Full meeting transcript - March 23, 2021

» Check one, two. Got a pretty noisy crowd tonight, and it's the kind of crowd you love to see. Thank you to the Clean County Commission for coming tonight, and we'll get on with business. We have a quorum. Mr. Connell informs us he will not be able to join us tonight. It is a great day in Kershaw County, especially for the work of our volunteers and self-starting people in the Clean County Commission and those people that grab a problem and solve it on their own. I do want to address something right up front with spring sports and starting and all that sort of thing that we had on the headline on the newspaper about what's going on in our hospital.

» And it's a reminder to us, number one, of the commitment of this committee to maintaining a first-class hospital in this county in collaboration with our health services district. but it's also a reminder of the importance of a hospital and maintaining our community health and I assure you this council is fully engaged in that effort. But with COVID ongoing and with the numbers still high, I'd ask you to remember why we're wearing masks and following all these troublesome and unpleasant sometimes protocols as we get our shots and move through this pandemic.

» with that in mind i remind you that we're one year into the pandemic and a year ago tomorrow we would have lost our first casualty uh mr jack west so i ask you to join me in a moment of silence yeah amen with that we're called to order and i asked mr david snodgrass to lead us in invocation and the pledge would you all please stand let's pray father we come to you uh this evening and and we're humbled, Lord, to be able to assemble together. We're humbled that we have the ability and the freedom to assemble in this place and to come together as a community for our voices to be heard and for us to seek the good of the community in all that we do.

» So, Lord, tonight, I echo the words of King Solomon, who when you promised to give him anything that he wanted, Lord, all he wanted was wisdom, wisdom to guide your people. And so, Lord, this evening, that is our prayer. Lord, give us wisdom. Lord, as we move forward here in Kershaw County, give us wisdom as we seek to do what is best for all who call this great place home. Lord, for those who we have lost this past year as a result of the pandemic, Lord, we continue that your grace and mercy would extend upon those families. Lord, for everyone who has been impacted, Lord, we continue to pray that your compassionate arms would just wrap around them, Lord, in a real way. We love you. We pray this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And we all say, Amen.

» I pledge allegiance to the flag of the states of America, to the republic, to the nation, and to God, and to physical liberty. Thank you very much indeed, Mr. Snodgrass. With that, we move to the first item, which is public comments. And following our protocol, we're going to see, first of all if miss mary has got any uh mailed in virtually please mary yes sir i have three emails from citizens the first one is from sheila young she writes i filed a formal complaint at the end of december with the kershaw county zoning and development department as my neighbor as my neighbor is in direct violation of the kershaw county south carolina unified code of zoning and land development regulations article 3 6 off street parking regulations specifically 3681 inoperable vehicles and vehicles without cu

» rrent license plates and 3682 vehicles on blocks jacks or any suspension other than their own they also have a non-working refrigerator in their front yard i have been in contact via emails with staff and council however i have never received a response other neighbors have complained in person as well today the only thing that has been done is the removal of the doors the refrigerator which what do I need to do to get these neighbors to comply with these regulations thank you I would make a note each of you have a hard copy at your desk of these three go ahead Mary um she has also attached pictures the next email is from Jeff Maddox I would like to applaud council for moving forward for better community engagement in the new digital age by considering new rules these rule changes have the

» potential if done right to encourage citizens to become engaged to voice their opinions in order to inform and direct their representatives decisions kershaw county council has a tremendous indeed rare opportunity to improve citizen input and build trust throughout the public in general to that end i would suggest you consider adding this paragraph to the currently proposed rule changes at meetings of the kershaw county council by means of electronic equipment are provided for as long as a positive majority of council are physically present at the meeting which would mean four members and to provide for virtual public access both audio and visual according to the south carolina home rule act and the south carolina freedom of information act with the county continuing to make council meeting

» s accessible via the county's Facebook page and YouTube and to provide for public comments on all media platforms as public discourse is the bedrock of our republic. In addition, the county shall provide for submission of public comments to council members to council meetings by electronic means to include email, video, and audio means in addition to presentation at council meetings pursuant to rules established by Kershaw County council and shall only limit public comments in length personal attacks and profane language council members shall not have access to public comments prior to the appropriate meeting and only council's clerk shall be responsible for screening for compliance and shall notify the public commenter by electronic means as to any compliance issue changes such as these co

» uld mark one small step forward and bring the government closer to the people as our founders envisioned but we have long since strayed from, I believe we all can agree that the people's voices should be heard and the council should strive to make it as easy as possible for those voices to be heard. That was from Jeff Maddox. Thank you. And our last one is from Matt Hutchinson. My name is Matthew Hutchinson. I am a full-time firefighter, part-time EMT, volunteer firefighter, a single father of two boys, and a veteran of 14 years in the Army. I am simply too busy to attend tonight.

» a couple of weeks ago it's brought to my attention that a prominent leader in our county has called a fellow veteran a coward for not wanting to attend one particular county council meeting not not only is this despicable and shameful these kinds of comments have no business being made by someone who calls themselves excuse me who claims they care about our community i'm not at the meeting tonight am i a coward too i feel that it's important for everyone on the council to remember do they serve while sitting in those seats unfortunately the rules of this proceeding do not allow me to confront this individual by name tonight but you know who you are that concludes this comment thank you very much uh and that concludes the electronic input mr dubose we have any signed up tonight mr chairman a

» nd members of council no one signed up tonight okay very good that concludes public comments we move to an adoption of the agenda the agenda is on the board there can we have a motion to approve so move uh mr snoggers a second second second for mr gardner any discussion uh seeing there is none we'll move to a vote all those in favor so signify and it's unanimous mary okay we our first uh item is we're delighted to welcome catherine johnson back on livewell kershaw for a public presentation and catherine you know that we normally limit to about 15 minutes but if interest is such we'll go beyond and we'll certainly allow questions on this part of the dialogue please ma'am thank you so much so again my name is catherine johnson i'm the director of the livewell kershaw coalition and the purpose

» of why i'm here tonight is to follow up on a packet of information you all received back in january regarding a federally funded route that is coming to our community and so i'm pleased to share that information with you all and the progress that we are making as well as live well kershaw coalition's role in that in that opportunity tonight i'm joined by latrice simmons our community health improvement lead as well as michael conley director is also our access to care action team lead so a little bit about the coalition we are part of the community medical clinic of kershaw county it is our free clinic serving the community the coalition specifically receives funding through the duke endowment to do chronic disease prevention work and so you might be wondering well what does chronic disease

» prevention have to do with transportation and I'll answer that question for you tonight but as we move forward in this conversation I want us to think of this definition of health that we have on the screen here and I'll read it for us health does not be simply the absence of disease but the addition of confidence skills knowledge and connection but most importantly it's simply a means to an end which is a joyful meaningful life so that's the definition of health that we like to use we like to keep it broad because health is many things so tonight we're gonna cover I'm gonna provide you with a little bit of context about the work that we're doing how transportation fits into our community health improvement plan as well as live well Kershaw's role in partnership messaging and community enga

» gement of the route that's coming and then I will take some time to address some considerations that our team in collaboration with other partners in the community are working towards to address some gaps that we've already identified with this route that's coming so a little bit about the coalition back in 2019 several years ago I shared with you all the release of the first ever community health improvement plan following suit of the state of South Carolina with the release of the first-ever state health improvement plan as well here outlined in this chart you will see several or many social determinants of health that all impact an individual's health outcome from that planning process with the health improvement plan our team in conjunction with the community addressed and identified th

