City Council - Regular Meeting

Awful silent experience. I know, right? It won't change for anything.

Good afternoon. It's 4:00 on February 17th, 2026, and I'm happy to welcome you to this meeting of the Conley City Council. So happy that you're all here. We will begin with an invocation and be led by Julie Hardwick with in our pledge of allegiance. Please rise. Dear most gracious and heavenly father, thank you for giving us the opportunity to be here today. Thank you for be being be dying on the cross for our salvation. And dear Lord, I ask that you take the darkness and the hate out of out of people's hearts and fill it with love and joy and happiness. And dear God, please bless this council, bless the city staff and our citizens as we try to guide and make the best decisions possible for the city. Amen.

Amen. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Miss Hardwick. Thank you, mayor. We'll entertain a motion relative to the consent agenda if there is one. Miss Buller and Mr. White. I make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Thank you. Is there Mr. White? Second.

We have a properly seconded motion to approve the consent agenda. Uh all in favor, please indicate so with a showing of your hand. Motion carries unanimously. Uh moving forward to item four, special presentations. The first is the longevity awards presentation for January 2026. Mr. Em, I've asked Mr. Goldfinch to assist. Many years ago, our city council created a program to recognize our employees on when they reach milestones with the city of Conway. And tonight, we're really lucky to be able to recognize two of those milestones. The first is Nikki Richardson. Nikki, if you'll join us up here, Nikki was hired in 2021 as a community service officer. She was promoted to a part-time victim's advocate in 2021 and was promoted to full-times victim victim advocate in 2022. Congratulations on your 5 years at the city.

Nikki, thank you for your service. 20 more. Next, celebrating 25 years in the city of Conway is Chief Jason Perszan. Chief, you come up. Jason Perszan was hired in 2001 as a firefighter 1. In 2002, he was promoted to firefighter three. I'm not sure what happened to firefighter 2. In 2006, he was promoted to fire sergeant. And in 2008 to fire lieutenant in 2012 to fire captain. in 2021 to deputy fire chief and in 2025 he was promoted to his current position as interim director of interim director of emergency management and fire chief. He was also the 2020 public safety employee of the year. Congratulations on 20 years 25 years.

Jason, here's to 25 more. Next on the agenda is a proclamation honoring Black History Month. Mrs. Cheryl Moore Adamson requested this proclamation. I'll ask her to join me and anyone else who feels that they should. proclamation honoring Black History Month. Whereas the estimated 410 years of existence on American soil by descendants of the African continent began with enslavement and has moved beyond a US presidency. This history is worthy of note. And whereas surviving the horror of slavery followed by Jim Crow laws, hiring and pay disparity, racial profiling, house housing discrimination, and every tactic new and repeated designed to marginalize black people is testament to the strength and resilience, faith, and fortitude of black Americans. And whereas current day attempts to erase this unique and hope inspiring history by censorship require that truths be told and maintained for future generations. And whereas despite all efforts to depict black Americans as a lesser race, this group has excelled as inventors and writers and in medicine, law, education, science, business, engineering, fine

arts and every other discipline. And whereas this is the 100th anniversary of Black History Month, having been established in 1926 to direct a spotlight on black Americans who have made substantial contributions to our country and the world with activism and achievements. Therefore, by the power vested in me by the residents of Conway, South Carolina, I hereby proclaim that the month of February 2026 is Black History Month. I encourage all to begin or continue to study black history in the United States. Be aware of of critical and critical of racism. Always consider personal merit above race when assessing human beings and witness whereof I've set my hand and cause the seal of the city of Conway, South Carolina to be affixed the 17th day of February in the year of our Lord 2026. It has been attested to by the city clerk, Alicia Shelley. Thank you. I want to say thank you to Mayor Barbara Blaine and all the other members of city council. Just wanted to invite you all to observe some of the pictures that have been put here by the history committee of the Whittymore Race Path Historical Society. Invite you to look at them and to learn from them and ask us questions of them. We'd also like to invite you on Saturday at 11:45 a.m. to the Ory County Museum to join us in a conversation where we're going to begin

a pictorial history of African-Americans in Orie County. Our history is of course worth celebrating and preserving and we would appreciate your support in doing that. Thank you again.

Thank you. Thank you. Item C, County Downtown Alive's annual visitor center update. Miss Hillary Howard. Hi there, Hillary Howard, executive director, Conway Downtown Alive. Um, I know you have a full agenda, so I just want to give you a quick update on the contract for services with Conway Downtown Alive and the Conway Visitor Center. Just want to say it is an honor for Conway Downtown Alive to represent the city. Um, when speaking are to our new residents and I know is the mic picking up? I don't know. Our new residents and potential visitors. Okay. So, staff members staff the visitor center with um qualified ambassadors and they also um attend a lot of off-site community events and they represent the city at those events. They also lead um tours for our numerous groups that come through. Conway Downtown Alive has developed a mural guide, a rainy day guide, a walk park map, and a Conway critter card to distribute to all our guests at the visitor center. And we are still doing those pink twohour parking t park not parking tickets it's a parking tag so you don't get a ticket in the two-hour zone. So if you come to the visitor center you you can get that that little pink tag and allows you to park in that 2hour zone um and enjoy all that Conway has to offer. In 2025 we welcome visitors from 45 states. So we didn't have this is always my favorite thing who didn't come to see us in Conway because everyone came this year. Um, we had did not have anyone from Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma or Wyoming. Um, 80% of our visitors came from South Carolina. And then when you go down looking at those percentages,

those next big percentages are North Carolina, no surprise there. Um, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, those Midatlantic states. That's where we see most of our visitors from. And we also had guests this year from Canada, Mexico, many different countries in Europe and the Philippines. Um, in 2025, the visitor centers welcomed 5,782 guests. That's an average of 29 guests per operating day. Um, and I want to talk to you about social media and the website numbers for just a moment. Um, so we maintain a social media platform on Facebook for the visitor center. We also have a visitor center page on the Conway Alive website that is city logo branded, color branding. Um, also has a juicer app that populates um, all those that Facebook information. So this website sees approximately 15,000 to 48,000 sessions a month and most of those sessions come from folks in Conway. Then we have Atlanta, Charlotte, and Raleigh. So looking at those numbers, it's very interesting. So 23 to 24 when you look at that website page, users were up 20%, views were up 20%. 24 to 25, users were up 18%, views were up 22%. So from 23 to 26, users were up a total of 25%, views were up 22%. So what does this tell us? So you know, visitor engagement has moved online. Visitor engagement is right here, right? This is where people are planning their trips. And even more telling is perhaps with those social media numbers on that visitor center Facebook page. the last quarter of 2025, 100% increase in that traffic on that Facebook page from 5,000 to 10,000 just that last quarter. Again, people are doing their planning online. They're doing their planning on their phone. Um, most of the folks that do come in the visitors center now, they have just moved here. They are planning on moving here. They moved here three to

six months ago. This is a trend I think is going to continue. Um, we are moving all of our paper brochures to website access. We're implementing QR codes whenever possible and we're putting um our maps online as well to respond to all this increase in online versus the physical traffic. Um, as on the marketing side, what's driving that um online traffic? We're seeing ads in Visit magazine and we also do a robust geoence fencing campaign um at the marshwalk, Broadway at the beach and barefoot landing. And that geo fencing campaign has 645,000 impressions. We expect a retargeting to the website of about 20,000 and that's still staying with the industry standard that click-through rate at 0.09%. As you know, we manage Fifth and Main for um the city and since 2017 the numbers have really been the same at Fifth and Maine. We have two to three rentals a month. Um so 2025 we had 25 event rentals at Fifth and Maine. 2026 through May we already have 18 booked. So I think 2026 is going to be a little higher, 25 a little lower, but always equals about to about the same two to three a month. So that's my quick rundown.

Do you have any questions? Yes, sir. Mr. Gold, when when do you have time to sleep? There's no time for sleeping in Conway. We're very busy here in Conway. All of us are. All of us are. Um I I do want to save this for later, but since you're here and you may depart, um congratulate you on this past weekend. Oh, thank you. Thank you.

Um you know, a couple years ago, we started talking about not only here, but at board meetings about shifting our focus from fundraising and you know, let's do an event to raise money. And we started talking about this thing called quality of life events. And I love that term. I don't know who came up with it. I'm gonna take it. I'm gonna claim it. But um this past weekend was a quality of life event for not just Conwayites, but for people who live out. I mean, even in the rain, I met people that drove in that wanted to see something really unique and interesting, and it's a fantastic way to showcase our community. I'm even more proud of to to be a resident here, but proud to be a part of the organization. Keep up the good work. I really looking forward to next year.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. We Yeah. Yeah. I mean, after dancing in the rain for 5 hours, there's got to be a next year, right? Yeah, definitely. And we're looking forward, um, the city's going to help us f pull that Placer data so we can get our exact numbers. Um, but there's about a three-day lag time. So, since the event was Sunday, we're looking forward to seeing those numbers once they come out. Yes, sir. And could that be expanded to other parts of the city as well? Um, it needs to be, in my opinion, safely walkable. So it can be a grouping of a residential area anywhere in the city as long as they're every every house touches basically if that makes sense. Mhm. Putting me on the news.

