Full meeting transcript - June 25, 2024

» Hey Russell. Hey Russell, can you hear us? Yes. Okay, just testing. Good, good. I can hear you fine. Thank you. I'm gonna call this meeting to order. Welcome everybody. I think we got Councilman Thomson. He's in the parking lot on his way in here. Yes, sir. And somebody said Russell will be here shortly. No, he's on Zoom. Okay, great. Welcome. Councilman Jones, I'm Zooming, sir. I got you buddy. Glad you're here. Listen. Thank you, sir. Thank you. If we could, let's go ahead and have an invocation. I'd like to ask the Bishop, Gary Revers, to come up please, and to lead us in prayer. And sir, would you also pledge allegiance with us, lead that as well? Yes, sir. Thank you so much. Are we starting with a prayer? Start with a prayer. Let us pray.

» Gracious God, we come to you this evening aware, Lord God, that you have placed great responsibility on us as a community. Lord God, you have given us liberties and freedom in which many others do not ascribe to. And because you have given that to us, oh God, we are also aware that with that comes great responsibility. And so God, we pray that we would not lead ourselves through our own private agendas, selfish thoughts, or anything Lord God that would bring harm to our brothers and sisters in our community. Gracious God, we acknowledge that you are the head of all, and we look to you and only to you for guidance, for inspiration, and for leadership. And so we humbly come before you tonight, this night, and we seek, Lord God, that we would be led by the power of your Holy Spirit.

» That your Spirit would give us wisdom and discernment. That your Spirit would give us boldness. So God, we come as servants before the great high God, the one who has called us to this place. And we commit ourselves to service, oh God. We commit ourselves to serve each other and to serve the greater good of our county. And so bless us, we pray, with the power of your Spirit. Bless us, Lord God, with a reminder of the love that you call us to, to give and to receive. We pray all these prayers in the powerful name of Jesus Christ, who is our Savior. 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. Bishop, powerful prayer. Thank you so much.

» Thank you so much. All right. Adoption of the agenda. Do I have a motion? I move to adopt the agenda. Second. Okay, we have a first and a second. Councilor Shoemaking, Mr. Tucker. Any discussion? Mr. Chairman, just a question, and I'm good either way. Would it make sense to put the A-tax report before the budget? It seems like we're putting the cart before the horse. We seem like we should let them do their report before we vote on the budget, since obviously their report is part of the budget. Why don't we just go ahead and do it next, right before public comment? I think that if the council is willing, I think that would make sense. Okay, so I would make a motion to amend the agenda to put A-tax. What number is that? Go ahead, you can make your amendment, but I might take A and B.

» I think we should have set the budget and set the millage as well, but we can do it either way. It won't matter. Okay, so I'll make a motion that we move item 9A. Mr. Chairman, did you say you wanted to do that after public comments? Well, I thought we'd do it immediately if you want to, or do you have a different suggestion? It doesn't matter. I think it might make sense to do it just after public comment, so we go right into the budget for that. Sounds good. So I'd make a motion to amend the agenda to move 9A to just below number five. Just below number five, okay. Yes, sir. Got it. Okay, we have a motion on that. Is there a second? I second that, Mr. Chairman. I also have a question. Are you guys okay with 6A? It really doesn't matter, but it does.

» Setting the millage before you set the budget, or do you want to do the budget then the millage? They're both equal right now, thank God, the second reading, but I was just... You're talking about 6A in public hearing, the public hearing. Yeah, you mean... I think Mr. Tucker means 8A and 8B. Yeah, I'm sorry, yes. Not the hearings. I was wondering... 8A and 8B, I'm so sorry. I was going to give you a chance to explain before I say anything on it. Okay, so you want to do what now? Swap those two around, Mr. Jones. So you want to take, excuse me, you will take third reading of the budget, A and B, and move them right under... Swap them around. Okay. So move 8B before A. Yeah, B cuts before A. You want 8 to say where it's at and just put B before A? Correct. I would second that.

» Any other discussion on that? Mr. Brazo, are you able to follow us on that? Yes, sir, very clearly, thank you. Okay, very good. Any discussion? All right, so state it one more time. State yours and I'll state mine. Right, so do you want to make it easy and just withdraw yours and I'll put it with mine? Yes, sir, I can do that. I withdraw my amendment. Just to make it easy, Mr. Chairman, I'm gonna do it all as one amendment. Good. So I would make a motion to amend to move 9A immediately under 5 and also to put 8B before 8A. That is my motion to amend. I second that. All right, Mr. Brazo, you're good with it? Yes.

» Okay, any further discussion with anybody here? All right, all those that are in favor of taking 9A and putting it right below public comments number 5 and then moving over on 8 but B before A, correct? Correct, sir. All right, all those in favor, raise your hand. Let the record show that it's unanimous. Mr. Brazo, how do you vote? I vote aye. Okay, it's unanimous. Thank you. Okay, let's move into item number 5, public comments. Mr. DeBose. Mr. Vice Chair, we have four people to sign to speak to public comments, so it's five minutes a piece. The first speaker is Tonya B. Eppling on the annual audits. All right, very good. Mr. Shumate, do you mind reading the rooms real quickly? Happy to.

» For public comment guidelines, which should be on the screen that everyone's looking at, public comment is an opportunity for members of the public to share information with counsel but not a time for debate with or questions and answers from counsel. It is a time for counsel to receive input and not a time for counsel response. Individuals requesting to speak must sign up with their name, topic, and phone number. Offensive and inappropriate comments will not be tolerated. If a group would like to speak to counsel, we do request that a spokesperson is selected. The period is limited to five minutes maximum per speaker, with a maximum time of 30 minutes. However, as Mr. DeBose has mentioned with the number of speakers, each speaker today will have five minutes.

» Public comments to counsel as an agenda item shall continue uninterrupted and to be live streamed by audio and video until the public comments item is finished and concluded, and these rules may be altered by a single vote of counsel. Thank you very much. First person, Ms. Eppling, welcome. Can we get the name repeated, please? Tanya B. Eppling, Annual Audits is the subject. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Tanya B. Eppling. Can you hear me? Move that mic a little bit closer, please. How's that? Great. Okay. I am here to request information regarding the designation of Alpha as the sole agent and treatment authority for drug and alcohol planning in Kershaw County.

» On December the 11th of 2018, this council revoked and repealed the March 18th, 1980 Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission and designated Alpha as the sole agent with stipulation that Alpha would report annual audits and spendings of the fundings to include public funds provided by Kershaw County. Despite my efforts, including a formal Freedom of Information Act request, I've received no assistance from this council in obtaining the reports, plans, and updates. I kindly request the location of Alpha's annual audits, the plans and updates required by Section 61220 of the South Carolina Code of Laws, data and treatment outcomes and success, all funding and sources for treatment and prevention with details to address the drug crisis in Kershaw County.

» Details on the collaboration and partnerships between healthcare providers, law enforcement, and community organizations. Furthermore, I would like to bring to your attention the potential conflict of interest. Mr. Jimmy Jones, vice chair of this council, recused himself from voting on Alpha's redesign in 2018. However, his name appears on the documents receiving fundings from the opioid lawsuit on behalf of Kershaw County, which will be allocated to his wife, the executive director of Alpha, for the next 16 years. South Carolina will receive $300 million of a $26 billion settlement. I would also like to clarify, I'm not here in the interest of being a political pawn for the chair's election.

» I do not know either candidate other than one brief meeting with each of them on separate occasions for separate reasons. I'm here to address the plan of action on the drug crisis, and I'd also like to point out that the South Carolina SCORF website does not contain a listing of how the funds were spent. The list is a petition for intended use of funds, and also the amount that the board awarded. Please provide the requested information and transparency with accountability. Thank you. Thank you so much for those kind words. Next. Next speaker is William Howland, I believe, motion on budget. Welcome, Ms. Howland. There is a 74-year-old woman, and she lives in Cassett. She doesn't have transportation. She doesn't have a car, a truck.

» She has no family, and she depends on the United Way for transportation. So you folks know United Way in Kershaw County, and you know Donnie Supley, and you know what a wonderful job he has done, is doing, and will do. So the reason I'm here tonight is to ask you to support the motion that Mr. Tucker has put before you on the agenda to approve $140,000 to Kershaw County United Way transportation program for the annual budget of 2024-2025. It's a one-time funding. It's not recurring, and it's coming from the reserves. And I ask you to support this. Thank you. Thank you for the wonderful comments. Appreciate it so much. Next. Next speaker is Tom Webb III, Litter Ordinance. Mr. Webb, welcome. So I'm here to speak about the litter ordinance again. We had a good litter ordinance, state law.

» It started out with a $25 fine for a small amount of debris. Went up to $1,000 for something more egregious. And it looked out for private property a little bit. One size didn't fit all. But your litter ordinance that you all passed unanimously is a $250 fine from anything from a bag of trash, a big bag of trash, I guess, maybe two bags of trash or three, to a little paper cup or a plastic bag that happened to get loose and fly out the back of a pickup truck. $250 fine. It's just what the New World Order would like for you to do to put this stumbling block between the people and the government so that the people will hate the government. Anyway, I find fault with your litter ordinance. Under definitions, refuse is equivalent to litter.

» And it means combustible trash, including paper, collapsed cardboard, cartons, or boxes. But it excludes barrels, wood, tree branches, yard trimmings, wood furniture, or bedding. So we can have bedding on our private property. According to your ordinance, we can have bedding on our private property. Thank you very much. I really don't appreciate the government giving me something I already have. If they can give it, they can take it away. But refuse also includes tin cans, glassware, and crockery. Crockery, if you look it up in the dictionary, is a earthenware pot. It's a flower pot. And since glassware is right next to crockery in your ordinance, I presume that glassware is a vase. So I'm here to turn in my wife's vase to avoid the $250 fine. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Webb.

» I enjoyed that. All right. Next. Last speaker is Ashley Huff on solar. Welcome, Ms. Huff. Thank you, Mr. Jones. Good evening, everyone. As mentioned before, my name is Ashley Huff. I am a District 6 constituent. I wanted to thank Vice Chairman Jones for placing solar energy farms on the agenda tonight for discussion. Also wanted to thank Councilman Cato. I feel like he's really supported me recently. I felt as if in the meeting two meetings ago that you possibly finally understood from my perspective what was happening. Two weeks ago, though, I did attend the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. I was truly disheartened that as long as these projects check these boxes, they can genuinely be passed through.

» 3,800 acres of undeveloped land, just in District 6 along, have been voted on in this county as property viable for solar farms. 3,800 acres, just in District 6. I have voiced my opinion to everyone who will listen, but I don't feel like we're getting a fair shake in the rural part of the county. An example of the outreach that has been done by the solar companies is a pop-up tent beside the road. Does that really constitute a community meeting? Sending out letters to adjoining landowners, but if you live across the road from the property, you aren't considered adjoining.

