oratorical contests that they do annually, Boy Scouts, and

» JROTC. Secondly, community service. Post-17, along with Kershaw County, the City of Camden, Historic Camden, and many different organizations, worked diligently for 15 months to host the Wall that Heals in Camden, recognizing community members such as highway patrolmen, city police, Kershaw County Sheriff's deputies, Camden and Lugoff Firemen and Teacher of the Year, and Post 17's Honor Guard, which attends the funerals for our veterans, and they offer their facility to Camden and Kershaw County Rec Department Senior Exercise Group once a week in the summertime, and Post 17 offers its facilities at no cost as a voting precinct. Thirdly, service to troops and veterans and widows. They volunteer and operate a DAV van taking Kershaw County veterans to the VA in Columbia one day a week.

» And Post 17 Endowment Fund helps post members in need. And skipping a little further down, Post 17, along with the CHC 47 and 82nd Airborne Club, conducts annually the 505th ceremony for the airborne regiment in which one of our council members' relatives first jumped in 1943. Further along, they helped to work with the Marine Corps League, the VFW, the Lugo Fire Department, the Highway Patrol, and the Sheriff's Department, and the Kershaw County to conduct veterans recognition ceremonies. And also with the 9th Air Force Commander Major General Scott Zobrist and the Shaw Air Force Base Color Guard.

» Further, they recognized and discovered that a distinguished flying cross was not presented to one of our heroes, Captain John Bly, who participated in the bombing raids over Hanoi and corrected the record that had been omitted for 50 years. And each Veterans Day, the Post hosts a Veteran Day ceremony to honor all our veterans and their families and the widows and those who died and is attended by many veterans every year and supported by the CMA, Camden Military Academy, and our JROTC. I could go on, but I need to conclude because this list is exhaustive, and I can't believe they have been so influential as to be the Post of the Year for our state.

» Now, therefore, Kershaw County Council does hereby recognize the merits of American Legion Post 17 and commends them for their contributions to Kershaw County and its veterans this 23rd day of April. With that, can we have a motion? So moved. Mr. Jones, I yield to Ms. Leed and Mr. Bozart, both veterans I point out to you. We have a first and second. Are there any comments? Mr. Jones and Mr. Bozart.

» thank you any comments uh mr chairman yeah i just want to add i know several of the gentlemen that are part of the post uh the post 17 here and and uh thank you guys for your service and really for your continued service uh as as uh you keep us aware and honoring our veterans uh growing up uh i grew up with with american legion baseball and so the american legion does things like that and um uh just thank you guys so much for all for all that you do for the community i did my brother played Legion Bowl. If they had American Legion basketball, I would have made the team, but not baseball. All right. Other comments? What an amazing thing. I just want to say thank you so much.

» You know, the American Legion is such an important, vital part of what veterans' needs are, and I appreciate everything you guys do, and I'm proud of you, and thank you for your service to our country, and words just couldn't explain how I feel. You guys are the best. Thank you. With that, I think we can move to a vote. All those in favor of this proclamation, so signify. And it's unanimous. And if you men and ladies would come forward, I'd like to have you recognize it with a photo opportunity. Please come up. Congratulations. Best in Agriculture, Best in Veterans Affairs. We move on now to a series of ordinances. Item number one is the second reading of an ordinance of the County Council to rezone.

» at tab c and it's on the board i turn to mr carpenter to introduce this at the second reading mr chairman members of council you have in front of you tonight for second reading an ordinance to rezone a piece of property uh from current rd2 to gd general development this is up in the westville area of v county um it previously passed on first reading very good can we have a motion to approve so made uh mr bozar a second second uh mr snodgrass any discussion mr bozar yes thank you it's the same uh people that uh investing in this is uh local people live up in kershaw and they want to put 147 camp spots there 30 um campers uh excuse me cabins filling station car wash and a small strip mall in there and it's right dead across the street from the racetrack so these people invested some money in

» it and this is the second venture they've had and we second uh other comments i have a question yeah ben um the parcel that's noted is not included is that a primary residence is that the the i guess would be the owner operator is the idea would live there and no no i understand is that it he's just going to own and operate and live right next door yeah come on up mike please house is under separate ownership okay so a third party owner is there and is totally fine with it yes sir he actually came to the planning commission meeting asked some questions but never opposed the rezoning that i'm aware of okay thank you don't know how you keep all this stuff in your head mike uh other comments yeah correct me if I'm wrong but there was no objection to none of this so with that on second reading

