City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I'd like to call the public power hour.

It's 5.30. It's nice to see all of y'all. We do not, surprisingly, it's been a while, but we do not have anyone who has sent us an email wanting to be on the public power hour agenda as far as speaking to us tonight, which means if there's anybody in the audience that would like to talk to council, this is an opportunity. What I would tell you is Anything that you want to share with us, it's free reign, except as long as it's not going to be on the agenda tonight. So that's kind of the really only main stipulation you see up there. So at this time, is there anybody in the audience that came for the public power hour that wanted to speak about something that has nothing to do with what we're going to talk about at 6 o'clock tonight? So what we normally do in that situation is I'm just going to keep, we'll keep this open for a while in case somebody walks in and one of y'all change your mind and get brave and want to come forward. Linda Smith, you're still on the edge of your seat. Is that a hand raised? Is that what you're saying? You can come on down. No, ma'am? That's why we have it. And state your name. And the great thing about this, Linda, is this microphone that is now so powerful, you can stand just like that. Everybody can hear. Ricky told me last week, if you get too close to it, it'll break his eardrums. So everybody on the live stream can hear. So you stand just like that, and you're good as gold.

OK. All right. My name is Linda Smith. What else did you want to know? Your address. Oh, my address, 176 Springwood Drive.

All right, thank you. In North Augusta. Yes, we do.

Well, I really didn't plan to speak, but I don't miss an opportunity to speak for our animals in North Augusta. I know a lot of work has been put into the shelter, a lot by FONA. FONA has spent quite a sum of money over there. And I know that the new person has been hired. I don't know. I haven't met this person. But at least you met the July deadline. That was good.

It started Wednesday.

That's what I heard. So I look forward to meeting him or her.

It's a woman, yeah. She has experience from Richmond County. I know that. Right. We're hoping to let you know. We're going to give her some time to kind of get settled, but maybe not in August, but maybe end of August or first of September, we will have an update about where we are with everything with her coming in and the updates.

Okay.

We are going to give everybody an update, but want to give her at least more than three days. We're real happy about that.

That's a great move in the right direction. But we still are looking for a place for a new place, a new shelter. I think the citizens of North Augusta are very much behind that effort. Most of you on city council have come around, I think. Some maybe not so much, but most of you have. We appreciate that. We are still looking for some land to start a shelter. Because Representative Hickson has told us that he could help us, and I'm sure that we could raise enough money in North Augusta to make up the difference. So we need a letter from the city at some point to say that you are giving us some land to put the shelter on. And the ideal place that we've looked at, and I don't think that it's, I think it's kind of maybe fallen on deaf ears, is the old public safety building, because it's right in front of the dog park. And it would be a great location. And it's kind of central, and you could bring in groups of Kids, if you wanted to start some educational programs down there with the animals. I mean, I see these children going in these better shelters. They read to the dogs. And there are a lot of things that we could do here in North Augusta to improve our situation. But I appreciate what has been going on so far.

We appreciate your appreciation.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Linda.

We'll keep the mic open, available.

If anybody else decides at some point to want to come down, we'll just stand here and sit here. Hey, sir, come on in.

Hello.

It's on, trust me.

Hello, my name is Cameron Gamache. Oh, that's loud. Yeah, that is loud. I live at 40 Timothy Crossing Court.

Timothy Crossing?

Yes, sir.

Okay, great. Cameron, how are you?

I'm great. What about you?

I'm super. Appreciate you coming out. What's up?

Well, I just want to start with some appreciation, because I feel like you guys don't get it very often. I'm a big fan of the work you guys do. I think you guys do a great job. That's just first things first. And so I just have a question, and it can go to really anybody. But my question is, what's the number one piece of advice or just lesson you've learned during your time in municipal government?

That's a great question.

I gave you more than one, but I'll tell you that.

I'm curious, before I respond, are you taking a class, or you just have always wanted, you're a young guy, are you interested in getting involved in?

Yes, sir, I am wanting to pursue a career in public service.

Okay, great. So one of the things I'm going to tell you is, do you know about our employee, I mean employee, our citizen involvement form?

