Full meeting transcript - August 9, 2022

» test test test test test test test test one two test one two test one two test one two test one two let's get started you ready mary all right you got the deal you ready to do it again all right we have a quorum and we are duly gathered it's a great day in kershaw county all-american county uh school has started holy smokes did anybody not know that false sports have started uh false sports have also started in the rec department uh tracy elmore was the national stem teacher of the year this is a pretty good place to be in kershaw county world series post 17 duly reported by both uh chronicle interior uh conical and i said interior independent and the wpub radio station they're going to go play on thursday post 17 sponsored by the great american legion our emergency services had a terrific

» workout on that chemical spill we hope it never gets replicated but i want to congratulate all the members of the emergency team from fire police ems and on and on who did a great job 9-1-1 of course it's just it's just a great county we do a lot of things very well i want to welcome brant tomlinson tonight for district five thank you you answered the call from our governor to fill a space in district five a great sacrifice to your family in advance of you hopefully winning and maybe i'll show you my bias in november but uh thank you for taking the call at the last minute to step up and thanks too for your wonderful and diligent behavior on the a tax committee over the last few years everyone reports what a great loss that will be now that you've joined the council from the a tax committee

» thanks for all that you did there and i will start off tonight as mr tucker ended last time we met in an appeal for a return to civility and and decorum in this body and with the people that participate from the audience the last council mr tucker properly pointed out how things went kind of negative and i asked for a spirit of collaboration in the messy middle where people don't necessarily always agree but where disagreement is not equated to disrespect and that goes to the audience as well let's stay on focus and stay on the business of the county which is hearing from the people of the county and acting on that in a in an objective way to produce great results best value for the least amount of money uh with that the chairman though however is charged with keeping decorum here and i'll

» try to to do this best as i can when we move forward and not repeat some of the unfortunate events that happened the the last time we met so with that we are duly gathered we have a quorum as i said and i turn to mr tucker to lead us in the pledge of allegiance and the invocation would you all please stand thank you let us all bow our heads and open our hearts godfather almighty we come to you as humbly as we know how asking for your grace and mercy upon us we all know and you know that we're not always the perfect children that you birth that we sometimes make mistakes and errors and bad decisions, but I'm asking you today, Lord Father, to bless everyone that's on this dais and everyone that's in this audience and every ear and eye that is listening online.

» Give all of us the understanding, the love, compassion, and wisdom to conduct this business in a loving and harmonious way, not having to agree on all things, but always loving and respecting one another. Lord Father, I ask that you pray for our men and women that's overseas and here on this land of the United States, to give them the protection as they continue to protect our freedoms and liberties that are so provided by all the wonderful things that they do. I ask that you give us travel and mercy back to our various destinations as we depart this place, but never your presence. I ask all these things in your son Jesus' name. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation, one God, indivisible.

» Thank you very much indeed, Mr. Tucker. move now to our agenda as posted on the board and the first item is public comments so mr dubose what do we have signed up here we have four people have signed up the first person signed up is matthew hutchinson hutchinson all right mr hutchinson as you come forward i'll review the rules of the of the body here which essentially is summed up in uh staying on beam and not off of policy matters we don't attack persons in this organization uh we also uh would ask that you limit your comments i think we have enough time for five minutes per person right mr dubose yeah good uh so mr hutchinson please go ahead please uh first i'd like to start out reminding the chairman that the behavior of the audience last month was a direct result of the behavior of the

» council um before i'd start i'd like to commend the council on this once a month meeting format i think this is a great idea that should continue far into the future it would give you less opportunity to continue pushing your unwanted agendas i'm going to make a few comments about some items on tonight's agenda number one the millage rate increase shame on you for even considering a rate increase in the first place last meeting you deleted the hospitality tax due to the anger in the room i ask you to do the same with the millage tonight Number two, hiring Vic Carpenter as a so-called consultant to search for his replacement.

» Do you really think that paying a former employee a $5,000 retainer, allowing him autonomy to bill the county at $125 an hour whenever he sees fit, plus paying for his travel expenses is a wise decision? We have a fully trained and very capable man sitting in a seat right now. I'll save us citizen thousands of dollars right now, here tonight. Hire Danny Templer and be done with the nonsense.

» this idea is nothing more than a scam to slide some cash to an old friend again shame on you whoever votes for this tonight number three it's bad enough that this county is begging the federal government for money but using a third party to do it for us is just pitiful we should not have any involvement with a socialist organization like the council of governments this is a progressive central planning and it needs to stop the citizens of this county clearly rejected this behavior in the primaries and you should bend to the will of the people stop with your status agendas i read the chairman's letter to ralph norman in one sentence nearly made me rich i'll attempt to read it now the federal government this is a quote the federal government works best when it works to meet the needs of the l

» east of its citizens this seems to be copied directly out of marx's communist manifesto maybe it was just a class in west point yet again shame on you number four the comprehensive plan expenses. Paying a consultant firm out of Chicago, they combined $314,660 when we could have gotten the same job done for far less by using a local company. It's pretty typical for how this council has operated over the last eight years. This is a disgusting amount of money to be leaving our county when we have people struggling to put food on their tables. You're raising taxes higher and higher while wastefully spending more and more. Shame on you a fourth time.

» January can't come soon enough hopefully us taxpayers can hang on till then thank you thank you sir mr dubose the second person that signed up is rachelle alexander miss alexander oh i'm sorry mr alexander first one is litter they still living on can you bring the mic over real close okay the first one is littering i complained a while ago about the littering the second thing is the um used to have of signs that smiling faces beautiful places that has changed everything i want to bring if you bring the mic center you can the first thing was littering all right the second was smiling faces beautiful places that has changed but when you come into south carolina now when you come across from all the border from north carolina the big old sign it has a big welcome south carolina but that is not

» beautiful and the fourth or the third and final thing is this building right here when first came to kershaw county this building used to be open if you wanted to know who represented your area the room on the side had a big old map and you can look and see who represented your area and it wasn't all closing you always see people that you needed to see that's all i have to say thank you thank you mr alexander uh mr bones the third person signed up is jeff maddox mr maddox hello gentlemen um i didn't really know what i was going to talk about tonight but i come to come to the conclusion long ago that i find nothing that government does that doesn't have unintended consequences and back in 2008 you might remember the uh great financial crisis and where the government came in and bailed out ba

» nks 750 billion dollars all kinds of government intervention and those unintended consequences are still haunting us today with inflation running wild spending running wild i went i i started a search then and for all these years i've been looking and looking and investigating i've looked in every nook and cranny all over the place to find one thing one thing that the government has done that has done what it was supposed to do and has had nothing but good outcomes i can't find one not a single one economic development is the same way were interfering in free markets like two years ago. When Henry came in and said, everybody's got to wear a mask and we're gonna shut down the boat ramps or anything. Unintended consequences, yeah, we had a lot of them.

» Liberty, no, we had none of that, we had none of that. And not a single person said, why the hell are we closing boat ramps? I don't remember anybody saying, Henry, what are you doing? Nobody in this chamber. I had some people talk about the mask when the mask ordinance and you guys were trying to pass the mass ordinance and all there were people that spoke against it. I wouldn't come in here with that with a face diaper on. I had already done my homework. I had found 30, 32 or 35 studies, good conclusive studies that masks don't work and they create more problems than they solve. We know now that these vaccinations don't stop transmission. We were promised this is our way out. We've heard lie after lie after lie. And now everybody went along with it.

» Everybody went along with it and took liberty away. And now we're still under a state of emergency that never was sunsetted here unless Henry says so. Well, Henry never said so. What's the emergency? Now everybody's gonna be afeard of monkeypox. Are the face diapers coming back? Yes, they are. Are vaccinations for this monkeypox coming? Yes, they are. Are they gonna be lies? Yes, they are. Government that governs the best governs the least.

» And this government has become out of control whether whatever level you want to get on you interfere in every sort of way you tell me what i can build where i can build it when i can build it how i can build it and how much you're going to cost to get you to come out and look at it that gentleman should been to left to the free markets it should have been left to insurance companies and banks to take care of that problem and if i build my house out there and i go to sell it the bank would send somebody out there the insurance company would send somebody out there to make sure that it lived up to their code not the government's little minute little codes i built over the code my houses cost five thousand dollars more than the next person because i built above that code but everybody was buy

» ing the square footage because they felt safe because the government inspected it more trouble than you're worth in most cases. This idea that all these parks and all this economic development and interfering in free markets and that kind of thing. This is all just gobbledygook, get out of the way and let the free market do its thing. Interference from the day the Constitution was signed, we have seen corruption and corruption and corruption. And now it's gotten to the Solomon Gomorrah, we're in big trouble.

» it's because big government you either get liberty or you get government the chains are unbound gentlemen i i hate to tell you this but america's burning and this council other councils and state houses and federal government are to blame these people here are to blame too and those people out there are to blame too we're all guilty hell i didn't wake up until i was 47 and I've been fighting it ever since. It's time for us to return to the fundamental function of government, and that is the protection of individual liberty. Do no harm to somebody, and don't steal other people's stuff. That's the basic rules. You can judge every law, every ordinance, every regulation off of those things.

