Full meeting transcript - August 12, 2025

» You can let her know that it's a bad guy. Oh, I know. No, it wasn't a targeting thing, I promise. I didn't care. I had no idea who it was. It could have been Sammy, it could have been Brand. It could have been Ben. You got some verbalization there. Russell yelled at Derek. You good? Yeah. Jimmy Jones. Or your dad, too. Danny. I ain't good yet since before. Let's get going, guys. Go ahead. I'd like to welcome out everybody tonight. Thanks so much for coming to our August 12, 2025 Kershaw County Council meeting. I understand we have Mr. Tucker on the phone, calling in remote. Mr. Tucker, are you there? Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman, I'm here. Glad to have you. Let's get on to the agenda. We've been called to order. We have the invocation and pledge tonight by Vice Chairman Russell Brazel.

» All right, everybody stand and I'll say the prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you this afternoon through a season of mourning. We've had several family members in my own family that we've lost. My mother-in-law, Kathy Merritt, my cousin just yesterday, Mark Barfield. Lord, we just lift up those families and know that through your peace and your salvation that we'll find peace. And that all the family members will find peace. God, we just pray for all those hurting in our community. Those are two examples, Lord. We know that there are many people hurting and many people in need of your peace and mercy. Lord, give us wisdom tonight. Give us thoughtfulness in our words and in our actions as we do the business of Kershaw County tonight. All this we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

» We pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. To do the republic for which it stands. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Mr. Brazel. That brings us to item number four, gentlemen. Adoption of the agenda. Is there a motion? Make a motion we adopt the agenda. Mr. Cato, is there a second? Second. You got a second, Mr. Brazel. Any discussion at all, Mr. Cato or otherwise? None here. Seeing none, we'll move it to a vote. Mr. Tucker, how do you vote? Yes. That's a yes from Mr. Tucker. For those in person, raise your hand if you're in favor. Ms. Hanna, it's unanimous for the record. Agenda is approved. Next up on the agenda, we have public comments. Mr. DuBose, do we have anyone signed up? Mr.

» Chair, members of council, we have one speaker signed up, Ms. Penry Gusti. Mr. Gustafson, civics education workshop. Ms. Gustafson, please. Thank you. Good evening. It's a pleasure to be back so soon, but I will have to say I want to share my personal condolences with Councilman Russell Brazel and Councilman Brant Thomason for Mayor Elizabeth and Councilman Sam and Tucker for your parents. A lot of loss there. So, hopefully tonight we can move forward with our county and do some good things. And I'm here to share some good news. For those who don't know, repetition is the key to a lot of success in events. So, I'm here representing one of a committee of six for a Kershaw County civics education workshop.

» I was here at the last meeting and I'm just going to review this again for everyone watching and listening. This is a free civics educational workshop. It's been especially created for our citizens of our county. It's informative. It is non-partisan. It's for anyone who wants to learn more about local government and to build better civil engagement. Different topics include our core functions of local government, best practices for communications with elected officials, public commenting instructions and guidance at local meetings, and voter registration information. It's structured in two segments. And part one was actually last night. It was led by Charlie Barrineau with the Municipal Association of South Carolina. And he was very informative and it was a great presentation.

» He'll be back to do that again on September 27th. Meantime, we have part two, which would be on August 25th. And this particular part two of the workshop is going to focus in on the public speaking aspects, how to deliver a good effective message with our elected officials. What does that look like? What are the rules for Kershaw County in our town council meetings? Because we all know we're not supposed to do Q&A, right? I just broke that rule. I just asked you. So we'll be doing that. I will also be talking about voter registration. What is new in Kershaw County? What is good? And most everything is good about our voter registration here in the county, which is a good thing. But there have been improvements to the things going on.

» We met with the director of voter registration, Miko Reddick, about what number one issues are for our county. How can we be better citizens and, you know, update our registration, et cetera. And then the last part I'll be leading, which is going to be how to talk with our elected officials. How to best approach them. And I've given this speech a number of times before different groups. So I think it can be beneficial for the public. So everyone, all the countywide officials were sent invitations and information, and we continue to get the word out. We have a QR code for signing up. My gosh, I'm not going to talk another two minutes. We do have a QR code. The workshop, again, is for educational purposes only. Please pre-register anyone who wants to go.

» Information booklets are being provided, which are very comprehensive. They've been well-researched for this county. And we just encourage anyone to come, especially our elected officials. We had Judge Deborah Branham there last night, and also Councilman Wilts was able to drop by. He had a planning meeting, but he came by towards the end of our program last night. So I just -- we thank you. We thank you for what you do. I thank you for what you do. This is one way, me personally as your former senator, to continue to give back somehow, to be involved and engaged with our community. And I just feel like civic engagement is so very important, and civility. So how do we do that? And the workshop -- that's one of the main aims of this workshop. So thank you very much.

» And I have information with me if any of the public here would like to have that. Thank you very much, Ms. Penry. Mr. DeBose, did you say no one else would sign up for tonight? Correct. Okay, thank you. Then that concludes public comment, and that takes us to item number 6A, under public hearing. No votes needed. I'll go ahead and open up the public hearing. This is related to an ordinance to amend the ZLDR related to commercial event venues, rural event venues, and rural country clubs. Currently, second reading is on the agenda for tonight. It's open. Do you have anybody signed up, Mr. DeBose? No, Mr. Chair. Anybody present wishing to speak on this particular public hearing? Seeing none, we'll go ahead and close the public hearing on 6A.

» And that takes us to approval of the minutes under 7A. Do we have a motion? I'll make a motion. We approve the minutes. Mr. Shoemake with the motion. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Tomlinson, any discussion or amendments needed? Seeing none, we'll move to a vote. We'll go remote to Mr. Tucker first. Mr. Tucker, how do you vote on the minutes? Yes. That's a yes from Mr. Tucker. And for those in person, raise your hand if you're in favor of the minutes. I've got abstain. You're absent, okay. We have Mr. Shoemake, Connell, Cato, I saw his hand at some point, Tomlinson and Jones in favor. And any opposed or abstaining? I just have to abstain due to absence. We have Mr. Brasel abstain for the record, Ms. Hanna. Thank you. The minutes are approved. That takes us to item number 8A. Mr.

» Administrator, any other background or update we need before we move this to a motion? Okay, gentlemen, on 8A, this is a second reading regarding the minor subdivision, which we discussed quite heavily last time. Last time, first reading was July 22. Do we have a motion? I move that we adopt a second reading of the ordinance. All right. We have a motion. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Tomlinson has a second. Any further discussion? So, I was absent, obviously, for the first reading. Could I get a clear definition from our attorney? So, this ZLDR text amendment would redefine minor subdivisions as anything less than five lots. Five lots would be the, greater than five lots would be the new trigger for major subdivision requirements and review processes. Okay.

» Are there any family exemptions? So, there are existing exemptions in state code regarding what is defined as a subdivision. Those typically are addressing partitions of property due to someone's passing through their descendants. Additionally, there are exemptions for five or greater acres. But, for this minor subdivision ordinance, you know, it said it greater than five lots would trigger a major subdivision. Well, let me, if I can, just throw in there, the only change to the amendment is the number. So, we didn't make any other changes. We literally just changed the number from whatever it was to more. So, just as an FY.

» So, could we, between now and the last reading, could we add a family exemption? So, if a family was dividing ten acres amongst seven children or six children, it wouldn't become a problem for them? I could look into that, but there very well could be some equal protection concerns implicated in that, but I'm happy to look at it and discuss it with you, Mr. Rosal, and see if something could be crafted. Okay, that's my only, it's not my only concern, but that's my biggest concern at this moment. I don't have any problem moving it forward as previously agreed, but I do have some concerns regarding that. So, we'll be sure to talk about it between now and the next reading. Thank you, Mr. Rosal. Any other comments or questions? So, this is second reading. Mr. Jones. I'm sorry. Thank you.

