Full meeting transcript - May 14, 2019

» good afternoon it's a great day in kershaw county in this all-american county we appreciate you all coming in um i've just put my son-in-law on an airplane to afghanistan and mr snodgrass has welcomed back one of his parishioners so life moves on in this great patriotic county i we're now called to order with a full quorum and i ask councilman bozard to lead us in the invocation and the pledge councilman bozard gracious heavenly father we thank you Thank you for all the blessings of life. Everything we have, Father, belongs to you. You have nothing on our own, nothing on our own. We come at this time to take care of the county business. I just pray that you will guide us and lead us all the way through. The every decision we make will be the best we can come upon.

» Let's thank you for these men that are here. I just ask that you would be with each one of them as they go about their daily lives, trying to help them do all the business for the county. All we ask in the great and holy name of Jesus Christ. Amen. States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, the kingdom of justice. Thank you very much indeed, Mr. Bozard. We move now to public comments. Mr. DuBose, we have people signed up. Yes, Mr. Chairman, six people signed up. The first person signed up is Connie Berrien. Very good. If you come forward, we'll allot about five minutes for each of you, And we ask you to keep your comments on the topic and be direct and very, very courteous. I would advise you that this is not a question and answer period.

» It's our time to hear from you. Please, ma'am, go right ahead. Thank you. I'm coming tonight because I want to see what we can have done to our road. It is Cottage Lane up in Liberty Hill. I've been working with Nick Anderson with Public Works. I think Danny probably knows about this. The road got in terrible, terrible shape, and Nick has worked on it, but you can't meet a car on it. I almost got hit head-on on it. It's very curvy. The tax base on this road is over $100,000 because of the rec tax. So we pay a lot in county taxes. So we would like something done. We have no trash pickup. We have to go to Liberty Hill to the post office. We have no city sewer, city water, and waterfront was paved, which is the road right beside of us, and our road needs it a whole lot worse than theirs.

» I even recommended to Nick, if y'all couldn't get the road paved, could y'all tie us into waterfront? Because you can come through the woods and you would avoid the bulk of the road and just pave where most of the houses are. so i threw that out to him could we potentially do that to have something done on the road i asked nick to come out on the road he did come and when it rained on the road he had to put his truck in four-wheel drive so you know it's not fair to us that we pay all this property tax and we can't even feel safe going down the road you could not have a fire truck go down there and meet you couldn't have an ambulance it's just it's it's bad something needs to be done if you don't want to pave it at least needs to be widened.

» We've got gullies on the side of the road that are two feet deep where the road only one car can go by. You've got huge boulders in the road that literally act as a speed bump. So I'm coming to y'all asking if y'all would please, Nick said he would be here to help me, but I'm not sure he's not here, but we would like something done with the road. And Trish Flann is here with me, and she lives on the road as well. So, you know, with the taxes that we pay, we would like something done to the road. I'm going to depart from protocol, ma'am. Nick is in the room right across the way in a transportation meeting, and that's where your problems should be addressed. Thank you, ma'am. Yeah, he's right across the road, right across the hall. Yeah, that's what, no, that's okay. We'll get back to you.

» Thank you. Thank you, you're close thank you thank you very much ma'am mr. DuBose the next person is Larry Graham I just wanted to provide you a little information about our services and the people that we serve in Kershaw County we currently have eight adult clinicians that have an average caseload size of 80 to 100 clients crisis intervention assessments individual therapy and group therapy we currently have about five or six group therapy groups going on currently we recently rolled out a new program called community crisis response and intervention or CCRI which allows a clinician to accompany law enforcement to the scene of a psychiatric emergency we just started that program I think last month so we're working through that we recently hired a person an engagement specialist his job is

» to assist us in engaging our clients into our services with him coming on board he's assisted in reducing our no-show rates by addressing barriers to treatment and engaging people back into our services we currently have three child and adolescent clinicians and we have two in that department they have an average caseload size of 34 to 56 clients we are currently serving 10 schools with 212 children in those schools we're working on expanding our school-based services we currently have five adult prescribers or doctors or APR ends one full-time the rest are part-time we have two that are on-site and three that provide services through telepsychiatry where they see the clients at a distant location through the television monitor.

» Currently we only have one part-time child and adolescent psychiatrist who sees clients both in person and via telepsychiatry. We currently have one full-time nurse and she carries a caseload of 260 medication management only clients who do not receive therapy but receive medication only. We have one part-time LPN. We are currently serving 1,147 adults. We have 315 children on our caseloads with a total of 1,462 people in Kershaw County that we serve. We have admitted an average of 66 clients per month over the last six months to our services. In contrast, we have only discharged 52 clients per month over the last six months. That means we're averaging at least 14 additional clients into our services each month. We have a project home that's funded by a grant.

» It's for transitional housing for our clients that are homeless or in substandard housing we currently have four rental units that we rent out and we're serving for clients one family three individuals we have the ability to obtain one more rental unit and we are working so we're working to expand that program our children's services recently received a five million dollar grant to start providing non-traditional mental health services to the 16 to 26 year old population with that is called roads to independence and this will be a separate facility from our current mental health center we will be locating a facility in the community to provide these non-traditional services to this age group where it would be kind of a drop-in center where they could come and you know, play pool, do games,

» but also receive their mental health services there. We are hoping to be up and running by mid to late summer, and we're currently looking for a location to house the program. Also located in our building is Sandhills Medical, so we provide primary care in our facility, as well as mental health services. I appreciate all the support that County Council has provided us over the years, and we wish to have your continued support. Great to see you, Sandy and Larry. Thank you very much indeed. Appreciate it. Next person signed up is Shannon Team. My name is Shannon. Can you bring the mic over? Yeah. Sorry. I can use my teacher voice. My name is Shannon Team, and I'm a lifelong resident of Kershaw County. I graduated from Camden High School in 94.

» I then attended Winthrop University and returned to Kershaw County to teach. I'm in my 21st year. I started at North Central back when it was 7 through 12, and I'm currently at LeGolf Elgin High School. I really appreciate the opportunity to speak this evening, and in order to respect your time, I have some other people who also would like to reiterate what we're going to tell you about tonight, and I think we had another one maybe come on a stand. There were several more who wanted to come, but it's a really hard time for teachers right now and for parents. So I'm going to start off with a little story. I promise I'll be quick. But when I was eight, I remember sitting in the dentist office and looking at a highlights magazine and there was a story in there about symbiotic relationships.

» And it talked about a crocodile who would leave his mouth open and the bird would come and clean the crocodile's teeth. So the bird was able to eat, the crocodile got clean teeth and they were able to help one another. And I like to think that that is the relationship between Kershaw County School District and Kershaw County. I know economic development is a really high priority of yours, as well it should be. And I really think that stronger local financial support of our schools will increase the number of businesses that are interested in our county. It sends the message that we're working together and that we are going to do our best to develop a workforce that they are going to need.

» It also shows that we live in a community that provides quality education and for the people who are looking to move here and start businesses here, they want to make sure that their own children will have a quality education. In recent years, Kershaw County School District has implemented STEM offerings to support the county's workforce development emphasis and they did this without any increased funding which meant that other areas areas that are really important to our kids had to be cut we know that the state plays the most critical role in this in funding however I know that you all control the local funding and that you also play a really important role and I'm certain that you understand how important you are to our Kershaw County schools ten years ago the per pupil funding for Kersh

» aw County was among the best in the state and now we're in the bottom third we're really aware that the state has not taken care of its responsibility and funding our schools we have definitely been active in addressing that with them and we will continue to do that but we also know that because the state has not done what they needed to do Kershaw County Schools have lost about 80 million dollars in funding this has had really strong impact on the quality education that we can offer our students and while I'm very hopeful that recent events have encouraged our state legislators to take a more serious and active approach to taking care of our schools I also know that what they are able to do right now is not going to be enough and we're hoping that we can work together with y'all to fix som

» e of this um so i'm i'm very new to this i'll be real honest um from what i understand there used to be a local funding formula in place that took care of like expansion and um growth inflation those types of things so that the school district could anticipate a steady revenue locally in addition to the state funding and as with many things during the recession um there were cuts to that and the the council decided to stop using that funding even though now we have gotten to a point where we have gotten past the recession there hasn't been anything put in place to take care of that local funding again again from what I understand the school district has not received an increase from council for the past three budget cycles and I would respectfully ask the council to reconsider reinstating a

» consistent and predictable local funding for our schools. Herschel County is growing. I'm in the West Watery area and we are busting at the seams. We've got almost 1,700 students at Luke Alfordson High School and taking care of this funding would be a huge help to the teachers who are on the front lines and it would benefit our students as we try to prepare them for the workforce and to be contributing members of Herschel County.

» It would help lower class sizes which by research is the number one thing that we can do to help students especially those who are struggling and it would allow us to provide additional resources for our struggling students I hope that you will thoughtfully consider this request and that you can foresee the huge benefits that this would provide for Kershaw County School Districts but also the benefits that Kershaw County School Districts can then provide Kershaw County in closing being in the bottom third of the state and education funding really gives the wrong impression of our county we are an all American city at all American County and we need to treat our students as such I know that Kershaw County is a very transparent process for using funds and if you will provide them the funds th

» at they need the local funding that they need they will be responsible in using that to best help our students thank you for allowing me to speak tonight and for your service and dedication to Kershaw County. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you very much indeed. Mr. DeVos? The next person to sign up is Tyshawn Grant. Mr. Grant, thank you. I begin my remarks tonight by thanking County Council for the opportunity to speak. On the agenda of April 23rd County Council meeting was a discussion and possible vote on the public comments guidelines. During this discussion, the proposal was made to extend the public comments period by 15 minutes under certain circumstances.

» I will admit that when I first heard this proposal I believed it needed a little clarification and refinement but however I was looking forward to hearing the constructive criticism of the rest of the County Council members to my surprise I was exposed to little participation by half of County Council any reason proposal to accommodate the needs of attendance at our County Council meetings is reasonable is worthy of discussion moreover an active and lively discussion Obviously, when controversial topics are included in the agenda, citizens attend county council meetings to voice either their overwhelming support or disapproval of these issues. I believe that it should be a priority of council to appropriately accommodate these participants.

» I thank the few members that actively engaged in this initiative to foster a more inclusive and interactive council meeting. Nevertheless, the ennui expressed on the faces of many of our county council members during the discussion conveyed to me that they were not only bored by the discussion, but also uninterested in further deliberation regarding the topic. Despite the disappointment I felt during this discussion, I became ever more thankful for those who worked diligently to foster a more transparent and inclusive local government. Thank you very much, Mr. DeBose. The last person signed up is Jeff Maddox. Mr. Maddox. Please, Mr. Massa. Massa, please do not rob me anymore. Massa, please let me keep the fruits of my labor on your plantation. Massa, please. Thank you, Massa. Forgive me.

» Thank you, council, for allowing us servants five minutes to beg and plead, even as we know that our pleas fall on deaf ears. At least you let us entertain you for a few short minutes. Power corrupts, and absolute power, well, absolute power brings out the worst in all men, shall we say. Gentlemen, you hold in your hands a monopoly on force, giving you the power to steal in whatever amount or for whatever purpose you deem to be necessary and proper for your fellow slaves on this collective plantation. Systematics, we won't use words like steel when we're a government body. Please rephrase that. Go ahead. I'd like to hear more. As a matter of course, I think a majority of people consider firefighting something of a necessary service.

