Full meeting transcript - April 25, 2023

» Good afternoon, citizens of Kershaw County, watching at home and in the audience. This is the Tuesday, April 25, 2023, regularly scheduled County Council meeting, and I call this meeting to order. We will start tonight with our invocation given by Judge Gene Hardis. Hey, Judge Hardis. Well, I finally get to speak to you as the council. Speak into the microphone, please. I finally get to speak to you as our chairman tonight. I'm glad to see you up there. I'm glad to see all of y'all up there. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, as we come tonight to do business for our county, we ask you if you'll guide us in your wisdom, our Heavenly Father. The many women who sat before us tonight, we ask you to be with them. Our chairman of council, Lord, I pray for her as she leads this group tonight.

» Heavenly Father, we pray for our county. We had a magnificent weekend in Kershaw County this past weekend, our Heavenly Father, and what went on, and what we saw, and this history we probably will never see again in Kershaw County. I ask you to guide these many women, and guide this county, our Heavenly Father. We ask you best in thy name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Judge Hardis. And please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. From the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Adoption of tonight's agenda. Is there a motion to adopt tonight's agenda? So moved. Mr. Brazel, is there a second? Second. Mr. Tomlinson.

» Any discussion on the agenda? All those in favor in adopting tonight's agenda, indicate by raising your hand. And it's unanimous. This is our official agenda for tonight. We'll start off with proclamations. So the first proclamation was submitted and worked on with Ms. Donna Douglas. She's our Soil and Water Conservation District Director. Unfortunately, she couldn't be here tonight. Proclamation. Whereas, the National Association of Conservation Districts, NACD, is a non-profit organization that represents America's 3,000 conservation districts and the individuals serving on the governing boards of those conservation districts.

» And, whereas, conservation districts are local units of government established by law, established by state law to carry out resource management programs at a local level. And, whereas, conservation districts serve as an important role in furthering public health and well-being by working with cooperating landowners and operators to manage and protect land and water resources and private and public lands in the United States. And, whereas, the NACD has celebrated a stewardship week annually since 1955 between the last Sunday in April and the first Sunday in May to remind us of our individual responsibilities to care for natural resources. And, whereas, NACD's 68th stewardship week will be April 30th through May 7th and is focused on watersheds.

» And, whereas, water quality and flooding issues in rivers, lakes, and streams cannot be mitigated without good stewardship of the private and public lands in the watersheds that drain into those waterways. And, whereas, keeping our watersheds healthy protects public health, water supply, fisheries, wildlife, agriculture, supports economic development, and enhances recreation activities in our communities. And, whereas, Kershaw County wishes to support the work of NACD and the local conservation districts of South Carolina and Kershaw County.

» Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by Kershaw County Council that April 30th, 2023 to May 7th, 2023 is designated stewardship week to applaud and promote the work of NACD in providing educational learning experiences for students and adults to increase awareness about the importance of our natural resource conservation. signed by Kershaw County Council this 25th day of April. Is there a motion to accept this proclamation? So moved. Mr. Brazel, in second? Second. Mr. Cato, second. Any discussion? I think you probably, his mics are a little louder than normal. I think you probably covered everything. I've been involved in some conservation easements and programs through forestry work over the years. And they're typically always for the benefit of the local lakes and rivers.

» And I don't know if anybody realizes there's a designation called the Kawasi Basin that Watery River is a part of. It's a bigger movement by the state. So I support this tonight. I think it's a great idea. Thank you, Mr. Brazel. Any other comments? I'm very sorry, Ms. Douglas couldn't be with us tonight. So we wish her well. She is a quiet professional. You don't hear from her much, but she's working very hard behind the scenes. So all those in favor of accepting this proclamation tonight, indicate by raising your hand. And the vote is unanimous. And thank you to Ms. Douglas for all her hard work. Next proclamation tonight, proclamation honoring the Huckabee family and the Johnson family. And the Huckabee family and the Johnson family, if you'll please come up here.

» Y'all can come up to the dais and stand right here while we read this proclamation. Whereas S.E. Johnson was a former principal at Bethune High School and a former superintendent of Kershaw County School District. And whereas S.E. Johnson was instrumental in shaping the lives of countless students who attended Bethune High School. And whereas the former Bethune High School football stadium was named the S.E. Johnson Memorial Stadium in recognition of Mr. Johnson's service to Kershaw County and the Bethune community. And whereas Bethune High School closed in the S.E. Johnson Memorial Stadium is no longer in use as an operational football facility. And whereas Paul L.

» Huckabee, a Bethune resident, contacted Councilmember Danny Cato and Councilman Jimmy Jones with a request that the plaque be removed and presented to the surviving family of S.E. Johnson. Now, therefore, the members of Kershaw County Council wish to present the S.E. Johnson Memorial Stadium plaque to the family of S.E. Johnson in appreciation of his service to the citizens of Kershaw County. Signed by Kershaw County Council this 25th day of April, 2023. Is there a motion to accept the proclamation? I'll make a motion we accept this proclamation. A motion by Mr. Cato and a second. I second the motion. Right, and we're into discussion. Mr. Cato, you have the floor. I'll try to be quick, although I got a lot I want to say.

» If you look on the screen, you'll see a small article that was done with Mr. Johnson in the Camden Chronicle back in 1965. I asked for some information that this was a little bit before my time, some of my mother's time. She was at the schools that he was the superintendent. Mr. Johnson, known as Samuel Eugene Johnson, he was born in 1901 in Lawrence County, in a little small town called Gray Court, South Carolina. It says that he graduated Wofford College in 1922, and he was a principal there in Green Pond, or a teacher in Green Pond in Lawrence, and he went on to have a 40-year career in education in the state of South Carolina, which is just outstanding. He ended up marrying his childhood friend and classmate, Marjorie Rop, I hope that's the way, Rop, I'm sorry.

» Gene, as he was affectionately known, they talked about what a great sense of humor and what a great person he really was, and how he had his own personal goals of making it to his master's degree. And his master's degree he obtained through the University of South Carolina in the 1940s. Now, you know, it's a feat to obtain a master's degree now, but think about what he went through to obtain a master's degree in the 40s. He was known as a person that could fix and do anything, and he took care of the grounds himself. Now, back then, there weren't principals. They were called superintendents. And he was over all of the schools in the Bethune area, the elementary, the middle, and the high. And he took care of the grounds during the summer. He took care of the ball fields.

» He made sure the sprinklers was on. The grass was cut. A great testimony to him. And I'm going to read this last paragraph here. It says, He touched so many lives, particularly the lives of his children. He could relate to the high schoolers as well as the first graders. And it was said that most of the time, a frightened first grader was at home in his office. The first grader felt at home in his office. He was indeed a special man who touched so many lives, especially those of us lucky enough to call him dad and granddad. Upon his death on October 12, 1965, the Chronicle Independent, or the Camden Chronicle at that time, produced this editorial that you see on the screen. And I'm so happy, and I thank my colleague Jimmy Jones here for being on this with me.

» And some of the family contacted him. Some of the family contacted me. They're very close, personal friends. I grew up around the Huckabees there in Bethune my whole life. And I thank so much of them. And I appreciate them bringing this to our attention. And I'm so glad that Kershaw County can do this for the Johnson family. Thank you all so much. Mr. Jones. And if I could, I'm going to put another spin on it. But he must have been a very special person to Mr. Paul Huckabee because this meant a lot to Mr. Paul Huckabee, to this family, to get this and to present it tonight. I want to say that we had trouble finding it. I mean, staff went up there and looked. And, Danny, am I correct on that? Yes, sir. Had to go back a couple times to find it. We should have called you. Exactly, exactly.

» But, you know, little did I know this gentleman, but little did I know some of his family members here. But, Billy, you know, I think you and I were, you know, in the third grade together until I think I failed a couple times. You kept moving on up. I liked it so much. No. I said that one night up here. Somebody said, is that true? I said, no. But, anyway. But, no, it is so good to see you folks here tonight. And I am so honored to be a part of this. And the Huckabee family, Jill Huckabee and her sisters and Mr. Paul Huckabee, you know, to, I guess he must have been a close friend of yours or somebody that you really respected. Because Mr. Huckabee wanted this done. And I said, we're going to chisel this out of the wall.

» But let me tell you what we are going to do, okay? Not only are we going to haul this outside for the Johnson family, but we also have, we're going to have two framed proclamations that we're going to give one to the family of the Johnsons and also Mr. Paul Huckabee, you're going to get one as well. Okay? For your efforts. Because without you, sir, this would not have happened. God bless all of you. I'm proud to be a part of this. Thank you, Madam Chair. Any other comments? I wanted to add just one thing that somehow I left out. As a proud graduate of Bethune High School, I graduated from there and played football on that field. And every time we took the field, it was always a special occasion to run through that gate. And we always looked, and that stadium was named.

» And you're always seeing it on your graduation invitations. So it was something that stuck with the people at that high school, no matter whether they knew him personally or not. It stuck with the people that went to that school. Unfortunately, it's closed now. It was closed in 99. But he was deeply cherished by many people that went to that high school. And my name is Gene Johnson. I'm his namesake. I'm the third, Samuel Eugene III. And I remember riding my tricycle up and down the hallway in the high school there. And I could even go into the classroom when he was in there. But I want to thank the Huckabee family and the county council, Kershaw County, for everything that you all have done. Going over the ball field. I know you had to push and push, Paul. I really appreciate that.

» And digging that out of the column. Because Beth and I rode by there one day. We were in Bethune just riding around. You know, we could go and look and see what would involve. I'm glad that professionals took care of it for us. But thanks so much to the Huckabee family and to the Kershaw County Council for everything that you've done. For the family and remembering our grandfather. And thank you all for being here. And I'll call for the vote. All those in favor of presenting this family, the S.C. Johnson Memorial Stadium plaque, indicate by raising your hand. And it's unanimous. Oh, okay. I was like, okay. Nice smile. We organized. We organized. Popcorn. Do we look good, Kip? Get up there and put it. We'll take one of the things. Thank you. So it's not that heavy. No, no, no.

» We can take it. Okay. I feel it. You can take it now. Yeah. Good to see you. I would recommend two people, but. Here, I'll grab that. Thank you. You got that thing? That was nice, y'all. Yeah. Thank you again, Huckabee family and Johnson family. And S.C.'s sister is here. Thank you so much. That was very special. Madam Chair. Our live feed is down just to let y'all know, but we're working on getting it back up. Thank you, Danny. It's still recording, isn't it? Yes, sir. Okay. All right. We're up to public comments. All right. I'm not going to read the entire list of rules. I just want to remind everyone that inappropriate comments or curse words will not be tolerated. I want to keep decorum at this meeting and keep it professional. The first speaker is the Lugov Fire Chief, Chris Spitzer.

» Madam Chair, can you tell us how many is on the list, please? There are six speakers. Thank you. You're welcome. I hate talking in this microphone because I feel like COVID is still all over the place, but anyway. You can take it out if you want. I'm pretty loud and I talk with my hands, so, I mean, most of y'all know that anyway. So, thank you for allowing me to come up for public comment and I want to touch a little bit on the ARPA funding as far as our radios go or the radio replacement for every emergency service in this county. One thing that a former councilman told me was you can't allow a motion to get in your business or presentations. Well, I'm not doing a presentation, but I'm also a fireman. Well, there's one attribute that works both ways for firemen.

» It's a negative and it's a positive and it's called compassion. So, when you have compassion, that changes everything for a firefighter. So, with compassion, that means I get to talk loudly. That's because I sustained a head injury, so it's hard for me to be able to understand and hear everything else, too. So, I just want to bring it before council that we are focusing on radio replacements. And for most of the new council members, this is something you've looked at since January of this year. This is something we've been facing since 2020. We knew it was coming. We knew there was going to be an issue. I have time stamps, time dates. I've had everything that we've logged into the system as far as even county council goes. I have the YouTube videos. I have time stamps.

» I've had everything listed. Now, what we can say is we have been very fortunate as a county, and I have to hurry this up because I only have five minutes. All right? I would love to come back and give a presentation, but you all better have at least an hour or two to be able to listen to what I really got to say. So, February of 2020, that's when we were notified that the radios we currently have will no longer work. That date was going to be 2023. Well, we're currently in 2023. That 2023 number was fortunately moved to 2025. 2025 was fortunately moved to 2027, okay, with that 2027 date. But what I think is happening here is I think we're getting confused. I think we're getting behind on what's really going on. We look at a 2027 date, which is four years away. I get that.

» But taking the COVID consideration and every fire department in this state is going to have to switch over to this new plan with the TDMA. So, we pay through PAL 800, okay? That's a monthly fee. Every time that deputy touches his radio, that's 27 cent. On top of the cost for the radio, every time we touch that radio, that's 27 cent. Every time we transmit, 27 cent. So, this started, and we tried to get everything going back in 2020. ARPA funding was sent to the county in 2021. So, that's when we kind of brought it to head and said, you know what? Let's use, let's look at looking at this ARPA funding. No strings attached. Let's be able to take this money and see if we can put it toward to replace some of our radios. It makes perfect sense because that is a capital project. Capital.

» So, it started in February, and we met with Jim Edge, who is with EMS, in August of 2020. We moved on to April 29, 2021, updated by Dennis Coomer, who is over the program for the state. May 27th, it was presented to a local emergency planning convention, which is LAPC. June 7th, it was sent out. September 14, 2021, it was put in a KCC agenda packet for ARPA funding planning, which at that point was about $2.5 million to cover the agencies. September 2021, nothing's been done since. That was put on by Jimmy Jones mentioning that. Also, in June 28, 2022, $465,000 was mentioned, along with the $2.5 million it would take for the county to supply for Lugol fire and the county emergency services. Jimmy Jones presented that, and it didn't even receive a second when he presented the motion.