» I move to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous Mary we move on to the second of three ordinances item number two at tab D and it's on the screen again ask you to introduce it for me mr. carpenter chairman members of council you have in front of you for second reading an ordinance that will result in the extension of the operating lease between kershaw county and the kershaw county equine association uh for the equine park for a 10-year extension very good can we have a motion to approve so mr uh a second second thank you sir uh from mr snodgrass uh do you want to lead off mr tucker um i just you know the equine park has been very good for not only uh the district that i represent but for the county and i think that uh their history has proven um in the p

» ast uh their worth and value for this county and look forward to continue to do business with them in the future good sir thank you other than the chairman yeah i just want to point out this and as well as the previous ordinance that we just we just passed i mean this represents a piece of economic development that goes far beyond some sort of industry but it is a piece that tells us that things are moving and happening. Just last weekend, I was in a local restaurant on a Friday evening, and this local restaurant was packed with horsemen and other equine industry, and they had been at the equine park all day and were there all weekend.

» And it's not uncommon, it's not uncommon for you to go into a local restaurant in Camden on a Friday or Saturday, and it'd be full of folks who have been at the equine park all weekend. So I think that's something that we need to be aware of the economic impact that happens with things like this yeah 220 horses somebody has to get them here they didn't get here by themselves uh other comments very good with that i think we can move to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand and mary is once again unanimous and moves to a third reading item number three is the first reading of an ordinance about a rezoning uh by mr bach it's at tab e and it's on the board i think we see it there's the map and i'll ask mr carpenter to introduce this one mr chairman members of council for first

» reading tonight you have a request to rezone approximately to rezone four parcels on approximately 21 acres on precipice road the request to rezone it to a classification from r15 to rd1 the understanding is that is intended to be used as a venue for weddings and special events very good can we have a motion to approve on the first reading mr chairman i'd like to make a motion to approve uh the rezoning of this uh four parcels 21 21 acres 21.

» uh mr tucker gave the first can we have a second second second uh mr jones is that you oh yeah mr jones mr jones please yeah thank you mr jones uh comments mr tucker yes i would like to say mr box here tonight if you have any questions for him but um thank you michael for you and the planning commission working and getting this through to us um i think this is going to be good once again for our county if you want to go out and see the facility he's and he ought to be he's very proud of what he's crafted out there and has developed and the only thing i will forewarn you when you go out there take a lunch because randall likes to keep you he says one more thing one more thing about 100 more times but this place out there is very beautiful and um it deserves your attention and i think this is

» going to bring some beautiful weddings and receptions and things and picture photo taking um out to uh that area of the county but uh for everyone in kershaw county to enjoy uh mr bozard yes i did receive a call from one of his neighbors and they are excited about him getting this done they think it's good for the community now that's going to get my vote yes thank you very good other comments yeah mr connell just a question i just want to make sure this zoning and i'm sure y'all research is not too restrictive is it really just going to be limited to uh to weddings and receptions because some of the other event spaces in kershaw county that have developed have morphed into other things as well for example this sunday you have the uh look off elgin wrestling banquet where all the high schoo

» ls and middle schools get together at rock bottom pond and uh i don't know that that was originally intended as a wedding only or wedding reception type space but do you envision it going anywhere else i want randy if you could come up and i'm going to after he finishes on that line i was going to ask mr uh mr conley to talk a little bit about what this zoning means go ahead randy please planet commission had mentioned in the meeting it's my resident place and the rd1 would allow other things but it's set up as residential so it wouldn't go beyond some of other things that rd1 would allow okay you know because it set up bonds in the house and set up residents that's the best you can get all right yeah can we ask mr conley to talk a little bit about that question at the heart of the matter w

» hich is it's not restrictive it's rezoned so he could use it for what things sure um we've worked with mr bach on a on a while for this and our original attempt was to try to do maybe a a special use permit for just the the weddings that were coming through but he was putting substantial amount of money into the property for the use um and he's done a good job and he just wanted more um assurance that it was going to be able to be continued that way because that was going to be a little bit of us just working with them to try to get that done so in our ordinance we're a little bit strong with um to meet the ordinance the only way that we have a use for a wedding reception venue is under our bed and breakfast ordinance. They wrote it in there as such.