» do no harm to somebody and don't steal somebody's stuff every law just like your matt was talking about paying a hundred and or three hundred thousand whatever it is to go through this code i could go through that code and judge against that one rule and i could strike every damn thing off of there just about mr maddox can you wrap it up please yes sir i can wrap it up thank you very much i'm just trying to to tell you guys we've got to put the chains back on it we're getting ready to have a civil war you know it you feel it and you smell it i don't know what what the answer is boys i just don't know what the answer is but i pray to god we find one thank you thank you mr maddox good to see you mr bose the last person that signed up is susan jones miss jones mr chairman mr vice chairman coun

» cil members it's good to see you all thank you so much for your service and for this opportunity to speak to you tonight my name is susan jones now i'm not here to criticize the judge or to condemn i'm not here to make a request to complain or to impose my way of thinking on anyone else i'm simply here to share a story it's a story about a kitchen table you see In my home on Concord Drive in Valley Park, we had a round kitchen table. Now, it was not uncommon for me to come home from basketball practice at Camden High School and find a state representative, a state senator, a governor, or even a U.S. congressman sitting at our kitchen table. More often than that, I would walk in and find different members of the community sitting around that table.

» On most occasions, I would be in the den and could hear some of the discussions that were taking place around that kitchen table. would hear phrases such as would you be willing does that work for you can we have a little more conversation concerning this subject and the phrase let's start in the middle where common ground lives another thing I remember is the sound of laughter which at times grew increasingly loud now as a teenager I didn't have appreciation of those gatherings like I do now you see as I grew older I realized that the people gathered around that table some males some females some African Americans and some whites they all wanted the same thing they wanted solutions and they all had different ideas about how issues and challenges should be resolved but the one thing they ne

» ver lost sight of and that was finding a solution they worked tirelessly together to find win-wins and that's where the middle ground came in they started in the middle and worked their way out with each step offering each person an opportunity to contribute There was quite a bit of give and take during those solution gatherings. The one thing I wasn't aware of at the time was those people sitting around our kitchen table were Democrats and Republicans. Let me say that one more time. There were Democrats and Republicans sitting around that kitchen table. Something I never really thought about until recently was there were some things absent from that table, and that was yelling.

» as every good communicator knows yelling is only volume so of course the content cannot be heard there was never any harsh words never any foul language or put downs apparently egos weren't allowed around that table as well the solution was always a center stage it was never about who was right but what was right for the good of the people of kershaw county it's no secret that our country has had a major shift a shift in which the word united is dimming on the light that our lady of liberty holds so proudly now i don't know about you but to me this division is not to be taken lightly the anger alone that is displayed at board meetings sporting events government meetings and even at churches is at a dangerous level sadly just last week while grocery shopping with my son I took a minute to sh

» ow him where all the exits were. My son is autistic, so I had to take a lot of time to explain to him what would happen if someone, Mr. Chairman, came in that grocery store and started shooting. I don't ever remember my dad having that conversation with me. A friend of mine called me recently and suggested I watch a certain meeting that was in progress on a live stream. I asked him why, and he said, trust me, just watch it. And I did. And I actually went back and replayed it a total of three times. I studied body language.

» i listened to words that were used in tones i think the thing that affected me the most was the intentional use intentional use of hurtful derogatory and disrespectful words key word here is intentional i often hear people say that god made us all different and how right they are there is one thing however that he gave us that is alike and that is free will we are free to choose our words so when we choose to speak to one another in such hurtful ways i often wonder what is the motivation is it a need to show what you deem as strength in my humble opinion it has become more popular to be a divider as opposed to a uniter mr gardner it used to be that people clapped when they heard an inspirational talk and talks that lifted people up now it appears we are clapping when a person is being attac

» ked either verbally mr connell or physically there There once was a time when reaching across that aisle, working through a difference in opinion and finding common ground was looked upon in a very positive manner. Now, if you even attempt to work with the opposite party, you are labeled at worst, Mr. Chairman, a traitor. You are hailed as a hero the more you oppose any and everything. Shake your fist, point your finger in whatever you do, talk over others as loudly as you can. Do not look for win-wins.

» Where have all of our statesmen gone? do we really want this sentiment of division to move in and take up permanent residence here in our precious county? If so, what would that division look like? Should we have a Republican and Democratic fire station? You know, so when you call in with your emergency and they say, what is your emergency? And you let them know what it is. And they ask you your name and your address. And then we add, what is your political party? And depending upon your answer, Firemen and firewomen from your political party will come and rescue you and your family.

» Now, what if, however, your party happens to be out on another call and the only help available is the opposite party's responders? Will you say, never mind, we'll figure something out? While this may seem far-fetched, just remember, none of us in this room, none of us in this room ever thought that we would be worried and living with the realization about getting killed during a church service or someone walking into a school and start shooting at innocent children. Susan, I'm going to need to ask you to move along. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you. You know what a Jones does. They just get up for it. We love you. So, words matter. Self-discipline matters. Empathy matters. Truth matters.

» I pray that this present governing body and the members coming on in a few months will choose to work in a harmonious and solution-focused manner. May I humbly suggest that this governing body consider enlisting the help of a professional that specializes in conflict resolution and leadership training. Use the free will that God gave you in a way that will glorify him. I'd like to share with you, in closing, a scripture. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. I know how fortunate I was growing up around that kitchen table. That table was truly special. It makes me sad to think that maybe they don't make kitchen tables like they used to. Or do they? It's up to you.

» In closing, I'd like to dedicate this to my father, Bobby Jones, who knew the vital role that that kitchen table played in our everyday lives. Thank you so much for your time. Susan, we really enjoyed that. Thank you, Susan. Thank you. Mr. DuBose, that concludes the sign-up list. Very good, and that concludes public comments. We move now to a public presentation by Clemson Extension, Mr. Ryan Bean. Ryan, are you here? Yep, there you are.

» and no predictions on football tonight okay i keep it positive county council uh thank you for having us tonight um i've heard a lot of things about this county over the last couple months but i want to assure you that of all the counties i work in in the state and i do work statewide and for those of you don't know me i'm a forestry and natural resource agent with clemson extension uh based here in camden this is my home county and we're so grateful to have a office space provided by this county but in all the counties that i work in across the state i really do say that this is my favorite county to work in the people here are welcoming they are kind-hearted they are willing to make change and willing to take the information that we provide and make those changes with that in mind i wante

» d to tell you we have a 4-h agent that is new to this council she's been here for a good while now but we haven't been here to talk to y'all yet but i wanted her to come in tonight simply to tell you about the great things that go on in the county with our youth and related to agriculture and how Clemson Extension is doing our best to serve the youth of this county and then open up the dialogue afterwards for y'all to give us some feedback on where we might be able to strengthen that but without going too much further this is Haley Vincent our 4-H agent for Kershaw County Haley good to see you again good to see you too. Thank you for letting me speak tonight. My name is Haley Vincent.

» I've been here for almost two years now, and I worked as an intern while I was a student at Clemson for two years, so I did have experience through that as well. But since I've been here, you know, I hit the ground running because I was super excited because this is kind of like my passion. I never, ever thought that I would be an educator which I am never really saw myself working with kids but I do that every day now and my role I'm trying to bring the things to kids that are not being taught anymore you know the essentials of life agriculture and natural resources because that's how I was brought up even though I'm not I'm very young things have changed drastically since I was these kids age so I'm trying to do that in the schools outside of schools and clubs you know if we can do it vir

» tually like we did with COVID a lot of that was virtual so I try to hit them you know in every possible way that I can community events you know but a lot of these youth that we have in this county are not fortunate enough to be able to pay and do stuff so I hit a lot of kids in the schools because that's where they are they're there every day so that's where I go And right now, or this past year, I was in six schools, five of those were public schools, one of those was a private school, and that was Camden Military Academy. Since I've started, I have reached over 1,000 youth in this past year, and I've actually had about a 50-50 ratio for males and females, which is not, you know, your normal.

» You usually have way more girls than boys in 4-H, but I do have a lot of males that are very interested in this. And I have three active clubs within the county. And that is a natural resources club that focuses on conservation, wildlife. And they were actually the state winner for South Carolina 4-H for the Wildlife Food Plot Project. So they planted that, had great success. Wildlife came. It was great. And then I have a horse club. This is a very big horse county. So I have a 4-H horse club. and these kids do not have to own a horse to participate. So Rebecca Hudson actually allows them to work with her horses, and she teaches them all aspects of horses. And I have a shotgun shooting club that is led by a former military veteran.

» His name is Brad Lowing, and he teaches gun safety, shooting sports. He teaches all the aspects of that, just the things that kids need to be aware of. And I was able to have eight very successful summer camps this summer. I was very busy. The kids loved it. But all of this could not be possible without any of your support that you give me, and my plans for this coming year is to do embryology within all of the third grade classrooms. The standards just changed from second grade to third grade, so I will have to switch those. So we will be hatching chicks in classrooms in the schools. I'm adding two more school gardens and that's at Leslie Stover Middle School and Lugoff Elgin High School. And I'm starting a homeschool club.