No, sir. All right, so I want you to go to our city website,

And on the front of the website, we've got a banner that says Mayor's Web page. You click on that. There is a form called Citizen Involvement Form. Fill that out. So if there's a particular area that you think you may want to serve, let's say I want to be on a committee or I just want to help with Parks and Rec or whatever it may be, fill that out and send that to me because we're keeping it, building an inventory. And I will tell you, I... I would say half of the people we appoint to things have come from people who have filled out that citizen involvement form. That's one thing. So there's a lot of them. One I would say is I came from the private sector, so I'd never been really in government up until now. And working for a company, I was used to being able to make decisions faster and get things moving faster. So it was very eye-opening for me that you and I could be grilling out hamburgers on a Saturday afternoon in the backyard. You and I come up with this great idea. It's simple. It makes so much sense, right? However, once you take that idea that you and I agree with, and then you extrapolate that to 26,000 people, and then look at all the departments, whatever, things that you and I would say are so simple become complicated. And I don't know if that is not necessarily good, but that's just the nature when you have a city that you've got to look at and all those different views, whether it's an attorney or whatever it may be. So that has always, believe it or not, citizens may not think so, that's always been a little frustrating for me, things that I've been used to being able to do faster. Because things that you would think are real simple end up not being simple. Sometimes it really is hard. And that's kind of been an adjustment for me to realize that.

So that'd be just one thing on my perspective.

I don't know, any of y'all? These are two newest, and then David's been the longest. OK, well, you've already shared with him. OK, good. All right.

Cameron, that's a great question. The most challenging part for me has been, as the mayor said, in representing 26,000 people, of getting information and opinions from a few people and making that the opinion of the entire city. And it may be a popular opinion. It may not. And that's really the hard part of trying to do what you feel is in the best interest of the city.

It may not be in the best interest of an individual citizen, but it may be in the best interest of the city.

Representing the entire city with the decisions that you make is the most challenging one to me. You have to be in a public forum, in a public position, you have to have pretty thick skin. Because people with social media has become so prevalent in people's lives. People will say things on social media they wouldn't say to your face. And you've got to be able to accept the ideas, accept the criticism, yet balance it for what you feel is in the best interest of the city. And that's been the most difficult and challenging part for me.

Dennis?

Don't let anyone tell you what you can do. There's not a fight that is lost until the very moment you give up. Coming into this, like a couple of years ago, you would have told me I was going to be on the city council. I would have told you to go kick rocks. I had no inkling of this, but it has been very, to do this, but it has been very eye opening to me how much local government affects my day to day life. And I'm glad I got involved. But if somebody tells you, hey, you're going to run this way with this party, there's no way you're going to win, take that and throw it out the window. Because you can do anything you set your mind to. You're going to get exactly out of your campaign what you put into it. If you're out there putting flyers on cars and it's 100 degrees at Riverview Park, it's going to show when people go to the polls. Listen to your constituents. And try to aim from somewhere between what's right and what they want. Because often you'll find they kind of overlap. Sometimes you'll maybe realize something that they don't and you have to try to educate. Keep an open mind. Forget everything you know about party politics and take every issue one thing at a time, one decision at a time. And like I said, an issue is not over until you quit researching it. You may think that you're totally on your heels, and you may just decide to read one more article. Let me search the state code again. Let me go look in this, and you'll find the answer to what you're looking for, and it'll kind of put you where you want to be. It's all about attitude and not giving up.

Those are good questions.

Thank you all so much. I appreciate it. Appreciate it, Cameron.

Good luck to you, man. I like him. He's good. We've had some folks come in. So what we're doing is, for the folks who might have come in when Cameron was up there, we didn't have anybody email us saying they were going to be on the public power hour. So we've got a few more minutes. So if somebody has something they want to talk to us about that's not on our city council agenda meeting at 6 o'clock, this would be that opportunity for anyone that might have walked in. If not, we'll stay right here until a little bit longer before we'll close it out and go into our council meeting at 6. We're going to close out the public power hour, and we'll start back our city council meeting right at 6 o'clock. Thank y'all.

Good evening.

I'd like to call the City of North Augusta City Council meeting for August the 3rd, 2026 to order. Great to see everybody. Nice turnout tonight. Appreciate y'all being here. You are welcome to join me in prayer. Dear God, we thank you for your blessings on our town, our council, and each citizen. I ask that you give each of us discernment. this council as we make decisions for our entire community as we honor you amen if you're able please stand for the pledge of allegiance Roll call, starting from my left. John Phelan. Britton Williams. David Buck.

Ms. Priyadakur.