» So, this is second reading. We'll have third reading to go. I think that'll give us a good point in time to whatever amendments or changes we want to make, we can make. Yes, sir. Thank you. I'm sorry. I guess that's what I was hearing from Mr. Browns. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. I don't see any other comments or questions. For those present, Mr. Tucker, anything remote? No, sir. All right. Hearing none and seeing no further discussion, we'll move it to a vote on second reading for 8B. Excuse me, 8A. All in favor, raise your hand. It's unanimous for those who are present and voting. And, Mr. Tucker, how do you vote on 8A? Yes. That's a yes. It's unanimous, Ms. Hanna, for the record. All right, gentlemen, that takes us to item number 8B.

» This is the ordinance on second reading regarding commercial event venues, rural event venues, and rural country clubs. Do we have a motion? Yes, Mr. Chairman. I'll make a motion. Okay. We have a motion. Is there a second? I'll second. I yield. Okay. We've got a second for Mr. Shoemake. Any further questions, comments, amendments? Yes, Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make an amendment to the proposed ordinance. So, make a motion that we change from 5 acres to 10 acres, minimum lot size in section 27-3, period B, titled Rural Event Venue, and section 28-2, period A, titled Rural Country Club. So, this amendment, just to clarify, all right, I need a second. Let's get a second for any further discussion. Do we have a second? I'll second. Mr. Cato has a second.

» Yeah, just to provide a little bit more clarity, I think what this does is two things. One is a protective measure. I know there were some concerns about being able to have rural event spaces within, right next to properties and neighborhoods. So, we took the minimum lot size from 5 acres to 10 acres. That expansion kind of prevents, you know, your larger track neighborhoods that are coming up, kind of your agricultural neighborhoods, from having an event space right next to them. So, we think it's a good opportunity, and also it's an economic development opportunity, I think we can really push out and try to get some mom-and-pop venues going forward. So, appreciate y'all's support. Okay, we've got the motion and the second. Mr. Cato, you have the second? Everything.

» I have nothing to say. He's got everything covered. Okay, we're on the Tomlinson amendment at this time. Any other questions or comments? Yes, yes. Mr. Jones. Even though I do not like the ordinance, and I'm probably not going to vote for the ordinance, I like your amendment, and I will support that. Thank you, Mr. Jones. Thank you, Mr. Jones. And seeing no other comments or questions, we'll move it to a vote. And I didn't hear anything from Mr. Tucker, so we'll just go ahead and have those vote who are in person. All in favor of the Tomlinson amendment on 8B, raise your hand. You have Shoemake, Brazel, Connell. It's unanimous for those who are in person. Ms. Hanna, for the record. And Mr. Tucker, how do you vote remotely? Yes. Okay, it's unanimous on the Tomlinson amendment.

» Now we're back to the original motion and the ordinance. Any further discussion, amendments, or questions? I've got a question. Yes, Mr. Tucker. Go ahead, Mr. Brazel. Would this impact anybody with an existing business revenue? Only if they were going to expand that business. Anything else, anything that is in existence, operating right now. I believe staff, you know, it's water under the bridge. They are permitted. They are operating. If they did not conform with this, they'd be an existing nonconformity. And the only way this would trigger would be due to an expansion of those venues. So let me ask a question regarding barns.

» Can I build a 7,000 square foot outdoor barn on my private property for my private use and this not affect it? So if you're building a barn on your property, chances are, if it's for ag use, you're exempt from permitting period for Department of Agriculture and state statute. So again, I'm not trying to give a -- it depends on the answer to you, but -- Well, my point -- my point is this. Some people build very nice barns, shooting houses, all kind of nice things on their own property for their own use or the use of them and their friends. Maybe it's just folks they do business with, but it's not a business activity. Correct. They're not charging for it. Would this have any confliction with that? No.

» This is intended only to regulate venues that are being used for a kind of for rent scenario. Would it create opportunity or hamper opportunity? Oh, I think as drafted, this creates opportunities. Currently, these event venues are really only allowed in rural areas if associated with bed and breakfast. And that has been a huge hurdle for applicants to meet. I mean, if you want to run an event venue, having to construct some sort of bed and breakfast structure to allow it seems a bit Rude Goldberg in how you're regulating. So -- and it's something staff has struggled with. Staff use this as opening the door to a lot of citizen desires and applicants they've had come in wanting to do this type of use and just not having a box to put it in.

» So the only other point of concern that I had is it's a pseudo rezoning, if you will, for an event space, which I have no issue with someone having an event space in the country. I think that's cool. You got a piece of property, big pond, you want to have a wedding venue, that's great. Maybe a place for the reception, what have you. A lot of those areas don't have the sewer or the water for the fire protection that a commercial space or an industrial space would have. So is that going to be a blockade, is that going to trigger something that would cause a blockade for people to be able to do this on those properties? Because if it is, it's kind of fruitless. So there may be practical impediments to some property owners being able to have an event space on their property.

» I think some of that would be dependent on the scope of the space that they wanted to erect and, again, what services are available. But it's not dissimilar from, say, someone with a rural property wanting to just operate a plain old business out of it or a restaurant or shop where they have invitees from the public. So what's the trigger for a sprinkler system? So sprinkler systems are highly dependent on what someone wants to do. If you have a structure that has a kitchen in it, I believe state law allows you to have up to 99 people without having a firewall. But you still might have a sprinkler system. So I believe -- I think there's a square footage trigger. I think it's generally 5,000 square feet. And so it ultimately becomes a business decision, if I could just comment on it, Mr.

» Brazel, for the person who wants to develop something like this or spend the money on their property. If you're going to build 7,000 square feet, you make a business decision about I can host a larger event, put more heads in beds, and it's worth the additional cost. Or you build 4,999 square feet and have less construction costs per square foot based on not having a sprinkle. It has to do with fire area. So you could have a larger building, but you would put in fire barriers to reduce the square footage. Okay. There's a gentleman we're working with now that's a perfect example. He had an occupant load in the 290s, so we were able to put in a firewall to separate specific areas so he could have a certain amount of people in each area. He'd have to have a sprinkler system.

» Considerably less expensive to do a fire barrier. Okay. So you're saying you could do 9 or 10 or 12,000? I think it used to be a 12,000 square foot trigger. So you are going to be allowed 12,000 for the 2 to 5,000 on the check and see. But there are ways to navigate. Absolutely. Okay. Though I can't design it for you, I can give you a little guidance and say look at this specific code section or have your design professional look at this specific code section and it may help you out with what you want to do. Yeah, shoot them straight. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Tell them what they can and can't do. I like that. So I think this is good. I just, all those concerns have been in the back of my mind since the conception of this ordinance so I can support it tonight. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.

» Broussel. Any other questions, comments? Mr. Chairman, I'd just like to ask a couple questions. I've had a few texts recently about this. Yes, sir. I just wanted to confirm that for equine related activities like horse shows, kind of similar to the rodeo out 34 and equine clinics, this doesn't have any effect on them going forward, right? I would defer to Mr. Adams Raskowski, but I believe a lot of those equine uses are already specifically contemplated in the table of uses. This is intended to address kind of wedding reception areas, you know, graduation parties. Yeah, events, more event space. Events, yes. We've got Mr. Joey at the mic. Yeah, no, I completely agree with... You've been deferred to. So, yes, your current code actually allows those uses.

» So, this text amendment does not impact the allowance of those uses. Thank you. That's what I thought I just wanted to confirm. Sure. Appreciate your help. Absolutely. Any other questions, comments? Mr. Tucker, anything remote? Yes, sir. Just remind them. I don't know who stood up with answering the Russell's question. I had no idea who it was. That was Mr. Mr. Joey Adams Raskowski. Oh, before? No, that's who stood up last. Before him. Oh, before him. Let him know I'm... Yeah, I'm blind. I can't see, so introduce themselves. Oh, okay. I guess they assumed you were looking on the screen. We'll make sure we announce all names for you. Okay, thank you. Yes, sir. Any other questions? Okay, hearing none and seeing none here. We'll move to a vote on second reading for 8B.

