County Council - Regular Meeting

I thought I turned. Good evening. I'd like to call this meeting of the Lang County Council to order. I ask that the clerk note for the record that a quorum of council is present, that public notice of the meeting, including the meeting agenda, has been posted the required length of time in the lobby of the county administration building and on the county website and that the news media was notified of the meeting time and place. I welcome you to your county council meeting. I would I ask that you take a moment to turn off or place on vibrate any cell phones. Thank you for not wearing any hats or caps in the council chambers. And please be considerate of others in the room by refraining from conversations during the meeting. I ask that you please stand and join council for the pledge of allegiance followed by the invocation given this evening by council member Stuart Graham. 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.

Let us pray. Oh heavenly father, we thank you for the gifts of community calling and the work before us. Bless our employees or neighbors in this council. Give us clear minds, steady hands, and united spirits. Grant us wisdom to govern well, courage to do what is right, patience to listen, and grace to work together even when we differ. As we consider each item, lead us towards decisions that serve the con common good and honor those who call Lancaster County home. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Okay. There's a motion to approve the agenda. Have a motion for Miss McGriff. Second.

Second from Mr. Neil. Any discussions? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. It's unanimous. Okay. We now come to item five, our citizens comments. Please bear in mind that this is not a period of dialogue with council or a question and answer period. This is your opportunity to to address council with your concerns. I ask that you address your remarks to council as a body and not to any individual council member. Please speak into the microphones, state your name and address for the record and you will have up to three minutes to address council. Your time will not start until you have provided your name and address. Tony McCammon. Good evening, County Council. My name is Tony McCammon. I live at 2012 Hartwell Lane, Indianland. Um, there are really two concepts that I want to talk about tonight and they both start with the letter C and they're both related. The first one is common sense or the reason that is common to everyone. We can all identify with it. The second is a word that I just learned about. It's concurrency. Now, that's not a word that regularly comes up in conversation, but about six weeks ago, it started cropping up in discussions that were happening around me regarding infrastructure. Just so everyone in the room understands what it is because I didn't know what it was. Concurrency is the need for public infrastructure, roads, schools, fire,

EMS, electricity, water to keep pace with growth in order to ensure the health and safety of taxpayers. Just last Friday night during the governor's forum here in Lancaster County, the candidates were answering a question about the critical state of South Carolina roads. It was mentioned that a bill on concurrency is now making its way through the general assembly in Colombia. Why? Because the state is experiencing ex experiencing explosive growth. From the beach to the mountains, county governments are not applying concurrency. So, citizens are appealing to state legislators to require counties and municipalities to use common sense or be subject to state criteria for rightly addressing infrastructure before allowing runaway commercial and housing development. Concurrency and common sense go hand in hand. Why in the world should we need a state law to put the concept into action here? Those of us sitting in that auditorium on Friday night and those of us sitting in this council room tonight know why we're living the nightmare of no concurrency being applied. We elected all seven of you believing that you possessed enough common sense with a percentage of courage to make right decisions for the good of the entire county. If the people in your district don't understand why you are making decisions that don't seem favorable to them right at this very moment, for heaven's sakes, sit down in a town hall or in some other format to lay out the facts. Allow them to see the data that's been presented to you. Allow them to listen to the citizen comments

with anecdotal evidence. We the citizens of much of the county are begging you to use common sense to achieve concurrency. Please, please listen to our voice before the rest of the county is feeling the same frustration that we are.

Thank you, Miss Kathy Storm. Good evening. My name is Kathy Storm. I live at 5025 Redwood Grove Trail in Indianland. When looking at the agenda for tonight's meeting, there is an item to distribute $100,000 to nonprofits who benefit Lancaster County. As I peruse the list of recipients, three questions came to mind. Out of the hundreds of worthy organizations in Lancaster County, what criteria was used to determine which organizations made the list? some of the choices didn't make sense to me. Secondly, who is responsible for deciding which organizations are providing the most benefit to which residents? Thirdly, have the county council members been given the time to consider how the funds might be allocated? The they probably ought to have a say in prioritizing the needs. Once again, $100,000 is a lot of money. And I dare to tell you how many times we have been here asking for infrastructure. $100,000 would at least go a little way in covering some of the things that we need as citizens. Thank you, Miss Jean Dole. Good evening. Gene Doyle, 630 Kings Canyon Way. Um, the last county council

meeting had a slightly different tone. Talk didn't revolve around exactly the lack of infrastructure in terms of traffic, first responders, schools, etc. Rather, it talked about sustainable jobs, transportation to get people to those jobs, and affordable housing. But all of that is part of infrastructure as well. As an Indian land resident, I know that many many county residents, particularly lifelong residents, think Indian land residents think we are an entitled class to more county services um because we've supported so much growth in Indian land. But it was pointed out to us that 23% of Indianland residents receive some sort of financial support or aid from various county services. That's a pretty big number. I for one marvel at all the open land, not just south of five, but as you drive south throughout the count the county. I would be so happy to see the rest of the county get some of the development that Indian Land has in the last 10 years. I've asked myself a number of times in the last six years since I've been here is how Fort Mill overcame the closing of the mills and rebuilt the community to be more vibrant in terms of housing. definitely a school system that was has been uh managed and built for future growth and business. Traffic is an issue, so everything is not perfect over there. I have heard that the Springs family was a major catalyst, but what I want to know is what is Lancaster County doing to bring economic development to the area. I don't mean more homes and I don't mean more fast food restaurants. I realized a couple of weeks ago uh as I was looking for the agenda for a county council meeting that there's an economic development advisory board in the county. There was a meeting 10 days ago and I think one scheduled coming up in June. I went back and looked at the agendas. There were five meetings in 2024. There were two in 2025.

The one in 2025 was in April 2025 and not another meeting for another 364 days. So, a whole year with no meeting. Um, as a resident, I'm interested to know how they're approaching their task. While I found agendas, there were no corresponding minutes, kind of like my HOA. Are they the catalyst for bringing new business to Lancaster County? Many boards and commissions come here and rep uh report to county council what they're doing and their activities. The board is made up of representatives from business enterprises including utilities, municipalities, education, the business sector, Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and uh Greater Indianland Chamber of Commerce. Speaking of which, what happened to that? Lancaster city uh Chamber of Commerce is posting a lot in social media lately. Nothing wrong with that, but that that is a completely passive approach. who is actively looking for businesses that would be interested in investing in Lancaster County, the city of Lancaster, and all the rest of the county. What is the profile of the kind of business that would best benefit the county? This is nothing more than a business proposition just as any private sector organization. The most effective business building programs deploy a comprehensive economic development strategy. craft specific measurable to bolster targets to um bolster and target sectors to invest the resources and deliver them effectively and efficiently. Does a county economic development board and Lancaster Chamber of Commerce, City of Lancaster, Great Indian Land Chamber of Commerce, do they meet together? Do they talk? Do they share? How often do they meet to exchange ideas and progress? As a resident, I consider this part of building the infrastructure for Lancaster County. tell me more about it. But with this growth must come supporting the infrastructure that we talk about and complain about at every single meeting. Thank you for your time

this evening. Miss Libby Sweat Lambert.

Good evening. Libby Sweat Lambert 3480 Activity Road. Um, I enjoyed my time outside this evening. I'm going to be spending more time outside protesting because I hope that's a way that's going to get more information out in the community. Um, last meeting, Susan Dolphin from Hope of Lancaster came and spoke and she shared quite a bit of information with you that I think some of you weren't aware of. You started asking questions. Well, I took some of the information that she provided and um I went to the US Census Quickfax 2025 and then I went to Founders Credit Union and I sat down and I asked some questions. Guess what? Most of the houses that are being built in Lancaster County right now, the people who are making the median income, the residents of Lancaster County can't buy them. Founders will not loan them the money because they need about 40% of their income going towards the loan. And when you're making the money that you're making, 40% of that little bit isn't enough to cover the monthly loan payment. And besides, where are they going to get the down payment? So, I spent time going out researching and asking. So, bottom line is the houses are being built and they're not for Lancaster County residents. The majority of them are not because they can't be afforded. Now the other thing that came out of that as I started looking at it is the infrastructure. The infrastructure. How are the people getting to hope Christian services and other places?

