Machine transcript of the county's live stream. Each » marks a change of speaker; the captions don't say who is talking, and names are often misspelled. For the readable version see the recap; the official record is the county's minutes.
» Good evening. Good evening. It is 6 p.m. We're going to call this meeting to order. If I could, Councilman Tucker, would you mind leading us in a prayer of pleasure of allegiance, please? I don't mind at all, Vice Chairman. Will we all stand, please? Let us bow our heads. Lord, Father, God Almighty, we thank you once again for a glorious and precious day that you've allowed us to see. We thank you for life, health, and strength. We thank you for everyone that's in this audience and on this dais and all the staff that's here and present. We thank you for our families and ask that you continue to watch over them in our absence.
» Give us the courage and the knowledge and understanding to make the decisions up here that we need to make for the citizens of Kershaw County to make their lives easier and better. And, Lord, Father, we ought to be so careful and so grateful to give you all the praise, the honor, and the glory. Now, Lord, Father, it is our intent to do your will. We ask that you watch over us and carry us back to our various destinations safely. Continue to bless our men and women who protect our freedoms and liberties in our military. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Councilman Tucker. You're welcome, sir.
» If I could, before we get started, I want to read a letter or an email that Madam Chair Gwynne sent to me. She wanted me to share this with the group. First off, I want to say that I salute her service to our country. That's where she's at tonight. She's full-time call of duty. And I'm going to read this verbatim, word for word, as she wrote it. Good evening, Kershaw County. I am currently on temporary duty travel, TDY, attending military aviation training in Fort Rucker, Alabama. I hate that I am missing tonight's meeting, and I am appreciative of Vice Chairman Jones's hard work and assistance with the chair duties. In my absence, I will be back and ready for the first meeting in October, October 10th. To my colleagues, I would like to ask for your nomination in full support of Ms.
» Heather Ives Dykes to the Planning and Zoning Commission tonight. I look forward to getting back to the people's business as soon as possible. Thank you, and have a great meeting tonight. Very respectfully, Madam Chair Katie Gwynne. Thank you. Well, we miss you, Ms. Gwynne, and we wish you safe travels back home when you get here. Because I certainly don't want her job. All right. Let's see here. Okay, we need to have our adoption of the agenda. Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion that we adopt today's agenda. Is there a second? I'll second. I will be abstaining from vote because I was not here at the last meeting. Folks, I wasn't feeling well. I apologize that I couldn't make the last meeting, but I was not feeling well, and I had to leave and go home. But I'm $150 today. I'm wide open.
» All right. Is there any discussion? No discussion? So moved. We've got the adoption of the agenda. I have a vote, sir. I am. Is there a motion to adopt the agenda by Councilman? What's your name? Thomason. Thomason. Then there's a second. By Cato. By Cato. All right. All in favor? There we go. Thank you. Starting out on a strong note. I know. I know. I said it was $150. Okay, we have public comments. Mr. Tucker, would you mind giving the rules for public comments, please? Yes, sir. Trying to find my rules here, Councilman. Should be on the back of the wheel. I thought they were, too. Sam, can you put them up there, Ryan? Can you put up the rules up there for me, please? Thank you. There we go. All right. We're going to do the short version.
» Public comment is an opportunity for members of the public to share information with Council. It is not a time for debate or for questioning and answers from Council. It is time for Council to receive input. It is not a time for Council's response. In short, during public comment, Council will listen to public comment, but not comment on public comment. Offensive and inappropriate languages or comments will not be tolerated. If a group would like to speak, it can be requested to select a spokesperson, and they can represent that group for his or her comments. Public comment is a time to discuss issues. Public comment period is limited to five minutes maximum, allowed per individual speaker.
» Public comments to Council as an agenda item shall continue uninterrupted to be live-streamed by audio and video where available until the public comments agenda item is finished and concluded. These rules may be altered. They all need to read that. That is it. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. Mr. DeBose, how many have we have signed up? We have one public comment speaker, Mr. Tim Taylor, on KC Uplifted. Welcome, Mr. Taylor. Good evening. Wow. Yes, that was good. That was a hundred. That loud. But since the last meetings of my presentation, KC Uplifted Boutique has exploded. It's grown, and now we need a bigger boat. So we have outgrown the current location that's behind the Kershaw County Sheriff's Office in Lugolf.
» There's also been some concerns of our ability to reach everyone due to our location. We want everyone in the county to feel comfortable coming and getting their clothes, and some people just don't. Sheriff's Department, though, has been amazing in supporting of us and our cause. We wouldn't have been able to do this at all without them and grow without them and everything that's included. They're helping us now in our venture to find a bigger and better place located in Lugolf or Camden, since it's a central location of the county, and hopefully everybody can get to it. The end goal is to open locations in every local community so that everybody can access it long term, but it's still a vision. We're hoping that there's a lot of people to help us do this, too.
» Our main focus now is a location for a building for us to operate out of Camden or Lugolf as a base location. New building or just a place to put our current building. Either one would be awesome. I'm telling this to you. I'm telling this to everybody at home. We need the help. As far as moving, we've already received a sizable donation from Sheriff LeBone to the new location. We just need to find that new location. Monetary donations for moving expenses and operating expenses are also needed. And as you know, Kristen is currently fulfilling military obligations, and Maria is about to go to Korea for a year. So, one won't be back. I know. I felt like an idiot. One was in, Kristen's coming back in April of 2024, and I think that would make Maria somewhere late 2025 that she would be back.
» So, we need to find a location, and our new date is the 1st of November. We'd like to get that done because that's when we think she's moving. If anybody can help, people are listening. If your company wants to help, or anybody, just normal, everyday Joe, please help us. You can reach out at CaseyUplifted at gmail.com, but some of you up here I'll be contacting directly, just to let you know. And hopefully we can get some help and move this thing and not have to shut down. So, that's it. Thank you very much. I know you can't comment, but appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Taylor, so much. All right. You sure can. There's going to be a showing of the first of a series of six. The Constitution is the solution. We need to learn our Constitution. It's this Thursday.
» State again where it's going to be because you weren't at the mic and the people that are watching us. This is a, the Constitution is the solution. It's a series of six videos, about 40 minutes each. And it will begin this Thursday at Patriot Coffee at 7.30 p.m. We'll begin showing and one a week thereafter. Thank you, Mr. Webb. Okay, moving along to item number six, public presentations. We have first Kim Gaines, Camden Clinic Director, Santee Watery Community Mental Health Center. Welcome. Good day, Kershaw County Council.
» In the absence of our Madam Chair, on behalf of our Center Director, Jeff Hamm, and our Center, Santee Watery Mental Health, we thank you greatly for not only this opportunity, but your continued support for our dedicatory mission of supporting the recovery of those with mental illness. We are also very appreciative that you have granted us this time, as September is Suicide Prevention Month. Today, we hope to provide updates, as well as to provide you info of our current work and mission, and give light to the new visions to come. In 1994, I started with Department of Mental Health, and must have done some things right, because in 1995, they made me permanent. Celebrating an anniversary on yesterday, 29 years later, still dedicated to the same mission.
» In 2019, I took on the helm of Kershaw Clinic as the director, and began building partnerships, making sure DMH not only had a seat at the table, but also a voice. Let me tell you some facts about our Kershaw Clinic. Kershaw Clinic is our second largest clinic across our four catchment areas of Sumter, Lee, and Clarendon. We provide the same array of services of our sister offices, such as individual, family, crisis care groups, medication management, and school-based services. We serve 25% of the population that makes up the clientele for Santee Watery. Each one of our clinics at Santee Watery have very unique qualities. Let me list a few that we have here at Kershaw. We have a dedicated staff for our Kershaw Detention Center.
» We have a dedicated staff also for our local community medical center that makes contact two times a week with one day providing services to the Hispanic population. We have a dedicated staff to the point of contact for our local food for the soul, homeless shelter, one time a week. We also, within this county, we piloted the first Kershaw Project home. That's for the transitional housing for mental health. We have mobile crisis for daytime and after hours. And last but not least, our newest position that started two years ago. We have our law enforcement embedded position. And this is to bridge the gap between DMH and law enforcement. We also have dedicated partnerships with our probate court and our awesome Judge Branham with all things regarding court orders and all things court.
