County Council - Regular Meeting

the Greenwood County Council. Um, your Greenwood County Council has been in executive session since 400 PM. In the interest of full transparency, I'll ask that the county manager tell you why we had that need. Mr. Manager, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of county council. We entered into executive session for the following nine matters. Two personnel matters pertaining to the treasures office and the planning department. Four economic development matters pertaining to projects Purple Cobra, Piranha, Patriot, and Barnowl. Two real estate transactions in the area of Uptown Greenwood and Calhoun Road near Anderson Circle and one legal matter pertaining to the Harris Waterline project. Thank you, Mr. Manager. Uh council, I will accept a motion, please, that we exe that hearing that that we exit executive session. Motion to exit.

Motion by Miss Miller, second by vice chairman. All in favor and we have exited executive session. Thank you. Uh our invocation tonight, Vice Chairman Puit, I believe you have our invocation and that we will have the pledge of allegiance. Let us stand. Please stand if you can.

Let us pray. Dear heavenly father, we humbly bow before you and give you thanks for this wonderful day. We know that in Matthew 18:20 it says, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am with them." We give you thanks that we can assemble in this wonderful country and are appreciative of all the freedoms that we enjoy. We ask you, Father, to be with all of us during this time of gathering. Lord, as we approach each new day, we seek to better understand the issues that confront our towns, cities, counties, states, and our nation. We pray for discernment so that we may choose leaders that hear your word and keep it in the forefront as they make these decisions that affect all of us. We thank you for the persons who have filled this room as we gather to conduct the business of Greenwood County. Lord, we ask you for guidance and wisdom as we make decisions that impact the good citizens of our county. We also ask that you extend the same wisdom and guidance to the leaders of our state and our country as they make these same types of decisions. Bless this meeting today and all those who are present as well as the lives of those we will encounter afterwards. We lift you up and give you all the praise, honor, and glory. Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Amen. Amen. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Council, I trust that you've had the opportunity to review your minutes from our previous meeting on February 6 17. And if so, I'll accept a motion. Do we accept those minutes, please? Motion to accept. Motion by Miss Miller, second byes.

Miss Teresa. All in favor? That's so ordered. Thank you. Um, Miss McIntyre, we don't have anyone signed up for public comment. Correct. Okay. Thank you very much. We have no presentation scheduled for our meeting tonight, so we'll move directly into old business. Ordinance 202604 to amend the Greenwood County zoning map as and if amended so that one parcel of land totaling approximately 1.01 acres at 915 Salom Church Road Greenwood County changes from RDD Rural Development to C1 Neighborhood Commercial. Mr. Russian please.

Okay, this is third reading. Um at the last meeting we had the public hearing. we did hear from the applicant um on this particular resoning. This is 1.01 acres currently zoned RDD. Uh there you can see it on the map there which is rural development district. Current use is residential with a mobile home on the property. Uh applicant expressed an interest in commercial development on the property specifically retail. While commercial is allowed on RDD you must have at least two acres uh for that. This parcel being only 1.01 acre, uh the applicant is requesting to reszone to C1 neighborhood commercial. Partial is bordered by RDD um and AG1 zoning. Uh partial is bordered by residential and commercial uses as far as current use. Future land use is low density residential. Um, and then the planning commission voted 11-0 in favor of reszoning. I just run through a couple of these slides here. You can see directly to the west is a deer processing uh across the road residential. Um, immediately to the east residential and then there's also some commercial properties down the street, including uh the county fleet garage and the landfill just to the east. pictures of what's currently on the property, the mobile home looking uh up the road towards Greenwood. Uh the one on the uh left is the deer processor there in the middle and the one on the right is the commercial property, commercial use across the street. Again, looking down the road towards the landfill and another overhead of this property. Uh future land use again is low density residential. Uh and again the public hearing was at

the last um meeting where we did hear from the applicant. I can take any questions you might have. Mr. Rush. Oh, I'm sorry. M Mr. Chairman, I have a question. [clears throat] So what about staff recommendation? So we're currently reviewing staff recommendations and how we do them, but it was presented to both the planning commission and council previously as uh staff um disapproved of this particular um I'll say we're current we're kind of reviewing that whole process that we're doing but it went to both planning commission council previously as council of staff not recommending approval but what was it but the planning and zoning planning board approved it

they approved it yes 110 in favor of rezoning correct [clears throat] last chair no that was the same thing I was going to ask what the vote was and I Yeah. For clarification, the staff the staff disapproved it because it it didn't meet it didn't meet the future land use, right? Future land use. That is correct. Future land use is is low density resident residential, right? Mr. Allison, have you heard of any on this? Okay. No, I don't. That's not I know, but I just No, I haven't heard anything. Okay. If you don't need anything else, council, what's your pleasure? I'm going to make a motion to approve.

Second. Have a motion approved by Miss Miller, second by Mr. Puit. All in favor?