I went and sat out at Hope and I watched the people come in. I just sat and finally I got out and stood and looked around three, four and five to a car and they some of them I heard say well I couldn't come last month because I couldn't find a way. So that's a transportation issue. People need food because well the median income is what the median income is and we have so many people living in poverty or Alice that it's making a huge difference. You don't have the infrastructure but yet you keep approving house after house after house for pe for people who will be moving in adding to the problems and we don't have enough fire and EMS to take care of the people who are here right now. your legacy. The votes that you are making is your legacy tonight. You can continue to ruin Lancaster County or you can do something right. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Yokima Curin.

Good evening. I'm Yokima Curitan. I reside at 1413 Somerset Drive in Lancaster. Tonight I am going to introduce to some and re um reacquaint others with the 2005 residential fiscal impact assessment by Clemson and Thurman Institute um which warned our pattern of residential development does not pay for itself and places a long-term fiscal burden on county government. It plainly reads 60 pages. New residential development in Lancaster County is projected to require more in county services and school costs than it will generate in new local revenue, meaning continued lowdensity residential growth will increase rather than reduce the fiscal burden on existing taxpayers. So now those 60 pages of warning are 60 pages of I told you so. Fast forward to today, Lancaster County still does not have a dedicated EM emergency operations center or a unified countywide communication system for major disasters. If we faced another Hurricane Hugo scale event or an unexpected disaster like we saw in western North Carolina last year, um our first responders could be forced to coordinate from scattered locations on fragmented systems. in the fifth fastest growing county in the state. That is not just an inconvenience. It is a public safety liability. We already know we lack sufficient public services for today. Public safety coverage, roads, parks, and critical facilities have not kept pace with the rooftops that impact all of us. The study warned that residential growth would outstrip our ability to fund services. Two decades later, we are

living that projection in real time. That is why concurrency is not a luxury. It's a basic duty. Growth should not be approved unless and until there are realistic funded plans for the roads, schools, EMS, and storm water systems that growth requires. At the same time, the UDL rewrite has been paused. the counties operating without a permanent county administrator after eliminating the development services director position and now without a planning services director. That means we're taking on long long-term obligations without the stable framework needed to manage them responsibly or to find the right structure so growth can be a win-win for both the community and the developer. Without this, Lancaster leaders are assuming growth growing risk without securing the revenue or the systems to manage it at taxpayers expenses. The study told us what would happen if we kept doing business the way we've always done it. Deputy Director Snowden was on point about not being able to reverse the sins of our fathers. But you do have the responsibility and the opportunity to change course now before the next storm or the next budget crisis forces our hand.

Thank you.

Thank you. Jane Alford. I'm Jane Alford. Um, I live at 2011 West Elliott Street in Fort Mill, but I'm here on behalf of the Lancaster County Council of the Arts. Good evening, council members, and thank you for the opportunity to share two Arts Council events with you, and this is going to be some lighter fair than what we've been hearing. Um, this week the Lancaster County Council of the Arts is opening Touch and See, its first ever multiensory exhibit where we invite you and your kids to actually touch the art. Imagine that. Come experience art that you can see, hear, touch, and create. Come see and feel textile art and pottery in v various stages. Play with tactile light panels and pegboards. Take part in collaborative art and explore the use of technology in the arts. in this immersive exhibit that invites you to engage with art in a new way. Come explore the exhibit for yourself anytime our galleries are open from 10:00 a.m. to 400 p.m. Monday through Friday. We also invite you all council and the whole community to a gallery reception for the tax tile exhibit complete with food on Sunday, April 19th from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. We are also hosting two family art nights with free art activities for the whole family from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. April 23rd and May 14th. During the exhibit, we will also be offering an early look at some collaborative works being created by disabilities and and special needs consumers here in Lancaster County working with local artists. All of their works will be on display in a show of their own called Creative Collaborations in June. Later this month, we will host the third annual Lancaster County

Literary Arts Festival on April 25th and 26th with events throughout the city. It starts with arts and crafts for kids at the main library on Saturday morning along with a new story walk featuring the children's book The Big Umbrella on Main Street. Then it moves to Mural Court for author talks with Rock Hills poet laurette Angelo Jeter, also known as spoken word artistic and van white novelist Glenda Maynis. In the afternoon, there will be writing workshops with Glenda Mayus and poet Kim Blum Highcloud at the historic Springs House. On Sunday afternoon, parents are invited to bring their children to Lindseay Pettis Greenway, where they can help write a story book on the Greenway with author Derek Wilder and illustrator Annie Gregoire. They'll take the kids' ideas, comments, and more and use them to create a children's picture book about our local Greenway, which will be released at the Literary Arts Festival next year. The weekend will end with a poetry reading and open mic event on Sunday evening at the Daily Grind. All of these events are free and open to everyone. We welcome the community to come touch the art in our new exhibit this month and next and explore literature in its various forms at the literary arts festival later this month. The Lancaster County Council of the Arts is happy to be able to make the arts accessible to everyone and we're grateful for the support that makes it possible including support from the city and county. The Touch and Sea exhibit is funded in part by South Arts and the South Carolina Arts Commission, which are funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. The literary arts festival is funded in part by a grant from South Carolina Humanities, which receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. It's also funded in part by the South Carolina Arts Commission. I hope to see you all there. Thank you. Thank you. And

we're going to move now to item six, special presentations. Excuse me, Mr. I'm sorry, Mr. We have four electronic Okay.

citizens comments. Um so, council members, you have um physical copies of these comments at your desk. The first one was from Leslie Telson Shappy from Lancaster, South Carolina. She wrote in requesting that county council issue a $10 million quality of life grant to Lancaster County School District. Bailey Patrick from MB MPV Properties sent in a letter of support for the Haven. Tokima Curitan, Lancaster, South Carolina, wrote in to formally introduced AI on purpose and to document the organization's intent to engage the county council regarding workforce development investment and CDBG priority inclusion in the 2627 budget cycle. and Susan Wear, no address given, wrote in to the county um to convey strong support for the Lenar's Haven project.

Thank you. Thank you.

We're going to move on to item 6A, update on Finding Serenity Nonprofit Group, Miss Walters. Hey, I'm Julie Walters, 1915 Terara Trail, and I want to show you what we're trying to build in Lancaster at the Lancaster County Airport. So, if you will watch this video, and I will step back for a second How about you?

Merry Christmas. Heat. Heat.

So, the Women's Enrichment Center and Finding Serenity, we are two um nonprofits. We are in the process of closing on 88.6 six acres of land that back up to the Lancaster County Airport. What we would like to do is build these things that you've seen there. And believe it or not, the majority of it is already paid for. Um, and that's working behind the scenes with individuals. Um, I want to thank you, Steve Harper, because you introduced me to True Homes, and True Homes was was a true community player. when they came to Lancaster, they not only did a development that developed homes, but they also donated homes to this property um for economic development purposes. When people fly into the airport, they'll be able to stay there. Um also for the women's enrichment center, so we'll have a maternity house for women to stay there until they trans transition into their cottages. Jose, I want to thank you because you came with Charlene and you volunteered at the giving well, which is Amazon. And um when we talk about what nonprofits give back, Amazon just from November the 4th to the end of December, or I say the week before Christmas, gave $364,000 worth of nonprofit donations to us. We're going to hit over a million and a half to$2 million because of our partnership with Amazon. The great thing about this property is it is open to the community. Um we're asking that the community come together and help support this. Um I even have um a picture I think of the plat um how we're going to lo kind of lay things out. Um I want to thank Shannon. She has been so gracious to work with me and Kim Limeberger. Um as a matter of fact, I'm going to give you this. These are our partners right now.

