County Council - Regular Meeting

p.m. Um, we have M. Councilman Guy joining us virtually. Councilman Guy, can you hear us? Yes, I can hear you. All right. And, uh, Vice Chair Mosley says she was not going to make it to the meeting tonight. So, something came up, she wasn't able to make it. So, um, with that, we will begin with the pledge of allegiance. So, we do have a quorum of council present. We'll begin with the pledge of allegiance followed by the invocation by Councilman Agiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for its one indivisible.

Let's bow our heads in prayer, please. Lord, thank you for allowing us to come together this evening to do the business of Chester County. May we each and everyone remember that what we're doing is representing the people of this county and serving you, our good Lord. I would particularly to ask for your blessings on Miss Westbrook as she continues to improve and let us not forget her being an account employee. God's name we pray. Amen.

Thank you. All right. So, we'll begin with number three, which is the approval of minutes. 3A is December 1st, 2025 council meeting minutes. I make a motion to approve the minutes of the December 1st, 2025 council meeting. Second. Is there any discussion? Those in favor, please raise your right hand to say I. I. Uh,

okay. So, that's uh all in favor. Next, we [snorts] have 3B, which is the December 8th, 2025 comprehensive plan workshop minutes. I make a motion to approve the minutes as presented for the December 8th, 2025 comprehensive plan workshop meeting. Second. All right. Is there any discussion? I was not present. Do I vote? Typically, typically we have stain from that. Is there any other discussions? I will call for the question. Those in favor, please raise your hand and say, "I

All right. That's all in favor."

All right. Under citizens comments, we don't have anyone signed up to speak. Number [clears throat] five is a public hearing. 5A is ordinance 2025-25 to amend chapter 2 article 6 boards committees commissions and districts division one generally section 2-267 accountability of all boards commissions committees and districts and section 2-269 administrative and enforcement provisions of the code of ordinances of Chester County South Carolina and to provide for other related matters I don't have anyone sign up to uh speak on the sheet is there anyone in the audience would like to speak to that hearing. No one, I will I will declare that this public hearing is closed. Next, we have 6A, which is the third reading of ordinance 2025-25 to amend chapter 2, article 6, boards, committees, commissions, and districts, division one, generally section 2-267, accountability of all boards, commissions, committees, and districts. in section 2-269, administrative and enforcement for provisions of the code of ordinances of Chester County, South Carolina, and to provide for other related matters. Um, I I would ask that our attorney, Miss Workman, would would speak to this.

Thank you, Councilman. Um, on September 15th of 2025, Mr. Guy [snorts] uh made a motion or introduce a motion to establish clear requirements. Can you hear me, Mr. A? um regarding training documentation and adherence to county policies for all boards and commissions. Um this proposed amendment strengthens the section for all boards, commissions, committees and districts. And um basically requires each member to complete training outlining their scope of work, authority, and responsibilities. Um, also adding a provision that requires boards and commissions to maintain all official documents in an accessible location. Um, and to be able to produce those documents upon request. There is a third amendment, excuse me, that adds language requiring all boards and commissions to comply with all Chester County policies.

I have question. Sure. Yeah. This would be a good time for questions. I'm in agreement with this. One of the things that I did not see in here is the human resource lady going to be the person responsible uh for doing this and making sure these are complied with

um I believe Mr. Mr. Hester and I will be the ones providing the training um and and Miss Mobly will be part of that as well. Um in terms of the county policies um but we will speak to the scope um and I believe Candy uh excuse me clerk to council as well will be involved as she is over most of the count the committees and um commissions. The issue I'm concerned about is when you when these people that are on these boards are not hired employees. Correct.

And and they may not understand certain parts of how they should conduct the meeting, how they should talk to people, how they should have a vocabulary with them. And uh I was thinking the human resource lady would be the the person that would that you would refer them to if they had an issue. If there was an issue present, is that what you're asking?

Right. If if just say that Billy Bob's on the Billy Bob committee and he has a a personal issue with somebody on that committee and uh how's that going to work? I believe the appropriate person would be um the clerk to counsel um Miss Candy Harper. As long as there's there should be a go between between y'all and Yes, sir. And um she handles most of the committees um as well as coordination of those committees. And so she would be the appropriate person and most likely the contact that they've made with first. Um so she would be the appropriate person to contact if there were an issue and relay that message to the rest of our team.

All right. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any more questions for attorney Workman? Is your part of your question, Mr. AG, who would sort of interpret and give them guidance as far as following the rules go? I mean, where where would that lie if they had a question as far as what what their roles actually were in interpreting where they stood in that chain? Um, that's what the training is supposed to be for. Okay. But outside of the training, if they still had a question, who would it? My door is always open as well as Miss Harper's as well. I would think with your office would be a better interpretation from a legal standpoint. Absolutely. And I'm available if they have any questions.

Okay. And Councilman Range, that's currently how it works. Now, anytime a board or committee has a question with regard to an HR policy, because some of the boards do employ people as well, correct? And and oversee some employees to an extent. So anytime there's those questions they do go through HR as well as many times uh questions come to myself or Miss Workman regarding you know policy or regarding uh proper protocol to handle things and so we always try to answer those but overall Miss uh Harper will manage to ensure compliance. She will sort of be a point of contact for all

correct. Yes. Okay. Thank you. I'll make a motion we approve the third reading of ordinance 2025-25. Second. All right, we [clears throat] have a motion and second. Is there any discussion? I'll remind everybody that um our agenda packets are available on the website. So, if you go to the website, the county website, and search our agenda packet, you can see all the information we're looking at right there online and follow along with us. Um, so not hearing any more discussion, I'll call for the question. Those those in favor of this third reading, please raise your right hand to say I. I. I.

All right, that's all in favor. Thank you. Next is 6B, the second reading of ordinance 2025-15, an ordinance approving and ratifying an amended and restated fee in tax and incentive agreement by and between Chester County, South Carolina, and BR diversified industrial portfolio 6 DST, a Delaware statutory trust, and providing for other related matters. Um, at this time, I'd call attorney Michael Kazlark forward if I could, and you could speak to this. Mr. Chairman, members of council, good evening. Um, this matter has been ongoing for several months and I appreciate your patience as we've been working with the company's attorneys to get this close to final. There may still be a few comments between second and third. Uh, as council may recall, there is a fe of tax agreement on Cedarhurst Road. There is a sponsor and a sponsor affiliate which is the uh sponsor is the owner of the land in the building. Sponsor affiliate is actually the operating entity who has machinery and equipment in the building. The original owner who is the sponsor has sold to the Delaware Statutory Trust Company which is uh the purpose for some of the amendments. Council approved an assignment of the fee agreement at a prior meeting in 2025. That sounds odd to say, doesn't it? The first meeting um this uh amended and restated fee agreement would reflect changes to the ownership structure. The original owner that was the sponsor was a limited liability company. This owner is a Delaware statutory trust which are completely different. So there are various recitals that would be changed. Um, there are also some recitals that would be added to reflect the original

investment has been made by the prior owner rather than reflecting that the Delaware Statutory Trust Company would be making uh those investments. And then the only other I think somewhat substantive uh description and this is one of the items we're still noodling over the numbers. The original estimated investment for the total project, which was both the sponsor and the sponsor affiliate, was 25.5 million in round numbers. Currently, they estimate that that is either 23.5 or 24.8. We're trying to get confirmation from the Department of Revenue. So, if you actually look in the documentation, you will see that those numbers are currently bracketed and both of them are shown. That's why they're both in there. We are trying to get confirmation of which one of those is correct or now that we've had a year turn if that number is actually even higher than what we originally uh had as the estimated numbers. Happy to answer any questions but in essence this is merely reflecting the change of ownership of the sponsor and the nature of the entity that is the new sponsor under the existing fee agreement. Out of curiosity, where is this at?

Uh 1589 Cedarhurst, I believe, is the address. Don't hold me to that. That's correct. It's located behind Ieko's Matt Tech plant off. That was probably that's that's probably a better a more useful answer. Behind Ieko's Matt Tech plant off of Cedarhurst, right behind it. Much more useful than the 911 address. And just for clarification, these estimations are dependent on the department of revenue, not the company themselves.

Correct. The when the assignment was done, the original um figure that was used was based on the PT300, which is the property tax return that is filed with the department of revenue. Uh obviously that would have been updated. That was the prior prior year's return. uh we may have a new return and so that's what we're trying to get confirmation on but yes that the numbers are coming from do not from the company. Okay. Thank you. But it's for the sake of argument it's already been passed right now. You're just going back and renegotiating it or moving it to somebody else. The assignment has been done. Okay.

Correct. Council has already done the assignment. The request from the new owner of the project is to make the changes in the recital to reflect what has been done at the project and the nature of the ownership structure rather than a limited liability company. Yes, sir. All right. There are no more questions for Mr. Klark. Is there a motion? Make a motion to approve the second reading of ordinance 2025-15. [clears throat and cough] Second.