» If you want a wedding venue, it could come up under the plan, the bed and breakfast venue. Bed and breakfast venues can only be in certain zoning districts and RD1 is one of those particular zoning districts. So it was just a way to work with Mr. Bachter. Yeah, well, I just raised the point to say, don't be surprised when you host one or two weddings there and people love it and then they're knocking on your door for all kinds of other events because there's market demand in Kershaw County due to event space. And we agree with it we think would be a great asset so you just you might have to address it in the future somehow I don't know how okay Randy mr.

» Tucker this is for Michael so this begs back to the question what if once this is approved he does have Camden Lugoff North Central high school team that want to hold the banquet there can he do it or is there another rezoning he has to do is my question I want to make sure I'm clear no I mean I don't think you would have to go to I I MEAN, I THINK THAT'S A, YOU KNOW, SORT OF THE OTHER VENUES THAT ARE DOING IT, THEY WERE SET UP IN SIMILAR FASHION. IF IT BECAME A MUCH DEMAND THAT WE FELT THAT WE NEEDED TO GO BACK THROUGH OUR ORDINANCE AND SORT OF MODERNIZE IT TO MEET SOME OF THESE NEEDS, WE CAN DO SO, BUT I THINK IT WOULD BE ASSESSORY USE TO THE VENUE ITSELF.

» I MEAN, I WOULDN'T SEE THAT BEING A -- I MEAN, THE ONLY RISK IS IT WOULD GIVE ANOTHER USE MIGHT GIVE BASIS FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO RAISE A COMPLAINT. if nobody complains and right no problem other comments we don't complain out in that neck of the woods yeah mr. Jones I would just like to say I've known Randy pretty much all his life he was a young fella and Randy done a good job I'm proud of you the work you've done your place is beautiful I think it's gonna be a tremendous asset to Kershaw County thank you something that needed rock-bottom has been a tremendous asset over on the west side and I think this is going to be the same here so thank you so much for doing this i think it's going to be a win-win and i support you on this other comments i think we can move to a vote on the first readin

» g all those in favor signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous and passes thank you mr buck appreciate it sir we move on now to new business a discussion uh and possible vote on public comments and count council and we have no references but we'll let mr jones introduce the topic sir thank you mr chairman i would like to make a motion that we have a discuss discussion possible vote on uh public comments i'll give you a second for discussion thank you mr discussion and then thank you if we do a vote then we'll we'll move to that point go ahead mr jones sir well do we need to take a vote oh no let me you want to go ahead and speak we're in discussion i'm sorry we are i apologize you know i want to keep it simple i'm i really want to give the people more involvement into our county counc

» il meetings and uh i know there's been some times and places that we've had different events go on here and we've had a large number of folks come in we have 30 minutes that is allowed now of course that time is divided and when it's divided if you have um 15 people then they get two minutes a piece i had two issues at mind that i wanted to discuss with you folks one i was very interested in the possibility of having a second public speaking at the end of the new business i brought that up last year it did fail um what i think i want to do tonight for your consideration i would like to see that if there's 15 or more people it would go to 45 minutes i think that would show to the folks in our community we do care about their being able to get involved and communicate to us and work with us y

» ou know when we have of issues going on that really draw a lot of interest in county council and i will say this i i like the fact that we've gotten a little bit more liberal with our public speaking by letting people finish out and i thank the chairman of this council for that that's a pretty important thing to me but that would be something that i would like to see passed tonight is that we go with um 15 or more individuals 45 minutes which would be three minutes apiece and uh if you say we are now is 15 people would be 30 minutes about two minutes a piece so that's something that I'm interested in I'm not gonna bring up the second meeting tonight or the second public speaking session tonight do you want to the discussion under you want to frame the motion well I mean if I have a question

» go right ahead before you the motions frame I guess so my experience so far whenever there is a large group of people on a very you know controversial topic they tend to coalesce around one or two people that end up speaking about that particular issue and it actually i've seen it happen before where say you had 10 people that were signed up on a particular topic they'll realize that they're and it's not true every time but they're all saying very similar things and uh you can kind of see them talk amongst themselves and say you know what carry out these last three points and they'll get up there and four or five people who have their names on there will kind of wave off and say um you know my points have been covered already have you seen that happen before i've seen that happen i've also

