Full meeting transcript - October 10, 2023

» We'll call this meeting to order. It's 6 o'clock. Before we get started, I'd like to mention that Katie Gwynn, Chairwoman Katie Gwynn, will not be here due to a personal issue. Also, Russell Brazel will not be here. He's actually taking one for the company that he runs and works for. He's out there sacrificing himself to try to bring more jobs to Kershaw County. You know, Roy Brazel's Woodworks has about 100 employees, and they spend a lot of money, so I wish him the best out there in Las Vegas. And actually, he's not in Las Vegas. All right. If I could, let's stand for the invitation. Ms. Tucker, would you give the invitation? Yes, sir, Mr. Vice Chair. And also pledge allegiance. Yes, sir. Let us all stand and bow our heads and open our hearts.

» Lord God, Father Almighty, we thank you now. We thank you for this day. We thank you for all the days that you've given us. And, Lord Father, we will be so careful to praise and give you all the honor and the glory for your gracious work for life, health, and strength, sign, mind, and body. Lord, now we ask that you watch over Israel as they go through their troubles and battles of war to be able to bring resolve to those issues that's overseas over there, Lord Father, and let peace be among the land.

» We ask now that you bless our hearts and minds here in the United States of America, and that this dais, these men and women that's up here serving the citizens of Kershaw County, be compassionate and understanding and willing to compromise and work together for the betterment of the citizens here in Kershaw County. Continue to give us traveling mercy back to our various destinations, and continue to watch over our men and women as they protect our freedoms and liberties, Lord Father, as only you can do. We thank you, we praise you, in Jesus' name. 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, Mr. Tucker, so much. All right.

» We need the adoption of the agenda to have a motion. I'll make a motion when we adopt the agenda. Second. All right. Is there any discussion? Okay. All in. The motion shows it. Who made the motion? Randall Thompson made the motion. Who made the second? Sammy Tucker made the second. No discussion. All in favor, raise your hand. Let it show that it's unanimous with the members that are here. All right. Mr. DeBose, do you have anybody signed up to speak tonight on public comments? Yes, there are two individuals signed up to speak at public comments. The first is Mr. Tom Webb. The subject is constitution. Okay. Let me just say this. Mr. Tucker, would you give a brief overread of the rules? Yes, sir. I will. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. All right.

» It's an opportunity for members of the public to share information with counsel. It's not a time for debate with or questions and answers from counsel. It is time for counsel to receive input. It is not a time for counsel response. Offensive and inappropriate comments shall not be tolerated. If a group would like to speak, you can have a speaker to speak for that group. Public comments is a time to discuss issues. Public comment period is limited to five minutes maximum allowed per individual speaker. Public comments to counsel as an agenda item shall continue uninterrupted to be live streamed by audio and video where available until the public comments agenda items is finished and concluded. Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Councilman. If we could have the first speaker up. Oh, there you are.

» Welcome, Mr. Webb. Come on up. We have been showing the Constitution is a Solution, a series of six DVDs on the Constitution, about an hour each. And in discussion, we're going to be showing the third one this Thursday at 7.30 p.m. at Patriot Coffee Shop downtown. So you're all welcome and it doesn't cost you anything. So it's a lot more to being a citizen than just voting once in a great while. You need to know the background of the country. You need to have some idea about where our laws come from and why they're important. And then I want to say a little something about Israel. Dreadful what's going on over there. But what can you believe? Mark Twain. There have been some smart people all through history and Mark Twain was one of them.

» He said something to the effect, don't believe anything you read in the newspaper and only half of what you see. So I guess we'll find out later what exactly is going on in Israel. But it's obvious that Israel will just love to have the United States join them in waging war against Iran, supposedly to keep them from developing an atomic bomb, which they have probably had for at least 10 years, probably got a passel of them. But they would love to also develop a hydrogen bomb and a delivery system. So they're being a little careful. But they have it. They have atomic bombs, almost certainly. They've been taking care of the purification of uranium for a long time. Didn't take our country but four years to develop it in World War II. And all the information is out there in modern equipment.

» So Iran has nuclear weapons. They definitely do. My suggestion is because things are heated up so and we can have war come at us from all kind of directions and the food run out. The Internet is very important to everything from agriculture on through big business these days. And if somebody hacks the Internet, that would be a great setback. But a country like Iran could send a nuclear weapon from a ship above the United States and set it off and we get an EMP, destroys our electrical grid. That is a possibility. There are other possibilities of that happening as well. So my suggestion is to put aside some dry dog food because people can eat that. And it's not likely that your hungry neighbors will kill you for it unless they really want to feed their dog. This is really a serious issue.

» I've suggested that the county and the state should put aside food as Egypt did way back. And it's the reason that we have that story in the Bible of Joseph going to Egypt to get his family. Famine in the land. And it could happen here. I know people don't believe it and don't want to think anything about it. But this, I want to speak briefly about this 104 acres that's going to be rezoned, supposedly so they can put up a cell tower. Sounds mighty fishy to me. It sounds fishy to other people. It sounds like it's being rezoned so we can have more big housing developments. You know, I don't know, but it just, it could be.

» And I just wonder, if we get more people, we're going to have to buy more dry dog food because they're going to be awful hungry when the food quits coming, when the railroads don't work, when the trucks can't come. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Webb. Next speaker. Next speaker is Mr. Curtis Butler. Subject is tower. Mr. Butler, welcome. Hope everybody's doing okay today. My name is Curtis Butler. I live behind the school. I've been a critical infrastructure developer and researcher for over a decade. I currently work for all your major cell phone tower companies, their customers, and civil engineers, and all the major cable companies. So what I wanted to speak to you guys about today, like I said, I'm not trying to raise any alarm.

» I'm not here for scare tactics or anything like that. I also work with the International Commission of Biological Effects of Electronic Fields. We do a lot of research. So the subject is course to cell tower going up on the school. I can only give you the facts that I know. I know you can only take so much into consideration. There is a concern about it being so close to the school. When you have RF, microwaves, magnetic waves that come across, they don't just stop because we tell it to. We're looking at 21 megahertz, 2100 megahertz, 1700 megahertz, and 1800 megahertz being distributed over the top of our children's head. Not only my children, other people's children in this room. So when we get into talking about that, that is a force that you cannot physically see.

» You have to have a very high-end detective device to create the signature of RF leakage. RF leakage can make you pass out, but it cannot be seen. We have metal roofs on top of the school. That will help some to protect those children while they're inside of the school. But the problem is we have outside activities that we use for the children. So the baseball field, whether it be ROTC, ban, whatever. Now, this isn't going to happen as soon as they walk out of the door. This is going to be in effect over the course of a couple years. I've worked with it for so long. I've been in front of these cabinets, and I've experienced some problems going forward with that. So what we need to look at and consider is what we're going to do to the children if we put that tower there.

» Not only that, but the environmental issues that it's going to create, because a cell phone tower uses three patches of antennas, alpha, beta, gamma. It triangulates, and it shoots a signal out across waves. Any trees, whatever the case might be, over the course of the year, it will kill the tree from the top and rot it down to the bottom, and then the next tree, and then the next tree. So there's a lot of concerns for me being in the industry and seeing it and being around. Not only that, we took stuff down off of UNC because it was bothering the students there. Washington Elementary, we took it down. We just took down a cell tower in Idaho off the ski resort because the residents that were there were having issues. That's all I have, but that's my concerns. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

» That's it, Mr. DuBose? Yes, Mr. Vice Chair. All right, very good. Going to number six, public hearings. We're going to have a public hearing tonight on our ordinance by Kershaw County approving a base lease and operating agreement with Mount Pisgah Community Center. No one is signed to speak, Mr. Vice Chair. Would anyone like to come up and speak on behalf of that? No one? Okay, we'll move on. Number seven. Public presentations, which are 15 minutes per presentation. We have Ms. Patton here on the MAD Festival. We appreciate you being here. And this is put on the agenda by Madam Katie Gwynn. Welcome, Ms. Dolly. Good evening. Good evening. Thank you for having me. Always good to see you. Councilman, thank you, all of you. Thank you for having me here.

