Full meeting transcript - April 18, 2023

» I'm sorry, you must first dial a 1 or a 0, when calling this number. you must first dial a one or zero when calling this number. We... We're sorry, you must first dial a one or zero when calling this number. We... We're sorry, you must first dial a one or zero when calling this number. We... We're sorry, you must first dial a one or zero when calling this number. We're sorry. You must first dial a 1 or 0 when calling this number. We're sorry. You must first dial a 1 or 0 when calling this number. We're sorry. You must first dial a 1 or 0 You must first dial a 1 or 0 when calling this number.

» Hey, Russell, can you hear us? Hey, Russell, can you hear us? Hey, Russell, can you hear us? Hey, Russell, can you hear us? Hey, Russell, can you hear us? Hey Russell, can you hear us? Hey Russell, can you hear us? Hey Russell, can you hear us? Hey Russell, can you hear us? Hey Russell, can you hear us? Hey Russell, can you hear us? Mr. Brazel, can you hear us? Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being patient. We're trying to get Mr. Brazel on the phone. Ryan, are we good? Are we good? Okay. Good evening, Kershaw County. Ladies and gentlemen that are here in person, I call this meeting to order. This is the regularly scheduled Kershaw County Council meeting Tuesday, April 18th, 2023 at 6 p.m. And sorry, we're a little late getting started.

» All right, to start things off, we'll do the invocation. Is Mr. Andrew Tate here from Friendship Baptist Church? Ms. Torres, would you mind leading us in a prayer? All hearts and minds clear, let's bow our heads and go before the Lord. Father, we give you praise and we give you glory for bringing us together once again for the county council meeting, Father. We ask that your hand will be upon every single member here as we conduct business for your glory, for our good, and most importantly, for our growth. We pray, Father, that you would continue to keep your hands on Kershaw County and the things that we're trying to do here to better our community. We give you all the praise. In your precious son's name, in Jesus' name we say, amen. Amen. Thank you, ma'am.

» And please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Adoption of agenda. Is there a motion to adopt tonight's agenda? I'll make a motion to adopt. Okay, Mr. Tomlinson makes a motion to adopt the agenda. Second. And Mr. Cato seconds. And any discussion on the agenda tonight? Madam Chair, I would like to make a motion to amend the agenda, actually. Specifically, I'd like to make a motion that has two parts. Specifically, I would like to amend the agenda to add an ordinance authorizing the execution and delivery of an amendment to a fee agreement by and between Kershaw County, South Carolina, and Canfor Southern Pine, Inc.

» as sponsor, and New South Lumber Company, Inc., and New South Camden Properties, LLC, as sponsor affiliates, to provide for an extension of the investment period and other matters related there, too. And, Madam Chair, this agenda addition is to accomplish the first reading of the ordinance. A public hearing has been scheduled and advertised for the May 9th Kershaw County meeting. So, again, this would still give plenty of opportunity for public input.

» I would also like to move to add or move to amend the agenda that, in accordance with South Carolina Code Section 30-4-80A, the Kershaw County Council finds an emergency or exigent circumstance exist if the resolution authorizing the assignment and assumption of the fee-in-lieu of ad valorem tax agreements by and between Kershaw County, South Carolina, and Investment Performance Services, LLC, is not added to the current meeting agenda for county council's consideration and action before the conclusion of this meeting, and that that resolution be added to the agenda. This is a prior, there's a prior philo agreement there, or prior ordinance, that allows us to do that by resolution, Madam Chair. These both come to us by way of our economic development folks as an exigent need. Okay.

» Motion to add first reading of an ordinance for Cam for Southern Pine, and motion to add a resolution authorizing the assignment of fee-in-lieu for in-performance of services. Is there a second? I'll second. Mr. Tomlinson, second. And any discussion? Is Mr. Burgess here? Hey, Mr. Burgess. Good evening. Can you explain to us a little bit the timeliness consideration for these? The first one would be Canfor. Okay. Southern Pine. They currently have a philo that was assigned in 2018, to where the company had agreed to invest $35 million in new equipment. That philo is coming to an end, or that investment ramp-up period, which is a five-year period, comes to an end in May 31st, 2023. Okay.

» So they have come back before us, and they're going to invest an additional $10 million in machinery and equipment to update the facility to keep it competitive with their competition. So they'd like to roll that $10 million into the existing fee. And exigent circumstances for the fee-in-lieu for INVISTA, formerly INVISTA. INVISTA is obviously a huge group, and what they have done is they've reorganized, and this is an internal restructuring. So what they're trying to do, based on taxes and timelines and so forth, is to make sure the philos that were assigned to them go to these new internal divisions. And, John, if I missed anything. And that needs to happen tonight. Yeah, Madam Chair.

» I understand that they're effectuating their restructuring closing tomorrow, so it would be good or not. Okay. Welcome, Mr. Tucker. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good evening, everyone. Yes, ma'am. Any other questions? Madam Chair, I just want to make sure we still have to do three readings in a public hearing on this, correct? For CAN4, it would be three readings in a public hearing, and VISTA's a resolution. Okay. I missed that part, but I wasn't here. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Brutus. So when we get to them and the agenda, if this is added, I'll invite you back up. Sounds good. Okay. Thank you. Okay. I'll call for the vote.

» All those in favor in amending the agenda to add the first reading of an ordinance for CAN4 Southern Pine and adding a resolution authorizing the FELO to be assigned to INV Performance Surfaces, LLC, indicate by raising your hand. And it's unanimous. Okay. The agenda is amended, and I'll call for the vote on the amended agenda. All those in favor of adopting the amended agenda, indicate by raising your hand. And unanimous. All right. The agenda is adopted. All right. Moving on to proclamations. I'm actually going to do the Fair Housing Month first. Is Ms. Tammy Smith here tonight? Okay. All right. This is a proclamation for Fair Housing Month.

» Whereas Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act, was enacted on April 11, 1968, by President Lyndon Johnson, enshrining into federal law the goal of eliminating racial segregation and ending housing discrimination in the United States. And whereas the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, sex, family status, national origin, and disability, and commits recipients of federal funding to affirmatively further fair housing in their communities. And whereas Kershaw County is committed to the mission and intent of Congress to provide fair and equal housing opportunities for all. And whereas our social fabric, the economy, health, and environment are strengthened by diverse, inclusive communities.

» And whereas more than 50 years after the passage of the Fair Housing Act, discrimination in the housing market still exists, and many communities are segregated. And whereas acts of housing discrimination and barriers to equal housing opportunity are repugnant to a common sense of decency, fairness, and dignity. And now, therefore, Kershaw County Council hereby proclaims that this month of April 2023 as Fair Housing Month and encourages all citizens to prevent discrimination and reverse housing segregation by increasing opportunities for minority homeownership and invest in affordable housing across the county. And this is, this will be signed by all council members. All right, for our next proclamation, a proclamation recognizing the month of the military child.

» If there are any military children here tonight, I'll ask you to please come up. Madam Chair, just a quick point of order. Did you want to take the vote on the Fair Housing Act and then move to the military child? No, sir. Okay. I'm just making sure. Because when we go to vote, I would like to vote on them separately when we go to vote on the proclamation. Okay. I wasn't going to call for a vote on them. Okay. That's fine. Thank you for being here. Okay. Tell me your names. Daniel. Angel. Emma Rose. How about you, the little one? Eli. I'm just joking, sweetheart. James and Harrison. Well, thank you guys for being here. If you'll just stand up here while we read this, okay? We want to recognize you and all the other military children in our community.

