Town Council - Regular Meeting

All right. Welcome. Thank you all for joining us for tonight's town council meeting. We have quite a good audience out there. I'm assuming some of your students because you don't look exactly of voting age. So, uh, welcome. Happy to have you. Um, we will answer any questions and sign any documents for you that you need to show that you attended tonight. How about that? Um, everyone else, thank you so much. And all of you, if you have a device with you, be it an iPad, a phone, a computer that might ring, sing, or otherwise distract us, if you would turn that on silent, we'd greatly appreciate it. Um, with that, uh, we the council will stand for a pledge of allegiance. And Ronnie, would you like to bless our meeting? Thank you. 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.

Father, thank you for another day. Bless us with your wisdom tonight. Guide us, direct us, give us wisdom, conduct town bus. We pray for it all in the holy name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Thank you. As we move into our formal agenda, I would like to take two seconds to uh say a couple of things. And our audience tonight is Jakana Hester. Janna Jakana, would you stand up? Does everybody know who you are? I think Jakana has one of the hardest jobs on the face of this earth. She And Chris, can you stand up, too? Sardelli and Dana, stand up. These guys uh all but single-handedly work so hard to prepare not just the strawberry festival that all of you know when we come on a Friday night or we go on a Saturday and go out I hope it doesn't rain but it's a full year's worth of effort to plan beauty pageantss and golf tournaments and all the fun things that go along with it. So this is that special week of the year when their work comes to a full head a full head of steam. Can we please give them a round of thankful applause? Thank you so much. As far as uh the rest of the town staff, I'd like to thank our police department, our fire department, public utilities, parks and wreck staff here. It is something they do lovingly for the town of Fort Mill and its residents and I'm very grateful for the hard work that they do. I would also like to uh congratulate the history museum. Uh they had uh their strawberry strawberry sor and it went very well. I I saw some great pictures, some great attendance and uh a very nice event uh during this strawberry week. Uh we also went Friday night as a town and took over Knight's Castle. A lot of fun at the ball game. If you haven't been to a night's game, it's actually a lot of fun. I throw like a girl. Uh even though

I It was straight. It was straight. That's all I can say. Um we're working I want to clarify something too on our new community center. Our staff posted um some information and pictures on what we're doing at my old high school gym. Chris's old high school gym. Your old high school gym. You did you go to high school there, Barry? Did you? Well, you're younger than I am by shot. So, two years.

Um, my mom attended the school one of the first years it was built. Uh, I attended and my kids either attended there as a fifth grade institution. Um, the school district held that gym for years and then the town was given that facility. It's been in pretty sad shape um over the years. The floor is beautiful and we hold basketball games, pickle ball games, but it has been a very little use because it has no air conditioning, no heating, peeling paint. I mean, we're we've been trying to use it, but it needed some love. So, um, we posted that we are renovating that building. It's going to be wonderful. It's going to have classrooms and meeting space and and it's going to be a real asset for our community. I did read some comments that said, "Why can't you just leave Fort Mill the way it was?" Well, when CO came through and we did shots in there, there was no heater air. When we do voting in there, there's no heater air. We It needed this kind of upfit to maintain it and keep it as a part of our history front and center. So, I'm very proud of this council for taking the care and to put the funding behind renovating something instead of leveling it. So, we are very particular on this council about preserving the history of Fort Mill and looking out for the future. So, thank you council for your wisdom and the efforts to do that. And if anyone has any questions about why we're doing it, call me up. We'll be glad to talk. Uh Strawberry Queens, congratulations, kids. Everybody, they're so beautiful. I love that. And um I saw some new artwork in town on my way here. Humble Coffee over on Tom Hall Street has added some beautiful mural uh to the side. I love it. It It just looks fantastic. So, if you think nothing's going on in Fort Mill, tune in to our

Facebook, ask a council member. We have some really great things um happening in Fort Mill and a lot of great people put effort into that. So, I'd like to thank them all. With that, uh we will move to the first presentation. Jakana, you want to come to the front this presentation and I'll be reading a proclamation. I know how you love to hear me read. Uh recognizing Holly Glasco Cockus, the 2026 Strawberry Festival poster design winner. Um so this year the town is hosting its 17th annual South Carolina Strawberry Festival. We're very excited about that. Um each year we hold a poster contest to design the festival poster. Um this year's um contest we had 42 entries uh the most ever we would receive. So that was very thrilling. And then we got it down to a top 12 and then picked our one winner for the poster design. And this year's winner is Holly Glascock. And she did an amazing job.

All right. These posters grace many of our walls in our homes and we're so so proud. It's stunningly beautiful. I can't wait to frame one from my own home. So, uh whereas Holly Glascock has demonstrated exceptional artistic talent, creativity, and dedication to the visual arts, reflecting both personal passion and a commitment to excellence. Whereas the 2026 South Carolina Strawberry Festival poster design contest featured 42 entries from which a distinguished panel selected a top 12. And Miss Glascock's design was ultimately chosen as the overall winning entry highlighting her outstanding skill, originality, and ability to capture the spirit and vibrancy of this cherished community event. And whereas Holly's accomplishment brings pride not only to the town of Fort Mill, but also to the broader community, serving as an inspiration to fellow artists and residents while contributing to the cultural richness and celebration of the South Carolina Strawberry Festival. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that the mayor and town council of the town of Fort Mill do hereby recognize and commend Holly Glascock for her outstanding artistic achievement and her contribution to the 2026 South Carolina Strawberry Festival with sincere appreciation for her talent and dedication. And it was signed today. Holly, it is stunning. I think it is one. It's elegant. I mean, all of the entries were beautiful, but this one is very, very special. Thank you. Let's all give her a wonderful round of applause.

