Town Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I would like to welcome everyone to the Town of Lexington council meeting. This council meeting is being held at Town Hall on Monday evening, June 1st, 2026 and is being broadcast live on the town's YouTube channel. I am Hazel Livingston, the mayor for the Town of Lexington and I would like to introduce my fellow council members. To my left is Ron Williams.

Good evening.

To his left is Councilmember Todd Lyle.

Good evening.

And to his left is Councilmember Jenny Michaels. Good evening. To my right is Mayor Pro Tem Todd Carnes.

Good evening.

To his right is Councilmember Gavin Smith. Good evening. And to his right is Councilmember Will Allen.

Good evening.

At this time, I'd like to ask our Lexington Police Department Chaplain, Kelly Mason, to come forward and give us our invocation for the evening.

Good evening. Good evening.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you today with gratitude for the opportunity to gather and serve our community. Thank you for this town, for the citizens who call it home, and for the unique perspective we all bring. We lift up our mayor and town council members, grant them wisdom, discernment, and integrity as they deliberate on the agenda before them. In moments of complex decision making, guide them towards solutions that promote fairness, peace, and the long-term well-being of everyone in this town. Help us all to listen with respect, to speak with understanding, and to work together in harmony. May our collective efforts be used to build a stronger, more compassionate community for all. In your name we pray. Amen.

Now our pledge will be led by U.S. Army Airborne Infantry and Purple Heart recipient Sergeant Scott Craig. Thank you.

Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Sergeant Craig, we thank you for your service and for being here tonight. I will now call the council meeting to order. Are there any deletions from tonight's agenda? Hearing none, council met in executive session prior to this meeting matters discussed in executive session discussion as permitted by SC code 30-4-70A is discussion regarding a pending litigation. No vote was taken. Do I hear a motion to ratify this report?

So moved.

Councilman Williams makes the motion. Do I hear a second?

Second.

Councilman Allen second. Is there any discussion? Second. Hearing none, all those in favor, raise your right hand. And it is unanimous. Next up, we'll do the approval of the minutes, including in your meeting packet are the minutes from April the 6th council meeting and April the 27th budget workshop meeting and May the 18th work session for approval. Do I hear a motion to approve these?

So moved.

Councilman Smith makes the motion. Do I hear a second? Second. Councilman Michael Sackett, is there any discussion, any corrections, anything that needs to be changed? Hearing none, all those in favor, raise your right hand. And it is unanimous. Tonight we have a presentation recognizing Tourette's Syndrome Awareness Day. And I'd like to ask who's here to come forward to be with us. Whereas Tourette's syndrome is a neurological disorder characterized by involuntary motor and vocal tics, and whereas TS is often accompanied by conditions such as attention-deficient orders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, learning disabilities, and anxiety, and whereas Tourette's syndrome and other tic disorders affect many children and families, and the condition is often misunderstood and misdiagnosed, And whereas increased awareness, education, and understanding can help reduce stigma and improve support for those living with TS. And whereas organizations such as Tourette Association of America work to educate the public, support families, and advance research and treatment efforts. Now, therefore, I, Mayor Hazel Livingston, on behalf of the Town Council of the Town of Lexington, do hereby proclaim June 4th, 2026 as Tourette Syndrome Awareness Day in the Town of Lexington, South Carolina, encourage all citizens to promote understanding, compassion, acceptance, and support for individuals and families affected by Tourette Syndrome.

Hi, my name is Hannah Regency, and I am the director of the Greater Carolinas Tourette Group. We're part of the Tourette Association of America, and we're the only organization that serves North and South Carolina families, educators, and law enforcement with Tourette Syndrome resources, education, and information. As Mayor Livingston read, one in 50 have Tourette Syndrome or persistent It's really special to have grown up in Lexington. I live in North Carolina now, but my family is here, and it means a lot to have the mayor's support as well as town council. We are the greater Carolina's Tourette group, so if you happen to know anybody with Tourette,

Next up, I'll provide our vision plan update. The town is currently in the process of updating its vision plan, which provides a guide for Lexington over the next decade. This update will focus on quality of life, community involvement, and long-term planning. There are multiple ways that you can get involved and share your ideas with us. There will be three community meetings held at various locations throughout the town on June 23rd and June 24th. As details are formalized on locations and times, information will be available on the website at lexsc.gov. That is also an online survey will be posted in the near future where you can give your input about the future of the town of Lexington. Your ideas and feedback are an important part of this process and we look forward to hearing your vision for years ahead. Next up, we'll hear from Mayor Prochem Carnes with a traffic update.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Paving operations are expected to begin tomorrow on East Butler Street between North Church Street and North Lake Drive. A road closure will be in effect to complete this work. Most of the local schools are officially out for summer break. Enjoy the reduction in traffic flow over the next couple of months while continuing to allow adequate time to reach your destination safely. And please exercise caution when traveling in construction areas. We encourage you to follow the town of Lexington social media outlets for traffic alerts and updates. Please call 803-358-7273 to report any traffic signal issues, unsafe roadway conditions, or a pothole that needs immediate repair.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem.

Now we'll move into our public hearing. We welcome your comments and ask that each speaker please limit their remarks to three minutes. A timer will be set by our town clerk. And please note this is not a question and answer session. And we ask that comments remain specific to the item under consideration. Please address the council as a whole rather than directing comments to staff or members of the audience. These guidelines help ensure a respectful and orderly process and allow time for everyone who wishes to speak. With that, is there anyone that would like to speak regarding the public hearing for tonight as ordinance for a mid-year FY2026 budget adjustment? Ordinance to adopt the FY2026-2027 budget. Ordinance to provide for the FY2026-2027 tax levy. Got you fixed. And we got that fixed, correct? Because last time it was a mistake on?

Yes, Mayor, that's correct.

