Full meeting transcript - March 28, 2023

» Good evening, everyone. Good evening, Kershaw County. Everyone in the audience, thank you for being here, everyone watching online. This is the Tuesday, March 28, 2023 Kershaw County Council meeting, and I bring this meeting to order. First, tonight we'll start with our invocation by Pastor Javan Proctor from the Bethel Worship Center. Pastor Proctor, are you here? Hey, thank you for being here tonight. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, take just a moment to pause and honor you. We thank you, Father, for the life that we have. We thank you for the blessings that we have in this life. We thank you for our home. We thank you for Kershaw County. Father, we are grateful for the opportunity that we have to live here. I pray for this leadership of this county.

» I pray that you give them wisdom, that you give them clarity, give them direction, that you help them in all of their endeavors. Father, I pray that our county will be a place that is set apart and known for our ability to love our neighbor. I pray that you just guide us in that. Help us to grow in that. I ask that tonight that your spirit of peace and unity would be upon this place, that there can be constructive conversations and not destructive. Yes. And we thank you for this opportunity. We thank you for this setting. We just ask that you would just guide this time tonight. And it's in Jesus' name that I pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Mr. Tomlinson, will you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? All right, public comments. Mr. DuBose? The first person signed to speak is Ms.

» Theresa Allen. Ms. Theresa Allen. The subject is unfair HUD housing. How many do we have, Madam Chair? How many signed up, Mr. DuBose? Nine, Madam Chair. Thank you. Hi, Ms. Allen. You can take that off or you can move it up. Just make sure it's closer to your voice so it picks up. Okay. Very well. Again, my name is Theresa Allen. I'm a resident here in Kershaw County at a HUD property known as Trinity Apartments owned by Camden First Church. Myself and also other residents of the county have been receiving unfair treatment and illegal actions for this HUD property. I took it upon myself to start a petition. We have 50 units on the property. I've secured 51 signatures with a list of 10 things or complaints.

» On this HUD property, we're not able to, we don't have anyone in the front office on a regular basis. They have a phone number posted telling us who to contact in order to get an appointment to speak with someone. I am a one-year breast cancer survivor. And with going out of work back in December of 2021 due to breast cancer, I submitted all proper paperwork to the front office. I made all appointments and recertifications and et cetera. And my paperwork continues to be not processed. While going around meeting some of my neighbors for the very first time, I'm hearing from them that with them going out of work or losing employment, that no one answers the phone at our office. No one calls us back. No one is responding to our needs there on the property.

» It's very heartbreaking and saddening to hear from one of my neighbors, who's here with me today, Danielle, who was able to receive assistance or who got approved to receive assistance from a program called South Carolina State Plus. She was on speaker phone in the backseat of my car and I'm hearing this person say, "Yes ma'am, we were going to help you, but we can't reach anyone at your leasing or property management office." I've taken steps further to go and speak with the owners of this property and I'm hearing this person say, "Yes ma'am, we were going to help you, but we can't reach anyone at your leasing or property management office." I've taken steps further to go and speak with the owners of this property.

» That is funded by HUD and spoke with the pastor of the church, Pastor Dillinger. I also reached out to the head board member, Larry Boykin as well, requesting for a meeting with them. Larry Boykin was more concerned about how I got her name and her telephone number versus the concerns on the property. Again, people sharing stories with me that they've had paperwork submitted to the office submitted back in December, as far back as December of last year. Not having it processed according to HUD standards and/or guidelines and not receiving any feedback from any of these people. They're at NHE property management. There's something illegal that they're doing. I feel like there's something illegal that they're doing in the office.

» On Thursday, March 16th, myself included, seven tenants faced with eviction notices. I've been a resident of the property since 2011. The only time I'm out of work for anyone who knows me, I've been a resident of the property since 2011. The only time I'm out of work for anyone who knows me is I have to have something major health going on. Sure enough, I'm not going to wait until I get breast cancer to have removal of both my breasts to have my body rearranged looking like a puzzle to not do proper paperwork and lose my affordable housing status while not being able to return to work while I'm going through a healing process. We all out of the seven who served with eviction notices on the 16th, I know minimum of six of us have a court appointment on tomorrow morning at 9:30.

» Fortunately, I was able to find out that instead of just asking for a hearing, the majority of us will be asking for a jury trial. And from my understanding, this jury trial, the appointment for tomorrow will be a bond hearing and from how it was explained to me, the bond is typically set at what rent amounts that the property is saying that we owe. One more minute. If that bond amount is set at the fictitious amount that the property is saying that we owe, I don't have $3,000. The last amount they said to me was $762 a few months ago. And with me sending them letterhead and a half copies of everything, they never responded back. Even with 11 times calling them on last week asking for a copy of my case for a copy of my case file.

» And instead of them responding back to me by telephone, they posted my HUD file on my front door with duct tape in which I have photos of to be derogatory or so. Huge HUD violations and I'm having a horrible time finding help or assistance with being treated fairly on this HUD government property. Thank you. Female Speaker: Thank you. Can I have a copy of the petition you have? If you hand it to Danny, he'll make a copy of it. Female Speaker: Copy of the front page. And if you want a copy of the signature pages, I can upload them to you as well. Female Speaker: Okay. Female Speaker: And they've sent, and I know my time is up, but they've since removed, but before having them remove all of the letterhead with the phone number -- Female Speaker: Ms.

» Allen, thank you for bringing it to our attention. And the administrator and I, we will get together on this. And did you put your phone number on the signup sheet? Okay. Female Speaker: Thank you. And I meant to say this before we started. Each speaker will have up to five minutes. Mr. DuBose is keeping time. He'll give a one minute warning when you're at four minutes. Male Speaker: Next speaker is Matthew Hutchinson. Female Speaker: Hey, Matt. Matthew Hutchinson: The First Amendment to the Constitution protects the rights of every citizen of these United States to say whatever they want, as long as it does not infringe upon another person's rights. It also protects our right to protest. It also protects our right to protest.

» I feel this God-given right, like most of the people in this room, to be one of the things that make our country as great as it is. This right and all the rest of them should be defended with the utmost tenacity of us and those elected to represent us. However, when it comes to elected officials, there are certain expectations and limitations to these rights. Slander and libel are considered defamatory in nature. This is against the law in South Carolina.

» Section 16-7-150 of the South Carolina Code of Law states, Any person who shall, with malicious intent, originate, utter, circulate, or publish any false statement or matter concerning another, the effect of which shall tend to injure such person in his character or reputation, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, therefore, be subject to punishment by fine not exceeding $5,000, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or both fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court. I have been publicly slandered by a member of this council. Rumors and lies have been spread to the public in an attempt to excuse the behavior of the District 1 councilman.

» Imagine by surprise, while I was on vacation, I start getting text messages and phone calls from members of this council and citizens of the county asking if I had called Mr. Brazel's daughter a whore. It's shocking, isn't it? This is completely untrue and a flat-out lie. The supposed proof Mr. Brazel is basing his statement on actually proves he's spreading lies. Now, maybe Mr. Brazel's struggles struggles with reading comprehension, but the post by a third-party individual, not even me... Matt, okay, no name-calling, nothing inappropriate, no attacking. Matt, okay. The post was using the term a political whore, which is defined as a person engaged in politics who sells out a house. the political position of their constituents.

» Again, this was obviously a weak attempt to define a political whore. It's shocking, isn't it? This is completely untrue and a flat-out lie. The supposed proof Mr. Brazel is basing his statement on actually proves he's spreading lies. Now, maybe Mr. Brazel struggles with reading comprehension, but the post by a third-party individual, not even me... Matt, okay, no name-calling, nothing inappropriate, no attacking. Okay. The post was using the term a political whore, which is defined as a person engaged in politics who sells out the political position of their constituents. Again, this was obviously a weak attempt to deflect the shame of his behavior at the last meeting. However, I'm not here tonight looking for an apology from the councilman. I want justice.

» I want this council to condemn his actions, and I ask the councilman to resign immediately. This childish behavior on the part of an elected representative is not only disturbing, but is also harmful to the district he's supposed to represent. Anything less than a resignation would be another slap in the face to this community. Thank you. Great, next speaker. Next speaker is Tom Webb. Subject is money. Mr. Webb. Mr. Webb, it's your turn. Crystal Ball has been acting up again. There's little flickers in it, and it's smoke, or it could just be a thunderstorm. There's an old saying something about wars and rumors of wars, and the end is not known when. But there have been all kinds of ends, and we may be in for an end of a sort.

» Things are really heating up again in the Mideast, and Russia and Ukraine. It's really not Russia and Ukraine. It's necessarily us and Russia. And China is playing kind of the middle man. They would just love to see the U.S. and Russia annihilate each other. So they're playing their cards. But another thing that looks like it might be coming to an end is our money. There are some countries around the world that are talking about dropping the U.S. dollar, not doing business with the U.S. dollar anymore. Our wizards in charge of government have spin us into a situation where the world doesn't depend on our dollars anymore. They're afraid of them. And they're talking about sending them home and not doing business with the United States in dollars anymore.

» They would only accept foreign currency. Maybe just around the corner. But who knows? You can't really believe a crystal ball. But I get information from all sorts of sources. And I'm hearing this from here, there, and yonder. So I hope y'all are not going to get us into more debt, spending an awful lot of money on some kind of a complex where people can go be little kids again and play. This is a serious world. The end may be near. Thank you. Excuse me. Thank you, Mr. Webb. The next speaker is Eric. And I apologize on the last name. Leah Jones. Leah Jones. Hey, Eric. Hey. I want to be brief and respectful. I'm here of my own volition. Nobody's asked me to be here. Nobody's given me anything to be here. Nobody's given me a reward for saying what I'm going to say.

» I know some of these council members personally. My daughter's been invited into their home. Theirs has been invited into mine. I know the hearts of some of these people. The First Amendment does protect our right to free speech. However, I think as citizens, we need to learn to be respectful of the fact that the children of these councilmen and their friends will read and see what's said about them or not about them. They might not see it today. They might not see it tomorrow. But they will see it. And getting your point across is not as important as protecting the hearts of these children and their parents. And that's all I have to say. Thank you, Mr. Lagones. Next speaker. Jeff Maddox. Hey, Jeff. Different mic tonight.

» I just kind of want to talk about the baseball parks and that kind of thing. I've been doing a little bit of research into tournament baseball and what it takes to maintain a field. And each field apparently costs between $40,000 and $100,000, depending on what you're doing tournament-wise in there. Because each game and each set of tournaments and all, there's some pretty heavy maintenance that needs to be gone through. Something that I never understood. I'm not a baseball fan to begin with, but it's amazing what goes into a baseball field to make it tournament-ready. And I'm a little concerned that we get a crown jewel, if you will, over at Woodard Park and that we run into maintenance costs that almost double our budget. That's something that concerns me.

» I know we've got ARPA funds now and that we can, you know, splurge because big government gave it to us. But long-term, what is this going to do to us? The other thing is, I was talking to an old farmer the other day about the meeting last week and goings on. And he had watched the little clips and all, and he said, "Jeff, you know how to sell a deaf man a chicken?" And I said, "No, sir." And he leaned real close to me and he said, "You want to buy a chicken?" Thank you, Mr. Maddox. Next speaker. Next speaker is David Dabney. David Dabney. Hey, Mr. Dabney. Good evening. I hesitated to stand up here today. I've just been reflecting back on the past couple weeks.

