Town Council - Regular Meeting

We will call this meeting to order, please. Thank you for joining us. Very special night tonight. Never seen so many great people at the perimeter of our room, so very excited to hear about all the wonderful things that they've been doing. If you will, we will stand. If you have a phone, an iPad, or anything else that might ring or disrupt the meeting or the presentations, please turn it on silent. With that, we will do the Pledge of Allegiance and an invocation. I pledge allegiance 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. Heavenly Father, we come before you this evening with hearts filled with gratitude for those that go out and protect us on a day-to-day basis. On Saturday, two firemen were injured in a fire, and we pray that they will recoup very quickly, but we're grateful for those that go out and address the things that endanger all of us. Thank you for their service, their hearts, and their families that support them. Thank you for this counsel, and please bless our work as we make decisions for the good of the whole. In his name we pray. Amen. Council council members. You have received the, um, minutes for the council meeting on April 27th, the workshop on May 7th and the workshop on May 11th. Are there any changes, deletions or additions?

I'll make a motion to approve the minutes as submitted.

I have a motion. I have a second. All those in favor, please say aye. All those opposed. Thank you. Public comment. Pursuant to section two dash 46 of 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 matters. Those who wish to speak must sign in outside of council chambers prior to the start of the meeting. Citizens will be given three minutes each. Do we have anyone signed in? Okay, now we're going to move into some really special presentations. The first presentation will be a promotional ceremony led by Chief Brian Zachary of our police department.

Thank you, Mayor, members of council, and all guests here tonight. It's my privilege to be here with you tonight to honor some folks that are really very deserving. I'm very fortunate and privileged to work with a great number of really good, solid professional people. And thanks to them and the support that we receive, We're able to do what I consider to be a very successful job in protecting the community here and providing the services that everyone has become accustomed to having. And I feel honored to be able to work with these folks, some of whom I've worked with for quite a number of years and some that I've worked with for a very short period of time. They show great promise and wanted to achieve great professional development and be successful in their careers going forward. So I'm very thankful for that. With that being said, I'd like to call some folks up. As I do, I have just a little bit of information I'd like to provide you about each one, and then I'd like to present them with a certificate from the police department, from the town itself, to honor their achievement. The first one will be our telecommunications manager, Annette Weirich. TCO Manager Weirich has 27 years in public safety communications, including the past two years and eight months with the Fort Mill Police Department. She began her career at York County Sheriff's Office in 1999 and was promoted to Sheriff's Supervisor in 2001. When the Sheriff's Office merged with York County 911 in 2009, she continued as an Assistant Sheriff's Supervisor until 2014 and then served as a dispatcher and warrant ticket entry clerk with the York Police Department from 2014 until joining our department as communication supervisor in September of 2023. She was named Employee of the Year at the York Police Department in 2016 and was awarded a life-saving pin at York County 911 Center for providing CPR instruction to a caller who actually saved the life of a person they were involved with. She holds certifications in SLED telecommunications, NCIC, terminal agency, coordination, and CPR and warrant entry. And I'm very pleased to be able to present her with this certificate. Next, I'd like to call up Lieutenant Michael Wise. Lieutenant Wise has 16 years in law enforcement, serving first with the South Carolina Highway Patrol before joining the town of Fort Mills Police Department eight and a half years ago. He served four years as sergeant over our traffic safety unit. He's a certified drug recognition expert, traffic reconstructionist, driving instructor, speed measurement device instructor, standard field sobriety test instructor, specific skills instructor, and traffic safety instructor. He was named Fort Mills Officer of the Year in 2019. received the DUI Hero Award for seven consecutive years and was previously recognized as Troop 4 SCHP Trooper of the Year. He's been married to his wife, Emily, for over 18 years and is the proud father of two children, Emma Catherine, age 16, and Bennett, age 9. Congratulations, Lieutenant. Next is Lieutenant Tom Lamb. Lieutenant Lamb will be continuing his work in our Criminal Investigations Division as a lieutenant in that division. He has, excuse me, he has spent 20 years in the Biloxi, Mississippi Police Department on patrol and detective assignments before joining the Fort Mill Police Department three years ago. He has served as a detective in the Criminal Investigations Division and was lead investigator in a successful resolution of a recent homicide and now heads the department's newly formed crisis negotiations team. So I want to congratulate you, Tom, on your lieutenant. Sergeant David Showmaker. I'd like to congratulate Sergeant Showmaker on his promotion within our patrol division. Sergeant Showmaker came to law enforcement after serving as an EMT. He has seven and a half years of law enforcement experience, the past two with our department, and has served as a corporal for approximately one year prior to his promotion. Throughout his time here, he's consistently volunteered to assist with other shifts when staffing shortages occurred. He frequently arrives early and stays late to support his fellow officers. That's the type of activity that exemplifies the people that are true leaders in the department, and I'm proud to offer him his promotion to sergeant. Sergeant Jimmy Ward. Sergeant Ward served in the United States Navy, earning the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for his service aboard the USS Cape St. George. Before joining this department, he served as a firefighter and EMT with the Rock Hill Fire Department and as a deputy and SRT operator with the Chester County Sheriff's Office. where he was recognized for his response to a lockdown at Great Falls High School and named South Carolina SRO of the Year. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Pennsylvania State University and is a husband of 11 years and a father of five children. And he'll be conducting a sergeant's duties as one of our SRO sergeants, assisting our SROs on a daily basis with guidance and direction as needed. So congratulations, Jimmy. I'd like to make one other acknowledgement. Unfortunately, he could not be here with us tonight, but Sergeant Tim Huck has served this department since March 18th of 2019 in both the patrol division and the traffic safety unit. He earned the traffic safety officer certification from the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy with advanced certifications in DUI enforcement, speed measurement, collision investigation, and reconstruction. He currently serves in the office of professional services within the recruitment division, helping to oversee our strategic planning, candidate outreach, applicant selection, and background investigation. And he's one of the best advocates we could have for the police department in his daily activities involving his contact with people. So I'm very appreciative of him and want to congratulate him in his absence today. I'd like to say in closing, and I've mentioned this before when I ask, But I believe we have two groups of people that I'm privileged to work with. One group are folks who are relatively new in their career and gaining the experience, have the potential to become great leaders and great police officers, and that they have the motivation and the drive to do this job in conditions now that are much different than they were even just a few years ago. So I'm very thankful for that group. And the other group are the people that I rely on so heavily, and none the least of which are those folks that I just called up here just within the last few minutes. They're police officers with experience. They've proven themselves. They're provided an opportunity. I don't believe we're ever given anything. I think we're provided with opportunities. And it's always been told to me that that's the point in time where you begin to earn it. And these folks have definitely earned it. They've earned my trust and my confidence. I'm glad to say that they're friends, but I'm proud to work with them on a daily basis. And I'm very pleased to be able to present them to you tonight. So thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it.