Any other questions? Thank you all so much. Thank you. Item D is an update on the 20 2526 Mayor's Youth Advisory Council, Mr. Rogers and Junior Mayor Skyler Platt.

Good afternoon. Uh, as you know, uh, we are in the third year of the mayor's youth advisory council. Uh, I'm not going to steal any thunder from this presentation, so I won't give you too much of a rundown, but it has been a very beneficial group to have in the city. I want to publicly thank the school district and the high school. Uh, we have the high school representative, Miss Amber Schubri, here uh, today. And, uh, so it is my pleasure to introduce the junior mayor of Conway, Skyler Platt. Good afternoon everyone and mayor and members of the city council. I'm so honored to give you guys an update this afternoon on what the mayor's youth advisory council

I apologize but you're softspoken. Can you hear me now? It's real difficult for people in the rear to hear you and for people online. If you'll try to speak up a little bit speak up a little bit and directly into the mic that will help. I'm so sorry I had to. Are you okay? Is this a little better?

Yes. Thank Okay, so I'm really honored to give you guys an update this afternoon on what the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council has been up to. This year's youth council has met with several department heads and learned about what different departments do for the citizens of Conway. We've learned a lot from the solid waste director, the human resources director, and the fire chief among others. And we're continuing the work of previous youth councils and will soon begin work on a new mural at the riverfront park. We're also working on developing a recycling program for the high school which hasn't actively recycled since CO which was about six years ago. This will help divert thousands of pounds of trash from going into the landfill every year. And we also help host and plan a toy drive and a movie night at the terrace in December. We sent several toys to Toys for Tots as well as about $50 that we raised from selling concessions. but we want to do even more and we're hoping to make this year's community project a fundraising drive and we'll work out all the details on that and let you know our plans very soon. This month we also reviewed and made recommendations on several items that will be made up for your consideration at your budget retreat. I want you to know that a lot of debate and consideration went into our recommendations and we're thrilled to give our input into projects that will shape the future of Conway. and thank you so much for giving us this opportunity to serve our city and have our voices heard.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Um, Mayor Platt, I didn't ask if anybody had any questions for you. Uh, so are there any questions or comments for the junior mayor? May I have one, please? Uh, Junior Mayor, have you decided on the design of the mural yet or is that still top secret? So, the mural, it is top secret, but the mural was made up last year by the youth council and the girl who did it, it was her idea. She made everything up. So, we're having her come back and she's going to help us create the mural. Congratulations. Thank you for your good work. Of course. Is there any other questions?

Mr. White, any are there any others with you? No, not today. But we have several amazing members. We have Kate Anabinet, Riley Batson, Reese Richardson, Evely Grayson Wills. Yeah. And some others. Thank you, ma'am. Anyone else? I got a question. Yes, sir. Mr. Goldfish, what's been your biggest thing you've learned? Maybe like you thought this, but it was actually that. what sort of like just you know surprised you or pleased you or

honestly I think that it's easy to look over all the things that go into making sure that every citizen has what they need. Like we discussed doing um a 4-day work week and at first everybody was like obviously like this is a yes like we need to do this but then we thought about it and there are people who they work all week or their kids schedules won't allow them to go in on a Thursday so they need that Friday to be able to go into the city departments and do things like pay their taxes and I think that it just kind of opens your eyes to see that not everybody's lifestyles are the same and there are so many different things that people need that you have to cater to when you're running a city. Absolutely. That's awesome. Of course. Any other questions?

And and I applaud you on the recycling and starting that back up because I think that was a big that is a great service to our environment and it's a tough one to to actually do in the schools. So, congratulations. Thank you. You may be a model for other schools. Hopefully, we hope to be. Thank you so much for Thank you guys.

Thank you FOR BEING HERE. ITEM E is a discussion of a request to reszone five and 281 100s acres of property located at 2578 highway 378 from Highway commercial to heavy industrial district. I don't know your name. Sorry. Uh your what is your name? I am Charlotte Peterson. I'm so sorry. No worries. I'm glad you're here. Thank you.

Thank you. This property is currently zoned highway commercial and the applicant is requesting to reszone the property to the heavy industrial district which is a district intended to accommodate heavy manufacturing, distribution, and processing uses. The applicant has applied for a business license to display and sell heavy equipment. Similar uses that are identified in the UDO, such as storage shed sales and manufactured or modular home sales, are only permitted within the light and heavy industrial districts. Heavy equipment includes large-scale earthmoving construction equipment such as bulldozers, excavators, cranes, graders, compactors, forklifts, and similar equipment, including attachments for such equipment. As such, the zoning administrator determined that the proposed use could not be permitted in the highway commercial district, prompting requests to reszone the property. The city's future land use map designates the property as highway commercial which is intended for a autoor oriented commercial development along major arterial roads and highway corridors. The adjacent properties on either side are zoned highway commercial. However, their existing uses are more industrial in character as and while not directly across from the subject property. There are properties located on Highway 378 that are zoned um heavy industrial upon being annexed and other property that contains a similar use but currently in the county's jurisdiction. Planning commission will hold a public hearing on the request at their March 5th meeting and their recommendation will be forwarded at the first reading of the ordinance to reszone the property. This is just a discussion item. I'd be happy

to answer any questions you may have. Thank you, Miss Peterson. U my first concern is that should this property become high high industrial heavy industrial that if the intended current use uh goes out of business then uh how close does that sit to anything residential? Um, it's about two parcels away from a residential use. Um, yes there. That's Michaela. It's not very far from the R1 district. That is my concern still.

And thank you, ma'am. Um, who who's the uh who's the applicant on this? Okay. It's Richardson and Company.

Okay. All right. So, on one hand, this makes sense in the in the sense that there's there's industrial surrounding it. So, we're sort of grouping that together. I think a little bit of of my heartache comes in. You know, we have we are spending and continue to spend so much money to try and make that gateway corridor look nice. And you know, if it's a storefront like what's demonstrated on the photograph up there on the TV screen, that's one thing. And you know, and I know they're used and it's light industrial in the back, but more of a retail application up front. It looks nice.

That doesn't have to be the case with heavy industrial. We know that it can be anything essentially rock crushing. Yes. Right. So, do we want I'm just asking. Yes, sir. And correct me if I'm wrong, but even though the uses might have an industrial feel to them, they're not zoned industrial around it, right? They're all highway commercial. Yes, it's highway commercial on that side of the street. Um, across the way and a couple of parcels over, there are heavy industrial uses, but the future land use map does identify it as highway commercial.

I think I'm with you a little. It gives me a little heartburn. Anyone else? Has the res I'm sorry, Mr. White. Has the residents in that area been notified that this was possibly not? Yes. Everyone within 5 200 ft has been notified. Thank you. Anyone else? Just going hard. And if I read this correctly, um they're looking at heavy machinery. That is what would push it into the industrial.

Yes. And we cannot have, just for point of clarification, we cannot have um even though it's a three or $500,000 piece of equipment, we can't have that type of heavy equip industrial equipment in a highway commercial. Interesting dilemma. Thank you. We have a lot to think about. Fortunately, no decision today. Thank you so much.

Yes. Uh, we'll move on to item E. I'm sorry. Item 5A. First reading of ordinance ZA 20260428A to annex approximately 1 and 8100s of a of an acre of property located off of Case Bay Highway. Hi, good afternoon. I'm Nancy Alvarez. I'm an assistant. How do you do? All right. Is this okay? Can everybody hear me? Yes.

Okay. Um, so this property is part of the Ory County Sandridge Park off of Kates Bay Highway. The subject property has been owned by the Sanridge Community Improvement Council Incorporated since 1981. It is accessed via a private easement road off of Kates Bay Highway, not a public road. And so the parcel is adjacent to the Newcastle subdivision zoned R1, which is a low medium residential, and that's in city limits. Additionally, the property abuts the proposed Conway perimeter road. The property currently contains picnic tables and a covered picnic structure. The applicant is within a city utility service area and has previously received city services. However, due to a prolonged lapse in service, city public utilities are requiring a new service connection prompting the annexation application. So, should council approve first reading of the ordinance to annex the subject property, planning commission will hold a public hearing on the requested zoning at their April 2nd meeting. Given the fact that the property is owned by San Ridge Community Improvement Council Incorporated and used in conjunction with an Ory County Park and does not have adequate frontage from a public road. Staff is currently against the annexation of the property at the time. I'll be happy to answer any questions if you may have them.

Thank you. I'll move that we deny annexation at this time. Mr. White, I um miss uh second. You were just going to second the motion. Are there any comments or questions? Yes. A comment also uh has the residents in that area not have to keep going back to that. Have they been notified that this was a possibility of the annexation um for this property? It was not because it has not had a public hearing yet. Thank you. Mhm. Anyone else?

We'll call a question. We'll call a vote then. All in favor of denial of this signation, please raise your hand. Uh motion carries unanimously. Item B is first reading of ordinance ZA 20260316D to approximately to reszone approximately an acre of property at 3000 highway 378 from Ory County Highway commercial district to city of Conway highway commercial district. Yes. Uh Miss Hux, good evening. The real one.