Any opposed? And that passes 61. Thank you. Thank you. We'll now move into a section of public hearings. We have a number of public hearings to conduct. And the way we'll do this, we'll move through these one at a time. We'll vote them as a whole at the end. Um, I will ask that uh if you as I read the ordinance, if you're here to speak either in first in favor of the motion that you come forward, state your name and address for the record and then we anyone then opposed. So I'll ask for a motion. Do we enter into public hearing? So move second.

Motion by Mr. Templeton, second by Mr. Allison. All in favor? And we're entering into the public hearing. Um, first item or uh item B, ordinance 20265, dissolving the Penssonville Special Tax District. Um, treasurer, do you need to speak on these individually, Miss Stephanie? I think I can just handle them all as one group if that pleases. Council.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you. These are six special tax districts that have not had any activity in many years. Some of them have had no activity um since their creation. And I will just uh so we've brought these forward. They're not following the policy because they haven't been submitting budgets and um having funds in their accounts. There are three of these that do have funds in their accounts. Um, Orchard Park, item C has $1462. Uh, item E, Emerald Place, has $116.35 and item F, Harborside, has $20018. We've advised all of uh all of these property owners that they are in a district that we are proposing be dissolved and that if there are funds in their account that they would need to put forth three tax commissioners in order to spend those funds um as according to state regulations and county policy. Happy to answer any questions but again these are all similar.

Any question comments? [clears throat] Okay. If if if none, I will ask if there's anyone here that wants to speak in favor of of item B, ordinance 202605. If so, come forward. Mr. Marian, state your name and address for the record, please, sir.

Uh Marian Moore, [clears throat] uh presently on the property in Spring Lake that's left that is common areas to the subdivision. Uh I no longer have any uh sellable lots available in there and I'm presently in the process of getting my three uh represent commissioners uh for the tax district and it has been put in there years ago when we started the subdivision would have not need it because I've been doing the upkeep but since I have no lots available left and it's just common areas that's left I was going to deed it to the uh homeowner. ers. They do not have a homeowner association and and but we're going to I want to continue to get that tax district underway uh so that they can have a method of paying for cutting that grass every year.

Okay. So, you're actually speaking in to item D. Yeah. Correct. Spring Lake. Spring Lake. And and you were and you're saying, if I'm hearing you clearly, you would like that tax district to stay in place. Stay in place for the pres. time presently. I went uh I got the letter a couple weeks ago that was had all the wrong dates in it. Uh I was unaware of anything that was going to happen with this tax district and then [clears throat] but when I got the letter it was the same day I received the letter the same day that we had county council first reading on it

and but I went on to the tax office uh day later and got the uh paperwork to get my commissioners in line and stuff like that. So, I would like that one to be left open for the time being and uh but I'm I plan on having the all the information in within two weeks. Okay. So, you're speaking against the removal of the tax spring.

Yes, sir. Miss McIntyre, if you make a notation that his comments actually were were in regard to item D. Okay. All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Appreciate you. Is there anyone here that cares to speak um uh in support of the removal? So, seeing none, we'll we'll move then to item C, ordinance 2026, dissolving the Orchard Park Special Tax District. Anyone here to speak on that in in favor of that? Seeing none, anyone here to speak in opposition to that? Seeing none, we will move to item D, ordinance 202607, dissolving the Spring Lake Special Tax District. And that's that's what Mr. Marian was just speaking on. So there's no one to speak on that ordinance 20268 dissolving the Emerald Place special tax district. Would anyone like to speak in support of that? Seeing none, would anyone like to speak in objection to that? We'll move then the item F, ordinance 202609, dissolving the Harborside special purpose tax district. Anyone in the audience care to speak in favor of that? Seeing none, does anyone care to speak in opposition of that? We'll move then to item G, ordinance 202610, dissolving the Timberlake Special Tax District. Does anyone care to speak in support of that? Seeing none, does anyone care to speak in opposition of that? Seeing none, council, any comments or questions before we vote these as one.

Vote them as one. Have to do separate. Yeah. Yeah. Well, when we when we come out of when we come out of public hearing, I'll make a motion we come out of there. Thank you. Motion to exit public hearing by Mr. Alson, second by Miss Bishop. We've closed the public hearing. Council, what's your pleasure on these? Voting these as one. Excuse me. Yes. Please signify vote to exit public hearing. All in favor? And we will vote these as one. No, separately. [clears throat] Separately. Yes, sir. Okay. All right. I'm gonna move back then. Can we do ordinance?

Mr. Chairman, would it would council be opposed to me trying to simplify this by saying I make a motion that we u move forward on all except Spring Lake? I'll second that motion. We can. No, but I think I think the attorney wants me to vote them separately. Is that correct? I do. Okay. It won't take a second. Let's move ordinance 20265. Uh uh all in all in favor of approving the removal. We which I'll [laughter] sorry I second now. All in favor?