And let us as council members and our community thank you all for the service that you provide and keeping us safe and doing the things that allow us to live comfortable lives in Fort Mill. We never forget it and we're always grateful and proud of Fort Mill's finest. So thank you so much. We appreciate you. We will now move to years of service acknowledgement. Carrie Vargo.

Well, I'd like to just take a moment to congratulate everybody on your promotions. Thank you for a job well done. Thank you for your dedication to both the community and to your profession. It's greatly appreciated, and I think your promotion reflects that. We also get the opportunity tonight to recognize four longstanding employees of the town for their dedication and for their years of service, not something that we get an opportunity to do frequently, not at this level. So we greatly appreciate that. I'm going to call one up at a time. Again, thank you for your commitment, your professionalism, and your service to our community. It is certainly greatly appreciated. Keith, is Rob here? We'll skip Rob. So first will be Captain Sam Blankenship, Fort Mill Police Department.

That was for 20 years. Thank you, Sam.

Did I not say that? Wow.

20 years he has served.

Captain, thanks for 20 years. My apologies. You were the first one. Sergeant First Class Thomas Jenkins for 20 years of service.

Tommy.

Thank God the mayor is always there to catch me. This was going to be the last one, but since we're waiting on Rob, Scott Bailey, Wastewater Treatment Plant Superintendent for 25 years of service. Thank you, Scott. I appreciate all you do. Keith, any ETA?

We can back up and pick it up. We don't mind at all. It's that traffic. All right. We will pick up Rob Harris as soon as he arrives and we get a break. All right. Let's move into old business. Old business item A, consideration of the second reading of ordinance 2026-23, an ordinance adopting chapter 2, article 4, 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 all for joining us and supporting our wonderful employees. Thank you. Be safe out there.