» So the homeschool kids, not just the public schools, they're involved as well. And I'm gaining another elementary school and that is Midway Elementary. I'm just trying to promote awareness of 4-H in the county because 4-H is declining thing so i'm trying to you know build it back up make everybody aware and it's not just your agriculture and your sewing stuff like that i mean we do any and everything and i try to provide those for those opportunities for every single child in this county i just wanted to say thank you for your support and your continued support uh do you mind taking a few questions all right comments uh mr tucker thank you uh mr chairman uh miss haley i just want to say thank you for uh reaching out um the west of watery moore and getting involved and picking out those scho

» ols because as i was going down your list i was like kind of strong over on this area on the east side but but appreciate that and um brad long is good people he's also the commandant out there at the canada military academy so he is you have a good partner yes he is very good thank you thank you for all you do mr chairman yeah ben thanks so much for coming tonight and thank you for having the foresight of doing a homeschool group especially with covid that community has increased significantly and a lot of them are interested in farming and agricultural and self-reliance so appreciate that very much other comments 530 percent increase uh in the last two years now that is something and you say you have over a thousand i have reached over a thousand kids and that is with over six hours of pr

» ogramming so six hours is our magic number so for us to really count it i have to have six hours of interaction with the kids so that is six hours for each kid yeah good mr chairman uh please sir i would just like to say thank you for what you're doing um as a clemson graduate um i love clemson i love the extension program and how they reach the communities and uh the 4-h programs uh something my dad did growing up it's not anything i did but it's been around for a long time and it's touched a lot of lives and a lot of families and a lot of kids so thank you for what you do yeah i want to echo that uh they didn't have 4-h when i was coming along and my version of 4-h was hanging tobacco in a hot hot barn on a harvest day i never want to do that again but this is really truly good get them y

» oung get them young and teach chair and then this county has i think it's somewhere in the top of the state in terms of agricultural uh business and at the top 17 and um in the united states of america for agriculture agriculture is a big deal in kershaw county did i step on you ben please go ahead i didn't mean to interrupt you at all i just had one other thought there's a pretty big master gardener community that's gone through the clemson extension program do you ever have the master gardeners in the the community come out and teach the kids or interact with them in any way um I don't right now but with all my school garden starting you know really pick up and stuff I do plan to utilize my master gardeners because you know they're master gardeners for a reason so I want to use them to co

» me to the school you know and teach it just be a great source of volunteers thanks other comments well thank you very much and I have a more optimistic view of your football team than does your boss thank you very much I appreciate it thank you all right the next item on the agenda let's see if i can catch up here is adoption of the agenda itself can we have a motion to approve the agenda on the screen second uh mr gardner got it first mr tucker second any discussion i'll just say i believe you're going to have us do an executive session there mr administrator tonight yes sir okay very good uh with that we move now to approval of minutes can we approve the minutes as written can we have a motion to do something like a motion to approve the uh mr tucker a second second oh yeah for mr um braz

» el any discussion thank you mr mayor uh none other than that we move to a vote all those in favor signify and uh i believe you would abstain uh brand yes though it's unanimous with uh mr tomlinson abstaining okay very good we move now to the uh madam clerk has a question yeah and we didn't vote on that oh my goodness thank you for bringing me back online uh since we put it up there let's go ahead and vote all those in favor signify and i believe you can vote on that one yeah it's unanimous thank you mary good gosh uh minutes have been approved and moved now to ordinances item number one is the second reading of an ordinance setting the millage rate for kershaw county for the fiscal year beginning 1 July it said tab B and in your electronic books it said page 8 with that can we have a motion

» to approve mr. make a motion to approve mr. Tucker a second second second for mr. Gardner it's on the table with that we'll move to a discussion of that I think the administrator has a couple of points to make I'll let you take it from there and then we'll get into discussion go ahead hopefully the screen works okay very good uh thank you mr chairman members of council i just wanted to briefly go over this and just recap what uh the process was for this budget and some of the things accomplished so up before you you have your the goals that were set out in february low medium and high priority that was initially set out as of second reading 14 june the items in red were not funded or not in work at the time the green items were in work and funded and the yellow were either in in work and or

» funded so they were in process green i'm sorry was completed and the yellow includes such things as the sheriff's pay rise and things of that nature right okay all right thank you moving on this is the the outcomes of of this budget as it was passed you can see a lot of things a lot of the red is removed still a couple items there but the lot of the yellows went away and we ended up with more green that was improvements to solid waste public services such as sewer the probate court we were able to add additional funding to the public defender so very important functions personnel were able to improve our employee retention incentives with competitive salaries public safety again going back sros fire ems and 9-1-1 which was a critical component for 9-1-1 bringing their salaries up into a com

» petitive area there so and then finance is the elimination of the sewer tax and a significant reduction in county debt as a result thank you that is my report there any questions for the administrator because he's going to be followed by the auditor if it's here any discussion questions all right yeah auditor are you here dennis there was some discussion about the millage levels and what that meant to houses a hundred thousand two hundred thousand three hundred thousand uh go ahead and uh dennis good afternoon council members miss mary uh mr dubose mr templer um during the last 30 days several council members have contacted me and asked me to run some numbers and give some give some examples on certain price homes in certain districts so i've prepared that i've dropped it off at each of you

» r um seatings and uh would like to go over that with you just briefly and answer any questions you may have and it will wrap up at the end and you can contact me afterwards for individual constituent concerns on how it may impact their values and their tax bills the first page is unincorporated districts which is basically almost everything other than the city of Camden the district 276 which surrounds Camden and the Lugoff Fire District the unincorporated the The proposed millage on a $100,000 primary residence, not including any homestead or other exemptions, is $30.60 a year. This added to the fee increase of $20 for fire and $43 for solid waste equals a total increase of $93.60 per year.

» For the Lugoff Fire District, which is a different millage, it's a little bit of an increase due to that millage going to actually Lugoff Fire. Proposed millage increase on $100,000 primary residence, again, without any homestead or other exemptions, is $33.46. This added to the fee increase of $60 for Lugoff Fire and $43 for solid waste equals a total increase of $136.46.

» these numbers are estimates based on the data available as of today's day and subject to change due to the local option sales tax credit that will not be determined until September and that's tax that we receive back from the state and we don't really have any numbers yet from the city of Camden and I haven't received any updates from the Kershaw County School District so based on what y'all have proposed so far that's the numbers without any homestead now I have a one council member requested that we run some rates for homestead and a quick quick history on homestead age 66 and above the first fifty thousand dollars in us in value you don't pay any taxes on that so that average is somewhere between 300 and 325 dollars a year there are some properties in kershaw county that don't meet the 5

» 0 000 and so they don't have any tax whatsoever but they still pay the fees the homestead does not exempt fees um and i'll speed this one up a little bit uh one hundred thousand dollar primary residence with homestead exemption is $21.60 a year. The fee increase of $20 for fire, $43 for solid waste. Adding that millage increase is a total of $84.60 from the previous year, 2021. On a $200,000 primary residence with homestead, the exemption is $36.43.

» Fee increase of $20 for fire 43 for solid waste comes to a total of $99.43 in the Lugo fire district the same scenarios the bottom line on that is an overall increase of a hundred and twenty dollars and forty six cents and that includes the $60 for fire 43 for solid waste and on a $200,000 primary residence the fee with the fee increase of 60 for fire and 43 for solid waste that total is an increase of 146 dollars and 52 cents and then lastly in the I had a council member ask on concerning a $300,000 house and that's on page three without any exemptions that increase is ninety one dollars and eighty cents and then you add the forty three into twenty gives it a hundred and fifty four dollars and eighty cents and again that's on a three hundred thousand dollar house on a four hundred thousand

» dollar house primary residence no exemptions the increase is a hundred and twenty two dollars and forty cents for millage twenty dollars for fire forty for solid waste, that equals $185.40. In the Lugo Fire District, same scenario equals an increase of $203.38 per year for a $300,000 home, and on a $400,000 home, the increase is $236.84. Now, the way we derived these numbers as we took properties from last year we took it exact notices and made the changes based on last year's assessments and changed that of the millage by the 4.5 that y'all had approved in the first reading and I'll be happy to answer any any questions you may have mr. Tucker thank you mr.

» Arles and appreciate you coming up explaining this and taking the time out and making it where we all can understand it um just want to make some points right quick in reference to it's not a six percent increase because i've heard that number floating out here since we uh working on the budget and um and that's a big difference in six percent versus uh six mils minus what we saved on sewer which was 2.1 which brought it back down to the 4.2 um is that correct that that is correct we don't calculate anything based on percentages we calculate in two dollars for the taxpayers and to the best of your knowledge these numbers and I'm sorry my voice is hoarse but um yeah I'm on very little sleep right now but it's all good so my question to you is these numbers are the best that you can derive to

» at this time but it does not include LST which is how I call it I'll rebate back to our taxpayers and that comes from the state once we figure that out so this could be worst case scenario and continue to get better well now when we calculated from last year and added change the millage this year yes that did include the lost credit from last year okay so it doesn't it does include the lost credit okay you know these numbers could go up a couple dollars or down a couple dollars based on that lost credit and again that is the local option sales tax credit that we receive based on tax sales tax dollars that we received back from the state right and I guess my last question is why was all this possible what changed in our County that allow us to have such little impact on the citizens was that

» the mill value well yes sir I mean when when you look at what I say a hundred thousand dollar our house today with the current value of a mill from last um the millage from last year will equal with no exemptions or anything roughly 700 a year a 4.5 mill increase um is i don't want to call it small but it's it's nowhere near going to um add 25 30 40 percent to the cost factor there thank you Mr. Arledge. All right I'd ask you to stick around because we I think the dialogue will continue. Without objection I think we ought to Mary if you would provide copies of these charts and the email we have from Mr. from Mr. Arledge to the media in the due time. So with that let's go. Mrs. Jones you have your hand up. Just a couple of questions. Thank you for being here Dennis, Mrs.

