Full meeting transcript - March 14, 2023

» Good evening, Kershaw County. This is the regularly scheduled county council meeting for Tuesday, March 14th, 2023 at 6 p.m. I call this meeting to order. Our first order of business tonight will be opening in prayer. It's Pastor Tim Stevens from Harmony Baptist Church here. Hey, Pastor, come on up to the podium. Pastor Stevens is from Harmony Baptist Church in Bethune. Open in prayer, shall we? Dear Gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, Lord, we come before you, Lord, through your wisdom and guidance, Lord, you have established this council for this community, Lord, and this county, Lord. Lord, we ask you to bestow upon them the wisdom and the knowledge that they need, Lord. Make the decisions that would best guide this community, this county, Lord.

» And Lord, we just ask you to work in a very special way through them, Lord, to help and grow this county and to make the lives of the citizens even better in the community to grow and to flourish, Lord. For you have directed them, you have placed them in these positions, Lord. You have seen something great in them. Lord, you have seen wisdom in them. You have bestowed greatness upon them to guide them, Lord, through the procedures they have to make, Lord, the decisions they have to make, Lord. And some of them are hard and some of them might not be popular with people, Lord. But, Lord, you have given them the strength to do these very things. And, Lord, we just ask your blessings upon what's going to take place today, Lord.

» The decisions that are going to be made, Lord, will be made according to your will and your wisdom and your guidance, Lord, for everything would be done for your glory that you would get the praise for each and every decision for us. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Pastor Stevens. And please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Okay, we'll start tonight with public comments. Mr. DuBose will be on the timer. Public comments are five minutes long. He'll give you a warning at four minutes. And please wrap it up when you get that warning so I don't have to cut you off. Madam Chairwoman and members of the council, 17 people signed up. So the first person that signed up is John Thomas. Hey, JT. Hey, Madam Chair. Appreciate such a great crowd today.

» I know I got five minutes in the county council. I'm going to hit some bullet points of some things to think about. First of all, I'm from Sumter, South Carolina, originally, home of Bobby Richardson and Tim Jones, some major leaguers. And baseball was everything to us. We had some small ballparks through the years that kind of went out of date. And they kept two of them. One was the Bobby Richardson ballpark near Alice Drive. And the other one was the big, huge ballpark for travel ball that they built behind the National Guard armory off of 378. I have coached Citadel baseball camp for 14 years. I have coached in Kershaw County, Sumter County, and Anderson County.

» And I'm ashamed to tell you that since 1998, my business over in Lugolf, substation two, has been a sponsor of little league baseball or girls softball since that time. And I live in Camden. So I think I've got a little bit of both. But I love recreation. It's one of the closest things to my heart. But there's certain things that we need, I think, to just ponder. I'm not saying this right, and I'm not saying this wrong. Just some things to ponder. First of all, I'm going through these bullet points. As a business, travel ball or any kind of recreation is fantastic for my business. It is fantastic. Especially ever since they built those fields down US 1.

» Anytime there's a tournament, and back in the old, old days when they had the soccer tournaments at Woodward Field, it was always a really big deal. And they always brought in a lot of people. The second thing is, is travel ball is good for business. But I want you to remember something about travel ball with my baseball experience. I don't know it all, but travel ball grew because of two reasons. One, mom and dad and grandma and grandpa wanted to be on that field and watch Sally play, and then run over there and see Johnny play. They never did want to get in the car. And if you look at some big fields around the south and also around in Sumpter, 378, that was the concept. Another one you ought to look at is Bullock County, Georgia, the home of Georgia Southern, Statesboro.

» They had that same thing with soccer fields. They built a whole new complex, just like they did in Sumpter years ago, and they had to shut down some of the old ball fields. And they modernized a couple of them, but they really built these complexes because to have travel ball, they really are massive facilities. The other thing I just wanted to say is, don't forget about US-1, Mount Pisgah, Bethune, and Westville. As far as the county, I'm all for travel ball as a business, but we need to remember our kids. This thing is for the kids and rec ball for our recreation department. I was president of the Chamber of Commerce of Kershaw County 10 years ago, and we had a group that came in and evaluated some of the things in the city of Camden and also Kershaw County.

» Tripp Muldrow came with Arnett Muldrow & Associates. They kind of did a little evaluation outside the circle. We had a big meeting down there at the Robert Mills courthouse. Gene Wives was there, Ms. Drakeford was there, Mayor Drakeford today. Others were there, and he said all kinds of different assets and liabilities that Kershaw County had. Well, one thing he brought up to us was this, and I'm just to ponder this, you know what, Kershaw County and the city of Camden don't finish a darn thing. They always start on a park, they always start on a baseball field, they always start on something over here. They never complete it. They need to complete these things, and that's probably the only little bit of a stickler I've got is I want to see baseball fields.

» I want to see them grow, but don't forget about the plans that we already have in place. U.S. One still needs some drainage done. Larry Doby is over here. Have we looked at, I'm just saying, I may be out of date, have we looked at land going back toward the track? Again, you've got to keep in mind these ball fields have grass infields, and grandma and granddad want to see their son and granddaughter and grandson play. Anyway, that's kind of what I'm thinking about. We're talking about repairing and doing some other fields. I hope that we might look at a whole new concept, what Bullock did, and also Sumter did off 378. Maybe build a whole different complex out from here. Anyway, I appreciate your time tonight. I love recreation, and I think this is a fantastic discussion that we're having.

» Thank you. Thank you, J.T. Next person signed up, the second person, is Mary Brandenberger. Hi, Mary. Well, I do have some problems with this. First of all, when Julian Burns was here, he planned all of these things. He had his vision plan. And actually, it wasn't his vision plan. It was the U.S. Army's vision plan. He took it right out of the Army's book and then changed everything to fit him. This is the last part of his vision plan that he told me about, that even after he was gone from here, he would continue. And this ballpark, this park for everybody to play in, it was one of his plans. To add to that, Mr. Carrington and Mr. Kirkley were both placed on the Recreation Committee by two people that were considered Burns' yes-men. Anything that Mr.

» Burns wanted, those council members would go ahead and approve. Mr. Carrington was placed by David Snodgrass. Mr. Kirkley was placed by Sammy Tucker. So, you know, we got rid of Julian Burns because we didn't like what he was doing. But this is continuing on. Like was already said, we have unfinished parks that are not taken care of. What makes anybody think that these parks would be taken care of either? You know, if you give your kid a toy and then he just slams his toy around, doesn't take care of it, then wants a new one, what do you tell him? No, you didn't take care of the last one. I'm not giving you another one. We have so many other things that we could use the money for. First of all, we should finish those parks that we have, Larry Doby and West Watery.

» We should have the park in Bethune be equal to Larry Doby. We need to drain Woodward Park. We need to drain Woodward Park. That's a good park. We could really use that. We need to drain it and take out about half of the trees there. That's not a really big job. It wouldn't cost a lot of money to do it. We could use money for emergency quarters, communications for emergency services. There's a lot that the emergency services could use. The fact is, we don't know how much this is going to cost. There's speculation. It's going to be, our park's going to be $10,000, $15,000, $20,000. Well, just north of here at Lancaster, they're planning a $73 million complex that looks much like the one that we're planning. So that's going to divide up things.

» You know, we can have all the tournaments we want. If nobody comes, you know, people can choose where they go to the tournaments. They choose to go places where there's something to do, like the beach. We don't have a lot to do here other than the ball and the Revolutionary War Park. I know some people are looking at this as an investment. They were saying five to seven tournaments a year. That's five to 21 days, somewhere between five and 21 days. We don't have the hotels, the restaurants to support that type of thing. A couple of young people said, well, if you build the ball field, those will come. Who's going to build a restaurant when you're going to have people coming in for 10 to 21 days? And that's all the revenue that you're pretty much guaranteed.

» That wouldn't be a good prospect. I see this as a speculation. Well, people are really hurting in this county, especially because of the electric bills from the city of Camden. It's not time to speculate with money that people are really having trouble with. As I said last meeting, my tax bill went up 20% on my property in Peckwoods. Okay. Okay. They were saying we could get 50% of the gate, but if nobody comes to these tournaments, 50% of zero is still zero. We're not guaranteed anything. Things that we need is we need to have a guarantee on tournaments, and this council should not be making speculation and investments when the economy is so bad.

» And I'm wondering how many of you have actually visited the parks and know that at Scott Park, there is a trail, a walking trail, that goes through all of Woodward Park, all of Scott Park. There's badminton. There's tennis. There's volleyball. There's all kinds of facilities there. They need to be repaired and fixed up, not all new. Thank you, Mary. The next person that signed up is Amanda Stephens. Hey, Amanda. Hi. How are you doing? Good. Okay. I hope you guys have had fun for the last few meetings, but now it's time to get to work. The newness that comes with a new majority on our council has worn off, and all of us citizens are looking around wondering when will be the time to actually accomplish something.

» Things are getting worse, and it doesn't seem like this council wants to do anything to help. According to Bloomberg, underlying U.S. consumer prices rose higher than the estimates. That means that in spite of the Fed's attempt to use rate hikes to slow down inflation, it's not working. It's getting worse. With banks now failing because of the rate hikes and the new bailout of SVB issued this weekend, inflation will continue to get worse. Basic Economics tells us this. In fact, economists have been warning us about this for at least a year. Do you know what this means? We'll be looking at one heck of a recession, and it's already started.

» And rather than concerning yourself with the priorities of this county, you are wasting our time for three meetings talking about a pie-in-the-sky dream of a $14 million park. Where are you getting the money for this dream? It certainly can't come from the citizens because we don't have it. Our priorities as citizens are infrastructure, emergency services, utilities. Radios for emergency management personnel in the county. Where's the sense of urgency for this request given they're expiring soon? I haven't seen a vote on this money yet. How about the jail that's near capacity? I'm sure the citizens of Kershaw County would love to know that criminals that are behind the bars will safely stay there rather than ballparks for their children.

» How about the sewer system? That was such a big deal before year-end as we were reaching 90% capacity. Has this been addressed? I'm glad that we finally got a presentation on it, but again, I still haven't seen a vote. How about the roads with potholes that need to be fixed that are a danger to the bikes and motorcycles? This is lawsuits waiting to happen. As you can see, the state-of-the-art ball fields at Wilbur Park are not a priority. In fact, this doesn't even make the list. These facilities are for when the economies are great and there is cash flow. That is not now. It's wonderful that MUSC and Health Services wants to get involved in the community and donate $5 million. It really is. But if it were for the children, then there would be no strings tied to this money.

» The only requirement would be to use it on fields and we could use it to finish any number of our fields because they all need updates. Unfortunately, the public presentation last meeting made that clear. There is a string and it is that we spend $10 million of the taxpayer money along with MUSC's money in order to get that park. We don't answer to any company. You aren't voted on here by any company. You are voted on here by we the people and we don't agree with building this complex. So thanks but no thanks. But when our children are truly the reason for this grant, then we can talk. This council was elected by its citizens to change the way things have been, to question funding, to avoid useless projects, and finally start spending money wisely for the better of the whole community.

» Start doing your job you were elected to do. We the people of Kershaw County are watching. Thank you. Thank you, Amanda. The next person signed up is Parth Patel. Hi, Mr. Patel. Good. How are you doing? Doing good. Good evening. My name is Parth Patel. I recently moved to Camden about a year and a half ago, and the reason I'm here is because my family and I purchased a hotel here. In the year and a half that I've been here, I've come to know Camden as a great historic town in which I've gotten to know a lot of unique people and go to a lot of unique places. I'm here to speak on the matter of bringing a sports complex to Kershaw County, which I think is an amazing idea.

» As a former athlete myself, I would spend a lot of weekends in the summer traveling all across the state to play in different tournaments for baseball and basketball. Most of the time, me and my family would always travel there. So this means that we would spend a lot in the local hotels and shops that these tournaments would be held in, in turn, boosting those local economies. And moving forward, being able to have an opportunity to attend games and see the talent of the next generation would be great. But more importantly, as a business owner here in Kershaw County, it would bring in more revenue for not only us as hotel owners, but also the large number of restaurant owners and small businesses that are here as well.