Item four, approval of minutes. Are there any corrections, deletions, or additions to the regular city council meeting minutes of July the 20th, 2026, or the study session minutes of July the 27th, 2026? Hearing none, they stand approved as distributed. All right, this is a momentous occasion. I'd like Mr. Tom Zeser, if you would meet me down at the dais, please, sir. We've got a host of things for you tonight. I will start off, and then we've got a couple other things. Tom, I've known Tom and his wife, Joy, for a lot of years before I ever became mayor. We used to all go to church together years ago when our kids were smaller. And one of his boys, Paul, Zach's here as well, but Paul and my son, Banks, played soccer together. So I know his family over the years, and he's a good man and has got a great family. And I thought before I became mayor, you kind of have a perception of what people's jobs are. And I kind of had an idea of what Tom's role here with the city was. But once I got elected, I realized this guy is a workhorse. I mean, he has numerous departments that he's over, and he has just literally done a yeoman job over his career and has been, Tom, an absolute huge asset for the city of North Augusta and also our citizens. And I just want to personally thank you. There have been numerous times where Tom gets early in the morning, and he keeps his door halfway cracked, and you have to go down this long hall to get to his office, and sure enough, he'll see me walking down that hall at times. I know he wants to slam the door on me, but anyway, he's always been very kind and done a number of things to help me as mayor. But, very thankful for your service, and we're going to give you this plaque after all these years, okay? It says, Thomas C. Zieser, an appreciation for your dedication and service. January of 1990, the March of 4th of 1997, and then you came back to us in September of 1998, is that correct? Yes. And up to August the 3rd now. So this is from Mayor and City Council, City of North Augusta, South Carolina. So there you go. So I want to thank you for that. Thank you for your service. And a whole lot of applause. We're going to give them more. We're going to give them all one big one at the very end. So our City Administrator, Mr. Jim Clifford, has two things. I don't see Representative Bill Hickson is here. So you're going to do it. So, Jim, come on up.

Well, Tom, it's been quite a road. Sorry to see you go, and I would tell you that you're going to leave an enormous hole in the Director of Public Works position, and it's going to take a long time for the folks to get caught up to the expertise that you have, that you've developed over the years. And for the citizens that are here watching tonight, you know, I really got to see Tom in action a couple different times. What really stuck out with me was during Hurricane Helene. And the day after the hurricane came through, Tom was out there personally swinging a chainsaw in and amongst supervising the folks out there for the hurricane response. And so Tom's really one of those things that we exemplify or hope that our leaders exemplify, which is leadership by example. So Tom can talk a good game when needs to, but just as importantly, if not more so, is willing to apply his own talents to the problem at hand. And I'm very grateful that I had an opportunity to serve with you here for the time we had together, Tom. And so we have two things for you this evening, one of which will be hopefully a little more fun and then one a little more serious. And so for those of you who know Tom, Tom is not from the area. And so he's from out of the area. And I called his hometown library and said, hey, could you get me some of the library records from Tom from being back in the day? And they did. They provided for me. a copy or at least an idea of what Tom had checked out when he was a kid. I didn't know what really got Tom excited about public works, but evidently in 1981, the Walt Disney Corporation published How It Works in the City. This was taken out numerous times by middle school and high school student Tom Zeser. And then, as luck would have it, I was able to go to the Nancy Carson Library, and the Nancy Carson Library had this exact same book, and I went and pulled the jacket, and sure as heck, There's only one person that's ever taken this book out, and it's Tom Zeser, and it's Tom Zeser, let's see, he checked this book out January 3rd, 1990, which I think corresponds with your start date there in the city, and then he took it out again in, August of 1994, which is when he had his promotion. And then he took it out again in 1998 when he got the Director of Public Works job. And then, believe it or not, he also took it out again in May of 2017 when Riverside Village started. And that was the last time he drew this book from the Nancy Carson Library. So Tom, at great risk to myself, and I'm not sure how many library fees I'm going to eat for taking this book out of the library on your behalf, I wanted to present this to you. This is signed by all the directors and the senior staff. So Tom, please have this in good health and enjoy that on your bookshelf and sharing that with your family members and anybody else that may have an interest in civil engineering and public works. Last but not least, and I come from a military tradition, and ultimately when I was overseas, it was kind of a big deal to fly the U.S. flag over parts of the country or parts of the world that you hadn't been to. And so, or had been through, and Representative Bill Hickson was able to get us a flag that was flown over the State House Capitol marking your service. So we have a display case here with the U.S. flag flown over the State House along with a presentation from Representative Bill Hickson about this flag and your service. And so, Tom, the floor is yours, but again, I just wanted to say thank you and congratulations on lifetime of service to the city and we're grateful for everything you've done on our behalf Tom thanks all these years do you get the microphone well

