County Council - Regular Meeting

To the flag of the stands nation god indivisibley andice for all.

Let's remain standing and recite the Lord's prayer. Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespassed against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the king, the power, and the glory forever. Amen. Thank you. All right, we'll begin with the approval of minutes. So 3A is a March 2nd, 2026 council minutes. Make a motion to approve the March 2nd, 2026 county council meeting minutes.

Second. All right. Is there any discussion? Call for the question. Those in favor raise your right hand and say I. I. All in favor. Next is 3B, which is the March 9th, 2026 council workshop minutes. I make a motion to accept the March 9th, 2026 workshop minutes as presented. Second. All right. Is there any discussion? Call for the question. Those in favor raise right hand and say I. I. I. All in favor. Next up we have citizens comments. And we have one person signed up to speak. When I call your name, come forward and have three minutes to speak. Mr. Massie. You'll state your name and address for us.

John Massie, 171 East Lacy Street. I'm here once again advocating for the Learius Wy known by some as the most heroic kid in America 2015 memorial the monuments this thing reason being uh the the the monuments the idea is based on the memorial building monuments reason being the 11year-old October 27th 2015 exhibited the same courage, gave the same ultimate sacrifice as those veterans whose name grave did so while saving the life of his beloved seven-year-old sister. The price quote you should have by now would be for three remembrances displayed one city, one county, one cemetery. total amount using public funds only would be asking the county to pay half and the city paying the balance. It would also be possible grant state funding available. Also, if a monuments fund was set up by the city or county, private donations could also help reduce costs. The price you see less than $45,000 includes tax and installation. The local vendor is known for producing a quality product. Has done business Chester City and County for many years. Price good for six months. Closing on a personal but re relevant note with one update. Newly elected council members may wonder why I do this with seemingly no result.

those council members who I've known for a good while no different know I am relentless after a decade of waiting trying how do I know if anyone will listen decide to act this time simple answer I have faith I John Massie am Christian I publicly profess here and now Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior my prayers I have asked why Lord send me place of some community leader with many friends and great influence. They answer God often utilizes the least of his servants broken powerless people to accomplish his will and doing so once complete the praise and glory are given not to any man or woman but to God alone. It should be update I promise city mayor said he's going to do something for this child. I sent you all a video evergreen. Hopefully you'll get a chance to watch that. We need to make improvements over there. Thank you for listening.

Thank you, Mr. Massie. All right. Next up, we have our um public hearing. We have two items. 5A is ordinance 2026-04 authorizing pursuant to title 12 chapter 44 of the code of laws of South Carolina 1976 as amended the execution and delivery of a fee agreement by between Chester County South Carolina and a company identified for the time being as project 2354 acting for itself one or more current or future affiliates and other project companies providing for certain incentives as provided under the simplif ify fees act modifying a joint county industrial and business park of Chester and York counties so as to enlarge the park providing for special source revenue credits and providing for other related matters. I don't have anyone on the signup sheet signed up to speak. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak to this? All right. Not move to the next one. That is uh item 5B which is ordinance 2026-05 amending ordinance number 3-19-12A 2018-5 and 2021-17 to update the definition of projects under an installment purchase purchase plan of finance and other related matters. Again I don't have anyone signed up to speak on the signup sheet. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak to this? All right. hearing and seeing no one I will um state that this public hearing is closed. So next this brings us to number six which is ordinances resolutions of proclamations 6A is the third reading of ordinance 2026-02 authorizing the execution and delivery of a fee in le of tax agreement bind between Chester County and project 2493 designating certain real property located in Chester County as part of a multi-county industrial park providing credits against fee in lie of tax

payments authorizing the execution and delivery of a project agreement by and between Chester County and project 2493, authorizing the execution and delivery of such documents as may be necessary to affect the intent of this ordinance and providing for other related matters other matters related there too. Um before we entertain a motion on that, I'll call John Marshall for Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of council. uh only one change to node which is not substantive but we did receive changes from the developer's lawyer uh on Friday afternoon after the Wednesday cut off. So the effect of those changes was essentially just to change uh the amount of fees that the developer was willing to pay. It doesn't actually change the total amount. They just moved uh from $1,200 $12,500 to $7,500 for the fee agreement and left the project cap in there at 125. So again, not a substantive change. There were a couple other minor typos that were cleaned up. Those are the only changes from the version that's in council's packet.

So it will make no difference to the county in terms of how much the county will receive. Correct. I I have a question if I can ask. Yes, sir. I went to the governor's mansion last week with Mr. Reigns and in in a conversation with somebody from York County. I'm sure you've heard of Seal Fab. It's the It is the solar panel or company up there that had a leak. So, Mr. A, this is related, right? This is related to the topic on the agenda.

