Council - Regular Meeting

It's 7:00 or 7:01. Uh we will start with public hearings. We have several tonight. First is on the ordinance to amend the Batesburg Leville code of ordinances title five planning and development chapter one planning commission section 5-1-2 membership and appendix a a zoning article 12 planning commission section 12-2- membership planning commission membership is there anyone here to speak on that. All right. If not, we'll close the the public hearing on that particular ordinance. The next is on the ordinance to attend to amend the Batesburg leasal code of ordinances article A meetings of governing body section 1-3-1B- Council meetings number of council members required to call special meetings. Is there anyone here to speak on this ordinance? All right, that move will move on to the third. The ordinance to amend the p the Batesburg leasable code of ordinances appendix A article 7- district regulations tattoo parlors and piercing parlors. Is it anyone here to speak on that? If not, we'll move to the last one. And that's the ordinance to amend the Batesburg Greasable Code of Ordinances, Appendix A, Article 7, District Regulations, R1 and R1A, District Changes. Do we have anyone registered to speak? All right, that will close the public

hearings and we'll call the May meeting of the Batesburg Leville C Chamber Council to order. Uh Mike, do we have a minister here? Okay, Miss Betty, would you lead the invocation for us? Father God, we thank you for this day that you have made and we will continue to rejoice and be glad in it. We thank you now, God, as we come together for jurisdiction and authority over and with the citizens of the Batesburg Leville community. We thank you for your direction, your guidance that so we would might make decisions that will be a blessing to all concerned. Search our hearts and find that God that we are here to do for the best of all concern. We thank you for it now in advance. Amen. And amen.

Amen.

Thank you, Miss Betty. If we stand if you're able and we'll join us in the pledge led by Mr. Councilman Bo Turner. I aliance 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. Make ground. At this time, I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda. So made

second. We have a motion to approve the agenda. It is now open for discussion. There's no discussion. We'll vote. District one. Yes. District two. Yes. District three. District three votes yes. District four. Four. Yes. District five. Yes. District six. Yes. District seven. Yes. District eight. District eight vote chest.

And the mayor vote yes. The motion carries. All right. This brings us to we have three sets of minutes to adopt. First is the regular council meeting on April 13, 2026. Do we have a motion to adopt those minutes? So move. Second. Have a motion and a second that we adopt the minutes from the regular council meeting on April 13, 2026. It's now open for discussion. If there's no discussion, we'll vote. District one,

yes. District two, yes. District three, District three, vote yes. District four, four, yes. District five, yes. District six, yes. District seven, yes. District 8, District 8, votes yes. And the mayor votes yes. That brings us to the minutes of the work session on April 27th, 2026. Do I have a motion to adopt those minutes? So moved.

Second. We have a motion and a second to adopt the minutes from the April 27th uh work session. It's now open for discussion. There's no discussion. We'll vote. District one, yes. District two, yes. District three. District three votes yes. District four. District four, yes. District five, yes. District six, yes. District seven, yes. District eight. District eight, vote yes.

And the mayor vote yes. Motion carries. And next would be the adoption of the minutes for a special count our special council meeting on April 30th, 2026. Do I have a motion? So move. Second. Let's move it. Did you second? I have a motion and a second that we adopt the minutes from the special counting meet council meeting on April 30th. It is now open for discussion. There's no discussion. We'll vote. District one, yes. District two, yes. District three, District three votes yes. District four, four, yes. District five,

yes. District six, yes. District seven, yes. District eight, yes. and mayor vote chess. That motion carries. Okay, that brings us to presentation of awards, proclamations, and resol resolutions. And we have none. So, we'll move on to the to the mayor's report. The next regular council meeting is June 8th, 2026. All right. Council committee report, Central Midlands. Councilman Joe Montgomery.

Well, yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh our last meeting was held at the uh Beltline campus of Billings Tech which they had limited space so I attended by Zoom. Uh there was only four amendments to some previous steps and it was a very short meeting to say the least. Uh our next meeting will be May 28th at the Harson campus at Beline I mean of Midland Tech, excuse me. Thank you Mr. Montgomery, Environmental Planning Advisory Committee, Councilman Bo Turner.

Uh, Mr. Mayor, we have not met again since our last meeting uh in I guess it was April. The last one was council, but we do have one scheduled for the 14th of this month. And joint municipal water sewer commission. Uh, that's we have not met since that time. And we have a we would have a meeting scheduled for Wednesday night, but I got notification today that that meeting has been cancelled. All right. BNL Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Mike Taylor.