» The thing that bothers me is that, like Eric, I don't have any intentions, any benefit or financial gain or anything from a new park at Woodard. I'm not affiliated with any group. I'm not a member of any society. But these past two weeks, I've been called a bunch of things. I've been called the leader of a cartel. Leader of a cartel. I've been called part of a mafia. I've been told how I stand to gain something from this facility. And that's just not the case. What I see or what I saw when this was being presented was an opportunity to stand up here and voice my opinion. Is differentiating from somebody else's. And some of the things that they're requesting, I don't disagree with them either. I think that those things need to be addressed as well.

» But just going back to the just the name calling and the, I mean, you can't get, you can't, you can't say anything. You can't have an opinion that differentiates from some others here without having a new name by the end of the day. And I'm not calling any names. I'm not trying to be hostile with anyone. But when I see something that's just, I mean, outright, I don't, not true. I will speak up. And if it's true, I mean, if somebody tells me different and proves it to me, I'll sit back down. But that's, that's my problem. I feel like I can't get up here and honestly voice my opinion without having to go through that. And I'm going to stand up here and say that I don't know if I condone everything that happened at the last meeting. But I don't, I don't tear it apart either.

» Because I kind of feel like there's some folks that stood up and are honestly trying to do something for Kershaw County that hadn't been done forever. And I feel like that is a need. And I, and I support that. I don't, and let me back up just a little bit too. I'm not condoning anybody's action. But you know, I've spoken to a couple of council members as well. And it, some of it ended up pretty good. Some of it didn't. And I apologized for any non malicious things I was trying to say, or I was just trying to get some questions answered. And one of those questions was that this agenda that was brought, I mean, this, this, this park and the prod and this progress, I'm nervous. So give me a minute.

» But, um, when it was brought up, one of the things that was brought up was let's finish the parks that we have now. And I asked, I asked Mr. Jones and I asked Ms. Gwen. I said, um, how you gonna do it? When you gonna do it? Uh, Kershaw West has been finished for 16 years now. And $1.9 million was the budget then. And it's, I guess it still is now. And, um, I, I, all I wanted to know was, well, if that's what you want to do, do it. When you gonna do it? How you gonna do it? Um, and that was basically what I was trying to get out of it. Um, but the last thing I want to say is social media platforms can be good and they can be bad. And we voted as a council proceed with this. And then there's some money that needs to be found some kind of way.

» And I just, I just don't feel like getting on public social media and condoning others' actions creates a sense of unity and togetherness. And I, at the end all, I think it's into, it's gonna end up costing some people some money. Um, taxpayers. Because once we get to the point that we're looking for this money and we go to the private sector and there's not unity up there. There's a bunch of dissension. Some people may not want to be a part of that or some companies. We hadn't gotten there yet. And we hadn't gotten to state funding as well. And all this, you know, can defer some of these costs. But I, I, I feel like acting that way and getting up there and, and talking about each other is just not the way to do it.

» Um, like I said, I don't disagree with half the stuff that they're saying. I don't. And, uh, I back it, um, at some point in time. And, um, I don't normally get up here and do this, like, like I said, but I, I just felt like I just wanted to share my opinion and my thoughts. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Dabney. Next speaker is Mary Brandenburger. Hi, Mary. And Ms. Reeder. Mr. Shoemix here. Okay. Back about the complex again. And, um, this, my feeling is this is not about serving all of the children like they're saying. It's about serving the people that can afford to be in travel, um, ball and making money. Two different, uh, groups of people. Um, there are a lot of people in this area that see this as it's a cash cow. We're going to bring a lot of people in. We're going to make money.

» But this way they get to speculate on, um, building their business, um, promoting their business at the taxpayer's expense. They're not putting any of their money in to speculate on whether they're going to make money back or not. Um, if this was for all the children, it's kind of leaving out like the Little Leagues. Um, I don't know how many people heard about what a disaster it was for the Little Leagues last Saturday. Um, because the complex has not been, um, completed, um, out at the West. And, uh, rainstorm came in and there's only one way in and one way out to those fields. If there is an emergency, no way for ambulances, um, for sheriffs, anybody else to get in or out. It would just be a mess. Um, and I remind all of the council members, you're not representing yourselves.

» I know a lot of you have something to do with the travel ball. I know you have businesses. You're not representing yourselves. You were elected to represent the voters. That's who you're supposed to be representing. You need to be listening to those people because there are a lot of people that are really against this. Um, one thing I was disappointed in last time was, um, there's a rule that if you have a group that one person is supposed to represent the group. Um, the Patel Hotel Group came in and, yes, they are two different hotel owners, but they call themselves the Patel Hotel Group. Okay? Even at that, if you separate them, the two different, uh, Patels, you still had Megan, one of their managers, come in and speak. And she's part of their group.

» That would, so that rule was not followed. Um, there's talk that, oh, we're gonna bring people in. We've got to remember these people that are coming in for these jobs would not be high paying jobs. They would be waiters, waitresses, hotel workers. They're not high paying jobs. We've got, at the high school, they're looking at putting almost 300 units, family units in. You know, that's really putting a strain on our infrastructure. Um, it's just a lot to, for us to absorb. And like I say, these are not high paying jobs. Um, you know, and if the travel teams don't produce, uh, those people are gonna be losing their jobs, or they're going to be going to work, but they're not going to be making the tips. Um, you know, it's not going to add anything to our economy that way.

» And how long is it going to take for us to build this complex? Um, it's going to take a while. Are we going to be throwing good money after bad money? Because you're saying, um, first it was 10 million, 15 million, now close to 20 million. Um, is 20 million going to be enough? Lancaster is spending $73 million right up the road on their complex. Um, and why is you as, um, why is MUSC or, um, Mr. Ogburn, why is he pushing for 90 days? Well, I used to work in sales, in highline sales. We used to sell $200,000 watches. And my manager always said, never let somebody walk out the door. Because once they walk out the door, they're gone. That's why he's giving us 90 days. He wants us to push us to grab that $5 million before it's gone. We need to take a second look at everything.

» And, um, I have heard that he is getting involved with, um, getting YMCA to run the, um, the indoor complex. Um, that's a whole nother set of, um, of things that could go wrong. And, uh, they would be taking over the county facility and using that to make their money. Um, we would lose a lot of say in what happens there. So, um, there's just a lot of things that can go on. And we need to look at the contracts carefully, see what that money is tied to. Because he says there's no strings. Yet, if we don't bill this as he says, it's gone. Thank you, Mary. Next speaker is Amanda Steven. Hi, Amanda. I didn't have the right words to say tonight, so I have a couple quotes to read you guys. "Being a politician is a poor profession, but being a public servant is a noble one." By Herbert Hoover.

» "No government should be without critics. If its intentions are good, then it has nothing to fear from criticism." That's Thomas Jefferson. "Power always thinks that it's doing God's service when it's violating all of his laws." John Adams. And finally, from the great book, "So in everything, do to others which you would have them do to you." But this sums up the law and the prophets from Matthew 7:12. "We the people elect public servants, not politicians. Your job is to listen to the people that elect you and to do your job in the open to be transparent. Listening to the public is a requirement, not a suggestion. Backroom deals to spend taxpayer money should not be done." Again, this is not a suggestion. It's a requirement.

» "Show some respect." The same respect we try to teach our children. If our elected officials can't be open, transparent, and respectful, what hope do we have to teach our children the same courtesies? Thank you. Thank you, Amanda. Last speaker is Vicki Moniz. Moniz. Hi, Vicki. How are you doing? Can you say your last name, please? Moniz. Moniz. Yes. Well, I'm going to throw something totally off the wall at you. Yesterday, I came to the meeting that you had where you were presenting your budgets for the departments were presenting their budgets. Well, I was here during the voter registration guy. And I'll just be honest with you. We need election reform. And I'm going to call it from the primary. Our primaries need fixing here in South Carolina.

» And I just want to put forth before you guys, I would like to request our county to be different and do get away from the machines and let's do one day paper ballot voting. There's a big push and there's a lot of non-trust right now. And it stems from the way people are selected. I've presented proof of collusion right here in this county. And I've gotten not one call from anyone to clarify it for me or even to speak about it. I had to go to the State House to get my answer. And I don't think anybody would like that answer that I got. I'm not happy with it. So I would like to request that we would consider doing a paper ballot one day voting in Kershaw County. Thank you. Thank you, Vicki. Did you put your phone number on the sign-up sheet? Can you add it? Thank you.

» That concludes the public speaker. Okay. Thank you to everyone that spoke. I meant to do this at the beginning of the meeting. And I don't want to forget, my mom is here and she couldn't come to the meeting. So she's watching online. So I'm just going to wave at the camera and say hi, mom. All right. Adoption of agenda. Madam Chair, I make a motion that we adopt the agenda. All right. Mr. Tucker made a motion. Mr. Braswell second. We're into discussion. Madam Chair. I'd like to make an amendment to the agenda. Madam Chair, I'd like to make a motion to amend the agenda for our rules and business of orders. Our rules state that we should have no more than three public presentations at one council meeting.

» And we have four and it's due to the timelines and circumstances on the burial grounds that we need to do. So we need to do four tonight due to the timelines. And I'm asking for my colleagues to please support my amendment on having four presentations tonight. Second. Okay. And amendment. Sammy, state your... I'll read it. Also, withdraw your first motion, if you don't mind, to adopt it. Okay. I withdraw my first motion to adopt it. Okay. And now motion to amend it. Amend it, which will read, I make a motion to alter the Kershaw County rules and orders of business to allow four public presentations as one-time exception to this meeting only. Okay. I've already stated the reason why. And Mr. Cato seconds. Okay.

» Any discussion on that? Motion to allow four public presentations tonight when our limit is three, this meeting only. Yes, ma'am. That's correct. Any discussion or issues? Okay. I will call for the vote on Mr. Tucker's meeting. All those in favor of allowing four public presentations for tonight only, vote is unanimous. Thank you. We'll allow the four public presentations. And now is there a motion to adopt the agenda with the four? Make a motion to adopt the agenda with the four presentations. Second. Okay. Mr. Tucker makes the motion. Mr. Brazel. Second. Any other discussion on the agenda tonight? Okay. All those in favor of the adoption of the agenda? And it's unanimous. All right. Public presentations. Our first public presentation tonight is KC Trails, Bob Giagiorni, and Tom Slyker.

» Mr. Slyker, I know your name. There was just a typo on here when I was reading. Thank you for being here, gentlemen. Casey Trails, to allow -- is it all right? Anyway, I want to start off by just thanking you to allow Casey Trails to come before county council. It's been several years since we've been here to talk about some of our activities. So I've left the packet for everybody, and there's a lot of information in there about our activities. We're not going to spend a lot of detail on that tonight, so I invite you to take time and read through it. And in there, there is a State of the Trails brochure. I want you to understand that it's not intended to be a comprehensive summary of trails.

» But what we're trying to do is to showcase the progress that has been made in the last several years of the nature trails in the county. Just a little background on Casey Trails. We were founded in 2019 as a citizen advocacy group for more trails in Kershaw County. Over the last several years, we've been involved in many county and city events. Again, promoting the idea of more trails in the county. Also, engaging with the public, letting them know where the trails are. We've handed out a lot of information about the value of the trails, which you can gain from the standpoint of general wellness, you know, increased physical health and mental health. So we've been very active over the last several years.