Okay. Ordinance for development impact fee updates phase two. Ordinance for property transfer authorization lands in HOA. That will close the public hearing portion for this meeting, and we'll move on into our old business items, beginning with Councilmember Lyle, final reading of a mid-year budget adjustment.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. to give as a background that we did an analysis determine if capital items could be purchased in the current year and reduce requests for fiscal year twenty twenty seven and so some various changes were made and i'll go ahead and say here i will have a few questions about this myself but pending that there's about seven hundred seventy eight thousand the general fund that will reduce from certain budgets and add those to make purchases of that same amount, do some police vehicles and things of that nature. Madam Mayor, I'd make a motion subject to questions for final reading and approval of those mid-year adjustments.

Councilman Lyle makes the motion. Do I hear a second?

I'll second.

Councilman Williams seconds it. Now we will open the floor for discussion.

Sure. Madam Mayor, first off, I would ask what our plan was, and maybe this is a question for Rachel, in light of some of these being salaries on reductions, those are long-term obligations. Do we take into account that the reduction for this year may not still be reduced as of next year?

The reduction is only applicable in this current fiscal year.

Right.

So it's savings that's already been achieved, and we only have 30 days left remaining in this fiscal year.

Did we, when did we find out that we weren't going to obligate these salary funds?

I'd have to ask Kathy to come up. She can give you the more precise date.

A lot of it has to do with turnover. So like in the administrator's budget, the town attorney left, a steward left, So their salaries were budgeted through the year end and due to time and differences of when people were rehired and what we did, there would be savings in that area.

So are you saying that, like for example, Stewart, no, we have Kevin, we weren't able to identify that number until we filled that position and realized what the gap or the delta was? Right. Okay.

And we don't typically, unless we're looking for money, we don't do an analysis of salaries every month. So if we're thinking that there's something we need, maybe there's a way to buy it, we'll do an analysis of salaries, especially if we know there's been some significant turnover. But as a general rule, we don't just say, gee, our salaries are low, let's find something to spend it on.

Yeah, and it's a big number. I mean, salaries make up,

about six and i mean about three quarters of that number is all salaries councilman i'd also like to uh... say that when it comes particularly lead to administration from the town attorney said we budgeted as if we were going to have an f t e uh... for this particular fiscal year and we did not replace with an f t e and f t e has the salary and benefits. We have instead an attorney on contract and with that there's not associated benefits costs. So we had a significant savings when it came to that aspect. That's a big piece of what you see in administration salaries. That also includes the assistant town attorney slash prosecutor. was budgeted in a similar way. And there was a period of time when we did not have that position filled. And when we refilled it, it also was a contract position. So it had a different amount that would have been allocated towards salary and no benefits.

Okay. Thank you. And then the same as with police, there was turnover in different positions. I don't know the exact positions that were turned over, but when there's turnover, a lot of times somebody will be paid at a higher part of the range of when you hire somebody new, you typically hire them at the entry level. So you'll have some savings that way. And since the police department is fairly large, when they do have turnover, you can come up with some pretty significant savings that way.

Okay, thank you. Okay.

Anyone else?

Yeah, Madam Mayor. Not for you, Kathy. You're off the hook. More for Rachel. I mean, this is this year, but I would like to see, I mean, this is two, four, five, I mean, it's about $600,000 in salaries. I would like to see our salaries number leveraged for salaries and fringe benefits as opposed to CapEx at the end of the year. Because we have significant liabilities there. And so we took all our salary savings, because when we look at the budget, we kind of look, that's our one chance to look at, hey, this is what our salaries and fringes and things are, and this is what our CapEx is. And so just making a note for next year, I think we should keep those buckets a little more separate when we're talking about $600,000, $700,000. Does that make sense?

I don't think I'm following.

It has no bearing on this motion. Okay. So I'm just saying that we took all our operational savings and threw it into CapEx for this year. So I think we should take those operational savings and leave them in the operational bucket to offset increases and fringes, increases in the salaries and fringes and things of that nature. as opposed to get to the end of the year and take the entirety of it and put it in capital expenditures. Okay. Again, that's just a philosophical thing I just wanted to get ahead of, 364 days ahead of. Okay, understood. All right. Thank you.

Madam Mayor.

Yes, sir.

May I just ask, so I was tallying it up here, I think, Councilman Carnes is pretty close to it. Yeah, $558,000 is the salaries, what I can attribute the salaries. And if I'm correct, that's about, I guess, 7% or 8% of our general fund budget. Each year is roughly around $8 million to $9 million general fund budget. So that's a pretty significant number. Was that taken into account as we're planning for this budget year? I mean, we have a variance of 5% to 7%. you know, in salaries, was that taken into account as we're planning for the upcoming year?

So that's a great question. You'll see, and again, I'll address administration. You'll see the change in administration when you look. And I'd like to say the term salary is encompassing of both salaries and benefits. So you will see the difference there, how the amounts have decreased. You will also notice in administration, for example, the amount that we're budgeting for our legal fees are showing up in a different category. So absolutely. With police, you have to plan for just general turnover and really in every department, you're going to have to plan for that to the extent possible when we know that retirements are coming, we absolutely take that into consideration. I'm trying to think if there's any other, administration was the biggest change that yes, we took into consideration. The police department, we know you're going to expect a certain amount of turnover. We do the best we can when we know that there is planned departures, yes.

And just to clarify, maybe this is more of a question for Councilman Carr or Mayor Pro Tem Carnes. Were you saying the $558,000 you would like to see not attributed to CapEx spend, but instead be utilized for retention or bonus or salary increases? Is that what you were saying?

Yeah, or offsetting the increases year over year in salaries and fringes Because we're taking salaries and friends' money and saying, hey, we didn't spend it last year, so let's buy capital items. And so, you know, we have an opportunity to review how much we want to spend on salaries and fringes versus capital items when we review the budget. And so I think that we should look at all those things at that time as opposed to get down to the last and go, hey, what's left in the bucket? Are we going to leverage it all for CapEx? It's you know, we could have. We could have leveraged some for capex and we could leverage some to to offset probably. I mean, are significant increases year over year in salaries and fringes.