» All in favor, present, raise your hand. We've got Shoemake, Brazel, Connell, Cato, Tomlinson in favor. All opposed, who are present? Mr. Jones in opposition, present, and then remote. Mr. Tucker, how do you vote on 8B, second reading? Yes. That's a yes from Mr. Tucker, for the record, Ms. Hanna. Passes on second reading. All right, that takes us to item number 8C. This is second reading. Any new developments, Mr. Administrator, we need to be aware of before we move to a motion? Just a little update. The town of Elgin did vote on this, and so this is just more of a contingency. Should anything fall through, they're still in a negotiation phase, so we didn't want to lose valuable time. Okay, so this will be a backstop for them if they need us to assist for a short period of time, 90 days.

» Correct. Do we have a motion on second reading on 8C? I will move that we accept second reading on 8C. Mr. Shoemake has the motion. Is there a second? I'll make the second. Mr. Brousel has the second. Mr. Shoemake, any discussion? I just appreciate everybody supporting this. Obviously, we're a small county, and our municipalities sometimes are smaller, except for that behemoth Camden. But over in Elgin, they can use the help, so I appreciate you guys helping them out. That'll be good catfish time this year. That's right, that's right. Mr. Brousel, you have the second? Yeah, absolutely. Mr. Brousel, you have the second? Any comments, questions? No, no comments. I'm just happy to be able to support Elgin. That's all. Thank you, sir.

» Anything else from those who are present? Seeing none, we'll go to Mr. Tucker, who's remote. Mr. Tucker, any comments, questions, amendments? No comments. I'll vote yes. Okay. Well, with that, we've got the remote vote. Yes, Mr. Tucker, for all those who are present, raise your hand if you're in favor. On 8C, Ms. Hanna, for the record, it's unanimous and passes. Second reading, 8C. This takes us to 8D, a third reading. Mr. Templer, I know you were going to have some discussions between last reading and now. Any updates for us before we move to a motion? Just other than we've removed all the stops and we're ready to proceed. Okay. On 8D, third reading, this is regarding- Mr. Chairman, I think you might have your numbers different than I have. Yeah, I don't need it. 9A. I do.

» You have 8D? Yeah, Jimmy does on his. Oh, well, hold on. I didn't get the highlighted, directed agenda. I mean, I'm going to cheat real quick and piggyback off of yours. And while you're doing that, Mr. Chairman, I guess we can clarify for the record that the one that is labeled corrected agenda is the agenda we adopted for tonight. Correct. All right. So that moves us to item number 9A, resolution approving intergovernmental judicial services agreement related to the magistrate's court. And we just heard from Mr. Temper on 9A regarding the resolution. Do we have a motion? I'll make a motion. All right. Mr. Tomlinson has the motion. Do we have a second? I'll second. Mr. Schumach has a second. Mr. Tomlinson. Can we have staff kind of provide some background information? Sure.

» Members of the council, what you have before you is just an agreement that will allow Kershaw County magistrates to help the city of Camden out with their bond hearings over at the jail. They have two judges over at the city. And so they're constantly on every other week rotation. And just to try to get a little bit of a breather in their rhythm over there. This was in discussion for some time. I spoke with Judge Davis who was in communication with Tommy Morgan over at the city. So all parties are in agreement. This just allows us to interface and set bond for city charges over at our jail. And there is a funding mechanism that will allow us to recoup the time and pay our magistrates that work for the city. That's all been worked out as well. Okay. So just to kind of sum it up.

» I've had a few judges call and they were saying over their head in the bond coverage. Yes. It was just being able to help. And that is a. And that is a. And it's going to help us out with the jail. If we can get people out on bond with the jail. Correct. I was just about to say that is an important function with our current state of things over there. Will this be full time with our magistrates or would this be strictly just managed by the chief magistrate. So yes. He has some or a lot of latitude in there to make adjustments on the fly. It doesn't paint him into any corners or anything like that. He can make adjustments as needed based on his what's going on over in our magistrate's office. So obviously we will remain the priority but we're certainly willing to help out over there. Mr.

» Chairman. Mr. Shumate go ahead. Yeah. When this came up before us last time I asked that we defer it so that we could talk to the judges and I appreciate Mr. Templar doing that. I've had the opportunity as well to talk to some of our municipal judges in Camden and magistrate judges here for Kershaw County and they've all been in support of this. And so I appreciate Mr. Templar going back and talking to them to make sure. You know that they're on board with this. So it doesn't cost us any money and it provides needed coverage for our municipal partners in Camden. So I obviously fully support it. Thank you, Mr. Shoemake. Any other? Mr. Brazel. Yeah. One last point of clarification. I think maybe Mr. Tucker has something as well. Mr. Tucker, if you'd like to go ahead, you go first, sir.

» No, sir. Yeah, go ahead. I'll wait. My only concern is that it would take away from court time or opportunity for us to move cases through on the county level. Is that an issue? No. These are outside of the regular bench time that these magistrates would have. This is just a specific function to essentially un-arrest somebody over at the jail for release or bond and to keep them in there. So it is a function. It typically takes place at 8:00 in the morning and 5:00 in the afternoon. And it's understood that there is a rotation. So we have a new magistrate coming on. Any conflict, time conflicts? Not that I'm aware. If one appears, can we undo this? Yes.

» The key operative calls in all of this and the actual agreement is under Section 2 Services, where it says the county, comma, with approval of the chief magistrate, comma, will provide X, Y, and Z services. So talk to Judge Davis about that. I think everybody is very clear that the discretion to provide these services and at what level is wholly rest with him. And as Mr. Templar referenced, obviously the county handling its business will take precedent. But, yeah, if it becomes an issue or a point of friction, Judge Davis is, again, wholly in control of the provision of services. And counsel can recall this if necessary? Correct. Yes. I mean, y'all can void this. But, again, as structured, it is essentially what Judge Davis is willing to do and nothing more as structured. Okay.

» Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Brazel. Any other questions, comments? Mr. Tucker? Anything? Yes, sir. Mr. Tucker. Yeah. Councilman Brazel and Councilman Schmidt kind of covered it. My question was this has an indefinite date. Is that intentional or do we want to put a date on it? I didn't see it on my copy here, which I've just got the agenda. And the other was with the compensation, that's not costing Kershaw County taxpayers. That's coming from another coffer. Am I correct? Yeah, correct on the funding. And the term of this is triggered on the effective date, which is essentially date of passage and signature. Mr. Tucker, there was some logistics early on in that the Kershaw County Magistrate Court did not believe it would have an additional judge until January.

» That timeline has changed now. And given that they might have some availability to provide this coverage in the coming months, and again, having clarified with Judge Davis and all involved the exact parameters and that Judge Davis does have kind of the sole discretion, the matter was placed back on the agenda. Because, again, it is actionable now when the magistrates court has their new magistrate judge start. So I guess you said all that to say, no, there's no drop dead date on this is indefinite. Well, the term goes until June 30 of 26. So the end of this fiscal year, it does have it does have essentially an auto renew type set up. But either party can provide written notice that they don't want to continue with the agreement anymore.

» And again, it is it is at the discretion of Judge Davis. And yes, counsel could essentially undo it at any time. Okay, well, you answered the question when you gave me the June's date. I don't have that. My package is there because I'm usually there. So due to I wasn't able to make it because of medical reasons, I don't have all that information with me. I just have the agenda front sheet. Understood. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. Any other comments or questions? You're welcome. Mr. Jones. Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the county council. I can assure you that this is a win win for the jail. No question about it. And as far as I'm concerned, it's. I don't need any explanations. We did this 25, 30 years ago for a short period of time. It worked out extremely well.