» There was one community outreach meeting at North Central Elementary School, and I took it upon myself to be somewhat of a whistleblower, to let people know that they should come to the school to see pictures of what they're really getting so they can fully understand. Most of our community showed up. After this meeting, I received about 156 signatures on a petition to halt solar development in our area. Do you know their exhibits showed beautiful landscape buffers and a nice vinyl chain-link fence that was black? How much more misleading can we be? And when in reality, we're getting more than likely a barbed wire fence, it'll be another five to 10 years before the buffer is going to cover anything, especially after a panel that's at full tilt at 15 foot.

» At the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, after I mentioned fire protection, one of the representatives from Samsung said that it was just like a normal house fire if anything catches on there, or catches on fire there. But where we live, do we have enough volunteers to put out a small fire without the risk of it spreading to other panels? I'm not really sure how many stations around me are actually manned full-time. Most of them are volunteer. The electrical substation that is housed in our community has a land use code of TC, along with the substation off of White Pond Road in Elgin and the Way Kim plant, they all have land use codes of TC. The substation on White Pond Road and the Way Kim plant is both zoned industrial.

» Why are we allowing companies to come into our community and create these large industrial facilities without rezoning these properties to what they are? These aren't farms, and there will never be agricultural use thereafter. They're doing nothing beneficial for the people around them, not even supplying power to our grid. They don't belong in the rural areas of our county. They belong in industrial location like Governor's Hill or Steeplechase to offset the carbon footprint or add to the mitigation banks of the corporations that are already based there. I've sat in this audience many nights since January. I've thought about giving up because I know I can't stop the growth.

» But can we at least take the right steps towards growth by making citizens more aware of these projects? Even though the heirs are rural, they are still residential. Can we eliminate the conditional use in the rural resource districts in our county, allowing them only in industrial zoning, forcing anyone to go through a rezoning process, increasing buffer and setback regulations? These developers are flocking to our county for many different reasons. Let's get ahead of it before it's too late and our county is inundated, especially District 6. Thank you for your time tonight. Thank you for those wonderful comments. Mr. DeBose? That concludes public comments. Thank you, we appreciate every, each one of the people that got up and spoke.

» All right, as we had voted on the agenda to bring 9A, if I'm believe. Correct. Okay. Mr. Templar, is someone here from ATATS? Yes, if you want me to introduce it. If I could, Mr., I'm sorry. Oh, I didn't mean to get ahead of you. You're fine, I was shuffling through my papers. If you wouldn't, Mr. Templar. Yes, sir. Can you call up somebody from the Accommodation Tax Committee? Sure, so to give the annual report for the ATATS committee, we have Chris Renfro here on behalf of the committee chair, so he's prepared to come up and give his presentation. Welcome, Mr. Renfro. Good evening. Good evening. Hey, Chris. Short, sweet, and simple. I know it's budget season, so just to give you some highlights from our meeting and some overviews.

» Of course, during this meeting, we had to elect a chairperson and that's who I'm here representing on behalf of the committee, Ms. Beth Ford. And in front of you, you should see our recommendations for the fiscal budget this year. We did put $13,312 into reserves for you to allocate or choose what you will with it, but we do have that reserve fund there as well. And during this meeting, we brought up a change to the application to make it a little bit more new and more updated to request some information that we should be probably already getting, but the committee tabled that discussion for a later time. And the committee also wanted to thank Tyler Kirk for his professionalism and help during this process.

» We have a lot of new people, a lot of people that's been here a while, and he's definitely appreciated. Mr. Chair. Go ahead. Should we have a motion to put this on the floor? Yes. I apologize for that. Is there a motion to put this on the floor? I would move to put it on the floor. Thank you. Second. Second, Mr. Chair. Okay. Either one of y'all, whoever wants to go first. You. Oh, you're talking about, I thought someone else had to go right ahead. Yeah. First off, Chris, thank you for coming tonight. I appreciate it. Two things. One thing I want to say, the other is more of a question slash comment. One, in terms of a question or comment, I guess, I wanted to, you had sent me, I'd asked y'all, ATAC stuff was going, you had sent me the application and some thoughts.

» And I just want you to know that I've talked to Tyler and told him that I'm fully behind revamping that application. So obviously if ATAC's tables it, we can look at other ways. And obviously I understand that they were, you had to get this sort of drink from a fire hose this time. But I think that ATAC is something that I care a lot about. I really, really appreciate Mr. Kirk. Tyler was really engaged the last time we spoke. I know he's a big advocate of making sure we do this ATAC's right. So I think you're going to see a little more involvement next year. Not to say we're going to try to micromanage the ATAC's committee, but I think that, you know, in the past, it's sort of been just sort of not looked at.

» And I think when you brought to my attention some of the application, what I think are holes really where we're not getting as much information as we need. That meant a lot to me. Also, one of the things I also noticed is, and again, it's application based. So we can only say that there were not enough applications, but this doesn't have a whole lot of Westwater Re in it, from what I can see. So I would like to, over the next year, encourage some of our Westwater Re groups to apply for these funds. And again, those are both things. I know you're, I think you're the sole representative from Elgin on the ATAC's committee. So I appreciate you pushing for those things, because sometimes we get, we shouldn't be doing things just because it's the way we've done them before.

» So I appreciate you bringing fresh eyes to the ATAC's committee. And particularly Mr. Kirk, I look forward to working with both of you guys in the next year. So that's all that I have, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Jones. And Chris, I wanna say thank you to you and the committee as well. A little bit more history though, because we actually talked about this in the finance committee meeting a couple of weeks ago as well, where Councilman Schumacher brought it up to our attention. All on board for the new application look or creation or whatever the committee can recommend back that works with staff on approving. But I do wanna say that this committee has been headed up in the past by a residence from Lugoff, Elgin area, actually Lugoff, for many years, Mr. Galloway.

» And so it's gonna take more than just putting people on or just changing the application. You're gonna have to do some real, real digging to get people to apply. I think that's more of the problem. Some folks just don't want government in their business so they don't care to apply for these things. So you have to encourage them. And I think that's some of the problem with the West Water Re. Nothing against the business owners or anything. Some of them may not be informed, but it's gonna take some due diligence is what I want you to know. Thank you. Any other discussion? We'll accept this as recommended. Yes. All right. All those in favor. Mr. Brazel. I vote aye. So it's unanimous with everybody voting in favor. Thank you, Chris. Thank you all. Okay. Thank you, Chris. Okay.

» We're at number six, public hearing. Yes, sir. Okay, I'm gonna open a public hearing for the fiscal year 2024-2025 millage. And it is an ordinance setting the millage rate for the Kershaw County for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2024. All right. Public hearing is now open. No one's signed to speak, Mr. Johnson. And no one is signed to speak. Public hearing is closed. All right. Moving to item B, fiscal year 24-25 budget. An ordinance to provide budget appropriations for county purposes in the county of Kershaw for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2024 and ending June 30th, 2025. And adopt and implement the charge and collection of service and user's rates as fees and or other tax purposes and county appropriation purposes and related thereof.

» All right, I'm gonna open that public hearing. Has anyone signed up? No one's signed to speak. Okay. Closing the public hearing. Okay. Moving along, guys. We're at C, case 24-21. An ordinance to amend the Kershaw County zoning land and development regulations ZLDR to provide that single family residential attached uses town homes, patio homes, and multipurpose apartment uses shall not compromise more than 10% of the net development acreage of a major subdivision. Do I have a motion to put this on the floor? This is a public hearing, I'm sorry, excuse me. Okay, I'll open the public hearing. Anyone sign up to speak? No, sir. Public hearing closed. All right. We're at approval of the minutes.

» Kershaw County Council minutes of June 11, 2024 regular meeting to have a motion to put them on the floor. Make a motion that we approve the minutes from our last meeting. All right, motion made to approve, second. I'll second. All right, Mr. Shoemake, any discussion? Let me start with Mr. Brouser first. Any discussion, Mr. Brouser? No discussion. Thank you. I'll vote. Okay, thank you, sir. Any discussion from your members of council? Mr. Jones, I just want to tell Ms. Hannah, thank you very much for the fine job that she does. Very good, well noted. Any other comments? Okay, Mr. Brouser has already indicated aye. Members of the county council, how do you vote? Raise your hand. Thank you, go ahead, Mr. Brouser. Vice Chairman Jones, I'll be abstaining due to absence from the last meeting.

» Very good. I'd like to show that Mr. Tucker, Mr. Shoemake, Mr. Thomson, and Jimmy Jones voted in favor, along with Mr. Brouser, and Danny Cato, Mr. Cato has voted to abstain. Thank you, sir. All right. Ordinances, we voted, I think we talked earlier that we're gonna take eight in ordinances, A and B, and we're gonna move them to go with B first. So, having said that, this is third reading, going with, excuse me, yeah, with B, first deal with the budget.

» Third reading, fiscal year 24-25 budget, an ordinance to provide budget appropriations for county purposes in the county of Kershaw for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2024, and ending June 30th, 2025, and adopt and implement the charge and collection of services and user rates and fees, and for other tax purposes and county appropriation purposes and matters related thereof. Okay, do I have a motion to put this on the floor? Make a motion that we approve third reading of our budget for 24-25 calendar year. Thank you, Mr. Tucker, is there a second? I'll second. Just second, any discussion? Yes, sir, Mr. Jones. Mr. Finance Chair, go right ahead. Would like to make a couple of amendments, and you should have them in your packet there. We do. Okay. I appreciate that.

» Yes, sir, and I know there's more coming, so I'll just get it started. I think you have two, correct? Yes, sir, I do. And I have one, yeah. I would like to make a motion to approve the Kershaw County Sheriff Office to be placed on its own millage from the general millage at 2.4.6 mills for the annual budget of 24-25 year. That is my first amendment to the budget. Okay, so let's go ahead and take a vote on that first amendment. We do these one at a time, if that's okay with y'all? Yes, sir, keeps it clean. All those, was there any discussion? I would second that motion. Okay, you got a second, you made the motion, you got a second, any discussion on the amendment? I just want to say that this does not change the budget on what the sheriff's budget is.

» There's still eight million and some change for the annual year. It just puts him on his own millage. So that way, if time does come or we have the need that, or the sheriff has a need to want to come in and ask for an increase to do things for the citizens of Kershaw County, the better law enforcement. The whole budget, the general fund doesn't get raised. We can just deal with the law enforcement here in this county to provide services to you. And also, it lets him be physically responsible for his own budget and the growth that it will create as this county continues to grow. I think it's a very fair way. If I was sitting in his shoes, I would want this same opportunity to run my department. Thank you. Mr.