Thank you. It is It is truly beautiful. I love it. Love it. Love it. Thank you. All right. Now, we have the opportunity to hear from Andy Clinton uh with Visit York County. Uh there's always an interesting presentation and we're looking forward to it, Andy.

All right. Appreciate you guys having me. I think Chris is gonna pull up. Do I want to start? Okay, we are good. All right. Well, uh first off, appreciate you guys having me. I try to come about once a year whether it's you guys, the other municipalities, the county, just to provide an update on what we are doing as an organization. You guys know we're kind of that tourism arm for all of the county. Um we market, we promote restaurants, things to do, festivals like strawberry festival coming up.

Uh anything as far as bringing visitors to the area. Ultimately, a lot of our funding comes from hotel tax. Some of it comes from restaurant tax. So ultimately we're trying to get more people in hotels, but get more people coming to uh places like downtown Fort Mill, Kingsley. So I'll provide a few updates for you guys. There we go. All right. So our uh our new destination guide and on the left you'll see that was that was our guide that ran through 2025. Uh it did really successful. We continue to increase the number of copies. We're up to now uh 38,000 roughly that we that we distribute throughout the entire year. Um we're up to 47 different locations. One of our best locations is the Ann Springs Close Greenway. It does really well there. And uh and given we'll uh our cover for our new guide is one of the most iconic landmarks in the county, I believe. Uh but out at the greenway at the uh swinging bridge, uh you'll also see new initiative to the right is our activity book. You'll actually see uh that's actually one of our interns. She's a a Winth University student, but she does she did a really good job designing that activity book. And not only is it, you know, it's a tool for for parents when uh they're at a restaurant. So we we have them distributed through a lot of restaurants in the county. Um but it promotes the area. So, it's all whether it's a word search or it's an opportunity for a coloring button, you guys have them out. That's perfect. So, yeah, hopefully you guys all have uh the activity book, the destination guide, uh at y'all's seat. But it really um it's been very effective. We printed out 4,000 and we ran out very quickly. Um like I said, the Greenway was a huge hit, big part of running out of those 4,000. We actually printed off another 4,000 copies. Um,

and you guys can see whether it's the map, but there's opportunities there for uh Fort Mill as well. All right, few projects for you. Um, and all of these actually pertain to Fort Mill. Um, one is the SE250. I don't know if you guys are familiar with with that whole project throughout the entire state. We've actually been awarded four different grants now. Um, one that I'm really excited about is our brew trail passport. Uh, if I don't know if you guys are familiar with that, but that's our Yoko Brew Trail that we have all the all the breweries throughout the county. Several in, uh, Import Mill, but we're actually going to have a Revoir theme to this brew trail. So, that's one that we were just awarded. So, be on the lookout. July 4th is when I'm thinking our our launch date for that one. Um, but several other grants that, you know, we're working with the Fort Mill History Museum or other entities throughout the county. Uh, the kiosk that has been a long time coming. I am ready for that one to get off my plate and uh I'm sure Chris probably is too uh because I've been uh bugging him quite a bit, but he's been extremely helpful in in all this process. And we are we are close. I want to say it's basically a soft launch for the one that's in downtown Fort Mill. It is operational. We actually what's cool about the digital kiosk is I mean we can track the usage. So I can tell you I had somebody from our office pull it today in the month of April which and we we have not promoted that it's open and running yet. We had 230 sessions with an average time of four minutes.

Oh that's awesome.

So I think that's pretty pretty cool. And obviously as there's still a few other components to it that we need to update the map and brochure racks and there's a couple things that I'm hoping in the next couple weeks. But um really great project that we're able to have in downtown Fort Mill as well as in Kingsley. Um one other project that we worked on in partnership with the Greenway was Forest Forms. So, that was one that launched in September, and I think you have about another week or so to uh to visit that until um that one's finished. All right. Um couple things just regarding our website. We did do a whole new kind of relaunch, rebrand. We updated some things. Uh up there on the top left, you can see that's our interactive map. That is that is brand new. So, um, some items like that are that are new to our website. Obviously, we continue to put out a lot of, uh, great information, blogs on, uh, how to do, you know, spend the day in Fort Mill or, uh, coffee or things like that. Uh, we also have our website impact impact calculator. So, that is another new initiative. So that's software that we can actually we can we use mobile location data where basically we know how many people visited our website which we've always known that we've always known there's you know millions of people visit our website you're at 76,000 sessions but now we can actually see people that visit our website and then they visit in market so they go to a coffee shop or they go to Carowinds it's really cool that we can we can basically put a direct spend on our website. Kind of that value there where we can say this was in 2025 and it's actually we we purchased the uh software probably about

six months ago that 26,000 people that visited our website then made it into the county to spend money. So, uh really cool that we kind of have that type of information now. All right. We uh Visit York County likes all of our trails. So, we have we have several. The brew trail is one that we've been doing for several years now. Continues to be successful. Uh we have several Fort Mill Breweries that are a part of it. Uh Steve Tullson's actually he's on our board. Um he's a great one to have on our the York County board. Uh we also had the Yoko Taste Trail. Um, you guys probably recognize that guy with uh FM Eery, but that's another one that continues to do really well. That is our our restaurant week, our restaurant trail that we have in a week in August. And then our new one is our coffee trail, which that one has been very successful. Uh, we actually use once again a new or continue to utilize technology, new resources. Bam Wango, that is a digital software. So the passport is actually on your phone. Once again, you have the trackability of it. The brew trail in the past, it's just a physical passport. So you we know roughly how many people are picking it up. We know how many people are completing it by the number of t-shirts we pass out. But we actually know in the first 90 days of the coffee trail just because they downloaded it, QR code downloaded, that over a thousand people um went on the coffee trail in the first 90 days. So once again, a really successful initiative for us. All right, so this kind of goes through some of our paid coverage. Um, we obviously we we utilize influencers, we utilize travel travel writers, anybody that has a following. Um, whether it's somebody from Charlotte or Raleigh. Um, Atlanta is another feeder market, but bringing people that have a following to