OK, so traditionally speaking, when we get to the end of the year, if we have under runs, whatever category it is, whether it's capital, whether it's salaries, whether it's operating. Any under runs or excess revenue that we have, it remains in the general fund. It becomes part of the fund balance, this time next year as we're approaching the budget, we can take a look at that and that can be an option that I bring to you. Okay, council, this is where we are currently in this fiscal year. These are the requests that we have for the upcoming year. town staff in order to be most efficient with next year's budget use this as an opportunity to say hey look we know these are unspent in salaries because they represent historical funds not spent this is an opportunity for us to purchase this item this year that way we don't have to encumber it in next year's budget that's one of the reasons why we're able to do some of the things that we're able to do in this year's budget. So we can have a more thorough discussion with council if you all would like. Internally, from an administrative perspective and a finance perspective, we see this as a bonus because we are three quarters of the way through the year We know what the sunk costs are gonna be. We know the savings that we have. We're not gonna hire individuals and suddenly spend all of the salary, but we can have a greater conversation. If it's something that council would rather leave in fund balance, and then next year as we build the next budget, we use fund balance to help balance the budget for salary and benefits, we can do that too. We can consider everything.

Madam Mayor?

Yes.

Yeah, just to follow up, I think that's what I'm saying. Like when we're asked to, well, here's what I'm saying is when we're asked to scrutinize a budget for the next fiscal year, it would be nice to scrutinize the budget in light of this three-quarter of a million dollars as opposed to this one's just held out. It's kind of like this is what's left over. This is held out. We're going to buy all this CapEx stuff with this. So when we're looking at the budget, we're looking at the budget we're approving tonight. We're looking at a budget that doesn't have those capex in there. And so it'd be nice to see these as opposed to, because I don't know what the upside, there's really no upside to us as a town to saying, hey, we're going to grab this and spend it in this fiscal year as opposed to spending it in next fiscal year, right? There's no upside to that. other than we're going to get a little more interest off $3.25 million. And so it's almost like I feel like we need to look at the thing holistically instead of saying, hey, we've got $3.25 million, let's go spend that, and then we'll do the $60 million budget separate. Because there can be, and it has nothing to do with this year, but there can, that's a significant amount of money. This is $100,000. You know, that's a significant amount of money, but not in light of $60 million. But I would rather look at the thing holistically. I mean, what is the upside for the town to spending this money in this fiscal year versus carrying over three-quarters of a million dollars into next year's budget and looking at that budget holistically, knowing that we have... three-quarters of a million dollars in reserves and saying, let's compare these cap expenditures with what we're trying to do?

We could do one or the other. It's a procedural thing. We brought this to you as far back as the budget workshop, and we let you all know that this is how we were able to accommodate all of the requests. that our directors had we let you know at that time as well as the first reading hey please keep in mind that this particular ordinance is coordinated with the general fund budget right because if you don't pass this ordinance well it is but it isn't right if you don't pass this and then you pass the budget keep in mind that there are things that are left on the table that our departments won't have so You know, it's 6-1, half a dozen the other as far as I'm concerned. If we allow the funds to be unspent, we close out the budget, it goes to be a part of the fund balance, you're just simply going to see a different line item on our budget where it shows that we're using fund balance to balance our budget.

I mean, we're talking a procedural thing. That's the reason I'm not trying to upset the apple cart tonight, but I am trying to upset the process because I would... I would rather evaluate how we are spending this three-quarters of a million dollars in the context of how we're doing the overall budget as opposed to evaluating how we spend this three-quarters of a million dollars just because it's left over from last year.

Okay, we can do that.

And that's just one man's opinion. Six people might think I'm crazy, but that's what would make sense in my mind. So we can have that discussion. I just wanted to note it.

Sure. As far as I remember, this year and at least last year, probably the year before, we've done a similar sort of budget action. I almost called it a true-up, but it's really you get towards the end of the fiscal year and you realize we have underruns or we have more revenues than anticipated, and this is the way that we can do something. But if that's the method that council no longer wants to take, we don't have to. We can hold the discussion in a different manner.

I think historically the numbers have been a lot smaller. This number's approaching a million bucks, and I think that's when it catches... My attention at least.

Understood.

Madam Mayor?

Yes.

Chief, I see you're getting eight police cars out of this. I know there was some discussion in years past that by ordering the cars now, you saved some dollars and got the cars in on time.

Yes, because larger departments like Lexington County, Richland County, City of Columbia, they order their cars in January. Now, if I order eight cars and they order 100, who's going to get their order first? It makes sense. The cars we're going to purchase is going to be from this year, and we're saving about $3,000 to $4,000 on each one of those vehicles because we saved money. They're the last year. So we're going to save about $24,000 to $30,000 roughly just on car purchases. Getting there earlier? Getting there earlier. Well, we'll be getting those cars. If we order those cars July 1, guess when we'll get those cars? In March, April. So we won't be using those cars. until the next fix of year because they got to get painted. They got to get it scraped out. They got to get the camera and everything in here. So this is a great benefit to us because those cars will be rolling for next year. Okay, thank you. All right, thank you.

Anything else? All those in favor, raise your right hand. And it is unanimous. Our next item is an ordinance to adopt the FY 2026-2027 budget Mayor Pro Tem cards.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. South Carolina law requires town council to adopt a balanced budget each year. Budget revenue and expenditures are attached as well as the draft ordinance. I'll make a motion for final reading approval.