» Basically, what I'm getting at here is, because I'm seeing the clock, is since October of 2022, those radios have gone up 8%, and they're going to go up again in January. So, if you do that math, a quick math comparison on the number that we're looking at, we've squandered away $296,000 by not purchasing the radios when we were originally told about that date. Now, I will tell you this, this county is operating right now on a horseshoe. Majority of firemen in this county are entering burning buildings with no radio communication whatsoever. That's in the county fire service, that's with Lugolf. Now, I will tell you this, take into consideration that that firefighter just entered a burning building. We bake cookies at 350 degrees.

» Would you pick up that sheet of cookies, that pan? Absolutely not. You know, when we enter a burning building, that's between 800 and 1,100 degrees. And it's not like the movies. You don't see your hand in front of your face. When you enter into that burning building, and you don't have a radio to be able to talk back to all your health outside, if you would dare to even close your eyes right now and imagine yourself entering a burning building, a young firefighter or an old firefighter entering into an immediately dangerous to life and health situation. You enter into that building, you can't see anything. Your ears are burning. We all sustain burns to our ears every time we go in that building. I'm going to finish with this.

» So if you close your eyes, think about that firefighter who's just entered that building. He has no communication. He's scared. She's scared. The anxiety's through the roof. Your heart is pounding through your chest. You're going in blindly into an environment you have never been into in your life. How many of us can walk around our house without stubbing our toe in the middle of the night? Think about entering that building, searching for a child, searching for any human. But close your eyes and think about that fireman that is in there looking for your child, my child. I'm telling you and I'm just asking you to do what's right. It don't have to be the way that I would hope for overnight. I'm so sorry. Your time's up.

» All I can say is do the right thing for the citizens of Kershaw County, which means it has to be done through your emergency services. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. The next speaker is Tim Taylor. Can everybody hear me all right? After the last meeting, I realized that this body needed a talk about respect. The rules of decorum that apply to the citizens are read before we speak, which they should be. But what are the rules of decorum that apply to you, to us? Where are they written? They need to be read out loud as well. I was a military brat, and I learned respect from the back of my dad's hand and his boot up my butt when I got out of line. You always treat the janitor the same as the CEO.

» The citizens, you know, the people, these people, those people up there watching, the people you were hired to represent deserve your respect when they come up here to this podium and take a chance to say what they want to say and to redress their grievances, because that's what part of this is for. It is a limited forum, but still. Some citizens come up here and they are listened to. Others come up and they are disrespected by members of this body. You always treat the janitor the same as the CEO, because one day you might be in trouble and need somebody else's help. Some of you look through your phones and rustle through papers while people are talking. Some of you actively listen and even take notes.

» Some of you talk and giggle like little schoolgirls, as I saw last meeting, which infuriated me. I don't get mad that often. Disrespect is wrong. You always treat the janitor the same as the CEO. One of the members who was investigated by the Ethics Commission had the unmitigated gall to lecture the public on social media. Do you not have anything better to do? And in the words of Tony Soprano, I won't say them all, who gives a crap about social media and what people say. Some of you whine about how much time your position takes. You're supposed to be the leader of your district. Leaders don't whine about their personal struggles. If a leader can't find a way, they make a way. They don't sit back on their hands and just say, well, there you go.

» That kind of poor me rhetoric shows disrespect to the citizens who put your faith in you, and it lowers the morale, creates divisiveness and resentment. This is a full-time job. It is. I think you all know that. It's a full-time job. Is it a thankful job? Yeah, actually it is. It is. Because I hear a lot of people coming up here to thank you. I thank you, too, for serving. Don't think that I don't, because it is a time constraint. But if you can't do it, move aside for somebody who can be a leader. I also just found out tonight about these guys running into burning buildings without communication. And it was 2020. Obviously, that was that other, whatever his name was, that was in charge. But really, these guys are running into fires to save people's lives, men and women. Sorry, women.

» They don't have communication. You guys are worried about parks. Are you kidding me? These people die saving us. When you disrespect one, you disrespect all. And when you tolerate disrespectful people, you disrespect yourself. Do any of you have personal dignity? If you do, stop letting people act disrespectful. So like Mr. Brazel said about not tolerating cussing months ago, I, we, will not tolerate the disrespect anymore. And neither should any of you. You shouldn't either. By yourself or by others. And remember this, from Proverbs 16, verse 18, pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before the fall. Think about that. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Taylor. The next speaker is Chuck Mosher. Hey, Chuck. How you doing, Katie? Thank you.

» Can you hear me? First of all, first of all, I want to thank Mr. Jones for coming out to our Easter egg hunt for disabled kids about a month ago. It was a good time. I'm not sure if you had a solid kid to love seeing you out there. Proverbs 26, 28. A lying tongue hates those who are afflicted by it. A flattering mouth works ruin. First John 4, 20. If anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For whoever does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? My grandfather always told me, a liar is a thief. Never been one to be a political person until I decided to educate myself on this divisive ballpark. And might I say, wow, what a crazy world.

» Ironically enough, it was the same time as my earbud drama, as the earbud drama from my councilman from District 1. In hopes of allowing him to properly defend himself, I called him to ask his side because I was embarrassed for him. His first response was he was hard of hearing and was playing with a hearing app. I do not see a cord hanging from his neck, so can he hear me now? When he sees I wasn't buying it, he switched to plan B and admitted to playing music to drown out Matt Hutchinson because he had called his daughter names. I believe this was also told to multiple councilmen also. He openly lied to me for no reason in his ear, lying about the first part or ignoring me now. After the discussion, I asked about his reasoning behind his uneducated vote for the $6 million.

» His response was he was relying on escape calls that allowed them to back out if needed. Not thinking he would lie to me about such softball questions, I politely ended the conversation. Days later, I was presented by a councilperson, the post that was actually from the notorious Jeff Maddox, clearly calling him the name. I am not good at reading comprehension, but what I read, I clearly read, he called him Russell. Opening my eyes from possible to seek for my church-going councilman from District 1, I decided to seek and find this escape clause. Finding dead end after dead end, I managed to find the only estimate was over $14 million.

» Raising another question of why are y'all selling it at $12 million, sort of misleading to the public, isn't it? Feeling uneasy about what I've been told, I reached out to my councilman in a hope of transparency. Conversation was fine until I asked about the escape clause. He told me that he had told me about it. Immediately shift in tone, shift in tone in the conversation, and for some reason wanting to record the conversation. No, instead he puts me on a speakerphone and allows his friends to chime in. Took me back to elementary school, it really did. After all the delightful conversation, he never denied telling me about the escape clause. And I never got a straight answer.

» But what did I get? I got a call from the sheriff himself, not a deputy, saying he felt threatened by the conversation. You can see the intimidation tactic from a mile away. If the threat was real and recorded, why not call a deputy filed report, or is he special? Between the Matt Hutchinson story and the rec department story, I've been proven he is a liar. I wonder if my granddaddy was right about the other part. I do not call for his resignation, as narcissism runs deep in those roots. I just want to tell him of the webs we weave. Thank you, Mr. Mosher. The next speaker is Ken Karras. Hi, Ken. Did I say your last name right? Karras. Karras. I was here a couple months ago. I see we have an American flag.

» I thought this was part of the United States, but evidently in Kershaw County, there is no Freedom of Immigration Act. I have a bridge that's in terrible shape. Mr. Kato got pictures of it, man, I got to him. And I asked, when was it falling down? It's a wooden bridge. I asked, I went to see when this bridge was inspected last. Okay? And the road in front of me is paved, according to the state map. It isn't. Somebody stole the blacktop, because it isn't there. Now, ask about that. I said, who got paid for that? Women across the street signed papers when they were going to put it in. The owners I bought from are gone. They're deceased. So I couldn't check with them. But I'm getting no answers. About a week after I was here, I got a phone call from the gentleman.

» He says, we can't find the paperwork on the bridge. We're still looking. I started to laugh. He says, what are you laughing at? I said, that's what I expected to hear. I said, the next thing I'll probably hear is, well, the state map is wrong. The state computer is wrong about the road being paved. I said, now, am I or am I not going to find out the information I'm asking? Otherwise, I go on to the state. I'm retired. I got nothing but time. You people don't want to cooperate and give me answers? I'll keep going. It can't stop me. I'm retired. I got nothing else to do. I mean, I gave Mr. Kato pictures. The bridge is down seven inches on one corner. Okay? The gentleman that does the road grading on the sand road drives over that bridge with a road grading.

» And I'm sure it weighs over five tons. It weighs much more over five tons. One gentleman I talked to, oh, no, he doesn't. He doesn't drive over. I said, show me where he turns it on. He turns nowhere. I gave Mr. Kato pictures of his tracks going over the bridge. Still, I don't get any answers. I got delivery from propane. There's no propane today. I have them call me before they come so they don't come off of Route 1 down West Drive because then they have to go across that bridge. With a full load of propane, uh-uh. I wouldn't trust it. Now, will I be able to get the answers to my questions? All you got to do is tell me yes or no. Mr. Karras, this isn't the type of forum where we do discussion, but I will tell Mr. Templer to call you tomorrow, first thing.

» I was tracking that someone did go out and look at the bridge and the motor grader wasn't going over it. So, he says, I'll be down probably next week sometime. I'll call you and get together with you and we'll go look at things. Never called back. I never heard from him again. So, if this is not what the council meeting's for, what is it for? No, you're- I mean, I've- This is an appropriate comment for council, absolutely. I've gone to the road crew foreman. I've gone to the state garage over there, talked to him. I've talked to Mr. Kato. I was here. Got one phone call and nothing yet. So, who's in charge? Who's in charge of this? Danny Kato, we'll call you tomorrow. The state has to keep records of bridges. Somebody put a five-ton sign up, so it had to be inspected at one time.

» Either that or somebody just decided to stick the sign up there. If I can get some answers, I would appreciate it. So, I don't have to keep going. You will. Mr. Templer, please call Mr. Karras tomorrow. First thing. Thank you, Mr. Karras. The next speaker is Amanda Steven. Hi, Amanda. Okay, I'm here to talk about a few things. The first thing I'm hoping that we'll see in the upcoming budget, based on the priorities of our county. The citizens of Kershaw County have very clear priorities. Priorities based on the economy, personal finances, and the personal finances of all of us. So, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, consumer prices have climbed 5% just in the month of March. That's this month. And this is the ninth straight month of price growth.

» When we look year over year for numbers, food prices have increased by 8.5%, and rent has increased 8.3%. That means the citizens of this county are still struggling to make ends meet and to pay for food for their families. Our priorities within our families are food, shelter, and utilities. Our priorities for our county don't change. They include infrastructure, emergency services, and utilities. These align with the priorities set by the county during the budget planning meetings, which is why I was excited to see that we're choosing to spend ARPA funds on radios for our emergency management personnel. This is exactly what these funds are meant for. One-time purchases that are for upgrades to infrastructure, emergency services, and utilities.

» Again, our priorities as citizens for this county. As the wife of a firefighter, knowing that these radios are finally going to be replaced, and our crews are going to be getting the upgrades they need, makes me very proud of this council. While we wait to see the budget items, I'm sure you'll have used these priorities to allocate the limited resources we have in this county. Recreation projects, you notice, are missing. That is because they are not in the priorities of its citizens. The only recreation projects that we should even be considering are the ones that are required for the safety of our children, and that's after all the other priorities are taken care of. Do the right thing. Listen to your constituents.

» We, the people, have been very vocal in these meetings and in the town hall meetings that we had on what our priorities are. Start listening. I mean, just going off of the speakers right now, the fact that our firefighters are going into burning buildings without radios, and we have bridges falling down, and you guys are wasting our time with recreation projects, I mean, it's unheard of, and I wish there were more people screaming at the top of their lungs at this county council meeting. Start getting serious, because all of us expected of you. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Stephen. The next speaker is Wanda Swan. Hi, Wanda. Councilman, excuse me, Madam Chairman and council members, I want to start off by saying thank you. You guys have a thankless job.

» You have a job where you take heat from every direction, and I would not have your job, and I want to thank you for being willing to serve. God bless you, and you will be in my prayers. I'm shocked at attitudes and things that are said in a forum like this. I'm shocked. I heard Bible read here tonight, but I didn't see a lot of action with it. So I apologize to you, and I just want you to know that I appreciate each and every one of you. And I've had the opportunity to speak with you personally. You've helped me in the past, and I want to thank you. And the matter that I'm coming about to you tonight is about our litter officer. We were awarded, the Kershaw County Clean Community Commission was awarded a full-time litter officer ten months ago.

» We have yet to have a full-time litter officer. I'd like to know where those funds have gone. I'm sure that there are funds. I want to know where they are. What have they been spent for? Because they have not been spent on litter. You have a commission who have led hundreds and hundreds of people to be outside picking up litter twice a year. Not only that, but other times of the year as well. You've had thousands and thousands of hours committed by our citizens of Kershaw County to pick up litter so that we can have better economic development. You know as well as I do that when companies come into our county, they're looking to see what kind of community do I want to bring my company into.

» Do I want to bring them into a clean community, or do I want to bring them into a trashy community? They want a clean community to raise their family. I want a clean community for my children and my grandchildren, just like you do. We cannot do that without a litter officer. The police officers out here, if we did not have them, would we have the rule of law? No, we wouldn't. Law would be rampant. I mean, thieves would be rampant. We would have all kinds of problems without our officers. A mechanic cannot work on a car without tools. A cook is not a good cook without good cookware and good recipes. We cannot have a clean county without enforcement of our laws of litter, and we don't have that. We were awarded that ten months ago, and we have yet to have that.