» Insurance companies give discounts for those homes based on the local fire service by considering such things as proximity to a fire station and previous fire service of that particular fire district. It is a good idea to have insurance, and it is also a good idea to have fire protection. But the difference between the former and the latter is critical for all of us to understand. A person decides for his or herself the type of insurance he needs and wants. He can then choose the amount of coverage he is willing to pay for or that his budget at the time can handle. While fire protection, he has no choice, and instead of shopping for the amount of service he might require, he is forced to pay for the service he may or may not need or want.

» The whole thing works much like an extortion racket, where the mafia demands a fee to ensure nothing bad happens. Yep, sure does. Most people today consider a mobile phone a necessity, probably more than fire service. But unlike fire protection, people have a choice of carriers, phones, and plans to fit their needs. In the market of fire protection, there is one choice and one choice only, government. Yep, sure is. In fire protection, there is no competitive pricing because there is a monopoly in the market. Not only is there a monopoly, but is a monopoly armed with a gun and able to set prices at will? Sure is. The claim is that only government can provide fire protection, and so government must force the people to pay for something only government can provide.

» Is this not the same claim made by this council with economic development? Without government, there would be no economic development and no fire protection, right gentlemen? Sure is. Of course, fire protection is so important, council must not let the people decide if they need more protection oh no this is far too important to take a chance that the people might say no to being robbed even more than just the 17 million dollars this council has borrowed for our great plantation there is and so this council plans on raising all sorts of taxes and fees unilaterally despite the promises made by many of the councilmen to let the people decide in a referendum i have heard we can't wait it's emergency but gentlemen this is not a new problem at all you know it i know it yep sure do what is clear

» with this agenda is this council does not trust the people and so you will just tax us instead of no matter how our protests are to the contrary why because power corrupts and the absolute power to tax and spend has gone to your heads yep sure has so now the master has become the servant and the master is now forced to come before our overlords begging the servant to leave him alone will anyone any one of you stand up for us or will you all vote against the people because you have the power over us all thank you thank you mr maddox mr dubois that concludes the sign up and that concludes the public comments with that we move to the next item Mr. Chairman, if I may, I need a point of order for clarification, please. I don't enjoy being called a thief. I don't enjoy saying I steal.

» But I think the public has a right to get up here and speak before us and do it somewhat freely as long as they're not attacking individuals personally. Mr. DuBose, am I too liberal on that? Well, the chairman is the chairman, and per the rules of county council, he maintains order and decorum. So he would make a judgment call on order and decorum. Thank you very much. With that, we move to the adoption of the agenda, and it's on the board. Can we have a motion to approve the agenda? Make a motion to approve the agenda, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Tucker, a second? Second. Second from Mr. Snodgrass. Any discussion about the agenda? Seeing there is none, let's move to a vote. All those in favor of the agenda as published, signify by raising your hand.

» And it's unanimous, and we move to the next item, which is a public hearing. A public hearing in regards to an ordinance of an extension to base lease and operating agreement between the County of Kershaw and South Carolina Equine Promotion Foundation. A little later in the agenda, you'll see it at tab E. With that, I open the public hearing for public comments. Mr. Chairman. Yes. Just one minute, please. Mr. DeBoer is sitting in his back there trying to get your attention. He said he was on that list. Did we miss it? Excuse me. He signed up in the public hearing portion. Oh, okay. Well, let's take a ruling. Let's allow Sidney to come up. Sidney, would you come on? And we'll continue with public comments. Mr. Smith, please. Butler, I'm sorry. I guess Smith is my hunting partner.

» Sidney Butler, thank you. Good evening. Good evening. There are several things I need to bring to you all's attention. first of all i want to bring this to you all's attention tourists travel our highways we need to have back oh for our tour tourists help bring revenue to this county now in one area of this county some tourists came down and they were looking for a site where they are rv camp camp over here in this county they came to me and asked me i had to send the people to fairfield county that's right this thing of you you all represent the district you all need to make these water company for water in the area so that our county can grow. That's over near the Chavez Green Road. People wanted to camp out up there, but Fairfield County had a state park up there.

» They went to Fairfield County. Another thing, there has been criticism about the park on the banks of the Watery River. The thing is, it's a beautiful site. We got people from Lexington, got people coming from Richland and Lancaster County to utilize that river. And when more and more people learn about this place down here, you're going to see a difference by turning that into a park. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Butler. Thank you. Mr. Bowes, is that the last one? Yes, I wrote him in on the public comment. Okay, very good. We'll return to the agenda then. We've finished the public comments. We'll drop back down to the public hearing. I'll reopen the public hearing in regard to an ordinance of an extension to base lease and operating with the Equine Center. I'm opening it.

» And no one signed up, Mr. Bowes? No one, Mr. Chairman. And I see no one coming forward. going to close the public hearing and to remind us that tabby will come to that a little later on now we move now to a series of public presentations first is item number one which is the south carolina equine park mr jonathan potter please chairman council uh appreciate the opportunity to be here uh today to give our annual update uh for the equine park as as necessary um we do uh appreciate extension obviously of our lease with you guys i think that's certainly a beneficial one and i'm sure you all do as well i included a little bit of literature fresh off the press today we have an article in a local magazine uh regarding our 10-year anniversary at the equine park this is a big year for us um there wa

» s a lot of work that was put into this in 2009 to secure these funds privately through donations and uh private fundraising to uh to purchase this from previous owners and ultimately its possession so we're we're thankful for that and uh we've had a very nice 10 years and great growth and we've seen uh a lot of positive infrastructure on the property and uh and for that we're grateful um 2018 was it was a good year for us uh we closed out with a you know with a bang except for we did have some tropical storms and some weather events that uh caused a couple of our big shows to be canceled um but we were able to do uh you know some stuff for other folks on the coastal areas that were impacted by these storms we had some families that came in from those storms some people that had total losses

» and total devastation and they spent their time here in kershaw county and we did that through the park basically at free of charge just asked for them to make a private donation and the way that they felt was best or uh but but it wasn't um it wasn't mandatory in any way and we really received a lot of positive feedback from it was very nice to hear and we certainly felt like it was the right thing to do 2018's numbers uh were very close to to 2017 they would have been up significantly more had uh had we not had some of these major weather events that canceled a couple of our very low you know uh bigger shows that we had um but but overall um you know it was uh it was in line with others um our show facility has has really done a great job trying to ease our our clientele and our clientele

» are the managers who host these shows we don't put on any events of our own we made a decision as a board early on that we wouldn't get into the business of trying to put our own shows on that we would just host these through events we have about 10 or 12 managers that are regular to our park and we have a very unique situation in which uh council and city uh south carolina and prt funded a covered arena for us some years ago it was a million dollar facility and uh that increased our revenue by about 20 year-over-year and it was a big deal that second facility also brought up many shows from clemson in the upstate to karshaw county that that had a lot to do with our additional revenue and the horses that were coming into town people tend to like our facility because it's um it's it's very c

» ompact and can park close to the trip to to their to these barns have about 60 rv sites on site and those were put in most of them uh throughout the years from 70s really on this is a 40 year old facility just about at this point and um and quite a bit of our infrastructure or barns about half of them are 40 year old barns and typically when we come here and give annual updates you know we come to thank you which I'm doing today for all that that you have done for us and entrusting the South Carolina Equine Promotion Foundation who's the board that runs that to uh to manage this facility and attracting new shows and larger shows in 2019 this year we have decided to start on our third phase we did a master plan originally we also did an economic development plan that really gave a lot of eco

» nomic impact figures and numbers for our community of of what we should expect to see revenue generated from our exhibitors that come and visit us and uh our third phase really requires some updating of our infrastructure on the county facility the park that's owned by you all uh specifically barnes they're the ones that uh they're the infrastructure that means some of them it really means the most to a lot of these guys that are coming here they have to put their horses in these barns and uh through 40 years of um use we have we have three or four barns that that doesn't seem that's going to be the third phase that we'll see uh we also have some bath houses and restroom facilities that are needed some larger ones we we completed one in 2018 on a lower portion of our property next to our ne

» w covered arena and uh and we also have a big need for an rv park facility there's been a lot of talk of rv stuff uh recently there's been a lot of tournaments in town i've hosted some of those people myself folks that are coming in through our community spots and the south carolina equine park would would love to to work with county council on uh we we bought 13 acres um about five or six years ago and for future development for part of our third phase and uh we have a unique opportunity to host not only our own folks with the proper facility but but even uh you know folks that are coming in through town midweek tournaments on the weekend if uh if this is done correctly and we have a spot that um would be suitable for that and there's also a need for equestrian use as well where folks trav

» el with their horses they need a place to lay over when they're traveling 95 they're going to new york all the way to south florida and folks that need a place to lay over and it creates a unique position for us in kershaw county to be able to offer something not really a revenue thing for us we really think about that as as we do um having a resource that not places above our uh facilities around us in aiken and tryon but one that gets us in line with them um so something that we'd like to see also happen in our third phase our third phase is estimated to cost us somewhere about 2.2 million dollars that's for three or four new barns uh an rv center that would add about 40 spots uh as well as some some bath houses and just some minor updates and some different parts of the property to accom

» modate these new additions um 2019 has uh has has started off pretty well we're a hair off um of where we were in 2018 and a lot of that students in the rainy season had horses prepared and um quite a few fridays and saturdays in a row where every weekend and that that really the good news is is our our average revenue per day is up this year um and and over all the years past and uh and that's that's a good thing uh that's really a tribute to us um paying attention to some of the wants and needs that are that are available uh and requested and and that's that's raised our annual revenue or our average daily revenues um i'd also like to publicly announce today that um we have a cafe on site and uh our exhibitors have outgrown uh what we've done and uh in a cafe just hasn't been quite where

» it needs to be and candy's at the granary and mr uh miss excuse me mrs candy van noort will be uh opening a second facility out of the equine park at the first of june expanding our business out there to to help us with that growing need that's a a great thing for us and we're very thankful for that and we've been working with her for quite some time to put this together so like to have any questions but also to say thank you and you know I look forward to working with you all in the future about some of these infrastructure enhancements and how we can work together with funding you all our city and SCP RT and private nation thank you very much any questions yeah yes please go ahead mr.