» As a hotel owner, I love meeting the different people that walk through my doors and making a connection with them. Most importantly, it would benefit Kershaw County at the end of the day, and at the end of the day, that's all we want for this great place. It would bring in lots of money for us, which in turn would help us reinvest into this community. I know that I've only been here for a short amount of time, unlike most of the people here. But I plan on being here for the long term, so I see my future here. And to see this county grow even larger than it is already would be very remarkable. Thank you. Thank you, Perce. The next person that signed up is Ben Strickland. Good. Good. Can you say your name again? Ben. Ben. Strickland. Okay. Hey, Ben.

» First off, thank you for each of you, and you probably don't hear it enough, or maybe you do, for the work that you guys do. I mean, this is what, maybe 5% of your day and time. It's the other 95, you know, 95% of your time that you devote towards making Kershaw County a better place to live that I thank you for. So I appreciate that. I mean, it's often a very, like, you know, unappreciated job. I mean, a lot of the decisions that you guys have to make, you know, aren't always popular, and because it's nearly impossible to appease everyone. In the last five years or so, I've served on this county's Board of Zoning Appeals, and I can speak from firsthand, it's nearly impossible to appease all of our, each citizen or their community, you know, at the same time.

» I mean, our meetings are maybe a little bigger than yours, I mean, they're not at all, so, but when they are, there's typically some big issues at stake, right? I mean, because when you think about it, and you guys know that when it goes to making a decision, you can only work off of the information you have on hand with some historical context, and what's best for the current and future citizenship, and our future citizenship is changing, you know, what they value within work, within life, and I can, from working for an international company for the past 20 years, we get these surveys, right, that ask, like, you know, okay, on a scale from one to 10, rating out various, you know, things and attributes, what's important to you? And over the years, because our company puts out one every year

» , increasingly what you see is a work-life balance over compensation taking rank. And from someone who, you know, like a few of you, and maybe not all of you, has been, you know, working a full-time job since the 90s and beyond, like, it's, I started work, it was all about the money, right? And now, as I get older, and I'm fortunate enough to work from home now, again, another change that we've seen, thanks to COVID, being ushered that in, it's changing what we value. More of my life values more, is more valuable to me than my pay. I would give up pay for more of a life that I could spend with my kids, with my wife, doing things here in our community, outdoors, et cetera.

» So that trend, as you can see over the past 30 years, has changed, and it's going to continue to, and it's going to become more important. So a lot of the decisions that we can make, like, you know, you guys can make as a group for our community, are going to impact that ability to play. Because it is changing. People aren't so much worried, are concerned about where they, you know, where they can, you know, live and play is based on where they work. It's shifting, it's changing. So the decisions that we make, and you guys make, will greatly impact those future, you know, generation decision makers. We've got an excellent opportunity that the health district has brought to us, where we can, you know, kind of get a head start.

» To modernize, build out a facility that's more modern in nature. I mean, as you guys are working through the county's master plan that I heard you kind of speak of, I mean, there's a lot to take into consideration. I mean, down to, from, you know, parks and recreation to, you know, certainly building out better facilities for our first responders. Better facilities, better equipment, you know, it should be taken into consideration, but this as well. So what I ask as a citizen who looks forward to the future, you know, life that involves, you know, more play than work, to set us up, you know, for that. Because I think it's important. Again, thank you for all that you do. Thank you for this consideration that you're doing.

» My ask is that you, you know, entertain the proposal to partner with this group as we work towards, you know, making this a better community for us all. So thank you. Thank you, Ben. The next person that signed up is Rick Jay. Hi, Rick. First of all, as you said, I'm Rick Jay, lifelong citizen of Kershaw County. Been playing sports in the recreation department since probably about 1982. Once I aged out of playing, went to coaching, coached for countless years, sometimes two teams a year, you know, what they needed. When my kids quit playing, I quit coaching for the rec department, went to coach at Lugoff Elgin High School, coached with their school system for six years. Now I'm done with that.

» And luckily, I was privileged enough to have y'all vote me on to the Kershaw County Parks and Recreation. And I want to thank y'all for that. And I'd like to echo his sentiments. Thank y'all for all the unthankful stuff that y'all do. I know y'all catch a lot of flack from everybody. And I'd just like to thank you. But I had to write it down. I'm not very good at talking in public. And I'm glad I can't see everybody behind me. So last, I come to the meeting last time and there was a lot of talk. And tonight, out of the first four speakers, it was about travel ball. Travel ball this, travel ball that. What's it going to bring to our community? Travel ball, travel ball. This isn't about travel ball. This is about our kids and our community.

» Your kids, my kids, not my kids, my kids are way out over. Hopefully it's a long time before I have grandkids that play there. But if we have the opportunity to lease our fields that we build for our kids and make some money to help maintain them to a travel ball organization, that's great. But obviously, we're not going to take away from our kids, from our recreation, from our daily baseball or soccer or whatever that are signed up through the Kershaw County Recreation Department. We're obviously not going to let a travel ball organization override what we're doing. That would just make no sense. This is for us. This is for our kids. This is for us to go watch and enjoy watching your grandkids, your kids make those memories that will last a lifetime.

» Some of my favorite memories growing up happened right over here on Smith Road. I mean, we didn't have West Water Econ plates. We had three little ball fields in Lugolf and that was the social capital of Lugolf. I mean, during the spring, that's where everybody was. Best times. But let's just, let's take the travel ball out of it and let's just think about our kids in our community. Now, I've done got off place. I've talked a little bit too much. And now, like I said, in 82, played at Smithfield, you know, those facilities still look exactly the same. Exactly the same. Same dugouts, same bleachers, same fences, same everything. Do our kids really deserve to play on something that's 50, 60 years old? Or do our kids deserve better? Personally, I think they deserve better.

» I've worked my whole life trying to give my kids a better life than what I had coming up and that includes in their community. And I think we all want that for our kids. Our rec department is very taxed with the amount of employees we have to keep up with these facilities and the amount of facilities we're trying to keep up with. Like the guy I before mentioned, let's consolidate. Let's make some really nice fields that are easier for us to keep up and not have our eight full-time maintenance guys running all over, spreading them so thin that they can't make a difference anywhere. These are good numbers. We had 953 kids sign up to play baseball and softball in Kershaw County through the rec department this year.

» That's 953 kids who aren't going to spend their afternoons sitting around on an Xbox or a PlayStation or something. They're getting out in the outdoors. They're exercising. But you know what those 953 kids turn into? They bring their mom, their dad, and one sibling. Less easy numbers to do. Around 1,000 kids. Multiply that with the other three people. That's 4,000 people who are going to be at these facilities. You have one more minute. Thanks, sir. That are going to be at these facilities multiple times a week. Don't they deserve a nice concession stand to go grab a bag of M&M's and a Coke room? A clean restroom to use. And now we have a unique opportunity that somebody's willing to foot half the bill for this.

» Where else does that go come from? When have you ever heard of that? And I just want to thank y'all for considering it. Madam Chair, one of the things that you run on was helping with the recreation facilities. And I just want to thank you for just being one of the first things that you took up when you got here. Thank you, Rick. Thank y'all, and have a wonderful day. The next person that signed up is Megan Reynolds. Hey, Megan. I was writing your name down, so I didn't see what you were doing. That was a good try, Megan. Yeah, I appreciate it. I was going to see if one of y'all wanted to take a break. My name is Megan. I have lived in Kershaw County for almost two years now.

» I would like to first thank you for allowing us the opportunity to openly discuss the possible endeavor regarding the sports complex. As a local leader in the hospitality industry, in my professional opinion, the rec space will bring a much larger positive impact than a negative one. Not only will it financially assist in building our local economy for small businesses, but it will also provide a positive outlet for our youth and many generations to come. It will increase our tourism and travel, which benefits numerous businesses, and in turn will increase county and city revenue. It is also an investment in our county, our families, and our local businesses.

» It will open doors for additional needed growth for medical services, restaurants, and other needed things by the revenue it brings in from the tourism alone. But it will also open a lot of opportunities for our local population that we currently have to utilize the amenities at hand that the recreational park would bring. Great things come by allowing change, and as our population increases, we need something of this stature as an incentive for the continued growth, but also to be able to sustain the population that we currently have. Thank you for your time, and sorry I invaded your space. Thank you, Megan. Danny, I think she's coming to you. The next person that signed up is Deet Patel. Hi, Deet.

» My name is Deet Patel, and I, along with my family, own and operate three hotels in Kershaw County, located in Camden off of I-20, and we plan to continue developing the hospitality industry with an addition of at least two new hotels, one under construction, one that will begin construction in 12 to 15 months, and I have lived in Kershaw County for my entire life. I used to play baseball at Woodward Park when I was five and six years old, and I believe that the new sports complex will have a significant impact on our local economy and improve our community. Kershaw County has grown a lot since I was a kid, and I'm proud to say that I have been a part of that growth.

» I do credit a large part of the success of my growth and our business endeavors to the wonderful support of the county council and the city council. The complex will improve Kershaw County's economy by attracting new people to our great county. It will drive more people into our restaurants, our gas stations, stores, and hotels. Currently, we have 200 rooms off the interstate at exit 98. By the end of 2026, we will have 350 hotel rooms. With that being said, if not enough hotels and restaurants is a problem, it is a great problem to have, and I personally pledge to build as many hotels as needed to support the county.

» In the past years, with the knowledge and hard work of the county council, we were able to revive the South Carolina Equestrian Park, which is one of the top tourism attractions that boost our local economy. The decision the council made back then continues to this day to benefit the community today. I would not have those many hotels out there without the Equine Park if the county was not willing to make the tough decision at that time. Speaking as someone who plans on continuing to live in the county and raising a family in the county, the sports center will improve the residents of Kershaw County's quality of life by giving the people and their children updated facilities to be active and get proper exercise.

» As someone who has put a lot of time, energy, and resources into Kershaw County, I would love to see the county doing the same for me and our future generation. Thank you. The next person that signed up is Daisy Hodge. Hi, Daisy. Good evening. My name is Daisy Hodge. I've been in the hotel industry in Kershaw for the last 10 years. The new sports complex will be a great driver for our local economy. I have seen firsthand the impact sports tournaments can have on our businesses. I know for a fact in the past years we have been significant room nights for surrounding counties such as Sumter thanks to the softball tournaments. These sports teams bring a large number of people with them to come for the weekend.

» They eat at our restaurants, stay in our hotels, shop at our stores, and then leave. I always support local businesses and put very little strain on our county resources. We need things like the Carolina Sports Park, the Incrime Park, the Hermitage Farm, shooting sports to drive local businesses without putting strain on our county and local. Also, as a longtime resident of Kershaw County, I think it's a wonderful facility to have and to local to use. Regardless of tournaments and outside teams of our communities deserve a facility like this to enjoy and live a healthy, well-balanced life. Thank you. Thank you, Daisy. The next person that signed up is Shane Kirkley. Hey, Shane. Thank you, Madam Chair, Council, for having me here tonight to speak once yet again. I want to thank you first.

» I told you last time I saw all y'all for what you do for our county. A lot of things that y'all do can go unnoticed, and sometimes people only see the bad things, and you get called out on it. But you're put into a position that is very hard, and you have to make a lot of decisions. And I thank you for your courage to want to be in that position. And I thank you for wanting to find ways to make Kershaw County better for all of our citizens. And I want to speak tonight. A lot of people approached us wanting to come up here tonight and speak in front of y'all. And out of respect for y'all's time, I didn't think we needed 50 people up here trying to speak on behalf of recreation.

» And as you can see tonight here in the crowd, there's a lot of people who are supporting recreation in Kershaw County. We just had a wonderful commission meeting at the recreation today, and everything that was said in there, the people that y'all have appointed on that commission only want what's best for Kershaw County. We are really trying our best to make a difference. And I think if anybody wants to come and be a part of our meetings on a monthly basis that we have, please come. Please come and help us make recreation better. Y'all have been presented with an outstanding opportunity to change the lives of our young kids in this community. And our youth is very important to Kershaw County. They are going to be the driving force in our future.

» They're going to make Kershaw County better one day. And it's very important that we invest in them. Recreation is more than going out and hitting a baseball off a tee or going to throw a football and play catch. Recreation teaches kids how to succeed, how to go against adversity, and how to understand failure, and how to come back from that. You have to understand that this is more than just recreation. This is investing so much into our kids. Travel ball is a, or travel sports, is a byproduct of what we can invest in our kids to help us be able to have something nice. Let our kids take pride in what they get to go do for Kershaw County. Let them feel special for every other county that is around us that these other kids are getting to have. But let our kids feel that.