» I am asking you, I am begging you for the citizens of Cursale County who have worked with us and worked with our commission to please solve this issue and get us our full-time officer that we were awarded last year, and please remain it in the budget so that we can have better economic development for our county. Thank you, and thank you again for your service. Thank you, Ms. Swan. Right, that concludes this portion of public comments. Next on our agenda is a public presentation. Mr. Ken Lillard, you'll come to the podium, please. Thank you for being here tonight. This presentation is on the KC Science Park, one of the gems of Kershaw County that I agree. And Ken, if you'll just move the microphone closer so we can pick up your recording.

» Well, as mentioned before, my name is Ken Lillard, and this is Rob Smothers here. We're both members of the Kershaw County Flyers. That's a radio-controlled model airplane club that has been headquartered at the Science Park now for 28 consecutive years. And we have been pulling in people from as far away as Goose Creek, Sumter, Florence, and Columbia. And we've been an uptick in membership, all because of a strong media presence, a strong social media presence, I should say, and spectatorship. And the actual facilities down there include a covered shelter, picnic tables, workbenches, running water, all-important AC power, and permanent and not-portable restrooms. Pretty soon we're going to be hosting an event that brings in people from out of town.

» And this is important to us because in the past, the club was known for pulling in people for weekend events that they could bring their trailers and campers and spend the night at the Science Park and compete in AMA-sanctioned events and sport fly for the entire weekend. And we put together a very short video presentation. And we'd like to show you a little bit about what's going on there and the people that enjoy what we have to offer. That's so cool. As an aviation enthusiast, that's really cool. I've got to come out there and you guys can show me how to fly it from the ground. I have a question. Yes, sir. Does Charles Lynchfield still participate with you guys? Madam Chair, Council, thank you. He does not fly with us anymore. We moved to Columbia.

» He was a long-time member, had fun flying with Mr. Charles. I got many calls from him on that. He was an enthusiast. I imagine so. While I'm up here, I would like to thank Kershaw County. This Matt Runway that you saw during this video, I joined the club in 2015. Shortly after that, there just wasn't many members, right? It was really falling apart. But I saw the joy that it brought to the kids, to the people that came there. The people that came from out of town said that it was the finest facility that they'd been to in a flying club. And I'm like, yeah, okay. And I didn't hear it from one person. And I heard it from multiple people. And that was because of the covered shelter, the power, things that they weren't used to when they went to a flying field.

» But thanks to Kershaw County, they came in here a couple years ago and put that Matt Runway. It's a geo-style tech mat that many clubs in the United States have. But they came in. You guys came in and helped us put that in. And our membership has grown through the roof compared to what it was. We would like to continue growing that to where it was, say, in the 2000s, where people would come from out of town and stay the weekend, as Ken spoke to. But our grass runway right now is in, as we know, it was built on a landfill, right? So it is sinking. It's impossible to fly the giant-scale airplanes at that grass runway because it has sunk so far that it's divots and it'll tear up landing gear that costs $500 to $1,000. So we tend not to use that.

» We are staying with the Matt Runway, but I would just like to say thank you Kershaw County for doing that because it has brought so many miles, members, and happiness to that science part. That's awesome. Do you all meet regularly? We do. Okay. When are your meetings? Sunday. Okay. Every Sunday? Get together? Okay. Yes, unless it's stormy. Okay. And this might be a question for Mr. Templer. Do we allow campers to stay out there and people to stay the weekend? We haven't had it in a while, but if there was an event out there, we would certainly make. Okay. Just like the airport, if there were an event out there, I see it as no different. Okay. We've done it for years. Yeah. That's awesome. No problems. Gentlemen, any questions or comments? Mr. Tucker. Thank you.

» Ken, this is no reflection on you, but I have to pick on this guy here. I don't know you as well, but Brad, it's good to see that you're engaged into our community and most of all, attracting young people to come out to do positive things. And I didn't realize you were in this club and you had been in it for a while, but I'm very thankful because you are homegrown. Yes, sir. So I visited this field in the late 90s, early 20s in my young adulthood and would go sit out on the very bleachers that are still there today. A different set, obviously, but those bleachers are still there. And I would sit and watch, okay? It wasn't until 15, 20 years later that I got active into it.

» And now to see other, the kids and all involved, it's because it keeps their mind fresh, right? They're electronic, mechanical, on the electrical side of it all, they're learning. They're off the streets and they're there with us and they're having a good time. Well, we'll appreciate what both of you do and anyone else who's a part of the club that's keeping it active. Thank you. Any other questions? I have one last question. Does anybody have a model Apache in your club? I'll check with Vance Alexander. Okay. Okay, cool. All right. Thank you, gentlemen, for being here. That was awesome. Great. The next item on the agenda is approval of the Tuesday, April 18th regular meeting. Is there a motion pertaining to the minutes? Make a motion. We'll approve the minutes from April 18, 2023.

» Okay, motion to approve by Mr. Tucker. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Tomlinson seconds. And any discussion, any updates? Madam Chair, I just want to tell our clerk to counsel, thank you. Tell her what? Thank you, Ms. Parler. Oh, okay. Tell her, thank you. Yeah, thank you. Ms. Parler is very organized. Makes your life easier, doesn't it? It makes your life easier, doesn't it? All right, with that, and yes, Mr. Jones, you were absent for this meeting. All those in favor of approving the county council meeting for Tuesday, April 18th, indicate by raising your hand. All right, Mr. Cato, Mr. Tomlinson, myself, Mr. Shoemake, Mr. Tucker, and Mr. Brazel, and Mr. Jones is abstaining. Abstaining. He was absent. All right, those minutes are approved. Moving on to ordinances.

» Tonight, we have a second reading of 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 an extension of the investment period in other matters related thereto. And, Mr. Templer, can I invite the Economic Development Director to the podium, please, Mr. Jeff Burgess? Yes. Is there a motion pertaining to the second reading of this ordinance? Madam Chair, I make a motion to approve second reading. Okay, Mr. Tucker makes a motion to approve. Is there a second? Second. Okay, Mr. Brazel seconds, and we're into discussion. Any questions for Mr.

» Burgess? Madam Chair, Mr. Burgess, anything change? Any updates or? No, sir, not at this time. It is the same as it was last week. I was hoping you'd say, yeah, they want to invest millions more. I was hoping I could tell you that. Thank you for what you do. Thank you. Any other comments, questions, discussion items? Okay. With that, all those in favor of approving the second reading of an ordinance authorizing the execution and delivery of an amendment to the fee agreement between Kershaw County and CAMFOR indicate by raising your hand. And the vote is unanimous. Second. Madam Chair, if I may, before he leaves the podium. Sure. Go ahead. May I address Jeff? Jeff, you and I talked last week. I don't know if anybody's been paying attention to the news. FN lost. Mr.

» Brazel, is this germane to the conversation? Well, it's germane to economic development, Kershaw County as a whole, so. Okay. Can you do it in your council brief then, please? That's fine. I just didn't want to have to call him back up. Feel free to call me anytime. All right. The next ordinance is a first reading of an ordinance amending and restating the Kershaw County Fairfield, Kershaw Fairfield, sorry, multi-county industrial park MCIP agreement. Madam Chair, make a motion. And we approve first reading of the multi-park agreement with Fairfield County. All right. Mr. Tucker makes a motion to approve and a second. Second. Mr. Brazel seconds. And we're in discussion with that. I'm going to give the floor to Mr. DuBose. He is much better at explaining it than me. Thank you, Madam Chair.

» This is basically an extension of an existing multi-county industrial park agreement between Kershaw County and Fairfield County. Um, it's set up like a standard kind of default multi-county industrial park agreement, wherein the county that has the actual property and investment, uh, gets 99% of the revenues from that investment. The other 1% goes to the partner county. Uh, this agreement provides that Kershaw County can, um, reimburse itself off the top for expenditures associated with bringing the industry or investment into the county. Um, after that, the, um, disbursements of funds that are generated through the fee are distributed pro-rata among the taxing entities as if, um, the, um, the park wasn't there, essentially.

» So, um, it, it standardizes the, um, existing multi-county park with the default, um, provisions that are typical of multi-county park agreements. Um, I will say that the prior iterations of this sometimes had 98-2 splits or 97-3 splits. Uh, Fairfield County, for y'all's information, is processing the companion ordinance on their end. And, um, I will note for the record that exhibit A to this, uh, ordinance right now is not fully populated, but, um, finance is working on making sure that all of the property in the park is accurately listed, and, um, just being very diligent in that to make sure that once that exhibit enters the, um, public sphere, that it is correct and accurate, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. DuBose.

» Since this is an extension, have there been any changes? No, other than, like I said, some prior iterations, um, had atypical fee splits. I mean, uh, but, um, again, those, uh, Fairfield County is aware of the standardization to the 9-1 split and is in agreement with that and is processing it on their end in due course. Okay. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Mr. Tucker. Thank you, Madam Chair. So, Mr. DuBose, when does this, um, existing one we have expire? The end of June. Okay, the end of June. Yeah. Yeah, 2023, and don't we, if I'm correct, we have, um, other multi-county, um, partnerships with adjacent counties like Lee? That's correct. Yeah. Okay.

» That's correct, and I believe all of those are in good shape, um, and of course, uh, prior to expiration will be brought for reauthorization. Yes. Thank you, Mr. DuBose. Anything else? All right, all those in favor of this first reading of an ordinance amending and restating the Kershaw-Fairfield multi-county industrial park agreement indicate by raising your hand. And the vote is unanimous. First reading passes on this ordinance. All right, the next item is first reading of the FY24 budget in title only. Is there a motion at this time regarding the FY24 budget in title only? Madam Chair, I make a motion that we read our 23-24 budget in title only. Okay, motion to accept the 23-24 budget in title only. Is there a second? I'll second. Mr. Tomlinson, second.

» And any discussion? Madam Chair, if I may. Yes, sir. Mr. Tucker. I just want to say there's nothing really to go over, but I do want to thank my two colleagues that sat on the finance committee, Councilman Tomlinson and Councilman Shumay, and all of you who had taken the time out of your schedules to attend the budget meetings. And I also want to say thank you to the administrator and his staff for all that you guys have done. And the thing that's kind of ironic about this whole process is that it's new to a lot of people. It's not just new to Council, the majority of members of Council. We've got people in positions throughout this county that has not actually been in charge in this process before.

» But it has been challenging, but at the same time very informative, along with just getting to work and do the business of the citizens of Gershaw County. So, Mr. Templer, I say thank you, and make sure you relay that to your assistants, Mr. Jarrell and Ms. Lauren, which they may be in the back room. I don't know. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. Mr. Jones. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of Council. I will be voting against this tonight, entitled only, which I normally do. I never have agreed with entitled only. But I want to say this. My colleagues have been working very hard, no pun intended, but this is something that just sticks in my craw. You know, we're supposed to do three readings, and I feel like we need to have first reading.

» Everything needs to be there in front of us that we're looking at, so I will not be voting for that. And I hope that next year that we won't have to do, and I know it's legal, but I just don't like it, and I'm not going to vote for it. I've got a question as well. Mr. Brasel. Yeah, sorry. If Mr. Jones is finished. Okay. Mr. Brasel. Do we anticipate any millage increase, or do we feel like? Okay. Could you just kind of brief us on millage and where we're at? Happy to, as the chair of the finance. No millage increase, no tax increase, fee increase. There's no increases, and I'm happy to yield to Mr. Templer, but we do not have any increases in the budget in title only. Mr. Templer? That's correct, and this budget is, I would say lean in its current form.

» In what we have been working on, it is independent of any other funds besides what revenue is typically coming in, in terms of tax revenue and fee revenue, so there's no other funding mechanisms to make this budget balanced. What you mean, no ARPA money? No ARPA money. We have used some interest from some funds to supplement the general fund, and that's just to help us meet our goals. Mr. Jones. Okay. Okay, just to respond for clarification, first reading in title only, saying there is no millage increase, well, we said that last year, too, in title only. We said that last year, too, in second reading. In third reading, we exhausted every bit of millage increase that we could for creating any fee that we could, so no, I will not be voting for this tonight.

» Any other comments? Madam Chair, I do want to make a point that we will bring all the recommendations on May 9th, according to our rules, on the amendments that will be coming on second reading, and anyone up here can make amendments for second reading, which will be our second meeting in May. Not quite sure on the date, but it's the fourth Tuesday. So, but it is underneath our county rules, county council rules, that the finance committee reports out their recommendations, and we will do that on May 9th. May 9th. Yes, sir. Mr. Templer, is the budget complete yet? There's just a few items we have left to do with capital, but as far as general fund, we're pretty much there. Okay. I feel like closed the business yesterday. We were where we wanted to be.

» We did a few more tweaks today, and, but again, capital, we, we had to get some quotes in and things like that, so I, I feel like by the end of the week, we will have a complete budget. And I ask that because we're talking about it, so, and I know the finance committee is talking about it, but it's title only, so we don't have a product yet. And I did discuss that with the finance committee and the administrator, that I would like to have the full budget on first reading, and it just was not feasible on this timeline that we set this year, so it is my expectation that next year we have three full readings. I'm not a huge fan of title only either, and, um, here's kind of why. So, the South Carolina Code of Laws, 1-9-7-6-4-9-1-20.

» The council shall take legislative action by ordinance, which may be introduced by any member. With the exception of emergency ordinances, all ordinance shall be read at three public meetings of council on three separate days, with an interval of not less than seven days between the second and third. So, in my opinion, as the chairwoman, um, we should have something to read for all three readings. So, I hope that this council will take that into consideration moving forward, um, for the next four years that I'm here, and plan ahead accordingly so that we can provide the public three separate opportunities to read our ordinance and have time to get with us, um, on what they think and their feedback. Madam Chair, if I may? Yes, Mr. Tomlinson.