» Potter my question when is your um are we coming into your peak season as long as the weather cooperates uh our spring tends to be very heavy um we taper off a little bit sort of mid-june uh really july and august are kind of uh we have some you know a little bit uh we have some clinics and some things when the heat comes the fall is very very busy we've uh we've actually restructured a lot in in what we've done since we opened the second covered arena and that we used to have a ton of hunter-jumper shows and we really seen a lot more and we're getting some really big numbers from them and one thing most of these shows have moved from the upstate to come here they've a couple shows here and now they almost all here the limiting factor of really our shows not being this we don't have the cap

» acity in Barnes or the Barnes some of the older Barnes are really too small but they're just not one one uh really big problem really with the quarters and the paint horses but um we have some nice events possibly coming for 2020. um there's quite a bit of interest in our park but just because we are unique facilities that we offer these covered arenas and that's not to mention that we just really pay attention to the boats uh and our park manager has a lot to do sometimes thanks mr mike mathis we're very grateful for the comments yeah uh john thanks for for coming man and thanks for the work you guys do and and i commented before that there's been many times i'm in a restaurant uh surprise surprise i'm in a restaurant in town on the weekend and the restaurant's full of of equine folks who

» you can tell are in town because uh perhaps they're at your facility so you know thanks for for that um so how many how many shows do you do that are what's what's your english versus western radio do you or western show i mean is it one bigger than the other um they're just they're it's really uh two just two different totally different groups of people um uh really i mean we had probably let's say eight to ten exceptions and now you know we're we're probably six ish or something like that they're not quite as big and a lot of that is due to um to aiken and try on aiken uh the aiken steeplechase track uh some private money was left uh someone's death and they spent about 10 million dollars this facility it's very uh i've just spent two weeks there um uh i just left there on monday and uh i

» t's it's obviously completely new new barns new everything you know i wouldn't be surprised in the next year or two if they don't have a month trying as we all know it's a big massive facility um hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent up there um so whenever we're talking about horse show facilities and that sort of things we're talking about you know tens millions that's not cheap no funding is not available for something like that and so we don't seek that but but but we'd like to carry on what we have and we have a niche market like outside of us competing with Garrison arena specifically state we even have a show maybe out of North Carolina that comes to South Carolina in North Carolina allows that just because of our central location in South Carolina to I-95, 26, 77 it really

» is a central place for everybody in the state to travel to so we have a really do that and but but in changing in the hunter-jumper shows to these quarter horse and paint horse and some of these more Western shows many of them do travel with live-ins they travel with bigger trailers that they carry the horses in they also live these trailers and uh the park gets very compact we have a lot of we have a lot of congestion internally uh we maintain our fire lanes as as required and that sort of thing it becomes difficult we've done some temporary stuff too these you know there's folks that that come and stay in our hotels and we're a very good partner of uh mr bill patel there's there's reasons new hampton ends were opened up we're not only have you know the only club that has something to do w

» ith that the motorsports park and others have a lot to uh that bring a lot of folks to town and and we're certainly not looking to detract anything we're just looking to accommodate the ones that are not uh mr gardner certainly what y'all do is a great return on our investment because y'all do put a lot of people here and a lot of those people spend money here uh but your phase three said it was about a 2.2 million dollar investment you have a breakdown on i think you said three phases the barns restrooms and the rv park do you have a breakdown what each one of those costs so uh we have a we have a we we got a preliminary bid obviously uh you know we're looking to to do this over five to eight years and kind of do this in a you know phase three a b c as as necessary uh barns are about 200k

» a piece um three of them can be had for about 550 000 they give you a little discount if you do three uh for this first bid we didn't seek additional bids but we know that that's in the ball game or ballpark excuse me of of what they costs um big barns other facilities i mean it's kind of a common knowledge just sort of what they roughly cost and those would be similar to the the newer star style barns that we have on our property uh i say newer style those are probably about 20 years old at that shape uh we have very little stall maintenance in those 20 year old barns and they're in they're in they're in great shape so uh bath houses and and that sort of thing they they run about 150k with 150 000 would take care of the bathhouse um we have some renovations of uh of of our our show office

» that needs to be enlarged and we would remove some bath uh current bathrooms that are need of renovation uh and the and the last remaining amount really would be uh would be some underground drainage and piping and infrastructure and this rv location uh kind of free us into in the park internally of these uh rvs that come in and these uh horse trailers with live-ins they would get them out into a separate place with separate entrances we wouldn't be uh packed so tight in there and it's about you know any kind of emergency services that would be necessary fires or anything else because you know all that stuff is always a worry in a horse facility you never want to have something thank god we've we've uh steered clear of that but um but as we grow and we get more of these types of shows that

» require that uh we're looking to get them in a separate location proper hookups similar to what they would have at the southern state other comments yeah mr connell thanks for updating this jonathan a quick question for you on utilization so as i look at the 2018 handout you gave us it shows 69 show days so anybody just looking at this off the street would see there's about 290 plus days that aren't show days and i think it'd be useful for the public to know what goes into a show day how long does it take you to prep beforehand and how long does it take you to to recover right um every show is a little bit different depending on um some of the needs and necessities of of these shows but typically we see a lot of management that will come in days ahead of time to uh to prep these rings to pr

» ep the show facility for us uh after a show we kind of have a one to two day cleanup period we have quite a bit of staff and we have some extras that come in to clean stalls and that sort of thing but um uh you know you you have trash to be removed and that sort of thing so for us we kind of have a two-day turnaround window where uh where we're we're full on cleaning up in this group but but again uh management comes in uh of the people that are leasing these facilities they come in a couple days ahead of their show you know to get rings for we prepare rings in our footing internally uh but but they have they bring jumps and they bring their own equipment uh what they need and and so they're usually getting here early we also have folks these show days are days that they actually show uh th

» ese these exhibitors typically come in a day or two ahead of that uh they school their horses on those days uh they kind of practice they have a place and many of them leave a facility and just go to the next facility so instead of going home for a day or two when they live in texas or somewhere else they have to find a place to lay over and they can't lay over in a hotel with their horse in a trailer So they typically go to the next spot, especially when it's a circuit-based thing and folks are from out of town. You know, they're coming ahead of time. So that 69 show days is a little – it doesn't quite tell the whole picture in that aspect because there are folks there. They're just – we call them show days, and they're days when we're actually collecting fees from show management.

» Thank you. Other comments? I would say any member of your board here today? They're not. Okay, but thank you for coming. I want you to convey back to the board our appreciation for what you do. The equine industry is vital to this county in many, many ways. It's tourism, as Mr. Butler talked about, and the Chamber of Commerce is all over it, and our director is here tonight, so I appreciate that. There was a rodeo last weekend.

» The equine center was going hot and heavy, and, of course, we have the Carolina Cup, that's only a small part of the horse brand for kershaw county i thank you for maintaining that thank you so much thank you john thank you well done the next item on the public presentation is is a tax committee recommendations by the distinguished mr chip galloway sir and i believe that your presentation is at tab b and if you can put it on the screen that'd be helpful and um i'm not near as tall as jonathan i'll adjust and um the chamber of commerce is behind them and um thank you for your applications um i want to start out by um thanking the committee that i have um we have beth ford catherine brown amy kynard brant tomlinson and um always and never forgotten wonderful mary siegler who just takes great

» care of us i don't know what this county would be like if mary siegler wasn't in it each and every day i'm thankful to the lord for her. We had $140,434 worth of grant requests this year. We had $70,951.29 that was given to us and we utilized all of it. Great discussions and it's in your packet how we decided to recommend it to you. Take it very seriously. We send out the grant applications to each of the board a week or so in advance so they can look over them, so they can grade them, and then we lively discussions. Do y'all have any questions about what's before you? I'm afraid I can't get it up on the board electronically, but each of you have a copy. Questions, gentlemen? Mr. Tucker, there you go. I have a comment. You need to thank Ms.

» Kiner that he wasn't part of your figuring this year because that really helps you get these numbers to work. we always do what we can do you're right comment uh yeah mr jones mr galloway i don't know how much we're paying you to do this but it's not enough you do a great job and i appreciate what you've done over the years you've always been very thorough and one comment that you made that i absolutely have no issues with and agree with is mary ziegler well she is wonderful isn't she and thank you for recognizing her on that because she does quite a bit for all of us i wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for mary ziegler any other comments mr chairman if i really could just yeah go ahead um because this will be part of the budget this information will be in the budget packet so it will be

» available um as well yeah for each budget uh so that's let you know excellent thank you mr snodgrass hey mr galloway thanks for coming appreciate your work uh i think i think that a lot of folks on the desk know this answer this question but maybe the folks who are here with the first time they've heard something about a tax would you would you explain to us what the criteria is for someone to apply for a tax funding what they have to provide see normally i would yield that to mary because mary's the one that takes care of us whenever it gets um tough but um we get um accommodation tax that comes in and there's a pool of money that um that is available and um each year we have um end up um this is a low year we may have more in some years but it's directly related to um hotel stays that's w

» here the money comes from and we get a percentage of that and um there's a grant application process that goes goes through our commission, our committee. Mary does a great job of getting out the information that they need to be able to apply for it. They apply for it and there's a criteria for each and every grant application that we get that they have to pass to make sure that they're available for our recommendations. And then once we do that, we try to be good stewards of the money that comes in and figure out what we can do to create more hotel stays, what we can do to create folks coming here. And, you know, we just heard a great presentation from the South Carolina Equine Promotion Foundation. They apply for a grant with us and make a difference.

» Jonathan and them do a great job of it. And we take all that into consideration and how the grant's written and how that returns into a revenue stream for us in the future. Thank you. Other comments? I would say Mr. Galloway is also a member of our C100. And I don't know what else you don't do, Mr. Galloway, but it's a testament to how important volunteers are to our county thank you very much indeed there's one other thing is I notice you had requests there were twice as much as the money was available and that's a small statement of what we do during our own budgets there's always less money than we need well done thank you very much thank you with that item where that concludes our public presentations we move now to approval of minutes are you going to be able to get those up there they

» are good the minutes are located at tab B can we have a motion to approve the motion to mr. Connell a second from mrs. thank grass gotcha and mr. Gardner will excuse himself from this can we have any discussion thing there is no move to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous with mr gardner recusing uh the minutes are approved we move now to a proclamation recognizing may 10th through the 25th as emergency medical services week it's at tab c and it's also on the screen i'll read it briefly uh with our ems here and gerald your team seems to be gathered uh with that i'll read briefly from it and then we'll take a motion to approve.

» Kershaw County proclamation, whereas emergency medical services is a vital public service, the members of our EMS are ready to move providing life-saving care to those in need 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Whereas emergency medical services teams consist of emergency physicians, emergency nurses, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, firefighters, Educators, administrators, and others, approximately two-thirds of all emergency medical service providers, are volunteers. The members of the EMS teams, whether career or volunteer, engage in thousands of hours of specialized training and continuing education to enhance their life-saving skills. Americans benefit daily from the knowledge and skills of these highly trained individuals, and Kershaw County is truly blessed.

» Whereas this year's theme is Caring for the Community, coincides with Kershaw County's EMS mission statement of unsurpassed care provided by skilled, compassionate professionals dedicated to team, community, and life. Now, therefore, be it resolved that Kershaw County Council does hereby proclaim the week of 19 through 25 May 2019 as Kershaw County Emergency Medical Services Week and encourages the community to observe this week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. May we have a motion to approve? So moved, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Tucker, a second? Second. Second from Mr. Bozard. Discussion, Mr. Tucker? Thank you.

» I just want to say thanks to all of you and wish you many, many more years here in kershaw county don't run off to other counties we're doing we're doing the best we can by you and we will continue to do that so thank you for all that you do thank you gerald and the team other comments uh mr bozard yes i want to echo that and that proclamation don't say near enough and um we want to thank every one of you because you know what you're going through out every day appreciate it thank you very much thank you other discussion i was at a meeting last night A lady came up to me and gave me a long story about how professional the team is. I mean, we see it everywhere, don't you? Every one of these gentlemen here hears about it.

» And we also, during the proclamation, you saw a little bit about the volunteers, the fire, the 911. But tonight, it's your night, Gerald. And with that, let's move to a vote. All those in favor? Mr. Chairman. Yeah, please. Quick comment, please. Thank you. I'm out in the county quite a bit. And, Gerald, I don't get any complaints on your agency.