» A proclamation recognizing the month of the military child. Whereas in 1986, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger established April as the month of the military child to serve as an opportunity to recognize the contributions and personal sacrifices that military children make in support of the armed forces of the United States of America and their bravery while their parents or parent is serving our nation. And whereas, there are more than 1.6 million military children who face challenges and unique experiences as a result of their parents' service. While military members serve around the world, we often forget the challenges faced by their children. Military children are faced with adapting to new environments, changing communities, and support networks at each new duty station.

» These present a unique challenge for military children. Each year, the DOD joins national, state, and local government, schools, military serving organizations, companies, and private citizens in celebrating military children and their sacrifices. Whereas, the average military student faces transitioning schools every two to four years and will attend six to nine different school systems throughout their lives from kindergarten to 12th grade.

» With approximately 5,500 veterans residing in Kershaw County, this council, Kershaw County School Board, Kershaw County Veterans Affairs Office, Kershaw County School District, the Montessori School of Camden, and the Military Interstate Children's Compact Commission are committed to assisting military children through educational and community transitions and committed to ensure that they are afforded the same opportunities for educational success as other children and they are not delayed in achieving their education, recreational, and social goals.

» And whereas, the month of the military child serves as a reminder that when a parent or parents serve in the military, their children serve to, and whereas Kershaw County Purple Up Day will be Friday, April 21st, 2023, on this day, County Council encourages our entire community to wear purple and pay tribute to military children of Kershaw County and the 1.6 million military children of all ages through their strength and resiliency are the heart and soul of the military family. Now, therefore, Kershaw County Council proclaims this April, the month of the military child in Kershaw County, and encourages all residents to honor the courage and sacrifices of our military children who so faithfully uphold the American spirit and to support these children and their families. Thank you, guys.

» Can you guys come back up here? While they're coming up, I'd like to also invite Ms. Sarah Jane Arnett up here. Ms. Arnett is a military spouse, and she has several... How many children do you have? She has four military children, and she's very active in the community in making sure these children have a good support system, so thank you for your sacrifice. Children, thank you. We know it's hard. Okay, we all wore purple today, tonight for you, and we'll come down there to take a picture. And, Mr. Tucker, I'm sorry to confuse you, so... That's okay. Some members weren't here tonight, so I didn't want to leave out the opportunity for them to be part of the vote. So, as the chair, I'm proclaiming from this council that these are happening. I have no problem with it. Thank you. And, Ms.

» Parler, Mr. Brazl's here. All right, we're up to public comments. I'm going to read the rules for the public comment guidelines. Public comment is an opportunity for members of the public to share information with council. It is not a time for debate or questions and answers from council. It is a time for council to receive input. It is not a time for council response. In short, public comment, during public comment, council will listen and not comment. Number two, offensive and inappropriate comments will not be tolerated. So, what's offensive and inappropriate is going to be up to my ruling, and it's subject to what I think is inappropriate. If you violate these rules or you are inappropriate, you'll be asked to sit down.

» Number three, if a group would like to speak to council, we request that a spokesperson be selected and that that person indicate the group that he or she is with and represent them on the sign-up sheet. Number four, public comment is a time to discuss issues. Number five, public comment period is limited to five minutes maximum allowed per individual speaker. I do not like cutting people off, but I just have to at five minutes. Number six, public comments to council as an agenda item shall continue uninterrupted and be live-streamed by audio and video where available until public comment agenda item is finished or concluded. All right, the first person that signed up is Mary Brandenberger. Subject is history. Tonight, I want to go back a little bit.

» We've kind of beaten the baseball fields to death, but there's a little bit that I want to go over. When all of this came about, a lot of us had no idea this baseball issue was coming up. I believe it was back in November when Mr. Grazel's daughter made a presentation. Prior to that, I believe it was the meeting before that, there was a gentleman that spoke about how bad our baseball fields are. My husband and I used to walk Scott Park to Woodward Park and back every day, or not every day, but once a week or so. And I agree, you know, the baseball fields at Woodward Park are in sad shape, you know, no baseball mound or anything else. It was refreshing to see Mr. Grazel's daughter make her presentation, but when I came in, Mr. Grazel was sitting here with his daughter.

» And, you know, they were going over what she was going to be saying and everything. Everybody else was in council chambers, I guess, whatever you call it. And he and his wife were going over this with their daughter. None of us knew this baseball thing was coming up. I have to believe that she was intended as an introduction to this baseball project. Fast forward to all of the different things that have been said. The last meeting was a disgrace where Mr. Grazel's brother got up, blocked Mr. Hutchinson. Okay, Mary, Mr. Grazel's family or his brother are not on council, so please just address this council and this meeting's issues. Okay, let's just say that connections to members of the council. That's a disgrace, things that have been going on.

» I wholly agree with the, at the last meeting, it was said that the children of the council members are off limits. I wholly agree with that. But when you put your, one of your children up as in front of the public to do a presentation, that kind of, you know, you don't get to throw your kid in front of the bus and then expect the bus to stop. And, you know, yes, let's keep the kids out of it, but from both sides, let's keep the kids out of it. That's all there is to it. Right is right, wrong is wrong, and two wrongs don't make a right. So all of this name-calling that's going around town and everything. Thank you, Mary. The next speaker is Jay Brandenberger. Hi, Jay. I'm doing good. Make sure you move that mic closer to your mouth. You can take it off there if you need to.

» Okay, how's this? That's good. Thank you. This is good? This is my first time up here. Anyway, two weeks ago I wrote everybody here an e-mail, and I did hear back from Katie, and thank you for the note. I'm not so sure, don't know if anybody else got my message, and I'd like to speak briefly about it tonight. I'm in opposition of the proposed upgrade of Woodward Park into a sports complex than the proposed travel baseball. I feel the money would be better spent finishing, upgrading, or refurbishing existing parks and ball fields within Kershaw County. The benefit of refurbishment of these parks exceeds building a new sports complex at Woodward Park in terms of the number of Kershaw County children that would be able to utilize the facilities.

» Only a small number of the privileged Kershaw County children would be able to benefit from the sports complex and travel baseball. In researching travel baseball, I found an article that breaks down some of the travel baseball pros and cons. It would appear that the associated costs of travel baseball might be prohibitive for most of our Kershaw County families. In fact, because travel baseball is expensive, it has often been criticized for a lack of socioeconomic and racial diversity. Travel baseball is not without its share of criticism and controversy.

» In an essay titled Left Out, Major League Baseball Superstar Andrew McCutcheon wrote about how kids like him, who grew up in low-income families, are often excluded from travel baseball, and thus systematically dismanaged when it comes to development and exposure. And I quote, When you're a kid from a low-income family who has talent, how do you get recognized? Now, you have to pay thousands of dollars for a chance to be noticed in a showcase tournament in big cities. My parents loved me, but they had to work hard to put food on the table, and there wasn't much left over. They didn't have the option of skipping a shift to take me to a tournament over the weekend. That's the challenge for families today. It's not about the $100 bat.

» It's not about the $100 a night motel room and the $30 gas money or the $300 tournament fee. If you're a poor kid with raw ability, it's not enough, unquote. McCutcheon was lucky as an AAU coach discovered him at age 13 and covered his travel ball expenses, but for most kids from similar situations, aren't so fortunate. How many Kershaw County kids with raw ability will be passed over for a few Kershaw privileged kids of average ability? I think I'll leave it at that, and I thank you for your time. Thank you, Jay. All right, the next speaker is Matthew Hutchinson. Hey, Matt. Good evening. I want to start off. I like that slick Julian Burns move. Y'all pulled many addendums to the agenda. That was nice to see. The planning and zoning questionnaire that was sent out to everybody countywide.