» Shoemake? One kind of clarification I want to be clear about with the amendment, because I know there was something weird that happened before I think I got on council. But I want to be clear that this motion, Mr. Tucker's amendment, would be a permanent change. In other words, this isn't a one-year deal. I know in the past, the sheriff was put on his millage for a year and then it reverted back. I just want to be abundantly clear that we are talking about a change in perpetuity. Okay, so I had this conversation with the sheriff yesterday. This council can only do one budget year at a time. We cannot lock anybody else in for years to come. So each year, just like we do EMS, Central Carolina and others that's on millage, we approve the budget.

» And that's why it was written in the terms that it was written. But this is a permanent change unless this council decides to do something different or the sheriff requests to do something different. Very good. And it would be in the equivalent just to clarify. You mentioned EMS. So the sheriff's department going forward will be like EMS. The budget will come to us with the sheriff on his own millage. And we would have to affirmatively change something for him not to be on his own millage in the future. Absolutely right. Yes, sir. Absolutely. Your sheriff? And we had a good talk yesterday. Anything else, gentlemen? Mr. Brazel, any discussion? Any questions? No questions, I understand it clearly.

» I do support the amendment and I appreciate all of my colleagues' work getting this amendment to the floor. Thank you. Any other discussion from anybody else? I would like to say thank you to the finance committee. I think you did a good job on this. And it is completely different than it was last year. And I'm glad to see the sheriff's on board. It's a little bit more solid this year. You guys put a lot more into it and I appreciate that. Okay, having said that, all those in favor of the First Amendment, Mr. Tucker with the sheriff, say by raising your hands. Let the record show that Tucker, Shumake, Cato and Jones vote in favor. Mr. Brazel? I vote aye. You vote so I'll let it be shown that it's unanimous. Thank you. Now, Mr. Tucker? Yes, sir.

» So this goes back to my second amendment for third reading of the budget. This is dealing with United Way and I'll be happy to take questions afterwards. I would like to make a motion to approve $140,000 to Kershaw County United Way Transportation Program for the annual budget 2024-2025 year. This will be a one-time funding, not recurring funds, funds coming from reserve in the amount of $140,000. So in my motion, I made where it was going and also where the funds were coming from. Very good. You made the motion. Is there a second? I'll second for discussion. I'm not sure. I'm totally on board with the full number, but I'd second for discussion. Very good. All right, so we have a motion and a second for discussion. Is there any discussion? Let me start Mr. Tucker. Yes, sir. Thank you, Ms.

» Jones. And then we'll go to Ms. Chumake. And I'm happy to share any copies here. I'm trying to dig up, but I do have the transportation part of United Way's budget and they have really, really been working hard on making this program work for the rural areas and all areas of Kershaw County, but especially the rural areas in our senior population. And what's been hindering them a lot is that the provider went up on cost, which was unexpected. And then the monies that they need to draw down, they need matching funds. With this being said, it has made this program tougher to keep going and they're asking for help. And if you remember, they came in in November, December of last year asking us to help them because they were seeing that there was gonna be some dark areas in the program to come.

» They have gone out and tried to supplement that and continue to offer the program and I appreciate that. And I know I've got several United Way members, board members here and I will recognize those in a minute. But I say this is because these folks really do an excellent job, as you heard earlier from Mr. Tom when he came up for all of our citizens. And I can assure you that if this is not a viable program, United Way will be the first one to come back and tell us that they're gonna cancel it. But they're really, really trying to make ends meet and continue this service for our citizens. If I could, Mr. Tucker, I know we're going straight to Mr. Chumate. Would you recognize them at this time? Well, United Way board members stand up, please. We appreciate what you folks do.

» We know you do a lot of hard work and we really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. Mr. Chumate? Yes, so again, I'm also obviously very supportive of the United Way. You know, it's always tough because we have a lot of these outside agencies that come and are looking for funds for viable programs. What makes this one a little different to me is in part that it's county-wide, which is always good. You know, something that's serving the whole county. We just heard they mentioned Cassette specifically. It's county-wide.

» It also has the potential to actually help save in other areas, potentially, where, you know, for example, folks who might otherwise use 911 as a commuter service to get to the hospital or something, you know, may have the ability to use this type of service instead. So I'm generally supportive of it. Just given some of the, you know, given that we are doing some fiscal things and moving the sheriff over and there's some fiscal tightness in what we're already doing, you know, one thing I do think is fair, 140,000, Mr. Tucker, that's the annual, that's for the annual. That would get them through 2025. They'll be able to operate without any unforeseen things coming. They'll be able to operate till June 30th of 2025, if I'm correct.

» So I think one idea, and it's just throwing it out there, one idea might be that, you know, we fund that at maybe 70. I'm willing to support it, but maybe at not such a rate. That gives six months. And look, you know, if in six months, this program has turned out to be a real call saver for the county and it makes sense. I'm not a big fan of reopening the budget, but that is, we would have tools available to us if it became a great plan. But as of right now, I'm supportive of a one-time $70,000 funding, and then perhaps they, you know, can get a percentage. What I would like to do then, Mr. Chairman, is I would like to make a motion to amend and bring that exact same language as Mr. Tucker's current amendment, but just bring that number to 70,000 instead of 140.

» All right, we have a motion on the floor for 70 instead of 140. Is there a second? I'll second. All right, let me direct you to Mr. Thompson's second. Okay, so Mr. Schumacher, we'll start with you. Well, I just rely on my prior comments. I got you. Mr. O'Toole, go ahead. Looking through kind of the emails and everything, and the United Way does great work across Kershaw County, and even over the borders in other county, getting people rides. I was kind of looking through some of the emails that were sent, and I just wanted a little more background on the actual program itself. So there's 20 vans. In one of the emails that mentioned at their X amount of percentage of rides, there was a charge for a fee per mile.

» Would we be able to get a representative up here to answer these questions, or? I don't think, I don't want to do that tonight. It's not appropriate. That should have been done earlier. If I can share some information with you. Yes. Go ahead. This is talking about the Vanna Access Network passes down to everyone. And I would have granted that, Mr. Tucker and Mr. Thompson. I wouldn't have granted it if they had been given some advance notice about it and it was part of the meeting. But I don't want to just bring people up. No, I understand. And so Mr. Tucker, you made, this has been something that you've worked very hard on.

» Do you have the answers that you can kind of brief everything? Because to be honest, I think transportation is one of the biggest parts that especially rural counties, and we're not necessarily a rural county, but counties like Kershaw County lack in. It's transportation, public transportation. Having the United Way do that is a huge asset. I get this is a one-time fund, but it's an opportunity that we can be a staple here in Kershaw County and allow people to have rides. Do you think that 140,000 would do that? Yes, it would do it. It would do it for this year. It would not take us any further. It would go till June 30th of 2023. And as you look, Mr. Thomason, on your handout that I gave you on the vehicle on the van, Access Network is what it's called.

» Look in January, matching funds were $13,573. Matching funds as of the end of May is 22,868. The cost went up for the ride, which I think, if I'm not mistaken, almost doubled. And so therefore, the match went up. So it just threw everything out of kilter that they were budgeted for to run this program for the next couple of years. That's not happening now. And they're doing turn good to be able to hold on until July 1, which is next week, if, well, we're so gracious to fund this where they can be able, they won't be swimming, but at least the head won't be underwater. They'll have a little bit of a breathing room where they can continue to operate. And I also, with Mr.

» Sipley in my conversation with him, because that's who I was most have been talking, I know these board members out here, and I appreciate all that y'all do and what all you have done and serve. He just didn't only come to us. He's trying to find other means and ways, they are trying to find other means and ways to fund this program because it's been such a good program county-wide. So that's the best I can share. I've got there some comparisons. I also want to go to Mr. Brousel when you finish. Yes, okay, and I'll be happy to answer as many questions as possible. But if you look through those monthly invoices as well, that's on the second page, Mr. Thomason, that may help you out a little bit. And then we can take some questions for Mr.

» Brousel and I'm happy to come back as you peruse through that. Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Brousel. Councilman Brousel. He went fishing. Did we lose him? Oh, he did hang up. Okay. Well, one more question. Can I let Mr. Cato go? Do you have one more? Okay, yeah, just one more question. So would 70,000 work? I know that 140 as they ask, would 70,000 work? And I just wanted to reference that based upon Mr. Shoemake's amendment. Yes, so what that would do, I can speak, I believe, for the full board that's out there. 70,000 would be very gracious of this council, but it will only take them to December 31st. To the end of the year. To the end of this year. So it'll be the first half of their new budget. That's the furthest it'll take them. Okay. Mr. Cato. So I had several emails on a phone call or two.

» I'm very, very supportive of the United Way and I appreciate exactly everything that they do, especially in the rural districts of Kershaw County. I had a few numbers that I was able to obtain today. So since January 1st, they've provided 1,249 rides just in district six. That's 19,805 miles that they've covered. That's huge and that's a lot of transportation. I do have a few concerns or maybe questions as to how we vet the riders. And as far as the ones that are on Medicare and Medicaid and maybe how that's scheduled and how maybe we could find those agencies to pay United Way back. So that's one of my questions is, Mr.

» Tucker, maybe if you could answer that question for me, how are we vetting the riders? Are there some riders that are just choosing United Way as a easy option that really they're not getting anything back from it? Or is this something that we may can tweak to try and help with the expense costs? I think that board and staff is doing that already. So what, according to the director, Mr. Sipley, what they do is, let's say you get an individual who's riding who may just start their job as they make progress onto their job. Maybe they're temporary. They may be for a couple of weeks or a couple of months. They pay very small portions. And then as they become permanent or better themselves, more is being charged. No system is bulletproof, but the amounts are so small.

» And I'm happy to have any of the board members come up and speak on this that may have more knowledge of me. But this is my conversation with Mr. Sipley because I asked the same thing. Some of the, and I get them confused because I'm not on it yet, but I hope that'd be someone I get of age, Medicaid and Medicare. That can't always be drawn on because it depends on what the ride is for. Is it for a doctor's appointment? Is it because you needed to go get grocery? What was the service provided for? So there's different qualifications there, Mr. Cato, and I don't wanna begin to pretend I know what I'm talking about. I just gave you to the best of my knowledge from our conversation with Mr. Sipley last week that I had. If I could. Yes, sir. A lot of good questions, a lot of good concern. Mr.