» Kind of the why, why advocate for more trails? First of all, being out in nature is fun. There's a lot of enjoyment and it gives you just relief from your everyday grind. As I said, trails and that physical activity is a great path to improving the well-being of the county. It's low cost and many of the facilities are there. Also, and this is something that's becoming more evident, that the exercise in nature improves resiliency. Not only for adults, but for children. And a lot of research that goes into this. And this ties into the Live Well Kershaw CHIP program, community health improvement. And a lot of emphasis will be placed on that. Our activities. Okay. We've sponsored the first day hike, bike rodeo, walk with the mayor.

» We've also have given event support to many county, city and school district. Live Well Kershaw, nature is teacher and good all events across the county. And we want, and part of that too is the involvement with the Ride of Silence and the Road Safety Awareness Program. In our discussions with the public over the last several years, there's been three main issues that have come up. One is road safety. One is road safety. People simply are not comfortable going out, walking, running, riding their bikes on county roads. We've engaged in a signage program. We received a grant from Holspire and placed basically slow down, move over signs across the county. And we'll continue with that, you know, over the next year. The other important thing we heard was the need for more nature trails.

» We have many quarter mile walking paths. You know, if you think of the West Watery Complex and Scott Park, and those are used very, very well and often. But, you know, we've been short on nature trails. The other point that came across from the public was the lack of recreational activities, primarily in the northeast part of the county. I think everybody is pretty well aware of that, you know, relative to Bethune, Mount Pisgah. But in general, I think one thing we should be striving for is getting equitable recreation opportunities across the county. Tom, you can comment on some of the communication activities. Good evening. Appreciate the opportunity to share with you all. We've done a number of things. Put your mic up a little. I'm sorry. Okay. Put it if you want to. Thank you.

» And I've been with the KC Trails group for about three years. And my business is broadstreet.net. We're located right next door here on Little Street. And we do communications and digital marketing. In each of your folders, you should have a copy of this document. This is our report. We're calling the state of the trails. And this document highlights a lot of the changes that have transpired in just the last few years since we've been in existence. But we have a website, kctrails.org, which gets quite a bit of traffic. It's got pages for a number of the trails within the Kershaw County. And it also has, like, highlights of different things going on in the county. And the Facebook page, we've got about 2,000 followers on the Facebook page.

» And we keep that up pretty regularly, trying to communicate anything going on in the community that would encourage people to get outdoors and walk. The state of the trails report, if I could, I just wanted to share a couple things on there. If you could take a look at it. We've, we basically, the purpose of this document is to report, I think of it as a progress report. A lot has been done by this county through government agencies, through individuals, nonprofits. A lot of people have done a lot of things. And so there's quite a few highlights in here, including the activities on Watery River Veterans Park, which this group created. And the number of events going on down at the river. There's a section on Camden Environmental Park.

» And also the number of things that have happened to make progress at Goodall State Park. We've got an item about the trails available at Historic Camden. And the things coming up at the battlefield. And opportunities coming in the future. And also there's a section on nature as teacher, the preserve down the road here and how they've managed to open up to public. So as far as communications, the next thing is we're working on a trail guide. So the idea would be when folks come through town, they could pick up a trail guide and get a list of all the different places where they could walk. Some of the activities that are already planned that KC trails plans to be a part of coming up. First day hike.

» If you haven't heard or seen the first day hike at Goodall State Park last year had about 80 people showed up. And this year we doubled that to over 160 people walking trail on the first day of the year. Kids in Park Day, that was the first time that we did that here in Kershaw County. And that turned out to be a great success. And we plan to do that again this year. Nature is Teacher has begun offering open trail days. I believe it's one day a month right now. And so there's an opportunity to go out there and explore over 700 acres on your own. And again, open to the public. We plan to be doing various clinics. We go and support in anything the city, county, school districts have asked us to do.

» We're involved with the community health improvement plan as well as many of the things going on at Nature's Teacher. The Rite of Silence, if you haven't seen that, is bike bicyclists coming from Lugoff over to Camden and crossing that bridge on a bicycle. But it's also done in memory of somebody who lost his life. And so that's some of the plans that we have for this year. And continue to look for new opportunities in new ways. And I pray that you will continue to support all that we do. Just to sum up, this page, it's titled Recommendations and Ask and no dollars are involved. All we're asking for is the recognition that going back to 2019, we had about three to four miles of nature trails in the county. We're on the cusp of having close to 25 miles now.

» And that would include all the things that potentially could be happening at Woodward. Some of the nature trails that are planned there. The expansion out at Goodall. The Nature is Teacher. The 10 mile trails that are there. And what's going on at historic Camden. So we've made great progress. But what the ask is to really take a look at all of these resources and, you know, let's be prudent in how we plan, you know, to support them, use them and grow them. And the one point that I want to make is that with Nature is Teacher, that's a key part of the 25 miles of nature trails. Right now, they're open one day a month. And Clemson is certainly interested in trying to find a partnership with the county, with the cities to open that up to more than the one day a month.

» The open trail days has been very successful. And it would be a great, great gift to the citizens of Kershaw County if that partnership could be put in place. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Members of Council, do you have any questions for Bob or Tom? How many people are in your group, Bob? We have about five or six that are fairly active. Okay. But when we have programs, we usually get more volunteers. Okay. Well, thank you. And this is a really great publication. You guys did an awesome job. Mr. Jones has a question. When do you plan for this all to pretty much take off? Excuse me, Mr. Jones, when, plan for what to take off? Yeah, well, you know, to try to get more promotions, more advertising, more recognition. And exactly, listen, I like this. I support this.

» And whatever we can do, whatever I can do on my half, just let me know. Okay. And just to briefly answer that, we've been engaged pretty much directly with the county, with the city, over the last three years. You know, we're at events, we're at Elgin, we're at Bethune, any of the community programs there, we show up and help explain to people the trail opportunities that there are in the county. So it's really ongoing. Sure. I remember Gene Wise, our former chairman back in 2012, he brought that up the very first time I ever thought about trails in Kershaw County. And I just appreciate what y'all are doing. I think it's a very valuable asset to our community. And thank you so much. You're welcome. And so what I'm getting is you need us to help promote it and put it out there.

» And, mm-hmm. Thank you. Thank you, both of you. Thank you so much. Bob and Tom, if you can set up a meeting with Clemson, I'd be happy to meet with them and start that partnership to get it open more days. Thank you. All right. Next. Mr. Brian Mays, are you here? Hey, Mr. Mays, come on up. And if you'll come inside. Mr. Mays, can you come in here? We got a mic for you. Do you want to come in here? Yep. Check, check, check, check. Andy, check it. Andy, it's good. Check one, two. It's good. Thank you for allowing us to come here today. I just feel led to say this sitting back there listening. My wife and I, we attended, you hold that for me, a trip to Washington, D.C. with some students.

» And I just got to tell y'all, people, public servants, it seemed like everybody in D.C., just everywhere we went, there were mean people. And the first thing I said to my wife when we was getting on the bus, I said, I can't wait to get home to South Carolina. Amen. Okay. So it's my hope that we work our differences out with love and understanding. Amen. I felt led to say that. So anyway, with this being said, there was a song written one day, said I sure could use a little good news. And so that's what I'm here to bring you. I just wonder why my website, guy, I don't see my website up there. Y'all's up there all pretty and nice. But we have a program called, it started off Summer Grind, but it turned into Summer Grind Sports and Education.

» What we do in the summer, we were granted to serve 40 kids through a basketball program, but we ended up serving 108. And it wasn't just basketball. Our programs are totally free for parents, students, but you have to participate in Algebra 1 or 2. And God blessed us with a student that was just amazing. This student is an example of what a student athlete should be. I mean, he is, when I first saw him play, I called him Heart of a Lion. And then I saw his attitude and how he conducts himself in the school setting. Not to mention, he's a three-star sports athlete for Camden High School. And this is our first year. And this year, we wanted to recognize this one student because of all that he does. And you know, you turn on the news and all you see is bad news about our children.

» But we're here to change that tonight. So tonight, today, or tonight, this award is the 2022-23 Grindout Award. But after tonight, next year, this award would be called the Tylan Dreyford Award. So with that being said, give it up for our 2023 student athlete of the year, Mr. Tylan Dreyford. So every time I see Tylan, he's always got a water bottle. I guess he's getting ready for sports. So now he's got the very first Grindout water bottle with his own name on it. So here, everybody will know from now on. So from this day forward, next year, so you got a lot of family here. Mom here, everybody's here. A lot of shoulders you're standing on. So for the rest of the lifelong of this program, next year, it will be the Tylan Dreyford Award. And I'm proud of you, man. I love you.

» And I thank you for all you're doing and representing the students of Kershaw County. Y'all give it up for my boys. Tylan, congratulations again. And to his family, thank you for being here. Brian Mays, don't leave yet, if I may, Madam Chair. Yes, Mr. Goetz. I need to share this with everyone. You know, Brian and I go back -- how many years was it when you -- I ran to you in Subway, I think it was. And he walked in the door. And I was sitting there. And he was with a friend of ours, a mutual friend of ours. We met for the first time. And he had a vision. He had a plan. He had a dream. And asked me, could I help? I said, well, I don't know what I can do. But I can certainly point you in the direction of some other folks. And I can help get you going or help you partner with you.

» Well, he did that. And look where you are now. Look how many children you've helped. And look what you've done. I've been to your school. I've seen the difference you make in these kids' life. And there's no way I was going to let you get out here tonight. Because you would never say it about yourself. But I just wanted to share that with you. Yeah. Over 400 children. Yeah. Madam Chair. Talk in that mic right quickly. Brian, please. I think that love and support will bring them back home. And we've got to do better. You know? Because like I said, when I was in D.C., I couldn't wait to get away from there. But we have differences. That's okay. We talk about them. We need to show the rest of the world what it is to be a community. What it is to be from Kershaw County. Thank you, Brian. Mr.

» Tucker. Yes. Mr. Mayes. And I hate for you to sleep outside with the dogs tonight. Because it's not just only you. You see that other half back there of yours? That just came back through that door? She thought y'all was going to say something. You didn't see her do the church tip out the door. But no, you're right. I stand on her shoulders every day. This group is a great lady. You know? She's done a lot. I will say the last thing. We started off with a step team. And she got with the other coaches. And we actually did some numbers from the years ago that started here at Kershaw County. And it was counted up that we had between the other teams that served over 5,000 students. And yet nobody really knew about us.

» So I just wanted to take time to let you know what's going on in the building. Amen. Thank you so much. And thank you guys for serving. If you hadn't heard it today, you heard it from me. Thank you for serving. Thank you. Awesome. Mr. Jones, thank you for putting that on the agenda. Thank you for your families, please. Next we'll have Mr. Doug Bostic. He's going to brief us on the Camden Burial Grounds event in April. Hey, Mr. Bostic. How are you? Good, thank you. How are you all this evening? We're good. Good evening. I'm afraid that I don't have a bring the house down message like Mr. Mays and young Mr. Drakeford. That was quite impressive to see all that happening. Thank you. I'm delighted to be with you.