» service thank you so much you know I came to your office this week and I had requested this information and you got it for me and I remember you're not sitting there talking you know how much I appreciate you doing that you told me no council members ever called you for this kind of information but now tonight I hear this detailed as you had asked for yes sir okay that's correct okay well it will I appreciate that I just want to clarify that because I was a little bit confused because you know you said the council has requested this and and then i find out when i got here you're on the agenda to speak on the millage basically on the report that i asked about and i appreciate you doing that because you can certainly make it a whole lot more clear than i can and i mean that with the most kind

» est words it's just the facts councilman jones asked for what you see on page two which was in great detail and and a lot of people don't include age 66 and older which is our senior groups that sometimes are more difficult to pay the increases and you and i certainly agree um but i just you know that was a great idea that we had great dialogue and um you you we spent about two hours together we sure did on this we did but i just wanted to clear that up because i didn't know anybody else that came to you because at that time you had mentioned me that no council member has ever come not up to that point you're a very valuable resource to them with the numbers you have and and you've proved that to me whether i agree totally with everything or whatever but but what i've got the biggest proble

» m with it is not necessarily if it's four percent six percent i'll speak of it in just a little bit before we take the vote the way it was handled which has nothing to do with you but i thank you so much for you coming up here and and giving that report you did a better job than i could have thank you well i've got one of the best staffs and they um they are available to any of y'all if you've got constituent issues on any of these numbers we're here to service you i will say this too i have called you on numerous occasions with constituent issues and you have jumped right on it and i certainly appreciate that and uh you always have gotten back with me as well and you don't have to do that but you do and i just want you to know that's i appreciate your work ethic on that thank you you're we

» lcome other comments i'm back to you mr tucker you had the lead on that go ahead and have a seat dennis maybe you sit right back there and jump right back up um mr tucker another report at this time mr chairman uh the second i believe is mr gardner yeah i don't have a question at this time all right any other comments that this is to vote on second reading am i correct yeah i do have some comments all right please i think everybody's been waiting on that so i'm going to go ahead and do it with all the kindness and generosity that i can there's no malice in this this is just the facts the millage ordinance is part of the budget process and i want to expose the budget process for what it is this year it was done without any real public notice or public involvement the budget process was done

» by four members of council to keep the other council members in my opinion and the public in the dark until after the elections in june at second reading of the budget on election day june 14 2022 when voting was conducted no fees and no tax increases were discussed included or even mentioned four members of council included the outgoing defeated four members of council including the outgoing defeated chairman completely ambushed me and mr. Brazel with five amendments and added a big tax increase and big fee increases on third reading at around $63 in new fees and increased taxes to the maximum amount allowed mr.

» Connell also indicated that he also had no notice of a proposed amendment to the budget and added a big tax increase and voted against the amendment on third reading again four council members with no notice to the public or me or mr browser increased fees and taxes on i'll just use one example because dennis did a great job going all over a hundred thousand dollar owned house by citizen over 65 years of age that that increase is about 26 percent in in one year and i know we don't deal with the auditor doesn't deal with percentages but but i do in the real in the rural areas for a hundred thousand residents for a 65 year old 66 year old and above citizen kershaw county council in this year's budget increased fees and taxes 84 dollars uh in one year that's over a 26 percent increase in the f

» ee and tax burden for a citizen in a hundred thousand dollar home and and folks there's a lot of people to live in a hundred thousand dollar home and those are the most those are the ones that are most impact about what we do these fees and taxes of 26 increase for senior citizens in a 100 000 home come to the comes at the worst time when the uh county has a big surplus i think we've probably almost hit 26 million at some point time in our surplus uh the public was not fooled by the ambush you know we we try to do things up here and i won't go there just let me say this the public is not ambushed and uh about a third reading in the june election made it clear the june election made it clear that the public demands leadership and a new chairperson and new council in june i was kept in the da

» rk the public was kept in the dark but the public has spoken and starting january things will be different with a new county council majority new county council and with a new chairperson leading this government can and i will say this too and i truly believe this in my heart and i try to do everything i can to say it with no anger no malice no intent it's just the facts and i was told by a wise wise man who's no longer with us always if you're speaking the truth jimmy no matter how harsh the truth is it's the truth i don't believe government can be trusted at this time and i am part of government the city of camden has a 35 to 50 increase in their electric bills in one month a city council member tells the truth and says we guessed wrong when the city changed their electric provider now it

» is costing most kershaw county residents who have no choice but to buy the camden electricity at least one thousand dollars a year increase because this city cannot provide a vital service at a reasonable rate due to a bad decision by city council now you're saying jimmy why are you talking about city council when you're sitting here in county And I see the grins on a couple of faces out here. This is serious, guys. I take this very serious. I don't dislike or hate anybody up here. I just don't agree with most of them up here. I have my opinion. And when I have folks call me that live off very little each month, and their light bill or whatever has gone from $250 to $500, a lot of businesses has gone from $1,000 to $2,000, $1,400 to $3,000. Somewhere down the line, the vote was missed.

» I just challenge myself first to be more diligent and do a better job to the people I represent and also ask this council to do the same thing. Mr. Chairman and members of the council, thank you for your time. And that concludes my report at this time. Thank you, Mr. Jones. Other comments? I would also ask Mr. Templer a couple of questions. The green on the left-hand side is high priority.

» and much much of that was not delivered on the 14th of june which led to the discussion on the 28th of june uh to whether we fill those or not uh the green in the upper left is the sheriff's department millage correct correct and that accounts for what our first priority is as a council is to provide for the safety of our our people with the sheriff's office sros the fire and ems and 911 and all of those were funded with millage correct and millage impact was reduced by the fact that we cut our budget payments for debt because we cut debt in half is that correct almost in half we almost we had a debt that we cut in half with this budget cut in half so we all know that we were rightly criticized over the last say 30 years for incurring debt and this budget cut debt in half which then freed u

» p millage to be applied the things that we needed in the high priority on the left-hand side that's why the millage increase was less the second reason the millage increase was less was as you heard already the assessments went up so the value of a mill was higher and then the third reason is we dispense with the sewer tax and went with a rate payer mode in the past every citizen was paying the sewer tax it was an industrial tax industrial development tax but it came to be known as a sewer tax so you were paying for sewer whether you were getting sue or not is that correct mr. mr.

» Templer that's correct and that accounts for a a better than two mil decrease in the total millage that had to be applied in this situation so mr carpenter and mr templar have done an exemplary job of being able to fill what we asked you to do in february if you go back to the first chart you don't need to it's the same as this chart we had so many high priority requirements that we asked mr templar and mr carpenter to find ways to do that and lessen the impact on the citizens so that's what happened and it was a very fine job in the usual pattern of mr templar and mr carpenter now this is what we asked you to do with high priority medium priority and low priority on that chart that was the method we used and we've used it every year and we decided to find innovative ways thinking outside t

» he box to find ways to lessen the burden on tax so i think i pretty well sum that up uh with cutting debt in half getting ready to sewer tax and then exploiting effectively and very compassionately ways to reduce the tax burden it is a tax burden that is true but it is very low and we think we've apportioned it fairly well to do the thing for which the county was instituted first to do which is provide services and protection now part of this discussion began with the pressure we had on growth in this county especially in west watery that put a lot of pressure on services that we alone provide those services included waste sewer police fire and ems things that we could not do wrong we had to do right and much of that is in the left-hand side of this chart some of those were handled by fees

» through application of fees as in fire and others were handled through millage and that was the construct of this very effective budget it is a little painful for some of us for most of us and had to be taken in order to achieve what we the council agreed unanimously to every man up here and to include mr tomlinson's predecessor agreed on this prioritization in february it was unanimous but then comes the hard part which is the budget part and that's where we are we've moved beyond that now we're actually executing the budget with a millage against these priorities so further comments please yes sir mr i'll go ahead russell dennis uh can can i ask you a few questions yeah dennis if you don't mind coming back up sorry to make you get back up don't step on susan back there thank you dennis ye

» s so i've got a few questions just to help me better understand the different parts and pieces of how we collect revenue and what's different this year from last year. This past year was a reassessment, countywide reassessment. So this coming budget, the one we're working on now, will have an increase from the previous year. Is that correct? Well, you'll be based on last year's reassessment numbers. Yes. An increase in what? In revenue.

» I don't know okay I don't know that I have the answer to that increase in revenue over and above last year yes that what you're asking do due to the fact that homes have increased in value well do we know how much revenue will gain organically if you will no sir we won't have that information available probably till about September because we will not receive the information from Department of Revenue, which is the business personals, manufacturing, the fee load, all of that will not come into us until sometime in September.