Well, it's talking about paying L taxes with the multicount industrial park. Is Chester County in these multicount industrial parks have any liability? Any liability for what, Councilman? If something goes wrong in York County, are we involved in that process if they get sued?

So, you're asking for multi-county parks in which uh you're a participant county, but you're not the driving county, and you're receiving 1% out of that agreement. Generally speaking, no. The driving county is the the party that's making the decision. And really the only benefit that Chester is getting out of that is the 1% out of out of the thing. So for projects that are happening entirely in a neighboring county, you as we've talked about before, they're not coming before you asking if you approve the projects or not. You're just getting the 1% out of it. Generally speaking, we would be exempt.

Correct. Generally speaking, you're you're you don't have a decision-making authority in the process, you know, unless the the project is physically located in inside Jester County. Any other questions? Thank you, sir. So, I will entertain a motion for this item 6A. Make a motion to approve the third reading of ordinance 2026-02. I'll second. All right. We have a motion to approve and a second. Is there any discussion hearing? None. I'll call for the question. Those in favor raise right hand and say I.

I. I. Those opposed. All right. That motion passes 5 to one. Next up is 6B, which is a second reading of ordinance 2026-07 to adopt a comprehensive plan for the county of Chester titled Chester County 2025 comprehensive plan. Um, I'll entertain a motion on that. I'll make a motion we approve the second reading of ordinance 2026-7. I'll second. All right, we have a motion and second. I will call our planning and development director, Mr. Ward, Ford. There were a couple of small changes. Want to make sure everybody's aware of those changes.

Thank you, Chairman Wilson and County Council. I also wanted to update you on the efforts that that we have undertaken since the last meeting to put this plan in the hand of our citizens. The plan was put up on the very top of the website on my page um the morning after the last meeting. We have also put copies out in the hallway and passed them out at uh other groups in the in the county. So over the past two weeks, we have passed out 25 hard copies to citizens of the full 120 page plan. We have had 44 people download it from the website, too. I've also continued to to email it out to individual people as I have for the past few months. We've had some very good had some very good conversations, answered a lot of questions. The responses have been overwhelmingly positive from citizens upon reading this plan. And as Chairman Wilson, as you noted, there are a few slight edits, mostly correcting typos um in your packet from the last time. Those are on page 37 and 42, as well as one or two other typos. I'm happy to answer any questions on those. They're not substantive changes. Thank you, Mr. Ward. Um, is there any discussion?

All right, I will call for the question. Those in favor, please raise your hand and say, "I I." All right, that passes unanimously. So, just to be clear, this will be on for third and final reading at our next meeting. Yes.

All right, that's we can all put that on our calendar. Next up is 6C, which is resolution 2026-06, authorizing the purchase of approximately 1.287 acres of real property with improvements, if any, known as number seven, Lansford Canal convenience site, 3725 Kataba River Road, Kataba, South Carolina with county tax number 143-00-00-071-0000 with any if any improvements and provided for other related matters. Uh before we take a motion on that, Mr. Hester, would you like to speak to that?

Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Um so this resolution is to allow the use of funds collected as a result of uh an ordinance that was passed in 2024. I believe it was 2024-3, Miss Workman, is that correct? Under section one of that said ordinance, um allows us to purchase 1.287 287 acres located at 3725 Kataba River Road in Chester, South Carolina. Tax map number 143-00-071-0000. For community information, this piece of land is what you all know as the Lansford Recycle Center. The county has been fortunate enough to use this land for the last 20 years under a generous lease agreement for a dollar a year. The lease is up in September of 2027 and with considerable investment in that recycle center and the property uh they're on the county has requested to purchase the land uh from the land owner instead of uh entering into a lease. There was not a option for us to lease it for a dollar a year again. Um, and so, uh, if the county, uh, had to purchase new land, pay for land improvements, uh, to include the concrete fencing and everything related to a convenience site that is already in place, it would cost us approximately, uh, $250,000 to do so. Um, as part of the negotiated deal with the landowner, uh, we will put a monument style plaque on the property to honor the contributions made by the current landowner's father with whom the county's original lease agreement was with. Um, it will be in in honor of his inind contribution for the land over the 20-year period.