come in and tell the story about uh whether it's the Greenway or Kingsley or or really all over the entire uh county. We also utilize Mukrak is a new software for PR specifically. So, we're trying to do things um like we actually met with Jakana recently, how we can utilize promoting different events within downtown Fort Mill to get it in magazines, get it featured in different news articles. So, we're using that platform, too. Uh our social media, hopefully you guys are all following us on Instagram, on uh Facebook, Tik Tok. Uh we continue to make strides there. uh that 95,000 that's followers between all of our platforms that is up 24% from last year. Uh engagement, so that's you know likes, clicks, shares, that is up 87% from last year. So, we're doing really well on it's not always about just getting out as many posts as possible, but figuring out what posts are the most engaging, figuring out how to get people to comment on the post and ultimately go to our website. So, that's really important for us and we're kind of continuing to make tweaks on on how we do that. Obviously, you guys can see some of those top posts. Strawberry Festival, that that one should not surprise you guys. Um, but also a date night in Fort Mill and then a Hallmark date night in Fort in downtown Fort Mill. So, those all did really well.

Uh, events is also a big part of what we do. We do try to bring in events over the weekends. It's a lot of youth uh sports events. Uh, getting them to stay in our hotels, go to our restaurants, and eat. Uh in Fort Mill specifically, we utilize the Comporium Athletic Park, the CAP. I'm sure you guys are familiar with that one. Lots of soccer tournaments there. Then also utilizing the high schools for basketball tournaments. So, uh Phenom Hoops is a big one. Big Shots, but utilizing uh high school like Nation Ford is really important because they have they have four gyms right there. So, we utilize Nation Ford quite a bit. Um, another initiative that we're working on a lot more is yes, we want to bring these events here, but we need to make sure when they're here, we're we're definitely providing all these parents and teen moms and coaches what to do in the area and we're continuing to enhance that uh kind of that project. As far as getting more, you know, wristbands, that's a new that's a new one that we're utilizing. So getting deals and discounts and discounts to restaurants on every wristband that every attendee is when they purchase for attending the basketball event, they're putting on that wristband and then they're getting information the discounts in the area. So figuring out how we're providing this information, how we're providing our activity books, our destination guides to all these attendees coming in. Then last, I'll kind of show you some of our visitor insights. Jakana uses this quite a bit when we're gathering just information, whether that's on events or different areas. Once again, we use mobile location data. So, we basically we geoence different areas like downtown Fort Mill and we're able to get a pretty

good idea on how many people are visiting um within a certain time frame within a year and then knowing how many people are coming from out outside the county. That's really important for us. And I think these numbers probably are a little bit uh a little bit larger than people realize that you know downtown Fort Mill 33% of people or people coming from outside the county. So I think it's you know I'm very much pro business. I support restaurants, farms, attractions and they need people from outside the county to survive. So um I think that's a good story to tell. And then this the big one, right? So I wanted to show kind of numbers from from last year. So this is once again using this place or information. So mobile location data and it's able to give us a good idea on some of the analytics there. And then lastly, I'll end on our brand new Oh, one more slide. I do like to show this. This is all of our staff. And I think it's good for all of us to realize that like yes, we're here to do a job and we understand we have goals whether it's followers or impressions on our website or room nights. Um but we all have a passion for the area. We all really enjoy what we do. We live it. I have a six and a three-year-old and we are out and about every weekend. Um but we we really love what we do. So now I'll end you guys with the video.

Heat up here. As you guys can tell from from the video, the town of Fort Mill, you guys do play a significant role in kind of that tourism landscape. So once again, appreciate you guys and all of your support of our organization. Well done.

Love it. Very well done. I can honestly say, and it's not because you're here, but because you're here, um, this has improved vastly year-over-year. I've noticed more of a Fort Mill presence in the materials, which of course makes me just thrilled. So, I appreciate the effort that you put into this and your staff. Um, it is important. Everybody that comes here loves to have something to look at to determine where to go, what to do, and uh I'm I'm proud of our community becoming a more active part of this. So, thank you. Thank you, council. Well done. Yeah, great time. Huge improvements over the years.

Yeah, definitely. Definitely improved. Thank you so much. Thank you guys. We appreciate you.

Okay. Um Casey, did we have anyone signed in? Okay. Um we typically would have public comments for the students in the audience. At this point, you would need to sign up uh as you come in. Um pursuant to section 2-46 is the code of ordinances for the town of Fort Mill. Any citizen of the town may appear before council for the purpose of providing public comments on any municipal matter except personnel. Those who wish to speak must sign in outside of council and they're given three minutes each to uh bring the information they'd like to bring to us. We don't have anyone signed up this evening. So, we'll move directly to old business. I was minutes.

Did I skip over the minutes? I did skip over the minutes. Thank you. Thank you. I'm glad he doesn't have anything to throw at me. Um approval of the minutes. Item two, uh, a, April 13th, 2026 council workshop. Uh, council members, you've had an opportunity to review that. Do you have any additions, deletions?

I have two edits, uh, corrections. Uh, under section A, uh, regarding the audit, I think you need to clean up the language. Uh, I think next to the last line says, this current audit has no findings. It's talking about the session. It says it was highlighted with all issues identified in prior fiscal year 2023 24 audit and have been alleviated and this current audit has no findings. I know what you're saying but it just sounds I think I'd take that off. It's accurate. Um you know findings are bad things.