» Other awesome partners are Alpha Center, DJJ, DSS, Live Work, Hershaw Coalition, just to name a few, all to assist in the excellence of our mission. If I can quote our center director, Jeff, he says, we love to dance, so we're always looking for new dance partners, all in an effort to keep up the mission. Teamwork makes the dream work. If we are going to grow and be onward and upward, we have to change with the needs of our clients. In the future, Kershaw Clinic is looking forward to providing more intensive services to our clients to meet them where they are in the community. We are looking forward to branching out intensive acting services, as well as still hopes of the much-needed crisis stabilization unit to assist with the lessened bed availability.
» In closing, County Council, we want you to know that we are dedicated to our mission to be the center of choice, the center of change, and the center of excellence to operate fully in our mission to support the recovery of those with mental illness. Once again, we want you to know that we appreciate you, and we appreciate you looking out for us. Thank you so much, and I have with us our board chair, Mr. Larry Graham. As board chair, I'd like to thank you for your continued support. Firstly, know the nightmare... Get the mic, Mr. Graham. Firstly, know the nightmare of living and coping with mental illness, but I also know of the hope of recovery and how things can get back to normal.
» And Santee Watery and our local clinic do all they can to help those in Kershaw County with these kind of problems. So thank you for your support. Thank you. Let me say this, Ms. Gaines, thank you so much for all you do, and we do support you, and this county needs you. And Mr. Graham, there are no words to explain your dedication to that organization. So thank you both. Are there any comments from the council? Mr. Tucker? Thank you, Mr. Jones. Ms. Gaines, I don't know you quite as well as your board chair, but I personally appreciate all that you guys have done throughout the years, and I know we have, as the county, have not been great supporters throughout the life of the organization being here, but we've stepped it up in the past years, and it's definitely a dire need.
» But with board chairs and board members like Mr. Graham, and I'm going to do this on a little bit, is what helped makes this organization do great things and see the passion and love, because he is very dedicated. He lives and eats mental health, and I've seen it year after year after year when the doors were wide open, and people were flooding in, and when things calmed down a little bit. He is there every step and every moment of the way. So continue to recruit members like that, and you'll have much more success in the future. But I thank you as staff, and I also want to thank Chairman Graham and the board. Thank you. Any other comments? Thank you so much, folks. Appreciate it. We'd also like to welcome Mr. Shoemake. Glad you're here. Okay, we have one other public presentation.
» Kirkland Community Center is placed on the agenda by Councilman Sammy Tucker. Yes. So this is an update from where we had our summer program at the Kirkland Community Center, and today before us is Ms. Reverend Millie Nelson-Smith. She's here before us to give us a presentation and an update on how that program went and where we lie for the future. So would you come to the podium, please, ma'am? And I'm sorry that I am a little bit stuttering here, but I'm coming off about 14 hours of work. I don't know if I'm sleepy or hungry, but probably a combination of both. Welcome. Good evening. And I greet you on behalf of the Kirkland Community and on behalf of our board, our board chair, Ben Tobin, and I'm so thankful to be here for this opportunity today.
» I have a few people from our camp that came with me today, two of the students and also one of the staff, one of the program coordinators. Great. So I wanted to just share with you a little bit. We had the vision for a youth leadership boot camp, and I came and presented it to the council, and you were gracious enough to fund us in that effort. The funding was a little bit at the close time of school closing, so we had to start really quickly. And so our goal was to get 25 students registered. We got 15 registered, and we had an attendance of at least 12 a day. And we started July the 5th. And so school was not closed that long anymore. We don't have a long summer. And so we took that time, and we wanted to do this boot camp.
» And Councilman Jones, thank you for coming out, and you were at our Mayfest. And it was exciting, and that was kind of the energy that we kicked off with. And so we hit the ground running. And our plan was to give children some skills and some abilities that we're missing right now because they are so engaged with technology and they are so engaged with all things media that we wanted to help them to remember that these things are resources and tools. They're not your life. And so we wanted kids to get something about character, and so we wanted them to feel a sense of self-worth and of motivation. And can you go back to the slide before this? Yes, that was the, these are pictures from the first day of the camp. And there was a lot of energy that day.
» The woman in the third frame at the top, Ms. Jackie Neal. She's not? Ms. Jackie Neal. No, she, she's not. She passed away a couple, a few weeks ago. Sorry. And she was a beloved teacher in the Kershaw County School District. But she was the first parent that registered her child for the camp. And that camp, Maya was a part of that camp. I'm not trying not to be too emotional, but Maya was a part of that camp. And according to our coordinator over there, and I might make her cry, she said that Maya really was a leader that evolved in the camp. This is the kind of thing that we had hoped to see happen. This is the kind of thing that we wanted to know. And you never really understand why God is doing something.
» And you never really understand why you're just driven and motivated to do something, but you keep pushing. And maybe, just maybe, Maya needed that family to be with her during those few weeks in the summer because she'll have to live now without her mother. And she's 15 years old. And so I feel like what we did this summer was something bigger than we all will ever really comprehend and understand. And so we believe that character counts. Let me go to the next one. And so we wanted them to have the six pillars of character. Trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, citizenship, fairness, and caring. And those were the pillars that they learned.
» And so on the day that we were talking about character and beginning that, the sheriff's deputy came riding by to check on us because we'd ask that you do that because we're out there in the country. And he stopped in and shared with the young people about character. And we greatly appreciated that because, you know, in these days, we don't always have young people who have a healthy understanding of law enforcement and what law enforcement offers. And so we thought that that was a blessing. We also had things that we wanted to talk about with them to learn about living on a budget. And they actually engaged in doing that work. They had a good time. They learned how to write checks. They learned how to do things that we don't always get.
» And that session was entitled, and we did two of them, Nobody Ever Told Me About Money. And a lot of us grow up not getting that. And the folks at Palmetto Citizens, they were kind enough to come out and talk with them about money, about saving, and about how money can help you to move ahead in life, but money also is a tool. The next one, we had some great partners. Palmetto Citizens Federal Credit Union was one, but the other was the Alpha Center. When I sent them our schedule and what we had laid out, they were gracious enough to say, well, we can help you with this, this, this, and this. And I was like, really? And so they came out and they helped us with conflict education and resolution. They helped with vision and goals.
» And they helped with teaching young people how to live a drug-free life. And so these are some of the things that we wanted to instill in them. And the next slide is actually the Alpha Center staff person there doing one of the sessions. Also, we wanted to teach them about faith, activity, and nutrition. Because when we're so engaged with our technology, we don't always get to move, to move around. And so one of the things they learned was about eating healthy, about getting up and getting into movement, and about trying to stay healthy. And all of that is because you have hopes and dreams. And these are hopes and dreams that they put on the board over these weeks. That they want to learn to work hard. I want to be a basketball player. I hope to go to college.
» There was just a large range of what they had hopes and dreams for. There's something that says that we stopped dreaming at about fifth grade. When we're kindergartners, we can dream and we think we have everything ahead of us. But by the time we get to fifth grade, we stop dreaming. And we think everything in the world is negative and against us. So we need to get back to that hopes and dreams. And so here are some of the children sharing their hopes and dreams. We had them to do little short videos. And hopefully I won't be over time. It should play once you click it. Did it freeze? All of them? Okay. Can you go to the next one? Because they were playing. Wow. We had them do the little short videos of their hopes and their dreams.
» And there was one child that says, and I'll let Gabby and Gabe, maybe if they are not too shy, tell us what their hopes and dreams were. And there was one little guy that said he wanted to be an otolarynthologist because he loves ears. You're welcome. He loves ears. And one of the things that we learned from the camp, and he, how old is Ahmad? How old is Ahmad? Seven? Eight? Yes. He was the youngest, but we learned that we targeted grades six through eight. But there is a need for all age levels to be engaged. And we engaged them in a way that they could understand it for their age level. So Gabby and Gabe are held 13. And Gabby, can you share one of your goals with us? Get right in the microphone. We're looking forward to hearing what you have to say.