Mayor Pro Tem makes the motion. Do I hear a second? Second. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, raise your right hand. And it is unanimous. Item number three is final reading of an ordinance to provide for the FY2026-2027 tax levy. Mayor Pro Tem Carnes.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. South Carolina law requires town council to adopt the tax levy each year attached as a draft ordinance for the tax levy for fiscal year 26-27. Madam Mayor, I make a motion for final reading approval.

Mayor Pro Tem makes the motion. Do I hear a second?

I'll second.

Councilman Williams seconds it. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, raise your right hand. Item number four is in the Ordinance for Development Impact Fee Updates Phase 2, Councilmember Michaels.

Thank you mayor. The impact fee ordinance adopted on February 1st, 2020 requires the planning commission to conduct a comprehensive review and update at least once every five years of the development impact fee study report for the town of Lexington. The town of Lexington capital improvements plan, the house affordability analysis supporting the impact study and the development impact fee ordinance. Phase 1 of this update was adopted by Town Council March 3, 2025. The transportation component was deferred pending completion of the Local Transportation Improvement Plan 2.0, which is now complete. Attached is Phase 2 of the required updates, which includes the transportation component. At its April 22nd meeting, the Planning Commission recommended approval of the updated Town of Lexington improvement fee, development impact fee study, housing affordability study, capital improvements plan, and development impact fee ordinance for final consideration. Mayor, I make a motion for final reading approval adopting phase two of the updated Town of Lexington development impact fee study, housing affordability study, capital improvements plan, and the development impact fee ordinance.

Councilman Michaels makes a motion. Do I hear a second?

Second.

Councilman Lyle seconds it. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, raise your right hand. And it is unanimous. Old business item number five is from Councilmember Smith. Final reading property transfer authorization lands in HOA.

Thank you madam mayor attached to the agenda packet as an ordinance which authorizes the town of Lexington to sell or transfer a one point 0, 0, acre parcel. Identified as tax not number 0, 0, 3, 3, 2, 3 dash 1, 1 dash 0, 0, 1, 2 lands and H away. In accordance with a previously executed easement agreement and dedication of easement agreement dated July 13th, 2023. The transfer is intended to fiscal to fulfill the terms of the agreement following completion of the town's pump station construction on the subject property. The proposed deed is included as an exhibit to the ordinance. The ordinance further authorizes the mayor and Council to execute all documents necessary to complete the transfer. All that said madam era move for final reading.

Councilman Smith makes a motion for final reading do I hear second. second mayor pro tem seconds it is there any discussion on this hearing none all those in favor raise your right hand and it is unanimous now we will move into new business items and our first one is from councilman council member williams on road resurfacing projects change orders

Thank you, Madam Mayor. In March 2025, Town Council approved a $4 million road resurfacing project to address roads identified with D or F pavement condition ratings. In May 2025, Council approved a construction contract with Inline Paving Industries LLC in the amount of $3.4 million, leaving available funding within the approved project budget. In addition, in April 2026, Lexington County's C-Fund program awarded the town $60,000 for concrete, curb, and sidewalk repair. Since the project is expected to complete under budget, town staff is requesting authorization to execute change orders for resurfacing additional roadway segments removed from the original project list and to perform select concrete repairs. Make a motion to approve the authorization for the change order.

Councilman Williams makes a motion. Do I hear a second? Second. Councilman Michaels seconds it. Is there any discussion? Second.

Madam mayor, yes, could I just ask Randy. If you don't mind one quick question. Randy this change order that you're requesting in the amount of 150,000 and 60,000 does that include the crosswalk work that has been proposed and sterling bridge.

No, it does not.

So will another change order need to be requested or how will that be handled?

As discussed previously, that was included as a ride-along on our original contract. So it's already in the contract.

Got it. Okay. All right. Thank you.

Any other discussions? All those in favor, raise your right hand. And it is unanimous. Next up is approval of a service agreement with Off-Duty Management, Inc., Councilmember Allen.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. This agreement provides for the administration and management of the police department's off-duty employment program, including scheduling, payroll, invoicing, and coordination of assignments. A copy of the proposed agreement is attached to the meeting packet and was presented at the previous work session. Madam Mayor, I move to approve to enter into this agreement.

Council Member Allen makes a motion. Do I hear a second?

I'll second.

Smith.

Council Member Smith said I'm sorry. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, raise your right hand. And did I skip number two? Okay, thank you. I'm sorry. I'm a little confused up here. Let's go back to number two. Approval of the SEDOT signal maintenance agreement modifications to Council Member Smith.

You were trying to skip Randy.

Sorry, Randy. It wasn't on purpose.

Madam mayor, the town of Lexington has an existing agreement with the South Carolina Department of Transportation for signal maintenance, the signal maintenance agreement. SMA otherwise known as TRA dash 9 dash 24 was entered into on April the 1st 2024 for the maintenance construction and construction inspection of stop and go traffic signals flashing beacons and signal communications. The signal maintenance agreement modification number two is attached for review in the agenda packet. All that said, Madam Mayor, I'll move to authorize staff to sign the agreement modification with SEDOT.

Councilman Smith makes a motion. Do I hear a second?

I'll second.

Any discussion on this? Hearing none, all those in favor, raise your right hand. And it is unanimous. Okay, number four is Accommodations Tax 2026 Applications, Council Member Lyle.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. The Accommodations Tax Committee met, as we are well aware up here, on April 16th to review the fiscal year 2026 applications. We also had Mr. Marvin Robinson come and talk to us last month. 11 applications were submitted totaling a request of $371,500. We've allocated 65% of accommodations revenue for tourism related expenditures, $213,000 and some change available for fiscal year 2026. Included in this packet is the spreadsheet listing this funding request and the committees, again, the accommodations tax committees award recommendations for council's review and approval. They also reviewed and approved the Lexington Chamber and Visitor Center budget as a recipient of the 30% special fund for advertising and promotion. I believe that's part of their status as being the designated... Marketing organization. Yeah, the DMO. So, for FY2026, the Chamber is designated to receive $98,000 and some change. After much discussion last week, or excuse me, in our last meeting, in light of all of that, I would make a motion that Council approve the A-Tax Committee's award and recommendations.