» Chair, just for the record, am I allowed to vote on the United Way if the Alpha Center receives money from the United Way? I don't know that they do, I'm just asking. I don't know that this money specifically, I believe, is just for these rides and has nothing to do with the Alpha Center. I don't think you would be prevented from voting on this at all. So you're giving me a legal? Correct. So this is for the van program. Because I support Alpha Center. I mean, I support the United Way. I also support Alpha Center. There's no ever vote on them, never have, never will. But I do support United Way. You guys do a great job. I wanna thank y'all, each one of you. I wanna thank you from the bottom of my heart what you do for those folks, the rides. Mr. Brausel's back online. Mr.

» Brausel, would you like to make some comments? I'm so sorry, the call dropped and I missed what everybody had to say, but I actually went by the United Way this morning and dropped my card off and wanted to learn more about the program. But I trust Donnie so much that I know he's doing a great job and he's looking out for the community as a whole. Just really appreciate what he does for Kershaw County. Mr. Brausel, I wanna make sure for clarification, you do know there's amendment on, I don't know when your phone dropped, but there is an amendment on the floor to reduce to 140 to 70. So that's where we, you may know that, but I just wanna make sure you knew that. I did hear that before I lost signal and I appreciate you letting me know to make sure I was informed, thank you. Mr.

» Jones, I did wanna say one thing. Mr. Tucker, you recognize the board. I think we also, if I could, I think there's some staff members from United Way as well, if we could maybe recognize them as well, because if it's anything like county council, it's the people that aren't sitting at the table that do the real work, so. Well, that is nothing but the truth. And we were unaware of that, so I apologize for that. So are the staff members here? Yes, I think it's three, two or three, or. Well, they're right in front of us. I can't even count, I don't care. Thank you so much for your hard work and what you do. Mr. Jones. I like the 140, I think you deserve it.

» Can I ask, and this is only if they're prepared, if they wanna speak on this because they're there on a daily basis to shed more light on some of these questions that I may not have answered in its totality, is either one of. So you're asking me, will I allow that? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. If council has no problem with it, I'll go ahead and do it. I mean, they may not wanna speak, so. Okay, come, would anybody like to speak, please, welcome. Thank you, Mr. Jones. Hi, I'm Molly Kornegay and I work at the United Way and I'm happy to answer any questions. I've been with United Way 14 years, so I was here at the start of the program and been able to see it through, so hopefully I can answer any questions y'all might have.

» Gentlemen, any questions? You have any additional? Thank you for all y'all do, Molly. I see a lot of familiar faces in the audience. I just wanted a little bit more background, reading kind of through the emails. Where are the 20 vehicles, there's 20 vehicles that the United Way has for transportation in Kerser County, correct? Well, we subcontract right now. We're with All-Star and we're just onboarded mid-April and I think right now he has 10 vehicles. 10 vehicles? 10 vehicles. Okay, so y'all are even cut down a little bit lower so more rides are gonna be happening and more miles being put on the individual cars. Yes. What is the plan? So as Mr.

» Tucker was saying, 70,000 gets through January, beginning of January and then what happens then? Right now we get funding from SWATA and all of our urban rides are 100% covered, meaning we have no match money. So anything west of the watery, but the money is tied to the 2010 census and if they would go to the 2020 census that would incorporate Camden and would make it so about 80% of our rides would be covered and it would just be, you know, Bethune, Cassette that we would have to pay match for. So we are working now to see if we can make that change. Do you, I'm sorry. No, go ahead. I apologize. Do you think that that's something that might happen if we gave you 12 months instead of six? We started working on it. I don't know the timeframe of the funders.

» We've put calls in and now I wanna put calls in to the original funders. It's tied to CARES money so they said it was tied to that census. If we can get a year, you know, the health district funds us and we're just constantly looking for new funding sources to keep this going. Sue. I was gonna say, Mr. Jones, what I'd like to do is I'm gonna withdraw my amendment and the reason for that is what I would like to do is keep the original 140 on the floor subject to this council's approval. But I would like you folks to unite away and one of us, I mean, it seems like Mr.

» Cato would be the ideal choice, but you know, you guys to meet with one of us and a member of maybe the health services district at around that six month mark and maybe we could get a full briefing and see where that is at the halfway point and see kind of where that looks and that way you're not under the sort of Damocles, sort of Damocles of, oh, we're out in December, but at least around the turn of the year, we can see where it is and see what that looks like because again, I don't know that these funds are here in the next budget cycle. So it'd be very important for me that we find a way to do that in a year, but I also don't want to set you up for failure and based on some of the comments I've heard, I think it might be better. I'm gonna withdraw my amendment.

» Okay, noted, the amendment is withdrawn. And I just wanna make a note to the numbers that I give. That was just over a six month term. Yes. That wasn't here. That was from January 1st to June 24th. I really appreciate. Mr. Broussard, do you have anything I don't wanna leave you out? Are you with us? Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you, Chairman Jones. Very good. Pretend Chairman. Thank you, sir. The only question that I have or concern that I have is does this affect our administrator's budget in a negative manner? The money's gotta come from somewhere. So are we taking the money away from a department? Is it gonna stall or hurt anything that's already in motion? My concern is for the administrator. He has put his budget together and worked with the finance committee.

» And I really wanna make sure that no funding is withdrawn from the department in order to do this. That's very important to me. Yes, sir. So let me make myself clear. You want to ask the county ministry, Danny Tiffler, directly, not the finance chair, Sammy Tucker, correct? Well, I'd be happy to hear from both. Okay, very good. Start with? I'll go first. Go first. I'm happy. Mr. Brazel, thank you. Great question. Of course, we're taking the money out of reserves and I will read you my question and then I will read you the finance department's response. So question number one, well, what is the total reserve balance? That's the question I asked from the finance committee. $16,434,026 in one penny as of 6-30-2024. My next question, what is- Call that number again right quick, please.

» Okay, $16,434,026 in one cents as of, this'll be 6-30-2024. What is restricted out of that money? There is a $15,306 of library prepaid that are completely restricted. These funds are limited by reason and that are not county decision-making. So this is by, I think, state law that we have to have it or am I correct, Tyler, by saying that or is it an ordinance or a resolution that we did? Okay. We will recognize you, Tyler. Thank you, Mr. Jones. Those are specifically postage prepays. So it's not like dollars, but they do count for the fund balance because we spent money on that kind of already. So it's just funds that are tied towards specifically that. So we can't undo the postage prepays. They're prepays, but they still count towards that balance. Very good, Tyler. Mr.

» Brouser, any other questions on that? Well, I'm not finished. I've got- Will you go ahead, Mr. Tucker. Yes, I've got two more. What's unrestricted? There are two types of unrestricted fund balances committed and uncommitted. The uncommitted fund balance has an ordinance prescribing suspicous use, uncommitted does not. Committed, $7,770,860. That's the committed. Uncommitted is 9,147,860.01. Of those uncommitted funds, 8,500,000 is a project projected as 25% cash management. So that's how we keep paying our bills. That's how cash flow, okay? This money will be used to pay bills and we can collect our tax revenues in January. Remaining $647,860.01 is uncommitted and unassigned.

» My last question is what is required for us to hold back to operate or our ordinance? And now we're required by resolution ordinance, whatever it may be, of our own doing to have a 25% cash management, which that's the 8.5 million. So, and then we got 2.5 million in the disaster reserve. So with that, that's a total of $11 million that we keep available for this county. So we're not cash poor struck. Was that correct, Mr. Tyler? I think there's a little bit of ambiguity on some of those funds that are, I think if I add all those together, it's like a six million space. But the budget that you guys approved at second reading has some uses for those that we are intending to do.

» So that's another, what I think you're referring to in the sixth, 4.6 million in transfers out from the general fund to address things like your capital budgets that you approved at second reading, as well as some of your special revenue funds like the victims advocate that the general fund sends money to. Miss Tucker, if I could, let me see. Bottom line, let's get to the point. Is the money there to fund the 140? So things that aren't currently tied up by either a council resolution or the budget ordinance would total to six, four, seven, eight, five, nine. So if anything at all changes in, say different from finances estimates of our end of year bills. That's in your projected unassigned fund balance, correct? Yes sir, that's exactly what that is.

» And so that is assuming that the projections that your finance department has made aren't entirely accurate and nothing changes between now and we finished paying bills. Usually a couple of weeks after the end of the fiscal year we're still closing those out. That's kind of the only cushion that's available for any kind of decision making, basically at all. Y'all asked for this accountant version. I gave you a claimant's term. Is there any other, Mr. Tucker? Yes. Mr. Tucker, I think you've done a fine, Mr. Tucker, I think you've done a fine job. Does anybody else have any other questions on this? That was Mr. Broussle that asked. But I mean, any questions, because I know Mr. Broussle put it up for a question. Mr.

» Broussle, are you satisfied with the questions at hand being answered? So far, yes sir. Okay, well I want to call the question unless there's any further discussion on this issue. Okay. I would, if I may. You may. I was just getting ready to call the question, but you go ahead. Thank you sir. The only other concern I have, we've got a big recreation project ahead of us. We've got a boat ramp ahead of us. And I know there was a lot of moving parts to this year's budget. If anything runs over just a bit, this question would be for the administrator. Oh, is this going to hurt us in way of finishing any projects that we've already started? I just don't want to overcommit ourselves. And I want to make that clear in this meeting that we're safe or not safe. Mr.

» Broussle, can you hear me? Yes sir. So at this point, there's no impact to what I'm mainly focused on is our capital budget and our ability to purchase this year's capital. So this is of course $140,000 reduction to our unassigned, uncommitted funds. But it only moves the needle that much. And some of the overages on some of those projects were probably gonna, if I had to estimate, especially for the boat ramp, will be significantly higher than that. So does this ultimately impact that project? I would say no. Thank you, Mr. Timberlake. Mr. Broussle, are you satisfied with that question and answer? Yes, yes. I don't want to overcommit any funds in any way, shape or form. And I definitely want to finish what we've started before committing to something fresh.

» We first heard about this just in the last, I think two weeks or so, and formally introduced to us tonight for consideration. So I don't want to do anything again to hurt the administrator's budget that he worked so hard for. He's done us a great job, and I certainly appreciate that, everyone else. Thank you so much, Mr. Broussle. I think we've, you're welcome. I think we spent some time on this. I've listened to everybody talking. You had some good conversation. I'm gonna support this, and I'm gonna tell you why I'm gonna support it. United Way does a fantastic job, and the service that they're providing to me is a priority. So therefore, I'm just gonna put that on the table that I am gonna support this. So having said that, all those in favor of Mr. Tugge, could you read your? Yes, sir.

