Full meeting transcript - July 12, 2022

» hello hello hello testing can you hear me yeah i've been in a restaurant yep i can hear you can you hear us ben yep muting what's his name david no the guy next to him i'm gonna call this meeting to order not in millage capacity okay all right why not why haven't i been called well i've just talked to the fire marshal yeah okay i think we've got a quorum let's uh let's get reassembled here it's a great day in kershaw county welcome everybody on the 12th of June in the All-America County. We've got important work to do today, and let's get down to it. Looks like we've got a pretty big crowd. The fire marshal tells us we're near capacity.

» Hopefully, we won't have to have y'all wait outside, but I think we can do what we have, and I ask your attendance to where their exits are in case we do have an incident of something of that nature. Mr. Connell has called in. We have a quorum area of all seven of us, and I think Ben this up on the mic and we're ready to move forward we are officially called to order and with that i ask you to stand for the invocation and the pledge of allegiance led by councilman david snodgrass thank you let's pray father we thank you for this day lord thank you for uh just the opportunity to come and and to gather and lord to be able to enjoy the the freedoms afforded to us lord by given to you by us and lord then protected by the sacrifices of so many lord to be able to assemble to exercise our voice, L

» ord, to ensure our freedom. So Lord, now I pray that you will be with us during this time. Lord, we echo the words of King Solomon who asked for wisdom. Of all things that he could have asked for, he asked for wisdom. And so now, Lord, we ask that you give us wisdom in these days, not only, Lord, up here on the dais, Lord, but all of us in all of our endeavors. Lord, as this room is filled with tradesmen and workers and first responders, Lord, and Lord, those who are so involved in their community, I pray, Lord, that you will give them wisdom in their endeavors as well. Lord, we love you, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, one God, indivisible, free, and just.

» Thank you very much indeed, sir. I appreciate that. And with that, we go to the first item on the agenda, which is public comments. With that, let me just read through some of the rules. Public comment guidelines is an opportunity for members of the public to share information, not a time for debate or questions to and from the council. It is a time for council to receive input. It is not a time for council response. In short, during public comment, council will listen to public comment but not comment on public comments.

» Number two, offensive or inappropriate comments will not be tolerated, comments should be limited to statements and rhetorical questions number three if a group would like to speak to council we request and this is important given the the big crowd we have today if a group would like to speak we request a spokesperson be selected and this person indicate the group he or she is representing on the sign up sheet and his or her comments public comment is a time to discuss our issues and not individuals other avenues exist for individual personnel complaints number five public comment period is limited 30 minutes and since we have how many signed up ken uh 16 people have signed up 16.

» well if any of you can get with other people then we might be able to limit uh to expand the time for a single individual to speak on behalf of you but with 16 minutes that's roughly two minutes per person ken let's get started and go right ahead okay the first person signed up is william s robinson mr robinson please good evening council i'm william robinson if you could and i represent as of yesterday that the new executive director of the knightsville historic preservation board we've reconstituted and is now recognized by the state of south carolina as of april 19th as a nonprofit entity and we have a pending application with the IRS right now for 501 C 3 status so I'm coming to council to request support and give some details about what we're about as an organization our purposes are f

» ourfold to first support the upkeep and upgrading of the Knights Hill Park we've had some discussions and some of you have been some community meetings and we had a expanded community meeting yesterday and we've written down and have for you the upgrades to the park that we would like you to consider second thing is we want to preserve document and exhibit the african-american history of the historic Knights Hill community and we are already working with the local archives and history and they're developing folders of families from the Knights Hill community and volunteers from the community have been assisting in that the other things we want to do is we upgrade the park is create some youth programs in the park we'd like to bring back leagues we have a basketball court there you have a ba

» seball field there and we'd like to bring back the competition that was there decades ago. And lastly, the owner of a property not far from the park just recently cleared a part of that property for some timber. And what was buried in that timber was the old Knights Hill Elementary School. The old Knights Hill Elementary School is one of the schools of the Rosenwald Initiative, the founder of Sears and Roebuck, who at the turn of the century developed schools in the South for those blacks who formerly worked on plantations. And Knights Hill has one of those schools. So we are currently in negotiations with the property owners to acquire that school.

» And what we would like to do is turn it into a community center, exhibit space and potential headquarters for our organization it is currently a circuit can you wrap it up pretty quickly it's good to see you again mr robinson go ahead uh uh thank you so i have a handout with information that i'd like to if you give it to mary and then she'll get it to all of us okay thank you sir thank you it's good to see you again sir thank you very much uh with that mr debose the next person signed up is chris dixon mr dixon um i'm actually kind of nervous i I don't know what to say, but I feel like it's not fair to these guys to, in their tax bill, to slide a bunch of garbage in there that we don't want and that we don't vote for it. We're going to look like we don't support our people, and that's BS.

» I mean, it really is. Why can't you just pass something for them instead of sliding all the stuff you want on there with it? And we don't like it. We look bad. You see what I mean? That's not right. Second off, if you don't live in this county, you shouldn't be able to vote. If you vote early just because you know you're leaving the county i feel like that's just as dirty i like david snoggrass he preached at my church but i just feel like uh we're not being done right and uh that's all i got to say i'm gonna keep you short and sweet good to see you again mr dixon thank you very much uh mr debose ladies and gentlemen please uh let's keep the clapping down please go ahead the third person signed up is tommy mangum mr magnum bear with me it's been a long time since public speaking in College.

» Good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to address this council as an individual taxpayer and resident of Kershaw County. My name is Tommy Mangum and I live in the Kirkcover Hills subdivision in Camden. I'm not native to Kershaw County but married and native and I've resided here for going on eight years. I intend to live here for the rest of my life. The reason for wanting to address council is to voice my displeasure and concern regarding the voting on and passing of a recent budget and more specifically the decision to raise our county taxes by six percent this could not have come at a worse time america is bleeding councilman according to the latest report from the bureau of labor statistics the annual inflation rate as of may 2022 was 8.6 percent the highest since 1981.

» the highest ever recorded average price for a gallon of gasoline in the state of south carolina reached four dollars and sixty cent with diesel being 463. this occurred in june of 2022. many people of kershaw county and our nation are struggling living paycheck to paycheck just to keep their lights on and feed their families it is believed by myself and others like me that i have personally that i have personally spoken with that district 5 was unfairly represented in our last council meeting social media posts made by councilman snodgrass suggest and raised the question as to whether or not he was still a a Kershaw County resident when he voted in favor to raise our taxes.

» Furthermore, it is believed by myself and others that I have spoken to personally that Councilman Snodgrass should have recused himself from voting because by his own admissions, he, if not before, will no longer be residing in Kershaw County. These statements and beliefs are not intended as a personal attack on Councilman Snodgrass, but rather as a firm belief by myself and other individual taxpayers that I have spoken with personally that one should reside and continue to reside in the county that your vote helped to increase taxes on the vote yes and then to move is inexcusable mr magnum can you wrap it up please sir i will try my best sir thank you very much as a kershaw county individual taxpayer resident i implore council to reopen the budget to explore alternatives to raising taxes s

» uch as using the one million dollars in reserve as suggested by councilman jones the fact that he could not even get a second on his motion as they slapped to the face of the kershaw county taxpayer i pray that you work together to separate needs from wants and find an alternative other than simply raising taxes in closing and a final reminder to every sitting council member the seat that you hold is not permanent and you are all just one election away from being replaced thank you very much all right ladies and gentlemen please let's keep the noise down uh mr bose go ahead the fourth person that signed up is ricky carey what was the last name carey c-a-r-e-y uh mr carey please sir and we have to bear with me i'm not a public speaker uh i've been a proud resident of kershaw county for 64 ye

» ars i've worked in public safety in this county in ems law enforcement and fire service and never before have i been so ashamed of the kershaw county council as i am now i respect the position of each and every seat there that doesn't mean i respect the individuals holding all those seats last week or last meeting individuals on this council i feel because of the way the election turned out turn around and slap the citizens of kershaw county in the face with a tax increase because they didn't like the way the votes turned out my second point is to deal with mr snodgrass he has been on film stating how he is happy to be at his new church with his family i don't feel he is a resident of kershaw county even though he listed on paper that doesn't mean he's a resident i had to ask that the counc

» il reopen this budget and recluse mr snodgrass from voting on this due to his current uh situation where he lives at thank you thank you mr carey good to see you again sir uh mr boas go ahead the fifth person signed up is katie winn hey good evening county council all right in 1764 james otis wrote in rights of british colonies asserted and proved that the very act of taxing exercised over those who are not represented appears to me to be depriving them of one of their most essential rights as freemen and if continued seems to be in effect an entire disfranchisement of every civil right. During the same period Otis popularized the phrase taxation without representation is tyranny. The rules for determining residency come from South Carolina Code 7-1-25.