It's really deflating to speak after everyone leaves. That really bums me out.

Thank you. Thank you.

All righty then. Chris?

Thank you, Mayor. As you noted, this is formally establishing in the code the Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee. We've had this group for a number of years. This is just formalizing the committee within the code and the requirements within the code of that committee. There have been no changes since first reading. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.

Anybody have any questions? No changes from the first reading. We're all good. I'll entertain a motion.

I'll make a motion to approve second reading of Ordinance 202623, establishing the town's code ordinance for the Combination Tax Advisory Committee.

Second.

I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, thank you so much. All right. We will now move to Item B, consideration of the second reading of Ordinance 2026-24, 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. This is the exact same concept as the first item here. It's just formally establishing this within the code of ordinances, the terms of service for the committee members, what constitutes a quorum, things of that nature. Again, no changes since first reading. I haven't answered any questions you might have.

Do we have any questions for Chris on the Keep Fort Mill Beautiful Committee Ordinance? Hearing none, I call for a motion.

I'll make a motion to approve a ordinance 2026 dash 24. Okay.

Do I have a second?

I'll second.

All right. I have a motion in multiple seconds. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed. Thank you so much. Old business item C consideration of the second reading of ordinance 2026 25 an ordinance adopting chapter six article two section six dash two seven of the town's code of ordinances to establish the construction

appeals board again chris pettit thank you mayor this uh one's slightly new uh in that it combines all of the appeals boards for all of our technical codes whether it be the building code the international building code the residential code the plumbing code electrical code etc It brings all those appeals board into one board called the constructions appeals board This codifies it within the code of ordinances the terms of service the number of folks on the committee, etc No changes since first reading and have any answer any questions you might have anyone have any questions in regards to establishing a construction appeals board I'll make a motion to approve item 4c.

I have a motion. I And I have a second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, thank you so much. Do we have Rob Harris in the house? All right. Rob, come forward.

Rob, you clean up well. I'm not used to seeing you like that. So this evening we're recognizing Rob Harris, Streets and Sanitation Supervisor, for his 20 years of dedicated service to the town of Fort Mill. That is wonderful. That's why you do that.

Posterity.

Rob, you are one of many unsung heroes to us, and we thank you for the dedication of 20 years of service making this town look good. So thank you so much. Thank you all for being patient. Now we're going to move into the new business items. Item A, consideration of amending the fiscal year 2025-2026 budget to adopt a FEMA, F-E-M-A, review fee schedule within Chapter 36 and adopt a downtown sanitation services fee within Chapter 28. Do we need to do those separately?

No, ma'am. This is one ordinance for that.

Sorry. Just asking. Not a problem.

Mayor, this, as you just mentioned, is establishing two fees within one ordinance. The two separate fees, one, the FEMA review fee, we do this very little, very infrequently, but when You do come forward to the town requesting to amend the floodplain, which there's a federal process to go about doing. That's a very technical process, so we hire out a consultant to assist us with that. Lots of other acronyms that they're reviewing, LOMARS, CLOMARS, things of that nature. I don't know what any of that means, so we have to hire that out. So in doing so, there's a fee attached to it, and this is to pay for that service that we get from that third party. The second fee being established here, a number of years ago, we as the town built two dumpster enclosures downtown to provide for dumpster service as opposed to the old way of having a lot of roll carts downtown. And that's been a great benefit to the downtown from a beautification standpoint, from a logistics standpoint. Over the last, I think six or seven years, those services have been managed by individual business owners downtown. And over time, as downtown has become a lot more vibrant, it is booming. There's a lot of restaurants. There's a lot of activity. That's just been something that's become difficult to manage. And so there have been folks reaching out to us, including the folks that manage that, just asking for assistance. There have been folks. Looking to find alternatives to that. So to kind of get back to the original intent of getting rid of roll carts, the town has been in discussion with the folks about taking over that service, opening up the service, the ability for any of the folks on Main Street to have access to the dumpsters for a fee. And so this is establishing that fee to allow the town to take over those services and pay for the dumpster services as they currently are downtown. and happy to answer any questions on that.

Anybody have any questions?

Yeah, I have one. Mr. Paddock, do we need a definition of a food establishment? I mean, we don't have a hot dog stand down there right now, but they wouldn't create as much byproducts as a full restaurant. It's kind of lumped all together there.