Yeah, it's but uh so that's one that would be a suggestion. That'd be a strong suggestion. And item four, new business um recommending representative to York County Natural Gas Board. You've got Mark how we actually seconded the um trying to find it in there. Mr. Hudgins made the recommendation and seconded by Councilman Mark Howie. Yeah, good catch. Really? Well, I didn't think he was unless he really has come up in the No, he's our representative on that. I'm not who I can't remember. Good catch. All right. Just wanted to be accurate

and you did a good job. Anyone else have any additions, changes, or deletions? Hearing none, I move to approve the amendments. I have a motion to approve. I'll second. And I have a second. All those in favor, please say I. I. All those opposed. Thank you. Sorry, I skipped over that. Old business. Uh, this is item four, old business A, consideration of the second reading of ordinance 2026-11, a bond ordinance authorizing the issuance of Fort Mill Public Facilities Corporation installment purchase revenue bond series 2026. Our subject matter expert is Eric Davis.

Thank you, mayor. Agenda item 4A is the second reading to approve the bond ordinance which will authorize the issuance uh for a not to exceed amount of $22 million uh an installment purchase revenue bonds or IPRBs. Uh these bonds will be used to construct our new fire station number three in Basin's Bin and will fund a portion of the new public works operations center on Banks Road. Uh as I stated, this is the second reading of this ordinance. Uh there were some some minor um uh technical uh changes from the first reading, but nothing substantive. Uh so we're asking for two uh motions tonight. The first to be uh to actually approve the amendments to the bond ordinance and then the second one would be to approve the bond ordinance itself. Uh our bond council Theod Bose is here. Uh, so if you have any easy questions, I'll be happy to answer those. And any really technical hard questions, we'll throw those over to Theo.

Welcome, Theo. Nice to see you. To be with you, and thank you, Eric. I think in your package was what we would call a redline copy, and Eric is correct. These are a few technical amendments from first reading. Um, and it's appropriate under Robert's rules of order, etc. for a a motion and approval of the amendments before moving on to second reading. Okay, I will need a motion to approve the amendments first.

I have so I also have one knit. So I did read the red line. So thank you you know for calling that out. uh on page uh 12 of that uh of the bond document, you have a formatting typo which takes a heading, breaks that paragraph. It might fix itself when you do the red line would be on page 12 of the document on page 39 of our packet. It's a it's a it's not a typo. It's a formatting and the red lines may have be what broke it, but it's red lining tears up formatting. spent many years into that, but it's not there's no red lines on that page. So, I just want to make sure there's that. And other than that, I would like to make a motion to approve the the uh

amendment amend the amendments, the red lines to that document. Second. I have a motion to approve the amendment and hopefully we'll get whatever formatting correct. Uh and a second. Any further questions by council? Hearing none. All those in favor, please say I. All those opposed. Thank you. Now, we'll need to have a motion in regards to approving the bond. So, um any questions before someone makes a motion?

I hate to be the one that brings all. So, there's some documents at the end that are going to be issued after the bond. We're approving the bond. There's some other documents that they're not completed and I assume they will be completed after we approve purchasing the bonds. Right. So, well, what what you're doing tonight is giving second reading to the ordinance as you've just amended. The ordinance authorizes the bond to be issued and then in effect authorizes the mayor and town manager to follow through with other transactional documents until they're in their final form. Some of those you can't know,

right? That's what I want to make sure because they are in that packet. you giving authority to members, representatives of council to follow through with those other documents.

So, Councilman Wolf, what we wanted to do is we just wanted to include uh the backup documents to that. So, so um to follow up with what Theo was saying that the bond ordinance itself authorizes us to go through with the transaction and we're scheduled to at this point in time close uh on around June 30th of this year. What we did was just uh added the the red light redline copies of the transactional documents. Um but because you you have had um some activity some legislative activity with the public facilities corporation. So um we just we just included that just for your benefit just so that you know kind of see how the sausage is made so to speak.

So I want to make sure there's a lot of blanks and I just want to make sure that was those will all be filled in over the coming months. Gotcha. So, the bond ordinance is the the legal document that allows us to move forward. Yeah, important questions. Thank you. And for those of you in the audience, again, uh this is a way of funding a new fire station, our third fire station that will be built in Mason's Bend and a public operations facility that we have been headed towards for several years. Uh it'll be off of Banks Road. So, we're pretty excited about that. Uh both of those projects are being planned well and u will be beneficial to our community.

Uh with that, anybody interested in making uh I'll make a motion to uh approve second reading of ordinance 2026-11, a bond ordinance. Okay, I'll second that. I have a motion and a second. Uh, everyone satisfied with the discussion? All right, motion in a second. All those in favor, please say I.

All those opposed. Thank you so much. All right. Uh, item B, consideration of the second reading of 2026-20, an ordinance amending the fiscal year 2025 2026 budget to adopt engineering services reviews within chapter 36 of the utility fee schedule. Chris Pettit is our subject matter expert. Thank you, mayor. Uh there have been no changes since first reading. Again, this is um an amendment to the fee schedule to uh create fees that allow us to um continue to utilize a third party for you uh water and sewer um plan reviews. Happy to answer any questions you may have.

Okay. This is a second reading. Did anything change significantly from the first go around? No, ma'am. Okay. Anybody have any questions? Hearing none, do I have a motion? I make a motion to approve second reading of uh 202620 ordinance to amending the fiscal year. All right. Do I have a second? I'll second.