All right. We have a motion and a second. Is there any more discussion? I'll call for the question. Those in favor of the second reading ordinance 2025-15, raise your right hand to say I.

Uh, all right. It's all in favor. Thank you. Next we have 6C which is resolution 2026-01 amending and restating resolution number 2025-28 to provide for certain certifications regarding an abandoned textile mill site located on Saluda Road according to South Carolina code annotated section 12-65-10 tax map number 079-01-08- 001-0000 00 portion 079 01 08 00400 0 and 079 01 08 00500 0. Again, I'll call attorney Kazark for to speak to this resolution. Mr. Chairman, members of council, if I say change in ownership structure, again, please don't shoot me.

Um, the way the tax credits work for an abandoned textile tax credit in South Carolina, the entity that is actually claiming the tax credit is the one who needs to get the certification from the local government. That was done in 2025. The property um ownership structure has changed slightly, not unexpected, but there are effectively as as council will recall multiple aspects of this project. One is the housing uh one is the solar. Okay. Well, the housing portion has been separated into a separate entity that has a slightly different ownership structure than the other portions of the project. Again, not surprising because the housing portion is going to apply for low-income housing tax credits through the state um housing authority. Unfortunately, what it means is they're having to come back to council to ask council to essentially do the certification again with the new owners now in place. It is otherwise identical to what council has already approved based on the same information that was in front of council in 2025. It is simply changing the owners so that when they apply for these tax credits uh with the state department of revenue, the certification from Chester County will match up with the tax return that's being filed rather than it having been certified in one owner's name and their tax return being filed by someone else.

This originally was JM Cop. J my understanding is JM Coupe is still involved in the project that they are part of the ownership structure. So none of that as I understand it has materially changed. It is just that they are one of the entities that is involved in the ownership structure. That's correct.

Well, I'm going to ask the same question I asked the last time. Who is responsible for the toxic waste inside that smoke stack? I the I can tell you that whether they decide to take down the smokes act and this was a question I asked to the lawyer representing the company has not been decided. Um obviously it's on their property. They are ultimately responsible. I do not know whether they have applied with um dees uh used to be dehack for a voluntary cleanup contract. I assume that will be part of what they're doing, but I cannot give you confirmation on that.

What I'm concerned about is it going to come back and bite us that there is nothing involved in this. We have no ownership structure that the county has.

So the county council and county Chester County is not responsible would not be responsible for any hazardous material in there. Nothing that council is being asked to do in this resolution in any way accepts any liability for anything on that site. It is merely acknowledging that that was an old textile mill and it has been abandoned for the appropriate statutory period. That is all that that uh that this resolution would do. And again, it is exactly the same resolution that council did in 2025 other than the ownership has changed. why they didn't tear it down when they tore that building down. They should have tore all that mess down then. I

I I suspect the concern may be either there are environmental uh considerations or there may be a historical aspect in terms of keeping some of the uh some of the character of that neighborhood in place. There may tear that nest down. I will pass that along. Tear it down. Are there any more questions? Motion. Make a motion to approve resolution 2026-01 and affected by all the properties. Second.

All right. Have a motion and second. Is there any more discussion? Not. I'll call for the question. Those in favor, please raise your right hand to say I. I uh All right. All in favor. Next is 6D resolution 2026-02 providing for changes to the county employee personnel handbook establishing and updating use of county vehicles policy creating a new policy for SAMSA and moving the artificial intelligence policy and providing for other related matters. Again, I'll ask uh attorney to speak to this.

Thank you, Chairman Wilson. Um, as the county enters the new year, it is taking um a comprehensive review of the employee and personnel handbook to ensure that its policies remain current and appropriate as the county continues to grow. Accordingly, revisions will be made to the organizational um organizational and structure of the handbook along with updates and enhancements to certain existing policies. Um this specific resolution establishes a standalone policy um to the use or for the use of county owned vehicles. Um that will be policy 2-11. The human resources department shall be responsible for overseeing the reservation and [clears throat] authorized use of county vehicles. The policy also incorporates additional provisions including a um prohibition on vaping in county vehicles, an annual review of employee drivers licenses through the department of motor vehicles, and an updated fuel procedures policy. The second policy change um adopted through this resolution is the creation of a samsara use policy designated as policy number 2-12. the policy implementation um of SAM SEAR which is our fleet management system. Uh it necessitates the establishment of clear procedures and expectations. This policy sets forth general technical and operational requirements applicable to the use of the system going forward. And the third and final change um included in this resolution is just a numbering change from for the artificial intelligence policy um from 2-11 to 213 simply u with the addition of the two new policies that we're adding.

Thank you for that. Is there a motion? I want to make a motion for resolution 2026-2 with all the changes. Second. Have a motion and second. Is there any discussion? And I'll call for the question. Those in favor, please raise your right hand and say I. I.

All right, that's all in favor. Thank you. Next is 6E which is first reading of ordinance 2026-01 providing for an amendment to ordinance number 2025-21 which amended ordinance number 2025-08 which amended ordinance number 2021-18 which provided for the use of excess funding for projects andor capital projects as provided under ordinance number 2019-5 and providing for other related matters. So, Administrator Hester, I'll let you start start off with this one. You've been quiet tonight.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And this one's going to be a little bit detailed, and I'm going to tackle it in um three different parts. Really, four parts, but there's three parts to this ordinance. And so, I'll I'll cover one section if it's okay, Mr. Chairman. Once I cover one section, if there is any questions related to that section, I could answer them then before I move on to the next session if that suits you guys fine. So, first let me say we again this is an ordinance that we amended last year I want to say three times. Um, and it's where we amend the ordinance to add the use of excess CPST funds to current CPST projects that are approved by the commission that was approved in 2020. So, these are current projects. Right now we have an unencumbered uh excess balance currently of 1 point one 1,513,97455. This is after the last several amendments where we added the courthouse ADA project where we added some more money for um the Rodman project. I can't remember the others that we amended it to but to get some of the other projects across the finish line. um ordinance 20261. We'll be amending this hopefully for the last time um that you guys hear about this ordinance again. But the first portion of this um that I want to tackle is um down in section one amendments um where we list projects. And so we want to add from the CPST um approved CPST list county priority or priority number four which was county detention center access control and security system improvements. And so a little background is South Carolina Department of Corrections does an annual

inspection of our uh jail facility. We all need know the need for a new facility, but those those inspections this year revealed the need for mandatory upgrades in a few areas related to this item that was on the capital project sales tax referendum in 2020. And so currently these total $90,000 that would fall under that line item and that we could put towards um that money towards paying for those items to be fixed. We're simply asking to amend to allow excess funds to be used on any needed upgrades fitting within this line item as we go forward in the future um of the life of this referendum and that are related to a South Carolina Department of Corrections report related to county detention center access control and security system improvements. Any any questions, concerns, comments on that one? Is the sheriff involved in that process?

Sheriff's the one who gave me the bill and the and department of corre so Mr. Trade you just for your information on that South Carolina Department of Corrections. Um when they release their annual report, um it goes to the sheriff, uh I get a copy, um and then um we review those those reports. sheriff and his staff get together, make the needed changes that are required, mandatory, um and then we but we can fund this through the CPST. All right. Any other

these [clears throat] are deemed deficiencies by the Department of Corrections that need to be corrected to bring you back to a minimal? Absolutely. These are mandatory corrections that we have to make to stay in compliance with South Carolina Department of Corrections. You said that's up to 90,000. Up to 90,000.

Well, what I would prefer is I'm telling you right now we have 90,000, but if we come across another 10,000 or 15,000 because again we're still making some of those upgrades. I'm just asking you guys to add it to the excess funding. Right now we only have 90,000. There's actually I think our total mandatory changes totaled about 120,000. Uh chief deputy if I'm not mistaken. We can attribute 90,000 of those to the to this line item of security uh access control and security systems. Okay. Okay. All right. So, moving on. Second part that I'm going to talk about is not really related to the ordinance today, but I wanted to make a note because there had been some discussion um regarding Rodman Soccer Complex. Uh there was some discussion um because we had in when we had the the workshops regarding our capital project sales tax submissions. We had some improvements or other improvements to the soccer fields that were listed on that and one of the discussions from council was hey that's already an approved project. Can we use excess funds? [clears throat] Well, the good news is we had already added Rodman's soccer improvements when we added Rodman's soccer complex. So, item three and six 1A I I uh three and six are both already included on approved uses of excess CPST funds. So, what we're trying to put together right now is a final list of what those soccer improvements, side lighting, uh the concession stand, bathrooms that are down on that those lower fields, some improvements in those. And then I will come back to council with a dollar figure before we spend that money, but it's already an approved excess fund. I'm just that is not on this ordinance.