» But now on the real estate part, there's nothing that's going to change from last year, from 2021 to 2022, other than new homes and new business well the real estate values increased though correct last year they increased so we do know we do how much we do know how much that increase is yes sir on the on the real estate side on the assessed values from last year yes we can we can draft a report for that i'd be i'd be interested in knowing how much additional revenue we've gained from organic growth from real estate values being worth more today than they were six years ago prior to the last reassessment all right so you're not looking from just 20 to 21 you're looking for six years past well isn't that the the point of time in which the last reassessment occurred five every five years five

» years ago it's we do our assessment every five years correct okay it's a good question and then you can you can delay it for a year so we went six years and then we end up doing it and then so the next one came four years later because you got to get back in road so that information comes from the assessor's office but I can request a report what I'm trying to understand is how much how many dollars Kershaw County will take in from from a natural organic growth just due to the fact that now my house is worth 20 or 30 percent more than it was because the real estate market's been obviously out of control um so that's a question i have that that i want to understand how much money do we have coming naturally without changing the millage okay um that that that's one question i have and i'd lov

» e to hear that number and know what that is um you i think you answered a question you don't know um what fee and loot money is is going to be yet right is that what you said no so we'll generate those bills come um again come september okay so that that was another question i had um but i would also like to know what that number is and then those numbers added together um that'll tell us okay we we increased revenue of whatever 500 000 2 million whatever it is i just like to know because those are revenues that are reoccurring revenues that we can use for services and prior to then we can provide you what the fee and loot numbers were from last year correct okay which we don't anticipate a lot of difference but um again that information comes to us from department of revenue okay let me be

» clear about that one though it was my understanding we don't have the dor report on philo till like november or so based on divestments evaluation investments and so on so that's certified as a part of a calendar year review is that correct we we don't bill them out until november right um but uh um but the information will be ready in september as you stated we normally receive most of our dor assessments in september um i would love to see that those numbers in october if at all possible okay as soon as soon as we get them we'll provide them to you sure at the next meeting that'd be great okay well i don't know what happened by your next meeting but i mean the the meeting after you receive them is what i mean i'm sorry um so i would like to know what that is and i would also like to be ab

» le to compare that number with how many dollars are gained due to the millage increase is a is a complete revenue increase for the county um so we're looking at things that are per house but there sure is a lot of houses and commercial buildings in kershaw county i'd like to know what that total number is we can't base a budget off of what we think a 100 000 house increase is going to be we can certainly debate whether or not we want to increase taxes on citizens but we can't i can't form of budget based on those numbers i got to look at the whole enchilada if you will so what you're looking for is the dollars gained by the millage overall correct the gross dollars correct so so we should have two increases one that's what i'm going to refer to as an organic growth and then one that's going

» to be a taxed increase a millage increase growth and so those numbers are combined is what kershaw county will gain as a whole and that that will be the amount of money that we have to work with if this budget passes than what it was last year i finally yeah okay mr browns got to share something with you for a second of course that's a very good question and let me just take give you a living example that happened blue golf fire came to us one year and they said uh we're here to tell you we don't have to ask for any more increase in millage this year because because of the population growth and the the increased value of the meal we've got new money we got additional money so there's a there's there's a lot to be said for what mr browser just asked for folks and i appreciate you've done tha

» t good job yes sir thank you um okay so the last question the local option sales tax whenever we know what that number is i would like to know if it's um if it's significantly more this year than last year um due to economic development in the the state of South Carolina um due to not not Kershaw County but due to places like Greenville and and BMW and Charleston with the Volvo plant and Boeing and all the tourism that we have Henry McMaster said there was a two billion dollar surplus and that we've been able to fund many things due to that surplus um two billion that's billion with a b because of things like economic development throughout the state and that there's going to be a decrease in South Carolina sales tax.

» A portion of that is going to come back to the citizens and then a portion of that's going to go to things like funding technical schools and a lot of benefits for students and so on and so forth that I can't remember every detail. But I would think that the local option sales tax number should increase due to everything just being significantly more last year was it was higher than normal but it was um from what i read it was based on stimulus money being spent uh the local option sales tax money goes back to the property taxpayers the county doesn't use any of that money that's the rebate that's correct so on your tax notice where you see lost credit right that is a credit back to the taxpayers so I'm wondering if that's increasing in an amount that would offset millage increases those ar

» e all things that I would need to know well we can look and see once we get those numbers what what type of if it's an increase or not I'd be surprised if it was an increase based on when I've looked back at the history I mean I've been in that office three years but when I look back at a tenure last year was the largest loss credit we've ever gotten back okay well i i would just be curious to know because um listening to his speech you know he i think stated uh we've we've got so much money to that we don't know what to do with all of it so we're going to give a portion of it back to the taxpayer and we fully funded um sros and schools and so forth and so on it was uh quite an inspiring speech to to say the least but i just i want to see how does that affect kershaw county specifically and

» does it right i mean are we really seeing are we seeing help are we seeing relief because of all those those high revenue numbers because of all the good things that that are in south carolina so um if those are things that we can put together that would help me wrap my head around this budget a whole lot more okay and and again you know if and to all council members if you come up with questions during between this this meeting and the next if you give me plenty of advance notice i'll provide you the answers we can get them okay we just can't pull them out of thing there but we can get them no and i'm not asking for that now i know but i'm just i'm just saying other other things that you as you come up with let us know because sometimes it takes all three of those departments to be able to

» come up with what you're looking for well and i'll be quite frank i i didn't have those questions until i listened to to what you had to say to us okay once i heard um the the explanations of of the what and the where and the why um those questions came to mind so i wanted to wanted to clarify thank you so much okay thank you appreciate it dennis other comments mr chairman okay ben so um tonight i'm going to support the millage and second reading only with a view towards third reading, because I'm still trying to figure out if there's a way we can do something that would not put Kershaw County in violation of state law, we're required to have our house in order by a certain date by state law and required to send out tax notices by a certain date by state law. And so in talking to Mr.

» DuBose, Mr. Templer, Mr. Arledge, they need to know what the millage actually is come first or second week in September, believe it was mr arledge and the budget requires three readings and a hearing the millage requires three readings in a public hearing and practically i'm still trying to research and figure out if there's a way we can do something that would impact the budget um you heard mr jones uh some of his points i certainly agree with i didn't like uh how the budget was handled but um it is what it is at this point four members of council voted in favor of it and so it's the budget that we have and so those are issues i'm still looking into mr chairman but i will support it on second reading tonight thank you thank you other comments very quickly uh mr jones thank you you know her

» e's where i'm at and he goes back to when i say do i trust government when i'm purposely i feel purposely left out of a meeting or process and then we sit up here and we say well we've reduced your debt we've reduced your mills we reduced your fees less money's gonna come out you know this county's done such a great job but i i would ask that you look at your tax bills and see if they've gone down or gone up this year so that's where i'm at and uh you know it goes back to when you say we created 500 jobs we did not create 500 jobs it goes back to when you say on our face on our website that we've got a 20 million dollar company that's confidential confidential and we've got 300 jobs that are confidential how do you collect confidential taxes how do you have a confidential that was on our we

» bpage for many years and and i brought it to this council's attention with many other great things that and of course i didn't expect any applause or recognitions from anybody i don't really care if i get them from anybody uh but bottom line is i'm gonna state what i the facts that i have and that's just the facts but uh there's there's no way i can support this tonight regardless because the simple fact of my the deliberate intent to keep me out of the process and i'm convinced that and then the back and forth about well there's there's less millage this year than it was last year or there's less fees we've saved you all this money but you still have increases on your bills but anyway with all kindness and love i i yield back to the council uh any further comments ready to call the questio

» n uh mr gardner please let me say something about the process i've been here 12 years i've set through 12 budgets and without exception amendments are made on third reading just the way it's done go back and go back and look third the amendments are made because on first reading we have no numbers acid entitled only but we start this budget process back in excuse me in March or whenever we meet with department heads with budget meetings in April May all these numbers come from department heads we don't sit up here and make them up the numbers come from the department heads who tell us what they need so we start that process then we get the we have three readings we got to start the process. First reading's in title. When we get the second reading, usually we have the numbers in place.

» So we start to work on the process of what can we cut? What can we add to? What do we need to do? So therefore, everything is done on third reading because you're just getting into that process with the numbers. That's why it's done on third reading. If you go back and look at the record, 95 plus percent of the amendments are always made on third reading.

» it's just the way it's done it's not that you're trying to hide anything it's just that's the way it's done and history will tell you that if you want to go back and research it that's when amendments are made so just to set the record straight that's the way it's done thank you final comments yes all the question yes that won't be the way it's done come January I'd be posted in the budget any any amendments on third reading will be posted in the budget for second reading I think that's gonna probably change anybody want to in in January of next year mr. Jones okay mr. chairman if I may I wish you all the best mr. okay what's your name very good excuse me I think this is off the topic mr. chair oh is that mr. Kahn I have a sensitive comment um I asked mr.

» Dubose we were chatting this week on how many counties have the millage separate from the budget or how many of them line up and I think is it true that the majority of counties i don't know if it's a super majority but they line those two up so that these timing issues don't occur yeah i know some counties read the millage um ordinance at the same time they read the budget and i believe we did it one year here maybe yeah we did it here one year we read the millage and the budget at the same time is that not correct within recent memory before within recent memory yes one year was there something exceptional that happened that year okay that's it i don't know the answer to that question well i'd be curious to know because the um i think some of the department heads or at least the salary in

» creases mr templar some of those have already been put into action is that right all of them yeah so all the salary increases are been put in action and so the millage would naturally follow the budget but if you had a situation like this where if the millage happened to fail on second or third reading you've got salary increases already in place that are acted on that we're paying out of savings i don't know it just seems a little inconsistent to me and maybe we should look at if there's a best practice on combining the millage and the budget so that what um the mechanism that pays for the budget is is actually approved at the same time for what it's worth if um i'm in this seat next year i will have that as a top priority to make it line up it's it's clunky to not have them in in concert

» with one another thank you mr templer yeah danny and i've had a long discussion about that uh and the practices at county and at state and at the federal level are a little bit out of sync uh russell you've highlighted the first one which is dor dor didn't tell us very much and i would tell you september october is optimistic to know philo and lost i've never known it in these eight years to have either one of those until well into november uh so that's out of sync with the budget process and informs on quite ironically it informs not the process this year and informs the cycle next year and so i think it's worthy of y'all addressing that in the in the coming year it'll be interesting to see how you do that and secondly we are forced to do a fiscal year budget and many of our inputs are bro

» ught to us on a calendar year fiscal year being one july and calendar year being one january so it's a tough problem and that's why up front prioritization is important that's the way we get through it and then secondly we as a county before i came here and while i've been here as a chairman have always required when you came in with an amendment to the budget you came in with a put and a take you had to tell where the money was going to come from and where it came and where money was cut or if you were going to do a tax increase you had to talk about that so that's what we went through we all remember it was paid painful on the third reading and i to mr tom gardner's point that's the way it was done before i came here and that's the way it's been done the last eight years certainly willing

» to watch uh in the coming years of how this talented new bunch will take it on with that let's uh call the question and i move to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand mr tucker uh did you want to speak yes sir yes please go ahead sorry real quick you know being being new being here on council i wasn't um didn't go back date back to january to the to the budget meetings and be a part of the budget process i I really appreciate Mr. Brazel, Mr. Jones, and everybody else on council who brought up alternative ways to be able to fund the millage. It's kind of hard coming in looking at voting for an increase in taxes, especially, you know, my grandparents are on a fixed income and live in District 5.