Um first reading to annex. This property was approved at the January 5th council meeting. The property was previously used as a car dealership and it was sold in October of last year. Restrictive covenants have been on file since 1991 and as part of the annexation process, the property must be assigned a city zoning district upon annexation. The current zoning of the property is Ory County Highway commercial and the requested zoning upon annexation is also Highway Commercial. Planning Commission held the required public hearing and recommended approval of the district. Thank you, Mr. Alex. Mr. Goldfinch. Mayor, I move that we approve first reading of set ordinance. Is there a second? Mel,

I second his motion. We have a properly seconded motion to uh approve first reading. Uh comments or questions? Anyone? There being none, we'll call a vote. All in favor, please indicate such with the showing of your hand. Motion carries unanimously. Item D, first read C, first reading of ordinance ZA 20260316E to reszone approximately 43100s of an acre of property at 1322 and 1324 Cottage Lane from Ory County Highway commercial district to city of Conway low to medium density residential district or alternatively city of Conway highway commercial district. Miss Huts.

Yes, ma'am. Um, this is a little bit unique. Uh first reading to annex the properties were approved at the January 5th council meeting. Both properties contain a single family dwelling and are owned by the same individual. Restrictive covenants were recorded for the parcels in November of 2025. Cottage Lane is one of the most notable doughnut holes within the city's boundaries. However, the annexation of these two parcels along with an abuing parcel will almost completely close the gap, leaving just one remaining undeveloped parcel that will be subject to annexation. The applicant requested to annex as low medium density residential or R1 and the Ory County's version of the highway commercial district permits single family residential. However, the property is completely surrounded by highway commercial and the city's future land use map identifies the properties as highway commercial. Annexation as highway commercial does not prohibit the current use of the property, but it does prohibit expansion of the current use. Planning Commission held a public hearing on the request at their February 5th meeting in which both the R1 and the highway commercial district were considered and recommended approval of the highway commercial district upon annexation and staff also recommends approval

of R1 or highway commercial of highway commercial. I see. Um I think that is different from what we have written. Oh, is it? Yeah. It said staff recommends approval of first reading to reszone the subject property. No, no, no. At R1 upon annexation. Oh. Oh. But we're just doing the annexation. We'll come back to the zoning.

Yeah. So, annexation. So, if first reading of the zoning is approved, um well, this is this is um actually the reasonzoning portion. You've had first reading on the annexation. So, at the next meeting, both will come back for final reading together. Yes. Thank you, ma'am. Uh, Mr. White, would there be first reading? Thank you, sir. Is there a second? Mr. G, Mr. Jordan, there probably second a motion to approve first reading of Mayor, before you call the question, is that first reading of it to go to R1 or to go to highway commercial? To highway commercial. So, yeah. Are we doing Yeah, this is this is first reading for the

for highway commercial. for Highway Commercial. Okay. Not for the NX. So, Mr. White, was that your motion? I just wanted to be clarified because there is a concern. I think it is. I think it's a mis I think it might be a misprint. The applicant requested R1 and that's probably why it was written that way is because it was what was actually requested. But we advertised both districts and planning commission did recommend highway commercial instead. So you're when you get the ordinances for final reading, the correct um zoning district that staff and planning commission and council approved will be in that ordinance.

Now does that mean that these current residences cannot be replaced should they what's there is there destroyed. It's legal in it's legal nonconforming. So what's there is there um but you cannot expand it and if it's more than 50% um destroyed it could not be rebuilt. It shouldn't matter but do you have any sense of how long those properties have been held by current owners? the current owners just um not long because that she um had to do restrictive covenants in November of last year.

It would have caused me some heartburn if this had been generational property and and now we're saying that they can't rebuild. Okay. Thank you so much. Yeah. Yes, sir. Please. I need to change my motion then to hurry commercial rather than auto. Who was the second? Thought you had Thank you, sir. Thank you so much. Thank you all.

Properly seconded motion to approve uh the reszoning of this property from what is currently R1 to Highway commercial. Any other questions or comments? There being none, all in favor, please indicate such with a showing of your hand. Motion carries unanimously. Item D, first reading of ordinance ZA 202260316F to reszone approximately 22100s of an acre of property at 1326 Cottage Lane from Ory County Highway commercial to Conway Highway commercial district. Miss H. Mr. Motion mayor I move that we approve uh first reading set.

I'll second that motion. Uh other comments or questions? There being none, all in favor, please show your hand. Motion carries unanimously. Uh item E, uh Mr. Dudley is first reading of ordinance 2026 0316G, an ordinance authorizing the relinquishment of an existing waterline easement and the acceptance of a new 30 foot wide waterline easement associated with relocation and upsizing of a city of county water transmission line related to Santi Cooper's substation project owned by the South Carolina public service authority Santi Cooper and identified with the stated Ed Pins. Um, sounds like everybody's got a hand in this, Mr. Bradley. We'll we'll listen to your summation.

This ordinance is the first reading to address the relocation of a city water line due to Santi Cooper's new electrical substation project off of Liz Lane behind the food line on 701 South. During construction, our existing water line confflicted with the substation footprint and was relocated. As part of the project, the city upsized the line to a 30-in transmission main to improve capacity and long-term reliability. The new line is installed and fully operational. Because the line has been relocated, a portion of the original easement is no longer needed. The ordinance allows the city to release the unused easement back to Santi Cooper and accept a new 30-foot easement for the relocated line. This simply updates the legal documentation to reflect what is already in place and ensures continued access, operation, and maintenance. Staff recommends approval.

I move I recommend that we or I move that we approve this ordinance. Miss there's a properly seconded motion, but there is time for discussion and questions if there are any. All right, there being none. All in favor, please show your hand. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, Mr. Dudley.

Item 6A uh is consideration of approval for an extension to the non-exclusive franchise agreement issued to Randle's Culinary Creations mobile food truck at the parking lot located at 7 Elm Street. Ms. Wilkerson. Hello, council. Um Mr. Benny Randall was granted a franchise agreement in January of last year for one year um with the option of it being revisited by council. He has submitted an application um to extend the franchise agreement. Um Mr. Benny Randall was part of some of the special events that we did and um we've had no complaints um on where he set up and I'm not sure if he's here. I don't think he made it to this meeting. Thank you so much, Miss Wilkerson. Um trying to

Yes, sir. Did you make a recommendation? I'm so sorry. Did you make a recommendation? The staff recommends approval. Okay. All right. Very good. I didn't read that. Um, whose hand was up? Sorry, Mr. White. And how long is this agreement for? Who would have you expanded to?

Well, we could do it for another year and revisit it again or you could do it for the remaining term of the franchise, which will be four years, whichever way you guys would like to go. And is there any reason you would uh uh lead us against uh continuation for four years? You've got a good one-year history. Is there anything else we should think about uh as we determine whether to extend for one year or four? Um not unless the city has something planned for that area.

Mr. Um Thank you, mayor. Um, yeah. I mean, it sounds like sounds like he he needs to keep operating. Question. When we started this, so a year ago, these whole the whole food truck uh concept was relatively new. We're still trying to figure it out. You know, how the logistics are going to work and all the issues that may arise as this continues to sort of progress and we have a better feel for what's going on. Mhm. Is it possible to, you know, for staff if if you know, if we say we going to do this one year, I'm just thinking out loud, mayor, this one year probationary period, if you will, right? If staff is good with it after a year,

you just sort of sign almost like you do with these repeat special event permits that we do the same thing every year and that way you don't have to bother coming to us with it. You can just stamp it and move on. We probably need an ordinance change to do that for because this is a franchise agreement. It's a little bit different because they're using city property. I think there's really not a great mechanism to just let staff approve these. That's fine. That's posing the question. We do have staff level approval on general food trucks that go on private property and that's in the ordinance as well. So that's why you'll get I think you've got like 60 of them something like that that are out there right now. 75. 75 that are approved and you only see the couple that come for franchise agreements.

Okay. There you go. Well, I'll make a motion, mayor, that that we approve um uh last uh we are 68 I mean, sorry, 6B 68 68. Sorry. Thank you. Uh I would make a motion, if I may, that we approve um the extension of this franchise agreement up to the four years and Okay. And I know what's in there if something goes ary or goes foul that the city can move in and do what they need to do. Yes, sir. Is there a second? Mr. Wag, I second.

All right. Probably seconded motion to approve the extension of this franchise agreement. Miss Hardwick, just point of clarification. Um, well, did we did we just bump this to a four five-year contract or was it originally it was originally a one-year sort of trial contract and we are capable of renewing for up to four years.

