Full meeting transcript - April 27, 2021

» [Part 1 of 3] We are called to order. We have a quorum of all members present. It's a great day in Kershaw County and a great day in this All-America County. We have some wonderful people here today and we want to get quickly to that point in the agenda. But unfortunately, we're still being ravaged by the COVID virus and Russell reports even a member of his own company has passed. So I ask you all to bow your heads in a moment of silence. Amen. Thank you.

» We're now called to order and with the invocation and pledge, turn to councilman tom gardner would you all please stand right heavenly father we thank you again for a great day in kershaw county we thank you for the opportunities afforded us thank you for this council and the work they do we thank you for our staff and our great employees do ask a special prayer for those affected by kobe and a special blessing on those who have lost loved ones to it my father as we do our county's business we ask for your guidance your wisdom your discernment. We ask these things in your son's name. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible. Thank you very much, Tom.

» And Reverend Snodgrass, you might want to pick up some points there from Mr. Gardner. Oh, absolutely. We move now to public comments. Mr. DuBose, do we have anybody signed up? uh mr chairman one person has signed up and that is tom webb the third excellent hey tom come on up and tom you know the rules routine that limited to roughly five minutes focus on the topic i wish it could be question and answer but it is not in our under our agenda and uh kindly keep it on uh on topic thank you sir okay uh here's my card a party i used to be and Libertarian Party, actually a dues-paying member of the Libertarian Party, and what I say here reflects that sometimes, but I dropped out. I won't give many dues anymore.

» The leadership here in South Carolina told me several years ago that we're all citizens of the world and we don't need a border anymore, so goodbye Libertarian Party. There are crackpots in there, as I guess they are everywhere. But I wanted to speak about banning books a little bit. And being a libertarian, I really don't like the idea of banning books. But sometimes maybe it's necessary or something in between where if a child wants to buy a book or check out a book from a library, they should have parental consent.

» There are some things that parents, if they knew what they were doing, really wouldn't want their children to engage in so uh i'm going to read some of this just to make sure i don't miss anything i'll speak about the contention of book banning and not about the people pros or con and should the government or anyone in government play a part in banning who should judge and by what criteria certainly parents should have some say concerning their children they always have i hope they always will and um so we already have some censoring on movies they they get a rating uh why not written items written material and the internet internet of course already is uh it doesn't allow pornography it's criminal and and uh they can't solicit minors on there though a church that i used to attend their pas

» tor got into a heap of trouble because he was soliciting minors on the internet so he was fired and the church changed his name and the government actually had something to do with that he spent some time in prison before that comes from the government I don't want to claim that I know where to draw the line for other people but I don't appreciate lines being drawn through gray areas as though cultural norms don't matter when it comes to parents and their children parents should be encouraged to be very active. It's still America, I hope. Still will be for a while. So I'll mention two book bannings. In one case, my uncle, who served in World War II in Europe, banned my book, Mein Kampf, that little paperback that I had.

» And he saw it, and he grabbed it, and he destroyed it, and I never got a chance to read it. So I still haven't read it. The other book that I participated in banning is one that I banned myself. I destroyed it. I picked it up somewhere. I don't remember where now, is a good-looking book, well-made, fairly large, but thumbing through it, it was shocking. Diagrams and explanations on the most horrible ways to torture people, mostly women and children. I wouldn't read it. It was mind poison, and I wouldn't want anybody else to read it. It was written by Marquis de Sade, late in the 1700s, a French nobleman who actually practice the things that were in this book, torture. And he did that for years and years, and he published some books. He wouldn't want children to see any of that.

» I wouldn't want anybody to see it. So he finished his life in a mental institute, not because maybe he was crazy, it's because he was so wicked. He was brought up on charges. They couldn't find him guilty in France before the French Revolution. But he went on to live through all of that, and they put him in the mental hospital and they actually use him as an executioner if they had somebody they wanted to get rid of that they were was claiming was crazy because they were not going along with the political agenda they would put them in the room with him and lo and behold pretty soon they were dead marquee to say this is where we get our word sadism or sadism to say that somebody is a sadist.

» It's a sexual perversion in one of the definitions where people get some kind of sexual gratification out of torturing somebody else. The other definition doesn't include the sexual part, but there's gratification, there's fun in torturing people. This guy was really off his rocker far enough to be doing that sort of thing. So his books were banned all over Europe. He wrote Private Life of Marquis de Sade and another book, The Many Pleasures of the Flesh, Afternoon Delight, and How to Serve Tea Properly. And he invented torture machines. So all of these things were really perverted, really bad stuff. It's a mind poison.

» You wouldn't want somebody who might have had just a little bit of a mental problem to read these things he might act this stuff out so these books were banned they still banned the catholic church still got them on a a banned list england france he was french and french are the ones that locked him up so uh all of it mind poison no gray area here in my opinion but there are plenty of bad ideas these days that sneak into our minds and especially young minds from all sorts of media A portion of our people might disagree with me on any of this that I've just said, but I celebrate their ability to do so, being a libertarian especially. So I'll just tell you briefly about my book burning, this book that I didn't want anybody else to ever see again.

» I dropped it in a five-gallon bucket and filled it with water, figuring this would destroy it. But after a few days, I pulled it out, and you could still thumb through, and the pages would turn. So I decided to burn it, and it was rather difficult to burn because it was soaking wet. but i managed without it needed to go so um i'm sure that the books that we're we're all thinking about right now they're not anything like the sage book but um parents should be in charge of what their children get to see and then maybe even government on occasion even though i'd rather fear that thank you anyway uh thank you mr webb uh mr davos that concludes the sign up list all right and that concludes public comments we move to adoption of the agenda it's on the screen can we have a motion to approve the ag

» enda make motion we approve the agenda mr chairman mr tucker a second second second from mr gardner any discussion uh seeing there is none we move to a vote all those in favor so signify and it's unanimous and we move now to the proclamation i've been looking forward to it's a proclamation honoring zarik bradford it's a tab a and page four there you are thank you danny it's up on the screen too uh with that i'm going to read it as we did before and then i'll seek a motion and we can move into discussion but i also want to say that we're welcoming ted hanley here today from the alumni association and we've got another presentation as a part of that so ted great to see you let me read this and we'll move right into it a proclamation honoring zarique bradford whereas kershaw county is an all-a

» merica county with a vision to be a great place to live work study worship and raise great kids as productive citizens and whereas the county city school district and sheriff's office and the alumni association has consistently supported the growth and education of terrific i mean terrific young men and ladies in the Boys Club and Girls Club under the direction of Brian Mays, who is here with us today, whereas the Jackson alumni have singled out Zy Bradford for particular honors as a graduating senior at Camden High School. He is president of the Jackson Teen Center Keystone Club, also oversees the Jackson Teen Center's Make It a Conversation project, whereas in addition to these roles, Zy is heading an effort to promote more competitive youth basketball in Kershaw County.

» He instituted Team 803, bringing next-level open run for basketball players in the county. Now, therefore, Kershaw County Council recognizes Zareek Bradford for his outstanding contributions to his community, and the Council wishes him continued service and success in Kershaw County and in his chosen career going forward. - With that, let me have a motion. - So moved, Mr. Chair. - Thank you, Mr. Snodgrass. A second? - Second. - Thank you, Mr. Tucker. That, any discussion? - Sure, I'll, Mr. Chair. - Please, sir. - Council members, I'll tell you, I was excited to see this on the agenda.

» A few months ago, I had received a text message from someone connected in my church, a young man from my church, and said, "Hey, I got a friend who has put together "a basketball team, a travel team, and they're looking for a place to practice um every now and then and i said yeah yeah you know tell them to send my number and uh this uh very ambitious young man texted me and said uh hey would love to talk to you about practicing at our church and uh it was zyreek and over the last few months i have i've seen uh i've seen zyreek just uh be exemplify so much maturity and so much uh just with itness if that is a word as he's put together his basketball team and honestly at the time i just thought it was a i thought it was a group of guys getting together playing ball and then you know i realiz

» ed that this was an au team and then the thing in the paper came out a few weeks ago and then two weeks ago i had stopped by my office in the evening on one of their practice nights and uh i see a tall man coaching up the kids and i said i haven't seen him before so i was just walking i went and talked to his iraq and and he said he said you know that's cinderella stormwell and i said what'd you say he said that's cinderella storm i said you mean like carolina final four nba player new orleans pelicans cinderella stormwell he said yeah i was like oh well that would explain the mercedes in the church parking lot um yeah no it wasn't mine so I said man how'd you get him he's like man I got connections and so um I this young man is a man who has not only had a lot of talk but more importantly

» had a lot of action to back up his talk so man I'm I'm grateful to be a part of this and I appreciate the friendship that we have formed over your team using the facility so I'm proud that uh my church is the the the official one of the official practice facilities of team 803 so thank you mr chairman and council members um i want to say congratulations um mr braver first and foremost on uh his many accomplishments but most of all for having a vision for the future to keep pressing on and uh doing the right things and bringing many other young people with you that's that's important because um you YOU KNOW, YOUNG PEOPLE FOLLOW YOUNG PEOPLE, BUT IF THEY'RE DOING THE WRONG THING, THEN IT WON'T BE GOOD RESULTS. SO I REALLY, REALLY ADMIRE YOU AND APPRECIATE YOUR LEADERSHIP.

» I WANT TO SAY TO THE TEEN CENTER, MR. BRIAN MAYS, KEEP PRODUCING THEM, MY MAN. WE NEED MORE GOOD CHILDREN IN OUR COMMUNITIES TO STEP UP AND BE LEADERS AND SHOW OTHERS THE PATH AND THE WAY TO GO. SO KUDOS TO YOU, AND I WANT TO TELL MARTIN, TOO, FOR PUTTING AN ARTICLE IN THE PAPER THAT IT WAS A GOOD ARTICLE, AND I KNOW MY FAMILY ENJOYED READING IT.

» read it about five times because she kept calling and telling me about it but um but i just um i'm very proud of you and i don't know you as well and i don't have a church for you to practice that but i am very proud because mr may speaks about you very highly and and and uh miss roberta so if they love you i love you and anything that i can do for you moving forward don't hesitate to contact me thank you uh other comments thank you uh mr gordon i've uh had the pleasure to meet several months ago he's referred to me as a customer man and but he is just you know he came highly recommended and you just look at the things that he's done you've read about him in the paper and this is you know just an honors that's so well deserved and keep up the good work other comments I'll tell you this is w

» hat it's about this is what vision 2030 is all about and this is what the old men at this table are all about is for a great future for our County and like it in the youth of our and the young man for Zai mr. Gardner says he wants to play you one-on-one in a challenge game when you're ready all right yeah just quickly mr.

» Bradford I may not know you but congratulations well but I'll tell you Brian Mays I remember the conversation we had years ago when you were you had this dream you had this idea in your head about a girls boys and girls club you did it you made it happen you got folks like this with you mr bradford and i just want to say thank you for what you do for the youth of this community really appreciate it mr chairman all right mr come here i was just thinking back to when i was a little bit younger and whenever we did church ball we always called it the uh the fight that started with the prayer y'all are talking in very nice terms about how you play basketball there at the church Anyway, I was just thinking during COVID when things are upside down and kids have hardly been able to get together, yo

» u're getting it done. And I just think that's a great thing. Continue to lead. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Well, that just proves COVID didn't beat us, right, Ben? Mr. Russell. I won't be left out. Congratulations. And I'll just say real briefly, keep being a leader. That's what we need. We need people to lead. Congratulations. Yeah, buddy. With that, I'm going to propose this way ahead, gentlemen, is that we take the vote, and then we have Mr. Ted Haley here to come up from Kershaw County and Lee County Regional Water Authority, representing the Alumni Association, and he wants to read something. Is that okay? Yes. So with that, we move to a vote.