» My name is Gabrielle Alexander and I hope to be an anime artist. Good for you. Good for you. Next. Really? Good for y'all. My name is Gabrielle Alexander and I hope to be a cartoon animator. If you want it, you'll be it. Amen. So in their videos, they all had like this backup plan and if that doesn't work out, they all tagged it with that. I'm like, these kids are good. They said if that doesn't work out, they had something else that they wouldn't do. And so Miss Brenda was a large part of that this summer and we're going to hope to continue in out of school time, which would be during fall break and a vision for a Christmas camp that would be a couple of days before Christmas and that they could make gifts and stuff for their families.
» So Miss Brenda, would you like to say something? Glad to have you here, Miss Brenda. Brenda Reed. My passion is children and youth. If we could save one, that's a lot, but I want to save as many as I can. I always tell them my story as an older student. I went back to college and I have my bachelor's, my master's. Currently, I'm working on my PhD. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do because I'm 55 years old. And I have a tutoring business as well. And so I love helping the children and youth and you just listen to them and Maya, the one that lost her mom. We bonded. We bonded. She gave me her phone number. We would text each other. And she told me she wanted to be a veterinarian. And she said, just to hear when her mom passed, I said, aha, there she, that's her.
» I say, excuse me, y'all, but I have to say this. I say, God, that was your plan. You knew she was going to need someone because you had it all worked out. And so sometimes we don't realize the plan, but we know who the planner is. And with that being said, I am looking forward to working with children and youth up at Kirkland, the Kirkland Community Center. And thank y'all. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for being here. Thank each and every one I tell you what I'd like to do whenever you do finish. I'd like to get you up here when some of the council members they want to have a picture taken with y'all. You know, let me just say this and I'll ask my colleagues if they have any comments. I came out there and visited that day and I had a wonderful time.
» You can feel the love in there. You can feel the community connection in there. And I just can't tell you how much you admit to me to see that. Thank you, you adults, for what y'all are doing, and what you're giving to this community, to our youth. It means a lot to a lot of us. And do you have something else you want to proceed? Councilman, I'll get to y'all. I apologize. When you mentioned about the community, we were like, oh, this is close. We're cutting it close. But at the end of the camp, they were like, we did it. We did it. And we are thankful for the support. And these are the folks that we really want to thank.
» Kershaw County Council, the Alpha Center, Palmetta Citizens, Federal Credit Union, the United Way of Kershaw County, because they made sure we had meals for the children every day. Kershaw County Sheriff's Office for checking on us and making sure that we were good out there. Our guest speakers and presenters that came that had topics that they could talk about and share with our young people. Our amazing staff, Ms. Brenda, Mr. Zyreek Bradford, Ms. Lily Boykin and Barbara Atkins, our dedicated parents, and most of all, most of all, let me get to substation two. They helped us out too with some food and gave us extras. But most of all, it was our students that made the whole thing possible because if it wasn't for them, there would have been no need to do any of this.
» I would like to say that you folks are remarkable and it's very inspiring to sit here and hear you and hear the achievements you made. Colleagues, does anybody on council have some comments? Ms. DeBrasil? I'd like to say this, I'd like to say that this has probably been the highlight of my day listening to you ladies speak. Thank you so much for what you've done and especially thank you for speaking about God and putting God in these kids' lives. So many people don't want to get out and state their faith and I appreciate y'all doing that. That means the world to me and I know it means the world to each and every one of you involved. I'm just really inspired by what you've had to say tonight. Thank you so much.
» We have families and children across our county who need a role model who need something to look forward to and somebody to strive to be. Gabriel and Gabriella, I'd like to tell you there's three important things that I've looked at in my life and I think it's important for everybody to have. Your entire life, it doesn't end just when you're young and when you get a teenage years but your entire life, belief in a higher being, faith, a good role model, a mentor to look up to. And a goal and a dream to strive for. And if you continue to grow through your years and generations, you're going to better your community and your family forever. Thank you all. Well said, Councilman. Anybody else? Mr. Tucker? Thank you. Got to follow Mr. Thomas in there.
» Let me just ask a couple of questions for understanding Reverend Nelson you're saying you're going to have a fall program for a few days for the kids coming up. You're going to do a Christmas and then we're going to have this camp again next year. Yes, definitely. And we will be able to recruit earlier and hopefully get information into all of the schools so that we can get children around Kershaw County because we have room. And that's what I wanted to make clear because we knew that you were going to do the camp at least two years and hopefully after that stay self-sufficient where you can continue as long as y'all continue to run the center. I know this council wants to be an important part of seeing you succeed so that there's no doubt about that.
» I want you to add one more thing to your character, integrity and all. And I'm a huge Denzel Washington fan. So Councilman Thomason is giving you excellent advice on three things that y'all can keep in your lives as young people but I think adults can use this too. He quotes in one of his books that I'm going to do what I have to do today so one day I can do what I want to do. Don't forget that because that's true in life. We do what we have to do today so one day we can do what we want to do in life. So just keep striding, keep your head up, keep working hard, stay true to yourself, stay true to God and I assure you nothing but blessings will pour down upon you. Thank y'all for all that you're doing out there and continue, continue to do good work. Now if I could Mr.
» Thomas said he'd like to get a picture and I think it's a great idea if you guys want to come up here. I look like work but we can take a picture. Take it. Ready? All right, ready? One, two, three. One, two, three. Hold on one second. Congratulations. Well, that's going to be hard to top. All right. Again, thank you Kirkland Community Center. What a wonderful message. Okay, council members, if we can, we're moving down to the approval of minutes and as I stated earlier, I will be abstaining from that vote. Was not here. Do I have a motion to accept the minutes? Make a motion to approve the minutes submitted by Miss Paula, clerk to court. Thank you. The council, I'm sorry. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor, raise your hand. The director is unanimous.
» I abstain. Okay, if we can, we're going to move to 8. Yes. 8A. 8A, an ordinance, third reading, case 2315, an ordinance to amend Crusher County Stormwater Management Stormwater System, SMS4. And I want to refer to legal on this first, if I may. Thank you, Mr. Chair, acting chair. There are no changes from this ordinance from second reading. Just as a reminder and just a brief summary, this makes clear that Kershaw County does not have mandatory enforcement of DHEC Stormwater Permits outside of the MS4 district. Would you like to look closer, please? It does have mandatory enforcement of DHEC permits within the MS4 that's delegated to the county. This makes it clear that the county staff does not have to enforce DHEC permits outside of the MS4.
» It, of course, can bring enforcement actions, but it is not mandated to so that DHEC can enforce its own permits, essentially. Very good. Do I have a motion to put this on the floor? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion for county council? Questions? No discussion needed. Thank you, Councilman Brazel. All in favor? Third reading, raise your hand. Let the record show us unanimous. All right, no other discussion was needed. All right, the third reading, case 23, that's 16. This is reference to RV campground stay limits. I'm going to, if I may, do I have a motion to put this on the floor? So moved. Okay, do I have a second? Second. All right, discussion I'd like to refer to Councilman Shoemake. Yes, I would actually like to make a motion to amend the ordinance.
» They are pursuant to an amendment, but I don't see it here in my own packet, but it was in the online packet. I would like to make a motion to amend the ordinance. Specifically, that amendment would have the effect, and again, it was submitted in the agenda packet that's online. So it would be a motion to amend the ordinance that would change both the title and section 1C to remove the reference to time frames at all, and would instead say that it allows non-permanent stays, or rather only bars stays that are temporary. So let me rephrase that because I messed that all up. So I would make them, I'm going to start over.
» I would make a motion to amend on third reading 3.35, specifically to amend section A to note that no occupied recreational vehicle or trailer will be allowed to remain in the park on a permanent basis, and also section B that the record be maintained for two years. The text of that motion is in the agenda packet that's posted online. Very good. Is there any other comments? I think we had a second. Second. Second is amendment. For the amendment. I'm sorry, do we have a second for the amendment? I'll second. Thank you, Councilman Brazel. And if I could, Mr. Chairman, can you explain? So at the last hearing, or at our last council meeting, we had the public hearing on this, we heard from members of the Renfer Ranch Camp Ground, I think Mr. also heard from the What Are We RV Park folks.