Yeah. No. No comments or questions on that. All in favor? Ordered. Item C, ordinance 2026, Orchard Park. Motion. I make a motion to dissolve. Second. Motion and second. All in favor? Thank you. Ordinance 202607, Spring Lake. Motion. Motion to decline. Motion by Mr. Allison. Second. Second by Mr. Templeton. All in favor. Ordinance 20 2608 Emerald Place. Motion.

So move. Second, vice chairman. Second by Miss Teresa. All in favor? So ordered. Ordinance 202609 Harborside. So moved. Second. Motion and second. All in favor? So ordered. Ordinance 202610. Timberlake. So moved.

Motion by Mr. Teresa. Second by Mr. Allison. All in favor? So ordered. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Templeton for that guidance. [snorts] That's what you get when you got a somebody on your council been chairman for over 10 years. Thank you. Let me move on here. [snorts]

Did I leave?

Yeah. Why is that? Mine's out of order. Mine's tremendously out of order. Okay. Okay. We'll move now into new business, folks. Sorry for that delay. Um item A under new business is consideration of purchase of a truck for our code enforcement uh department. Our county attorney, Miss Carson Penny, will speak on that, please.

U the fisc year 26 budget includes a new truck for the code enforcement officer. Uh the budget allows for $63,000. Brian Bloomer obtained a state contract or state contract quotes for this truck with the lowest being a truck from Florida uh for $57,120.88. Because this is a state contract purchase above $50,000, county council must approve the purchase according to our procurement policy. U he he Mr. Mr. Bloomer did attempt to get a quote from a local vendor, but they could not get get him a quote for what we needed in the truck. So, that's why the the Florida um least expensive truck was the the truck that we would recommend.

Okay. Thank you, Miss Penny. Hurting the at hearing the attorney's explanation and need. Council, what is your pleasure? Motion to approve. Motion by Miss Miller. A second. Second by Miss Bishop. And all in favor of approval and that's unanimous and so ordered. Thank you. Item item B, consideration of the approval of the propos proposal from Davis and Floyd to study best route options for an emergency access road to dry branch court. Mr. Josh Skinner.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and councel. Two, uh, project proposals for you from the watershed study. U, just a quick recap. uh 2016 CPST had 1.7 million for the watershed study. We paid 310,000 of Wolert Engineering for the actual study. So we have right at 1.4 million left projects. Uh Walpert identified seven uh tier one areas where most significant flooding was in the county. Um these are areas where properties or or roads flood during moderate storm events and when they flood there are emergency access concerns or public safety concerns. So alleviate the flooding or or help improve public access. um they came up with uh five recommendations for us to move forward with as projects and um you can see right here one of those recommendations was to build emergency access roads uh two in the Gatewood Chinkapin area on Brookfield Drive and Tall Pines Road and one at Drive Branch Court. Um, so I've started getting quotes uh from different engineering firms for these emergency access roads for the design, the survey, the platting of these roads. Um, Brookfield Drive and Tall Pines Road are pretty they're pretty straightforward. You know where the road's going to go. However, when meeting with some of these firms on site at Dry Branch Court, this is from the actual study. This is where they proposed the emergency access road [clears throat]

meeting at uh dry branch court which is the area behind MIGS. It's the uh subdivision uh behind MIG's uh quality Chrysler Sonic Drive in. Um there's not a clear route to put this emergency access road. These are pictures from one of the residents after Helen. So you can see when dry br uh sample creeks floods dry branch court becomes impassible and essentially those homes are trapped. Um so we're looking at different options for this emergency access road. Um, one goes two of them go through the mix parking lot, one straight up through um past this uh container here. Uh, two possible routes here. We would have to move the um the trash receptacles for MIGs and then one possible route sort of still in the flood zone but should be possible for emergency access vehicles. And this would come up and require easement through this uh abandoned selfcar wash. Um since no engineering firms could really give us a good quote on uh a drive since they don't know which drive is best, Davis Floyd recommended to do a study uh to do cost proposals and um just different measurements for each drive. And that study is $6,000. So, uh, and I have talked to the owners of Migs. They were very, very gracious. Uh, they're willing to help out the county and their neighbors and said that if we do choose to go through Mix parking lot, they'd be willing um as long as there is a gate that only emergency access vehicles could could use.

Okay. This is our proposed budget for the remaining funds in the watershed study. [cough] See, [clears throat] uh, we're estimating about 100,000 for these emergency access roads. So, this study would, uh, be 6,000 out of that 100,000. Okay. Thank you, Josh. Appreciate that. So, council, um, what is your pleasure on this? I make a motion to approve. I have a motion to approve by Miss Bishop, second by vice chairman. Before we vote, is there any discussion or questions of Josh? Mr. Chairman, I have one question. Yes, ma'am. Miss Miller,

thank you. um for the information and I apologize for my voice. So, I want to clarify Davis and Floyd, we're entering into a contractual agreement for them to study it and then determine the cost of each one to help us decide which path to take. That's correct. So, they're going to do a cost analysis of each one. Yes. Okay. That's right. Thank you. And their study cost is $6,000. Correct. That's right. [snorts] That's right. Okay. Any other questions, comments? I was Yeah, I was just going to point out since we have fire chief in here and also um Eddie from the sheriff's department.