» And I just want to commend whoever brought this before us tonight. Because, you know, we've got inmates sitting in jail that's been there a year, maybe longer. You know, we need to get some pleas out. We need to get some bonds set. We need to keep them moving as a type 2 facility. We're not a correctional facility. We're a jail. And there's a huge, huge difference. So, to whoever brought this before us tonight, thank you. And I certainly support it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Jones. Any other questions or comments? All right. We're on 9A. Seeing none, we'll move to a vote for those who are present. All in favor, raise your hand. Ms. Hanna, it's unanimous by those who are present and voting. Mr. Tucker, how do you vote on 9A, the resolution? Yes. That is a yes.

» It's unanimous for the record, Ms. Hanna. It passes. Gentlemen, that takes us to new business. We're on number 10A, placed on the agenda by Councilman Sammy Tucker, Jr. With the Finance Committee, do we have a motion on 10A? Mr. Chair, I normally don't make motions across the phone, but I'd like to make a motion that we approve stormwater analysis and fee study. Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir. We're going to need to hear from you one way or the other. So thank you for the motion. Is there a second? I'll second. Mr. Shoemake, seconds. Mr. Tucker, you had the motion. Okay. Thank you. So the Finance Committee met two weeks ago now, week before last, and had a very, very informative meeting. We were there a couple hours, actually.

» And we got a chance to hear from the engineers and staff in reference to the stormwater study that we have charged them coming up with. And at this point in time, they're at the point where they need to do an analysis and fee study to see what that looks like charging the citizens for stormwater. And that's just as simple as I can put it. This will also help our dirt roads, our other subdivisions like Pecan Ortridge, and things of that nature. And that amount is $80,000. And I'm happy to go into where it's coming from or where I would like to pull it from if you need me be. Well, if there's questions, I can answer those. Yes, sir. The Finance Committee would be up to date on that number.

» But just for the benefit for the rest of Council, could you let us know where the funds will be coming from? Yes, sir. So at this particular time, I've talked to staff that funds will be requesting to come out of our emergency funds, which got 2.5 in it, 2.5 million. And we're asking for the stormwater study. It's going to be approximately $80,000. So we would like to pull that out of emergency reserves. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. Any further presentation or recommendations from you before we hand it off to the second? No, sir. I just thought it was very informative information that they gave us. And I'm pretty sure Danny or one of the staff members would be happy to go over in detail or one of the council members. Okay. Council members. Any other questions? Mr.

» Shemek, I think you have a second. Yeah. Just, you know, this comes about from, you know, obviously Pecan Orchard is something we've talked about here, but, you know, not just Pecan Orchard. Here's an example of what we're talking about. There's this funky state regulation called MS4, which basically says certain urban-like areas have special regulations, for lack of a better word. And as we're a growing county, so many areas in our county used to be considered rural are now considered part of the MS4. What that means is that even though the county isn't responsible, for example, for a drainage pond on a neighborhood, if DHEC comes into an MS4, which is basically at this point all of Elgin, it's about to be all of Lugov.

» If DHEC comes into an MS4 and a drainage pond for a neighborhood isn't up to par, even though the county doesn't own it, the county gets fined. Richland County, a few years back, was fined millions and millions of dollars, negotiated down to a few million for this exact issue. The only way to address issues like this is to look at standing up a stormwater department. Maybe it doesn't make sense, maybe it does. This is a required legal first step. And that's just one example. We get calls routinely about retention ponds that a developer has sort of passed off, but passed off to no one. They literally have no owners on the tax map. So that's the type of thing that a stormwater department needs to look at, not to mention the roads, the runoff and numerous other issues.

» And so that's one of the reasons that the Finance Committee is recommending this. And again, there's in the agenda packet, there's a whole slew of stuff. But I think the one that jumps out to me is, you know, just the retention ponds alone are something that could put this county into a, you know, eight figure hole with the state. Thank you, Mr. Shoemake. Thank you, Mr. Shoemake. Any other questions or comments? All right. Seeing none, this would require a vote on 10A, and it would be a vote on acceptance of the recommendation for a feasibility study and the expenditure of $80,000. I want to make sure I have that correct, Mr. DuBose. That is correct. Okay. We'll move it to a vote then, seeing no further discussion. For those who are present, all in favor, raise your hand.

» It's unanimous by those who are present and voting, Ms. Hanna. And we'll go remote. Mr. Tucker, how do you vote, sir? I vote yes with a thank you to my colleagues. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. So, Ms. Hanna, it's unanimous and 8A passes and the funds will be allocated. Mr. Chairman. Mr. President. Could I make one small comment? Sure. I was able to attend that finance meeting and just listen, and listen to the presentation and the concerns that Derek just spoke about. And Jonathan Hogue made the presentation. I just wanted to say that he, as our county engineer, did a very good job of explaining the reasons why. And I was very impressed with the presentation. And sometimes things seem odd.

» And how we arrive at this and how this finishes, I'm not quite sure, but I know that the intellect and the thought that went into trying to make sure that these old subdivisions are properly cared for and that the dirt roads in Kershaw County are able to be maintained and everything that goes along with it, I was quite impressed that day. So, I just wanted to brag on him a little bit and to say thank you to him and the entire staff and engineering team here at Kershaw County, as well as our administrator, for having that brought before us. Thank you, Mr. Brazel. Mr. Administrator. Oh, go ahead, Mr. Tucker. Yeah. Sorry about that. I just want to piggyback on Vice Chairman's comments. And if our administrator can make this decision as well.

» But that presentation at any time, if council wants to have that before all seven of us, I highly recommend it at whatever appropriate point, because it was just that informative as the vice chair has said. So, just putting that out for thought. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. Mr. Templer. Yes, sir. I was just going to mention that Jonathan is here tonight. We have members of the Storm, the Ad Hoc Committee, and he has a version of that that just simply puts forth what this Ad Hoc Committee came up with. And I commend them for their time and effort that was valuable information, good cross-section of the community. But Jonathan is prepared, if you all would like to see that. It's not a million slides. It's probably about 10 slides. But it's just very, very good information.

» I don't know if we need to see it tonight. I think we're good. I think we're good. I mean, thank you. How about forward us the slides, and so everybody can digest them. And if they have follow-up questions, we'll do that. And he's excited about that. I did want to recognize those who are on the Stormwater Ad Hoc Committee. I think sometimes you get appointed, and you're like, okay, what did I get voluntold to do here? But I just wanted to mention Jay Johnson, Brian Cox, Jess Coulter, Melita Rabin, Billy Smith, Bob G, and Georgie, who we have here tonight, and also George Delk. We appreciate your service, and you can see it's turning into results. Often, these things are either statutorily required.

» You have to do a feasibility study before you can determine if there's going to be assessment. And it's important in Kershaw County at this time because, in some ways, we lean heavily on sewer to try and pay for stormwater when, really, they're different. And we haven't had a stormwater organization or real dedicated approach up until this time. And so this was an important step. I appreciate you gentlemen and ladies serving. If there's nothing further on that item, that'll take us to item number 10B. This is a Finance Committee update on Pecan Orchard. And beyond an update, are we going to have a vote? And is there any seeking of funds under 10B? Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. We will be seeking funds.

» I would like to make a motion on the amount and then go into explaining here in just a little bit. Yes, sir. Please, your motion. I'd like to make a motion that we fund phase one of Pecan Orchard for $350,000 that will be coming out of the emergency reserves as well. And I'm happy to explain any further. Sorry. In my motion to, I would ask staff to continue to pursue the grant and any other funding that can come in and will come in because the phasing of this in phase one is going to be spread out as well. So the grants and stuff that we're pursuing and any other thing, use that money first or replenish the reserves because we are still chasing some grants and things of that nature. Okay, Mr. Tucker has a motion on the table. Is there a second? I'll second. Mr. Cato seconds. Mr.

» Tucker, any further discussion? Yes, sir. So this right here would be, once again, the funds come out of emergency reserves. You heard what I said about continuing, seeking other ways to pay for this. This would be what we call phase one, which at the very, probably first six months, there's going to be an approximate cost of about $60,000. The reason why the finance committee wanted to fund the entire project so we could have our utility providers to know that we're in the game to complete phase one. But that was very important coming from our engineer, our county engineer. So I wanted to make sure of that. But also, I want to make sure that we replenish this money back in reserves or pay for it outright as we continue to search other means and ways to pay for this. Thank you, Mr.