» But once again, Zia, thank you, and I'll tell you what, you're only being outdone by Jai Hunley, who, to your left, who won State Youth of the Year. Jai, thank you for coming today. delighted you can with that let's move to vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous and with that i introduce my good friend mr halley come on up sir and if you would introduce any of the alumni there with you today okay thank you chairman byrne and uh thank you the rest of the council um i'm representing actually tonight camden chapter of jackson high school alumni and also the jackson teen center and of course kershaw county county regional war authority is there okay um i'm not gonna go into the leadership traits that this young individual has i think they all covered in the proc

» lamation but i do want to say though and as most of the council member has commented on that it is great to have leadership in youth in this county it is great to know that he's a member of kershaw county and he's setting an example for the other youth that he's with that's very important consider the age that we're going through the age that we're living in uh and after all y'all know peer pressure is stronger than any other pressure there is and what he's demonstrated is a i think it's a full advanced uh accomplishment on his behalf i would like to uh recognize um another member of the jackson high school alumni YEAH PLEASE STAND UP FELLOWS LADIES BROTHER COOL BUT UH WITH THAT I'M AGAIN I'M NOT GOING TO REPEAT WHAT THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS ARE OF ZI BUT I DO HAVE A PLAQUE FROM THE JACKSON HIGH

» SCHOOL ALUMNI THAT I WOULD LIKE TO PRESENT TO ZI SO CHAIRMAN BURN WHENEVER YOU WANT TO DO THIS WITH THAT I THINK WHY DON'T YOU GIVE THAT PLAQUE TO HIM UP HERE AND THEN WE'LL HAVE A GROUP PHOTOGRAPH ZI IF YOU WOULD COME UP MR. CHAIRMAN YEAH CAN he read it and like to oh yeah absolutely uh the plaque says jackson high school alumni present to zachary bradford in appreciation for outstanding community service to kershaw county in 2021.

» ryan if you'd come up and uh especially bring jai up as well don't let councilman snoggrass break you um yeah let's hear it from uh from mr bradford please sir raise the microphone up so you can be heard there you go uh first i want to uh give a shout out to god who's the head of my life amen the ultimate believer of what i do and i want to uh thank my second pops right in the back mr bb man mrs bb y'all just don't know i i grew up all my life without my dad 18 years old about to turn 19 this upcoming summer i never saw my dad a day in my life and uh mr bb i tell y'all it took a lot for me to get to where i'm at right now uh i grew up miss bb tell you i used to be a hot head um i used to i i just used to flip out but for no reason and it was never because i was a bad kid it was just because

» i was seeking for love and uh mr bb and his wife mr bernard they kind of stepped there i met him years ago i was a little kid i kind of met mr bb and uh he just stepped up it helped me out a lot and uh mr bb i just want to tell you thank you everything you did for me uh i first wanted to give a shout out to my guy right there pastor david it's been number real number real uh him and mr bb is like the only two gems around canada that let you use it you know what i'm saying so i appreciate you for coming in it's like i told you my vision and like you text me every week telling me how much you support it and you know i just appreciate that. Tim, Tom, Mr. Tom, I appreciate you for the shirts, for every shirt you've made. I appreciate that. I mean, I'm a talker, but I'm around big people.

» I just thank y'all for leading the way for us and keep doing what y'all doing for youth down here. Because believe it or not, the youth down here like me see it. And I always wanted to be the type so be a leader so i appreciate y'all for everything y'all doing for the county god bless you can i say something you said you didn't want to talk much because you're around big people did i hear that right let me tell you something you're the big person in the room yeah boy congratulations amen yeah i like hearing words from the heart and that's what you just spoke and uh carry it with you all your life well done uh what's that uh president haley back there what you got sir Yeah. Okay, in rebuttal, Ted, come on up. Oh, no, it's not all about me. I'm going to tell John congratulations, too.

» I'm a Bonesy Girls Club member of the year. Congratulations. That's right. Take about 30 seconds and recognize the other members of the Jackson High School New Nile family chapter. Oh, terrific. Thank you. Thank you. After that, you want to say let's adjourn and go home? thank you very much ted nice to see you again old man and everyone with that we go to um approval of minutes it's at tab b it's on page five electronically and it's on the screen uh can we have a motion to approve the minutes second mr tucker and the second is mr gardner mr gardner thank you sammy uh any discussion of the minutes mr chair yeah i'll be abstaining as i wasn't present for that meeting. That's right. I forgot about that. Thank you. Okay. With that, we can move to a vote with Mr. Snodgrass abstaining.

» All those wishing to approve, raise your hands and so signify. And it's unanimous with David abstaining. We move now to administrative updates from Mr. Carpenter of COVID-19. Please, sir. Mr. Chair, members of council is no doubt you're aware that with spring break over. There's been an uptick again in our 14-day averages. You see that we had bottomed out getting starting to get close to 100 and now we're back up closer to 200 over the 14-day average. You see we have unfortunately in April we pushed back ahead of March and getting close to the November average again for the average number of daily positive results.

» And in the vaccine recipients currently at Kersau County about 38 percent vaccinated from the vaccine, though unfortunately has slipped from 14th in the state to 20th in the state in that categories. The total number of cases a month to date is 265. Comments, anybody? I will share with everybody what I've texted. I think most of you may have seen it. The CDC today is looking to relax some of the restrictions. We'll see where that goes.

» And I've had a number of conversations with the council of the city of camden to see where they're going to go their emergency declaration lapses are as renewed one or the other next tuesday so we will know and as you know we all have a lot of outdoor activities and it seems uh reasonable to expect that there be some change and that would then affect us here in this building and we'll turn to mr carpenter to make the necessary changes any further discussion there all right good all right well we do have a high number 200 which is about where we were last year and the mortality still continues i would ask you all to consider talking to your friends about getting the shots that's that's where i'm at right now and until then we're constrained by the law the ordinance in camden to the mask in o

» ur buildings so with that we move uh on if you have nothing further vic is that all right mr chairman yeah question for the administrator just want to make sure i when i last checked which i haven't checked this week uh kershaw health was doing no appointments on friday yesterday and they're still doing that and then i think from three to like 4 30 tuesday wednesday thursday you can go in with no appointment i'm not aware of that but that's i know they've been changing and making more available to people okay and i just want to put that out for the general public so if they weren't about getting the appointment just show up on friday or late afternoons the other three days yes sir thank you okay with that we move to uh uh the next item on the agenda which is an executive session i asked mr

» gardner to to talk about it it's the topic being economic development updates on project falcon and project gold post mr carpenter i mean mr uh gardner that's how i'd move that uh we go into executive session to discuss the proposed location and provisions of services for two industries project falcon and project goalposts yeah very good can i have a second second second from mr snodgrass um discussion please any mr chairman i'd just like to add for the record that they also involve contractual legal matters in the proposed location very good and we would like to have the attorney mr burgess and the administrator also present that's my question who already is that sufficient all right well very good i think we had that and i will move it to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your

» hand it's unanimous we are an executive session to discuss the proposed location and provisions of services for project falcon and project goal post no vote will be taken mr tucker a second from mr connell any discussion all right very good let's move to a vote one quick thing yeah good stuff okay uh mr dubose i think i can just declare after a vote can i not go out of executive session and just announce that no action was taken that's right so we're coming out of an executive session i move into a vote with no action taken all those in favor signify by raising hands and we are returned back into session from executive session now i'm returned to the agenda the first item on the agenda is a resolution it's at tab c and i believe it's on the board right danny and it's at page eight in your u

» h slide package there's the one you and i looked at earlier just a few minutes ago mr it has to do with project goal post uh mr carpenter i look for you to open the discussion here please chairman members of council you have in front of you tonight a resolution that identifies the project known as project goal post in order to qualify for expenditures eligible for a fee in lieu of ad valorem taxes and incentives arranged by kershaw county comes in front of you tonight for your consideration very good can we have a motion to approve the resolution as read make a motion we approve the resolution as read mr okay mr tucker a second second second from mr snodgrass and any discussion very good uh with that saying there is no discussion we move quickly to a vote all those in favor signify by raisi

» ng your hand and it's unanimous jeff you have your resolution in first reading all right now ordinances uh we have the first item number one is a first reading in title only there is no enclosure nothing on the board and i turn again to mr carpenter to open this one up mr members of council you have in front of you you not for first reading and title only an ordinance that authorizes the execution delivery of a fee in lieu of tax and special source revenue credits for a project known as project falcon all right can we have a motion to approve so move mr gardner and a second second second on project falcon any discussion yes ma'am that was mr connell i'm sorry mary okay uh any discussion okay seeing there is none we move to a vote all those in favor signify and it's unanimous on the first re

» ading. Item number two is a first reading and title only. Also, this is Project Gold Post. We have no attachments. Can we have a motion to, first of all, Mr. Carpenter, would you introduce it? Mr. Chairman, members of council, you have in front of you tonight first reading and title only, an ordinance that authorizes the exaction and delivery of one or more incentive agreements between Kershaw County and a company known as Project Gold Post. Very good. Can we have a motion to approve? Make a motion to approve, Mr. Chairman. Mr.

» Tucker, and a second? second second second for mr gardner uh discussion i'll just say for those watching uh we're not moving rapidly through this thing what we're trying to do is position this so we can get to a second reading where more detail can be revealed based on the wish and will it wishes of these two project leads which are commercial entities and they are dealing with our lawyer and with jeff burgess and with vick carpenter so just so you know we don't rush through these things this is but this is a procedural vote uh with that did i get it right uh mr devos yes gosh almighty that's the first time you've agreed with me all right with that we move to a vote all those in favor so signify and it's unanimous mary we move to item number three first reading and title only on project gol

» d post again mr carpenter can you open that up please chair members council you have in front of you tonight for first reading and title only an ordinance that would allow the county to sell and deliver a piece of land to the project known as project goalposts very good and with that uh can we have a motion to approve so move mr chair um it's not grass in a second second second for mr connell uh any discussion uh yeah please mr tucker thank you mr i just want to say um publicly want to thank our economic development director and staff and ask that continue to press on and keep bringing good news thank you jeff and mr copperton thank you other discussion i would say that this is hard work and it's been placed it started about four or five years ago and it's it's been facilitated by much of t

» he actions of this council and the economic development office to get stuff ready and also by the school district that provides trained and ready workforce so we should give them credit as well uh with that we're ready to vote all those in favor so signify and it's unanimous and mary you have it on all three with that we go to some new business i see we have the leadership of our fire our wonderful fire team here and with that it's an item of discussion and fire and sewer placed on the agenda by mr jones do you want to make a motion to enter into discussion i still move and then we have a second second second who is that sammy yes sir all right jimmy take it away mr chair members council thank you very much give me one second uh i'd like to mention that i've gotten some folks telling me the

» y couldn't hear us through our mics that are watching by youtube or facebook so i guess we need to try to talk closer to the mic i'd like to start by saying that uh i think we all are aware that kershaw county has large sewer and fire service financial needs also kershaw county is faced with a problem kershaw county has more needs than it does money i feel like that i have a concrete workable solution to our sewer system financial needs and our fire service financial needs i support our fire service i support the 24 7.

» i just don't necessarily support some of the funding sources that we've talked about and i think there is also interest on this council going in the same direction after this morning but uh as again as i said kershaw county needs more money to pay for a new sewer plant because the one we have now is running out of capacity kershaw county's leadership has run new sewer lines along highway 12 to bring more sewer to our plant that is already pretty much loaded with capacity kershaw county sewer system needs to be upgraded to a 4mgd i I think we're a two MGD at the present. This will cost somewhere to the tune 12 to $15 million. The debt service on that amount is $900,000, roughly somewhere in there, a year. That is on top of what we already are paying an O, which is millions.

» Tax and spend appears to be sometimes council's only solution under consideration. This is the direction of Kershaw County unless council thinks outside of the box. box we need to get out of is the mindset of government being the only provided service the solution to our problem is staring us right in the face and this council has refused up until now to even consider and i hope there will be a consideration after this and mr chairman with all due respect uh you pressed me at the last budget work session to present an option other than creating new fees and raising taxes well tonight i am here to say kershaw county can have money the money it needs if we get out of the sewer business the sewer system costs us you know as i said on the bond payments somewhere 900 000 a year 846 953 whatever

» and you know we've got the b the bond from 2008 the bond for 2016 the bond for 2008 b then we've got the 2012 bond you know and if we were to do what i'm talking about here tonight this could also pay off our sewer debt service and it could be freed up to build fire stations and/or to purchase equipment for the firemen. If we were to consider to sell our sewer system, we will no longer be saddled with the sewer debt or the sewer cost. If we let a private owned and operated company in Kershaw County look at it, we can charge an annual franchise fee and tax the value of the sewer system.