» I hope everybody in the county listening will go and take part in this questionnaire, but it was quite biased, you could tell. It's definitely rigged, and I hope a lot of people show up to these meetings. I want to finish by speaking about the events of the last meeting. I've had members of the council say they're going to kill me for speaking about people's criminal history. Somebody said they're going to beat me up after hearing lies spread about me. Someone on the council called and asked me to remove Facebook posts and respond with LOL like a teenager when faced with criticism. You can sit on your make-believe throne and speak hypocritically about being nice or doing the right thing. It means nothing.

» Or you can have family and friends attempt to intimidate me in this room, harass me in the parking lot, call the sheriffs, have the extra deputies show up. You'll never scare me. I'm not going to be intimidated by any of you, and I'm not going to stop exposing what y'all are doing. Thank you. Thank you, Matt. All right, the next speaker is Tom Webb III. Hey, Tom. Do they get that way by playing a ball? Played with balls. They want to be heroes because they play with balls. I went to... Tom, speak in the mic so we can pick up your voice. I went to a planning, zoning, and comprehensive plan workshop this afternoon. Well, it was interesting. I didn't like it.

» The comprehensive plan is still good, and I believe I estimated that it was 0.2 million words in here describing all kinds of things about our county and our people. I always like to ask the question, how much is enough? Could you go overboard and know too much? China has a program they call anti-chaos. They want to know everything about everybody. They want to know everything. So when they decide they want to get you, they can find you and do what they want to do. And maybe nobody has that intention here, but it certainly could fall into that sort of a circumstance. The people that were in charge of this workshop running this thing were from somewhere else, not South Carolinians. They did very well what they did, but again, I think it's too much all at once.

» It's a snowstorm, and things should be done little by little, very incrementally, so that the people will have some idea about what's going on instead of just a book plunk down like that and say, this is it. And I would say if they wanted to plan for something, and I will harp on this. I have before, and I will again. This thing about spending lots of money on playing ball games, I'd rather see planning done for survival. And for the children, we've got to play ball for the children. What if they're hungry? What if we have had a war? There are people who look into the news, who have looked into the news for a long time, and they say we're closer, some of them say we're closer to nuclear war right now than back in the 50s and the 60s.

» I remember in the 50s being shown how to hide under a desk from a nuclear bomb. But back then, people took it seriously. There were fallout shelters. There was food in the fallout shelters. We have none of that anymore. People seem to have forgotten. So where do we go? What do we do when things get bad? And it may not be a nuclear war, but another virus or something disrupting the food chain, the transportation. And all of these people moving in, what are they going to eat? What are their little children going to eat? You're going to give them a ball? There have been politicians before who fiddled around. One of them fiddled while Rome burned Nero. I hope you all don't fiddle around too long. We could do something. We could store corn.

» Corn is not all that good, but back in the Depression, there were people who survived on corn. They ate corn three times a day, every kind of way you could think of, from cornmeal mush to grits to cornbread, corn cakes. They got by on it. There were actually people who starved in this country in the Great Depression, in the war between the states. And Ukraine, Ukraine still holds it against Russia because under Stalin, a great many of the Ukrainian farmers who were individualistic, they were sent away from Ukraine, sent east to a place where they couldn't farm, starved out. Millions of them killed. More of them killed under Stalin than people who were killed under Hitler. So, people ate what they could. They ate the wallpaper because it was put on with flour paste.

» And eventually, they ended up eating each other. Watch out. Thank you, Mr. Webb. The next speaker is Jeff Maddox. Hello, everybody. Oh, great. This mic really works pretty good, doesn't it? I went to the little planning meeting today, too. And the first thing I noticed was that Russell, Sammy, Katie, Jimmy, and Brant weren't there. I know Derek and Danny were there. That was the first thing I noticed. There was a lot of empty seats. I think there was either 10 or 13, Derek. I don't exactly know. Something like that there today. And I, too, like Tom, noticed that these are out-of-towners coming in to plan our future. Awful young out-of-towners, I might say. You know, they graduated from these woke universities of central planning and engineering and those kind of things.

» They're going to plan our utopian future. With your little bit of input, of course. And then when you go and you look at the questionnaire that they have online and all, and you look at questionnaires from other places they've done it, and it's basically the same thing. And it leads you to the same conclusions over and over and over again. Yeah, their designs are a little different in every place, but they're actually the same. And this goes back to this Comprehensive Planning Act that I've brought up many times. George H.W. Bush went to Rio and signed onto the Agenda 21 plan long ago. And shortly after that, in 1994, they passed the Comprehensive Planning Act.

» And that began to direct, through Bill Clinton and administrations afterwards, that began to direct the manna from heaven, the strings that are attached from that manna in certain directions. You see it in economic development. You see it in roadways. You see it in all kinds of little things. You all know how government works with their strings and all that. And so the states passed their own Comprehensive Planning Act, requiring us and municipalities and all to plan our future. And we're all planning our futures. And so here come these little industries up to fill that need that was made by the government to begin with.

» And if you look at the sustainable development goals and everything, you start to notice something clear that they're starting to restrict more and more where human activity is and starting to restrict where you can go and land being gobbled up for greenways and bike paths and all these kind of things. And ultimately, it leads to the 15-minute city and social credits and not being able to go to places that you once did. So when we're looking at these central planning operations that we're bringing in from out of town and all, you must think in the bigger picture. Because now you're looking at World Economic Forum, the Council of Forum Relations, and all these influential groups that may not be, shall we say, have the best interest of us, but them.

» That are directing these lines of manna from heaven. And we know what they do. They borrow money out of thin air, and then we pay it in inflation tax. So they're hanging us with the inflation and building bunny hutches for us all. And I was a brat, Katie. And I asked Dad long ago, what did you pray when you were on the flight line and you were sending these little kids to a war in their F-4s? Did you pray that the mission was accomplished and they killed all those brown people and made it back alive? Thank you, God. Thank you, Joe. Right, that concludes public comments. I want to go back to our proclamations. And, Mr. Tucker, this is probably why you brought this up. So there wasn't an opportunity for my colleagues to comment or discuss or say anything.

» So we're going to go back and do that. Okay. So our first proclamation was the Fair Housing Month proclamation. Any discussion, comments? You said Ms. Smith is not here, right? She didn't? No. Okay. Is she? Tammy Smith, are you here now? Okay. Okay. Thank you. That is who initiated it and sent it to us and reminded us. Yes, ma'am. About this month. Okay. The second month was proclamation recognizing the month of the military child. Any council members want to say anything or any discussion on that? Yes, sir, Mr. Tucker. Madam Chair, if you may, please. I just want to thank the spouses who are the ones that stay behind, that don't go to the call of duty.

» Because what we sometimes fail to realize is that that spouse is sometimes the glue of the fabric that holds the household together while you're going on your deployments. And your duties, which are very important to this country, but they're keeping your life and your children and family and friends together in your absence. And coming off of old military and being gone where you could not be reached on nuclear power submarines or you happen to be in special duty or special forces, I duly understand how challenging that can be back home. So I want to say kudos to those parents and to the ones that do their job, too, for the military. But thank you for what you do for our community. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. Mr. Brassel? Yeah, I'd be happy to speak.

» I just don't want to speak out of turn. I, too, want to thank, obviously, all of our military and all of America. My grandfather served in World War II, and my father served in Thailand during Vietnam. And I couldn't imagine the things that the children give up moving from town to town, military base to military base. And certainly appreciate all the sacrifices that everyone gives up to keep this country sovereign. Thank you. Thank you. Anything else while we're on it? Echo the thanks. I mean, thank you. Everyone has said it. Thank you, guys. It was nice to see your star. Yeah. Little Eli. Mr. Eli. Thank you, buddy. Just to echo the good words, it most of the time is very, very tough on military spouses and children.