» I have spoken to some folks at the RV Park on Highway 12, and what is basically, I think, public hearing and everything else showed is that the RV parks in Cershaw County are doing a pretty good job of policing themselves. They understand that these things can't be occupied permanently. What that ultimately means is effectively going to be complaint driven. So if we start getting complaints about people living in these things and getting run down, then we may have to ratchet up our enforcement. Now, to be clear, this still gives the county the ability to enforce, they would just have to make a showing that someone was living there permanently. So again, it shifts the burden to the county to have the burden of proof and allows the owners to police themselves without a rigid time frame.
» One example that someone gave me that I didn't even think about, I talked to a resident in the RV park on Highway 12, and they said there was someone there that was on a three-year contract, and that's one that would be outside of the ordinance we were going to pass, but at the same time is still temporary, and a three-year contract, and then they left. And so I do think letting these folks police themselves as they show them they can do is the right way to do business. I think we should start the least amount of regulation we can do and then work our way up if necessary. That's all I have. Very good. Is there any other comments? Well, I'd like to say something very quickly. Thank you, Mr. Shoemake.
» You know, we've come a long ways from when you first presented this, and you've put a lot of work into it. You've listened when the folks have spoken, you have listened when council members have spoken, and you came back with what I think is a wonderful, wonderful outcome. You know, when there's not a problem, why create a problem? And I quote Councilman Shoemake. He said that's what brought into this position. We haven't had complaints. It hasn't been a problem, so why are we creating a problem? And I want to thank you for that, Mr. Shoemake. I'm very proud to be a part of this. So having said that, all in favor of the amendment, is any other comments, first? All in favor of the amendment, raise your hand.
» Let us show that it was unanimous now, going back to the third reading case 2316, the RV campground issued. Do I have all in favor for that? As amended. Yeah, do I have a motion for that as amended? And let me ask you this before you do that, Mr. Tucker, is there any other comments on this one item? I know I'm a little bit out of order on that, but I just want to make sure. Because these folks, and I'm so proud of the young folks who really worked hard to put this together, and you guys who worked with them, wonderfully. All right, all in favor? The direct choice unanimous. Okay. C, reading case, moving along under item C, first reading of case 2317. This is re-zoned Lugoff-Elgin High School from R15 to B2. And let's get a motion put on the floor.
» Is there a motion put on the floor? So moved. All right. Is there a second? Second. Second. All right, before I go to discussion, can I refer to legal, get an update on this? Yes. This rezoning amendment was brought about by a desire and expressed need of the school district to have a cell tower on that site. Principally, I understand it's driven from a public safety perspective. The school district, I understand, has radios to communicate in the event of school emergencies or crisis, God forbid, but they, not everyone has a radio and cell service is very spotty out there. So, again, the school district has presented this as a kind of operational and safety need on site. The, a small parcel could not really be singled out for a rezoning, for spot zoning issues.
» So, the entirety of the property is proposed for this rezoning. The school or institutional use is an allowed use within that district as well as the existing district. So, there is overlap. Again, it's not drifted too horribly far. And, I understand from the school district, there also might be some reversion causes within their property instruments that would prevent some of the perhaps more undesirable, more intense uses that are allowed in that district. Very good. Mr. Vice Chair? Yes, if I may. I think you were getting ready to do it. That's what I was doing. Okay, go right ahead. I see we have Billy Smith, some fine folks out. Do you have anything you'd like to share? Bring up anybody you have with you, any guests. Thank you, Mr.
» Chairman and council members, we thank you for your time. It was very well said by Mr. DuBose and I appreciate him and his eloquence in stating that. But yes, since I was principal at Lugoff Elgin Middle School in 2004, we have been trying to find someone to partner with to get a tower, not necessarily on our property, but anywhere near there. Anybody that lives in the Lugoff area around there, knows the Watery, Lugoff Elementary, middle school to high school area, the coverage is just spotty to, that would be putting it good. And it is a safety and security issue. Yes, we do have radios. Yes, we do have phones, but internet can go down and we lose our phones and everybody does not, as stated before, everybody does not have radios.
» So it would be a comfort to know that we had better cell phone coverage there. We do not, did not ask for, I know, Joey, this was the best fit for what we were asking for as far as the zoning. We do not care to do anything else with that property. There's $300,000 to $400,000 worth of taxpayers' things there that I do not think even people in the future would want to go and mess with. So we just want to assure everybody that where the tower is going is in between Richardson and the school. It kind of sits down low and is 195 feet, is that correct? Mr. Yates, who is the attorney for Milestone. I appreciate him being here, which means it does not have to have the red light that some people worry about and it being a nuisance and maybe keeping them up at night.
» So we've tried to, and we didn't just, we didn't go out looking for them, they came to us. There is one provider right now on the tower that is T-Mobile and we have space for three more so they're working hard to try to get AT&T and Verizon and someone else on that tower. And we have been working on this for a year. We looked at probably ten spots to try to find the least place, the least vulnerable place for that thing to be and not encroach on our neighbors and bother them. Be glad to answer any questions. Thank you. Would you like to introduce your guest? Yes, this is Mr. Yates, attorney for Milestone. Welcome, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, members of council. I just want to, as you can tell, if you follow Billy, you don't have to say much. Correct.
» But no, I want to thank Billy, I want to thank the school district, and I really want to thank Joey for working with us, working on a solution where we can solve the school's problems and do it in the best way for the county. These people have been incredible, and I thank them. Thank you very much. Council members, anybody like to say something? Mr. Tucker? Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. Billy, appreciate you as always, but it's good to hear that it's not going to need a red light. Of course, you know I have family members that live on that corner right there that would like to sleep at night as well. Hopefully, it'll help them stop at that stop sign, though. They don't like that four-way stop because they end up in his yard all the time.
» But I just want to say I appreciate you doing this, and I saw where the vote was unanimous coming out of planning and zoning, and also it was very compatible with our current comprehensive plan, so that makes it real easy to support. Thank you. Any other comments? All right. All in favor? Let it show the record's unanimous. Thank you, folks, so much. Billy Smith, you're a legend in South Carolina. Thank you, both of you, for all you do. Appreciate it. All right, number nine, new business. We're going to look at a motion to nominate and appoint to the planning commission. There'll be two vacancies that we're going to be dealing with here. This is placed on the agenda by Russell Brazel and Councilman Brant Thomason, and I'm going to start it by saying this.
» Nomination is appointed to the planning commission. There's two seats. We're going to do each seat will be done separately. Guys, y'all better be listening to me so you're going to see what we're doing. I mean that politely. What I'd like to ask for, is there a motion? We're going to take these one at a time. Okay, there's two seats. Is there a motion to nominate and subsequently appoint Heather Dykes to the planning commission's seat currently held by Kevin Scharf and that the appointment of Heather Dykes to be on the planning commission be placed on the October 10th, 23 agenda for ratification under appointments as the term commences in October. Is there a motion? Yes, sir. I'd like to make a motion to nominate and subsequently appoint Heather Dykes to the planning commission.
» The seats currently held by Mr. Kevin Scharf and that the appointment of Heather Dykes to the planning commission be placed on the October 10th agenda for ratification under appointments as the term commences in October. Thank you. We have a motion on the floor. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, Mr. Shumake. Is there any discussion? I think Heather knows a lot about development and I think she'll be a great asset for the county. So the planning commission obviously has a lot on its plate and I think she'll be a fine asset to the commission. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments? I'd like to say we have a proud dad there. It was also her birthday today and basically happy birthday to her. Okay. I'm going to call for the vote. All in favor? Raise your hands.
» Let it be said that Councilman Cato, Thomason, Vice Chair Jones, Shoemake, and Russell Browser voted in favor. All opposed? Let the director show that Mr. Tucker opposed. It carries. Okay. Now I'm going to go to the second one. Is there a motion to nominate and subsequently appoint Ned Towle to the planning commission for the seat formerly held by Claude Eckenberger, if I pronounced that right, who resigned from the remainder of his term to be placed on the, and also this appointment to be placed on the October 20th, 23 agenda, October 10th, 23 agenda under new business for ratification of that appointment. Is there a motion? Mr. Jones, I'd like to make a motion. Thank you. Ms. Thomas makes a motion. Is there a second? Second. I'll second. Yield. Thank you, Danny.