» But also, the fire is something that I really support, and we have to bolster, and we're going to have to figure out a way to do that, all first responders. With that, I just wanted to add that I would be upstanding from this vote. Thank you very much, and thank you for your comments, and welcome. With that, we move to a vote. All those in favor, signify by raising your hand. Mr. Gardner, Mr. Tucker, Mr. Burns, and Mr. Connell. Those opposed, Mr. Jones and Mr. Abrazel. And motion passes and moves to a third reading with Mr. Tomlinson abstaining. With that, we move to the next item on the agenda. You can take that slide down. It says item number two. It said tab C, page nine.

» this is uh mr connell's favorite uh with that is the second reading of an ordinance adopting and enacting a new code for kershaw county providing for the repeat of certain ordinances not included thereof providing for a penalty for the violation thereof providing for the manner of amending such code and providing when such code and ordinance shall become effective in other means related there too mr connell i give you the honors to make a motion making a motion that we approved on second reading uh a second please second from mr tucker uh over to you ben if you want to open it well i won't uh belabor it this is one that we've been working on for a long time there may be some uh edits or changes as we lead into third reading but they'll be well discussed and uh it's been a long time coming t

» hank you mr chairman yes it has other comments mr tucker you had second uh no sir no further comment any further comments can't believe mr devoz is not shouting from the rooftops with that let's move to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous it moves to a third reading uh under old business item number was not an item number but it's a tab d at page 11 citing the job description uh executive search or in discussion for uh administrator mr tucker do you want to make a motion yes i'd like to make a motion that we go into executive session for proposal to executive search all right can we have a second second second so executive session is necessary i think if you're going to act the way you do it you make a motion a second then make a motion for executive se

» ssion all right so i accept that as a motion and amended mr tucker yes sir uh to discuss this and over to you mr tucker to make the motion for executive session you need a you got a second same second for the first second yeah amendment so it's a motion to um go into executive session for personnel reasons for executive and who would you need in that room um mr dubose um is the only one at this time that i can foresee all right and do you foresee a vote when we come back out yes a possible vote necessary all right do we have a second second all right very good any discussion mr tucker no sir uh mr gardner anybody else yes uh mr jones uh folks it says right here that we're going into executive session to do a for discussion and a proposal for an executive search i i just absolutely agree i i

» will be embarrassed if we're asking if we're doing a retainer five thousand dollars and 125 an hour to a former county administrator and i will be appalled if we come out and vote that in you know we have five more months we've got a capable person doing the job right now why do we want to go out and spin I'm not saying that's what we're going to do but that's what it says here that's what I've been hearing but so therefore I would like to ask this council to not do an executive session tonight to not proceed with this ridiculous search when we've got a man sitting right here you just just take them off his name let's sit there till January the new council come in because there's nothing we can do that will bind the new council so we're going to go in and do all this and spend this money fo

» r what i just don't get it so therefore i'd like to make an amendment that we uh do not have an executive session and then we take this we have a motion to not do the executive session uh would that be the same mr dubose is voting against it it would be the same as voting against yeah if i could make a ruling on that is that correct well mr jones can i mean if you vote against it then you won't go into executive session yeah yeah okay under my motion under my amendment you're making a it's a kind of a double negative i'm not making it complicated it was complicated when this was put on the agenda with all due respect well if you he he wants to amend it to not go into executive session but you have to have a positive vote to go into executive session but i don't think it makes any difference

» procedure is going to end up the same way why don't i make my amendment to just take this off the agenda packet just do away with this process if you get a second from his amendment i think procedurally you could proceed to listen here to vote on the amendment amendment if he gets a second you can vote on it mr chairman yeah we get a second on his yes and just to make sure the process doesn't get in the way yes uh does it have a second to mr jones amendment to not go into executive can i can i make one comment prior to the vote um well that would be a ruling and let once you go ahead so you have a second yes on the floor i need a second to get it on the floor okay then i'll second it thank you go ahead mr jones will you yield well i'll yield to mr brazel thank you go ahead mr prize so i i l

» ooked and reviewed the contract and quite frankly we can we can talk about it in executive session and bring it back out for a vote or we can talk about it in here it doesn't bother me either way i do think we need to discuss it as a body and come up with a vote one way or the other so i'm comfortable either way because i know at the end of the day we're going to come out here and we're going to make a decision um i think the information is all public information it's published in the agenda correct yes your consulting agreement is in the agenda so discussing it you can certainly do that in public the actual agreement is in the agenda i think mr um excuse me mr tucker i think his motion is to discuss methodology right of the requirements for the administrator not to discuss the actual agree

» ment that's you're right mr. Brazel that's a public document terms of the agreement I think mr. Tucker's ought to discuss a methodology I don't want to put words yes in other words requirements personnel requirements how we doing okay I'm good discussing them either way all right I do have one I think there's a line out of number 25 that i would like to discuss in public yes at the appropriate time so if we want to take a vote now about the executive session or if we want to take a vote on mr jones amended um you have to take it on the amendment now because i've got it i've got a little floor now let's take the amendment then we'll then we'll move forward okay get it behind us mr jones you want to restate your amendment and we'll vote on it my my amendment is to take old business under old

» business executive search discussion and proposal to us as ex as to executive search be removed and not dealt with tonight um all right very good and all those in favor signify by raising your hands mr jones all those opposed signify by raising your hands and uh it's mr connell mr brazel mr burns mr gardner mr tucker and mr Tomlinson. So that motion fails. We move now to the original amendment, which is to go into executive session with a vote to follow and discussion, of course. On what's on the table right now, just in my world, this is a contract. Council members are going to have questions that relate to legal issues within the contract.

» And in order for any attorney-client privilege to attach you want to have your attorney present and not third parties that's the nature of the contract and well I'm sure we'll talk about it publicly but any actual legal questions that the council members have that won't ask them with their attorney to preserve the attorney client privilege that's correct and that's the motion we have correctness to talk yes all right so that and further discussion thank you Ben we move to a vote all those in favor executive session signify by raising hand mr. Thomas and mr. Gardner mr. Tucker mr.

» burns mr brazel and mr connell and those opposed would be mr jones and emotion passes we'll move into executive session you can turn the mics off for a while no no votes were taken and uh we'll move forward now into a broader discussion uh and thank you mr vose for taking us through some finer legal points uh with that we move to a vote all those in favor signify to come out of executive session and it's unanimous mary uh with that we turn to mr brazel for a motion mr chairman i'd like to make a motion to have a called meeting to appoint the next administrator of kershaw county can we have a second second second from mr jones you want to lead discussion there uh mr brazel i don't know how specific we want to get in this moment but um we definitely have a salary range and we definitely have

» a candidate who's proved himself worthy. I think to be able to move forward quickly, effectively, and to give every employee at Kershaw County the fastest settling would be not to drag this process out. It would be to appoint the next administrator within the next uh 48 well 48 hours let's say 48 hours um there's a multitude of reasons to do a search there's a multitude of reasons to move quickly to appoint our next administrator um everyone had good points nobody had any any points that were incorrect or invalid but i think for the sake of kershaw county i think for the sake of all the employees of Kershaw County. I think that the quickest, most settling action that we can make tonight is to move forward with this appointment. We can call this for a vote. Thank you, sir.

» Other comments? Mrs. Jones, I believe you had a second. Danny Templer, I want to just say something to you. You've been here six years. You have survived thunderstorms, tornadoes, Jimmy Jones, and I say that with due respect because I know you've been upset with me from time to time, but you've always handled it very well.

» because i call you every day all day and you've never failed to respond you've never failed to take care of that citizen and uh i just want to say thank you other comments um seeing there are none we'll move to the vote on an executive session not executive session call meeting within the earliest practical time all those in favor signify by raising your hand it's mr connell mr uh jones mr brazel and mr tomlinson and all those opposed signify by raising your hands mr burns mr gardner and mr tucker and the motion passes it is a greater day in kershaw it is a tremendous day thank you very much and we'll move on to that mary i'll look for a call meeting and you and i'll work out a time and uh agenda and mr bowes i'll need your help okay thank you you mr chairman thank you very much with that w

» e move now to the next item uh on the agenda which is new business item number one uh commissions and boards review as i place it on the agenda i don't believe it requires a vote and i don't look for a vote tonight but a tab e and it's at uh page uh 23. uh can we have a motion to put it on the agenda for discussion make a motion mr chairman mr connell a second mr thomason thank you sir uh with that um anybody i i can lead off the discussion mary has given us a menu of of names that compete against vacancies also a menu of names of those to be reappointed they're in your package and in accordance with our rules we need one session between you seeing these and us voting on them. Let me just refresh you on what those are. A-tax for reappointment is two names. For a replacement are two names.