» ree key areas that need to be looked at specifically those being access to care healthy eating active living and mental or emotional health to really move the needle on health outcomes for residents in our community this was not only in alignment with the state of South Carolina and their health improvement plan but it was based on localized data from our residents themselves here you will also see where transportation fits in to the conversation that we began almost three years ago now with our access to care team on what can be done around transportation for residents in our community so first I'm going to transition a little bit and share with you one of our key messaging pieces that we've developed for our residents and partners in the community for those that are home at home watching

» this on Facebook live or via YouTube you can go to our live well Kershaw coalition website at live well Kershaw coalition livewellkershaw.org, or you can check out our Facebook page. We have linked to these videos there. So, we'll start with this video. We're the Live Well Kershaw Coalition. We're a grassroots organization working to collaborate with both public and private sector organizations to increase community awareness of health issues. We're also part of the Community Medical Clinic of Kershaw County and funded by the Duke Endowment Healthy People, Healthy Carolinas Initiative.

» our goal is to improve the health of kershaw county residents by encouraging our community to act together in reducing chronic disease and obesity to fulfill this big mission we co-created the chip a community health improvement plan back in march 2019 from that plan three action teams were formed to keep kershaw county moving forward on our path to good health in this video we're focusing on the Access to Care Action Team. This team's goal is to increase and improve ways to access affordable health care and transportation services among rural and underserved residents. Let's go back to transportation and its impact on a person's health. Transportation touches almost every aspect of a person's life.

» Having adequate and reliable transportation services are fundamental building blocks to healthy communities. Transportation issues can affect a person's access to health care services and the lack of transportation that can result in missed or delayed health care appointments increased health costs and overall poorer health outcomes so what is the access to care team doing about this beginning in 2019 we began a conversation with the santee lynch's council of governments who was already working on a transit need assessment identifying areas of high need for transportation in our community with recommendations for proposed bus stops.

» This assessment included several new bus routes and stops in our community, with a full breakdown of the cost analysis and investment from the community needed to make it happen. We rolled up our sleeves and got to work on how we could make this plan a reality. Then, one year after forming our team, COVID-19 swept through our community. We quickly pivoted our attention to include those impacted by the virus. Thankfully, the CARES Act provided emergency funding to establish a temporary two-year route in Kershaw County. The purpose of this route is to connect people to medical resources and social services during this pandemic. The route will run from Elgin to East Camden and back, with 29 recommended stops along the way.

» It will also provide transportation to the Sandhill area with a stop at the corner of Fashion and Forum Drive upon request. As of right now, we have a temporary solution to getting folks access to transportation they desperately need but funds for this route are only in place for two years after implementation. We are actively looking for community partners to join our access to care team and be community champions for making Kershaw County more accessible to us all. If you'd like to get involved please contact us at [email protected]. We can't wait to get rolling with you.

» Awesome so there are some key points as Danny navigates back to the PowerPoint things that I want you to take home with you from this video funding this route has already been federally funded through the cares Act and it will support the route for two years upon implementation you know it's it's unfortunate that kovat 19 had to happen for these funds to free up for our community but we're ready to take this on and build a case for sustainability moving forward the purpose of this route is to connect residents to medical care social services and food access and when I say food access I don't just mean grocery stores in our community I'm also referring to United Way's mobile nutrition center their food share program even food for the soul with the meals that they're providing as well live we

» ll Kershaw's role is to increase awareness about what is coming to front load our work before a bus ever begins traveling our roads to start talking with residents building the case moving forward of what the value added to our community is outside of simply just ridership and then to also address the gaps in accessing this route which I'll go into a little bit more further some updates from where we're at with working with Santee Watery Regional Transportation Authority they have selected a 24 passenger van to meet some social distancing requirements the route itself all 29 proposed bus stops have been tested for safety via a route assessment they're good to go so we're moving forward now with route timing the schedule itself and making some considerations based on when our social service

» agencies are opening when medical providers first appointments are available and so in conjunction with route start and stop times what those look like for residents partnership so one of the fun pieces and amazing aspects of this already funded route is that we can locally brand this route to Kershaw County so we've partnered with Woollard Technology Center to utilize local students in designing bus logo options that we will then in conjunction with our access to care team put this out to community vote here shortly though what you're seeing on the screen now is just a sampling of what those students have come up with which is really exciting for us messaging here's where you guys come in handy as well key points to communicate we have these videos we have a three minute video you just wat

» ched we've got a one minute video for folks that just want the the quick and easy version of what's happening we are also having these developed in Spanish which will be available soon but they will communicate what is the route where are the stops how is it funding what portions of our community have access the purpose and why does transportation matter in regards to health community engagement So, here's where we get to the communication of value added to our community. We have the opportunity to test run something in our community that has already been funded. We only have funds available for two years, so during this time, let's make a case and see if this particular model will work in our community.

» During that time, we will use quality improvement methods, process improvement, troubleshoot what's not working, and see what needs to be done in order to improve what we already have, or make changes moving forward. So we're doing that as we move forward. One of the key pieces that we strongly believe in is that those that do not have transportation issues probably don't have the answers for those that do have transportation issues.

» So we've already identified clients from the Community Medical Clinic, Access Kershaw, and other social service agencies that continually have patients or clients that have transportation issues, and we're talking to those individuals to understand where they're starting, what the baseline is with transportation in their life currently, to understand that impact once the route is in place, as well as their involvement in the co-design of what we're coming up with. Communication, so we've been doing a speaking tour across municipalities about what is coming, as well as civic organizations. We are contacting the businesses that are located near these 29 bus stops to let them know what's happening.

» We will be available to facilitate discussions around improvement opportunities for this route once it's in place, and then we will continue to provide updates from SWRTA themselves. Considerations moving forward. so as you watched the video and you saw where the route was situated and you know elgin out to east camden and back you probably identified hey what about our rural piece the rural transportation piece what's going to happen to westfield cassett all those areas bethune even out into the dusty bend area how are they going to get access into this route so we while this federally funded route will not address that issue because the purpose of it is to to serve the primarily urbanized areas in our community we are working with the united way of kershaw county and also health services

» district and our access to care team to come up with a solution that would patch our rural residents into accessing this route in a non-duplicative manner so using the best of our localized resources and making those funds go further so we're working on that in conjunction with the implementation of this already funded route so what is needed from Kershaw County Council what we aim to do the coalition right now as well as any organization or municipality that we're speaking with is we need you to be advocates we need you to share the messaging the key points the talking points that were shared this evening and really spread the message about what is coming into our community we need you to be the eyes and ears on the ground if once implemented something's not working we need you to let us k

» now so we can communicate that and address the issues what folks can do if they want to get involved of course share those videos I mentioned they're on our Facebook page they're on live well Kershaw org you can also contact us my email and Latrice's email is available on this slide you can also find that information on all of our social media as well if you want to join our access to care team anyone's invited residents included we want to hear from you you can be involved in this process so please let us know and that concludes the presentation if appropriate I'm happy to take questions I'm sure they are let's open up for questions gentlemen let me first say I'm kind of a data-driven guy and we did a look um back in 2015 at the swerdoms the um rta utilization factor and can i ask you all