» Tucker. Any further comments or questions? Mr. Shoemake? Yeah, I just want to say briefly, I think anyone who attended the last finance committee probably knows that I have had and have some of my reservations about this. But I want to just point out, this is a really good example of what sort of compromise looks like, talking through things looks like. You know, Councilman Jones and I, Councilman Brazlin and I have talked about this. Councilman Tucker as well. And I have my reservations, but, you know, these guys have done a really good job sort of explaining the importance of this for those folks out there. And in spite of those reservations, I'm moving forward on this. And I just think it's a really good example of how we may not always be 100% on something.

» But, you know, I trust the gentlemen that are up here with us and appreciate your hard work and advocacy for these folks. And, you know, I hope it all works out great and certainly you have my vote for this tonight. Thank you, Mr. Shoemake. Amen. Any other comments or questions? Yes, I'd just like to say thank you to this county council. But I also want to recognize our engineers. They did a great job when I walked in. The last finance committee, I think it was the finance committee meeting, I came in a little bit late just to hear something's going on. But just listening to them talking, how they helped us understand how we should do phase one. And that's in its completion in phases one, two, three, whatever it is, wouldn't be a bad thing overall.

» But thank you to the engineers for that and if they're here, wherever. And I want to thank you, county council, for being open-minded. And you're right. We have sat down. We've talked about some other issues. And that had a big effect on me understanding some of the other issues we had on the agenda tonight as well. But thank you so much for your support of this. I appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Jones. Any other comments or questions? Seeing none, I'll go ahead and comment before we move it to a vote. And actually ask Mr.

» Tucker, how many phases and what projected additional costs might there be? Or is this phase one and completion of phase one what the finance committee is seeing as what needs to be done legally and what we can do practically with the low-lying nature of it for the pecan orchard? Yes. So, Mr. Chair, you hit the nail on the hammer. The phase one was served the most benefit, I guess that's the word I use, to the citizens. And that means completion of phase one. And what the finance committee did was we briefly talked about phase two and briefly talked about phase three. But you can't get the first which, I mean, you can't get the second which you put on first. We took the baseball approach.

» So let's conquer phase one and then as we develop and stand up stormwater and other entities and continue to dig for money, we'll look and see what phase two is going to cost and where we're at with that. But right now the finance committee mostly focused on phase one. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. I can support this tonight, but I just will comment. I had my own heartburn on this after looking at the historical documents that indicate disclosures made to the private property owners and the developer historically before the road system was taken over by the county that they needed to work on their engineering. They needed to figure out quite a few things related to stormwater and drainage, which apparently never happened. And so now the county is in some ways holding the bag.

» The engineers I speak with indicate that in order for it to be a county standard road, and what the county did was take over a nonconforming road in a nonconforming state, and it would have to remain that way because according to the engineers, you'd have to tear the houses down and do about three or four feet of fill within the subdivision because of its low-lying nature to drain it properly and make it county standard roads. And so I think this is going to be our best effort to try to address some of the issues in there given the historical context and just the geographic and topographic nature of that subdivision. It's beautiful, and pecan trees apparently like a lot of water and like sometimes low-lying areas, and that's just the nature of that subdivision.

» But I can support it tonight. Mr. Chairman, may I? Mr. Jones. Mr. Temple, I'd like to thank you as well. You know, I've had a lot of discussion about this over the last year or two or whatever, and I know you've been out there, you've been upside down all around, and I appreciate it. And just everybody's support tonight. Thank you. All right, thank you, gentlemen. Let's move it to a vote for those who are present. All in favor, raise your hand. Ms. Hanna, it's unanimous by those who are present and voting. And Mr. Tucker, how do you vote remotely? Yes. Yes from Mr. Tucker remotely. Ms. Hanna, it passes 10B. All right, that takes us to item number 10C, placed on the agenda by Councilman Derek Shoemake, ZLDR rewrite procedures and related requests. Mr.

» Shoemake, is there a motion? I do have a motion. I make a motion that Kershaw County Council request that the chairman, under section 5.2 of the amended and restated ordinance, determining rules and order of business, establish the ad hoc smart growth rewrite committee, as outlined in the document titled Smart Growth Rewrite Committee, and that we adopt the document as the findings and directions of Council to set forth the specified task, limited purpose, and limited duration of this committee. This document has been included in the agenda packet provided to Council members and to the public. And for Council members, it's new business, and it's in the PDF that was posted. That is my motion. All right, you've got a motion. Thank you, Mr. Shoemake.

» Is there a second? I'd like to second the motion. Mr. Braswell has the second. Mr. Shoemake, your motion's on the table. Yeah, so I won't read the whole thing. Obviously, it's a lengthy document, and I've been working on this and discussing this. I've had individual discussions with each of you up here, so none of this is a surprise to anyone here. But just for members of the public, what this is doing, as many of you know, we have the comprehensive plan that should be coming in front of us in September. The Planning Commission has finished their version of it. It's with the contractor. It will hopefully come back with some minor revisions that may be legally required and then come to us for passage.

» The second we pass the comprehensive plan, it is time to get started with the really important work and follow-up step of rewriting the entire zoning code. If you go online, that's a 300-plus page document that goes into how people build sheds, the event venue. Everything we've talked about, many of the things we've talked about tonight, are in the ZLDR. And every decade or so is required to be revisited. The growth in Kershaw County that everyone else has seen is enormous. Just a couple quick points. We grew 6.01% from 2010 to 2020, last census period. We have already grown, on best estimates, twice that in only five years.

» If we assume a 2% growth rate for the remainder of the decade, which, by the way, is very conservative because we've only had one year with a less than 2% growth rate. We are looking at a growth rate of just under 24% at the end of the decade. Four times what we did the decade prior. We're already seeing it. We see it in our schools. We see it on our roads. We see it in Pecan Orchard. The only way to combat that is really smart zoning. So we have to take that lead. I do think it's important. Planning Commission serves a vital role, and they're integral in this process. But what this process does is sets up a committee that would have the first draft of the ZLDR that will have council members on it that will come to council first.

» And that is so that the body that has to answer to the public is the body putting pen to paper to draft these documents. It puts us in the driver's seat, and bluntly, it puts us in the blame seat. So it's our responsibility to make sure we grow this the right way. This is a continuation on a lot of the smaller things that we've worked on together. You know, Councilman Brasley and I have talked at length on the minimum lot size issue. We've had the moratorium, the minor subdivision. All of this is sort of band-aid patches to do this important work. It's not sexy, but in my opinion, this is the most important work this council is going to do in the next five years. Thank you, Mr. Shoemake. Mr. Brasley, you have a second. Yes, thank you, Chairman. Very well stated, Councilman Shoemake.

» I'll say this. It wasn't easy at all to get to the point of a moratorium, and it came with heartburn. And I don't want any of that to be in vain. I feel like the opportunity is now to get this right and to put our heads together and do the work that basically shapes Kershaw County for the foreseeable future. We can either bicker and argue and screw this up and not have a smart, quality growth future, or we can get this right. We can nail it. And I think we've got the team and the council and all the commissioners on the planning and zoning board to do this and do it right. I think an ad hoc committee is smart. I think this is the way to do it and to get public input. And there's no question Kershaw County is going to grow. There's no question that there's going to be future development.

» We're not against growth and building of homes. I just know that if we do it the wrong way and if we don't have a vision and a future, Kershaw County is going to look really different than it can. So I appreciate Derek's work on this. I appreciate you putting this together and bringing it to us. And we've got just about seven or eight months now to get it right. And I intend to help do that. And Mr. Chair, if I may just for the benefit of the public. Yes, sir. The way this committee would work is it would have seven members. Two members would be from county council. One member would be from the planning commission. The other four members would be members of the public recommended to the chair.