Correct. Um, okay. Mr. Gfinch mentioned that and I think it's important that if during those four years staff is dissatisfied, if there are rules not being followed, if there are issues that come to bear that it is not an automatic continuation, right, it can be stopped and there's verbiage to that extent in the franchise agreement. To save staff time and bringing it before the council, his recommendation is that we extend for the full four years. Thank you. You're welcome. He's a business owner too. So it gives him a chance or her whomever it is, you know, to plan and prepare beyond 12 months. So I Yes,

I'll second that motion. I don't know that there's never mind. I did you already? I'm sorry. You have a second already. We have a second already. Um third. I third it. Anybody have any comments or questions? There being none, uh, all in favor of the 4-year extension, uh, please show your hand. Motion carries unanimously. We are now at item 6B, consideration of the purchase of a hydro seedar for the public works department. Mr. Harson,

thank you. forget about you uh mayor and council for those that may not be familiar with one hydro seedar is a machine that we use that mixes uh grass seed mulch fertilizer with water and it creates a thick slurry that we spray on the ground to establish vegetation and help with erosion control public works would like to replace the 2001 model uh hydro cedar currently on since May of 2023 we spent a little over $7,000 um on this particular unit. Um, parts for this model are becoming hard to find and unavailable due to the 25-y year age of equipment. The cost of a new hydro seedar is estimated at $65,000. Uh, local uh vendor dos equipment has a used 2025 model available with 128 hours and 18 months of warranty left for $54,997.20. The money would be reallocated from available funds of the street and stormwater budget accounts. Staff recommends to approve the purchase of hydro seed from dos equipment.

I have a question please. That 140 some odd hours is that uh like my my automobile measures miles. Is this actual hours that the machine is being used? Yes, ma'am. Engine hours. Okay. And that's considered a very small number of hours. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Mr. Dwight, may I move that we approve the purchase of this item? Thank you, sir. Is there a second? We're going to go with the option, the the used option. Are you talking about the the new one or the one that he gets at a reduced cost? The used one. Okay. Mel, I'll second this motion. Probably second a motion to approve this purchase. Are there any other questions or comments? Mr. G,

question. Is there any Bryson? Is there any salvage value on the the one we've got now or is it nobody wants it? uh you possibly could get a little bit out of it, but probably not much with the uh leaks and everything it's got now. A lot of the repairs we've had to make recently were like custom fabricated, so it's kind of getting towards homemade this thing. Yeah. Okay. Custom fabrication. We know what that is. There's no part number on it. Well, I'm glad we got that level of ingenuity

in the city. Um, we have a properly seconded motion. Unless there are more questions or comments, we'll call a vote. All in favor, please show your hand. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you so much, Mr.

We're now at item seven, public input. We have two people coming. Uh, I just have a few comments to make. Um, your, uh, comments to the city council will be limited to 3 minutes. Uh, we ask that you give your name and address, that you speak directly into the microphone. uh and that you discuss anything except that that has to do with an individual employee. Um public input is not interactive, so we won't go back and forth, but just know that you're being heard. Uh first, Miss Lizzie Marlo, if you'd come forward, please. Lisa Marlo 1516 Law Street Conway. I'm here to give details on issue number two. satanic attack on me at administrative office door, 3rd Avenue on Wednesday 10:22 around noon. As I reached to open that door, this awful noise I had never heard before shocked me. And this dark thing from above descended and enveloped me. If id had a weak heart, I would have died right there. I was so much in shock, I went on in the administrative building and asked for info that I went there for. I then drove to police complex to report

this criminal act. I waited to be seen till I had to leave because I take care of my 94 year old husband. I did not realize I was in shock till later that night because ordinarily I would have reacted very loudly. The next morning I went to police complex and reported the incident to an officer and was told that the person would pass on info to captain and chief. I checked each day for status and finally I was told no criminal act but civil. Take up with the city. In the past that had been useless because I have been denied apartments and reasonable phone calls on ordinance issue. Later I contacted council member about this and person uh said not even aware of all this abominal action in the city. This member was going into an executive meeting on Monday 113:25 and would get back to me, which didn't happen. To be continued showing intent, means, and opportunity

to do bodily harm. Father God, thank you for your word that is all truth. Help us to hear it and obey it in Jesus' name. Amen.

Thank you, Miss Marlo. Also listed today is Miss Tanya Robinson. If you'd come forward, please. Tanya Robinson, 14037th Avenue, Conway. Good evening, Mayor and members of council. The Whitmore community is not simply a parcel on a map. It represents generations of education, culture, African-American heritage within the city of Conway. The city's own planning documents have acknowledged the cultural importance of this area even when federal designation was not pursued. That acknowledgment carries responsibility. In May 2023, the city halted the redevelopment RFP process and stated it was going back to the drawing board. Yet a conceptual master plan for Whitmore Park prepared by Hannah Engineering is dated June 2023, just one month later. That timeline underscores the need for clarity about when this concept was developed, how it fits into the reset process and how preservation considerations were incorporated. The comprehensive planned and land use element were developed through professional guidance, stakeholder engagement and public sessions. Those documents call not only for zoning consistency and land use alignment, but also for thoughtful protection of historically and culturally significant areas. Preservation does not mean resisting progress. It means ensuring that redevelopment honors community history rather than erasing it. It means evaluating how new construction impacts the cultural identity of the surrounding neighborhood. It means asking whether

interpretation, memorization, design sensitivity, or community centered alternatives have been meaningfully considered. Before advancing a sports complex or any major use, it is important that the city clearly demonstrates how the proposal aligns with preservation goals with the comprehensive plan, whether the future land use designation supports the proposed scale and intensity. What steps have been taken to document and respect the site's cultural history? What formal engagement rem formal public engagement remains before final decisions are made? The Wigmore site is part of Conway's story. Decisions about its future should reflect not only economic considerations, but the preservation commitments already acknowledged in the city's adopted plans. Thank you for your time and your service to the community.

Thank you, Miss Robinson. Item eight is the city administrator's report. Mr. Emerch. Good afternoon. Good afternoon.

A reminder that the budget retreat is just a few weeks away and I know that we've had a request for packets as soon as possible. We hope to start printing them next week. As soon as they're available, we'll let you know. Um we can either pick them up or drop them by your house. Um we had some very large crowds for Valentine's Day last weekend. Unfortunately, the rain kind of dampened things on Sunday, but I don't think I've ever seen a busier week in February than last week in Conway. The data will show it, I'm sure, when we get the place for data for last week for the full week, but we've not been able to do that yet. Um, the decorations and gondola will continue running through this weekend. We'll then do a small amount for St. Patrick's Day, a little bit more than last year. St. Patrick is not a huge one. Um, and if we went too big, then we would be able to get Easter and spring up. So, you'll see St. Patrick's go up and then a few weeks later you'll see spring and Easter go up as well. Um and and that'll happen in the next few weeks. The recreation department is hosting Frozen, the winter dance for for our residents with exceptional abilities on this Saturday at 5:00 p.m. at the sports and fitness center. I'm sure they would love to see you all there and uh welcome that crowd as well. The recreation department will also host the state's largest Easter egg hunt on March 28th. This will be the second year in a row that we can claim that title. Uh, and we'll have separate hunts for childrens of all ages and abilities on that date as well. Um, I want to applaud John Rogers who's been working diligently to improve our safety stats and safety training. Part of that will include some of some safety training for council as well. And I put safety in quotes here because a little bit of it is uh more municipal government level stuff. Um, and in so doing, we'll have MASC here to do a refresher course on some city council governance things at the April 20th meeting. Um, to go over some of those things with you.

Are they going to train us in driving? No. No. You Yeah. I mean, we could try that, but some of us need it.

The um the I want to thank the owners of of the Hopping Witch Grumpy Monk Sneaky Beagle franchise. They uh reached out to us before Christmas. They had purchased a playground for their new brewery and it didn't fit on the site and they offered it to the city for free. Um it is enormous. It is awesome and it is um it's being installed right now at the recreation center adjacent to Ladybug Park. It will fill in more um play equipment for all the kids that are using the recreation center. Um and it was free and they did not ask to be acknowledged. They did not ask for naming. Um, I said that they need to come back to council and get their credit, but at this point they haven't done that, but I didn't want to let that go any longer. You all see it out there growing. You'll know what it is. It was it was an awesome donation from a local business business here. Tonight, we do have some department head reports from Timmy Williams and hospitality and beautifification and Chief Jason Perszan. U, before I bring them up, I do want to remind you we have a workshop this afternoon regarding um, historic designation of property on 15th Avenue and we also have several executive sessions. So after we complete um the council input portion, I would ask that we recess and move into the council the uh council conference room for that. And I believe there was might be a question.