» i mean i hear nothing but compliments and i tell you i'm proud of what this county council has done to support ems i'm proud of what you've done to build ems because listen if we didn't have you and your staff we wouldn't be where we are right now with ems an emergency sir and that's with all our services out here but thank you so much for all you've done and uh we're going to continue to support thank you thank you mr jones other comments with that we move to a vote all those in favor so signify and it's unanimous mary and the motion and the proclamation passes if you want to come forward bring the whole team let's get a picture come on jerry bring them forward very good now we'll move to a series of ordinances uh we've got about eight of these to go through um but each one is a vital impo

» rtance and get to our attention the first item is the third reading of ordinance of the county council of Kershaw County to amend our official zoning act and it's at tab d and the map is shown on the on the screen Mr. Carpenter can you tell us what we have here Mr. Chairman members of council you have tonight for third reading ordinance ordinance to rezone a portion of the county this is land located in the Westville area at the cross street from Carolina Motorsports Park it has previously been approved by council twice with unanimous votes so we'll move forward on a third reading can we have a motion to approve on third reading yes sir i make that motion that's your district a second second second for mr gardner uh we moved out uh to a discussion is there any discussion mr bozard yes thank

» you sir this motion is for 144 rv parks up on 521 across to raise track 30 cabins a filling station a car wash a ladies center a women's wellness center they call it and i'm looking forward to having it up in my district thank you very much very good any other comments uh seeing there are none we'll go ahead and move to a vote all those in favor so signify and it's unanimous on the third reading and it passes mary move to item number two which which is third reading of an ordinance to approve and authorize an extension to the base lease for the South Carolina Equine Center, which we just heard. It's at Tabby. If you want to look at the details, Mr. Carpenter, can you introduce? Mr.

» Chairman, members of council, you have in front of you tonight for third reading ordinance to extend the base lease for the Carolina Equine Park. This is for a five-year extension with the option for another five-year extension on top of that. Very good. Can we have a motion to approve? I'd like to make a motion, Mr. Chairman, to approve a third reading, a second reading, a third reading for the equine park. Very good. Mr. Tucker, second? I'll second that. Second from Mr. Snodgrass. Very good. Can we have any discussion on that? Seeing there is none, we can move to a vote. All those in favor on the third reading of an ordinance to approve the equine center lease, so signify. And it's unanimous.

» and we move now to item number three which is the second reading of an ordinance on another zoning map designation it's at tab f and the map is shown on the board mr carpenter can you introduce that one mr chairman members of council you have tonight in front of you for second reading an ordinance to approve the rezoning of a parcel of land approximately 21 acres of land from a current zoning of r15 to rd1 this has previously been approved by council on first reading very good can we have a motion to approve on second reading so move uh mr snodgrass a second second mr connell thank you sir uh any discussion uh seeing there is none who moved to a vote all those in favor so signify and it passes unanimously mary on the second reading we move now to a series of four uh first readings regarding

» the budget for the coming years um item number four is the first of those and i'll begin to introduce it is in first reading and title only of an ordinance to provide budget appropriations for the fiscal year beginning july 1 2019 mr carpenter can you introduce that please mr chairman members of council as is the case with this county when budgets are presented we as a rule present the first budget in title only tonight you have presented the 2019-2020 budget in front of you in title only very good can we have a motion to approve in title only mr chairman i'd like to make a motion that we approve the 2019-2020 budget thank you mr tucker a second second second for mr bozart mr tucker you want to lead i would just like to say i thank my colleagues and uh mostly staff for um having a balanced

» budget with a lot of good in it and that we had some healthy debate and discussion over this budget and I look forward to the next two readings and any amendments that may be presented. Do we have any other discussion? Yes, thank you. Mr. Bozard, you're second. I don't get to you, Mr. Jones. Go ahead. Mr.

» Carpenter and all his staff, I don't know if I'm getting used to during the budgets now are getting easier i'd like to think they're getting easier and sending them to us and i appreciate that thank you very much uh mr jones please go ahead well i must be on a different county council than him it hasn't gotten easier for me listen but thank thank you members of council i've enjoyed the debate we've had the discussion and dialogue mr carpenter this what we're voting on tonight title title only is a balanced budget no tax fee correct yes sir the draft budget is presented is a balanced budget and it has no increase in taxes or fees thank you uh any other discussion well i will just tell you it was i don't guess sandra is still here but there are long nights and this was a very very comprehensi

» ve budget uh and some tough issues were wrestled uh there will be undoubtedly amendments as those of you who may be new to the process uh and second third readings will certainly have more to say later on about that other discussion mr chairman uh go ahead mr carpenter as we'll discuss in other portions of it the operational budget draft is presented to the council is right balance with no fees or taxes i'm sorry i didn't catch the end of your say with no fact with no tax or fee increases exactly uh all right well let's now move to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand and it passes unanimously on the first reading and title only. We move now to item number five.

» And the proposal here, just as a matter of how we will run this, is I'll take a first and second, and then we'll have Mr. Carpenter do a presentation. And I think there should be some lively discussion for those who have been bored with our discussion to this point. We will certainly fulfill any needs for a discussion among this body here in a moment. it. So with that, as proposed, we'll do a first reading and title only and then follow it immediately with a detailed discussion. The title of this regards an effect for service and user fees for rates and charges for fire protection. Mr. Carpenter, can you tell us what it is? And then I'll ask for you to brief after we get a second on the motion, please. Yes, Mr.

» Chairman, this is the mechanism by which the county would begin the implementation of a countywide professional fire service very good uh with that can we have a motion to approve the main uh mr connell thank you a second second second from mr gardner and with that uh mr carpenter if you would lead off with your presentation absolutely mr chair members council well over a year ago this council and the community started a discussion about the future of fire service in kershaw county it began with individual council members and citizens speaking about it for quite some time really before then a group of a series of ad hoc meetings were held across the county with that included a volunteer fireman County staff interested citizens that pulled together and discussed what their desires were what

» their their needs were information and data was shared with them this resulted in some changes that were made in the short term changes that were able to be affected by current budgets and funding the implementation and purchasing of new software that allowed the county to be track able to track efficiently and effectively the kind of data that we needed in order to present to council recommendations based on facts based on facts that council was interested in hearing we then entered into in the fall there was a presentation from staff to council showing recommendations as a result of all that study the recommendations were that the county begin moving towards a professional fire service meaning that there would be full-time coverage ultimately of 24 hours a day seven days a week serving th

» e entire county that the issues of how this would be implemented were to be discussed when we enter the budget season we began budget workshops about two months ago fire was discussed during some of those workshops that gave to the county several options to consider on how such a program could be implemented that addressed legal issues as well as funding issues. Tonight we'll begin the process of council debating publicly those funding issues and with that I will start with explaining to council again as you see in front of you it all began with a vision, Vision 2030, the vision plan that this public approach this public debated on and the public approved a variety of sources called for changes to our fire services at that point let me halt it's I think mr.

» Carpenter you'd be alright if council interrupted you during the briefing absolutely so I invite comments as you move forward but recognizing that the other people in the room have not seen this briefing so if we can move it along so I would welcome you as council members to follow protocol and ask to speak I would also make sure it's known that mr. Connell and mr. Jones and mr. Gardner did a great job in leading us through this and I need to recognize their effort along with the fire service and Jean so with that I just want y'all to know that this is wide open discussion with the usual protocols okay go ahead mr. Carpenter mr.

» chairman from there we moved into the council itself the council began setting a goal back in the 2017-2018 year, 2018-18-19, and then the current year, 2019-2020, vision and goals for this council. In each case, the council set fire service, either through the creation of an ad hoc committee, executing the recommendations, or implementing those recommendations. Moving on, some of the data that we use to base this recommendation on, you start with the heat map. Those are fire calls throughout the county. Obviously, the redder they are, the more intense and the more concentrated they are, it's no surprise they do tend to focus around the populated areas. U.S. 1, being the backbone of the county, is where the bulk of the heap lies.

» Areas scattered throughout the county could also and would also normally be grass fires, tree fires, things like that. But in addition to fire calls, first response, first response has become far more common for our firemen, as well as our EMS, our public safety in general. And first responder can be accidents. It can be emergency calls that have accidents. And you see the heat map for first responders is, again, it's more concentrated in the urban areas as they respond more and more to those calls. When you mix the two together, or first response and fire, again, you get a better understanding of where the calls themselves lie with the bulk of them being in the areas around Elgin and then up also in the Bethune areas, Cassett.

» Now, notice that Camden and Lugoff are not represented because they have their own fire service districts. If we were to include them, then there would be big red splotches in the center of the map. But they have their own fire districts, and we have only reviewed data from calls that have been responded to by county fire services. So understand that this is a map that only shows unincorporated areas in the county that are not covered by either Lugoff Fire or the City of Camden. Taking this data and moving forward with the recommendations, these were the recommendations that were presented to the council. The first one recommendation was volunteer recruitment and retention efforts. Those have been affected.

» The second was to continue improving the recruitment and retention that has also been affected the next conclusion we're going next is the creation of full-time firefighters through two phases the first phase would be hiring 12-hour shifts daylight shifts essentially when people are working volunteers are not available as easily to respond to a fire moving to a second phase of 24 7 coverage this would be implemented throughout the county starting full-time daylight coverage on the east and the west side and then moving to 24 7 from there moving on the implementation schedule this is a plan that takes years to accomplish it's a five-year plan partial reasons being that we have to build buildings we have to acquire equipment we have to recruit and train our leadership as well as our employees

» as well so you see beginning in 2019 we would start with a total of 10 firefighters covering the county These would be daylight hours, so we would have smaller shifts that would be available. They would be strongly supported still by our volunteers. You would see the two main stations, Blaney and Cassett, would be the centers of those two stations and the centers of our firefighting efforts. That's what we call the hub. Each hub would have spokes. The spokes would radiate out from the hub, and they would be leading to volunteer fire departments. The volunteer fire departments will continue to exist. And the volunteer fire departments are crucial to any plan we have going forward. Volunteer fire departments and stations were included in all these discussions and were part of them.

» So they have been part of the beginning to where we are as well. As you see moving forward, we begin moving slowly into 24-hour coverage. Then we have to build buildings. We have to complete EMS stations before we end up finally by 2025, the full shifts in both Cassett and Blaney. At that point, we would be done with this phase of it. Any future phases, we have not considered. We're just trying to get us to the kind of coverage necessary and needed on both sides of the river. Moving forward, there's really three ways to pay for it. One is through a fee, one is through a millage, and one is through a referendum to the people themselves on a millage, pros and cons listed.

» Then finally, how would that compare? And so we compared the imposition of fees or millages to the existing fire professional services in this county. You see, starting with Lugoff Fire, their current operation is operated off 31.4 mills and a $23 fee. Trying to come up with apples to apples, a typical house would cost $127 a year in the Lugoff Fire District. The city of Camden charges a fee based on the value of their house. Therefore, $100,000, which is the typical home we're using, will cost $190 a year in the city of Camden. In the county, the ultimate millage would be $23.7. We currently have 9.8 mils on the books, so it would be approximately a 14-mil increase. The impact on a typical home, the same house, would be $92 in Kershaw County.

» If we added a fee and not a millage, $25 fee per parcel. So a parcel is a tax unit, tax map unit. It is either a house or it is a field, any piece of land that has its own tax map number. So $25 per parcel and $25 per car. Using an estimate of three cars per house, it would be averaging $100 per house. Mr. Chairman, the recommendation to council from staff is this first year the imposition of fees to begin the program and start the process forward so we can begin building buildings and hiring employees while the council would and the county and the staff would work out the details for the upcoming year with the various municipalities in order to affect a millage starting in 2020 calendar year budget year, 2020-21. That's my report, sir.