» Based on our rules, the chair picks members of the ad hoc committee, but that would be the basic makeup. Vice chairman Brazel and chairman Connell would serve as advisor members. So they'd be part of any meetings they wanted to be part of. So, you know, you'd have substantial council input, which was kind of the goal of this. So there's council input along the way. So chairman Brazel, vice chairman Brazel, chairman Connell, and then whatever two members of the council led up on the committee would be sort of the steering committee as to council. A planning commission member is selected by chairman Connell and then four members of the community to be selected at probably hopefully our next meeting by chairman Connell based on input from council. Sorry, chairman.

» I just want to make that clear. Thank you, Mr. Shoemake. Any further comments, questions? Yeah. Mr. Chairman, while we're, while we're looking at it, or do we need, I don't know if we need to vote on it, but I dare just put a lot of hard work into this and appreciate you getting this document prepared. And I agree that going forward, but I'd like to make or recommend nominate Derek to serve as chairman of the committee. Okay. Thank you. I think we do require a vote to actually form it. At least I think Mr. Shoemake's requiring a vote, but thank you for the recommendation with all his work on it. That's intuitive in many ways. Thank you, Mr. Tomlinson. Any other comments, questions, Mr. Jones, Mr. Cato, who wants it? If I had one. Oh, we got three of them in line. Go ahead, Mr. Cato.

» If I had one recommendation on the four people, I'd like to see at least one from different areas of the county and not just be Camden or Lugolf. I'd like to see one from maybe District 6, one from Camden, one from Lake Watery, and one from Elgin. Yeah, Mr. Cato, I'm going to get y'all's feedback on that over the next two weeks, and I'm reserving appointment of civilian members of the committee until the next meeting. And so we'll just talk about that as it's been brought up tonight and would have to pass a vote to actually be created. Thank you, Mr. Cato. Mr. Cato, Mr. Jones was next and then Mr. Tucker. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the county council. You know, initially I was not really in favor of this. Of course, I hadn't read it. Derek did give me a copy, and I appreciate it.

» And the more I read it, the more I felt like I understood it. And this takes no authority away from the Planning Commission, who I think has done an outstanding job in any way, shape, or form. It goes back to what you and Russell had just said, is that it's more transparency, puts more eyes on it. It's also, you know, I think it even helps give planning and zoning some direction, commission. So, I mean, after I really read it and looked at it, I did understand it better. And Councilman Shemekie did a good job on this one. I'm going to support it. Thank you, Mr. Jones. Any further comments or questions? Anything remote, Mr. Tucker? Yes, I just, well, you told us to hold it, but I'm going to say it now since you gave me the mic. Yes.

» Along those same lines, I know Councilman Keiko was asking about someone from District 6. But I would also, as far as the council appointee, I would highly recommend Brant Thomason for two reasons. One, he's been involved in this from the beginning as well. But he's on the Camden side of the river and Shemekie is on the west side of the river. So that gives out two representatives from both sides of the county. Just planting that seed, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. As Mr. Shoemekie is trying to throw gang comments. All right. Any other comments or questions before we move to a vote? No, I just, I just can't believe that I agree with what Mr. Tucker just said. Thank you. It must be the medication. All right. So as to formation, as to formation, we'll move it to a vote on Tensie.

» All in favor who are present, raise your hand. Ms. Hanna, it's unanimous for those who are present and voting. Mr. Tucker, how do you vote remotely? Yes. That's a yes for Mr. Tucker remotely, so it passes unanimously. And before we move on to the next agenda item, I'll go ahead and take the chair's authority to appoint Mr. Shoemek as the chair of this committee, which we've just formed. And I think it's natural, and I was thinking about this already, someone from the Westwater area and the Eastwater area, Mr. Tomlinson, just gave me the nod. He's willing to serve and wants to help out. And so I appoint Mr. Tomlinson as the second council member. And then I'll confer with council privately or otherwise over the next two weeks before we appoint members of the public.

» Thank you very much, gentlemen. Ms. Hanna, it passes. All right. That takes us to council member briefings. Mr. Cato, do you mind going first again? Sure. I'm going to be short and sweet. Go ahead. We had an incident this week that I want to bring to everybody's attention. Of course, most people already know, but the importance of our school bus stops. And we had a young child hit this week up on Lockhart Road. And so I want to caution not just parents but drivers during this school year to be extra cautious with these school buses and school bus stops. As some of these children may get a little bit too close to the road sometimes. But I want us to really stop and pay attention to what's going on around us, especially during school times, during morning time and the evening time.

» I don't know this person personally, but it could have been a lot worse than what it was and it was bad enough as it was, but it could have ended in tragedy and I'm just glad it didn't. I just ask that we all be a little bit more cautious during these school days. And secondly and lastly, the 49th annual Shrine Club Jamboree will be held this weekend, Friday night. It'll be held this year at North Central High School. It will kick off at 6:30 with LE versus Lakewood. It'll follow by Camden versus Blythwood and then North Central and Calhoun County will be the last game of the night. So I encourage anybody that would to come out to North Central and support the three county teams in this 49th annual Jamboree. Thank you. That's all I have. Thank you very much, Mr. Cato. Mr. Tomlinson.

» Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a few things. One, I wanted to highlight. I've had some citizens from the Maverin Hill area kind of in constant contact regarding the airport forms development. That's coming up. That was blue by planning and zoning a year ago, I think. But they had some concerns about the exit and entry off of Beverly Hills. I know that they have big issues with flooding during heavy rains on the other side. I wanted to see if they could potentially sit down with the developer or maybe talk to somebody with planning and zoning. Maybe just see if there's something that developer would be willing to maybe make it an emergency egress spot. But just seeing if there's some way to work. And then also the retention pond.

» Kind of where that's going since there is some flooding issues. Just making sure that all that's done. And I'm sure that our staff has been very diligent about it. But if you all wouldn't mind, I can send you the names. I don't want to mention them on here. But just wanted to highlight that. And then also, please keep the families in your prayers of Judge Michael Stegner, who recently passed away. He was a judge for over 20 years, an attorney, a personal friend. His father is a great guy, a great steward for Camden. And then also, Ms. Cheen Holland. So the Holland and Branham family. Ms. Cheen passed away on Sunday. So please keep their families in your prayers. Thank you very much, Mr. Tomlinson. Mr. Jones. Just a couple of things briefly.

» Councilman Brasel, to you and your family, my thoughts and prayers go out. I know what you've been going through with your wife's mother. And we all send our prayers from the Jones family. I'm sure you're here as well. And also with Mark Barfield, your cousin. What a guy. He was really a great guy. And his mom was a legend in this county. She worked here many, many years. So our thoughts and prayers are always there. And Mr. Tucker as well with his dad. You were a good son, Sammy Tucker. You took care of your dad, your family. And you'll be rewarded for that one day. But anyway, I just wanted to say that before I get into this other stuff. Right quickly, if we could, Mr.

» Templer, is there any way I'd like to get a recreation department update at the next county council meeting? I've had a couple of people call. And just some things that we can talk about later on. But I just want to run them by you as well. Also, the impact fee, I had some people call me. And I don't know that anything can be done. But it was like for a replacement mobile home. I think they were saying they were going to pay $2,000 for a replacement on their mobile home. So I just want to take some time and look at that and make sure that I give them the correct information. If that's a mandate, it has to stay that way. Or is there something we can do to maybe, you know, give them some relief on that? I don't know. But I probably can't do anything because I voted against it.

» So I realize that as well, too. But I can, you know, rum my mouth a little bit and put this information out there. So having said that, Mr. Chairman, that concludes my report for the night. Thank you, Mr. Jones. Mr. Tucker, I'm just looking at your seat. Anything to report? Very briefly, Mr. Chairman, if I may. I just want to say once again, thanks to the dias up there, all my colleagues. Thank you for your comments, Councilman Jones. I appreciate it very much. I just want the public to know, for the ones who follow us, that a lot of good information was at the conference. This year that we attended and I learned a lot. We learned a lot. And there's some things that we'll be pursuing in our meetings, especially the finance as we move forward to try to help us move Kershaw County forward.