I'm just telling you that for the sake of I know we had discussed it and we're going to add it. So it's already there. Item number three, the next portion of this amendment deals with what we do with excess collections after all projects are completed. And that means all projects on the list are completed. The recommendation under this ordinance is to allocate those funds toward a new project, which statute gives council the authority to do. We are recommending that council authorize all amounts collected in excess of the amounts necessary or prudent to complete all projects that are already currently on the CPST and that have already been approved for excess CPST funds to be used to provide funding for the following. a county law enforcement center complex which may include, for example, facilities for county sheriff administration, a new county detention center and the county magistrates facilities as well. So, back up a little bit. I'm not including the one,513,000 I told you we had currently in excess. If if you all recall, we just paid off our current CPST bond. So for the 2020 referendum that was passed, we paid that bond off. As you can imagine, with the county growing, we have had excess collections which allowed us to pay that bond off early. Thus the position we're in now. So once all these projects are completed, all the money is used, anything that we collect from here to the end of the life of that referendum, we're simply asking to put it into a fund to use towards that county law enforcement detention center

magistrate's office complex that we currently are engaging in an architect um to design. We're currently looking and uh working on a piece of property for that and our goal is to potentially start construction of that facility as soon as 2028. The more money we can put back to be used for that facility, the less the county will have to bond. We've had several meetings with Michael, our um Brent Robertson who does our financial consulting, Tommy, myself, as to the position we are in financially to build that new law enforcement center, detention magistrates's office, and we have we have put oursel in a very good position to where um if we use the money that we have accessed correctly um and some other monies I'm going to talk about, there's a potential that we will not have to u use any other sources of revenue other than the gateway stream that as I told you we paid down. We're going to have paid off before uh 2028 and then use that current stream that's in place to pay for the IRPB bond that would be used for that law enforcement detention center. So, our goal is to get what we'll call seed money in a fund to help with a big down payment to where we can bond as little as possible. Any questions on that part? Okay, I'm going to move on to the last section. Next in section two of this ordinance revenue allocation we are stating in this ordinance that the fianl revenue from project 228

which is IKO for the first five years after payments to the multiount industrial park the school district and I want to be very here after payments to the multiount industrial park, the school district, and some allocation to any other governmental authority or taxing district with taxing authority over the property which the project is located be reserved for capital funds to be used for 1BI, which is what we just discussed above, county law enforcement center complex, which may include, for example, facilities for county sheriff's administration detention and magistrate. The county can pledge leftover funds from this revenue stream as it deems appropriate. So what I'm basically asking and and explaining here with council is after money is allocated out of that fee and loose stream as it is in other fee and loose streams then what we're looking to do is pledge leftover revenue instead of well let me back up once we go through our budget process Mr. Mr. Darby, correct? Once we go through the budget process and if there is not a need from the county to add that to the general fund for operational services, then what we're asking to do is to put that in the same fund that we put the excess CPST collections as money to go towards that law enforcement. We'll just let me call it a law enforcement center for short. And so again, bolstering the money that we have in the bank. Now, we put for five years, but I said we're going to start construction potentially in 2028. That's our goal. But if for some reason we didn't start construction in 2028, then

I'm just with five years, that gives council the ability for 5 years under this ordinance for us to take leftover funds from that revenue stream and instead of putting them in our general fund, we're putting them in the bank to be used towards that. I I I don't want to I don't want to get into too. I want you guys I don't hear any questions. That's great. But what I will say is financially the county is in probably one of the most remarkable places um that we could be in. Uh Mr. Zart, Mr. Derby, uh, our financial consultant. And by doing this, and by taking that extra money and putting it there, when we build a law new law enforcement center, our goal is to not have to increase taxes on our citizens at all to build that and to not tap into any other revenue streams that we have, but the current revenue streams. So, I think this is a really solid plan. Um, and so very proud of the financial position we're in and able to do this.

I've got a question for you. So, with uh the IEO money currently, we have not received any money from that P and Lou. Is that correct? And and are we anticipating some some receipts of money coming in the next budget season from it?

That that's correct. So, we wouldn't see that money actually till 2027. January of 2027 is when we would collect that money. But with both of their operations up and running, um then we do expect revenue from that next year. It does it will it match the fee runs and projections? We don't know. We won't know till the end of that year. But again the goal there and generally I can tell you that uh when we go through our budget process we do not on a first year of an industry we don't project revenue um because we don't know exactly when it's coming in. So at this point we're not building that into our 2026 budget. So, you know, it's kind of that old saying, if you have revenue that you're not counting on for something else, great thing to do is put it away for something you know you're going to need.

I think we do need a new jail house. And I'm hoping that we can get that new jail house so everybody can be happy in this town and y'all have a nice facility.

And I can tell you, Mr. Okay. In our original plan, Sheriff uh chief deputy back there, um Tommy and I originally were shooting for and Michael when we planned our our initial plans were to not start until 2030. Of course, the sheriff did wasn't too crazy about that, but uh we see the need for that much sooner. We have developed a plan to get us there really three years sooner than what we had originally anticipated. And uh so I you're 100% right, Mr. K. We need a new facility. Also think historically it's not going to get any cheaper

and having cash on hand will be a big advantage. Not having to take out bonds and finance debt. We got some we had some initial estimates of almost a 7% increase in construction cost per year. Now, if I were I'd play that over the market any day if I was going to invest in something. But, um, you know, that was the other thing that really pushed us to want to move this thing forward, too. Is that facilities? How old? The current facilities 50 50 50 plus years old. 50 years old.

And there was a renovation that was done at some [clears throat] point in the early 2000, 2008, 2009, but it's on sinking sinking sand. And uh that's the problem is that whole thing continues to shift. And in a correctional facility when doors don't open or close, you've got a problem. We've seen that we we we spend money out there and there's never it's never enough. Like no amount of money is going to fix the problem. So that's why we need to be

planning for the future is is necessary. And then the other thing is the safety of our employees. We want to make sure they have a safe working place. So, um, I'm I'm very thankful, Mr. Hester, that the countyy's in a position where we can do such a major major project and not raise taxes to do it. That's that's pretty exciting. Thank you for your efforts in that. And council will have the ultimate say on those funds. We will obviously come to council to approve those leftover funds, and you will know how much we're putting back with regard to that when that time comes. I'll entertain a motion.

Make a motion to approve the first reading of ordinance 2026-01. Second. All right. Have a motion to uh to approve in a second. Is there any discussion? I would like to see I don't I'm not opposed to it, but I would like to see a breakdown other than what he just got through saying. I'd like to see that in black and white. ABCDE FFG and not just what he said, not that I don't trust you, but I think the citizens of this county are going to be paying these funds. And so they need to they need to have a breakdown of what they're spending their money on. And I would like to say that and give me exactly what you would like to see.

I mean, everything you just got through saying, A, B, C, D, every every everything that you you said we're going to do this, we're going to do that. Uh, if we're going to build this, I'm all in favor of jail. I ain't got a problem. I've said that since day one. But I would like to see it in black and white. Exactly what you're proposing we spend money on because it's the taxpayers money and they need to know that. So you you mean with regard to the law enforcement center?

Yeah. I mean, whatever whatever it's going to be. I mean, you know, I don't care if it's a Rodman ball fields or whatever you just got through seeing. Everything that you said you want money for out of this, you break that down in black and white and here it is for us to see and us to vote on. We give it to the citizens.

So, and I I let me just back up. The only thing I'm asking for is $90,000 for the current jail facility, which is is the excess for that. If you say blah blah blah blah blah blah, you don't have to write a book. You just need to say this is what we proposing to do and how we're going to spend the money because the jail is going to be I I didn't catch how much the jail is going to be, but the last time I talked to the sheriff it was $60 million and uh I don't know if that's true now or not because of the price increases. Um that's [clears throat] great. It's right around that. We're we're still working in design phase, but that's that's the price range we are looking at.

And we spending a lot of money trying to fix that regular jail, and we just need to build it and be done with it. And a lot of what you're discussing here is projections going forward. I mean, conceptually, you can say what you intend to spend those projected funds on, but the amounts will not be there until you know that in the future, right? And thus far, any any overage or excess CPST funds, council has approved specific dollar amounts.

So for all the things listed there that for the Great Falls Visitors Center, for all those, we've had specific dollar amounts that council has approved. And this one, I'm just saying don't hold us in at 90. It might be 92,000 at the end of the day. We may have to add something. But with regard to the jail and the funds going to the jail, those excess funds and the funds that would come from that fee stream, the leftover funds, we won't know those till when they come. So that would be something that as we build, we'd be able to let council know, hey, here's what we have.