» to collect data without being intrusive of the passengers of course but we need to see how effective we are and then secondly i'd like very much to invite you back periodically catherine to tell us how it's going okay absolutely we got to get in front of this other comments mr. Jones so the transportation conversation itself just with live well Kershaw began about three years ago but when conversations with community partners this conversation has been happening longer than I've been alive and I publicly recognize that and but we still have not reached quite the solution of what that is but this piece with the federally funded route sort of fell into our laps um we were hearing murmurings of it i believe this time last year so we hit the ground running once we had enough information to move

» forward with creation of videos and really knew what we were talking about back in november november 2020. well i just want to tell you i think you do a great job miss johnson and i appreciate all you do and you still work for the medical clinic correct that's correct how many free medical clinics are in kershaw county there is one just one okay well you guys do a great job i have much respect for what you do i've toured the facility talked with some folks who've had to unfortunately use the facility it's a good thing and i thank you so much for what you do thank you other comments uh ms snodgrass sorry from right to left miss johnson thanks for coming and uh and being here i've had the pleasure to uh to be a part of this from the ground up i remember the i remember the zoom meeting we were

» in when we got the news from um from the santee lynch's um uh representative that said hey uh by the way it was kind of funny because he said so nonchalant like hey by the way i found this and we're like what and uh this is a big deal so thank you for for leading this um so so i understand live well your your your involvement is this you're kind of you guys are more the facilitators is that correct that's correct and um and it'll be kind of santee lynch's or swarda that actually operates the bus but you're uh you'll you guys will be our eyes and ears and our liaison out into the community um i think it's great i love the branding piece i think that perhaps has been maybe one of the drawbacks in the past is we've gotten we've we've had transportation but it's had the wrong branding on it or

» something that we don't recognize uh so i love that we have that flexibility and so thanks for your work and it's i know it's been exciting i've been like i said i've been in the conversation uh with with livewell i'm honored to be able to serve on that and uh so thank you and what we'll do or i'll i mean i can't speak for these guys but i'll speak for me and i'm going to do what i what i need to do and to encourage it and get the word out and until we talk about data we're getting a two-year test drive no well pun intended we're getting a two-year test drive uh to collect data because this has been a long conversation that you know do we do we do this do we not do this and we've always been worried about is the data there is it not there but the way i look at it you know we're going to get

» two years of of data that will help us help us uh develop the future so thank you for your work uh mr tucker thank you mr chairman um miss catherine i want to say uh thanks as well um i think i owe a little bit of an explanation on how wonderful being in the santee lynch's recent council of government is because without them this is not available um this come through your cog and um and i say that because there's two of us up here that sit on that board and we fight real hard for kershaw county we've got a good director down there mr christopher mckinney and i want to say thanks to you and all your hard work susan at the medical clinic as well as mr michael conley back there for the county um just a great collaborative effort to make this happen and uh and i was there when it first came dow

» n to pipes to uh to cheer it on and i'll be here to the end i would like to see uh this thing get up and running and figure out a way to make it self-sustaining where we can continue to service the citizens of kershaw county for the ones that don't know miss catherine uh very well um i'm gonna tell tell us I know you sit up there smiling she drives a mean six-wheeler uh I happen to um be able to be on um what was that two weeks ago now uh kind of thing no that was Mary with the with the big truck there we go Mary Ramsey Mary that was Mary yeah uh who's down there part of uh of you guys group um she was the one that was driving that big huge uh truck there and she's about your height I wasn't quite sure where you were going with that, but I was just kind of, okay, yes. I wasn't either.

» But you have to challenge her on that, because she does a real good job, especially just starting to drive that truck to get the meals out to the different folks in the community. And I commend you guys for all that you do. Thank you. Mr. Gardner, please. Thank you for being here. I know we've got a two-year funding bill, and I'm going to ask the question, is it renewable funding? if all the data at the end or where's the funding coming from to keep this running where's that coming from I see Mr.

» Tucker doing some head head motions over there so I think he probably has a better answer for you than I do as he stated earlier it's the stimulus money from the COVID so it's not renewable but this is what the chairman was asking for the data point so we can figure it out as county leaders and elected officials here in Kershaw County along with partnering with other folks as well don't leave that out we need some government business partnership in this to make it work okay others what's the start date at last that I have heard unless mr.

» Tucker others have any other updated information we're looking at midsummer okay and at that point you can expect this body to do a major rollout with you absolutely other comments uh david just real quick i know we recognized her but i know miss latrice is in the back of the room and so we just want to make sure for the trees welcome um i do at least two two times a month i do a zoom call with these two ladies for different functions and these two ladies are just they're value-added to our community so just want to make sure we give latrice a shout out back there yes yeah uh mr tucker no no okay i'll close it out with mr jones's point um how long we've been working on this uh i think you're only what six years old uh but it gets to the point about how um fortune favors the prepared mind an

» d this county has been working on it in vision 2030 this body of men approved your community health improvement plan within that context and uh mr carpenter allowed mr connolly from his own staff to work on this with us and with you and then a whole bunch of other people piled on as mr tucker said uh santee lynch's cog so the groundwork has been laid for years and so as soon as this money hit we were ready with an idea a concept a vision and a plan we're able to execute let us help you out the second thing i want to say is don't give catherine johnson something to do that you don't want it done if you don't want it done don't give it to her because it will get done and i just i'm very delighted with what's happened here let's keep the forward progress thank you ma'am thank you very much tha

» nk you for the opportunity thank you thank you very much thanks so much all right we now move to another very interesting thing we're down into resolutions item number one is on page four in your electronic book and it's up on the screen with a minor modification that mary has asked me to make and i'll read that but what we're going to do is do a resolution recognizing the clean community commission normally i would read that first but the clean community commission has asked that they be brought forward so with that can i have a motion to approve the resolution on the clean community so move mr jones the second thank you uh for mr tucker and judge hardest please come on up you're no stranger to this body and we welcome you and the whole team you brought with you and by the way you're buyin

» g supper for him jill wolf you need to come on up yeah of course i'm buying some before them all right okay gene go right ahead well let me say one thing mr chairman good to be here i put the microphone real close yeah well it's hard to talk through a mask it's good to see county council once again this is first time in 18 months i've been in this chamber and it's an honor to be back in here now besides that i'm here for the clean community commission and you mentioned something while ago about hard-working people i've been on several commissions and several committees and since 1985.