Council Member Lyle makes a motion. Do I hear a second?

Second.

Mayor Pro Tem seconds it. Is there any discussion?

Madam Mayor.

Yes, sir.

Again, I think we ad nauseum talked about this last time, but I just would want to reiterate that we appreciate what that committee does as a nice cross-section of a lot of successful business ventures and folks that are real strong in the community, have a good pulse on what we do. So I want them to know we do appreciate what they do. And while maybe not everyone up here agrees with their recommendations, we at least appreciate

acknowledge or i can acknowledge that that we're grateful for what they do i can agree with that and um rachel i do believe you've heard from the council members and lots of discussion that there's some things that we need to discuss after this vote of if we want to change some things up and how we want it to look different And if we can legally, because I know you're waiting on some legal advice to come back to, but I would like to make sure we don't forget that and it gets on agenda to be talked about in the future. To not affect this one, but going forward to how much we can give to the town, what priority is, and to give our committee the heads up of what we're looking at and what we want to do so they understand it too.

Madam Mayor.

Yes, sir.

Just for the record, I don't think there's any secret that I'm the one that's opposed to the recommendations of the committee, but being that Council Member Lyle made his statement, I just want to say I also appreciate the work that the committee does. I do not agree with the recommendations. I, too, have reached out to some of the state offices, as I think you're aware, to get some guidance from them as well. Just because I'm really interested, I actually think there's some issues with the state law on this. I'm not... Talked with some folks in the legislature about maybe ways they could clean up so that we don't come across these issues. But at the end of the day, I appreciate the work that the Accommodations Tax Committee does. We don't all have to agree with their recommendations, but at the end of the day, we can respect their work. So I just wanted to say that. And to any of them that are watching it, I appreciate what you do and just respectfully disagree. Thank you.

Madam Mayor.

Yes, sir.

It was brought to my attention, you know, when I first got on council, I thought we were, I was told at one point that we paid a membership to the chamber, but I verified that we actually don't pay a membership for the town to participate in the chamber events. We simply only pay for whatever meal cost there is if we attend an event that has a meal when we're out supporting the community. So we do not pay them an annual membership like businesses pay them. Just for clarification on that.

So with that, all those in favor of the recommendation by the committee, raise your right hand. It is five and all those opposed is two. Next up, we have the first reading of our facility fee ordinance for Ice House Amphitheater, Council Member Michaels.

Thank you. As discussed at previous work sessions, this proposed ordinance establishes a $2 facility fee on each ticket sold for commercial events held at the Ice House Amphitheater. The purpose of this fee is to support the repair, upgrade, maintenance, and capital improvements of the Ice House and related infrastructure. The fee will be collected by the Ice House operator at the point of ticket sales and remitted monthly to the town. The ordinance also establishes reporting requirements, audit authority, penalties for noncompliance, and a dedicated restricted fund for revenue allocation. I make a motion to consider approval of first reading of the ordinance establishing a facility fee for commercial events at the Ice House Amphitheater.

Do I hear a second?

Second.

Mayor Pro Tems seconds it. Is there any discussion?

Mayor? Yes. I have a little thought on this. I think it seems like on the first look that it was a good idea. And I do think we do need maintenance in the ice house. After talking with some staff, I'm wondering if there needs to be some more discussion on maybe some other areas at this time that we could get the maintenance done. maybe consider this keep considering it but maybe consider it at a later date it's just some thoughts so rachel i have a question um i know that we were trying to put this in going forward with

the budget to move along with it. But I think there's a lot of questions and wants to be discussion about how much is actually needed. I know that y'all presented some things about user fee that others charge. And I don't think, you know, is there a way to do this or is there a way to do that? But I know I've heard it called a tax. I've heard it called this. It's not. It's a user fee to keep that facility going. And it is 10 years old. Correct. And we have got to maintain it and we got to keep it nice like it is because it is if Marty can party at her house because it's so close she can hear everything but it is a facility that is very nice and people enjoy but they come from all over the place and I don't think just the citizens should be paying through their actual tax dollars for this. I think it should be coming from people that are coming into events and that type of stuff too and I know that Some people have concerns about, you know, nonprofits and how it affects their tickets and this, that, and the other. But a lot of venues have something like this and nonprofits or other people rent and they have a ticket fee on it, correct?

Yes.

That's correct.

I'm not familiar with some of the questions you're referring to or Councilwoman Michaels. I'm not familiar with discussions you've had with staff. I wasn't saying I had any mustache. I've heard from other people.

And that's fine.

The comments and questions aren't making it to me, so I'm happy to answer any of those questions or hear those recommendations. But to your point, Mayor, this is not a tax. It's a user fee. The way it's proposed is if you purchase a ticket to come use our facility, essentially, you pay the fee. So currently, and for the past 10 years, maintenance, operations, any improvements for the Ice House Amphitheater is funded either through our general fund dollars, which is our tax dollars, property tax dollars, or a varying amount of accommodations tax grants, some of which is town A tax, some of which is county A tax. If there are other ancillary small amount grants, I can't think of them off the top of my head right now. But otherwise, there is... no dedicated revenue source for maintenance operations or anything like that. When we had this work session, one of the things that we discussed was if we're going to look at maintaining this facility to keep it in good shape, if not improve it, we just need to identify where the funding comes from. And so to generate revenue, that could be raising rental rates. So if you are a nonprofit or a for-profit entity, you would then pay more to use the facility. That's always an option. But one of the things that we discussed was It didn't necessarily seem appetizing for folks because we have a special nonprofit rate so that more people can access the facility. And if they sell tickets to the amphitheater, anyone who has an event at the amphitheater uses our ticketing system, the $2 ticket would be on there. That way, the nonprofit wouldn't be paying the extra fee. It's the folks who would attend the event. So, I mean, I'm happy to answer any questions, hear any of the other thoughts, but I've not heard anything to date.