Thank you. During our April general membership meeting uh which was sponsored by Millers Technical College, the chamber recognized the potential honor graduates Beexburg High School. Uh during that time uh when they came forward they received a congratulatory letter from uh Dr. Greg Little, president of Mill Technical College and a a gift. Uh it was also nice to hear where they were going to college and what they might be doing in the future. So we uh we have a lot of gifted young uh people going out in the world in various categories. So we look forward to watching them and their growth. Um what a great weekend for Bakesburg Leel this past weekend. Uh on behalf of the chamber certainly want to thank the South Carolina Culture Festival Committee and their hard work and planning throughout this past year. But all of that could not have happened without you, the support of the town, uh its departments, uh the police department, the fire department, everything associated with town and the citizens of this community who donated so many hours that during these events. So it was a great uh showcase of our community and and a great weekend. Uh we are responsible for the South Carolina uh pot festival golf tournament each year and we were blessed with a beautiful day and and a record number of uh participants. I was I'm saying participants cuz all of them weren't golfers. I don't think they stayed out on the golf course quite a while. Um but uh we had a beautiful day and enjoyable day and I hope that you'll go to our Facebook page and look at uh the list of the winners and the people that supported that event. Um the Batesburg Leisville Minister Alliance will uh host the uh Bakesbury Lethal High School bulart service at Faith Lutheran Church on this coming Thursday beginning at 7:00 followed by

reception at Fellowship Hall. It's that time again and you have it on the agenda. P 26 2026 Peace Street 23 yard sale be coming on the June Friday June the 5th through Saturday the 6th. I know about 8 to 10 years ago uh South Carolina Park Trans Station put up a count counter on uh Highway 23 in in Rich Spring, Manuta and there was over 10,000 cars that went through that day there. So it'll be another big weekend at Bakesburg Le won't be as big as this past weekend, but it'll be a big weekend. So we appreciate everything y'all done for Bakesburg Leville and success we've had in the events. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mike. This brings us to public comment regarding items on the agenda. Do we have anyone signed up?

All right, Miss Francis. Good afternoon to our town manager, Jay Hendris, Mayor Balt Knight, H City Council members, and fellow citizens. For those of you who may not may not know me, I'm Francis Miller. I worked in the office uh at Southeastern Freight Lines in West Colombia for 10 years and left that position to become the office administrator for the First Baptist Church of Batesburg for 43 years. So after working 53 years, I retired to take care of my husband who had a stroke before his passing just recently. The town pond of Batesburg is in my backyard. We bought our land and built our home in 1977. During that time, our desire has been to maintain the property in a way that represents the town that we can that we are proud to say we reside in. When I heard that there were some issues about the town reservoir, I was concerned. It pleased me when I was able to meet with our town manager, Mr. Jay Henrix, and Mayor David Baltnight, and learned that a matching grant was available to help with this repair. I was told the members of the Batesboro Leville Town Council would decide if the town would repair it and keep it, if a park might be considered, or if the town pond might be sold. With the new homes that are being added to the Summerland housing development that joins this property, it seems that the town pond would be an asset for those deciding to reside in those new homes. I think we can all agree people are moving into our area and this will increase the taxes our

town will receive and the utilities cost such as water, sewage, trash pickup, and police protection which will all benefit our town. Council members, I want to encourage you to not take this decision lightly, but to consider using this grant money to repair the town pond so that these homes that are being sold uh can provide a quiet and peaceful setting for our town and its residents. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on behalf of concerned citizens of Batesburg. Thank you, ma'am. Mr. Mayor, have anybody else?

All right. Mr. Mayor, can I have you say something real quick about that? We can't comment on public comment. Okay.

All right. That brings us to unfinished business. The first item is a second reading of the ordinance to amend Batesburg reasonable code of ordinances. Title 5, Planning and Development. Chapter 1, Planning Commission. Section 5-1-2, Membership and Appendix A-Zoning, Article 12, PLL PL Planning Commission, Section 12-2- Membership, Planning Commission Membership. Do we have a motion to pass second reading on this? Salute.

Second following. Okay. All right. We have a motion and a second to pass on to pass this ordinance. Uh, it's now open for discussion. There's no discussion. We'll vote. District one, yes. District two, yes. District three, District three, votes. No. District four,

four, no. District five, yes. District six, yes. District seven, yes. District 8, yes.