In my experience over seeing many of my coworkers depart the city, often they've been presented with some photograph of something in the city, and I was dreading being handed a photograph of SRP Park, and I was going to have to appear grateful. But anyway, so thank you for all this. Yeah, I'm a little overwhelmed, so I don't have a whole lot to say. I know this is a surprise to many of you, my coworkers, that I'm not very comfortable speaking in public. I know I hide it well, but this quivering voice is my natural speaking tone. I do have to thank some people. I know it's cliche, but I would not be where I am today if it weren't for many people. Going back to the very beginning, my first mentor here at the city, a man named Gary Durnland, who was the then Director of Engineering and Public Works and Utilities. He was a Purdue man and he had to significantly reduce his standards and come all the way to Clemson to find me. I like to think that he saw something special in me that day, but I learned later that I was the only one who had signed up for an interview that day. So I think what he saw was probably desperation. No doubt, but yeah, so I came to the city and Fast forward about seven years, I guess. I had left the city briefly to pursue other professional development, and then city administrator Charles Martin reached out to me and asked me if I had any interest in coming back to the city in a newly formed or newly organized department and to be the director of public works. And it was an opportunity that I had. couldn't turn down and so I with his endorsement mayor Lark Jones at that time agreed to hire me as director of public works and so Charles Martin was another tremendous mentor to me for about the next 10 years until his retirement but which brings me to my wife, who has been somewhat of an enigma to many of you. And she's shaking her head, telling me to shut up right now. But anyway, at that time, the director position, it came with the condition that I establish a residency here in the city. And so it was a very difficult decision to drag my wife from our country home. together with twin six-month-olds and a five-year-old, two of which are sitting behind her, and away from that to come here to North Augusta. But I can't say that Joy embraced North Augusta life, but she got involved with school, student or kids sports and churches and and you know without her support I could not also have made it where I did she did the best she could for as long as she could I don't know if I have 28 more years left or 28 days, but I intend to spend them trying to give her back some of what she sacrificed for me. I told you this was going to happen, Kayla. Anyway, so to my coworkers and the men and women of the Engineering and Public Works Department, I definitely appreciate you. I will miss most of you. But again, you have been my support structure here at work. And I'll never forget all y'all. And then obviously administration and this mayor, Mayor Williams, and all the mayors and city councilmen who I've served under for many years. Appreciate all your support. And I know that my successor will have the same support I did. And then lastly, to all of you in the audience who are not here for this, I apologize. I would love to stick around for the next exciting chapter of the Kellogg tract development discussion, but I'm on my own time now, so I think I have better things to do.

That is good stuff. All right, let's see here. All right, we're going to go to old business. So let me read item six and kind of tell you how we're going about this. Ordinance number 2025-02 to change the corporate limits of the City of North Augusta by accepting the petition requesting annexation by the landowners and annexing plus or minus 381.29 acres of property located east of Edgefield Road and north above the Clearwater Road. Tax parcel number 011-14-04-045 and 011- 011-19-01-001 owned by Walton, South Carolina, LLC. Now, remember, a motion and a vote to remove an ordinance off the table has nothing to do with how any of you will actually vote on the actual ordinance once it comes off. So after we get a first and second motion, there's no discussion. We go straight for a vote. So at the request of the applicant who has requested us, I will ask for a motion to remove the ordinance that I just read off the table. Do I have a motion?

So moved.

That's Councilman Buck. Thank you. Is there a second?

Second.

That is Mr. Felak. Thank you. All in favor? And that is unanimous. OK. Now I'm going to read this one more time now. It's off the table. Ordinance number 2025-02 to change the corporate limits of the city of North Augusta by accepting the petition requesting annexation by the landowners and annexing plus or minus 381.29 acres of property located east of Edgefield Road and north of Belvedere Clearwater Road. Tax parcel number 011-14-04-045 and 011-19-01-001 owned by Walton South Carolina LLC. Do I have a motion to approve this ordinance on first reading?

So moved.

Okay. Is there a second? I'll second. Okay. Mr. Buck, at this time, anything you'd like to share, Mr. Clifford?

So for the Mayor and Council, obviously this is something that was discussed at length in the study session that was led by Tommy Paradise as far as from the planning perspective. But just to orient the folks that are here in the room and watching online for the discussion, this is involving a tract of land that is directly behind Fire Station 3 on Belvedere Clearwater Road. So if you're looking at a map and seeing Belvedere Clearwater Road where Fire Station 3 is, Interstate 520 runs north and south of there. And on the west side, so the opposite side of 520 where the Highland Springs Middle School is, that's where this tract of land is. So west of 520, north of Fire Station 3, and that incorporates that 381.29 acres of property. And so you have the petition from the owners And the applicant to annex that piece of property into the city limits will have some other follow on items that are also in the planning realm that are involved this property. But this 1st application here in this 1st ordinance is strictly to see whether this piece of property should be annexed into the city limits of North Augusta for the purpose of developing this property, which are the next 2 ordinances for your review.

OK, very good. Any questions from Mr. Clifford? OK. Are there any citizen comments? OK. Any council discussion?

OK.