» You know, we've got a lot of issues that we have to address at a big, big ticket item and learned a lot on who we can lean on, how we can do those things, how other counties are doing their business, who's building the table. Who's building detention centers and courthouses and things of that nature. So just wanted to let you know that the conference was a great conference this year and thoroughly enjoyed it. A lot of great speakers as well. That concludes my report. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Tucker. Mr. Shumay. Yeah, just a couple of little things. Shout out to Dobie's Middle Elementary School. Two of their teachers got Palmetto State Teacher Association grants to help out with stuff in their classroom and excited for that school.

» And full disclosure, my wife teaches there and I am biased, but it is the best elementary school around. Thank you. I know she left, but I know I see some other folks in here that are involved in the civics education. So thank you guys for that. I think it's so critically important. I also don't know if you guys saw the WLTX article, but the Kershaw County Sheriff's Office is the first sheriff's office in the state to start implementing some AI tools with some of their automated processing. AI is certainly the wave of the future, so it's pretty awesome to see them get on the lead of that. It's not going to be like Bojangles, I hope. No, I think that the little, they ask you what you want and then you have to repeat it. I hope not. But Bojangles is also delicious. The best one is the one.

» Very good, very good. So the last thing I want to say is this Friday, I know, I think it's Friday for you too, as well. I moved my son into Clemson. I think you moved your son up there as well, right? Yep. You know, it's funny, this kind of duality of things, right? Like nothing makes a man tougher, harder than having a family to support. But at the same time, nothing makes a man softer than having kids. And in that softness, I've been very reflective these last couple of weeks and I appreciate everyone up here doing this work to make our county better. You know, if I had to synthesize what I hope to ever accomplish doing this, you know, elected official job ever, is that I want to make a county or help be part of making a county. That my kids can come back to.

» Getting them to come back is my problem and a whole nother slew of issues. But I hope to have a county they can come back to and come work in. And the first step is doing things like what we're doing today. And I know that's the goal of everyone up here who has kids. Some of you have been fortunate enough that your kids have come back here. Most of us have smaller children and I think that's a shared goal. So thank you guys for what we do up here. So that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Shoemake. Mr. Brazel. Chairman, thank you. I'd like to first and foremost thank each and every one of you for the support that you've shown myself and my wife and our family during the time of loss of my mother-in-law, Kathy Merritt. We got a phone call just hours before the last council meeting.

» I was actually downtown dressed to come to the meeting when I got the phone call and ended up driving to Greenville, South Carolina to where they're from. She was a loving mother and wife and a wonderful grandmother to my three children. She will be dearly missed, but I just want to say thank you to each and every one of you. Jimmy drove up to the funeral and we didn't have an obituary or anything. We wanted it kind of small, but Councilman Jones wouldn't have any other way he found out. So, and to all of you that reached out, the prayers and emotional hugs were felt from each and every one of you. And many members of the community reached out in our church as well. So, um, for all of that, I say thank you.

» But I, as I reflect on that, I've got to, I've got to recognize, um, our communities had some significant loss lately. Um, there's a young man, Caden McGuff, that was killed in a car wreck going to a, uh, Cold War's, uh, Christian get together at Camden High School. And my daughter and I had picked my daughter up the day before, and, uh, we, Caden's, um, girlfriend was, was a friend of my daughter's. And it just really hits home. I, deep condolences to his family and to, um, everyone affected. These situations, um, make you reflect on, on family and, and, and life and how things can change in an instance. But my heartfelt condolences to, to that family and friend group in here in the community.

» And, um, my good friend Bubba Baker, his son, Brent, girlfriend was tragically killed in a car accident. And I didn't have the pleasure of knowing the young lady, but my heart hurts for, for the family. I've known Bubba since kindergarten. And, um, just, these are things that, that are happening and, and there, there are others that, that I'm not mentioning. I'm sure overlooking, but it's real impressive when a community pulls together through these situations. And I've seen it. And I just want to say one thing. That's Christ. Okay. At work in, in this world here in Kershaw County, that's nothing more than Jesus Christ helping these young people through these situations. Um, and I just wanted to invoke the name of, of Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior for all of the families to include.

» My father's first cousin, Mark Barfield passed last night at 7:45. He had a hard fought battle with leukemia. And to, to his family and all of my cousins and extended family, I just, I want you to know, I'm praying for you and I'm thinking of you as well. And, um, all of these emotions are still pretty raw for the family, but I don't know how we would make it if we didn't have God in, in our lives. And if you don't have faith, if you've never had faith, I'd like to publicly encourage you to look for it. And if, if that's not something you, you're accustomed to or akin to or disagree with, that's okay. But if you ever change your mind, look me up. I'd love to talk to you about mine. Um, we've got a situation that, that's perturbed me, but it, it doesn't perturb me as much tonight.

» In light of everything that I just spoke about, uh, we've had some issues with the building of the, the boat ramp down at Veterans Park. I had the opportunity to speak with the owner of Alliance Engineering, who's responsible for that project. And he told me unequivocally that it will be built correctly. Um, we've had two concrete pours that had to be, um, excavated and replaced. And I'll ask Mr. Templar to make sure I'm correct in saying that that was at no cost to the county. Correct. We're holding their feet to the fire in the contract. It may take longer. Um, we're dealing with third party, lowest bid. I'd like to, uh, I'd like to see it improve. I'd like to see things get better. Yeah.

» And, uh, as soon as this rain breaks, I'd like to see that boat ramp finished and it better be the best one ever built. I expect for it to be, they'll be pulling some more concrete out. I can promise you if it's subpar. But again, in light of everything else that I spoke about, that's maybe a little trivial tonight, but it needed to be said. Mr. Chair, that concludes my briefing tonight. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Brazel. Um, I'll just say we have great hope in the resurrection. Uh, I see those in the crowd who have experienced loss recently, those who are on the dais or remotely calling in who've experienced loss. And we have great hope in the resurrection. Um, I'm very thankful for that and grateful that I'm in a position as Mr.

» Shoemake and others have mentioned to try to share that faith with my family and particularly my children, the next generation. A few things to report, uh, gentlemen. First, uh, we've got Mr. Tomlinson and Mr. Shoemake now serving on the Smart Growth Rewrite Committee, as we've just discussed. But I wanted to go ahead and, um, use the chair's prerogative to extend to the extent these folks are still willing to serve. By three months, the Stormwater Ad Hoc Committee, with the additional funding, staff tells me that there's going to be some need for a little bit more work, a couple more meetings, just to make sure it's done the right way.

» And so to the extent you are willing to serve and staff's going to follow up individually with the names that I mentioned before, we want to make sure that the feasibility study starts off the right way and continue. So we get good data back to understand what we need to do for Stormwater and Kershaw County. So that committee will be extended, um, until November 28, 2025, which is the last business day in November. And we'll revisit it at that time if we need to extend further. Uh, thank you, Ms. Farmer, for being here. I always enjoy seeing elected officials come and attend the meetings and tune in to what's happening in the county. And I wanted to give an update on my service on the SL COG as a member for the Santee Lynch's COG.

» I haven't been able to make a couple of the meetings this summer due to family travel and vacations with three younger kids. But thankfully I made the most recent one. I was there with Mr. Hanley and a few others from Kershaw County. And one of the issues that came up was the Spears Creek wastewater site seeking, um, approval for increasing their wastewater, uh, gallons per day from approximately 10 to 12 million gallons per day up to 22 million gallons per day over a 20 year period. And so of course we had several questions. We have deferred that vote and they were seeking a vote, but we've deferred that vote to the next meeting to get information about exactly what that means.