» I'm the CEO of the South Carolina Battleground Trust and the chairman for the Camden Burial Project. You all have probably heard about this. There were 14 soldiers excavated from the Camden battlefield. Now, we don't do that lightly and we've actually never done it before. But these men, some were damaged by timbering. Others were damaged because their graves were desecrated by collectors. And when those things happened, we felt compelled to excavate the remains of those soldiers in order to put them in sealed vaults six feet down in order to protect them. Some of the graves were as shallow as six inches below ground surface.

» And you have to understand that this is, and Kershaw County has a big piece of the founding story of our country that happened here at the Battle of Camden and the Battle of Hopkirk Hill. And so we've excavated the remains of the 14 soldiers. We plan to reinter them the Saturday, April 22. This event has already garnered international attention. We've been coordinating carefully with Kershaw County. And I thank you for your help and cooperation. And also the state, the United States Army and the British Embassy. One of the remains recovered was a British soldier, a Highlander from the 71st Regiment of Foot. The excavation part of the project was a very emotional experience for everybody involved.

» When we removed the bodies and studied them, we realized that based on the growth plates in the bodies, five of the recovered 12 Continental soldiers were between 14 and 16 years old, which is a remarkable thing. There was a story told by one of the forensic people that participated in the excavation. And she was on the grave excavating two bodies that were thrown in, literally thrown in six inches deep, a shallow grave together. And she asked the doctor from the Richland County coroner's office, "How old would you estimate these men are?" And he said, "They're between 14 and 16 years old." And she talked about going home that night, and she had a 13-year-old son.

» And she got home and said to her son, "Just come here and sit next to Mama." And of course the kid would immediately say, "What's wrong, Mom? Why am I doing that?" And she said, "Don't ask questions. Just sit next to me and let me hug you." And the next day, because she was a veteran, as was our practice, anybody on the team who was a veteran was given the honor of carrying the remains to the coroner's van. And she said that, "I'm not this boy's mama." But in 1780, there was a mother in Maryland wondering what happened to her son. And today, I'm this boy's mom. It's a remarkable project. And we're fortunate to have Camden to conduct these reinterment affairs. So this will start with activities at the Revolutionary War Visitor Center early that week.

» On Thursday the 20th, the bodies will be transported on Humvees from Columbia, passing by the State Capitol and all the schools in Kershaw County. And land at historic Camden at 4 p.m. that afternoon. The bodies will lie in state at the Kershaw County, or the Cornwallis-Kershaw House, and will continue to lie in state until Saturday morning. Friday night, there will be a concert with the Army Band and the U.S. Old Guard demonstration platoon. And then Saturday morning, there will be a funeral cortege in which the bodies will be transported on horse-drawn caissons down Broad Street to Bethesda Presbyterian Church. There will be a joint Anglican-Presbyterian service that day at Bethesda.

» And then we'll adjourn and go to the battlefield for a separate secular ceremony and have speakers, including the governor. And then reinter the men back in the same place in which they were found, but this time six feet deep in sealed vaults to protect them. So I want to thank Lauren. She's been a member of our steering committee. The Kershaw County staff has done an absolutely magnificent job on the battlefield preparing for these ceremonies. And everybody from the Sheriff's Department to public safety people could not be more cooperative. I want to thank you for all that. And we're looking forward to this event. With that, Madam Chairperson, I would be glad to have any questions, if there are any. Okay. Any questions or comments? Mr. Tucker. Just a comment. Just want to say thank you.

» Thank you for your due diligence and time and commitment to see that this is done properly and in order. Because it means a lot to all of us as Americans. If you got a little bit of salt in your blood as an American, you would have some empathy and sympathy for these soldiers whose fault and given their lives for our freedoms and liberties. And we say thank you to you and your crew. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yes, sir. I'll say it's an honor for everybody on this team to be doing this project. We appreciate what you do. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Mr. Bosick, do you have a list of the events and the times that you were just speaking about? Yes, ma'am. Could you provide that to me? I can. I'll e-mail it to you. Okay. That would be awesome so we can keep track of what's going on.

» And how can we help? You already have. The county has been of immense help in this project and we deeply appreciate all that. As chairperson for Kershaw County, we would invite you to be an honorary pallbearer. That doesn't mean you need to march anywhere but we would like to provide that honor to you on behalf of the Battleground Trust in recognition of everything that this council and the staff of Kershaw County has done for this project. Well, thank you. I'd be honored to do that. And I want to say thank you to Mr. Templer who got right on the Camden battlefield when we brought that up. We had the opportunity to meet right when he ascended to this position and he was absolutely super cooperative. We deeply appreciate that.

» Madam Chair, and if I can, I want to say thanks to this council for approving the monies to make sure that this event goes off without any hitches. We really appreciate that and that was done early in our settings. And how many people do you expect to be in Kershaw County that weekend? We don't really know but we're hearing from people all over the country and Europe so I wouldn't be surprised if there were 10,000 to 15,000 people that would turn out for this. Okay. We also will be live streaming the events on Facebook and YouTube. Okay. For people that can't come or are unable to attend the outdoor events. Okay. And if citizens want to come? Certainly encouraged to come. Okay. All the events are free and open to the public. Okay. Okay. Awesome. Well, thank you for doing this.

» Thank you all very much. It's going to be awesome. Mr. Boston. What a touching story of how America was built. on the backs of 14 and 15 and 16-year-old young men. I, too, have a 15-year-old son and it is touching and it is amazing what sacrifices have been made so that we have the freedom that we have today. Thank you for putting this on and this is going to be good for Kershaw County. It's going to be fantastic for the community and it's an honor and a privilege to be a part of it. Thank you. I'll say to you as a professional military historian, it sometimes becomes too easy to write and map and talk about battles. When you see bodies in the ground six inches deep, buried on top of each other in a very unceremonial way, it makes the Revolutionary War pretty real.

» And, you know, thank you for the service of those great men that helped build this country. One more question. Have you identified all the soldiers? We have not identified any but we have taken DNA. Okay. And we intend to pursue that. That will probably take most of a year to do. Okay. But we've had lots of people call and write saying my whatever great granddaddy was in the Maryland line and killed at Camden and I take a DNA test. And so we're going to try to do that. That's awesome. Well, we'll have to have you back in about a year if you identify that. I'd be delighted to report back. All right. Any other questions or comments? Thank you all very much. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Bastard. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you so much. All right. We're going to switch gears.

» The next public presentation is Marsh Cat Compaction Services. Mr. Brian Ellender and Ms. Owen Stevenson. Hey, good evening. Chairwoman and council members, thank you for having me. Mr. Templar, really appreciate the opportunity. So what we do is down and dirty real quick. We have a 6,000 pound roller mounted on a truck and we compact roll-off dumpsters. Why that's beneficial to Kershaw County is we've been working with some of the other counties around the state. Currently work with Berkeley County, Horry County, you talk about Florence County, and we work with Dorchester County. And what we do is we compact their convenience sites. And what that does is reduce the number of holes from the convenient site to the landfill and saves you money on your trash.

» So it saves the county money a pretty significant amount. So do you have a clicker for me, sir? Well, he's a pretty big boy. I think you would have given that clicker. I'm just a big teddy bear. So again, my name is Brian Ellender. I'm one of the owners of Marsh Cat. This is Ms. Owen Stevenson. She's actually from Camden. So we have roots here in Kershaw County. So we started this business about two years ago and we currently have trucks in Charleston and Savannah and expanding to Myrtle Beach very soon. So kind of what we do again, you know, so we're a local veteran owned business, not a franchise. I have one business partner, Drew Stevenson, who's from Columbia, actually Owens' brother-in-law. So we own 100% of the business, very small local business.

» It's a mobile roll off compaction service. And again, we utilize a 6,000 pound steel drum to compact roll off dumpsters and save our customers about 30% on their waste cost. So in making this presentation, we kind of had to make some assumptions. But what we're assuming since Kershaw County does their own hauling is that they are haul costs all in with capital expenses, maintenance, fuel and labor is about $65 per haul. And again, our savings calculations are conservative. And then that the employees of Kershaw County will control if we do this program when the cans are pulled. So that'll give you the most efficiency and bang for your buck. I don't know what I did. Hey Ryan, we lost ours too. And it's back. Yeah, let's get back one. No, we're good. Board one. Sorry.

» I don't know what I hit. So here's some before and after pictures. This is a lumber yard in Charleston, South Carolina. So we can compact things up to four by four posts, crates, you know, and then scrap lumber. And so here's a demolition site, one of our customers. So this is a tear out from a home. So again, you know, some pretty heavy beams and things like that up to and including, you know, like Dorchester County, we do couches and chairs, scrap metal furniture, all things like that. Things that you can't put into a normal compactor per se. So we can do a lot more than cardboard and municipal solid waste and things like household trash. Again, we can do cardboard boxes, pallets. You can fit about eight pallets worth of dumpsters into one dumpster using this system.

» So it really can reduce the amount of haul as you make and, you know, the amount of trips into the landfill, which is not only good for obviously saving money, but also for sustainability. So we reduce the amount of diesel fuel used. So it's a green company and the amount of space that takes up in the landfill. That's not going more. Quick question while we're waiting on the photos. What's your minimum as far as the quantity of containers that you would want to do per trip? So, so if we did a, you know, a program with Kershaw County, we would want to compact all the sites and then we would do a site fee. And that really gives you the most bang for your buck. How that works is that we would just come compact all the containers on the site, regardless of how much waste is in there.

» So even if it's a quarter full, we're still going to compact it and save you a little bit of space. And that's the most beneficial for really both of us. No one has to count cans and say, well, this one really isn't worth compacting yet. You know, it's like a site fee. So we'll come in and compact all of them is kind of how it would work. That's what we do for the other counties. Yes, sir. How often is that done? Once a week? Once every two weeks? I mean, what's your normal routine? Three times per week is really the best. We can reduce your halls to about by about 70% if we can compact three times a week. Because I'm thinking if you compact when it's a third full. Yes, sir. I mean, that's going to compact it down less than a third.

» And if you do that about three times, you end up probably four times the cans. I mean, this can that's on here. This is actually a video. This is a customer that is a it's a pallet yard and we destroy the pallets that he cannot resell. So I mean, we'll show up and the container will be overflowing and then we can push it down to this state. And then he will continue to load while we're there. So, sir, I don't know if you can play that video. That's actually a video. Might not work for you. Oh, no problem. Anyways, that's that's kind of what it looks like. So our truck is operated from inside inside the cab. It has four cameras. This is specifically designed to compact roll off dumpsters. So it does not damage the can at all. You can actually put it in an empty can and it doesn't hurt it.

» They've been doing this for about 15 years in Europe. The machinery was actually manufactured in France. We had it shipped over and mounted it on a couple of trucks as we order more. That's it actually has to come from overseas in a container. So so how this benefits Kershaw County would like to, you know, you'd have a reduction in total waste cost, increased efficiency and on your current equipment and personnel. So you reduce capital expenditures in the future. You wouldn't have to buy as many hook trucks or cable trucks and reduction of total man hours, road miles and machinery use. So, you know, kind of alleviate trucks on the road. And really, though, I know everyone just like we do in our businesses have a hard time finding labor currently.