» And y'all are the ones who really lead the charge in keeping our soldiers, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guards safe. So thank you so much for all you do, families and children. And your family went through that, too? Yes. For a short period. Luckily, I got out prior to having children, but I was married, so my wife had to deal with it a few years. And much I can say. They've said it all. But I want to thank the ones that come out tonight. And thank you for all you do for your veterans, but mainly for the spouses and the children that have to go through the hardships and deployments and weekends away and summer camps and all the stuff that they do. We really appreciate y'all's service and y'all's time. Thank you. Thank you, gentlemen. All right, we'll get back to the agenda.

» Number seven, approval of minutes. Madam Chair, I'd like to make a motion that we approve Tuesdays, March 28th, 2023, regular meeting minutes. I'll second the motion. Okay, Mr. Tucker makes the motion. March 28th, 2023, regular meeting. Any discussion on those minutes? All right, all those in favor of approving the Tuesday, March 28th, regular meeting scheduled, regularly scheduled meeting minutes indicate by raising your hand. And it's unanimous. Okay, the next meeting minutes we have in our agenda packet is Thursday, April 6th. This was a special called meeting. Madam Chair, I'd like to make a motion that we approve Thursday, April 6th, 2023, special call meeting minutes. All right, is there a second? I'll second. Okay, Mr. Tucker makes the motion. Mr. Schumake seconds.

» Any discussion on these minutes? Ms. Parler, I will not be voting because I was not present for this special meeting. All those in favor of approving the minutes indicate by raising your hand. And Mr. Cato, Mr. Tomlinson, Mr. Schumake, Mr. Tucker, Mr. Brazel. And those minutes are approved. All right, moving on to item number eight. First reading of an ordinance. An ordinance authorizing the execution and delivery of an amendment to a fee agreement by and between Kershaw County, South Carolina, and Canfor Southern Pine Incorporated as sponsor and New South Lumber Company Incorporated and New South Camden Properties LLC as sponsor affiliates to provide an extension of the investment period and other matters related thereto.

» Is there a motion for this first reading of the ordinance? I'll make that motion, Madam Chair. Okay, and a second? I'll second. Okay, Mr. Brazel seconds. Any discussion? And this is where I'll have Mr. Bridges come back up. Well, yeah, I'd like to just make a couple of quick points. I don't know if everybody realized how big of an impact that CAM4 makes in our community. From everybody in the woods cutting timber to the truck drivers hauling the logs to the employees at the mill, this is a superpower. A large Southern Pine Sawmill is no joke. It is a huge investment. It's great to see them doing well and expanding, but the ripple effect for our local economy is tremendous. So I'm glad to see that they're expanding and doing well, and it keeps a lot of tree farmers in business.

» The list goes on and on and on. It's a tremendous agricultural win to have any kind of investment like this come to Kershaw County. So I'm happy to support this tonight. Thank you, Mr. Brazel. Mr. Tucker. Madam Chair, thank you. I just want to say, and Jeff, correct me, is the plant still open in Conway? They do have one still in Myrtle Beach. Okay. So let me say kudos to leadership, management, and teamwork, because I've been here long enough when it was called New South, when they probably had like 10 employees out there, and they were probably still going with the saw back and forth in their hands. I was still in grade school. Okay.

» They have come a long ways, and we here, the citizens of Kershaw County, and the council members here appreciate their investment here in Kershaw, South Carolina, where they continue to grow, and I ditto every word that Mr. Brazel said about the ripple effect. So I'm not going to dig into the ordinance too much tonight, because I've got two more shots at it, but I fully support this tonight. Thank you. Mr. Burgess. Yes, ma'am. I just want to make sure I get the meat and potatoes of it. So the fee agreement will extend for another five and a half years? Correct. Okay. And they're adding additional $10 million in projects in Kershaw County? Correct. Okay. $10 million in equipment. Okay. And their initial investment period expires in December.

» Did they meet their initial investment yet? Their investment period expires May 31st, 2023. The new one will extend out to that December deadline. Oh, okay. Okay. They originally committed the $35 million. They've expended over $70 million at this point in time. So this will be in addition, another $10 million in addition to that. Okay. As it was stated, they're growing very well. Supersede it. Yep, that's awesome. Madam Chair, just one point. Yes, go ahead. Because this is an ordinance, just for clarity of the record, we added it to the agenda because we needed to get the three readings done in time. But obviously, we'll have multiple meetings where this will be on the agenda. So it's not as if it's a done deal tonight. There'll be other meetings. Correct. So they expire the end of May.

» After this meeting, we have April and then two in May. Yep. And we have to do a public hearing. So this gives us enough time to get this done by their deadline. And when will our public hearing be set? Is the date already set for that? May 9th. May 9th. Okay. It's the meeting in May. Or second Tuesday. Mr. Burgess, do you have anything to add or anything we missed? Just excited to see them continue to grow where they're at. So I appreciate y'all's time in putting this on the agenda. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, members of the council. Thank you. All right. Any other comments, questions? Mr. Burgess, don't go far. All right.

» Council, all those in favor of the first reading of this ordinance, an ordinance authorizing the execution and delivery of an amendment to the fee agreement between Kershaw County, Camphor Southern Pine, New Southern Lumber, and New South Camden properties indicate by raising your hand. And the vote is unanimous. Passes first reading. Next, we'll move on to a resolution. Resolution authorizing the assignment and assumption of fee in lieu of ad-for-limb taxes agreements by and between Kershaw County, South Carolina, and INV Performance Surfaces, LLC. Is there a motion pertaining to this resolution? Madam Chair, I would move that we accept this resolution. Okay. Mr. Shoemake makes a motion that we accept it. I'll second. And Mr. Comilent's in seconds. Sorry to clap. All right.

» Any discussion? Madam Chair, and I hate to be, like, repetitive, but can Mr. Burgess come up and just give a quick synopsis? Yes, absolutely. Because two of us missed this. Yes. Myself and Councilman Brazel. Well, you also missed that I tried to pronounce I-N-V like it was a word. Oh, I missed that? Do it again. It was very hard. Again, this is mainly, I would call it a paperwork matter. And VISTA has reorganized internally. The purpose of this resolution is to allow them to place the fee lows that are currently in place under the new internal structure. So they've been renamed internally. They have a deadline. I hadn't forgotten, as John pointed out. That is, I believe, tomorrow is their deadline to get this in place as far as they're set up and restructuring.

» Not cutting it close at all, are we? Not at all. No company ever does. Right, right. And to be clear, this is effectively, as you pointed out, logistical. This is just taking something the county has already approved and moving it from one to the other. So nothing new is being created here. No, sir, you're correct. This does not really impact the fee low on what they're putting into it as far as their payments or anything. It's just reorganization of it. Okay, any other questions? Well, I can certainly be thankful for their commitment to the community for how many years now? Since the 50s. Yeah, my grandfather worked at DuPont and retired in early to mid-'80s. And you talk about another ripple effect for a community. Man, it has been a keystone for the community and for Lugolf and Camden.

» What it's meant to a lot of families is it's really unbelievable. I don't think I have enough words to express gratitude to a company that big coming to a small-town community, in which people were driving from Kershaw to a work at DuPont when it was, what, 5,000 people, I think, at one point. But I'm certainly happy to support this tonight. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons I wanted to join council was to support these sort of opportunities. And it means the world to me to look back and think about how an industry coming to our county gave my grandfather a sense of ability to work and an opportunity that he wouldn't have had just 5 or 10 years prior and what that's done for so many others. So thank you for the work that you do. Thank you for supporting the industry that's here.