» And for, excuse me, three names, and that would include our current District Five sitting councilman. Thank you very much, Brian. This is a very tough one to fill because it requires some pedigree that talks to their deal or their behavior in a food and tourism industry and also housing, excuse me, housing restaurant, hotels. And we've lost three very good ones and we have two for reappointment. I ask you to look at it and help us out. The next one is a Clean Community Commission reappointment of two and replace one from Bethune and we need Bethune to do that because as you know the Clean Community Commission has a member from each of the three municipalities.

» Thirdly is the library and it replaces two and I believe Mary you've had some nominees as well from the library board and i think they're reflected in the package here the library themselves have reached out and you can see that yourself then we go to the planning one for reappointment and one a long-standing absentee and so that's an extremely important one one at the center of how we shape growth in the county so give that some attention and finally we have two to replace and then a third one at large that i will have to appoint and off we go any uh comments uh mr connell you opened it up anything no this was informational purposes just so we can get these lined up um from time to time mary reminds us of the refreshing that needs to occur on the list that we worries us to death thank you

» mr chairman thank you mary other comments all right well i think we can close this discussion uh with that we move to the next item which is item number two santee lynch's council of government for realignment it's a tab f it's page uh 52 yep 52. mr tucker you want to make the motion for discussion yes sir make a motion to discuss auntie lynch's recent council of government realignment and second second mr gardner on the board is a letter that the council authorized me to sign to every one of our congressional and also state delegations to ask for their help in getting the cogs aligned and rationalized so that we were not penalized on roads in West Watery. Mr. Turkey, you want to lead the discussion? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

» I just want to state that I appreciate support from this council in reference to putting us back into the santee lynch's regional council government on the transportation end we're in the cm cog and we took that letter myself and chairman burns and councilman graham from the city to our cog and all four county of our region sumter clarendon and lee gave a supporting letter from the administrator and their council in reference to moving out of the cm cog over to santee lynch's but not just moving but also allowing the funding that goes with that which is mostly by the population that represents that area so we can take uh have a one roof approach for uh the west watery area right now we've been over there for 23 years and have not seen any major headway on us-1 or white pond road or any of t

» hose areas So we're trying to get it to where we can be responsible more for our future and take our funds and be able to put them to work. Right now, they're being used in Richland and Lexington counties. So with that, the Board of Directors of the Santee-Lynch's Regional Council Government voted unanimous last night in sending a letter to our Secretary, Ms. Christy Hall, and the congressional folks in Washington for support of moving us out of that region into the Santee-Lynches Region Council of Governments. Other comments? Good work, sir. Mr. Chairman? Yeah, Ben. Having tried to participate in the Midlands Council of Governments, I've seen the results or the lack of results that we received on funding.

» We've paid into that system through taxes and other means for an extended period of time, and I'm referencing the West Watery area in particular. That's the Midlands COG. We haven't received any funding. I think we do have an Elgin Bridge project that's going to be coming up. It was slotted. Yeah, it's not from Chicago. Yeah, I was going to say, but there was one that we discussed anyway that was scheduled pre- or mid-COVID that's been punted on. But it's been 20 years, and we haven't had any substantial funds come through. I saw time and time again where the funds, meaning Kershaw County taxpayer dollars, went to subsidize and pay for projects in other counties that are more populated, Richland County and Lexington County primarily. And it's just, it's unfair.

» I hate to say, you know, let's be fair and let us play with our toys too. But that's really what it is. It should be per capita. And we should get funding back for roads, projects, and infrastructure based on what the citizens pay into the system. And I just never saw one bit of evidence that occurred in the CMCOG. And they know how we feel about it. Santee Lynch's COG is a different story. And I think it would serve Kershaw County better to be involved in that organization. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Other comments? Yeah, Mr. Gardner. I think it's vitally important. We did the growth study, especially West Watery. This is one of the components that will help us handle that growth is to be able to handle some of our transportation and some of our roadways over there.

» So a vital component of our growth issues right here. So this needs to be, hopefully will be changed. Other comments? Mr. Chairman, if I may double back. The reason why this is time sensitive and we need to push forward is because if anytime someone's going to give up something, especially funding, this is the time because from the federal government, there's extra dollars that's going to be in transportation into the cogs. And we've got 10 cogs throughout the state.

» So it's easier maybe for them to relinquish our proportion in giving up to Santee Lynch's so it can follow the responsibilities now that they're going to have a little bit more in their coffer versus they looking at it as a very negative movement for them so that's why we were pushing on these letters and trying to get them in the right hands in the right offices so just wanted to make that clear other comments ben's point is exactly correct 23 years without a single road in west watery secondly they we were able in the last six months to get them to agree to do a road White Pond Whiting Way sometime in the next five years, which is forever. Thirdly, I need to say that we have worked with the senators, with the congressmen, and with the representatives and state senators.

» And so far, every indication I get is this is a hard one, very hard. Secondly, that much of the power on this rests with the Department of Transportation Secretary, and we're looking at every means we can to research that and get after that, okay? Lastly, I'd like to say to Tom's point and to Ben's point as a chairman of our ad hoc committee that this is all a part of addressing the growth issue, roads being critical as a part of the COG, But as we saw in the budget, the services and first responders are important. And we've got an impact study that's to report out in the fall. And a little later on, we'll talk about the ZLDR and the comprehensive plan, the comp plan. So all that fits together. I just gotta tell you, the roads are hard, period. End of story.

» With that, any further on that, Mr. Tucker? - No, sir, no votes required. - No vote required, thank you very much. move to item number three where a vote is required uh a comprehensive plan rfp recommendation tab g and it's at page 57 if you'll look at the bids there uh with that uh danny do you want to introduce it in any way or can we move to a motion uh you can move to a motion okay can we have a motion to approve the bid uh the bid being for uh a decision to go with husiel lavinia i can't pronounce it so moves uh we got a first from mr brazel a second i'll second second for mr connell any discussion mr brazel yes sir thank you very much mr chairman um joey and i spoke earlier today regarding um this revision process this is very important um and not everybody's going to be able to appre

» ciate how important this is this is this is going to shape kershaw county probably for the next 30 years so it's it's very important to get it right um it's going to address construction quality issues it's going to set some standards of how we want kershaw county developed when it comes to residential and mixed use it's going to give us the latitude and the ability to move forward with development in a way that we feel like fits our community and i understand that the the firm is out of chicago but joey has has assured me that this is the right firm and i do not want to make the wrong decision and i'm leaning on his expertise he and i have talked and i feel very comfortable with his level of intelligence the man knows what he's doing so joey thank you so much and you have my support 100 ot

» her comments mr chairman yeah mr connell so um not to jump ahead because i know that this is the particular item in front of us but we've got another rfp we're going to talk about and this particular company that we're voting on is providing us kind of a one-stop shop for i mean while it's a different motion these items are particularly related to the ldr and what we're talking about here the comp plan and so that consistency i think is going to be very important for kershaw county and i've i've heard also that this is the right company to go with uh typically it's a little odd where you're jumping all over the low bid and that's what you want in the procurement process but um you also pay for what you get or you get what you pay for excuse me and uh so that's why i support this motion than

» k you mr charles thank you mr chairman members of the county council the i'm excited about this because the comprehensive plan is what drives this county uh mr browse is absolutely right unfortunately it's it's been a while since we've updated ours i think state law requires us to do it every 10 years i think it's been about 15 years maybe since it's been done and also i'm excited about the unified code that coming up as well next but uh this will certainly as mr connell and mr brazel said this will certainly give us our road map to move forward and and i just appreciate mr templary and mr joey you as well you're doing you are doing a good job i appreciate your your interactions with the citizens i mean you bend over backwards to deal with a complaint and that's what it's all about when it

» comes to kershaw county okay but anyway i just want to say thank you guys i support this other comments uh it's been uh since 2016 is when we voted on it last the last update was in 2015 uh and i agree it needs to be updated you'll notice it'll take about 12 months to do and i'll tell you i asked sarah why it took so long for this and the zldr remember back in january february uh we became impatient and said we need to get this done and redone and it was done based on our feeling that we needed to address growth um and it took her well about six months to get this done and the answer was that this is a particular skill and very hard to find somebody who can do it to ben's point we're not going with a low bidder here we're going with somebody who can do it and on our first rfi rfp we got bac

» k one bid and it was not the best reputation so sarah properly with uh danny's oversight and vic's oversight agreed that we would look at another round of bids and this is the result of the rfp for this one and for the zldr that ben talked about and so it's worthy that we do it well but notice that it takes us 12 months to get this done and it's hard and i ask the incoming council to spend as much time as they can on it because it's only as good as your inputs uh you might want to consider and danny and i've talked about this that doesn't require and often doesn't suit public input and y'all might want to think about that uh any further discussion or none let's go to a vote all those in favor of the bid signify by raising your hand and it's unanimous and it passes we move to the next item w