» I would just like to echo what, uh, Chairman, um, Tucker made, um, chairing the Finance Committee. This has been quite a learning experience. Staff has been working tirelessly to put this budget together. Um, this is a humbling, and I'm actually honored to have served on the Finance Committee this year because it's a great learning experience. Uh, you really learn the ins and outs of, uh, each department, um, and you get to see the nitty-gritty, and this has been a rewarding experience, and I really appreciate all, all of your hard work, um, Mr. Templer. Um, thank you so much, and I appreciate my colleagues for the hours that we spent, um, in those meetings, and, and I think we've all learned a lot, and, uh, Chairman Tucker has, has been a champion, um, getting everything together.

» What Derek and I couldn't, or Councilman Shoemaker and I couldn't have done it without him, uh, for sure. So, it's, we appreciate everybody. Thank you, Mr. Tomlinson. Mr. Jones. Thank you. Um, and, and let me say this, thank you for all your hard work, but start earlier. Mr. Jones, if I may, one of the challenges of starting earlier would be, um, it, it boils down to quotes on equipment, and, um, and that's something we're, we're gonna look at, um, for next year's budget process, and how we can do that, and, um, where vendors will honor quotes for that long of a period of time, and just how we can, um, make adjustments in the budget process to have something of substance for first reading, but just looking ahead, that those are a few of the challenges we see, so we'll have to work around th

» at. And I appreciate all your efforts. Just start earlier. If, if I may make a remark. Yes, Mr. Braswell. I, I agree with Mr. Jones. Last year was very frustrating in the way things were handled, but I think this year's different, and, and the fact that I've heard, um, there's, there's not gonna be any millage increase. There's not gonna be a tax increase. There's not gonna be any fee increase, and I think according to Councilman Jones, he championed creating a finance committee, and now that we have that finance committee in place, I think we need to let them do their jobs, and I trust our finance committee, so I don't have an issue with reading this and first reading tonight, and, um, I think all those moves were smart moves, and, I like the new format. Thank you, Mr. Braswell. Mr.

» Jones. Thank you. Thank you for those kind words, Mr. Braswell. Listen, folks, it's, it's, it's simple. I'm not fussing our, I'm the one who brought the finance committee back to, oh, I brought it back on the agenda for them to vote on it, and, and to use that format of government this, this, uh, this budget year. I was chairman of the finance committee for three years. I understand the difficulties involved in it. And, all I'm saying is that, guys, you've worked hard, I haven't, I haven't said I didn't trust you, I haven't said y'all didn't work hard, I just said start earlier, you know, and we can get the process done sooner and have three full readings of the budget. And, and that's just, just, that's just how I feel. I, I didn't mean to have a negative connotation towards that.

» No, I didn't take it negative, I just had to respond. I, I agree, I agree it, it would be better, yeah. All right, any other comments? All right, with that, we'll go to a vote. All those in favor of approving the FY24, so it's the 23-24 budget in title only, indicate by raising your hand. Mr. Cato, Mr. Tomlinson, myself, Mr. Schumann, Mr. Tucker, Mr. Brazel, and all those opposed. Mr. Jones. First reading in title only passes, and we will move right into the first reading of ordinance establishing the FY24 millage in title only. Is there a motion to approve the FY24 millage in title only? Madam Chair, make a motion we approve the millage reading to establish it for the 23-24 budget in title only. Mr. Tucker, motions to approve? I'll second that. Mr. Schumann, you make seconds, and Mr.

» Tucker, you have the floor. Thank you, Madam Chair. What happened in the past, and especially last year, it was a little scary factor. You kind of do your budget, and then you start spending because July 1st is a new physical year for local government, state, and county, and city. And you don't have your millet set on what it's going to be, and you've got to approve that. And then if, for some reason, council decides that they want to do something crazy and not approve the millage to set the new millage to cover the bills, then you've wrote a check that this body can't cash.

» So we all sat down, and we had conversation and deliberation, and probably had a little prayer up in there, too, that we would like to see the millage set or establish along with the budget cycle so they can go lateral. And it makes a lot of sense. A lot of counties do it. A lot of counties do it the other way as well. But I've done it both ways, and I have a tendency to like this way so it's no hang-ups. Plus, it allows you to get your tax notices a little earlier because the assessor's office, but the auditor's office, will have the bills out a lot sooner, and it should be where we can generate everything and get them in the mail. So these are the reasons why we're doing this. If you're used to the old way, this is why we change. Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Tucker.

» Any other comments? All right. With that, all those in favor of the 2324 millage in title only, indicate by raising your hand. Mr. Cato, Mr. Tomlinson, myself, Mr. Shoemake, Mr. Tucker, and Mr. Brazel. And all those opposed, Mr. Jones. First writing of the millage ordinance, first reading of the millage ordinance passes. All right. Moving on to something hopefully more pleasant. All right. Resolution number 194.2023. A resolution of Kershaw County Council expressing the intent to proclaim May 17th, 2023 as Cleveland School Fire Day. Whereas the Cleveland School Fire was a rural South Carolina school located in Kershaw County that was constructed around 1908 to 1909. The school was a two-story wooden structure that enrolled almost all grade levels of children.

» Whereas May 17th, 1923 was the last official use of that school. A fire occurred during the annual graduation, a production named Topsy-Turvy, put on by the students to celebrate the conclusion of the school year. Whereas when the last act of the play was beginning, a lamp fell from the wall spilling its flammable contents onto the stage. The fire spread over all the stage area and danced across the ceiling, eventually engulfing the school in flames. And whereas, the Cleveland School Fire claimed the lives of 77 children and adults who were assembled at the wooden schoolhouse. That night, nearly 300 people were estimated to be present on the second floor assembly area when the fire broke out.

» The only exit from the assembly area was a single stairway which became jammed with people, forcing many to jump from windows to survive. And whereas, identifying the victims of the fire was extremely difficult. For those bodies that were identified, relatives claimed the remains and arranged for private burials. Sadly, 67 bodies remained unidentified and were buried together a mile away from the Cleveland School in a mass grave at Beulah Methodist Church Cemetery. And whereas, the tragedy of the Cleveland School Fire resulted in the enactment and amendment of laws and rules throughout the United States to provide for greater public safety in assembly spaces.

» Now, therefore, be it resolved, in memory of those who lost their lives in the Cleveland School Fire almost 100 years ago, Kershaw County Council hereby proclaims May 17, 2023, as the Cleveland School Fire Day, to honor those that perished in the fire and to recognize the tragedy as having a profound historic impact both locally and nationally, resolved by Kershaw County Council this 25th day of April, 2023. And is there a motion to approve the resolution? Madam Chair, I will proudly make a motion to approve the Cleveland School resolution that's in my district. Mr. Tucker makes the motion. Is there a second? Second. Second by Mr. Cato. And we're into discussion. With that, I want to invite up to the podium, W.

» Chief Mallard Bullard from Kershaw Fire Service, Chief John Bowers from Camden, Captain Chris Jones from Lugoff, Carter Jones from the State Fire Association, Ann Seegers, Deborah Anderson-Joe, Fire Chief Will Glover, and Fire Chief Chris Spitzer. You're here. You're still here. Gentlemen, thank you for being here. And Mr. Glover, you have the floor. Madam Chair, members of council, thank you all for doing this for us tonight. I want to thank the members of the committee that have been working on this 100th memorial for all the time and dedication that they've had. It's been an honor to serve with them. And get ready for this day that's coming up. Just a small plug, on May 16th at 6 p.m. at the Revolutionary War site in here in Camden, we'll be doing an educational-type seminar at 6 p.m.

» with members of state and local agencies to kind of talk about the things that happened that night and what's changed since then. The codes that have changed nationally because of this fire, such as fire drills, exit doors, opening outward, you know, different things. This fire affected a lot of families locally, but it also has affected and saved lives nationally. So it's wonderful that we're able to memorize that. But on May 17th, I'm sorry, at 10 a.m. at the Cleveland School Memorial site on Cleveland School Road, we'll be doing the 100th-year memorial service. And directly after that, we'll move to Bueller Church, where the mass grave is, and do another service there.

» So we invite everyone to attend, the more the merrier, and we really want to be able to memorialize and remember everyone that was affected by that fire that night. Thank you, Mr. Glover. Deputy Chief Tidwell. Can you come up? I'm sorry. We have to hear from the Camden Fire Chief. Thank you all for allowing us to come here and recognizing this tragic event. What Chief Glover said is so poignant and so true. So it's hard to imagine, if you could imagine, heaven forbid, a tragedy like that happening now with 77 lives of people in our community. If you can imagine, it's hard for us to, but if you can imagine going back 100 years when this community was so much closer and so more compact, I think there's families that they lost every member of their families.

» Our 2B governor, John Carl West, his father, passed away. And I think his mom was only kept away because she was home pending to this small child who would let her become our governor. So this thing touches every part of our community. It's such a tragedy. And I've learned through the years that people do forget. And when I travel around the state and I talk to firefighters, it is ironic how few people know about the tragedy. Largest loss in life event that's happened in the state of South Carolina. It's happened right here in our community. And even in our community, people forget. Or maybe young people don't know. So it's our job to try to keep that memory alive and to preserve the memory of those that lost their lives.

» And it was mentioned about the lives that have been saved, the thousands of lives that have been saved because of the changes to fire codes that resulted in some part of the product of this tragedy. Carter Jones is our special projects coordinator for our South Carolina Firefighters Association. Hey, Mr. Jones. Thank you for being here. Yes. Thank you for having us and doing this resolution. It's very important for the state. And, of course, Kershaw County is recognized for the battles of the Revolutionary War. And, sadly, Kershaw County is recognized for one of the saddest fires we've ever had in our state. But thank you for bringing this to the public's attention. I am amazed at how many people don't know about this fire.

» So the events that we have planned for the 16th and 17th, I invite all of you to please come. We'll have some national dignitaries there from the National Fire Protection Association, local and state governments. On Wednesday at the site, we're in hopes the governor will be there as well as many others. So, please come out and learn about the details of this tragic fire. It's amazing. So, thank you very much. Thank you. Ms. Ann and Ms. Debraith, do you like to say anything? Right. Councilwoman, into the chair, we want to say thank you for allowing this to happen. And, as I always give thanks to our firemen. Last year, doing our women's group, I mentioned to them and I said, do y'all know that next year in 2023, on May 17th, it will be the 100th year of the Cleveland Fire tragedy.

» And I just wanted to say, growing up as a young child, my grand-uncle Albert Smith used to talk about the Cleveland school fire. And, I was always just thought he was just telling, you know, just talking. And then, once I started reading up and asked, I became the pastor of Beulah United Methodist Church, I actually saw the grave, this mass grave site. It was just something that was placed in my heart and I thanked the firemen because all we had to do was mention it. And they took over and I'm so glad, I'm so happy. And, as they said, so many lives have changed because of that tragedy. Their lives were sacrificed that we would have better schools, safety for our children now, and all schools over the world. And I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you. Thanks again to all our kids.

» Thank you. Amen. Absolutely. Chief Bowers, I think sometimes we take it for granted. I know as a business owner we have a lot of codes and special things we have to do, but because of those, that's the reason we haven't had another situation like this. So, it's very important. So, thank you. Yes, ma'am. My mother-in-law, Kate, she was Kate Dixon, she was graduating that year. So, she was actually in the fire and was thrown out of the window by a gentleman that, I think there was a lot of gentlemen said that were throwing people out of the window. She broke her arm. But her mother and two siblings were burned to death. I'm so sorry. Also, her brother's wife and child were also burned, plus other family members, distant relatives. But I just can't imagine the tragedy that these people felt.

» And some families had no one to go home. So, it took 20 years for our community to rebuild, and now it is overflowing with people. But she didn't talk a lot about the tragedy part, only just general information she would sometimes tell me. But I went on to live a very good life, and so did a lot of the others that I knew. I also knew John Carl's, Wes's mother, in the community. And she raised her children and, of course, did a great job, as a lot of the mothers did that lost their husband. Thank you for being here tonight. Yes, sir. When you give my age, memory seems to fade. I will tell you that we approached educational television about entertaining, doing a documentary.

» After going through some steps, the national as well as the state ETV public broadcasting is currently filming and will do a one-hour documentary via nationwide telecast, most likely next year. But ETV will be present for both events as well as the media. But we'll give national recognition for this part. Thank you for taking it to them. And, ladies, thank you for bringing the resolution forward. It was originally a proclamation, and when we decided to resolve that that day be Cleveland School Fire Day. One more thing. Deputy Chief Buller, he's going to make his way around. We have a commemorative coin that we're going to give to council and admin, just as an appreciation for y'all doing this for us. Thank you, Mr. Glover.

» Council members, any comments, questions? I just like to thank you, Mr. Dones. Mr. Dones. I would just like to say thank you to each and every one of you out there for keeping this alive. You know, because I think God put time on this earth as a filtering system, and we do tend to let loose and forget. But when you see fine folks like this come up here and give us information on the histories of their family, and I look at all the brass out there, and I see all the Joneses that are out there. We might be family. But thank you so much to each and every one of you. I appreciate it. We never were it with a more wonderful group than these fireflies. They have been great. They are. They truly are. I'd like to say that this is very cool and very special, so thank you.