I was just having a question on that. Those are terms that are common in business licensing and things of that nature. Certainly there will be some discretion to be had whether if you're kind of a case-by-case basis of looking at that. But the idea is that food and drinking establishments generate a lot more garbage than any other user. And that fee is in line with what they're currently paying through the private entities that are managing this. That's kind of where that came from. And then all the others, you know, typically in comparison generate very little. So that's the differentiation in the fees.

And these are the big sanitation, the ones that are secure. There's no rollout garbage downtown. No, no.

It's eight cubic yard, I believe, containers. Okay. They get picked up approximately every weekday.

And are we contracting that out?

Correct.

Will this eliminate all the roll carts in the downtown area, just on Main Street? So it is said as a downtown sanitation services, but are we talking about just those businesses on Main Street? Do we need to define that more?

I mean, I think we would open it up There's only a certain distance that people would actually utilize it. We're not going to open it up to a business in Kingsley to drive their trash over there. But anybody who's willing to utilize it in the downtown area in lieu of any other service or creating any unsightly sort of situation, we would allow to use for these fees. But they kind of already have consistent users. So we anticipate those consistent users, plus or minus a couple, continuing to utilize this. Once you kind of get outside the boundary of what's reasonable, they just don't get... those folks aren't going to be interested.

So, for example, Speckled Pear, Illumination Wands, they're both downtown restaurants. To your point, I don't think they're going to be using these services, but the ordinance doesn't specify just those on that Main Street corridor.

Yeah, I mean, I think if they wanted to, I mean, that would be a very difficult task for them logistically, and they both have their own sort of setups already established. So fair question. I'm not sure that we would restrict it to them.

It sounds like though that you have opted in those that you think are going to use it. There's no chance of just a barrier. I mean, you know, we've talked about clarity and some of these ordinances and defining what is downtown. So who is going to receive the bill?

This would be a service you opt into.

Okay.

So this is not, yes, okay, to clarify that, you would have to opt into this service. There are some users downtown that generate a bag a week. They take it home or do whatever, you know, drive it to somewhere. So this is not a fee that Blanket gets across to everyone. This is a service that they would have to sign up for. And so that's a good differentiation there.

Okay, and we don't offer any type of recycling for the downtown?

This is garbage and recycling, yes. Okay. Each dumpster enclosure has two 8-cubic-yard... bins, one for garbage, one for recycling.

Okay, thank you. So we currently have two locations?

We do. One is behind Moore Artists and Proper Pig, and one is kind of directly behind Hobo's and Whitaker's.

I, for one, am happy to see this change. I believe consistency is the key to ensuring that everyone is treated fairly and that it doesn't become an eyesore and a problem for downtown. So I am very supportive of us moving to this concept. It takes that away from others from having to manage it. And, again, I think consistency is the key.

I agree. And the downtown co-op, that group's been made aware, and they've had a conversation and have been part of this.

Yes, we've been in discussion with, I think, all the users currently, and we'll have a lot more discussion subsequent to first reading and second reading to offer this up to anybody in the area. But all the existing users, I believe, are understanding of this.

Okay, thank you. Further questions? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion.

Make a motion we approve new business item 5A, the 2025 budget amendment for FEMA review.

I'll second. Is this first reading? This is first reading. It is two readings, yes.

All right. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, thank you. Then we'll move to new business item B, consideration of an amendment to the hood construction agreement as it relates to the operations center, Cary-Vargo.

Good evening again. We have had quite a few wonderful agenda items this evening, and this is yet another one. On November 4th, 2025, Town Council approved the construction manager at-risk contract with Hood Construction, specific to the construction of the operations center to be located on Banks Road. That facility is going to serve our public works department as well as our utilities department. In front of you this evening is an amendment to that contract establishing the guaranteed maximum price and adjusting the completion timeline from 14 months to 15 months. The guaranteed maximum price on this project is $34,858,984. That guaranteed maximum price includes $1,250,000 in contingency, as well as allowances of $379,000. The total cost of the project is going to be closer to $38.25 million. Eric Davis, in the next agenda item, will review what that covers, its various soft costs, design costs, FF&E, IT, et cetera. So this particular agenda item, again, is approval of the contract amendment in the amount of $34,858,984.