» Excellent briefing, and thanks to everyone who participated. Gene and your team, Mr. Connell, Mr. Jones, and Mr. Gardner, as just a housekeeping here, a little later on in item number six on the agenda, we'll talk millage for a future date. But for now, let's focus on item number five. And what are your points, gentlemen, anybody? Mr. Connell, do you want to lead off? Sure. I made the motion.

» I'd first like to thank Keith, Gene, and Scott for all your help in educating us over the last really i guess it's been two years but we did have the fire study and ad hoc committees a year plus ago looking at fire service this is a national issue that is now coming to kershaw county in that you have a aging but valiant group of volunteers and a very tough challenge in recruiting new volunteers we basically had our fire service subsidized by volunteer altruism for decades and decades and decades as long as fire service has been around it used to be the the bucket brigade and it increased from there as people could drive and get around the problem is the requirements for certification come at about 220 hours or so for a new person so if you take someone young with a family that wants to beco

» me a volunteer firefighter if they take four hours out of every saturday for an entire year they will just about qualify to go and stand as an actual firemen at a lower class and not even be able to do too much as i understand it it's very hard to make that sacrifice away from family work and otherwise to to increase the volunteer force we haven't been taking good enough care of our volunteers in my view we need to fund retention better reimbursements we need a better point system we need to recruit better and these are people that we expect to go into burning buildings and save our family members or interact with burning cars that can explode and save our family members we got to do better and we also have to acknowledge that kershaw county is experiencing tremendous growth unlike we've ev

» er seen before and that comes with some costs required to fund these life safety issues so i look forward as mr tucker said to the future readings and and seeing what develops i look forward to the debate i know that we've got to do something i think that we probably need to do it this year If the millage had been addressed over the last two decades, we wouldn't really be where we are right now, and we could probably have a professional fire service. But we are where we are, and we now have systems in place and data in place that gives us really informed decisions on what we're doing next.

» Just for context, as we move into the next part of the discussion, or whoever wants to chime in next, Lugol Fire's budget's about $1.3 million annually, and they service about 4,800 parcels in rough numbers. Camden Fire has about a $2 million budget, and they service about 8,700 parcels. Kershaw County has about a $1.3 million budget, and we service about 25,900 parcels. So we have done a lot with a little bit for a very long time, and it's my view that now it's time to do something on fire service. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good comments. Mr. Gardner, you had a second? Yes, I did. As you see on the chart there, either way that we do it for the county, it costs us approximately the same, $92 if we raise the millage, and approximately $100 based on a fee.

» It's probably going to be a combination of both. We don't have any millage on the books now. The fee would be an immediate cash flow for us that we could start this program. We could change it over to a millage and possibly even a referendum down the road. The referendum doesn't answer our problem right now. So I think probably either the fee or the millage would be the way to go now, and probably the fee would be the quickest way to do it. But our costs, when you compare it to both Lugoff and Camden, our costs are considerably lower than what they are charging the people. So I think you need to make sure that you look at that. So that concludes my question. Mr. Snodgrass. A question that I know the answer to, but I want to ask it just so the public can understand. So, Mr.

» Carpenter, what happens to residents in unincorporated areas of the county which may be under fire service through another entity, say East Camden, which pays fire service through their water bill? What happens to them under this plan of a fee? Yes, for Mr. Noggrass. Currently, all those people who are covered by the city of Camden's fire district that don't live in the city limits of Camden, they are in a separate tax district as far as the county is concerned so we know every single person who is in that area those people because we have already identified them and following the system of going with the fees the initial year they would not be affected at all so if a fee is implemented they would not be affected by it moving forward into the following year when we move to a millage part of

» the process of working um out at the details of getting that ordinance and that millage implemented would require us to work with the city of camden as well as lugoff and elgin to just work out the details so that again they're not affected so nobody would be affected by the fee and nobody would be affected by the millage if council approves that going forward we'll have that year to make sure that that's the case so folks who would might live in arrowwood or or live in fairfax um they'll continue to pay their 15 a month what a fee through their water bill that's creating fire service under this plan right they'll continue paying it they'll continue to be served by the camden fire when the county service is up and running should it pass they will continue to be served by the city of camden

» and not the county even though they're unincorporated thank you uh other comments all right well that was very thorough oh i'm sorry we're having a stare down mr tucker and i who's gonna dare and go next because i know you got some comments i recognize mr jones look i think our firemen do a great job and i haven't served on any ad hoc committees except two the fire services one because i have enough to do serving county council full time uh in the county but you know when we started this thing and we started talking about getting together with our ad hoc committee we were talking about a referendum pulling this information together putting it out there to the people saying okay this is what we found out we have and this is what we need that the people be involved and somewhere and somewhere

» down the line we've we've missed that mr. carbon I want to thank you for bringing up the referendum tonight because it's not mentioned here on the agenda at any place that I can find when we've had a work session I thought we had a very good work session mr. chairman we talked about the millage we talked about the fee we talked about the referendum and we talked about putting things on the agenda as far as first reading by title only then I get the agenda and there's nothing on there about the referendum the referendum was a huge part of our discussion on the ad hoc committee in it and one thing that I did I made a promise that's what I was gonna support and I am somewhat disappointed that it's not here and when we talk about a fee it'll be it like you said it'd be a fee on each vehicle be

» a fee on the any properties you own a separate fee it'll be a fee on the house if you have like you have a house it'd be a fee correct on the house but not the house in the parcel so what if you have a second piece of property and it beyond that fee i'm sorry and i wasn't clear but that's what i meant so that's gonna be 25 on all the above um i just am uncomfortable with this based on the fact that i have throughout this entire time thought and felt we were going to do a referendum but it's just not being mentioned or talked about there seems to be no appetite for it and you know we talk about lugaw fire lugaw fire started i think with a referendum and um we talk about things need to be done now i don't think a single member of this county council has voted to give the fire district any mil

» lage in the last four or five years even though we could have because of extra millage through act 83 88 we're correct yes sir so we say it has to be done tonight it has to be done now I think referendum would cost us about $50,000 am I correct mr. Carpenter that's the estimate that was given to us yes sir okay but the way I look at it is if we I know there's some that I probably don't feel we need to spend $50,000 for a referendum, but I can assure you we have spent a lot of money on things that, to me, that are less important than a referendum hearing the voice of the people. And the thing about it is if we don't spend the $50,000, folks, we're going to spend $1.7 million. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, sir. Mr. Tucker, did you indicate? Go ahead. I had one thing. Yeah, Mr.

» Gardner, go ahead. You won't get both. You won't get a fee and the millage. And if the millage goes up, the fee will go away, as I understand it. You won't be double-dealing. Mr. Tucker. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would just like to say I'll thank the three council members, Councilman Jones, Connell, and Gardner, for sitting on this committee and the chairman for appointing them. And I thought you brought back a lot of good information. But I do want to make it clear that it's not too late for a referendum if someone chooses to want to do one. The problem, Hales, is that we, and correct me, Mr. DuBose, IF I MISUNDERSTOOD YOU EARLIER, AS COUNCILMEMBERS AND COUNTY EMPLOYEES, WE CAN'T PARTICIPATE IN DOING THE PETITION AND THE EDUCATING OF THE PUBLIC OR THE VOTERS.

» IT'S LIKE THE SCHOOL DISTRICT WHEN THEY DID THEIR REFERENDUM. SO WITH THAT BEING SAID, THE COUNTY HAS NO PARTICIPATION. AND I'M NOT EVEN CLEAR IF THE VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS CAN PARTICIPATE OR NOT, BECAUSE WE HAVEN'T HEARD THE FINAL ANSWER ON THAT. SO WHO'S THE GROUP? WHO ARE THE PEOPLE? Who is the organization that's going to run with this? Because we can't. That's number one. The $50,000 that Mr. Jones is talking about, that's for the election. We can't spend a dime on educating the public and advertising for this. Not the county. It can't be county money. So there is some restrictions, and that's why the appetite is not an appetite. Because there's things that we can and we cannot do.

» And you're going to have to find someone in the community that's willing to take the old saying, bull by the horns and run with this so that's part of it and that's councilman Garner said you won't get both and and also be aware that none of this right now is in your budget as it's been read tonight these are all first reading and titles only on possible things that choices that we may have so we would we would invite your input we would invite your phone calls and your discussion to make sure that we're doing the right thing and moving where it's going best benefit most most people I'm not happy about the fee but I'm willing to pay I've got four parcels in my name so that's four parcels and five cars hit me pretty good but it's worth what we're trying to do and you know when it goes to the

» millage is gonna get me again but it is what it is I know how important fire service and I thank God that I've never had anything on fire well I've needed you guys I feel privileged of that with that being said I'm looking forward once again to the discussion and any amendments that these men up here want to bring they can bring in may and we can move forward we got public hearing and two more readings and just to recall we're still in title only uh mr carpenter do we do a referendum for ems for three million dollars a year yes sir we did not so there's there's a guidepost uh other comments mr chairman uh mr snodgrass yes sir if it's germaine can i ask a question to the county attorney concerning the referendum. Sure, right, absolutely. So Mr. DuBose, let's say, so as Mr.

» Tucker has explained, a referendum requires a citizen group that's not an employee of the county to kind of take this mantle. And I get it, a referendum is, it's interesting, you know, to allow the citizens to be able to speak into that. So let's say someone tonight jumped up and said, man, this is, yeah, just like we did the education referendum, I want to do this.

» So give a timeline so our next our next election is next year give me a timeline in your professional opinion of do we have time if we started right now to get on that 2020 ballot and what that process would look like i think you could get on the 2020 ballot because that's over a year away but some group would have to get out mr tucker's correct and sorry mr digress and i think mr jones even alluded to it a private group would have to present the petition to council that would ask council to conduct the referendum then i think it's 15 of the area so some group private group council could not do it some private group would have to have a petition to submit to county council that county council create a special tax district for fire protection in a defined area and then council would have to

» certify the petition as containing 15 percent um and then if it did then council would call for the referendum mr dubose so is it based on what you said is it true then that that 15 of that electorate would come would have to come from the proposed fire district that's going to be under in coverage is that correct correct what a fire district would have to be defined right area and so that fire district the new fire district probably would not include individuals who are already covered in an existing fire district is that true I don't know what it would cover but more than likely would not okay so that means folks that might would live in dusty bin who are not in this city but on city of Canada water folks in East Camden who are not in the city but on city came to our standing with Charlot

» te Thompson area they would not be able to participate or even to sign this petition to so this is this had to be people that these this is folks outside of those areas that would have to be on in this petition to sign, correct? Mr. Snodgrass, you're correct. A group of people would have to present a petition, and the petition has to have the parameters in the petition. Parameters as the area, but also parameters as to power, to taxation, millage, fees. So they have to define what they're doing and how they intend to do it. I think the Lugol Fire District, I'm not an expert on the Lugol Fire District, but I think it might have been done by petition originally. I'm not an expert on it.