» And I'd also like to say it's good to see Kershaw County fire, Lugol fire, Camden fire, all in one room, one mission. And that's what it's all about. It's about teamwork. It's not about, you know, one department versus the other. It's about working together for the community. And that's what I see tonight, and I really appreciate that. And, Chris, I appreciate, Chief, I appreciate your passion. I want you to understand something. We'll never not support our first responders. We hear you. You and I have talked on the phone, and you guys are going to be taken care of. We appreciate it very much. All right. With that, I'm going to call for the vote. All those in favor of resolving that May 17, 2023, is Cleveland School Fire Day in Kershaw County. Indicate by raising your hand.

» And the vote is unanimous. May 17th is Cleveland School Fire Day. And, ladies and gentlemen, if you'll come into the dais, we'll come down and take a picture. Chief Owens. Grab her and turn her back around. Can we take a picture? Yes. Hey, how are you? Thank you. Thank you. I'm sorry. I've got to zoom out. Yeah, thank you, buddy. Okay, so May 16th, 6 p.m. at Historic Camden, and then May 17th, 10 a.m. at the Cleveland School site. All right. Next, we will go into old business. We have one item tonight for old business. The American Rescue Plan Act, ARPA Funds Recommitment for Kershaw County Public Safety Radios. Is there a motion pertaining to this item at this time? There is.

» If I may, Madam Chair, members of the county council, I'll make the motion to dedicate $3.4 million from the ARPA funds previously committed to sewer utilities to Kershaw County Public Safety Departments or radios. Kershaw County Public Safety Departments are Kershaw County Sheriff's Department, Kershaw County Fire, Kershaw County EMS, Kershaw County 911, and Lugo Fire District, Kershaw County Emergency Response Center. All right. Motion made by Mr. Jones. Is there a second? I'll second. Mr. Tomlinson second, and we're into discussion. I will lead, since I placed this on the agenda. And Chief Spencer contacted me last March, March 2022, and so I've been following this need and this equipment need for a while, even before I got elected.

» Chief Glover told this council it was necessary at the retreat this year, and as a priority, I wanted to put this back on the agenda. This isn't a budgetary request. This is an equipment necessity. So this is inevitable. It's something we have to do. With the backlog and the price increase and how long it's going to take to get the batteries and everything that goes into these radios, I would like it to be completed as soon as possible. So that's why I brought it back up and put it on the agenda. I do have the ARPA guidelines for this. This falls under several places. The first place being government services. Some examples of government services ARPA can be used for provision of police, fire, and other public safety services, including the purchase of fire trucks and police vehicles.

» Government services is the most flexible use category for ARPA funds. We also have public health emergency. Eligibility includes public communication efforts, emergency operation centers, emergency response equipment, emergency response radio systems. And then we also have another section of ARPA that this falls under, public sector. So the eligibility for public sector includes police officers, sheriffs and deputy sheriffs, firefighters, emergency medical responders, correctional and attention officers, dispatchers, and supervisor personnel. So I think we are well within our purview to use ARPA funds for this one-time purchase. It won't be reoccurring. So I think it's fiscally responsible.

» And I absolutely believe we owe this to our public safety in Kershaw County to go ahead and get it done so that they can place their order and they can move on with the equipment that they need to purchase. Any other comments? Madam Chair, I yield to Mr. Tucker. Thank you. I just want to say what the Chairwoman has read out is absolutely correct on all of the legality on what the funds can be used for. I don't have heartburn about fire, EMS, or any of our public safety. I just want to remind my colleagues that this was given to the Finance Committee last month to look into and to come back with recommendations. We came out within the 14 days and reported that we did not have all the information. We got final numbers just yesterday because we met.

» And we had some discussion at the meeting, and we're going to set up with some new meeting dates immediately following this meeting. I plan to, and I don't know what my colleagues would want to do, to still make recommendations because there's a few things that we want this Council to consider before making a move just at Opera Funds to fund these radios. We've had not such a good start up here when it comes down to these Opera Funds. And I don't want it to appear that we have fight amongst this Council on grabbing Opera Funds to use for things that we may have prioritized different than one another. And so for those reasons, and it's not against fire, it's not against EMS, it's strictly against process, I will not be supporting this tonight. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. Mr. Braswell.

» The Administrator, Danny, could you clarify a few things for me from a financial standpoint? You had told me that in our ARPA funds, we gained a lot of money. Do we have a number? I'd like to do some real math just real quick. You said it was around $12 million because it gained so much in interest. Is that a fact? I don't have the exact numbers, but 12-plus, I would feel confident. So we have 10.2 committed. We have, because of interest rates, because of the state of the economy, we're gaining interest at a higher clip. And there were still some funds that were not completely exhausted. So we are... Are they available as well, the funds that are not completely exhausted? So those were, there was about $500,000 or $600,000 set aside for studies.

» So it could be, just like anything else, recommitted. So it's just kind of tucked away, committed, just like sewer. Here's where I'm at. We've been patiently waiting to find out about some past votes and reallocations. Just quick math, would you say there's $7.5 million, $8 million left after this 3.4 gets recommitted? Approximately. Let's see if it's... You're sure it's $12 million. I don't want to put words in your mouth. Are you sure it's $12 million? $12 plus. I don't know what the plus is, but at least $12. Let's work off of $12 million. So I don't want to handcuff ourselves to not being able to do something else. Okay? So $12 million minus $3,400,000, that's $8.6 million. If that's the case, I'm definitely comfortable moving forward and saying yes tonight to this reallocation.

» Do you feel like that's the case? I'm fairly confident, not 100% confident, because I'm not... I had asked for that information today. I hoped it would have been on my desk prior to this meeting, but I wanted to understand what was allocated beyond the 10.2 that I can hang my hat on and at what clip we're earning the interest. Now, again, back to my brief on first reading title only. I did use interest about just south of $300,000 to balance the general fund budget, but that's kind of a smaller amount in the grand scheme of things. But we have been, because we have not touched ARPA, we have been gaining money on an annual basis at a fairly good clip.

» So $12 million is, I've seen that number on a balance sheet, but I'm not 100% sure where that money is committed beyond sewer, if that makes any sense. So is anybody on the finance committee clear? So I know we have $10.2 million committed to sewer. So at a minimum, if that $10.2 million, I think, is it fair to say, Danny, that the $10.2 million exist in sewer, if that were decommitted, I mean, that we know that number, $10.2 for sure, 100% for sure. There's a chance that between that $10.2 and $12, we have that money, but you can't say for sure now where that's necessarily committed. Like, for example, I know we had given, like, the town of Elgin something. That could be in that $12 million, for example.

» And originally, the one area that is kind of gray to me is that we committed $1 million during COVID for the businesses. I mean, it was, say, $3,500 per business. We used $1 million of that, and that was to be replaced by ARPA, which is truly the $10 million of revenue replacement. So that is kind of an appendage hanging out there for me that I can't really say with certainty where that is, what account that is in. But can I ask, too, so obviously the finance committee has to meet, beyond just this issue, you know, a lot of other issues as we get into the second reading in May, we'll have those exact numbers by the time we get into our next meeting. Yes, I will have all of that, the performance of our LGIP and things like that. Sorry, Mr. Brasel, I jumped into your questioning.

» I apologize. No, I want a clarification. So that's exactly what we needed. So I'm looking at a worst-case scenario of a remaining balance of $6.8 million, according to the $10.2 minus the $3.4. I think we can accomplish everything else that we've discussed with that number. So I'm in full support of going ahead and getting this done as important. But I will not be supporting anything further until the second reading of the budget. And I think that's important for everybody to understand, that anything between now and then, extra, I think, would be a money grab to kill other projects. So gentlemen, completely support the $3.4 million tonight.

» Anything else between now and second reading, for Finance Committee to come back and give us a complete and total report, I will have to not support just due to principal. So thank you for the clarification. Thank you, Mr. Brasel. So again, I stated this. This isn't a budget request. This is an equipment necessity that's been going on for years. So I just respectfully disagree. This is the highest priority. So there's nothing else that I need to look at. This has to happen. There's no money grabbing going on. For where I sit, we went through the timeline. Chief Spitzer went through the timeline. And this has been an ongoing issue for years. And to stop it from ongoing and allow them to purchase the equipment they need, we need to go ahead and move on it.

» So this is completely separate, in my eyes, from the budget. Mr. Jones. Well, I absolutely agree with you, Madam Chair. And, you know, the American Rescue Plan Act, what better way to spend money? You know, we look at it backlogs. We look at it increases. We've got the money there. It's a no-brainer. This is top priority with me, top priority with me. I will be voting for this. I'm very proud that the Chair put this on the agenda for tonight. And I'm just sorry it's taken us so long. And I thank you, Mr. Brazel, for supporting it tonight. Thank you. And just to further clarify, I don't think that what we're doing for the fire department is a money grab at all. I agree 100% with what you had to say. I think anything else, anything further would be a potential money grab.

» I don't have anything else on my mind, but public safety. Okay, and that thrills me to know. I want to let the – when the finance committee was created, we charged them with doing a ton of due diligence. And I want to make sure that their due diligence is thorough and that they're able to do their jobs correctly and report back to us and that we can all make a decision together that we feel like is well thought out and thorough. So that's just where I'm at with the entire situation. Yes, Mr. Schumacher. Sorry, did you – No, no, go ahead. So I think we do, Madam Chair, respectfully disagree. By the way, I'm fully in support of this. Let me just begin with that. I think we do disagree about this being a budget item, but at this point, it's a bit of a moot point.

» I mean, I'm going to vote for this. I do think it's important. I do know the finance committee wanted to put this in the second reading, but, again, I mean, I don't disagree with what anybody else has said. This is certainly a top priority. I think there's just a process question. To Mr. Tucker's point, there's a process question of kind of making sure everything balances out. And, again, I'm not looking to rehash that. You and I respectfully disagree, but, again, I think this is critically important. And I just want to say, too, since we're talking about fire, you know, until I joined this council and learned about this, I have to admit my own ignorance. I didn't know about the Cleveland school fire myself. So I've learned about it, and I've been teaching my kids about it.

» My kids both go to high school here. So that's pretty – that's phenomenal. You know, to think about that, I don't know. Anyway, thank you for what you do. And I'm fully supportive of it, regardless of our disagreements on the process. Thank you, Mr. Shoemake. So if this was the first time hearing about the radios, I think I would agree, just because the Finance Committee was newly established. But this has been talked about for years. So – I can say – I agree with this. I hear you. Mr. – hold on. Mr. Tomlinson. Mr. Tucker, may I have the – for a minute? Yes, sir. Feel free. Just – I'll be really quick. I want to start by saying I wholeheartedly support our first responders.

» Just in the audience right here and members who came up, two of my classmates who I went to school with, Chief Glover, Raleigh Reynolds, who serve our fire department, Chris Tidwell, Deputy Chief Tidwell, is a great friend of mine. I wholeheartedly support all y'all do and appreciate all the men and women of our first responders, specifically fire. Thank you. Y'all have thankless jobs and long hours, and your family struggles as well with it. So thank you all for what you do. It has been an honor, like I said earlier, to serve on the Finance Committee, and we reported out last meeting a unanimous vote from the committee to have on second reading to include ARPA funds, how we're going to divide it based upon the different areas that were sent for us to look at.

» I also agree that I think that is part of the budget process, but I'm not going to let politics stand in the way of this, because I wholeheartedly support, and I think we're going to end up having this come out of ARPA funds anyways. So I will be voting for this tonight, even though, once again, I think we should have stuck with the process. But thank y'all so much, and I will be in support tonight. Mr. Cato. Thank you. Again, I want to reiterate exactly what my colleagues have said. I have spoken since I've been on county council in January. I've spoken with every director from EMS to fire. I've spoken with Chief Spitzer at Lugoff. I've spoken with each and every one, the sheriff. I came from emergency services. I came out of law enforcement.

» Chief Spitzer was talking about entering a burning building. I spent about six to eight years with a volunteer fire service. I've been in a burning building several times. I know what that's like, and I would never, ever do anything against our first responders. I will be supporting this tonight, but I got a little heartburn. And if I didn't voice my heartburn, I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight, because I've not been able to sleep for the last couple nights. This came out on the agenda. Nobody had, nobody took the time to call and talk to me. Didn't ask me my opinion. Didn't explain anything to me. I was blindsided. You know, this council has got to get better at communication. Absolutely got to get better at communication.

» And I don't want to put a damper on this tonight, but it upset me tremendously to know that everybody else expects me to go to them when I've got an idea or something I want to bring up, but nobody can't come to me. Maybe District 6 don't matter. I don't know. But I wouldn't include it in nothing until I seen it on the agenda. So I had to do my own homework. So that's off my chest. I'm very disappointed in the fact that it's taken this long for this county to do something for our first responders. I'm very aggravated over this whole situation. I'm aggravated in the fact that it took this long for our county to get our first responders radios that they desperately need. And in the process, just as Chief Spencer spoke of, the cost has went up.

» And I didn't, and I apologize because I was trying to listen. I didn't take that note. I don't know what the difference would be in the money. But it cost the taxpayers of this county money because we waited. And I don't know why we waited. It should have already been handled. So tonight, I am proud to say that I'll support this, and you deserve it, you need it, and you will be getting it. Thank you. Mr. Cato, I just want to let you know that I didn't call anyone. Any member of this council can put anything on the agenda, and I put my motion in the agenda packet. So I'm sorry that I didn't call you. I didn't call anybody else. I put it on the agenda because I felt like it was time to make a decision.

» So this has been on the agenda before, so it was maybe my assumption that everybody knew it was a priority that I was trying to get this through. Because I took it off the agenda last month. Madam Chair, all do all do all do. There was no intention of not working with you or District 6. This is something I put on the agenda myself. With all due respect, I know that it was sent to the Finance Committee. So I was under the understanding that the Finance Committee was going to come back with a recommendation, and then all of a sudden it shows up on the agenda, which is fine. Hey, I'm fine with it. It's got to be done. It needs to be done, and it's going to get done. But I got chastised because I knew of something that was on the agenda before, and I didn't tell anybody.