Right. Um, I will entertain a motion on that. Make a motion we accept the resolution. I'll second the motion and second. Is there any discussion? And purchase the purchase price. Has it been revealed? $175,000

and that's for the improved land as it sits. Mr. Turner worked for Chester County as Mr. Hester said for many many years. U I don't know he ever missed today's work. Real good citizens. Mr. Could you pull down your mic? I just was saying Mr. Turner his his nickname was boo. I couldn't tell you what his first name was. I never called anything. He really did a lot for Chester County and the citizens in that area of of the county.

Um, Mr. Administrator, for clarity sake, could you please um speak to the point to the fact that on this piece of property, we did look around and try to find something in the area that we could use, but um where it sits strategically, it just this is this is the best option. Could you speak to that? Yes, sir. That's correct, Mr. Guy. And we did look for pieces of land and um while none of them were in that exact vicinity, uh even with the even if we found a piece of land that was within 5 or 10 miles, it's obviously going to change location at recycle center. then um come into play. The fact that we would have to go through dees, we would have to concrete asphalt, put considerable investment, fencing, buildings, um electrical panels and hydraulic uh input for our machinery at those recycle centers. So, it is a considerable considerable investment. And you know, this was um this is one of two sites uh that the county out of 11 did not own. So, this will put us down to only one that we currently do not own. Um, and we're working diligently to try to uh obtain that site here in the future as well. Um, so we don't run into these situations again. Ordinance 2024-3. The other thing that I think is important uh for citizens to know is that's use of um funds that are collected from developmental fees. Um and so again, not coming out of the general fund, not taxpayer dollars from that sense, but using those fees from developmental fees as were intended by the ordinance for infrastructure um related items, facilities and so forth in the same general region they were collected and these were collected in the same general region as well. So, for clarity sake, we would have spent a

considerable amount more money trying to um buy a piece of property, uh put the cement down, fencing, renovations, hydraulic lifts, and everything. So, of you know, for the public's sake, we we we we diligently looked for something to fall within this range. So, this this in our opinion was the best option. Yeah. Even if a land were donated, we'd still spend substantial amount more. Thank you for that, Clar. Yes, sir. All right. Thank you. I think to add to that point too, we'll have to think about what we would leave behind. You know, I think this is I think the citizens win not taking a piece of of new ground and turning it into a convenient site instead of using one that's already existed. So, there's that's right.

There's a lot of reasons. I think it makes sense, too. Um, is there any more discussion? I'll call for the question. Those in favor of resolution 2026-06. Raise your right hand and say I. I. All in favor brings us to 6D which is resolution 2026-07 providing for changes to the county employee personnel handbook relating to resignations and providing for other related matters. Attorney Workman.

Thank you chairman. Um this new addition changes the terminate um the language from voluntary termination in our policy to voluntary resignation. Just to clarify that term. It also adds information if an employee turns in their resignation. Um they have to do it within business hours, normal county business hours. And if a county recognized holiday occurs within that two week notice period, um this allows for that employee to work a full two weeks notice um and not count the actual holiday.

Right. I'll entertain a motion. I make a motion we approve resolution 2026-07. Second. All right. Have a motion and second for any discussion. Call for the question. Those in favor of resolution 2026-7 raise your right hand and say I. All in favor? Mr. Chester, administrator's report.

Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, council members, um, couple quick things real quick. We're gonna pull up a picture while that's coming up. Um I know that I had a couple of questions about Robman. Um the lights, not the new fields, but the old fields uh some lights that were out. We are going to be replacing ballast and lights uh ourselves. Our maintenance crew will be doing the work. Um and they're supposed to start tomorrow. Now, with the rain, that may change just a little bit, but uh the goal is for them to start on 17th and hopefully finish up by the 24th. Um again, weather may delay us just a bit, but I know that was a question. I know a lot of uh parents and uh members that uh play ball out there were curious about that as well. So, we're trying to make some upgrades to the park as well. If you look in front of you on the screen and the screen's behind us, it's a picture of the bridge at exit 65. It's a before and after. And so I want to big thanks goes out to uh our public works department um who worked with DOT, actually worked with uh the city of Chester, used their machine uh their their vacuum sweeper. Uh and this is before and after what that bridge looked like. And I know we had been talking about it, the gateway steering committee. Every time I drove out there, I'm like, man, this thing looks horrible. And so both lanes, we were able to get that cleaned up. And uh they cleaned up some of the the median area or the um where you come off the exit, just the little raised medians as well. So, um and that's just DOT put their truck out there free of charge for us. Um and then, uh Chester used their sweeper. So, we appreciate them and appreciate that and really made a difference in how that looked up there.