» So and then if if if you do this, some some counties do, some counties don't. But some use like an external machinery like a backhoe or a trackhoe. And that is that is not designed to compact a dumpster. Owens and I also own a dumpster business down in Savannah. And we would prefer that people did not stick a backhoe or a trackhoe in the can and destroy it and push the sides out and things like that. So, Mr. Templer, what are we doing? We're back on with it. Brian and Owens, tell me about that arm. Is there things that it cannot compact? Masonry and concrete. Okay. And that's really about it. So, you know, we wouldn't go even try if somebody had put in, you know, big pieces of concrete, but you really aren't going to see that at like a county convenience site or something like that.

» We see it in our other business where people call us, you know, a construction site, but they did a demo. And before we could get there, they put in, you know, pieces of driveway on top of the dumpster with a skid steer. And sorry, we can't help you. The machine does have some limitations, but not not many. That's really it. Brian, how trashy is it when you're when you're grinding? Like, you know, how much ends up on the outside of the can for cleanup? Not not much. So if any does come out, our driver can pick it up. It's usually just maybe a couple pieces he's got to throw back in. If any at all, a skilled driver can really get it to where there's nothing comes out.

» And what this also prevents is if your convenience sites get full instead of people, you know, Dorchester County has this problem. And I haven't been to your convenience site specifically, but it prevents people from saying, hey, there's nowhere to put this. I just set it right next to the dumpster. And now you have, you know, a really big mess that somebody has to clean up. So this prevents that. Brian, do y'all do work on contracts? And how long are they usually? It depends on the county. I think Horry County is a five year contract. We've done a three. We've done a two with an option. So really, whatever. Ms. Owens, do you have anything to add? No. Then we can't do like metal containers or cycle containers. Okay.

» We've done everything from lumber to hot tubs to we compacted a car body at Volvo. Really anything. So. Madam Chair. Yes, Mr. Tucker. Give me a little bit of your background. Where did you come up with this evolution from, if you don't mind? So I'm a 2009 Citadel grad. I was a Marine officer for seven years. I fly Apaches out of McIntyre. And I became very good friends with a gentleman named Drew Stevenson. Owens is actually married to his little brother, Mac. They're from Columbia. Owens is from here. And I'm from Florence. And Drew showed me a video of one of these machines. And the story I normally tell people is we were just dumb enough to try it. Most people wouldn't say, you know, hey, let's buy a piece of machinery from France. Have it shipped over, mounted on a truck.

» Oh, and by the way, we're going to buy two of them right off the roof. So that's kind of how we got in, to be honest, how we got into it. We saw a need, overflowing dumpsters, people paying outrageous prices for cans. And then we kind of found our niche to be what I like, what I kind of steer, I'm staring us towards is municipalities and things like that. But y'all do private? Yeah, we do home builders, warehouses, HVAC, even down to just, you know, one can. And they call us when they need us. Yeah. On average, how about, how long does it take to actually do a convenience center? Like if you had 10 bins at the center, how long would that take, the process? Maybe three minutes per can, three to five minutes per can. Oh, wow, so you're in and out. It's pretty quick, yeah. Yeah.

» Pretty efficient. Yeah. A lot more efficient than a cable truck, you know, deadheading one, you know, to the next. So you can really clean up a site and get, get some kind of breathing room and space, especially on a Saturday, things like that. So. So you have more time in travel than in work? Yes, sir. Often. Yes, sir. Mr. Templer, do we have a backhoe at every convenience center? Or do we travel around and do that? We have one that travels, but typically there's a backhoe at every site. A backhoe. It may not be working properly, but a backhoe. Yeah. No, no, no, no intent on Mr. Templer now. It's just always been that way. Well, they're second line. They're not anything we're going to use to go dig ditches. Right.

» But it's, you know, with the volume that we get in to just say Elgin, we have a problem we run into is contractors come in there with a dually and a dump trailer and they fill these cans from empty to full in one trailer load. So they fill quick, fill very quick. Mr. Jones. I have a question. What would it cost us to have one at each site, recycling site? One of these machines? Yeah. I mean, we've been approached in the past about something similar to this. It was on a track. It stayed in. It was, you know, it was a permanent fixture at the site and it went back and forth on a track into each container. So it was kind of on demand. But I would say, I mean, this has been a long time ago, 200,000. Per site? And that would, this is probably about four or five year olds.

» Let me say this, you're using a backhoe currently, right? That's kind of like a Band-Aid, isn't it? Yes. It's not efficient because, to his point, you know, we're pushing out cans, we're damaging, and not every person on a backhoe is a backhoe operator. Isn't that the truth? They're moving sticks and levers and stuff and it shows sometimes. So do you feel that there's a need for us to be looking into this? Absolutely. I mean, there's clearly an inefficiency factor here because when just cardboard alone, that is one of the most inefficient loads we can haul. It's not compact. And we would certainly have to follow our procurement if we move forward with this. And I have seen, we've had a demonstration out there a few years ago, not from this company, but from another.

» And the results were very impressive, very impressive. It didn't make a mess. It was quick. It was efficient. And it took, you know, a bulging can down to about a third full, depending on materials, couches, all kind of stuff. It was pretty neat to watch. Madam Chair, I would like to ask, we asked the administrator to look into this and bring us back some information. Yes. Include how much money we're spending too on the empty halls and, well, not empty, but full and not compacted and the backhoe too. Bryan and Owens, would you be willing to do a demonstration sometime? Yeah, really whenever you guys are ready, we'll come and do as, really as much as you want to.

» If you want us to do your busy site and then go to a smaller one or however you want us to do, we'll bring a truck up, you know, during the week whenever you guys are available. Madam Chair, I do believe we've got to do better than what we're doing. And so we've got some decisions to be making pretty soon. Any other questions? No. Thank you. Bryan Owens, thank you for being here. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your time. We appreciate it. Okay. Right. That concludes our public presentations for tonight. Approval of minutes. This is the March 14th meeting minutes. Madam Chair, I make a motion that we approve the March 14th regular meeting minutes. And thank you, Ms. Lauren. Okay. Mr. Tucker makes the motion to approve the minutes. I'll second. Mr. Tomlinson, second.

» Any discussion? Okay. All those in favor of approving the Tuesday, March 14th, 2023 meeting minutes indicate by raising your hand. And it's unanimous. Those meetings are approved. New business. Those minutes. Those minutes. I think you said meetings, didn't you? Those meeting minutes. Thank you. They're approved. New business. Firefighter clothing. Mr. Templer, I will give you the floor to go over this. And there's a, gentlemen, there's a memorandum in your agenda packet. Madam Chair, members of council, you have before you a bid to purchase 20 sets of firefighter protective equipment, the turnout gear. These bids were based on a best value bid. So you see two metrics, cost for lowest price, 70%, seven points, and then shortest delivery time was factored in as well.

» So these bids were fairly close, but the, the 60 day return time edged out the, the other lower bidders based on this model. So the staff recommends that crew boss for $51,462 be awarded this bid. And also this is within the fire budget currently. Okay. So Mr. Templer, the additional cost, you're saying staff has determined is worth it because we can get the equipment sooner. Correct. Madam Chair. Yes, Mr. Tucker. I'd like to make a motion that we approve the staff recommendation to award the bid to crew boss for $51,462. Okay. Second. Motion to award this bid to crew boss for $51,462. Second by Mr. Cato. Any discussion? Okay. All those in favor of awarding this bid for the firefighter protective equipment to crew boss for $51,462 indicate by raising your hand.

» And then the vote is unanimous. Madam Chair. Yes. Mr. Tucker. We'd just like to point out though, it still was underneath what we currently budget, which was 55,000. Correct. Okay. Just want to make that publicly known. And also just for what it's worth, this allows us four months to lock this price in. So at this current price. When did we get it, Danny? What? I'm sorry. You said we're locking it in for four months. Have we had this? Well, for future purchases. Oh, okay. Okay. If you strictly choose, this price is locked in for four months. Okay. I'm tracking. Thank you. All right. Next item under new business is the finance committee update. That will be given by finance committee chairman, Sammy Tucker, Jr.

» And I just want to remind my colleagues that there will not be a vote taken on this agenda item. Mr. Tucker. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good evening to my colleagues, Madam Chair, and all who's online and in person. The finance committee actually met yesterday after our budget workshop. Myself, Councilman Shimei, and Councilman Thomason. And we've had some good discussion. We're moving right along in the budget process. But we've mostly just have gone over expenditures. We do not have all the revenue side of this budget yet. So what we're reporting out today to you is that we're going to finish collecting all the information. And we will do our due diligence on seeing how much revenue.

» And then we will make recommendations back out of the finance committee on possibilities and options that we may have as a council to move forward with the budget. I'm not going to go any further discussion unless you have some questions for me. But I would like to give my colleagues an opportunity that set on finance if anything they want to add. Councilman Shimei. Thank you, Councilman Tucker. Excuse me. Sorry, I've got a little bit of a lost voice problem today. One thing that we did sort of talk about, and again, Councilman Tucker just did the recommendation, but just to point out that we have, based on discussions with staff, approximately 2.2 million in ARPA funding. And if that money were to go to the projects requested, it would be able to fund the proposal that Mr.

» Brazel sent and also the new radios for the fire service. And Mr. Brazel's proposal referenced this six million match and the 1.5 for Casey West. So I just wanted to point that out. Thank you. Clarification. Yes. It's 10.2 that's available, not 2.2. Oh, did I say 2.2? He meant 10.2. I'm sorry. Also clarification on the radio amount. What did you say the radio amount was? It was approximately 3.5 million. That's the Lugoff radio and Kershaw County's radio. Okay. I missed that. Yeah. And I didn't say, but yeah, so, so we looked at obviously the county's radio, Councilman Jones, and then the Lugoff radio. Correct. And again, those are just loose numbers. And as Councilman Tucker mentioned, we're going to come back with more specifics, but I just wanted to point that out. Thank you.

» Councilman Thomason. Yes, sir. Thank you. And we also talked about, you know, some potential other avenues looking for the funding sources. I know we got a lot of needs. And once we get the revenues in, you know, we're kind of looking at different areas, kind of the capital general fund to see if there's some potential there. A-tax, filo, we have some filo funds coming in from different industries starting 2024. So that's another potential. And then PARD funds, which each one of our state-leded officials for Kershaw County get a percentage for parks and rec each year. So right now, currently, I think there's 65,000 in the budget roundabout. And it goes up every year if they don't spend. There's just some other avenues and look forward to going to work. Thank you. I've got one question.

» Yes, sir. Did we address the allocation of funds for the boat landing? No, we haven't just yet. And I know that was a part of your request, but it's in our conversation as well. But we have not addressed it as far as where funding is going to come from. And matter of fact, I'm due to have a conversation with Madam Chair here this week in reference to that from a conversation from our House Representative, Mr. Ben Connell. That sounds perfect. Thank you. I have a question. Yes, sir. What about the $6 million for recreation? Have you all addressed that, looked into that? No. We have not allocated any monies for anything, for nothing. We've discussed possibilities of boat ramp, possibilities of recreation funds. Everything's been a possibility. So that's what I'm saying. It's an update.