pass around. Um, and they're corporations and um, and this would not be able to be done without these partnerships. And when we talk about economic development and infrastructure, I get it. But here's one thing at the airport. If we can develop that, open it up to the entire county and bring in people, businesses can fly into that airport right across the street down the road. You have the potential to have the largest business park that Lancaster County has ever seen. You've already got your um the bread company there. Well, there's other property there. There's the Springs family. It has rail that runs right through it. What business wouldn't want to have a business part that backs up to rail so they could load their products on and out and ship them all over the world? And so there's opportunities for us. Um I wanted to try to do this the right way. I know sometimes when developments come, they just give you things and say, "Okay, we don't know." And and and I wanted to kind of get ahead of that and and show you that we are trying to work with people in Lancaster County. We've gone to these business partners that you've seen. We've partnered with Kar and Kershaw. Um right now the giving well is serving over 60 nonprofits in Lancaster and it and and again when I talk about Lancaster I don't break it down in areas. I was born and raised here. So Lancaster to me starts in Kershaw and ends in Indian land. That's how it's always been to me and that's how it will always be to me. I understand that people get frustrated, but I think if we come together, like I've seen with this piece of property, there are things that we can solve, but standing around and arguing is not going to get it done. It's people saying, "Hey, I can do this or I can do that." And people stepping

forward. And sometimes when things don't go according to plan, what have I learned to do? Go around, go above and go underneath. But sooner or later, somebody's going to have to talk to me. And I also think it's the way you approach people, too. But I want to just tell you, this is what we're planning to build for Lancaster. It could be a great opportunity for us. It could bring economic development, but I think it can bring the county together in ways we've never seen before. Um, again, I thank you for your time. If you've got any questions, I'll be glad to answer them. Now, any questions for Miss Walters? Thank you. I mean, just like the train cars, they already exist. Yes. Correct. Yes. Yeah.

Yes. And we have an um a design firm in Charlotte, North Carolina donating because they want their name as part of these train cars, showing that they're a company in Charlotte that can take any space and design it so people can rent these areas out for venues. And it also gives people an opportunity to have jobs. I met with um a gentleman who is second in um line on Friday with the superintendent of education's department and we are taking the giving whale and it's going to start in the middle schools and it's going to go to the high schools and I am speaking to the summer um college which is all the deans of the universities that are located in South Carolina in June and all the districts of school education um um superintendent and we're going to tell them about what we're doing here in Lancaster and how we're making a difference in our community. And also what we're doing is I'm bringing Jennifer Rigggins who helped me with this at AJ School. We're going to stand up in front of all of these people on behalf of the Secretary of State of Education and say, "Look what we're doing in Lancaster. We're making a difference because we decided to come together." That was huge on Friday. Thank y'all.

Thank you. We're going to go to item 6B, recognition of the Langster County Fire Rescue High School program. Um, presented by Mr. Keith Wilson, training officer for the Langster County Fire Service.

Mr. Chairman, members of the council, I do appreciate y'all giving us a little bit of time, just a little bit of time to highlight some of the things that's been going on in our high school program. Um, I want to I want y'all to know that this this program is dear to us and I hope it is to y'all because we are getting a huge return on investment. Since 2011, we've had about 150. I think we a little bit less than that, but we have placed 54 students in paying jobs in the fire service and that's huge. one of the first ones that we ever had. The first class we had uh we have one of those young men that's uh actually our battalion chief running our 15 guys during the day and everything. He's doing an excellent job. So he has progressed all the way to the battalion chief level. So, uh, another thing I'd like to tell you is, uh, they have undertaken a a big, uh, endeavor here doing this program because it's the same training that I have. It's a national certification. The ones you see here, and I want them to stand up. I got to thank y'all for that.

The those certificates, all these right out here already have firefighter one. There's only two levels. much firefighter one and two and they're in that now. And I I got to tell you, I challenge them all the time. Just asked them if they pass firefighter one, we do some breakfast, right? Guess what? That comes out of my pocket. And uh I've had to buy a lot of breakfastes. So they they step up to the plate. And I got to tell you, that certificate goes anywhere in this country to be a firefighter. So y'all should be proud of that. And what uh at least uh I also like to recognize Sam Pler. He's our instructor over there. He put some lights. It's kind of why I wanted to do this. You know, he's not going to talk about himself, right? But, uh he spends a lot of time taking these kids to competitions, doing this and that. And we're going to talk about our competition in a second because we're very proud of that. Um, these kids have stepped up. Uh, I'd be proud to fight fire with any one of them. So, Sam's done a great job. He has to get buses and things like that. All these kids around and go to Columbia just like we did and and he'll be going to uh to the nationals here because we got a couple of them. I hadn't asked him we going to get two this year, just one. Okay. They they had a little provision there. We only send one, but if you have one going to college, they would maybe allow, but we got one going. Uh just a few years ago we went to the nationals and won that too. So well we hope that's going to uh help out a little bit. Uh but Sam's put a lot of time in this. We've got competition coming up for our firefighters convention and he's going to have to take all these kids down and we watch them and and all the folks that go down there. We try to uh encourage those and so hopefully one day we'll win some stuff down there too. But uh what I would like to get to now is uh some of

the students that we have and and some of their background too. Uh we'll start with our guys that won especially the the top place to let you know. We went down and there was other schools there and everything else. Um but we placed one, two, and three in the state and that's awesome. But there's a lot of background here, too. And we're going to start with G uh Chapman who actually will stand up uh finished first place. Now, y'all probably know his parents because they're in the back of the room. David and Stacy Chapman. Uh David, if you just know, just a few weeks ago, I think on a Friday, he retired after 20ome years with EMS. His mom still works there. And so you see what they have brought to the uh back. They have replaced themselves. They're getting ready to retire out and they're hanging. So we have some money. I hope he stays around. I do hope they go to college. He was able to finish first. So that's somebody that's that's uh embedded in this community. Uh second place, Gage Ingram. uh his dad's a longtime member of Shallow uh fire department. He's uh him and his wife work uh hand inand with the community and when they have these barbecues and stuff uh even his mom comes and helps out. Uh he's been over 50 years so you see it's probably and his brother actually works for the city of Lancaster. So it's kind of in the family so you see how we growing these folks. And then uh Nicholas Craig finished third. And then it circles back around. Mr. Fled Plower is his grandfather. So as it

circles back around, he's been in the fire service a lot longer than I have, but we're close. Close. He has over 60 years in the fire service. So, these are some of the people that we have, but we're very proud of their accomplishments, and we want to thank you for allowing us the uh budget to be able to take care of these students and stuff, and hopefully uh we can do some more here too in in the future with them. They have stepped up to the plate. I I took Chief Nicholson over and I said, "You got to see these." And excuse me if I call them kids, but they're young adults. and they really showed when he was there. I said, "Look, they're not goofing around. They're not doing anything." But we he got to tour the uh school over there. The next thing is I hope every every one of you guys and girls come over and see our program. Please. It's at the high school. We have a fire station over there. You guys provide them gear. And if they go volunteer for a fire station, they get to take that gear with them. a little bit of burden off the fire departments when they do that, too. So, we do appreciate what you do for us, and I just I got to tell you, that's your return on investment right there.

Thank you for the opportunity to address this with you guys. Hope you come over. Thank you. There

any comments from council? We're known all over because we have a little bit different program than most folks. Uh but this is what we're trying to accomplish here. Now, I can't tell you every one of them is going to go into the fire service forever. Some of them might not. I've already talked to some of them. They want to go to college and they want to do this. Some of them want to be flight medics. But what they're taking away from here is life lessons. We appreciate them.

Thank you. Go ahead, Mr. Louise. I was just going to say something and thank you all for the work that you're doing. I think one of the words that you said was the return on investment and it's not just a return on investment in cash, but it's an return investment in the spirit and the soul of this community and the work that they do every single day. So, I appreciate that. I also wanted to give a shout out to Mr. Plyer out there. In addition to all that he has been doing to volunteer, you may or may not know he is also a Dancing with the Stars competitor. So, thank you for everything that you got to know. I am sure you do and you all have pictures.

Some of them's not pretty now. So, thank you all for all the work that you do. Mr. Chairman, could we take a minute to allow the high school students to come up with their instructor and have a picture that we could push out on our social media?

Say Miss McGriff and I were on the school board when this program was put in place. So, I love hearing all the the great things that it's doing. You know, I also like to tell you back here, you know, when they raise a child, what they want when they go through the first grade, what would they really like to see their child walk across that stage, right? Well, their child's not going to be able to do that because the competition in Atlanta is on the same he I don't know. We'll be in the picture.

Are we not? I don't know whether they won't. You can stick your head through. I wanted

two. This was the second year. Great job. Great job.