» We got you as a second on that. Is there any discussion? Can I... Yes, you may. I'll read my motion. I move to nominate and subsequently appoint Ned Towle to the planning commission seat formerly held by Mr. Claude Eckenberger, who resigned for the remainder of his term and that appointment of Ned Towle to the planning commission be placed on the October 10th, 2023 agenda for ratification under appointments. This appointment is contingent on Mr. Towle's resignation from the Board of Zoning Appeals. I'm excited to have an appointment. We currently don't have an appointment for District 5 on the planning commission and I'm very excited to have Ned. Ned would do a wonderful job.
» He is in, you know, real estate development but he's a long-time Kershaw County resident who really cares about preserving and conserving our community and he will do great. Mr. Johns, I'd like to thank you for your hard work on this and Russell Brazel as well. Thank you all. Thank you so much. All right, we had the motion to second discussion. I would like to say to you about Ned Towle, he's going to be remarkable, no question about it. We're fortunate someone like he and Heather want to serve on this planning commission. Okay, any further discussion? I call for the vote. All in favor. Oh, we already on Ned Towle. All in favor? Okay, let us show that it's unanimous and Madam Chair is absent. Thank you, gentlemen. If we could, bear with me one second.
» Brazel, not Brazel, but Councilor Thomason messed up my paperwork. It's just too small a prep for you. I think we had just one more nomination. The ATAS commission. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm getting to that. Okay, I got it right here. Okay, we're going to be, you guys pay attention. I'm going to be to nominate to the airport and the tourism advisory committee one vacancy. I mean, appoint, we are one to tourism advisory committee one vacancy. So, we need a motion to nominate for that. Is there a motion? I'd like to make a motion to nominate Miss Vanessa Adams to the ATAS committee. Okay, very good. Thank you. We have a motion for Vanessa Adams to the ATAS committee. Is there a second? I'll second. Any discussion? This is kind of her wheelhouse, the entire industry.
» I think she's been in this industry for quite some time. As far as tourism and that sort of thing, we had a lovely conversation and sometimes you just get a good gut feeling about somebody and she seemed like she'd do a great job. So, I'd also like to say that we've really been blessed with the amount of applications that we've had from people in the community willing to serve. I mean, if anything, we've got a problem with just too many good people wanting to serve and that's hard for us sometimes to choose the right individual and we never want to let anybody down, but we do the best we can under these wonderful circumstances that we have. So, I'd like to thank everybody who's currently serving in the past and these new appointees.
» I want to thank them for what they've done for the county. Thank you, Mr. Brasley. Is there any other discussion? All right, seeing there's none, I call for the vote. All in favor? The director sure is unanimous. Okay, C, altering and amending appendix two, public presentation guidelines, Kershaw County Council ordinance determining rules of order business placed on the agenda by Vice Chairman Jimmy Jones. Okay, I have a motion to put that on the floor. I'll make a motion. Okay, Councilman Thomason made the motion. Is there a second? I'll second. I'll yield. She made the second. Now for discussion. Mr. Chairman, did you want to kind of, could you kind of go through? Absolutely. I was going to wait until we got a discussion on the floor, which that's where we're at now.
» Basically, if you look in your packet, you'll see that in appendix two, you'll see that it's marked in the packet as well. I think a sheet was sitting in front of your seats when you got here. The rules may be, and it says the rules may be amended by county council by a single vote as an agenda item. Okay, so what I've done is a public presentation is limited to no more than one per meeting. The maximum time allotted for the public presentation is 20 minutes. all right? So we now have, I think, we have three, we're doing three, but the way I look at folks, that's 20 minutes of presentation. And with public speaking and 20 minutes to a presentation, that can, we could be an hour and a half before we get into our meetings.
» So I thought that we just need to sort of clean this up a little bit, and that's where I'm at. Mr. Chairman, is just, so I'm clear, is the yellow, are the yellow additions, all the yellow stuff? Or changes? Yes, yes. Correct, yeah, the yellow changes. So we're at three now? Yes. We had four apply, but we, and we did, we did two tonight because we asked one, I think Ms. Gwynn put them on, and because of that, I asked them to come to the next meeting when she was here. If I may, Mr.
» Tucker, a public presentation request, let me just read the other little minor changes, and if you go down to number four, it says from the entity, it says here, a request to be, on the agenda is limited to a request from the administrator or a county council member by written request, and we've always done that, that's always been the policy, you know, that we've pretty much done it on, and then it, just one little word, should here, where it says individual representatives or organizations that wish to express concerns to the county council or to comment as to public matters should present their concerns or comments during the public comments section, and then it says these rules may be amended by county council by one single vote, as I said earlier.
» Well, I have some questions on item number two, go back up to, how many we can have for a meeting, and then I'll go back to item four. Sure. All right, so we're at three. I thought two went real smooth tonight. If you cut it down to one and you have two people that's time-sensitive that needs to present something, I think we may run into a problem. It's kind of like what we just did with the RV ordinance. Why can't we see what two looks like? We know three doesn't work, and I'll agree, that's an hour potentially just sitting here listening to public presentations. It's a minute.
» Yeah, okay, and so that 40 minutes, which neither one took their whole 20, went relatively quick and easy, and it was good to hear both presentations, so I don't know if I'll be in support of one, but I do understand I'm not wanting to sit here for an hour listening to presentations and not taking care of the people's business, so that's my comment on that, and I'll wait and yield to someone else. What about if we did two at 15 minutes? I think 15 minutes, I don't think we've seen a presentation take longer than 15 minutes, and that cuts us down to 30 minutes if we're maxed out instead of an hour. It cuts the public presentation. I'm sorry, I know that Danny Kato had mentioned to me two minutes, maybe 15 minutes, when we had talked earlier as well.
» Absolutely, that's kind of what I had in mind. I didn't feel that one presentation per meeting would suffice. I felt like we at least owed them two presentations, and I kind of kept time of the presentations tonight, and neither one of those presentations, which were very good, very good presentations, went over 15 minutes, so I'll be the first to, I'd like to make an amendment that we amend this to two presentations per meeting at 15 minutes each. Is there a second for an amendment on the floor? Second. Russell seconds. Any discussion? I'd like to say, you know, if we limited it to one, which they were both good, but the second one really touched my heart. I would have hated to have missed that. I can't argue with you on that one. Okay, so any other discussion on the...
» I just want to make sure the amendment is clear, so we go into two, but 15 minutes. Yes. Okay. Okay, all in favor of Councilman's... The amendment. Cato. The amendments, yeah. Raise your hand. Let us show that it's unanimous on the amendment. Now, let's go back and say, is there a motion on the floor to vote for the amendment, for the, excuse me, for the change with the amendment of the public presentation? Mr. Vice Chair, can we discuss item number four? I had some questions on that. I apologize. You did say that and I did run away with it. Go ahead. That's okay. So, I just want to make sure I'm clear on this. So, moving forward, this will restrict us for saying in our Council briefing, we have a presentation we'd like to put into the agenda package for the next meeting. Ms.
» Hannah, can you make sure that that's put in? We have to, as a Council member, give written notice for presentations? Is that what we're saying here? What makes this a bright idea? Because I suggested it. There lies the problem. Just be honest with you. Things in writing, it always said if it's not in writing, it didn't happen. Well, I agree with you on certain things, but what I don't want to do, and you've been a great supporter of this, is restrict the agenda from Council members. No, that is not my intention at all. But that's subsequently can happen due to trying to get these things in writing to the administrator or to the clerk of court or to Madam Chair.
» I'm just, I'm a little leery of that because we as Council members have the right to list items that we think are important to our district, to our citizens, on the agenda. And this right here is part of the agenda. So this is where I'm having a little bit of conflict of understanding my duties and responsibilities of representing the citizens of Kershaw County and especially our districts. And you know, when it says here a presentation request to be on the agenda is limited to a request from the administrator, which we need, and also a councilman by written request, all you have to do is just write on a piece of note, hand it to her, you know, there's no form, no public form, just write something down and hand it to her so she's got it. So I think if I may. Yes, you may.