» Let them be able to go out there on that sport, that baseball field, that football field, that soccer field, and let them have pride in what they get to do. I pour my heart and soul into these kids. I've done it. I've been coaching for the last five years. And I only want what's best for them. I'm getting nothing out of this, understand? I want the public to know that I have nothing in this but for the kids. I want nothing but for Kershaw County to be better, to be better now and to be better in the future. I chose to raise my family here. And I could have raised them anywhere. But I wanted to be right here. And all I want is what's best for not only my kids, but all the other kids in this community. I just want to go over just a couple numbers here.

» Kershaw County is the 11th fastest growing county in the state of South Carolina. The growth population is 19% for Kershaw County. Yeah, one more minute. Basketball. So looking at our sports, our recreation sports, basketball since 2020-2021 season has grown 11% in participation in recreation. Baseball has grown 30% in participation. Softball grew 658%. They went from 24 participants in 2021 to 182 in 2023. Spring soccer rose 54% and football rose 20%. We're growing. It's time to invest, make our facilities better, and let's do it for our kids. There's no better time than now. If we can't get it done now, I don't know how we're going to do it. You have to tell all the citizens we're going to have to raise taxes if you truly believe that you want to make recreation.

» You have the opportunity to now to do it without raising taxes for our taxpayers. Thank you. Thank you, sir. The next argument signed up is Greg Nettles. Greg Nettles. Hi, Greg. Good. How are you? Thank you for your service, Dothrae County. My name is Greg Nettles. I'm a realtor here in Kershaw County. Lifelong citizen. Mr. Nettles, can you move the microphone closer to your mouth? Thank you. Okay. Hear me now? Yes, sir. So, I'd like to speak tonight on support of the sports complex for Kershaw County. Kershaw County is growing. People are coming to Kershaw County. Like it or not, they're coming. The question for you is, are we prepared? Are we ready for all these people that are coming to Kershaw County? Just a few stats, and these come from the multiple listing service.

» The number of homes that were sold in Kershaw County last year was 1,140 homes that totaled $344,123,000. 153 homes have sold this year thus far, and 157 are pending, even though the interest rates are high, houses are still selling in Kershaw County. The county charges you $3.70 per thousand when you sell a house. So, $3.70 times $344,000 is $1.27 million. $375 of these houses were new construction. The county charges new construction permits $2,560 per permit for homes up to $300,000, and more over $300,000. So, that's another $1.27 million. So, there are 167 homes for sale right now in Kershaw County, and 71 of them are new construction. And it's just going to continue to grow. As you look around the county, there's new home developments going in everywhere.

» So, are we prepared? Are we ready? Three questions that I get from buyers that come to Kershaw County to live here, when we're looking at homes, they want to know, how are the schools? They want to know, how was the crime? They want to know what recreation facilities we have for their children. And I tell them, the schools are pretty good. Crime, according to the internet today, it said that we were a very high crime rate area, and it wasn't a safe place to live. But I disagree with that. I think Kershaw County is a safe place to live. We may have some crime, but I don't think it's that bad. But anyway, and then our recreation, I just tell them, you know, it's pretty good. It could be a lot better.

» In fact, a lot of them go to Richland County if they live in Elgin, because it's closer, and there's no facilities there in Elgin for them, so they go to Richland County. So, the numbers could be even greater here if we had more facilities for them. So, a question I have for y'all tonight is, why not us? Why not us? Lexington, Richland County, Sumter, Florence, they all have these very nice complexes for their children. Their citizens pay taxes. We pay taxes. They get nice facilities. We don't. Why not? I went to a tournament this weekend to watch my grandson play at Pine Grove Complex in Lexington. We had about 60 parents and grandparents and siblings there watching 12 ballplayers play. They charged us $10 a person to get in the gate. That's $600.

» There were 60 teams there playing in that tournament. So, you're looking at 3,600 people times $10 a piece. That's $36,000. It's a two-day tournament, but they made $72,000 at the gate. That's just at the gate. I don't know what else they made. They got concessions and all that stuff. Yeah, one more minute. But, that's what they do. So, my last, I guess, trying to finish up here is, Mr. Jones and Mr. Tucker, y'all are long-term, I guess, council members on this council, and y'all have a lot of knowledge of how to get things done in Carshaw County, how to, you know, make things happen, how to figure things out. And, that's what I ask y'all to do, is maybe help some of these younger guys that maybe don't know. They may know. I don't know.

» But, there's ways to get things done, the way to raise money, that we can make things better for our children. I'm just asking y'all to do that, consider it. Thank you for your time. Do this for our kids. Why not us? Thank you. Thank you, Greg. The next person that signed up is Matthew Hutchison. Matthew Hutchison. Hi, Matt. All right, so this is the third meeting in a row we've been talking about recreation, baseball facilities. They've been added to the agenda. Why is there such a hard push for this? Why was a special interest group formed to sell this scam to the county government? Who stands to gain monetarily from this scam? It certainly won't be the taxpayers.

» Why would the county even consider spending one single penny on this sports complex when we have two EMS stations that need to be replaced and probably another two to three that need to be built? We have entire shift that needs to be added to our EMS system. From my research, I found that at least three members of the CARES special interest group are also members of the Parks and Rec Commission. There are at least three on this commission who have boys that play travel baseball. How is this allowed? How is this not a conflict of interest? Five of the seven members of the Parks and Rec Commission live in Camden. Is this right? Is this how we want? Our commissions ran.

» By not keeping an eye on these commissions, we have ended up in the situation we're in today where a small group from Camden is going to cost the taxpayers of this entire county tens of millions of dollars. But not at Larry Doby Park, though. That doesn't meet their standards. During a phone call conversation with the spokesman for CARE, I asked if he recommended closing Larry Doby in order to focus on Woodward Park. He answered yes. This spokesman also claimed that none of the members of CARE stand to profit from the proposed complex, but that remains to be seen. Like I've said time and time again, follow the money and you'll get the answers when it comes to government. That is exactly what we've begun to do.

» A group of us citizens, we want to know who could possibly have financial stake in the sports complex. The Parks and Rec master plan, which cost the taxpayers $65,000, recommended spending $20 million on Woodward Park. Now, this just was a recommendation, of course, but it seems that it has been seized upon by a very small handful of people in order to get the taxpayers of this county to pay for a travel baseball tournament complex for their children to play on. This master plan has a very strange timeline as well. The public input meetings were started just four weeks before this 582 page book that is fully illustrated with computer generated pictures was given to the county administration.

» Do you really believe that the input of 0.0015% of this county, of the citizens, was taken into account at all when this book was put together? Do we the citizens believe that? This master plan compared Kershaw County to several cities, not counties, to include Myrtle Beach, Rock Hill, and Greenville when talking about this sports complex. This bias obviously skewed the data in favor of spending tens of millions on Woodward Park. Those three cities have a massive number of hotels, gas stations, restaurants, and parking areas compared to Camden, not to mention the size of their roadways and the budgets needed to maintain a facility like this.

» Can you imagine the amount of congestion that this would cause on that section of DeKalb Street? We would need to have SCDOT completely redesign that area of roadway to make turn lanes and install traffic lights. Has anyone on this council considered that? I want to close my statements by touching on the absolute necessity for this county to focus on EMS, especially for my councilman, Mr. Cato, as this directly affects District 6, which I'm a member of. According to the director of EMS in his presentation, which you were present for, this county desperately needs two stations to be replaced. Not only that, due to staffing, if one person calls out for a shift and a replacement cannot be found in time, EMS Station 5 is closed to ensure coverage in high-volume areas.

» And in fact, last week, we had three EMS stations operating. That means an ambulance will have to travel from either Church Street or this building right here on Walnut Street to respond to a call in Bethune. Since Station 2 has been demolished and Station 5 has been closed for this shift, let's say, that's somewhere around a 20-minute response time for an ambulance. So, you would be asking a volunteer firefighter to respond from their home or a family member of the injured to administer CPR or first aid for the duration of that 20 minutes. Think about this. Have any of you on council done CPR for 20 minutes? Excuse me, Matt. Mr. Brazel. Mr. Brazel. Mr. Brazel, can I have your attention, please, or are you listening to something else? Mr. Brazel. Mr.

» Tucker, will you tap him? Can you turn that down, please, because it's very distracting. It's okay. Man, the disrespect is unbelievable. Think about this. Have any of you done CPR for 20 minutes? I can tell you it's not easy and it's not a pleasant experience. Has the Health Services District approached the county's EMS to offer them any money to help with the cost of rebuilding Stations 1 and 2? Wouldn't this fall directly in line with the mission of the Health Services District? After all, their own website states, the district's, I get an extra minute. One more minute. I get one more minute beyond that. 30 more seconds. One minute, 30 seconds from right now? Okay, however long I interrupted him.

» The district's, from their own website, the district's primary mission has always been and continues to be to ensure access to health care for Kershaw County. I certainly didn't read anything on that site about using our money, to borrow a phrase from the Health Services Director, to fund tournament baseball fields. So, members of council, where are your priorities? Ask yourselves, does the government have an obligation to provide for the public safety of all citizens before anything else? Or do you think it's the government's job to build travel baseball tournament complexes for a small minority of citizens? Thank you. Also, make sure these firefighters get the radios they need. Next person signed up is Jeff Maddox. Hi, Jeff.

» I don't want to talk specifically about baseball parks and parks in general. I do want to talk about how government has gone into every aspect of our life. When we look at the banks now, and the government's swooping in and bailing us out. You look at during the COVID thing and ARPA funds, what did we get, $12 million? I don't know. There's a whole pile of money, and we still got a bankroll. The hospitals and all were rewarded for failed policies, like incubators, I mean, ventilators and remdesivir and all that killed thousands, all because the government said so. Social distancing and a mask and all, and take the shot. It's safe and effective. Remember those lies? How much are we going to rely on government for everything? Everybody here's got good intentions.

» Everybody up there's got good intentions, but the good intentions are on the highway to hell. You look at our national debt, and it's $31 trillion and counting. You know, these guys here, the administrator and all, trying to keep us in line and everything. But we like to borrow money anyway, what does the Bible say about debt? I just think that we're getting lost in that government can provide us with all these things. They can provide us with recreation facilities. They can provide us with smooth roads. No, no, no, can't do that. Government can't do anything. Government, everything government ever touches turns out bad, whether it be in the short term or in the long term.

» You know, people talk about the fields are less neglected and all, and they're 50 years old, and so are the bridges and so are, you know, the buildings. Government cannot provide us anything. Government is there to protect liberty and freedom. It's our personal responsibility to build baseball fields. It's our personal responsibility to pave the roads to Walmart. It's not government's job, but we've let them have it. And so now look at what we've got up there in the White House, and look at what we've got in the State House. It's just that now everybody donates for their own self-benefit. And so we're left to be beggars at the altar of the state. Well-intentioned, but beggars nonetheless.

» And it's sad for me to say, but the dream that I had of America, the land of the home of the free and the brave and all that, is no longer that. We're home of the tax slave, indebted forever to this thing called government, and we can never be free again. I hate that. But go ahead, build your baseball fields. Thank you. Thank you, Jeff. Next person signed up is Linda Franklin-Moore. Hi, Linda. Short. I'm Chairwoman and members of the council. My name is Linda Franklin-Moore, and I am in Mr. Tomlinson's district. From 1995 until 2017, I did live in Lugoff. I now reside in Camden. And I come before you once again to talk about sewer. Great topic, but it is a good topic.

» I do not feel that council or members of the public at large realize the ramifications of possibly selling our sewer system. This is one time, Mr. Jones, you and I are going to have to cross swords. We do. I love you, but we're going to cross swords on this one. Love you, too. Thank you. Perhaps with further information, you may change your opinion about selling the system. But what you're saying is this. South Carolina Water Utilities or any other company, we in Kershaw County have no desire for any additional growth or industry in our county. We do not care that our children will be forced to move away to find good jobs. The public that wants the public's grocery store or any other large city amenities will never have one because we are going to let you decide our fate.