» It defines a person's residence as a single place where the person intends to return after an absence. It also states for voting purposes a person changes a domicile by abandoning the previous home and establishing a new one where the person has no present intention to leave that place. With that said, District 5 constituents are being taxed without representation. Also being taxed without representation are the Kershaw County residents living outside the City of Camden forced to use City of Camden electricity and pay the new fuel surcharge fee.

» I ask this council to take immediate action to represent the people in district five and all the county residents all the county residents on city of county city of Camden power on the agenda tonight you have an executive search contract I ask that this council make no decision on a new county administrator as we already have one and that no tax dollars are spent on searching for a new administrator last year the county implemented you hands a tool for developing and identifying top performers this program promotes growth organically and develops internal talent. You send a very discouraging message to the entire workforce of Kershaw County when you go outside this organization to search for an administrator when we have an excellent one right here.

» On the hospitality tax, many small businesses in the hospitality industry are have still not recovered from the pandemic shutdowns. With inflation so high there is a decline in dining out already. With Richland County and Sumter County combined sales tax at seven percent already one percent lower than Kershaw County and increased tax will promote people to drive outside the county to eat on behalf of the people of Kershaw County we do not want yet another tax increase nor can afford it to end on a lighter note chief Spencer is here with his team of selfless servants from Lugoff Fire District chief Spencer has been an excellent steward of the taxpayers money and never asked for an increase I commend him for holding public hearings and getting the district taxpayers buy-in prior to be prior t

» o coming before County Council I have not met or heard from one person in the Lugo fire district that opposes an increased fee for his department I asked this County Council to fully fund his request for the people serviced in that fire district thank you thank you very much mr. DeVos the next word the next person that signed up is Vicki Moniz MO and I see what is okay Vicki miss Moniz please I'm not a public speaker but the Lord put this on my heart and I feel like I need to say it to our County thank you for your service and stepping up to the plate at such a crazy time in our nation and our world. I truly believe that the Lord guides every step of our lives, whether we believe it or not.

» I believe that each of us serve a purpose and each of us and each of you are here for a purpose at this time. My Bible also teaches us to examine each other's fruit to help us guide us along our path. Most of us fruit inspectors only examined the nice shiny outside carrot that is dangled in front of our faces some actually exit examine a little more and most don't even have the time to even bother we're so mixed up in our daily lives we trust that y'all tell us what you're gonna do and then you're gonna do it i was once a person who didn't really care about it i trusted everything but COVID changed all that. It gave many of us time to sit down and examine our own fruit. And it also gives us time to examine yours. Technology is now in the hands of everybody.

» We are entertaining a very dangerous time and we need to be able to trust our leaders. I'm not finding transparency from our policies, our politicians. All I see is backroom deals, collusion, election rigging, rule breaking. So tonight, I simply ask each of you to examine your fruit, the fruit that you put to us publicly, not your private fruit. Examine your voting record. Examine your compromises that you had to get to, to work together.

» Do they line up with the teachings of our Lord and Jesus Savior? Is he the one who gave you this position of authority? he put you here for a reason and i pray that he that you will let him guide you in what's right and what's wrong and got our country in our county thank you for letting me speak thank you miss monez mr devos please the seventh person that signed up is dorothy davis miss davis i think she's back over here yeah hey miss davis farmers market to stand up from what they're asking if stand up from the oh yes please and then uh that would be to mary over here and she'll make a record of it and pass it around we have the farmers market here thank you i'm going to try to make this as fast as i can if y'all want to sit down otherwise thank you all very much for coming yeah yeah fell

» ow members of county council residents small business local small business owners local farmers and all others here to support the kershaw county farmers market my name is dorothy davis i am the manager of the kershaw county farmers market and i'm here to represent the board the vendors and many of the small business owners that participate in the market with me or beside me tonight we are here to address the misleading comments and social media posts made by chair like katie gwynn and county councilman jimmy jones and to set the matter straight until now neither the farmers market board nor i have responded to these accusations and comments seen on social media however as the topic has grown legs it is is impacting the livelihood of our farmers, small business owners, as well as accessibil

» ity to goods to our community. Therefore, we feel we need to make use of this form to ensure the community and county leaders have the facts. Specifically, Chair-elect Katie Gwynne communications include accusations about broken laws, include the IRS and Secretary of State references that she states we are operating against. In response to this, we did contact the Secretary of State and IRS offices who referred us to our local legal council representative, which confirmed no laws had been broken by the Kershaw County Farmers Market. The fact is we are located in the city of Camden and endeavor to represent the entire county of Kershaw County, which we receive zero county tax dollars in support of the market. We are privately owned and operated 501C3.

» We do not receive any federal or local tax dollars. We pay for our land, which we have received and took out a mortgage to acquire this property by using the goodwill and support of a local citizen small business person to get the bank to approve our application as well chair elect and County Councilman accurately called out the board in such a public way stay in poor stating poor management and leadership demanded to know how the board is selected saying that the market is breaking rules Jimmy Jones verbally ensuring myself that he would ensure that the county does not support the market which is not a line item on your budget anyway it is irresponsible when these accusations are not accurate to begin with and in the end only creates negative consequences for those who are elected to repre

» sent over the years we have had many local political individuals run a space walk through the market and reach out to the community members at the market to campaign discuss their views and ask answer questions miss Gwyn herself passed out her election cards at the market although support without supporting the market and by rent without running a space in her and her supporters did the same as they tagged the Kershaw County farmers market in their social media and post implying our tactic of supporting her campaign without getting Board approval. To hurry up, I'm going to skip a little bit. To reiterate, in no way did the market support any individual, break any laws, or accept anything other than the $20 fee that Mrs.

» Gwynn wrongly asserted from her public post about the article posted in the Camden Chronicle. We did not make any biased decisions or allow one individual, allow this one individual, nor has Kershaw County Farmer's Market ever made any contribution to any political party, directly or indirectly in campaigning for any candidate or political party again these uninformed comments do not justify the these uninformed comments do not just affect the market it impacts each and every individual of our vendor individually the local farmers mark the local farmers and small business owners which rely on the local small business which we rely on the small business owners to bring their wares for us to enjoy and purchase at the market these individuals were attacked and most important both and most impo

» rtantly they are the most important asset to the farmers market and Kershaw County themselves they include all of us here tonight you me the farmers the business owners we are the community of Kershaw County in the surrounding areas all which are the individuals who vote for you elected leaders here at Kershaw County why would any illegal any elected official attack the livelihood of these hard-working god-fearing people who are the bedrock of those community because politics i am asking for the truth of what actually happened to be clarified by both miss gwynn and mr jones in order to allow the entire community of our vendors and our vendors to know the truth about the farmers market i am also seeking an official apology from both chair elect katie gwynn and county councilman jimmy jones a

» s well as an act of censure if they do not uphold this request lastly most importantly i am asking for all of kershaw county to please support and join us every Saturday 9 to 12 at the farmer's market thank you thank you very much ma'am appreciate it um ladies and gentlemen I remind you not to clap and applause if you let them clap thank you very much uh Mr. DuBose next person signed up is Phil Truesdale uh Mr. Truesdale things I'd like to get handed out I have a copy of this for each of you if I could get that to you yeah if you pass it over to Mary and we'll be happy to do that well I had a lot of stuff written down that I was going to say tonight, but obviously I'm not going to have time for all that, so I'll just condense it down.

