City Council - Regular Meeting

Father, we thank you for this day of life. Help us as we come to take care of the goodness of the city. Help us to be great people that will be better and beneficial for the city. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, of course, we have completed the Reservation Act, Chapter 4, Title III, and Code of Orders for Corona 1976. And Jim has been posted on the front door to see all the notifications this means can give to the community. A motion by Reverend Edward St. Louis to approve any further discussion. All in favor of approval of the consent form. Opposed? Any opposed? Seconds for approval. Okay, so we talked here this evening, the first of which is, um, Dr. Netsy Hart, what you're representing for hospice and palliative care of the people. Thank you for joining us. I'm reminded because I always forget, and I've got to sit here and speak five minutes. If it's more than that, I would love to talk to you afterwards. It's hard for me, but I will do it. It makes me hurt when I'm a hospital-compatible care physician here in Greenwood. I'm also the chief medical officer in the hospital-compatible care that came out which is why I'm here today. I have with me Mike Mallon, who is one of our board members. I'm here to sit in light of national headlines regarding concerns and investigations of waste, fraud, and abuse in Alaska. I support these investigations, they're very important, but I want to make sure that in light of those, I reintroduce our company, Laska Sympathica, that came on and kind of who we are. We, first and foremost, are the organization that's been serving Green Bay for over 45 years. For those of you who are from here, while he's been around for a while, when you think about hospice, you're probably thinking about an organization. We are continuing the work of Dr. Jack Parham, A.C. Corley, my personal mentor, Dr. Philip Todd, and many others who joined many years ago of Brigham High Quality Nonprofit Hospice and Public Care to Green Bay. We are the only Greenwood-based non-profit. Many people are surprised to hear that actually in the U.S. most hospitals are for-profit. And this means that we are able to serve patients regardless of their ability to pay. It also means that we take any surplus from Medicare reimbursement and we reinvest that right back here in the community through community programs and additional patient services as opposed to for-profit companies who take surplus from Medicare and give that to investors, owners, and shareholders many times outside of, not just Greenwood, but outside of state and town. We also are accountable to the local board of directors for the highest quality community care. Again, as opposed to a pro-project company, that's accountable to our community providers. If you may be also pertinent to note that our entire staff resides right here in Greenwood. We employ over 100 people here in Greenwood. As opposed to, again, the corporate companies, which may have many of their employees outside of the community kind of established in Greenwood. Many of the fraud investigations that are currently occurring are large corporate entities that are expanding rapidly and really, really over quality. We have a proven track record of the highest quality care. We're the only Medicare, Triceratopsis in the area, which is very difficult to obtain and even harder to maintain. This is based on things like family and patient satisfaction, pain management, and responsiveness to care. Now, this is all publicly available data. You can find this on the Medicare website, and I'll encourage you to look at it there. We have a commitment to expertise, none of the larger corporate, for-profit companies. If they do have certified clinical staff, the staff members, again, reside outside of the company. We have expertise on our staff right here. We're the only fellowship board-certified, costly-compounded corporation here. In Greenwood, we have three other physicians, two nurse practitioners, four registered nurses, and one LPN. Also, the Biden Hospice is very well done. We think that bringing expertise right here in Greenwood is very important to have on site. We have the only Greenwood Hospice in the South by the DMV. We do crisis hospice care, short-term residential care, and respite manifestations in our hospitals. And I say that because it's not uncommon that I get calls from community members whose loved ones are under a different organization. Their loved one is in crisis. They need inpatient care just to find out in that moment that that inpatient care is available to them in a hospice hospital. And lastly, we provide comprehensive services. We provide palliative care through home hospice, through inpatient hospice, all the way through grief and loss services. Just briefly, palliative care is specialized medical care for people with advanced illness. A lot of times, that's an extra layer of support by people who are actively undergoing things like hemorrhoid radiation. Services are robust. They include things like individual counseling, group support groups, all facilitated by a certified licensed counselor. We also do an annual group camp for children, and we do school-grade groups within our public schools here locally. All these are free of charge to community members who wish to participate and are available to anybody. We don't have to produce them because we want to support our students. I just wanted to come here and reintroduce ourselves. We know that many times people are accessing our services when they're already overwhelmed, and we want to make sure that they're getting helpful information and that if you need care like ours, if you call either me or one of my team members, we would be happy to direct you to us. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, Martina. I appreciate the presentation. I always love learning from you. Maybe I dismissed a headline. We've got two others that deal with it, and they're riding a lot of heavy instruments. I think that's a much more simple approach in these difficult times. Thank you, Mr. President. I have a question. Go ahead. I have a question. How much of a problem have y'all experienced as young people? How long have I been under suspension? I guess I would say about a quarter of a time. OK. Did it have anything to do with those others? I'm wondering if this is a poor anecdote, and if we recognize this in the history of our history, how it was made, and how it was realized. Because I'm probably going to have to be very honest with you about this. And I'm going to be very personal about it anyway. And I'm going to have to be very honest with you about it. There's terrible emotions when it comes to our lives. So what's been the percentage of poverty in your experience? How are you doing? I'm doing good. How are you? I'm excited to meet you. How are you? I'm excited to meet you. How are you? I'm excited to meet you. How are you? I'm excited to meet you. How are you? I'm excited to meet you. How are you? I'm excited to meet you. How are you? I'm excited to meet you. How are you? I'm excited to meet you. How are you? I'm excited to meet you. How are you? I'm excited to meet you. How are you? I'm excited to meet you. How are you? I'm excited to meet you. How are you? I'm excited to meet you. How are you? I'm excited to meet you. How are you? I'm excited to meet you. How are you? I'm excited to meet you. How are you? I'm excited to meet you. How are you? I'm excited to meet you. How are you? I'm excited to meet you. How are you? I Our second public appearance is recognized as Sandy Anderson, and she is representing the Muslim Community. I remember what I was saying to her today. Good evening everyone. Again, my name is Sandy Anderson and I am here on behalf of the Middletons community. Thank you all for allowing me to be here. I like what you said. You said gatekeepers of our community and I think that's what I'm here to be the gatekeeper of our community. I know that we recently submitted a petition to you all because we were trying to get speed bumps into our community and that's because of the state. Since our community We are completely developed now, and I'm sorry, there are two people here. We can go in, and the victim is here also with me. But since we are completely developed now, we don't have a lot of traffic in our community. And I'm proud to say that we have a lot of young families and children that we'd like to see in our community clean, but we have some people who don't know how to obey the traffic. And we want to make sure that our kids are safe. What we're wanting to do, I know that you guys reviewed our petition and maybe you didn't see it how you're seeing it, but once we've read your criteria, we're going to make sure we can get some clarification because I think we meet the criteria. The only thing that we need to do was a traffic study and we have a talk with Chief Chisholm to get that traffic study done. But we feel like we want to do more proactive instead of reactive. We don't want to see something happen to a child or someone in our community because we have people coming through city. We would have and probably would have already done something before now but we respect that there's the city on our streets so that's why we're coming to you and appealing to you to please re-look at this so that we can keep our kids and our community safe. We feel like we've done a lot of diligence. We've asked people to do a lot of diligence, and we're hoping you guys to hear and listen. I appreciate it. I think what we found was a black and white ordinance regarding food bumps. It's kind of antiquated, like 30 years old or so. So it's definitely worth a read. But some of y'all have met with them, lost people. I thought I would make it. Well, I'll certainly get over there and make sure I lay my eyes on people and let them share with me. Make sure we understand what we can do. If our ordinance needs to be updated, I think it's time to address some of our results. So guys, I appreciate the concerns in the community. I think they probably told y'all some of all the concerns with regard to maintenance and that kind of thing. But I think, I don't know if we can figure something out. I think it's worth noting that we've asked SIG staff to start exploring how it's being used in North and how we can adopt these. But as Ms. Anderson said, I do think we also need to focus on what this list is that's currently in this ordinance and what the stakes are for it. They absolutely feel like that they meet all the criteria in this ordinance. Where staff do not feel like that they check all the boxes with this ordinance. makes it, it's written the way that it's written, is every aspect of the ordinance has to be completely clear for them to be able to have refunds installed in their neighborhoods. But it's, you know, they, there were some questions, one question I've answered is, A traffic study is not just we put up some little wires across the road and see what all happens. Who's supposed to do a traffic study in this building? So the staff's still evaluating all the criteria. That was the first blush for it because I knew that y'all were coming to speak tonight. And so we'll lean on the police department. We do have traffic counters. Our speed trailer does provide us with traffic data. starting to achieve this non-oxidant, they're becoming, you push people away from the building. So we're still evaluating the criteria, Mr. Best, and we're also investigating what other communities are doing. So we hope to have that information available to y'all in September to consider. And when you guys are looking at other communities, are you looking at some new ones that are being developed? Because I've been understanding with certain communities that have been here for a while, but you have people who are interested in the community, which type is perfect. You have people coming in that are working at different places here. They're coming in so that type is perfect, not to mention all the people that live here. We have 142 now in our community. probably sees three cars, sees three people driving, cars like that. So it's pretty, pretty heightened. I know because I sit in my recliner looking out in one direction and see how the cars are moving. But we just want to make sure that our people are able to, especially these babies, that they are able to do stuff. And from what I look at, from this criteria, We need it. And I know that it's probably a little outdated, but, you know, before you guys get a chance to look at it in the end, I felt, well, something should have happened. Two years