Well, I I I'm not asking you to give a drop deadad number. I'm asking you, we're going to take X and blah blah blah. This is project one. Y is project two, blah blah blah. Uh Z is blah blah blah. I'm forgetting my alphabet here. U but just break it down and these are what we think we're going to have to do because you're you're looking at a lot of money and you may have it, but the citizens need to know it. You're getting ready to ask them to approve a one cent sales tax. It's roughly $24 million if I remember your quote. uh what you said. So these people need to know what they're going to pay their money on. Not I'm not opposed to it by any stretch of the imagination. I just want to know what it is and I want the people to know what it is. The only thing I'm talking about in this ordinance is a new law enforcement center. And you you were right around the until we have final design. We won't have a but that's the only there's there's nothing else other than the county detention center that we currently have approving money for it and then a law enforcement center. Nothing else.

So it so at that point when you have final numbers will it become an an additional amendment to the big picture here? Will it be an add will we have to approve a certain amount? So you're talking with regard to section two the fee stream allocation the excess funds

will just BI you know where it said list or yes section two yes for section two. Yes. So will it will it come down to an additional amendment for the for the dollar amount like it's broken down for each project that's that's in section one amendments. Will it will it become an additional amendment there?

So what we will do is this ordinance will give you guys the authority to take those excess funds and put it into a fund. So when that fee stream comes in and it comes budget time that we are we know what that fee stream is going to be. not maybe not this budget because we have no idea what it's going to be. But when that money gets collected in the next budget cycle, we'll come to you and say, "Hey, here's what was collected. Here's what we project that we would need after we pay these other things that were listed, the MCIP, the school allocation and all that, which comes out of every fee based off the fee and ordinance. Then we would tell you all, hey, we want to put this much into this fund out of this fee stream." And you would you all would approve that? You would have ultimate approval of that.

Okay. Did that answer your Yes. Okay. One one of the questions that I'm being asked out is you getting all this money in from fee and lower taxes. Why don't you cut the the taxes of this county? Because the taxes of this county compared to York County with a car for the sake argument. This guy just bought a pickup truck the other day and I couldn't believe how much the taxes were on it. Why aren't you cutting the the the al the ad valorium taxes by taking some of this paying a little tax money and and doing that with it? Is that a No, that's a great stupid

No, that's that that's not a a bad question, Mr. Ag. will say that um two things to that point is um you know you can't comparing us to York's a little bit different just because of population the income that they have in mill right but I will tell you we're the only county in the state that rolled back taxes kept taxes level and rolled back taxes all the way to meet it and did not raise tax where only county in the state that did that. So most people saw a reduction in their taxes this year. So we went from 56 percentile we went from 56 percentile because there's a misnomer that we're the highest. We're actually in that 56th percentile. We actually will probably drop in that census next year based on that. But we're the only county in the state that did that. So and I don't I didn't want to steal Donny's thunder, but you kind of led me down. he's going to he's going to report on that. So, we are headed in that direction by not raising taxes every year. And what we've done, and I arguably, is to use those funds for services, for infrastructure, for law enforcement personnel, for fire personnel, for fire apparatus, for EMS, those basic services, which we just did not have that capacity for. So from a from a waste standpoint and and then you take all the other projects and the buildings, look at the grants and look at the CPST, the penny sales tax that have been used. And so I think we've been extremely um efficient with our funds when it comes to that. But again, as these projects come in and as they grow, absolutely, that's what we should do. Well, the ad valorium taxes in this county are are in a lot in excess of

what York County is for a car. Now, I understand York County has a lot better bigger tax base than we do, but we have to remember we have a lot of people that don't have as much money as what's in your county. That's right.

And cutting their taxes should be a priority for us. We're going to do that. Building the jail is critical. Not saying it's not, but I want to make sure that we don't waste our money to get the jail built by keeping the taxes uh at a high rate because we're using the uh fee and taxes or the just uh the developmental fees and all those other kind of things to pay for these infrastructure. and and um there there's a you were talking about the count the state Chester County is number two next to Dorchester when it comes to some school issues because of the being low tax money that that's not going to the schools and so here again just be careful and make sure we we document everything we want to do because the citizens out there are watching what we do a lot more closely than we we realize. They ought to be glad that we trying to do something with the money in Chester.

Trying to up build Chester. Chester need to be up build y'all. These citizen are they ought to be happy that we trying to do something for Chester County. We got all these new houses. We need schools. Y'all, we got to do something to to make Chester better. And I I'm pretty sure that's what Mr. Hester trying to do. trying to do things to help Chester. Chester been down for so long, man. We got to do something, right? Is there uh any more discussion? You know, I'll definitely say we're not sitting still and it's exciting to see see where where we're going. And you're right, Mr. Hester, about the services that we're offering. you know, the the response time out in Westchester for for emergency services is just EMS in particular has just dropped drastically and that's saving lives. So, keep it up, you know, and we're doing it again without tax increases. I will join you any day to cut taxes, Mr. A. I I love hearing you say that because that's so important to our citizens to keep our taxes level or even lower on the especially on the county side, which is what we could control. And I think when we do that, we set a good example for the school district as well. Um, they also rolled their taxes, their their appraisals back as well, their what's it called? Roll back their

There we go. That's the word. So, um, you know, I was proud of them for doing that as well. So, and the city, right? So, that was great. We did it first, but u we're moving in the right direction. Any other discussion? All right. I will call for the question of this first reading ordinance 2026-01. Those in favor, please raise your right hand and say, "I." I I

All right. All in favor passes. Next up, we got number seven, which is the administrator's report. Mr. Hester, well, you said you hadn't heard a lot from me, Chairman Wilson, but I've got a pretty lengthy administrator's report, but a lot of good news. We haven't had a meeting since the 1st of December. So, um, this is a time that we get to share some really good information. And so the first thing that I am super excited and again the hard work of our employees to save taxpayers money and I'm excited to report that we received notice from the South Carolina Department of Commerce that the Westchester EMS5 district ambulance and the Great Falls Fire District service truck applications were both awarded the community development block grant which is a total of $300,000 for the ambulance and 750 50,000 for the Great Falls Fire Service Truck. Chester County is the first county, and there's another first and only in the state to ever receive a grant for an ambulance under the CDBG program. We are also the only county in the state to be awarded two grants in this current grant cycle. So, I'd like to expend extend a special thanks um for our fire and EMS employees uh for the work they did to secure these grants. Um, and when I say they, they went out doortodoor in a very short period of time. They went door todo in Great Falls, the Westchester area to collect the income surveys that were needed for the LMIS uh, for the COG um, for more than 200 H households and gathering historical data that supported these grants. The ambulance from the grant will be used as an addition to our fleet and will serve the western portion of Chester County from the Westchester,

their new substation when it is complete. Um, that substation, I'll give an update here in a minute, but it's expected to be complete in April of 2026. This ambulance is a much needed addition to our fleet, which I'll talk about in a minute uh a little more extensively from this grant. Also, the Great Falls Fire Station will receive a new service truck that will make an immediate difference in the Great Falls area. This truck brings specialty capabilities that you don't typically find on a fire engine, such as refilling SCBA cylinders, uh on scene, improved lighting, emergency operations, specialized equipment for vehicle extractions, water rescues, and such. It's another step forward for the Great Falls Fire District, uh and will also help strengthen the district's ISO ratings. This is another strong step in our commitment to expanding service in Great Falls um where we added an additional uh additional firefighters in last year's budget but began full-time service uh in 2024. Next on the public works front. Um, again, just something that this may not mean a whole lot to everyone, but our fleet manager and our public works administrative assistant um our new administrative assistant over there, who we recruited out of our citizens academy, by the way, have taken an innovative approach to recover uh some value for the county by auctioning suitable used tires. In the first round, 25 tires were successfully auctioned, returning more than $200 to the county. To better explain the process, when an emergency vehicle from the sheriff's office gets flat tire, gets whole puncture, we can't we can't patch those and reuse them because those are pursuit rated vehicles and it's just you can't do that. In the past, we would have to dispose of those tires. We'd have to pay money to dispose of those tires. But we have now found an outlet through a new

program that we're using uh an online auction that takes these tires. Actually, we actually made $200 on it. May not sound like a whole lot, but when you take that over the course of a lifetime and we're not putting things into the landfill, we're not paying to dispose of something. We're actually making a few bucks on it. Um I just love the innovation that's coming from some of our departments. So, next I want to go to Robman. Can we pull up those pictures? These these pictures you may not be able to see. Super great. Um, very well. But I just want to talk about the landscaping, irrigation, and curbing are complete and have been installed. A final walk through with contractors scheduled for tomorrow as well as some final testing on the sports lighting. Um, we finally have some engineered plans for our hood system and rod which is in the concession area. Robin is scheduled to be fully completed in January 2026, which is the month we're in. And we're currently working to schedule a ribbon cutting ceremony in February prior to opening day. Um, it's kind of hard to tell from these pictures when things uh are still kind of brown, but all the landscaping, the trees, the flower beds. Can you scroll up just a little, please? You can see the curbing that was installed for some of the flower beds. Um, and again, this a lot of this was for beautifification to keep people from parking on some of this. Go ahead and scroll up, please. Um, there you can see the entryway. It's hard to see some of the brown shrubs that will be green and beautiful. Um, the shrubs that run down the length of the the driveway in as well. Is that it for those you aerial pictures? So, right now, we're just kind of working on some punch list items, finishing touches. Got to get bases installed. We've got to get some equipment in the kitchen area. Um, get the fields lined and just some things like that to finish up. When I