» It's not a recommendation coming to you because we have no revenues. Sure. And I wasn't asking for a recommendation. Yes, sir. Just to know, had there been any discussion or any, as he asked about the boat ramp. Yes, sir. Yeah. Yes, sir. It's sitting right there with us. And, you know, we just got in a wealth of information yesterday at a budget workshop on the detention center and its conditions and needs and things. So we've got, I'll be happy to give anybody this job. And I've never quit nothing before in my life. It is not easy. And we're going to have to make some tough decisions. But the finance committee will do that. And we will give you options. I'll assure you. And guys, it's okay that we disagree up here, okay? Because I'm not going to agree with half of what y'all do.

» But bottom line is, the majority rules. We should be able to talk about it. Absolutely. There's no bashing going on. I think we all respect each other up here. But I'm going to hold y'all accountable, as y'all are going to hold me accountable. Absolutely. Okay. Thank you. Yes, sir. Chairman Tucker, can you explain the way the finance committee will take into consideration the high priority items from the retreat? And if this council brings something for a vote to send to you, what are you going to look at first? Okay. So here's, you know, it doesn't matter when you submit something to finance. It's a matter of the reason why we had our council retreat. So that's why we really can't do anything until we get back our council retreat information from Mr. Templer, which he's working on.

» And I think we would have those, correct me if I'm not mistaken, by our next meeting, which will be the 18th? Correct. Yeah. So that's going to take priority over anything that you submit, no matter what order, because those are our priorities collectively. He didn't just throw up a bunch of spaghetti on the wall and salt would stick. That's what we gave him. And then any urgencies or something that, you know, that we just have to do or we're going to be liable or in some type of legal trouble. And then we would consider from there what else is important to the council. But we're going to peck off our high priorities. And that's just a proper way to do it, along with what funding will allow you to do.

» I can tell you now from sitting up here as many years as I have, there's a lot of wants, a lot of needs, a lot of requests, and there's minuscule of funding. It's just not there without doing something like raising taxes or fees. And I don't think nobody up here, including myself, and I'm the lonely Democrat, I'll sit here and say it, have an appetite to increase your millage. So where does the money come from? We've got to be creative and figure out what we can and cannot do. So that's where we're at, Madam Chair. It's nothing to vote on because we have nothing to give you at this point. And I appreciate my colleagues, Councilman Thomason and Councilman Shoemake, because we're able to have candid and good discussion and dialogue in our meetings. And we've got several more dates that Ms.

» Lauren's going to give you guys and announce to the public. So let's check them before she makes them public tomorrow. So we can make good, sound decisions and recommendations back to the body. And Councilman, may I say one thing? Yes, sir. I think one of the things, too, that we had talked about, and correct me if I'm wrong, is, you know, there might be situations where you have alternative options where we, our recommendation may be, here's a slate of options. Absolutely. For the council, rather than us, us three determining what the council does. It may be, here are three ways that could go. Absolutely. Absolutely. And also, I just want to say as the new guy, I appreciate Councilman Tucker's leadership on this because running a government is pretty crazy.

» And Councilman Tucker knows where the numbers are, and I suspect where a lot of the bodies are buried. So I appreciate your help. You're quite welcome. That's scary. That's right. So what's your calendar as far as reporting back to us on these projects? Well, you are always, all of you are invited to the meetings. We're going to meet. We should finish up. April 3rd and 4th is going to be outside agencies. April 6th will be committee meeting. And then we will have 17th, 19th, and 20th if needed. So we would have a -- we're trying to have our final report by the 20th because we've got to read the budget and title by the 24th. So we can report back our progress on the 18th on where we're at, and then we'll give you a full report before we take first reading on the 24th, title only.

» That's the best we can do. And you're welcome to come ask questions and call us up. I mean, happy to fill you in, which I will be doing with Madam Chair regardless, on where we're at and what's going on. But that's about four or five meetings, and I think we can get it all done once we get all the information in. We do need the revenue side in order to finish this equation. We cannot do anything without that. I'd like to thank the Finance Committee for working hard and trying to make it all happen. It's tough. I know we can't make it all happen, but I know that you all will come up with a plan. Well, I thank you. And I thank all of you for showing up yesterday to the workshop.

» It means a lot to be able to sit up here and hear the department heads plead their cases on their needs and their concerns with their department. And I know we can't all have the same schedule and be off at the same time, but I appreciate all of your efforts in showing up when you can. Thank you. Chairman Tucker, question for Mr. Templer. How close are we on getting our high priorities, medium priorities, and low priorities back? I just need to repackage them. We have them all set, and I want to tweak them to a more executive. Will we get them back before the budget? Can you get it to us by next week? Yes, absolutely. Okay. Thank you. We can't work with Donald, Councilman Jones. I know. That's why I'm staying. Yeah. Well, that's why I asked about it. He's going to get it to us next week.

» Now, next meeting, that's going to get into the meat of our finance committee meetings, and we've got to have those in order to do what we need to do. Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair. You're welcome. Thank you, Chairman Tucker. All right. We'll go into council briefings now. And, Mr. Tomlinson, we're going to start with you tonight. Thank you, everybody, for coming out tonight. And I thought some comments were really good. You know, respect and love. We really need to start using the word love a lot more all around. That's just something that is overlooked by both men and women. You know, that's an important word. And I feel that we'd be a better county if we would utilize love more. Thank you to staff for all your hard work. I know everybody's been blowing Danny and Mr.

» Reeder up all the time. And y'all each have many hats, so thank y'all so much. This week I'd like to kind of give a few highlights on some calls that I've had from constituents. Just a few issues mentioned. One was being trash on the roadways, trucks, back trucks, and non-approved areas. Also, a few calls that were handled. Actually, I reached out to Danny with all of them, but they were all handled. Some planning and zoning or look at for the property up on Hermitage Bond Road. And I would also like to thank the Clean Commission. This past weekend, Ms. Wanda Swan organized a huge cleanup across the county. Volunteers, I think Councilman Shoemake, participated. I was out at the baseball fields with my son for opening day, which the Red Department did a great job.

» But thank y'all for all you do. Thank you. Mr. Cato. Well, I've got several things I want to say. But I'm going to start with this. I really, really contemplated whether to say this tonight. But as I was driving in to the council meeting today, I passed by school. Kids were at their parents and people were at school and they were on the ball fields. I went down the road and there was this guy out there cutting his grass. A lady walking her dog. I saw another mother and a father walking down the sidewalk pushing their newborn in a stroller. And I thought about what this council's been through in six meetings. Two meetings a month. This new council has had six meetings. And my point to that is we have taken a lot of abuse and that's okay. But this county has a lot to offer.

» It has a lot to offer. And we have a lot of growth that can happen in this county. So that we can offer more to those families. To the kids that's coming up. To the kids that's going to be the future of this county. You know, when I was listening to the gentleman talk about finding the bodies of those young soldiers here that lost their life. And it all started right here around Kershaw County. A lot of that started right here where we're sitting tonight. So it's time for positivity. Not that we can't disagree. Not that somebody can't say, hey, can you look at this or can you do this different? But maybe a little positive influence would help. But I say that to say this. This county is a great county.

» There's nobody on this council that wants to do anything that's going to jeopardize this county. I can say every one of my colleagues represent their districts. And when we're in meetings, they'll probably tell you I represent mine. And I am a big advocate for District 6. They get tired of hearing it, I'm sure. But they do the same for theirs. And we all put our heads together for the betterment of not our districts, but all of Kershaw County. And that's what we're trying to do. And I thank my colleagues. I thank each and every one of them for what they have done for me so far. I want to especially thank the administration. Y'all have really helped me. And I want to thank Walton for what she has done. I think this may be her last meeting sitting up here beside of me.

» So I want to thank her for all her hard work. And I've had to call Danny, it seems like, every day for something or send him an email. And I just appreciate your responses. And I hope everybody has a safe and enjoyable cup weekend. Thank you. All right. To you, Mr. Brazel. Danny, I really appreciate those words. I feel the exact same way. I feel like, you know, we've been drug through the mud, called every name in the book. And we're here trying to bring better things to Kershaw County. I'm going to do better. I'm going to do better. I'm going to be more professional. That was a mistake. I'm human. I'll own that mistake. But moving forward, you're going to see the best representative that you can have in Kershaw County. There is no part of me that does not take this job seriously.

» And it's unfortunate that I let someone bring me down a notch. And I'm going to be the best representative that you can have in Kershaw County. There's no part of me that does not take this job seriously. And it's unfortunate that I let someone bring me down a notch. And I'm going to be the best representative that you can have in Kershaw County. And I'm going to be the best representative that you can have in Kershaw County. There's no part of me that does not take this job seriously. And it's unfortunate that I let someone bring me down a notch. And do something that I shouldn't have. It happened. It won't happen again. If anybody needs me, my phone number is 803-309-0680. I'm going to bring a solution to a situation. I'm not going to bash anyone on social media. I'm above that.

» And if you've bashed me and you need me, I will help you no matter what. So I want that to be on the record for everyone in this room. Everyone. I'm here for you. And I appreciate your trust. I appreciate what you did when you trusted me with your vote. There will be no resignation. I will run again. That concludes my comments. Thank you. Mr. Tucker. Thank you, Madam Chair. A couple of quick things. I do want to say if there's anyone left here for Trinity Apartments, please, please, or if you're watching, go before the city of Camden as well, because that's also in the city limits with your concerns. And if you've been paying attention on the news, I think the mayor recommends having some issues with HUD over in Columbia as well with some apartments.

» So it's probably something, Madam Chair, we need to look into and either email or draft a letter or something so these folks won't be disenfranchised from their living quarters. And I'll be attending down there because that's in my district to check up on what's going on. So is Pastor Jarvin Proctor still here? Has he left? No, he had to go. Okay. Well, I just want to say to him, thank him for setting the tone for tonight. An awesome prayer. We needed it. It couldn't have come at a better time. And that's going to lead me into what I'm about to say about my colleague. Councilman Brazel, I appreciate your apology. I appreciate your humbleness.

» And I appreciate you sitting up here as a man listening and not getting angry and just being who you were raised to be because you come from a good family. And I've never heard anything bad about your family or about you. I've had the opportunity to serve on some things with your brother Jody. And that's how I really got to know until the Brazel family on that side. And you just continue working hard and staying humble and staying prayed up. I have been ridiculed from this seat and out of this seat. And I'm going to tell all of you who are filming and listening. Family is off limits. They don't run for this seat. You can say what you want to say about me and you have. But what you can't do is talk about people's family. You guys that click on like and repost, you're just as guilty.

» You're just as guilty because you're egging it on. Don't do that. Have some love and compassion in your heart. And I have never, never in my life been a guy that stirred up controversy. And I'm going to ask each and every one of you that's listening that's here today. This is my grandmother's prayer and her wish upon all her children and grandchildren. And she's gone now and she would have been over 100 today had she lived. Before you say something out of your mouth, ask yourself two questions. What good will it bring and what harm will it cause? Because it brings no good, don't say it. Don't do it. You don't have to like any of us up here, but we are elected to govern. Now, whatever that coincides with what you believe in and what we believe in.

» That's why we have elections every four years. That's when you have your say so to input different people up here. We're not a dart board. Now, I'll take anything you throw at me. Don't have a problem with it. But also remember, this is a young council. I heard in one of the meetings and public comment that the nuance has worn off. And six weeks in, it's pretty much has. And we've got the government council. We've got to step up to the plate and do the people's business. But I also want you to be reminded when you're on your 30, 60, 90 days, 120 days, whatever it may be on your job and you make a misstep or you do something that's not popular, they don't just walk you out the gate duty. They coach you up. They encourage you up. We need that from our citizens too.