And I know y'all are are just biting at the bits to stay here and listen to the county council meeting. So if you want to leave, we'll give you a moment or two to clear the room out. If you want to stay, we welcome you to stay as well. Don't think so.

Well, that was funny. Okay, we're going to go on to item 6C, recognition of awards for paramedic of the year and Langster County Sheriff's Officer of the Year awards from the Veterans of Foreign War, VFW Post number 12136 in Indianland. Uh these are presented by Robert Suzanski, commander of the VFW Post 12136. Can Sergeant Cassie Thompson nominated award. Grateful recognition unlaw enforcement maintaining preserving protecting the lawful rightific. Wars and also the monetary

How are you walking there? EMS. It's my pleasure to present you with this certificate from the VFW. Uh, and there's a certificate of commendation. It says Terry Falandbury in special recognition of exemplary service to the humanity by administering emergency medical assistance. That's a fancy word or a few words of saying you're pretty good at your job. Now, uh I just want to add something. About two weeks ago, I had the opportunity. No, that's a bad word. I had the misfortune of getting a ride in an EMS buggy was from York County and it took me to Pineville Hospital. Everything turned out fine, but I really appreciated what they did for me. And since I'm a little bit prejudice, I think Lancaster EMS is even better. Thank you very much. And I also want to give you this award. This is so you can take your hubby out for dinner.

No, no, not again.

Thank you. I'd like just like to say that, you know, we give out an awards to uh individuals for their every member of the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office is deserving of this award. Yeah. Do an outstanding job for their health needs. So, we appreciate you very much.

Thank you for recognizing our our uh valued employees. We're going to go on to item 6D, recognition of the Lanster County Library for receiving a resolution from the South Carolina General Assembly related to bill H5041, a concurrent resolution to recognize and celebrate ongoing contributions of South Carolina public libraries and to encourage continued support and investment for the benefit of all the Palmetto State citizens. Uh, presented tonight by Dr. April Williams, director of the library services.

Good evening. Thank you so much for allowing us to come in and present this tonight. Again, I'm April Williams. I'm director of Lancaster County Library System. With me tonight is Ann Murphy, who's the chair of the Lancaster County Library Board. And I have Tally Johnson, who's a deputy director of Lancaster County Library. And joining us via um digital is Nancy Barry, who is also deputy director of Lancaster County Library System. So on Wednesday, March the 25th, the South Carolina General Assembly presented the library concurrent resolution. Georgetown County Library Director Dwight Mackinville wrote the proclamation and it was sponsored by Representative Shandra Dillard from Greenville. The proclamation recognizes the historic contributions of South Carolina public libraries to our nation and is so poignant since we are celebrating the 250th this year. This is a profound gesture towards libraries to affirm and garnish continued support for what we do to aid our communities. So, I want to thank our representatives who were supportive in this measure. Brandon Newton who made sure I had a copy of the resolution for tonight. Thank you, Brandon. Uh, Richard Yao, Cody Mitchell, and Mike Nice, who all supported this proclamation. And I wanted to briefly read it. a concurrent resolution to recognize and celebrate the historical and ongoing contributions of South Carolina public libraries and to encourage continued support and investment for the benefit of all Palmet State citizens. Whereas just over 325 years ago in 1700, the Colonial Legislature of South Carolina became the first governing body in what is now known as the United States to enact legislation establishing the intent for a public library. And whereas in 1943 during the midst of World War II, the South Carolina General Assembly pioneered with the Virginia General

Assembly to institute state aid to public libraries for the first time in the United States. And whereas the South Carolina General Assembly recognizes the indispensable role public libraries play today as centers of reading and learning for all ages and all backgrounds, as places for indispensable public access to technology, and as meeting venues for entire communities. And whereas South Carolina public libraries, according to the latest annual count provided by our state library, had over 10.8 8 million library visits, an overall circulation of over 26 million print and non-print items, and over 58,000 total programs that were attended by 1,48184 persons with the majority of such activities, 30,395 programs benefiting children who are 0 to 18. And whereas the members of the South Carolina General Assembly encourage continued and increased investment in South Carolina public library systems to ensure that they remain vibrant, modern, and accessible for both current and future generations and congratulate South Carolina public librarians for the outstanding job they do in serving South Carolina citizens. Now therefore, let it be resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate, concurring that the members of the South Carolina General Assembly by this resolution recognize and celebrate the historical and ongoing contributions of South Carolina Public Libraries and encourage continued support and investment for the benefit of Palmeta State citizens. Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to the South Carolina State Library, each county and regional public library system and appropriate local government bodies to share with their communities. And it was signed. So I'm really proud of this. This is going to be framed and put in our library. And I want to encourage you also to join with

us in celebrating National Library Week, which is April 19th through 25th. Celebrates the essential role of libraries in transforming communities. So, just don't forget to stop by your local library location and say thank you to the library employees there who make sure that all citizens of Langster County have access to resources and programs and the things they need to encourage community growth. Thank you so much and thank you for your support.

Okay, we're going to move on to item seven, our consent agenda. Items listed under consent agenda have been privileged been discussed by council and approved unanimously. As such, these items are normally voted on as a group through a single vote rather than with a council vote for each individual item. However, any council member may remove any item on the consent agenda for individual discussion and vote. Is there a motion to approve?

Mr. Chair, I move to approve consent agenda items 7 A, 7B, and 7 C. I have a motion and a second from Miss McGriff. Is there any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. All those opposed is unanimous. And we're going to move on to our item eight, our non-consent agenda. Item 8A, third reading of ordinance number 2025-201. Ordinance title. An ordinance to amend the official zoning map of Langster County to reszone approximately 604.56 acres. Tax map number 003200 026.0000 0 044 00500 0 and 0032 02800 0 and P O 33 O31.0 O which is located on Charlotte Highway from the rural neighborhood RN district to the medium density residential cluster subdivision overlay MDR- CSO district planning department case number is RZ-20224-2259 planning commission recommended approval by unanimous vote and the planning staff also recommended approval of the resoning this passed 4 to three at the February the 9th 2026 county council meeting with Stuart Graham, Jose Luis, and Charlene McGriff opposed. At the February the 23rd, 2026 county council meeting, the public hearing was held. However, the second reading was postponed by a vote of 4 to three. Steve Harper, Bryant Neil, and Billy Meellar opposed. Passed 4 to 3 at the March

23rd, 2026 county council meeting with Stuart Graham, Joseé Louise, and Charlene McGriff opposed. Miss Kato. Do we have a motion to approve? Motion moved. Have a motion from Mr. Harper. Do we have a second? Second. Have a second from Mr. Mon.

Thank you, chairman and council. Councilman. Um I was just given um the reasonzoning last week. I don't think there's been any changes to the actual resoning. I have nothing to add to the resoning request. Um but I think there's been some amendments to the development agreement. That's the next to look at. Is there any discussion? Any questions for Miss Kato? Uh, no questions of Miss Kato, but I do want to just reinforce my position from the second reading is that my position has not changed. Uh, in order for us to move forward with smart growth and not put ourselves in a position, we're going to have to have some smart plan growth. By that I mean before we de uh plan these developments or allow these development, we need a plan in place, we got to plan for uh the EMS stations, the fire station, law enforcement, infrastructure simply because with that we got to find a way to pay for it. So we're going to build the developments and think about the problems later on. It we we're not going to get ahead. we're going to continue to struggle and try to meet these needs with infrastructure and and the others that I mentioned. So, I am steadfast on my position to oppose this uh reading.

Thank you, Miss McGriff.

I am going to echo what Miss McGriff has said. I think we have heard consistently and clearly from our constituents about the issues that are going on in our county and the lack of infrastructure that exists to serve the current residents. not to mention additional residents. Um, so I think this is a big concern. I think this is a big vote and I think people are listening and people are watching and people are paying attention to what we are doing. Um, in addition to that, I just want to make sure that we have the appropriate staffing and the levels that we need and certifications that we need for the positions that we have. So, I have some concerns about where we're going. Um, and I just want to make that clear that there are citizens or constituents that challenge some of these decisions. We could be at risk with that and I just want to make sure that developers and everyone are aware of that so that they can move forward accordingly.