» More than half. 30 minutes ago, so let's hear it again. I would like to make a motion to approve $140,000 to Kershaw County United Way Transportation Program for the annual budget 2024-2025 year. This will be a one-time funding, not recurring. Funds coming from reserves in the amount of $140,000. All right, very good. Do we have a second? Again, second. You did second. Okay, so we got that. I had to motion to second. We did it twice. Okay, all those in favor, raise your hand. Mr. Brouss, how do you vote? I vote aye. All right, let the record show that Sammy Tucker, Shumay Kato, Brant Thompson, Jimmy Jones, all vote in favor. So it goes unanimous, congratulations. Mr. Jones. Yes.

» If I may, before you will move on to the next item, I would just like to just tell staff and the board, thank you, thank you for all your hard work. Tell Mr. Sibley he could stay on vacation because y'all can make mountains move with the bishop and everything else while he's away. He probably would have blew it tonight. Thank you very much. Thank you, Jim, so much. Thank you, my colleagues. I appreciate you. Are you done with your amendments? Yes, sir, that's the only two I have. I'm gonna make an amendment if I may. Are there any other amendments on the floor before I go? None, okay, very good.

» I make a motion to direct the administrator to replace the additional three mills associated with the 24, 25 budget and instead take those funds from the county's reserves to avoid a three mill tax increase. These funds would be drawn from the unrestricted portions of the county reserves. Do I have a second on that? All right. I'll make the second. They're smiling at you, Russell. Okay, thank you, Mr. Brouss, a second, okay. All right. I'm watching, I might not be feeling real well this morning, but I'm watching y'all. Thank you. I'll see you in about three minutes. Thank you so much. Okay, what I'm proposing would take a idea projected unassigned and fund balance as of June 30th and that's the projected unassigned fund balance which is $647,859.75. Take two mills, 620 out of that.

» And then I would propose that we go to the uncommitted rejected 24 cent fund balance cash management, which is 8.5 million which is not restricted as well too and take one mill out of that for the sheriff for 310. That would be my motion. That is my motion. We got a second on that as an explanation. Gentlemen, open the floor. Mr. Jones. And I will get Tyler up here as well. Okay. Or Mr. Templer, excuse me. I want to make sure that I'm understanding. So, and I thought it was 320 first of all, the mill value. So you said 310 on the sheriff, so. Well, that's what I was given by the minister. 310. 310 and then probably end up collecting 301. Okay. Let me get my numbers straight here then. Thank you, thank you for clarifying that. My calculator is computing something else.

» So with that being said, my biggest question, I understand that, because you had me to dissect the budget for you and my last comment, so while you know where the money is, that was pretty clever. I commend you for that. What happens next year? This is not reoccurring. What happens next year? What do we do? Do we start in the hole? Do we go out and y'all head to the gold mine and heist the gold mine? I mean, tell me what we did. Let me start. Okay. First off, I think we all know that we've been very good about not saving money, but money coming back to us as we spend it over the years. I think we've had, you've done a great job, Tyler, you and Mr. Templer, both, when it comes to things being spent out of reserves.

» For example, cash capital reserve, which is $1 million, you know, we take funds out of that every year because the reserves grow, they grow back. And actually, Gene Weisen, I mean, he was county chairman, he's CEO of the Target Institution. He made the motion that we fund reoccurring four correctional officers and also a drug officer out of the reserves because we had such a good reserve base. And sure enough, that $450,000 came right back to the county. It grew back over the year because of the good management of our staff. And this is all I'm saying is that if there's an opportunity, this is an alternative, there's an opportunity out there to fund these programs, that is, the money's for the chair, the money's for the employees, without raising a millage, that was my intention on this.

» And if you have any questions about the, it is nothing illegal about it, but if you have any questions to Mr. Tyler or Mr. Templer about, do they think that this would be something that could be sustained and go through next year, I'd be glad you'd ask them. Well, Mr. Templer, I direct my question towards you. Same question, where we find it from? Easter egg hunt in April? Or do you like starting a budget, million dollars in the hole, because that's what it's gonna equate to. Excuse, don't lead him, let him answer the question. I'm not leading him. Go ahead. Mr. Tucker, this would create a deficit in the way I see it or the way I would approach it would be in capital.

» So until this correction was ultimately made down the road, in my mind, I would just assume that we would start this much negative, because I wouldn't be interested in necessarily taking it away from general fund or any kind of operating, because although this would be reoccurring, I would just have this be a net negative as we start out next year as it relates to capital. Mr. Jones is correct. This does tend to, we never have any extra money or residual money, but the general fund and capital reserves, it does present itself as cash for us to make purchases to reduce debt and things like that. So he's absolutely correct on that. So that's where I would apply this. This deficit is in our capital. Do you think it's a viable solution? It's absolutely legal and the mechanics are there.

» You can absolutely do it. But you also heard him, he doesn't wanna start out in a deficit along with, we're putting the sheriff on mills now. And so that goes from 24.6 to 23.6. With 310 coming out of the reserves. And then now I would also remind y'all with your previous amendment, the remaining is 507, 860,000 in one penny, roughly, because we just reduced 140,000 with the United Way from our unassigned. So what we could do is take that money from the, excuse me, where it was spent in the unassigned fund balance. Correct. Yeah, take that extra out of the fund balance of cash management. So you would have to make that up there for that 140,000. Have a poker face, okay. All right, any other questions? No, sir.

» All right, all those in favor of my wonderful, wonderful motion, raise your hands. Mr. Brazel, how do you vote? Mr. Brazel. Mr. Jones. How do you vote? Mr. Jones, I wanna first say thank you for offering a solution. I will not support it tonight due to the administrator's comments. I wanna make sure that we do stay level in our spending and we don't create any deficits. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Brazel. We'll let the record show that Jimmy Jones is the only one who supported it. It fails. Thank y'all so much. What a wonderful opportunity, but thank you so much. You're consistent, Mr. Jones. I can promise you that. Well, you know, the ruse that y'all made sometime back stopped me from doing this, but I just sort of went around another way, which was perfectly legal, correct, Mr.

» Jones? Absolutely. Absolutely. All right, gentlemen, thank you. Now. Is that all the amendments, Mr. Chair? I believe so. I think we've passed. I'm getting there. Is that all? Do you have something you wanna pass to us? No, no, I was just saying, I think that's all the, I was just making sure that I'm not missing something. No, I think we're doing, I think we're doing good on that. Okay. So we just voted on your amendment. I know that. So all those in favor, all those in favor of the budget as amended, raise your hand. All those opposed. Mr. Jones, how do you vote, Mr. Brazel? The final vote. Yes, yes, yes. I'm gonna support the budget, but I'm gonna make clear the reasons why, if I may. Absolutely. I want the Sheriff's Office to know that I support them wholeheartedly.

» I want all of EMS and I want our fire departments to understand that I support them. I do disagree with the millage increase, but in the spirit of Kershaw County, working together with my colleagues, I am gonna support a budget that is not taking us in debt, that is not taking us into a form of government that our federal government is in. And I appreciate everybody's hard work. Thank you, Mr. Brazel, so much. Okay, let the record show that Mr. Brazel, Mr. Tucker, Mr. Shoemake, Mr. Cato, Mr. Thomason, vote in favor of the budget. Jimmy Jones voted no, but I can assure you this right now. First of all, I care deeply about our employees. That's why I presented an alternative to fund those things without raising the taxes. All right, having said that, let's move along.

» We finished, all right. We've moved this thing around so much, I've lost my sheet here. We're at 8A, Mr. Chairman, the millage. Yes. Actually, 8B. See, I got switched around, didn't I? Oh, we just did, okay. We were at 8A. We're at A, right, Sammy? We're at 8A, yes, Mr. Chair, 8A. 8A, okay, because we just switched A and B. All right, we're on third 8A, which was? The millage. The millage, yeah. Third reading, fiscal year 2024, 2025 millage. An order setting the millage rate for Kershaw County for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2024. Is there a motion to put that on the floor? Mr. Chair, I'd like to make a motion that we approve for the third and final reading for the 2024, 25 year, budget year as set in your handout there for Kershaw County. All right, okay. Second.

» Second motion to make. Motion made by Mr. Tucker. Is there any discussion? All right, all those in favor? Well, first off, Mr. Tucker, I mean, excuse me, Mr. Brazel, how do you vote? Mr. Jones, I vote aye. Thank you, sir. All right, all those in favor? The director showed that it was a vote of aye in favor of Mr. Brazel, and then Mr. Tucker, Ms. Chumate, Ms. Cato, and Mr. Thompson voted in favor. Jones votes no. Thank you. Mr. Jones, if I may not delay the night, I just wanna say thank you to my colleagues and also to you for offering an alternative, but I also want to tell Councilman Brazel, thank you for your teamwork and commitment to be a good team player. Thank you very much. Mr.

» Tucker, I appreciate that because the vote had nothing to do with supporting staff, it had to do with just different thoughts of belief when it comes to millage, and I appreciate you recognizing that after 20 years. You trying to say it took me 20 years? No, I'm just kidding. Okay, let's move down to C. First reading, case 2419, in order to amend the Kershaw County South Carolina Unified Code of Zoning and Land Development Regulations Camp and Recreational Vehicles, parks and all impervious surface ratio of 35% of the projected site to allow for, excuse me. Now, do I have a motion to put this on the floor? I would move to put this on the floor. Thank you, Mr. Shoemake. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Mr. Tucker.

» Do you want to start, Michelle, or go to the attorney? Yeah, I can start, because I'm happy to start this because this actually came about, Mr. Renfro, who was up here talking about ATAX, ATAX and I were talking about, we've been talking about this. As you know, he has a business in Lugoff on Highway 12 doing a campground. He wants to expand, but the impervious soil ratio is a little bit restrictive. I went out and walked the land with him. He had staff come out and look at it. And what we realized is, well, we don't have that many campgrounds. Most of the campgrounds we have don't have this problem because either they have large rec areas or like the campground also on Highway 12, he doesn't have that problem because of his soil type.

» So really right now, it's an ordinance that only impacts Mr. Renfro and it really prevents him from expanding. Again, we're not talking about allowing every square inch to be used, but what it does allow us to expand it just a little bit. Honestly, this is more in line. Mr. Renfro and I both looked, and this is in line with other counties. This isn't some crazy thing we're doing, this impervious soil ratio. Basically, it's just the amount of sort of natural soil that he has to keep around. And it'll just allow him to expand a little bit. Obviously, it'll allow someone else to do the same, but we don't even have any campgrounds sort of in the hopper. But again, this is not a number that's some crazy number and change. It goes from Mr.