Can we put that picture back up there? I mean, you guys I don't know if you've seen this when it's flooded or whatever. Does that seem like a viable good option going through MIGs more so than than to go up and dry branch? Okay. Okay. I just wanted to ask any other. Yeah, Mr. Chairman, I I assume we would have to have some type of agreement with the commercial property owner and Megs, wouldn't we? That's right. Yeah. Yeah. We I've spoken to Megs in there. Yeah. I I assume this road would be blocked.

Right. So, the plan is to have two like swing emergency access gates, one on each end, and then uh easement would go through the parking lot to be used only for emergency That's right. situations. Any other comments, questions? No, sir. The motion before us is to approve. Have a motion and a second. All in favor? And that's unanimous and so ordered. Thank you, Josh. Thank you, Josh. Item C, consideration of the approval of the proposal for Walpert from Walpert Engineering for the installation of automated flood monitoring equipment in the Curtail Creek wershed. Josh,

yes. Another uh uh watershed study project. So, [clears throat] five of the seven um in these tier one flood areas. two are in around Chicapen Lake Chicapen or Chikapin Pond and three are in the Gatewood area around the two ponds there. Um, and all five of those projects, all five of those areas, Wilpert recommended the best way, the most affordable way to uh alleviate flooding is to lower lakes, lower the lakes in those areas before storm events. And in order to do that, they recommended installing these flood monitoring stations, uh, one at each pond. And this is from the water natural watershed study. You see, they gave us a a cost uh, estimate for one station, 20 25,000, three stations, and then a annual cost to maintain and and um, keep these stations up to date. And basically what these stations do is they they measure the current level of water volumes in ponds or streams and then they uh have internet access and look at uh weather radar maps and they can kind of predict when there might be uh flooding might be coming and they will send alerts to text message email alerts and someone can go and open up the flood gate the dam gates and lower the levels of the This is one they recently installed in Hil Island. Uh it is solar powered. All the the data electronics are in that little box. The arm sticking out there is a radar water um level monitor. So it sends real time feeds back to uh the the modem. And uh the only difference in the proposal is Walbert is proposing that

one station in Chikipan, one station in Gatewood have a a rain gauge bucket that after a rain will empty and and recalibrate. So um three of these they're proposing at 64,000 to install and they will also uh these some more pictures of the ones in Helm Head which they said would be very similar similar to the ones they put in Gatewood and Chica Panin areas. [clears throat]

This is what it looks like on on your screen when you when you go online to look at it. Um the one in Hilton Head is not live yet because they just installed it, but their emergency service coordinator engineer can click on one of these points and then they pull up a screen like this and it has all your scientific measurements. Um, Hilton Head has, you know, wind speed, water temperature, uh, rain gauge that they, uh, Wolver said that ours, if we choose to do this, would look more like this one in Mount Pleasant. Uh it has the rain gauge measure here and then it has these flood level lines which are the red lines and as the water level gets up to different lines it sends out uh alerts to whoever signed up to to receive the alerts. Um of course the one in Mount Pleasant also has a video camera. Our proposal does not have a video camera but you can always add one if you want to. Uh this is Greenville County has a bunch of these stations. This is what theirs is online. Uh this is what the public can see. They just uh report rainfall totals. Their emergency service coordinator can also look at different stream stream levels and more of the science scientific measurements. These are some of the stations that Wolfford has throughout the upstate. You see Anderson Pickins has one. Greenville has multiple. Greenville, the city of Greenville, Spartanberg. Um, and of course they have a bunch in the low lower state as well. So, their proposal would uh they would program these things to our website, six months inspection after install and they um every couple weeks they check out the data via the internet and uh and um they're on call if anything goes wrong. Uh the proposal does not include the SE

sailor connection fees which they say is about $30 a month per station. Uh you see our budget for these uh was 70,000. Of course, their proposal came in at 64,755. And uh we have told Chinkapin and Gatewood HOAs that before the county attorney uh the county manager signs any contracts, if it is approved, that they would have to uh sign an agreement accepting a responsibility for the monthly internet maintenance. So with that, any questions about the the stations, the proposal?

Mr. Chairman, I have two questions. Thank you again. Um I think you mentioned earlier in a graphic that there were five roads impacted, but we're talking about three ponds. So it's not a onetoone relationship. So two roads are impacted by the same pond or are we not put I don't understand. Yeah. So let's see if I have a picture. Um [clears throat] this is probably best but so Chica pin road and creek road when when Chica pin pond floods both of those okay

have a tendency to uh to over top as well as North Hill Road. So there's actually three. And then the Gatewood Ponds, you have Brookfield Drive, which over tops most frequently, but you can also have over topping at Gatewood Drive and Tall Pines Road. So that one pond is affecting three different roads in that one neighborhood, right? Okay. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. So, and the monitoring, it says where who's going to receive this information? Is that the homeowners association is receive or the counties monitoring the information?