Well, I do know that I'm over there a lot at the amphitheater, and I know some of the other council members are too, and you can see some of the things that are aging and some of the things that needs to be fixed. We definitely want to keep it up and we don't want it to get behind and like I have said I don't want it to fall all on the taxpayer for the town of Lexington. I mean I know people outside of Lexington pay taxes too but I'm talking about for the ones inside the town and I don't want it all to fall on them. I would rather it be a user fee and I think pretty much everybody around us has a user fee to keep well you said this would be designated for upkeep correct?

that's correct so positive to increasing revenue this way through this mechanism is that by law any revenues from this fee would have to go into its own account and we can only use it for what the council designates it for which is what's outlined in the ordinance so everyone is held accountable for that If we were to just increase the rental rate, for example, or if we were to charge more for other things related to the amphitheater, all of that revenue goes into the general fund, which is the big holding facility for all of the general revenues, right? From property taxes to some of these revenues. And so let's just say... the amphitheater saw $50,000 in new revenue because we increased the rental rates. That goes into general fund. That doesn't necessarily mean that that $50,000 anytime in the future goes back into the amphitheater. In fact, any future years, we may have higher needs in the police department or transportation department and well, sorry, amphitheater, we're not able to cover those costs, right? Because there's a greater good that's been determined that the funding needs to go for. So a fee such as this will allow us to collect, it's set by the parameters that you all establish, Unlike a tax where you have to spend it in a couple years, we wouldn't have that. So we could choose to spend it every year. We could choose to identify a major project or repair. Maybe we save a couple years and we allow a fund balance to build up so we can do something. I would say that would be a consideration for you all to have when it comes to whether or not we have the $2 ticket fee versus just increasing a rental rate.

Mayor.

Yes, sir.

David, I have a question. Since I work for Mission Election and we hold events over there, am I allowed to speak to this matter, since it's a matter for the benefit of the town as a whole, or should I recuse myself?

I think it benefits the town as a whole, so I think you're okay.

Thank you. So what I have come to look into, Jeff, you'll come up for me? I've got some questions for you. One of the things that I've realized is that we're talking about the amphitheater. And that's a ticketed event. And so this is specifically for the amphitheater. But we have, some of us look at this as that whole corner. That's not true. Because if you have an event at the Ice House Pavilion, you don't sell tickets through the town for that, do you? Some folks have done it that way, but typically no. Typically no. So all of those events, which are still taxing that facility, are not going to be paying this fee. So that's one of the questions I came up with today in discussions with Rachel is how many of those events are out there? How do we, you know, that's my reason to pause this, maybe till the next cycle or till the next council meeting, because how many of those events are going on that folks are selling fees to? Now, look, I'll speak on behalf of Mr. Lexington. We choose to keep our ticket price at $15 for one reason. We want it to sell out. We don't want to overburden a family to come to see an event. It's a family-based event and an awareness event for the community. People can set their ticket prices. We don't set the ticket price. If somebody decides to charge $35, that's their choice. The town doesn't set those, correct?

That's correct.

We host a concert. Right, but the private events that we're talking about adding the $2 to, now will this $2 go on our events that we host, or will it just go on private events?

It was going to go on all ticketed events.

All ticketed events, okay. So I think we need to look at... the amphitheater as a whole and decide about the ticketed events that happened inside the pavilion as well because we do need to keep it up and a user tax is more fair in my opinion. And I don't know if there's 10 events over there a year or if there's 30 in that pavilion. But it's still getting, I mean, I saw on Facebook, somebody had to pressure wash everything. We're still incurring an expense because people are using other than just the town. If we closed it down and said it was only town events, then we should put it in general budget and cover it just like we do Virginia Hilton Park, Gibson Pond Park, any of the other facilities we run in the town. But this is more about drawing folks in and letting folks rent a facility that we spent a lot of money to build, and we do have to maintain it or it's going to go downhill. Do you have a way to pull those numbers for us before our next council meeting and let us see how many events happened at the pavilion? that did not also rent the amphitheater so we could see what that usage number might be?

We counted everything, and it was over 40 events that were outside of what we did. And so I know that your organization chose to hold a concert inside the pavilion area and charge tickets for that. But if you were charging a ticket, then we would collect the $2. Okay.

But we can pull further information. So if somebody has, was it Big Thursday? One of the clubs has Big Thursday over there and they sell tickets and they raise money for a fundraiser. They would have to start paying $2 per person that showed up or per ticket that they sold.

Yes.

So then all ticket sales will have to start going through the town, not?

You can do it separately. We would have to do some, they would have to fill out some reports for us noting the attendance records and whatnot. Okay.

Councilman, you do bring up a good point, though it sounds like we would need to update this ordinance to include both Ice House Amphitheater and Pavilion. So, we can do that.

And does that $2 fee stay the same? Is it enough to cover what we need to project to do to keep the facility up?

I know that's hard to answer because we've got a lot to do over there. It probably would never be enough. I mean, everything is getting more expensive. And so you're just trying to get ahead and get a pot of money there to keep up right now. Okay. All right. Thank you. Madam Mayor.

Go ahead. Councilman Smith.

We've had lengthy discussions about this fee at previous meetings, but I guess my question is this council minus myself and Councilman Allen just voted to send accommodations tax dollars to various organizations across the community. By my calculation, it's somewhere around $117,000 that could, if we chose, keep those dollars here in the community, use those dollars to do the continuing maintenance on the Ice House Amphitheater, and then this would not be an additional tax. You can call it a tax, a user fee. At the end of the day, we're taking citizen dollars. It doesn't matter what label we put on it. It's another... Amount of money that we are collecting from everyday citizens, taxpayers, whatever. So at the end of the day. I guess my question is. And it really just goes back to a tax. Could we not just keep these dollars in the community and allocate those to? Maintenance at the Ice House Amphitheater so that we don't have to put another fee on this venue.