Yes, sir. The dance time uh 5 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday. Dance. Thank you. Any other questions for me? That operable word. All right. Uh Timmy, do you want to start? Where's Timmy at? Thank you very much. Thank you so much, Mr. Williams. Good afternoon, Mayor City Council. Um, I got the annual report for the litter for keep conway beautiful. We got an awesome board. So, I want to share these with y'all tonight. We do have some downstairs of city hall and also I want to report that we got a full staff. So, my department is doing well

and and your and your department your department your department is also delivering well. Thank you so much. Y'all have any more questions for me? All is good. I think Mr. Have a good night. Chief President,

good evening, Mayor Council. Just wanted to give a brief summary of where we stand uh from our year report and going into the new year as well as budget. So we've pulled some uh data from our reporting systems. Uh just to give you an overview of where we're at, we started reporting to which is the uh national emergency response information systems coming from NIFers which is the national I'm sorry NFRS is the national emergency response information system. nearest is the national emergency response um kind I'm confusing myself here uh information regardless um so what that means is the ners was asking for codes versus where the actual incident types were actually incident types in uh plain language so what we've done is we've done an analysis on the last two years where we stand cleaning up some of the codes we were using to get some cleaner data. Uh which we found in 2024 our structure fires were working structure fires were 53 versus uh much lower numbers we initially reporting. And in 2025 we finished out with 58 working structure fires which again uh we were under reporting just based on human error and uh technicalities and some coding. Um our dispatches dispatch to structure fires are much higher than that uh as you all know. So that being said, uh we did determine in 2024 we've grown to 4238 incidents um annually between three fire stations. In 2025, we've grown to 4572. So that was an increase of 334 incidents uh from 2024 to 2025. And that's a 7.9% growth. So these are just some numbers I wanted

to put together in anticipation for budget retreat and I'll open up for questions if anybody has any. Thank you so much Mr. President Mr. White with the expansion of um the growth expansion of the community are we um just do we have enough staff for so that's currently being analyzed by the consultant and you'll have some of that information in fact you should have all that information in your uh packets for retreat. Thank you sir. Thank you. Oh, not so fast. But you did great. This is your first time up here, I think. Uh first time in this official capacity. Yes, official capacity. That's right. Um structure fire, house on fire, right? Correct. Building on fire, whatever.

Yes. There's a vehicle on fire. But if you get a call to a house and they think the house is on fire, but you get there and it's the microwave or the something was left on the stove, that's that doesn't go into that 53 or 58. That does not. And that's what I was emphasizing with the um additional dispatches to structure fires is much higher. This is actually the working fire. And the working fire to us is a confirmation of an actual fire. Right. And as we continue, like I I know that we had some some some some wildfires in the county this week, I think, that we helped out with. Yeah.

Um, and I always ask this question, but I keep I'll always ask it because I think it's important. If we're going outside of our main area, I know we have a contract area that's bigger. H how would you, if someone asked you, they said, "Chief, um, that's great. you're going to help someone else. They need help and we want to help them. But what what what what if something happens to my house while you're over here in the county doing something else? How would you respond or how should I respond to that individual? So, it's really reciprocal. Honestly, we actually ask county to leave their areas and help us out on a very regular basis and we return the favor. We do a little bit of resources going out and one of the fires you mentioned was actually in Conway Fire Department's coverage area. Um, we did have the other one that we assisted to, which was also, uh, adjacent to city limits as well. And so, uh, this is, I would call it a once a year occurrence, as I was explaining to somebody over the weekend, to where things do happen and we kind of have to rely on each other, uh, and support each other to get through these tough times.

But that reciprocity is really important to us. It's extremely important because Yeah, I would imagine we need them as much as they need us. Absolutely. Thank you. Anyone else? Thanks so much, Chief. Thank you.

And uh we are now at item nine, council input. We will begin this afternoon with Miss Julie Hardwick. Thank you, mayor. I just want to say, you know, I have I am continuously so impressed by the city staff and what you do each and every day. Uh, I I love seeing the smiles and talking to the folks of what's happening um in and around our our city and how it is growing and the opportunities that are that are available for us. Um, I'm going to keep mine short and but uh thank y'all for everything. I hope everybody had a great Valentine's weekend. Thank you so much, Mr. Jordan.

Thank you, Mayor. I just thank uh all the city staff that's been involved with, you know, another great holiday event around here and uh and also with everyone that was involved with our what's become annual snowstorm. Um so, um you know, we cancelled our last meeting, but you know, appreciate all of our staff for that. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Mr. Gold, mayor, I've said enough tonight. I don't have anything else. Thank you, Mr. White. Are you serious? NO. I know, right?

I just want to add that I'm I'm pleased with what the city does downtown as well, but can we spread the love to other parts of the community, the city as well, please? Thank you. Thank you, Miss Bell.

Thank you. Um, real quick, I want to thank the Woodmore Race Path Historic Society for the displays that they have today. Thank you for sharing those with us. Um, I also wanted to um recognize the Conway High School basketball team. Uh, the boys won the first round of playoffs last night and they will compete for the second round on Friday. And then today, the girls basketball team is actually competing right now uh well in an hour in their first round for the playoffs. So, I want to personally thank them for representing Conway on a good note. Um, and then of course I want to give a special shout out to Skyler who is here from the mayor's council. Um, thank you for doing a great job today. Yes. Thank you, ma'am. And now,

um, I don't have much to say either. I will say Ashley's father daughter dance was over 600 people, so that was pretty well um, attended and I appreciate the hard work of his staff. Um, they always make him look good, but he is a good boss. Um, I did talk to him a little bit about community centers, fields, and that kind of stuff. And I do think that we're going to touch on that at budget retreat. So, it's not that we're not listening. We're just going to try to do our due diligence at budget retreat when we have more than five or six minutes to to talk about it in front of the citizens. Um, also, I do want to thank staff. I'm looking forward to a budget retreat and doing good things for the city. I appreciate that.

Thank you, Miss H. Um, can I say something? I apologize, but Sky was whenever you were up and I asked were there any others with you? We have two staffs. They you two ladies. I thought they were with you where I asked that question. Thank Charlotte and Nancy. They're our new new planners in the planning department. So, you'll see a lot more of them. I was waiting for them to One day they'll appreciate

One day they'll be they'll appreciate being mistaken for high school students. Yeah. Uh I um that's a compliment.

It is. Absolutely. Yeah. They know. Um, I just uh happened to fly in from Miami Friday night and my brother hadn't seen us downtown at Valentine's and and we did a big circle. Oh my gosh, there were people everywhere. It reminded me of a certain month when you couldn't find a park and you couldn't get a meal. But um I think that uh our our own residents are really enjoying uh Valentine's decorations and the gondola rides. I haven't ridden yet this year, but how many days do we have this week? You've got this week and that's it.

Okay, I'll I'll get a gondola ride. Um, it's beautiful. And thanks to everybody who made that happen. Um, I think and I'm going to go ahead and step on everybody's toes. I was the only council member at the father dance. It was fabulous. Uh, I think often about a song uh Luther Vandross sang, "If I could dance with my father again, I can't tell you what I'd do to be able to dance with my father." I saw hundreds of girls aged probably two to 15 dancing with their dads, pulling them out on the floor, um, sometimes standing on his feet. What a beautiful, wonderful sight that was. Um, the memories that come from those nights, Ashley, that you and I'm sorry, Mr. Smith, that you and your and your staff pull together are just amazing. I don't know any better service you could do in February than that. It really made me proud. So, thank you very much. And that's all I've got to say about that. Uh, we have a workshop as has already been uh mentioned. uh during the workshop uh members of the public are welcome to come and join us. Uh we have seating for I don't know 20 people or so maybe 25. You're welcome to come. uh after which time we'll go into executive session. The the purposes for which are to consider appointments to boards, commissions, and committees pursuant to South Carolina code section 3470A1 to discuss potential contractual agreement regarding city the city's lease of property pursuant to South Carolina code section 3470 A2. and finally to discuss employment of an employee in the police department pursuant to South Carolina code section 347A1

after which time we will reconvene only if there are matters to be voted upon and uh adjourn afterwards. Um if you want to stick around to see the outcome of the executive um meetings, you certainly may do so. Um bless you. God bless you. There's another one coming. Hold up, everybody. We know from experience they come and twos. Um, feel free feel free if you will to

I can't feel free to join us in the executive session. Um, Mr. Gri, you want to say anything? Not unless you want me. Is there something you need to say? No. Do we Yeah. Tell you what. Do we need to close this motion? This You don't. We'll just move over and give you since you asked me if there's if if you'll invite me to the dance next year, I'll be your date. I don't have daughters. So, you know, I've been a time or two, but yeah, we'll do that. We'll come I'll even pick you up. All right. I'll call you. I'll call you two weeks early. Bring you a little flower to do it right. All right. Thank you very much. See you guys in a minute.

Who are they playing? We are not mayor. We have one workshop and Alan Todd is here to discuss a historic designation of 15 Avenue I believe. Uh, no.

That's a that's a that's a I'll say something about that and we'll talk about a lot obviously. Um,

so I have a little written uh statement very briefly. It's it's more to be understood as just kind of an opening um summary of of a lot of what I'm here to represent. uh that is I'm the executive director of Conway architectural salvage and heritage project and I kind of want to just provide an overview very briefly of of what we've done with kind of an open-ended uh time for conversation. Obviously I I don't know what the work I've never been a workshop I was mentioning now Barbara I don't know exactly the protocols and how we're going to proceed. Um so I'll start with the statement with the idea um while there's not a whole lot of specifics in the statement um there's a lot of specifics that I that we can discuss right so um I'll go ahead and get started um thank you all for this opportunity Barbara uh madame mayor for for for helping facilitate um this workshop my name is Alan Todd Dr. Dr. Alan Todd. I'm a professor at Coastal Carolina University and executive director of Conway Architectural Salvage and Heritage Project. As many of you know, our organization is a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to reinvesting the inherent value of historic used building materials back into the well-being of our local communities. preserve preserving the built environments, architectural and lived histories and reviving traditional crafts and skills that build healthy relationships between people, place, and planet. Construction and demolition debris accounts for nearly 40% of the total solid waste thrown away in South Carolina. Um here in Nor County, it's upwards of 60%. Deconstruction provides a ready solution to the unnecessary waste of valuable reusable building materials. Deconstruction is the careful disassembly of structures, an alternative to traditional demolition.