And for those watching at a later time, uh, this is a tremendous project that was greatly aided by the service of Ray Felder when she was in the house as our representative. And she was able to secure $25 million for the town to put into this project and, uh, really moved us forward in our capability to, uh, build this facility that is much needed. for our employees and for the town. So thanks to Ray Felder for the hard work and the hard heavy lifting to get us there. So thank you. Any questions?

I had a question. Looking at the last page, there's a line. Sorry, mine's turned sideways in the agenda. So there's a line for the business license for $95,000. So it looks like that we're basically being billed back to cover their business license. That, unfortunately, is not an uncommon practice. That's just a little hard to stomach that we're having to pay for them to do business when they should be purchasing a business license on their own. And paying for their risk insurance, their general liability.

Is that standard?

That's absolutely standard, yes. And, Ben, I guess my response would be for the business license, To Mr. Pettit's point, I think that's common, and they certainly could have just hid that in some of the other costs. So I actually appreciate the fact that they enumerated that because we've worked very hard with the contractor to ensure transparency in their pricing, and they've been a good partner that way.

I guess technically we would get it back anyway, so it's just going to be basically they'll bill us for it, but they'll pay it also, right? Correct. Okay.

It does seem squirrelly that way, though, doesn't it?

I was going to see who is going to be our project director for this, who's going to manage that from a town's perspective.

So the construction manager we hired, Hood Construction, is going to be the main construction management firm. Right. We have two individuals, both wonderful in our project management. The lead on this particular project will be Brett Manvilla. Okay. And Bill Runyon is going to be secondary on this particular project. He's primary on the community center.

Okay. That's great. That's great. And I did see something about allowance for unsuitable soil. So I'm guessing there was, I read further where there were, those were, there were a lot of contingents that were built in so that we could potentially have savings at the end of the project if, if all those are not exercised.

That's correct. Yeah, there were, um, there were certainly some unsuitable soils that were identified as we did our due diligence. We worked with our consulting engineer to kind of revise the site, move things around in an attempt to avoid that. It saved us, I think, well over a million dollars. But we do continue to carry an allowance just in case something specific to unsuitables pops up.

So there's potential there at the end of the day we may have some savings. Absolutely. That's good. Yeah, those are the main things that I had. So, yeah, I'm good. Thank you.

Gary, when you were mentioning the description, you read out a number 1.5 and change. What was that for?

Maybe you're referencing the contingency. There's a contingency of 1.25 million. Okay. And then there are allowances of $379,000. And that's built into the guaranteed maximum price.

And how are those different than the contract allowances of 1.6 that's in our packet?

That's the same number. So they would classify the contingency and the allowances on their side as one bucket. But you have the contingency of 1.25 and I think 379 of allowances. The majority of the allowance dollars will be spent. We just know that like interior signage, if there's like $10,000 for interior signage, we may spend $8,000, $9,000. It just depends. So if there's any savings on those identified lines, those savings will come back to the town.

Okay. Thank you.

Further questions in regards to this item?

I just want to make a follow-up on the mayor made a comment about this new building. This is a big game changer for the town. We've got our employees working in buildings that were built in the 40s and 50s when Fort Mill was 3,000 to 5,000 people. So this is something that the council and staff has worked on really hard for several years to get this to this point because we've got employees putting 20, 25 years in working in not the ideal environments that we really want to make Fort Mill, being an employee of the town of Fort Mill, a career choice and have, you know, have safe working environments and stuff. So I think this is, I'm glad to see this get to this point, even though it's been painful at times for all involved. But it's something that's well-deserved and very much needed. So...

It's well deserved, and I do believe there are components to the updates that we will be adding that will add to their efficiencies as well. The economies of scale as we build what we need, given today's mechanicals versus, as you say, 50 years ago. I do think this is going to provide not just better and safer work conditions, but also gain us some efficiencies that we need. So I'm looking forward to groundbreaking on this.

It allows for a lot of future growth, too, with the space, the land that town has purchased, and I know staff has put a lot of strategic time into these decisions, and I appreciate all your efforts with that.

There's a lot that went into taking care of our equipment, too. You know, cars that live in garages do better than cars that sit outside, so our equipment that we pay good money for great equipment and have people that take great care of it, and this will only help. the longevity of that and be able to extend the life lifespan of that, uh, that equipment. So very, very happy about that.