» this is one of the hardest groups i've ever seen in my life to work they work you give them something to do and you better get out of their way they will run over you trying to get get it done and they've been volunteering this this month and the last year and a half two years and i've enjoyed working with them uh in this let me introduce them first if you don't mind juana swan is our chairman and she is out of state for the next day or so and so i'm a selective volunteer tonight to speak to you in this let me just read my group it's uh not all of them are here in this becky robinson will you please stand just please stand remain standing please becky robinson i got pam delk dennis outlaw christy gardner bill nettles tom webb and jill wolf and tonight is my this is what they work and they w

» ork hard thank you glad to have you here tonight is my first night to meet jill wolf and i don't know why she is from bethune i grew up in bethune somehow i missed her i know her whole family but i didn't know her to the night that's really embarrassing in this i'll tell you later why that happened i'm older right i knew what she was thinking mr tucker but uh it's it's nice to be in i'm the vice chairman and becky is our secretary becky robinson i'm so old miss tucker i have to have glasses in this our next big pickup is going to be on may the 15th countywide pickup we asked him for volunteers we need all the volunteers we can get you have seen kershaw county and you should be ashamed of kershaw county i am i'm very much ashamed of the trash and it's not only kershaw county it's statewide i

» n this but we're asking for all people who would like to come out on may the 15th or before may the 15th we got some picked up today i volunteered today picking up trash today on 34. i counted 45 bags coming into town a while ago i've been picked up this afternoon in this but if you would like to volunteer contact one of us and we will definitely get you all the material you need to pick up trash we get you the pickup stick the gloves the vest and the bags to pick it up we got quite a few of them but we need volunteers gentlemen to help pick up prior to that this this month had been a busy month for this group behind me and some of them uh is nicholas garcia let me say something about he had 16 people they covered four miles picked up 65 bags on highway 97.

» and mr william i think helped with that doing all that i have a melissa kinlaw she ended up saying what to you what she did she had 20 people they covered two miles 45 bags and i think becky that was on black river road that's on black river that's my way home it looked very good in this and then i had hip wolf mason mason wolf okay he had what 12 people picked up five and 52 56 bags highway on longtown road and this and she was telling me right before we came in that we got recognized this afternoon on wis if you saw that that was a good advertisement for what we've been doing uh in this dandy mercer plank i think she good advertising and she told me before she couldn't speak a very good job in this this is our group picking up trash is what we do uh in this now a lot of folks don't like t

» hat but we do and it it's a dangerous job outside the highway and it's not safely out there sometime uh we got so bad we had to get the sheriff's department done pretty well police it for us because some of the roads are like a racetrack and it's very dangerous standing outside the road picking up trash because you're not looking for cars you've in the ditches and inside the road picking up trash in this but uh this is what we are here for and i'm very proud to be part of it in this county council thank y'all for all the help you have given us uh in this we have a grant that we have i guess twenty thousand dollar grant we have and county council's giving us some money but uh this past year as you know kovid is 19 has slowed a lot of things down and we didn't get to do as much as we usually

» do in this but we're picking back up now i haven't had a lot to do myself because of some minor thickness and surgeries i've had i haven't been out too much in 2021 in this but uh mr chairman this is what i got to say i'm going to turn it back over to you for your thank you and uh you have any questions i'll be glad to ask thank you very much and i'm going to formalize this with a resolution if everybody will bear with me i believe we've already put a motion out right yes i can go ahead and read this thing a resolution recognizing the clean community commission and those volunteers that help whereas kershaw county aspires that the vision 2030 will take make us a great place to live work worship and raise our children and whereas the council created a committee of volunteers committed to com

» munity pride in a trashy environment roads and parks and public venues and whereas the clean community committee is led by wanda swan and judge hardest and has been organized with representatives from bethune camden and elgin with volunteers from every part of the county the committee secured a palmetto pride award in 2019 congratulations mr webb thank you we've just recognized you thanks for joining us and recognized statewide as a leader in community involvement whereas the committee continued to lead and trash pick up in an educational programs in schools in businesses in churches and homeowner organizations and whereas the covet period and this long winter have marked a gap in our efforts the committee is now advocating for local volunteers to fill the gap and for the annual spring clea

» nup in may which i think is around the 15th of may and whereas citizens county-wide are stepping up on their own in a revitalized and inspired spirit of kc strong kershaw county strong to improve and clean neighborhoods countywide now this is where i go a little stray it was going to be a simple sentence about one person but by the time we met with all the clean community committee out there and facebook and social media the list kept getting longer and longer and at some point mary siegler said hey uh chairman let's just cut it off and we can so i'm going to read this list but it started with one person with nicola garcia who is here tonight led such an effort on the 27th of february on highway 97 the first of many followed then by melissa kinlaw in southern oaks and south haven on black r

» iver road on march the 5th assisted by councilwoman joanna craig which in turn has unleashed a torrent of support from private citizens ever since county-wide self-starting efforts began to crop up such as mason wolf mason you're here tonight with your team on longtown road and benny and debbie goff on march 13th with pentecostal holiness on highway church road and jefferson road in elgin march 27th with derek chance and curtis sims and will kim and knee america kicking in with first church of the nazarene on the 17th of april i believe that's somebody down to my right led by uh the reverend mr snodgrass bob hale and johnny deal and lake watery association and many many others and i'll just say offhand that mr brazel's got some ideas too to the vast improvement of those roadways and public

» spaces becky robinson jill wolf pam delt tom webb wanda swan bill nettles and uh judge hardest of the clean community commission assisted along with the sheriff's office to slow down traffic that was going along like a raceway now therefore be it resolved in the county council to recognize and encourage these great enterprising and patriotic citizens and to urge others to follow their example of community spirit and commitment in a renewed effort in 2021 to show forth community pride and to encourage and to educate our people in appreciation of the beauty of this great county and be it further resolved to congratulate and encourage wanda swan and all members of the commission as they renew their efforts county-wide with the support of this county office sheriff the school district local clu

» bs housing associations the city of camden and the towns of elgin and bethune can we uh have any discussion please mr jones you were first i was going to say something well you had the first i know most of the members of this group and i tell you mr tucker i want to thank you for years back you and i really spearheaded to put this group back together because it kind of fell to the wayside then we got these great people on there that we had tonight uh with the leadership for miss swan and and i tell you i could not have been any more thrilled when i talked to jill i don't know that i had talked you off into getting on it but she had to think about it but i knew she was a workhorse i knew she would make things happen because she's done that in so many other things like lisa lugoff christmas p

» arade you know the sign coming into lugoff she was very uh involved in that and keeping it looking nice and but but to each and every one of you mr webb all of you thank you so much for what you do mason the reason you could do the five miles is because you're in the gym every day i've seen you work out but thank you so much folks thank you uh the second was i think mr tucker please yes uh thank you uh kershaw county clean community commission for all your valid and hard works and efforts um mason councilman jones stole my thunder there the reason you can go extra miles and more bags is the youth and the youth that you recruit so so I need to come talk to you so I can get some youth on my team. But thank you, and thank you for getting the young people involved.

» That is so important, and everyone knows why we have so much trash is because we weren't allowed in restaurants. We got tired of cooking at home. We go through drive-thrus, we do pickups, and then out the window it goes versus, you know, putting it in a trash can or stopping by a gas station. COVID has done nothing good for us, in my opinion, when it when you really take a look at it i was looking the other day and someone said they got colbert 15 i think i got colbert 25 25 extra pounds but um i thank all of you for what you do and uh continue to do the good work and to continue to encourage others to get involved thank you mr thank you other comments uh david sure i just echo what uh mr tucker and mr jones said thank you all so much for your work uh this is more than just picking up our c

» ommunity this is uh this is about community pride uh and this is about an economic development issue as well you know when we're when we're trying to uh bring in a new industry and we're showing them our county uh we don't want them making the comments like lou holtz made back in the 90s and said you guys must have an empty trash cans or the cleanest trash cans but you can correct me on the on the quote exactly but something along those lines you must have the emptiest trash cans because all your trash is on the road and uh and so we don't want those type of comments when um you know when we're bringing in economic development prospects so thank you all so much because your work goes far beyond just picking up that one road it is more it's so more holistic than that so thank you so much and