» So I kind of see it a little bit differently, Councilman Tucker, only because I look at it from a different perspective. And I think I'm okay with this because I think it helps Ms. Hannah from her management side. So in other words, you know, she has, you know, she can keep a file and so she, you know, doesn't have to worry about keeping track of oral, you know, people coming by orally. I don't have a problem with it as a function of letting Ms. Hannah, you know, sort of keep things streamlined. But it is recorded, it's recorded right here in the chambers and she's recording it. I mean, it's part of our duties and responsibilities. Would you like to make an amendment to delete or change? Sir? You're welcome to make an amendment to delete.
» Well, I want to have discussion and, you know, just see how my colleagues feel because I had zero discussion with anybody, not even you, about these changes. Can I ask a question? Yes, sir. Ms. Hannah, when somebody asks you in a meeting like this to put something on the agenda as like a public presentation, do you write it down? So, I mean, you can make an argument that that fulfills the rule anyway. If she's going to write it down, it doesn't say the council member has to be the one writing it. She's doing it. This is amazing now. We just said more bureaucrat democracy about these RV parks, but yet we're willing to tie our own hands and also make it where something that Ms.
» Hannah is already doing and recording because it's recorded, it's written and recorded now without any type of language in our rules. What's the problem? Let me say this. All you have to do, I think putting in writing is good business. All we have to do is call Hannah, tell her that you want this person to do public presentation. She is our clerk to council full time. Unlike Mary, she was split from two different jobs. If you want her to type up a letter and put it in the agenda packet that is from you, that's fine. She can do that. It's not going to hinder any of us up here. It's just going to give, I think, more accountability. Mr. Chairman? Yes? I like what Councilman Tucker said and I see both sides of it. Telling Ms.
» Hannah something in this meeting, she writes it down and then it's in the agenda packet for minutes from the previous meeting. I would like to see us maybe do an amendment that we can see how it works the way it is. You can do it verbally, written, however you prefer, and then if there seems to be issues that Ms. Hannah, you know, we're not being able to get her the right information, then we can revisit putting written. See, I think I've done this all along. Well, let me ask you this. This is a good discussion. Yes, sir. I think the only issue I see, can I just one little thing? Absolutely. The only issue I see is that if she did get three or four requests and there was a timeline, who were the first two requests, I think would be who we should let present. Absolutely.
» Unless somebody decided. So I think having it in writing and an email with a time stamp is better than just verbal because that can get a lot of back and forth. So I don't mind it either way. To be honest, it doesn't affect me a whole lot. It hasn't affected me to this point. But I think an email in this day and age with a time stamp being that we are limited to two per meeting isn't a bad idea. So I kind of have to agree with Mr. Jones to put it in writing. We need to be rewarded electric correspondence correct? Instead of written? Councilman John, do you have your email on your phone? It can be either one. Okay, but you got a time stamp the written paper? You turn it into Mrs. Pam. Turn it into her. She keeps it. You know, apples and oranges.
» I'd just like to see us kind of continue I would like to offer an amendment that we delete the changes in item four. The written request part? Everything that's highlighted that was not in there prior to an item four. I don't have a problem of item five, but line item four. You're making that in form of amendment? Yes, sir. Is there that's your motion? Yes, sir. Is there a second? I'll second. Okay, all in favor, raise your It It didn't It didn't It didn't pass. So anyway, now, is there amendment on the floor for the two meetings 15 minutes? I think we already approved that amendment. Your original motion. Let's just change that and leave the rest alone.
» Do you want to restate that just for the record which we passed was Councilman Cato's It was Cato's which was two presentations per meeting with a time limit of 15 minutes per presentation and that passed. So now we're going back to the original motion all in favor to show that it is Councilman Brazel Shoemake Thomason and Cato and Jones in favor and you're in favor and all against Mr.
» Tucker thank you thank you guys all right that passes with the amendment on a 5-1 okay all right guys hold on a second okay let me say this on old business we've already handled the appointment planning commission we already handled the tourism advisory so we have the finance committee's options for sheriff's office budget for council's vote and consideration placed on the agenda by but I think council asked me to recognize the chairman of the finance committee Mr. Tucker you have the floor sir thank you Mr. vice chair I to fund to fund the sheriff's request funding for his deputies we'll make it very generic like that because there's a lot of discussion and we can amend it absolutely is there a second please second okay any discussion well with that I'm gonna yield to Mr.
» Shoemate on options one through four to make sure that everybody is clear on the thought and what all went into these recommendations so the finance committees at multiple meetings with the sheriff's office they obviously were all public meetings the chairwoman attended I think one of them members of the public attended at least one of them and what we came out of it with from the finance committee's perspective is to set the stage what was a way that he could bring some raises in for his people the finance committee took a pretty resolute approach along with the county administrator that we not reopen the budget nor do we do anything that isn't budget neutral and so what the finance committee did is work with the sheriff's office and Tyler who works on our budget who did fantastic work as
» well as the county administrator and the sheriff's folks and came together to come up with some budget neutral options for affecting these raises now what what and I'll just go through these very briefly and again I can't stress this enough these are funds within the sheriff's office at the end of the year so to be clear with option one is it would take a $3,000 raise the bonuses would exist if grant funding comes back that is unspent so this is going to be up to the county administrator to look at and ensure that the funds are available obviously if it gets toward the end of the year the sheriff's budget is that it would be more advantageous for his department to be able to pay his people more and make sure he gets quality people and basically freeze those positions and by freezing those p
» ositions what that effectively means is those positions really won't come back unless this council votes to increase the sheriff's budget that was the key part I wanted to hear right did that so that's option one the other options sort of flow from it option two is only doing the three thousand dollar raise which includes the COLA option three would be to only do a bonus at the end of the year again we won't know what that number is it could be zero it could be two thousand but it would be a bonus up to two thousand depending on grant refunds received by the sheriff's department and then option four of course is this council could take no action and just simply revisit the sheriff's office budget next year so those are the options from the finance committee if I could sheriff would you mind
» coming up you did a good job listen can you tell us out of the three options which one you prefer option one without a doubt sorry mr. one thing that the finance chairman committee wanted me to note options one and two involve giving up the positions I just wanted to be clear it's not both of those involve the same thing I'm sorry thank you thank you that was well said by both you gentlemen I appreciate it if I may share of course you're coming up your own free will saying you will stop those positions not feel those positions knowing that they're going to be frozen and it would have to be a vote this county council to reopen those positions in future time correct yes yes yes I mean I feel retention is more important than recruiting right now law enforcement everywhere is having problems wi
» th recruiting and salary needs to be competitive to keep what we've got more concerned about keeping what I got than growing at this time here we've got to do that damage control this is qualified deputies quality is more important than quantity very good is there any questions for sheriff sheriff do you feel like do you feel like you have enough deputies with this reduction by three yeah yeah we're we're not going to be able to keep less than that with our current salary recruiting is really down everywhere it's not just here it's everywhere and the state's got more money than we got here in the county and side of reach for us this is going to keep our head above the water and allow us to hopefully keep the good people we got we've got a lot of good deputies we've got probably the best mos
» t diverse department we've ever had in sheriff's office and I don't want to lose what we've got we certainly appreciate what you and all the deputies do and the rest of correct me if I'm wrong is the county funds the vast majority of deputies but you've actually talked to I believe it's Bethune in the state to ensure that they will be able to match the raise with the deputies that they fund through their resources as well as the school district everybody's on board and they're willing to match their part we're just picking up the difference that the county pays for it Mr.