» That's as important, if not more important, than looking for new industry. There are a lot of hard-working small businesses here in Kershaw County that deserve and need that support as well. So thank you very much. Thank you. Yes, sir. Mr. Bridges. Mr. Tucker. I'm sorry. I thought there was a dog in here. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm sorry. That just got me off track. Mr. Bridges, what is their fee-in-lieu agreement? How long is it? When does it expire? They actually have three in place right now. Okay. So you've got, I believe, one is rolling off probably in two years, and then the rest are about 10 years down the road, rolling off. Okay. All right.

» Okay, so, counsel, this vote is going to be just to adopt or approve this resolution, moving their current fee-in-lieu ordinance to their new entity. Right. All those in favor of the resolution authorizing the assignment and assumption of fee-in-lieu of ad-for-them taxes agreements by Kershaw County, and INV performance services indicate by raising your hand. And the vote is unanimous. Thank you, Mr. Burgess. Thank you, Madam Chair. And Mr. DuBose and Mr. Burgess, Mr. Templer, I'll sign that tonight so that you can take it with you. All right. Item number 10, new business. First order of new business that we need to discuss and vote on is the FY24 budget and millage reading schedule.

» Did you all get a copy of it in your agenda packet? It wasn't in the agenda packets, but it's on the screen. Okay. All right. Is there a motion to approve this schedule for the FY24 budget? Madam Chair, I make a motion that we approve the reading schedule for our physical year budget 23-24. All right. And is there a second? I would second that. Okay. Mr. Tucker makes the motion. Mr. Shumake seconds. Any discussion on this? Madam Chair, if I may. Yes. Just wanted to probably say why are you guys actually taking a vote on reading your, doing your budget? It's because our rules are stated in our governing rules for the council.

» So with that said, it'll be out there before the public and you will be well aware on these dates unless we have some hiccup or unforeseen reason why these dates have to be moved. But other than that, these will be the dates that set. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. And one thing, I think there's a chance, and we'll, obviously, we'll send a public notice out, but Grant will need to talk because we may have to move the meetings this week. Yes, sir. Is that right? Yes, sir. And I was going to kind of hit on that during my council briefing. That's fine. But now is a good time if you want to as well. Yeah, we can talk the dates later, obviously we'll give notice to the public. For those who are in attendance today, we'll send out news.

» Will it change this schedule? No, it'll change that schedule. I'm just letting folks know who may be interested, because there's a meeting scheduled tomorrow that probably won't happen. Right. And I just want to let people know, because I know how much people love to attend budget meetings in the middle of the day. I was totally drunk, and I don't drink when we went over those dates. Okay. He's joking. Yes. This is my turn, y'all. I don't think the crowd picked up on the joke, sir. This is why our finance committee meetings last longer than two hours as well. But I would just like to thank staff. This has been a very big learning experience, being on the finance committee.

» Staff has worked tirelessly to put together multiple budgets, having requests, and has done every single one of our asks. It has been quite a learning experience, and I'm happy for the opportunity. But thank you all to staff for your hard work that's been going on for months in preparation for this. Thank you. And I'll just add that this year, we totally, I guess, made it go faster for Mr. Templer and his team. And instead of waiting until June, we said, oh, we're going to read it in April. So they had to work continuously and harder. So thank you to the finance team for putting this together. I'm happy to support it. I'm so glad that we're taking a month in between each reading.

» I think that gives everybody a time to talk to their constituents and really read the budget and come prepared for the next reading. Also appreciate not doing it the last meeting in June, where we're down to the wire and the budget starts in a couple days. So thank you very much. You're quite welcome. Fantastic team. I love the guys that this body put together the work with. Thank you. All right. With that, all those in favor of adopting the fiscal year 2023-2024 billage and millage ordinance schedule indicate by raising your hand. And it's unanimous. All right. This is the schedule. Moving forward. All right. The next item under new business is recreation commissioner appointments. We have two vacancies. We're going to start with district three.

» Is there a recommendation for a commissioner at this time? Yes, Madam Chair. I would like to recommend Ms. Andrea Larrymore for the Recreation Commission. Ms. Larrymore is a new and old friend. I've known her since for 20-plus years, but we've sort of recently reconnected. Her mother was like a second mom to me when I was a young Marine in Beaufort, South Carolina. And she is relatively new to Kershaw County, but she's not new to – she's relatively come back to Kershaw County, but she has strong ties in the Midlands area. She teaches in the Richland School District, and she lives in Elgin, and she lives in a part of Elgin that's growing. And so what Ms. Larrymore brings to the Rec Commission is, one, a voice from Elgin, which it's been lacking for some time, a voice from the Elgin area.

» But also, she's very representative of what we're seeing in Westwater Rea, and specifically Elgin, which is a lot of people moving into this area, making Kershaw County their home. It's absolutely important to have voices on the Rec Commission that have been here that know about the process of things. But it's also important to have voices from the community that are new that want these things here. So, as everyone is clearly aware, recreation has become a bit of a hot item on these issues. And regardless of where people come down, I think it's critical that everyone in the community is represented on that commission. And I think Ms. Larrymore will do that, and I'm just extremely honored to recommend her for that position. Thank you, Mr. Shoemake. Is there a second? Second. Okay, Mr.

» Tucker. And now we're in discussion, but – Sorry. – anybody else? I've got my previous statements. Ms. Larrymore. Can you come up, please? Madam Chair? Yes, Mr. Tucker. I'm sorry. As you're calling, she's coming up. I just had one question from a colleague, Mr. Shoemake, as he read off her connections and her contacts and love for the community in Kershaw County. Did you not give her an application for our school district to get her out of that other county? I have told her repeatedly that she needs to come over to Kershaw County. Well, actually, I'm supposed to be at the board meeting right now in Richland School District 1. I'm currently at the district level. And so currently, I'm a social and emotional instructional coach. And this is Autism Awareness Month.

» And we're recognizing – that's why I have on my shirt. We're recognizing Autism Awareness. So I'm not going to say I won't consider, but I definitely believe in educating in the community of where my child will be educated. That means a lot. Do you want to introduce your family this year with you? Sure. With me, if you would come up. They came in so quiet. I have my husband and my son. My husband is Ivan Larrymore. My son, Yvonne Larrymore II. My husband is a business owner here in this area as well. My son is – currently, he will be starting pre-K soon. And we're just excited to be a part of this great community. And we've been watching and seeing how Kershaw County has really been growing. And I'm just excited about the opportunity that our family can play in impacting this community.

» Well, I'm definitely glad you're here. How old is your son? He is four. Okay. Yes. Okay. So that little guy, he's about to turn four. And my husband's name is Ivan also. Oh, wow. Wow. Ms. Larrymore, thank you. I've noticed on your application, your only choice was Recreation Advisory Committee. So thank you for your willingness. Y'all just moved here. And then you're like, hey, I want to serve the public. So thank you. It's much needed. Thank you for what you do. Thank you. Welcome. Welcome. Thank you. All right. And I'll call for the vote. All those in favor of Ms. Andrea Larrymore on the Rec Commission as District 3's appointee. Indicate by raising your hand. And it's unanimous. Congratulations, Ms. Larrymore. And thank you again for your willingness to serve. Okay.

» We'll move to District 6. Is there a appointee nomination for District 6? Madam Chair, I would like to nominate Mr. Jason Bentner. Mr. Bentner is from the Cassett area. He's a graduate of Camden High School. He has a degree in engineering. Mr. Bentner previously served on the airport commission for Kershaw County. So he's familiar with serving on one of these commissions. He grew up here. He's played rec sports. His children play rec sports. And he has some children that's also enrolled at North Central High School. And they're very active in the sports program there. He's a senior construction manager for his division where he has worked for 25 years. So he has a lot of knowledge in construction and has actually built different complexes and then also built firehouses and EMS stations.