» Renfro, it's 25 to 35%, right? I believe the current allowance is even less than 25%. If I'm not mistaken, it might be 15, yes, 15 currently. Other jurisdictions in the region have impervious surface ratios for this use type of up to 40%. Right. This is 35, so to your point, it's not out of line with standards in other communities. And I know we don't always agree with them, me specifically, but this did get a unanimous recommendation from planning as well. So I don't see any issues with it. I'm certainly gonna support it. I think it balances the need to make sure we're not packing our impervious soil and causing runoff problems. Balancing that with the need to make sure our businesses can properly expand. Well, I'm gonna tell you straight up.

» I know I relate to everybody first, but I like it. I appreciate all the hard work you put into it. Thank you, and I think it's good stuff. Go ahead, Ian. Sorry, Mr. Jones. One quick question, and it's maybe for legal. Does this, I know it's a lot of state parks and other things being regulated by the state, but they have RV parks and whatnot. Would that fall underneath if it wasn't in local? Would it fall underneath a camp and recreational vehicle park? This is a county ordinance. I understand that, but Goodall. Oh, excuse me. Looking for Goodall and different things. Does that, it was just a general question.

» Does that qualify underneath camps and recreational vehicle parks to be regulated by the county, or is it going strictly for the state regulation? Yeah, I don't know that we would be regulating the state park usage, per se, correct? Okay, so this is only for county RV parks type. Okay. Good question, good discussion. Anybody else? Ditto. Okay, all those in favor, raise your hand. All right, let the record show that Mr. Tuck and Mr. Shoemake, Mr. Cato and Mr. Thomson vote in favor. And how do you vote, Mr. Brazel? I vote aye, sir. All right, and let the record show that with the chair, excuse me, the vice chair, I support it as well, so it's unanimous. Okay, going to D.

» First reading, case 2421, an ordinance amending the Kershaw County zoning and land and development regulations, ZODR, to provide that single family residential attached uses, town homes, patio homes, and multi-family apartment uses, shall not comprise more than 10% of the net developable acreage of a major subdivision. Do I have a motion to put this on the floor? I move to put it on the floor. Mr. Shoemake moves to put it on the floor. Second? I'll second. Okay, Mr. Shoemake, we'll start with you, sir. Mr. Cato and Thomson. Cato got it. Okay, thank you. Mr. Brazel, this is related to your amendment. Do you want to speak on it or do you want me to give the overview? I yield to you. So this is Mr. Brazel's amendment. Basically, this does what we've already done.

» This is sort of a belt and suspenders approach. We sent it back through planning since Mr. Brazel made his amendment to our original motion, expanding minimum lot sizes. Mr. Brazel made an amendment that these multi-use type uses shouldn't comprise more than 10% of a major subdivision. We've already passed that, pending ordinance doctor, careful and check all the boxes. We sent that back through planning and zoning. We've actually already passed this on three readings, but we're just belt and suspenders touching up. That's all this does. All this does is it took his amendment and sent it back through the wash just to make sure it was okay. Thank you. Any other discussion? All those in favor? Councilman Shoemake, I want to thank- Go ahead, I'm sorry, Mr. Brazel. You go right ahead.

» Thank you, sir. I appreciate the time. Councilman Shoemake, you and I had a heated debate over this and at the end of the day, we agreed and we worked together. And I want to thank you for leaning in towards my ideas and my thoughts and us coming to a happy meeting and a solution that benefits the county. And I greatly appreciate that. Yes, sir. Well, I thank you very much. Very good. Thank you, Mr. Brazel. Thank you, sir. All right, is there any other discussion on this? All right, all in favor, raise your hand. Let the record show that it's unanimous for those folks here tonight, Tucker, Shoemake, Cato, Thomas and myself. Mr. Brazel, you vote. I vote aye, sir. Yes, it's unanimous. Okay, moving along. We've already done number nine, so A, so we'll go to B. Rock on, sir. Okay. All right.

» Solar energy farms, okay, placed on the agenda by Vice Chairman Jimmy Jones on the new business. Okay, I'm gonna, at this point in time, well, first of all, let me ask you the motion to put this on the floor. I'll make a motion to put it on the floor also for a possible vote. Thank you. Second. Thank you so much, Mr. Thomson. All right, Mr. Cato, we'll start with you. So, as most of you know, and everybody's heard over the last several months, the solar farm industry is trying to hit Kershaw County hard. As Ms. Huff spoke earlier, we're looking at 3,600 acres, not just been approved, but 3,600 acres that these solar industries are looking at developing on. That's been real concerning. Myself and Vice Chair Jones have had many conversation about this. We've had a lot of complaints.

» And we were looking at some ways that we might could make sure, well, I say it like this. I feel like we've been misled on some of the projects that's been approved in the past. So I think what the county needs to do is try and find a way that we can eliminate being misled and having the information put out there at the very beginning. So with that being said, and not dragging anything out, I have a motion. My motion is that county council refer to the planning commission for review or recommendation that requires applicants for large scale standalone solar energy farms for conditional use permits that they must hold a neighborhood meeting regarding the proposed project.

» Written notice of the neighborhood meeting must be provided to all property owners located within one quarter mile of the project boundaries. And this meeting must be held within 21 days of this written notice. The neighborhood meeting must be held near the practical location or proposed location and must be held at a reasonable time so that the adequate opportunity for citizens to attend and participate in this meeting. The neighborhood meeting will allow the applicant to explain the project and hear the concerns of the citizens.

» Proof of mailed notice of the neighborhood meeting and a summary of the meetings in the form of meeting notes, minutes along with a list of contact information for the attendees, including applicant attendees must be submitted to the planning director as part of the conditional use permit application that would be submitted to the planning and zoning or planning commission for review. Kershaw County will not be responsible for organizing or coordinating this neighborhood meeting. This will be left up to the solar company itself. And going back to the quarter of a mile, the reason I think that it should be a quarter of a mile just to go ahead and get that out of the way and explain it is some of these properties come up next to a highway.

» And people on the other side of the highway is not considered adjoining property. So this would encompass anybody that has parcels that may come within say a few hundred yards of the property line or people on the other side of a road. So that was my thinking and having the quarter of a mile circumference around this proposed project. But that's my motion. Is there a second to his motion? I know we're on the floor for discussion. Second. He's amending. Well, no, there's no amendment to it. Just for discussion, yeah. Mr. Tucker, second. Mr. Tucker, go ahead. You got any comments? No, I'm taking care of Mr. Shoemaker. I'll say my comments. I just want, well, I do.

» I just want to tell Councilman Cato thank you for coming up with an awesome idea to send this back down to Planning and Zoning and have them produce us something with some teeth to approve because I don't think it's anything worse than you've got things popping up in your neighborhood near your properties that you have no control over and you haven't been notified. You can't control other people's property, but you do have the right to be notified. And so he contacted me and we had a good discussion in reference to this. And this is the reason why I'm 100% backing what he's recommending tonight. Thank you, Mr. Cato. Mr. Fresh here. I really like exactly what you said and I think it hit spot on.

» We have, even though the three solar projects who have been approved, none of them went through the complete process. Odds are the way this thing works. One of the three will completely go through fruition and completing the project. So that 3,800 acres or whatnot mentioned. Odds are that it would be very, very rare, historically rare, if all of them went through. But I would like to amend your motion to include that we create an ad hoc committee to look at our solar ordinance. We created a blanket ordinance, I don't know, 10 years ago, and that, eight, 10 years ago, roundabout, and that's what's kind of been created. The industry has changed a lot. There's different things like dual use that is being proposed, especially out west where solar is very popular.

» I think we need to look at something different here, make sure that our ordinances are okay with our buffers, our fencing around, access on and off the property, the ability to reach out to the local community, different things. We need to look at that. I'd like to create an ad hoc committee. And then also, I would like to take our Fila from 3,500 per megawatt, which was originally 2,500 per megawatt, and I fought to get it to 3,500 a megawatt. I would like to go ahead and I can give you the research. Surrounding counties are no less than 4,100 per megawatt. A lot of them are above 4,300 per megawatt. So I say we make ourselves kind of competitive. I, you know, 4,500 a megawatt. Let's just go, you know, round about there or whatever y'all kind of recommend.

» But if we're gonna do it, might as well do everything the right way. And I want to make this clear as far as making it 4,500 a megawatt. That does not mean that they could automatically come in here. It would still have to come to a vote before council. That would not automatically give them a right. Absolutely, it would go through planning and zoning, the same process. And when they come for the fee load, the fee load would be here. And that's the only part that county council has any ability to approve or deny. That would be the middle. Let me recognize Mr. Tucker. I don't want to make sure y'all. Yes, I'm fine. A couple quick things, Mr. Thompson, if you would. Number one, would you withdraw your motion to perform an ad hoc? Because we can ask the chair, Mr. Jones.

» Well, the chair can draw, can do an ad hoc at his will. Can appoint an ad hoc committee without us saying so. And that way it won't muddy his ordinance. I mean, his motion. And then the other is, since we do have to wait on this to come back without interjecting megawatts costs, we can have that discussion as we get the information back from the planning commission. That way his motion is clear going to the planning commission. Yeah, and I would be fine with that. And I would like to include in the ad hoc that we look at the megawatt. Absolutely. Fee load. So Mr. Jones, if you'll agree to have that ad hoc committee created, especially with the much we could do within the next two months, I'd be followed up. Mr. Thompson, you've done a great job in keeping us informed.

» And you really understand this a lot more than a lot of us up here. No question about that. I know we have a concern, but here's my concern in being fair, being straight and fair. I am not, I am the, I say pretending chair. I'm the vice chair. I'm sitting in till we get a chair elected. Mr. DeBose, would it not be better to wait to have our permanent chair here before we make that decision on ad hoc committees that can affect? No, we got business to do. I understand that, I understand that, but. To somewhat related, and maybe kissing cousin of your question. It's after six. The planning act, the planning act provides that your planning commission can study things wholesale and make recommendations.

» If you wanted the planning commission to undertake a holistic review of the solar ordinance, conditional use ordinance, that's certainly something they could be tasked with, but separate and apart from that and directly answering Mr. Jones' question, I think it's a discretion of council as a whole and really the chair in establishing these committees and the timing of them. And Mr. DeBose, during that time that they're reviewing the ordinance, is there a public hearing involved where the public has the opportunity to come and speak during that process? So this would, as contemplated, these additional requirements within that conditional use process and our ZLDR text amendments. So the public hearing on a ZLDR text amendment would be before council.

» So council would receive public hearing input on the process that would add these. Okay, so there would be no public hearing during the planning commission process with going to planning commission and having them review the ordinance. So in my opinion, that kind of takes out the whole point of the ad hoc committee. I think the citizen government-based committee that comes together reviews and ordinates to be able to get a wholesome approach going forward. That's kind of my point in it. But yes, I will withdraw that motion. Well, I can certainly do that and I certainly would do that if I feel the need to do it. I would like to do it within the next two months. Go ahead and get this created. Go ahead, Ms. Tucker. Yes, I agree with Mr. Thomson.