ago, we had the same event. And we want you guys, if you can, to please re-evaluate and look at it. Thank you. Leslie and Sandy, please. One of our students, the way it was written, I don't know why it was written the way it was 30 years ago, basically. It'd be difficult for anybody to hear. So I think it's time to get a fresh set of eyes on this. But I think your contact information is going to be an obligation that I would like to see Yeah, we're not researching other neighborhoods. We're researching what other communities in South Carolina are doing. So how other cities, how other cities implement speed bumps and speed bump limits. So not what other neighborhoods agree with. We're researching what other, like, best practices all across the state are doing. What are some of the things you've thought in there around canoes? I think a speed bump is a little less jarring. If you've ever been to 96 high school, I think they have speed bumps that almost rattle your car off. And speed humps are a little bit more lighter. Remember those ones that used to be in front of Lowe's? Yeah. Speed bump. Yeah, those are pretty jarring on a vehicle. Those speed bumps are a little bit, like she was saying, a little wider a little bit. And they've also seen cables, which are much wider than those speed bumps. That's why we're here. All right. Our third public appearance is from . And I want to put this right. Ms. Gianna, they really are representing Parliament of Pride. Can the ambassador get it right? Do you have a presentation in front of you? Do you have a . The Leon? The Leon? Yes. We didn't pass the Leon money. Great. Thank you. The right hand is in the basket. No, the left hand is in the basket. I saw it in the basket. I saw it in the basket. I saw it in the basket. I saw it in the basket. I saw it in the basket. I saw it in the basket. I saw it in the basket. I saw it in the basket. I saw it in the basket. I saw it in the basket. I saw it in the basket. I thought you were going to be grabbing them. Where are you going? This way. Where are you going? This way. So you may be welcome to start the classes. Okay, well we appreciate you being here with us. I think that's a really good question. Please use the microphone. I think that the general understanding of it would be very nice. That's perfect. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. So, with everything that you've been doing, I'm going to open it up and I'm going to type things out and I'm going to try to fix a lot of some of the things that you've been talking about today. Can you speak for a moment? Yes, we have some time. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. To start off, I want to talk about three topics, or four topics, actually. Why I chose to be a homilified youth master, and I just want to talk about myself and homilify, some of the issues that we faced, and the impact that we had on the community. So a little bit later we could go over here, so I figured we'd have one more question. Who is talking to you? I'm a recent GHS graduate. I kind of studied biology at USC, so sorry to handcuff you. And also, I'm a . That's all. and are a little bit about Palmetto Pride. To keep it simple, they are an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and they are committed to litter reduction and defecation all across the country. So a little as to why I would want to become a Palmetto Pride youth in Austria. Okay, so a little bit as to why I wouldn't want to tell them a problematic ID semester is because I think it all comes down to being aware of the environment at such a young age. I think our elementary school and middle school did a great job teaching about environmental issues and so on. Yes, she is a drama queen. She wasn't exactly a teacher, but she talked a lot about the environment and just things kids shouldn't be doing. And I also got really involved in volunteering in the school, and I often participated in Shred Day and really clean up pictures with people that I got to meet. I really enjoyed working with you and just going to all the events. And the biggest reason was because of Ms. Ann Marie Gaw. She gave me the link, essentially, to become a Feminine Writing Master. So I created a lot of my success stories. And she's in the upper left corner, in case you don't know. Next slide, please. Now to cover the issues faced, honestly, trust. We've also observed whether it be for a lack of education or on purpose or legal dumping. So as you can see on the left side, there's a picture of just like a pile of trash bins dumped on the side of the neighborhood. This is a neighborhood close to the Greenwood Library, which we cover the neighborhood with. Another issue is awareness. We noticed at the games I grew at high school, the amount of trash bins just left in the stands, even when there was trash bins available, just right in the area. Instead of in the trash bins, the trash was in the stands. Next slide, please. But good news made an impact. I and a couple of other youth masters hosted Greenland's first ever Conscious and Clean at the Greenland Library, which we mentioned, which was a part of FC Sweet Week. So, in that event, first we had Amber Napier, U.S. Literary Prevention Coordinator, give a brief lesson to the kids, then they participated in a contest portion where they played a sculpture using recycled materials that the library had collected for us. And, um, they were all winners because we only had three kids show up, so, but it's okay. So, then we began our cleanup portion where we collected a total of 19 bags and tires. And, again, we featured in the index frame, which you see in the Next slide, where we were featured. Next slide. Then, I then worked with my school's National Honor Society to clean up the stands for Ritter for Games, which is where we were able to finally pick up the tassels in the stands. And we collected a total of 12 bags across two of the games. And we were even featured on LinkedIn and Facebook pages, which you can see on the left side. And above the stats, you can see the volunteers that we had, so people were really eager to volunteer and just get involved. So this is something that kids are looking to do, like they're interested in, you know, women's prevention and they actually want to help. So next slide. So as a result of all of our