» So I just expected that I would get the same courtesy. This needs to pass. This needs to pass. This needs to be over with tonight. And we need to have better communication for all of us. What's good for the goose has got to be good for the yander, I suppose, is what you're saying. Council members, this is from our rules that we passed. Council members may submit matters to the Finance Committee for consideration and recommendations to council. If a matter is submitted to the Finance Committee for consideration by a council member, the Finance Committee shall make its recommendation to council within 14 days of submission of the matter. If no recommendation is made to council, the matter submitted, 14 days, the matter may be placed on the agenda by the council member.

» That council member is me. Our Finance Committee is working very hard. I attend their meetings. This is not anything to them or against their hard work. The 14 days passed, and this is a priority of mine from this chair. So I put it on the agenda, which I rightly can do so. Mr. Tucker. Thank you, Madam Chair. No, you can go ahead. Thank you. District 6 does matter, Councilman Kato. Every district up here, and I want you to know that because sometimes you feel like you're alone. My question, Madam Chair, is to you. Did anyone talk to Hamden Fire Department? Yes, I did. Okay, and they were okay, didn't need any assistance on their radios, because you do know they take care of the outside boundaries of the county, which is not in the city, and those folks pay taxes too.

» So I just want to make sure that that's clear, and that report was asked. So they obviously could use assistance. No one is going to say, sure, no, we're good. They did receive ARPA funds, though. Lugoff Fire District did not. Correct. So the way that the city has allocated their ARPA funds is completely up to them. Lugoff Fire doesn't even have an opportunity to use their ARPA funds for radios. That's why I included them. Yeah. Lugoff Fire is also not a government agency as far as the municipality or county, so they wouldn't be receiving any, and I duly understand that. I also want to say that there's nine items on our priority list that we're going to discuss next, nine items. Nine items in high priority.

» None of these are listed into priority one, two, three, and four, because they all have the same ranking system. This is what we did at our retreat, and the radios are on there, but there's eight of our items that you're going to hear about in the next item we go to on our agenda that has just as much priority because we put it there, not the citizens, not staff. This is what council did at the retreat, and so those are my concerns. When I'm trying to balance nine items and fix as much as I can, you guys are fixing one tonight, and I applaud you for it because I'm for the radios. Once again, I'm just not for the process. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. Mr. Jones, you've been very patient. Finally.

» Well, listen, I'm excited about this that it's going to pass tonight, but I just want to say this. I think that Madam Chair has been unfairly attacked on this issue. She was very transparent. She put it on the agenda. The agenda was there for all of us to see at the same time, and I hear my colleagues talk about transparency, but just a couple of meetings ago, they voted to accept a $6 million match, and it wasn't even on the agenda. It was on the agenda. It was not on the agenda. How could we even speak of it if it wasn't on the agenda? Mr. Browns and Mr. Jones have the floor. It was not on the agenda. That's incorrect. That is not incorrect. And the bottom line is, so to sit here, I mean, I was in total shock that night.

» Of course, I've been blindsided before many times, but if we pay attention to our paperwork, there's no reason for us to be blindsided on this because it was properly put on the agenda. It was properly addressed. It was put out there in a timely fashion. So, you know, Madam Chair, I thank you for doing that. And did you reach out to the Kennedy Fire Chief, Chairman Tucker? No, I reached out to the mayor. Okay, well, I reached out to the Kennedy Fire Chief. Boots on the ground. I don't get to talk to the fire chief like I do the mayor. We have different relationships. So, it's okay. But anyway, I'm glad everybody supports this. I've got to get this off my chest. She did it by the book when the others have not done it by the book. And I can bring that documentation to prove that. Thank you.

» Thank you, Mr. Jones. If I may. With that, I'll call the vote. All those in favor. I would like to speak. Mr. Braswell, I'm not giving you the floor. I'm calling for the vote. All those in favor of dedicating $3.4 million from county ARPA funds previously committed to sewer utilities to Kershaw County Public Safety Department radios, indicate by raising your hand. Mr. Cato, Mr. Tomlinson, Mr. Jones, myself, Mr. Shoemake, and Mr. Braswell, and all those opposed, and Mr. Tucker. The recommitment of the funds passes. Congratulations. The next. Mr. Jones, please sit down. Yeah, I'm excited. Next item is under new business. New business, the goals and objectives from the county retreat that we had earlier this year. Mr.

» Templer, I'm going to give you the floor to explain it to us, and then we'll get a motion on the floor to accept. Sure. Madam Chair, members of council, you have before you, there should be something up on the dais in front of each of you, high, medium, and low priority goals, as we took these goals from the exercise we performed at the council retreat as it relates to the budget and goal setting for 23-24 fiscal year. These are categorized high, medium, and low. We do not have these in any numerical order. It's been my experience in the past that items have moved up and down by vote. So we put them in the order we thought they were important. So low priority, there was just really only one low priority goal as it relates to solid waste. But these are the product of the council retreat.

» And if you want me to go in further, I will, or I'll defer to you. Let's see if we can get, if there's a motion, and then we'll go to discussion. Is there a motion to accept the budget retreat goals and objectives for 23-24? Madam Chair, I'll make that motion. Mr. Tucker makes the motion. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Cato seconds. And into discussion, Mr. Templer, you want to explain more? So as you can see, there are a lot of high priority goals, and medium and low were just in short number. There were some discussion items, just for example, fire, volunteer incentives, some legal work to do there as it relates to the incentives for taxes, solid waste. We explored curbside pickup and stop violators. Some of these are already in work.

» We were at the most recent budget meeting, and curbside pickup came up. We've done some exploratory work on that item as well. A county grant writer has been talked about, voter registration. There's some work that needs to be done over there, and these are under medium priority right now. Public Works, equipment operator pay, same goes for Public Works, solid waste, CDL drivers, just bringing up for competitive pay. EMS, this would be a capital item. Two ambulances and one chassis for a remount. Sheriff's office cars, and he had also requested an attorney to be on staff outside of the normal legal services were provided. Going over to the high priority detention center, the detention center needs work and some updates.

» Dispatch 911, increased full-time employees, higher salaries, starting salaries. Pay in salaries, we have several employees throughout. I think there was about 30 employees making $11 an hour or less, so that was something under the high priority. Sheriff's office in high priority was courthouse security, FTEs, full-time employees, two detectives, one narcotics officer, one investigator, and four road deputies. Some of that was some grant work. Parks and rec, complete parks for Casey West and Larry Dovey, just the completion of those uncompleted phases. Facility upgrades, ADA compliance, focus on tourism, facility maintenance to existing parks and rec assets. I.T., there's always going to be a need for cybersecurity.

» EMS, we've been exploring for some years, 2472 shift facilities, station one and two, we need to replace those. Fleet maintenance, that's just, we always want to get better there. First responders, and you've got the Motorola radio purchase, again, there's some other discussions, a sewer study, the Humane Society, Fire, as it relates to future facility replacements. Sewer study has been ongoing, Humane Society has been an ongoing project as well. So, and this is a document that I use as a template, a rubric, if you will, as I craft the budget, looking at what items I can address in the high priority side. Again, I didn't have my ARPA numbers for Mr.

» Brazel, and that was, I purposely did not pay that much attention to ARPA because I wanted this budget to be funded completely outside of ARPA. The way I see it, if anything from ARPA was decommitted and recommitted somewhere else for capital projects or other items, to me, that was icing on the cake. These items were looked to be funded through just pure tax revenue and any other fees that we would have as normal income streams. And with that, I will turn it over for any questions. Thank you, Mr. Templer. Do you know which budgetary items are carryover from last year's budget, schools, and retreats? Salaries has been ongoing for years. Courthouse security. There was a courthouse upgrade. The action wreck to some degree. Cybersecurity was a carryover.

» But, again, some of these were not incomplete, but they were just ongoing projects. EMS 2472 was discussed last year. And I would say fire with future facilities and replacements just because of Antioch and things of that nature. And for my colleagues, I'm in no way saying we need to go off last year's goals. I was just wondering, from my own knowledge, how many things are reoccurring as high priority. And, ma'am, if I may, some of the things, even in medium priority, we're always going to need ambulances. We're always going to need police cars and things of that nature. So a lot of this we'll never see completely clear out. They'll always be a goal. Yes, ma'am. If I may. Yes, Mr. Jones. Unless I may have someone to go first.

» You know, what, here's where I do have a little bit of indigestion about this. I noticed we got Parks and Recreation completes of Parks and KC West, Larry Dobies. That's fine. That's what I think we should do. But I have a hard time putting that as a top priority over the two ambulances, the chassis, and the sheriff's cars. So, Mr. Jones, you can amend the motion to accept these goals if you'd like? I'd like to do that right now to place an amendment on the floor that we take. We can leave that as a high priority, but we take the EMS, two ambulances, the chassis, and the sheriff's cars, and put that over ahead of any improvements on the Parks and Recreation. Okay.

» Motion to amend the motion to accept these goals to move EMS, two ambulances, and one chassis, and the sheriff's vehicles to high priority? Mm-hmm. Can we? Is there a motion? Is there a second? Second. Mr. Braslow, seconds? And discussion on that move? If I may, or Mr. Jones, would you like to go first? Go ahead, Mr. Braslow. Go ahead. All right. So, I think I agree with that 100%. And I think we've got an opportunity to complete the parks with donated money. So, I think that would be probably the proper way to do the parks, and putting the two ambulances and the one chassis in the sheriff's car. And I'd like to further amend the motion to include his attorney. Because if we can't prosecute misdemeanors, how is the judicial system in Kershaw County going to work properly? Okay.

» There's a motion to amend. Are you amending Mr. Jones' motion, or are you amending the first motion? Yes. He made a motion to amend mine. Yes. Okay. Motion to amend Mr. Jones. Motion to amend to add the attorney for the sheriff's office as part of the amendment. Is there a second? I'll second. Okay. Mr. Tomlinson, second. Discussion on moving the attorney only. Well, I can just, I will say specifically that the officers have to do their own misdemeanors, try their own misdemeanors, which is some counties do it, some counties don't. So the answer to your question, I mean, ideally they'd get an attorney, but I think FTEs in the budget are going to be very tough. I can just tell you that from the finance committee perspective. But the, it's not that they go unprosecuted.

» The officers have to prosecute them. It's like, for example, the municipalities do that. I'm not sure what Camden does, but the city of Elgin, you know, the officers prosecute. And I'm not saying that's a great answer, but that, that is how they are prosecuted. Just to answer your question about how they're prosecuted. I, I think in a growing community with more people and unfortunately more crime, I don't want to handcuff our sheriff from not being able to prosecute when he needs to prosecute. And, and, you know, maybe a first time or a second time offender DUI, um, walk the street because an attorney got him off on a technicality when we didn't have representation. I think this is important. I've thought about this a lot. And if what Mr.

» Jones said, I agree with 100% as far as what's more important. Um, but I would just like to add that to the conversation. Clarification. Yes. Thank you. Help me here. Councilman Shoemake. Of course, I've been in law enforcement all my life. And so, you know, the rest of me, I understand exactly what you're saying, but don't we provide the county attorney on certain major cases that they have to prosecute? I mean, hasn't some of. I mean, that's, you can ask, you're talking about our county, like Ken, our county attorney? Tommy, John, Ken, haven't y'all been assigned to certain cases to help the sheriff's department in the past? I know that the county attorney has certainly helped code enforcement in its duties.

» I do not have any direct knowledges to exact misdemeanors for the sheriff's office. But would you be surprised if it has occurred? You would be, okay. I would not be surprised. If you were asked, you would serve? Yeah, we regularly provide legal representation to the sheriff. As the county attorney. And I say this to a former prosecutor to help me understand, not to try to put you on the spot, but I want to kick your brain. How do you feel about it? I think it's great. I think it's great having a full-time attorney. It's strictly a balance of what we can afford, right? What we can afford. So the benefit of you, so here's the downside of using the county attorney, or the upside of using the county attorney is we already have them. Of course, you have to pay for their time.

» Which could be more. Which could be considerably more. And the downside is, I haven't looked at Smith Robinson's page in a while, but, you know, if you don't have someone who does this work regularly, like, when you do municipality work, you can step into some different things. It's difficult to start stepping into sort of misdemeanors. That's why they've typically been called in on larger cases, because they can kind of, it's worth paying them to learn the law. But it's harder when you're talking about routine prosecution to have somebody that doesn't do a lot of it. It's doable, but in the end, it's probably more expensive to hire someone from Smith Robinson to help with misdemeanor DUIs than it would be to hire an attorney. Probably. Be my guess.

» Does that answer your question, Councilman Jones? I'm not trying to, does that answer your question? How do you feel about it? I mean, I love the idea of them having an attorney as a theoretical option. I just don't know that we have the money for any FTEs. But, yeah, I think it's, I mean, I know that Richland has an attorney, and I know it's helpful. Well, we could put it over on top priority, but as long as the. But let me, can I say just something on the priority, because it is related to the attorney, because it's related to everything. My only issue with moving priorities is that we had the whole budget retreat and voted, and I totally understand what you're saying.

» I just, I'm a little reluctant to go back and revisit what we spent, you know, several days voting on from a priority perspective. I'm a little reluctant to do that as a procedural matter. But I do, I mean, I would love for the sheriff to have an attorney. And that was, that was my idea, not Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones had, I think he was more concerned about the ambulances and the cars. But, but if we're going to. Absolutely, absolutely, no, no, I'll admit, absolutely. Mr. Rizzo has the floor. That was my, that was my main intent. Yes, and I just picked up on what you were saying, and I agreed with you completely.