Typically, Walford says the counties receive the information and like the emergency services, the engineering department, and eventually these stations get hooked up to uh FEMA, the weather service, Noah, you know, it's all shared uh for for weather service alerts. Um, but it can be whoever whoever we decide is going to ultimately have that information. So, we have not decided yet if the county is going to assume that monitoring aspect of the Right. Right. I mean, right now the the proposal is that the HOA would pay for the maintenance fees.

They would have to open up the floodgates like they do now, right? To to lower the uh water level. So, they would definitely receive it. Um I think if they choose to share it with us, we would we would um add it to our system. Okay. Potentially. Yeah. But the on sorry the ongoing uh cellular $30 a month per or whatever that would be picked up by the HOA or That's correct. Yes. Okay. Yes. And has there been any discussion about the data being posted on the county website? Is that going to be a part of this? Uh, no. There has not been any discussion about that. No. But that would be a possibility. Yes, definitely. Yes. To give people easier access to it. Yes. Yes.

Okay. Any other any other discussion? Mr. Chairman, I offer you a motion to approve. I have a motion. Second. A second by Mr. Templeton. All in favor of approval? That's unanimous and so ordered. Thank you, Josh. Item D, consideration of the approval for a variance of the procurement policy 10.4 four and to commit to purchase fire apparatus from the 2024 capital project sales tax. County treasurer Miss Dor. Thank you. Um, as you can see, I've got some of my friends here with me to to help

with some questions that you are likely to have. But with our new uh capital project sales tax that was approved in 2024, u we had several things in there. Um and project number two is related to uh continuation of our fire uh master plan and specifically we had [clears throat]

uh several fire stations, continuation of the public safety training center, uh ambulances um and fire apparatus to go with the stations that we um intend to construct. And so we've already started uh planning for this and um we will need a variance. you all to approve two things. First off, let's talk about the variance. Uh we've used this cooperative purchasing program in the past. Uh so this is a a exception to our uh procurement policy. Uh it's a combination of the Houston Galveston area council program and the North Carolina Sheriff's Association procurement program. Part is for the vehicles and part is for the equipment that goes on the vehicles or the fire apparatus. Not quite a vehicle. Sounds funny for something that's that big. Um, if [clears throat] we are able to commit now, uh, then we should be able to receive the equipment in, um, 18 months or so. That takes a long time, uh, for these fire apparatus to come in. Y'all have heard this from us before. Uh, this would be a cash purchase, uh, that would be paid after we actually receive the equipment. So, we don't have to pay anything upfront. uh and by going ahead and ordering the equipment, we would be under the current EPA standards. So, the standards change constantly. Um and every time they change, it costs more to buy a fire truck. So, specifically, what's in phase one um that we're asking for the funding for this project uh is expected to come in in September of 2027. Um, so we're asking for you all to allow us to go ahead and order equipment when we don't have the funds on hand. However, this again is project number two in the capital project sales tax. Uh, so it would be highly highly highly unlikely that we would not receive these funds. Um, and we're already ahead of

schedule in the capital project sales tax. Specifically, the fire stations uh that are going to be constructed as part of this are the uh one in Promised Land on Whiteall Road in Hajes and in the lower lake uh Greenwood Fire Department uh in the 96 area. And so the equipment is uh for these particular fire stations. It would be a total of 13 uh fire apparatus and six ambulances. The only thing we're asking you about tonight though are specifically the fire apparatus. Now I I'm going throw a lot of numbers up there because y'all know I like my numbers and my charts and [clears throat]

but thank you to Paul for um helping provide this to to begin with and and um and all of our chiefs [clears throat] that have participated in analyzing the um proposals that were put in front of of them. One of the proposals they had uh would require us to do financing and we were trying to avoid that. Um obviously financing has a cost to it in the form of interest and we didn't want to do that. So this particular uh proposal that we have in front of you um would would be again a cash offer. Uh the referendum funding is $21.1 million. Again, we expect to have that in September 2027. And at that time we would make a payment um of about 10 and a half million dollars for the fire apparatus. Um again we're not talking about ambulances in this specific request of you all but we have about 2.4 million that would be for ambulances giving us about 8 million for construction of the the um stations. Uh the next part of phase one is the public safety training center. As you know, part of that's in FA in in the current [clears throat] or the previous uh project uh capital project sales tax that we're still working through that has uh 13.8 million in that. We expect that funding to come through by the end of u September 2028 and we would have uh 3.4 4 million in there for the fire apparatus, 809 for the ambulances, giving us uh 2 million, a little over two million for the construction of the stations and 7.5 million for the training center. And then finally, phase two um is a total of 7.5 million. It will come in approximately in September of 2030. Uh the fire apparatus then is only 1.4