» i'll i'll expand a little bit more on my church's event during my council briefings but uh we're looking forward to being a part of that um i just will say we are going to serve breakfast for people who come and help that day so trying to bring people in thank y'all uh yeah russell you were gonna say something yeah everybody's piling on mason tonight i'm gonna come help him on the 15th he he did me a solid about 20 years ago when he was a ring bearer at my wedding so i'm talking about talking about some youth making me feel a little older tonight so um to the wolves and everyone else um thanks for what you've done uh we definitely have some other ideas as well that we're going to do uh as i've mentioned the watery river on august the 14th we're going to have a big event there and august 14t

» h um so in anyway thanks to all um and thanks for getting out there and and getting a dirty job done thank you other comments well with that i think we can go to a vote and and then we'll have some photographs all those in favor signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous thank you very much and uh it passes mary mary i'm going to ask that we do additional copies for signature to get them to each of the group members uh judge would you mind bringing everybody up for a quick photograph that's a crowd that's a cartoon come on up here thank you very much thank you very much indeed and thank you judge and everyone from the committee uh the second item is another resolution it's item number two and very much in the same spirit of a great community and getting things going without a lot of he

» lp from government it's at tab b it's on page five and i think it's on the screen and uh it's a resolution honoring rebecca o'hara and the irish fest and i believe rebecca's here there you are rebecca did you bring your parish priest with you it's father john yeah oh good hello father okay i'm going to return to the normal protocol and i'll read the resolution and then we'll vote and bring everybody forward it's an honor it's a resolution honoring rebecca o'hara whereas kershaw county celebrates its diversity and culture in vision 2030 and whereas beck becky over just use a casual name becky o'hara of lugoff is married to joseph harron the mother of three boys and it looks like you got that platoon here today uh or squad the o'hara's have been residents of kershaw county for 27 years and be

» cky has had a long-term vision to see an irish festival take place in kershaw county and six years ago on her own she took the initiative to produce Irish Fest Camden LLC. Wow. As a fundraising mechanism for educational and charitable organizations in the community. She then planned and directed the festival herself. All of the proceeds for the event go to designated recipients, and this year she initiated a community grant awarded to worthy charities in Kershaw County through an application process. this is just breathtaking.

» Whereas the festival has grown in size and scope over the years and after the first two years hosted in downtown Camden, the festival moved to a historic Camden Revolutionary War site where it has been held the last three years and in '21, the fifth year of the festival, the scope almost doubled in the number of sponsors, vendors, food, and music.

» And whereas as an international manufacturing manager for DuPont, Becky is involved in worldwide projects, her remarkable ability to balance work and family by using her outstanding organizational skills and leadership qualities are key to the success of the event what stands out most is her skill to form a highly functional team of dedicated volunteers her desire for the irish fest camden is that it remain an annual and sustainable event for kershaw county now therefore therefore be it further resolve crucial county council honors mrs rebecca o'hara for her dedication to the community can we have a motion to approve this resolution i should do approve mr chairman mr mr tucker a second second uh second for mr snodgrass uh discussion uh mr chairman yes sir i just want to tell miss o'hara tha

» nk you um i actually have my parents live down off of littleton street in that area i grew up in historic camden uh in those little bunker holes playing as a little boy and when i came through there several times over the weekend uh as far as you can see there were people um i think it was probably your best turned out uh yet but it was well attended and looked like everyone was having a blast and doing the proper things of social distancing and things of that nature so thank you for all your efforts and thank you for um not just doing the festival but giving back to the community and sharing with people where they can have a prosperous life as well so we continue to support you and we uh wish and pray that you continue to uh do the festival thank you other comments uh mr jones uh this is n

» ot good i'll just add echo what they're saying uh mr o'hara the whole o'hara family actually because i know uh your whole family was involved in this it wasn't just you so thank you so much um and pulling the team together you know more again i think with the year that we had it was just so refreshing to be able to have this event uh it was almost like uh kind of you kind of got out of prison so to speak you know so you know and so it felt good i was out there for a little bit and and and i know your your event kind of bookended the whole covet experience anyway so it was uh so thank you for moving forward with that and providing a safe safe place for everyone to to get out and experience community and uh you know when i was out there it was just it's a great turnout uh enjoyed some of the

» games that were going on and some of the vendors i'd be interested to know i know when you checked in they were asking your zip code so whenever that data is available i'd be interested to know kind of what what the breakdown was because you know with with five points um shutting theirs down i would imagine that a lot of the people who had an itch for an irish fest came our way and and and hopefully next year they'll see hey that's better anyway so we're all going to come to canada anyway so thank you so much i appreciate it thank you other comments mr jones i just would like to share that uh in the past many years ago i have thrown small events nothing to the magnitude of what you do with irish fest i think just what hit me is this one thing to do a project like that and it be successful a

» nd you have but to do it in a time like now with the pandemic the way you did it it was perfect it was great i thank you so much for your hard work but i seen your success it's your family you have a huge family i'm sure everybody was involved and i just want to say thank you so much other comments uh mr if i can add i just want to say that i enjoyed my leftover corned beef and cabbage just this weekend. Yeah, Mr. Brazel, please. What everybody else has said, thanks for giving of yourself and trying to put something together. It takes a lot more than meets the eye, and I know those three boys there helped you. So thanks for giving back to Kershaw County.

» Well, I would just say to close out, first of all, we had Father John, so the Lord was on our side too, right, Father? And secondly, to grab the comment made by Mr. Snodgrass, this is a great county, and it takes more than a little virus to keep us down. We're not afraid of ourselves or of one another, but we're able to do this in a responsible and fun way to celebrate our county, even though we're in the middle of a pandemic. I congratulate you for giving us, as so many other volunteers in this county have given us, a reminder of how great we are and what a wonderful place this is to live.

» thank you very much so that i say we vote and all those in favor so signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous would you and the boys come up and and let's get a real picture and bring the father john as well please your background is messed up thank you guys thank you very much if we get skilled right you know very much chairman joe yeah joe texted me today to remind me it was my wife's birthday yeah i appreciate that joe thank you father john appreciate it we move to the next item which is a proclamation uh recognizing national women's history month it's a tab c and page six in your electronic media i'll read it and we'll have mr tucker enter enter the motion a proclamation recognizing national women's history month whereas american women of every race class and ethnic background hav

» e made historic contributions to the growth and strength of our nation in countless recorded and unrecorded ways and whereas american women have played and continue to play critical economic cultural and social roles in every sphere of the life of the nation by constituting a significant portion of the labor force working inside and outside the home and whereas american women have played a unique role throughout the history of the nation of providing the majority of the volunteer labor force of the nation as we just saw and whereas american women are particularly important in the the establishment of early charitable, philanthropic, and cultural institutions in our nation, and whereas American women of every race, class, and ethnic background have served as early leaders in the forefront of

» every major progressive and social change movement, and whereas American women have served our country courageously in the military, amen to that, whereas American women have been leaders not only in securing their own rights of suffrage and equal opportunity, but also in the abolitionist movement, the emancipation movement, the industrial labor movement, the civil rights movement, and other movements, especially the peace movement, which created a more fair and just society.