I have a motion and a second for uh item B, consideration of second reading of ordinance amending the fiscal year 202526. All those in favor, please say I. I. All those opposed. Thank you. Now we'll move to item C. Consideration of the second reading of ordinance 2026-21, an ordinance authorizing the town manager to execute a perpetual easement across the town property identified as York County tax map numbers. Here we go. 020121 203 204 205 206 207 208 and 209. Chris Pettit is our subject matter expert. Thank you, mayor. No changes since first reading. Again, this is a easement uh along some properties the town owns on South Dies Bridge Road. Happy to answer any questions.

Anybody have any questions? With that, I'll entertain a motion. I'll make a motion to approve second reading of ordinance 2026-21. Second. I'll second.

All right. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say I. I. All those opposed, thank you. We'll now move into new business. Item A, consideration of appointing applicants to the town's board of zoning appeals, historic review board, planning commission, keep Fort Mill Committee, and Storm Water Advisory Committee. Yeah, Ronnie, you or Ben, we'll need to I can Can you do that? You want me to or you want Yes, please. Okay.

Thank you. Well, we need to do a line by or can we approve them all at one time? Each committee. Okay. Thank you. And so we're making the recommendation for the Board of Zoning Appeals to appoint Sarah Shirley and Patrick Williams or to reappoint Patrick Williams. He's currently serving. Okay. We have um an appointment for two folks on the board of zoning appeals. Do I have a motion? I make a motion to approve uh the cap the candidates as submitted for the uh

Board of Zoning Appeals. And I have a second. All those in favor, please say I. I. All those opposed. Thank you. Making the recommendation for the historic review board to reappoint Joanne Walker and appoint new member Charles Wright. Okay. Do you have a motion? I'll make a motion to appoint the names as submitted. Okay. Do I have a second? I'll second. Okay. Okay, I have a motion and a second for the historic review board. Two members, all those in favor, please say I. I. All those opposed, thank you. The planning commission,

make the recommendation for the keep form beautiful committee, Dennis Mcuelo, if I pronounced that correctly, and Charles Hammond. Okay. Do I have a motion? And that's to the beautifification the beautifification committee. Correct. Keep formal beautiful committee. Make a motion to appoint keep Fort Mill Committee Del recommended. Okay. Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say I. I. I. Thank you. We have two more.

So, the recommendation for planning commission, uh, new member Dawn Williams Zablicki and reappoint of Sarah Curtis. Okay. We have a reappoint and a new member. Make a motion to accept the recommendation of the planning commission. Second. And I have a second. All those in favor, please say I. I. All those opposed? Thank you. One more. Storm water advisory committee.

Yes. Recommendation from for storm water advisory committee. Andre Lennon, Mark Mrick, and Greg Brost. These are all reappointments as well as Thomas Joseph to serve the two-year term remaining in the vacated seat. All right. I make a motion to approve storm water advisory committee with the people that was recommended. I'll second. I have a motion and a second for additions to and reappointments to the storm water advisory committee. All those in favor, please say I.

I. All those opposed. I know it sounds like that's a bit chaotic, but we have the blessing of many people offering their time and service to the town of Fort Mill. Uh these are committees that are extremely important. Mr. Wolf and Mr. Hudgens sat on the planning committee for an eternity. It is extremely important. The U make keep Fort Mill committee is relatively new for us. The storm water advisory committee, these guys knock it out of the park. So, we can't approve all of this without saying thank you for the volunteer service. And there are many young people that help out with our storm water um events and and we're very very grateful for that. I hope you hear that and that you will continue to participate because you're helping Fort Mill. Thank you so much.

These are all purely volunteers. Yes. They give of their time and I know each board, not all the boards meet every month, but I know there's a lot that's involved in a lot of time and volunteer hours and additional continuing education classes that have to take place to to be able to be qualified to make those decisions. And as a part of the ad hoc committee, there's some impressive, I say, uh, resume for lack of a better word. some very great work experience and uh and volunteer time that really come into play. There's some very very qualified

individuals that have applied for these positions. So, there's some great choices that we have to be able to go through and feel very very confident in everybody that was uh you know had submitted, right? And I think it's important to note that if you were one of the people that applied for a committee and were not chosen, that doesn't mean we're forgetting that you stuck yourself out there and are willing. It just means that either someone either had experience in that role or we were trying to balance all the areas of Fort Mill. We do it so that we try to have representation from each of the wards so that we don't have everybody on one committee stuck on the east side of Fort Mill or the west side of Fort Mill. So, we're attempting to get full representation and uh get the most skilled people at the table that we can. So, if you applied and weren't chosen, that doesn't mean we don't like you. That just simply means hang on, we'll find something for you to do soon. So, we appreciate our volunteers. Thank you so very much. All right. Um, we'll now move to item B, consideration of the introduction and first reading of an ordinance adopting chapter 2, article 4, uh, division 1, section 2-167 of the town's code of ordinances to establish guidelines for the accommodations tax advisory committee. Chris Pettit.

Thank you, mayor. Um, this ordinance, um, is codifying, uh, portions of state law. Basically, state law uh creates the accommodations tax the local accommodations tax advisory committee. Uh it it allows municipalities then to go further and to further outline powers, rules of procedure, uh term limits, things like that. So, what this ordinance is doing is codifying their powers, uh outlining their rules of procedure, um you know, things like how they handle meetings through Robert's rules of order, etc. So, it's a a formality type ordinance and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Anybody have any questions?

No, I I appreciate you clarifying that, Mr. Pettit, because the cotific I don't have a better word for it to codify is get it in code so it's documented on what the process procedures and I think that's uh we've kind of operated some some areas have not been as clear as it should be. So, I appreciate y'all taking the effort to get this and uh think it's appropriate.