talked about the hood system, there were some design issues that came up several months back with the hood system that was originally in that set us back a little bit. Um, but that's been worked through. Uh, and hopefully that hood system gets installed here in the next couple weeks. Right, Mr. Levester? So, good news on that front. Next thing is Lewis fire update. Um, the Lewis fire station was completed last year. However, we experienced some issues related to a water leak under the slab soon after um we started to move some of the equipment in. I'm happy to report that the contractor honored the warranty, made the repairs, and the bathroom and shower have been completed, and the station is now functional um fully with the bathroom. There's a few pictures there. Um, they do have to put a transition strip right there at the bottom of and I think they're doing that this week, right? But the shower is in. It works. Everything is there. But as most of you know, that that project got delayed for numerous reasons. Um, but we had a major leak under the slab that, you know, there was some uh we'll just say there was some contention as to who was going to repair that, but it has been taken care of at no cost to the county. Next is the animal shelter. [clears throat] So, I'm not going to scroll through this yet, but we'll go through the pictures in a minute. Masonry work is moving forward. CMU walls going up in the business and medical corridors. Grouting underway uh in the kennel area currently pumping concrete for the medical corridor. Walls still is set to start being placed January 12th and the project still on track for completion now by April 19th, 2026. We're currently 33 days behind schedule. Um, and that's due to weather delays and some contractor is issues with structural that have been rectified. Um, let's go

through a couple of the pictures. That's a couple of areas of where we are currently. And so, we just want you to see this was the renderings and this is what it's going to look like. So, there's a front view. There's a view of the lobby area when you walk in. some workspaces. Uh, and then a side view where you drive around back views of the interior area of the kennels. Notice that there's multiolor. Go ahead and scroll through that. Multicolored kennels to designate different areas for housing different types of dogs, cats, pets. Well, there's no cats in here. I'm sorry. But, uh, they're in a different section, but different types of dogs. Some of these are the each color has a meaning. and keep going. And I think that's it. Oh, that's the adoption section, I think. Next, I want to talk about uh Fort Lawn Ambulance Service. Um EMS6, Fort Lawn Ambulance, was budgeted in this year's budget to begin service first of the year. It has been delayed due to our current fleet status, which I'll talk about. It's only being delayed till February 9th. Um, but unit 324, which is uh a current one of the oldest vehicles in the fleet, is a 2013 Dodge with 256,000 miles. And we've experienced some issues with that uh EMS unit. Um, it has experienced issues with HVA system that controls the patient compartment in the back as well as um the company that built the ambulance and HVA system are no longer in business and replacement parts are not available. There's a estimated cost for that HVA system repair of $30,000. Additionally, there have been electrical issues on the truck. And again, with the current manu with the manufacturer no longer in business, estimated cost to fix those

problems are 10,000. So, with the estimated cost of 40,000, we do not see um with only eight months before uh we receive a couple of new ambulances, um we don't see the uh where that makes sense to spend that money on that spare ambulance. So, we've been trying to work through that. With all that said, we will use the current spare truck to begin operation freom at 6 in Fort Lawn. Um again, February 9th is the date for that. We have been working through the spare truck issues. We've also been working with Fort Lom Fire District to establish anou for its operation. This has been somewhat delayed due to due to some staffing changing changes recently within the Fort District where they recently appointed a new interim chief. So there's been some delay in working through some of this. Also, recent unexpected retirements and departures within our current EMS system have also ne necessitated additional hiring of staff to backfill prior to beginning the Fort Lawn service. Um, a little update on our ambulance status while we're on that topic. We have two ambulances on order and we expect delivery. Those are in this past year's budget. So, the money is already there for those two ambulances. We're now expecting delivery um for both of those in 20 August 2026. This this year we're in I want to say this coming year, but we're in it. One of those was not expected of 2027, but we were able to get it moved up. And so we do expect both of those trucks by 2026. Um just a little background, we took delivery of a new ambulance in June of 2025 that was in our 24 budget cycle. And there was also a new ambulance that was put into service in 2024 that was in our 23 budget cycle. So, we'll begin the bidding process for the new ambulance that's paid for out of the uh CDBG grant

that we just discussed. And we have to go through some federal uh procurement processes related to that because of the grant. But the reflement timeline um has been drugg out a little bit due to supply chain issues. However, our goal is by the end of 26 to have five newer ambulances with the oldest being have been delivered in 2024, bringing our total of ambulances up to nine with three spares. So, we've got a plan in place to get there. We're just kind of struggling till we get some of this equipment in. The next thing on my list is planning grant. And so if you all remember a few weeks ago when county council was reviewing ideas for the uh capital project sales tax for corridor improvement project on the J Cochran bypass. Y'all remember us talking about that? And uh this was this was one of the projects that council um had expressed interest to pursue other alternatives and not submit that as a capital project sales tax funding. So I'm pleased to report to you that uh Mr. award and I have to give him all the credit for this is now working with an engineer to prepare an application for the project for the federal bill grant. Um it's a highly competitive grant which if awarded would pay for planning and engineering and environmental testing to get the project started. If awarded we would receive approximately $1 million um towards that planning and engineering and it would set us up to apply for full implementation grant. These are a no match grant by the way um to construct it uh in the their next grant cycle and if awarded could range from 10 to$20 million potentially. South Carolina DOT has been involved in the process um and in the discussions of the project. They're extremely supportive. They think it's a great project and so we'll keep you posted as to how those grants go. But we think we have a pretty good shot,

Mr. Ward, at at least passing that first hurdle and getting the implementation grant. I would say the last item, but I got two other notes here. The last item of information um is that we have filed for an extension on our fiscal year 2025 audit with the office of state treasur due to allegations of fraud within the Richburg Fire District and ongoing SLE criminal investigation. Additional audit procedures are required which will delay the issuance of the audit report. We've been given an extension to March 31st, 2026. If we do not provide required audit by that deadline, the office of the state treasurer will withhold funds from Chester County. SLED has been informed and made aware of the urgency regarding the investigation and our audit finalization. I'd like to remind council that um we have a workshop next Monday, January 12th and the public at 4 pm and that'll be uh a followup workshop regarding our comprehensive plan and the land the land use portion of that plan. And then the last thing um is I got an email right before I came in here from Miss Devin Bagley back there and I know Armenia Road and Center Street has been a big concern uh with regard to that intersection of fatalities and the good news is um after um our public works Miss Bagley got with DOT they have agreed to some changes uh in that area. They are trimming vegetation in three or four areas. I can show anybody that wishes the pictures of where they're trimming the vegetation. And they're putting um is it a pre-top sign, stop sign before the stop sign um back down the road on Armenia. Am I correct in saying that? Okay. And so I know there was some concern expressed, Mr. Wilson, from you and uh a few other

council members as well. We reached out to DOT and we just got confirmation back today in writing that these were the steps they were taking with regard to that road. And with that, I don't believe you ever told us about Westchester, the substation. Did I have any pictures of Westchester substation in there? I'm sorry. Uh I wish I did because they've just painted it. Uh the buildings are connected, the new building and the the um existing building. They've painted it all to match. Um, it's a blank canvas inside right now. Mr. Leister, come on up if you want to give a quick update. You know more about it than I do.

Is that okay, Mr. Chairman?

Good evening. Good [clears throat] evening, council. So, basically that the exterior of the building has been installed. All this metal structure has been painted to actually match the existing building. The window in the office is going to be installed this week. The storefront will be installed in about two weeks. The sprinkler systems already installed as of last week. The metal studs for the interior walls have been installed this week. And that's basically where we at at this point, but we're scheduled to be done by April or 26. I think the only thing that uh would probably be done a little bit sooner, but the doors, the color of the door, correct, is going to cost a couple weeks to get it in as well.

It installed the the install and there'll be a temporary door that's installed for security purposes. Correct. So, we can finalize the inside the building while we waiting on the storefront and the garage doors to be installed. Right. So, with that, I conclude my administrator's report. Sorry for the lengthy, but it's been a while since I've seen you all. All right. Thank you very much. So, next up is item 10A under new business, which is a request for approval of the cops hiring grant program. Sheriff Dorsy and Treasure Derby, come forward.