» And whereas despite these contributions, the role of American women has been consistently overlooked and undervalued in the literature, teaching, and study of American history, now therefore be it resolved by the Kershaw County Council that March is DESIGNATED WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH AND CALLING UPON THE CITIZENS OF THE COUNTY TO OBSERVE MARCH WITH APPROPRIATE PROGRAMS AND CEREMONIES AND ACTIVITIES. CAN WE HAVE A MOTION, MR. TUCKER? MR. CHAIRMAN, I TAKE A MOTION THAT WE RECOGNIZE NATIONAL WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. A SECOND? SECOND. I THINK THAT WAS MR. SNYGRASS, BUT I THINK I'M HEARING STEREO. YES. OKAY. I'M SORRY. I HAVE TANKER'S EARS. ALL RIGHT, MR. WITH THAT, ANY DISCUSSION? PLEASE. MR. CHAIRMAN? MR. TUCKER. THANK YOU.

» I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT I WANT TO THANK MISS MARY. SHE DOES A FANTASTIC JOB WITH ALL OUR RESOLUTIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS, BUT I HAVE TO SHARE A LITTLE STORY. WHEN I BROUGHT THIS UP TO HER, I SAID, WILL YOU DO A PROCLAMATION AND SEND ME A DRAFT? AND SHE SAID, I WOULD HAPPILY LOVE TO DO THIS ONE. AND OF COURSE ME BEING THE HUMBLE AND RESPECTFUL GUY THAT I AM, WHEN SHE SENT ME BACK THE DRAFT, I DIDN'T CHANGE A THING. NORMALLY I CHANGE STUFF IN IT, BUT I DIDN'T CHANGE IT BECAUSE MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME BETTER THAN THAT AND I'M SMARTER THAN THAT. BUT THANK YOU, MS. MARY, AND THANK YOU FOR ALL THE WOMEN AND LADIES THAT'S IN AMERICA THAT MAKES THIS COUNTRY A BETTER PLACE AND THE PLACE THAT IT IS. THANK YOU. MR. SNYGRASS? SURE. THANK YOU.

» uh putting this forward and ms mary for uh for uh formulating the language i think it's very fitting i don't know if you guys caught the symbolism here but we passed this on an evening in which we we we heard a pro we heard a public presentation by an organization that's directed uh by a strong female leader then we also gave resolutions and proclamations resolutions rather recognizing organizations that have been effective in our community and they're they're being led by by by ladies whether it be the clean community commission or uh miss o'hara who just organized the uh the irish fest so it's i think it's very fitting it just maybe i was the only one that that caught that so um you know all throughout history you know we're taught about the strong women of our of our history whether it b

» e harriet tubman or clara barton uh betsy ross others uh susan b anthony you know all these these women who have paved the way so um i'm uh honored to to be a part of this and if i and that's like i told us if i didn't vote for it my mom be upset with me so uh yeah right but uh this is i'm very honored to be a part of this uh mr brasil well i just absolutely reiterate the uh the same it looks like we we all know uh that that our wives and mothers and daughters are uh pushing us to be better men so thank you ladies for everything this proclamation stands for thank you and uh with ms mara jones running the alpha center i think and it's her birthday i think mr jones you better say something well as i said i mean who would not vote for this but i will tell you one thing it is not a fair workpla

» ce for women It is not. I have two daughters. I have a wife. And, Ms. Mary, I appreciate you so much for all the hard work you do. But it is not. The workforce is not fair to women. They have to work twice as hard to be recognized where you can have a man sitting there doing nothing and getting all the credit. So I really do support this wholeheartedly. Thank you. Others? Mr. Gardner? We probably should say that every month should be Women's History Month. Just a thought. Just a thought. I'll close it out by saying that my grandmother led the right to vote movement here in this county back in the early days and led also a homeland defense force for Kershaw County during World War II, and she was a tough young lady.

» And my wife was the first female graduate of Texas A&M, and she's got a couple of special forces daughters. So I know what I'm going to be talking about when I get home. So I'm with Mr. Jones and the rest of you. Every day is Women's History Month. Those women grew up like their mothers. We're enormously proud to put this to a vote. If you gentlemen will go along with me, all those in favor, so signify. And it's unanimous, Mary, and thank you for your effort. Mr. Chairman, that's one thing this council does agree on is this. Oh, right. Thank you very much, Mary. It's unanimous and it passes. We'll move now to approval of minutes. It's in tab D, page 7 in your electronic book and on the screen.

» can we have a motion to approve the minutes most to approve the minutes mr chairman mr tucker a second second mr gardner any discussion yes thank you miss mary thank you again mr chairman i will vote to support the minutes but i do would like to recognize i was late coming into the meeting however i am going to vote to support minutes i think you can i can i just want to make that absolutely i would certainly want you to do that thank you uh since there's no further discussion we'll move to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous and mayor you have approval when we move now to an administrative update uh on covet mr coppet as chair members of council as you're aware um after a precipitous drop in january uh february we've now uh kind of leveled out with the

» cases in covet uh we're averaging about 160 to 167 for the two-week cycle that we keep track of unfortunately the total of confirmed deaths is up to 109 in kershaw county as well you would see um on the monthly average right there daily is down to about 10.4 which best has been um let's just hope it keeps dropping report thank you uh comments yeah jimmy if i may yeah sure on a positive note uh mr carpenter can y'all hear me um have you gotten any information are you aware of the amount of money that kershaw county could receive based on this stimulus package yes there's a significant amount of money um it's going to be coming down to local governments um almost 13 million dollars correct exactly i think it's uh got it right at 12.4 something like that million dollars and that's that's excit

» ing um do you know this one thing that uh i was reading through the proposal and it talked about a lot of municipalities and i kept reading and finally started talking about local governments and what the monies could be spent for and uh it also mentioned their small businesses if we do get this money you know of course i know you'll you'll they'll have guidelines that has to be spent on you'll present us with a plan of that but i really hope we can focus hard and largely on small businesses if we do end up getting that 12.6 million dollars and uh i think from what i'm hearing it looks pretty good others should come in in two payments i believe two payments have been 22 states have filed a lawsuit against it that may uh slow down um aspects of it um so as soon as we know what we're getting

» when we're getting and what the guidance is then definite council will be made made aware of it so we can determine how we're going to best utilize it i may not agree with all the spending but if it's going to be there i want it you know i want our share if it's going to be there all right thank you other comments i i didn't tone on that oh mr brasil so what is is there any timeline on on that happening it's it was the first um first installment is is supposed to be paid within 60 days of passage of the bill um that would depend on whether um the whether the lawsuits being filed actually are allowed to proceed or not that could slow that down um but assuming that they're not slow down that within 60 days of passage we would get the first installment that we'd have four years to spend the mo

» ney when did that 60 day time period start uh that would be that started about two weeks ago so sometime in june maybe um assuming that it's not slowed down generally when when you have states filing against the federal government it goes to the supreme court so it just matters what they do with it where does our state stand on their thoughts and feelings of accepting the federal money? I believe that we're one of the states that's filing against and the reason being that there are provisions placed in there that would keep the money from being used to offset tax cuts. So the belief is that the federal government does not have the right to tell states how to manage their budget and their funds and it's unconstitutional in that respect.