» We don't need you to keep poking the bear and keeping things wound up and things going on. I'm asking you as humbly and as nicely and as lovely as I possibly can, stop. Please stop. This room was full of children tonight. And that's our future. And we have to set good examples. And I don't know where we got away from the day that we sat down as men and women and talk to each other and talk about our differences and walk away as men and women. I don't know where that's gone, but wherever it's gone, let's try to find it because that's how we should handle things. The keyboard heroes and Twitter and all that can get you in a lot of trouble. And when you hit send, you can't retrieve it back. It's gone. And as someone said earlier, it's out there forever.

» You may not see it the day of tomorrow, but when our young people get older, and they're a lot smarter than we are with this internet and all this stuff, they'll be able to go into the archives, as we like to say, the clouds, and pull it back down. And they'll be able to read it one day. And I don't want any of my children to have to read stuff that we're not proud of. Are we going to make mistakes up here? Are we going to do things that you may not agree with? Yes. Does that make us bad people, crooks, and backroom deals? No. No. So I'm asking for your patience and your support and encouragement. Lauren, I want to say to you, once again, thank you. And I'm sorry I had to get on my preaching skills. But I and this council appreciate everything that you've done.

» I thank you for resupplying our snack chamber up there. I brought me a little something to drink tonight now. And I wish you nothing but the best going back to your role into the administration. So thank you so very much. And I don't know if this is in order or not. But I'm going to finish with good news because I never finish with bad. Mr. Shoemake, I hope that I can say congratulations. And I look forward to serving you at least for another two years or 18 months before we'll be back on the campaign trail. And I hope things are going your way tonight because you do have an election. Madam Chair, that concludes my report. Thank you. Mr. Shoemake. Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. So a few things. Some kind of localized news for District 3. Mr. Tucker, Councilman Tucker mentioned the election.

» Elgin has just elected a new town councilwoman. Her name is Christy Bradley. I had an opportunity to meet her several times over the last few weeks. She's going to be fantastic. Paul Rizzo, who was a great councilman, got a job in Savannah. So there was a special election. And based on what I'm hearing from early numbers, I think she's will very likely be elected. So I congratulate Councilwoman Bradley, which now fills out the Elgin Town Council. They're doing a lot of big stuff in Elgin. There's a big recreation center that the town itself is putting together. So it's pretty exciting. I did get to join the Clean Communities Commission over the weekend. I had a group of about six, and we covered the area, for those of you know Elgin.

» Smyrna Road, which is where the elementary and middle school are. And then Railroad Avenue there where Southern Mamas used to be Elgin Town's Pizza. And the six of us in two and a half hours got 30 bags of trash. And I really wish that if your inclination is to litter, I would never say this but for that group of people. But I wish you would move somewhere else. Because it is horrible what people throw away. On the street. So I appreciate everyone that did that. Over in Elgin we had Becky Robinson and Pam Delk who are on the Clean Communities Commission. And they did a wonderful, wonderful job. And by the way, for those of you who are interested in cleaning your communities, you don't have to wait until the springtime clean up. They can get you materials, bags, the little pickers thing.

» They'll work for about 30 minutes and then you'll be using your hands. But at least you have 30 minutes. So it was really, it was a really wonderful thing. Also the last piece of specific District 3 thing I want to talk about is Andrea Larimore. I think you have left. I saw her leave. She was wearing a beautiful purple outfit and she walked out the door. She is in this packet now as someone to be submitted for the rec commission. We will not vote on it tonight, but we'll vote on next meeting. And I just wanted to take a quick moment to plug her. She lives in my neighborhood. She is a special needs teacher in Richland County. She's relatively new to Elgin but very familiar with Kershaw County.

» And brings a really wonderful sense of, you know, what we're kind of missing I think on the rec commission. One, she represents that side of the community that's exploding. She's a young parent. She hasn't been here forever. So she has a very different perspective. And I'm really looking forward to the council folks meeting her in our next meeting and hopefully voting her on to the rec commission. Obviously that would have to be a vote. But unfortunately she just walked out the door. But I did wonder if she's listening just to say she's an absolutely wonderful person. So excited to have her aboard. The last thing I'll say just to echo what other folks have said. When I was 18 I joined the Marine Corps. Enlisted. Served four years as a U.S. Marine.

» My most recent job before I went into private practice again was as an assistant United States Attorney. In that job I prosecuted murderers. Specifically a man that gunned down two bank tellers in Myrtle Beach. And killed one who had two children that were younger than mine. I prosecuted white collar criminals and protected those victims. And I say that to say this. In the six weeks I've been here it's been up and down. But to be able to serve the place that I grew up. That my dad grew up. That my grandma grew up. That my brother grew up in. That my great grandmother grew up in. And that my children are growing up in. Has been so far the greatest honor of my life. And I want to tell you all that I appreciate all of you.

» There's not a single person in this table that I haven't called for advice. And that includes you Lauren. And you as well Ryan. So. But specifically fellow council members. I appreciate each one of you. And I look very much forward to the next several years. There's a lot of great things in this county. And I think we're going to disagree. Maybe as much as we agree. But I do agree that we can do it respectfully. And you know. One last point. In our last meeting. I guess it was our last meeting. There was a little bit of drama around the process. It could have been done better. I'll admit that. It absolutely could have been done better. I've talked to councilman Jones. I've talked to chairwoman Gwen. We had disagreements about what was. And was it technically correct.

» But none of that matters. It could have been done better. I'm going to try to do better. And I think it's. We have to communicate. We have to communicate. That's not an apology for the vote. But we have to do better in communication. I agree with that. So I thank everyone out. Up here. And again. Look very forward to seeing everybody. It's April 18th. Right? Our next meeting. Look forward to seeing everyone on April 18th. Thank you. Thank you. And Mr. Jones. Thank you Madam Chair. Well. I will say this. I have enjoyed serving with each and every one of y'all. And I've had great. Feelings about us coming together. And working together. But guys. And I think that's a great question. I think that's a great question. I think that's a great question.

» Why not put it on the agenda? And why not do it the proper way? That's my heartburn. That was my heartburn. And I tell you, I picked up a letter to the editor. I'm not going to read it in its entirety, but I'm going to read some of it. This is what saddens me. But let me tell you this about tough times on council. When I first was elected in council in 2006, I took office in 2007, because I was bringing information to the table that was truthful. It was the facts of raw sewage leaking. Sammy was here. He knows. Members of the county council tried to have me indicted. They tried to have me thrown off county council, and it was me by myself. Well, I survived that, and I'm still here according to my 17th year. So, no, I was very disappointed.

» But, you know, when I picked up the paper and I saw an article, a letter to the editor, and I don't want to read this in the entirety, but it says, "Disappointed in Kershaw County Council meeting," and it said, "Words cannot express how very, very disappointed I am in Kershaw County Council at this moment." The meeting on March 14th was a master class in how not to run anything efficiently. And I want to just talk about 14 points that was in that article, because I thought this lady did a great job. And I have some concerns, and I'm going to bring those up in just a second as well, too. Because I believe sunshine, I believe speaking out in public is the way to do business. And I'm not saying anybody up here doesn't agree with that, but that's just how I stand.

» But this article went on to say disrespectful was the way the vote on the Medical University of South Carolina MUSC grant was added to the agenda without the supporting documentation required, and then rammed through above the objections of Chairwoman Gwen and other members, specifically a vote who was forced to accept $6 million grant for MUSC for a travel baseball complex to be built at Woodward Park. So many things wrong, this person goes on to say. Number one, council members raised a point of order that no supporting documentation had been provided as the bylaws require. Therefore, the council members had no opportunity to prepare themselves for the vote, especially since the agenda item read discussion.

» Two, council member noted that the proposed requested response within 90 days and expressed concern that a vote at the 30-day mark may be premature. Three, council member expressed concerns a vote would be taken prior to the Finance Committee doing their due diligence may be ill-advised. Four, councilwoman Gwen noted that when the proposal was presented, the vote was scheduled for the 11th of April, and she was not inclined to change that at this time. Chairwoman Gwen further noted that she has a number of town hall meetings scheduled throughout the county and in order for all the citizens of the county to express their views, and no vote should be taken at that point in time. Five, it was unclear the exact amount of grant being voted on.

» While the original proposal was for $5 million, a gentleman within the council enclosed, I could not, this person says I could not see who was speaking because of the crowd, said they had spoken with someone and that secured a verbal promise for an additional $1 million to assist with the maintenance and the existing facilities. Well, we all know, she goes on to say, that a verbal agreement cannot override a written one. So, it is not even clear to what the county was being committed. We found out that the article in the Chronicle Independent, that some offline conversation was yielded. The offer of the extra funds, is this the way the county does business? Number six, the original proposal is for the $5 million from NUSC with Kershaw County to match the amount.

» However, at the time of the vote, no funds had been identified for the matching funds. So, if proposal is $5 million, $6 million? Intentionally upon $5 million, $6 million? Is matching funds for the county? Is there matching funds for the county or in there? It goes on to say that the county has not identified the matching funds as well. But yet the proposal was accepted. Number seven, there was some talk about using the American Rescue Plan Act, ARPA funds. But questions have been raised about whether or not a travel complex qualifies under ARPA guidelines. Number eight, the proposal is being presented as a wellness grant for Kershaw County by the Medical University of South Carolina, whose headquarters is in Charleston, over 100 miles away.

» Why would our county council pretty much put out its responsibilities to act in the best interest of Kershaw County by allowing a geographically separate entity to dictate, they say dictate, what is in the best interest of our citizens? Has MUSC conducted a or some type of study to determine this is the best alternative for the majority of the populace? Question mark. And it goes on to say, was the proposal accompanied by such a study complete with a list of alternatives and a thorough analysis of said alternatives in this document available? And is this document available for the public review? Okay. And it says, it seems odd that a wellness grant would be so specific as to identify exact type of wellness facility, the exact location of the wellness facility.

» Is anyone from MUSC sufficiently familiar with, specifically familiar with all the existing facilities in the county to be qualified to make their grant contingent upon the use of one specific location? It says 10, many citizens raised the question about the possible use of existing facilities, specifically the west and the Dobies complex. The vague response was that these facilities are in ill repair, and in fact there has even been talk of abandoning the Dobies Mill complex altogether for questionable reasons. I addressed this during the meeting.

» What makes Woodward part, this person says, in ill repair, being a better candidate for rehabilitation than any other existing facility in ill repair? Number 11, returning to the specificity of the grant, according to the US Census Bureau, projection in 2022, only 23.1% of the county's population is between the ages of 5 and 18. The basic age range for travel, baseball, additional 5.6 of the population is projected to be at the age of 5 and under. So roughly the travel baseball complex would benefit the wellness of about 25% of the county's population. 12, perhaps wellness needs to be more clearly defined. From all the discussion I've had and heard, it appears that the primary wellness benefits would be to businesses, specifically to the hospitality industry such as it exists.