» And so I believe he could provide a lot of intel and representing District 6. He was unable to be here tonight. I would hope maybe in the future I could introduce him in one of the council and during the council briefings. But that's my recommendation. Recommendation for Mr. Jason Bentner. Is there a second? Second. Okay, Mr. Brazel seconds. Any other discussion or questions? Yes, I would love to meet him. And that doesn't have to be at a council meeting. But in your agenda packet is some information on him and his phone number if anybody wants to reach out to him as well. All right. All those in favor of accepting the nomination for Mr. Jason Bentner to represent District 6 on the advisory committee, indicate by raising your hand. And it's unanimous. Congratulations, Mr. Jason Bentner.

» All right. We have two new commissioners on the rec advisory committee. Madam Chair, and when we do Ms. Larry Moore's name again, give her her husband. I'm a little biased to that. Instead of MS, MRS. Where are we? Oh, on the slide. Okay. Thank you. All right. Back to the agenda. We're up to number 11, council briefings. And Mr. Cato, we're going to start with you. I started putting this on here just to make sure I start at the right place. Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to start tonight by saying that I had the opportunity to attend the planning meeting, planning and zoning meeting this afternoon. I thought it went real well. It was a good start, a lot of input from a lot of different people.

» I believe we had 27 different ideas from different people, and it ranged anywhere from infrastructure to seeing how we could maybe rezone some of the housing developments and even went to recreation, possible wastewater. There's so many different ideas, trying to be more user-friendly and trying to get out to the public, some of the regulations that we have and some of the new regulations that will be put into place. So there's a lot of good ideas. Yes, these people do look young, but as I get older, I find out that most people do look younger than myself. But they are very educated people. They do this throughout the country, and I look forward to working with them. I encourage you to go on the website and look at the survey for the planning and zoning. Fill out the survey.

» Give your input as citizens. Give your input. That's how they know what we would want or what kind of vision we have for Kershaw County. And that's something that we can go on and we can go by. So I encourage you to do that. Lastly, I just want to pay tribute to a very special lady. I didn't get to attend her funeral this evening, but I grew up in Bethune, and Ms. Barbara Huckabee had passed away this week. Ms. Barbara Huckabee served Kershaw County for 40 years as a librarian in the Kershaw County Library in Bethune. She was a great lady. She has a great family. Her husband, Paul, and most of y'all will know some of her children. They are great people, and she was a great person. And she contributed a large amount of her life to serving the people of Kershaw County.

» And I just want to say she will be deeply missed, and we will be praying for her family in the future. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Kato. Mr. Brazel. Thank you for letting me speak just after that. That's actually, I was at the funeral today, and a dear, dear friend of ours, Kip and Jill Wolf. Jill is one of the four daughters, and I just want to briefly mention the daughters and the son, Paul, which Paul goes by Poppy. But it's Kim, Lisa, and Jill, and Poppy are the children. And her grandson, Mason, was Casey and mine's ring bearer in our wedding. So, and I know Mr. Jones is very close as well with Jill and Kip. And I just want them to know that we're thinking about them, we're praying about them. And it was actually a very touching moment when I saw Mr.

» Paul reach down and kiss his bride. And I'm going to tell you what, it was a real healthy reminder for me as to how precious life is and how precious relationships are and how precious grace and forgiveness is. Because we've all made mistakes, we've all done and said things that we regret, and I want everybody to know that Jesus Christ forgave us so that we can forgive others. And I want to express that forgiveness in my heart to everybody, everybody that can hear me. And we need more, we need more Jesus Christ, and we need less Republicans and Democrats in this world. So, with that, I do want to touch on that and give them much honor and respect.

» And to completely change gears, I brought this sports coat at a convention in Nashville with all intentions to wear it to the first meeting during the opening day of turkey season, which starts in late March. But after much thought, I thought I brought enough attention upon myself lately. So, today I wear this sports coat in camouflage, which is not my regular dress, to say that I support the sportsman community in Kershaw County. We've got an issue with our boat ramp, and we've talked about it, and we've talked about it, and we've talked about it, and we've talked about it, and we've talked about it, and now it's time to fix it. It's become a safety concern that US1, there's one ramp in and one ramp out.

» With as many people as we have moving to Kershaw County, and as many boaters as we have that love to use that river, we've got to do something. And I'll say to my fellow council members, if we can't fix it on that piece of dirt, let's build a new ramp in the park. But we've got to have access to the river. You talk about economic development, you talk about community, there is a tremendous community in Kershaw County. Contrary to popular belief, I don't even play baseball. I just want to see our kids supported in this community. I'll tell you what I like to do, I like to go turkey hunting, I like to shoot ducks, and I like to hunt deer. That's what I grew up doing in Kershaw County. That's what Kershaw County means to me.

» We've got a tremendous natural resource in our lakes and our rivers, and we've got to improve the structures that support the ability to access Lake Watery and the Watery River especially. So that's why I'm wearing this sports coat, and I want to make sure that we're getting something done in this budget cycle. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Brazel. Mr. Tucker. Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to say thanks first to my two colleagues up here, Mr. Shoemate and Mr. Tomlinson, for putting up with me. I know we're not there yet, and I'll give you your due praise and credit when we get there. But I apologize tremendously for yesterday, for the schedule conflict and mix-up, and also to Ms. Lauren Reeder. But we will get this straight.

» I'm having to work tomorrow as well and Thursday, so if it's no objection from any of you up here, I would like to schedule those meetings to maybe Monday. And I think mornings work better than afternoon because they've got something else in the afternoon. So can you check your calendars and let us know? Just Monday? Just Monday, yeah, because we've got council meeting Tuesday. So we've got to tidy everything up Monday so they can prepare to have it ready for Monday. Monday works with me. Monday works with me. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. If that's okay, Ms. Lauren, we'll take the Monday at 9 and prepare, I guess, maybe a couple hours we should be done, if not before then, because I think y'all did some great work yesterday. And we'll definitely be in contact.

» Madam Chair, if y'all don't have any objections to that, that's what we like to do on the schedule for the Finance Committee. That's great. Thank you. Okay, you're welcome. And then I want to say I've got some concerns. We had a public meeting for the Black River Road Corridor, a latter part of last month. I believe it was like the 28th. Not sure on the turnout because, once again, I wasn't available. So as Mr. Jeff likes to graciously point out, I'm not of retirement age. And I look at that mailman, go to my box every day, but he don't leave me a check. So I've got to go to work. And that's where I was at today. I would have loved to have been to the planning and zoning, but I have a boss that I have to report to that does pay my bills. So that kind of trumps things sometimes.

» I say that because I need you to go online to SCDOT, and it should read – that's what I was looking for. It should read – Mr. Tucker, what is it? Black River? Yeah, Black River Road Improvements, SC12. Black River Road Improvements. Once you go underneath SCDOT and leave your comments and concerns, I don't think enough people are paying attention, especially the ones that's living down Black River Road. These are safety measures because where those housing developments, Ease Garden, Southern Oaks – I'm leaving out a few – along that corridor from the time you pass the animal shelter until you get to the industrial part, there's a lot of houses up there. I was born in – not born, but raised down Black River Road further down D.C., deep country, near the Sumpton County line.