» If we need more sewer to accommodate a Scout Motors or a different industry, you can say, no, we are not spending that money to grow your system or repair your system, and we will have to like it. I mean, that sounds really stupid coming off the tongue, but that's exactly what you're saying. When you give away your sewer system, you give away your economic development. It's apparent from Facebook comments and from the general public that they have no idea how economic development works. It is your job as members of council who have additional information to make those decisions, even though the general public doesn't realize all the ins and outs that go into attracting industry. I'd be glad to brief Mr.

» Brazel or any other member of council on water and sewer and how it relates to growth in our area. I know Mitch Rabin, formal council member, was dubbed the sewer preacher, and I think I've taken on that mantle. I care about our county. I want our county to grow. I want our children to be able to have jobs in this county, and this is something I'm very passionate about. I'll even host a TED Talk on what industry looks at when they go to select an area. And some of that has to do with recreation. We can talk about management flight and what you need to do to attract plant managers and upper echelon management of these plants to actually live in Kershaw County instead of fleeing to Columbia. And how do I know that? I've interviewed them, and they were very frank with me.

» Martin Kahn wrote an excellent editorial. I must say it's a very fine piece of journalism. When he wrote about what was Palmetto Utilities, now South Carolina Water, or whatever they call themselves this week, about some of the problems that they had of how in 2014 they wanted to discharge a lot of affluent into the watery river because they had no really structure or infrastructure to do that. They wanted to buy our sewer system then. And they ran into some problems with the EPA. So that just goes to show this company does not care about Kershaw County. They care about servicing their customers in Richland County. They're not going to grow your system. They are not going to repair your system.

» Now, as many of you know, I've said it before, I cover Winsboro Town Council and the Fairfield County Joint Water and Sewer Commission for the Voice in Blythewood. Now, in a recent meeting, Winsboro Mayor John McMeekin said about building sewer in their area. He said, if we do not have more water and sewer, we will die. One more minute. Thank you. He gets it. He gets it. We need to get it. And as part of a solution, if you want to give away the sewer so bad, why not Luke off Elgin Water? They're a subdivision, a political subdivision, and they care about Kershaw County. And they have run it in the past. Mr. Brazel, they can give you those updates that you need. You don't have to have a committee. Thank you. Thank you, Linda. The next person that signed up is Lauren Cook. Hi, Lauren.

» Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I stand before you to discuss baseball. Of course, as you can see, this is not the body of an athlete. Nor do I have the soul of an athlete. But what I do have is the soul of Camden. I have only been back in Camden now for a little under three years. But I grew up in Camden. And not only did I grow up in Camden, my family grew up here in Camden. My family was enslaved in Camden. My family was freed in Camden. My family has been born here. We have died here. We have lived here. We have worked here. And unfortunately, the vast majority of my family is now buried here. So now you just got me. And I'm going to fight for my family. And I'm here to fight for Larry Doby Park. Because Larry Doby is my cousin. He was my cousin. And we need to keep that park.

» You say, well, what are the reasons for not keeping it? Well, it's in disrepair. Whose fault is that? Why didn't you keep it up? Well, it's in a bad neighborhood. No, it's not. It might be in a black neighborhood. It might be in a poor neighborhood. But that doesn't make it a bad neighborhood. And isn't that why we have police? Yes, it is. Okay. Now, having been around Camden, in and around Camden for over 60 years, yes, I will say it, I have seen the black history of Camden be erased. The schools are gone. Mather's gone. Does anybody? How many people here know that where the police department is now used to be the black public library? Did you know that? Larry Dobie Park is one of the few things that speaks to black history in Camden. We've lost Black Broad Street.

» Lower end of Broad Street, all gone. Where Price House is now, that used to be the black park. Gone. Little by little, we are being erased. We are a part of this community. We deserve to be a part of this community. If you want to have your little travel baseball park, use one of the ones that's already there and repair it. You shouldn't have put it there to begin with if it wasn't a good place to put it. If the drainage wasn't right or the traffic wasn't right. You can't use that as an excuse, as an excuse, excuse me, to now just push it to the side because, well, you know, was that just something that you did while Mr.

» Rainey was alive? Did you just do it to humor him? Just like I've noticed that reconciliation statue over here by Archive Park is now being covered by trees and bushes because we can have it here, but we don't have to look at it. We need Larry Dobie Park to stay. We need to be proud of all of the people that came from Camden and not just the ones on the horses and not just the ones with the light skin. And again, everyone, we need Larry Dobie Park and if you want to do something for the children, let's fix the schools. Thank you. Thank you, Lauren. Next person signed up is Tom Webb, the third. Hi, Tom. I'm back again. I'm going to talk about something that I talk about every now and then. Start out with how much is enough. That's a good question ought to be asked a lot of times.

» We already have ball fields and gymnasiums at schools all around the county. Is that not enough? Apparently, some people think not. When will they say it's enough? Never, never. Always another. Always something else. To build something more. Always something more. And certainly, we do have a lot of people coming into the county. And I would say, how much is enough about that as well? And then, really, the crux of what I wanted to speak about is what do they eat? What do we eat if the food quits coming? I'm not an expert, but I listen to experts outside the country, inside the country. I might be an expert listener. And it looks like we're on shaky ground. Things could happen that they say, well, never happened here in America. This is America. We'll never have famine here in America.

» But you just look back to the Depression. And it was a financial crash that was probably taken advantage of. Some of the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. But it wasn't probably orchestrated all the way from the beginning. This time, because of the enemies within. And that's something that anybody who served in the military, been in a foxhole, doesn't want to hear. They're inside the perimeter. Well, they are. They're inside the perimeter. People on the outside and the inside hate our country. They just love to take it apart and salvage what's left of it for their own use. So it looks like things could get really rough. There could be an interruption of the food supply. And that happened back in 1930-something. It was the 1920s, the roaring 20s, followed by the Depression.

» There's a rise and fall, something that kind of looks like this on a graph. It rises and falls and rises and falls. But like I say, this time it may be orchestrated, intentional, to destroy the country. One of the things that will happen is the food will stop coming. So I've said something about this before. And I don't expect anybody to pay any attention to me. I'm only an expert listener to experts who speak about such things. And I would suggest, not expecting it to be done, but everybody has their place in the scheme of things. And I feel a duty to speak about what I see, what I feel, what I hear.

» Just one little piece to this big picture of a jigsaw puzzle that I'm glad that Jeff Maddox went out because I'm going to suggest that government does something else for the people under the general welfare clause. That is, set up big storage bins like they have on farms and ranches and fill it up with corn. You know that back during the Depression, there were people that survived on cornmeal and water. They call it mush. It's not something that people would likely break in and steal. It's just something you would survive on. You still have to have some security about it. But the county or the state, somebody, the federal government, should be setting up grain storage for the occasion. It's insurance. It's a kind of life insurance, insuring the lives of us and our children.

» And people here are speaking about what we're going to do for the children. What are you going to do when a hungry child comes to you? You're going to hand him a basketball? What good is that? So don't wait too long is what I'm trying to get at. It's just human nature to wait too long. So thank you for your attention. Thank you, Tom. The last person that signed up is Melody Dowden. Hi, Melody. Excited about the last person speaking. I have a little laryngitis, but I'll do my best. I do want to talk about recreation, but I think you've heard both sides of the story pretty clearly. I also talk with many people, and they're on the same plane that I am on in that we need to finish what we started before we spend money on something new. And I really believe that the complex sounds wonderful.

» It really does. I've been in athletics all my life except recently, but I really believe it's irresponsible spending at this point, and not really logical when we have facilities throughout our county that we could upgrade, improve upon. And I keep hearing you say that travel baseball is not the reason. Well, if that's truly true, then we don't need this big complex, do we? We really don't. We need to finish what we started. You don't build a house, leave the roof off, and start building another house. You just don't do that. So, I mean, I really believe that we should finish what we started. This $5 million that's being offered does come with strings attached.

» If the goal is to improve health and access to recreation, then why couldn't health services and MUSC allow their $5 million to be used for that? There would be no need to match it or look for money elsewhere. I do see on the agenda that you're going to talk about ARPA money, and because that's never been explained to me, I tried to research it, because I believe you're going to use that as a way to put $5 million in for this project. And again, I could be mistaken, but I did hear that at the last meeting. So, that ARPA money is the American Rescue Plan Act, and Kershaw County was to receive $13 million in a grant specifically to help for the fallout from the pandemic.

» In October of 2021, our previous city administrator said the money would be split three ways, consistent with the federal rules. And I know, I'm sure you've had our lawyer look at how that money's being spent, because there are a lot of caveats from what I've read. It's supposed to be used for additional pay for public employees, supporting broadband, COVID nonprofit agency, and upgrading wastewater and storm infrastructure. The 2021-22 budget earmarked $4 million of this money for expenditures. The 2022-23 budget earmarked $12 million for expenditures. Now, this might be the new math, but that adds up to $16 million being earmarked to be used when I thought we were only getting $13 million, but it would be nice to know if we're getting more than that.

» For this $16 million that was budgeted, only $800,000 of it was destined for land and sewer plant. Almost $12 million went to COVID mitigation and recovery, and $100,000 to the council chambers project. I would love to see that itemized out, to see if that meets the guidelines set by the federal government for its use. Also, $200,000 was given to the Elgin Community Center. $200,000. If our county was only supposed to receive $13 million, and somehow we spent $16 million, I wonder where the $5 million you're talking about using for this complex is coming from. And I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for that, but I'm just going by what I see in your budget and what the money was supposed to be used for. I really am strongly- Yeah, one more minute. Thank you.

» I strongly believe that our priorities should be police, fire, EMS, sewer, for crying out loud, and infrastructure. That's where our money needs to go, and I understand this complex is wonderful. It really, really is wonderful. I want to use it, but we can't afford it. We need to finish what we started, and we certainly don't need to lose these small satellite fields in underserved areas. And I did also read that the money from that act can be used for recreation, but it is only in disproportionately impacted communities. Is that Camden? Maybe it is. I don't know. You're going to tell me I'm done, aren't you? All right. Thank you. Thank you, Melody. That concludes the sign-up list. Thank you, Mr. DeBose. And thank you to all the citizens that signed up for public comments.

» I know it's not always easy to get up and speak in front of everyone. All right. We're up to adoption of tonight's agenda. Is there a motion to adopt tonight's agenda? Madam Chair, I make a motion to adopt tonight's agenda. And is there a second? I'd like to make an amendment to the agenda. Got to get the second first. Second. Thank you. Second? Okay. And discussion on tonight's agenda. Yeah. Who's the second? Please. I am. Thank you. I was getting ready to say the second. But I would like to make an amendment. Ms. Reeder. I'm sorry, Brant. Are you good? Okay. Mr. Tucker, then Mr. Tomlinson. Okay. I would like to make an amendment to the agenda on a couple things, Madam Chair. One would be the approval of the minutes, if we could amend that to say budget retreat. That's what that was.

» That was not our workshop. On the 24th and 25th. Okay. Amendment to change 2023 budget workshop on the 24th and 25th to read 2023 retreat. Yes, ma'am. Is there a second? I'll second. And Mr. Shoemake second. Any discussion on that? Okay. All in favor of making that change, indicate by raising your hand. And it's unanimous. My other course of business is underneath discussions with the health service district. I would make a motion that we remove that after talking with the chairman of the health district. There's nothing to present tonight. Okay. Motion to amend the agenda to remove the discussion item, health service district update. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Tomlinson, second. Any discussion on this? Mr. Ogburn, we got your email. Thank you. That's what you were going to present.

» All right. All in favor of removing that agenda item. And it's unanimous. Madam Chair, on the old business, the opera American Rescue Plan Act would like to delete and we'll remove that at this time in reference to our radios and refer it back to the Finance Committee for recommendation. Okay. Motion to amend tonight's agenda to remove, under old business, the ARPA funds recommitment for Kershaw County Public Safety. Is there a second to remove that? Second. Mr. Tomlinson, second. Any discussion on this? Just one quick, just for purposes of clarity, we're removing this as I understand it. Finance Committee. Sorry. We're removing this as I understand it so the Finance Committee can talk about how to best make a portion of money, not because we're saying no to the radios.