million. So that's the smaller um smaller ask on on that. So that would be when we talk about what we're asking you to uh go ahead and allow us to make the purchase. That's the part that's phase two a little bit later where you get into a little bit more risk of whether we collect all of the proper uh capital project sales tax. [snorts] I'm not concerned about it. Um, again, we're ahead at this point on that capital project sales tax and this is still um only, you know, about halfway through the entire [snorts] collection period of seven years. Um, again, we have 809 for ambulances, about 600,000 for water tanks, and then 4.6 available for uh the fire stations. By doing all of this um from the original original proposal or original expectation that we had u we're actually saving on our fire apparatus and given a little bit more flexibility for spending on the fire stations. Um, so we think that this is a good proposal. Um, sets us up in the best best way and also makes sure that we get the new equipment um, soon after we have the funding available, which is um, always important to to not be too far behind. And again, the longer we wait to order, the more that everything will cost us. That's about all I can tell you. Uh, I've summarized all the information. I would invite uh your questions and and my support friends behind me to um to come up and help answer any other questions you might have.

Stephanie, I think you can answer my question, which is simply you did say that we don't have to pay for this until it actually comes in. That's correct. And we're looking at pro poss probably 18 months. And if and September of 27 is when the money is supposed to be here. And that's about 18 months. It should almost line up. It should. And it's actually um I think the payment um Paul can help me out with this. Uh it would be the September quarter. We receive it in October, but we don't have to pay until December. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's that answers my question. Thank you. And the amount that we're talking about is how much uh for that is 10 and a half million for that first payment? That's what I thought.

Thank you. So, having heard that, council, what is your pleasure? I'll offer you a motion to approve. Have a motion by vice chairman, second by Miss Bishop. Before we vote, any comments or questions? I have a comment if no one else does. I think this is excellent work. Um, uh, a fine proposal. I know that you did a lot of work in regard to this. I want to thank the fire services folks for their for their work. Well, I try to give you credit when I can. I'm not going to take any of the credit off of them. Maybe and and what I like most about it is is especially in the early order, we're saving a lot of money for the Greenwood County taxpayers. And like you, I have every confidence in you because you I'm the CPSD guy, right?

That's right. That we will collect in full plus some. So that ends my comments. Any other comments? Thank them for being here as always. Fire department and and I'm I'm pretty confident Mr. Magnolia had a little bit to do with these numbers sitting. Appreciate that

a little bit. And before I forget it, if Paul, if you and Jim are going to hang around to the end of the meeting, would you please get with Stephanie and let's touch up this date for this meeting with manager and myself because I know we've been working on that for a while if you're around. If not, we can do it later. Okay, we have a motion and a second for approval. All in favor? And that's unanimous and so ordered. Thank you. Item E, ordinance 202612 to amend the Greenwood County zoning map as and if amended so that one parcel of land totaling approximately 1.38 acres at 1703 Calhoun Road, Greenwood County changes from R1 single family residential to R to C2 U general commercial. This is first reading and title only requires no action. Mr. Russian,

these next three items came out of our planning commission meeting last week. Uh again, the first one's at 1703 Calhoun Road. Currently zoned um R1 uh single family residential. Current use is vacant with some clearing on the property has already begun. The applicant expressed interest in commercial development on this site and therefore is requesting to reszone to C2 general commercial. partial is bordered uh to the uh southeast uh with commercial uh R1 uh to the north and west and then I2 heavy industrial across the road. The future land use for this uh property is um commercial and the planning commission voted 110 in favor of reszoning. Staff did recommend approval. On the screen you do see there is the parcel. The road out front Calhood Road is SC DOT maintained. There's a picture there with some of the utilities that are available on the site. Um some pictures of the parcel itself where it has uh already been cleared. View across the road to some of the uh commercial properties across the road. Again looking north and then looking southeast. Uh this is the property right next to the music masters uh property there. So again, I mentioned future land use. Uh you see that red box right in the middle there. The future land use for this uh parcel was mostly commercial. You see one little sliver of residential on the back, but the future land use map was commercial. I can take any questions if you want, but uh first reading and title O.

Any discussion? Stay with Rob. Item F, ordinance 2026 13 to amend the Greenwood County zoning map as and if amended. So that one parcel of land totaling approximately 1.28 acres at 2910 Highway 702 Greenwood changes from RDD Rural Development District 2 to C2 general commercial. Rob again in title only in first reading this is 1.28 acres 2910 Highway 702. You can see the parcel there kind of in the middle of the screen with the red box around and the and the white around it as well. Uh the current use was residential with mobile homes on the property. I believe they have since been removed though. Uh site cleared and some of the construction has begun. We'll show you there in a minute. Uh applicant wants to locate their business on the site. Um commercial is allowed in RDD as it is currently uh zoned. However, you have to have at least two acres. Uh the um applicant has split this parcel with the parcel next to it which was the Harbor Lake grocery store I believe and the resultant acreage is 1.28 acres. So doesn't meet our current condition for commercial on RDD. Uh applicant is therefore requesting resone to C2 commercial. Uh [snorts] the parcel of course is surrounded by RDD. uh but the uses around it again Harbor Light Grocery uh to the west residential agriculture on all the other sides the future land use there's the uh again highway 702 that's DOT maintained there are uh there is gas and water I believe on the site um at that location uh again there's a subject partial on the left you can see where it's been cleared uh across looking across the road to a pasture on the west side kind of looking up is the Harvard Light