Good evening. Happy New Year. Good to see everybody. Same to you.

Um joined by Mr. Darby. Um he's gonna get into the numbers. I'm gonna try my best to stay away from the numbers. Um but good evening. I'm here to talk to you tonight about some significant news regarding our office and uh our commitment to the safety of this community. I'm pleased to announce that the Chester County Sheriff's Office has been selected for 2025 cops hiring program grant. This is a prestigious federal award designed to increase the number of law enforcement officers in the field to enhance community policing and crime prevention. This marks the second time since 2020 that our agency has been recognized at this federal level for this kind of support. So, all of you know uh since I took office in May of 2019, um my goal has been to lead an agency that is professional, that is transparent, and that's a good steward to the taxpayers dollars. Over the last 5 years, the men and women of our office have truly done miraculous work. We have driven down crime through their dedication. Um and we have built trust through the hard work. um this authentic trust uh that we have built with the citizens that we serve. And we've done all this and everything in between with very uh very few additions to our staff. Um minimal growth. Despite the county's growth, we've only added one new class one officer slot in the past five years, not counting the state funded SRO positions. Even in our cops grant that we got in 2020, which was a total of over a million dollars, we used that money really to um fund frozen slots that were that were frozen prior to me becoming sheriff.

In short, we've been getting solid results with limited results. But as Chester County continues to grow and change in positive ways, the demands on our deputies are increasing. Currently, we are slotted for six deputies per shift. And all of you know, sheriff's office, we do all kinds of things. We serve papers and we uh investigate drug cases. We have an investigative unit. We have a team of SRO's. Um but the people that you see out there mostly are those patrol officers who are working a shift patrolling our entire county and they are conducting proactive work, but they're also being responsive to those calls that are made. uh for law enforcement assistance. Currently in that department, in that patrol department, we're slotted for six deputies per shift, but due to hiring fluctuations, we often operate with anywhere between four and six of those deputies per shift. This is a thin line for a county that is experiencing such high level of growth. Professional law enforcement is the foundation upon which economic and community growth happens. Um, I say it regularly, Robert Long and his team cannot do what they do if Max Dorsy and the men and women of the sheriff's office don't do what we're supposed to do. To maintain the safety that allows our community to thrive, we need more boots on the ground. It's often argued that our neighboring counties need need more deputies because they have more people. We compare ourselves to York and Lancaster often because us three we're in the Charlotte metro area. We're the South Carolina counties in the Charlotte metro area. While that is true, they do they do need more deputies because of their population size. Um York and Lancaster

do have higher populations. But I want you to stop looking at how many people they serve. And we need to start looking at how many people we serve and where we serve them. When it matters the most, law enforcement is a game of minutes and miles. Lancaster County is actually smaller geographically than we are, 549 square miles. Uh yet they field about 12 to 15 deputies per shift. York County is slightly larger, 682 square miles, and they field 20 to 25 deputies per shift. And don't forget, York County has a number of municipalities. They have Fort Mill and Rock Hill and Clover. So, in addition to those 20 to 25 deputies, you have those holes in the donut throughout York County that supplement the county with law enforcement even more. Again, tremendous amount of people that they serve. So, they they have to have that number. Chester County, we're comparable to really both of those counties, 580 square miles, and we're doing that with six deputies per shift. So, if you break that down to a coverage ratio, um just geography, York County is covering uh 30 miles per deputy, 30 square miles per deputy. Lancaster's covering about 40 square miles per deputy. Chester County, 97 square miles per deputy. When a deputy in Chester is at one end of that 580 square miles and an emergency happens, that geographic gap creates a delay in response that can be the difference between life and death. We're covering roughly the same land area as our neighbors with a fraction of the manpower.

Furthermore, we must address a growing reality. The sheriff's office is increasingly the primary responder for our municipalities. We frequently answer calls in Fort Long, Great Falls, and the city of Chester because their departments facing their own budget and hiring challenge challenges often have no officers on duty. Now, I want to be clear. This isn't criticism of our law enforcement partners at the city. They're doing their best. However, as the sheriff, I believe that a citizen's safety should not be determined based on their zip code. Residents in our towns are also Chester County taxpayers. They contribute to the county's bottom line and they're entitled to the same professional protection as someone living in an unincorporated area. If a municipal department cannot answer the call, [clears throat] the sheriff's office must. And to do that effectively without compromising our countywide coverage, we need these additional slots that this grant will help us provide. I'm not asking for deputies in order to keep up with York and Lancaster's population. I'm asking for them so we can properly cover Chester's land. We have the same miles to patrol, the same roads to keep safe, and the growing responsibility to our towns. This cops hiring grant is the most fiscally responsible way to ensure that when a Chester County citizen calls for help, wherever they are, we have someone close to answer it. So, with anticipation, I know you're like, "Well, what's the grant?" Well, the grant is for $750,000 in federal funds, which are taxpayers money monies. However, it's a partnership. To receive the full benefit, the grant requires a

42.87% match from the county, which totals 562, I'm sorry, $562,794. More importantly, the grant operates on a one forone hiring ratio. For every officer funded by the grant, the county must hire one additional officer funded entirely by the county. To maximize this opportunity, we are proposing the addition of 12 new deputies. Now, I've consulted extensively with the Chester County Treasurer and the county administrator to ensure this is fiscally responsible, and we have developed a three-year implementation plan. This will be a phased growth. We will hire four new deputies each year, two grant-f funded and two county funded. These funds and new positions will not be required until the new budget is implemented on July the 1st, 2026. And and again, the decision that you're making tonight does not circumvent the budget planning process that will take place really for the next six months. And then as a condition of the grant, the county must commit to retaining these positions on once the grant period ends. This is not just a temporary effect fix. It's a long-term investment in our infrastructure. Um, in closing, I'll say that the professionalism of the sheriff's office is a key driver of Chester County success. Accepting this grant is a way to leverage federal dollars to do what we must eventually do anyway, and that's to grow our agency to match our population. I'm asking for your approval tonight to accept this grant because of these four things. Current staffing requires one

deputy to be responsible for nearly 100 square miles. Increasing our force allows us to shrink the map and improve the response times for all residents. Number two, sheriff's office acts as the safety net for Fort Long Great Falls in the city of Chester. When municipal personnel are unavailable, the county must have the capacity to step in immediately. Number three, every resident of Chester County pays county taxes. This grant ensures that these tax dollars are leveraged with federal funds to provide professional 247 law enforcement to every corner of our county. And then fourth and finally, as Chester County grows, businesses and residents choose where to settle based on safety. And you know, this is my soapbox speech. Nothing else matters if we're not safe. Maintaining a professional, well staffed sheriff's office is an investment in the county's continued economic growth. So, I would urge you to um allow our agency to accept this these grant funds and continue to work with the treasurer and the county administrator on implementing uh the monies that we need each year to to to begin this three-year implementation program. need to clean up anything, Tommy?

Yeah, just just to um just follow up what uh the sheriff said. Um from a number standpoint, um I think this grant gives job security to accountants. Um it's it's fairly complicated and you touched on it a little bit, but the the way the grant works is the county hires one uh patrol deputy. the grant pays for a portion of the second deputy um that is hired. Uh so just to throw a few numbers out there, um you know, we're estimating a deputy to cost with benefits about $72,000 and then the grant would pay 57.13% of the second patrol deputy. Um, so if you if you look at a cost per year, um, if we were to hire four patrol deputies in that first year, the cost to the county would be about $25,000 and some change, the grant would pay $82,000 and then the total cost was $288. So that's about 72,000 times 4. Um, and so if you if you you know continue that out through a 5year period, year two, we would add four more. The cost of the county for that year would be 411. Um the grant would pay 164 and so the total cost for year two would be 576. Year three is where you get the most from the grant and that's when we would be fully um staffed with 12 deputies. The county pays 617259. The grant pays 246 801. Um in year four that cost continues. 617, county pays 246, and then year five is when you assume the full cost of the 12 deputies of 864,000. Um, but I just wanted to throw those numbers out just so you can kind of see it and and um see what the cost would be. Um, that's all I got.

So, a question on that. So, at the conclusion of year four or year five, we've received $750,000 from the federal government. Yep. So, so the the estimated math is 740,000. I think if you if you kind of round it down just a little bit, I I think the key is um you know, you hire one, you got to have two and you get 57% of of that second deputy. Um and then I think it only pays up to $125,000 per slot.

Um and so that's where you kind of get the math across the five years. Um that's why year three and four are kind of the the benefit years where you get the most from the grant. And so sheriff adding um four each year that adds one person per shift. Is that how that works? So at the end of this you'll have three more people. So you'll have nine or you'll have seven per shift. You should have funding for nine. Is that what I understand? Me to do math here. Um, so we would add four positions over the next three years. So six, I mean, we'd have nine. Okay. At the conclusion of this funding stream.