» I'm so excited to come and share this presentation with you about our recent MAD Festival. I believe we're going to pull up a PowerPoint right here. I've got lots of good photographs for you. We are so excited to share the news about last week's MAD Festival. There is no other place on the planet than Kershaw County to host this event. It celebrates our classic Southern charm and our contemporary Southern brilliance. And we had a lot of people come over to do that. As you know, the Art Center's mission is to provide transformative art experiences to the people in Kershaw County. We are very special. We are one of only two art centers in the entire state that provides programming, events, and classes in all four mediums of art. Music, art, drama, and dance.

» And that's very unique for our area. I'm excited to tell you that last year, more than 1,700 children and adults participated in our program's events and classes. That number's up 5,000 people over the year before, and we are really thrilled about that. Those four artistic mediums, music, art, drama, and dance, is what led us to create the MAD Festival. I hope you've seen the logo and recognized those four pieces. So, what about this week of madness? What were our goals? First of all, we wanted to attract tourists to Kershaw County to experience art. Secondly, we wanted to brand Kershaw County as the arts capital of the Midlands. And third, we wanted to drive revenue for our local businesses. Well, we certainly did that. We accomplished these goals with nine days of programming.

» Now, originally, it was supposed to be three, but everybody wanted to get on board, so it grew. And we had everything, gospel music, chamber music, an art walk, a restaurant music trail, a musical about quilters, a quilt exhibition, an extravaganza with music, art projects, food, and a lot of fun. So, we are pleased to tell you, we welcomed 2,500 attendees throughout the week. And of that number, 27% came from outside Kershaw County. 5% were from out of state, from North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, and as far as Tennessee and Illinois. So, we were thrilled with that. We had 18 local business partners, 85 artists. Events were held at 31 venues throughout Camden, Bethune, and Elgin.

» And we are very grateful to our partners, Kershaw County, the City of Camden, the Downtown Cultural District, the Bethune Baptist Church, the Elgin Library, Grace Episcopal Church, Littleton Street Methodist Church, Preservation South Carolina, and the area restaurants, art galleries, and other local businesses. We are also grateful to our sponsors, who were listed on the back of that brochure. In case you didn't see it, the accommodations tax funding we received allowed us to do a wonderful set of marketing collaterals. So, what you see here is a sample of our billboards that were placed on I-20 and I-26, from Orangeburg to Columbia to Florence. We also had a lot of radio, TV, and social media ads, as well as print media. Three Times, magazines, the Elgin News, and the Chronicle.

» And I have to give a shout out to the Chronicle, because they came on as a big sponsor of this event. So, the next slides that you see, I want to share some examples of our social media. I don't know how many of you followed us, but we had a MAD Festival website and MAD Festival social media channels, as well as the Art Center social media and website. So, this little reel, which I hope is going to work, fingers are crossed, is Laurie Parks with Broad and Vine. I hope people that have never really been to Canada... You were sitting there like it was going to play by itself. I hope people that have never really been to Camden actually get a chance to go into the buildings, go into the businesses, and kind of see the lifeblood of Camden. My name is Laurie Parks.

» We're at Broad and Vine in Camden, and everybody needs to come to the MAD Festival and have a glass of wine at Broad and Vine. Be sure to experience Broad and Vine during the MAD Music Trail on October 6th. Visit us online for more details. And I believe you'll recognize the second one, as well. I hope people... Oh, pig. That's okay. We're a sports bar and grill, also with a family spin to it, as well. We have a lot of kids that come in very kid-friendly. So, we specialize in wings, burgers, sports, obviously. Hey, guys. Well, the Fine Arts is a big part of Camden here, and I definitely wanted to support that in any way possible.

» With us being one of the oldest inland cities, we're kind of a hidden gem here in my eyes, so we want to definitely do more things for the public to be able to come and join and come and see. So, you know, with music and art and all those different things, it's a great thing for Camden to attract people to come here and see us. Alex Singleton here, Steeplechase Sports Bar and Grill. We hope to see everyone out for the MAD Music Trail in October, and we look forward to seeing you guys soon. Be sure to experience Steeplechase during the MAD Music Trail on October 3rd. Visit us online for more details. Do you recognize him? So, now I want to take just a moment to talk about some of the individual events and their impact. And this photograph that you see was from the Chamber Music Day.

» We worked with a group of Ph.D. graduate students from the University of South Carolina called Some Strings Attached. And they started the morning at the Continuous Learning Center with about 40 students and teachers, where they performed for them, but they also took them through a lesson on music and which sounds inspire happiness, which sounds portray sadness, what notes do you hear? And they let the kids actually come and sit around them and watch them perform. Now, the young lady that you see is a mezzo-soprano, so when she sang, the kids had never heard anything like that. And as the performers introduced themselves, one of them said, well, when I first met her, I just thought she screamed.

» And the kids were like, what? So, when she sang and they felt that it was screaming, it was okay for them to think that. So relatable, chatted with the students. The pianist was a composer, and he had composed music to go with poems. It was just a beautiful morning and a great experience for those students. We then took the group to Littleton Street United Methodist Church, which is what you see there. And they performed for about 60 folks. And then in the afternoon, after they ran around Camden and had coffee and visited with everybody, shopped a little bit, we took them to Bethune and performed at the First Baptist Church. This photograph was from one of the highlights of the week and actually how we kicked off events.

» So it was Sunday afternoon, October 1st, at Grace Episcopal Church, and we held a gospel concert. And there were four groups. This is Canty Hill Baptist. And it was amazing. And people are still talking about it. About 120 folks attended. The members of Grace have told me they think the windows are still rattling. It was so fabulous. And we definitely have that on our list to do again next year. So the next piece, I'm going to, if you'll bear with me, going to go back for just a minute and talk about some testimonies. And, of course, this is Alex. He said, the festival was great for our business. They did a lot of marketing, and we were packed the night of the Mad Music Trail. It was a lot of fun, and we are looking forward to next year. And the next one that you see is Laurie McIntosh.

» She owns an art gallery on Broad Street. Laurie was also one of the folks behind this festival. She serves on the Cultural District and really got behind reviving the Mad Festival. For those of you that don't know, the festival actually happened back in the early 80s. And it went away for a while, and we've brought it back. This year's Mad Festival has given us a great jumping-off place for making this an annual event. The Cultural District and Kershaw County benefit from the exposure to a larger regional reach and provides entertainment and activity for all the citizens of Kershaw County as well. The arts are one of the main cornerstones to a thriving community and economic development. A big thanks to City, the County, and the Arts Center for making this a reality.

» And the last comment is from Monica over at Rutledge Street Gallery. Monica, during the art gallery crawl on Tuesday night, had about 90 people visit her gallery. And those folks wandered around to the eight different locations on Tuesday night. The Mad Festival is what this community is all about, the love and celebration of the arts. It needed to be revived and fostered so it continued to grow. We are so grateful to the city and county for supporting this event. So the next series of slides is going to help you feel like you saw everything. This photo is from the Mad Music Trail on Friday night, and it's a band that was outside of the menagerie. The owner, Connie, brought this band in on our own dime so that she could be part of this. And it was so fun to watch.

» People pulled their cars up into the parking spaces. One guy rolled the top down on his convertible and sat there for like a concert. And another lady brought a blanket and put her children out. And people were just sitting on the sidewalk to enjoy this concert. Definitely something people want more of. This photo is inside our Basset Gallery. This is the Quilted Impressions exhibition of contemporary quilts. We had a little bit of a quilting theme going on here. We did a class of painting barn quilts. We had the Quilted Impressions. And the next slide will show you the actors from our show, Quilters, which is a play about women in the Midwest and all the things they experience while they quilt, while they talk about it. And it was a beautiful play that occurred all weekend.