Equipment and people are assets to us and we need to take care of them.

Carrie, when does the 15 month clock start? And then is there, um, wording for if that deadline's missed?

There are penalties on a daily basis, and we expect groundbreaking in mid-June. You will actually start to see fence go up around the site probably next week, if not by the end of this week.

I think it was $1,000 a day past 400 and was it 50 days? 450 days, yes. Right. It's $1,000 a day if they go past that.

Great. Improvements.

I like it.

Right.

I like it. Thank you. Any further questions in regards to Item B? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion.

I'll make a motion to approve Item 5B.

Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say hallelujah. Hallelujah. Say aye. Aye. All those opposed, say nay. All right. Sorry. A little fun. It's okay. Item C, consideration of the introduction and first reading of Budget Amendment 26-07. Eric Davis.

Thank you, Mayor. All of the details that I was going to point out have already been touched on, but this is basically the first reading of the budget amendment that authorizes the money or allocates the funds to pay for the contract that you just approved. So the second reading will be at the next business meeting in june but as you stated back in 2024 the town received an appropriation that was actually 2023 the town received an appropriation of 25 million dollars from the state of south carolina we're now to a point where the total construction and total project cost will be $38.25 million. Previously, the town authorized or allocated the $25 million that was the allocation from the state of South Carolina. What the budget amendment before you does is allocate to the remaining $13.25 million. And our plan is to issue $10 million of installment purchase revenue bonds, and there will actually be $3.25 million in cash reserves used on the project as well, along with the earmark and investment earnings. So I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Mr. Davis, that bond that was included in that bond package we put together, we looked at at the previous meeting. Is that correct? So that's all included plus the new fire station.

So the debt issuance will be this component of the operation center plus the fire station number three.

And I look right at the camera and thank you, Ray.

Any further questions of Eric?

Any additional funds that we have if we come in under budget, where would they get allocated?

They would just go back to the cash reserves or fund balance. Okay.

Okay. I'll entertain a motion on this item, funding item.

Make a motion to approve item 5C. I'll approve. I'll second.

I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed? All right. Before we move into executive session, we'll go around, and Ben, do you have any comments?

I think the thing that resonated with me early is the two young voices in the audience saying the Pledge of Allegiance. That always strikes my heart that they know it, and it's being taught somewhere, whether it be at home or it be in school. I value that. That's good old-fashioned civics and citizenship, so I love that.

It was beautiful, wasn't it?

Yes.

Alan? Just, you know, coming off the Strawberry Festival and had a beautiful weekend, and thank you for everybody who was involved with that. It went off absolutely fantastic. This coming Monday is Memorial Day, and we always do, the group I'm with, we do what's called the Fort Murph, which is a take on the Murph workout, which is in honor of Michael Murphy, who was a Navy SEAL who was killed in action in 2005 and was given the Medal of Honor. And it's just something we do on Memorial Day to just kind of pay tribute to all of the fallen soldiers over the years. So if you're not doing anything Monday morning, come do the Murph with us over at the print shop.

Thank you.

And then after that, head to our Memorial Day celebrations at Unity.

I have that on my list. Please join us at Veterans Park around 10 on Monday. It's one of the more beautiful services and events that we conduct throughout the year. That park is enabled in... great part to the efforts of the Fort Mill American Legion and efforts of prior veterans that wanted to have a permanent place downtown for us to recognize that we're only here because those folks are willing to sacrifice to give us our freedom. So please join us for that. It's a beautiful Uh, event, I would also like to compliment, uh, the downtown Gordon looks great flags, banners. It's amazing. I love this time of year. Downtown Fort mill is beautiful. Um, also the Walter Elijah park improvements. I understood today that we received a parks and rec grant. for $175,000 that relates to our investment in Walter Elijah, and it looks beautiful out there, guys. The new lights, the new benches, the new trees, it's just such an asset for our community. So thanks, and as I said in my prayer earlier, it really is. comes home when you hear about firefighters getting hurt or anyone, police getting hurt. You know, we have so many people within our organization that put themselves on the line every day for us. And if you'll just please keep, those were not our firefighters. They were firefighters from Indian Land Pine Bowl. So, but keep them in, they're like a brotherhood. They are truly like a brotherhood. So please keep them in your prayers. With that, I'll turn it to Ronnie.