And the mayor votes yes. That ordinance passes. brings us to second reading of the ordinance to amend the Batesburg leasable code of ordinances article A meetings of governing body section 1-3- 1B- councsil meetings number of council members required to call a special meeting and you remember this is our ordinance that we have now does not comply with state law and that's why we're changing Do I have a motion and a sec and a second to adopt second reading on this ordinance? I make a motion we adopt. Second.

We have a motion and a second to adopt second reading of this ordinance. It is now open for discussion. There's no discussion. We'll vote. District one. Yes. District two. Yes. District three. District three. Yes. District four. Four. Yes. District five. Yes. District six. Yes. District seven. Yes. District eight. Yes. And the mayor votes yes.

All right. Brings us to item C. Second reading of the ordinance to amend Batesburg leville code of ordinances appendix A article 7- district regulations tattoo parlors and piercing parlors. Do we have a motion to adopt second reading of this ordinance? So move. Second. We have a motion and a second to adopt second reading of the ordinance to amend this code. Uh it's now open for discussion. There's no discussion. We'll vote. District one, yes. District two, yes.

District three, District three votes, no. District four. District four, no. District five, yes. District six, yes. District seven, yes. District eight, yes. And mayor vote chess, that ordinance, second reading carries. That ordinance has passed. All right. Item D, second reading, ordinances to amend the Batesburg leasable code of ordinances, appendix A, article 7- district regulations, R1 and R1A, district changes. We had several meetings on this to I have a motion to accept second reading. So made

I second. We have a motion and a second to adopt second reading on this ordinance and is now open for discussion. There's no discussion. We'll vote, Mr. Mayor. Yes, sir.

I'm sorry. Uh this I'm a little unclear on this uh ordinance. Um are we replacing section 10 in its entirety of the existing ordinance? This says establish an ordinance. We have an ordinance. So therefore we need to either amend or rescend the existing ordinance. Uh are we replacing section 10 in its entirety? Uh so what are what exactly are you referring to the on the board? You know it specifically refers to to amend the code of ordinances. David,

it says amend here. I'm sorry I got lost on on the issue. I withdraw my comment. Okay. Any other comment? Damn. How did you let me? If not, we'll vote. District one. Yes. District two. Yes. District three. District three votes. Yes. District four. Four. Yes. District five. Yes. District six. Yes. District seven. Yes. District 8. District 8 vote yes.

And the mayor vote yes. That ordinance carries. That brings us to new business. First reading of the ordinance to establishes purchasing and procurement procedures for the town of Batesburg Leville. Mr. Hendris, you want to explain that?

Uh this was the item that was discussed in uh work session last week. Uh just a couple quick notes. The current uh ordinance was 1996 shortly after consolidation. Uh this is incorporating the uh model code ordinance from the municipal association and um yeah I think we covered it for an hour last week. So I think we should be pretty thorough. All right. Do we have a a motion to that effect?

So move second. We have a motion and a second on the motion to adopt first reading of ordinance to establish purch purchasing and procurement procedures for the town of Batesburg leasable. It's now open for discussion. Mr. Mayor, if I may. Yes, sir. I'm now on the right page, I believe. Does this replace or amend or rescend section 10 of the existing code of ordinances? We have an ordinance governing our uh procurement procedure. Yeah, this is a replacement. This is

so therefore but then the ordinance should state clearly that it rescends or replacement mean. It says modify or supersedes. Are you just modifying it? Then it doesn't carry the same numbering system.

David's looking at something. Councilman, if you look at section 1.08, 08 in the ordinance prior ordinances or policies. It says this ordinance shall replace any and all similar prior ordinances and or policies adopted by council and the town of base relie. All similar prior ordinances and or policies shall have no effect and shall be considered invalid and replaced. So we are in effect replacing section 10 in its entirety.

Yes sir. Thank you. Any further discussion? If not, we'll vote. District one, yes. District two, yes. District three, three, vote, yes. District four, four, yes. District five, yes. District six, yes. District seven, yes. District eight.

District eight votes no. and the mayor vote chess. That motion carries. All right. All right. That brings us to item B. First reading for the repeal ordinant, the repeal ordinance 2025-0- land swap ordinance with Oaklair Cooperative Health. Do we have a motion to adopt first reading of that ordinance? So move. Who said that? Chip. District two. Two. I'll second.

I'm sorry. It's hard for me to distinguish. It was district two. I didn't lean up. I apologize. Two of us look alike. So Well, no. when the my hearing aids pick up speakers so I can't tell where it's coming from. All right. All right. We have a motion and a second to adopt first reading of the the repeal to repeal ordinance 2025-01 land swap. All right. It's now open for discussion.