And for those of you in the audience, the accommodations fees and the hospitality fees are paid as a an addition to your bill. When you stay in town or eat in town or do something, that money comes back into a fund as is guided by the state and the town distributes that based on the vote of a committee to go back and be reinvested into our community. So those monies are put to work in the very areas that you're paying them in. So it's a really important aspect of the work that we do and the tax that you pay. We'll now move to item C, consideration of the introduction and first reading of Did I get ahead?

Too many words, you know, too many words. All right. I need a motion on item B. I'll make a motion to accept uh to approve new business uh 5B ordinance adopting uh the chapter 2 article 4 of codifying the accommodations tax advisory committee. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say I. I. All those opposed. Thank you. And that was a mouthful.

Yeah, I know. I'm over here reading these things. Uh item C, consideration of the introduction and first reading of an ordinance adopting chapter 16, article 4 of the town's code of ordinances to establish the keep Fort Mill Beautiful Committee. Chris Pettit.

Thank you, mayor. Um exactly like uh the last item, this is the same idea for the keep Fort Mill Beautiful Committee. Uh council established that committee by resolution in November 2024. um that that committee has been very busy uh working on their mission to empower Fort Mill citizens to take action, lead change and build a cleaner and greener tomorrow. Um our key representative staff leaison for this committee is actually doing that right now. Hence why I'm presenting this item to you. Um but again, this is a a formality of codifying the board um or or committee establishing their powers and duties, their terms of office. um etc. So happy to answer any questions you may have on this item.

Questions in regards to this program and Mr. P, I didn't see anything in there about them reporting back to us what they're doing. Is there a way council will know the activities that are being done on behalf of this committee? We can certainly do that uh either through the the uh monthly reports or uh have them present to you. uh it's really at the will of council how how you want to see that but we're happy to do that. My opinion would be a presentation the council once a year. I mean I know they can meet a minimum of once a year but just something um so that the public knows it be nice if it's televised. Sure. Thank you.

I agree with that. I think it's extremely important for everybody we work with that's doing work for a committee or a town effort that they come before us so that the community can hear and see the valuable work that they're doing. Yeah. Also thought was beneficial that they're maintaining the affiliation with the keep America beautiful natural and how to file an annual report. So that should open us up for I would hope for grants or other opportunities should they be forthcoming. So there again I think it's uh it's the right time to to do this and put it in put all the legal ease into it.

Well I think it's also important. I know a lot of the schools the beta club has required volunteer hours as well as other organizations. So, this is one way to connect that public service opportunity, making sure that there is a place on our website for people to be able to go and look at volunteer opportunities that are coming up, be able to sign up and get ahead of that rather than um wait until the last minute trying to scramble and find something that's out there for you. Absolutely. I see some nods in the back. Yes. Mina McDonald who uh heads this up um is actually with the Cub Scout Cub Scouts currently. Um, and that's why she couldn't be here this evening to present to you, but she's she's actively doing that in the community today. Awesome. Okay.

So, I make a motion to approve new business item number 5C, the reading of ordinance adopting chapter 16, article four of the town's code of ordinances to establish keep Fort Mill. And I would be more than happy to second that. All right. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say I.

All those opposed? Thank you. Item D, consideration of a resolution 2026-22. A resolution to certif uh resolution to certify a portion of the property located at or near 104 and 105 Williamson Street, Fort Mill, South Carolina, York County. Tax map numbers 020 06 01 054 052. Second number's different. 02067034 as a textile mill site. Chris Pettit.

Thank you, mayor. Um, our attorney as well as the attorney for um the Williamson Mill project uh has been working on this um for some tax credit purposes. Uh, one of those requirements is council adopt a resolution basically certifying that the property is what it is and it is vacant. And I spent a good amount of time there this morning and I can confirm to you that it is vacant. Um, and so this is just a formal action uh certifying that so that the u property owner can uh obtain those tax credits that they do qualify for. Happy to answer any questions. We do have a representative of the applicant here. So if you have any questions nice to have you

mayor. I need to recuse myself on this one. Okay, I understand. All right. Anybody have any questions uh for Chris or Jerry's in our audience? And we're really ready to roll. And Chris, you said it was um confirming it's empty, which you did. And the other piece of this is just confirming that it once was a textile mill and is now abandoned. It is. It was a textile mill. It is abandoned. There is a fox apparently that lives in there, but uh uh that's about it. There are certain criteria. You have to meet all the criteria. Perfect. Awesome. Thank you for reviewing it, Barry. Given that I was going to say I'll make a motion to approve new business item number 5D

or resolution 202622 resolution to clarify a portion of the property located at or near 104 105 Williamson Street. All right, I have a motion. I will second that. And I have a second. All those in favor, please say I. I. All opposed. Thank you. Item E, in consideration of the introduction and first reading of an ordinance adopting chapter 6, article 2, section 6-27 of the town's code of ordinances to establish the construction appeals board. Mr. Pettit, you're the man of the hour tonight.

Thank you, Mayor. Um much like B and C. Um and again, many thanks first off to Casey for helping us write these ordinances here. Um, this is codifying something that the town has had in place for a number of years. This one's slightly different. Over the time, we've adopted more codes uh through the South Carolina Building Codes Council. Um, some codes are optional that you don't have to uh elect uh to adopt, such as the uh property maintenance codes and things of that nature. Um, but each of those codes requires an appeals board. Again, we've always had a building code of board of appeals. Never met. Knock on wood. Um and but this formally codifies those boards. It it codifies it as one board rather than one board per um code. Uh which can get rather confusing. So it outlines the requirements as far as the uh membership, the specialties uh of um the experience for each uh person on the board. And again, it goes into uh items such as how they run their meetings with Robert Trollles, etc. Um it's just formally codifying that process that is sort of adopted uh by reference uh when we adopt the building codes. And with that, happy to answer any questions you may have.