Other any other comments? I I would like to say that uh Miss Merk Dupont and I have been in some conversations about uh the potential of doing public service districts and uh had a conversation today with Mr. Hardy and he has agreed that LAR would like to partner with us on doing this for the Haven and for Rosland. um public service districts will allow us to set up the district and um as long as a majority of the the property owners agree to set the district up um with Lenar. If this is passed, Lenar will purchase the property and will be the minority a majority owner for that property and they can petition the county to set up a public service district which would allow for funding for fire, EMS, and uh the sheriff's office. And this is the tool that has been out there, but a tool that we have not utilized. And I I think this will be able to be utilized in other areas of the county as well if we can successfully implement it.

Mr. Chair, I know nothing about f public service districts. I think if we're going to move forward with that, I think council needs to be wellversed on that subject. Uh whether it's a good idea or what it may be, but I don't know anything about it. Well, we we will be able to talk about it and discuss it and learn more about it as if it moves forward. Is

there any other discussion? I'll call for the vote. All those in favor, please raise your right hand. All those opposed. Passes four to three. Okay, we're going to move on to item 8B, third reading of ordinance number 2025-202. Ordinance title, an ordinance to approve a development agreement for the Haven development project located between Charlotte Highway and Craig Farm Road, Langster, South Carolina, establishing the regulations for the development of the property and other matters related there too. Planning Department case number DA-20224-2259. Planning Commission recommended approval by unanimous vote and the planning staff recommended approval of the development agreement passed 61 at the February 9th, 2026 county council meeting. Jose Luis opposed. At the February 23rd, 2026 county council meeting, the public hearing was held. However, the second reading was postponed by a vote of 4 to three. Steve Harper, Bryant Neil, and Billy Meell are opposed. Passed 6 to1 at the March 23rd, 2026 county council meeting. Jose Louuise opposed. Uh do we have a motion to approve?

So moved. Have a motion from Mr. Harper. Do we have a second? Second. Have a second from Mr. Neil, Miss Kato. Um I'm understanding there was I'll defer this to Miss Merk Deont on the um the development agreement of the amendments that were made. Um there are no amendments at this time need to be made from the dis.

Yeah I I was going to make some comments. So before we get to the amendments, one of them was to define developer as Lenar Carolina's LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and any successors in interests, assignees, or transferees of all or any portion of the property who have been approved by the county in accordance with this agreement. Um, in section 1.07D, 07D. Um, we could have good cause to be defined as the occurrence of events or circumstances beyond the reasonable control of the developer that materially delay or prevent the timely performance of development obligations under this agreement. despite the developers exercise of reasonable diligence. Such events may include, but are not limited to, acts of God, including severe weather events, floods, hurricanes, or other natural disasters, war, terrorism, civil unrest, or national emergencies, and some other items that Miss Merkupont has um reviewed and provided as well. good cause shall not include delays resulting from the developer financial inability to perform lack of financing market conditions or failure to act with reasonable diligence. Um I think when we had the conversations 3.01 C did not require any changes and 3.03b Miss Ko did not require any changes as well. Uh 4.4 A also did not require any. And then exhibit B was to get rid of a reference to any minor modification so that it's clear that we are referring to any modifications would go through this process. So we would say notwithstanding

any provision of the county's ordinances unified development ordinance administrative procedures or policies to the contrary no amendment modification deviation or adjustment to this agreement shall be deemed minor um in quotations administrative or otherwise exempt from the county council approval without limiting the foregoing. The following shall not be considered minor and shall require formal amendment pursuant to the section. Any change to the permitted uses, density or intensity of development. Any modification to the development schedule or phasing plan. Any alteration of infrastructure obligations including roads, utilities or storm water facilities. Any change to open space requirements, buffers, or design standards. Any change affecting vested rights established under this agreement. And any change that could reasonably affect the timing, scope, or impact of the project. And you're going to make that that's your motion to make all those amendments.

That would be that would be my motion to make those amendments. Okay. My question to you, Jenny, is is he in with those amendments? Is that in order? Yes, ma'am. Okay. what what he's doing is defining a little bit better some of the things that we had in there to make sure that it was very crystal clear exactly what these definitions and these terms applied to and what they meant. We have a motion.

I was saying I wish you had sent us that amendment so we could kind of chew it up a little bit. But uh I'll go I'll he's he's an attorney. I'll go along with him. Well, don't do don't go on that. I'll second. We have a motion from Mr. Louise and a second begrudgingly from Miss McGriff. Was that a second?

I think that was a second. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for the vote. All those in favor, please raise your right hand. All those opposed 52. Okay. I'm sorry I didn't look that way soon enough. Motion passes 5 to two. Takes us back to the original motion. All those in favor of the motion as amended, please raise your right hand. One, two, three, four, five, six. All those opposed. It passes six to one.

Okay, that was confusing. Okay, we're going to go now to item 8 C, public hearing and third reading of ordinance number 2026-2022, an ordinance title, an ordinance to amend ordinance number 2025-1971 relating to the appropriation of funds in the approval of a detailed budget for Langster County for the fiscal year beginning July the 1st, 2025 and ending June the 30th, 2026. our fiscal year 2026 2025 2026 to further provide for revenues and expenditures during the fiscal year and to provide for matters related there too. This passed 7 to zero at the March 9th, 2026 count county council meeting. Passed 7 to zero at the March 23rd, 2026 county council meeting. Mr. Fusnak, uh, looks like she's not here. Um, we do not have we had no one signed up for public hearing, so we'll move past that. I'll need a motion to approve.

So moved. Have a motion for Mr. Neil and a second from M. McGriff. Good evening, council. Josiah Park, budget analyst. No changes from second reading. I'm here to answer any questions if you need.

Is there any questions? Hearing none, I'll call for the vote. All those in favor, please raise your right hand. All those opposed, it's unanimous. Okay, we move on to item 8 D, public hearing and third reading of ordinance 2026-2023. Ordinance title an ordinance to approve a temporary construction and permanent easement grant to Emporium Communications upon real property owned by Langster County and located off South Carolina Highway 9 bearing tax parcel number 0068L-23.00 00 and to authorize county officials to take such actions as are necessary to effectuate the grant of the easements and to affectuate the purposes of this easement. This passed 7 to zero at the March 11th, 2026 county council special meeting. Passed 7 to0 at the March 23rd, 2026 county council regular meeting. Is there a motion? We again no one signed up for the public hearing. We'll move past that. Is there a motion to approve?

So moved. Have a motion from Miss McGriff. Is there a second? Second. Second from Mr. Meller. Mr. Willis. Mr. Chairman, members of council, there is no change. This ordinance and the next two are all related to utility easements to complete the Lancaster County Detention Center.

Thank you. Uh is there any discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for the vote. All those in favor, please raise your right hand. All those opposed, it's unanimous. And we're going to move on to item 8E, public hearing and third reading of ordinance number 2026-2024. Ordinance title an ordinance to approve a temporary construction and permanent easement grant to Duke Energy Carolina's LLC upon real property owned by Langster County and located off South Carolina Highway 9 bearing tax parcel number 0068L-23.00 00 and to authorize county officials to take such actions as are necessary to effectuate the grant of the easements and to effectuate the purposes of this ordinance. This passed 7 to zero at the March 11th, 2026 county council special meeting, passed 7 to zero at the March 23rd, 2026 county council regular meeting. Again, there was a public hearing listed, but no one signed up for it. We'll move past that. Uh, do we have a motion to approve?

So moved. Have a motion from Mr. McGriff. We have a second. Second. Second from Mr. Meller. Is there any discussion? Mr. Willis. Mr. Same thing. Council, no change.

Is there any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. All those opposed, it's unanimous. Move on to item 8F, public hearing and third reading of ordinance number 2026-2025. Ordinance title, an ordinance to approve a temporary construction and permanent easement grant to Langster County Natural Gas Authority upon real property owned by Langster County and located off of South Carolina Highway 9 bearing tax parcel number 0068L-23.0000 00 and to authorize county officials to take such actions as are necessary to effectuate the grant of the easements and to affectuate the purposes of this ordinance. This passed 7 to zero at the March 11th, 2026 county council special meeting. Passed 7 to zero at the March 23rd, 2026 county council regular meeting. Uh is there a mo again? Uh no one signed up for public hearing. We'll move on to the approval. Is there a motion to approve?