Can we can we get a history of how we got to this point? So the the quick version is uh the town had acquired two parcels of land on Highway One, the old trailer park and the Black Dog in. Uh the intent was to work out a relationship with Oaklair Cooperative Health to swap the adjacent property uh the pediatric office across the parking lot for this land. And the ordinance that we are repealing was passed March 31st, 2025. And Oaklair, they have some dysfunction. They had about four different executive directors throughout the year. They they drove their feet, drove their feet, and then they apparently lost their federal funding, the the grant funding. Uh so they initially put it on hold after about 6 months. We asked for, you know, is it on hold or is it dead? And they did confirm that it was dead. they were not moving forward with the construction project. So, as we discussed in executive session last month, in order to move forward

about what we discussed in executive session, well, it's in this packet. So, to to to move forward with the sale of the property, we need to repeal the ordinance. Okay. The the initial ordinance to transfer and trade the property needs to be repealed and and at the same time, we have to move forward with the other ordinance. So we get on the record. Any further discussion? If not, we'll vote. District one, yes. District two, yes. District three, District three votes yes. District four, four, yes. District five, yes. District six,

yes. District seven, yes. District eight, yes. and mayor vote chess. That motion carries. This brings us to first reading ordinance to sell property located at 321 and 325 East Colombia Avenue. We have a motion to adopt first reading of this ordinance. I make a motion that we do. We need a second.

Second. We have a motion and a second to uh adopt first reading of this ordinance to sell property located at 321 and 325 East Columbia Avenue. It's now open for discussion. How you going to sell it? Well, that will be up to a decision of council. I know that in discussion we've talked just as we did with the North Pine Street property of a sealed bid or or we could entertain hiring a a realtor. So that that would be determined from Okay. So we're not doing that tonight. Okay,

Mr. Mayor. Well, okay. Sorry, David is correcting that I get the it's authorizing the town manager to make that decision and I'm fine with moving forward with seal bid. um that makes it cleaner. I don't know that it gets us best price, but it will make it easier and that is

Mr. Mayor, if I may. Yes, sir. Uh actually, we've uh I would suggest strongly that we offer the property as sealed bid uh with a reserve of $625,000. The pros of that approach obviously is the fact that a hiring a realtor and we already I believe have an estimate of the value of that property from the realtor that and is that correct? Somewhere around 500,000. Yeah, we we did receive a an estimate. Yes.

Okay. And so therefore, I I think that we should offer the property on their sale bid with a 625,000 or $650,000 reserve for a period of 90 days. And at that point, if there is no um offers that exceed the um the reserve uh to bring those offers back to council or then to make the decision to turn it to a realtor. The savings here obviously is the fact that I'm looking at an additional 150,000 in revenue if if the seal bid operation works. The second is of course that we will save somewhere between 6 and 10% uh realtor's fees which on 500 if we offer it at the appraised value of 500,000 is somewhere between 30 and $50,000. So, I'm looking out for the taxpayers and and look at the possibility of increasing our total revenues by $180,000.

Point of order. Councilman Hall, is that an amendment to the current motion that you're offering? Wait, you can't do a point of order. You have to vote on a point of order. Point clarification. You don't you don't have to vote on a point of order. I get to rule on a point of order. Uh I'm I'm just asking the question if that was an amendment to the current motion. He did not present it as an amendment. Okay. Is all right. Uh can we see where it goes in there about the choices on that? Cuz does it not say that we would decide?

It is actually worded in item three. It's on the board. Uh authorizes the town manager to select and execute the following methods of sale for property. A is seal bid. be a traditional real estate listing. It actually advocates council's position under state law that council is responsible for the buying, purchasing, leasing, and otherwise of all real estate. Ultimately, it does come back to council for that final decision. It doesn't take that away from council. Are you saying it'll come back to us to approve your decision prior to implementation? council has to accept the the purchase or that price

but not the method. Well, what I'm reading here the way this ordinance is worded. That's right. We council has nothing to do with the choosing the method. Mr. The way this ordinance is worded. That's correct. So, is Bob wanting to make that an amendment to the That's up to Bob. If he wants to make it an amendment, we'll handle it.

M. Mr. Mayor, I move that we replace item uh three with a authorizes the town manager to offer the property under a sale bid for 90 days at a sale price of $650,000. At such time, if there is no reserve, the town manager will can exercise the option of how to dispose of the property. All right, we have an amendment. Do we have a second? Second. All right, let me Mr. Mayor, if I may. Hold on.