Our process diverts used, often historic building materials away from landfills, creates stable entrylevel jobs, and supports more sustainable construction practices. When homes and businesses are lost to demolition, so is the chance to record their histories. Alternatively, our services provide the opportunity to research, document, preserve the stories that connect people and communities. As a trained archaeologist and historian, this is something that our our nonprofit specializes in. Um, one thing I should note that's not actually here in this my my comment so far is that we don't like taking down buildings. Um, we want to see every building standing as as much as possible. We come in when the alternative is demolition and landfill and the loss complete loss of these structures.

While you take a breath. Yeah. Can we turn this off? Thank you. It's related to we had this remote so close. Thank you so much. It was just like Yeah. Yeah. I was watching myself. Uh today,

I'm just staring at my shirt. Yeah. Uh today, we have kept over 3 million pounds of reusable materials out of our landfills and recorded the history of multiple local buildings. As a grassroots organization, this work is powered by local volunteers and students working together to preserve valuable resources and local histories. Additionally, we have made extensive progress in cleaning up the Mckver Shaw Lumber Company and Ory uh Ory Ice House properties in preparation for renovation with the help of the Rogers Lewis Group out of Colombia uh preservation group. Um applications for listing on the National Register are underway as well. Opening the opportunity to access state funding for historic preservation as a base of as the base of our operations. these two sites that is to say Mckub Shaw Lumber uh uh company lumber yard as well as Ory County Ice House or Ory Ice House sorry we intend these properties to spark a beautifification and revitalization of the surrounding light industrial residential neighborhood the Mayfair neighborhood the neighborhood neighborhood's postwar development was tied to industrial businesses along the railroad tracks including the companies like Creole Oil and Gas HP Little's Brick Manufacturing Steely Plywood Mckver Shaw Lumber Company and Ory Ice Company. That is to say, these industries established and helped form the neighborhood of maker largely, not totally. There were pre-existing structures and buildings there beforehand, but it was these post World War II industries largely minus Creo Oil and Gas, which was here before, but Steelely Plywood, McKvershot, Ory Ice Company, all established by World War II vets. It was these industries that got established that then allowed these neighborhoods to start getting built up. And it's the Mckver Shaw Lumberyard which supplied the lumber and built a lot of these homes. Right. So lumberyard was established in 46. Um the original homes were originally one-story frame

houses in min minimal traditional style. Many of these homes still showcase the high quality lumber, trim, and hardware supplied again by me McKver Shaw Lumberyard. In accordance with the city of Conway's comprehensive plans, we believe in preserving the rich histories of workingclass neighborhoods such as these. We also support the work of all other local or organizations such as the Woodymore Race Path Historical Society in acknowledging and preserving a more inclusive and diverse view of Conway history. preserving these legacies of these neighborhoods whether it's Woodymore waste path area or whether it's in the area that we're speaking of which includes the industrial areas such as McKver McKvers um allows us to tell a more fuller complete picture of Conway's history one that is not simply displayed or recorded and highlighted that runs down Laurel or Elm all the way to downtown. That's all great. All of that history should be recorded, but there's so much else to Conway than this strip of land that we call downtown. The built environment allows us to tell then the stories of these people, whether it's through deconstruction or honoring the buildings themselves and how they were built. These stories allow us to pass on these skills and trades that literally built Conway as well as the traditions and lineage and allows us to project this into the future. We see that every time we either preserve or that is to say our work, we we've encountered this many times. Every time we either preserve or deconstruct a local historical building, we get visits, uh, site visits, we get calls, we get emails about the stories and the heartbreaks of Conway citizens for the loss of the historic structures that exist throughout our city.

Conway's built environment therefore contains the legacy not just of the local lumber industry but again the traditional building skills and crafts. These buildings such as this one that we're sitting in or standing be standing in right now has so many stories to tell. How for example was this bricks m brick made? The comb bricks who made them? How long did it take them to make them? How did they make the mortar? How did they place these bricks? Every piece of this building has been touched by another human being and those stories can be told. The current practice of rapid machine demolition is devastating that legacy and unnecessarily filling our landfills with treasured local resources and stories. While state and local waste authorities ring the alarm bells about the crisis our landfills have become, the status quo continues to rely on the speed and convenience of rapid demolition. In collaboration with local local organizations, however, our group is doing the tremendous work of creating an alternative model. Supporters and collaborators include the Ory County Solid Waste Authority, Conway Medical Center Foundation, CCU's Department of Sustainability, CCU Center for Marine and Wetland Studies, the American College of Building Arts in Charleston's, South Carolina Office of Resilience, South Carolina Native Plant Society, and many, many more. And we now urge the city of Conway to join our efforts in making this that is the deconstruction model an alternative to unnecessary demolition and landfilling an impactful economic model for other South Carolina communities. We have done the heavy lifting so far. We've established a deconstruction operation just off of downtown Conway at two historic sites. We've figured out the methods, the means to do all this. We have the people, we

have the training. Over the previous few years, uh, uh, our organization has trained nationally recognized deconstructionists, experts hired by preservationist minded cities such as San Antonio and Savannah. We've been asked now to consult with the city of Charleston, by the preservation society of Charleston to help them start to deal with a similar situation, which is to say the core of Charleston is fine. and it's protected great. They have a whole host of historic um preservation uh ordinances with teeth just out the outskirts when buildings start to get built in the 30s and 40s and 50s. Fair game for destruction. So now it's preservation site at Charleston which has reached out to us to begin to consult with others in the city to begin to discuss how in the cases of demolition we can save the materials and tell the stories of those buildings putting them back into reuse for future restoration. Our process therefore has become efficient, safe, and providing the honor and legacy that our communities deserve. Unfortunately, to date, past four years, not only has as the professor of Jewish studies here uh at Coastal Carolina, not only have I received anti-semitic flyers, have had calls threatening my life, have been threatened by staff, city staff, in addition to having um the threats of demolition of McKvers. The story goes on. It has been a series of obstructions with a few small noticeable attempts to work with us. This has been compounded by the fact that I have been involved with Whitmore

Race Path Historical Society. I've watched that building burn. I've watched excavators take it down to learn later in the sled report that the excavators were damaging the very portions of the building that the sled invest sled investigators were approaching at that time. They couldn't complete their investigation at the time because the excavators created an unsafe environment when Wendy Moore was burning. This has got to stop. We have a time now to begin to work together. We've established the infrastructure for a robust deconstruction material reuse movement. The city of Conway now its officials administrator has an opportunity to begin to work with us in ways to where we can create a situation here in Conway of all places that can be an envy for so many other local. We have a chance to work together to start to write multiple histories that aren't just concentrated in the downtown area. We have an opportunity to help with lowincome housing. Part of the reason we we we struggle with housing is because of the cost of materials, but we have tons and tons of materials that can be put back into reuse, thereby reducing the cost. We have a chance now to start something incredible. We have done the hard work, the physical hard work. My hands don't feel anything anymore. They do not. And that's okay. I can continue doing this. But what we also need is partners in this. We need partners who care about our city in ways as much as we do to begin creating a situation that is more holistic, something that is more recognized as um history rather than just a simple uh

small swath of downtown Conway. We can do this together. We're on track to doing it. Um, and so I I I was told by Sarah, who is um our our our director of operations, for me not to start to do the professorial thing, which is da da d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d cadence of speech. I'm trying not to do that right now. But my point is this. Um I I we have done a lot. You've all are fully aware of kind of what we've done. Um, I would like now to take this opportunity to inspire all of us to begin to really do something significant significant. As I said, I do have specifics um to ask. I I do have uh there's a whole host of of ways we can begin to to collaborate and and I think move forward in very productive ways. I I will reiterate though that statements about kind of any issues that we've had, I want to move past all of that. I think we're all ready for this. Um, I'll I guess I'll leave it at this point.

Alan, you're asking for a partnership. Can you be more can you drill down be more specific on that?

Yeah. So for one, I think one wonderful way to begin to at least collaborate is to for city staff to rather than pointing to say this is what the UDEO says, therefore you cannot do this X Y and Z. Another way of approaching it is what you are currently doing is an unusual situation. It's nowhere to be found in the UGO. So that let's think about it. For example, there's a fence at the ice house that that runs um along 15th Avenue and then it runs up uh Lake View Lake View Lake. Sorry, Lakeside.