» I watched that road just get more busier and busier with traffic. You sometimes can't get out of those subdivisions, or they may have accidents there with the cars coming out of the industrial part and people trying to get in the neighborhoods. All they want to do is widen the road, widen the road for traffic safeties, to put in bike lanes and sidewalks. That's what they want to do. And I think we're having a little bit of pushback from some of the citizens, and I don't want the minority of the people who are against a project outweigh the majority of the people who want to do a project of this nature. We're talking about $12 million of cost that could escalate, if we're not careful, into maybe $15 million to $18 million if we delay this project moving forward.

» You say, well, Cershaw County ain't got $12 million. We don't. We're trying to do a budget. We ain't got $12. But this is federal money coming out from the federal highways. Now, if we don't support this project, the money goes back into what we call the TIP, and then Sumter County, Lee County, or Clarington County will have the money. That just doesn't make sense to me. And then when we finally decide as a community, as a county, we want to support this project, we're going to have to raise your taxes to do it. And we can't even raise it that high to do a $12 million project. So it's very important for people who are tuned in. And I'm looking at Ms. Martha Robinson out there, who also lives down Black River Road, and she can speak for that because she's also retired from DuPont.

» She's traveled that road a lot of days. It is a traffic hazard and dangerous to our citizens in particular times of the day. And I also see people walking on that road. That's no light on that road. It is extremely dark. And they're walking to cut back through to go to Central Carolina because, once again, you've got those neighborhoods there. And this would give a path to go back there where they can cycle or where they can walk young people who are trying to get educated so they can get good living jobs. So feel free to contact me if you have any more questions or concerns. But go online to scdot.com and look underneath SC-12 Black River Road improvements and leave your comments or your concerns on this project. That concludes my report, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. Mr.

» Schumacher. Yeah, a couple things. So, first, I wanted to mention something that happened today. Myself, Councilman Tucker, Councilman Cato, and Councilman Tomlinson were able to tour the courthouse across the street. As Councilman Tucker noted, we're in the process now of trying to figure out what projects we're going to be able to fund. And one of them that's fairly high on the list is some courthouse improvements. So we went through there. Janet Hastie took us through. It was really interesting. You know, particularly, I've been fortunate enough that I'm in my first and hopefully only marriage. I haven't had to go to the family court much. But it's pretty dismal down there. And you go down this kind of stairway. They actually jokingly at the courthouse call it the dungeon.

» And then you walk down there and you see exactly why. And we went into the men's room because Janet told us the men's room is in pretty disrepair. And it was, I mean, I would say, Danny, you'd agree. That looks like something out of the detention center itself, just the men's room for the family court. Yeah, so it definitely needs some work. So it's definitely something we hope we can address this budget cycle. I appreciate Janet taking us through there and Judge Rankin for putting us on our radar as well. So it was a good tour. I also wanted to mention a couple other quick things. A few weeks ago now, because we've had kind of an odd meeting schedule, Madam Chairwoman put together a town hall in Elgin.

» It was to discuss recreation, but what it ended up becoming is a much more fulsome town hall about a number of issues. And it was really, really productive. People from outside of Elgin attended, which was wonderful. But to hear also from the people from the Elgin area, from District 3, and some of their concerns was really helpful, to the point that, again, it was a wonderful idea, and it's like most good ideas. I'm going to steal it and start doing a quarterly, which, of course, all my council members are invited to. But I'm going to start just doing a quarterly town hall. I talked to Mayor Emmons. It was such a success to do a quarterly town hall so that the folks there in District 3 can talk to us about whatever issues they have to come up. So it was really, really good.

» I think people appreciate it. And kind of in line with that, going to the zoning thing with Councilman Cato today, you know, hearing a lot of issues that we heard in the town hall and in that about the sort of rapid pace of residential growth, particularly in West Waterloo. And that's something that I know I'm very interested in tackling beginning now, but particularly when the budget season is over. Some of it's more long-range, but there's some things we can do now, I think. And so I'll obviously be talking to my fellow council members about that. But that zoning was really helpful. One of the issues that came up in the zoning that I had not really thought about, but Ms.

» Fiona Martin brought up, is that one of the issues that we have sometimes in this county is letting people know what's going on because we've got – we're in the – for those of you not familiar with, like, the political term, we're in the – the media market we're in is the Columbia market. So the TV stations and the news on TV is publishing most of what happens in Columbia. So we're very reliant here on local publications. So I wanted to give just a brief shout-out to Kate Goff and Martin Kahn, who represent our two local papers really here in the county, that our ability to get word out is really limited to social media and those two publications. Occasionally, if something happens, and usually it's something that, you know, is bad, we don't really get to get on the local news.

» So I wanted to thank them for being here because without you guys, it makes it very difficult for us to get our word out. So that was something that was said there, and we'll continue to work on that, but I appreciate that. The last two things – we have spelled Andrea's name, by the way, on our slide. It's A-U. So I just want to take it away. But we'll make sure to get it right if she's listening. But I'm excited about the rec commission. I think it's very cool that, you know, one of the things Councilman Cato and I have talked about is our districts couldn't be more different in terms of the way they look. You've got a very rural area that's very large versus my district, which is small, highly populated, and growing.

» But we have so much in common in that we're the sort of bookends of this county. You know, we're both areas that aren't – that are sort of outside of that Camden-Lew Golf Center. And so I'm really happy for both of us that we got to see people appointed to that rec commission today that are representing our areas. So I thank him for that. And the very last thing I want to say is I want to thank Chairwoman Gwynn and Councilman Jones. You know, we have big debates up here about various things, and sometimes the big things are tough, and it's hard to get agreement. But one of the things everybody here I know is adamant about is constituent service. I have a constituent. I won't go into details because it's still working its way through the system.

» But I have a person in District 3 that had an issue well before I was elected. Chairwoman Gwynn jumped on it. Councilman Jones assisted. They've sort of looped me in on it. We met with him this morning. Hopefully it will be productive. But I just wanted to give a shout-out because it's that sort of work that sometimes the public stuff we see can look like it's contentious. But I have yet to see a situation where one of our respective constituents doesn't need something. Every single person – Chairwoman Gwynn sent a photo about a trash issue, and everybody's responding and addressing it. So I want you all to know that we care very much about that. And I just want to personally say thank you for your help in that. So that's all that I have today. Thank you. Thank you.

» And thank you for bringing that up. I agree. All right. I want to give a commission update. So now that we have Ms. Hannah Parler on board, she's – Madam Chair, are you going to skip? Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry. It was good. I was going to be gracefully wordsmithing like the rest of my fellow council members and keep you here for about 10 additional minutes. I would like to highlight the fact that – and I know Mr. Jones will be watching this meeting later, but this is one of the fastest meetings we've had to date. And I don't know if it was in his absence or the fact that my colleagues just talked for about 40 minutes, so we could have been out of here a little earlier. That's a common denominator, it looks like. But I would like to highlight and echo the appreciation of staff.

» They have been working tirelessly. I know that an earlier night tonight will be a blessing for them to get home with their families. Ms. Reeder mentioned earlier that when we have council meetings and they go late, she doesn't get to see her daughter, Wheezy, before the next day and she goes to kindergarten or not kindergarten to daycare. And her daycare workers say that we can tell those days because she doesn't get to see her mom the day before and she's very emotional. So thank you again to staff. I'd like to mention just some of the things that my constituents have called this week just to kind of look about road paving has been one. And, man, that is a hill to climb. You've got state roads, county roads, local roads.

» And so I have passed it along to staff, and we're trying to get all that handled and get some roads paved. Animal shelter and issues with taking in animals has been another thing that has came up. My radar planning and zoning has been one more. And then lastly, you know, recreation, obviously, the proposal, the new complex and everything. And we are, you know, the finance committee has been working hard. We're actually looking forward to giving our, you know, kind of a briefing on what we're finding. It's a very eye-opening experience when you really get down to the nitty-gritty and the nuts and bolts of what a budget is. So I will be brief from here. I think I cut mine to, what, two and a half minutes? Good. All right, Madam Chair, it's all on you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Tomlinson.