» This will result in more money that Kershaw County can use for the other needs such as the fire service, SCWU, South Carolina Water Utilities, already pays Kershaw County two million dollars a year in taxes for sewer plant, for their sewer plant. That money is currently being used to run our sewer system, including repairing of old lines.

» I say tonight, I feel it is irresponsible for County Council to blindly go along with a tax and spend without once giving this proposal that i'm making here tonight consideration money freed freed up by the sale of the sewer system and the new taxes from the value of the sewer system could be used for the fire service that money could solve the fire services funding issues more money or county revenue without more fees or taxes and a much better funded fire service additional taxes and fees for sewer and fire are not the answer additional taxes and fees hurt the disabled and the senior citizens the worst as mr carpenter has said here fees are regressive fees fall hardest on those who are least able to pay in the fire district a senior citizen who owns a hundred thousand dollar home pays fif

» ty two dollars in total county taxes and a two hundred thousand dollar house pays 104 in total county taxes the same senior citizen who owns a hundred thousand dollar home in the fire district or a two hundred thousand dollar house in the fire district and who owns would say two vehicles that's not unreasonable is paying 179 in county fees per year i just don't think that's right in my mind the refusal to to even look at or entertain the sale of the sewer system and get better sewer and additional county funds amounts to kershaw county council taking hard on not doing it amounts to kershaw county taking hard on money from the taxpayers and pouring it into a bottomless pit that we've been dealing with for many many years i feel that if kershaw county refuses to evaluate this opportunity to r

» educe its debt and secure annual funding then we have truly done a disservice to citizens of kershaw county and let me remind my colleagues on council as well we are at the tail end of one of the worst pandemics in our history and our generation people have lost their jobs businesses have closed and we on county council i feel like have the audacity to even entertain one trying to increase the millage which bill was shot down in the senate and then if that doesn't work to talk about possibly some large fees and i'll go further say without even offering the citizens of kershaw county an opportunity to vote on an advisory referendum there is none so blind as he who cannot see and i'll say that kershaw county's council's blindness to this opportunity is trying our souls and robbing our citizen

» s of kershaw county and their hard-earned money when i know without a doubt in my mind it's not necessary most senior citizens pay more fees than their tax bills so that's to to sit here and think about creating another fee is just to me i just don't don't don't get it don't understand it there are options out there this is a very valuable option and let me leave you with this more government is not the solution more government is the problem so i hope that my colleagues will consider this i didn't want to blindside anybody i was not going to call for a vote tonight but i am going to put it on the agenda uh at the next county council meeting mr carpenter you would make sure to to have a vote on that and uh we can move from there as far as research and trying to do what we need to do.

» Jim, I appreciate your time. That is my proposal. I wanted to give you a heads-up on it, as I said earlier. And thank you for your time. We certainly put that on the agenda, Mary. Certainly. Thank you. Comments? All right. Thank you, Jimmy. Mr. Connell. I just have a couple of questions. If it's going to be the agenda for next time, you know I like to research stuff and try to figure out the data on it. You weren't -- were you proposing -- I just want to make sure I'm clear.

» that any of the funds from the sale of a sewer system or recurring revenue could go towards our operating costs well this is what we have we have I think the plant that we have existing right now the South Carolina water utilities pays us about two million dollars a year and that two million dollars a year is going to it pays for our upgrades and our services of our sewer system and of course if we were not to be in the sewer business that money we would free up and also if we had the the bonds paid off that money would be freed up as well too that we could use towards fire ems or any other possibility in the uh which the county has uh needs for okay my question was just a little different and i want to make sure i just understand so mr carpenter fire operations does that have to be paid fo

» r by the mill doesn't have to be paid for by the mill but it is currently paid for with its millage and any possible fees that might be put on so it's got be it because it's a separate independent district it's got to have its own revenue source so could could you use something like mr jones proposing if you had you couldn't take sewer millage which is assessed on one part of the county for a specific purpose and use that to run a fire department well in the hypothetical say that it was sold and then it just became millage that went to the general fund or philo or whatever the arrangement would be could you use my understanding with the we have a fire issue on funding 24 hour and that's what we're trying to figure out full time throughout the county right so either there's millage or there'

» s fee as i understand it to solve that issue as things currently stand act 38 would limit our ability to raise we're only able to raise millage three tenths for the fire so the sewer millage is 2.9 mils so we couldn't take 2.9 and move it into fire as currently our environment exists okay so but so our issue would persist then is i guess my point even if even if we had a windfall or got some other monies from a sewer sale would our um i believe what i'm understanding for employment actually what are paying for employment be solved that problem or will we still have to go the legislative route or the fee route in order to raise millage we would still have to to go through some kind of a legislative process now if i understand mr jones and i'm not trying to put words in your mouth so tell me

» if i'm wrong i will um what i believe he is suggesting is that also that the money that is currently paid as a fee in lieu could be perfect because that is councils to control a fee in lieu the same way that we did with ems and that fee in lieu to operate ems i believe he's saying that we could take part or all of the fee in lieu and if it's enough use that over um in in fire so that would would be legal yes okay and then council controls that source of funds and kind of like i'm sorry to i don't mean to monopolize the time guys i'm just trying to wrap my head around it hopefully it's useful to talk about so like ems we and it could be good or bad but we might be beholden to if it's a private entity of potential sale or some other transaction that that mayor may not impact that funding sour

» ce would that be right yes the same thing could happen if a non-profit to control but then that money would go away okay and then mr jones it sounds like you've done a lot of research on it i'm just wondering you mentioned you feel like we need to go to four mgd that's right for a minute four million gallons a day correct do we have any commitments at all or do we know if they're willing to do that you're talking about from sewer companies yeah yeah well i've talked to one of course if you put something up for sale you're gonna have to go out and run it through procurement obviously but yeah i have talked to one um company and they would be very interested in evaluating work with our administrator working with our county attorney to just see what we could work out and that has not been done

» yet um i will say this though going back about the bonds you know we had we had a great work session this morning um you know i i did some research on the the bond issues that we talked about i called big back and spoke with him as well too you know we're talking about debt service when we're talking about the bonds and we talk about paying that off which is a good thing i've always felt like it was um we may lower the debt service but but act 388 as you said uh mr carpenter does still come into play because you know operations millage is what we'd have to use for what we're talking about doing so if we we just could not go and flip the savings from the debt service over to the millage for operations because act 388 might not allow enough to produce what we need to produce when it comes to

» fire our sewer am i correct on that this thing is currently standing yes and let me say this to guys gentlemen up here i'm not saying this is not problematic i mean it's got its issues that would have to be worked out i'm just bringing an issue before you that's a different thought something that i would like council to or the administrator whatever to look into and certainly you guys and mr um connell i appreciate your questions in your dialogue tonight that's how we try to understand it and move forward so i do appreciate that and that's why i'm just hoping that you can do some research i'll help you any way i can and we can have it on the agenda talk about it more the next meeting and take a vote now i'm not going to put something on the agenda that i know is going to automatically fail

» i think that most of you up here are willing to look at an alternative a different solution and that's what i plan to do bring it back and we'll put it on the table we'll talk about it and uh if we still see fit to ask the administration move forward with it we will mr chairman i just had two more questions sure right sir so and i just wrote these down as you were talking um presenting this initially jimmy um running through the hypothetical if there was a transaction like this a private company is going to have shareholders or some private entity they have to answer to and be profitable on some level so i'm wondering if the particular entity you're interested in have they agreed to any type of rate or fee limitations or would there be something that would let us know as we talk to constitu

» ents in in future years even if they're bracketed that there wouldn't be significant rate or fee jumps this this company is very interested in this and we have had no sit downs with them so but i can tell you that they're very interested in just getting gathering information the fact that they pay us two million dollars in taxes a year that that we use to fund the sewer and fund the upgrades, that would be freed up. We wouldn't have that debt anymore to manage. And then if we were to be able, and I believe that it might could work out that way if we looked at it and assessed it, that the bonds, we wouldn't have to worry about paying the bonds. The bonds could be paid off. The sewer plant would be ran by a private company.

» And I just think there'd be a lot of money there that we could generate through thinking outside the box other than just trying to create a new fee. But I will say this, County Council, I was very impressed this morning at the budget work session on the bond conversation we had and also the comments that y'all made about fees because we know taxes, we can't do it, millage. It's just not permissible with Act 388 in play. But I do appreciate y'all having that conversation this morning, Mr. Broussel and all of you. All right. And then the, oh, I'm sorry. The last question I had was just how well the model has worked throughout the state out of the 46 some odd counties in South Carolina.

» Do we know, or maybe this will be a question for that research, if it's worked really well and this is the majority, you know, are we in the severe minority? Are we in the majority? Where are we at on having a county owned sewer? Well, let me say this and I'll certainly yield to Mr. Carpenter on this and Mr.

» DuBose, but I know Richland County has private public partnerships for many, many years and uh they've had success and you know we talk about what we're going to lose to control the control of our growth no we won't we we the county owns planning and zoning planning zoning operates under the county we set the policies you know we would still control the growth it's just we would not um be in the sewer business uh mr tucker i had a question sir yes sir um mr jones i want to this question is um meant to make sure that we've got our numbers straight um you keep using the number two million dollars um and i think from my understanding that that's less now um and it's steady decreasing that we're getting from those uh services and 70 percent of that goes to the school district so that won't leav

» e us about maybe six hundred thousand dollars if it was two million so my my question to you and mr carpenter correct me if my numbers are wrong is with your proposal that's coming is it going to come with some hardcore numbers because my question goes to where if you're planning on selling this sewer will it be sold out right where the county will make a profit will it be leased for so many years or will we just be giving it away well as I said we could look at a franchise or we could work it anyway we wanted if there was a strong interest in doing that and that's where the leaders the county would have to sit down with the company and look at it assess it and show those you know show those amounts in the next proposal but you know sammy i know you've met with them from time to time before

» i i feel having conversation with these uh executives i truly feel that they are extremely interested in our county and and without running any numbers they were excited about the fact that they felt they could buy it from us it could even possibly be a little bit more what we owe on it so you'd have some money there that we could put aside and then we we certainly but whether it's the school whether it's us bottom line is if they're paying about two million dollar taxes at least that's what i got from the county if it's going less i can tell you this if they purchased our sewer system we would certainly have to reevaluate and see what the tax base would be at that point in time other comments let me just say this too gentlemen i'm trying my best to try to figure a way that we can provide t

» he services that the fire district needs the sheriff's department ems roads county roads i mean public works without just having to constantly go back to the taxpayers whether it's a fee or whether it's a test i will say tonight i'll be on the record i am not going to vote for an increase in fee of course we cannot even introduce a millage because it's not permissible with that 388 to to raise it to what we'd need to raise it to to fund the system but that's my proposal guys and i hope you all see some interest in at least researching it and uh as i said mr carpenter i'll be getting with you too this week as well so we can try to crunch some numbers when we come back let me just um do some housekeeping jimmy is asked to put it on the agenda that is uh that's certainly going to be done um we

» 've got eight weeks nine weeks to the end of the fiscal year in the beginning of the next and so we need to work a budget so jimmy i'd ask you to work with vic and uh mr dubose to understand what it means when someone buys something when we haven't had an offer in terms of timing okay that priesthood not even presupposing the council would agree to it we haven't had an offer so i would just ask you to bring that into your thinking when you come to see us at uh at the next meeting okay well i will mr chair and also if you remember though i also brought a member of uh south carolina water utilities here and they spoke to us as well you know some while back and this is something i've been talking about for years i mean now my point is uh the second one which is tied to the first is we got to d

» o a budget and we got to do one you know in the next six seven weeks and how fast can we move this and you are correct but council can do what council wants to do and then secondly that gets to the next point we have no valuation of what we think we're worth and that would be part of the negotiations if we're if we're serious about this that would have to be done and uh having done this kind of stuff in my other life outside these walls that takes a while uh well everything takes a while mr chairman well i'm just trying to help me here well i understand but i'm just saying so i'm asking you to put that in your calculations uh and certainly how that's presented okay sure i certainly will and as i said i truly believe that if we want this to happen we can make it happen but there are certainl