So, we've got a lot of little projects like this. Just things that we're trying to get cleaned up and then make sure we keep them clean as well. And so, we're going to be kind of doing a push with our community and some social media stuff here in the future about not littering. We have a huge littering problem here in Chester County. Um, and uh, you know, we're trying to figure out how we can get people to uh, put stuff in garbage cans and not on roadways. And uh, so if we can do that, we'll be way ahead of the game. But, uh, we're working on some of that uh, as we're going to future. And then the last thing that I have is with regard to an update on Albamarl. And I think this is something that the community's been waiting on. There's a lot been a lot of question about uh with with Albamaro and their investment and the purchase of the property and the expectation of what was coming in. So I received a letter last week um and just as a kind of a quick reminder Albamara had announced plans to invest 1.3 billion in a lithium hydroxide processing plant in Richburg in March of 2023. While they purchased 700 acre site and completed the stream mitigation work, they did not break ground. This is primarily due and was primarily due to the price of lithium hydroxide dropping um not too long after their announcement. While the price has rebounded some recently, it is not high enough for them to justify starting construction. Uh, according to the letter that they sent me dated March the 6th, Albamar Executive Vice President Eric Norris states that they continue to defer spending on their planned Richburg Megaplex lithium conversion facility in Chester, South Carolina. Um to that end, the company has asked South Carolina Commerce to terminate the performance

agreement related to the rural infrastructure grant for Chester County uh to terminate their fee and loo agreement. While while we are still within the 10-year investment window for their fee and loo agreement, it is a it is a state grant that has triggered this letter. There is a stipulation in the state grant agreement that the project must show progress within three years and we are at the three-year anniversary. The silver lining in this is that Albam Marl never broke ground. So they never received any state grant funds plus they are not in jeopardy of drawbacks or clawbacks I'm sorry from the county because they had not yet started receiving any benefit from that fee in Lou. Uh, as of now, Albam Marl still owns the land. If and when the project comes back around, it would be treated as a whole new investment opportunity and therefore have to be renegotiated completely. Um, if not, we can uh our economic development team can approach them about selling the site uh in a few years if they decide to do that as well because it is prime industrial real estate in thatburg area. But I think that's something everybody's kind of been waiting on and speculating on. And so they're not they're not fully saying they're not ever going to do the project, but they have withdrawn from that grant and therefore uh the fee and loo agreement.

Let me ask you one question along that line. If they're going to re if they're going to give up the fee and loo, is it going to go back to adorum taxes or is it going to be a forestry uh property? Um, if they give up that fee and Lou, then I'm going to and I'm making purely an assumption that it was structured as commercial, so the property would be taxed as commercial. Would I be right in saying that? Mr. Long, if you want to come forward and answer that question, maybe.

Thank you, chairman. Thank you, councel. Uh, so this property actually had been reszoned to ID3 to support Alba's operation. The previous zoning was ID2. So it did not have an agricultural zoning. It had an ID2 zoning previously. So it it would be paying aorum taxes. Yes, sir. Just normal property tax. As long as they own it, they'll continue that. Y sir. Thank you. Okay. And that concludes my report, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. That brings us to number eight, which is consent agenda. So we have five items for consent agenda. They are A is the third reading of ordinance 2026-04. B is the third reading of ordinance 2026-05. C is the second reading of ordinance 2026-06. D is the second reading of CCMA 26-01. And E is a second reading of CCTA 26-01. Is there a motion? Make a motion we approve the consent agenda. Second.

All right. We have a motion to approve and a second. Is there any discussion? On our call for the question. Those in favor raise your right hand and say I. I. I. I'm voting against A or B and C. So, if we're going to do that, we need to pull it off. Have to pull them off. Um, do y'all want to would you want me to back up? We'll take a back off and pull it off. So, we can't if we can't pick and choose.

No, we'd have to pull off if he if if Mr. Ag is against. Now, Mr. Ag, I'll remind you a you voted for uh the last two readings. Are you I'm voting for I'm not gonna Okay, that that Okay. Yeah, I voted for that because that was done before. Yes, I got you. Okay.

So, I made sure not to put anything on there's nothing on consent agenda that has um a multi-county industrial park. These are um Mr. Mr. Wilson, would you like me to run through what each of those are real quick or is that you you can um so well what we what we always try to do when the agenda set is not to ever put anything on consent agenda that we expect to have correct um disagreement and so as Mr. Hester said you voted in favor of and and that is that property because I had voted for that property before the project was approved

a long time ago and I'm voting for that. I I'll resent I resend my no vote. Okay, let me let me start back over and call for the question again. So, uh is there any more discussion before I do? All right, so we have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Um I'll call for the question. Those in favor raise right hand and say I. I. I. Right. All in favor. Thank you. Next up we have uh number nine is old business. We don't have any. Number 10 is new business. Um we have an update about the Roseberg tour that myself and Councilman Guy attended. You want to say a few words?