» and thank you and again i'm not speaking for against referendum obviously anytime that we can get the citizens to the polls i think that's a good thing however i i did ask that line of questions just to just to help us unpack what all that entails so thank you for your council could not do it but it's not aggressive you're correct county council could not go out and get the petition done and formulate the question you can hold the referendum but that you got to have it presented to you by private group yeah one other point that i want to add to that i'll get to you sir is there's a there's a flash to bang time in military terms that once the referendum passes it then has to come back here and can you describe the time lag in my understanding it's another budget cycle that would take us well

» into 21 22 would it not well it does go on budget cycles that's correct because they have to assess taxes and fees so when it's passed it has to go on the next budget cycle because the fees and taxes have to be assessed but again the petition itself would define the powers and how it's done but chairman you're correct it would be the next budget cycle if they did it november it couldn't be effectuated until the next july one since mrs snodgrass entered the idea of 2020 if it passed in october of 2020 then it would come to us in the spring of 21 and then be entered on the tax rolls and one july 21 and be collected in the fall and winter of 21 22 and we would be another three years or more before we began to hire our first fireman.

» Based on the 2020 election, that would be the correct timeline. So that would effectually be a three-year delay from now. All right. Okay. Mr. Snodgrass, go ahead. Mr. Connell, you had your hand up. Yeah, I just wanted to comment, I guess, generally on the referendum. And since we were on that fire subcommittee earlier on, that was one of our main considerations was trying to run a referendum. I'm sure at some point, you know, kind of funny to say there's an app for that. There probably will be an app.

» I think the census they're doing electronically coming up right i'm not sure how that's going to work but at some point you'll probably be able to vote uh your mind or give advisory votes on these types of issues but since we don't have that right now um what we're looking at is act 388 and we are hamstrung or limited by act 388 on the amount that the millage can be increased if it's 9.7 right now a maximum millage increase would result in 66 000 or so i have to defer to uh to vic on the exact number but based on full-time, hiring one full-time fireman, that wouldn't even cover that if you calculate in comp and benefits.

» So, you know, maximum mill raise doesn't do anything for you in moving towards full-time fire service that governs and protects that western portion of the county where you saw on the heat map and then also the eastern portion of the county that's having increasing calls. So, what we were educated on at that time was, well, referendums, one way to not have to be governed by or limited by Act 388. But as you can see, their referendum itself has several issues.

» And I can tell you for the folks I represent that live in the Blaney area and in the Elgin area, they're saying we want full-time firefighters and we want them as soon as you can get them because they have an increasing trend line of calls and a static level of people that can respond to them that are getting busier and busier and haven't been entirely supported over the years and like i said before we need to do better with that so as we've been educated more of the options have come up that you can actually assess a fee uh the referendum has has its own problems and i do hope technology catches up at some point but we're not there yet thank you mr chairman uh other comments mr chairman yeah mr jones yes sir i'm a firm believer that the referendum could be successful and could be done it's

» been done times before and uh that's what i was committed to thank you thank you very much other comments that was very useful discussion I'll close by saying that we're not in a rush to do this and not in a rush to get it wrong but there's a matter of urgency here and we have began this process three and a half years ago as mr. carpenter said with this document our vision document and for every council since 2016 it has been a a priority to address this issue. I want to thank Mr. Jones and Mr. Connell and Mr. Gardner. I want to thank the fire services volunteer and otherwise and Jean and your team for coming in because this is an essential life-saving function that's been made very hard by Act 388.

» I'm not in a position of blaming other people but it is very challenging and our volunteers and our firemen and our people need to have these life-saving capabilities the task force did a magnificent job the team of the staff did a great job because this is a data-driven discussion the emotion is there the passion is there but the data is is absolutely unavoidable and we must do something to help our volunteers and to improve our our system of fire uh so i'm committed to this i now propose we move to a vote all those in favor of this and its first reading title only so signify by raising your hand uh we have mr connell mr bozard mr burns mr gardner mr tucker and mr snodgrass uh those opposed would be mr.

» Jones and it passes on the first reading we now move to our next item on the agenda which is like unto it and that's item number six if you can advance the page seven shucks I don't know let's see I'm losing track it's item numbers it's on the second page of the agenda it's item six if you can't do that it's alright it's item six which is a first reading in title only of an ordinance by Kershaw County to establish a special tax district effective 1 July 2020, a year from now. Mr. Carpenter, can you introduce this one, please? Mr. Chairman, members of council, this is an ordinance that would begin the process that would allow us in 2020-2021 to replace the fee with a millage.

» It takes approximately, it'll take the full year for us to work out the necessary details uh to affect it uh so we are uh requesting that council approve an ordinance that would not take effect until july 1st of 2020. so this is first reading to effectuate that request and again it's entitled only can we have a motion to approve on item number six mr gardner a second second so mr tucker uh mr gardner you want to lead off i just think that uh we we need to make this our first step in moving forward on this this is an important part of moving forward uh and obviously this can be changed at some point in time if so needed but uh this is a uh this is the needed first step for us to move forward uh mr tucker you had a second yes sir um ditto just um you know happy to give our administrator mr ca

» rpenter the um confidence and the uh authority to engage in to conversations with bethune town of elgin and others um and how we're going to handle in more detail if this is even possible other comments mr jones i don't know that it was mentioned in the motion but this is the unincorporated area of kershaw county correct yes sir that's great okay so therefore this is not i'm getting there you're getting there this will affect your people maybe it's coming up okay on the fact of being double dipped okay i'm done okay uh this is why i didn't make a motion or to second this chairman so uh mr carpenter question so i think we all agree that uh and mr jones thank you so much for bringing that up um because it is very important uh we all agree that i think millage is more equitable than the fee an

» d i believe that that's that's my interpretation why so explain to us again i ask questions that i already know the answer to but just to so they can go in the public record why why did we not just move forward with just the millage plan why did we just vote for a fee for a year as mr jones has pointed out um the unequal the the key term here is unincorporated part of the county as as mr dubose pointed out a little bit ago under act 388 we're limited in our ability to raise millage the appropriate the necessary amount. By pursuing, therefore that limits the existing fire district's ability to raise millage. In order to raise enough millage, we have to create a new fire district.

» By creating a new fire district, the way the law is written, the new fire district will apply to the unincorporated area of the county. It does not make distinction between the unincorporated that is served by a district so the new district that is created in order to provide us the necessary funding as a result of Act 388 creates a new set of issues that we will then have to overcome in this coming year those issues are working out with the city of Camden town of Bethune and the town of Elgin to ensure that they have in place the necessary mechanisms to either provide the funding to cover the fire service that we are providing to them currently that would be Bethune and Elgin, or with Camden to ensure that a necessary workaround is in place so that those residents of the county that receiv

» e service from the city do not have a negative impact on their tax notices. So that's why the year is necessary in order to get those workarounds in a place or to get both those communities to where they need to be and give them the support so they can effectuate the necessary changes in their ordinances or financing structures as well. Because as it stands now, folks in the unincorporated areas that are serviced under the City of Camden, they don't currently pay the current fire mill, is that correct? That is correct. And so the fee that we just passed is under the current construct of a fire plan that was adopted in 1998. And what is on this ordinance on the table now will deconstruct that 1998 plan and reconstruct a whole new plan, which kind of messes that up.

» So do you feel like you need this, because I don't think it's anyone's intention on this desk to make these folks double dip. It's not anyone's intention to make East Camden pay their city of Camden fire fee as well as pay the millage. But do you feel like this ordinance to be read in is necessary for you to begin those negotiations and begin to work that out? It's necessary, sir, because we need to effectuate the changes so we can have something in place to be working towards.

» by putting this in place now that starts the process going as a worst case scenario let us say that for some reason whatever the reason is you can't work things out with all three municipalities then as a worst case scenario then we can just simply cancel that ordinance and stick with our current ordinance and a fee in place it's not a best solution for financing for the reasons we've already talked a fee is very regressive it hits people at the lower end of the spectrum much harder than people at the upper end it also hits people with with a lot of parcels you know that may not have even though they catch fire it still may hit them harder if you have a lot of properties so some millage is and is not only not as regressive millage also grows with the economy if he doesn't once the fees in p

» lace it doesn't change it takes an active stance from council to change a fee whereas the millage grows each year as the value of the county grows so by putting it into effect now that gives us the necessary year to work out the issues with those municipalities so that they can be where they need to be come june 30th 2020.

» uh mr tucker thank you miss nagras just for a little bit more clarity because i want to make sure that everyone is unfollowing you not only we're working with three municipalities but we're working with two different situations where camden's already providing a service the town of elgin town of bethune we're doing it but we don't have the authority to raise or levy any millage to increase their fees so you this is why you're needing this um ordinance to get started so you can enter into those negotiations yes sir in other words this is kind of like um some good mud pie we're dealing with that we're trying to sort out well it all goes back to i hate to as we say we don't blame others but it all goes back to our general assembly uh when they passed act 388 and And they destroyed every system

» , the school districts, the counties, the cities, and their ability to respond to issues such as this. We cannot set any kind of a millager fee in an incorporated area. Legally, constitutionally, we don't have that right. So this, therefore, if we don't have, they can't impose a fee if there's no purpose for doing it.

» if they go and impose a millage within elgin for a service that we have not made the decision to provide yet through this then they just enacted a millage on their citizens that does not have a corresponding need on our side that's why we have to have this in place as a starting point so they then have a mechanism and a reason for imposing a millage themselves in order or actually how they fund it is up to them it doesn't have to be millage they will come and drive their own mechanism for funding it but they must fund themselves we can't fund it for them the reason why we can raise a fee on them currently is because they have already agreed to give us that authority within the construct of the current district but once but that's limited again that's why we can put a fee on them right now b

» ut to do a millage we can only do what 388 lets us as mr connell pointed out that's only six tenths of a mil we need 14 mils you can do the math and see you'll never get there if a millage is the desired way to fund it. Also, and correct me, Mr. DeBose, on this, there's nothing saying that this ordinance has to track with the budget. This one we're reading, number six, about the new, no, it does not have to track with the budget. So this can linger. We get good information, or as we get information back, and it's not going to be enacted until July 1 of 2020.

» And this council has the power to repeal any ordinance it's ever been written in kershaw county so if this is headed down what i would call a rabbit hole not a good place i can tell you as one council member i would never double tax folks and that would never happen um i will be the first to make the motion to repeal it discussion but a vote for this tonight is um thank you mr chairman a vote for this tonight is double dipping on the taxpayers nothing's happened yet i just said but but in reality that's what you're doing with the good faith that we're going to work on it down the road and not let it happen putting the putting the authorization into the administrative hand to do due diligence and getting us back good information so we can proceed forward and if that doesn't happen mr jones i

» can assure you i'll be the first one to put the stop sign up thank you uh question yeah i'm mr tigress uh mr dubose is would we be able to authorize the county administrator to enter into negotiations any other way besides an ordinance could we just by act of new business or something like that say this is what we're looking at please go and work these details out the administrator this is just first reading i understand that i understand this yeah and it's got a caveat in it number one is first reading but number two is not effective until july 1 2020 and number three it doesn't track with the budget so having given those three caveats the administrator feels he effectuates policy the administrator feels that he wants something concrete to begin the discussions but he doesn't want anything

» finite to begin the discussions because he doesn't know the conclusion of the discussions i believe i'm correct mr carpenter is that not correct yes sir so he wants something that he can go to to talk to him about that is by definition on the table but is not enacted not finite yes sir and and And it is, I'd like to also point out to council, in approving this ordinance, no millage at all is created. So right now, if this ordinance were to pass on third reading, it would create a district that has, first of all, it has no entity because it would not exist until July 1st. And at that point, you would have had another budget cycle to actually impose a millage, should you choose to do so. Nothing would stop you from keeping a fee if that was the decision of the council at that time.