» So it's a small portion of the program that is up for consideration debate. I just don't know how it's going to affect the whole program. Will we have to operate in an emergency ordinance? All that would go before the council. But do we have to be in a state of emergency to receive the funds? No, sir. Okay. The nation is in a state of emergency still, as far as I know, but that's not a requirement that you have to be locally in a state of emergency. Okay. Thank you. Very good question. And the instant the bill was passed, Mr. Carpenter was already on it, I assure you, to both your points. We don't know much yet, but it's going to be an interesting budget drill. And a little later on, Mr. Carpenter will talk about what that's going to look like.

» I'll tell you also, we've received advice and assistance and requests for help from the cities to include, especially Bethune, and we've turned them on to the prospect of them helping themselves as well but as just to reiterate our state and other ones like us have challenged the bill as unconstitutional because it limits the state and by definition us our ability to do tax cuts so that's held up and uh and there you are jimmy go right ahead i could i'd just like to mention one thing you know it talks about you know uh government provides services to extend the REDUCTION IN REVENUE DUE TO THE COVID-19 PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY AND EMERGENCY RELATED TO REVENUES COLLECTED IN THE MOST RECENT FULL FISCAL YEAR PRIOR TO THE EMERGENCY.

» BUT IT SAYS MAKING NECESSARY INVESTMENTS IN WATER AND SEWER AND BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE. THOSE ARE THINGS THAT ARE VERY IMPORTANT THAT WE DON'T HAVE THE MONEY FOR. SO IF IT'S THERE, I'M JUST SAYING, I DON'T LIKE ALL THE SPENDING, BUT IF IT'S THERE, WE MIGHT AS WELL TAKE IT AND USE IT FOR THESE THINGS. I don't think anybody here disagrees. Thank you for bringing that up, Mr. Jones. Appreciate it. I would just say one last thing is I don't know where we are on the shots and things of that nature. And everyone has a right not to take the shot. But this county council is on record as having encouraged it. And we still see a significant enforcement of the mask within the school system. And so we'll work through this thing. As I said before, it's like climbing down from a tree.

» it's as difficult go ahead jimmy i'm sorry i didn't mean to interrupt you but you reminded me of a thought that i wanted to mention here tonight let's go right ahead you know um as i had said mr tucker earlier i hope there'll be a destruction date on your um resolution when it comes to wearing masks and also i do know without a doubt that it passed on a fourth re-vote and i do know that there was one member who did not intend for it to be directed at me i'm convinced of that however what i'll say to that member i can't do it the three devoted against you can't do but if you'd put it back on the agenda to vote that resolution down i think we'd probably have may have four votes to do that but anyway thank you so much mr chair we'll see thank you jimmy well the resolution has no teeth it reall

» y has no substance i'm doing this out of good will because i am in compliance with the law sitting here right now thank you jimmy uh back to the point that i was going to make is we are in march now as in bad shape as we were in may and so we're hoping that numbers will keep coming down uh but like i said climbing down from a tree so with that we'll move on to the next item uh which is the uh let's see where am i uh a number of ordinances and item number one is the third reading of an ordinance it's in tab e and it's at page 10 in your electronic media danny if you can advance the the thing it'll be on the board in a minute there it is we have mr conley here and mr carpenter can you take us through the uh the drill mr chair members council you have in front of you tonight for third reading

» and ordinance to amend the county's zoning map to take approximately 90 acres 99 acres of land um that is located on old stagecoach road uh from its current uh zoning of mrd1 to r15 the council has previously approved this on second reading all right can we have a motion to approve make motion to approve mr chairman uh mr tucker and second from mr snodgrass it's in your district uh mr tucker any comments no nothing's changed uh mr carpenter from uh last time we read this so um i think we're good to go um again nothing's changed uh this actually puts uh this track of land in compliance with the rest of the zoning that's around it so i think it's a that's terrific uh other comments uh seeing they are none we can move to a vote all those in favor uh and it's unanimous mike you have a an ordina

» nce we have moved item number two a second reading and it's uh tab f it's in page 24 and it was helpfully introduced by mr brazel before can you take us through this uh mr carpenter and then we'll introduce the motion mr chairman members council you have in front of each night for second reading an ordinance that amends and restates the kershaw county council's rules and order of business that allow for modifications and updates to the way you operate during um during disasters and other options in front of you very good uh mr brazel you have the honor of making the motion yes sir i hereby make a motion for a second reading of an amended and re-stated ordinance by kershaw county council determining rules and order of business and providing procedures and requirements for conducting electron

» ic meetings very good sir thank you for that and a second second um you sammy yes sir okay mr brasil you want to open it up um yeah basically we're we're just let me go through it um we're just making it so that that everyone can can still submit comments um we can use all means of electronic equipment um while we're not an emergency um state so hopefully once that kind of passes and we're back to business as usual all of these um changes that have been made for covet reasons will still be in place and um yeah i think that's good it provides a lot of transparency i've had uh several people reach out to me and say hey we we want to be able to do this we want to be able to watch it on facebook youtube and submit comments via email however so that's basically all we're doing and it's uh it's i

» n section 5.6 and then appendix 3. um so that's that's basically the nuts and bolts of it uh thank you for stepping up with that i think we maybe have some more of the comments mr tucker uh thank you mr chairman very briefly um what i would like to do and just make my colleagues aware um is come back through this one more time and want to get with you mr carpenter on what mr maddox was requesting and make sure i have a clear understanding and if any of that you know is doable so thank you so i understand that you want to perhaps uh review that comments from mr maddox and and take a look at it at the third reading that's correct i think that's worthy of discussion um you know it's it'd be neat to have a setting that felt like an old town hall and and people were able to to come and you know

» air their grievances and i wouldn't mind interacting and and having a conversation a limited conversation i'd love to talk and love to hear from the public and i think that's what we're here to do so um i'm very interested in discussing that further okay thank you and maybe we can make an amendment on the next go-round yes yeah that's what mr tucker said all right good um other comments Mr. Snodgrass to to those to that line of thinking speaking of Mr.

» Maddox's comments it was did he also suggest so we talk about comments as electronic means and right now that only means email is that correct comments to say somehow submitting an audio or video maybe okay okay yes I highlighted a few is that what you mean why you're looking at that too are you just talking about just human well no I mean he made some good points I highlighted a few things here in his comments virtual public access audio and visual YouTube Facebook page all media platforms so you know in limiting personal attacks and profane language I think was was definitely something we want to do into his point changes that could be a small step forward to to what our founders envisioned you know I think that's that's that's a very valid point and I for one have no problem looking at t

» his okay yeah I wonder if Thomas Jefferson thought about responding comments on Facebook you know but so the my concern with that would be that would probably if you start talking about submitting videos mr. carpenter that's that's pretty taxing on on County staff because i have very limited knowledge of video production and and but i but i know enough to know that that would that'd be pretty arduous i don't think it's realistically feasible right or any uh one every now and then you could do but if you start receiving numbers for each meeting you have different formats they're coming in correct if you um if you cut them short uh you run the risk of first amendment issues so you're better generally up front not allowing something because once you allow it it's very difficult to go back and

» change it yeah just in you know just in my world uh you know with the church you know even when i bring in different preachers and presenters they always show up with a different format of a presentation and it's always like kind of an issue of well you got an mp4 well we only have a you know computer that reads uh quick time or whatever so um the other question do you know would we be able to i think this would be a bit easier so like public presentation so when miss johnson was giving her presentation she had a powerpoint then they went to a video is there any is there any discussion among staff to give given danny the abilities for that presentation to either go picture and picture or just to go full screen for that segment so that the online audience can see can see that we are sure it'

» s it's it's always been just an issue of cost and so we're we've been costing it out to see what what we can do to try to go into a system. Because right now, as you notice, we're limited in what we do. We've cobbled together systems. We've been very, I think, efficient with our use of taxpayer funds. But in order to do what people would like us to do, it would be part of the budget process. We'd explain it, and then with council approval, we'd do it. Mr. All right. Well, I'm happy to hear that's at least part of the conversation. Because I think that does help the accessibility for people who are watching to be able then to see the slides and so they know what's going on. Thank you. Yep. Other comments? Mr. Tucker. Mr. Carpenter has already answered this.