And Mr. Wilson, if I can just add, what it would allow us to do is to incrementally, as Mr. Darby said, to add that line item into our budget at, let's say, 200 $5,000 a year. We add that each year. It doesn't go away the second year. So, we add on top of it another 205. Then the third year add on top of it. So, we can incrementally build into these positions, but get more bang for our buck on the front end and let it catch up based off of using the grant funds. So, it's a good way to it's a good way to sort of supplement paying for it, but by the end of it, we are paying for the full boat of it. Sheriff, I got one other question for you that you didn't really talk about. Um, but when it comes to your minimum staffing, six is all you got. You need six. Your minimum staffing numbers probably before you hire overtime, I'm assuming, are four, three.

I mean, somewhere in there, somewhere in there. But, um, that doesn't

what's what's been difficult for us and and remember, this county has done a 180 in the past five years in in every which way we can imagine. And our office has has mimicked that. And so, um, our position has been, people have asked us, well, how many deputies do you need per shift? And it's been hard because it's been hard to hire people. Um, people just don't want to be in law enforcement. Now, we're seeing a change in that now. We're being able we're able to hire people now, but we did not know how many deputies we needed per shift, but it's looking like we need closer to that nine or 10.

And that's now. That's really now. My point with that comment is sheriff's not talking about when somebody calls out sick, when somebody's on vacation. Six is all you got. Six is all you got. And when one calls out sick and one's on vacation, best you going to do is four.

Down to three. there. I mean, since I've been sheriff, there have been nights where we've had two people. Um, but we have made significant strides in hiring good quality people. We've created a culture where our community trusts us. Um, we have great officers and and that's really a great marketing tool because when people come here, they're coming from other agencies and they see what we have to offer here. They tell others and they want to come here, too. And that's that's what we're seeing.

Well, the the thing that we don't want to forget is within five miles of your house, there's going to be 2,400 houses very soon. That's two people per house. I don't remember what the population of the city of Chusta is, but you're going to have as many people within five miles of where you live soon. And if they get the shoreline from Rich from Lando to to Rock Hill in the next three years, what I was told the other day, that number is going to increase exponentially from the five mile radius of your house. Yes, sir.

And so whatever you're doing now is not going to be enough. Yes, sir. because you're going to have more people in that fivemile circle from where you live on highway number nine than what is in the city of Chester and probably the the town of Great Falls. That that's how fast it's growing and and you've got to plan for that and how you're going to spend this money and how you're going to take that little bit of money in because if if Mr. Ha's right. Uh, each house cost a dollar $141 and we only get a hundred something like that. That is that fairly true?

Yes, sir. So, the infrastructure money, the taxes that you're collecting from the houses is not going to be enough to fund what you're doing. So, we got to make sure we figure all that out to to get you the money you need because you're going to have to have a bunch of officers in to say it one more time at five mile radius of your house. Yes, sir. Um, you know, it it hurts to have to spend money to get money, but uh threequarters of a million dollars, that's a significant amount of money. And again, we're we're asking to do what we all know we've got to do. here's an opportunity to get a a little bit of federal money to help us move in that direction.

All right. Um, is there a motion on this? I'll make that motion. All right. We have a motion. Is there a second? Second. All right. So, we have a motion and second to approve the uh cops hiring grant program. Is there any discussion? All right. We want to thank the sheriff and his team for for that and um for what you do. I'll call for the question. Those in favor, please raise your right hand and say I.

All right. That's all in favor. Thank you. All right. Next up, we have item 10B, the first reading of CCMA 25-39. Harold Allen Barfield Senior and Harold Allen Barfield Jr. to request tax amount number 146-00-00-36-0000 which is 49.98 plus or minus acres located at 5031 Langster Highway, Fort Law, South Carolina 29714 to be reszoned from rule 2 district R2 to general industrial district ID3. The planning commission voted 6 to zero to approve. I make a motion I pull the planning commission.

Second. All right. Is there any discussion? I I'll ask our planning director, Jeremy Ward, to come forward and just give a brief overview since this is first reading.

Thank you, Chairman Wilson. County Council, I'll briefly give a few notes on this um just for your information and to help you as you make your choice. So, this current site was purchased by the current owners in 2018. It was used as a borrow site which means as to my understanding grading, leveling, selling dirt from that. In late March of 2025, we were notified by the Department of Environmental Services that the owners had applied for a commercial mining permit. Um I at that point notified the owners that it was not zoned for a um a mine of this magnitude and kind of outlined what it would take to bring it into zoning compliance. They received or I received notification that they had gotten the commercial mining permit in October of this year. Once again, reached out to them and now they're following the formal process to make sure that the property is zoned correctly for a commercial mine. So, they have submitted the the resoning application. With all that being said, I think this is a very suitable location for this sort of mine. Um, it is a total of a 31 acre mine out of the 49 total acres of land. It has a 50-foot undisturbed buffer from the road to shield it from view and from the surrounding neighbors as well. All around the perimeter of the property, they have had a reclamation plan approved by Department of Environmental Services for after the mine is completed, how they'll restore it um to a safe condition. I'll al also say in the the current comprehensive plan that we're working through, this isn't one of the areas that we have marked for industry such as a mine. Um it's used to sell gravel and dirt for a variety of good and useful purposes around the region. We didn't receive any calls or letters from any of the surrounding neighbors and the planning commission did vote to recommend approval of this. Hear if you have any questions. Thank you.

Right. So is there uh any questions or discussion? [snorts and clears throat] Not I will call for the question. Those in favor please raise your right hand and say I. I. [clears throat] I. All right. All in favor. Thank you. Next we have 10 C which is a first reading reading of CCTA 25-17 Chester County zoning ordinance. text amendment to chapter 4 117 GC general commercial conditional uses. Is there a motion on that? Make a motion to approve the first reading of CCTA 25-17. I'll second it.

All right. Have a motion second. I will I will ask again, Mr. Ward, if you'll come forward and speak to [clears throat] this. This is this first reading.

Thank you, Chairman. I'm very happy to um to bring this text amendment for your approval and consideration. So, this is an ordinance concerning vape shops and electronic cigarette shops within our county. There were at least five of these in our county. This is, as you may know, a new sort of business that was not in existence 20 years ago when we first had our zoning ordinances approved in Chester County. There has been uh growing research that shows that there are real health concerns with the use of these products particularly with children and youth uh which tend to be among the largest users of them. Uh there are some environmental concerns as well with the improper disposal of these vape pins which contain lithium ion batteries. Sometimes this is a concern for a landfill and other environmental issues. So this proposed amendment would regulate these establishments similar to how we regulate tattoo parlors, sexually oriented businesses as well. It was brought before the planning commission in December. They voted six to zero in favor of this text amendment. Uh they also talked about their worries that they have heard and read about the health of these products used improperly and the appearance concerns for the vape shops too. Uh there's especially reports that I was unaware of but that were brought up at that meeting about the impacts of these products on mental health particularly for children and adolesccents. I'll also add for those in the audience or up there who who may be wondering you know are these valid reasons to impose new restrictions on a particular sort of business you know the health the mental health of children. South Carolina authorizes counties to regulate businesses through zoning to quote promote the public health, safety, morals, convenience, order, appearance, prosperity, and general welfare of the citizens. I would estimate that the concerns with vape shops cover at least

six out of those, if not all of them. I think it is overdue to regulate these appropriately, and I'm pleased to bring this forward. I'm here if you have any questions. E in E in here where it says residential district. The vape shop that's in the old Waffle House at Richburg is less than a,000 ft from the residential district beside Dr. Yusfians. It's less than a,000 ft from the new residential district being built at the Bamboo Place. Would would that prevent that from being there?

Yes, sir. I believe I know the one that you're referring to. I'll clarify two things. First of all, this is not this would not cover any sort of business that sells vape vape pens, electronic cigarettes in addition to other stuff. So, this is exclusively the vape shops who sell that as the majority of their product. Wow.

Um I believe the one you're referring to may be primarily a restaurant. So, if it's primarily a restaurant, a convenience store that also sells these, but it's not 50% of their business, this would apply to them. It would apply to more of more of the ones that we see close to here where that's that's their product is these crayon vape pens, electronic cigarettes. But yes, it would prohibit any vape shop from coming in that's within 10,00t of any residential area with the intent being that this would discourage children and youth from walking to, but it make it a little bit harder to access them. Well, the the vape shop in the Waffle House is a restaurant also. They they prepare different foods and things like that. Is that a vape shop? A a vape shop or is that a restaurant?