» We have a situation where we've got a council member who has chosen to use this forum and Facebook to attack farmers market, market management, the board, in an attempt to get what he wants personally. Apparently this gentleman was not happy with the fact that someone was allowed to try to get signatures at the market, hence this post where he tagged 90 of his Facebook followers. With this complete disinformation, the very first post states, Kershaw County Farmer's Market, so disappointed, allowed a political booth to try and collect signatures against Katie Gwynn in November. That's not at all what happened. This gentleman was trying to get signatures for himself to get on the ballot in November had nothing to do with being against anything.

» This misinformation was fed to his Facebook followers in an attempt to mobilize and incite these people to call the market board, to call the market manager, to call the vendors, to try to get them to back off of their position, which he couldn't do on his own. Even though he knew the truth, he knew that they were not breaking any rules. He'd already been told by the board, by the manager, by me on the phone, didn't want to hear any of it. He was going to have his way. He didn't care if it was right or if it was wrong. I've looked up to Councilman Jones for years. I thought he was a respectable individual. He holds himself as a leader of the county. He holds himself as a good Christian man.

» If you go through these Facebook posts And you look at some of the things that he either did say or that he did not say that others said that were either wrong or just outright lies. He didn't call any of that out. He didn't try to correct any of it. He wanted to keep it going in an attempt to keep stirring the pot, keep bringing people into the conversation. Let him finish. Let him finish. Mr. Truesdale. Let him finish. I really respect what you're saying. I want to hear every word he has to say. We're not supposed to talk about individuals. Well, you know what? It's the only time that anybody can bring this stuff out in public. And we're getting it. So, you know, you get the public 30 minutes to come down here and speak before y'all. 30 minutes. That's ridiculous. Take your time.

» Take your time. Mr. Truesdale, you've got about another minute. Please go ahead. Another minute? Yes, sir. Please. I appreciate what you're saying, but I have to follow the rules that we have. Go ahead, please. Go ahead and finish. You got all the time you want. I'm trying to be respectful up here, so I'm not going to say what I'm really thinking right now about all of you. Give him 10 minutes to finish. Let's hear it all. Thank you, Russell. Go ahead, Mr. Truesdale. You got one. All right. So in some of these posts, we have people that say that, for instance, sorry, but personally, I would have kicked their sorry asses out one way or another. Talking about Mr. Maribel, who was sitting at a booth collecting signatures, not bothering anyone. No response from Mr. Jones.

» Is that what you would see a leader doing? Wouldn't you see a leader correcting this person and say, this is what we want to do. We're still a community here. None of that. We've got another person saying that, you know, they're not saying that we should boycott, but the board should know that it's a possibility. All of these comments are based on the first post made by Mr. Jones, a misleading post at best, a complete lie at worst. We've got another person here.

» jimmy jones did they not know it was a direct violation of their policies his answer i would think so however they were not going to change their minds in my nes so i will continue to report and not shut up on this issue we'll let the public be the judge i had to go to third grade twice for the misspelling jimmy plumber says i believe that the market is tax supported if that is the case then it is illegal to be involved in political support i'm guessing at this i'm guessing at this and don't know the exact law but i do know that it is illegal to use government property to do this by this point he knew we weren't on government property he knew we weren't accepting funds from any government entity he let it go mr chairman that's time uh negative i want to hear him finish we're going to wrap i

» t up miss you guys seems to be angry wrap it up mr trussell gee why would i be angry you have defamed why don't you people sit back here jimmy jones relax just relax. Just relax. If Mr. Jones will not offer a public apology to the members of the board, the manager, and the managers at the market, I asked that the council issue a censure against Mr. Jones for the nonsense that he's called. Thank you, Mr. Truesdale. Hey, take a deep breath. Mr. Jones, please. Go ahead, Mr. DeBruyne, please. The ninth person signed up is Stephen Clyburn. Mr. Clyburn, please. I'm Stephen Clyburn. I'm Stephen's last stand tonight. I'm going to surrender my time for Bill. Bring your mic over. I can't hear you, Steve. I'm one of the vendors at the market. I'm a cabinetmaker, and I'm just here to support.

» Yeah, I remember seeing you down there. Okay, so thank you all for the time, but we're here to support, and we hope the county council will continue. Thank you, Mr. Clyburn. We'll see you on Saturday. Go ahead Mr. DeRose. The next person is signed up is Ben Tobin. Mr. Tobin. I feel the love. I'm glad everybody's doing well. I have some questions for you. Emergency water shortage distribution plan. Do Curshaw County have any plans in case of a water shortage? I'll bring the mic over right in front of you so Mr. Connell can hear you too. I repeat, my concern is emergency water shortage distribution plans.

» possibly by mid fall or end of december is there a water grid system such as electricity and gas with kershaw county do they have that what is the deep well capacity levels from country contributing towns you have nine wells coming from different small counties if they are if the aquifers are low what's going to happen number two growth resource balance and annexation i live on the other side of 97 over the bridge sooner or later it's gonna be annexation no answers q and a It's possible the third Tuesday of any given month, combine city and council meeting. First meeting will be gathering questions. The second meeting will be Q&A. This will keep all the temper down. We can meet at the arena because every facet of the council or county, city and rural, is interreactive.

» So we have to do something about that. I know you cannot have Q&A, but it would be great if we have a Q&A, keep the tension down. every third is every third tuesday of the month thank you thank you mr tobin by the way mr bro we've got contact numbers for all these people right mr debose yes we do thank you excuse me the chairman we do yes we do okay thank you um next mr debose please the 11th person that signed up is christina truesdale mr sale i had a whole little speech prepared but since people whenever i'm gonna bring the microphone dead center there you go i'm gonna keep it quick um i'm here because I'm a vendor at the market also, and I am ashamed to say that I have supported Mr. Jones and Katie and the blatant lies that they spread about the market are disgusting.

» Jimmy Jones said in one of his posts, and I think he said it best, that, and I quote him, we need to be, we need to hold the board and the leaders accountable for this arrogance. This is much bigger than just a political candidate, and I'm going to hold them accountable. So today I ask you to hold yourself accountable and resign from your seats and at the very least you deserve a sensor Thank You mr. zoom please the applause mr. DeVos the 12 person that signed up is Jeff Maddox mr.

» Maddox I'll get this right I think it's been a couple of years now gentlemen since I've been here and as you can tell my hair has grown long that was when Henry McMaster decided he's gonna close down all the hair cutting places and you know what i said until the government quit screwing with me i'm gonna grow my hair this is two years and of course the government's still screwing with me now i got more taxes more and more taxes you know over the last eight years i can't remember of a year that my taxes and fees haven't gone up and all of it is based on this thing called vision kershaw 2030. This great vision that apparently only 829 people participated in. Ben Connell was one on the steering committee. There's a picture of him right there.

» Alliance Consulting is the ones that put it together along with the committee of 100 and the Council of Government. These things were designed, the questions and the surveys were designed to get a predetermined outcome that's why we have spec buildings on the hill industrial parks chicken barns and swamp parks this thing has been out of control long enough and now as a lame duck as a lame duck you shove these 6.4 or 6.1 millage increases on us and 63 dollars in fees just like somebody said the federal reserve is printing money hand over fist you can't afford hamburger and you damn sure can't afford steak and that the price of gas it might it might be settled down now but nothing goes up in a straight line gentlemen we're in for a world of crap food shortages and those kind of things and you

» might as well get this pipe dream out of your head we're done with it we're done with it we've sent a mandate this last primary and now we've got a question of whether somebody is eligible to vote trust is broken has been shattered what are you gonna do now gentlemen i think it's just time that all of you realize that it take your blinders off and look macro not micro and you're going to find out that you're better batting the hatches i said this two years ago three years ago four years ago i remember when sammy got mad because i used the word massa don't rob me anymore mr maddox can you leave me alone can you wrap it up mr i'm wrapping it up leave me alone thank you very much, Mr. DuBose. The next person that signed up is Hector Ortiz. The last name was Ortiz, O-R-T-I-Z. Okay, Mr. Ortiz.