» y details you have to work out there are details to have to work out with what we talked about this morning with the bonds right you know right we left out here with the bonds thinking okay all our problems are solved with fire you know funding but it's not it's not because once again it goes back like russell and i talked to earlier you may pay off the debt millage but it didn't try to transfer that to the general fund millage so you could pay for fire but because of act 388 we're limited on what we can yeah the logic is is fairly compelling and and so what i'm saying is in terms of having to do a county budget and then getting an offer and then getting an evaluation to make sure that we get value for money that that's more complex than than the concept that i've heard today it is complex

» but mr chairman i will say this too i think no pun intended just my personal belief i think that using the budget as an excuse not to do it is just an excuse because you don't want to do it yeah i'm not speaking you personally i'm just saying that's just my belief and very good and and i i think i've laid out just some real cold hard business logic uh mr snaggrass mr jones do you know uh do you know how so the company that presented to us they they operate on water systems in hilton head and that part of the state do you know how quickly they raised their rates once they acquired once they acquired those systems did you talk to them about that we did but i'll be honest with you i can't remember but it was talked about but that's something that we would all i'm trying to think back what they

» said they would be competitive and they would actually in some places they're probably lower than us some places probably higher but i don't see i don't see them skyrocketing their prices yeah well i mean i asked the guy when he was here two months ago and he he quickly said they had to and then he quickly went into some speech about some other things because he wanted to cover it up that they had to quickly um raise rates and and that's i'll just be honest with you i i'm uh i'm open-minded so i'm gonna look at this but i'm just at face value some of my concerns that are that in the shadow of the failed vc summer um nuclear plant that santee cooper's has found themselves in as well with with scanna um you know a private private utilities i i don't know i just i've got i guess i'm a little a

» little hesitant to make sure that we don't we're not in a situation where we give away not give away but we let go of a system and it goes into a private partnership and the only thing between the only thing between uh an increase on our citizens in rates is the public service commission and they don't really sometimes they don't have the best track record of of having the the best interest for for the citizens so that's you know i'm gonna look at it but i'm just just saying it off out the gate those are just those are the concerns that i have that i'm wanting to get the answers to uh as as we look at this uh as far as the millage you are right we we can't raise the millage um but it's not dead it's it's dead it got second reading but we have to do it by a budget now remember i mean you're

» talking about millage isn't dead but it still had to be handle it i mean i was just told that this issue was budget i'm just saying but the idea of switching the fire over to millage is not is not dead it's it'll it's in the senate at second reading so next year it'll come back around and it'll be at second reading next year it's kind of how the cycle works and we have a great delegation who's worked hard on it i see miss gwen out there she's our liaison i know she and her office have been working really hard uh on on that for us and uh and i was i was thankful uh how far it got so well you know see where it gets next and uh next year as it moves forward so so you know it's that's not that's not a dead end is what i'm saying um so and and so then my other question is that i'm trying when i

» make a decision on this is you know i don't want i don't want the short-sightedness of money now to cloud our judgment from what could be 5 10 15 years down the road 15 years down the road we have a sewer system that we don't have control over um and it's it's controlled by a it's controlled by a private entity you know and what is is that a good fit for our citizens 15 years down the road so that's those are some of the things that i'm looking at i'm not disagreeing with you i'm just like i'm just being honest with you i'm gonna look at it with open mind but those out the gate those are the concerns and you're right we do control zoning we do control growth but here's what i see if we would sell the system but then we tell mr conley hey we don't want any more growth well we got a private c

» ompany over in that part of this of the county who's like well hold on we bought this sewer system and our mission you know they say their mission is to you know is to give people water and that's part of it but at the end of the day they're here to make money so they're gonna say hold on i can't we can't make any money if your county is not permitting more developments which and from my logic would say that existing users would probably begin to see a rate increase because they've got to make money so those are just again great idea I love the innovative the way that you've you've looked for an innovative idea and I'm gonna look at it I'm just those are some of the questions in the next two weeks I'm gonna be well and those questions are not I know the ministry is writing them down and he'

» ll work with the company and we get it will also have us an executive from the company come as well and and talk with you and express there because I don't think there were a whole lot of questions asked the last time he was here so but I listened the fact that we may or may not agree I appreciate you your dialogue your your discussion on this issue that's where we start and let's just see if we can't get something going and answer your questions fully and meet once again some of the executives from the utility company and go from there okay I was just going to touch on the fact that y'all were initially talking about regulation they and you touched on it eventually um the public service commission i think jimmy that that was who would regulate the the rates and that sort of thing so well h

» ere's what i do know guys as i said earlier we've got more needs than we've got money and what i want to see and i i know that a lot of you feel the same way what i don't want to see is a new fee generated when we already have folks senior citizens who are paying twice the amount in fees on their tax bills as they are taxes so i appreciate your time and i appreciate y'all looking at that and you know we'll try to put something together and bring back before you at the next meeting yeah i hope this has been helpful to you jimmy as you bring that together well it has been and i appreciate your time and i appreciate the fact that you had questions and you asked as i said no matter what we do folks no matter what we do with this situation it's gonna have these issues and have these problems we

» just have to be willing to work through them or say this is how we're gonna do it and move in another direction very good thank you are we ready to go to council briefings I think so mr. Gardner you're lead off I just have one thing I was doing some reading the other day and I came across this quote that I thought was pretty appropriate said we've never lived in such evil times our leaders have never been so corrupt and the social fabric has never been so decayed you know you think you'd read that in the state paper the other day i've written 5800 years ago babylon mesopotamia is written on a chaldean stone but just i think it just shows you that history does repeat itself because i think we're in those times ourselves right now but it's written 5800 years ago but it also shows you that 580

» 0 years we've survived we persevered i don't see why we can't come together and work together and work out our problems because we have problems believe me lots of problems and not just r and d problems we've got lots of problems but i think that 5800 years ago the same things are going on that we're going on in our country now but i think that we can overcome those but i thought it was interesting when i read that i couldn't believe that it was written in 3800 bc 5800 years ago and so how appropriate is today thank you thank you tom i think you were there weren't you um uh mr brazel sorry oh well a couple of things i'd like to touch on um i'd like to thank uh the gentleman it's been brought to my attention tom gardner sammy tucker and dennis alridge um laying the groundwork and for some of

» these projects that are coming to fruition through economic development um and mr jones and whoever else may have worked on those projects um mr snaggrass and ben i just want to say thanks because i think uh the county is about to see some really good things uh from from the work that's been done years ago well well before i was here um and uh i wanted to thank mr jones for for all the research and development and that he put into his presentation tonight and uh we want to be open-minded to his thoughts and um that's that's all i have thank you thank you thank you russell uh mr connell thank you mr chairman i wanted to share a brief word tonight about a great member of kershaw county who passed away some of you might know brad branham yeah brad lived in elgin for many many years he lived in

» camden before that brad went to camden high school and uh one of the things i loved about him most was he's a two-time state champion wrestler camden high school actually one of the first in kershaw County, and he was an inspiration for many youth coming up that competed and followed his example. He worked 46 years at Wild Kim. I considered him an uncle, though he was a second cousin, but that's kind of par for the course in Kershaw County in many ways. He was a great leader, and to see the legacy of his life today at his funeral was such a blessing. So many people there that loved him, such a large and expansive family.

» It's impressive that he's raised doctors and other professionals but the content of their character means so much more to he and rita he was the son of alfred and betty branham that actually lived uh off latchcock road not too far from you jimmy and um just an outstanding man so i hope uh if you knew him you'll take a moment to reach out to the family and share any positive experiences you had with him he blessed everybody's life thank you mr chairman thank you mr jones thank you mr cornell i agree with you 100 great man good family and thank you for those words no no further comment uh mrs highgrass sure thank you mr chair members of council just a few uh a few things to wrap up uh congrats again to uh zachary bradford and uh all the team that was that was with him and uh the good work tha

» t our our boys and girls club does here locally i also want to make everyone aware that the dhek covid testing site which is currently at our parks and rec department is we'll be moving uh next week uh may it'll be moving out to east camden it'll be moving to the parking lot of of my church camden first church of nazarene and they'll be utilizing that parking lot so just make this everywhere that's that's where that'll be the only testing site in the county so just want to make everyone aware of that two weeks ago we we organized a east camden community pickup i had members of neighborhoods out there from white pines neighborhood valley park those who live in town and and on in other areas and we picked up dicey dicey fort dicey creek hell street old stagecoach maverin hill and uh 59 bags a

» litter alone on old stagecoach uh we did about 100 plus bags total and uh learned that whoever litters uh they like playing the lottery and drinking crown royal liquor so that's what i learned and uh i guess they did i guess they yeah well but uh i didn't see no in a little purple bag that was just the bottles yeah no i didn't no that wouldn't be a good look for me i don't think um so i want to say uh thank you director cato uh for bringing out some support and uh the truck showed up shining uh tires shining everything so i appreciate that appreciate the sheriff's department as well uh offering us some support and the 20 plus volunteers who came out to help us to help us pick that up and then also want to just they just as we move forward with economic development uh just tell everyone to s

» tay tuned and and uh we'll be able to to to share a lot of those things that are that are coming coming our way and just excited about uh about all the things that are that are happening so that concludes my remarks thanks guys mr tucker thank you mr chairman council members um two quick things one is and this might be a little bit of your thunder mr carpenter but i'm gonna take it because of my um position with the family but um we not only lost or this week or over the weekend um another soul but we actually lost a county employee mr howard sumter many of you have seen him around here in the building uh at the government center and i know mr carpenter probably expound on this a lot further but um keep his family in your prayers he was a good hard-working man a good spirited man and um unf

» ortunately, went in the hospital Friday and he passed Saturday. And so just keep that family in prayer as you go out through your week. Mr. Chairman, there was a lot of thank yous that went around and I was reluctant and did not, I wasn't reluctant, but I did not say what I needed to say. I want to thank you for all that is going on in the economic development world as well. I don't know what the rest of them do, but I know 2, 3 o'clock at night, you're up because I'm talking to you. And I appreciate the wheels always turning and you always trying to figure out how to make things work. So thanks to everyone else that's got a part in economic development. I want to say a personal thanks to you. That concludes my report. Very good. Thank you. We're going to beat COVID. We're beating it.

» We're crushing it. And if you saw Zarik today, that showed the spirit of this county. And there's so many other things that just say we're a great place to live, work, worship, raise our families. One year ago, this meeting, one year ago, this body of men voted on a million dollars to keep our small businesses going. Now, some people think that's inappropriate, but those businesses, by and large, are open today. And I went around yesterday and today and Saturday and talked to a number of those people who got our grants, and it shows how this county, council, this body of men, may we always not agree, but we may always are devoted to our population. And I just want to congratulate you. One year ago, EDO, thank you very much. You're showing that we've still got it. We've got our mojo.

» We got it in stride. it's taken us four and a half years to get to this point and a lot of discussion but we made it let me give you another example uh mr snodgrass has already touched about how volunteers have popped up all over the place mr brazel is about ready to lead one too uh and then uh jill wolf and the crowd along with steve zobel this weekend at lugoff are going to be leading along with the optimist club right jimmy midi 514 last yeah midi at 514 lascar road there you go uh also i think it's shoney's too so uh what a great and this just shows what a great county we have i'm just telling you um let me the next point is uh this weekend and token of which on the first of may we've got the relay for life is back uh holy smokes that's a giving christian organization i've mentioned the

» Optimist Club cleanup. We've got a Mayfest going on in Boykin with Wayne Belcher. And then, of course, we've got Jam for the Soul, I think I got it right, at Veterans Park. And on the 3rd of May, the American Legion is going to erect a flagpole at the Veterans Park. Just stuff's going on. What a county. And COVID just didn't get in our way. I'm just so proud of you. Next point is a bit of housekeeping Mary has gone I have to start tracking the Kershaw County Health Services District roster if you can start posting that whether the legislation Katie we're gonna need your help here and legislation passes in the house and the Senate or not we're gonna have to address the expired or to be renewed positions of the Health Services District I talked to mr.