» Lovely voices, local actors, again, giving people in our community a chance to participate in the arts. And we culminated on Saturday with the Mad Extravaganza, which was all day at the Art Center. We started out with a walk with the mayor from City Hall called the Mad Hatter Parade. And we all made super cool hats. And we walked down the street. We had a lot of arts and crafts activities for kids and families and a whole day of music. Here you'll see artists. We had eight artists selling their artwork out in our big show, Pavilion, and Field. We had a fabulous food truck that sold out of hamburgers and chips and almost all of their barbecue. It was delicious. Sorry you missed that. And this is one of the bands. This is one of the most popular bands, Terrence Young Band.

» And he travels all over the state. They had everybody up dancing in front of the stage. Every age was super fun. Marcus Gollum, he's a soloist from Columbia, played guitar and keyboard. And this is a young lady who was helping paint our picnic tables. We wanted to have an art project everybody could participate in. And again, just another shot of people having a great time. Children, we did a mural where you could come and color and draw on a mural on the wall. And there you have it. Just having a great day. Well, thank you so much. I got one more thing. Go right ahead. So looking forward, we have successfully launched the MAD Festival. We've reintroduced people to Kershaw County as a center for arts and culture. And we've laid the foundation for future MAD Festivals.

» We are already starting our planning. So in closing, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for supporting us. Art, in its various forms, provides transformative experiences for individuals, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. It has the power to evoke strong emotions and inspire new ways of thinking. Thank you for supporting the MAD Festival and the Arts Center and for helping us provide these transformative experiences for children and adults in our county. Thanks for having me. Ms. Dolly, you've been a blessing to this county. I really appreciate all you've done. Are there any comments or questions from any of you guys? Ms. Tucker. Thank you, Ms. Jones. Ms. Dolly, of course, you know that I'm a huge fan of the arts. And of you, and as Mr.

» Jones has just stated, you have been a blessing. I don't know how they went about selecting you, but we need to keep that hiring process right there where it's at as long as we can retain you. But we appreciate what all you have put into this county, and not only your talents and your gifts, but your resources, and that's made a tremendous difference in reshaping what we have today. So kudos and thanks. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Yeah, I just want to echo what Councilman Tucker said. You have some people with you today? I do have some board members. Yeah. Could you guys stand up if you're here with the Arts Center or affiliated with the Arts Center? There we go. Yeah, I just want to say thank you. And a special shout-out to Mr. DeWitt. Mr. DeWitt, I'm sure everyone here knows, but Mr.

» DeWitt was a teacher at Lugovation High School and a coach for years. And, you know, one of the things that you mentioned about the transformative power of art, you know, Mr. DeWitt's a good example of that. You know, this is a guy who was, you know, veteran, a coach, and, you know, also into the arts. And, you know, as a kid growing up, when you see that kind of thing, you realize, okay, art isn't just for a certain type of person, it is something that truly is for everyone. And, you know, there's a lot of folks that came to Lugovation High School that are much more well-rounded because of folks like Mr. DeWitt. So thank you guys for what you do. Anybody else? Ain't much more we can say to that, isn't there? Okay. Well, thank you so much.

» We appreciate all you do, and your board members as well. Thank you guys a lot. Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay. Next up is Parks and Recreation Update. Danny Templer put this on the agenda. Welcome, Mr. Shane. Good to see you. Good evening, everyone. So a good while back, we were asked to do a few things with Parks and Rec as far as some upgrades for parks. And we were asked to get three renderings of some options for a couple of parks. And what we did was we reached out to Alliance Consulting who helped us with those renderings. And those have been showed before, but I'm just here today to basically give you an update on where we are with that. So the first couple of slides, I'm going to show the rendering. So the first option is the Larry Doby Complex option.

» So that rendering shows what could possibly happen with the $10 million that could be possibly set aside to build a new park. Okay. This includes four baseball fields. You can see all the soccer fields, walking trails, disc golf course, outdoor basketball courts, paved parking, a lot of what we need. So that first rendering is the Larry Doby Complex. So we'll move to the second one. The second one is a rendering of the Woodward Park Complex. Very similar. Also, same ideas. Just a different setup. Ball fields, paved parking, soccer, outdoor courts, playgrounds, walking trails. Same thing. Everything that we could possibly need in this park. The next two are, it's a combination. The option three was a combination of both parks.

» So the first one, we would do some work on soccer fields over at the Larry Doby Complex. And you can see the black line there is the actual walking trail that would be included. And this particular plan does not include the ball fields, the baseball and softball fields. The next plan for Woodward Park would include the baseball fields, softball fields in that plan. So in that third plan, it kind of, you know, shows something that would be done at both parks. All right. So I'll move on to the next slide. The next slide is also some more, a few more things that we're looking at with these funds. There was, we're looking at $10 million to be set aside for a new park. And there's also another $2 million to do some things in other parks.

» This first, this slide I have here, I had Modern Turf go out and give us an analysis on ball fields in Bethune and Westville. We have two ball fields at both of those parks. Bethune is Copeland Park. Westville is Boyd Young Park. Now, what Modern Turf did, they went out and did an analysis on the infields and outfields. So the quote that we have here gives us an idea of what it will take to get those ball fields to standard, to good plan standard. You have irrigation for all four fields, layer of sand and composite blend, grade, new and installation. Laser level, that's, that's, that's a major piece of it to, to get the, the, the infields to where they need to be. New base plugs, plates and rubbers, and four tons of infield conditioner.

» So that quote there, like I said, gives us an idea of, of what it would take to get those, those ball fields where they need to be as far as regular season or tournament play or whatever we decide to do there. Yes, sir. Shane, is that two fields in each location or? Two fields, that's all four fields. Yeah, two fields at each location. Yes, sir. The next one is, is a quote from Musco Lighting. The next two you see will be quotes from Musco Lighting. The reason for those in Bethune at the Copeland Park, we have one ball field that has lights. Well, those lights are very old. And I'm pretty sure everybody that has coached in the past know that the, you know, the condition of those lights.

» So we have a quote to, to get the lights replaced at Copeland Park for the one ball field that has lights. And then the next one, well, actually that one was, the first one was for Westville. So if you'll move on to the next slide, same thing for Bethune. There's one, one ball field there that has lights. Very old system. Needs to be replaced. Musco, we have taken on the Musco Standard. This started back when Joe Eason was, was our director. Musco has a system that allows us to turn lights on from our computer. We don't actually have to send the body out there. And the other, other positive to, to Musco Lighting System is if a bulb or anything goes out, they send, they send me an email to let me know which pole, which row, and let me know when they're going out to fix it.

» So it's a, I love this standard, and I hope to be able to keep this standard throughout our parks. And they're on actually a state contract, so we don't have to go, we don't have to actually have to go through the bid process with them. We can, we can, since they are a state, we can go right with them. And the next slide. Next one is parking expansion at Casey West. If you see those four ball fields to the right, those are the four newer ball fields. And the expansion would be right in between those four ball fields and the old existing ball fields at the bottom portion.

» This, this is a huge piece at Casey West that, that really needs to be completed because if you've ever been into Casey West when we're busy, it's difficult to get in and out of there because we only have one way in and one way out. This expansion would provide us with another road on the back side so we would have another way in and out and make it a lot safer for the kids because on that front end where the current entrance and exit is, we have our softball fields there. And the parking there is very tight. And if a kid runs, you know, chases a soccer ball, they could possibly be in the road very quickly. So this expansion is, is, is a huge piece to these, these small projects.

» So with these projects, what, what, what Parks and Rec was asked to do was put these, put these projects before our rec commission and let them formulate basically a recommendation for this council. So if you go ahead and go to the next slide and the slide after that, we had that meeting and our rec, our rec commission voted unanimously to recommend the, uh, Kershaw County Council to pursue the 10 million project at Woodward Park contingent on the purchase of the adjacent land with the proposed $10 million budget. And that recommendation also includes those other small projects that, that I have, um, included in the presentation, the, uh, the ball fields, the lights, the parking expansion. Um, and those will be included in that $2 million that's, that's being set aside as well.