» Good evening, Mr. Chairman and council members. My name is Hector Ortiz. I'm a disabled vet. I'm 100% disabled, and I retired from Front Jackson. I have been living here for about 25 years, and I'm moving in the county from Lugo to Camden back again now I'm in Elgin I got a new house and I got a problem I got the subdivision whoever developed that section is having a big problem because he getting all the street water from that phase one to a drainage draining into my house okay I already talked to the engineers the engineer say that this is a mess they cannot find the approval from the heck to do what he's do and the only only option that i got is to hire a lawyer with the disabled vet i don't have no money to do that and the engineers say then is wrong what they did they got a consultant

» from the county went down there and the first thing that she said was what the heck is this they're supposed to be a fire lane for these guys escape in case that a fire happened they don't know the fire lane. They are supposed to be easement for the utility people to go through. They have not done that neither. In one day of rain, I got pictures on my phone that I can show you.

» I got water like from that corner of that all the way, that's the property line down there on that corner all the way to here where my house is, and about two feet of water from the whole street, and that is rainwater going on a two-foot ditch made out of concrete all the way from the street running straight up to my property and i don't know if i'm in the wrong place but hopefully somebody can take a note and tell me miss ortiz you need to go to this place or that place or somebody can at least give me a hand to say listen you need to go to this office i already got with the engineers contractors with the people that do the second phase development and everybody want to blame everybody okay sir do we have your address and and phone number i can give you anything that your need.

» Do you have it, Mr. DeVos? Yes, he wrote down his address. We will get back to you, sir. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. And thanks for your service, of course. Thank you very much. The next person signed up is Andrea Walker. And last name was Walker. Walker. Ms. Walker, please. I'm Andrea Walker. I'm a resident of Kershaw County, a lifelong resident, and I'm also the founder and director of Foster and Foster Animal Rescue, a local charity.

» We are a vendor at the market and I just wanted to show our support for the market let our community know and hope that they understand how vital a farmers market is to our County and that shows a thriving County um I was disappointed in the post that I saw on Facebook and I hope that everyone can recognize that the market was acting within the scope of the requirements of the IRS and uh the secretary of state market does a great job and i think that they need to have some acknowledgement of that from our county that's all thank you thank you very much thank you very much indeed uh mr boz the next person that signed up is tyler tyler eubanks tyler eubanks mr eubanks sir good afternoon my name is tyler eubanks i'm a Newer resident of Kershaw County. I've only been here less than a year.

» My wife is an employee of Kershaw County Business. My sister-in-law, she is a realtor here, and she also works for Kershaw County School District. We also just bought a home here not long ago as well. I'm mainly concerned about, you know, we don't, I'm from District 5, by the way. We don't have accurate representation in our district. David Snodgrass no longer lives here. Voted to increase tax on us. No longer lives here.

» should have recused himself still sitting here he shouldn't be sitting here at all um we have a county attorney who knew about it has done nothing about it and on top of all that i mean we have i don't live in the city but i have to buy power from the city why can't the county do something about that i mean this seems kind of ridiculous um but mainly yes it's just a tax increase i mean i don't know mr snodgrass i've heard great things about him but is no longer living here when that went to vote should have recused himself he should have long been recused himself yet he's still sitting here thank you thank you sir um mr devolos the last person that signed up is barb willens willens w-i-l-l-e-n-s miss willens please good evening i should be fairly short i'm here representing the master garde

» ners of kershaw county we're a group of about 60 individuals that try to educate the county we are currently at the farmer's market once a month we were there every month before covid but you know we're we're back down to once a month i cannot say enough good things about the farmer's market and we're being well received in the community and when i see something on facebook that says boycott the farmer's market it just makes my skin crawl so i'm here with this whole group to speak for the farmer's market and say let's stand behind them thank you miss williams thank you very much uh mr davos and that concludes the sign-up list and let me thank everybody in the room for being so polite for some rather difficult topics all of them have good answers i'm sure and we will deal with every one of t

» hem we have the names of everybody who signed up and i'm sure you'll get back i appreciate you also keeping the comments brief we went over time but there was plenty to talk about uh with that mr debose that concludes the uh comments and we move now the next item on the agenda which is the adoption of the agenda uh itself it's on the board i think we'll have some amendments can we first get it on the table can we have a motion to approve the agenda make a motion to approve the agenda mr chairman and a second second second all right uh ladies and gentlemen if you want to stay this is when we get into the business part of the meeting some of this may be a bit boring for you um and maybe lengthy as well um so it's on the table i first want to say that i want to make an an amendment to an item

» I added, an item down under new business, item number two, executive search contract. I would like it to be also read compensation as a contractual matter. So, executive search contract and compensation as a contractual matter, it will entail an executive session. Can I have a motion to approve that modification to item number two? Mr. Chairman, I'll make that motion to add the contract and compensation to item -- And item number -- and can we have a second? Second. Second from Mr. Gardner. Any discussion? All right. With that, we'll move on that and see if there's a further motion after that. All those in favor, signify by raising your hand. It's Mr. -- first, I'll need to go make the Mr. Connell. But it's Mr. Snodgrass, Mr. Tucker, Mr.

» Gardner, myself, and mr connell how do you vote sir sorry yes okay and those opposed signify the motion one more time the motion is to add to the executive search discussion a compensation and contractual matter absolutely no okay so as two knows motion carries and that is amended are there any further amendments yes mr. chair okay mr. Tucker I would like to ordinance on item number two at this time to delete please so we're gonna delete item number two yes sir which is the age tax can we have a second second any discussion mr. Tucker any discussion mr. Connell okay y'all need to keep the quiet down because we can't hear you go ahead Mary what was your question you said you can't hear All right. Yeah. All right. Mr. Connell, any discussion? None. All right. How do you vote, sir? Yes.

» All right. All others signify by raising your hand. It's please, Mr. Maddox. Mr. Snodgrass. Mr. Tucker. I've got further questions. Oh, you have a discussion. Okay. I'm sorry. Go right ahead. i was trying to be polite and let everyone else finish these are things that i have not heard about yet that are appearing on agendas um where's the failure to communicate here because i'm i'm a little bit sore over several situations unfortunately i was overseas during the last meeting and 20 minutes prior to the meeting i got a phone call that took a wrecking ball to my last motion which would have funded three firemen in pine grove specifically well let's Let's talk to the specific issue here. He is talking to the specifics. Talk to the specific issue, please. He is talking to the specifics.

» No, we're talking H-tax. I'm catching up just a little bit. Okay, go ahead. And I won't apologize for it. I'm not. Secondly, the hospitality tax has been kicked around for years. Why now? And if it's on it, are y'all intimidated to vote on it because people are here? Please, ladies and gentlemen, that's an inappropriate question here. There's no question that it's inappropriate. there is not no inappropriate question I won't be told any longer what's appropriate inappropriate okay what are my way to this chair and I will speak my mind go ahead now I would love an answer and I respect mr. Tucker very much but why are we taking it off because I'm looking forward to voting against it - Okay, Mr. Tucker. - Thank you. Mr.

» Brazel, if you want to amend anything that you see may have gone wrong in our relationship, when we finish, I'll be free and available. But I have-- - All right, I don't want to have to clear the room, ladies and gentlemen. I don't want to have to clear the room. - I have decided way before we had council meeting this afternoon about the position on this, we delete and add items all the times this is just a prerogative that's nothing to do with the crowd mr brasil mr brasil go ahead mr jones if i could you know mr brasil is absolutely correct you know and i asked mr tucker in our last meeting in our budget work session what has happened how do we get to where we were to where we were to where we are at the last meeting you know we had some amendments that were sprung on so we didn't know an

» ything about and seeing there were four votes locked in ready to vote i i knew nothing about it i heard about it when you did and we cannot continue to do that and i definitely feel like come january there's gonna be some changes made to where the budget will be made to where it'd be more transparent mr brazel okay any other comments uh mr brazel no mr tucker clarified thank you so much very good any further discussion all right we have before us a motion to remove the h tax uh with that let's move to vote mr connell you've indicated a yes yes to remove and all others signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous uh any other further adjustments to the agenda mr chair make a motion to approve the agenda as amended can we have a second second second for mr gardner any further discussion uh