Hearing. Mayor, I'll make a comment. Mr. Felak, I'm sorry. I didn't hear you. Yeah, I was delayed. OK. Um, and I've really researched the, um, the land and the information that we have. I just, I just can't see any reason to not approve, um, the annexation. Um, I think, uh, there have been other developments in this city that we've approved. This one is an area that is in an area of the city. It's certainly annexed, but part of it is already in the city. It could use some development and could use some commercial development. And I see the infrastructure is always a concern for us, but public safety has an office there. The school already has a middle school there. They already have land beside them for an elementary school if needed. They've got four-lane highways almost encircling the project. I know there have been some concerns about some of the wetlands that are there and the preservation of those, and I believe that is part of the development as well. As it sits now, it's private property, and nobody could enjoy those wetlands as they sit right now, and a development would permit the city and the city citizens to be able to use and enjoy that area, whatever it might be. So I personally plan to approve.

OK. Mr. Mayor, we know I pulled the compliance records last week from where the developer was made to force comply by the EPA. I pulled the EPA report as well, which we're also allowed to discuss in our meeting. And D.R. Horton, to pay civil penalties and complete a supplemental environmental project, implement stormwater compliance measures across the southeast for the Clean Water Act. For noncompliance with the Clean Water Act. The Clean Water Act. And what happened is, back in 2024, they had these 16 locations throughout Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina where we just weren't following the Clean Water Act. We had sediment overload. It was going into waterways. So again, it wouldn't matter what developer's name would be on this piece of paper. If I knew there was a chance that they were going to pollute the waterways, on that property, I would say no, because that is not in what's the best interest for the health of my community and for the use of the land in my opinion. With that being said, Mr. Clifford and Mr. McCauley are the only two people, because one of the other things we're allowed to consider is how our ordinances are currently being followed. Mr. McCauley, Mr. Clifford, did y'all issue any special permits for Sunday work this week?

Not to my knowledge.

No, I have not. Let me read our own code for noise. Particularly, I'm going to go for 12-21-9. Construction work. erection including excavation demolition alteration and repair work on any building is allowed only between the hours of 7 a.m and 6 p.m monday through friday and 9 a.m and 5 p.m saturday except in the case of urgent necessity in the interest of public safety and convenience and the only permit And only was permanent from the city administrator or assistant city administrator with specific designation as to the hours and the dates allowed. So yesterday, I'm running down complaints on Pretty Run Creek, which have nothing to do with this. But I'm on a job site in North Augusta. Y'all bear tight. I'm making a point. Give me just one moment, please, y'all.

Dennis, does this have anything to do with the annexation? Because that's all we're looking at.

Yes, because yesterday, and I can show y'all. Matter of fact, I've just got a big old screenshot here. But I've got videos here. Y'all can't see them. I go to a job site in North Augusta. I'm there investigating runoff on the Pretty Run Creek. Not particularly the builder, but it happens to be a D.R. Horton's job site. And when we're not supposed to have any residential construction going on, we've got two groups of people out there working on two different houses with loudspeakers going. They don't respect our laws as of yesterday that I can tell. So there's no way going forward I can say that they're going to respect our laws tomorrow. There's no way with this EPA report that I can say I fully trust them to develop it within 50 feet of a wetland. And that would be for any developer that had these issues, not just this one, to be clear, to show that I'm not showing bias. I can take all the hearsay and pending litigation and throw that out the window and make an unbiased decision. I am not for annexation, and I am not for resigning that critical. critical wetland to be mixed-use development. It should stay what it is with this on the table. Also, I put myself in a unique position as somebody who grew up down on the bottom of Cherokee Drive to put myself in the shoes of the people that live in that area. Those are all single-built houses. Most of them are well and pumping on septic. Most of them have trees that were there when the house was built, still on the property. Most of them have individual fencing and cyclone fencing. Do you all think that this project fits with the characters of the surrounding neighborhoods? I cannot say honestly that I feel that it does. I would also vote no for that reason.