events, we co-worked in a total of 31 bags. We had nine tires and a total of 20 volunteers across all events. And none of these events, playoffs would have been possible without them, my fellow McMaster's, the library staff, my formalified manager who is present for today, and KGCD staff. So yes, I'm very grateful for them having to help us with all of it. Next slide, please. Also, let's keep this momentum going. I was Greenwood's first ever Palmetto Pride Youth Master, so it'd be great to have more and more deaf viewers. As you can see that there is interest in the youth in events like these. So maybe save this link, maybe save it somehow, this would be good to have. It's a link to the Palmetto Pride Youth Master application, It's definitely going to be good for anyone that's interested, or if you know any high school or 14th century students who are interested in things like this. That'd be wonderful for them to come up. I know a lot of high school students. I've been to their homes. I know a lot of high school students. I know a lot of high school students. I know a lot of high school students. I know a lot of high school students. I know a lot of high school students. Thank you so much, all, for having me. It was a pleasure talking about my experience. John, quick. I'm just using my card. If you could send that right to me. Our Native Youth Council is starting the orientation on the first day. This is something that I may need to call on you and speak to you at some point. But, you know, just to, you know, thank you so much. What you're doing as a youth ambassador inspires others of your peers in our community to break the cycle of learning new things. So thank you so much and best of luck. I appreciate you being here with us to get your class to start, open the door to get back to your dorm and get all ready. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, John. For now, you can sell us blood here. We do have a letter picked up this Saturday. That's all about this church. Anybody want to tell us what's going on? It is. Yeah. More and more, as long as it's all about the church and how you're doing on Saturday. We stay gloved in the front row, and we want to clean up. We do have cool weather ordered for us Saturday. Cool weather ordered out? Right. Cool weather. Cool weather. Do you still come back here and pick up clothes at the games and stuff? The reason I ask you that is because I think it would be a great idea, like, for instance, if the football game in Greenwood, when they have a hard time, to get up at the end of at least two or three minutes to announce New York, say, hey, after the game. And that's the kind of trash you're going to press for when you put a statement out. I think it would be a great opportunity for the other side. for you in church. And they say, come around and greet your neighbor. You can say, we're going to give y'all three minutes to pick up all the trash in your area. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good job. Can you come back in here? Sam, can you come back in here? Sam, can you come back in here? Sam, can you come back in here? Sam, can you come back in here? Sam, can you come back in here? Sam, can you come back in here? Sam, can you come back in here? Sam, can you come back in here? Sam, can you come back in here? Sam, can you come back in here? Sam, can you come back in here? Sam, can you come back in here? Okay, back in business. New business. I remember willingness to recognize Davis and Floyd from the City of Greenwood stormwater master plan presentation. I'm not going to belabor this because you all got a pretty thorough, Davis and Floyd covered this pretty thoroughly during your work session earlier this month. Davidson-Boyd was selected by the city to do a solar master plan inventory for the city of Greenwood where they identified all the solar alarms within the city and helped us determine wires that needed to be upsided, repaired, replaced. This is going to put the city in a really good position to be able to apply for grants in the future so that we can start being more proactive versus reactive. So our stormwater challenges, as you know, the stormwater is the only utility that the city manages. We have sewer manufacturing in Metro and then water is for DPW. So it's important for us to have a plan for how we're going to approach stormwater repair, replacing it, emphasizing the pipes as we see close, rather than just being reactionary whenever there is a sinkhole. That really gets at the capacity source quite often. As we discussed, there's still a lot of steps in the process. What we really want you guys to do tonight, if you would, is please vote to accept the plan on a date similar to what happened this morning. And I said this many times, but I appreciate her to put out this one. I'm so glad to have this one. All right. So, it's important here, if y'all have any questions, but I know y'all had a pretty good presentation at the work session. We do. I just want to make sure that they know what they're going on. They're going to accept the plan that they've prepared. Okay. As you mentioned it, this building is going to do a potential stormwater flood. Now, we'll have to do some additional studying. We'll have to hire a firm, whether it's a state employee or a military firm, to investigate what a construction might look like for stormwater. and bring that back to you guys on a later date. But we don't have any money in the budget to do that right this time. So I know that when I talked to Brenda today about getting things in place to try to start something else to determine what that might cost. But I can tell you that just having the plan has enabled us to be able to to apply for the next round of funding from the Water Structure Authority. We have a $1.5 million grant available for stormwater infrastructure, and we intend to apply for it. It would be feasible to share the grants with their families. And there is a tremendous amount of money available for stormwater, sewer water infrastructure, but they want to see that you have a plan, that you're not just piecing those things together just to get their money. And so this plan is going to help us to be able to have, hopefully, a constant stormwater flow in the community. Thank you. I'll make a motion. I'll make a motion to approve