» with that we move to a vote mr connell how do you vote on the agenda as amended i vote yes and all others signify by raising your hand and it's mr snodgrass mr tucker mr jones mr gardner and uh all those opposed uh mr brazil how do you vote you vote yes so it's unanimous mary and we move on all right at that point we move now to uh approval of the minutes from the last meeting the 28th of june tab a page four in your electronic book band out there in in the hinterlands uh can we have a motion to approve the minutes so move mr gardner a second second so mr tucker uh discussion i believe you had an amendment yeah mr chair it's not great make a motion to amend the minutes under uh the fire uh increase uh it states 30 to 80 but i think the increase was 60 to 80 on that fee so it's just a just a

» clerical error but just want to make sure it's right all right can we have a second second so mr tucker uh to tell you where that was i'm looking for it it's on page uh six ben if you're looking for it all right with that any further discussion uh ben how do you vote hello yesterday amendment and all others uh signify by raising your hand and at uh mr jones it's uh mr snodgrass mr tucker mr gardner mr burns and all those uh mr tucker mr jones you vote yes yes and mr brazel okay good mr brazel yes and uh i'll ask you all to leave your hands up so i can see uh with that uh it's approved mary unanimously and we move on to a resolution to amend guidelines for portraits in council chambers let me pull that up it's on page 9 nxb in the agenda and i'll read it out and then we'll take a motion uh r

» esolution establishing guidelines for portraits in council chambers whereas kershaw county wishes to establish guidelines for recognizing the service of former long-term county chairman and members of council and to amend and restate its previous policy dated September 2015 and whereas any former member of council who has served 12 or more years consecutive or non consecutive on the council shall be recognized by displaying the members portrait and council chambers and yeah please put that up on the screen there which is next next page over there it is and and I'll just repeat whereas Kershaw County shall recognize said member with resolution and whereas this resolution shall not apply to any former member who at any time finds themselves convicted of a felony or involved in any action that

» brings discredit to the citizens of kershaw county now therefore be it resolved and council duly assembled that the council hereby establishes guidelines for recognition of long-term members of the county council can we have such a motion mr gardner so move a second second mr tucker uh any discussion tom yes sir uh we brought this uh mr jones actually brought this up back in 2015 and i think uh it's a very good thing to recognize those members that have served on council that uh uh sacrificed a number of years to to do that uh i've been actually thinking about this how how we can recognize more people for several years. And with some research, along with Mary's help, I went back and looked back at how many members that would qualify. We have two on the wall over there, Mr. Shaheen and Mr.

» Kelly, who served a number of years. We have two that are on their way to getting there at 20 years, and Mr. Jones and Mr. Tucker. I did some research, and going back 55 years, and there are seven people that qualify get the picture on the wall two of them are there two of them are probably going to sit here in mr ducker and mr jones and there's only three other people that qualify mr john lee who served 14 years mr william tripp who served 12 and tommy cooper who served 12 years that's all that out of all the council members that have served in the last 55 years prior to that it was a little different way that in terms and things like that so i felt like justification of recognizing and And then we've got a lot of people that need to be recognized that only serve one term or two terms.

» But I felt like 12 years was a fair thing that we could get more people who are recognized, who gave a lot of time, who have their pictures on the wall as well. And that's how I came up with 12 years. And under the number of people that have served over the past 55 years, we've only got seven. We're not going to fill the walls very fast. So I felt like 12 years was a good number and that we would have people that sacrificed and served the county well.

» so that's that's why the change mr tucker you had the second go ahead um are you at this time okay mr jones listen let me let me say what happened austin sheehan was my mentor he was a old-timey democrat he believed in jones he said let me tell you what you need to do you need to find alternatives to raising taxes and creating fees on the public on the citizens of kershaw county now that came from him the man i respected i'm the most conservative or was to russell here one of the most conservative county council members that this county's ever had i'll i lobbied to get his picture put up there and it was 2015 and we we went along with 20 years i don't want my picture on the wall i don't want my name on any building i don't deserve it people and bottom line is i want to make an amendment to

» your uh uh motion that we make it 30 years mr jones has a motion to make it 30 years do we have a second uh mr connell uh okay there's no second uh other discussion please ladies and gentlemen we need you to be quiet if you can't be we're gonna have to do something else okay so come on y'all be quiet for a while um we'll declare a short recess turn the microphones off back up thank you all right other discussion i have to go ahead and russell go ahead um you mentioned john lee is that john lee that was a judge no no that's that's james davis i think he might be talking about john lee was he's the pastor he's a pre-tube started on the school board and then he came over to county council okay yes okay and he served on our small business grant um yeah committee as well yeah okay you've seen hi

» m and met him before serves on the cop yeah okay okay other comments come on guys let's just let's call the question we shouldn't be doing this all right well with that we move to a vote ben how do you vote yes those signify by raising your hands mr snodgrass mr tucker mr gardner mr burns those opposed uh mr jones and mr brazel the motion passes and we move on to the next item on the agenda which is a first reading and title only of an ordinance setting the millage rate for kershaw county for the fiscal year beginning one july can we have a motion to approve in first reading title only mr chair make a motion to read and title only uh the ordinance for setting the millage for kershaw county for physical year uh beginning july uh one 2021.

» and can we have a second second all right we have mr tucker and mr gardner you want to lead discussion mr tucker it's entitled only speaks for itself it speaks for itself mr gardner i have nothing uh mr connell from far away no discussion no discussion mr chairman yes this should read 2022. okay very good as a scrivener's era okay we can fix that and mary will get that thank you very much uh danny good catch other discussion title only with that we move to a vote uh mr connell far away how do you vote i vote yes in favor okay all those signify by raising your hand mr snodgrass mr tucker mr gardener mr burns all those opposed uh mr jones and mr brazel the motion passes and moves to a second reading uh item number two was deleted we moved to item number three first reading an ordinance adopti

» ng and enacting a new code for kershaw county providing the repeal of certain ordinances not included providing penalty for the violation thereof providing for the manner and amending such code providing when such code in this ordinance shall become effective in other matters related there too uh is known as the codification enabling ordinance and it's a favorite of many of us in this room it's at tab c and if you'll move to page 10 in the um in the electronic book thank you very much can we have a motion to put this uh before the vote for mr connell i defer to you make a motion that we approve in first reading only yeah thank you for your leadership uh second second from mr tucker any discussion beginning with you ben uh no sir it's in first reading at this point uh but codification is som

» ething we've been working on for a long time yeah mr dubose is smiling um uh second was mr tucker i believe go ahead any comments ditto okay any other comments from the team again i congratulate the staff it took us a long time to get to this it'll allow for ease of referral to a lot of our ordinances and other policy guidances with that we move to a vote ben how do you vote from remote i vote yes and all others signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous mary and it passes and we move on chief it's just some new business we're looking forward to it uh it's a lugo fire district um can we have a motion to approve their budget request mr jones i'd refer to you what do you refer to me to the lugo fire district did i tell you i was gonna make the motion no i'm just i wanted to give you the

» opportunity looks like you don't want it no you go ahead and make the motion well i have one of the council doing any can we have a motion to put it on the table mr uh Chairman, I make a motion to approve Lugo Fire District's request for the fee. Okay. Can we have a second? I'll second it. Okay, Mr. Jones. And I don't appreciate you trying to lock me in. I'm sorry. No, that's exactly what you were doing, and you know what you were doing. All right. With that, it's on the floor. And I will not. Mr. Spitzer, Chief Spitzer, please come on up. Mr. Chairman, just a clarification. It's to approve the budget, which includes the fee increase. The fee increase, yeah. Approve the budget, which includes the fee increase.

» good evening i have put before uh county council a resolution that was a dollar written by our attorney uh and we held public hearings can i just pause for a minute uh mr connell do you have the document mary uh emailed it to you yes i have everything great okay go ahead chief thanks uh this is something we haven't taken lightly um i've lost a lot of sleep i've dealt with this for a year and a half um and i i even spoke with county council last year during my normal budget reading um and approval fact of the matter is um we've been operating on on um on a budget that is um very deficient and insufficient i've got firemen that i have said multiple times that have given i'm gonna give you one instance i i've got a an officer and when i say officer i this is somebody that's up in ranks this is

» it's not just a fireman this is an officer and i'm not going to call out rank or anything of that nature but i've got an officer that's been with um been with the fire department for 16 years it makes 39 000 a year we um we have a pay plan put in place and first and foremost i would like to recognize my my uh board of commissioners that i should be be here. I've got Commissioner LaVange, my secretary, our treasurer, David Hines, my vice chairman, Scotty Jacobs, and I have another commissioner, Eric Tisdale. Our chairman is in Charleston doing some work. Also, I have some members of our staff here as well.