grocery there and on the east side looking back towards uh some residential um down that way. Uh the future land use is low density residential um for the entire area right there. You do get some commercial as you go down towards the intersection down below that but all around that is low density residential for future land use. Planning Commission voted 11-0 in favor of the resoning. Uh again, we are reviewing our staff recommend recommendations and policies this time, but when it was presented to planning commission, uh the staff's recommendation was approval.

How close is the nearest residence roughly, Rob? Do you have any idea? I don't I I But no res It's It's right next to it. Yeah. No resident spoke in opposition to it at the uh No, I don't believe any residents spoke against it at the meeting.

Thank you, council. Any comments, questions before we move to item G. Ordinance 202614 to amend the Greenwood County zoning map as and if amended so that po that parcel portions of three parcels of land totaling 11.74 acres at 2056, 2070 and 2110 Monagu Avenue extension in Greenwood County changed from C2 general commercial to MPR master plan. Rob,

again first reading and title only. Uh this parcel is actually splitz zoned. Uh the back these three parcels the back end of them are zoned R1. The front of them are zone C2. So we have approximately 11.74 acres currently zoned as C2 general commercial. 4.42 acres on the backside zoned as R1 uh residential. Uh site is currently vacant and wooded. The applicant has submitted a potential site plan for this. See it here in a minute for residential on this property. Uh they are looking to reszone just the front portion of these three the C2 area. Uh and they want to reszone it from C2 to MPR master planned residential. Just a few highlights in your packet for that master uh planned residential. A maximum density of four units per acre. A minimum lot area of 7,000 square foot. a minimum lot width of 52 foot, front setback of 20 foot, side setbacks at 5 foot, and rear setback at 30 foot. The 4.42 acres at the back would remain R1 and would meet those uh that criteria for that zoning according to their submitted plan. Uh the current zoning surrounded uh for that area is C2 uh to the south and across the street to the west and even to the north. Uh but to the rear is uh obviously on the back part is the R1 as well as behind these properties also zoned as R1. The current use surrounding the properties a mix of both commercial and residential. Uh future land use is low density residential. We do have some views there across the street of the nice trees on the property. Uh looking north from the parcels kind of up Highway 25 and looking south from the

parcels. Uh in that one looking south um you can see the um uh the old shopping center there that has currently been demolished and then the B load just below that. Uh utilities in the area all utilities in the area to properly serve those parcels. But here's your future land use shows low density residential for those three parcels. Um staff uh I'm sorry and I left off the planning comm planning commission approved this 110 at the meeting last week. Uh and then again staff recommended uh approval. Uh just as a note, these parcels were requested to be resoned to R5 multifamily residential back in 2022 and were denied by council. So this is a return trip with a different plan for this uh parcel. Thank you, Rob.

Rob, as I understand it, um, because I've received some calls on this one, as I understand it, the plan [clears throat] for the back portion is the R1. It'll meet the lot sizes and all the requirements of R1. On the front half, this looks like 34 smaller homes in a circular kind of pattern. Um, but currently under C2, almost anything is allowable there. Is that not correct? Well, almost anything except low density residential, single family residential. But but if they wanted to put like apartments there, they could put apartments there. They could put multifamily housing there. Yes, that was my question. Yes.

But and this phase 34 would qualify as this plan would qualify as low density residential. Is that correct? Yes or no? [laughter] I wasn't going to say it, but um yes, I believe it would qualify as low density or but I I will check that for the next Yeah, that's fine. That's next reading. Yes, these are just questions I'm getting asked and I'm just asking you. I think some of the low density, medium density, you know, there's a there's a little bit of leeway there between the different classifications and because this is an MPR, it doesn't fit exactly any of those classifications. So, I you know, you're probably You're yes, you're probably on the on the lower end for low res low density residential.