stormwater. Mr. Blaine, do you have a motion to approve stormwater? Second. A motion to approve stormwater. Mr. Blaine, do you have a motion to approve stormwater. Mr. Blaine, do you have a motion to approve stormwater. Mr. Blaine, do you have a motion to approve stormwater. Mr. Blaine, do you have a motion to approve stormwater. Mr. Blaine, do you have a motion to approve stormwater. Mr. Blaine, do you have a motion to approve stormwater. Mr. Blaine, do you have a motion to approve stormwater. Mr. Blaine, do you have a motion to approve stormwater. Mr. Blaine, do you have a motion to approve stormwater. Mr. Blaine, do you have a motion to approve stormwater. Mr. Blaine, do you have a motion to approve stormwater All in favor of acceptance of the school board announcement, please raise your hand. Thank you. Under new business item number two, as you can see, ordinance number 24-014, which in there is called Ordinance 25024, which is what set our tax knowledge for the 2025 tax year. I'll go ahead and tell you that we're going to have to ask you guys to postpone this until September 14th. We're still waiting on some information from the county in order to determine what the rollback knowledge is going to be. I don't know. We do a reassessment every five years. The county does a reassessment. And as a result of that, we have to roll our numbers back to make sure that our property tax revenue is in future. And so, we're just waiting on some additional information from the county to determine what the new housing rate is. This only requires one agency? It requires two, but Stephanie talked, I mean, Sarah talked to Stephanie at the county today and just let them know that we would be first reading on the 14th and second reading on the 21st and get to the central county. So we need a bunch from the post office? Yes, to the, to 914 and one of the special fire agents. I was wondering, um, did I get some first work services I'll make a motion to postpone our consideration of the ordinance on March 26th at 015 to September 14th. Thank you. Are there any motioners to pass, seconded by Ms. Carlin? Do we have a further discussion? Do we have a second? Do we have a second? What did you say? I said we have a second. Second. Thank you. Oh, it's the, which, what's the ordinance number again? Sorry, let me go to second. We have an ordinance that got removed from the agenda, but yeah, we'll move to the next one. Okay, so it's 1-4, that's correct. I'll make a motion to close follow on consideration of Ordinance 26.014 to Section 14. Just, just to, just in case we need to take a question, do you want to read the timeline? No. I'll make a motion that we postpone our consideration of ordinance number 26-014, meaning the ordinance to provide the levy of taxes for this year, beginning January 1, 2026, ending December 31, 2026. And we'll just take it from there. The motion by Mr. Bass, seconded by Mr. Zierle. So under new business item number three, is to consider resolution number 26-5-0-04, I'll browse on the City Manager and the City Council, to execute CDBG disaster recovery medication is a city side agreement between the city and the South Carolina Office of Resilience. It's on the bio about colored candles that we talked about earlier. So you all are aware that we've applied for several grants for this project. FEMA grant had an extremely long timeline and also required both property owners to provide a tariff or someone to provide a 25% match at the buyout. So we also applied for this grant through SCORE, which came through a bit faster, so we declined the FEMA award and moved forward with the SCORE award. This is going to be a $3.8 million grant award. County Council has agreed to match this at $306,000 for a total of $4.15 million. I'll never do the math box for you, but there's a photo of it. There's 19 units. I will stress that this requires 100% participation from all the property owners, and there is no prize for being a ghost. If any one property owner decides they don't want to participate, the grant will not be held. Once the properties are demolished, the property will be turned into a green space, which will save the open perpetuity. What we've discussed is that it does essentially be just a green space that could naturally afford as needed. I know there's some folks here with their thoughts all the way. And we, this is really what steps go into a lot of steps. We have to check a lot of boxes. So as soon as you get this resolution, the counties sign it in a very similar way that the counties sign it. Once the council signs this one, we'll get that back to score and then we'll go ahead and start moving it through the next steps when you see it up to the property owner. I know they're in the process of setting up the website. We know there are some links that will be interactive. So we definitely will be in touch soon. This is really step one in the long process of steps. We're working with Josh and Kelly on this project. And we did keep, I believe Josh still has a film grant open for that property on the block of St. Louis. Josh is involved as part of the CPST fund. Well, I know what, I've been to Fox Holloway many times. I know some long-term residents of Fox Holloway area. You see, you know, I've got a lot of folks that are living there. It really is important Because it is a critical to me, a concerning situation. I hope that we can reach a resolution where everybody can figure out what their value to everyone is. And everyone can look at the problem behind them. So thanks all for your patience. I do want to say one thing to you is that after a disaster like a hurricane, there is so much funding that's just pushed in one direction. It's really hard sometimes to even navigate everything that's available. And the school has been excellent in reaching out to us and really kind of taking the projects that fit their funding that can really help our community. And we're really willing to save money. So I think that this grant is going to be where he and D.C. wasn't able to do that. Just based on our working relationship with their staff. He can't say that about all state agencies. I do think they've met with us a number of times. I saw them in Columbia. They've been very responsive and we appreciate them. I think that if we can just help them understand the general