» Auburn today and he assures me on his side and everybody knows how good daryl is in the state house that he's going to move it down the road uh sammy so i think we got some good luck on the health services district yes statute but there's i think only a two-week window to get it done so y'all cheer on our legislative delegation to get it done and and then we'll have the nominations back in here to you and then we'll work out how we move forward on renewing and rejuvenating and supporting our great health services district so with that i think i'm about done except to say get your shots get your shots 38 with that mr carpenter over to you mr chairman members council few items for you tonight first i wanted to introduce to you a new program that we're doing with our employees we're called cas

» ey works well as you know when a covid came and we spent a lot time looking at how we operate as an organization and how we can be better serving our citizens and ourselves and out of that extended period of time that we spend looking and thinking one of the issues that came forward was very clearly is that our ability to provide comprehensive services and outstanding customer services to our resident is significantly dependent on the well-being of our employees so with that we reached out to live well kershaw some guidance and direction on what we could start doing for an employee wellness program Catherine Johnson, their director, worked with a 10-member team of Kershaw County employees to begin identifying things we could do.

» We then reached out and began working with the South Carolina Hospital Association. And with their help, identified four priority areas that we're going to be focusing on with our employees. As you're going to be seeing through the coming years, we're going to be working on wellness culture, physical activity, nutrition, mental and emotional health, and policies. All that would affect and benefit the employees as they try to go about doing their job.

» we're working these areas right now and as these initiatives continue i'll keep sharing with them this goes along with our enhance you program and our kc solutions program all designed to include and involve our employees in how this county can operate better and be more significantly able to provide assets to our citizens you're going to be seeing in the next coming weeks that the south carolina hospital association will be recognized in kershaw county for this effort and using us as an example across the state of how wellness can be incorporated into the daily work life and what you do so i'm very proud of that and i look forward to sharing that with you as it continues to develop also the chairman just mentioned the flag raising ceremony on watery river veterans park i will be doing that

» on monday may the third at two o'clock everyone is encouraged to be out there as the flagpole will be dedicated and the flag will be raised and then we'll be having our ribbon cutting finally at the elgin community park we just got that finalized this afternoon being so Friday May the 14th 2 o'clock p.m. the senator can be there and we will be getting more information out to you but that will be the day that we will be holding that event that's it all right attorney mr. chairman I don't have anything okay thank you everyone and with that I think I entertain on a motion to dismiss motion adjourn mr. all right mr. second mr.

» Connell thank you any discussion i think we next meet as a body on the 11th of may and with that we'll move to a vote all those in favor signify and it's unanimous and we are adjourned thank you very productive [Part 2 of 3] Check one, two. We're called to order. We have a quorum of all members present. It's a great day in Kershaw County and a great day in this All-America County. We have some wonderful people here today, and we want to get quickly to that point in the agenda. But unfortunately, we're still being ravaged by the COVID virus, and Russell reports even a member of his own company has passed. So I ask you all to bow your heads in a moment of silence. Amen. Thank you. We're now called to order, and with the invocation and pledge, we turn to Councilman Tom Gardner.

» Would you all please stand? Ray, Heavenly Father, we thank you again for a great day in Kershaw County. We thank you for the opportunities afforded us. Thank you for this council and the work they do. We thank you for our staff and our great employees. We do ask a special prayer for those affected by COVID and a special blessing on those who have lost loved ones to it. Father, as we do our county's business, we ask for your guidance, your wisdom, your discernment. We ask these things in your son's name. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible. Thank you very much, Tom. And Reverend Snodgrass, you might want to pick up some points there from Mr. Gardner. Oh, absolutely.

» We move now to public comments. Mr. DuBose, do we have anybody signed up? Mr. Chairman, one person has signed up, and that is Tom Webb III. Excellent. Hey, Tom, come on up. and tom you know the rules routine that limited to roughly five minutes focus on the topic i wish it could be question and answer but it is not in our under our agenda and uh kindly keep it on uh on topic thank you sir okay uh here's my card a party i used to be in libertarian party actually a dues-paying member of the libertarian party and what i say here reflects that sometimes but i dropped out i won't give many dues anymore to the leadership here in south carolina told me several years ago that that we're all citizens of the world and we don't need a border anymore so goodbye libertarian party they are crackpots in t

» here as i guess they are everywhere but i wanted to speak about banning books a little bit and being a libertarian i really don't like the idea of banning books but sometimes maybe it's necessary or something in in between where if a child wants to buy a book or check out a book from a library they should have rental consent there are some things that if parents if they knew what they were doing really wouldn't want their children to engage in so I'm gonna read some of this just to make sure I don't miss anything I'll speak about the contention of book banning and not about the people pros or con and should the government or anyone in government play a part in banning who should judge and by what criteria certainly parents should have some say concerning their children they always have I ho

» pe they always will and so we already have some censoring on movies they they get a rating why not written items written material and the internet internet of course already is a doesn't allow pornography it's criminal and and they can't solicit minors on there though a church that I used to attend their pastor got into a heap of trouble because he was soliciting minors on the internet so he was fired and the church changed his name and the government actually had something to do with that he spent some time in prison for it that comes from the government I don't want to claim that I know where to draw the line for other people but I don't appreciate lines being drawn through gray areas as though cultural norms don't matter when it comes to parents and their children parents should be encou

» raged to be very active it's still america i still will be for a while so i'll mention two book bannings in one case my uncle who served in world war ii in europe banned my book man mine comp that little paperback that i had and he saw it and he grabbed it and he destroyed it and i never got a chance to read it so I still haven't read it. The other book that I participated in banning is one that I banned myself. I destroyed it. I picked it up somewhere. I don't even remember where now. It was a good looking book, well made, fairly large, but thumbing through it, it was shocking. Diagrams and explanations on the most horrible ways to torture people, mostly women and children. I wouldn't read it. It was mind poison, and I wouldn't want anybody else to read it.

» It was written by Marquis de Sade late in the 1700s, a French nobleman who actually practiced the things that were in this book, Torture. And he did that for years and years, and he published some books. He wouldn't want children to see any of that. I wouldn't want anybody to see it. So he finished his life in a mental institute, not because maybe he was crazy, just because he was so wicked. He was brought up on charges. They couldn't find him guilty in France, just before the French Revolution. But he went on to live through all of that, and they put him in the mental hospital, and they actually used him as an executioner.

» If they had somebody they wanted to get rid of that they were claiming was crazy because they were not going along with the political agenda they would put them in the room with him and lo and behold pretty soon they were dead marquee to say this is where we get our word sadism or sadism to say that somebody is a sadist it's a it's a sexual perversion and one of the definitions where people get some kind of sexual gratification out of torturing somebody else uh the other definition is doesn't include the sexual apart, but there's gratification. There's fun in torturing people. This guy was really off his rocker far enough to be doing that sort of thing. So his books were banned all over Europe.

» He wrote Private Life of Marquis de Sade and another book, The Many Pleasures of the Flesh, Afternoon Delight, and How to Serve Tea Properly. And he invented torture machines. So all of these things were really perverted, really bad stuff. It's a mind poison. You wouldn't want somebody who might have had just a little bit of a mental problem to read these things. He might act this stuff out. So these books were banned. They're still banned. The Catholic Church still got them on a banned list. England, France, he was French. French are the ones that locked him up. So all of mind poison. No gray area here, in my opinion, but there are plenty of bad ideas these days that sneak into our minds, and especially young minds from all sorts of media.

» A portion of our people might disagree with me on any of this that I've just said, but I celebrate their ability to do so, being a libertarian especially. And so I'll just tell you briefly about my book burning, this book that I didn't want anybody else to ever see again. I dropped it in a five-gallon bucket and fill it with water figuring this would destroy it but after a few days i pulled it out and you could still thumb through and the pages would turn so i decided to burn it and it was rather difficult to burn because it was soaking wet but i managed without it needed to go so um i'm sure that the books that we're we're all thinking about right now they're not anything like the sage book but um parents should be in charge of what their children get to see and maybe even government on oc

» casion even though i'd rather fear that thank you anyway uh thank you mr webb uh mr devose that concludes the sign up list all right and that concludes public comments we move to adoption of the agenda it's on the screen can we have a motion to approve the agenda make motion we approve the agenda mr chairman mr tucker a second second second from mr gardner any discussion uh seeing there is none we move to a vote all those in favor so signify and it's unanimous and we move now to the proclamation i've been looking forward to it's a proclamation honoring zarik bradford it's a tab a and page four there you are thank you danny it's up on the screen too uh with that i'm going to read it as we did before and then i'll seek a motion and we can move into discussion but i also want to say that we're

» welcoming Ted Hanley here today from the Alumni Association, and we've got another presentation as a part of that. So Ted, great to see you. Let me read this, and we'll move right into it. A proclamation honoring Zareek Bradford, whereas Kershaw County is an all-America county with a vision to be a great place to live, work, study, worship, and raise great kids as productive citizens. And whereas the county, city, school district, and sheriff's office and the Alumni Association have consistently supported the growth and education of terrific, I mean terrific, young men and ladies in the Boys Club and Girls Club under the direction of Brian Mays, who is here with us today.

» Whereas the Jackson alumni have singled out Zy Bradford for particular honors as a graduating senior at Camden High School. He is president of the Jackson Teen center keystone club also oversees the jackson teen centers make it a conversation project whereas in addition to these roles i is heading an effort to promote more competitive youth basketball in kershaw county the instituted team 803 bringing next generation next level open run for basketball players in the county now therefore kershaw county council recognizes zarik bradford for his outstanding contributions to his community and the council wishes him continued service and success in kershaw county and in his chosen career going forward with that let me have a motion so move mr chair thank you uh mr snodgrass a second second thank

» you mr tucker and that any discussion sure mr chair please sir council members uh i'll tell you i I was excited to see this on the agenda. A few months ago, I had received a text message from someone connected in my church, a young man from my church, and said, hey, I got a friend who has put together a basketball team, a travel team, and they're looking for a place to practice every now and then. And I said, yeah, yeah, tell them to send my number. And this very ambitious young man texted me and said, hey, we'd love to talk to you about practicing at our church. And it was Zyreek. And over the last few months, I've seen Zyreek just exemplify so much maturity and so much just with-ness, if that is a word, as he's put together his basketball team.

» And honestly, at the time, I just thought it was a group of guys getting together playing ball. And then I realized that this was an AU team, and then the thing in the paper came out a few weeks ago. And then two weeks ago, I had stopped by my office in the evening on one of their practice nights, and I see a tall man coaching up the kids, and I said, I haven't seen him before. So I was just walking, and I went and talked to Zyreek, and he said, you know that Sendarius Thornwell? And I said, what did you say? He said, that Sendarius Thornwell? I said, you mean like Carolina Final Four NBA player New Orleans Pelicans Sendarius Thornwell? He said, yeah. I was like, oh, well, that would explain the Mercedes in the church parking lot. That wasn't yours? No, it wasn't mine.

» So I said, man, how'd you get him? He's like, man, I got connections. And so this young man is a man who has not only had a lot of talk, but more importantly, had a lot of action to back up his talk. So, man, I'm grateful to be a part of this, and I appreciate the friendship that we have formed over your team using the facility. So I'm proud that my church is one of the official practice facilities of Team 803. Mr. Tucker. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and council members. I want to say congratulations to Mr. Bradford, first and foremost, on his many accomplishments, but most of all for having a vision for the future to keep pressing on and doing the right things and bringing many other young people with you.

» That's important because, you know, young people follow young people, but if they're doing the wrong thing, then it won't be good results. So I really, really admire you and appreciate your leadership. I want to say to the Teen Center and Mr. Brian Mays, keep producing them, my man. We need more good children in our communities to step up and be leaders and show others the path and the way to go.

» So kudos to you, and I want to tell Martin, too, for an article in the paper that it was a good article, and i know my family enjoyed reading it my mom must have read it about five times because she kept calling and telling me about it but um but i just um i'm very proud of you and i don't know you as well and i don't have a church for you to practice at but i am very proud because mr may speaks about you very highly and and and uh miss roberta so if they love you i love you and anything that i can do for you moving forward don't hesitate to contact me thank you uh other comments. Thank you. Mr. Gordon. I've had the pleasure to meet Zion several months ago. He's referred to me.