» I don't think we need to, here's the problem with a lot of people when things aren't like they were meant to be. And the older I get, the more I realize things don't always remain the same. We're here, it's six of us, to govern this county. You can wait on the next rainstorm, 1,000-year flood. We are still charged with governing this county. So I see no problem in appointing the ad hoc committee and doing the people's business as if there was no election coming and when that takes place, it will fill in with, fill in and then we'll march on with that person next. But we've got an obligation to continue to serve and represent the citizens of Kershaw County. Ms. Tucker and I realize that and I never have back down to my opportunity to serve and represent the people.

» And I'm not afraid of appointing an ad hoc committee. My main thing was I just want to make sure my colleagues were in agreement with it. I know your passion and I would like to see it done. And actually, I would rather see it done by vote on county council than just the chair making that decision on this ad hoc committee. But I will, I mean. You were just ready to put an ad hoc committee together for Catawba Water Basin. That's because I like that. All right, let me say this. Unlike I was done in the past, some chairmen would come up here and they'd say, okay, I'm gonna have you, you and you serve on an ad hoc committee and they never talked to us about it before. They just said it.

» I'd like to ask who is willing, as a three person ad hoc committee, to sit on that for this council? I think it's gotta be Brandon and Danny. I mean, I don't know who the third person is. Well, we need a third person. Mr. Broussard? Yep. Who is absent is chosen. I will, Mr. Broussard, will you accept a position on ad hoc committee? He dropped his mic. No, he's there. I'm gonna tell a picture because I'm out. But if I'm needed, I'll serve where I'm called. If you're needed. Okay, so would you like to say what you'd like the ad hoc committee to be calling? I'm sorry. To study the solar. Oh, do you want me to say it? Yeah, yeah. And so my... How about the solar boys? We have to vote on the original, correct? Yeah, we gotta vote on that and then we can go.

» We've already got the people on, so that way we're not muddying it up, since it's disconnected. I'm sorry for doing that. It's okay, we can absolutely do that now, but we will. Yeah, I'm happy to, yeah. I'd rather go ahead and do the ad hoc committee now. The ad hoc committee would be to study the solar energy? Yeah, so I move that we create an ad hoc committee to study our solar ordinance for Kershaw County to include the FILO agreement. The ad hoc committee will be created of a group of seven individuals, three from council, four from community individuals. It can be appointed by... I think staff will be a good person to appoint them or give the recommendation for it. Okay, then what I would say, we're getting a little deep now.

» Most ad hoc committees that I've sat on were just three members of council, but if you wanna get some staff involved, I think we need to go and put it on the next budget. I think it's a public, private committee. I like that, I'm not arguing with you, I like that, but I think that that's how we're gonna pick those tonight. I don't think we have to pick them tonight. I think we have the committee created of seven, it's three of council, four individuals from all areas of the county. So we can do one from district six, you know, from northern part of the county, one from Camden, one from Lugoff, one from Elgin, right? And then go from there. Okay.

» And just for clarity, to make sure council doesn't overstep or bleed into planning commission roles and duties, and just so I understand, the study committee would just be on solar farm policy broadly, but perhaps inclusive of making ultimate recommendations for further study by planning commission of potential amendments? Yes, absolutely. It will go to planning commission, so all this will go directly to them and will be a packet of study for the ordinance and everything else. And then the planning commission will then send that update down to council for a vote. But this is a way to get citizens involved since there has been a lot of opportunity.

» And I think it's great what you provide us with a lot of good information, but I am not prepared to vote on it tonight or make that decision tonight. I think I would rather, because you got a little bit deeper than what I thought, and there's nothing wrong with that, it's just I'm not prepared. So therefore, I'd like to wait and take it up in the next meeting. I'm ready to vote right now. You made a motion. Yeah. Who seconded it? Did I have a second? I think it's got second, yeah. All right, well then let me ask this, since we did put it to the floor and I didn't take the decision, make it myself. Is there a second? Motion dies. Okay. We're gonna put it on agenda, Brad. There we go. I'm gonna miss the next meeting. All right, now let's go back.

» Let's go back to the motion that was on the floor for Mr. Cato. Call for the vote. Excuse me? Call for the vote. No other discussion? Okay, all in favor. Mr. Brasel. Brasel. I'm still here. How do you vote on Mr. Cato's amendment? Solo phone. Yeah, I support Mr. Cato's amendment and happy to help wherever I'm needed. All right, that's it then. So we have all, did you vote for it too, sir? Okay, let me show this unanimous with Mr. Brasel as well. All right. Thank you, gentlemen. Okay, let's go into appointments. Number 10, recommendation, reappointment to the library board. They have down here Mr. John Miller, Louis Stuber, which whose terms expires on 6-29-24. I think if I'm correct, they will serve again. Is that correct? Or is there a motion on the floor for somebody else? Go ahead, Mr.

» Tumake. No, I was just gonna say that's the recommendation. I know I don't have anybody. Okay. Yeah, that's who they're recommending. Okay, so a motion to accept, do I have a motion on the floor to accept John Miller, Louis Stuber, to be reappointed to their terms? I make that motion, Mr. Chair. Is there a second? I would second. Any discussion? I think it speaks for itself. All right, Mr. Brasel, any discussion? No discussion, sir. Thank you, sir. All right, all those in favor, raise your hand. Let the record show, Mr. Brasel, how do you vote? Aye. All right, let the record show it's unanimous for Tucker, Shumake, Thomason, and Kato and myself voting in favor. All right, let's go to a recommendation for reappointment to the Old English District. Mr.

» Chair, does anybody have, I'll make a motion, but before I do, does anybody have an appointment other than this reappointment? No, I don't. Anybody have an appointment? Recommendation? Then I would make a motion to reappoint Mr. Good to the Old English District. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Mr. Brasel, any discussion? No, sir, thank you very much, sir. All right, Mr. Brasel, how do you vote? I vote aye. All right, council, how do you vote? Let the record show it's unanimous, along with Mr. Brasel as well. Okay, we're down to council briefings. Mr. Brasel, I'll start with you. Thank you, sir, I appreciate the time. I appreciate being able to be heard and not being at the meeting. I'm sorry to not be there in person tonight, but thank you all for being so gracious with me.

» I wanted to just thank each and every one of you for the hard work that went into this year's budget. We all had to make a few concessions, and ultimately we kept Kershaw County whole, and I'm glad of that. I want to say to our administrator, Danny Templar, that we really appreciate digging in and making sure that all of our projects are taken care of and that we're working with our Sheriff's Office the way we need to and taking good care of the employees that perform life-saving activities on a day-to-day basis. So thank you to each and every one of y'all. Have a good night. Thank you, Mr. Brasel. Mr. Tucker. Thank you, Mr. Jones. Thank you, Mr. Brasel.

» I really appreciate you, man, and I know sometimes on that phone it's hard to hear and catch everything, so we'll appreciate you calling in. I'm just glad we have the technology that we can do that. I want to say thank you, too, to each and every one of you here on the budget. I want to say thank you to staff. I know we had worried the blueberries off of you in requesting stuff, and Tyler, bless your heart. I want to say thank the old folks. Bless your heart. I can ask you for milk and you'll give me cereal in a bowl, but I love you. I love you. You always give me more than what I need. We appreciate all of you. We appreciate your support over this year's budget.

» I want to say a special thank you to the two gentlemen that served with me on this finance committee because it's not about just one person or two people. It's all three of us being able to plan our schedules, show up, and work very, very hard at making sure that we have a good product to present back to this council. And so for all those things, I really want to say thank you. Fourth of July is coming up, not this weekend, but next weekend, but we won't be here. My biggest thing on that is for people to stay safe. Do not drink and drive. Don't even drink and ride. Just travel safe wherever your destinations may be. And this might be a little bit of your thunder, Mr. Jones.

» I want to just say quickly, hopefully by next meeting, we will have the COG director come back and brief us on the Catawba water basin. That meeting was tonight. I don't know how it went, but I hope it went well. Okay, great. Thank you very much. With that being said, I want to make sure that we don't get left out of these decisions because everything that happens up screen definitely affects what's downstream. And we're downstream for that Catawba basin. So, Mr. Jones, I know you have been in touch with the COG director and he actually came in from Wilmington this morning off of vacation to make this meeting tonight. So we'll definitely get together and put that on the agenda. Yeah, let's do it because he's doing a great job on that and I am so glad to hear things went well tonight.

» And thank you for bringing that up, Mr. Tucker. So can we move you through? Yeah, that concludes my report. Thank you so much. Mr. Shoemake. Yeah, just a couple of little things. I sort of have a theme has emerged in my little notes I was making, which is a theme of advocacy. You know, you look at, you know, we're going to the 4th of July holiday, obviously the greatest advocacy that maybe ever was in our history when, you know, in 1776, a bunch of folks got together to advocate that we even exist. And what we saw here tonight and what you're seeing happening in the county right now is the power of standing up and being an advocate.

» The Catawba River Basin is a huge issue where basically for those of you who aren't familiar with what we're talking about, there's some discussion that some of our neighbors to the north in North Carolina may want to take more water than I probably think they're entitled to. And there's some discussions about what we can do on our side of this, in our state to protect that. And our county is going to stand up to fight those issues. I know Chairman Jones and Chairman of the Cog, Mr. Tucker, have both been working that issue pretty hard. We have an election tonight, a runoff election. And for those of you who did vote, thank you. The turnout numbers continue to be more anemic than they should have been.

» But it's looking good for no partisanship here, but it's looking good for both our Kershaw County gentlemen in those races. So I am an unabashed Kershaw County centrist as long as I sit in this seat. So I hope all our Kershaw County people win tonight. Continuing the advocacy. I know Mr. Webb isn't here, but I always love to hear him speak. We don't agree on this literal ordinance issue, but I love sitting and talking to him. He embodies what advocacy means. It means you don't just stand here and talk about something, but you do it. You won't go to a litter pickup where you won't find Mr. Webb. He serves on the Clean Community Commission. He has earned every second of time he has to speak on the issue, even if we don't agree. Ms.

» Epling, I understand some of your issues that you raised today. I will tell you I am an unabashed, full-throated supporter of the Advocacy Center. Alpha Center, sorry. I'm an advocate of the Alpha Center. I got my own theme got stuck. I'll also tell you that from where I sit and what I've seen this last year, I've never seen Chairman Jones do anything remotely close to the line. In fact, I think he's recused himself from votes that I personally would have told him I think he could have been part of, like the United Way question. Sometimes, and I see this a lot as a lawyer, sometimes you just get to a place where people just disagree. And that may be where we are. I've seen the stuff that was given to you. It is my opinion. You have what we have to give.