» While there are several hotels in the county, especially in Camden, eateries are quite limited. Most restaurants in Camden are small and filled quickly with just the locals. On Sundays, choices are limited largely to fast food. As far as shopping, there are antique shops, second-hand shops, furnitures and appliance stores, a few clothing stores, a few hardware stores. Of these, only major chain stores are open on Sunday. 13, if a travel baseball park were to lure more people in the area, where is the infrastructure to support the increased traffic? 14, if a travel traffic during the recent Irish Fest traffic was backed up on to 521 from historic Camden all the way back to downtown. This is not at all helpful.

» This is not at all helped by the sketch or the renovations they've done on that stretch of 521, which has been under construction for at least the last three years. The streets are chewed up, and instead of properly resurfacing, what few repairs are made consists of filling the holes with the crush and run, which lasts a couple of weeks.

» 14, has the actual budget been roughed out for the complex, and does that budget include all the necessary infrastructure improvements necessary to support it? If there are not enough recreational department personnel to properly maintain the existing facilities, how many more personnel will be required to maintain the new facility? 14, has the cost of law enforcement, security, and traffic management been considered? 14, who authorized the Chronicle Independent front page announcement of the vote? Why is it stated as a fait accompli, which means, I think, in legal terms, already been done, when there are so many unanswered questions about not only the granted self, but the extremely unorthodox way the vote was rammed through? This is not my words, this is the worst one with a citizen.

» How did one council member have so much to say during the interview that was barely paid any attention to the proceedings? These are just a few top-minded questions I have based on the issue recently being brought to my attention. I am sure those who have seen the situation unfold from its inception have plenty more, and we need some concrete answers before we commit to this type of debt, some which will inevitably fall on the already beleaguered taxpayers of Kershaw County. The Kershaw County Council needs to be held accountable for their actions and our concerns and needs to be addressed. We elected them to act in the best interest of all Kershaw County, not just a select subset. That was Mrs. Lauren Cook of Camden.

» She was the lady who came here concerned about Dobie's meeting at the last meeting. And I thought she raised some very good questions and very good concerns. Now, we sit up here and we talk about getting along and working together. I'd like to ask y'all to never do what we did at that last meeting on the 14th. When you shut out, when we were shut out, and the vice chairman was shut out, the chairman shut out, and the chairman of the finance committee was shut out. We had no prior notice. And I don't appreciate that, guys. That's my issue. And yet what really bothered me, too, is that when I talked to some of you folks, the members, I just felt there wasn't a big concern about what happened, the way it fell down.

» And I just can't accept that or go along with that because I have fought this for 17 years, the same kind of treatment. And the thing about it is, it didn't have to be done. It did not have to be done. You had the majority vote. You could have absolutely put it on there, waited two weeks, and brought it back. And that was my biggest concern. And I'm going to tell you something else, too, and I'm going to say this publicly because it was told to me today. And folks, I'm telling you, it concerns me. It's come to my attention that some major players in Camden and Kershaw County have a desire to develop Larry Dobie's complex for profit. And that will not happen as long as I'm sitting on this county council. It's as simple as that.

» And as I said, I just hope we talk about trusting each other and working together and that we care about each other. Well, let's show it with some respect as far as when we said the other night, guys, this is too quick, but you did it anyway. The motion was made and y'all passed it and it has passed. You've got it. Okay. You've got your part. They voted to do it. They're going to find the money to bring it back. So, but I just want to say, please be aware of, I just think it sends a bad message when we do business like we did at that point in time. And again, I hear about what we've been through the last six weeks, but I can tell you this, I've been through a whole lot worse the first six years of serving on this county council. We're going to have disagreements.

» We're not going to agree with each other, but I don't go out bad-mouthing anybody here. And I really haven't heard any of y'all bad-mouthed me either. We just have our disagreements. But if we can't have disagreements up here, if we can't express our concerns about disagreements up here, then we have bigger problems. It's as simple as that. If we get mad at each other up here and don't want to speak to each other, I said tonight, when I finish saying what I'm saying tonight, I'm going to lose some of my superficial friends. But I really don't care because that's exactly what they are. If I lose friendships over this, it's superficial. My number one obligation is to do what I think is right for the citizens of Kershaw County. And I'm going to work with you guys.

» I'm committed to work with y'all. I just want the same respect. And I want to say this too. Madam Chair, you've done a fantastic job. You've tried to keep us all in line, keep us on the narrow straight. And I think you've done a remarkable job. And you've been under a lot of pressure from both sides. And I just want to thank you for the job you've done. And I mean it from the bottom of my heart, because I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it. And I do want to tell you guys, I look forward to working with y'all for the next four years. Because whether you like me, love me or not, I've got four more years. And I know I'm pretty. I know I'm easy to look at on the eyes. But bottom line is, we're going to be straightforward with each other. We love you. And we are not.

» And we're not going to hold back on our thoughts. Just because in the name of we're going to sing kumbaya roasting marshmallows. Let's show it through actions, not words. Now, having said that, I'm not mad at a single person up here. And everything I said is a fact. And everything I said has been publicized in the paper. Because Martin did two editorials. I read both of them. All right. And hold us accountable for transparency, Martin. I mean that. I think you slipped a little bit the first time. Okay. But anyway, I'm not mad to hold that against you. Mr. Jones, could I add to your comment, please? I will if Madam Chair has no objections. I have no objections. Yes, sir. Because this is not the proper time, but I have no objections to it. I want to hear what you have to say.

» Well, I think it's important, if I may, and if you'll allow me. Absolutely. Ms. Gwynn and I had a very good conversation Sunday afternoon. I think it was about 35 minutes. We got cut off for some reason about six different occasions. The call got dropped. And we made it a point to clarify, moving forward, that the Health Resources District and MUSC is going to communicate directly with her on this recreation project. And that's just the way it's going to be. It can come to her and it can come to other members of council. But for the record, I didn't, I had not even checked that email. The first time I saw that email from the Health Resources District is when it was on my desk. And we did talk about that.

» And that's my commitment is to work together and get these projects done, get them done in budget, and get them done with no tax increases. And if we can't do that, we won't be able to do them. Thank you. Madam Chair, I'm done. Thank you very much. Love you, Mr. Jones. Thank you, Mr. Jones and members of council. All right. So I think we all received many calls, texts, and emails this week. If you emailed this council and didn't get a response yet, I'm working on it. Please be patient. I will get to all of them. Mr. Brasel, thank you. Thank you for the phone call Sunday. Thank you for your apology to the citizens. Everyone's sitting up here.

» The reason we change the rules that you have to have documentation is to give each council member time to know what's going to be on the agenda for a vote to talk to their constituents. So if we don't have that information and it doesn't go to the public, nobody can talk to anybody. So you can't even talk to the people that you're supposed to represent. So how can you vote on something representing a body of people that you haven't ever talked to and they never saw it? So that's very important to me. So give each other the respect and the citizens of Kershaw County the respect and the representation they deserve. That's what this is truly about. Give your colleagues an opportunity to disagree healthy and to have a healthy debate and let them get prepared.

» If you have a great idea, there should never be a reason to keep it secret. But give everyone an opportunity to do their proper research and come and sit here prepared for these meetings. That's the best representation of the people we can do. So that's my expectation going forward. And I think we're all on board for that. I want to, well, I kind of did address the rules. Our rules do state there will be no action or vote without documentation. That was my failure to not call a point of order or acknowledge that during the last vote. We allowed, I allowed it and I called for a vote. So it was done legally. Once you call for the vote, once you allow something to happen, it's allowed to happen.

» So that was my failure as the parliamentarian and the chair sitting in this position and it won't happen again. If there's no documentation for an action item, it will not go to a vote. So I don't think we have to worry about that anymore. Madam Chair, could I? Mr. Judge. Thank you. Thank you for so politely. There's not a thing that anybody did illegal up here. I want to make that clear. No, no. Okay. Nobody did anything illegal. I simply am telling the public that. Exactly. If we allow ourselves to not follow the rules, then there's nothing we can do after the fact if we allow it to happen. Well put, Madam Chair. Well put. Moving forward, that will be different. Ms. Reeder, thank you for being our clerk.

» And I just want to tell everyone that she is going to help Hannah through the transition. She's not just going to peace out and throw Hannah to the wolves. So thank you for the help you're going to show her to. And she starts Monday, Mr. Templer, is that correct? New clerk will start Monday. New clerk, sorry. All right. Okay. The commissions. So I want to just say that the council did receive these applications. Kershaw County Boards and Commissions. We have the Airport Commission, the Tourism Advisory Committee, Zoning Board of Appeals, Library Board, Health Service District Board, Planning and Zoning Commission, and the Recreation Advisory Commission. And these are the applicants that we are in receipt of. Andrea Larrymore. Did I say that right? Yeah, Larrymore. Yep.

» Antoinette Belton, District 1. Faith Robinson, District 6. Tim Taylor, District 4. Lloyd Matthew Hutchinson, District 6. Mr. Jason Buettner, District 6. Mr. Mark D. Surrey, District 3. Mrs. Sissy Griffin Ballou, District 5. Mr. Xavier Vargas, District 2. Michelle Zornes, District 1. And Bob Giogiorni, District 6. Dr. Caitlin Margaret Jones, District 6. Matthew O'Brien, District 1. So if you thought you applied and you didn't hear your name, call Mr. Templer and check on it. But I wanted those citizens to know that we have those and we're reviewing those. Our new clerk is going to organize our commissions for us and see exactly which vacancies we have so we can move forward. All right, let's see. April 5th, I will have an Elgin Town Hall at 6:30 p.m. That's Wednesday, April 5th.

» It will be actually at the Elgin Town Hall building. It is about recreation needs in the west part of the county. So I hope you will come. April 18th is our next meeting. So I just want to remind everybody, April 11th, we will not have a meeting. We moved it to April 18th. So it will be the third and fourth Tuesday of April next month. All right. And the cup this weekend. There's always a lot of beverages at the cup. So please, please, please, if you're going to drink this weekend or partake in any festivities, do not get on the road in Kershaw County and endanger the citizens. Please. I don't want to end on that. But that's all I have. Positive, right? Oh, I do have one more thing. I will ask council. We do need to do an executive session tonight for a legal matter.

» So after the next briefings, I'll need that. All right. That concludes my brief. Mr. Templer. And legal. No report, Madam Chair. Okay. And executive session. Madam Chair. Yes, Mr. Tucker. I will make a motion that we go into executive session to receive an attorney-client privilege briefing and legal advice on potential legal claim as well as legal advice on contractual matters related thereof. And we would need the administrator and our county attorney, Mr. John Dubose, into the meeting. That is my motion. Okay. Motion for executive session. Is there a second? Anybody else? Gerald. Gerald, I'm sorry. Yes, Mr. Blanchard. Mr. Blanchard. Madam Chair, I second. Okay. Mr. Tomlin, second. All in favor of going into executive session. And it's unanimous.

» There will not be a vote coming out of this executive session. This is for legal advice only. Madam Chair. All right. Is there a motion to exit executive session? So moved. Second. Okay. Mr. Brazel with the motion. Mr. Tucker seconds. All those in favor of coming out of executive session. The vote is unanimous. And we're to the end of the meeting. Is there a motion to adjourn? So moved. Second. Okay. Mr. Brazel motions. Mr. Tucker seconds. All those in favor of adjournment. And the vote is unanimous. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you, buddy.