» seen it happen to where we've had 15 people in here and they only got two minutes a piece uh all i want to do all i'm concerned in is just giving the public a little bit more time if there's a larger group in here that's what i'd like to see this council support other discussion uh do we know i don't know if we keep their records of public comment when was the last time we had more than 15 people sign up and how frequently do we have it do we have would anybody know or educated guess is that something that happens often and mr jones i um i will you know obviously you know i have a lot of respect for you and i know that if anyone uh wants to be a voice for the people i mean we all want to be a voice for the people but i know particularly that's something that's that's dear to you um i would

» like to recognize or let everyone know that the way government the way our government works anything major that comes before before council there's ample time for you to speak into that because everything takes a takes three readings and before the third reading there's there's public comment I mean a public hearing excuse me and in that public hearing that public hearing actually goes a step further beyond just public comment it takes it goes into where there can be Q&A interaction between the desk and between those who are given public comment furthermore our numbers there is no more accessible government than local government there's just seven of us up here our cell phone numbers our emails are listed on the county website if there's something that you want to talk about uh you all you

» got to do is pick up a pick up a phone and get and give me a call um and and i'll give everyone this promise if you call me and you want my time if you give me 24 hours at least i will i will schedule you into my into my schedule and i will meet with you and probably even sooner than that but i will i will give you you know 30 minutes or or maybe even more depending on what the issue is, if you want to talk about some. There's been many times with public comment that I wanted to tell folks, hey, I appreciate you commenting on that, but if you'd have gave me a buzz yet last night or last week, you know, I would have been more than happy and more than willing to help you out and to give you a better understanding on some of the situations.

» So, yeah, I understand where you're coming from, Mr. Jones, but at the same time, wouldn't you, would you agree that there is maybe some ample time to give? I mean, 'cause we have, there is public hearing Any time we pass an ordinance, there is public hearing. So would you say that's not enough? Mr. Jones, go ahead. Mr. Snodgrass, let me address that. Absolutely, I think we work hard to try to give the people a voice. However, what I'm uncomfortable with -- and if it doesn't happen as often as if we want to play that scenario, then what would it hurt? What is it going to hurt? What is it going to harm to say, "Look, if there's 15 or more people, we're going to go to 45 minutes," which would guarantee three minutes apiece.

» And, of course, as it is now, 30 minutes, it's only two minutes apiece. I mean, what is it going to hurt? Yeah, that's true. And I'll be honest with you. I'm actually more comfortable with what you're saying now than I am opening up a whole other section of public comment. I understand. You know, I will say that. I'm more open-minded to that than I am giving a whole other public comment section at the end of it. Mr. Snodgrass, if I may, that's one reason I decided not to go through with the second meeting. I'm not trying to grandstand or make council have to vote against something that they're uncomfortable voting against. I really legitimately feel this is the right thing to do. And it's just extending a hand out there saying, look, we care about what you have to say.

» And if there's a large crowd here, and I've been here 13 years, and Vice Chairman Tucker knows as well as I do, we've had quite a few times that there has been large groups here, and they've been cut down to 30 seconds. I mean, it's happened, and it may not happen for six months. It may happen within the next six weeks. We just don't ever know. But what I would like to ask you to do is consider going from the 30 minutes to 45 minutes if it's 15 or more. Now, you stay with your 30 minutes, but if it's 15 or more, we go to 45 minutes, which would just be three minutes apiece for each individual to get up and speak. The 15 is a threshold in which it changes. Let me invoke some rules here. It has to be recognized so we can keep this thing contained. Go ahead. Mr.

» Chairman, I yield back my time. I was just asking the question to the one who made the motion. Mr. Chairman, thank you. I really don't think there's anything wrong with us having some dialogue with each other if we're open for discussion and not have to deliberately go through the chairman every time. Let me do respect. Go ahead, please. But anyway, that would be my motion. Okay. I want to give everybody a chance to speak before I make a motion. Yeah. There may be other discussion points. Ms. Connell, Mr.