» What you see is members here that go through an evaluation every year, and it's a pretty strenuous evaluation, so they get recognized once a year for their performance throughout the year every one of these individuals average 10 cent on the hour raise yearly and that is just something that we cannot afford any longer to do contrary to popular belief we do not sit around the fire station to play playstation and xbox and watch our vehicles these poor individuals that work for us are not even allowed to take their shoes off until nine o'clock at night. I'm sure most of us would get home at five. I am fortunate to be able to do that in some cases. I like to take my shoes off. With this fee, this is going to be just a yearly fee of $60.

» This will allow us to give our firefighters a chance to live and operate without having to work three and four jobs. Any fireman that I've got are firefighter. There's not a single firefighter in here that doesn't work at least two other jobs so they can make ends meet. And I've always been told not to be, I can't put emotion into what I speak, but unfortunately I'm a firefighter and I am full of compassion and that will never change. In order to do the job that they do, it has to be right here in your heart. If it's not, then you don't belong.

» If you're in it for the money, you're in the wrong place you go to hobby i'm not knocking anybody at hobby lobby or buckies or anywhere like that but you can go right now and make 18 to 20 an hour these guys aren't even remotely making that so with adding that what it has done is it allows us to get our firefighters an increase in pay it also allows us to hire three more in uh firefighters to help protect our district that is rapidly growing it has definitely outgrown us we have been very frugal with our money i have checked into during my research and as far as i can look back on our records we've never come to county council not one time asking for an increase to pay for salaries for firefighters we have however asked for an increase before but that was almost eight years ago looking back

» as far as I could go to 2002 most firemen are averaging that 10 cent an hour ratings all the way back to 2002 I pulled up 15 year plans from 1998 and that's just absolutely embarrassing now I will tell some personal business when I began my fire career I was making seventeen thousand dollars a year and I I thought that was great, but I wasn't doing it for the money. I was doing it for the compassion. But the fact of the matter is there's bills to be paid. We're not any different from anybody else. We still pay the $5 for fuel. We pay the high cost for groceries. And my warriors that sit behind me, they have not been affected or have seen any benefit.

» You know, one of the most common things that they see or get that gets them excited is the uniform they get to wear and that's that's a shame in some cases i mean we get excited over uniforms so i'm asking the county tonight to approve the amendment to our budget which by the way when we held two public hearings we had no opposition whatsoever we've been very very frugal and we support our community a hundred percent there's nothing we won't do for the community there's nothing we won't do for this county we've always been there we've always been available i've got a ladder truck and i will make mention of this i've got a ladder truck that coordinate iso is not doing me any good whatsoever none because we were able to replace a ladder truck because we had a proactive fleet replacement plan

» so that ladder truck has been sent up to station nine which is approximately half a mile not even a half a mile from Elgin or Blaney Station 13's fire district. That ladder is available to respond into Station 13 and 16 and 19, the Pine Grove areas, as well as the Dobie Mill area on a whim. I have people to staff that ladder. So we have provided roughly a million-dollar fire truck if you were to go out and buy one today. Probably costs you a little bit more than that. That is sitting at Station 9 right there at Whitehead Road at West Watery Ballpark to respond to the county, Along with our other ladder, if needed. Those are the things that we're willing to do and work on. We have a really good relationship with the county fire service.

» And it's heading in the right direction, there's no doubt about it. The question is that I am putting before you tonight is to amend our budget, to allow us to give these firefighters, these warriors who have worked diligently so many years to get a proper increase in pay and allow me to hire three more firemen thank you so much chief calm i'm just going to read uh the notice of the public hearing at exhibit a and and then just to confirm with you that's the request blue golf fire proposes to adopt an additional fire service charge equal to the sum of sixty dollars which shall be imposed upon all real property located within the Lugov fire service area. Such fee will be in addition to the current $23 fire service charge, resulting in an aggregate fire service charge of $83.

» The proceeds of the additional charge shall be used to hire new employees, increase the salaries of Lugov fire employees, and fund capital items. I may first thank you and your team and the board for being here tonight chief did i uh get it correct in terms of the specificity of what we're looking to do that is correct all right and following our protocol i'm going to ask mr connell to see if he has any questions if you're willing to listen ben over to you to move forward with this thank you mr chairman no questions uh just comment thank you chief spitzer as i've been telling you over the last two years i knew that you at some point would have an increase coming and as long as it fell within reason i'd be willing to support it even beating inflation for a number of years through grants and

» and otherwise and other means to keep your budget where it was and so i can support this tonight very good uh who had the first uh mr tucker go ahead thank you mr chairman um chief spitzer a couple of quick questions i heard you a list of years it was i think 2015 when we last actually put that 23 fee on right um and your board uh your board of commissioners which i think is a fine bunch of gentlemen and citizens that serve very remarkable remarkably and they're elected officials that's correct wasn't that vote unanimous that was yes sir i'm just making some points here yes sir and is it not in your resolution as well as your conversation with me and some of your commissioners that all of these funds will be directed into salary and not capital it does read in the resolution that it could e

» ventually at over time fund capital projects if we meet the salary needs that's requested but salary is priority that is absolutely correct thank you thank you for the fine job that you guys do we appreciate not only your service in the community on fighting fires but your service and community to helping citizens beyond the call of duty when um they uh call upon you thank you thank you all right uh mr jones you had a second thank you mr chairman members of county council chief spencer uh you have a lot of industry in your district as well too because you had the special purpose taxes which i live in in west watery correct correct yeah and also i appreciate you bringing up the fact because you and i have had a long talk it's been eight years plus since your department has asked for any incr

» eases whatsoever you know we've had the county budget to grow every single year for the last eight years we've had i've seen the school district grow for eight years for the last eight years you have not you have not been before us you have absolutely been a good steward of the taxpayers dollar i support you for that you know i do and uh god bless you and your men thank you because you know when i got out of military i was a fireman that's right i realized how dangerous it was so i became a policeman then i realized how dangerous that was i became jail administrator okay so i've been threatened i bet you know whatever but anyway i really appreciate and admire what y'all do thank you so much thank you other comments please gentlemen i've got a few questions mr brasil go ahead chief good to s

» ee you sir we appreciate you and everything that you guys do thank you um i know a lot of firemen that build cabinets you know for for 25 years i've seen them coming in and out of our business and um making making that extra dollar and completely understand um i do have a few concerns um the first being that you and i really hadn't had an opportunity to speak um into me intimately about this i think we we caught one another in passing and we meant to catch up we just never did um so how many firemen in total do you have all together uh we have roughly 55 somewhere around in there okay only 15 of those are career folks so you've got 15 paid firemen okay so three of those are daylight daylight only yes sir okay how much money what kind of pay increase are we looking at well some of them would

» be it really just depends on tenure but around seventeen point two seven percent would be that's the average for our firefighters that they would be going up it sounds like a lot but when you're making thirty one thousand dollars a year that's that's not a lot of money yeah so they're gonna be somewhere around forty seven thousand instead of forty thousand no not quite seventeen percent off at a thirty one thirty one mm-hmm oh I'm sorry I thought was 39 and change um a few of us discussed how you're funded and i see that you have a fee in lieu of tax and other income line item of just about a hundred thousand dollars correct um who's who's feeling money do you receive do you know i receive about 77 000 which i'm gonna go ahead and tell you right now is absolutely ridiculous from target whic

» h is 2.8 million in square feet that we respond to five to six times a week that's not counting the outside perimeter so 77 000 of that comes from them so as a as a body and i'll ask the attorney can we appropriate more fee and loo money to lugo fire well you have multiple ordinances that deal with allocation of field tax but you control the ordinances so yes ultimately ultimately you can control the allocation of the fee in lieu of tax okay thank you sir thank you very much thank you thank you i appreciate you guys other comments thank you uh mr gardner i just say chief y'all always do a great job i'm happy to support this tonight thank you i appreciate it um chief spencer thank you so much for for what you do and honestly you know for their how you represented and been a good steward of w

» hat you've had um you've you've been an example of what it is to get the most out of what you have and i appreciate that and i'm happy to support this night just based on your track record of being a great steward of what is given to you thank you thank you mr chairman i got one quick thing yeah go ahead please chief you know there's been a lot of talk about volunteers the volunteers are dying out nobody can hold on to volunteers and of course that's one reason we've snuck a lot of money into the county fire service because we're not able to retain volunteers how many volunteers do you have uh we roughly well we we just purged the system because we've got got a clear way for uh pending volunteers so we we keep about 35 volunteers 35 right and we can't we're i wish we could take on more righ

» t now and that's why we're having to purge the system because we don't have enough have you had a problem getting volunteers no sir you sent a decline in volunteers uh nationwide absolutely yes with your department not with my department no sir you're doing something right well i appreciate that we've we've got great people that spend a lot of time with our volunteers. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. Great. Any further comments? Mr. Chairman. Yeah, go ahead, Mr. Tucker. I was sitting here looking at this resolution, so to make sure that we're not a bunch of male chauvinists up here, I want to thank Ms. Rhonda Coleman, I think is the secretary. Ms. Coleman, yes, that's Ms. Rhonda.