Well, thank you for sharing that. Probably applied more to the other ordinances. But I think the things that citizens, in my mind, two things. Back in 2023 at our retreat, we looked at 10-year growth. And we asked every one of our directors Here's the projection of the last 10 years. Census number is 16%. Here's what looks like growth over the next 10 years. And we ask everyone from director of public safety, sanitation, public services, all of them, to say, OK, with the growth we're going to have, what does that look like for your department? And we have been working on that on an annual basis with the budgeting to say, what do we have to do to get our city where we need to be moving forward? So planning for growth has been something we have been working on. And I think what is in my mind has nothing to do with the builder. What I look at for me is right now, and I'm roughing, we probably have about 5,900 residential houses in the city that are planned. You add in another maybe 700, maybe 1,000 townhomes, and you throw in over 2,000 apartments. So if you just took our average best year was in 2021, which was 284 residential units. That was our highest year. If you just extrapolate that out over the next, based on what we just have in the city, just in the city that's already approved, you know, you're talking about 24 years, the build out, if it's Allard, if you include the largest Allard 8, 13 and a half years if you don't. So for me, what I'm looking at is I think we've got enough land in the city that has already been approved for residential. And my concern is bringing in a larger piece of land for more residential. I'm not concerned about anything but that, because the annexation is all we're talking about. So for me, that's kind of how I'm looking at this. So if there's not any other council discussion, I'm going to ask for a vote. All in favor of this ordinance, please raise your hand. OK, all opposed? OK, that's one favor, three opposed. Item seven. item seven same rules well let me get do it first item seven ordinance number 2025-03 to amend the zoning map of the city of north augusta south carolina by rezoning plus or minus 86.12 acres of land owned by the kellogg corporation tax parcel number 012-08-01-001 from cr critical areas to pd plan development same rules apply as item six So at the request of the applicant, I'll ask for a motion to remove this ordinance off the table. Is there a motion? So moved. That is Mr. Buck. Is there a second? I second. Okay, I ask Mr. Bradico, thank you. All in favor? That is unanimous. OK. So our attorney, Kelly Zier, will confirm this with me. This issue is now a mute issue since this property is in the county because we did not annex it. It is not under our jurisdiction. And there's nothing that needs to be done with this, correct?

OK.

So we now move to item eight. Planning development ordinance number 2025-04 to approve the general development plan for the 467 plus or minus acres Kellogg plan development, generally located east of US 25 and north of SC 126. Same as applied to six and seven. So at the request of the applicant, I'll ask for a motion to remove this ordinance off the table. Is there a motion?

So moved.

Okay, I ask Mr. Buck, is there a second? Second. Okay, Mr. Bradico, again, no discussion. All in favor? OK, three in favor to get it off the table, one against. OK, unanimous against the table. Mrs. Ear, if I'm not mistaken, this applies as well. Issue, this is mute. We have no jurisdiction since it was not annexed in.

Thus, it's not in the county. There's nothing for it we need to do.

I didn't say we don't do it. All right, so we are done with that. So at this time, we will move to administrative report.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Council, a couple of minor items.

One is there have been some interest about the old courts and CID building. We have that scheduled for power washing this coming Friday. So as long as weather permitting, I will have that knocked out. Second item I would say is that we are working right now with Roy Kibler and James Sutton over in public services. There's a potential opportunity for us to get a tree grant for tree plantings. That's a zero match grant. And so I've started the paperwork on that this week. And I'll keep the council informed about whether or not we'll be competitive for that grant. But if we are, then James and Roy will come back as part of a study session to talk about that. You know what that would look like if we're successful in pursuing that grant. And lastly, another with some questions about work down in the woods nearby the review Park activity center. And so what's happening there is James Sutton screw is doing a little bit of clearing in order to get better access to 1 of the wastewater pipes there to do maintenance on that pipe. So that has nothing to do with development or clearing for postal lean activities per se, other than just James Sutton trying to get access to a more rural part of the pipe access. So that's all I have for this evening, Mr. Mayor and Council, subject to any of your questions.

Any questions, Mr. Clifford?

Okay.

What do we got going on for removing debris from Pretty Run Creek at this point?

So the NRCS grants that we have secured for just under a million dollars, which included the Willow Week Creek section and then part of Pretty Run has now been completed as far as the actual work that's in place. And so we had asked for a second NRCS grant do the rest of the creek cleaning that was not approved. And so ultimately, we're gonna have to look at other funding sources through stormwater to see if that's going to be viable. But I don't believe that work can be achieved through sales tax based on the way that the voter referendum is written.

I will say, gentlemen, there are still trees all the way across that creek, and when it rains, it backs up. It noticeably backs up, and it smells bad. And I'm not really saying that that's fair to the people that live along it. I mean, I know our guys are doing everything we can, but if we can kind of go back to the drawing board on this and try to figure out anything else we can do to – make water flow through that creek the way it should again, we need we need to look at that.

It's pretty rough.

Okay.

All right, item 10, presentations, communications, recognition of visitors. At this time, citizens may speak to mayor and council regarding matters not listed on the agenda. Speakers will give their name and address for their records. We just had a public power hour, but some people might have come in and still had anything, this opportunity. Is there anything off the agenda that anybody would like to speak? Yes, ma'am. We are. We want to hear your voice. We want to hear you. That's why I put that. We put that railing in to make it easy on you. And we fixed that, so you don't have to do that anymore. I don't have to do that anymore? No, just back where you had it, right there. Just stand and talk there. You'll be good, I promise. Is that good? Yeah, they can hear you everywhere now.

I can go like this?

Yeah, actually you can. OK.