Um just real quick. um myself and uh chairman uh Wilson and uh the economic development department and um we had a visitor. Mr. Wilson's father came along as well. We all uh went out and toured uh one of the industries in our in our county which is uh Roseberg. Um we learned a lot. Um, I think we'll be doing more of these tours in the future. Um, just just so as council members we can get an understanding of a full understanding of what these uh industries actually um produce and what they do and um their safety measures and things of that nature. It's a very very informative um tour um that we went on. Um I appreciate and I thank Roseberg for letting us come. um they do plan on doing maybe some expansions in the future that uh you know we look forward to them doing and supporting them on. Um but I think uh want to thank our economic development department for putting that together and having us go out there and and see what these industries actually do here in Chester County. So, so and to kind of add to that just a little bit. So, they said that for a long time that their market had been somewhat stagnant, but just recently they were able to expand and hire five new employees just in the last two weeks. And we asked them where those employees live and they said four of the five employees live in Chester County. So that's really great to see good paying jobs, good jobs um being filled with Chester County residents and you know going on the tour really made me proud to see what is being produced in Chester County. You know it's a first class facility and um really you could see the pride in the workers and in the product that they were making. So it's just it was a great opportunity as we have future tours. uh encourage all

council to try to attend as many as you can because uh I think it's great for us to be be in the plants and see it for ourselves. Thank you, Mr. Guy. Um next up is uh number 11, which is boards and commissions. Uh 11A is the accommodation tax board. Uh, Councilman Ag,

I would like to recommend Miss Brenda McPreer to to take uh that vacant position on the accommodations tax. She's done a wonderful job with all the things that she does in Chester with all the the u hilarity and all that stuff that she does Christmas and I think she'll fit right in on the accommodations tax. I'll second it. All right, we have a motion and second. Is there any discussion?

Let me just a quick just a just a little error on the application. Um, and I know it's minor, but I don't want it to be an issue later on, but it has district 4 in which she resides, but it's district one. I just wanted that to reflect so it doesn't cause any confusion down the road for any reason. Yeah, it just has it there. That's it. All right. Thank you, Siri. Uh, any additional discussion? Call off for the question. Those in favor raise your right hand to say I. I. All in favor? Next up is 11B, which is the construction board of appeals. As representative for district 4, I would like to nominate Anthony EC to that position. He was a um I'll make my nomination. Say I'll second. Second.

All right. Have a motion. Second. He was a uh graduate of our citizens academy and uh so certainly uh appreciate his willingness to serve. I think you'd be a good fit. Any discussion? Call for the question. Those in favor raise your right hand to say I. I all in favor. Next up is 11C, which is the Old English District Board. And Mr. Hester, would you want to speak to that?

Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. So, this one is typically Old English District will make a recommendation to the county who would they would u like to see sit on that board. Council approves that uh recommendation. Previously, um Kiana Benson, the previous tourism director, sat on that board with her uh leaving the position and Amy Bender taking over that position. Um it's a recommendation of Old English to um add Amy Bender to the board as they will take they take the action to remove that person from the board. So, uh they're recommending Amy Bender and this is just requires council approval.

All right. Thank you. Is there a motion? I'll make a motion to appoint Miss Amy Bender to the old old English district board. I'll second it. All right, we have a motion second. Is there any discussion?

I just want to make a uh comment in general um about our boards um to the public. Without these boards and commissions, it'll be, you know, really hard for us to run the county. Uh the county council would probably have to meet every two every two two or three days a week if we didn't have um you know just just educating the public about these boards. If we didn't have these boards of commissions, we would actually have to meet a lot to uh actually run this county. So, the people that we put on these boards and commissions are, in my opinion, just as important as the county council people that sit up here and um vote on our our laws and ordinances. So, if anybody's ever um interested in the boards, please make sure that you look at our website um look and see which boards and commissions are available. Contact your county council person and um apply for these boards. They're just as important as as these county council seats.

All right. Is there any more discussion? Call for the question. Those in favor of appointing Amy Bender to the Old English District Board, raise your right hand to say I. I. All in favor? All right. That brings us to number 12, which is executive session. 12A is a discussion of negotiations negotiations incident to propose contractual arrangements 139 Cut Street. And that's it. Is there a motion to go into executive session? Make a motion we move to executive session. Second.