So, Councilman, that's part of the outreach that Vanessa and I have done to the TURC, the ATACS Oversight Committee. I have not gotten a direct answer from them. Based on research that Vanessa performed, There is no other community that keeps all of their 65%. And so when I mean the 65%, that's what we all, we give away in grants. In fact, based on the research that Vanessa performed, many of the applications from other communities across the state say that 65% is required to be done via application and all of it given away. With that said, and what the mayor alluded to, we can spend the time over the next few months before the next application cycle where the town can work with our local a tax advisory committee. And I've mentioned this before to discuss what are our current priorities. In fact, the law says that the local governing body. should do that. And it doesn't say this, but it's up to you all to determine what the priorities are. So it's something we probably should review every few years. I've only been here just a few years, so in my time we've not done that. I don't know when the last time was that we did that, but I would say with as much Growth as we've had and and just changes and the success of the ice house amphitheater. It's probably worth doing that. So it's a long winded way to say, I don't know that we would be able to keep all 65%. But I think that we could work to a position where. there is a certain amount that may be able to be set aside. Uh, with that said, I've spoken with Jeff and, um, we've talked about in the future, his own, um, application will separate things out for the a tax committee, right? Ask for some specific things for repairs, ask for some specific things for, um, bands and that sort of talent acquisition. But that's a point that we'll get to over the next few months as we have these discussions. Vanessa also has begun research in finding out who is the best practice for a tax and what other jurisdictions can we speak to to pick their brain.

All right, thank you. Madam Mayor.

Yes, sir.

Yeah, Jeff, I was just curious. What did our application and what was our grant from Lexington County? Do we make application to their ATACs committee? In general terms, what kind of support do they provide?

Last fiscal year, we were awarded $15,000, and most of it was spent for advertising of concerts. They have not formally voted, but there are some public documents that show we were awarded $30,000, but it has not been voted on. Okay.

Yeah, and I would just say, even in line with what Councilman Smith said, I think we could get everything in order and next year make a big push to fund a maintenance initiative at the ice house. I think we could probably get everybody on board with that. But I wouldn't want to – we're 99 yards down the field. I want to go ahead and push this one across the end zone. But next year I think we could certainly ask both bodies to do something special and unique to get us back ahead and caught up on maintenance. Thank you.

Mayor yes, Rachel you said something about it only being able to if it wasn't this $2 only being able to go into the general fund is there no other way to separate those monies just for the ice house.

We wouldn't know it's no different than when police officers write tickets and we have that you know funding come in or if someone sells a piece of equipment. The value doesn't go back into that department budget it all goes to the general fund.

Any other discussion?

Yeah, I was just trying to think. I don't know if there's interest in tabling this item or if we're going to have a first-round up-and-down vote on it because it seems like there's multiple ideas about how to fund this ongoing maintenance. So I don't know if there's any appetite to table it until we get a little clearer picture or if we want to vote on it.

Rachel, would it be okay to table it and take it to the work session, back to this next work session, and maybe y'all can have some of those answers about how our funding can be done with the ATACs and that type of stuff?

I can't promise you the expediency that'll have information from the state about a tax. Um, and further discussion would warrant either council as a whole or a few designees to work with the accommodations tax advisory committee. So, um, just understand, I don't know that I would have that information before the next work session.

Madam mayor, if I may, um, I would recommend if, um, You could, the motion in the second could be withdrawn, and then you could have an item, just a vote to... take no action.

To continue to research on this item? That's correct, yes. Okay. Without it being time bound, is that right?

Yeah, because if you table it, it gets timed where you have to take action on it at some point. So it would be better to just remove it and to give staff time and council time to gather information to make a, whether to bring it back or not.

You withdraw your motion? Yes, I will go ahead and withdraw my motion at this time.

I'll withdraw the second.

Okay.

Are we done with discussion on the item?

Do you have something to say? Because you've been quiet and I can see you thinking over there.

I do. I guess it's worth it since staff would go back and do what they do. I'm pretty opposed to it as a whole. I think a lot of the reasons are self-evident. I think the first thing worth pointing out is that, and help me if I'm wrong because I'm clearly not the smartest guy in the room, but if the argument is that monies collected go to the general fund and the opposite is that monies would be stuck in the pot the famous pot, just for this, wouldn't the argument be that we'd rather have flexibility and be able to be more freely giving of where the revenues go towards the year by year basis. And so there's nothing prohibiting us from fully funding any kind of maintenance or repair of the amphitheater, correct?

That's correct, yes.

And just like any other facility that we would vote to to build or fully fund like the Gibson Park dam that we did recently or the Virginia Hilton Park or the new park that we're doing. Any of those things, if we make the decision to do those, there comes a responsibility for us to maintain them adequately, right? Like this amphitheater is no different, right?

Correct.

So it feels like another... I bought tickets to make my family to the... Texas tailgaters versus the firefighters up in Truist or up in Charlotte, the little Savannah bananas exhibition ball. And it's like a $40 tickets, $200 by the time you're done adding these fees. And I think there's more and more of that growing, uh, aggravation of that. So it just feels like a tax, whether whatever you want to call it. And so if we are uh... the gatekeepers of fiscal responsibility then i would say why not just adequately fund for the expenses that we expect like we just do in an annual budget and not have another tax that that's my feeling on it and then i think the other point i would bring up is the argument that it might somehow hurt a non-profit feels a little bit like a straw man in that uh... you could simply continue like our facilities rentals on all other facilities uh... we we give a rate to the non-profit we give a rate to the for-profit and if the for-profits have to shoulder the load that's the decision that we make given otter support to the non-profit in other words we have some flexibility there so i i don't see the benefit at the end of the day it's a net zero-sum transactions. Money's come in, money's come out. We ask for repairs to be made. We therefore fund it or we don't. And so it just sounds like one more item to I think I even heard you Jeff say that some of this is going to be a little bit on the honor system with people putting in their attendance reports like do we how much time does your staff or your folks in the parks department have to go look over their shoulders whereas we could just say we're going to collectively holistically do it at the global level so I've not yet heard a compelling reason that can't be counteracted by something like that and I see y'all chattering so maybe I'm just again this ain't my wheelhouse so I'm sure I'm wrong Help me out. Was that something we're talking about in relation to that?