» We actually had this in one of our work sessions earlier at WTC where we were talking about trying to upgrade. And this is some of the challenges. And I just want to say this for public record is that if this doesn't happen overnight, do understand there's a process and a cost that comes along with it. So it's not that the council is not looking into it or don't want to do it. It's a matter of making good decisions and getting it right the first time. and if it's doable. So that's why I said if it's doable. Thank you. - Other comments? Jimmy. - Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with Mr. Snodgrass. I think you made a good point. You know, we are transparent. We video, we put it on YouTube, gets on Facebook.

» You know, certainly I think there's always good points made, but it always comes with a dollar. Okay, there's always a dollar attached to that. So I mean, and I have no doubt in my mind that even though I don't agree with y'all on a lot of things, a bunch of things, I do think each one of you up here is transparent and wants to make sure that we do everything we can do to provide our information to the public. But it just comes with a dollar. A dollar. You're exactly right, Mr. Snodgrass. Thank you. - Other comments? Well, welcome to the 21st century, everybody. And I do appreciate you stepping up, Russell, and bringing this forward.

» I think we're ready to go to a vote and we may see some amendments next time around, huh? All right, all those in favor, signify by raising your hand and may we move to the third reading on that. Thank you very much, Russell. And we now move to new business at which there is none. And we move to council briefing, starting with you, David. - Mr.

» Chairman, members of council, just briefly, I will highlight that we are, there's sponsoring and helping putting together east camden litter pickup day for saturday april 17th and uh joining joining the calls with other other groups that are that are doing that as they lead up to the big pickup day in may and just want to remind everyone about that i'll i'll be putting information out on my personal facebook as far as where you can go because we're trying to we're organizing different target areas in east in east camden like malvern hill drive mcrae road hell street uh areas like that and i would love to get enough support to where we can then launch launch teams out and uh our church camden first church of nazarene right there um on the on the highway will serve as the serve as the launch

» point where you get your uh pickup sticks and your vest uh and i'll i'll have a guy there cooking breakfast and we'll, if you want to come pick up trash, we will feed you because if there's one thing that a pastor knows that if you want someone to show up, you got to feed them. That's one thing that we're experts at is getting people to show up because of some food. And Mr. Tucker said I should feed people lunch afterwards instead of breakfast, but you haven't seen this breakfast that we put on. So I got faith in it. So would invite you to come out April 17th, be looking out for more information concerning that as we pick up our community. Thank you. - Mr. Tucker? - Thank you. I just have one comment for Ms. Snodgrass. They're going to play Bubba Brown. They're going to eat and lay down.

» No report. - Okay. Mr. Gardner? - No report. - Mr. Braswell? - No report. - Jimmy? - No report. - Okay, very good. I'm going to close it out. I just got a message from Representative Johnson, one of our representatives at the State House about rural broadband. I'll pass that to the staff for action. where further grants are available. And as we said before, Envision 2030, rural Wi-Fi broadband has been an objective we've agreed upon these five years, and we're making progress, but there's also another grant available, and it's to the point made here that who knows where all this money is gonna come from for the federal government, but if it's gonna be available, then we oughta use it.

» Hospital, keep your eye on that, But we have a commitment to keep the best hospital we can from LifePoint. And it's been our partner in this year of COVID. And we need to tell our employees at the hospital we are with them. And we'll do everything we can to continue to improve and grow that hospital. Thirdly, the budget's going to be exciting. Mr. Carpenter will talk a little bit about that. We've talked a little bit about that in terms of COVID money. But we'll see where that goes. And so with that, I go to you, Mr. Carpenter, for any administrative briefings. Mr. Chairman, members of council, just two items for you. One is just to remind you that this coming weekend, our Parks and Rec Department will be having the Extreme Easter Movie Night at the Waterloo River Veterans Park.

» Gates will open at 7.30. Movie begins at 8.30, the 26th of March. There's a number that's just off the screen, but the Parks and Rec number you would call for reservations. You will not have to stay in your car for this show. Everybody will be in distance groups, so families can come and sit out, and the weather should be nice, we're hoping, and enjoy it with your family. Also, every council member has a revised copy of the budget schedule starting in April. Our budget workshops will be Tuesdays from 10 o'clock to 1 o'clock or until we end. If it's sooner, going through the various stages and processes, some of these will be workshops.

» of these will be work sessions uh work sessions focusing on one particular item of interest such as fire ems planning and zoning things like that topics that are of extreme interest to the council and then the budget workshops where we go over the various aspects of the budget that will be presented to council for first reading starting in may um my update on that sir thank you uh mr davos uh mr chairman um i have nothing except there is a legal briefing on the agenda for um a legal briefing on kershaw county hospital board legislation so i'd like to ask for an executive session and that will include yourself the council and would you the administrator likewise yes okay very good and there would be no vote thereafter i don't anticipate any vote can't not be at the council but i don't antici

» pate anything all right uh mr tucker can you have such a motion PLEASE YES SIR I MAKE A MOTION THAT WE GO IN EXECUTIVE SESSION FOR A LEGAL ADVICE CAN WE HAVE A SECOND SECOND SECOND YOU WANT A SECOND NO I WANTED TO AMEND IT I WAS ACTUALLY GOING TO ADD SOMETHING TO IT LET'S GET TO THE SECOND THEN WE'LL DO THAT MR. GARDNER HAS A SECOND OKAY DISCUSSION MR. JONES I WOULD LIKE TO AMEND TO DISCUSS A PERSONNEL ISSUE IF IT IS SO FITTED WHEN I TALK TO MR.

» DEBOSE IN EXECUTIVE SESSION ALL RIGHT AND SO WE HAVE AN AMENDMENT TO DISCUSS A PERSONNEL ISSUE uh can we have a second second uh mr tucker second uh any discussion on that amendment all right you haven't you have the people you need uh for that every one of us sitting here okay including those two and no no vote to follow no vote will follow very good all right so let's vote on the amendment all those in favor signify by raising your hand it's unanimous now we have vote on the uh motion as amended can we have a first on that mr tucker a second uh from mr brazel any discussion on uh the motion as amended nope all right with that let's move to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand it's unanimous and we'll go into executive session and return without a vote amount of executive

» session a second from mrs snodgrass any discussion uh jones snodgrass one two no discussion on it all right let's move it to a vote all those in favor signify and it's unanimous we're back from the executive session can we have a motion to retire a motion to return mr chairman a second from mr jones any uh discussion i wish you all very well let's move to a vote and it's unanimous when we are adjourned yes i look like