» I'm so sorry about that. Okay. Commissions update. So now that Ms. Parler is in place, our new clerk, she's amazing. Thank you. This is her first meeting, and thank you. Very well prepared up here. We are still going through all the commissions and appointments in the county. This was a start to get the rec commission updated and fill those vacancies, and we have everyone's applications that have applied since then, and we're going to continue to update it. So just be patient. If you want to be on a board or commission, please go to kershaw.sc.gov and fill out an application. We'll get it. I will read it at the next meeting, and you'll be in consideration for the board. Last week, Mr. Templer and I, we got to attend the Rx and Illicit Drug Summit, and it was very eye-opening.

» Some of the legislation, some of the advocacy, some of the new drugs out there, some of the law enforcement issues that other states are seeing, and every state was represented. So it was really, I don't want to say neat because that kind of sounds, it's not neat to learn about this drug problem, but it was helpful. So moving forward, Mr. Tucker and I serve on the Opioid Coalition here in Kershaw County, and we're working on a plan right now how we are going to use the Opioid Settlement Fund to combat that crisis here in Kershaw County, and it is a crisis. And it's not a crisis that is living on the street homeless and asking for drug money. Okay, this is, it does not discriminate whatsoever.

» You can get hooked on these drugs immediately just by going in for a simple procedure, and it is ripping up families in Kershaw County. So the coalition is working diligently on a plan, and our role up here is advocacy. So Mr. Templer and I got to go to those classes, and it was very helpful. I want to address the comprehensive plan. Mr. Templer, the company that does the comp plan, when it's finished and they give it to council, we don't have to approve it, correct? Well, so yes and no. Okay. We are mandated to have a comp plan by state law. So what they're doing is giving us kind of the shaping mechanism. Okay. That's going to look at certain things we're going to have to have. Other things will be optional. Okay.

» So they'll guide us through the process, but this council up here will have the final say on the approval of that comp plan. And I want the public to know that. I just want to drive home that they are from out of town, and I don't know their age, but they are assisting us. And I'm thankful that they're assisting us. I have never written a comp plan, so I do value their input. But us sitting in these seats representing you have the final say, and we can take stuff out or put stuff in as needed. You just have to let us know what you want in it and what you want your county to look like and where you want your county to go. So don't lose sight of that. Don't get wrapped up in who shows up to take these questionnaires or who's asking the questions. Mr.

» Tomlinson, thank you for bringing up your constituent calls. So I have got some calls on recreation and specifically the draft mechanism that we use to put children on teams for recreation sports. I've talked to the administrator about this, and he's going to bring this council some other ideas. He's going to talk to other counties, see how other counties do it, and how they place children on different teams for recreation. So just know that we're working on that. We've asked for some other ideas. If you have a good idea or if you have an idea at all that you want to submit to us on how to organize the teams, how to do a skills assessment, how to put different groups together to form team, please call me and let me know. So more updates on that.

» Okay, this weekend is the Camden Burials starting on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, through the 22nd, so that's Saturday. Please get involved. There's stuff going on every single day, and please go to that. There will be 15,000 to 20,000 people in our county this weekend, okay, so also be careful. And get involved in that as much as possible. It's really neat. It's very cool. Mr. Templer has been working with the Army to make this happen, so thank you. Thank you to staff. Ms. Reeder's on the committee that has organized this, so I bet she's exhausted. But it's all coming together, so as many people as we can get there as possible, please get involved. Public presentations. So I was asked about public presentations. If you have a presentation that you want to give this council, contact Ms.

» Parler. She will get you to fill out a form. Our rules say that you have to submit a written request. She will get with me or another council member, and it can go on the agenda once a council member puts it on there. So that's the process. Contact her. Let her know what you want to talk about, your contact information. One of us will contact you, talk to you more about it, and we can schedule a time for it to be presented to this council. All right, this Friday is Wear Purple Day. We wore purple tonight for the military kids, but this Friday all the schools and the community will be wearing purple. And that's to acknowledge all our military kids in Kershaw County. Mr.

» Templer, the boat ramp study, is it complete yet? They should be presenting on that, I think, within the next couple meetings. Okay. Mr. Templer, I was given a gentleman's number to reach out to that was supposed to be working on that. Shane gave it to me. I reached out to the gentleman with no return phone call. We got to get something going with this situation. This has been a year and a half. And I don't know what it's going to take to light a fire to get this moving. I've been hearing it's coming, it's coming, it's coming for three or four months. It hadn't gotten here yet. It's the little train it couldn't. We need to get it going. So whatever we need to do to light a fire, let's get it lit. Thank you, sir. And Mr. Braz, I'll get the contact information.

» Just call them myself and ask them, when's your expected date? Because we're waiting on your study to move forward. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. And wanted to give a shout out to Mr. Jones. Mara and Jimmy are at their sons. One of his last concerts, he's a senior at Winthrop. And he's playing tonight. So they went to that. So I don't know if that's why the meeting was shorter. But we do miss him. Just saying. Okay. That's all I have. Going to Mr. Templer. Just one thing on the comp plan and ZLDR rewrite. I don't know why this rhetoric is coming out about somebody from out of town to do this. But if you want to participate, participate. That's, anyway. We have a QR code out here. So be involved in your community.

» If you want to shape what this community looks like, Kershaw County is not that developed when it comes to other counties. It's a blank slate. We get to choose what we do in this county. So if you want to have participation in this, if you want your voice to be heard, get on our website. Look at this QR code. We're going to have it pushed out everywhere we can. These people are here to help us. They offer a product. They're not telling us what our community is going to look like. They're helping facilitate what we want our community to look like. So that rhetoric is not productive. It's disappointing for me to hear that. So there will be community engagements throughout the summer.

» So I encourage all citizens and business owners, there are going to be some community visioning, business workshops. So this, to me, is going to be a very comprehensive process. But it's going to allow us to shape what we want in our community, what we do not want in our community. So, but it's going to take people participating. Without participation, this will just, it will go on, and we will have what I think will be yet another old comp plan ZLDR without citizen input. Just being on my soapbox, but it is what it is. So get out there and participate and shape your community. That's all I have. Thank you, Mr. Templer. And I echo that. Sometimes I think people in the past, citizens in the past, have not been heard or they have not had their suggestions or input put into a plan.

» This is different. And you have my word that you will be listened to at these meetings. And there's going to be several more, correct? It wasn't just today. Right, so this week, tomorrow they're engaging with staff, department heads. So it's pretty comprehensive. So, and again, throughout the summer, there will be some visioning. And then, of course, on our website, that will be up to us to get that out to make sure that people have access to this. They can't participate if there's no access. So that's on us. And so this scatter box, or this QR code, rather, will take you to several different items on this website to allow you to really give input beyond what you want your community to look like.

» But what do you think the community is suffering from right now? And what do you think can remedy some of those things? So, again, very comprehensive. Thank you. Mr. Templer, I appreciate what you're doing with this. And I appreciate you stating the fact that we are the representatives to shape the future of Kershaw County. That's exactly what we're here to do, and that's exactly what we intend to do. Thank you, sir. Great. Mr. DuBose, legal briefing. Nothing, Madam Chair. Okay. And executive session. Any need for an executive session tonight, Mr. DuBose? No, ma'am. Members of the council. Okay? Madam Chair. Yes, sir. Motion to adjourn. Okay, motion to adjourn by Mr. Tucker. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Cato. And all those in favor of adjournment. And it's unanimous. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you.