» He's a customer of mine, but he is just, you know, he came highly recommended, and you just look at the things that he's done. You've read about him in the paper, and this is, you know, just an honor that's so well deserved, and keep up the good work. Other comments? I'll tell you, this is what it's about.

» This is what Vision 2030 is all about, and this is what the old men at this table are all about is for a great future for our county and like it in the youth of our and the young man too those two are dead i'm still under 40 i'm still under 40 but um for zai uh mr gardner says he wants to play you one-on-one in a challenge game when you're ready all right uh and so here's what i yeah others mr jones go right ahead yeah just quickly mr bradford i may know you but congratulations well but i'll tell you brian mays i remember the conversation we had years ago when you were you had this dream you had this idea in your head about a girls boys and girls club you did it you made it happen you got folks like this with you mr bradford and i just want to say thank you for what you do for the youth of

» this community really appreciate it mr chairman all right mr connell i was just thinking back to when i was a little bit younger and whenever we did church ball we always called it the uh the fight that started with the prayer Y'all are talking in very nice terms about how you play basketball there at the church. Anyway, I was just thinking during COVID when things are upside down and kids have hardly been able to get together, you're getting it done. And I just think that's a great thing. Continue to lead. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Well, that just proves COVID didn't beat us, right, Ben? Mr. Russell. I won't be left out. Congratulations. And I'll just say real briefly, keep being a leader. That's what we need.

» need people to lead congratulations yeah buddy uh with that i'm going to propose this uh way ahead gentlemen is that we take the vote and then we have uh mr ted haley here to come up from kershaw county and lee county regional water authority uh representing the alumni association and he wants to read something is that okay yes so with that we move to a vote but once again zaya thank you and i'll tell you what you're only being outdone by jai hunley who to your left who one state youth of the year and I thank you for coming today delighted you came with that let's move to vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous and with that I introduce my good friend Mr.

» Halley come on up sir and if you would introduce any of the alumni that are with you today okay thank you chairman Byrne and thank you the rest of the council I'm representing actually tonight Camden chapter of Jackson high school alumni and also the Jackson center and of course kershaw county lee county regional water authority is there okay um i'm not going to go into the leadership traits that this young individual has i think they all covered in the proclamation but i do want to say though and as a most of the council member has commented on that it is great to have leadership in youth in this county it is great to know that he's a member of kershaw county and he's setting an example for the other youth that he's with that's very important consider the age that we're going through the a

» ge that we're living in uh and after all y'all know peer pressure is stronger than any other pressure there is and what he's demonstrated is a i think it's a more advanced uh accomplishment on his BEHAVE I WOULD LIKE TO RECOGNIZE ANOTHER MEMBER OF THE JACKSON HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI YEAH PLEASE STAND UP FELLOWS LADIES BROTHER COOL BUT WITH THAT I'M AGAIN I'M NOT GOING TO REPEAT WHAT THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS ARE OF ZI BUT I DO HAVE A PLAQUE FROM THE JACKSON HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI THAT I WOULD LIKE TO PRESENT TO ZI SO CHAIRMAN BURN WHENEVER YOU WANT TO SEE IF THEY CAN DO THIS WITH THAT I THINK WHY DON'T YOU GIVE THAT PLAQUE TO them up here and then we'll have a group photograph why don't you say if you would come up mr chairman yeah can he read it i'd like to oh yeah uh the plaque says jackson high school

» alumni present to zachary bradford in appreciation for outstanding community service to kershaw county in 2021. all right all right ryan if you'd come up and uh especially uh bring john up as well don't let councilman snoggrass break you um yeah let's hear it from uh from mr bradford please sir raise the microphone up so you can be heard there you go uh first i want to uh give a shout out to god who's the head of my life amen the ultimate believer of what i do and i want to uh thank my second pops back in the back mr bb man mrs bb y'all just don't know i grew up all my life without my dad 18 years old better turn 19 this upcoming summer I never saw my dad a day in my life no mr.

» BB I tell y'all it took a lot for me to get to where I'm at right now I grew up miss BB - I used to be a hothead I used to I just used to flip out but for no reason and it was never because I was a bad kid it was just because I was seeking for love and mr. BB and his wife mr. brother they kind of stepped in I met him years ago I was a little kid I kind of made mr. BB And he just stepped up and helped me out a lot. And, Mr. B.B., I just want to tell you thank you for everything you did for me. I first wanted to give a shout-out to my guy right there, Pastor David. He's been number real, number real. Him and Mr. B.B. is like the only two gems around Canada that let you use it. You know what I'm saying? So I appreciate you for coming in.

» It's like I told you my vision, and you text me every week telling me how much you support it. And, you know, I just appreciate that for my mom. I appreciate you, David. Tim, Tom, Mr. Tom, I appreciate you for the shirts. For every shirt you've not made, I appreciate that. I mean, I'm a talker, but I'm around big people. Well, I just thank y'all for leading the way for us and keep doing what y'all are doing for the youth down here. Because, believe it or not, the youth down here like me see it. And I always wanted to be the type to be a leader. So I appreciate y'all for everything y'all are doing for the county. God bless you. Can I say something? You said you didn't want to talk much because you're around big people. Did I hear that right? Let me tell you something.

» You're the big person in the room. Yeah, boy. Congratulations. Amen. I like hearing words from the heart, and that's what you just spoke. And carry it with you all your life. Well done. What's that? President Haley back there, what you got, sir? Yeah. Okay, in rebuttal, Ted, come on up. Oh, no, it's not all about me. I'm going to tell John congratulations, too, on the Bonesy Girls Club, member of the year. Congratulations. That's right. I'd like to take about 30 seconds and recognize the other members of the Jackson High School, me now, and Tammy Chaffetz. Will y'all please stand and give them a hand? Oh, terrific. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. After that, you want to say let's adjourn and go home? Thank you very much, Ted. Nice to see you again, old man, and everyone.

» With that, we will go to approval of minutes. It's at tab B. It's on page 5 electronically, and it's on the screen. Can we have a motion to approve the minutes? Second. Mr. Tucker, and the second is? Mr. Gardner. Mr. Gardner, thank you, Sammy. Any discussion of the minutes? Mr. Chair, I'll be abstaining as I wasn't present for that meeting. That's right. I forgot about that. thank you uh okay with that we can move to a vote with mr snodgrass abstaining all those wishing to approve raise your hands and so signify and it's unanimous with david abstaining we move now to administrative updates uh from mr carpenter coven 19.

» please sir mr chair members council is uh no doubt you're aware that it was spring break over uh there's been an uptick again in our 14-day averages you see that we had bottomed out getting starting to get close to 100 and now we're back up closer to 200 over the 14-day average. You see we have unfortunately in April we pushed back ahead of March and getting close to the November average again for the average number of daily positive results and in the vaccine recipients currently at Kersau County about 38 percent vaccinated from the vaccine though unfortunately we have slipped from 14th in the state to 20th the state in that categories on the total number of cases a month to date is 265.

» comments anybody i will share with everybody what i've texted i think most of you may have seen it the cdc today is looking to relax uh some of the restrictions we'll see where that goes and i've had a number of conversations with the council of the city of camden to see where they're going to go their emergency declaration lapses are as renewed one or the other next tuesday so we will know and as you know we all have a lot of outdoor activities and it seems uh reasonable to expect that there be some change and that would then affect us here in this building and we'll turn to mr carpenter to make the necessary changes any further discussion there all right good all right well we do have a high number 200 which is about where we were last year and the mortality still continues i would ask yo

» u all to consider talking to your friends about getting the shots that's that's where i'm at right now and until then we're constrained by the law and the ordinance in camden to wear the mask in our buildings so with that we move uh on if you have nothing further vic is that right mr yeah question for the administrator just want to make sure i when i last checked which i haven't checked this week uh kershaw health was doing no appointments on friday yes and they're still doing that and then i think from three to like 4 30 tuesday wednesday thursday you can go on with no appointment i'm not aware of that but that's i know they've been changing and making more available to people okay and i just want to put that out for the general public so if they're worrying about getting the appointment j

» ust show up on friday or late afternoons the other three days yes sir okay thank you okay with that we move to uh uh the next item on the agenda which is an executive session i asked mr gardner to to talk about it it's the topic being economic development updates on project falcon and project goalpost uh mr carpenter i mean mr uh gardner sir i'd move that uh we go into executive session to discuss the proposed location and provisions of services for two industries project falcon and project gold post yeah very good can i have a second second second from mr snodgrass um uh discussion please any oh mr chairman i'd just like to add for the record that they also involve contractual legal matters in the proposed location very good and we would like to have the attorney mr burgess and the adminis

» trator also present that's my question who already is that sufficient all right well very good i think with that and i will move it to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand it's unanimous we are an executive session to discuss the proposed location and provisions of services for project falcon and project goal post no vote will be taken mr tucker a second from mr connell any discussion all right very good let's move to a vote one quick thing yeah good stuff okay uh mr uh the bows i think i can just declare after a vote can i not go out of executive session and just announce that no action was taken that's right so we're coming out of executive session i move into a vote with no actions all those in favor signify by raising hands and we are returned back into session from ex

» ecutive session we now return to the agenda the first item on the agenda is a resolution it's at tab c and i believe it's on the board right danny and it's at page eight in your uh slide package there's the one you and i looked at earlier just a few minutes ago mr it has to do with project gold post uh mr carpenter i look for you to open the discussion here please chairman members of members of council have in front of you tonight a resolution that identifies the project known as Project Goalpost in order to qualify for expenditures eligible for a fee in lieu of ad valorem taxes and incentives arranged by Kershaw County. It comes in front of you tonight for your consideration. Very good.

» Can we have a motion to approve the resolution as read? I make a motion we approve the resolution as read, Mr. Chairman. Okay, Mr. Tucker, a second? Second. Second from Mr. Snodgrass. Any discussion? Very good. With that, seeing is no discussion move quickly to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous jeff you have your resolution in first reading all right now ordinances uh we have the first item number one is a first reading and title only there is no enclosure and nothing on the board and i turn again to mr carpenter to open this one up mr members of council you have in front of united for first reading and title only an ordinance that authorizes the execution delivery of a fee in lieu of tax and special source revenue credits for a project known as proje

» ct falcon all right can we have a motion to approve so move mr gardner and a second second second on project falcon any discussion yes ma'am that was mr connell i'm sorry mary okay uh any discussion okay seeing there is none we move to a vote all those in favor signify and it's unanimous uh on the first reading item number two is a first reading and title only also this is project goal post we have no attachments uh can we have a motion to uh first of all mr carpenter would you introduce it mr chairman members of council you have in front of you tonight first reading and title only an ordinance that authorized the exaction and delivery of one or more incentive agreements between kershaw county and a company known as project goal post very good can we have a motion to approve make a motion t

» o approve mr mr tucker and a second second second second for mr gardner uh discussion i'll just say for those watching uh we're not moving rapidly through this thing what we're trying to do is position this so we can get to a second reading where more detail can be revealed based on the wish will wishes of these two project leads which are commercial entities and they are dealing with our lawyer and with jeff burgess and with vick carpenter so just so you know we don't rush through these things this is but this is a procedural vote uh with that did i get it right uh mr devose yes gosh almighty that's the first time you've agreed with me all right with that we move to a vote all those in favor so signify and it's unanimous mary we move to item number three first reading and title only on pro

» ject goal post again mr carpenter can you open that up please chair members council you have in front of you tonight for first reading and title only an ordinance that would allow the county to sell and deliver a piece of land to the project known as project goal post very good and with that uh can we have a motion to approve so move mr chair um it's not grass in a second second second second for mr connell uh any discussion uh yeah please mr tucker thank you mr i i just want to say um publicly want to thank our economic development director and staff and ask that they continue to press on and keep bringing good news thank you jeff and mr carpenter thank you other discussion i would say that this is hard work and it's been placed it started about four or five years ago and it's it's been fa

» cilitated by much of the actions of this council and the economic development office to get stuff ready and also by the school district that provides trained and ready workforce so we should give them credit as well uh with that we're ready to vote all those in favor so signify and it's unanimous and mary you have it on all three with that we go to some new business i see we have the leadership of our fire a wonderful fire team here and with that it's an item of discussion and fire and sewer placed on the agenda by mr jones do you want to make a motion to enter into discussion i so move and then we have a second second second who is that sammy yes sir all right jimmy take it away mr chair members council thank you very much give me one second uh i'd like to mention that i've gotten some fol

» ks telling me they couldn't hear us through our mics that are watching by youtube or facebook so i guess we need to try to talk closer to the mic i'd like to start by saying that uh i think we all are aware that kershaw county has large sewer and fire service financial needs also kershaw county is faced with a problem kershaw county has more needs than it does money i feel like that i have a concrete workable solution to our sewer system financial needs and our fire service financial needs i support our fire service i support the 24 7.