» And I think if, if we're willing to do that, if we're willing to revisit that during the budget process, I certainly think if we were able to use some interest that we've gained on the ARPA funds, you could probably fund him for one year, and I bet we'll have enough organic growth to fund him in the future between now and next year's budget. Thank you, Mr. Rizzo. The attorney is recurring, the others aren't. A couple things I want to weigh in on this. So just specifically about the attorney, because that's the amendment we're on. I don't know that I can justify it as a high priority, because I don't know that the sheriff in his budget request justified it. He mainly said that he has a lot of FOIA requests, and having an attorney handle those would be beneficial.

» I can't move that when we have people in the county making $11 an hour, for example, on the high priority. The second point, if we start moving things, you know, if everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. So I would like to keep the attorney where it is, unless there is a super compelling reason that the sheriff's department needs its own attorney. And, Mr. Shoemake, you might be able to correct me, but I didn't understand during the briefing of the sheriff's briefing that the attorney would be prosecuting anyone. Isn't that the 5th District Solicitor's Office? So here's the, so two things, and again, I'm not generally supportive of moving anything on the priority list. I want to be clear. That's just my opinion.

» But, and not to contradict you, but when we did ask Sheriff Bowen at one point, and we said if you could wave a wand, and he did list attorney as one of his top requests, just to be fair. And to detectives, narcotics, investigator, or four deputies. At the end, when we asked him, where he ended was attorney. So he did list it, but, but I'm still not in favor of moving it. But, yeah, they would be prosecuting the misdemeanors. That's what I think is important. That would be doing it. Do we know, Mr.

» Broussel, do you know how many are outstanding, and how many would be able to be moved if the attorney is on his staff? Well, I know from a general statement that the court system is completely and totally backed up, and the solicitor's office said that they were not going to be able to help us with any misdemeanors was what the sheriff had indicated to me. And he said, I'm going to be dependent on my deputies coming off the road from patrolling to serve time in court, which is going to hurt them and their ability to serve our community. So, I mean, it's, is it perfect? I'm not sure. But he indicated to me, and I think he indicated to Councilman Shoemate, that this was important to him.

» And we could at least address it between now, we've got a month, and see if it is that important to him. I think it's, I think it's a valid situation. I really do. Okay, thank you, Mr. Broussel. Mr. Tucker. I don't know where we went down this rabbit hole at, but let me see. Let me get our circle back around. First and foremost, it makes no sense to have a retreat if we're going to start flip-flopping what we did. These were the priorities that the people that came put up on that wall, and this is where the crooked crumbles fell. It wasn't any magic in it. Did y'all skew the numbers somehow, Mr. Templer, when you came up with the tallies? Yeah, sir. Okay. So, they are what they are. So, I'm in total favor of leaving the priorities the way they are.

» Now, if there's something that's medium priority that happens to catch the eye of Council, and we need to move it over or fund it. None of this is funded other than the radios were just funded. And so, if you want to move it, fund it. That's the way to move it. Fund it. Come up with a funding mechanism and fund it. The other thing is, Mr. Cato, you've been in law enforcement longer than I have. We prosecute our own cases on the magistrate level. When did that quit? When did that quit? Highway Patrol gets up. I have left racks to go to court to prosecute cases. When did that stop? I'm lost. And I'm ready for the vote, Madam Chair. Any other comments? Okay. Call the vote on amending Mr. Jones' amendment to approve the retreat goals just on moving the attorney to Mr. Jones' amendment.

» Did that make sense? All those in favor of adding the attorney to Mr. Jones' amendment to move priorities, indicate by raising your hand. Mr. Tomlinson, Mr. Jones, Mr. Brazel, and all those opposed. Mr. Cato, myself, Mr. Shoemake, and Mr. Tucker. So, the amendment fails. Now, we are up to the original amendment to add EMS, one chassis, and the sheriff's vehicles to high priority from medium priority. And two ambulances. Two ambulance, one chassis, and the sheriff's vehicles to high priority from medium priority. All those in favor of that amendment, indicate by raising your hand. Mr. Cato, Mr. Tomlinson, Mr. Jones, myself, and Mr. Brazel. All those opposed. Mr. Shoemake and Mr. Tucker. That amendment passes. And any more discussion questions for the administrator? On the money. Okay.

» I'll call the question. All those in favor of approving this budget retreat goals and objective as amended, indicate by raising your hand. Mr. Cato, Mr. Tomlinson. And the vote is unanimous. Okay. So, these budget retreat goals are passed. EMS, two ambulance, one chassis, and the sheriff's vehicles are now high priorities. Thank you, gentlemen. Next order of new business, the SAFER grant. SAFER stands for Staffing and Adequate Fire and Emergency Response. And we have an award letter to Mr. Glover from U.S. Department of Homeland Security awarding a grant. And Mr. Templer, if, oh, I see him. Can Mr. Glover approach the podium, please? Absolutely. So, we're voting tonight on accepting this grant. Is there a motion to accept the grant? I'll make a motion. Mr. Tomlinson makes a motion.

» Any second? Mr. Tucker seconds. Mr. Glover, I'm going to give you the floor if you can explain a little more about the grant and the requirements. Okay. So, Madam Chair, members of the council, we submitted this grant back in 21 for a recruitment and retention officer. You know, one of the requests for this year was a training officer. This position would be a recruitment and retention officer, also heavily into the training officer spot. This grant funds that position for four years. They did not quite give me all the money that I requested for the position, but they did fund, as you see in the award letter, $300,000 over the next four years. Split up between salary and fringe benefits. Each year, it was written into it to have a 3% also cost of living adjustment.

» So, there is no obligation on the county to keep this position, even though we would fund this position after the four years, through our budget, through natural growth, or line item adjustments as needed, to keep this position. Because this would be a position that we would need to keep after that fourth year of funding from the federal government. Thank you. And do you have someone serving as your training officer right now? Not currently. We are splitting up those tasks through different individuals. Okay. And is this position a position that you would consider partnering with Lugoff Fire or City of Camden for joint training? Yes. Yes. So, I've actually spoken with Chief Spitzer recently and Chief Bowers about doing some training together.

» And with the $300,000, what do you estimate? That would be closer to three years with fringe? We would just, each year, I think we would add approximately $26,000 for salary and fringe. Okay. Of course, that depends on insurance, you know, which insurance the individual has and things of that nature, too. Okay. So, this won't be a new hire. This will be an add-on to someone's? No, this will be a new position. Okay. A new position. $26,000 seems low for? Adding that on to the $71,000. Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you. I'm sorry. The total cost for the position would be about $97,000. Okay. And this is through a grant? Yes, sir. Good work. Any other questions? Well, Madam Chair. Yes, Mr. Tucker. Chief Glover, I think that you actually put in for more. This is just what you were awarded. Correct.

» How, can you reapply for this at the end of the three years or four years? Yes, sir. You can reapply. Okay. All right. Thank you. Madam Chair. Mr. Tomlinson. Chief Glover, thank you for doing this. I know that, you know, serving as a chief for fire, a fireman yourself, and also a grant writer is a lot of responsibility on one person. I know that you've worked other areas prior to becoming chief. I think it was Sumter County, correct? Correct. Did Sumter County have a grant writer? The county did have a grant writer at one time, yes.

» About how much do you, I mean, just off the top of your head, about how much did y'all receive in grants, specifically from the grant writer position? You know, maybe for fire or first responders in general? I don't have an answer for that, just off the top of my head, but I could reach out to some individuals and find out. Okay. Mr. Templer, do you mind looking at equivalent counties to Kershaw County, as far as population and services we provide, specifically the ones who have a grant writer position full time, and get the numbers of grants received, specifically for our first responders? I think, you know, if you look at all our priorities that we had, all of them were first responder related, just about, detention center, courthouse.

» I think we'd be amissed not to try to have a full-time grant writer on staff to take what, like I said, you've got a man of many tricks. You're funneling about four hats. I think we could get money for share, fire, and EMS that we're missing out by not having that position. So, thank you for taking the time to write this grant. I appreciate all you do. Yep. And we've got some other guys that Deputy Chief Buller's been able to grab a couple grants too. So, it's been a team effort, for sure. Thanks. Great job. Mr. Glover, the payout of the grant, is it annually or is it a lump sum? It'll be quarterly. Okay. And we will request the funds to reimburse. Okay. And you have enough in your budget to make up the difference that you're adding? Correct. Okay. Anything else? All right.

» All those in favor of accepting the SAFER grant, indicate by raising your hand. And the vote is unanimous. Thank you again, Mr. Glover, for applying for that. Congratulations. Great. Next item is council briefings, and we're going to start with Councilman Braswell tonight. Thank you, ma'am. I'd like for our attorney to help me clarify something that was said a few minutes ago. Mr. DuBose, can a vote be taken? Was it taken on an item without being on the agenda? An agenda would have to be amended to add an item before a vote to be taken. Okay. So it was said that we took a vote without it being on the agenda, and that's, in fact, not true. It was on the agenda. It was placed on the agenda just like any other item was placed on the agenda.

» So I don't want to be painted as someone who's capable of that, because I think that would deem that I had a superpower, and I do not, in fact, have a superpower. So I wanted to clarify that, followed all the rules, all the due process, just like everyone else. So thank you for that clarification. And I hate that Jeff Burgess is gone. I wanted to commend him on reaching out to FN Manufacturing. FN's a firearms manufacturer in Richland County, and unfortunately, they had a fee-and-lieu agreement get voted down five to five.

» The next morning, Jeff and I talked, Nelson, Lindsay, and I talked, and I could only speak for myself, but I said, you know, Jeff should be keen on this situation, because I want everyone to know that Kershaw County's open for business, and if there are any way to persuade FN to come to Kershaw County, I'd love for that to be a conversation that we could all have together. So Jeff's just amazing. He does just a great job here in Kershaw County, and I think I sent him a text, and within about 30 seconds, I had a reply. So FN's been in Richland County for, I don't know how many years, but you talk about the jobs they provide. They were, I think, going to provide another hundred jobs, and now Richland County has potentially lost them, and I hope they don't.

» I genuinely hope they don't, but the theme is Kershaw County is open for business, and manufacturing jobs are fantastic. So I wanted to commend him for that, but he's already left the room. That's all I have for tonight. Thank you. Mr. Tucker. Thank you, Madam Chair. No report. Mr. Schumach. Yeah, just a few little things. One thing, just as we sit here, and as we all, well, several of us, you know, figure out the ropes for those of us who are newly elected, I do think process is important. We get it right sometimes, we get it wrong, but I think it's important that the public understand that sometimes our process may look a little odd, but I mean, I think it's important that we follow our process.

» And I do think every single person up here makes a concerted effort to do that, and I just think that's just important. Sometimes, and maybe I see this as a lawyer, sometimes, you know, the processes save us from our worst urges. It prevents us from rushing through things that shouldn't be rushed through and forces us to be deliberate about things we need to be deliberate about. And that's, by the way, not saying anyone here has violated that. We've had those discussions, and that's not about any of that.

» I just think sometimes it's easy to sit on the other side of this and say, well, something needs to be done, but I promise you, everyone up here is trying to do it right, even if we disagree whether that, even if we disagree with each other, I'm convinced everyone up here is trying to do it right. You know, and I was just thinking about these 77 kids 100 years ago, or 100 years in May, and then you have those, well, 12 that were from, you know, from our side, from the revolutionary side that were interned over the weekend. And, you know, I mean, you see these children making these huge sacrifices, and that's really the legacy, right? It's easy to get up here in the minutia and forget about why we're all here.

» I mean, we're here on the backs of, you know, people that died so that we could do this, so that we could, we'd have the luxury of arguing about whether to move something from a middle column to a left column. That's pretty amazing. These are the guys that mattered, and that's just, I don't know. I'm just kind of awestruck about that. So that's all that I have tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Jones. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of County Council. Ms. Hanna, I have a request for you.

» With all due respect, my colleagues, would you, this coming week or next week, provide to us the motion that was on, the item that was on the agenda the night that the council took a vote to accept the $6 million match and the supporting documentation that was in the agenda for that as well, because it was, to my recollection, there was no supporting documentation, and that wasn't even mentioned as part of the heading that we would take that vote, which was a very significant vote, because that's a $12 million turnaround, you know, and there's just no documentation in there towards it, and it wasn't even stipulated on the agenda item that way. Could you do that for me? And provide to all of us. And if I've made a mistake, I'll say I've made a mistake, but I know I haven't.

» Well, I know that I've filed legal counsels. Mr. Broussel, this is Mr. Jones. Briefing. I did not interrupt you, Mr. Broussel. You go ahead. My apologies. I appreciate it. And I wanted to, but if you'd do that for me, and provide it to all of us, because I was in total shock that night. Thank you. Mr. Tomlinson. Thank you, Madam Chair and my colleagues. Thank you to all the members of FIRE that came out today. I know y'all had to sit through the meeting, and I'm happy to have supported the radios. It's been a long time coming. And specifically, I'd like to thank Mr. Tim Taylor. I know one of our first meetings, you mentioned, I can't remember the exact terminology, but a good citizen award quarterly. And I think that's something that we need to go ahead and implement.

» And I would love for you to be the champion on that. Yes, sir. And anything I can do for you, I can give you my cell phone number after this. But I'd like to get that going, you know, before June, if that'd be possible. Also, I'd like to thank Ms. Wanda Swan, who spoke tonight. She is the chairwoman of our Clean Commission. Trash is, and the dirtiness on our roadways, waterways across the state of South Carolina is hideous. It absolutely is. Personally, I participate in at least 45 or more cleanups across the state every year. During the month of July, I participate in the South Carolina 7 expedition, where we start in the mountains and go to the sea, following the Palmetto Trail in different areas, each day for 30 days. And every day we do a cleanup.