» I just want to make that clear. Correct. So I put this on the agenda after the retreat because I understood that was a priority item that needed to be done right away. We actually, it doesn't need to be done this urgent though. Right. Like it didn't need to be done the next meeting. So that was my misunderstanding. I sent an email to the Finance Committee asking you all to look at the fund feasibility and bring council recommendation as soon as possible on how to fund the radios and who to fund them for. That request did include the Lugoff Fire Service. Thank you. And if I could, well, we've already done that. I'll talk about that later. Disregard. All right.

» All in favor of amending this agenda to remove the first item under old business, ARPA funds recommitment for Kershaw County Public Safety. And it's unanimous. That item is removed. I yield to my colleague, Madam Chair. Mr. Tomlinson. I have no amendments now. I have a comment. Mr. Jones. Thank you. If I could have your attention just for one second, folks. I've got my agenda in front of me and I was going over it. And this was dealing with the agenda. I noticed where it had the discussion of health service district update. Then it had the American rescue plan. And then there's another new business authorizing the county administrators to go out and inspect some properties and talk with some folks. Here's my problem where I'm going. I'm not trying to be ugly. I'm just being factual.

» We have in our rules of order of business that if you put anything on the agenda, you have to have some supporting documentation. And all those items have nothing. It was just on the sheet and there was no supported documentation. And then I get a letter here on my desk on one of the items here that was discussed. And I noticed it was sent to a county council member. And of course, I think if, with all due respect, if anything of any value is going to be presented through county council under our section 4.2 chairperson under rules of order says the chairperson shall disseminate to members of county council correspondents that request action by the county council.

» And if so, if the chairman doesn't get that from another chairman from another board, he's sending it to a directly to a council member. I don't get it. For full transparency and disclosure, any time we put anything... Mr. DuBose, I got a question for you, please, sir, with all due respect. When I put something on the agenda, have I not always put supported documentation along with my motion the majority of the time, all the time, just about. Well, most of the time you submit an actual motion. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Sure. Well, I mean, it's just something that is in our rules of order. It says in our rules that that will happen. And I say this to my colleagues and say, listen, let's just, you know, slow down a little bit. We put things on agenda and just think about it.

» And just remember there's seven of us up here and we want to share that information with each and every person. And I don't think anything was done maliciously with malice from anybody, any intent, but do it the right way. That's all I'm saying. Let's just do it the right way. You want something on the agenda, you put it on the agenda and you put supporting documentation along with it. All right. So having said that, I turn the meeting back over to you, Madam Chair. Thank you for that time. You're welcome. Any other? Mr. Tucker. I just want to say, so we're clear, Mr. Jones, and I think you spoke the truth when you said most of the time you do put supporting documents, but there's sometimes that there's not supporting documents with what may be on the agenda.

» And we have to understand that and respect our colleagues as they, because we all have the authority, the right to put things on the agenda, whatever we deem that is necessary for our district, the county, whatever it may be. And so I don't want to make sure, I want to make sure that we don't limit people or, you know, make it harder for people to get stuff on the agenda as a council member. But I do agree as much information that you have, you need to share with us. I do agree 100% with that. Mr. Tucker, if I may, Madam Chair. Well, then we need to change our rules.

» I mean, you know, because under Section 2.3, members of County Council placing matters on the agenda, it says that, you know, if County Council will vote on or take action on any matter coming before County Council, together with supporting documentation, matters placed on the agenda. I mean, the way I look at it, then we might, we're either in violation of our rules or we're obeying our rules and if our rules need amended. Mr. Dubose, help me there with some legal interpretation. Well, it says with any supporting documentation. So, Mr. Tucker, I think Mr. Jones is saying there's no supporting documentation, there's no supporting documentation. But, Mr. Jones, to your point, you're saying you want supporting documentation.

» Well, do you know how easy it is not to do -- I think your point will take, and if you want to clarify it, you need to clarify the rules. We do. Go ahead, I'm sorry. I just don't want the rule abused, Mr. Tucker. We had on here tonight -- I'm sorry, let me just finish. Please. Yes, sir. One, two, three, four, four to five things on here tonight that had no supporting documentation. And there's no doubt in my mind that there were a couple of them that could have had some supporting documentation before I walk in here and sit down at this desk. I don't have the rules that you just read from 4.2. No one called me about any letters. So, I do have the rules section 2.3.

» So, it does not require supporting documentation, but it does state that county council will vote or take action on any matter coming before county council together with supporting documentation. So, that's something that this body needs to clarify if we want to require it, but I see what you're saying, Mr. Tucker. Right. There's not always -- Well, I'm going to take -- I'm going to go back to the health service district. It says discussion. It didn't say a vote. It didn't say action. It said a discussion. That's all it said. So, what you want is discussion, because you can't get that until he gets here and does the presentation. That's what I'm trying to say. Every situation is not going to always have supporting documents.

» And then if they're not taking action -- well, we're not taking action. We're not voting on it. It doesn't need it. It says right there in our rules. I caution this county council just to be careful when you start talking about transparency. And I'm not accusing anybody up here of that. I'm just saying let's just all be very aware that we want to be as transparent as possible. And I know we do. I truly believe that each one of you do. But, folks, that's just the way I see it. And, you know, I've been fighting about transparency for many, many years. And I just don't want to see us go down a hole that becomes convenient. When I ran the jail, I'll say if you didn't follow the policies, then you took a shortcut. Convenience equals danger of problems. So that's all I'm saying. Thank you.

» Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, gentlemen. Any more amendments or discussion on tonight's agenda? Okay. All those in favor of -- Madam Chair. Adopt the amendments. I was going to -- I was going to say adopt the agenda as amended. Okay. Go ahead. I'm sorry. You can do that. Okay. All those in favor in adopting this agenda as amended signify by raising your hand. And it's unanimous. All right. Next is a public presentation from South Carolina Association of Counties Outstanding Safety Achievement Ward. Mr. Van Henson, welcome. Thank you, Madam Chair and members of council.

» Appreciate the opportunity to come before you tonight for a couple of minutes to share some positivity and cheerful news and open council, which is much better than normally when I show up in executive session to bring more doom and gloom and negative aspects of it. Since I do know you guys have a few new members of council, just give you kind of overview. And again, my name is Van Henson. I'm the director of risk management services with the South Carolina Association of Counties. Of course, all counties in South Carolina are represented members of the South Carolina Association of Counties. But one thing that some of you may not be aware of. One of the additional services that we do offer our members is to take part in our insurance trust programs.

» We offer both property and liability as well as workers comp. Kershaw County is a member of both and has been for several years and valuable members of that. Well, every year we get together, have our annual members meeting at the end of January. And as such, we recognize counties for achievements and Kershaw County. Once again, that's why I'm here tonight to present to you an outstanding safety achievement award. Now, this outstanding safety achievement award was presented to Kershaw County at our annual membership meeting, as stated. And what is Kershaw County realized the need for a more creative approach to workforce development and thus created the Kershaw County Works Well program.

» Well, this program assisted and increased employee development by structured safety training, additional opportunities for personal growth and resources for health and emotional development to reduce the need for and the cost of insurance, insurance services. Healthy employees not only have better quality of life. They also benefit from a lower risk of disease, illness and injury as well as increased workplace productivity. And therefore, a greater likelihood of having the opportunity to contribute it to their individual communities as well. For that, we are presenting this award as far as the Kershaw County. Just to give you an idea of it, in the last 10 years, I got to look him back. And Barry also helped refresh my memory because I asked him about it as well.

» But last 10 years, Kershaw County has received in total 15 various safety awards from the risk management side of our staff. So that speaks volume for the things that Barry Cato has been doing within your risk management department over the past 10 years. I'm sure if I were to tell you, do you want to buy into a premise of how I can guarantee you can save your county tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars every year? There's not many people that would shake their head no on that. So this is the one area that a county can actually control its risk and its losses and save money.

» And just to give you a quick example, our number one county this past year, as far as looking at their lost exposure rates, they ended up equated to them saving over $300,000 on their insurance premiums along in workers' comps. So just again, a good example that safety can pay in these situations, but it's not just one department doing it. Every employee in Kershaw County is your most valuable asset, and they are also all risk managers as well. Once you change that systemic culture, where departments buy in, employees buy in, you see significant changes in behavior and there again, see fewer losses going across as far as with your county's assets. But with that, I'm not going to take up any more of your time tonight on that.

» But at this point, I'd like to ask Barry Cato and members of the committee that are here tonight, if you'd come forward and let me present this to you. Again, congratulations once again on another year of an Outstanding Safety Achievement Award for Kershaw County. Your trials do not go unnoticed. Mr. Henson and Barry and Will, can you all come up here and... Sure. Barry, would you like to say... Yeah, I just wanted to say that thanks to the Wellness Committee, also fire, and the Human Resource Departments were all big parts of this. The Fire Department has a counseling service for their members who, when they have needed, and for the general public too, if I'm not mistaken. And anyhow, it was a group effort. Awesome. Is Stuart here? Barry, I thought you'd get tired of getting this award.

» You get it every year. I remember, but we never got it. I think I actually caught you doing that. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good job, Barry Kato. Thank you. Have a good night. All right. Approval of minutes. So we have three sets of minutes for tonight. First being the February 24th retreat. Is there a motion to approve the minutes from the February 24th retreat? I'll make a motion. Mr. Tomlinson, any second? I'll second. Mr. Shoemake. Any discussion? Okay. All in favor of approving the minutes from February 24th retreat. Indicate by raising your hand. And Mr. Kato, Mr. Tomlinson, Mr. Jones, myself, Mr. Shoemake, and Mr. Tucker. And Mr. Brazel, abstaining. And I'm assuming because of absence. All right. February 25th, this is the Saturday workshop. I'll make a motion to approve.

» Madam Chair, I have a correction. Under coroner, that should be Danny Templer, not Danny Kato. Okay. You didn't give it. Motion to approve. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Tucker seconds. And a motion to amend which page, Mr. Kato? I'm sorry. Okay. Coroner. In the coroner's absence, Administrator Danny. This will be the last report. Templer. Doesn't have a page number. It would be the last presentation, I think. Yes. Coroner. Strike. Cato. And amend to say Templer, correct? Okay. A second on that amendment? Second. And all in favor of the amendment to change Danny Kato to Danny Templer. Indicate by raising your hand. Mr. Kato, Mr. Tomlinson, Mr. Jones, myself, Mr. Shoemake, and Mr. Tucker. Sorry. Mr. Brazel, abstaining. Any other discussion or amendments? Okay.

» All those in favor of approving this agenda as amended or approving these minutes as amended. Indicate by raising your hand. Okay. Mr. Kato, Mr. Tomlinson, Mr. Jones, myself, Mr. Shoemake, and Mr. Brazel, abstain. All right. Next is the February 28th. This was our regularly scheduled county council meeting. Make a motion to approve. Okay. Mr. Tomlinson, motion to approve. Is there a second? I'll second. Mr. Shoemake. Second. Any discussion? I just want to say, Madam Chair, thank Ms. Lauren for taking all these minutes. And, you know, if there's just one little glitch, you know, that's better than what we would have done. I promise you. But thank you. I do have one item. So I make a motion that we amend under Watery River Public Boat Ramp.

» Under Councilman Russell Brazel's motion, that we add motion as amended, and then in favor opposed, and then strike as amended in motion. So the way it reads right now, the original motion passed as amended and it did not. Any questions or you guys see where I'm at? Okay. All those in favor of amending motion as amended to strike as amended and add original motion there. Indicate by raising your hand. Madam Chair, I'll abstain due to absence. Okay. Mr. Tomlinson, Mr. Jones, myself, Mr. Shoemake, Mr. Tucker, and Mr. Braswell. Mr. Braswell. And Mr. Cato abstains. Okay. On this meeting minutes, all those in favor of approving these minutes as amended, indicate by raising your hand. Mr. Tomlinson, Mr. Jones, myself, Mr. Shoemake, Mr. Tucker, Mr. Braswell, and Mr. Cato abstains. Okay.

» Approval of minutes are complete. We removed our discussion for tonight and our first item of old business. So the next item is the administrator's new contract. The contract was in your agenda packet. Is there a motion at this time pertaining to the administrator's contract? Move to accept the contract made by Mr. Shoemake. Is there a second? Second. Second by Mr. Tomlinson. Any discussion? Okay. All those in favor of accepting the administrator's contract, indicate by raising your hand. And the vote is unanimous. Thank you, Danny. Yes. Congratulations, Mr. Tomlinson. You'll be under contract now. Okay. Going into new business. Authorization of county administrator to speak to property owners adjacent to Woodward Park. This was placed on the agenda by Councilman Derek Shoemake.