» Um, and the next slide, I want to, uh, just show you a few things in, in, in what helps, help this, will help that group get to their, that conclusion. This is actually an aerial shot of Woodward Park. Woodward Park is kind of at the bottom. If you see the, uh, the property up above, uh, that's the property that we're, we're talking about to include possibly in, in this, uh, in this, this plan. Now, the reason for that is that property gives us potential for, for growth, for more growth, um, because the county's growing, population's growing. That gives this, that gives us a great opportunity for more growth if we need that in the future. And, uh, if you go to the next slide, this is an aerial shot of the Larry Doby complex.

» And the reason I'm showing that is you can see pretty much we're landlocked there. There's not anything surrounding that park, you know, any other extra property that we could go after if we, we, we needed to grow a little bit more. Let, let, let me ask you a question while you're there. Sure. How much, how many acres you got at Larry Doby's? Larry Doby is about, um, goodness, it's about 40. How much acres do you have at, uh, Woodward? 30, about, it's about 35. Plus how much wetlands do you have at Woodward? Uh, I would have to get back with you on that one for sure. I'm not, I'm not completely sure on that one. As part of that, 38 would be wetlands. Yeah, kind of, kind of a, cause we can't build back there. That's where the, uh, sweet gum trail is.

» So if you buy extra, you'd have to buy more property. Right. Existing property. So much more. That's another. The additional property. That's another 35. Shane, is there anything in the, um, that proposal from, uh, from you or the rec department to address any of the, uh, wetlands, um, or is that all being spent on purchase of land and recreation facilities? And is there anything in that proposal that addresses, addresses the traffic problem that we will occur? There's, there's actually, there's nothing in that proposal as far as the traffic. You're, there's, there's no traffic study included in that proposal. So there would have to be one there. If I could follow up, Mr. Tucker, one quick thing.

» What is your recommendation? What do you like? As the, as our expert on these three plans, what do you like? I like the potential for growth, uh, with the Woodward Park plan. I do, I do, I do really like that. There's pieces of both of them that I, that I really like, but I do like the potential for growth at, at Woodward Park because we also have the pool right there for potential to connect there as well as Scott Park. The connectivity there is, is, is a big piece that I like in that one because we're trying to connect our parks so that everybody have more, will have other things to do. You know, if mom has a kid that can go and play, that's going to play baseball at Woodward Park, it might have another kid that wants to go over to the splash pad. Hey, it's, it's all connected.

» So, um, me personally, I like, I like the Woodward Park plan as well. I'll wait till he's, I want to make sure he's finished. I have a question. Now, as, as far as this, what I want to do with the next slide, um, if you go ahead and go to the next slide, this, this is something different from, from what I just presented. Direct to go. So we have, uh, my staff with our, our programs, uh, we, we were able to, to get a, um, a mobile vehicle from the library. The library got a new, uh, bookmobile and what they did was they gave us their old bookmobile. And the idea that we have and my staff had is to create this mobile wreck. You can go ahead and move to the next slide. So the idea with this is to take this vehicle out into the communities where there's not playgrounds.

» There's not a lot for kids to do. We're going to have activities, uh, hula hoops, jump ropes, any, all kinds of games and fun activities for kids to, to play with, take it out into these communities, open it up and let these kids have a good time. It's, uh, it's, it's been an idea that my staff's been playing around with for a couple of years and once the, uh, the library was able to, to give us that, that mobile, we finally met bringing it to life. So we, we actually rolled it out during touch a truck this weekend. Um, and, um, and another reason why I'm mentioning this is touch a truck was huge this weekend.

» We had 1,455 people at the veterans park this weekend, um, getting on the trucks and tractors and everything that had a horn and I swear the kids think it's going to sound different every time they blow it because they were blowing up and they were blowing those horns. But it was a great time and we actually were able to roll this out and let everybody get a sneak preview of it. So once we get everything inside this vehicle, we'll get that rolling into the communities. So, um, and I also have, uh, one rec commissioner here with me, um, Kevin Culp, and I also have the, uh, Alliance consultant guys here with us. Um, if we have any questions. All right. Are there any questions? Go ahead. Be okay if we ask, uh, Alliance engineering, Mr. Paul.

» Paul, would you mind? I don't mean to put you on the spot. I just, um. Yes, you do. Welcome. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of council. Thank you. So, uh, my question is, you know, one of the things that I see when I see the two options, this, the, obviously option one being Larry Doby, option two being Woodward. I understand the rec commission is recommending Woodward. Obviously, bluntly, my biggest concern is making sure we finish KC West, uh, over in the Lugol-Felgen area, but it appears that's in the cards regardless. But in the Woodward Park plan, and this is a question, I'm not looking for exact numbers because I understand studies have to be done.

» But if, if that adjacent piece of property were purchased, is there a mechanism or is there a feasible way to have a flow of traffic from both sides? Because one of the concerns I think that Woodward presents is you've got one pretty, I think it's fair to say, narrow sort of conscripted way in. It doesn't really look like that's going to be able to expand much at all. And so I'm wondering, is that, is that a feasible thing? And again, is there any idea of a ballpark of what it would cost to build out traffic and road infrastructure? Thank you for that question. I've got Steve Whaley. He's one of our senior project managers being very involved with this project from the original, um, master plan 10, 11 years ago now and update last year.

» And then this exercise that was conducted in the last couple, three months. And, uh, Steve, uh, if you want to address that first question, um, I think that it shouldn't be a problem with, uh, being able to connect. If you speaking to the mic, please, I don't know if there's a way you can pull, go back to the, uh, layout and I could do option to the new Woodward part option. Go to option two. That should be the second or third slide. Yes. Okay. Um, you see how we've got the one drive coming in to the parking lot and the second, uh, drive splits off. You could possibly have a four-way intersection there to go up to that property. And that would also come out through the, uh, you could also connect through the, uh, pool area. The, um, yes.

» You would come in, the, the traffic would flow kind of almost from the, the backside or north side, come through the pool area into this new connected park, as opposed to that small road off highway one. Yes, that's possible. But I think we should do a full, you know, if, now that we know that that part of the park is going to be bought, we could do a full expansion. Right. Oh, that's something you're looking at. But no, uh, I think that if you do that, I think you should go back and look at the master plan and, and check all those kinds of things to make sure how the traffic would flow through the park and not eat up an area that you could expand into like football, soccer fields.

» The idea of what a ballpark costs with that, even a bracketed range of what that type of infrastructure would cost on top of the price that, obviously we have a price for doing this. We know the land's approximately, I think 500 ish thousand. If we were to purchase it, if we were to call out the prices, we have how much money? 10 million? So it'd be 10 million for this project. And so 10 million for this project. And then we know the land purchase is roughly ballparking around 500,000 if we were to purchase it. The 10 million doesn't include what we're talking about here. Correct. That's what I'm saying. So we'd have to do some adjustments.

» What I'm wondering is, because I think what this council has made clear, and I could be wrong, you guys are prepared to correct me, it's, I don't see more than 10 million going to this, right? So what we'd have to do is back out the property purchase and the infrastructure purchase and what we're left over with is what we'd have to do the park. So I'm just kind of wondering how much into that 10 million, we know we lose 500, so we're at 9.5. How much of that 9.5 ballpark would have to go to road infrastructure to make these improvements if we bought that land in the middle? We did not analyze any additional land because of the size we were given to look at the example.

» Yeah, and I'm just looking for, I mean, I guess is it fair to say, is that a project that's probably going to be around, I mean, are we looking at 3 million? And again, I'm not looking for you guys to commit to anything. I'm just looking for just a generic ballpark. See if it's even worth pursuing. That's a paradigm of probably a couple million dollars. Okay. And we've got to break out some pavement, but I mean, without knowing exact sizes. That's fine. I think that answers, I mean, so basically around 3.5 million to buy the property, do some paving. So that 10 million part, we'd have to find a way to do for roughly 6.5, I think is in order to do, that was my questions, and again, I'm not at all trying to pin you guys down.