» If any of it's earmarked for Kershaw County, uh, to the extent the, the Charlotte, I'm just going to call it the inter-basin water transfer issue. If that's not resolved and some of the flows reduced in the watery river, how would that impact Kershaw County's ability to process affluent and, uh, have discharge rights or economic development or residential concerns as well for sewer. And I just want to put that on y'all's radar that they're looking for almost a hundred percent increase and we need to make sure we understand, um, what we want there so that I can carry our vote to the SL COG and give feedback on those issues as it comes. Because from that side, everything gets processed and goes to the watery river. That's all I have for tonight. Um, Mr.

» Administrator, do you have any briefing for us? Yes, Mr. Chair, I do. Um, Mr. Jones, I do have some updates on some rec projects, but if I don't address anything, you certainly welcome to reach out with anything specific. So this is, um, just kind of some updates on where we're at. Uh, Woodward Park, we continue to have structures go vertical concession stands, um, equipment shelters. Uh, they're either up and awaiting roofs or utilities are being installed. The water line has been installed from Chestnut Ferry Road. Um, storm drainage is continuing to either temporary or permanent has, uh, is being established. So a lot of site work there. Uh, the turn lane has been released for construction and will begin in the up and coming weeks. So potentially, uh, the 17th of this month.

» But, um, as you know, we're having a lot of rain, which is really impacting and hampering several of these projects. Uh, Casey West, the rough subgrade, grading for the rough subgrade is, is, is underway. Uh, the expansion of the detention basin. Uh, as we talk about stormwater, we're putting in impervious surfaces and expanding that. So we have to take care of the stormwater out there. It's just part of what we do now. Uh, drainage materials are on site and, uh, it seems to be moving along on schedule. Boyd Young Park, grading, still a lot of dirt, um, installation, topsoil, infield mix. Irrigation system, uh, is being installed. Fence posts are up, but that's intentional, without the fence. So we can, uh, install irrigation without, um, damaging any fence or anything like that.

» Bethune, uh, Copeland Park. Again, grading and, and, uh, infield mix. We had an irrigation well out there. Uh, we did have to go through a change order on that. Uh, we had to drill deeper to get the proper PSI water flow to properly irrigate these, these new fields. So, um, been something that we have failed to do in the past when we've installed fields. We put in nice grass with no irrigation. So it quickly goes away. Um, the boat ramp is, uh, you know, obviously we're being hampered by weather. Um, we've had some setbacks that were, you know, we face some challenges, uh, with, with these projects. Um, this one's obviously not on time, just due to some of the challenges we've had. But, uh, you know, we're still committed to this. This is a community project.

» Kershaw County is the one entity putting this in and providing this entity or this, this amenity. This is a public improvement that's going to greatly increase the, uh, the recreational opportunities along our river. Um, setbacks will always be a part of any public or private endeavor. Um, and there's just no way around that. But, uh, we, we do appreciate the public's patience and, um, understanding and, uh, and their support in these, these projects. I, I, I, you know, we talk about building communities and, and this is where, um, we're enhancing a community and we're, we're installing and, and placing in new or upgrading amenities that are just going to really impact the quality of life in Kershaw County.

» I mean, I mean, these are going to just be top notch facilities and, uh, you know, we're all going to be proud to have been a part of these things. Um, they're, they're here for generations to come. Again, we have setbacks, but these are being built properly. They're going to be here. They're going to, they're going to stand the test of time. Um, and this is just a, an approach to recreation that I don't think Kershaw County has had in, in decades and just really putting in quality features, um, and, and paying attention to the details. So they're sustainable and usable for generations to come.

» Um, so I, I appreciate all the work that's been done on these with staff, with our engineering team, um, our contractors, but, you know, I just look forward to having these things done and, and filled with people enjoying them. So, Mr. Jones, if you have any specific questions. Yes, sir. If you don't, excuse me, just one quick question. How are we within budget with the recreation? Yes. We projects all in inclusive. What we have done is, um, some, like with the boat ramp, we have had change orders. Um, some of that was due to, we used the, uh, the old, the existing dock that was over on the other side. Obviously we didn't want to put in a busted up dock that had suffered damage through the years of being used over there. We saved money on that dock, but it needed some repairs.

» So, um, stormwater drainage and piping, some stone just for stabilization. Um, reroute some of the access to the floating dock. Cause once you started looking at these things, um, in, in real time, it just made a little more sense, uh, to, to make some adjustments. So we're, we're, we're still on track with that project. Other projects have had some change orders as well. Uh, the ball fields, we're in, we're in financial good shape with that. We're not over it. What we have done there is through the, we anticipated some of these increases, um, on the projects across the board. Again, to get them done right, to get them done across the board.

» Did it all fall within contingencies? The, the contingencies, because we're later in some of these projects, the contingencies are getting, getting lower. But what we did in our capital this year, we set aside money to make sure that we get these projects across the finish line. No debt, right? Through, right. This is just capital. We cut that capital, uh, funding out before we started looking at what we needed to do for our capital needs as a whole. So we have funds set aside. Again, it's, it's, um, we're pulling down our money first, uh, with the, uh, with Woodward Park. Um, that was always the deal. The hospital money is still sitting there for, that they were kind enough to donate. So, um, everything is, is running along.

» Um, and, and we anticipated some of this with these projects as a whole. And, you know, if you think about it, these are large projects. There's, there's multiple large projects. So, um, we just had to be forward thinking and, and look at where, where we were with a little bit of trend analysis and, and projecting with funding. Um, so I'm comfortable with where we're at. Mr. Temper, do you have a projected, do you have a projected completion date on any of these projects? With the exception of the boat ramp, I know. You know, with this weather, I'd be afraid to say, I, I would be just as accurate as the weatherman this week.

» So, um, you know, as soon as we can, but with what we're doing now with the weather and how wet this month has already been, um, a lot of what we need to do is site work. You know, moving soil and things like that. So that, that, you know, you're looking at at least two weeks behind now. I'm just with what has fallen out of the sky and, you know, since one August. So, um, so it would just be really difficult for me to throw something out there. Mr. Chair, if I may, Mr. Temper, specifically, uh, with the West Complex and Woodward Field, are we within budget on both those projects? Mr. Yes, we've, we haven't overspent on those projects. Mr. No, and what we've done is we've drawn down some of the amenities. We've done some value engineering with Woodward.

» Um, the turn lane was funded by CTC with the help of, uh, the rec commission looking at this project and seeing where they can trim some costs. Um, so we've made adjustments, but we've not thrown away the, the spirit of the projects for saving money, but. Mr. And we stay within budget. Okay. That, that was my main question. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, sir. Anyone? No. Mr. Chair, is that conclusion? Yes, sir. Thank you. Mr. Bowes, anything other than executive session matters for legal briefing? No, Mr. Chair. All right. No legal briefing. Uh, council members, we have two executive session items proposed. One's related to a matter subject to attorney client privilege. And another one's related to a personnel employment matter, both under SC code section 30-4-70.

» And we seek a motion to enter executive session on both these items. No vote is anticipated for the benefit of the public under 14 A and B. Do we have a motion? I'll make a motion. We'll go into executive session. Mr. Cato has a motion. Is there a second? Second. Second for Mr. Tomlinson. Any discussion at all? Seeing none, we move to a vote on entering executive session. Aye. Ms. Hanna, you can document those who are present and voting. Raise your hand. In favor? It's unanimous for those who are present and voting. Mr. Tucker, how do you vote? Yes. Ms. Hanna, it's a yes from Mr. Tucker remotely. We are in executive session. Exit executive session. I'll make a motion we exit executive session. Second. Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, we'll move to a vote for leaving executive session.

» All in favor? Aye. Ms. Hanna, you can document those who are present and voting. We have Mr. Jones, you're in favor of leaving executive session. Executive session for the record as well. Mr. Tucker is offline, so he won't be voting. Motion for adjournment. Make a motion we adjourn. Mr. Cato, is there a second? Second. Mr. Brazl, is there a second? Seeing no discussion. All in favor, raise your hand. Mr. Tucker is offline. It's unanimous for those who are present and voting. We are adjourned. Thanks, everyone.