» Is there a motion at this time pertaining to this item? Yes, Madam Chairman. I would move that the county council authorize the county administrator to enter into preliminary discussions with the owners of property adjacent to Woodward Park. specifically that parcel that's number C 284-00-00-015 LSE. For purposes of number one, determining their willingness to sell their property to the county. And two, entering into preliminary discussions about the sale and possible donation of land contingent to county council approving any purchase. Okay. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Tomlinson, second. Any discussion? And Mr. Shoemake, I'll give you the floor first. Sure. I mean, this is basically what I see as a housekeeping motion. I know we have some things on the agenda that may touch on this.

» But regardless of what this council ultimately chooses to do with the Woodward Park expansion or completion, however you want to say it, it will almost certainly require growth. And there's an adjacent property to that park. And so I think it's prudent to have the county administrator go ahead and at least initiate discussions. Because obviously if that is a no-go, then it really changes everything. So I think it's an important preliminary thing to do before we actually start executing the plan. I mean, we can still do other votes and apportion money, but before we actually put shovels in the ground, that needs to happen. So I think we should go ahead and begin that process now. Any other discussion? Mr.

» Shoemake, in your motion, does it include the two homes that are on Chestnut Ferry? At present, it's just the parcel that's the 30, forgive me, the 30 acres, 30 acre parcel. Obviously, you know, depending on what the county administrator, he may come back and say, hey, I want to expand this. But at this point, it's that 30 acre parcel. Okay. That specific parcel. Okay. If I may. Mr. Jones. Mr. Shoemake, I appreciate you putting this on. I know you told me you were going to put it on because I didn't see it because it wasn't in here. I would have liked to have seen the motion a little bit earlier. Is there any way that you could extend your motion or amend your motion to add Dobie's, Larry Dobie's in there? I'm not following what you mean. Yeah.

» Well, you, this is specifically for the Woodward Park project. Correct? Correct. Okay. Well, there were also some questions about the Larry Dobie's. I was wondering if we could just amend your motion to add that in there too, for him to assess and look at the Larry Dobie's complex as well. In that, to talk to adjacent property owners? No, just to look at it and come back with some kind of recommendation. I mean, I certainly have no objection to looking at the feasibility of, I'm still not exactly sure, Councilman Jones, what you're asking. I don't have an objection to it. I'm just not sure exactly what you're asking. What I'm asking is that, I think it's a good thing that we go out and we have to, where the property is concerned.

» You have to, what we feel because this property is owned by somebody else. I understand that. But while he's out there doing that, how about, let him look at Larry Dobie's as well and assess that and bring back with us some information on what it would take. Mr. Tucker. If I, yeah, if I could, Councilman Jones. Don't look confused at me when you look at him. Well, I can't help it because you confuse me sometimes. Okay, so he's inquiring about land. There's no land to buy at Larry Dobie's. I'm with you on assessing what that's gonna take because I'm like the young lady that spoke. There's a lot of history there that I will not, as one council member, allow to be a race. Well, I won't allow that either. Yeah, but I think we're talking about two different fish here in this pond.

» We are, but it's still recreation. It is, but let's not get it all cloudy and let's do the land inquiry. And then if we want to do something on an assessment, we can do that in a separate motion or a separate time. But I'm with you on that because I want to see that too in my due diligence that I'm continuing to do about the parks. Here's what I'd like to do. I'd like to add an amendment that we authorize the county administrator as he goes out and does his due diligence on the motion that Mr. Shoemake made. But you also look at Larry Dobie's. You come back with us with some type of understanding of what we have there. What, you know, just when it comes to the possibility of a complex vote. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be talking to you. That's my amendment.

» Okay, is there a second on that amendment? I want to thank each and every one of you. I'll second it for discussion. Okay, second for discussion. I don't know that these two things are germane to each other. Mr. DeVoe, excuse me. The motion is that the administrator, correct me if I'm wrong, I want to get the spirit of the motion right, goes and talks to the landowner adjacent to Woodward Park at this specific parcel. One motion is that the administrator do due diligence in regard to the adjacent property that would have to be purchased for complex to even work. I think that's Mr. Shoemake's motion. And just for matter of information, that and anything that he did in that regard would be privileged information because it's contract negotiation.

» Kershaw County has a FOIA policy that says we exempt from disclosure anything that is non-disclosable, and that would be one of them. Mr. Jones' motion is about recreation, so to that extent it's germane, but his motion is about determining what needs to be done at Larry Dovey. So they deal with the same subject matter, but they deal with different aspects of the subject matter. One deals with land purchase, and the other one deals with cost of improvement. Second part might not be privileged, first part is. That doesn't answer the question, Madam Chair. Well, do they need to be separate authorizations? I think they can be together. Okay. Council can do it if they want to. It's a policy decision. Okay. But they're two different matters. But they are germane. They're both recreation. Okay.

» You're done. Thank you. Madam Chair. Mr. Tucker. Since my colleagues forced me to vote on this, I'm just going to state my position, and I will not intertwine the two. I will vote on the original motion, but that doesn't mean I'm against Larry Dovey's part, and that is where I stand. Thank you. So I would also like them to be separated just because this is specifically to go speak to a property owner next to Woodward Park. But I also want the administrator to do his due diligence on Larry Dovey. I would like all our recreation facilities looked at and done, see if we can get an assessment for each one across the county. I withdraw my amendment. That would be good. That would be something good. I'd be good for that. I'll put it back on the agenda for the next meeting. Well, Mr.

» DuBose, do we need to take a vote for Danny to go look at Larry Dovey's field? Mr. Jones has withdrawn his amendment, but now the question is if you want him to do due diligence on the cost of all of the parks, I think under his auspices as county administrator that he can do that. Okay. I think in his position as the CEO of the county, he can take a look at what all the parks need. Okay. And, yes, and Madam Chair, if I may. Mr. DuBose, also, we don't really need a vote on this to have him go out in this. Correct. I mean, this is the formality, I think, out of transparency that I know that Councilman, she may want to do, and I appreciate that. And I do understand that, but we don't need this for that. And the two could be done at the same time.

» But for simplicity, I'll just withdraw my amendment and I'll have it on the agenda for the next county council meeting. Thank you, Councilman Jones. Thank you. I don't want it to appear that somebody up here is not for Larry Dovey's. Okay. All right. Mr. Jones withdrew his amendment. Any other discussion? I'm going to support your motion tonight, if I may. Mr. Shoemaker, if I may say that to you. Because I do understand that this could be a deal closer as much as it could be, you know, to make it move forward. All right. The motion is, I'll call for the vote. The motion is that the county council authorize the county administrator to enter into preliminary discussion with the owners of the property adjacent to Woodward Park. Specifically, Charlie 284-00-00-015, Lima Sierra Echo.

» For determining purposes of the willingness to sell their property to the county and enter into preliminary discussions about sale and donation of the land contingent to county council approving any purchase. All those in favor of this motion, indicate by raising your hand. And it's unanimous. Motion passes. All right. Next item under new business, the yard waste grinding service at the landfill contract. Mr. Templer, you have the floor. Madam Chair, members of council, you have before you an item for approval that would allow us to do our annual grinding of the yard debris that accumulates out at our Park Road landfill facility. This is a DHEC mandated operation.

» We do this every year, and it allows us to be in compliance with DHEC for landfill inspections, and it also allows future room to accept yard debris from throughout the county. And in the packet, the bids, staff recommends going with the low bidder for $130,000, Lee County Composting and Recycling out of Maysville. Thank you, Mr. Templer. Is there a motion pertaining to this yard waste grinding service? Madam Chair, I make a motion that we approve the lowest bidder for the yard waste grinding services. Okay, motion to approve the lowest bidder for the yard waste grinding. Is there a second? Right. Second. Mr. Tomlinson, second. Any discussion? I have a couple questions for the administrator. Yes, sir.

» Looking at these comparables here, either someone's really trying to rip us off or we're going to have some problems with Lee County. I'm just trying to figure that out. Yes, sir. So historically, this operation, $130,000 is a little more in line. Even bid number two would be somewhere in the neighborhood, but $522,000 is just, it's out there. I don't know if somebody's trying to stay active in the bid process by submitting a bid and maybe not wanting it. I don't know. It's just pure speculation. But typically, this cost has been escalating over the years with mobilization, fuel, and this is a very expensive equipment that comes out there. So it's been growing from $80,000 to $90,000 to $100,000. So this, to me, is a -- it's in line with incremental increase in cost.

» And so with that being said, the 45,000 cubic yards that we have of debris, what will that do for our power? Is that the whole pile? It takes it away, yes, sir. Okay. And what they call windrows it. So it just, it eliminates everything out there. In the past, when we've gone low, we've been left with maybe 20% of that debris untreated, unground. So that causes issues. So this was put out as a bid to handle everything out there. Okay. And then get us starting from zero again. All right. Thank you, sir. Mr. Templer, you might have said this, but this happens annually? Yes, ma'am. Okay. But they would have to bid again next year? Or is this a two-year contract? Or how do we -- One year. One year. Yeah. So they would have to bid it out again next year.

» And have we ever done any comparison? I know we talked at the retreat about some ideas. Any comparison if we were able to do it ourselves? We've looked at it over the years, but the upkeep on a tub grinder is just incredibly expensive. And it's almost kind of puts it out of reality. All right. Any other questions? Discussion? All right. I'll call for the vote. Motion to approve the lowest bidder for the yard waste grinding service. All of those in favor, indicate by raising your hand. And the vote is unanimous. Motion passes. Lee County. Composting and Recycling LLC out of Maysville, South Carolina will get the bid. Right. Next item. Clerk to Council appointment. I placed this on the agenda, but actually I'm going to give the floor to the administrator.

» Madam Chair, members of council, you have before you the process of hiring our new clerk to council. So this is an endeavor that the chair and I have gone through with interviews and advertising. So this process would end with myself recommending this candidate here tonight. We've taken in over 60 applications. We've made interviews and Ms. Hannah Parler comes to us very experienced, 17 years experience. She is going to be a tremendous asset and a great addition to our staff. I couldn't recommend her any more for council to hire. Been just a pleasure to talk with and again, I'm excited about what she'll bring to the team. Thank you, Mr. Templer. Is there a motion pertaining to our clerk of council, Ms. Hannah Parler? I make a motion that we hire Ms.

» Hannah Parler for our next clerk to council. And Ms. Lauren, you can stop grinning over there. Okay. Motion to move forward and hire the recommendation of Ms. Hannah Parler to a clerk of council. Is there a second? I'll second. Mr. Shoemake, second. Any discussion? Can I meet her before we? Yes, you can. Ms. Parler, can you come up to the podium, please? You mean we had her wait the entire meeting for this? We should have done you first. She's just getting used to it. Good evening. Good evening. Thank you so much. Gentlemen, this is Ms. Parler. And like Danny said, there were several applicants. And we went through the interview process, narrowed it down to two. Ms. Parler being one of the final interviews, someone that came back for the second interview.

» She's coming with 17 years of experience in Lee County. And my thought process was that is someone you can pluck and put over here. And there's some institutional knowledge there that I think is very helpful to myself being junior on the council and some of the other new elected officials. Congratulations. After the vote. Thank you so much. Thank you. Glad to have you. Thank you. Madam Chair. Yes, Mr. Tucker. Welcome, Ms. Parler. A couple of quick things for you. Now, you know, I have deep roots in Lee County with some of the council members down there. So who I need to look out for when I go to my other meetings, because I don't need them running behind me, threatening to kill me or shoot me. I don't know. Is Mr.

» Arthur Beasley okay with you coming up here? Actually, I'm coming from the city. Okay. From the city council. Yes, sir. Okay. You down there with Grady Brown. Yes, sir. The mayor. Okay. All right. Well, welcome. And do you have any relatives here in Kershaw County? Because I know a few parlors. I do. Is Harvey one of your relatives? Who's that? Harvey? No, sir. Okay. Different set. Yes, sir. Well, welcome and congratulations. Thank you so much. And if this bunch don't drive you crazy after sitting out there today, may God bless you. Thank you. Thank you. I'll be the easiest you have to work with. Pray. Please pray. All right. So much for that. Thank you. Madam Chair, the operative words are higher and a point. Higher and a point. Okay. I need to amend my motion to say that. I so do.