» Thank you so very much, because we keep saying guys and men, and we appreciate any young ladies that serve volunteer or full-time, but thank you as well, please. Yeah, she's the keeper of the department, I promise you. Okay. I had one question. Why is it your people always seem to win when the Camden has their fire fest? Every time. Your guys win every time. Just good people. But Camden's got some really good people this year, and Camden did really well on the state level. And we're just proud to be right there beside them. But it's time for the system to purge itself a little bit, too. You can't win all the time. So I guess we decided to give up a few trophies this year. Yeah, congratulations there. Yeah. So with that, I'm ready to vote. Mr. Connell, how do you vote? I vote yes.

» And all others, signify by raising your hand. Yeah, I'm going to vote. All right. I'm waiting on you. All right. Mr. Jones, Mr. Burns, Mr. Gardner, Mr. Tucker, Mr. Snodgrass, Mr. Brasnell, how do you vote? You vote against. yes sir all right we have one no and the motion passes why would you thank you very much asking that question mr chairman i thought he i thought i think that was it was disrespectful no it's certainly not before i leave the thank you again thank you all i appreciate it and um thank you so much thank you very very much thank you men and women of the blue golf fire department thank you very much now with that we move to the next item executive search contract compensation and as a contractual matter uh it includes an executive session uh in which we will take mr the bows a

» nd the and the council members uh for a short session an executive session after which we will return to a vote so with that can we have a motion to move uh into an executive session on a search contract and compensation as a contractual matter uh with those attending uh can i have a motion mr chairman i make the motion that we move to executive session okay can we have a second second a second for mr gardner a discussion yes yeah mr jones mr chairman i uh i'm going to vote against this executive session because one i don't think as a lame dope county council we should be involved in trying to organize a pick the next county administrator now second all right second second i think if we're going to do the executive session we need to do it after the end of this county council meeting so the

» se folks that are waiting to hear what we have to say or they have we have other business that we take care of it doesn't make them wait any longer okay so can we so i'd like to make an amendment that if you're going to do your uh executive session that we do it at the end of this meeting so we don't inconvenience the people who are out here all right can we have those who don't like me can we have a second uh there is no second uh mr connell uh i don't hear from you so uh the motion fails so we move to a vote and uh mr connell how do you vote well yes and uh the rest signify by raising your hand mr snodgrass mr tucker mr gardner mr burns and mr brazel uh those opposed uh mr jones a motion passes uh mr connell will set up for a communication in the executive session and with that we move in

» to executive session i will be going back just so i know what's going on thank you forum mr connell are you up i'm on all right we got ben we have all seven mary reconstituted can i have a motion to return from executive session make a motion to come out executive session mr chair can we have a second second second from mr gardner first from mr tucker uh any discussion uh seeing there is none i would declare us and let's have a vote mr connell how do you vote i vote yes and all others signify by raising your hand returning from executive session uh mr snodgrass mr tucker mr gardner mr burns and mr brazel uh mr jones how do you vote i did not participate in executive session so you uh you're abstaining i'll abstain abstain mr jones abstains and we are returned from executive session and uh i

» have a report that no action was taken and we'll move on to the next item in the agenda which is council breeze starting with mr snodgrass sir thank you mr chair uh members of council the you know the last three and a half years have been a journey of a lifetime and over 10 years ago when i moved here with my family i simply fell in love with this community we first fell in love with the folks of our congregation that we came to serve at the first church of Nazarene, and we quickly realized that the folks at that church were just a great, were just really a microcosm of the great community here in Kershaw County. The love for this community quickly moved me to get involved with organizations that made a difference in the lives of people.

» Organizations like Christian Community Ministries, Food for the Soul, the United Way, and of course our local ministerial association. And it was through this lens that I was able to gain a wider perspective of this great community. It was out of this experience in our community and my desire to see a community like East Camden be represented that I began to pray about maybe if there was a room for me to lend my voice to public service through County Council I knew it wouldn't be easy I mean let's be honest then with a name like Snodgrass and being a pastor in a small Nazarene Church that really isn't that isn't the recipe for campaign success but I quickly realized that folks weren't concerned about things like a last name but someone who would help them have a seat at the table they were

» more concerned about having fair representation to ensure that county government worked efficiently for all people. It has been a joy and a complete labor of love in these recent years to have a front seat in the work of ensuring the vital roles of county government are adequate to meet the needs of our community. I've learned that campaigning and serving are two totally different things. I learned that serving involves figuring out how departments like Solid Waste can continue to serve the needs of a growing community and do it efficiently. I learned that serving means doing the hard work of helping a volunteer based fire service pivot to more of a hybrid model of a career and volunteer fire based service.

» I learned that serving means realizing that our first responder community goes beyond the vital front line but it also includes those number one dispatchers who are vital to ensuring that the front lines understands the who what when and where of the emergency that they've been called to. I learned that serving means we use our resources in a way to ensure our recreation plan in the county is one that can serve all citizens and one that adds value to the quality of life in Kershaw County in serving I have learned that when a community invest in itself it simply gives those wanting to invest wanting to invest it gives them more reason as to why they should pursue the American dream here in Kershaw County with their endeavors so please know this serving the people of Kershaw County through be

» ing elected by the citizens of District 5 is an absolute joy but the time has come for this chapter to end as much as I love this community I simply felt like I was being led to another assignment within my work as a pastor I don't expect everyone to fully understand what goes into making a decision like that but for me it was one that I was I felt was convinced that the Lord would have me to do but my work has taken me out of the community I've been intentional about remaining present and maintaining residency here in an active part of this community in order for my kids to finish school, for my wife to fulfill her commitment to the Kershaw County School District, and ultimately to ensure that the citizens who elected me would always have representation in this seat.

» And so I'm announcing to you, my fellow council members, that I am resigning effective Wednesday, July 13th at noon. Governor McMaster's office has been made aware of this action. because of the time in my term a replacement for district 5 may come as a way of an appointment from governor mcmaster and so to some of my fellow council members it's been a joy to work with you thank you for your commitment to kershaw county through your public service mr jones it's been an honor serving with you and believe it or not our banter back and forth on issues has been very helpful i appreciate the tenacity in which you approach your work here on council mr.

» Brazel it's been great getting to know you these last two years I appreciate how you have helped us see issues from different perspectives and and how your persistence and ensuring things get done has been a value add to this body also thank you for roasting really good coffee yes Kevin that's right mr. Connell I admire your attention to detail and your desire that we get it right the first time you've helped me understand that at the end of the day we come here to call balls and strikes and then we get back to serving our families in our community mr. Gardner with within your quiet demeanor I've come to realize the wisdom you gained through life experiences and your time on council thank you for quiet for quietly yet faithfully always serving Kershaw County mr.

» burns a lot of people don't get to see what's behind your attitude of determination but I have you as do others on this dais love this county and simply want to see it thrive so we can always say it's a great day in Kershaw County mr. Tucker what most people may not realize is that you're probably one of the coolest heads up here you've lost some votes you've won some votes but no matter what no matter what your level of commitment to serve never changed you've helped me realize that we don't have time to worry about the letter behind someone's name because there's work to be done. To county staff, thank you so much for your commitment to this county. There's one thing that I've learned.