» But so I understand Mr. Jones's point about double-dipping. It certainly raises the potential that double-dipping could happen. But in reality, where you would leave it is there would be no millage discussed until the next budget cycle with that council. Does that answer your question? Yes, it does. Other comments? Yes, I do. Mr. DeBose, I don't feel like Mr. Snodgrass's question was answered. Well, does he? No, I'm just saying. Excuse me. I got the floor, sir.

» go ahead okay it's a statement uh no excuse me gentlemen i can handle this okay you know what i'm saying mr dubose i know he asked you a direct question you gave him a very good legal answer i'm a lawyer so i'm gonna say that's mr bow's job but you know as well as i know that negotiations can be had without this ordinance in place you know that yes but i also know that that Mr. Carpenter has requested this. He's requested this and thinks it will aid him. Correct. No pun intended, but this is because this is what the administrator wants, and I don't fault him for that. That's why we pay him the big bucks to think outside the box. But bottom line is you don't need this ordinance to enter into these negotiations. Correct? Yes or no? I think he could go talk to him without this ordinance.

» He just feels the ordinance will aid him. But you're right, Mr. Jones. There's nothing preventing him from going and discussing this with other entities. Thank you. Any further comments? I think I'm ready to call the question. All those in favor of this ordinance, item number six on first reading and title only, signify by raising your hand. Mr. Tucker, Mr. Gardner, Mr. Burns, and Mr. Bozart, and Mr. Connell, and those in opposition, signify. Mr. Snodgrass and Mr. Jones, it passes. We move on to item number seven, first reading and title only of an ordinance setting the millage rate for Kershaw County for the fiscal year beginning 1 July 2019. Mr. Carpenter, can you help us introduce this before I take a motion? Yes, Mr.

» Chairman, Members of Council, in tandem with the budget, this would set the millage. As a reminder, the current draft budget as presented requires no millage increase. Therefore, assuming that holds through to third reading, this would keep the millage set at its current rate with no increase. And to be clear, it must track along with the budget process yes sir we must have a village right we must have a mill set in order to collect it okay and you promised me this is the last budget item tonight all right well those with that said can we have a motion to approve this on first reading and title only mr chairman thank you mr tucker a second second second for mr gardener mr tucker do you want to lead off no sir and mr garden any comments just simply this doesn't change the millage from last y

» ear what it is so all right other comments uh seeing there is no discussion we'll move to a vote all those in favor of item number seven first reading and title only of the millage rate for fiscal year 1920 signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous and we move now to item and that's the last of our budget items we move now to item number eight which is the first reading and title only of an ordinance by kershaw county amending and restating uh utilities ordinance mr carpenter can you help us? Mr. Chairman, members of council, as you know, Kershaw County has a sewer use ordinance that governs how we operate and the charge fees and what we expect from the entities who use our system.

» The county operates that system under a permit that's issued through the state, starting with the federal government through the state to us. It's called an NPDES permit, which our national permit for discharge. Every time that permit is reissued, we must bring our existing code up to the expectations of DHEC and the EPA. Therefore, what we are doing is we are updating our existing ordinance to make changes as required of us by the EPA and DHEC. Very good. Can we have a motion to approve? So moved, Mr. Chair. Mr. Tucker, a second? Second.

» second of mrs snodgrass discussion uh pretty straightforward housekeeping here uh with we can move to uh vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous mary and we move on to new business excuse me first item is item number one it's at tab g inmate health service proposal mr carpenter mr chairman members council we uh are required to uh we went out for bid to renew our health care services contract. As you know, the jail operates a 24-7 facility, and we must maintain levels of care for those inmates who are under our care. That includes medical care, and therefore, rather than employ physicians and nurses ourself, we contract that service out. We put it for bid. Two bids were received.

» As you see the two bids in front of you, those bids were evaluated by a committee. The committee rated those bids, and they are recommending awarded to a Medeco company, which is not the low bid, but it is a slightly higher bid. And the reason being, there's really several reasons why Medeco was suggested and is recommended by staff. Essentially, they're providing a number of services to the county that the existing low bidder, Southern Health Partners, is not providing to us. Among them, Southern Health Care's bid includes a per diem for inmate counts over 120, which is a nebulous number. Hard for us to know what that could be, whereas Medeco does not. They have a flat fee regardless of the number of inmates that we have.

» Another is that the Southern Health Partners would require of us to pay for an electronic records program. Medeco provides that program at no cost to us. Southern Health Partners would maintain ownership of that program. Medeco, we would own the program. So should they leave our service, we would keep all the data that had been collected in the records, whereas southern health would carry it with them and they would own it as well there's some other aspects of it that are different that we felt were in our favor one of which is that any necessary licenses and permits we can't put a dollar amount to that but medico would pick up all those costs where southern health would require the county to pick those up stocking and restocking of emergency kits medico would cover that themselves southern

» health would not x-ray services medico would cover all x-ray services southern health partners would not and i can go on but i think i've made my case why let me get it on that recommends them let me get it before the the council and then we'll hear further discussion we have a motion to approve medico correctional health care for our inmate health service so move thank you mr jones a second second mr snodgrass mr jones would like to hear from you this sir well i think you guys have done a great job i wouldn't want to be you i were you i were you exactly were them but uh thank you very thorough and i really appreciate it thank you so much other comments mr tucker who's our current provider now southern health partner okay thank you others other comments yeah i just wanted to add i was talki

» ng to our gentleman straight before the meeting and just there's a lot of value added here uh anything from correct me if i'm wrong but you know actual nurses that'll the nurses are passing out the pills and things of that nature and even more time on on property is that correct and uh so i i'm really it's a good thing um sure and it's only six thousand dollar difference i mean yeah a lot of money uh other comments uh i I just ask, do we have past performance on this medico? Any citation on their past performance with others? I don't have it in front of me, sir, but we did check. They are active in other communities, some very large communities. Thank you very much. And I would also say to Peggy, great job in recognizing the team last week. Thank you very much. Hot dogs were great.

» If you're ready to get – What? Yeah, I did. I ate one. I really did. was no food desert at the jail last week again if i could call the question you're ready to vote all those in favor signify raising your hand and it's unanimous thank you very much we move the next item item number two governor's hill roadway and entrance improvements it's at tab h uh mr carpenter mr chairman mayor's council and you have in front of you the bids uh for the governor's hill roadway um i have just closed my agenda packet so let me pull it back up um but you have a they've come in front of staff for consideration and uh staff is a proposed to council uh awarding to the low bid uh the low bid is hold on you have in front of you but i don't um armstrong yes or arms on contracting for 1.6 thank you pull it up ver

» y good thank you can we have a motion to approve since that's my district i make the motion mr chairman that we approve armstrong construction llc thank you all right can we have a second second second from mr snodgrass uh comments mr tucker i just want to say i'm looking forward to we enhancing that entrance out there because there's a lot of traffic that goes to and from there as well on that exit that's the last exit in kershaw county hope that uh on our website as we fleet this that we get some hits and hopefully be able to fill the park so yeah just my district's across the street yes and this is very this this piece is very vital to what I believe could be some revitalization in East Camden in the areas around so very excited about that mr.

» carpenter where where's the fundage funding excuse me where's the funding coming from but sorry my youth thank you mr. not grass I should have pointed that out earlier. Funds for this will be derived from the 2015 bond that was issued for the support of economic development. Other comments? This is a furtherance of the advice we received at the summit we did earlier in the year that said we had a right, a good plan that the governor endorsed, but it should be more aggressive. And so this is the next step in that that trail of our four industrial sites it will be very important that we get this done anybody who's ever bought a house or so one knows what curb appeal means and right now there is no curb appeal at Governors Hill but this will be helpful very helpful indeed mr.

» chairman yeah now mr. Jones go thank you mr. Carpenter pretty much nothing done at Governors Hill correct sorry pretty much nothing has been done at Governors Hill I mean this is gonna be construction correct could the first construction we've done gotcha thank you exactly uh just recite for everybody since the question was asked this is signage and road primarily correct yes sir the property about 200 210 acres of property the county owns right at just off exit 101 mount olivet road and doc humphries road is where it is located the intersection of those two roads this interior road would bisect it leaving from um doc humphries to mount olivet it would cross wetlands that are in the middle of it that have required us and will require us to we we found wetlands mitigation credits to purchase

» so we have purchased those credit one credits needed to um but we'll still have to build a bridge through the wetlands itself and it'll be a a paved road uh for a small distance in then gravel the rest of the way it allows us to show prospects the entire property and it'll have a an entrance sign it's called a monumental sign it sounds big it'll be a nice sign at the entrance so people from the interstate can see it and as well thank you sir mr.

» Jones thank you quick follow-up on that I did not support the bond still don't and I did not support the spec building but i'm going to support this uh hopefully this will be attractive and draw some folks in we should see yeah i just say to have an industrial site in the antioch area and that part of the county will be transformational i mean it really will be and we will be filled that's what we're committed to do with that i call the question we're ready to vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous and we move on to three other businesses uh items item number three a reappointment of the planning commission it's at tab i in which uh mr george harkins is asked to uh be reappointed now that he has filled the unexpired term of the person of mr simmons i believe

» it was uh with that mr bozard thank you sir i appreciate it would you want to make the nomination yes i do make that motion that nomination that we put george harkins back on the board please sir and thank you thank you sir i have a second thank you uh for mr tucker any discussion good man yeah he just finished uh the course to uh honor graduate right mike yeah okay uh any other discussion let's move to a vote all those in favor signify your hand by raising your hand and it's unanimous and uh mr harkins is reappointed that next item is item number four, and if you'll look in your package at tab J, it has been indicated to me, Mary, that Mr. Condor will not want reappointment, but Ben Strickland and Mike Jones have agreed. Mr. Jones is from the Camden area, and Mr.

» Strickland is from the Elgin area. We can do a single appointment, if you wish, or Mr. Reappointment, or Mr. Connell, you can do Belgian and Mr. Gardner, you can do Camden or do both. I propose we just do both and we'll move ahead. Mr. Gardner, can you? I move to reappoint Ben Shrekland and Mike Jones. Very good. And Mr. Connell gives us a second. Any discussion? Good men. Yep. And we create a vacancy here. And during the summer, as we've all agreed, we're going to work on refreshing these vacancies as they occur. With that, no further discussion. We move to a vote. All those in favor, signify by raising your hand. And it's unanimous. And that concludes our business. We move to council briefings. Mr. Bozard. Thank you.

» And I'm very much surprised that you and I went to the detention center to have breakfast, and then you went back for lunch. I can't believe it. I think that's called double dipping. Peggy, I want to tell you, I want to thank you. That was on appreciation for all her people. And you got some fine people out there and you cooked up a fine breakfast that morning and I appreciate that breakfast also. I got a phone call the other day about a road and normally the first thing I think of, well, I'm going to be calling Danny here in just a few minutes to get him and Nick to go out and fix this road. Well, I was wrong that time. It was somebody thanking Danny and Nick for the job they're doing and I deeply appreciate that, Danny. and it was off of Henson Brank Road.