» i just don't necessarily support some of the funding sources that we've talked about and i think there is also interest on this council going in the same direction after this morning but uh as again as i said kershaw county needs more money to pay for a new sewer plant because the one we have now is running out of capacity kershaw county's leadership has run new sewer lines along highway 12 to bring more sewer to our plant that is already pretty much loaded with capacity kershaw county sewer system needs to be upgraded to a 4mgd i think we're a 2mgd at the present this will cost somewhere to the tune 12 to 15 million dollars the debt service on that amount is 900 000 roughly somewhere in there a year that is on top of what we already are paying and oh which is millions tax and spend appears

» to be sometimes council's only solution under consideration this is the direction of kershaw county unless council thinks outside of the box the box we need to get out of is the mindset of government being the only provided service the solution to our problem is staring us right in the face and this council has refused up until now to even consider and i hope there will be a consideration after this and mr chairman with all due respect uh you pressed me at the last budget work session to present an option other than creating new fees and raising taxes well tonight i am here to say kershaw county can have money the money it needs if we get out of the sewer business the sewer system costs us you know as i said on the bond paper somewhere nine hundred thousand dollars a year 846 953 whatever a

» nd you know we've got the b the bond from 2008 the bond for 2016 the bond for 2008b then we've got the 2012 bond you know and if we were to do what i'm talking about here tonight this could also pay off our sewer debt service and we it could be freed up to build fire stations and or to purchase equipment for the firemen if we were to consider to sell our sewer system we will no longer be saddled with the sewer debt or the sewer cost if we let a private owned and operated company in kershaw county look at it we can charge an annual franchise fee and tax the value of the sewer system this will result in more money that kershaw county can use for the other needs such as the fire service scwu south carolina water utilities already pays kershaw county two million dollars a year in taxes for sewe

» r plant for their sewer plant that money is currently being used to run our sewer system including repairing of old lines i say tonight i feel it is irresponsible for a county council to blindly go along with a tax and spend without once giving this proposal that i'm making here tonight consideration money freed freed up by the sale of the sewer system and the new taxes from the value of the sewer system could be used for the fire service that money could solve the fire services funding issues more money more county REVENUE WITHOUT MORE FEES OR TAXES AND A MUCH BETTER FUNDED FIRE SERVICE ADDITIONAL TAXES AND FEES FOR SEWER AND FIRE ARE NOT THE ANSWER ADDITIONAL TAXES AND FEES HURT THE DISABLED AND THE SENIOR CITIZENS THE WORST AS MR.

» CARPENTER HAS SAID HERE FEES ARE REGRESSIVE FEES FALL HARDEST ON THOSE WHO ARE LEAST ABLE TO PAY IN THE FIRE DISTRICT A SENIOR CITIZEN WHO OWNS A HUNDRED thousand dollar home pays 52 in total county taxes and a 200 000 house pays 104 in total county taxes the same senior citizen who owns a hundred thousand dollar home in the fire district or a two hundred thousand dollar house in the fire district and who owns would say two vehicles that's not unreasonable is paying 179 in county fees per year i just don't think that's right in my mind the refusal to to even look at or entertain the sale of the sewer system and get better sewer and additional county funds amounts to kershaw county council taking hard on not doing it amounts to kershaw county taking hard on money from the taxpayers and pouri

» ng it into a bottomless pit that we've been dealing with for many many years i feel that if kershaw county refuses to evaluate this opportunity to reduce its debt and secure annual funding then we have truly done a disservice to the citizens of kershaw county and let me remind my colleagues on council as well we are at the tail end of one of the worst pandemics in our history and our generation people have lost their jobs businesses have closed and we on county council i feel like have the audacity to even entertain one trying to increase the millage which the bill was shot down in the senate and then if that doesn't work to talk about possibly some large fees and i'll go further say without even offering the citizens of kershaw county an opportunity to vote on an advisory referendum there

» is none so blind as he who cannot see and i'll say that kershaw county's council's blindness to this opportunity is trying our souls and robbing our citizens of kershaw county and their hard-earned money when i know without a doubt in my mind it's not necessary most senior citizens pay more fees than their tax bills so that's to to sit here and think about creating another fee it's just to me i just don't don't don't get it don't understand it there are options out there this is a very valuable option and let me leave you with this more government is not the solution more government is the problem so i hope that my colleagues will consider this i didn't want to blindside anybody i was not going to call for a vote tonight but i am going to put it on the agenda uh at the next county council m

» eeting mr carpenter you would make sure to to have a vote on that and uh we can move from there as far as research and trying to do what we need to do general i appreciate your time that is my proposal i wanted to give you a heads up on as i said earlier and uh thank you for your time we certainly put that on the agenda mary certainly thank you uh comments all right thank you jimmy uh mr connell i just i just have a couple questions if it's going to be the agenda for next time next time you know i like to research stuff and try to figure out the data on it um you weren't were you proposing i just want to make sure i'm clear were you suggesting that any of the funds from the sale of a sewer system or recurring revenue could go towards fire operating costs well this is what we have we have i

» think the plant that we have existing right now the south carolina water utilities pays us about two million dollars a year and that two million dollars a year is going to it pays for our upgrades and our services of our sewer system and of course if we were not to be in the sewer business that money we would free up and also if we had the the bonds paid off that money would be freed up as well too that we could use towards fire ems or any other possibility in the uh which the county has uh needs for okay my question was just a little different and i want to make sure i just understand so mr carpenter fire operations does that have to be paid for by the mill doesn't have to be paid for by the mill but it is currently paid for with its millage and any possible fees that might be put on so it

» 's got to be it because it's a separate independent district it's got to have its own revenue source so could could you use something like mr jones proposing if you had you couldn't take sewer millage which is assessed on one part of the county for a specific purpose and use that to run a fire department well in the hypothetical say that it was sold and then it just became millage that went to the general fund or philo or whatever the arrangement would be could you use my understanding with the we have a fire issue on funding 24-hour and that's what we're trying to figure out full-time throughout the county right so either there's millage or there's fee as i understand it to solve that issue as things currently stand act 388 would limit our ability to raise we're only able to raise millage

» three tenths for the fire so the sewer millage is 2.9 mils so we couldn't take 2.9 and move it into fire as currently our environment exists okay so but so our issue would persist then is i guess my point even if even if we had a windfall or got some other monies from a sewer sale would our um i believe what i'm understanding for employment actually would our paying for employment be solved that problem or will we still have to go the legislative route or the fee route in order to raise millage we would still have to to go through some kind of a legislative process now if i understand mr jones and i'm not trying to put words in your mouth so tell me if i'm wrong i will um what i believe he is suggesting is that also that the money that is currently paid as a fee in lieu could be purpose bec

» ause that is councils to control a fee in lieu the same way that we did with ems and that fee in lieu to operate ems i believe he's saying that we could take part or all of the fee in lieu and if it's enough use that over um in in fire so that would - That would be legal? - Yes, sir. - Okay, and then- - 'Cause council controls that source of funds. - And kind of like, I'm sorry to, I don't mean to monopolize the time, guys. I'm just trying to wrap my head around it. Hopefully it's useful to talk about.

» So like EMS, we, and it could be good or bad, but we might be beholden to, if it's a private entity of potential sale or some other transaction that may or may not impact that funding [Part 3 of 3] keeping jimmy is asked to put it on the agenda that is uh that's certainly going to be done um we've got eight weeks nine weeks to the end of the fiscal year in the beginning of the next and so we need to work a budget so jimmy i'd ask you to work with vick and uh mr dubose to understand what it means when someone buys something when we haven't had an offer in terms of timing okay that priest would not even presupposing the council would agree to it we haven't had an offer so i would just ask you to bring that into your thinking when you come to see us at uh at the next meeting okay well i will m

» r chair and also if you remember that i also brought a member of uh south carolina water utilities here and they spoke to us as well you know some while back and this is something i've been talking about for years i mean my point is uh the second one which is tied to the first is we got to do a budget and we got to do one you know in the next six seven weeks and how fast can we move this and and you are correct but council can do what council wants to do and then secondly that gets to the next point we have no valuation of what we think we're worth and that would be part of the negotiations if we're if we're serious about this that would have to be done and uh having done this kind of stuff in my other life outside these walls that takes a while uh well everything takes a while mr chairman

» well i'm just trying to help me here well i understand but i'm just saying so i'm asking you to put that in your calculations uh and certainly how that's presented okay sure i certainly will and as i said i truly believe that if we want this to happen we can make it happen but there are certainly details you have to work out their details they have to work out with what we talked about this morning with the bonds right you know right we left out here with the bonds thinking okay all our problems are solved with fire you know funding but it's not it's not because once again it goes back like russell and i talked to earlier you may pay off the debt millage but it didn't try to transfer that to the general fund millage so you could pay for fire but because of that 388 we're limited on what we

» can yeah the logic is is fairly compelling and and so what i'm saying is in terms of having to do a county budget and then getting an offer and then getting an evaluation to make sure that we get value for money that that's more complex than than the concept that i've heard today it is complex but mr chairman i will say this too i think no pun intended just my personal belief i think that using the budget as an excuse not to do it is just an excuse because you don't want to do it yeah i'm not speaking to you personally i'm just saying that's just my belief and very good and and i i think i've laid out just some real cold hard business logic uh mr snigrass sure mr jones do you know uh do you know how so the company that that presented to us they they operate on water systems in hilton head a

» nd that part of the state do you know how quickly they raised their rates once they acquired once they acquired those systems did you talk to them about that we did but i'll be honest with you i can't remember but it was talked about but that's something that we would all think back what they said they would be competitive and they would actually in some places they're probably lower than us some places probably higher but i don't see i don't see them skyrocketing their prices yeah well i mean i asked the guy when he was here two months ago and he he quickly said they had to and then he quickly went into some speech about some other things because he wanted to cover it up that they had to quickly um raise rates and and that's i'll just be honest with you i i'm uh i'm open-minded so i'm gonn

» a look at this but i'm just at face value some of my concerns that are that in the shadow of the failed vc summer um nuclear plant that santee cooper's has found themselves in as well with with scanna um you know a private private utilities i i don't know i just i've got i guess i'm a little little hesitant to make sure that we don't we're not in a situation where we give away not give away but we let go of a system and it goes into a private partnership and the only thing between the only thing between uh an increase on our citizens in rates is the public service commission and they don't really sometimes they don't have to have best track track record of of having the best interest for for the citizens so that's you know i'm gonna i'm gonna look at it but i'm just just saying it all out t

» he gate those are just those are the concerns that i have that i'm wanting to get the answers to uh as as we look at this uh as far as the millage you are right we we can't raise the millage um but it's not dead it's it's dead it got second reading but we have to do it by a budget now remember i mean you're talking about millage isn't dead but it still had to be handled i mean i was just told that this issue was budget i'm just saying but the idea of switching the fire over to millage is not it's not dead it's it'll it's in the senate at second reading so next year it'll come back around and it'll be at second reading next year it's kind of how the cycle works and we have a great delegation who's worked hard on it i see miss gwen out there she's our liaison i know she and her office have be

» en working really hard uh on on that for us and uh and i was i was thankful uh how far it got so well you know we'll see where it gets next and uh next year um as it moves forward so so you know it's that's not that's not a dead end is what i'm saying um so and and so then my other question is that i'm trying when i make a decision on this is you know i don't want i don't want the short-sightedness of money now to cloud our judgment from what could be 5 10 15 years down the road 15 years down the road we have a sewer system that we don't have control over um and it's it's controlled by a it's controlled by a private entity you know and what is is that a good fit for our citizens 15 years down the road so that's those are some of the things that i'm looking at i'm disagreeing with you i'm ju