Just want to say tagging along with Alan after the Strawberry Festival and the amount of attendance and looking forward to July and the celebration downtown, making it a little more beautiful and celebrate our heritage. 250.

Yep, sure enough. Mr. Moody.

Tonight's highlight was just seeing all the policemen here and our employees being recognized. I mean, they're the ones that make this town work, and it's just any time we can celebrate them and their accomplishments, that's one of my favorite things I've done over the last 10 years. I'm looking forward to Memorial Day service. It's just a solemn time to remember those who have fought for our freedoms, and it's good that we should never forget them, right? So that's all I've got. Thank you. Mr. Wolfe?

It sounds like everybody's already got all the good bullet points, but I just want to follow up on the Strawberry Festival and also not only thank our staff and the fire and public works and the police and all that, but also thank our community for having a safe, wholesome event, one that represents our community as it should. You read the news about some of the craziness going on in the world, and the reason people want to be in Fort Mill is quality of life, and I think our community represented itself well. And everyone had a great event and could bring their families. Also, I want to congratulate all the promotions tonight and all the service recipients, because it's a pretty high praise. Somebody's dedicated 20 to 25 years of their life to serve our community. So that's kind of why I went full circle on the new buildings. They deserve to work in a safe, wholesome, you know, environment, and sometimes they've had to struggle with some of the things we've done. So I really appreciate anybody who makes their career to serve our town. So that's a great accolade.

Well, I skipped over one intentionally because I thought I'd let you talk about picking up litter. I do want to thank you and everyone that provides service in our community. That's a pet peeve of mine when I see people throw trash out in our community. And I know that Chris worked last Saturday. Do you want to share with that?

This economic partners group is a local group. And, uh, they, they have adopted, uh, North Dobie's Beach Road. We pick it up quarterly. And I think Ben actually was with the Colonel's Club doing, uh, Old Shaw Highway and Nations Ford on the same time. So that's, that's a great opportunity. Get involved as your community too. And, uh, it's a, it's a, I won't say it's fun, but you get to meet your neighbors and, um, and see what they throw out their windows. Exactly. So, uh, but thank you for acknowledging this. Uh, it's a, it's a great event and, uh,

And get involved in your community. So thank you. We had 11 gentlemen from the Colonels Club that we adopted that section of roads. So we'll be doing that quarterly and did our first one. And I picked up plenty of little roadside pumpkins for that.

Is it still called Second Saturday Service?

No, I think that's one.

This is Adopt a Highway. We're part of the Adopt a Highway. That's another one. Through the county. And Mr. Hudgens mentioned, but you get to keep anything that you find that you want.

Oh, boy. At least I think you said you had one more.

Yeah, just wanted to clarify the event on Monday is at Unity Cemetery, not at Veterans Park. No, that's okay. We've had it before. But then the other thing I wanted to call out is... Congratulations to all the graduates of our schools, both high schools all the way down to elementary as they graduate and the college graduates. But with that, summer's out or coming out pretty quickly, living in a very crowded neighborhood with lots of kids on scooters and e-bikes and all different types of modes of transportation. Please just be careful. Please make sure your kids are being safe. They're wearing helmets. They're following the traffic rules of the communities and of our town. And thank you to the SROs and what they've done throughout the year. We couldn't do it without them with our school district as well as the teachers. So we look forward to having the SROs out in the community a little bit more over the summer and continuing to build those relationships.

And with that, we do have two executive session items this evening. Please note that council may take action on executive session items listed on the agenda when we come back into public session. Our first one is a discussion of purchase of property and our second item is a discussion of personnel matters. I will entertain a motion to go into executive session.

I'll make a motion when we go into executive session. I'll second.

I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, thank you so much. Okay. Um, let the record reflect that no vote was taken in executive session. I will, um, accept a motion to return to regular.

So make a motion to return to regular session.

I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye. All those opposed. Thank you. All right. Um, I believe we do have one item that we want to vote on from executive session.

I'd like to make a motion that on behalf of council, we approve the manager's review. and move forward with the contract through December 31st, 2028. Thank you.

All right, I have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, thank you. And with that, I would like to thank you for your hard work. We seem to be meeting quite frequently, and hopefully we're making all the progress we all want to make. So thank you for your patience and for being here. I'll entertain a motion for adjournment.

I'll make a motion to adjourn.

I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, good night.