Town Council - Regular Meeting

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, August 3rd, 2026, and is being broadcast live on the town's YouTube channel. I'm Hazel Livingston, the mayor of the Town of Lexington. I would like to introduce my fellow council members. Councilmember Williams is out. He had some major dental work done today, and he was still there as of 5.30 or 6 o'clock, so he is not with us tonight. Next to me is Councilmember Todd Lyle.

Good evening.

To his left is Councilmember 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.

Before I ask Councilmember Allen to have an invocation, I'm going to ask our major to come up and say something and then have a pause. Thank you. Council Member Allen, would you now have our invocation?

Yes, ma'am. Let's pray, y'all. Oh, Heavenly Father, thank you so much for today. Thank you for this summer. Thank you for all the things you've done for our town and continue to do for us, Lord. We're so appreciative. We do ask you, Lord, to please give a special blessing of comfort and peace to the family of Officer Olson and her friends with this tragedy that happened to our community. I ask you, Lord, to please give us Holy Spirit discernment as we up here on the dais discern the things that we need to do for this town. Show us with Holy Spirit wisdom how we can love our neighbors as ourself and do exactly what you want us to do for our community. We love you, Lord. We praise you. We bless you. And we pray all of this in Jesus' holy name. Amen. Amen.

Next up, I would like to invite U.S. Army Sergeant, retired U.S. Army Sergeant and Purple Heart recipient Scott Craig to come up and give us, or join us in leading the pledge. And thank you so much for coming out and joining us. I will now call the council meeting to order. Are there any deletions from tonight's agenda? Hearing none, we'll move on. Council met in executive session prior to this meeting. Matters discussed in executive session as permitted by South Carolina Code 30-4-7A. Personnel matters, discussion regarding pending litigation and discussion of potential property acquisition. No vote was taken. Do I hear a motion to ratify this report?

So moved.

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

I'll second it.

Councilman Smith second. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, raise your right hand.

And it is unanimous.

Including in your meeting packet for approval are the minutes from council meetings held on April the 20th, June the 15th, and July the 6th for approval. Do I hear a motion to approve the minutes?

So moved.

Mayor Pro Tem makes the motion. Do I hear a second? Second. Councilman Michael seconds it. Is there any discussion, corrections, anything on the minutes? Hearing none, all those in favor, raise your right hand. And it is unanimous. Tonight we have a proclamation recognizing Jerry Height for outstanding community service and holiday tradition. And Council Member Lyle is going to read this. He had brought this to us to recognize.

Thank you, Mr. Height. Appreciate you. If you want to stand up and step forward, we're going to read this proclamation. Whereas Jerry Height, with the support of his wife Marcy, began the Height's light display in 2010 with approximately 5,800 lights, growing it into a display of more than 135,000 lights. I think our staff's done some good pictures up here. through countless hours of design, programming, and months of preparation each year, creating a beloved tradition for families in Lexington and beyond. And whereas through the Heights light display, tens of thousands of dollars have been raised for South Carolina's chapter of Make-A-Wish, with 100% of all donations benefiting children facing critical illnesses. Amen to that. Whereas through 14 seasons of creativity, generosity, and service, Jerry Height transformed a family Christmas display into a treasured Lexington tradition that illuminated not only thousands of lights, but also the lives of children, families, and neighbors throughout the Lexington community. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that our mayor, Hazel Livingston, and the town of Lexington, South Carolina, on behalf of our council, do hereby recognize Jerry Hite and acknowledge in support of Marcy Hite for their generosity, creativity, and lasting contributions that have enriched the lives of children, families, and neighbors throughout our community and witness whereof Signed by the hand and seal for the town of Lexington to fix this third day of August 2026 signed the mayor town of Lexington Hazel Livingston.

You go ahead, you go ahead, you go ahead, you're good. You go ahead. We're going to have to have you say something.

At the mic. Got to get you the mic. Come up here.

She told me not to be, if I had to say something, don't be.

More of it? Yeah, more of it. Like, if you want to get one of these, don't get terminal cancer. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you guys.

Next, I'll provide our vision plan update. The town is gearing up to host its next vision plan public input session. It will be Tuesday, August the 25th from 5.30 to 6.30 here at Town Hall and the Conference Center. The purpose is to gather feedback from residents, community, stakeholders, partner organizations, and staff regarding the community's long-term vision, priorities, opportunities, and challenges. The new vision plan will set long-term goals for the town on what it will look like in the future. If you can't make it to the in-person meeting, you can still weigh in by completing the vision plan survey located at lexsc.gov. Next up, we have our traffic update from Mayor Pro Tem Carnes.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Construction continues on the realignment of Martell Drive at West Main Street. The new traffic signal is planned to be activated in the coming weeks, so be aware of these upcoming changes. Area schools will begin this week and increased traffic flow is expected. Please use caution and patience in and around school zones. Plan accordingly to allow adequate time to reach your destinations. The next traffic committee is scheduled for Wednesday, August 12th at 8 a.m. at Town Hall in the third floor conference room. And please exercise caution when traveling in construction areas and school zones. We encourage you to follow our social media outlets for all kinds of traffic updates. And please report any signal issues, unsafe roadway conditions, or a pothole that needs immediate repair. And we have one more item, but this one is for our transportation engineer. I know that we had implemented a new paradigm at Park Road and West Main Street, and it's a pretty busy intersection, Randy, so if you don't mind coming up. A whole bunch of people had a lot of questions. My understanding is that this was a... A move in that intersection that was made with us in SCDOT. And I know there's a lot of data analytics that go into things like that. But if you could kind of walk the community, just primarily for the community, if you could walk the community through that change and the results we're hoping to get from that.