» st like i'm just being honest with you i'm going to look at it with open mind but those out the gate those are the concerns and you're right we do control zoning we do control growth but here's what i see if we would sell the system but then we tell mr conley hey we don't want any more growth well we got a private company over in that part of this of the county who's like well hold on we bought this sewer system and our mission you know they say their mission is to you know is to give people water and that's part of it but at the end of the day they're here to make money so they're gonna say hold on i can't we can't make any money if your county is not permitting more developments which and from my logic would say that existing users would probably begin to see a rate increase because they'

» ve got to make money so those are just uh again great idea i love the innovative the way that you've uh you've looked for an innovative idea and i'm gonna look at it i'm just those are some of the questions in the next two weeks i'm going to be well and those questions and i i know the administrator is writing them down and he'll work with the company and we get it we'll also have uh an executive from the company come as well and and talk with you and express their because i don't think there were a whole lot of questions asked the last time he was here so but i listen the fact that we may or may not agree i appreciate you your your dialogue your your discussion on this issue uh that's where we start and let's just see if we can't get something going and answer your questions fully and meet

» once again some of the executives from the uh utility company and go from there okay mr brasil i was just going to touch on the fact that y'all were initially talking about regulation they and you touched on it eventually um the public service commission i think jimmy that that was who would regulate the the rates and that sort of thing so well here's what i do know guys as i said earlier we've got more needs than we've got money and what i want to see and i i know that a lot of you feel the same way what i don't want to see is a new fee generated when we already have folks senior citizens who are paying twice the amount in fees on their tax bills as they are taxes so i appreciate your time and i appreciate y'all looking at that and you know we'll try to put something together and bring bac

» k before you at the next meeting yeah i hope this has been helpful to you jimmy as you bring that together well it has been and i appreciate your time and i appreciate the fact that you had questions and you asked uh as i said no matter what we do folks no matter what we do with this situation it's going to have its issues and have its problems we just have to be willing to work through them or say this is how we're going to do it and move in another direction very good are we ready to go to council briefings i think so uh mr gardner you're going to lead off i just have one thing i was doing some reading the other day and i came across this quote that i thought was pretty appropriate. It said, we've never lived in such evil times.

» Our leaders have never been so corrupt and the social fabric has never been so decayed. You know, you'd think you'd read that in the state paper the other day. It was written 5,800 years ago. Babylon, Mesopotamia. It was written on a Chaldean stone. I think it just shows you that history does repeat itself because I think we're in those times ourselves right now. But it was written 5,800 years ago.

» But it also shows you that 5800 years we've survived we've persevered i don't see why we can't come together and work together and work out our problems because we have problems believe me lots of problems and not just r d problems we've got lots of problems but i think that 5800 years ago the same things are going on that we're going on in our country now but i think that we can overcome those but i thought it was interesting when i read that i couldn't believe that it was written in 3800 bc 5800 years ago and so how appropriate is today thank you tom thank you tom i think you were there weren't you um uh mr brazel sorry oh well a couple of things i'd like to touch on um i'd like to thank uh the gentleman it's been brought to my attention tom gardner sammy tucker and dennis alridge um layi

» ng the groundwork and for some of these projects that are coming to fruition through economic development um and mr jones and whoever else may have worked on those projects um mr snodgrass and ben i just want to say thanks because i think uh the county is about to see some really good things uh from from the work that's been done years ago well well before i was here um and uh i wanted to thank mr jones for for all the research and development and that he put into his presentation tonight and we want to be open-minded to his thoughts and um that's that's all i have thank you thank you thank you russell uh mr connell thank you mr chairman i wanted to share a brief word tonight about a great member of kershaw county who passed away some of you might know brad branham yeah brad lived in elgin

» for many many years he lived in camden before that brad went to camden high school and uh one of the things i loved about him most was he's a two-time state champion wrestler at camden high school actually one of the first in kershaw county and he was an inspiration for many youth coming up that competed and followed his example he worked 46 years at wild kim i considered him an uncle though he was a second cousin but that's kind of part for the course in kershaw county in many ways he was a great leader and to see the legacy of his life today at his funeral was such a blessing so many people there that loved him such a large and expansive family it's impressive that he's raised doctors and other professionals but the content of their character means so much more to he and rita he was the s

» on of alfred and betty branham that actually lived off latchcock road not too far from you jimmy and just an outstanding man so i hope if you knew him you'll take a moment to reach out to the family and share any positive experiences you had with him he blessed everybody's life thank you mr chairman thank you mr jones thank you mr cornell i agree with you 100 great man good family and thank you for those words no no further comment uh mr snodgrass sure thank you mr chair members of council just a few uh a few things to wrap up uh congrats again to uh zachary bradford and uh all the the team that was that was with him and uh the good work that our our boys and girls club DOES HERE LOCALLY I ALSO WANT TO MAKE EVERYONE AWARE THAT THE DHEC COVID TESTING SITE WHICH IS CURRENTLY AT OUR PARKS AND

» REC DEPARTMENT IS WE'LL BE MOVING UH NEXT WEEK UH MAY IT'LL BE MOVING OUT TO EAST CAMDEN IT'LL BE MOVING TO THE PARKING LOT OF OF MY CHURCH CAMDEN FIRST CHURCH OF NAZARENE AND THEY'LL BE UTILIZING THAT PARKING LOT SO JUST MAKING US EVERYWHERE THAT'S THAT'S WHERE THAT'LL BE THE ONLY TESTING SITE IN THE COUNTY SO JUST WANT TO MAKE EVERYONE AWARE OF THAT two weeks ago we we organized a east camden community pickup i had members of neighborhoods out there from white pines neighborhood valley park those who live in town and and on in other areas and we picked up dicey dicey fort dicey creek hell street old stage coach maverick hill and uh 59 bags a litter alone on old stagecoach uh we did about 100 plus bags total and uh learned that whoever litters uh they like playing the lottery and drinking

» crown royal liquor so that's what i learned and uh i guess they didn't i guess they yeah well but uh i didn't see no in a little purple bag that was just the bottles yeah no i didn't no that wouldn't be a a good look for me i don't think um so i want to say uh thank you director cato uh for bringing out some support and uh the truck showed up shining uh tires shining everything so i appreciate that appreciate the sheriff's department as well uh offering us some support and the 20 plus volunteers who came out to help us to help us pick that up and then also want to just they just as we move forward with economic development uh just tell everyone to stay tuned and and uh we'll be able to to to share a lot of those things that are that are coming coming our way and just excited about uh about

» all the things that are that are happening so that concludes my remarks thanks guys mr tucker thank you mr chairman council members um two quick things one is and this might be a little bit of your thunder mr carpenter but i'm gonna take it because of my um position with the family but um we not only lost or this week over the weekend um another soul but we actually lost a county employee mr howard sumter many of you have seen him around here in the building uh at the government center and i know mr carpenter probably expound on this a lot further but um keep his family in your prayers he was a good hard-working man a good spirited man and um Unfortunately, I went in the hospital Friday, and he passed Saturday, and so just keep that family in prayer as you go out through your week. Mr.

» Chairman, there was a lot of thank yous that went around, and I was reluctant and did not, I wasn't reluctant, but I did not say what I needed to say. I want to thank you for all that is going on in the economic development world as well. I don't know what the rest of them do, but I know two, three o'clock at night, you're up because I'm talking to you. And I appreciate the wheels always turning and you always trying to figure out how to make things work. So with thanks to everyone else that's got a part of economic development, I want to say a personal thanks to you. That concludes my report. Very good. Thank you. We're going to beat COVID. We're beating it. We're beating it. We're crushing it. And if you saw Zarik today, that showed the spirit of this county.

» And there's so many other things that just say we're a great place to live, work, worship, raise our families. One year ago, this meeting, one year ago, this body of men voted on a million dollars to keep our small businesses going. And some people think that's inappropriate, but those businesses, by and large, are open today. And I went around yesterday and today and Saturday and talked to a number of those people who got our grants. And it shows how this county council, this body of men, may we always not agree, but we may always are devoted to our population. And I just want to congratulate you. One year ago, EDO, thank you very much. You're showing that we've still got it. We've got our mojo. We got it in stride.

» It's taken us four and a half years to get to this point and a lot of discussion, but we made it. Let me give you another example. Mr. Snodgrass has already touched about how volunteers have popped up all over the place. Mr. Brazel is about ready to lead one, too. And Jill Wolf and the crowd, along with Steve Zobel, this weekend at Lugov are going to be leading along with the Optimist Club, right, Jimmy? Meeting 514 Lashcott Road. There you go. Also, I think it's Shoney's too. So what a great, this just shows what a great county we have. I'm just telling you. I mean, the next point is this weekend and token of which on the 1st of May, we've got the Relay for Life is back. Holy smokes. That's a giving Christian organization.

» I've mentioned the Optimist Club cleanup, but we've got a Mayfest going on in boykin uh with uh wayne belcher and then of course we've got a jam for the soul i think i got it right at veterans park and on the 3rd of the may the american legion is going to erect a flagpole at the veterans park just stuff's going on what a county and covert just didn't get in our way i'm just so proud of you um next point is a bit of housekeeping mary has gone i have to start tracking uh the kershaw county health services district roster if you can start posting that uh whether the legislation katie we're going to need your help here legislation passes in the house and the senate or not we're going to have to address uh the expired or to be renewed positions of the health services district i talked to mr odbu

» rn today and he assures me on his side and everybody knows how good Daryl is in the state house and he's going to move it down the road, Sammy. So I think we got some good luck on the health services district statute, but there's, I think only a two week window to get it done. So y'all cheer on our legislative delegation to get it done. And then we'll have the nominations back in here to you. And then we'll work out how we move forward on renewing and rejuvenating and supporting our great health services district. So with that I think I'm about done except to say get your shots. Get your shots. 38 percent. With that Mr. Carpenter over to you. Mr. Chairman, members, council, a few items for you tonight. First I wanted to introduce to you a new program that we're doing with our employees.

» We call it KC Works Well. As you know when COVID came and we spent a lot of time looking at how we operate as an organization and how we can be better serving our citizens and ourself and out of that extended period of time that we spend looking and thinking one of the issues that came forward was very clearly is that our ability to provide comprehensive services and outstanding customer services to our resident is significantly dependent on the well-being of our employees so with that we reached out to livewell kershaw some guidance and direction on what we could start doing for an employee wellness program catherine johnson their director worked with a 10-member team of kershaw county employees to begin identifying things we could do.

» We then reached out and began working with the South Carolina Hospital Association, and with their help identified four priority areas that we're going to be focusing on with our employees. As you're going to be seeing through the coming years, we're going to be working on wellness culture, physical activity, nutrition, mental and emotional health, and policies, all that would affect and benefit the employees as they try to go about doing their job. We're working on these areas right now, and as these initiatives continue, I'll keep sharing with them. This goes along with our Enhance You program and our KC Solutions program, all designed to include and involve our employees in how this county can operate better and be more significantly able to provide assets to our citizens.

» You're going to be seeing in the next coming weeks that the South Carolina Hospital Association will be recognizing Kershaw County for this effort and using us as an example across the state of how wellness can be incorporated into the daily work life and what you do i'm very proud of that and i look forward to sharing that with you as it continues to develop also uh the chairman just mentioned the flag raising ceremony on watery river veterans park i will be doing that on monday may the third at two o'clock everyone is encouraged to be out there as the flagpole will be dedicated and the flag will be raised and then we'll be having our ribbon cutting finally at the elgin community park we just got that finalized this afternoon so Friday May the 14th 2 o'clock p.m.

» the senator can be there and we will be getting more information out to you but that will be the day that we will be holding that event that's it all right attorney mr. chairman I don't have anything okay thank you everyone and with that I think I entertain on a motion to dismiss most no Joe mr. Jim all right mr. Tucker mr. Connell thank you any discussion i think we next meet as a body on the 11th of may and with that we'll move to a vote all those in favor signify and it's unanimous and we are adjourned thank you very productive