» They call it Snowbank, I believe it's called, and that's where it was. And they wanted me to tell you to thank you for everything y'all have done out there, and they really appreciate it. I got one other comment, and I hate to bring it up, but I am going to do it. In our thing for public speakers, it says five minutes. I know sometimes we let people go over, And we either need to stay with our five minutes or we need to get rid of it. And tonight there was several of those speakers that went well over five minutes. And we, like I say, we need to stay with it or get rid of it. I know we've got a timekeeper, but I ain't sure that clock's working too good. But anyway, thank you. Mr. Connell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

» I just wanted to say I was grateful for the teachers coming tonight to speak with us. Typically, Kershaw County, they talked about per capita funding. They receive in the bottom third in funding in the state, but they perform in the top third overall for scores and testing. So it's very impressive what they do. But we also at the county level, in addition to the school district, feel some of the pinch that comes from not receiving the state funding that you thought you were going to get. At times, even now, we wait on final budget movements for the state to determine what we're going to do at the county level.

» And I could just cite the local government fund is one area where the county has had to figure out other things to do and make do um i want to um also say i hope staff will be cognizant as we think of town of elgin and bethune looking at a new potential fire district i want to make sure anything that happens you know in the next few months anyway wouldn't impact their current budget negotiations and readings that they're doing right now because it wouldn't include um this issue necessarily then lastly i wanted to congratulate coach mike Armstrong at Lugolf Elgin High School. I think this is like the 20th year in a row. No, it's probably like the fifth year in a row that he's received Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year.

» It is amazing how he's able to motivate young men and women to work harder and push through what they think they can't achieve. He really is a great motivator. He has a great knowledge base to share with them, and I hope he never retires and stays in Kershaw County because He is helping raise a great crop of athletes that are really starting to manifest themselves. You can see it with heightened college signings. Every season, it's more and more kids are realizing their potential so they can go play at the next level. That's all I have, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Well done. Mr. Jones. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of council. Peggy, did the inmates get the same breakfast they ate? I didn't think so. I didn't do it either. And that was a smart move, probably.

» but uh again thank you for what you do uh i'd just like to say welcome back mr gardner you know you and i may not agree on much but i've been praying for you hard to argue with me for the next four years glad you're back thank you and we're certainly going to be continuing with our prayers and following you as you go through this situation thank you um mr chairman we appreciate your family's support for our country uh we appreciate your son-in-law i know that's got to be tough two terms i can only imagine a family member of mine but uh tip my head to your son-in-law now one last thing i want to just i do not like being called a thief i do not like someone saying that i steal but folks i may not like the tone that people use when they come here but bottom line is I think that people have a r

» ight to speak to us and listen I've had it happen many times up here people stand to what they thought about me and you take it I just think the nature of the beast is you just have to let it roll off your shoulder but I think I would like to see our council get a little bit more I don't use the word liberal because I am NOT a liberal but just not be so sensitive not be so sensitive when someone gets up here says something we don't like. And believe me, I hear it all the time as well. But having said that, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, members of council. Thank you, sir. Mr. Snodgrass. Mr. Chairman, members of council, a few things I want to note. We had a rodeo in town last weekend down in the community of Antioch, the James A. Smith Memorial Rodeo.

» It was a high school rodeo and was a fundraiser for scholarships. And it was organized by Leonard and Janice Caldwell. And they did a fantastic job raised over six thousand dollars uh for for scholarships and had uh participants from all over from spartanburg all the way to oree county uh from the state so a lot of a lot of neat things that happen in um in our county so thank you thank you for putting that on uh the governor's hill run just want to mention in case uh the investor that we're looking for is listening via YouTube, that is in an opportunity zone. So give us a call. Teachers, gotta do what you gotta do. Teachers, thank you so much for coming and showing your support, being married to a teacher myself. I applaud you guys.

» And I see firsthand by being married to a teacher, being a parent and also being a volunteer in our schools, I see firsthand and I wanna walk with you through that and and help us in any any way with that we can as far as navigating the the complexities that is local government and um we've heard we've heard the term act 388 a few times a night not only with schools but also with fire service so um act 388 is that leash that the general assembly keeps on the counties and they pull on it every now and then just to make sure that we know that they are we are listening to them i guess um one of graduation canton high school uh track team four by 400 meter relay uh state champions uh so congrats to uh to those ladies second year in a row second year in a row absolutely and uh so congrats to the

» m and then lastly i want to express my struggle with with the fire discussion um i don't we spent this council you need to know this council spent a ton of time uh listening and unpacking the ton of time that our staff has put into that and I'm a big supporter of seeing our County move from a volunteer mostly volunteer base to a professional fire service and but I do want you to know that I struggled tonight with with the the question that I did to vote no one just because just by principle and I realize how government works I understand it's first reading I understand that's not binding I understand that there was no millage attached to it and I understand that we go back and change it but the way it stood it was going it would have a negative such a big negative impact on on a lot of folk

» s in district five and and i just want the council to know that i was not trying to be contentious but i truly truly have struggled with with that vote and something i've spent a lot of time and prayer over i want to let the citizens know that as we unpack this fire this fire plan as we unpack the budget please please please reach out to me my email and my phone number is on the county website i will gladly and would love to we'll meet at hell street grill we'll meet at cc's we'll over lunch we will unpack anything any questions that you may have because it is complex it is there is a lot of spider webs that go into this and so as we move through these second and third readings of these things please do not hesitate to contact me and and i would love to love to walk you through that uh than

» k you again uh council and that concludes my remarks uh mr talker thank you very briefly um welcome back big guy godspeed continue to healing um i want to also say a special thank you to miss brown back there i know it was said earlier and mr carpenter does recognize all of you who work so hard but this has been a trying uh budget cycle already for us and i thank you and your staff for your late nights and your dedication to this county so thank you thank you thank you i also want to say thank you to miss amy who's director over the kershaw county chamber um i want to thank you for that surprise friday night that i had no idea was coming i was truly surprised and very honored and appreciative of receiving that award and um i want to thank dr mary jones and her family um martin thank you for

» the article um got on the front page it's not bad publicity so i guess i'm doing all right um so i say thank you to all of you who have called and uh who have text and communicated with me congratulations and I'm really humbled and honored and thankful for what y'all have done that concludes my report mr.

» Gardner yeah let me your situation as a former teacher of course I talked back before act 388 so we didn't have all the issues that we have now but one thing was mentioned tonight that you know that we control their budget we don't necessarily control their budget we approve it or approve millage rates or whatever but they also said that we had not given them an increase in the last three years well they haven't asked for one they don't ask they don't get so let's clear that up we it's not that we didn't give them one they didn't ask for one uh but i'd like to thank my colleagues and staff for all the prayers and calls and everything keeping me in the loop for the last few weeks and uh i appreciate that and i'll cover it up in the future thank you i'll close it out uh first of all much disc

» ussion about my role as chairman and part of that is decorum i just want to say mr jones that's a nice hat. You're welcome. I wear it well. The superlatives keep running in. We're coming to the end of the school year. Our kids make us proud, and our teachers even prouder. I mean, what can you say? You've heard it here today. Many of these councilmen have mentioned it. They just keep coming in. Graduation's coming up. Let's pray and act to keep them safe.

» You all know what happens around this time of year let's keep our kids safe and let's thank our teachers i would like to point out that you heard tonight about mental health uh you see it acted out in the police reports you see it acted out in schools it doesn't help us in our role as an all-american county that mental health is where it is and we're we just got to do more volunteer organizations of teachers um everybody's trying but we're adding 14 new patients a month and that's not without any relief and somebody walking out the door that's 14 more uh in vision 2030 we talk about an entire look at the health of our county and part of that is the opioid from the alpha center part of that is mental health and how we treat our children how they're treated and so on And I just ask you to loo

» k at that. One thing that's going on is Live Well Kershaw is doing what's called a community health improvement plan. Catherine Johnson and that crowd have got volunteers from all over the county, from every institution, and they're doing great work. Mike Conley's on it. Many of you in this room are, and those of you listening. But I think it would be a shame if we didn't address this issue up front. Lastly, I've asked Mr. Tucker and Mr. Carpenter to help us understand this census coming up. And I want to tell you, I've talked to the head office in Atlanta for this region, and the county staff has done a great, great, great job. But now it needs to move out into the community so that every person is counted. It has tangible effect on how much money we get.

» It has tangible effect on our voting districts and on and on and on. And so I'd ask a briefing on that during the public hearing part on the 28th of May. With that, Mr. Carpenter, take the lead. Mr. Chairman, members, a few items for you. First, this coming Saturday will be the third annual Yak in the River, starting at 10 a.m. in the morning, putting in up at the dam, floating down the river, getting out at the New River Parcel. We'll have people there to receive you. The corporate sponsor is, again, the Mulliken Law Firm. Many thanks to them, ensuring there's no cost to citizens to participate. They do need to bring their own kayaks, however, and there is paperwork they will have to fill out. They can either get online and do it or when they show up.

» But, again, there will be shuttles running to take people back to their vehicles up at the dam. So they'll drive to the dam, float down the river. We'll drive them back up to get their vehicles so they can head home. So that's one of the exciting things. In reference to the lunch that Mr. Buzzard did not participate in, but the chairman did, we have some pictures. As you can see, the gentlemen, ladies, the fine men and women who serve us at the detention center, some pictures of them. We appreciate the sheriff as well. He and his Captain Coleman was there. and appreciate all that they have done with that. Also, on Friday, we had the annual VATCO Rodeo. The VATCO Rodeo is an annual competition, good natured, between the city and the county.

» Our public works employees participate against their public works employee to see who is the best at running this heavy, big, yellow equipment. And for the first time in five years, kershaw county won the head-to-head competition against the city uh something that our men and women work hard at and try to accomplish i have suggested that next year we have an elected officials competition as well to put the chairman against the mayor council members against council members we have a ringer already how about al i'll put out we have several ringers as well uh so i think the city may be scared and they may not want to participate did you say wrestling match yes i did yes i did mr smoke against mr connell it was a it's been a good week for the county as we enter into the ems officers recognition

» week it's just important to remember that that public safety is a very broad based arm of what we do as as a community and how we serve them we started with our telecommunicators 9-1-1 then we have done our detention center we're doing our EMS law enforcement as well will be coming up they all do a an amazing job it's a terrible job in many cases if not many times and the kind of job that most us wouldn't do wouldn't want to do but these men and women do it they do it with pride and they do it well so I appreciate councils a respect of them and recognizing of them as well we'll keep you updated on status i know that gerald has got again a week of recognition for his employees and i just encourage you when you have an opportunity to thank them for what they do and uh mr chairman though it's

» not the same level of service as your son-in-law my daughter has come home from five months abroad and so i'm quite excited as well and that's my report home mr. DuBose mr. chairman council I have nothing sure at 8 o'clock I've got one thing I'll go ahead please um coming up on the 30th this month Kershaw County economic development and the Chamber of Commerce are sponsoring a seminar on opportunity zones it'll be held out at the campus and it'll be speakers educating people on what an opportunity zone is and how they how they operate and how they'll benefit a county such as kershaw as you recall you may recall they're a part of the budget that was passed the president's budget uh they were proposed by our own senator scott as the lead proponent of it so they're south carolina homegrown and

» we'd love to get some participants from our county so october i'm sorry um may 30th uh out at the offices at 90 Campus Boulevard. Thank you very much. I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Mr. Tucker, a second? Second. Second for Mr. Connell. Any discussion? Let's be safe out there. All those in favor, raise your hands, and we are dismissed. Thank you.