» Bozar, Tammy? i'm listening all right good go ahead and frame it formally and then we'll put it make a motion and i'll ask for a second thank you mr chairman i would like to take our public speaking and it stays at 30 minutes however if there's 15 or more individuals to sign up on the list it would go to 45 minutes and that would be three minutes apiece okay thank you we have a second second uh for mr snodgrass any further discussion all right we can move to a vote all those in favor of that motion signify by raising your hand mr jones and mr snodgrass all those opposed signify and that's mr tucker mr burns mr bozard and mr connell and the motion fails mr chairman thank you thank you uh we move now to council briefing starting with mr bozard appreciate that i've been traveling the county qu

» ite a bit lately i want to thank the clean community committee they have uh trying to save some money they're making their own little do not litter signs and put them up all over the county and i want to thank that committee publicly for what they're doing i've been up 97 i've seen them i've been up highway 5 where i live i've seen them i've been on one coming into town and i see them i just want to say thank you to the clean community committee and secondly i'm sad to say that the uh i thought we had it worked out with the sparkleberry committee for the fair that we was going to get it to come to kershaw county they had the land it was they used they had plenty of land that was going to be used and at their last committee meeting last week my chairman called me last friday and said that th

» e committee voted if they couldn't keep it in richland county they would do away with the fair so the fair is a thing of the past and what a lot of people don't know is in that friday and saturday they took in over a hundred thousand dollars in two days and that's all that money went to the schools so that was a pretty good loss to the school system whether it been in kershaw county or richland county and like i say that was a sad situation if you're always watching the news friday no excuse me monday night they had a big thing on channel 19 about the sparkleberry fair and the fact that uh last year was their last fair but anyway that includes my thank you sir connell yes sir uh just one thing may 4th we've got the elgin podunk parade coming up starts at 10 a.m it's a great family friendly

» event if you have the opportunity to go out there's typically some good food over at potter park afterwards and my kids always have a great time we'll be out there that's all i have mr chairman mr jones just one thing very quickly mr chairman and thank you and members of council for the time to speak may 4th also the black belt hall of fame for south carolina is going to be hosting and inducting tom mulligan into their organization and i'd just like to say congratulations to mr tom mulligan well deserved and what an asset he'll be to the black belt hall of fame Thank you, Mr. Snodgrass. Yes, Mr. Chairman, members of council, this may get mentioned again, but I do want to remind people that this Friday is the Special Olympics out of Camden Military Academy, what a great organization.

» And just if there's anyone listening who's going to be attending that event, please know that you can, there's a great church right across the street from CMA, and you can use that for overflow parking. we utilize that every year and just want to remind people that please please please if you need parking or more parking you can park across the street there um also uh thursday may 2nd we'll have national day of prayer uh at the courthouse uh at noon um reverend marion bennett of bethlehem missionary baptist church will be our keynote speaker uh but we will have a national day of prayer recognition at the courthouse on may 2nd at noon and would encourage encourage everyone to come and to be out and offer prayer for not just our local government, but also prayer for our nation.

» That concludes my remarks. Mr. Tucker. I'll report. Very good. This county punches above its weight. Everyone here knows that. With All-American County isn't just one signal. We've got a fishing rodeo. We've got a wrestling supper coming up. We've got a special Olympics. It's just, it goes on and on, what this county can do. It's just amazing. We have just finished, second point, we just finished our second budget session. I thank the staff for some terrific work, squeezing every penny until it screamed. I think that was the word that Mr. Tucker used. and I want to publicly thank Sandra and Vic and the team for pulling off a very, very coherent issue-based process. Not easy to do and it was done with class. Lastly, I'm going to embarrass my brother.

» It's the first time he's ever seen me in this environment. He's 70 years old and I want tell you he's mr. Bakke is no less rigorous in housing inspections I just want you to know I hit him too hard when he was five years old I never recovered with that I go to mr. carpenter mr. chairman members of council just a few items for you mr. Bach miss Jones says he's known you since you were child you look that old i want to remind council that our next budget workshop will be uh next tuesday the 30th um downstairs um again starting at eight o'clock um biscuits at 7 30.

» um everyone is obviously uh welcome encouraged to come i would also like to um ask mr conley to introduce uh mr joey adams ruskowski our new uh planning uh zoning manager carpenter yeah i want to introduce our new planning manager joy rakowski he has come from us from lancaster county uh b-way of chester or excuse me sumter um he lives out in chesterfield county uh he is a great addition to our team um very knowledgeable very professional and has done a wonderful job and we've gotten a lot of compliments on him already so um we're very lucky and very fortunate to have him and i think he looks forward to working with our council making kershaw county a better place to i'm glad you found heaven welcome that's my report thank you uh mr attorney report mr chairman yeah tell mr dubose not to com

» e back all right if we can find him i see no need for an executive session and i'll take a motion to adjourn from mr tucker a second from mr bozard any discussion uh with that there is none we'll move to a vote all those in favor raise your hand and it's unanimous and And good night, Tom. Excellent job, sir. Less than an hour.