Any questions? Yeah, I have one. Mr. Pett, the uh could you put a definition of adopted technical codes? I mean, I think I understand what you're saying. It's just exactly what they I assume if they came up during construction and and and it makes more sense in the context when you're in a full uh code because this is directly underneath the adoption of technical codes and it lists all the codes. So um uh and I think at some point it does reference that section which again is the adoption of technical codes.

Okay. because this kind of this should be a defined term as but if it's referencing that that's that's good. The other thing under section C item one I would recommend uh you're saying they will meet uh expediently as possible. I know that the zodia board of appeals has some language if it has if it's not heard within a certain time it becomes approved or whatever. Uh because yeah time is money definitely under construction. So it's just kind of vague. you got to think you ought to put not to exceed 30 days or not to exceed or whatever it is just to make sure if there is a problem getting the board together. Th this board is a little different than the board of zoning appeals in that uh it is serving as the appeals board for each technical code. So whether it be the international or the South Carolina building code or South Carolina residential code or the plumbing code, electrical code, each one of those has its own little nuances. So, it's going to have to sort of be vague on purpose because each one is going to reference back to that specific code. So, uh property maintenance code may say that an action has to be taken within x number of days. It may be slightly different in the plumbing code. So, um it it is purposefully written uh such that we we still have to adhere to each specific code as it was written uh and adopted by council.

So, it can't be just delayed forever. I'm just thinking from the builder's perspective. I would be very upset if this well we didn't get a meeting because we couldn't get a quorum or correct that is taken care of in the codes that you the technical codes that you adopt in the section that's directly above this uh that that portion is actually taken care of in those codes. Okay. Do you anticipate this board slowing the process down significantly for projects?

No. So the the the goal is these boards never meet. Um, but uh as a part of a due diligence of a a project, if there's a disagreement of an interpretation of a code, much like the Board of Zoning Appeals, this is the first step in uh an applicant's due diligence uh in in um getting clarification on interpretation of a code. Again, I've been here 12 years. We've never met uh with the building code board of appeals uh to date. So, uh the goal is they never meet, but uh we need it firmly established. So, if they do have to meet and if that did come up, how long would it take for that notification that the board needs to meet?

Typically, I I I think the codes um again to to Councilwoman Wolf's point, um I think the codes typically hover around somewhere around 10 business days that they're required to get together and meet and make a decision

um uh soon thereafter. Don't quote me on that, but it it's something plus or minus that. So, it's it's not intended to slow things down. Um, any um question coming to the board is is brought to us by an applicant. So, they're basically volunteering to slow their project down in order to get an interpretation of the code or or a change of interpretation of the code. So, um certainly not an intent to slow down a project, but just it's a a necessary step in the due diligence.

Okay. Thank you. And I very appreciative. This sounds like a lot of words. Um, but it is helping us formalize and better proceduralize how we take action so that we don't slow things down or we don't end up feeling like it's the first time we've talked about it. So, I'm I'm really grateful for the hard work that's going into making this easier to conduct. Any further questions?

I did I had a a couple of questions. So the um would this group be would it alter any any other like a development agreement or something like that? The BCA goes before usually is proactive, but it sounds like this would be more reactive. Didn't know if this was something that would happen or get intervened should it be triggered. Would that be during the process? Th this is typically after a building permit has been issued. There is a question uh of interpretation of a plumbing code. This pipe needs to be straight. No, this pipe needs to be 90° bend. That total making up that uh example there. Um if we say X, they say Y. We go to this board and this board will decide based off their tech technical expertise of construction and what have you. um the decision next step would be if they want to appeal that decision to circuit court. So it is the next step following a disagreement and interpretation of code uh from staff. Again 12 years been here never gotten to this point. Typically before you would ever get to this point, uh, we we have the option to reach out to the international e either South Carolina Building Codes Council or the ICC, the International Codes Council to get what their interpretation of the code would be in that situation. So really, it very rarely if ever gets to this point, but this is a necessary step uh in the process should someone disagree with an interpretation of a code

like a meeting, a building code. I just wondered if it's, you know, the builder comes forward and say, you know what, this is I know this suspect is a block wall. We really need to use a metal wall here or something or metal something something altering, you know, kind of sacrificing the integrity of what the initial initial intent was. So, no. So, this this would be Yeah, this is really that would go through a plan review and a revision to an approved plan in our tap. Um, this is I say this, you say that, we disagree, we agree to disagree, and we go to this board and they're the deciding factor.

And the other thing I was curious about, one of the com or one of the statements in here was we'll have a uh staggered terms set up and just didn't know how that would work with everyone new at the start. Yeah, basically um there's ways to do it. We we actually only recently established that and in my tenure here with planning commission boards appeals. So, um, you might you might get four with four-year terms, three with three-year terms, and two with two-year terms, and and then thereafter everybody gets reelected as a three year or four year term. So, uh, there's ways to do on the front end to stagger them. Okay. I guess who would really oversee this committee? Would that be a

This would This would go through the ad hoc appointments committee um just like all of our other boards. So we'll we'll put a call out to applicants uh and this would go through uh the ad hoc appointments committee and council would appoint these folks to this board and planning overseas like BCA and planning commission things like that who this this would be um you would have our building official, our fire code official um our um business code enforcement officer just depending on um the the purpose of the case it could be uh any one of those folks but I think the way the word the wording is it's the designated code official with authority in the matter at hand. So, uh, could be any number of those folks. That's great info.