That fence has been there for perhaps 60 to 80 years along and it's next to a dead railroad track, right? That that's no longer in existence. It's not operating. It's been it's curved up away from there. I've been told by staff that we have to because our property line is in fact about 10 15 ft in from that fence. Right? So that fence line was put up at some point. We don't know it and then there's runs about uh be 30 40 uh 100 foot tall pine trees and then you have the railroad track. We've been told that we have to take down destroy two buildings that are on this corner that are dilapated in bad shape but that are inside that fence line and then you have the railroad tracks. We have to destroy those buildings, move that fence in 10 ft and put in another buffer zone on our property line when there's nothing except 100t tall pine trees and a dead railroad track right there. having conversations about that with council to help us decide in this very unusual situation which is we have a property line that is indeed inside that property line. However, it is um currently you know is in the right of way. So therefore we have to put an additional buffer within 10 ft of that. It seems to me unusual. It's an unusual situation considering railroad tracks are are dead. Another avenue of cooperation would be in fact having the building department out once again and begin to think with us how we can open up Mckvers in stages in phases right so we can have a storefront where people don't enter the property until everything is y tophi and the building department says yes go ahead and do this we can begin um we can open up the storefront have people outside rather

than being told immediately no and those places are source. That's it. That's not the approach that that I want. Another way is thinking about ordinances. I' I've provided this to you all a couple years ago, right? Which is to say when private properties who own a building and they are about to and they put in for a demolition permit, it's like they can demolish, but perhaps another approach would be uh for the city to offer alternative information, right? That is to say there's alternative uh whether it's our group or another group that is to say for material reuse. And here are all the reasons why. Because if you demolish this building, you're ending you're adding to the landfill. You're you're you're destroying local resources that a group knows how to save. That would be one approach, right? So so we add to this. Another approach would be the city enactment ordinance which says any building over 50 years old has to be considered for deconstruction rather than demolition. Right? So ra and what the the um the the the comments so far have been is that's going to slow us down in terms of development. Part of my response is one, I don't think so that much. And another response is, yeah, we need to slow down. We need to slow down a little bit. That's okay. We have a chance to take our time and not do such destructive things that that quickly and and in a way that is losing all of our cultural heritage, sending it to the landfill.

Can I ask you a couple of questions, please? Um, and I'm going to ask both of them together. Do you have a sense of how many historic buildings that actually are demolished in the city say in a year's time? Just

generally about 17 and on average. And then is your capacity such that at the at the current rate that you think that you could at actually um be impactful in the sense that you've got the the people and the equipment and the moving stuff such that a lot of that can be saved. Now, not only could we be impactful and save much of this, um, we can also offer training uh, opportunities for city staff. People who know how to use their hands and know how to use the equipment, we can train them just as we've been offered to do so for contractors and in uh, Charleston. So you know just as repurpose Savannah who trained us is asked to uh was invited by the city of San Antonio to train contractors there because these pe these places have ordinances right so because they have ordinances any private contractor has to save x amount of materials from buildings that are otherwise going to be demolished but they have to do so in a way that can demonstrate they're saving it right they can't just say yeah we saved it and then toss it. they have to have certification for that process. So, which is to say, not only can our group do probably about six buildings as of now,

given our staff, um probably a year, although we can certainly ramp up as needed. Part of the problem is um uh uh getting the funds beforehand to pay for our our labor, right? So, if we have the funds being paid, we can hire as many people as we want. We can do several jobs at a time. we could do 17 jobs a year easily if they're all kind of uh been certified and we're getting paid for this. But but again, we can expand the workforce through training opportunities. The the last thing I I I'd want to ask um I don't know anything about construction. I just um I'm a fan of um HGTV. You don't remember at our yard on Saturday?

Really? And where I'm going with this, what where I'm going with this is I would think that there would be a huge market for um for reuse of lumber, for example. Um I mean, everybody wants a feature law made of shiplap and and all these woods that come out of buildings. We we we do you have a sense of I mean,

do people come to you asking for your product? We we we delivered um uh uh 15 beams uh of made from Longleaf Art Pine um to a new building in in uh Surfside uh just a couple weeks ago. Uh which is to say here we have this new build uh in the preset area which will now have beams um over the over over doorways throughout that that building. Um, in other words, we're we're kind of trying to keep up in terms of the material sales side of things. Um, yes, we we've established a market, right? I would I would be a market. Yeah, especially in these parts.

You got a question? Yeah, I do. Um, may when you when you're looking at reclaiming this the uh the lumber out the homes, um, are you How are you are you like taking the nails out or before you resell it? Yeah. So, so what we do is we I mean the rule of thumb is you get on top of the building and you work yourself down by hand, right? So, so we use crowbars and sometimes circular saws.

Um and so we take everything apart and then we process on site which includes d nailing, right? Um but if you think of the framing lumber, uh there is often termite damage in many of the structures that we deal with. You just cut that off. A lot of the wood that we're coming across, most the wood we're coming across is essentially it's not termite proof, but it but it's termite proof at a certain point. In other words, the termites can get in only so far because this is longleaf heart pine, which is like stone, right? So So once they get towards the core, they can't really get this. So we're ended up Yeah. We cross everything on site, dail everything. It's ready to go.

And then you're reselling this to reclaim lumber. And what's um what's your availability? What do you have now? And what's your I mean what was your

I mean yeah so we we have um tons and several tons of longleaf harp pine beams uh boards. Um we we've sold out of our or pecan from tobacco barns. Uh we have oak. Uh we have cypress. Cypress is a big one which is essentially indestructible. Um the Henry Barn was one of our biggest projects which was near Conway High School was formerly the Roadrunner Antique Store. Um we argued with the developers out of Virginia not to take that building or not to demolish it but the alternative was demolition. So we stepped in and we set we uh saved the entire exterior just as an example which included the cyp all these cypress boards true 1 in thick by 8 in that ran about 15 16 ft. Uh we now have a group that's going to mill that down into cypress tongue and groove flooring. Um that 2,000 square feet of just the exterior sighting uh let alone the py cypress that is on the interior of the building and everything else.

So what would like a board of say a part pine of u 1x6 15 ft sell for? It's about $5 of linear foot. Is that what we're doing? Yeah. Okay. So, 50 foot $50 for a 10ft board. Rough. Is that right? Yeah. But it but only, how do I put it? We also get a lot of materials that aren't as good. And in that case, we also provide about a third of our material materials to those that need it the most. Okay.

And and we've begun a conversation with Habitat for Humanity locally. Um, we have a current job that we're hoping to get coming up soon. Um, and Habitat will be providing most of volunteers, uh, labor hours, at which point they get much of the newer materials to resell at their store. And what I think I hear you saying is that given our current day ordinances, there are some reasonable concessions that might be made that would protect um parts of historic buildings, pieces of it that can be reused um that would not necessarily change the the general flavor of of what it is we do.

Yeah. No, not at all. And and in many ways I think again this idea of simply providing information to those who seek a demo permit just providing them with our information being there is an alternative

right in that case and we can offer these private owners um a a giant tax benefit as well. So while we charge for our services for the labor and time it takes to do this owners of the building if if private owners um what what we do is we hook them up with a third party materials appraiser. That materials appraiser provides the owners of the materials who are donating it to us uh with the uh value amount of those materials. They can then write off a percentage of that. So for example, one home we did was val the materials were valued about $150,000. The write off the tax deduction was about 30,000, right? And which can be uh uh garnered over a couple years. Um meanwhile that essentially paid for the our services, right? So in many cases our services for the owners of the buildings are can become freeish, right? Through through tax incentives.

Okay. Point of clarification. Make sure you do charge to take down a building. Yes. Okay. It's usually um around what a demo crew cost, right? So if a demo crew is about 25,000 for whatever, you know, imagine a big brick building, that's about where we would come in. Um and then uh we take a little longer. Um and but we also don't have the overhead in terms of the tipping fees and all that. Um, yeah, but then we provide the tax incentives and the tax rebates because we're a nonprofit and they're going to do materials to us.

So, what's the downside of just like you say offering a an alternative of just, you know, someone goes in or calls for a demolition permit and say, "Hey, would you know about option B?" I mean, I I don't know. I don't I I I I don't know the whole side of the story. It I mean, it's it's not about slowing down development. It's not about that. It's about somebody comes in for a demo permit. We say, "Whoa, you can't have a demo permit. You got to go talk to Allan. We can't do that." No. No. And I don't I don't want I'm not insinuating. I don't want to do that.

But that's right. Yeah. No, but that's not that's not No, what I heard was um just give that person the just know that there's this other way you might be able to Sure. Sure. Sure. satisfied. Yeah. There's which means we couldn't give them the demo permit when they asked for it. Oh, of course you can. When you say we charge them for it at the time. We we it we have to acquire a demo permit ourselves. What we are because it falls under demo it falls under the rule of the building, right? So either way, the demo permit's going to get issued. Why not slide some information in there that suggests an alternative? The other the other piece is usually it's the contractor doing the demolition coming in to pull the demo permit,

right? Not the owner. Do we work with content times? All right. Question. Let me play devil's advocate. Do we get in trouble when we come in? And I know you said you're a nonprofit, but let's not confuse nonprofits with charity. You're not a charity. You're not a profit. You do charge for your services. So, do we get in trouble when we promote I'm just going to call it your business? That was the original rub, but we don't promote Johnny's demolition. Yeah, that was the original.