So moved. A motion from Mr. Louise. Is there a second? Second.

Second from Mr. Neil. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor of the vote. Passes 70 to zero. We'll move on to item 8G, public hearing and first reading of ordinance number 2026- 2027. An ordinance ordinance title an ordinance to amend the official zoning map of Langster County to reszone approximately 1.5 acres. Tax map number 006868L-D-00004.00 00 which is located at 1553 Paseland Highway from the general GB district to the low density LDR district. Planning department case number is RSZ 2025-2735. Planning Commission recommended approval by unanimous vote and the planning staff also recommended approval of the resoning request. Uh again, no one signed up for public hearing. We'll have um do we have a motion to approve?

Move to approve. Have a motion from Mr. Meller. Do we have a second? Second.

Second from Miss Mcgriff. Miss uh Kato. Thank you chairman and council members. We have a um applicant that came in to do he back in 2016 15. He was one of the ones that was um when the county did a countywide resoning his was changed to general business GB. He has an existing home on the property. Came into our office and wanted to add a personal storage building and was not allowed to do that because he would be non-conforming. So, we're here today for him to be able to resone that to low density residential, which is compatible to that area, which is what's adjacent to that, and and also is what the um the proposed land use map is calling for for the or the comp plan's calling for um planning commission. Um we recommended approval. Planning Commission reckon approval and I'll have answer any questions if you have any.

Is there any questions for Miss Kato? Thank you, Miss Kato. Comment. Go ahead, Mr. Monellar. Uh, Mr. Chair, this is in my district and I don't have any issues with this. I totally support it. All right. Thank you, Mr. Meller. Any other comments? Not we'll call for the vote. All those in favor, please raise your right hand. All those opposed, it's unanimous.

Can we put this on the non-consent agenda? Yes. Okay. We're going to move on to item 8H. First reading of ordinance number 2026-2029. Ordinance title an ordinance to amend ordinance number 2025-1971 relating to the appropriation of funds and the approval of a detailed budget for Langster County for the fiscal year beginning July the 1st, 2025 and ending June the 30th, 2026. our fiscal year 2025 2026 to further provide for revenues and expenditures during the fiscal year and to provide for matters related there too. We have a motion to approve.

So moved. Have a motion from Mr. McGrift. We have a second. Second from Mr. Harper. Josiah.

Oh again Josiah Park budget analyst. Thank you again for your time. Little bit of background for this. Um the South Carolina Constitution mandates that juveniles that are detained must be in a separate facility from incarcerated adult populations. Langster County neither operates nor manages a facility for youth offenders. Thus, the county contracts with the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice to incarcerate juvenile offenders in the state juvenile detention complex in Colombia. Perlaner County's agreement with SCDJJ, the county is required to comply with South Carolina code of laws, which mandates that local governments utilizing DJJ juvenile detention services pay a perdm rate of $50 per day per juvenile. In addition, the county agreed to pay a capital expenditure charge of 125 additional dollars per day per juvenile, not to exceed 25 days. The number of days the juvenile that is detained in state's facility is determined by a state employee in the state court system. The county must continue to pay for its youth offender to be held until the state determines the disposition of the case. The number of youth offenders within the county can fluctuate, making it difficult to accurately project both the volume of cases and the length of stay in state facilities for budgeting purposes. In late March of this year, the sheriff's office contacted the interim county administrator with outstanding invoices to the state for detaining juvenile offenders. Budget administration and sheriff staff determined that $78,375 will enable the sheriff's office to satisfy outstanding invoices owed to the state DJJ and cover anticipated monthly charges for the remaining remainder of the current fiscal year. The requested action tonight is to transfer that $78,375 from the administrator's special project account line to the detention c center's DIS service contract account line. Staff recommends that this interdep departmental transfer to pay for the outstanding invoices and to adjust the budget accordingly for the remaining

monthly payments of this fiscal year. No increase to the general funds total budget will result from this interdep departmental transfer. There any questions? And this is partly because of a change in state law. Yes, sir. A budget provides a in increasing the cost to hold juveniles at DJIJ. Do we have a mo we have all those in favor? Please raise your right hand. Did we do them? I don't think we have no choice to it.

Uh, no. This this is one y'all probably recall from some of my communications with the uh delegation fuss in a little bit because the sheriff's office doesn't have any choice. And when they bring a juvenile in, DJJ employees make the determination. Are they going to Columbia to be held pending their first hearing or not? They come back then a family court judge is going to make a determination. Are they going to be held until their case is formally adjudicated. County has no choice. We're paying the freight for fixing state buildings. Uh can we make a recommendation that DJJ put that in their budget?

I I have recommended that to our delegation, but it seems to uh have not found favor with the general assembly at large. Well, let's just let's keep saying it just in case they might hear us one day.

This has been an item that's been being discussed for about three years now. So, it it the general assembly finally took action on it and unfortunately the action uh is hitting the the budget line for the counties throughout state. So again all those in favor even though we're not in favor but all those that are voting positively for it passes seven to zero. Okay, we're going to move on to item 8 I resolution 1322-R2026 resolution title a resolution requesting that the governor of South Carolina nominate certain census tracks within Langster County for designation as qualified opportunity zones pursuant to federal law. Is there a motion to approve?

So moved. Second. Have a motion from Mr. Neil, a second from Miss McGriff. Mr. Willis.

Uh Mr. Chairman, move me to council. First of all, uh want to let you know Brian is not here this evening. Uh his I heard from him today his wife is continuing to recover from her uh surgery in Virginia and ask for your continued prayers for continued recovery on that. Um this is an opportunity that has come up through the Department of Commerce. The one big beautiful bill is including an opportunity for the governor to nominate additional opportunity zones. Approximately five years ago, we designated census track 107 108 around the city of Lancaster as the original opportunity zones. The others that were eligible this time were uh 102.02, which is town of Kershaw, and then south towards 3C's area, which is primarily residential down that way. Uh 103, which is around Heath Springs, but does include the Heath Springs Industrial Park. 105 and 110.01, 101 which are around the city of Lancaster out Grace Avenue and um down towards Elgen again primarily residential economic developments recommending uh we designate 103 as our request because it does include the springs industrial park.

Mr. Chair, Miss McGriff, I just like to say 107 and 108 is in my district. So I'm glad to see that uh we've got an opportunity to name another opportunity zone. So, Steve, could you give us some benefits of being designated as an opportunity zone? Basically, on an opportunity zone, you have a chance for federal tax incentives for economic development projects uh within those opportunity zones. It also triggers some state um incentives through Department of Commerce. Without Brian here, I hate to hate to go into that because it may well have changed, but it does in trigger state as well as federal incentives. Okay.

Yes. Have any other questions? Just have a comment. Brian, I think it's a great opportunity for the lower part of the county. Yeah. All right. All those in favor, please raise your right hand. All those opposed is unanimous. Okay. Item 8J, resolution 1323-R2026, resolution title, a resolution to approve the recommendation of the Langster County Nonprofit Grant Review Committee for the distribution of funds from the fiscal year 2026 budget. Is there a motion to approve? I'll make a motion to bring it to the floor. All right, we have

second. Second from M. Motion from Mr. Harper, second from Mr. Graham. Miss Snowden. Mr. Chairman, we probably need to note for the record that apparently Councilwoman McGriff has recused herself.

Um, good evening, um, Chairman Kins and members of council. Um, I am going to introduce Miss Kathy Sanchez. she's the grant coordinator and really ushered um helped ushered through this process as well as Miss Chanda Kirkland who are who is our development services coordinator and she served as the chair for the um nonprofit. And then just want to uh committee and just want to just emphasize they are just a recommending um body. So with no um decision they're just bringing forward the process and your for you to consider um their recommendations. All right. Thank you.