Sure. Thank you, Mayor and Council. So as Council Member Carnes stated, a new traffic pattern was implemented at Park Road. a week, a little over a week ago. And this was done as the result of our local transportation improvement plan that's been developed originally in 2018 and then again here in the update in 2025. And with that, we studied this intersection as well as the intersection of Old Chapin at Columbia Avenue. And for recollection, Old Chapin at Columbia Avenue is our worst-ranked Accident efficiency, et cetera, intersection as proven through the Safe Streets for All program that we had done last year as well.

I'm sorry, Randy. Can you pull that mic down a little bit to get a little more? There we go. Perfect.

So the LTIS identified a need for improvements in this corridor. In collaboration with SCDOT, after looking at the traffic data, the accident data, vehicle movements as well as just personal observations. And what we mean by that is generally the public would attenuate to the right hand lane of the dual left that's coming off of Park Road. It's almost like two out of every ten cars is all that was in the left turn lane. So you have two cars and then eight cars in the left through right lane. So it wasn't lost on us that hey we've got an underutilized lane here. So in looking at the data Or split phase. Concurrent means they run at the same time. Split means you get to go late and then I get to go. And so generally split phase is reserved for unsafe conditions, bad horizontal or vertical movements. And concurrent is when you can get the most efficiency out of an intersection. US 1 phase, we call it the phase 1 project. All that work was done back in 2012-13. And just, you know, and certainly it's provided a good movement for those on Park Road. However, what we've seen is when you have a split phase condition, you're trying to skip that opposing phase every so often. An example so that you're not giving all that time is then given back to the main line. In this case, we've had the cookout and because of the traffic volumes, folks using that signal more often. So it's just a matter of when you look back at the data, that signal runs every single cycle. So you weren't getting the benefit of the split. So the goal again was to get back to concurrent. dual left capacity. So we implemented that last Sunday night. DOT is 100% on board. Town Transportation is 100% on board. All the video data we have, those types of things, that all supports making this move. The good news that we can report a very, very new data is we looked at July 30th, so that's The queue, which is when cars all back up, did not clear eight times in the A.M. peak hours. what's happening is you're getting all red face every single time that's no longer being dictated and occasionally the cookout we call it that side is is also still being skipped occasionally because of the new configuration so what we've seen is an actual 12 seconds return of time back to the main line overall in how long those cycles are serving so you have Just Friday, Rachel and I sat and watched the benefit of this change, and that is that the column, we call it the three lanes from Park Road to Old Chapin, now do not feel completely in block the then left turning movement trying to get on to Old Chapin headed in the eastbound direction. So you're seeing some of these a little better and we get past things like school starts you know those types of things that we're going to have to work through and it'll be a few rough days here and there but we certainly saw a significant improvement after making a few tweaks last wednesday and like i said that that data speaks for itself at least on the edition itself

I used to live down Park Road for 17 years so it is certainly counterintuitive. When you think about two lanes going left and reducing down to one and there was a lot of chatter, I knew there would be some data back it up. But in layman's terms, I think what I heard you say was we did have two lanes turning left but the inside lane was significantly underutilized. Everybody went to the outside left turn lane. So we weren't getting use of that lane and our signal configuration was such that we have more green light time for those left-hand turn lanes now than we did. Plus, we also picked up additional green light time for West Main Street because of a separate configuration. So we went down to one lane, but we gave more green light time and initial results are We're clearing everything significantly more than we used to. And I would say to everybody, it can't be judged this week. This is back to school week. All right. So we'll run year over year data. But so far, the year over year data justifies the change. And again, even for me, it was very counterintuitive to do that. But the data is what it is. I appreciate you giving us an explanation therein.

Thank you very much.

Madam Mayor.

Yes, sir.