» I mean, these are important questions because obviously, you know, there's been a lot of discussion about these parks and, you know, with the rec commission coming back with that unanimous recommendation. Certainly, I want to be very mindful of that, but also, you know, I think the complaint I hear a lot is, you know, can we, are we able to finish what we have? And I want to make sure that we don't have another half-finished project. It's really important if we do that. Councilman Schumet, would that also, that fund of the 3.5 million also include the, because I, just from things that I've heard, that Highway 1 would have to have an expansion turning lane opening up because of traffic coming in and out.

» So is that, would that also be included in the 3.5, or are we looking at an additional funds that would be for infrastructure based upon the flow of traffic coming in from Woodward Park to Highway 1? So, just a, a basic, it'd probably be additional funding, correct? That would be additional funding? Yes. So we're looking at potentially our 10 million being completely spent on infrastructure without even building a ballpark. I have a question. Mr. Paul, we go way back. You've done a great job, Cursor Kennedy. Not me to put you on the spot, but I've always respected your company throughout the years of my involvement with you, and I want to ask you a question. I'm not trying to get you involved in politics, but just be honest.

» Where do you think we can get the most bang for our buck with these parks? I think what you're looking at there is probably the best solution right now. Yes, sir. You and I disagree for the first time. I said it. But, so, for $10 million, we can do everything that they were talking about? Except the infrastructure to take another road. But, that would be something that we suggest to be phased as funds are available. And, any highway improvements, we can probably get creative and look at, you know, funding sources for that. Not that the DOT is going to help you, but there are C funds and so forth like that that are eligible for that approach. Thank you so much. Don, thank you all. I appreciate all your help. Sorry, we didn't have an exact answer. No, no, no.

» I figured you wouldn't, but thank you for answering my question as best as you could. My concern lies with what Councilman Thomason just spoke about. And, I appreciate, let me say, Shane, staff, the commission and what they brought back. But, if you're going to build a park, you've got to be able to get to it and get out of it. Other than that, the park does you no good. Because, back in my day, we had to ride bicycles. Kids don't ride bicycles anymore to parks like they used to. And, I'm saying that because that's a U.S. highway we're talking about. So, it's going to take CTC funds along with DOT funds, probably some funds that may have to come out of Santee lynches.

» And, I'm just telling you that there's been some decisions already made for the next seven to ten years out of Santee lynches that there won't be any funds available to help. And, as much as the CTC has on them already of trying to resurface roads and pave roads in the county with a small budget, I really don't see that happening as well. So, I have trouble supporting this option too for those reasons with just having to do the infrastructure for traffic and then what it would cost to even build out to go back to, that would be Battleship Road to cut it back across that field. There's an existing road that goes to the ditch line already, paved road. But, you still would have to cut a road.

» And, even if you made it gravel, it's still going to be expensive because you have to bring it to county code to be able to be traveled on and maintained. So, can we flip back to option one? And, Mr. Chairman, if I can, while it's coming up, if I can just say we gave the county the three options for you gentlemen to make the decision. Correct. And, this council will make the decision. And, you know, wish the county had $20 million to do both projects, but you have one project or the other, a combination of, and that was our exercise here. We're selling sponsorships. We named Ballfields and Bogg Park. That's right. It says, members of the council, you know, we have a public presentation here tonight, and I think it's been some great questions involved, but we can keep going and going.

» I think we need to close this out. But, what I'd like to see is a committee of council members, and we talked to Madam Chair about this, if the committee to work on this and come up with a recommendation as well to our council. And, all committees can be formed, sir. And, that's the power left up to the Madam Chair or you as acting chair. You could ask the Finance Committee to look at it. Well, I'd love the Finance Committee to look at it. And, as acting chair tonight, I'll go ahead and do that. And, if it's overturned, when she comes back, I'll still do it. But, anyway, is that fine with y'all? God, it's us. Yes, yes. So, we're, at this point in time, going to ask the Finance Committee to study these recommendations. And, again, thank y'all so much for being here tonight.

» We appreciate it. Can we get a full breakdown of the financial with these proposals? I got one question. The land that potentially would be, the 35 acres that would potentially be purchased over at Woodland, is all of that land developmental? Or are some of it wetland? Pretty sure most of it's developmental because, and the reason why I say that is because that property one time before, we had ball fields on those, on that property. We had soccer. We played football. That was way before my time here at Parks and Rec. But, we did do a lot. I mean, there were huge soccer tournaments that were held on that property years ago. Absolutely. I played out there pretty much my whole life. Okay. A lot of football, too. Thank y'all so much. We really appreciate it.

» And, I expect the Finance Committee will get together and start working on this. Thank you. Thank y'all. Thank y'all. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. We're at number eight. Approval of the minutes for Tuesday, September 26, 2023. Regular meeting. Do I have a motion to approve the minutes? I make a motion. We're approved. Second. I recognize Danny, excuse me, Kato, on the motion, and Tucker on the second. Councilman Tucker on the second. All right. Is there any discussion about the minutes? No discussion. No questions. Got to listen, sir. Okay. All in favor? Let it show that the minutes have been adopted unanimously. All right. Going to number nine on ordinances.

» A, an ordinance by Kershaw County Council approving a base lease and operational agreement with Mount Pisgah Community and Center to have a motion to put this on the floor. I'd make a motion to put it on the floor. Second. All right. Is there any... Before I go to the county attorney for some clarification, Mr. Kato, do you have anything you would say about this? Well, this center has been in operation for right at a year now. They have a lot of awesome opportunities up there, as most of our centers in Kershaw County do. A lot of different people with the United Way and different organizations are starting to come into the center and set up house, so to speak. They've done an outstanding job.

» The members up there have done an outstanding job of getting this building organized and getting it ready for this. So it's been a great opportunity for this community, and I just ask my fellow councilmen if they would support this. All right. Thank you so much. Mr. Templer or Mr. DeVose, do you have any... No, Mr. Vice Chair, no changes from the second reading of this ordinance. Is there any other questions or discussion? Okay. All in favor? Let the record show that it is unanimous with all those attending. All right. Okay. And on number 9B, second reading, case 2317, an ordinance to amend the official zoning map of Kershaw County to rezone property owned by Kershaw County School District from R15 Low Density Residential District to B2 General Business. It looks like it's 104-plus acres.

» All right. Do I have a motion? Put this on the floor. I'll make a motion. Okay. I'll make a second. Okay. Thomason made the motion. Second. She made a second. Is there any discussion on this? I would like to ask... I would like to ask our attorney and our school official, excuse me, yeah, if you'd like to address anything that we... Because we heard about these microwaves or whatever. I have some concern. I want to make sure we've done our due diligence on that and we know where we're going and what we're doing. Absolutely, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for the opportunity and, Councilman, thank you so much. Billy Smith, Chief Operations Officer for Kershaw County School District, you were given a handout that talks about the compliance and monitoring of this tower.

» Of course, first of all, I want to thank Mr. Butler for coming and voicing his concerns. I'm sure they're not just his concerns, there's others' concerns, and giving his opinion from his experiences. We absolutely want to know all that's out there. We're not trying to hide anything. We want to be as clear as Crystal on all of this. But what you have before you is a study that was done that gives you what the FCA regulations are and what their maximum exposure that they have. And you can see on the front page there down at the bottom, this was done by an independent engineering firm, DBM Engineering, and we can get him on the phone. Mr. Peterson, Mr. Peterson, that wrote this, if you'd like to speak with him, that this is going to expose the exposure from this tower with all four.