That is a restaurant cuz I go there. It's a restaurant. I mean, I'm not I'm not arguing, but I'm just asking. Yeah, it's a restaurant. It's a restaurant. Yeah, it's a restaurant. Yes, sir. And in the zoning codes, it has to be more than 50% of the products sold have to be these products for it to be considered. That's the majority of their business. What about going to put them out of business? No, sir. So, it would not apply to any existing vape shops, just any new ones wanting wanting to move into.

Yes, sir. I think the problem is the advertising of the vape shops and all of the lighting and all of the lights that they have and it's just so it's just not appealing all the different it's just too many lights. It's just too lit up. Is there anything we can add to the ordinance? um you know according to you know with our signage or something of that nature that to me I know vape vapes are not good and it's been proven now that vapes um have you know real adverse health um issu you have health issues with it but it's just they just don't look good with all of the the lights and and the advertisement it's just lights and stuff all in the windows is something we can do to limit that

yes sir Mr. guy. I hear you and I agree there is something that that we can do. Um Mr. Hester, Miss M. Workman and I, we we talked about the best way to address all these issues. And the plan at this point is to do a comprehensive overhaul of our sign ordinance that would apply to to any business in the county this spring, probably March or April, where where we will look at flashing lights, bright lights at night, waving machines that are signs, and clarify that for all businesses. We think that's a more appropriate way than just singling out this one particular business for their signs. But I do agree that's a concern.

Y'all don't think them kids, y'all might slow them down, but they still going to go to them vapes, y'all. They going to go there. I don't care what you do. But them kids like that that kind of stuff. I ain't trying to put them out no business, but y'all there them vape shops, they all over town now. And evidently, they must be making money because I I don't know. I don't want to put him out of business, though. Well, there there's a vape shop right out here in the strip mall. It's less than 1,000 ft from the new church they just built on um behind the rescue squad. What is that road? Uh belt line. Belt belt line.

Yes, sir. There's a new church there. So, that's less than 1,000 ft from that. And that's in the county. Is that not correct? Yes, sir. You're correct. Well, didn't didn't you just say that this was not going to in any way affect the ones that are current businesses. Correct. So, it would not affect any current business. You're right, Mr. Brunson. What it what it would potentially would affect Yes, sir. is if one vape shop went out of business and someone else wanted to come in and open up a new vape shop there after the church has been built, it would impact them. Would an update of the sign ordinance be retroactive to existing businesses or would they be grandfathered until a change was made? Also,

great question. It could go either way and that would be up up to your wisdom to say which way or the other, but particularly for such items that the council feels are public nuisance. The concern we hear a lot are the flashing lights really bright at night. I think that could be something that merits the retroactive. That's what that's what I would be in favor of. Yeah, that that's that's my issue. All those different color lights and they so bright and I don't know. It just don't it just don't put off to me. It just don't look good. Don't put off a good a good look. Um if we could do something about the lighting. I mean, I'm I'm with Councilman Kon. I don't want to put anybody out of business. We do live here.

We do live here and we do want our community to look a certain way. all those lights and stuff like that. It just it just don't look good to me. We need something we need [clears throat] something to uh in the sign ordinance to uh you know maybe one color maybe one color of light or limit the the number of lights that something but it just it just don't look good. one about a couple of but last week sheriff then they hit the vape shops what they came up what what was we need to know you know why they hit them and what was what what they charged them for I don't know I know a lot of people was excuse me was talking about it so I'm pretty sure you know what

yeah just real quick uh we did execute search warrants on a number of them here in Chester it was a part of a statewide um initiative. [clears throat]

I think about 70 search warrants were executed throughout South Carolina about three weeks ago and um we're still, you know, kind of working through all that because there was a lot of evidence seized, a lot of things that we've got to do drug analysis on. But, um, I'll I'll tell you, and I'm not I'm not pointing at any particular one here in Chester County, but, uh, these types of places have a history of of being drug dealers. They're they're selling illicit and illegal products. And so, um, you know, I'm I'm all for people being able to have their business. Um, but it needs to be legal.

What you think we need to do? Well, this is a first step. Um, I' I've I've not been really tied into this. I'd love to learn more about what this could look like. Um, but again, we we don't want our county to be endorsing in any way a business that's skirting the law and and and selling illegal drugs. Um, and and you know, we I could sit up here and talk all night. Not, but it's it's dangerous and they are there are um there are kids, but there are adults too who are getting these products and it is it's doing something chemically in their mind and they're doing really bad things um to the extent of of uh shooting people and doing other things. And so I I think it's an important thing that our county needs to prioritize and I appreciate y'all taking it up. Um and and I would imagine here in the next couple readings we could work through some other things to see if we can make this ordinance better. I'd love to be a part of that.

You think a workshop would be good on that? Um I'd be glad to put together anybody to come here and get some experts that are very familiar with this type of uh business. and and and convey that to you and see how we can strengthen this ordinance. I'd be glad to do that. So, you just let me know. Thank you. Well, the these uh regulations look very similar to a strip club because a strip club that used to be down there behind McDonald's, we had we had to deal with this uh down there.

Yes, sir. And these look exactly like their uh the restrictions on that. These ordinances should reflect the standards of our community. And I know Chester and Chester should not have a standard that allows illegal drug dealing to happen. So we should use the power of the ordinance to stop that. Thank you. Can we can we

uh uh chairman uh Wilson, let me ask one more question. Is it possible for us to put in the ordinance that if they're going to have all those lights on those buildings? Is there a certain time a night that they can turn those off where they don't have to be flashing all night long going up to bypass and all you see is vape shop lights and they're not even open. So, you know, nobody everybody's at home. What are they advertising at at midnight or 10:00 at night or 6:00 in the morning? Lights just flashing everywhere. Is it a time? Can we put something to uh require them to cut those lights off at a certain time? So, Councilman Guy, Mr. Hester, is going to speak to that.

Yes, sir. And I think that's our intent is um again we didn't want to do anything on this text amendment that singled out um you know and open the county into any potential liability. So again the what's in front of you text amendment takes care of one aspect but I agree with you because I've been by 11 12:00 at night um and seen every one of these lit up like they were open and they weren't open. So, I think that's where we address our sign ordinance, our lighting um for the windows and that they got to be turned off at a certain time that maybe know you don't allow, you know, we don't want to we don't want to put people in a position they can't put Christmas decorations up, right? But there's also got to be a limit to what these business how they're advertising. So, we are working through that. I think we just want to be diligent in what we bring to you um and kind of go through the process of scrutinizing it ourselves prior to I think working with the sheriff um is something easily we can do on the side as we look to make these ordinances and text amendments better. But I hear you, Mr. Guy, and we've already had that discussion. We just couldn't really quite fit it in uh in this text amendment.

Thank you. All right. All right. Is there any more discussion? Not I will call for the question. So those in favor of this first reading of CCTA 25-17, raise your right hand and say I. I. I. I. All right. It's all in favor. Next we have boards and commissions. Number 11A is Chester Metropolitan District Board Reappoint. We have an application in our packet for David Sheen. Mr. Hester, would you want to speak to that or Miss Miss Workman?

I'm gonna speak to it if you don't mind. Yeah. Chairman Wilson. Um Mr. Brian Swansy, the attorney for the Chester Metropolitan District, reached out regarding the reappoint of Mr. David Shin um to the atlarge position uh on the CMD board. uh his term expired May 4th of 2025. However, he um express expressed interest and willingness to continue serving. Um the board consists of nine members, each serving four-year terms. Two of the seats, one of which is held by Mr. Shin, are at large seats, which are filled by the governor at the recommendation of the Chester County Council. So tonight, we're asking for a vote to recommend Mr. David Shin to the ATLord ATL large position, excuse me. Um, on the CMD board.

Where he from? Where he live? He lives at 156 York Street. York Street. Ain't nobody else put in for it. David Shin. Um, this is a reappoint and he he asked that we reappoint uh Mr. Shin at this point. All right. Is there a motion? Make a motion to accept the reappoint of David Shen to the Chester Metropolitan District Board. I'll second it.

All right. I have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? I'll call for the question. Those in favor, please raise your right hand and say, "I." I. Uh.

All right. That's [clears throat] all in favor. Thank you. Next up, we've got executive session 12A is discussion of matters relating to the proposed location, expansion, or the provision of services encouraging location or expansion of industries or other businesses in the area served by the public body. That's P2354. Next is uh 12B, which is also the same for P1964. Um, next we've got C, which is uh the same for project uh P2585. And then D, we have their receipt of legal advice where the legal advice relates to a pending, threatened, or potential claim or other matters covered by the attorney client privilege. Settlement of legal claims or the position of the public agency in other adversary situations involving the assertation assertion against the agency of a claim project 2024 MPV. And then E, we have a personnel matter regarding the county administrator. Is there a motion to go to executive session?

Make a motion we go into executive session. I'll second it. All right. A motion second. Those in favor, please raise your hand and say I.