Good evening. Um I'm Kathy Sanchez. I'm the new grants coordinator. Um and I worked very closely with Miss Snowden and the committee to um present these recommendations to you today. Um as you know, the council set aside $100,000 this year in supplemental funding for area nonprofits. Um this funding was intended to support a wide range of work including arts and education, youth development, environmental sustainability among other projects. Um the eligibility for nonprofits to apply was that you had to be a 501c3 taxexempt organization. You needed to be registered with the South Carolina Secretary of State. Um And depending on your budget, you either needed audited financials or um internal financial documentation that you presented to us as well as a detailed budget um for the proposed project. Um the application process, we received 22 applications um totaling over $33,000. Um we did initially have an information session back in October. um all of these information sessions and our process was open to the public. The application period opened on November 1st and closed on December 31st. Um the committee was comprised of seven members from Lancaster County from different departments with different backgrounds. Um again all meetings were open to the public. Um there were three meetings in total. The first was to go through requirements and the review the matrix. Um and the second two was to discuss applicants and budgets and to um put together a recommendation that we are presenting to you today. Um we are here before you today to make those recommendations and to present um

the decisions um that they made. Um of course you are the ultimate deciding body. Um and we will make award notifications by the end of the month. Uh again the review committee was um composed of people throughout uh Lancaster County, seven seven members and the review process um touched on four things. Uh each category um ranked 25%. So we based our recommendations on organizational capacity, community need and how that need would be addressed, uh feasibility and sustainability of the project and financial accountability. Uh pending approval, we will move forward with grant agreements and distribution of funding. And every awardee will be required to submit a midear progress report as well as a final report detailing outcomes, expenditures, and community impact. They will have to provide receipts and proof that they were using the money in the way that they presented in the application. And then any future funding opportunities will be contingent upon compliance with reporting. We are going to present now the um selections.

Okay. My name is Shanda Kirkland, development services coordinator, and we're going to uh go over the committee's recommendation in a summary. So, um we received 22 applications. Out of the 22 applications, 15 we recommended full or partial funding, six no recommendation for funding, and one did not meet the eligibility requirements. So, the first one is Beauty from Grace, a farmers market and community dinners to expand access to fresh and local foods. The requested amount was $9,850. The fund amount was $9,572. The next one is the community medical clinic medical supplies and patient assistance for chronic conditions and critical needs. Requested amount was 20,000. fund amount was $8,600 and we decided to cover uh the medical supplies um in that request. Uh Greater New Hope Soup Kitchen, it provide hot meal service to address food insecurities. Requested amount was 10,000. Fund amount was 5,000. Next, the Magnolia Memory Care. It's a brain health and dementia support hub for the Lancaster County area. The requested amount for that is 20,000 and we uh recommend funding uh in the amount of 5,000. The next one is Stove Legacy Foundation. Their scholarship, mentorship, and student recognition for graduating seniors. The requested amount was 15,000. We recommend fund amount of 5,000 and that's to cover four scholarships and the recognition ceremony. battered but not broken housing and support services for formerly incarcerated women. The requested amount is 20,000 and we recommend 5,000. The next one is Call Me Beauty Mentoring Program. It's a youth summer wellness and empowerment camp. The requested

amount was 15,000 and there was no recommendation for that request. The next one is Christian Services. It's a food pantry, angel tree and kinship care support for families. We um they requested amount was 10,000 and we uh recommend 6,000 to the kin care support. U next one is counseling services of Lancaster. It's a prom pledge initiative promoting safe substancefree celebration during prom season. The requested amount was 3,000 and there was no recommend funding for that one. The next one is the Girl Scout scholarship for mentorship, camp, and uniforms. Requested amount is$7,000. The fund amount is 3,500, and we specified that be used for Lancaster County residents only. The next one is hope in Lancaster. The the pro project was for equipment and infrastructure to improve food distribution. The requested amount was 15,000. The fund recommended is 10,000. So, the next one is Hope on the Hill. Uh, the project was for facility renovations and building improvements. The requested amount was $13,580 and there was um no recommendation for that one. Uh, care the Kershaw Area Resource Exchange. So, the monthly it's a monthly food pantry support for families. The request is 15,000. We recommended funding 5,000. uh Kingdom of God Church International uh expansion of programming focus on financial planning and family development. Requested amount was $8,750. There was no recommendation for funding. Uh Lancaster Children's Home um project training support services for at youth

at youth risk requested amount was 10,000. Fund amount was 10,000. Lancaster Council of Arts. It's a public art installation along the Lindsay Pettis Greenway. Requested amount was 25,000. Fund amount was 4,460 and that was to cover the artist fees. Land United Foundation is a workforce development and mentorship opportunity. Requested amount was 8,000. Fund amount was 3,000. The Lancaster SPCA expansion of the spray and neuter services through the trapneuter program. requested amount was $5,568. The fund amount was $5,568. The NAMI Petemont Tri County mental health training for middle and high school coaches requested amount was 20,400. The amount that the committee recommends is 6,800 and that's to fund four programs. Serve and connect community engagement initiative to strengthen relationship with law enforcement. Requested amount was 7,500 and that was no recommendation. Um the last one is the Whitney Hotel Foundation. Oh no, Finding Serenity, sorry. um request for partial funding for a full-time coordinator. The fund request was 25,000 and we recommend rewarding 7,500. And then the last one is the Whitney Hotel Foundation for a roof roof replacement and there was no recommendation for funding. Um, these projects reflect a strategic investment in the critical community needs across Lancaster County from health and health and housing to youth development and community enrichment. And I would like to say on behalf of the reviewing committee, we appreciate all submissions and the important work being

done in the community and we value each organization's contribution and encourage continued participation in future opportunities at Langster County. We will ask answer any questions. There any questions? Mr. Chair, I have some comments. Go ahead, Mr. Mos.

Um I some of these on here give me the heartburn. I'll be honest with you. Um I I just can't see using tax dollars to for some of this stuff. Some of this stuff to help our citizens throughout the county for food stuff like that. People, uh I I can go with but but some of this stuff on here. Uh I I done some digging and and looking up some of these and some of these foundations are not even in Lyra County. Uh some some of them's a tri county thing and I and that really bothers me to uh we don't if we give us money is it going to be used in L County or we don't know where it's going to be used if it's going in a a tri county thing. So that bothers me. I'm not going to support some of this stuff in here uh for that reason. Uh but one of them I think is uh Land Land United. That's a soccer program out of Fort Mill. Uh that's not even a Lancaster County. I think they do some Lester County kids plays on some of their teams in Fort and Indian, but I just can't see supporting some of this stuff for this. So yeah, any other discussion from anybody else? But I move that we uh table this to the next meeting and and everybody come back with have more time to study this thing and decide what we want to do.

I I echo Mr. from Rosellar. When I I I think about uh uh the nonprofits around town that uh really help everybody uh starting in Kershaw with care. uh you know, Christian services that that place uh hope

Lars uh uh a lot of hunger and I mean the the the soup kitchen I could support but you know for me it my intent was uh for helping people that are really in need with the basic necessities of life. Right.

I'm going to echo all of those comments as well. Um, it would be really great to see as part of that chart the exact legal name of the entity, the purpose of the entity, the year of formation, whether it is in good standing with the Secretary of State of South Carolina. Um, and then the last tax filing year. I, as Mr. Meler did, I I did some research. I went through there's several of these organizations that haven't filed a tax return for a few years. So there's definitely some concerning things. There's certainly some organizations that seem to have a lot more revenue and assets and they're generating a lot more revenue that I think may not need our support as much as some of the other local organizations will need. So I'd like to understand kind of how the process of selection work. I'd like to see a more detailed chart to show what is going to be used and how it's going to be used. And then the accountability portion. And I know you all mentioned that you follow up, you do mid-year checks, but I'd like to understand how that works and ensure that the funds that we are allocating are going to the places where we are allocating them for.