» I would second that. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Any other discussion? All right. All those in favor of hiring and appointing Ms. Hanna Parler as our clerk to counsel indicate by raising your hand. And the vote is unanimous. Congratulations, Ms. Parler. Right. Next item. Proposal for recreation revitalization. This was placed on the agenda by Councilman Russell Brazel. Is there a motion at this time for this agenda item? Yes, ma'am. I'd like to make a motion. I move that Kershaw County agree to accept the donations from MUSC and the Health Resources District totaling $6 million. And that Kershaw County Council submit a proposal to the Finance Committee to budget and allocate a $6 million fund match using ARPA funds in a reallocation process.

» So that a total of $12 million will be available for Kershaw County Recreation Revitalization Project. The project will provide $10 million for Wilbur Park, a multi-sport complex. It will provide $2 million for maintenance, repair, and revitalization of existing recreational facilities throughout Kershaw County. This motion is subject to Kershaw County and the donors ultimately entering into a memorandum of understanding and intergovernmental agreement for fund use. Also, I want to make clear that the ARPA fund source is a proposal to the Finance Committee. The Finance Committee is encouraged to and is free to look at other available funding sources in making this recommendation on this proposal and the annual budget to the county. I would second. Is there a second? That's what you make.

» Second. And discussion. I would just like to have the floor for one second just to say this is something that we've been taught a lot about. There's been a lot of support around. I would, I know Councilman Jones has had, he's done his due diligence and has a lot of questions. And I would ask Councilman Jones and other members of council to trust the Finance Committee, trust the process, and trust us to be able to look at these funds and have matching funds if we're able to do it. But I appreciate your, everybody taking a deep dive into this. Thank you. Mr. Jones. But this, are you making an amendment for the Finance Committee? Because Councilman Brazel is making a motion to push this through. No, so my motion states that it goes to the Finance Committee. Well you did. Thank you. Yes, sir.

» Thank you very much. Mr. Brazel, can I see your motion? Yep, it did. And I just, I just wanted to say that I, I support Russell's motion. Um, and I asked other council members to, um, give this the opportunity to do our job as representatives of this county and representatives of the Finance Committee. And to be clear, um, and expand on it, the, the two million dollars, we were, we were notified that, um, Ms. Sally Harrell notified us, per your request, Daryl Ogburn asked that I forward you the motion that the Health Services District approve. So, so we did, um, myself and Ms. Gwen received this email. So, last night, make a long story short, they, they were willing to commit another million dollars for various recreation projects.

» And I think that'll accomplish what we want to accomplish is finishing what we started, uh, or what has been started in the past, and the multi-sport complex. So, um, it gives us some latitude, and, and that was needed. I have, I have a question. Uh, Mr. Downs. Mr. DuBose, a vote for this is what? Well, I think the motion, Mr. Brazel just read the motion, but I think his motion is that the council recommend it to the Finance Committee, which means the Finance Committee would then have to. make a recommendation to county council. Mr. Senator would make a recommendation positive or negative. He didn't predispose the answer. I believe the motion did not, did it? That's right. That's correct. Yeah. So, the Finance Committee would, would discuss it and make a recommendation to council.

» Is that correct? That's correct. Yes, sir. That's due process. Do you have a motion to approve the council to submit it to the Finance Committee? I want to say yes to the tip of the iceberg because it's going to be a lot of work. His motion is that the council recommend it to the Finance Committee, but he, the motion doesn't deprive the Finance Committee of any authority, the way I understand it. Is that not correct, Mr. Brazel? I don't know how it could. I don't either. Um, do you have a copy of the motion, Mr. DuBose? Um, so the motion is to move that Kershaw County agree to accept the donations from MUSC and Health Service District totaling $6 million. And my understanding is that agreeing to that means we will match it. So this is kind of two things in one.

» No, so the last sentence is, is, is really important. And that was, I want to make clear that the ARPA fund source is a proposal to the Finance Committee, but the Finance Committee is encouraged to and free to look for other available funding sources. They may come back and say there, there are no funding sources. Everything has to go through the Finance Committee and if it doesn't, then it's null and void. If I may, you don't need a vote to send something to the Finance Committee. I, I actually have, um, well, we, we do need to vote to say yes. And, and that's really what we're doing tonight, is just-- Why would we say yes before the Finance Committee has an opportunity to give us a recommendation? That's my, that's my concern.

» I, I suppose we, we should just put it to a vote and-- Madam, my take on this is, is, it's not necessarily we're saying yes, but we're taking the first step in saying that we're interested in the health resources proposal. If we send it to the Finance Committee and we can't find the, the funds, then we're back to square one. But we've got to start somewhere and my understanding is that this is the first step. And we're not in any binding contract or anything like that. We're just saying we're interested in taking your proposal to give us this money and let our Finance Committee look at it. That's my understanding. So I absolutely agree that the first step would be asking the Finance Committee, but I've already done that. It doesn't need a vote.

» Any council member can send anything to the Finance Committee in accordance with our rules and ask them to bring a recommendation before county council. So I did that and I asked for the recommendation to be ready by April 11th with commitment letters and other due diligence processes. I have a town hall Thursday in Bethune. I have a town hall in Elgin. I did state at the initial meeting that I was putting this on the agenda for April, which would be 60 days. The Health Service District requested that we respond in 90 days. So we're at day 30 right now. So I don't understand why we need to accept the donation without having the Finance Committee look at it. That's where I'm at. So the way I read this, I'm, I think it should go to a vote.

» Because the way I read this is the critical piece of this to Councilman Brazel's point at the tip of the iceberg piece is we're voting on two things today as I see it. One is to accept the $6 million to formally say we accept the $6 million and that we in good faith are now going to go back and try to find the six. And then assuming we're able to find the six, we're going to then put a proposal that would actually be the whole package deal. So I think it is important tonight, particularly so the Health Services District can go back to its board and say, you know, they formally accepted the six and plan to find the money. And just a couple, a couple of things. I mean, I just want to express my support for this. I know that a lot of folks have some different opinions on this council.

» I have coached in recreation baseball. I coach my son. I've coached my daughter in softball and maybe one of the most losing his records that the rec softball has ever seen. And, you know, I think what's important about rec is not just travel ball. Full disclosure, my son played travel ball until he started playing for Lincoln Fulgin High School. But this is not about travel baseball. It is about a recreation facility for our kids. Travel baseball may be a part of this and we may be able to offset some of the maintenance fees. But my vote for this is not because it is a travel ball facility. It is because it is a place to improve rec.

» And I specifically want to thank Councilman Brazel because in the last meeting, Councilman Brazel, I think, pretty aggressively pushed the health services district to see if they could come up with another million. One of the big complaints that I know I've heard over in Elgin is, you know, what about these other parks? And, you know, I understand why Woodward Park for the larger facility. But now we have two million for other recreation projects in large part because the Councilman Brazel is pushed. So I appreciate that. So I just don't think we should let perfect be the enemy of good here. I understand that we have a lot left to do. But I think it's important that we move forward and take those concrete steps. We have a lot of other business to do. This allows us to do this.

» Say we're going to go forward. Finance Committee finds the funds, which should happen. Then we have a plan together. There's some more steps that have to happen. But I think this is the Council's way of saying publicly and with a vote, we support this. We're behind it. And I appreciate, again, Council Member Razzle getting the extra million. If I may, Madam Chair. Okay. Mr. Jones. Mr. . This is -- I'm just getting all this -- I'm just getting all this information tonight. This is why I brought up the issue about following the rules. And the rules do say -- the rules do say, together with supporting documentation. I'm just getting this -- now, did all you guys know about this earlier? Mr. Jones. I'm just asking the question. You didn't know about it, Mr. Jones? Mr. Jones. Mr.

» Jones, no, sir. Mr. Jones, did you -- Mr. Jones, did anyone on the Finance Committee know about this proposal prior to tonight? Mr. Jones, I haven't seen this paper. I don't believe prior to tonight. But there were some other things that were sent. Mr. Jones, let me just say this. I applaud Mr. Broussel, because I have said, if you believe in something, you stand for it. And you've pushed forward and fight for it. That -- I respect that. I truly do. And I think that's what you're doing. My issue is, is that I've just seen this for the first time tonight. And we're saying, okay, let's go ahead and say that we accept the money. You know, I have a different position on it. I think we should finish projects we have before we start a new one. But -- Mr. Jones, if I may? Mr. Yes.

» That was what the extra million was for. I wholeheartedly heard every word you said. And I appreciate Health Services District's response of another million. And that was -- I was fighting for you. Mr. And I don't -- I don't doubt that. But I just have some -- Mr. If the Finance Committee deems it impossible, it'll be dead. It'll be DOA. Mr. Why can't we change the wording of the motion? Mr. Let's just -- let's just vote. I think we should just vote and move on. I agree with Mr. Shoemake that it's two things in one. And so I do agree in sending it to the Finance Committee. That doesn't need an agenda item or a vote. You just send them an email and tell them, hey, look into this and bring me back a recommendation as an agenda item.

» So our rules do state that the Finance Committee will make a recommendation as an agenda item. And we don't have that recommendation yet. So, Mr. Shoemake, I heard you say plan to find the money. If I may, Madam Chair, just to clarify, I do think that it's appropriate to take a vote on both. I was just saying I think it's two issues. But I do think both are appropriate for a vote, just to be clear on my position. But they're in one motion, so you can't vote for one without the other. No, no, I agree. They should be voted on together. I'm just saying I think we're voting on, we often vote on motions that say we're going to do X, Y, and Z. I think these are two components to the same motion. I fully support both pieces. I just was making the point that it's two steps we're doing.

» But I think we can absolutely vote to send something to Finance Committee, even if we're not required to. There's a difference between being required to do something and being prohibited from doing something. Any other comments? Mr. Tucker. Okay. When I got my agenda, I did read about proposal. And I guess that kind of threw me off a little bit because I'm looking at, okay, this is going to be something that's going to be more recommended than a vote. And I think my colleague misunderstood me tonight when I asked him are we going to vote on it. Because we were given 90 days. We're just 30 days in. This is where my heartburn is. And some folks are still doing due diligence, including myself.

» I, at our last workshop, made some proposals to, not our last one, but the one we had upstairs, to some of you in reference to how do we sustain the new park. And planted some seeds that particular day as well. And I want everyone to understand. I'm a native here. My parents, born, raised, and will die here, Ms. Cook. I coached in recreation for 22 years of my life. I hear you loud and clear. And I played in it. I was a pretty good baseball player too. Wasn't worth a cuss at basketball because I was too short and too small for football. But baseball was my thing. I don't want to overextend our time. But I don't want to be rushed into voting on something today that we've been given 90 days. And we just got to 30 days. And people are asking for due diligence. That's all they're asking for.

» It's going to be one day one of y'all's turn up here that's going to be asking for due diligence. And you're going to want the same. Can I clarify one thing? Yes, sir. You asked me if we were voting on that proposal that I just gave you. That's not what we're voting on. We're just making a motion to say yes to the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. What I gave you is a recommendation to the Finance Committee. Which included, by the way, memorializing heroes like Larry Doby. We didn't read that, but Mr. Tucker, Councilman Tucker, has a copy of that in his hand. Right. That was for the Finance Committee. Right. But I think you're missing my point. It says in here that we accept the $6 million from the district.

» So we are voting on what Chairman Auburn came up here and said that gave us 90 days. And I'm not truly, honestly, you know, maybe you guys already have your votes. I'm not ready to vote on that, but I'm not against it. I just, you know, I think we're just trying to force feed some of our colleagues, including me tonight. On this matter. And look, I'm a big boy. Y'all take the vote and y'all win. We're going to move on. And I'm going to work just as hard as if I voted on it tonight as well. But I just have to state my position where I'm at, at the point of a motion that I was not prepared to vote on tonight. For the same fact that I want to take the time that was given to me. That doesn't mean I'm going to roll up here on the 90th day and want to take a vote.