We can't put an ordinance form that you must consider alternative services if there's only one source. And currently that is the case. There's no one else doing what you're doing. I believe it's a very slippery slope when you start. I don't if if if we do this if we just say that as a as an organization we believe there's value in saving historic woods etc. I believe there is. I don't know any slip in just saying you can use your traditional method or there are people there's there's a group that does it a different way. I mean, what trouble do you get in by doing that? Who are we telling that to

uh to the contractor? If it's the contractor that comes in or the the building owner, they come in. I'm just I'm not playing devil's advocate. I'm just responding. A demolition contractor comes in to pull a permit to demolish a house and we're telling them, "Have you considered alternate alternative sources for demolition?" That's like telling the McDonald's employees, "Have you considered other things other than McDonald's? It's it's that's their job is to demolish things. It's like asking a pavement contractor if he's considered grabbing. It's that you're it's the wrong it's the wrong user that you're approaching.

You have to get to the homeowner before the dem. And and we have put you in touch with I put in touch with the Mike Ziggler for the Henry Mark. Yeah. And he didn't pay us, but that's a different issue. That's a whole different issue. But you know we if there is an avenue to save a building we that's our job too. We are I'm a historic preservationist and I will say Adam has done a great job in terms of referring there's been several referrals no doubt um uh and we know this. Um

the question is can we get it ahead of time before it gets to the demo process. Once it gets the demo process there's not much we can do to save it. Um, and the the fact to me this idea of putting our information out there as a vi viable option and and the fact that we're the only ones doing it to me is not our fault. If that makes sense, right? So, so you can you can say there is another option which is deconstruction. This happens to be the only group here doing it. you you're you're not it's like we we would love to to you know there could be several groups doing it and they could be on the list as well.

Well, and I think your target audience is more your construction companies would be your your um the your people who have contractor's license. That would be your more your target audience uh trying to get to them. Uh and I mean that's a small community. It's it's uh I would say it's a whole host of private owners who are you know private the owners of homes who are contacting demo crews because they don't know what else to do. So it's not just contractors it's not just developers right there's a whole host of community members who can and you know get these how do you get your message out?

That's exactly where I was going. This sounds like a more of a of an a need to get just the general information to people that you have choices. I'm we're good. We're getting our message out. We we have a legion of supporters and volunteers and and folks who understand exactly what we're doing. We largely use Instagram, but we use word of mouth. And it's been incredible how well that works. So, I'm not worried about the jobs that we can get. We we have we're we're scheduling about six months out at this point. And as I mentioned, we've been asked by the city of Charleston to begin consulting out there.

So, they're they're in relief. That is the slowing down preservation society of Charleston. Say that there's the slowing down part. So, someone comes in for a demo apartment today and you're 6 months out, you can do six a year. We we we could do 100 a year if we have enough jobs. In other words, we pay people per job, right? So, so if we get a job, I can hire all the people I need to do a job next week. So, that that's and I stumbled a little bit in presenting this, but what that's what I'm saying in terms of getting paid. So, it's not necessarily slowing down development. It's slowing down the homeowner who wants to do something with their property who doesn't want to wait extra two months for the for the deconstruction.

Yeah. No constru and I'm not in the construction business, but nobody in the construction business. I love what you're doing, by the way. I think it's cool. It's it's nifty. It's niche. It's it's it's really cool. But if I'm a construction guy and I I've got jobs lined up and signed up, I want to get in and get out. This is not the way I'm doing. I mean, you know that. Yeah. Um but but if I'm a homeowner and you tore a house down uh last year, I think it was over there by Lakeside Cemetery.

Know the people well. And um you know, it wasn't like, hey, we got to tear this down and rebuild it cuz there's somebody that's got to live there. This was a special case where the folks bought it. Um they're tied into coastal and they're like, "We like what you're doing and we bought it because it's next to our house or sort of next to our house and we want to protect it and so you go have at it and have and do your thing because we like what you're doing." And I think everybody, I won't speak for y'all, but I like what they're doing, too. I just I'm with Adam. I don't we can't say you've got to go talk to them before you get a building, a demolition permit.

I I So, a couple things I I hear I hear hear you on all that. First thing is um I think your your example that that is of this house on the corner there. Um that was our first job. Okay. So, it took a little longer than I would have ever liked, that's for sure. So, I'll So, I'll say that. So, so just in case that's in anyone's mind, I mean, I imagine you're in the neighborhoodish, right? Sorry. Yeah. So, you It took a while. Yeah. Um, that was our training ground, so to speak. We have become way more efficient than that project, right? So, we've gotten it down. The Henry Barn took about 3 weeks and that was a 8,500 foot building,

right? And we did that three weeks with about 300 volunteers. Okay. And we save all of that material which about 600 tons come to the landfill.

All of which is to say is we can call up those people as needed when needed etc. When it comes to the city helping it it's I think we've reached a point where I'm asking you all to have a bit of imagination which is to say we city of San Antonio has an ordinance the city of Portland has an ordinance. The city of Denver has an ordinance. New York now has an ordinance. Um, San Diego is about to have an ordinance. All these cities have figured out ways to incorporate deconstruction into their way of doing things. Why? Because it has a social, economic, environmental benefit. That is why there's an economic benefit. It doesn't cost money to save materials. I mean, it does, but not as much as it does to landfill those materials, those same materials. Um the in the process of demolition the the the derkus that that gets thrown you know flung from from machine demolition goes about 400 yards. So on a pure environmental level or kind of a surrounding neighborhood level we do everything by hand. We're not creating the dust and the and the muck and all the stuff right. Um, we're safe. We're we have low impact kind of uh use. And again, we're not using heavy machinery. Not as much. I know how to um you know, I can drive all of the things now at this point. Uh and we can when we need to again to speed things up to meet certain timelines. We, for example, the trail building, uh there's an out building that was brick. We dealt with the brick by knocking down the walls, but it's brick, so it's fine. So, we're able to scoop it and move it elsewhere. We can do things quickly as needed. That's interesting. Is there any way we can then look at these ordinances that you're talking about from the other communities and see what they are saying and then see what we can do to

and if you can if you know any specific ordinances that generally just based on what you just presented to us u uh slows or interferes with opportunities to do the same. I mean I just like to look at them. Well, I I I I will resend them to city staff and council because I sent them about a year ago. Okay. The ordinances. I have no memory that Yeah. I also, if I may interject, this is Sarah Kever, the director of operations.

I just wanted to be clear that we're not advocating for our own organization necessarily. We're advocating for more of a system that can keep these materials out of the landfill. So, we're not are advocating for us to get more jobs. That's not what we're here for. It's more of how do we make it part of the demolition system in the city in order to save valuable resources, valuable cultural heritage in order to save these things that we're currently just demolishing. That's what that that's what this is about. It's not necessarily how do we get jobs. That's not what we're here for. I just want to make sure that that's clear. Sure. Thank you. I know that's it's a it's a cause.

Yes. Yeah. It's a call and it's important and it's been shown to be economically viable in other areas in the country. And so we'd like to look at those situations and and see if there's something we can do here in Conway to save our history. Can can I say one more thing? I I want to uh just say real quick, I apologize uh for some of the energy and the the way I come out things. I I I struggle sometimes with finding some peace and and more um amicableility. Uh passionate about what you do.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm passionate. Um but again, having the you know, it's it's it's been a long haul. Um, I have a job I get paid to do, which is none of this, right? It's none of this. Um, we don't get paid. Sarah and I do not get paid. We survive. We love off my salary. It it is a cause, but we believe it's a worthy one and one that could really just be a symbol for our region if we all kind of, you know, work together in the ways that we can imagine, ways that we can't even imagine right now, but in ways that we can continue to have conversations. And again, you know, please accept my apologies for the perhaps any negative energy that that I'm

putting out. I don't mean it, but it's been a lot for the past few years. Well, I think we're at a point where we've decided that we'll look at those troublesome ordinances that are in place in the city and we'll take a glimpse at what other cities are doing and um hopefully we'll come out of that with some convergence of uh direction that that helps your cause. Yeah, I I believe in it too. I absolutely do. And I hope so, right? I mean, I I hope we continue to have these conversations and and I swear one-on-one I'm much easier to talk than than simply whatever it is. I love that.

Thank you so much. Thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you.

I move to go into session. Second. All in favor? Well, he cares mostly. Um, thank

Charleston. I I did not bring my phone intentionally, but I kept having to peek over here to see what the score was. We're here. Yes. Uh I move that we uh approve the recommendation of of staff that we uh continue the the the can the um boards and commission persons uh who are up for uh re help reappoint. Yes. I also move that we approve the decision of the um the agreements committee. You need a second on both. Second. Second. Second. Second.

Second. Third. All in favor? Unanimous. Thank you so much. Except Larry White is no longer here. Correct. Okay. Now, thank you. I second. We have a a motion to adjurnn. All in favor? Thank you all. Thank you.