Pretty Run Creek that Dennis mentioned, I have mentioned and had a discussion with you, Mayor Williams, several times. And I also discussed it with you in reference to the baits and then in reference to the people that live next door to him, to the baits, and in reference to Pretty Run Creek being bogged up near the culvert. So there was no way for the water to get through the culvert up underneath the road. Now the tree has, as Dennis mentioned, has worsened because it's decayed. So it's going like this into Pretty Run Creek in one area. And I have absolutely no idea, as many times as I've mentioned it to you, you did say that I would have to wait for a new grant to be approved. Why, when the people were there with the equipment, that actually did remove the trees from the culvert area so that the Maroney's is the name of the people that live next to Clay and Jennifer Bates. And the Bates property could be cleared off. It wasn't just in reference to the Helene, it was in reference to Helene and lots of other debris. So it would have been really nice for them to come up one house because that tree is split at the very end of our empty lot that is next to our house. And what Dennis was referring to is the water is coming over into our lot, so it's flooding. So I was thinking, I know Renfield is right up there. I've told you I thought the source was Renfield of the discoloration of the water because it goes from clear to a little bit muddy to orange thick. water that's barely moving and that's where the stench is coming from and so but I haven't gotten any good response just heard negative response again no no more grants nothing that's you know in the penny um tax is going to help so what is going to help i did find out though that dr horton i was thinking was responsible because they are the builders of renfield but i found out no that now that responsibility the infrastructure has moved to the city is that correct as what moved to the city the responsibility for the infrastructure of renfield

I think she's asking is if the city has accepted responsibility for the infrastructure that Orton has built on that.

I don't know if we've finished that yet. I don't think we have, to be honest with you. I don't think we've accepted that. But we do, and once all the infrastructure is put in, the city will accept that so we can control it. But I don't think that early on in that development.

If it hasn't been done yet, the city will have responsibility.

That will come to front of us at some point when it's appropriate time.

Okay. Are you willing to accept the video that I took of my own property, the lot next door to us, and the house that is supposedly HUD property that we have to live by, can't even sell our house until something happens with that crack house, which it was? Are you willing to accept the videos that I can send you, I can send Mr. Zier, I can send anybody else? Because it is an infrastructure issue. It is a waterway issue. It is a watershed issue. It is a Pretty Run Creek issue. There's one tree. All they had to do... Mayor Williams was come up just a little bit one more house get that one tree that split in two and it would have prevented the backup on Pretty Run Creek that would not have prevented the runoff from Renfield the runoff is still going to be there until that is taken care of in a professional builder grade capacity So I don't know if you're going to do anything about that or not, but I would hope so. That's another example of D.R. Horton. Why we wouldn't want a kid in bed with D.R. Horton is the way that I would put it.

Thank you for letting me know.

I'm sorry?

I said thank you.

Well, do you want me to send you the video, or do you want me to send the video to Jamie?

Yes, you can send it to me. I've always responded to every email you've sent me, so you don't have to worry about sending it to me. Yes, I'd be glad to.

I'm going to send the video. It's a long video. I'm asking you to watch the whole thing, because I've started videoing it when it started raining, Saturday and Sunday, and I completed it all the way through, and you can see where the two trees, I mean the two parts of the trees stop the flow, And when you stop the flow, you stop the health of the creek. Pretty Run, I think, is number two on the watershed. Pole Branch is one, and I think Pretty Run's number two. Yeah.

So I can't give you all the responses you want for a couple things, but I will say this. As far as when we go into a grant and we write that, it is very strict stipulation of exactly what it is they're going to mitigate. And there's not a flexibility to say, oh, you know, you got a dozer there, come up with another. It doesn't work that way. Now, I have responded. Tom Caesar is no longer our planning director. After you came that time, he has looked at this as well as. So I'll get someone out to re-look at it. If there's something that's fallen, that is something that the city can explain to me, this is something that is doable, that we're able to fix in-house, if that is something we're able to do, we'll consider that. If it is something that is requiring, to Dennis' point, a lot of stuff with that part of pretty run that we have to find resources we're going to have to find those resources and mr clifford just said he'll figure out we'll have to begin to look at that so i appreciate you sharing with me and i don't know but i will if there's something new that has happened since you came originally i will be glad to send someone out there to look at it so at least we can understand what it is you're saying because unless i see the video and understand what has changed since before but i will do that I appreciate that very much.

It's simply the decay, the normal decay of trees in a creek. That's all it is. And I know the city can take care of it. It's one tree.

And I just wish, you know, also it would be helpful. I wish the Maroney's and the Bates would also email me because you're talking always about their properties. You took care of their properties. You took care of their properties.

I came down here to speak on their behalf, and you took care of their properties.

Okay, good.

But the city benefited as well as the Maroney's.

Okay.

Personally. But you did not take care of my property. Okay.