I'm good. That it. Any further questions, comments? Then I'll call for the motion. Make a motion to approve new business item 5e. First reading of the ordinance adopting chapter 6 of article 2 section 6-27 code ordinances to establish the construction appeals board. Do I have I have a second? All those in favor please say I. All those opposed. All right. A lot of business to conduct in one evening but we did it in record time. So um we will take the time this evening to uh Ben. Would you like to start with anything for the good of the whole? Well, I'm kind of jacked up for the strong say you are decked out, I must say,

or for the school spirit award today. Um, just thank an officer or thank a public works official when you see them this weekend. Somebody standing by running trash or, you know, looks like they're a little fluster or giving somebody directions or something like that because that's that's what it takes. That's that's ground zero for helping make this thing happen. So, appreciate all the effort that's going to go into this. Excited for it. Yeah. Agreed. Alan. Yes, ma'am. Um, so, uh, strawberry pageant, the strawberry festival pageant was this past weekend. My wife competed in the what I call the senior class, but it's actually not that. Don't call it that. Please don't call it that. Whatever the Yeah, you have not call it that. Um,

so you everybody thinks of a pageant as just being, you know, glamour, putting on dresses and everything, but the biggest thing with that pageant is the cause before the crown. Uh, so every contestant had to have a cause that they were passionate about that they, you know, really believed in and were really involved in. My wife's was the lesson three foundation. If if if especially a lot of teenagers in here, if you don't know what the lesson three foundation is, please look that up. Uh, that's to raise awareness for teenage suicide and mental health. And, you know, and it's it's a lot of uncomfortable subjects that we don't like to talk about. Teenage extortion, texting, things like that. So, you know, just understand that there is help for you guys out there for stuff like that. And again, the motto of the lesson three foundation is tomorrow needs you. And that's not just for teenagers, but that's for everybody. So, I believe in it so much I I I wear it on my wrist right here. Okay. So, um like I said, that was my wife's foundation. She did not win. Uh she did get the an award for, you know, most uh service or whatever it was, but uh it was a great and like I said, all the incredible ladies that were in all the categories. So, she'll be there next year. So, see you guys this weekend at the Strawberry Festival. And

she looked beautiful. She did, didn't she? She I looked up there, too. Did you see? No, I couldn't see you. I was thinking how well she was presenting. She good recovery. Yeah. All right, Lisa. Uh, for me, I wanted to bring out this past weekend, I was able to spend my Gamecock debit card dollars at the Kataba Ridge plant sale. And if anybody knows Kataba Ridge and our agriculture teacher, Miss Huie, um, Miss Huddy is a huge Clemson fan. Oh, Lord. And yeah, we don't like it, but she loves getting that Gamecock card because she can't turn it down at all. So, I see some head nodding in the background. Are you guys from Kataba Ridge?

Yes. Great job if you were involved with that. I know the FFA program is new to them, and it has been great. When you think about Fort Mill and the town of Fort Mill, we don't think of FFA, but there's a huge group of people out there that are really working hard. The plants are beautiful. They look great in my yard. Um, so really appreciate all the effort that went into it. And I know Fort Mill High also had one. So hopefully that was successful. I was in the FFA in port 64. In 64. Nice. Yeah, but we actually had farmland back then, you know. I mean, without the FFA and farmers, I couldn't eat. That would be a problem. Exactly. Problem. Yeah. Thank you'all, Ronnie.

Uh, I want to say I officially went to Fort Mill High School since you missed me a while ago. Uh, it's my night in the hold. What can I say? Your only mistake today. And not hardly. Put a little uh stamp in. Fort Mill School District is erecting a monument at the old high school site tomorrow. It's actually a collaborative event. And anyone that would like to go and see this historic marker erected at the site of the old high school, you're certainly welcome. It starts at 11. It'll be tomorrow at 11 o'clock. unfortunately not going to be able to be there. I do have a break from there and we were talking about that earlier. Uh

I'm glad you grew out of Raid from Fort Ohio. Yeah, I survived in 13 years. I hear you. 13 years. You're Bonnie Rod. Looking forward to Fort Mill Strawberry Festival this weekend. All right, Mr. Wolf.

I'd like to just follow up on what the mayor had said. Mentioned there's a lot of projects going on in town. We're actually doing a lot of road repairs, fixing them correctly. Um, tearing out some of them, tearing out the base, replacing ancient sewer lines, replacing ancient water lines, um, refurbishing and renovating the old Bank Street gym. Thank you for mentioning that because that'll be a great asset to the community. Um, and preparations for a new fire station and operation center. So, I'm very pleased that we're moving forward on all these projects. And I want to thank uh all the staff and uh council and everybody that's involved in making these things happen. There's all giving back to the community. Uh so, it'll be here for our great grandchildren. So, that would be the goal. But, uh thanks for everybody for their It's not easy. You know, making sausage is not always pretty, but everybody enjoys the sausage when it's done. So, and

and because this will be taped and played, I think it's terribly important. I see major cashier in the back. Guys, we'll have a lot of people in Fort Mill that aren't from Fort Mill. So, they don't know the street systems the same way that we do. Tensions do tend to run high when there's traffic congestion, which on a given day that could be anywhere. So, please be patient um with the traffic in Fort Mill as we are entertaining people from outside our town into our beautiful community. Second, please if you're in the car and somebody's attempting to throw a fast food bag out, a can out. I really don't like that. I really don't like that. Our community is gorgeous, but I have seen more litter in the last 3 weeks than I've seen in the last 3 years. So, I don't know what's up with not taking it to a trash can, but don't throw litter out in our community. Please. It is absolutely unnecessary. So, now that I've been stern and firm, I'll entertain a motion for adjournment.

I'll make a motion we adjourn. I'll second that. All those in favor, please say I. I. All those opposed, thank you so much.