timeline, I think it would help a lot of folks there out. Yeah, as soon as we get, as soon as you guys sign this thing, I'll let her know tomorrow, well actually, not tomorrow, but later this week, reach out to SCORE, here's the resolution, we're going to accept this. And as soon as we have a better idea of what to accept and read, we'll get that information to you guys. Can we, and so you've already reached out to the county just in case they need to also do this as well? They already did. They did it on the 4th. Okay, great, thanks. Alright, we have a motion to vote. I would like to make a motion that we consider a resolution in terms of the expense to us of the community, authorizing the school manager and grade list of the classes to execute a community development program, disaster recovery, Bill and Dave just set us out, agreed to continue to see, agreed to work with us. I'm coming up with a resolution to fund the Battle of Hawthorne. And how will this impact Battle of Hawthorne? Uh, most of it. I'm going to check that as early as possible. I'm going to try to find a situation where it's going to stay engaged. I'm going to leave it at that. I'm going to leave it at that. I'm going to leave it at that. I'm going to leave it at that. I'm going to leave it at that. Okay, under new business item number four is to consider resolution number 25-267005 amending the city of Greenwood's policy for a principal and representative of the South Carolina Greenwood Community College. So in 2017, city council approved this policy via resolution. Council doesn't normally approve policies, but because we wanted to make some just some administrative changes to the policy, we needed to bring that back to council. A good bulk of it is honestly just nine years of staff doing FOIA requests and seeing some things that needed to be tweaked. And so most of it is just cleanup language. There are two what I would consider significant changes. One is that we're requesting that council approve a policy that would allow us to close a FOIA request at the end of the day. Sometimes we'll ask for additional information or sometimes it will be associated with the fulfillment of the FOIA and we never get back from the request. It just helps us keep the finger on any content that we have a deadline when we can close them. Nothing would prevent that same requestor from making that same request or request again. It's just keep things clean and learned. And we have placed more emphasis on the use of our digital form. And I'll just be honest with you, our IT department has developed an internal system for receiving and filling FOIA requests that a lot of places are paying a lot of money to a third party for. There are very specific timelines within the law that we are required to meet. And if we're getting FOIA requests in five or six different ways, it's more likely that we might misplace one and not meet the guidelines as required. While we will still accept FOIAs other than the digital portal, we are really trying to emphasize use of that portal as it helps our staff to make sure that when someone's on vacation, multiple people are receiving those requests that don't cause any effects. After 30 days, y'all would need to come back and ask for the same because it's been out there a million and a million. No, what I'm saying is that, you know, we may, um, obviously you didn't necessarily have to go find FOIA. She may reach out and call FOIA and we may say, hey, we need a little bit more clarification on what exactly that you're asking for in order for us to be able to fulfill it. And then sometimes we never hear back from the requesters. for whatever reason. And so rather than having that FOIA just remain open forever and ever, that after 30 days of no response from the requester, that that particular request be passed. Okay, you don't want them to come back 45 days later afterwards and say, well, maybe y'all never responded, you broke the law. That's when I would ask a question that they could cause you to trust, but I was wondering if I'm going to require one to send to a different home. Yeah, I mean, and it happens more than you would think. And so I think it does help some folks that look back. OK, you're back from the person that requested it for you. That just means they're engaged, so we're not closing this one. And if that person were to come back later and say, what's the status of my FOIA, we could say, in accordance with the end policy, if FOIA was closed for over a year, you're welcome to resume it. And then that starts the timeline right there. What is it? It's a full-time job. And if you don't want to have to shoot it, you don't have to. Well, I do understand, in this case, we don't have any co-ops. So now again, it's just going to be a bunch of co-ops. All right, can we hear a motion? I make a motion to approve ordinance, consider approving resolution 26-005, amending the City of Greenwood's policy to request the public records under the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act. Second. We have a motion by Mr. Brown, second by Mr. Miller. Any further discussion? Are you all in favor of resolution number 26-005? Our last item of business is to consider appointment of three council members to serve on the hospitality tax advisory committee. A quick little mystery. If you recall in 2024, the city council decided for three members to serve on the H-TACS advisory team to review H-TACS grant applications and make a funding recommendation to the council. So the decision was made to have these awards for two years, currently serving as awards two, four, and six. And that wasn't intentional because they were not going to let us in there in the time that they were in. So it's now time to reappoint three new people, which will be one, three, and five, if that's what you all elected to do. I would tell you that internally, as a staff, we're always looking at processes and procedures to see how we can make them better. So here's the request for the four-year update. This is kind of the same thing. And as a staff, we've sat down and we would like to propose that you all consider maybe appointing your A-tax advisory committee to review each tax application on your behalf and make a recommendation. They're already reviewing accommodations tax applications. So, as a