» Chairman I know that we talked about this in our finance committee meeting but I think it'd be good for others to hear as far as Kershal County is related and our deputies where's our salaries compared to the surrounding counties we're that changes almost daily but at the time we done the study we were like I think the only one that was the same as us everybody else was above us all the sheriff's offices around the state was about $12,000 above us starting state right now requests $58,000 around about $55,000 yep and for this next budget year cycle you don't anticipate having to come back and ask for those three positions to be reopened correct oh yeah we're definitely going to ask for more next year I the money is needed the cost of law enforcement has gone up a lot over the past five year
» s and you get what you pay for what we invest in the agency and it is what it is I wish I had a better answer but we're not a revenue generating departments so I can't offer answers as to how we're going to get the money but as we grow the need is going to grow for more more deputies in the future the only you know having to come back and refund those three positions next year is one of my only concerns I've had a few calls today I think law enforcement is very important and we need an increase in salary and the good I'm supportive of this strictly because this is not a budget increase this is doing away and the next year we're going to meeting is the county administrators made us aware that due to various issues that next year may be a lean year absent some kind of millage increase which i
» s a totally separate issue so one thing we did talk about and I know the sheriff would recall this is certainly you have to come and ask you have to fight for your department but I think you also understand that if we have a lean year this option means that you could potentially have to go next budget year without those three positions and your decision was that still better to do what we're doing now it's still worth it I what he thinks I am not in favor of giving up those three positions because when little granny's house or bubba sue's building business gets broken into and the public not you but the public sees it as lack of manpower council is going to get blamed for cutting those three positions I'm not willing to take that risk on the other side too if we don't have the salary to fil
» l the positions we got we're going to be understaffed also find the balance that we're trying to find here and as a brother we're not going to option three three three which I have to give to you grant money that's coming back to you which I would do for any department because that money was solely allocated into your department to give bonuses once we figure out what those numbers are and it could be up to $173,000 which would be about $25,000 or $3,000 per deputy that we could fund once we figure out exactly how much is coming back from your body cams and your car cameras I think are body armor I don't have my notes in front of me and so I'm just stating my position because I have had some of those same phone calls councilman Thomason has had in reference to other department and other ele
» cted officials that get elected countywide as well who are fighting for their people and what I don't want to do is have an unfair advantage of starting something that at least I haven't ever been a part of and that's doing things outside of the budget and cutting positions once the budget is set now that's nothing to what my colleagues have to say I'm just stating my position and I haven't changed since we met in the finance meeting and I told you I will look consider and I have been and with everything that's been presented to me thus for my best option that I see is option three if I may miss Tucker yes sir just very quickly I look at a little bit different I unless it comes back before this county council if he says he can live without three deputies he is elected to that I will say thi
» s and I give him a budget but we can't take that money back but we can't tell him how to spend that budget if he so wished to go against us on that it's perhaps slightly more nuanced by that than that but that's probably a fair generalized kind of umbrella statement about the sheriff's independence and again there are a lot of attorney general opinions on it but yeah that's probably a fair there was an attorney general opinions on it about that sheriffs do have the power we're mandated to give them a certain amount of money we give them money but we don't have to give them more money but we can't take money from them and we can't tell them how to organize this department he really in my opinion did not have to come forward to find his committee but he did am I pretty much any way he wants c
» orrect who's going to stop him Mr. Jones just quickly I can't get an answer on that Mr. Brousel I'd like to state from a business point of view I've at times had to work less people and pay them more to get more production through what I do for a living at our molding plant I kind of see what the need is here and I can't say that I disagree and I'll also say this I can't say that I can't say that I know how to run your department so if that's what you choose to do I can support it you may not get those positions back next year as Councilman Shumate stated but I appreciate so you have my support 100% for option one Vice Chair Mr. Vice Chair go ahead go ahead Ms.
» Kato Sheriff these positions three positions you're willing to give up what are those three positions well initially it's going to be two patrol and then one class three position we have that could fluctuate as the need goes on and as there possibly could that be that litter position yes it could be as we go on position could be replaced as we find money through other moves we make within the department so we don't know that we're you you and I both know what it's like to work the road with just three deputies and it I know that's tough but I do also understand today's climate and law enforcement and the job they do a lot of times they're grossly underpaid and I that you're willing to give up these positions and you're just kind of getting I guess an okay from the council not an okay but ma
» ybe a good graces type thing from the council I do understand where you're coming from and I'll support it tonight but I want to stress too that as the finance committee has said this may be three positions you don't get back next year so I hope it works out I just want to say two or three things pretty briefly one and I don't really want to get into the big legal debate but I things outside of the budget cycle absent a true constitutional imperative that it does have to go through the county council but I mean we're doing that so that doesn't kind of moot I'm going to support option one sheriff you and I've talked about this I that is set if they have a particular way they want to spend that money I think we have department heads for a reason and ours isn't to necessarily second guess so I
» am going to support option one tonight for the reasons stated by several folks here tonight thank you Mr. Tucker you have something yes yes so councilman she made has already stated what I wanted to state about our financial responsibilities as council of funding your budget and everybody else's budget as far as you just don't have free will to just go do what you want to do certain things have to come before council but the other thing I want to state to my colleagues right now on record I want you to be this open minded when the administrator comes to you on election year 2024 when it's time to raise the millage to pay for these things because he's already told you he's going to come back for his positions and I don't blame him if I we decide to do will totally be up to the majority but f
» or those reasons and the other reasons I've stated I can only sponsor or support option three tonight thank you appreciate Councilman Tucker's leadership and I think what you see here tonight is a really good example of why the finance committee works we had some discussion about it a couple of meetings ago about the process but obviously we don't always agree but I think this is a perfect example of why the finance committee is helpful so we don't have to spend six hours hashing out these details with the budget guy in the room we did that on discretion okay there's amendment on the floor is there second second all in favor of the amendment on the floor raise your hand then it showed that councilman Russell Brazel councilman Derek Shoemake Danny Cato and Brent Thompson and Jimmy Jones vote
» in favor all those vote against the director showed that councilman Sammy Tucker votes against mr. vice chair yes I just want one bit of clarity on number one so on the bonus visibility when will we know about that whether it's a do or don't will that be brought back before council October October we usually find out about the grants okay but I'm asking the administrator you'll be bringing that back not for approval but for an update to see if it's something doable because it does state in there you know if available yes sir it struck me that this gave me the opportunity but if that's your request then I will absolutely bring it back and not everybody get across the board the same bonus you know if you haven't been here a year you might not get anything but somebody after a year maybe get a
» smaller amount and after five years you get a larger amount just just a suggestion let me say this I like all the suggestions but I second I thought you had already approved it not as amended okay I don't think we did it as amended okay okay so we have a motion and a second any discussion on that all in favor raise your hand all opposed Kato Thompson Shoemake Razzle Jimmy Jones voted in favor of the sheriff's request and councilman vice excuse councilman tucker voted against you've been vice chair so much it's hard to get it all right so the motion carried sheriff you got what you asked for I want to thank everybody but but Mr. Tucker I still love you guys it's okay I'll make sure I tell my mom you didn't thank me let's move along guys so Mr.
» Jones yes just one question for legal sure we did have these motions to nominate for the appointments under old business as well do we need to have another vote to clarify anything are we okay thank you thank you good question thank you for double checking on that all right council briefing start with Mr. Brasel I've got a few things tonight I'd like to talk about Mr.
» Robinson Bill Robinson there he is hey that's my friend listen I want to tell you about the good things he's doing over in the Knights Hill community at Knights Hill Park he's he's taken a leadership role in this community they bleachers new lines I think on the court done a lot of work he's a leader in his community they're working on a walking trail they're having a three on three basketball tournament this weekend Knights Hill community is a historic community and a wonderful community and I just wanted to commend him for everything he's done for his community and I hope that the reporters are writing this down because this is very important very important I'd also like to say to everyone who serves with me and serves Kershaw County whether you're an employee whether you work for the she
» riff's department whether you're a judge whether you work in parks and rec we thank you we appreciate you we think about all of your pay everyone in in this current climate is struggling and we understand that and we're doing the best we can with what we have precious tax dollars it's difficult to keep things consistent and fair but I think everybody on this dais is doing the best they can to address every department's needs and we care about every department and we also care that being said I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who serves current and past and last but not least I'd like to tell my beautiful wife happy birthday I was going to get for the mad festival and I see our lovely director Miss Dolly out there from the fine arts center these brochures and I think the admin
» istrator is going to speak a little bit more on it so I'm going to be very brief are in the back if you care to pick up one but it is a nine day festival celebrating music arts and drama and dance with events across Camden and Kershaw County a historical community known for its culture and hospitality Kershaw County is the perfect place for the mad festival to call home this library Grace Episcopal Church Littleton Street United Methodist Church and Preservation South Carolina and I would like if you guys schedules will allow and your families that you pick up a brochure and try to attend at least a night or two to support the arts center here in Kershaw County and Miss Dolly because she does a wonderful job here and renovations down there to adding new programs and doing different things a
» nd I think most of us who have been here for a while is used to the blues festival this time of the year this is taking that place and so let's go out and show our you apologize I just want to a couple of things first I want to thank Danny Templar and Gerald Blanchard over the last couple of months I've had a number of issues that have come up in my district there's been some issues with some sewer offloading smell and there's some neighborhood that's under development Mr. Blanchard went out with me to one of these neighborhoods gave the gentleman the neighborhood his cell phone and has been responding pretty regularly so I just wanted to thank you guys for that because that's I mean it's huge and on that front Mr.