» You may not like that, and then it's your decision to how you want to take that and what you want to do about that. I think the Alpha Center's been fully transparent. I think they're doing a great job. And I think we may, if you don't think the same, I respect that. We just may be at that impasse and then you have to do what you have to do. But I'm fully behind what the Alpha Center has done. And I think that, but you know, you came up here to advocate for your position. I do respect that. But I think we sort of may just be at that impasse. And lastly, Ms. Huff, you know, you've been in here talking about solar farms and here's Brandon, Danny, you know, responding to that. You know, when you first came and spoke about these things, I don't know that I appreciated the scope of the problem.

» And then Mr. Cato educated me. And I'll tell you what, if you live in North Kershaw and you want to know the power that you guys have in an election, look at this guy right here, because I can tell you, he's been going to the mattresses for North Kershaw every week and has been an advocate for that area repeatedly. And this discussion on solar farms, I don't think would have happened without Ms. Huff, Mr. Tomlinson and Mr. Cato. So advocacy works. You have to participate. Otherwise your voice doesn't get heard. Doesn't always win. But if you advocate for your position, it will be heard, it will be addressed. Maybe not to your satisfaction, but our system works if you become a part of it. I am not an anarchist. I am the opposite of that.

» I'm an institutionalist because I believe what we did in 1776 does still exist today. I don't think America is dying. I think that we have some issues and I think that through our elected process, we can fix that. And that starts with showing up at the polls. So probably a little off topic, Mr. Chairman, but that's all I have. Thank you, Mr. Shoemake. Mr. Cato. I have just a few things. First of all, I want to just touch on the solar issue. I wanna thank Vice Chair Jones too. He put this on the agenda. He had also gotten some phone calls from constituents that was worried throughout the county about these solar farms and the issues that we were having. And we had talked in the past about the constituents and their fears and their concerns.

» So I wanna thank him for getting this on the agenda. June the 8th, we had a great turnout at the Mount Pisgah Resource Center. Myself and several others, Sheriff Leibong, we got to judge some antique cars. And I tell you, it was a fun day. It was hot, but it was fun. So I appreciate everybody to come out and supported that. On July the 6th, Bethune High School will, the former Bethune High School will have a reunion in Bethune. They do that just about every Saturday after the 4th of July. So if you're a alumni of Bethune High School, please come out and attend. I just wanna thank the council, this great run meeting. It was a great discussion tonight. And I just wanna thank each and every one of you, the finance committee. Thank you for your hard work.

» I try to attend some of the meetings to educate myself, but you all have a lot other meetings that you attend that I don't attend. So it's a lot that y'all do and really a lot of time is consumed out of your personal lives to take care of that business. And I really appreciate it. I thank staff, y'all done an excellent job. And I thank y'all for all your hard work. And that's all I have tonight. Thank you so much, Mr. Cato, Ms. Thompson. Thank you, Mr. Jones. As always, I would really like to thank staff, Ms. Hanna, Danny, Lauren, Gerald, Tyler, everybody here. This budget wouldn't have been put together without every single one of y'all. Y'all have been working tirelessly for months and months and months to put that together. It wasn't the three of us, it was y'all.

» Thank you for doing that and thank you for all your hard work. A quick update and a shout out to Ned. We've mentioned the joint equine advisory committee a couple of months ago, looking at a committee with the city, county, and local private sector here in Kershaw County. Ned Dowell has worked very, very hard. I have an ordinance draft for the county and everything that he has taken his time and done up that I would like to have on either the next agenda or the previous one, but I will give it to staff to look over. And once we get it all accustomed to our legal, then we can put it on. Ned, he really has, so he's created, the purpose of the council will be to advocate for needs for the equine community, promote economic growth through equine events and protect equine-friendly land use.

» The equine industry alone is $29 million industry and the local economy. That's a huge part, but then we're also looking at future ecotourism with it. There will be, let's see, from what his kind of idea of it and draft, looking at nine members, so one from Kershaw County, City of Camden, South Carolina Equine Promotion Foundation, Carolina Copper Racing Association, and the Thiel Firestone Foundation, and then the others will be citizens. So we encourage individuals who are interested to start getting ready. This is, it's gonna take maybe a month or two for staff to get through everything and make sure the ordinances meet our requirements. But after that, we will be accepting applications for individuals to be on the Joint Advisory Committee. So we'd love people who wanna serve.

» Thank you all again for attending and appreciate it. Have a good evening. Thank you so much, Mr. Thomson. Just a couple words. Mr. Tepler, I caught you, didn't I? Listen, I wanna thank you for your quick response on all four yes. I know how you operate, I know how you work, and there's no stone unturned. You've gone above and beyond and wherever to make sure that any citizen who asks for any information, got it from you. And I wanna commend you for that and your staff, for the hard work you're doing. I wanna also, we're getting to the end of the year a little bit, but for all the complaints that I've given you, how quickly you have jumped on them, I know that you all may wish sometimes he wasn't in the position he's in, but you guys do a great job.

» You, Gerald, Lauren, and where's Hannah? Here she is. Hannah, you as well, and I include you in that as well. You've got a great staff up there, and I just wanna say thank you, but I have the utmost trust in y'all providing information to the citizens. I just want you to know that. Thank you for that very much. And Ms. Chumake, I wanna say something to you. Thank you for speaking the truth and having the courage to do it. I commend you and I salute you, sir, period. And by the way, I have thoroughly enjoyed working with each and every one of y'all through this budget process. The grace we showed each other is the way it should be. We disagree, we have different philosophies of government, but we all have the same, want the same outcome.

» That's a very smooth, well-running machine, okay? All right, so having said that, I wanna thank everybody for tonight, and that ends my discussion. I wanna go to administrative, any briefing for you, sir? No, sir, just really quick. It would be silly of me to not thank my staff for everything they've done throughout this budget process. Tyler, Lauren, Gerald, all of the department heads, the elected officials, it was a group effort. A lot of bravery within those meetings of just department heads and elected officials standing up for their people. Again, this was a people-centric budget, employee-centric, a lot of tough decisions, both up there and down here. So I appreciate y'all's hard work and determination. Again, I don't take lightly what I request from elected officials.

» Y'all have to answer to the people. I have to answer to y'all. So I think this was a very tough budget process, but I think it went very well, if that makes any sense. But I appreciate all the council's support for helping us make this organization better. We have a long way to go. I'll never be satisfied with the improvements that we can make. But all of that is possible with y'all's support. So thank y'all so much. You're quite welcome. A legal report. Mr. Chair? What? I'm not even, I have a question for the administrator on this report. Go right ahead, go right ahead. Mr. Templar, after things settle down and we get through the holidays, and I know how these things work has been around a little bit.

» Administrator seems to make some adjustments, not only with the new budget, but with staff. Can you produce us a chain of command or your flowchart, some people may call it, starting with you going down when you get a moment here in the next few meetings? Sure, absolutely. And that's something we have looked at to make this organization better, to flow better, to be more responsive, to add accountability to department heads, to employees. You remember, not to get too long-winded, but it used to be just Vic and I, and we had a very flat organization. So with Gerald's help and Lauren's help, we're restructuring, but just to maximize efficiency and effectiveness of our staff to be a better service provider. Yeah, and I'm not questioning any of that, just wanna understand it.

» No, I'd love to present it, because I'm proud of it. Thank you, Mr. Tucker, I think that was very well noted. Thank you, Mr. Templar. Okay, legal briefing. Nothing other than executive session matters. And we're gonna be short. Correct, always. Thank you. This has gone longer than we intended tonight, guys. All right, is there a vote to go into executive session? Make a motion to go into executive session for personnel matter, Mr. DeVos? That matter is covered by our attorney-client. Okay. Second. Let it be known that Mr. Tucker made the motion. Mr. Cato, second. All those in favor, is there any discussion? No discussion, all those in favor? Mr. Brazel. Yes, sir, I'm in favor, they die. Okay, it's unanimous. All right, let's bring executive session.

» Is there a motion to come out of executive session? Yes, sir, Mr. Jones, I make that motion. Is there a second? Second. No discussion. All in favor of coming out of executive session? Mr. Brazel, are you gonna let it show that it's unanimous with us here? Now, is there any other business? Yes, Mr. Chairman, I would like to make a motion.

» I move that Kershaw County Council direct legal counsel to prepare an ordinance enacting a moratorium on rezoning and new development within airport overlay zoning district for a period of six months to allow an adequate time for Kershaw County's airport consultant to work with planning staff, the legal counsel, the Kershaw County Planning Commission to develop an amended airport overlay district that will incorporate recommendations from the Federal Aeronautics Administration and the South Carolina Aeronautics Commission to protect the airport from encroachment by incompatible uses and to ensure the impacts are mitigated for the existing residential and other uses in the airport environs.

» I further move that we direct legal counsel and clerk to counsel to prepare and publish a public hearing notice for the proposed moratorium ordinance and that Kershaw County, to the extent allowed by law, invoke the pending ordinance doctrine in connection with the pending moratorium ordinance. Is there a second? I'll second. Discussion, Mr. Donaldson. So the airport's a critical resource for Kershaw County, and the need for more detailed airport overlay rezoning district was identified in consideration in 2017 to the 2027 Comprehensive Plan. Allowing rezoning and new development during the dependency of the airport overlay district rewrite could lead to incompatible land use near the airport that might ultimately conflict with the new airport overlay district.

» Incompatible land uses near the airport might jeopardize FFA grants for the airport, so rezoning and new developments must be paused to guard against negative impacts on future viability of the airport. I think we do everything we can to kind of look at protecting and conserving the history of our airport. It's a longstanding history. So I'm happy to put this out tonight, and I hope I can get y'all support. Good job on bringing it to our attention. Any further discussion? Mr. Rouser, are you back? All right, we've heard a motion, we second, we got a discussion. I just want to thank Mr. DeBose for always guiding us correctly and making sure that we're in the right steps. Thank you, sir.

» Very good, nothing else? No other discussion? All right, all those in favor? Let the record show that it's unanimous. Ms. Tucker, Ms. Shoemake, Cato, and Councilman Thomson, Jimmy Jones, all vote in favor. All right, now, where are we at? Adjournment, motion to adjourn. I hadn't called for it yet. No. Is there a motion to adjourn? A motion to adjourn, Mr. Jones. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Gentlemen. Our Kershaw boys are looking good so far on the elections. Good, good, good stuff. Now let me say, gentlemen, thank you. It's been a pleasure working with y'all tonight. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Thank you.