» Millions of pounds of garbage and trash picked up along our roadways and waterways. Not only is that, you know, an environmental hazard, but it's a safety hazard. It's something that our children shouldn't see, and it's hideous for South Carolina to be like that. And I think us as member of council, we should, you know, maybe we come together and we do four quarterly council, you know, pickups. Maybe in each district we'll pick, and we all can come together. And that's something I think we can, you know, there's many things we're divisive on, but having our community cleaned is something that we need to come together on. And I would like to work with my members of council to get that going. In additional, thank you again to staff. I really appreciate it.

» And thank you for everybody being here tonight. Thank you, Mr. Cato. Just a few things tonight. First of all, I want to agree with Derek. I think everybody up here is really trying to do their best. We've got a lot of work that's got to be done, some things that should have been done long ago. Tough job. But I don't think anybody is doing anything wrong or against rule, just some bugs we need to work out. So, and I'll apologize to the point of only maybe emphasizing myself a little bit too much. I kind of, I was skewing over it. So, I didn't mean to come across so strongly, I guess I might should say. But I also want to, well, first I'll say this.

» I want to thank Danny and myself and Chairwoman Gwen have been working with Danny and working with the rec department to get some of these rec complexes in the northern part of the county straightened out. Because they were in horrible shape, bottom line. They were in bad shape. We both have talked to citizens and individuals in their upper part of the county from West Full, Mount Pisgah, and Bethune to get these fields back to where they should be. The fields in Bethune are in a lot better shape than what they were a year ago. When I took over, I found out that a young lady was actually having to do the maintenance on this field herself for her ball team. That was very disturbing to me. But it looks good. And we're going to stay on it and make sure it stays up, up to date.

» The rec center in Bethune is looking better. There were some definitely upgrades that needed to be done there. And Mount Pisgah's had some dugouts. And I know West Full's had some work. So, I thank you and I thank Chairwoman Gwen for helping with that also. I want to reiterate something that my counterpart here, Mr. Tomlinson, had to say. And it's in reference to these ball fields. We've got to do our part to keep a vigilant eye open for people that are destroying our property. You know, we fixed these ball fields. We'd spend all this money to try and make Kershaw County a better place. And you see where people are out there in the outfield doing donuts and trucks and four-wheelers. And they're riding around and destroying all the progress you make.

» And then you get comments from the citizens. Well, you're not taking care of the ball fields. You're not, and I hate to keep saying ball fields, you're not taking care of county property. Let me put it that way. And we get blamed. The council gets blamed because we're not doing anything. When the truth is, yes, we may have failed in some areas, but we also have to do our due diligence to make sure that we're not throwing trash down up next to the fence because we're too lazy to put it in the trash can. Or we're not riding our four-wheelers on the baseball fields and tearing up the outfield. So we've got to make sure, as citizens, that we watch for the people that are destroying our property.

» So maybe that's just a soapbox, and I'm sorry, but I appreciate it, and that's the end of my report. Thank you, Mr. Kato. All right. I kind of want to piggyback on that. Mr. Templer, what are some improvements that have been made in the north area of the county, Mount Pisgah, Bethune, Westville? Can we just get a brief update, and can you tell us what else is in store for that area? Sure. So having worked with Shane for a while, and it's been a slow process, but it's that time of year. But I feel like we've made significant improvements up there. You know, the goal was to have those fields up there look like the fields in Camden that look like Casey West, and I think we're well on our way to that. We've got a lot of work to do, but, you know, we're here for it.

» So just kind of working from top down, Mount Pisgah, going up there, and actually Tim Taylor rode with me up there one day. We looked at some dugouts and identified some problems. Staff was able to jump on it. The aluminum was removed. The roofs on the dugouts were just kind of rotting and falling away, so those have been removed. Tomorrow the aluminum will be put on there. I say aluminum, but tin. The tin roofs will be put on there. New aluminum benches will be installed, and we're going to get rid of the old wooden benches. There was a sinkhole up there, but it was an old rotten stump, so just little small things like that. Dead tree removal, trash pickup will be added to the weekly schedule, and this is all for Mount Pisgah.

» Enfield work will also be done tomorrow, and new bases have been installed on the Mount Pisgah field. Westville dugouts, all wooden player benches have been removed and replaced with aluminum benches. Basketball goals and backboards have been repainted. New rims are ordered, and those will be installed as soon as they get here. Trash pickup, again, has been added to the schedule, and they have a girls' fast-fitch softball team practicing up and playing there, so the use is picking up there. There was a small block pump house that was just antiquated, so it's been removed. Playground borders have been ordered. There have been some washouts with material in the sand, so that is for Westville.

» Well, Casey West, we are working on adult-sized ADA and special needs swing and playground equipment, so we've had some requests. Madam Chair, I know you've talked to me on that several times, so those are kind of unique items, but they're out there, and we will install them as soon as they're delivered, so this is not the end. This is just kind of what we've achieved so far. We're always going to be open to input from council as you all get inputs from your constituents, anything we can do out there that's better. We just want everybody to have an equitable opportunity to play on quality fields, regardless of where you're at in the county. Thank you, and thank you for the update. I just know that Parks and Rec has been working on upgrading, and the ADA swings.

» It's on our priority list, but it just needs to happen, so hopefully it happens soon. Okay, let's see where I'm going. I want to announce that South Carolina Rural Infrastructure Investment Board met, and Kershaw County was awarded. Hang on, let me go to my... Representative Richie Yao serves on this committee, and he gave me an update, and I just want to thank him for his advocacy for Kershaw County. So the town of Bethune is going to receive $409,642 for their water tank rehabilitation project. City of Camden, water system upgrades, $10 million. Kershaw County Bethune Rural Water Company, water system improvements, $4.5 million. Kershaw County wastewater treatment plant improvements and expansion, $10 million.

» And Kershaw County and Lee County Regional Water Authority, new water lines and elevated tank, $10 million. So that's all money coming from the Rural Infrastructure Investment Group that is coming right here to Kershaw County. We personally, our body put in for the $10 million for the wastewater treatment plant and improvements, but all that money is coming to Kershaw County through that. So thank you to the house and Richie Yao for advocating for this area. I want to mention the Kirkland Community Center Open House. It is May 20th, 10 to 5, and that will be at 2684 Barron-DeKalb Road at the Kirkland Community Center. I encourage everybody to go, and I'll remind everybody again. And we have some flyers.

» You know, sometimes it's hard during public comments not to respond, but it's truly not a time for dialogue. It's just for us to receive the information. I want to answer Tim's question, though, about rules of decorum. So we don't have any specific rules sitting up here. I guess if there were any rules, it would be my judgment on what is appropriate. There is a motion to discipline. A member of the body may be disciplined by the body during an active meeting for conduct that substantially impairs the ability of the body to conduct the meeting. The member shall be given an initial warning by the chair that his or her conduct is a breach.

» The member may be removed from an active meeting by a motion of two-thirds vote of the body for continued conduct if the chair determines such conduct has substantially impaired the body's ability to conduct the meeting. So likewise with the public, if anyone interferes with this business meeting, no matter what side they're on, there are motions in place for their removal. So I wanted to answer that because I do think that's important. All right, quickly. So there was a women in leadership summit this morning, and the lieutenant governor came to Kershaw County, and it was a great kind of meeting of the minds, and we had some political discussion. And a lot of questions I got evolved around the legislative process, so I just want to quickly put it out for the public.

» If you have an idea or something that needs change in Kershaw County, it's as easy as picking up the phone and calling one of us. From there, council members do their research, talk to, get legal opinion, put it on the agenda for discussion, talk to each other, and create an ordinance or a resolution and put it on the agenda. If it's an ordinance, it will be read three times. If it's a resolution, it will get read one time. And with a positive vote, it becomes an ordinance in this county. So you can change things. I'll speak for myself. I'm not sitting up here thinking of things to change or invent new ordinance or legislation. It truly comes from the people and what their need is out in the community. So that's how it works here locally.

» So talk to us, tell us what you need, and then we'll get to research and put something together. Lastly, I want to go over the Camden burials, and I think, Ryan, do you have some photos? This weekend, we laid to rest 12, well, 14 soldiers, 13 soldiers. One soldier was Native American, so we did not, he was not included in this military funeral. It was at the Battle of Camden site. It was very powerful. It was a unifying event for this whole community. And on behalf of the people in Kershaw County, I was presented the flag that is sitting right here off one of the coffins of one of the soldiers.

» My idea is to display that, frame it and display it in here in the people's chambers, and it represents one of the earliest soldiers from this area, you know, the very first Kershaw County resident, I guess you could say, before Kershaw County was even established. What's so neat about these soldiers? So 12 soldiers fighting for liberty and two fighting for the British, all 14 fighting for what they believed in, what was right. The 12 soldiers that fought for America and what their idea of America was, I think it's hard for us to understand that, because it wasn't a thing back then. Liberty, freedom, it wasn't a thing. It was an idea that they had that they thought was important, and it is important.

» And liberty, in its most basic definition, is the choice of opportunity and the freedom of choice. So it was very moving. It was very powerful. I want to thank Dan Canty in Public Works, Shane Duncan with Recreation, and Gerald Blancher, who spent a lot of their own time out at the battlefield raking pine straw and moving dirt and cleaning it. It was absolutely beautiful. So if you were able to go, thank you. It was just a very strong community event, and I can't say enough. I could keep talking about it, but this is the flag off one of the soldiers' coffins, and we will display it somewhere when the council decides what to do with it. So thank you to those. Those are America's first veterans and all veterans in Kershaw County that have fought for the same liberties.

» And that concludes my brief. We're going to Mr. Templer. Just a few things real quick. I'd like to thank Jeff Burgess for his work on the RAA grant, the skip grant, the $10 million for the wastewater treatment facility. He worked really hard on that, along with Davis and Floyd, to get that paperwork filled out correctly. So I just can't thank him enough. The battlefield work was I watched Gerald and Lauren work on that daily. I know I was given updates on what Recreation and Public Works did, so I really appreciate their work on that. It was a long process, but it culminated in the ceremonies over the weekend. I want to touch on one more thing from the public comments with the bridge issue. That's something we have looked into.

» We are doing a study on our bridges with our contractor, engineering contractor, to go through all Kershaw County bridges to inventory them, make an assessment, and characterize them for what needs to be replaced first. Not all bridges need to be replaced. They can be replaced with culverts. Much cheaper option, and it's a viable option. So, you know, when citizens come up and make comments on what can be improved in the county as it relates to operations, we take note. We reach out. This was something that wasn't on our radar until this gentleman came up about a month or so ago. So I'm sure he's probably frustrated government moves at glacial speed, but because of his comments, he came, we are doing a full bridge assessment on all county roads in Kershaw County.

» So we will reach out to him tomorrow, but I want him to know that because of his concern, it has prompted us to take action for what we honestly probably would not have done or thought about in light of everything else we have going on. So I thank him for his concern, and whether I sat over there, behind those computer monitors years ago, I've always taken public comments serious in how we can do better as a staff. If somebody brought an issue, then I made notes. So, you know, I just, I thank that gentleman for putting us in motion. And that's my report. Please just call him tomorrow and tell him everything you just told us. We will. Real quick, Mr. DuBose, Ms. Reeder, I am so sorry. I did not mean to leave you out in any way.

» I was thinking of the battlefield and the people that went out there to do that. But Ms. Lauren Reeder needs to be added to the Camden burials as long as, as well as Doug Bostic, who organized the entire thing. It was absolutely beautiful and remarkable. I've never seen anything like that. It was awesome. So thank you for your hard work, too. Mr. DuBose. Madam Chair, I have no briefings other than attorney-client briefings for executive session. All right. So we do, we have two needs for executive session, receipt of attorney-client privileged information, matter of rules, Mr. DuBose. Do we need to leave each executive session for each matter and then re-vote to enter again? No, you can leave, hold both sessions, and then re-enter. Okay. All right.

» At this time, is there a motion to enter executive session? So moved to make a motion for executive session. Okay. Mr. Cato, is there a second? Mr. Brazel seconds. All those in favor of entering executive discussion and vote to unanimous. I do not anticipate, actually, there will not be a vote. This isn't a matter of voting measure. Mr. DuBose, we need the administrator and Mr. Blanchard. Yeah. Ms. Parler, can you indicate on the record, Mr. Brazel had to leave at 2120? All right. Is there a motion to exit executive session? So moved. Second. All right. Mr. Tomlinson and Mr. Cato with a second. We are now out of executive session. Is there a motion to adjourn? I move to adjourn. Oh, I'm sorry.

» For the record, an executive session, council received briefings on a pending threat in her potential claim, as well as negotiations incidental to a proposed contractual negotiation, or arrangement rather. No votes were taken, no decisions were made, just for the record. Thank you, Mr. DuBose. So, Ms. Parler, both items on the executive session, that's what happened. All right. Is there a motion to adjourn? I move to adjourn. Mr. Shoemake with the motion. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Cato? Oh, I'm sorry. All those in favor of adjournment. Mr. Togo went to the bathroom. It's unanimous. This meeting is adjourned. We just wanted to extend the meeting by another hour. Have a seat. I'm gone. I'm sorry. Let me do this. Who are we? I didn't know. You heard it here at night. Right.

» No, no, that's fine. You got my text. Oh, okay. I'm going to say that. Look here. My bad. For Ms. Parler. We got one more. Can I sign those? Or does it work? I can sign those. Yes. I can sign that. Thank you.