» If we get all four carriers on there, not just T-Mobile, would be less than 8.2% of the applicable FCC standard at all locations. Now, are we going to trust just by what this engineer, now he's, I'm no engineer, and I'm no expert. Billy D. Smith is no expert. And also, we are going to inspect on the inspect. So, you also have on there to where we're, the company, Milestone, hires a third-party monitoring company to come back. And you can see a sample of where they will go out around the school and the neighborhood surrounding the school and do tests and monitor. And we'll look at that and see actually what it is putting out once it's put up. Mr. Smith, how frequent would those tests be done? I know we're going to have one done after it's put up. Okay.

» Now, I would imagine if we add carriers to that, they don't all go up at the same time. So, we get two to start with and then one later on and one. After, we would ask. There will be subsequent. We would ask that there be tests done after each carrier is added. Thank you. Because, as he stated, it adds to the frequency. Yes, sir. Thank you. But, y'all know personally our school board members. You know our superintendent. And you know me. And in the name of safety and security, we would never, ever do something to put the health of our students and our faculty and staff at risk. And you got my promise on that. You know, one thing that if you turn to the next to last page that I found interesting, there's a bar graph there.

» And it shows you the frequency of different things, the baby monitor, Bluetooth headset, FM TV. It's very surprising about the push-to-talk walkie-talkies. And it's the exposure that you get while using these things. If you look at a cell phone right here, you get much, much more greater percentage of exposure. Behold, we know every one of those kids in that school go around with these things all the time and got them nearer than you would get from this tower.

» Any other? Any other, hypothetically, if this tower was to go up and legally, I guess I should ask the question, if we found that the frequencies was much higher than what they should contractually, how would that turn out? Would that, could we end that contract or could the school district end the contract with this tower? I'm going to let Mr. Yates answer that. And again, and thank you, Councilmember Cato, Jonathan Yates. And thanks, Billy. It's always tough coming in behind Billy because he does all the talking. Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you, sir. That's so that people can hear out in YouTube land. The cellular industry is one of the most heavily regulated in the country, and for good reason. As you can see from Mr.

» Peterson's report, and I apologize, he's not with us here tonight, but he is available by phone for any specific questions. We constantly, we will constantly monitor the, all the cell carriers are licensed by the FCC. They have their limits. They can, if they exceed the limits, their license is in jeopardy. They're not going to let that happen. And as you can see from Mr. Peterson's report, T-Mobile comes in at 0.9% of what they're allowed. The cumulative, if all four go on, would still be around 8.2%. And again, to make Billy's point, when I put this phone to my ear, I'm getting 50%. So we will constantly monitor, if someone's out of compliance, they have a problem with their licensing. But we will constantly monitor.

» Milestone has done these on schools throughout the Southeast, principally in Virginia. They're also on schools in South Carolina. And this is something we all take very, very seriously. Thank you. That's a good question, Councilman Kato. Just another quick question for thought, because it's been brought up to me outside of these chambers. Going from 104 acres, going from R15, low-density residential, to B2 general business, is there a reason it's so much acreage being rezoned? It's all one piece. It's all one piece. In the planning and zoning books, on the plaid, it's always been one piece. The beauty of this, B2 does allow other uses, but we don't see the school going anywhere. We don't see the school going anywhere. Gotcha. So we would be the only B2 use that the school takes part in.

» All right. You know, the comments, questions, concerns. All right, this is second reading. If anybody comes up with anything, certainly bring it back. And I'd like to ask you guys to come back for third reading in case we have any more concerns or questions, if you don't mind. For second reading, all right, we already got a motion and second on the floor. Is all in favor? Moved to third reading. Sure that it's unanimous. All right. Number 10, a resolution. A resolution by Kershaw County Council approving adopting policies, procedures, and notices for accessibility, reasonable accommodations, and ADA grievances. Do I have a motion? Make a motion, Mr. Chair. We approve the resolution. All right. Is there a second to Mr. Tucker's motion? I'll second. And Ms. Thompson second. Okay.

» Is there any discussion? All right. All those in favor? Raise your hand. The director show that it's unanimous. All right. Going to number 11, new business, Clean Community Commission letter. I'm going to ask for a motion. Second, I'm going to turn this over to you, Mr. Shoemake. I have a motion to put this on the floor. I would move to put it on the floor. All right. Is there a second? Second. All right. Mr. Tucker second. Ms. Shoemake made a motion. Any discussion, Mr. Shoemake? Can I yield to you? Yeah. This is, so the Clean Community Commission had reached out to me and asked if I could put this on the agenda. Basically, this is, it's pretty straightforward.

» This is, they would like to send a letter when they find, as their commission members, when they find a letter of someone's, with someone's name on it, this is a letter they would send to them. It is not a citation. I personally, my reading of the rules, I don't think they necessarily need a council motion to send this letter, because it's a commission business, but just to be extra safe, what I, I mean, I think we can just ask the administrator to authorize them to do this letter with any necessary changes. We're here, so we can go ahead and do a motion. I don't think it's necessary, but they, I guess, wanted to just be extra careful that way. Thank you. Any other discussion? All in favor? I happen to agree with you. All in favor? Raise your hand. Let the record show that it's unanimous.

» All right. So, to be clear, just start, Vice Chairman, so, Danny, what this, I think you can tell the Clean Communities Commission, they can send this letter, or a version of this letter that has the same point, they can go ahead and do that. Thank you. Thank you. This letter carries no penalty or crimes or type. Sure. Well, as Mr. Tumak said, it's probably not even necessary, but it's just an extra added precaution, and that's fine. I don't think any of us have any problems with that. All right. Thank you, gentlemen. I'm moving right along to appointments under B, A. We've got A, Clean Community Commission appointments. There's two vacancies.

» I'm going to take the opportunity and privilege right now as the acting chair to go ahead and nominate to appoint from my, it's just a recap from my seat, Jill Wolfe for the Clean Community Commission. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you. Any discussion? Just don't want her to go anywhere. She does a great job. And thank you guys. All in favor? Let's direct show us unanimous. Mr. Jill Wolfe has been appointed for another three-year term to the Clean Community Commission. Mr. Vice Chair. Yes. Can I make a couple of points real quick while we're on the Clean Community Commission? Clean Community Commission. One is we still have, Ms. Hannah, if I'm correct, one more appointment.

» And it looks like, according to what I have received from you, that the city does not have representation at this time. Are you working on that? Yeah. Well, I was going to ask Ms. Hannah to assist as well in checking with Camden City Council and the mayor to see if they would like to appoint someone. Also, looking back over our ordinance there for that, there's no time limit on the cities and towns for their appointments. So I would like to address that in the ordinance next meeting where we do like everything else. Give them 90 to 120 days. If not, then it falls back to the responsibility of the council to appoint someone. Fair. Fair enough. Any other comments on that while we're still on the Clean Community Commission? So that leaves one vacancy? Correct. Okay, gotcha. Ms.

» Hannah will be working on that. All right. Let's move to the airport advisory committee appointments. There seems to be one vacancy. Does anybody have a nomination or a motion on that? If not, we can carry it over to the next meeting. So, yeah, we can carry it over. I noticed in the agenda packet that Mr. Ray Dinn is listed in here. Mr. Dinn is on the commission. Is this a reappointment to clarify that statutory issue? Okay, so if I can give background, well, I'll make the motion first. I would move that we appoint Mr. Ray Dinn to the airport commission. Second. Okay. I have a motion by Mr. Chumake. Second. Mr. Chumake. Yeah, just to explain.

» So what I believe some folks from the airport commission pointed out to us is that one or two of our commission members on the airport had terms that didn't match what the terms, end of terms were in our ordinance. So in order to fix that, I'm making this motion to appoint Mr. Dinn. And that way he's officially appointed within the term. So his appointment numbers will match the ordinance. Again, he's already on the commission doing a fantastic job. Very good. Well, you did a good job. And is that vacancy still there? Go ahead. No, I think after that it's full once we fix this. Okay, so the vacancy, so now there's no vacancy on the airport commission. Okay. Thank you. Good job, guys. Okay. Any other discussion? Thank you. Mr. Chumake cleared up for us pretty good. And Mr. Tucker.