Can I just add something in there? So when that was launched last week, I think many of us read the Facebook comments and that led to this discussion. And I wanted to just take a moment to thank you and your department for the work that you guys do. I know it's easy to criticize the work. And it's often asked, what is the town of Lexington doing on traffic? So I just wanted to list. I was thinking over the last year, what... all have you all done and this is probably not a comprehensive list but from what I can recall you've done the mineral spring signal or the mineral springs intersection you've developed and completed the LTIP 2.0 pavement rehab project which was about nine miles of pavement rehabilitation throughout the town your continued signal work And then just recently you're doing the Sterling Bridge Speed Pump, Golden Hills as well, Martell Realignment on top of the Sunset Split. So I'd just like to highlight for all of those that are watching, while it is easy to criticize, and I'm not going to lie to you, Randy, I even questioned, I was like, what the heck is this? I just want to highlight all the good work that you guys are doing and thank you for that. Thank you to you and Rondi and your whole team because you are certainly doing a lot of great work here in the town and we appreciate it.

And you forgot Gavin. He also had to meet on the dirt roads to try to finally get all roads paved within the town. So he's been working hard on that too and we're close to having that finalized. Yes. Thank you Randy and thank you for all y'all do. We will now open the public hearing part. We welcome your comments and ask that each speaker limit their remarks to three minutes and a timer will be set. Please note that 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 us ensure respectful, orderly process and allow time for everyone to speak. With that, is there anyone who would like to speak regarding the public hearing for tonight on the fiber optic cable franchise agreement and ordinance with Windstream Kinetic? Hearing none, we will close the public hearing portion of the meeting. Now we will move into our old business, and we have one item of old business, and that is the final reading of the fiber optic cable franchise agreement and ordinance with Windstream Kinetic. Mayor Pro Tem Carnes.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. The agreement and ordinance with Windstream Kinetic were presented to town council at the previous meeting. The agreement will replace the town's existing limited franchise agreement with Windstream and establish consistent franchise terms for telecommunications services throughout the town consistent with the agreements previously approved for Ripple Fiber and Lumos Fiber. A copy of both items are in the meeting packet, and I make a request for final reading approval of the agreement and the ordinance.

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

Second it.

Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, raise your right hand. And it is unanimous. Next up, we're moving to new business resolution authorizing execution of the South Carolina Rural Water Association official voting delegate form. Council Member Michaels.

Thank you, Mayor. The attached resolution authorizes execution of the South Carolina Rural Water Association official voting delegate form designating the town's voting delegate an alternate delegate. Approval ensures the town's participation in official voting matters of the South Carolina Rural Water Association. A copy of this is attached in our meeting packet. I make a motion for approval of this resolution.

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

Second.

Councilman Lyle seconds the motion. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, raise your right hand. And it is unanimous. Our next item is a resolution authorizing submission of a community development block grant application and approval of an intergovernment agreement with Lexington County Councilmember Lyle.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. The attached resolution authorizes the submission of a community development block grant application and approves the accompanying intergovernmental cooperative agreement with Lexington County. Approval will continue. the town's participation in these programs as well as the emergency solutions grant programs so madam mayor i would make a motion to approve the attached resolution and the intergovernmental cooperative agreement with lexington county council member lyle makes the motion do i hear a second second councilman michael seconds do i hear having are there any questions excuse me wow

Hearing none, all those in favor, raise your right hand. And it is unanimous. Item number three, approval authorizing staff to enter into the Alcohol Enforcement Team Agreement, Councilmember Smith.

Thank you madam mayor, the alcohol enforcement team agreement provides for the town's participation in the alcohol enforcement team program for fiscal year 2026 2027. The program supports the enforcement of underage drinking laws and provides reimbursement for eligible activities. A copy of the agreement was provided in our meeting packet, which can be found online on the town's website and was included in obviously our backup materials. So with all that said, Madam Mayor, I move for approval for the staff to enter into said agreement.

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

Second.

Mayor Pro Tem seconds it. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, raise your right hand. And it is unanimous. That was pretty quick.

Way to go.

Are there any questions from the public regarding a specific item listed on the agenda tonight? The news media. Is there any questions or comments from the staff? Council, is there any questions or comments from y'all? I would like to wish all of our students, teachers, administrators, and the parents a great day for school staff, a wonderful first day back to school tomorrow. We hope everyone has a safe and successful school year. Also, tomorrow evening, August the 4th, the Lexington Police Department will host National Night Out at Virginia Hilton Park starting at 530. join us for an evening of fun game treats music and an opportunity to connect connect with the local law enforcement officers unfortunately i will not be there my husband is taking me away for our anniversary so we will be out of town but some of my other council i hope will be there connecting with everybody and enjoying the evening and i appreciate y'all doing that and everybody that participates helping y'all do that from town hall. The next mayor story time in the park will be held on August 18th at 10 30 a.m. It's a great morning of stories and fun for the children and their families and we encourage everyone to come out and enjoy. Also, I'd like to just take a moment and tell each one of these men and women setting up here how much I appreciate them and respect them and the time and the effort that y'all put into what we do every day with representing this community. And I thank y'all for your time and I thank you for your serving and the job that you do.

As always, please follow the town's social media page and visit our website for the latest news, upcoming events, and other important updates.

That concludes our business for the evening. Thank you for watching. We are adjourned.