I don't know that reason. I don't either. I wish I did. Send me the video. It's long.

I'm just asking to watch the whole thing, please.

I will absolutely watch the whole thing, I promise. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Sharon. Anybody else? Yes, ma'am.

Good evening and thank you for your time tonight. Thank you for all the time that you've put into the other items on the agenda and for listening to us and considering everything that's already been done.

Laura, tell us who you are and your address.

I'm Laura Garner and I'm at 706 Edgewood Avenue.

I did not email you today because I knew Jim was going to share that about the... You emailed and we talked about the pressure washing, so I just want to let you know that is being done.

That's not me.

I think you sent me a one-time about that. For the public safety headquarters, you had asked about the old one.

Oh, I did ask months ago about what the future is for it.

But we talked about pressure washing, so that isn't going to be happening.

Oh, okay. But go ahead. You really threw me there. I forgot about that one. I just wanted to bring up stewardship and what an important thing that is, but I'm going to skip all that and go right to a few months ago. I noticed extensive work taking place on the city-owned parcel bounded by Mockatine, Park Avenue, West Pine Grove, and Jackson Avenue, right across from Briggs Pond. I heard chainsaws for days, I saw heavy equipment, I saw two new very large access roads cut into the property. Like many neighbors, I just simply wanted to understand what was happening. So I did inquire at the city level, didn't really hear anything back. I talked to some of the workers that were out there and they said that based on a grant that they were doing some cleanup work. But, you know, try to visualize it. It's just a beautiful lot that's zoned CR. And nobody's ever been into it because it's dense. So, you know, when Helene did its damage, you can't see what's going on in there unless you're going in there. anyway so my point is why you know why was it done so tonight i just respectfully asked for some clarity this was previously untouched but it's been cleared down the middle and there's an entrance at one end and the entrance at the other and then once you get to the middle of it it's all clear cut just a huge big swath of clear cut in there It was full of wildlife, and we have tons of deer, fox, you name it, all around the neighborhood. They're suddenly scattered because of this work that went on for a couple of weeks there. Neighbors have been down and walked it, taking pictures and videos. It's not just your typical cleanup after the hurricane. This is a year and a half later. And there's still trees that were recently cut laying around in there. So it's just a real unusual thing. And it just causes a lot of us to be concerned because should we expect to see similar work occurring on other city-owned parcels between Jackson and the Greenway? I mean, I recognize that drainage work is important and public safety matters. My request isn't that nothing be done, but that stewardship is important in every decision. And just would like to know, you know, what happened.

Well, I'll give you an email. I've responded. I've had several citizens email me about that and actually got that information, again, from Tom Zeser. That is part of the grant. And the other parcel nearby that has done that, if you're going down Lake Avenue past New Creighton Park, that lot of land. So years ago, before any of our time, the city wanted very much, was concerned, and we bought a lot of land so we could control it. and that is all storm water and flow that goes from that pond that people fish in i doubt any fish are in there people fishing but that flows all the way down into that so that is all part of this concern everyone has about the watershed of the grant that dennis was talking about and jim was just talking about and uh that's what they're doing they were clearing that out so water can flow probably under the ground through that So that will eventually grow up. But I would tell you it is exactly our difference with stewardship. And that's why we bought it, so we could keep it natural. But we had to do that.

That's great to know.

But I will give you an email, because I can't articulate as well as I wrote it. But I'm going to forward you the email that I sent to the citizen to ask me about it, because the email sounds a lot better than what I just said.

Well, that's a lot of clarity, and I appreciate it.

No, thank you for asking. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Who else we got? OK. I'm only going to say a couple things. I just wanted to make folks aware. Chief mentioned it at the study session. But tomorrow night, not tomorrow night. Is tomorrow night? Yeah. Tomorrow night is National Night Out from 68 at Riverview Park. We're going to have officers out there. We have all kinds of games. And I mean, it's a great time, right? Yep, so please come out for that. Bring your kids, grandkids. Great opportunity from there. And then just to let y'all know, as the fall's starting to come back under tourism or Explore North Augusta concerts, September the 12th, we have a 90s country called Nashville Nights. September 25th, we got the Twilight Tea Time. So this is concert and mini golf. It is so cool. It's one of those you bring your kids or grandkids out, and it's glow golf. It's so awesome. October the 10th will be a highlight. Last year was a group out of the 80s and 90s, Guardians of the Jukebox on October the 10th. Of course, Jacqueline Jubilee, everybody knows, is 23rd and 24th. And then in November, this is one you've got to go to face-to-face. It's Elton John and Billy Joel Tribute. So a lot of great music coming at our amphitheater starting in September. And so just some good things happening. But anyway, thank you all for coming here tonight, folks. You all have a good evening, and we stand adjourned.