» We're good, sir. All right. All in favor, the records show that your – what was the name again? Please, would you repeat the name? Mr. Rayden. Mr. Rayden. Okay. Welcome. Is he here tonight? He is not, but one of our airport commissioners is. Okay. Very good. You guys can let him know. Mr. Burkowski. You'll send out the letters, letting him know as well. All right. Very good. Let's move on to C. Board of Zoning Appeals appointments. There seems to be one vacancy. Are there any nominations or motions on that tonight? Question. If – I had one that had turned in on Mr. Gunter. Is that – You want to do a motion for discussion? Yes, please. I'll make a motion for discussion. Is there a second? Second. Very good. Okay. Mr. Cato, go ahead. Mr.

» Hanna, do you know if that paperwork has come through yet on the appointment that I had for this – it had – okay. All right. I have a motion to appoint Mr. Lanny Gunter to the Board of Zoning of Appeals. Second. Okay. We have a motion for Mr. Lanny Gunter, a second by Mr. Shoemake. I know where you're going. Go ahead. If I can, Mr. Shire, I know according to what we have in the packet that it says one vacancy, but it's actually two because you should have Mr. Ned Tau's resignation as well. So I just wanted to make that clear while we're deciding on who we're replacing and how many positions are open. So there will be one open at the appointment of Mr. Gunter? Yes, sir. Good point. Very good point. Thank you. All right. So we have a motion to second for this gentleman.

» No further discussion. And all in favor? Let it show this unanimous. He's been appointed. And now we still have one vacancy? Correct, sir. All right. Very good. All right. Let's move to D, ratifications and nominations for planning and zoning commission. We've got two people, Heather Dykes and Ned Tau. Both were nominated for appointment at the September 26-23 meeting. So what I'm going to ask tonight is I'm going to ask for a motion for ratification to nominations of those appointments to the planning and zoning commission. Start with Heather Dykes to start with. So I would move, Mr. Vice Chair, that County Council ratify the appointment of Heather Dykes to the Curshaw County Planning Commission by nomination and appointment of Ms. Dykes to that commission. Is there a second? Second.

» All in, any discussion? All in favor? The directly show that it's all in favor, set one, all against. Mr. Tucker's against. All the rest of us are for it. All right. Now, next we have the ratification nomination of planning and zoning commission for Ned Tau, who was nominated and appointed for September 26-23 meeting. We need a motion to ratify that tonight. Mr. Ned Tau. Mr. Vice Chairman, my council members, I move that County Council ratify the appointment of Mr. Ned Tau to Curshaw County Planning Commission by nomination and appointment of Mr. Tau to that commission. Is there a second? Second. I'll second. Okay. I yield. Mr. Cato. Mr. Tucker yields. Okay. Is there any discussion? Very good. All in favor? The directly show that it's unanimous with all those that are here. All right.

» Number 12, old business. We have jail study and an update, an update on jail study, and then we have the roof bid. And I'll, well, first off, let's do this. Let's go ahead. Let's get a motion to have a discussion on this, okay? Make a motion that we discuss the bid on the detention center roof. Second. Could you add the jail study in there as well? Yes. Along with the jail study. I'm sorry. Okay. Motion by Mr. Tucker. Second by Mr. Shoemake. All right. Very good. It's over for discussion. I'll, it does sound like to turn it over to Mr. Templer, our county administrator. Thank you, Mr. Jones, member of council. I'll start with the jail update for the study. Just a few short words. We've engaged with Mosley Architects.

» They are bringing us back some options along with cost opinions on whether we replace or add on to our current jail over there. So I look to get that information back. They will meet with staff on the 18th of this month. And I further look to brief counsel on that update meeting on the 24th. And that's all I have on my update right there. Moving on to the bid for the roof. Of course, regardless of what we do, our roof is going to need to be replaced. It is leaking in certain areas. So we, we were originally budgeted $600,000 from this year's budget and capital improvement to address some issues over at the jail, namely the roof and the showers over there.

» So we have engaged with a, a cooperative purchasing network, essentially source well, which is a, a function that is anchored in South Carolina by Dorchester County. It's a, it's a slight departure from what we normally do in terms of our, our bidding. But this is a, it, it, it passes all of the, the muster for state and local law as it relates to procurement. So with that, we were able to put out our request for the, the work that we needed with this Gordians EZIQC. Um, they worked with us, they sent a, um, a contractor out to look at the job. We agreed on the scope of the work from that meeting. They came back with their cost and it was in line with this overall source well concept. Um, so, and what this also does is it speeds up this process by about 90 days.

» So it, it, it, it is a, um, a competitive bid, but it's on the backside. They competitively bid to get the, the business of Gordians. So with that, we, uh, recommend Johnson Lowe construction for $249,914.82. Okay. If I may stop him there now, this motion was for our discussion. So if they'll have to be in them. Yes, sir. Okay. You understand that. Very good. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Tim. Any questions, discussion, Mr. Tucker? I would like to make a motion and go into a discussion if that's okay or amend my motion. I think we're in, we're in the motion and second for our discussion. So you can go ahead and talk about it now. And if you want to accept it, you can make the motion to accept.

» Um, you know, what I would like to do is to, um, accept or, uh, amend my motion to accept the $249,914.82 as recommended by staff for Johnson Lowe construction to reconstruct a new roof on our detention center. All right. Mr. Tucker made a motion to accept. Is there a second? Second. All right. Is there any discussion on this? Yes, sir. Go ahead, Mr. Tucker. So, um, you know, I had some concerns at first until the administrator explained this, um, in detail. And, um, I want to make sure that everyone understands that we had budgeted about $600,000 in this budget to do some immediate, um, renovations or corrections or whatever word you want to use to the jail, but that were needs. So, um, this is part of that. Am I correct, Mr. Templer? Yes, sir.

» And so, um, the, uh, no matter what we decide moving forward, this is something that needs to be done. And I want my colleagues to know that if we, we approve this tonight and we get it done within the next 90, 120 days, that if we decide the first of the year we're going to fund a new jail, you're probably still looking at 24 to 36 months from the time that it actually, we approve the funding, go to bid, uh, get constructed and then get moved in. So it's not like we're throwing good money after bad ideas. So I want to make that clear. One question to your concern. You said that, uh, if, when we build a new jail, if we do, but I'm optimistic. Okay. Anybody else? All right. All in favor of this bid tonight. By the way, let me just say this. I had some concerns to have told Mr.

» Tucker about it, but after talking to Mr. Templer and, and Mr. DeBose, I feel very good about it. I appreciate y'all getting on this as quick as you could. Wish it could be a little bit less money, but all in favor of motion, let it show that it's unanimous. This passed, Mr. Templer, move forward with that. All right. Council briefings. I'm going to start with Mr. Tucker. Mr. Vice Chairman Jones, I noticed in the packet, there's a bid for converting the courthouse vault into office. It's not on the agenda. Is that? Yes. And I'm glad you brought that up. So that is more of a traditional bid. Um, well, but because it didn't make it on the body of the agenda itself, it was included in the packet. You'll expect to see that next meeting, but that will be the subject.

» And I assume this isn't an emergency we need to address tonight. We can wait in two weeks. Two weeks would... Sorry, Vice Chair, I just wanted to make sure. No, thank you for bringing that up. I appreciate you bringing that up. All right. As going back to Council briefing, and Mr. Tucker. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. I want to talk briefly, since we were talking about roads earlier, I had a very good COG meeting last Monday, a week from yesterday. And, um, got a lot of good things going on down in our region. Um, one thing that I can tell you that I think everybody's anxious is the west of watery and projects, um, that can potentially happen over there. Um, we do not have, uh, anything right now, uh, in west of the watery and what we call our tip, which that's where our projects goes.