staff, we can just instruct them to drop some money and you can make recommendations accordingly. You don't have to do that. We just wanted to offer them an option because they are already reviewing grant applications for accommodations taxes and make it easy to review the hospitality tax applications also. The other option is that you can appoint Ward 1, 3, and 5 to serve. It's up to you guys. Well, in that case, yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, we said you were like an ad hoc member in case somebody couldn't serve. That's a good, that's a fair point. My question is something that I like to do many times today. So, for what it means, I mean, is it, is that, like I said, it's not, it's not only people from the community could do it, but it's somebody from the council that needs to go on that committee. I don't see why not. I don't see why you couldn't have a council member that sat with them as they're evaluating applications. I would just, you don't have to, you don't have to appoint a hospitality tax committee at all. You know, prior to 2024, those are just staff review recommendations to council. We just, there was a part of us at the staff government that felt like it was important for the council to receive how that process worked. So there's no requirement for you to appoint anyone to serve. You can just staff there and do the recommendations and you can have the accommodations tax committee look at A-tax applications. So really I guess you have three options. You can delegate it back to staff, you can delegate it to accommodations, or you can go and bring them to the council. I can go first and then I can go to the council. You know, we got extra requests last time, and it just takes an awful lot of time. So I think it makes sense to have that, but I don't think we have more else to do with this. Neither comes before any time, so I don't think this is the right one. I mean, it's a good gift, a tax committee, if they're doing both, but one of the things that we love both are all the organizations that are getting funded. Well, and if you recall last year, there was a little bit of a hiccup with the Arts Center program, where Council members historically funded the museum and the theater and the Arts Center at the same amount, and the Tax Committee was the one that did the lesser amount in it. It caused a little bit of confusion, so I do think it makes sense, more of a holistic review, and obviously we would explain to the committee what they're coming to a pass on, but they're almost identical, so I think the recommendation is going to be different. And with regard to the ATACs, I mean, there's the state law government who wants to be on that board and what their duties are. And then that funding has to be reported back to the original committee or foundation back to the state. Where I think staff's going to have that same requirement with the law. Is that something they can do? If we just wanted to go ahead and appoint them to vote, we were just going to post them first. No, I don't care about that. No, I don't think it, I mean, I don't even think that they would realize that there's a difference. You know, because they're keeping you years when they get 10 applications for you, or 8 times there's 6 applications. So it's not like it's extra work for them. It's just, you know, it goes back to our patients. The process is exactly the same. We would just, as staff, have to make sure that they understand there's two causes of it. But that would also automate the opportunity for somebody to apply for ATACs and HVACs. Which we don't allow that anymore anyway. And the staff, we require them to submit notice of intent to apply. And then we review which grant they can apply for. So we can go them back and say, you can apply for a financial status and apply for ASIC or ATAC. I'm actually going to make part of it to use that as a reporting requirement for the money. And that's the way I want to make sure that they understand that the reporting is correct at all. The reporting requirements are for agents. Okay. I'll make a motion. I'll make a motion that we... I appoint the A-Tax Committee to review both the A-Tax and H-Tax grant applications and make different a request to counsel. Second. Now we have a motion on Mr. Varese, second on Mr. Miller. Any further discussion? We're all in favor of the motion. The motion carries and ends. I just wanted you guys to know, I don't know how many of y'all were able to make it up to the new building's grand opening on August the 15th. It's beautiful. It's pretty big here. Gibson, are y'all pretty cozy in there? It's a beautiful space. I know we're still kind of putting some final touches on a couple small things, but if you have an opportunity, you should really go down there and see the new space and really great reuse of the downtown buildings that the city owner put in place for the whole town. I'm really proud of that apartment. It does stand out because of the way it was built. I don't know what else to do. I don't know what else to do. We might have to set some stuff up in the basement. Yeah, we'd probably have to set it up in the basement. Put it in the basement. Put it in the basement. Put it in the basement. Put it in the basement. Put it in the basement. Put it in the basement. Put it in the basement. Put it in the basement. Put it in the basement. But basically it's a little rustic. That's what I like about it. We may not be able to go in there, thanks, but we'll figure it out. Yeah, we'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. All right. The city of Greenwood, parking, I just want y'all to see this graphic that we're posting out. We just let people know that, in fact, September 1st, we're going to be starting to listen There's a lot of meetings coming up, as always, including Mr. Bassett's work for litter pickup, as mentioned, on the 22nd at 9 o'clock. Ron, you don't have to come to this one. Okay. You don't have to come to this one. I don't have to come to it? Yes, sir. I'm giving you a free pass this time. Before we start, we're excited to hear what you have to report. I think I've really, you know, we talked about this a lot six years ago when we were doing recruiting, when we talked about incentive programs for staff, but we're still struggling with fire department and