No, I was just checking with Kathy and I thought, OK, I'm sorry.

Yeah, so again, I just everything I've heard this in favor of it seems to be. In my mind, there's something. That doesn't make sense. So maybe I'm just speaking to the room, who knows? That's my thoughts. So yeah, if we voted tonight, I would not be in favor of this.

Okay, so we know we have some questions to answer and some information to get going forward. And I encourage all of you all to go over to the Ice House and look around. I encourage you to talk to Brandon because he's over all of our buildings and facilities now and talk to him about the things that need to be repaired. I saw him when everything changed first with Jeff here. They're going up on roofs. They're doing everything. A lot of things have not been maintained in years. So I just encourage you to go over there and look around. Look up. Look around and see.

Madam Mayor.

Yes.

So, Council Member Michaels withdrew her motion. Mayor Pro Tem withdrew his second. So, we're still on the agenda item, so I believe we need to take an action to take no action, correct? That's correct. So, Madam Mayor, I'll move that we take no action, and it's for council information purposes only. Second.

Okay. All those in favor, raise your right hand. And it's unanimous. All right. Are there any additional comments from the public regarding a specific agenda item listed tonight? You coming forward, tell us who you are and where you live.

My name is Paula Kaufman, I live at 201 Allenbrook Way. I wish to speak to agenda item early about the minutes of the April meeting that you all approved. When I downloaded the backup material yesterday, it was labeled draft. I assume that is what you approved and I would like to ask that you somehow or other and I have a letter here for each of you and one for Laura. At the top of the letter is my letterhead, and that is the correct spelling of my name and my address, which is not on the draft that you approved.

So you're going to get that corrected for her. Thank you for bringing that to our attention. Any questions from the news media? Are there any questions or comments from staff? Any comments from Council?

Madam Mayor?

Yes, sir.

Can I just ask a point of clarification from earlier? I forget what agenda item it was on, but Council Member Williams indicated that we do not pay for a chamber membership. Is that correct?

Yes.

So I guess my question would be, and I spent a lot of time reading every page of the budget, which I'll admit I don't enjoy doing, but I think it's my responsibility. Page 8 of the general fund budget very clearly says Lexington Chamber, $700 under dues and subscriptions. So either it's mislabeled or we are not budgeting. That shouldn't be in there because if you go a couple line items down under meetings and meals, we're also paying for chamber breakfast tickets. So the two are not the same. So we are budgeting for a membership or we're budgeting to pay the chamber for something. So I'm just confused what that's for if it's not for a membership because then it shouldn't be under memberships.

Can you clarify which, you said the first page was which page?

General fund budget, page eight. Well, hold on, yeah, page eight, sorry. It's under the council 110.

In the council budget?

Mm-hmm, dues and subscriptions, Lexington Chamber, $700.

And then where was the other reference?

If you just go down like five line items down, it says we pay for chamber breakfast tickets, five. Under meetings and meals.

You got three minutes. So I will have to double check on that. So I know that we pay for the breakfasts, for the meals. In fact, I spoke with Angele couple weeks ago and she told me that the town has never paid a membership and that predates her so when it comes to this particular I don't know I'd have to get clarification I know that we pay for meals but we don't remit a membership payment and that was from Angel

I'm not saying that she's wrong. I'm just saying I specifically remember reading this and thinking, hey, we give them a lot of money in a tax. Can we at least get our membership covered?

And I do recall that. And I appreciate you bringing it up. We'll have to. I'll have to look.

Can you give us an update at the work session? Yes. When it was.

And if we don't need that $700, maybe we could give it to chief or something back there. thank you anybody else on council

Not I'd first of all like to thank our staff for working so hard on the budget and getting it through and getting us ready for this next year. This year our budget's focusing on basic government services, ensuring our core services are delivered efficiently and effectively to our residents with no property tax increase and no utility rate increases. And we made investments in personnel in the police department so Chief can continue to keep us the safest city in South Carolina. New transportation positions to carry out the numerous infrastructure projects we have planned now and into the future. That's important. That's what we hear from everybody. New finance positions to ensure both internal and external customers are taken care of efficiently and fully. funded pay and compensation plan plus cost of living adjustment. And I just want to thank y'all for all you've done and how hard y'all have worked. And I know, you know, we've caught little things that had to be changed and things that needed to be adjusted, but y'all do a great job and we appreciate y'all so much. I think I can speak for all of us up here for all y'all do. Next the mayor story time in the park will be held on June the 16th at 10 30 a.m. This is always a fun event for both children and adults with treat stories and a great opportunity to enjoy the time together as a community. Our businesses have been great coming out and sponsoring and being involved in this. This past reading in the park we had 71 children not counting the babies. That was Walken Children. We had 71, and it was great, and it's great to have our businesses call and say, hey, I want to sponsor this. I want to be involved. The Market at Ice House is also in full swing and takes place every Saturday at the Ice House Amphitheater. Be sure to stop by and check out the variety of local vendors, fresh produce, and unique items available each week. And I do believe they have live music too, correct? Sometimes? Sometimes. To stay informed about upcoming town and ice house events, please follow our social media pages and visit the town website for the latest updates and information. And without anything else, that concludes our business for the evening. Thanks for watching. We are adjourned.