» Templar when you do your council brief two questions I'd gotten were maybe an update on the COG where we are with that with the COG movement whatever update you have or when we might have an update and then the ladies so again I just want to thank the staff and I appreciate what councilman Brazel said it is tough with balancing these funds but I do think when you run a department it's important that we let you thank you thank you so much councilman shimmick mr.
» charmond thank you as always thank you so much to staff for your time effort and all you do y'all are lifesavers and really appreciate everything I really enjoyed the two presentations tonight man they were they were both incredible you know mental health is health and it's wonderful to see people in the community trying to be a benefit and impact people's lives that is very important because you never know lives can change in just a minute also the Kirkland community center that the weekend but there was a huge turnout the rodeo cowboys and cowgirls were incredible I took my family out there we got good food and got to watch the rodeos it was a lot of fun and then coming up on November 12th the Waterry Cup annual polo club is doing a polo match hosted with Aiken County so Aiken County Polo
» Associations coming to Kershaw County and we're doing a polo match for the first time since we're little on the pillow field right there on Broad Street we'd love to have y'all come out it's going with your organization I really appreciate that that means a lot to Kershaw County and I know you're helping a lot of people I also want to tell Miss Dolly also thank you I appreciate you reaching out to the outer parts of Kershaw County and that really means a lot to the people outside of the downtown district so I really appreciate you doing that I would like to mention a few things that's going to be happening here in near future one is North Central volleyball team always offers or sets up a dig pink night at North Central this is in reference to breast cancer awareness and it should be on Oct
» ober 5th this year and I think the varsity plays at 6 o'clock that night so I would invite you and on another note on October 2nd we're having a public meeting at the Mount Pisgah Resource Center this will be with the center leadership up there it's open to the public they want the public to come out and it's going to also be with leadership Kershaw County and they're going to be discussing some murals that's going to be painted up at the old school try and dress it up a little bit so I invite anybody that would like to participate in that Mr.
» Kato I have just a couple things I want to say before we move on you know Miss Dolly it's good to see you here you're always involved and welcome I personally spearheaded trying to get certain planning or zoning ordinances in line that would benefit the people more maybe slow down some of the crazy housing growth that's going on not just in Kershaw County actually I actually looked up where Kershaw County stood in housing growth I some amendments to the ordinances that will benefit this community and citizens to keep things under control and I really appreciate that and I will say something else I have to say this because you know I have been a starch starch fighter when it comes to creating taxes and creating new fees on folks and I did some research because we get focused on that's what y
» ou going to do and you did that of course we disagreed on the hotel we disagreed on the ball field but that's okay you know and Mr. Shoemaker you're always available always available I don't know how you do it with being a full time attorney as well too and to all my colleagues on council I literally enjoy working with this county council I insult didn't try to disrespect so I want to thank you guys we've disagreed but we've kept it very professional and I have thoroughly enjoyed working with you I don't agree with you on everything now but that's okay and I thought those things were very important to mention and this morning the veterans had a breakfast at the Pine Grove Baptist Church and they saluted Danny Brownham who had passed away and Roy Brazel Russell's dad actually got up and spok
» e on his behalf and it was very moving and it was very rewarding and I just want to let you dad know we appreciate that and I'm not done just a couple more things real quickly I want to say happy birthday to Casey Brazel and she got a song sang to her this morning by the sheriff who called her up also I would like to say happy birthday to Heather Dykes and congratulations for her appointment to the commission as well as Ned Towel I think they're going to bring a lot of good stuff to our committee and you know planning zoning is right now Joey needs some help he needs some input and people who get involved and I think you will find that you got those folks coming on board here to it's still functioning as it needed to be I think along with councilman Tucker had a strong voice in doing a way
» with the finance committee when I first come on county council but bottom line is he stuck with me we represented it when you guys came on board and y'all did it I appreciate it and it's working very very well also to madam chair need to get on back appreciate your hard work your dedication to this county but we do miss you here and you do a great job and you have been missed not done yet one quick thing you know one thing I like about sitting here temporarily is nobody can tell me to shut up as the chair nobody can tell me I gotta quit speaking I don't have to ask permission give me that gavel anyway I want to say this about the sheriff's budget he said this is what he wanted he runs sheriff's department not me I'm not an expert he is but I'll tell you this right now if any department head
» especially elected department who comes before us you know your budget better than us and if you want to redo your budget I think it's fine committee be very open to listen to you if it was going to be revenue neutral as the sheriff did we're not encouraging that but bottom line is you are the experts not us of that and having said that I have no I need y'all to listen we would like the rest of the first of the year like you I have no further comments so I'm going to turn it over to the county administrator you've been messing on papers over here too the county administrator for his administrative briefing thank you Mr.
» Jones member of council I just have some updates for you you've got three items up there at your place as it relates to the comp plan this is still an ongoing piece there's a memorandum up there packed full of information provided by our partners at House C. Levine who has been heading up this whole process there's also the main memo up there I'd like to draw your attention to is the reminder of the joint county council and planning commission meeting next Tuesday October 3rd at 530 that's going to be held out at the economic development training center out there we'll have appropriate signage to get you all down session session next October 3rd at 7 o'clock p.m.
» so these will be smaller breakout groups on mapping exercises and things like that this is going to be a great opportunity for the community to have a say in this whole process there's also going to be a business workshop Wednesday October 4th at 8 a.m. again same concept with business owners all of this is playing into the ZLDR rewrite process that will ramp up in January 2024 once the growth vision goals and policies from the comp plan have been drafted this is going to be probably a 10 to 12 month process on the touch a truck October 7th it's going to be out there at the Watery River Veterans Park from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and then we're going to have the on Saturday October 28th we'll have the Halloween Jack-o-lantern Jamboree from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
» again out of the Watery River Veterans Park also both of those events will have tents dedicated to input from citizens as well as the boat ramp input opportunities there on the boat ramp we're also going to have a out at Patriots Landing we have two more sessions out there outside of those two dates I just gave you October 23rd and October 30th from 9 to 11 going to use and enjoy sir that's all I have thank you Mr.
» Teffler cog oh I'm sorry yep cog we've been busy with the cog and other items I will get you an update on that I don't want to hazard any kind of moving on early next year yes yes so all we want to do is just finish all of the components up in October and then start moving heavily forward with design and concepts when I'll be working with Andy Wicker for input from DNR I don't know how long it takes to build a boat ramp but I'd like to make it a goal to be able to have that boat ramp ready by summer of 2024 2024 we can certainly attempt I don't want to commit to something with permitting and things like that one would think it would be feasible it depends on the design you are all right thank you any other questions for administrator right quickly Mr.
» Administrator have you are y'all still waiting on for the FOIA request yes sir we've one of the individuals the main respondent from the battlefield trust has fallen ill and so that will just I think that correct me if I'm wrong but I think it adds about a week to the response but we've had solid we should FOIA provides a statutory time frame for response but and the clock is ticking on that I've had contact with battlefield trust and again prior to the illness issue but I was assured that they were going to try and gather the documents as quickly as they could thank you legal briefing the only legal briefing and this is just a matter of as an FYI to counsel you'll that the Mount Pisgah Community Center base lease was before you had to skip this meeting due to public hearing timing it'll be
» back on the agenda October 10th just an FYI on that any discussion thank you for your work as always you move these meetings like nobody's business I got a little wife who's dying for me to get home that's not true all in favor of a German raise your hand let the record show that
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