My whole point though is with it being currently CT on the front, they could do multif family residential without reszoning. Correct. Yes. Thank you. That answers my question. Any other questions or discussion before we move? Thank you, Rob. Appreciate that. We have no pending items that I'm aware of. So, we will now move into district reports. Miss Griffin, District 1.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Like to say good evening to each and every one of you. We want to thank you all for coming out tonight. And we want to thank you for all that you do for Greenwood County. Also, we would like to say happy new month to you. And so, we would ask that you would just make the most of each and every day that the Lord gives you. Amen. So, ends my report. Thank you, Mr. District two. All is well in district two, Mr. Chair. Well, in district two, Miss Bishop, District 3. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you everybody for coming and I pray you have a wonderful evening. That ends my report, Mr. Chair. Thank you, ma'am. Miss Miller, District 4. No report, Mr. Chairman. No report from District 4. Mr. Puit, District 5.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mine's kind of brief, too. Uh, I recognize law enforcement and fire department in the room. Thank you for your attendance. Mr. Oliver, thank you for your attendance. Thank you guys for what you do each and every day in Greenwood County and how you serve our public and protect Greenwood County. Thank you. Um, as always, want to end my report with a Bible verse. This is Joshua 1:9. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. That ends my report, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Mr. Templeton. District 6.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to um give an official update on food fight 2026. The um the county retained the belt and the can of corn by collecting 14,865 pounds. The city collected 10,275 pounds totaling 25,140 which exceeded our goal of 25,000. Um, I will say that the competition within the competition that [snorts] um, Miss Miller thought we should start last year and it was a great idea and we won last year. We got smoked this year. 2487 by the city and 1082 for the county. That is absolutely uh not acceptable. So, um, and and and uh I'm have the new the can of corn is having to be kind of redone because we ran out of space. So, I have that at the trophy shop getting that done, but I'll bring that back so that we can celebrate that again. Um, and then I ordered a new trophy for the competition within the competition which will have the county listed for last year and unfortunately the city listed for this year. Um, but Brandon will be very excited to receive that when I take it to their city council meeting as soon as I get it. [snorts] Um, I want to thank everybody that participated. Um, you know, Abby Banks for all her help, all the county departments, the sheriff's department, Josh Hood, um, the fire departments, uh, all of them, but especially Hodgees and Tammy Baber, who did a tremendous job pushing this stuff through, solicitor's office, all of our drop off partners, all of our citizens who participated. We could not have been successful and reached our goal without you. So, next year the goal is 30,000 pounds. I wanted to go 40, but they backed me up. So, we'll shoot for 30, but and and council, we're just going to have to figure out a way not to let the city beat us again. That's that's not that's not acceptable. But anyway, we'll work on that. And [snorts] then, um

lastly, this past Saturday, Greenwood Christian School located in District 6 won the state championship in boys basketball. I talked to Jonathan Davis, their coach, on Sunday, congratulating him on that honor. Um he is supposed to be sending some information to Susan over the next week or so so that we can recognize them at our March 17th meeting. That ends my report.

Thank you, Mr. Templeton. Uh in my report, the first thing I'll say, I hope I hope in your hearts and your minds that you're all praying for the safety of our military personnel in the M East who are who are there to defend and protect freedom and stamp out evil. Uh I personally think this is something we should have done 30 years ago, but uh I hope that you do keep them in your prayers because we've already already lost US military personnel and we will certainly lose more. Um, on the count of corn and the food fight, I want to recognize my Hodgeges Coatsberry Fire Department because they they alone and this was a topic of conversation last night at the at the Hodgeges uh town uh town council meeting that I attended that Jim and his people raised about 3,000 pounds of the 14,000 and some odd. So that's roughly 20% of the total take. So good job, Hajes. And I would encourage you, Jim, to why don't you create a competition between all the fire services? You do that, we can all just sit down. Um, but thank you so much for that. And uh I attended the the uh town council meeting last night at H Hodgees because a few weeks ago at least I I shared with with the manager that I have an interest in us creating warming centers. I guess this excessive cold weather that we've had lately has got that front of mind for me. And during this extreme cold that we had up in where Scholes in the north end of my district, we partnered with uh a church and uh had a warming shelter that people could come into uh during those real real cold nights. And I I have an interest that we that we expand that throughout the county. And I would ask

council that that you that you just put that on your radar screen and have uh conversation with your constituents, especially our churches because I think uh as it was said to me last night, this could be a great mission. I've talked with the manager about some things that we as county government could do to assist in this. And uh last night in in having that conversation with the with the Hajes Town Council, they were very receptive and supportive. They had two churches represented. They have a total of five churches right there in that area that might want to participate. So I would just ask you to think about that and let's continue to have if you would support it to have continued continued conversation about that. You know, we've got we've got a year. I mean, we're moving into spring quickly now, so we've got a year to come up with a plan and know what that could look like. But I think it's a service. And as some of you heard me say that I slept in my car when it was 45 degrees uh Thanksgiving evening and I guess one thing that brought this forward in my mind, I about froze to death and it was only 45 degrees. And I thought, how cold would I have been if I was outside in the wind? You know, where there was there was wind impact. And it just really got me thinking about it. I candidly just don't know how people survive outside unprotected when temperatures are in the 20s or teens. So, I had that on my mind. Um, other than that, uh, I think that's about it for district 7. I appreciate you all being here tonight. Thank you. And if no if there's no other business um Miss Susan, anything for the good of the order? Mr. Manager, County Attorney, then we will stand a journ. Thank you.