» But with 30 days in of 90, a third. We'll have plenty of time for Duke Dillon-John to share you. Plenty of time. Well, I've stated my piece. Thank you, sir. Thank you. So when Chairman Auburn came and gave the first presentation, I stated that I'll put it on the agenda for April. And in the meantime, I will have town halls and I will talk to the citizens of Kershaw County. And I'm still going to do that. So what I don't appreciate is the blindsiding of this. I didn't know this was happening tonight. The chair of the finance committee didn't know. And our vice chair didn't know either. So something that I am working on, I'm not against this project at all. I've been meeting with Shane several times daily, talking to him about this. So I'm not against it.

» But I do owe the people due diligence in town halls and give them an opportunity to speak and see me in Bethune and in Elgin as I planned. So I am not ready for a vote. I'll be ready in April as I originally planned. I also requested commitment letters and some other information that would make this vote be considered doing proper due diligence. So any other comments? Discussion? Right. I'll call for the vote. All those in favor that Kershaw County agrees to accept the donations from MUSC and the Health Service District totaling $6 million. And that Kershaw County submit a proposal to the finance committee to budget and allocate $6 million fund match using ARPA funds in a reallocation process.

» So that a total of $12 million will be available for a Kershaw County recreation revitalization project. Indicate by raising your hand. Mr. Cato, Mr. Tomlinson, Mr. Shoemake, and Mr. Brazel. And all opposed? Mr. Jones, myself, and Mr. Tucker. And the motion passes. All right. Next item of new business, scheduling change for the regularly scheduled council meeting on April 11th, 2023. Is there a motion pertaining to the April 11th meeting? I would move that we move the meeting due to the opioid summit, I believe. Yes. That's correct. Okay. Mr. Shoemake makes a motion that we move the April 11th meeting to April 18th due to the illicit drug use and opioid summit. And Mr. Tucker, you second? I second. Okay. Any discussion? Questions on this? Okay.

» There will be three members of council absent and the administrator. So I think it's a good scheduling move. April 18th, right? The very next week, Tuesday, April 18th. Yes. Take the vote. We're voting on rescheduling the meeting. Okay. All those in favor of moving the April 11th, 2023 scheduled meeting to Tuesday, April 18th, 2023 indicate by raising your hand. Mr. Cato, Mr. Tomlinson, Mr. Jones. It's unanimous. All right. Ms. Reeder, if you'll get that updated on the calendar too. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Next is the Kershaw County Detention Center Jail Space and Needs Study. All right.

» Is there a motion pertaining to the Kershaw County Detention Jail Space and Needs Study? I would move that we perform a jail space or a jail space and needs study of the Kershaw County Detention Center based on some presentations we've gotten in the last few weeks. Okay. Mr. Shoemake makes a motion. Is there a second? I'll second. You. Okay. Mr. Cato. Seconds. Any discussion on this? I just want to say thank you for putting this on the agenda. One of the jails is a big issue. Yes. Once again, Madam Chair, Mr. Templer, what are we looking at for turnaround? I'm not quite sure on the turnaround. That will depend on the scope of work, so I'll work with our jail administrator on that.

» But with the cost here, there will be a rough turnaround time if there's a definitive cost, so I'll let you know then. Okay. And is 39 going to be the number or you think it may exceed? Yes. Okay. You're comfortable with it? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Madam Chair, thank you for taking such a big interest in this at the very beginning. Mr. Templer and Mr. Templer. This is the next way to happen. What I'd like to ask Mr. Tucker and members of county council is that when you do this study, Blake Taylor with the Department of Corrections, the minimum of standards, that's what governs type two facilities. That could save us a lot of money as well, bringing him in. Yes, sir. Okay. Because I've been through that before. Yes, sir. Thank you.

» And I just want to add that this was, I thought this was in the budget already as Mr. Templer and I discussed. And when we found out it wasn't, that's why it's on the agenda tonight. All right. All those in favor of? Madam Chair. Yes. Mr. Templer. Let me make a correction or clarity. Mm-hmm. When you say in the budget, it is in our overall budget, but it's not in the detention center. Correct. Budget. Correct. So there's no tax increases or anything like that that we're doing to pay for this. My mistake was that I was, I thought it was already scheduled in the 22-23. Right. And it was not, but what we do have is a line item set aside for urgent studies and urgent needs for information. So this fits nicely. Okay. All right. Thank you for the clarity.

» So we thought it was already in the detention center's budget. When we found out it wasn't, it does need to go before a vote because it's outside of that. It's over his capacity. Perfect. Thank you for that. You're welcome. All right. So, performing the jail space and needs study for the Kershaw County Detention Center. Indicate by raising your hand. And it's unanimous. Motion passes. And Mr. Templer, if you'll just initiate that as soon as possible. Yes, ma'am. And I would expect a full brief for council if y'all like. Yes. At a later date. All right. Up to council briefings. Okay. Mr. Jones, you can go first. I wanted to go first tonight. I took a trip.

» I did something today that I've really never done because I don't think we should get involved committees, but I went and visited the Recreation Committee and I have to say I was very impressed. I'm very impressed where they had compassion for different areas of the county. They talked about, I'm glad to know that you guys on the Recreation Commission get the calls for the grass to be cut. I think they provide a valuable service. And, you know, Mr. Tucker, you and I can remember when that was done away with and we brought it back up and it was revitalized. Well, we may not agree on everything, but I'll tell you one thing we do agree in. Each and every one of them care about Recreation. They care about the Recreation Department.

» And I just want to say thank you for, one, allowing me to come in and sit down. Knowing I was one of the opposing few, they treated me with the utmost respect. Of course, I didn't interfere with their meeting, but I just want to say thank you to them. And also, even though I was opposing on it, congratulations, Mr. Brousel. Mr. Tomlinson. Mr. Cato. Mr. Cato. I have nothing. Mr. Brousel. No comment. Mr. Tucker. Yeah, thank you. Very briefly, I heard what some of the citizens said during the public comment. And even though we can't have dialogue back, Linda Franklin Moore has been around about as long as I have doing these things. And so have Mr. Martin Kahn. I've been with her longer than you have. You probably have, but don't tell all her business, Mr. Jones. I'm fighting.

» But where I'm going with this is that we are tasked with a lot of responsibility up here and a lot of hard decisions. And I, I can speak for one of seven, and I know the rest of them don't either. I don't take that task lightly. I do try to do my due diligence study, do what is going to be good for now, as the gentleman said, and what's going to be better for our future because I'm, I'm in that 50 plus group now. So, you know, my better times are behind me. I hope my glory days are ahead of me. But I, I am wholeheartedly for anything we can do to improve lives here in Kershaw County. But you also, when you sit in this position, you have to be responsible for all facets of Kershaw County. And that's what I'm doing. So don't look at me as a person who's not interested in recreation.

» Don't look at me as a person that don't care about children. Because if you do, you're so far removed from the truth. You need Jesus. With that being said, I look, I look forward to working with my colleagues, Councilman Shumate and Councilman Thomason, and trying to make this work and move forward. I am not a bag of sour grapes, no matter where I fall off the tree. That concludes my report. Mr. Shumate. Yeah, just two quick things. I want to just say, based on Councilman Tucker's remarks, how much I appreciate, you know, the limited time I've been on this, how much I've learned from each one of you. Um, and again, I know Councilman Tucker and Councilman Jones, Chairwoman Glenn, everyone else in this council absolutely has Kershaw County's best interest at heart.

» And I suspect this is the first of many disagreement votes we'll have. But, but what I've noticed as someone who watched these things before is the way we disagreed here versus the way that things were disagreed to last time. And I think it's important that we always remember that every person sitting up here is truly doing what they think is best for Kershaw County. I deeply and wholeheartedly believe that. Um, in terms of district three specific, there's a vote, uh, going on now, March 28th, special general election. Um, my seat is up there, but more importantly, the town of Elgin has a town council vote as well. Um, those are particularly low turnout votes. So if you, and, and it's a nonpartisan vote. So this is the only one, there isn't a primary ahead of it.

» So if you live in the town of Elgin or your friends do in that little postage stamp city limits, there is a special election for town council. It's going early voting now at the Blaney fire department this week and next week. And the election is March 28th. Uh, the, the, there's also another election on there, but. So I won't double dip. I won't talk about that one, but there, there's the Elgin town council election. So please, please turn out and vote for that. Thank you, Mr. Chimay. Um, Ms. Parler, I'm so excited. I know Ms. Reeder is so excited. Um, on our interview, I would, I just want the whole county to know that I ran out of questions to ask her because I, I just felt like she knew more than me at that point and should have been interviewing me back. So congratulations again.

» You just made us all look bad because we forgot to congratulate her during our briefing. Thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations. That's, that's from all of us. Thank you. One of the hardest parts of about public comments is not being able to have dialogue back and forth. So I do want to respond to Ms. Lauren Cook, um, who was fighting for Larry Dobie Park. Um, I do agree that it's in despair and, um, I'm glad she brought up that someone mentioned it was in a bad neighborhood because I asked for the heat map of crime, um, to debunk that myth. Um, so I think that's all something we need to be cognizant when we move forward. Why are we saying something is a bad neighborhood? Is it really because of the crime? So I'm glad that she, uh, brought that up.

» I will have the Bethune town hall meeting this Thursday, March 16th at 6:30. Um, at the Bethune recreation center, that's still going to happen. Um, we'll talk about whatever else Bethune needs at that time. I try very hard sitting in this seat to keep all my colleagues up to date with what's going on and let them know everything that comes in the pipeline. Um, the rules state that I'll keep everyone informed on pertinent information, but I keep you all informed extra just because I think it's good for teamwork and working together on behalf of the citizens. Um, most everyone communicates with me and lets me know, but you all don't have to. Your council seats, you don't have to ever talk to me if you don't want to.

» I think on behalf of the people of Kershaw County though, it would be nice if you did give me a heads up that you're going to do something, um, extremely big like $12 million. That's all I have. Mr. Templer. Um, Madam Chair, members of council, uh, just a few things for you. Um, number one, thank you for the contract. I appreciate that. Um, uh, also like to echo, um, my excitement about Ms. Parler coming on. Um, this, this process punctuated that long process of finding a replacement for Mary. Um, so I look forward to working with her on that. Also the East Camden study, just an update on that. Uh, that will be going out, um, beginning the week of March 20th. Um, it's, it's a letter, um, they'll be distributed near to nearly, uh, 700 residents and 300 businesses in the East Camden area.

» Um, the surveys can be completed on paper or online. Um, this is, uh, we can, the COG is helping us form this study to let us know what is needed out there in East Camden. Um, there's, there's a lot, uh, road drainage, some safety issues out near the school. So, um, those will be going out, uh, March 20th. And that is my report. Can you send us the link? Yes, I will share all this with y'all. And then, um, Brant and I especially will be working together with them. Thank you. Right. Legal. Madam Chairwoman, I have nothing. Madam Chair. Yes, Mr. Tucker. I need to make a point of order. Point of order. Yes, ma'am. I, I would be derelict and just no good for nothing. I'm on that point of order with you. Yes, sir. Ms. Lauren, random reader. Thank you.

» Because I won't get a chance to say that what you sit in that seat come two weeks from now, because I know. No, she'll still be sitting there. Oh, she will? Mm-hmm. Well, I'm gonna say it now anyway. But thank you. I really, really appreciate and we will appreciate what you have done and more so stepping in a role that you did not have to take. That's, that's what you call teamwork. And we're grateful for you and we're thankful for you. Now my point of order. We have our former Councilman Al Bozar out there. I just wanna say welcome, Al. It's good to see you. Hey, Mr. Bozar. And also, if you look at that picture on the wall right there, Steve Kelly. Now he was a chairman that he disseminated all information to everybody, no matter what was going on. Am I right, Sam? Correct.

» Almost as good as you. Maybe as good. But his son's out there and likes to say welcome. Good to see you. The third. Where is Mr. Kelly? Right there, the third. Stand up, Steve. He's trying to hide. That one looking around. Thank you. All right. No, you're welcome. Thank you. Motion for executive session. Okay. And motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn, Madam Chair. Made by Mr. Tucker. Is there a second? Second. Second by Mr. Cato. All those in favor of adjournment, indicate by raising your hand. And the vote is unanimous. This meeting is adjourned.