» hich is zldr it's a tab h and it's can you put it up on the screen of course or is it up page 58 you'll go to page 58 tab h page 58 electronically there you go and we have two beds there and the recommendation is item is item number one again the same company unpronounceable in chicago and we have a motion to approve that is the first bid please so moved uh mr brasil a second second from mr connell uh discussion russell any discussion the only thing i'll say is just as has been stated the same company they're going to work together with us to create the entire plan um and they're going to do it right i've been assured of that and i've got all the confidence in the world that we're going to go through this thing correctly and the final product is going to be something that's going to be tast

» eful and it's going to help kershaw county and head in the right direction moving forward when it comes to development construction and um we're going to be unique because we are unique we're kershaw county we're not richland county we're not lexington county um we're just a little bit different and i i'd hate to say it but i think we're just a little bit better so um i think it's money well spent to to keep our community what what we see fit and the way we want to see it in the future and uh all the public input that the citizens are willing to bring to us i value and i know the other council members as well and we can take that to joey thank you sir uh other comments mr connell yeah yes mr chairman um i believe the message from planning and zoning is that in this type of important endeavo

» r you want the left hand to know what the right hand is doing and so that's why this this company being single on both of these rfps um is important and also i'll just point out the importance of engineering if you've got someone coming to you carving out an important piece like that it's better to go with a singular company that can handle both rfps thank you mr chairman other comments please mr chairman if i may yeah go ahead to mr connell's point with the engineering that is a critical piece in this and that's probably why that price is much lower so if that were to be added in there it would be a much closer two sets of price tags but that allows us to establish uh the road sewer stormwater sidewalk standards in in the county when it comes to engineering so very important piece good goo

» d good has been a hole in our plan before thank you other comments i would note that growth continues and so with the comp plan coming out in 12 months and the zl vr and 18 we're still dealing with the current regulations in place while we wait other means to deal with growth in the county i've already said that the budget itself picks up on the pressures on on services and first responders and that was the attempt there we've got an impact fee study going hopefully we'll get it in very soon we'll see if that impacts and then the third piece ben tom russell you guys are on the ad hoc committee and we look forward to your recommendations but growth continues recession or not and so the zldr will come in and the current regulations will remain in place for another 18 months okay uh any furthe

» r discussion go ahead just real quick i'd like to see the ad hoc committee meet with a representative from this firm if that's at all possible to have input talking about the 18 person in that committee is it 18 20. i think it's just 11. my math you can join if you like no no we can make it i mean we can honestly and truly the more public input the better because we are spending a lot of money and we want I want to see this done right so I value our community I value the future I've been here all my life and I'm gonna be here the rest of my life let me tell you this I have much respect for you you have shown great leadership tonight but I won't be there well you're always welcome okay we're ready to vote all those in favor signify by raising your hands all right let's get started Danny all

» right with that we'll move to the next item on the agenda item number five uh crystal county authorizes the administrator to enter into a three-year lease purchase agreement with leasing two which is item on the agenda have you got it up yep it's up on the screen uh with leasing two to finance a purchase of self-contained breathing apparatus or apparatus in the amount of 1.55 million dollars to purchase from safe industries tab i page 59 on the screen can we have a motion to approve i'll make a motion to approve uh mr risal a second second second from mr connell discussion uh mr brasil um i know that these are all uh life-saving services these are all necessities we talked about this early on i don't have a tremendous amount of discussion i know it's necessary and i know that you went throu

» gh a process of making sure that we were getting the best bang for our buck and i'm okay with that so um second please that's connell yes sir uh some of this stuff was out of date if it wasn't out of date already yeah and oh yeah violates fire codes and requirements and provisions for actually going into houses if you don't have the right equipment so i support this tonight yeah good to have you here tonight chief thank you for being here you had to wait for this thank you both other discussions yes could mr templer tell us where the money's coming from for the record uh yes and one quick point we did attempt to get a secure grant for this in 21 but we are not successful so this is where we're at but um it will come from the uh fire's budget from their capital reoccurring each year thank yo

» u other discussion thank you for putting the pressure on us upward from the fire department and with the right training the people and then thirdly the equipment thank you very much and you provide the leadership the fourth and important ingredient with that we move to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand it's unanimous mary and we move on the next item on the agenda which is council briefings beginning with mr tucker uh you know for mr for brandt thomas and the way we do it is the person who gives the uh invocation and the pledge of allegiance rotates on the table this in that fashion and also leads on the council briefs go Go ahead, Mr. Tucker. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. No report tonight. Mr. Gardner. No report. Mr. Brazel.

» I'd like to say thank you to everyone who supported what I would call a very transformative motion that we made tonight to appoint the new administrator. I think this is going to move things forward quickly and we can get to work and continue a very harmonious council and moving through the rest of this year and into the first of next year. look very much forward to making this appointment thank you for everyone who comes you know there's always a lot to fuss about there's a lot of things that we don't control that the federal government controls and I'm certainly not happy with as well I share in some of the sentiment that the gentleman they come and speak to us have but know this we're doing the very best we can for Kershaw County.

» And I truly believe that everybody sitting in this dais has the best interest at heart for Kershaw County. And I understand that we've had coarse words at times with one another, myself included, and I'm going to work on myself to make sure that we're as cordial and we agree or disagree as cordially as possible moving forward.

» And I would like to thank everybody at this dais for what they've done for kershaw county thank you okay mr connell thank you mr chairman um on the budget and the millage i think it's important to recognize that they're very tough decisions that are made on those particular topics and county government is also subject to the troubles of the world inflation all those items um while the increase in the millage and some of the budgetary items some of which i disagreed with frankly um they don't come without much deliberation for the rest of council whenever you have inflation at nine percent ten percent according to some reports yeah folks have to figure out how to pay for the services that they're required to provide by law or either just cut them back and then deal with the backlash of not p

» roviding those services uh very grateful to all the department heads who have assisted in getting through the budget process and answered questions about millage and the ins and outs of getting council up to speed on making informed votes thank you mr chairman Thank you, sir. Mr. Jones. Yes, just something very quickly. Brant, welcome. You did a great job tonight. You stood out, you stood your ground, and I'm looking forward to serving with you for the next four years. And I want to say, too, that, Professor Brazel, you showed great leadership tonight, and I just want to recognize that. Look, I call it the way it is. We haven't always agreed, but we've disagreed less than we've agreed.

» And you showed great leadership tonight and i appreciate it ben connell i appreciate you as well though you had me on my toes tonight but danny again appreciate all you do and i hope you recognize that thank you okay uh mr thomason thank you mr chairman um thank you to everyone who came out tonight this is this is wonderful this is what the process is about thank you to each one of you um i'm looking forward to serving with each one of you to working with each one of you and um being the best voice i i can for district five thank you for this opportunity okay and i'll close it out i want to thank those who participated in the budget process and where we are especially sandra tyler danny even even even mr devose and i want to tell mr the auditor the assessor and the treasurer thank you for y

» our behind the scenes support on this very interesting discussion on millage it was absolutely important that we dispense with some of the myths that is associated with having to go to a tax or a fee when we impose something on the people of the county they need to know we're giving them best value for least cost and that was extremely useful thank you danny that was a very good explanation our next meeting will be determined very quickly by mary and i and she will poll you on your availability and we'll ask mr dubose to help us on that uh we have for a call meeting hopefully this week okay and then the next meeting regular scary young meeting is the 13th of september i'm going to extend a thanks to susan jones to remind us of what it was like to work with bobby jones and others regardless

» of political affiliation race creed color or gender we got stuff done and we can still do that uh lastly let's uh cheer for our world series team right uh martin khan you will tell us all about it wpub will be right there as on site too on thursday night let's see how they do this is at the national level isn't that amazing and we thank the american legion and all our veterans for supporting this effort going forward here in the next couple of days with that over to you mr administrator i believe you have an executive session for us i do um and it's it's relating to a personnel matter and i'll get my briefings out of the way real quick just in the interest of time um just two things i wanted to just thank staff for everything they do on a daily basis our services span the entire county in a

» ll climates in all situations and i just we get the praise up here very often but it's it's all on the the backs of those men and women here in this building kershaw county government is just a building and a bunch of equipment but without the people to animate that service it's that's what makes it happen it's it's the people that make us look good on a daily basis secondly the chemical issue we had out at wow chem i cannot thank the first responders enough for that it was just a huge aggregate of responders out there from highway patrol to luke off fire to columbia fire with their hazmat team out there that is a tremendous asset we have over there just across the border and chief jenkins was more than willing to send it over and and of course our guys with uh virtual county fire services

» were just they were on point there they were running the show and just organizing it and just to come out of something like that with no injuries to any responders or citizens is just it's very commendable and that's my report thank you very much we'll get to a motion in a moment mr bose mr chairman i have nothing all right can we have a motion to go to an executive session on a personnel matter with no vote required and I believe both you and the administrator the attorney and that would be sufficient very good all right we have a motion from mr. Brazel second we have a second mr.

» Connell any discussion seeing there is none we move into executive it will move to a vote and no opposition we move to a vote and we are adjourned for executive session to come out of executive session mr connell a second from mr brazel any discussion seeing there is none we'll move to a vote all those in favor signify raising your hand can we have a motion to adjourn so moved mr brazel a second second for mr gardner any discussion we're looking for a call session thursday or friday thursday and i think mr tucker thursday or friday we'll let know there's some issues uh with that um we move to a vote all those in favor signify by raising your hand and shenanigans y'all be safe out there and go post 17. all right