» We're going to address that come January. Also, we're still trying to figure out the funding mechanism on the amount. Um, I'm thinking somewhere between $750 and a million. I've heard numbers in between there. Um, but we've got to get that figured out. Um, this is money that comes from the feds that Central Midlands is receiving now that needs to come back over to, uh, the COG. And when we get that number, then we can figure out, um, exactly what we can afford to do and what that looks like. So the way road projects work in your COG is you fill those projects up with, um, priorities from the COG board, from the region. So you may have a project in Clarendon County. You may have a project in Sumter. You may have a project in Kershaw.

» Um, meeting with DOT last week, I can tell you now some of the projects we've got in the tip like Bishopville bypass, which can end up being like a 60 something million dollar project won't happen again. Those days are gone. So you got to live within your guide shares. That's the amount of money that you get, which right now, Santee Lynch's reason because the government receives about 5.7 million a year. So you get a three year, um, uh, lead. So it's about 17.1 million that you could have to do projects with, which is not a lot of money when you're talking about new construction and reconstruction on roadways. Um, I was told by DOT too, if you're going to do, um, new construction of a, of widening a highway, um, it's about $10 million a mile. And I almost fell out of my chair.

» So it's very expensive. Um, it's a process. So I want my folks like Councilman Shumate and Vice Chairman Jones and myself, who also represents the West of Watery, just to be patient and understand how the system works. We will be fighting for you and trying to make things happen, but there won't be no widening from Watery River to a Richland County line. That's going to take federal dollars and state dollars to do that. We can't do that from the COG perspective. Now that doesn't mean that we can't do intersections, turn lanes, and things of that nature. And those are some of the projects that they want us to, to start doing. Some of the smaller projects that will give traffic, um, some relief, but not break the bank. So may I ask, I know what you're briefing.

» Can I ask just a quick question? Yes, sir. Please. Uh, so if, so basically if I'm understanding for the West Watery projects, basically they're in the COG. Correct. Officially. Officially. And then the, the issue though, is because they're new to the COG projects in that area haven't just, it's not time yet. It's not until January that projects for West Watery can start being considered. Right. That's when we go back and we're going to realign our tip, um, according to DOT guidelines and, uh, cause they've changed some things and the way they want to approve projects. Cause we can have all the projects we want if DOT doesn't approve them according to their guidelines. It's, it's a wishlist for us. So, um, we'll go back through that. Good, good, good comment there, uh, Mr. Schumake.

» And Mr. Tucker, thank you for keeping us up to date. I know you will continue to do that. Thank you. Anything else on your part? No, sir. That concludes my... Very good. Thank you. Mr. Schumake. Yes. Very briefly, uh, Mayor Emmons of Elgin passed along some news and I just want to kind of share it with the County. So the Town of Elgin just adopted as, as we're doing our comprehensive plan, the Town of Elgin is adopting their comprehensive plan, address, addressing both growth, growth in the area and their own lot sizes. So they're addressing lot sizes in Elgin. They're also hoping to start construction on the new community center by February 1st, and they're sending out the bid proposal soon.

» So the Town of Elgin is doing a lot of what we're doing now at the County level, which is comprehensive plan and zoning. On that front, um, I attended along with, uh, with Councilman Cato and, um, uh, I think who else was there? Um, there were several folks there, but, um, attended the comprehensive plan meeting that happened last week or so. I guess Councilman Tomlinson. Yeah. So we, um, we started with talking about what that process looks like and then several community members, about 25 or 30 joined. And basically they sat at tables and groups and did drawings of what they would like to see, uh, it would not surprise anyone in here or anyone listening that the number one issue brought up was, uh, explosive residential growth, uh, in the area. Uh, also schools was a big one.

» And so that's going to get turned into our comprehensive plan, which has still got some time on it, which will then turn into a rewrite of our zoning regulations. So if you're listening to this, um, there is an Elgin News, uh, article coming out next week in the Elgin News that has a link and, uh, I'll get that link and put it on my Facebook page, where even if you couldn't come the other week, you can still participate in the survey. We, we're knocking on the door of about 70,000 people in the county. Barely over 400 have filled out one of these surveys. So a lot of people on Facebook complaining about a lot of stuff in the county, but if you don't fill out a survey, that's where your complaints are going to live and die is on Facebook.

» So be sure to fill out one of those surveys because they are being listened to. Um, the, uh, that's really all that I have, uh, vice chairman. Thank you, Mr. And this, I want to say thank you to you and also Brasel and the entire council have made it through your leadership. The advances we've made in planning and zoning when it comes to trying to get the growth under control and you've, I don't know that it is a top priority of yours, but your actions have shown that it is. And, and I appreciate that. Thank you. All right. Mr. Kato. Just a couple of things, um, mainly from the town of Bethune on October the 12th at 630, the town of Bethune will have their town council meeting and it's, they want to welcome the public, our Kershaw County auditor will be president of that meeting.

» If you have any questions or want to hear what he has to say. And then on, um, October the 28th, it's the third annual Bethune Fall Festival, which will be handled, uh, will be, uh, held at the Bethune Community Park there in Bethune. But lastly, I would just like to thank Economic Development and Planning and Zoning for a well put together meeting. Uh, thank goodness, uh, Derek, you're there to explain that because you can do it a lot better than I can, but I thank you for a well put together meeting and, uh, I appreciate the way y'all handle that. And that ends my report. Thank you, Mr. Kato. Mr. Vice Chair, I have no report today. Very good. I have no report as well. Okay. We're going to move right on down to the administrator briefing. Um, just two short things.

» I just wanted to mention, um, Mr. Shoemake, to your point about the, uh, the comp plan survey, your idea of getting it printed on our tax notices that will be going out on the 17th. We were able to do that. So it's on the reverse. It's not the most conspicuous. We're really trying to clamp down for space, but it's on the back. King is people said, well, how do we get the notice out? Because a lot of people don't have Facebook and, you know, it goes out in the paper. It goes out on Facebook. Some people don't get those pieces of information. So one of the ideas Danny and I talked about was printing it on the tax notice, the one document people probably do read pretty carefully. So, so maybe we'll get some more survey responses.

» So I, I thank our treasurer and auditor and, and planning and zoning, um, to, to work to get that together. Um, and I'd just like to kind of send a shout out to Sarah Williams, our, um, procurement person and getting this cooperative purchasing process in line. It just, it, it really streamlines, um, our ability to tackle some of these nuanced projects in, in a very creative way that, that checks all the boxes for our, our legal standards for procurement, um, with our jail issue there with the, the roof. So thank you to her. That's all. Thank you, Mr. Templer. Legal briefing. No legal briefing. All right. It looks like though, on the agenda that we have a request for an executive session. Yes, sir. Okay.

» I'm going to ask, is there a motion to enter executive session to discuss a personnel matter pursuant to South Carolina code 30-4-78 placed on the agenda by Chairwoman Katie Gwynn and Vice Chairman Jimmy Jones? Yes, sir. I make a motion that we go into executive session for a personnel matter. I'd like to invite the county attorney. What about the county administrator? Not at this time. Is there a second? I'll second. Okay. All right. Very good. Do we have a motion? Second is all in favor? Listen, if I may, let me say this to my colleagues. Can we get straight back in there and get into business and not wander around too much? We should be too long at all. Do I have a motion to come out of executive session? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Tucker made a motion. Is there a second? Second. Moved.

» Second by Mr. Grant Thomason. And any discussion, Mr. Shoemake? Yeah, I just wanted to note for the public record that the purpose of this meeting, we have been... Excuse me. We want to take the vote to come out so we can... Oh. Yeah. We need to take the vote. I had a motion to come out with a... Second. Second. So then I had a discussion. This is the discussion on coming out. Yeah. And then he can give this discussion. Then we can close it out. I was just going to state for purpose of the public record that we've been talking for some time about a format for doing evaluations for the administrator. It's a routine contract stuff. So just wanted everyone to know that's why we were out. So that's it. Very good. Anything else? All in favor of coming out of executive session, raise your hand.

» No action. Let me know no action was taken. Thank you so much. All right. Mr. Vice Chair, I'm a motion to adjourn. Is there a second? Second. All in favor. This meeting has...