police department filling those vacancies. I think we need to try to look at incentive programs to try to fill some of those qualified staff numbers. That's been going on long enough, and we need to try to do something different. Whether that begins in January or what, but we need to get fully staffed. We had a meeting last Thursday with a couple of folks from the community, and we've talked about this. Forever. But we need to try to get our fire department and our police department, police staff, and we need to find creative ways to be able to do that. Four police, four fire, five police officer. We just need to get police staff. I think some incentive program would be good. I'd be interested in seeing what your thoughts were on that and maybe I could continue. And then from a sustainability standpoint, I think I'd be kind of interested in getting back to that. But I kind of agree, I'm having fun with getting off the road until I can possibly come back. I think it's an incentive program, but also retention incentives and something along those lines of what we need to do to be able to keep the best of the best. And that's what T.J. demands out of his staff. And so I think we need to do something to try to, and also Tanner does as well, and I just think that they, we can keep these folks incentivized We're ready to serve in our community. I would love to be able to see that, how we can get full staff to be great. We have a challenge with our law enforcement staff. We want them to be able to stay with us as well. So anything we can do to help the competitors, I think that's a big part of the challenge. Oh yeah. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow It's traffic. It's crazy. High speed. It's going through the area. The kids are out on the road. It's getting really heavy weather, like the weather on Saturday. It's getting like, it's like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. You know, we had all sorts of signs around. I'm telling you, one of our signs had turned the opposite direction, and I was constantly out there. It's turning when I see them, but right now I'm there. It doesn't actually get rid of them that way. or you're not, because poor business is bad. Not to mention the signs that are coming in from other ways. There are some signs that are still dipping and still going on. There are a lot of things that happen. There are a lot of things that happen. There are some things that are still going on. And some of it is backwards, like you said, because there are people who say, Well, there's a lot of information. There's a lot of information. There's a lot of information. There's a lot of information. There's a lot of information. There's a lot of information. There's a lot of information. There's a lot of information. or a design sector. And we're still having some problems, issues where people just don't really step away from the issues, and find ways to deal with these issues. It's a rapidly changing world. I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't think I can spell it, but I think I can catch some of it, I think. So this morning I'm back here in England. I'm going to go out and meet him about, have any of you been on the show with us tonight? Not this evening. I'm just taking a look at everyone. I know that you're working on the tree ordinance and a couple other things. Can we revert to that as the reasons I told you three years ago? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Yeah, I just want to mention our Mayor, Chief Counsel, we've got more education on Thursday, our first meeting next week. I'm debating on not making a first meeting since the end of the year, but maybe we need to do something. But anyway, I want you to be personally willing to do this. I think it's very important. So I asked some of our guests if they were not willing to do it. I said no. So I'm not scared at all. I'm just getting certified that they're willing to do it. I get it. I understand that people aren't willing to... Don't leave it at your house at 6.30 in the morning. That's all I can say. I get it. I understand. Alright, if there's more than else you want to join us, go for it. One more thing, I just wanted to mention, in case someone can't get it. The flash drive has a leak, and so that's why it's not in. Eric thinks he's identified where it is. We've gotten two quotes from someone trying to fix it. We've got a little loader clip today. repair, we might be able to get it turned back on, but we're just assuming, based on the project's please, that we've got a loop in the right spot. I see. By the end of the month, done by the time? Before it technically closes on the 13th. Okay. Okay. And we can try, but we don't know yet. All right. It's still starting, so we can start today. I think we're going to have to make sure that we add some staffing to the community. Staffing has always been the family's second most important unit. So we can confirm that staffing partners are seeing this as an opportunity, but I know the challenge is to fill that first grade, college, high school, and then to fill that with other staff. So it's a long journey to go. Yeah, I agree. You're right. I mean, I have to be fair to you because it's still very hot. I know this is a traditional time of year, Spanish time of year. I'm always busy. Y'all are still busy. We start going for like one-off special occasions, like a kitchen job or something like that. But you never can specifically run it after that. I would say afternoon, after school, and weekends. Yes. That's what I was thinking, actually. Because it's hot. And there's no place for people to go. None of the other folks have a work future. It's a real requirement that you have to have staff out there. Right. But we encounter too many challenges. The first is self-assertion. We may be probably in favor of it. There might be a little side appointment for kids that have an accident in the bathroom, or even a splash pad fell, or a bottle being dropped in break-ins. We may bring it to all the parents and say, we really need somebody there. And that is what we're looking for. I don't have to do that. Or can we remorsefully adjourn? So we thank you. Much love is given and shared by Mr. Miller. And he's heard these questions. I hope they will be generalized. I hope they will be generalized.