» It's that the citizens of Kershaw County are served well by people who get up every day and make sure the trash that you don't want gets from the convenience center to the landfill. People who get up every day and put on a uniform and run into chaos and go into trouble when we're running from it is the people who come into the government center to ensure that the function of the people is operating, is able to serve. And so thank you so much. And to my family, at the end of it all, I wouldn't be here without the support of my wife, Casey, and our kids, Addison and Avery. Thank you, Casey, for helping me faithfully serve. Out of all the political and government experts that tried to give me advice, yours always proved to be the best.

» I know through the times, your advice, and well, I'm saying I know that because sometimes I took your advice and sometimes I didn't, but every time I realized I should just listen to her. Thank you for always reminding me of why I wanted to serve. One of my favorite writers and preachers, John Wesley said, God grant that I may never live to be useless. This has been my prayer while serving on council and will continue to be my prayer in the days ahead. Respectfully submitted, Davis Nodgrass, District 5 Council Member. Thank you.

» very much david thank you thank you very much david mr tucker uh thank you i ask you to be quiet in here please thank you go ahead mr tucker i thank you mr chair and my colleagues um david i want to say to you first and foremost um thank you thank you for the willingness to serve and we all up here um we don't get elected to serve for two years or three years or three and a half years uh we get elected to serve for four years and i know uh all along what your mission was when you first told us that you were being transferred back in i think february that you wanted to please ma'am you wanted to continue to serve the mixer there was representation in district 5.

» and i commend you for asking the governor to have your replacement since it's It's been determined who that is to be placed in this seat. And that could have been sooner, but we had a runoff. So that delayed that much longer for two weeks. But I thank you. I think you've been a smart, innovative council member. You've brought a lot of value to this council. Some may not see it now, but as the years continue to mark by, they will see it. And I know all of us as citizens, elected officials, and just people in common, we're all having a tough time and tough decisions and choices to make in this United States of America. It's whipping a lot of us, but because we're struggling, we're able to pay gas bills, we're able to buy grocery. I feel that as well.

» And as I say that, it does not, it does not cause you to be mean and disrespectful. That happens enough in Washington, D.C. Don't bring those politics and those attitudes down here. We all live together, go to church together, shop together, cry together, play together. We do too many things together, and we have to see one another. The divisiveness in this body of county council tonight has been the worst I've ever seen in the history of my life, even before I got on council. And I'm highly disappointed in all of us. And it comes from, and it comes from. All right, I'm going to stop right there. Young lady, would you ask her to leave, please? The young lady in the white blouse, please. Thank you very much. Mr. Tucker, please go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

» So as I was saying, so let's continue to do more loving than hating and finding discontent ways to talk about each other. We're not going to agree on all votes and all policies, but just do know when the pendulum swings into your direction and you have the authority to make decisions and have been elected by the people, then you will make those. you would not want someone to treat you that way when you sit in these seats if you ever be so fortunate to run and get elected and i say that because we realize that this is going to probably be the biggest change on council in the history of kershaw county there's four seats that's going to be given up come january if not earlier and when this vote i've sat here long enough to watch this vote go 4-3, not in my favor. It went 4-3 so long, Mr.

» Jones, I thought I was playing football for Canada High or the Pittsburgh Steelers. I thought it was defense. That's how long it went along. But you yet to hear me sit up here and bash anybody, say ugly and mean things, did not take my lumps as they come. It's democracy. And I think we all should be like that. No, we're not going to have it our way. It goes around. I promise you, the world is not flat. It's going to circle around. And I'm asking all of the elected officials that are about to be placed up here within the next six months to keep that in mind as you take this seat. Don't drive that divisive attitude. Don't take a part of that because your turn's coming. I promise you, your turn's coming.

» With that, I want to say to the farmer market folks, I feel your plight, and I'm sorry that you had to go through this. That's a whole part of our United States of America, too, is we need to speak the truth. if we speak the truth then it is so much easy for people to accept when you don't speak the truth or you speak whatever you hear like i'm from the navy scuttlebutt then you cause hard feelings and you cause um people to take a position that normally they probably wouldn't take so i'm gonna get off my soapbox here um it's been a pleasure to serve up here for the terms that i have, but it's really making me think, has it really, really, really, really, or is it really, really something that I want to continue to do in the future? Because what I can't do is I can't sit up here and spar at

» council meetings and have ugly and mean things said from both sides of this dais. Neither party deserves that, elected officials or the citizens. And most of all, our children deserve better. Our grandchildren deserve better. We know better. We need to do better. That concludes my report, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. Mr. Gardner. I simply want to say thank you, David, for your service. You hit the ground running from day one and you've run all the way to today and we appreciate it and I hope the people of Kershaw County appreciate it as much as I do. Thank you for your friendship and best of luck down the road. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Gardner. Mr. Breisel.

» Yeah, I'll also say David Snodgrass has been a pleasure to work with we hadn't gotten to know one another tremendously well it's been about 18 months but he's always been a gentleman none of us will ever agree on everything God made us different God made us different for a reason but I'm gonna tell you I've been a lot of places seen a lot of things and I'm dang sure proud to be an American and I'm glad that everybody was able to come here and voice their opinion you have that right we have that ability there's so many countries in which we cannot do what we do here in Kershaw County in America and I'm proud to be a part of it might not agree with everything that everybody says and I certainly don't want to see any fights break out would like to be respectful to one another but I'm so thankf

» ul for that and I hope you are as well so god bless and have a good night mr. Kyle Thank You mr. chairman David it's been great working with you I'm appreciative of someone that that has a young family that's willing to step out and run for office and then serve, that takes a particular time, commitment, and sacrifice. And so I respect you for that and wish you very well. Mr. Chairman, the only other thing I was going to remind the public about is we've got the Yak the River event coming up this Saturday. It's a really fun annual event.

» And I believe we're also going to have a portion of the Palmetto Trail that goes from the upstate to the low country opened and hiked this weekend as well lining up with the yak the river event i'll be out there my wife will be out there kristen we love to do it every year and you can find more information about it online and sign up if you want to participate thank you sir mr jones just a couple things right quickly uh please don't take this the wrong way david i'm just being honest with myself on this i have not enjoyed working with you but i respect you as a person um you and i have sparred back and forth and we've each other the coffee club and everything was fine i respect that in you but uh we just have different philosophies and i do think you should have left earlier and but you kno

» w you hold that seat you decide saying that's fine and i've got to say this because if i don't i'm in trouble my grandchildren are watching me tonight my eight well i know seven are i love you papa loves you they're on the uh video but anyway thank you all right now i'll conclude uh i want to salute a particular act of courage by Mr. Snodgrass. He knew he would take heat for staying on but he was the elected official leaving early representing not one but 10,000 people. Some of those 10,000 were in this room tonight and disagreed with the way he voted but you've got to stand up and salute the courage he took to say I can't leave early during a budget process. I have 10,000 people to represent. Now, you may disagree with how he voted, but I certainly know a brave man when I see one.

» Thank you. Now, how he voted may have led some of you to disagree with his decision to do the representation, but that's up to you, and perhaps you ought to give that a second thought. Farmer's Market, we'll see you Saturday, like I do every Saturday. The blackberries are my special favorite and i'll see you there sc7 is on saturday uh yakking the river has been said and the ribbon cutting just to add to what he said is at 15 30 that's 3 30 uh out at the environmental park in camden so try to support that it's a terrific add to our county to have this trail being brought by one of our native sons tom mulligan and i ask you all to consider that our next call the next scheduled meeting is not August but I expect we'll have a call meeting and I ask you all to watch that and miss Mary will alwa

» ys take care of that with that I go to the administrator who has brought us through this difficult time sir Danny sir I cannot top what happened tonight so no report I have no report very good can we have a motion to adjourn mr. Tucker a a second y'all can stay here if you want mr gardner uh any comments uh mr connell how do you vote i vote yes yeah and all those in favor signify very good mary we are unanimous and we are adjourned have a be have a good night and be safe out there