Yes. I just wanted to just point out that any that um the majority are Lancaster based, but none of them could actually um have projects that did were not specific to Lancaster County. And so would it be more helpful? Again, they went through the 22 applications. Would you like us to make copies of all of the applications for you all and the backup material so that you could look at it and then maybe put together a chart because again this is really a starting place for you all to make the decision and there were quite frankly some entities that were not Lancaster based that did not get funded and my understanding with Indian Land United they've partnered with the school system and they're doing um these projects with the school so they were very they tried to make them as as specific project specific and I think some of them didn't detail like for example I think the medical uh program that was based out of Kershaw and um and served underserved. So, um, just from council's direction, would you all like to see all of the applications and then have us give you the backup and then have the metrics so you all can go through the exercise because this was just a

because I would love to see that like the uh, one of those programs received a $350,000 earmark from the state within the last couple of years and I didn't see that listed on their financials. might not been due yet, but you know uh I have a hard time uh miss giving organizations like that any money. So, Mr. Chairman, so that we're procedurally correct. I believe Mr. Moseller has a motion on the floor. So, we do need a second to that because all this discussion is really related to his motions. Second, Mr. Moseller's We have a second for Mr. Luis. We have Can Go ahead, Mr. Can we have a review what that was? What was that motion? delay it.

I think he moved to postpone postpone. I I do, Mr. Chair, I do have some comments. So, if you Let me clarify. Mr. Moeller, do you are you postponing to the next meeting? Is it a specific time or or That's enough time for them to get y'all's stuff together and get it to us some time for us to go over it. So, I just want to make sure we have the motion clarified that it's to the next meeting and then we have a second and then the discussion we've had is related around that. So, I just wanted to get us procedurally correct. Thank you. Sorry, Council Member Graham. Well, ahead, Mr. Graham. I just to make just to be clear, this is the first time we've done something that some kind of process like this on council or is this have we've done this before? No,

this is the first time that I'm aware of. There was there was the ARPA there was an ARPA nonprofit um in I think 2023 2024 and we followed a similar process. Okay. But but again, I think it there might not have been as many applicant applications. I think

well I mean I just appreciate the the the group the seven that went through the county employees that were on the committee and went through this because I think um and it is an important process and I think we just I I think for for me some of the questions that I had was um more along the lines of trying to see if we're trying to spread ourselves too thin and diluting the impact that could be made on on on organizations. I understand. I mean, I definitely can get like you're trying to include as many organizations as you possibly can, but I mean, some of my questions would be if we give that amount of money, would they be able to make any the the intended impact, would that program be allowed to continue or form? Um, and then a couple of them I was a little concerned because it looked like they might be reoccurring costs instead of like one time. So, you know, is that some how if this wasn't funded next year, how how would that continue? So again, I think this is um a good exercise for us to go through and I I know we're we're kind of going through this process a little bit for the first time, but those were two of the things. But my my thing was about more of like maybe we instead of trying to spread it out, maybe focus in I I I'd echo the the support for critical and immediate needs to me really is something that I I like. And then again, anything that we can reinforce um programs or economic programs that can train people, I think are two of the things that are really important to me. But those are my comments.

Any other discussion? One other thing, and we don't have to spend $100,000 if we don't want to give this much. I mean, we don't have to. I mean, this is something we need to look at what we want. We budget $100,000, but that don't mean we got to spread it out and just get rid of it. Uh uh I think we need to spend it wisely and uh and we, you know, if we don't spend it all, we'll just put it back in the checking account. All right. Going to call for the vote. All those in favor of the subsidiary motion, please raise your right hand. Is to postpone. Yeah.

Yeah. and all u all all those opposed. The vote is six zero with one abstension. We'll move back to the main motion on all all those in favor for No, we we just Yeah. Okay. What I would and what I would ask for Miss Snowden is to get that report of the funds from the other organizations that we've already gone just to make sure how we're holding those um accounts accountable. Okay. Going to move on to item nine, discussion and action items. Item 9A is motion and vote to Do we need to wait for M? Yeah, there she is.

Oh, yep. Miss McGri. All right. Uh, item 9A. Motion and vote needed to update the Langster County, South Carolina prior prioritized community needs list. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Have a motion for Mr. Luis. Is there a second? Second. Second from Miss McGriff, Mr. Willis.

Mr. Chairman, members of council, uh, Miss Hartz from the Cog has sent the updated list. I believe you'll find this on page 223 in your package. Um, one thing I would note that of course Lancaster County is not an entitlement county and we're we compete through the state. So just because something's on the priority list, if it's not a state priority, it's not getting funded. Um, again, that this is used primarily for the CDBG, but it has to conform with what the state priorities are.

There any questions? No, I I will say that I think the number one um item that we have selected about promoting economic development is probably the most important. I would hope that the state is supportive of that and again that economic development has to be in in zones that that they'll work through the cog yoa and things things of that nature. And I, you know, if the state sets it as a priority, it gets funded. If they don't, we're just not eligible. Whereas Rock Hill being an entitlement community, they can just spend the money however their council wants to.

Simpson. Mr. Chairman and council members, I did receive an email from a council member asking about moving affordable housing up. So, I just didn't know if you wanted one of those. I think that was number nine, wasn't it? It's number nine.

Yeah. To seek funding to address housing needs to include rehabilitation, affordable housing, and down payments. I didn't know if you wanted to move that up. I I wanted it to be at least in the top three because I know we've put together a committee to do uh some studying around and make some recommendations just for purposes of having it as a priority. I would like to move it up. Um maybe include it in Well, we've got number two if we could include affordable housing in that section. So it is it's in number two if you this housing rehabilitation act increase affordable housing.

Yeah, this is rehabilit affordable housing and down payment. Yeah. And closing cost assistance. I mean, we've got it here, but it's not defined as it is in number two. So, Council Member Griff, are you saying for on number two where it says activities to increase affordable housing, you'd like to take that language from nine to include rehabilitation, affordable housing, and down payment and closing cost assistance. Yeah. So, essentially eliminate nine and add it to two. Yeah. simply because we had somebody in citizen comment to talk about the fact that uh and down payments and and closing assistance. We need that to be included in the discussion.

If you'd like to make that amendment, we can I'd like to make that as an amendment. Mr. Second,

we have M. McGriff has made an alternate motion and Mr. Louise is second. Any other discussion? If not, we'll call for the vote. All those in favor, please raise your right hand. All those opposed, unanimous. We'll move back to the main motion. All those in Is there any other discussion? Not hearing any. All those in favor, please raise your right hand. All those opposed. It's unanimous. Miss Simpson. receive information and take desired action regarding um appointments and or reappointments to various boards and commissions.

Mr. Coun um Mr. Chairman and council members. So the first one is for an appointment to the board of assessment appeals. Michael D. Sinker and sorry I know I messed up his name. Um has applied to serve on the board of assessment appeals. The openings on this board are in districts two and four. residency in the district is not required for either district. If he is appointed, he would be serving an unexpired term that would end on 6:30 2027. And this would be my appointee. I believe he's in Mr. Graham's district. And I also have an opening, but it's not district uh mandated. Right. Correct. So, does anybody want to make a motion?

I'll make that motion. We have a motion for Mr. Louise to appoint Mr. and care to um his district. Second. Have a second from Mr. Graham. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for the vote. All those in favor, please raise your right hand. All those opposed, it's unanimous. Um the second item is just postponed to 427. So that'll be the next council meeting. Um the next one is postponed to 427. The next one is postponed indefinitely. and current board and commission vacancies and upcoming board commission expirations are just information for council.

All right, we'll move on to item 11, uh, executive session. We have one item, uh, receipt of legal advice subject to the attorney client privilege regarding a potential contractual matter relating to a lease agreement. Have a motion to go into executive session. So moved.

Second. Motion from Mr. Louise, a second for Mr. Riff. All those in favor, please raise your right hand. All those opposed is unanimous. We're in executive session. Please. That's all right.

Huh?

Okay. Do we have a motion to come out of executive session? So moved. Have a motion from Mr. Mosteller and a second for Mr. Harper. All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Uh we are out of executive session. Mr. Chairman, for the record, council met in executive session in regards to one item. If y'all could hold your conversations, we're we're trying to finish up the meeting. The receipt of legal advice subject to the attorney client privilege regarding a potential contractual matter relating to a lease agreement. No motions were made. No votes were taken. Do we have any motions coming out of executive session?

I would like to make a motion to authorize the interim director um I'm sorry, the interim county administrator um to negotiate a lease um as discussed in executive session. Have a motion for Mr. Louise. Do we have a second? Second. Have a second from Miss McGriff. All those in favor, please raise your right hand. All those opposed, it is unanimous. We have a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Have a motion from Mr. Lease. We are adjourned.

Good deal.