Would we call for discussion? You did the second. Uh, we have a motion and a and we have an amendment and a second to that motion that we add what Bob just said because I don't have it written down. So, we're discussing the amendment currently. We voting on we discussing the amendment now. Only the amendment. All right. So, we're in discussion of the amendment that we add the worded in there that Bob said. I hope somebody wrote it down. Michael Nish has it covered. 90 days sale. You guys might all right. Well, Mr. Mayor is

Yes, ma'am. Um, that would be there. The numbers are kind of off on here, but in number four, it tells us that it's the mayor and the town manager would be the ones to negotiate. So, you don't you don't negotiate with the civil bid. Okay. It's not. So, would we need to adjust that? I'm questioning, you know, maybe our town attorney on that one. Well, if it what Mr. Hall said in his amendment is that if it did not sell, then it would go to a realtor

and you would need to negotiate. So, if we take it out, then he can't. So, I think it would have to stay in there. Am I right, David? Yeah. How would we add that wording? You have to add it, Mr. Mayor. Council, I I would I would leave it as written. Um that way it gives uh the town manager options when it comes to um selling the property. If he chooses one way first and that doesn't work, then obviously you can pivot and go to the next option.

I think it should stay that way, too. I don't think we should do anything about that. Any further discussion? If not, we'll vote on the amendment. District one. Yes. District two. Yes. District three. District three votes. Yes. District four. Four. Yes. District five. Mr. Mayor, I want to be clear. Um, we're voting on whether to keep the amendment or not. We're voting on the amendment. Okay. Then no. No, I don't want the amendment. What? No, I don't want the amendment. Okay, that's No. All right. District six. Yes.

District seven. Yes. District eight. District 8 votes yes. And the mayor votes yes. That brings us back to the discussion of the motion as amended that we do everything that's in there but changing three to Bob's wording so made. Oh, we got that. We back in discussion of that. We handle we handle the amendment. We're back into discussion of the motion as amended. So we don't need a call for questions. Yeah, we don't need M Mr. Mayor. Yes sir.

Uh with this property history and the history of the product of the property beside it, will this actually be sold as R1A? Can another mobile home facility be put there? It is currently commercial. I believe it is C2.

Okay. Let me see. Are there current are there some homes in there or some mobile homes or something? No, all the mobile homes were moved. There's still a a the single family home that was used last as the Black Dog in a a boarding a pet boarding but it has been vacant for over a year. So, it would not have residential occupancy allowed. It would be commercial. Thank you. Any further discussion on the motion? If not, we'll vote on the motion as amended. District one, yes. District two, yes.

District three, District three votes. Yes. District four, four, yes. District five, yes. District six, yes. District seven, yes. District eight.

District eight, vote yes. and the mayor vote yes. Motion as amended carries. Uh that brings us to first reading on the ordinance to enex 508 and 512 North Lee Street. The property consists of 11 total acres, 7.33 acres to be annexed. tax number 00600-02-00005 to we have a motion to adopt first reading of this ordinance to annex that's Johanna's house okay so move

all right second I love that property I have a motion and and a second to adopt first reading of this ordinance it is Now open for discussion. Jay, she wanted to come in, right, Mr. Mayor? If I may. Yes. Well, I I I have concerns with and of course we do not have an ordinance to cover this, but I I understand that in this situation, again, I may be lost with 115 pages to read. Um but uh I understand that this petitioner does not own 100% of the property involved. Correct.

So therefore we are going to reszone property where there is a minority holder 25% holder. Uh so we're doing it for a petitioner who only owns 75% of the rights to that. Does that My question is does that open us up to liability in the future should the uh minority partner step forward and challenge the reasonzoning? Do

you want to answer that question? Councilman Hall, under the uh 75% method, um as long as 75% um of the owners owning at at 75% or more of the freeholders owning at least 75% of the assessed value of the property in the air in the area to be annexed makes the application, then there's no uh potential liability against the town for annexing the property. And I believe that's the what has happened here. The owner

now I'm reading it as you do but I'm uh so that is covered in 5-3-150. Yes sir. Any further discussion? J53. Yes. Joanna applied for it and initially it had started moving forward until we in research figured out she was 75% that put a little hold on it but she had annex to come in for water she petitioned to annex any further discussion if not we'll vote district one

yes district two yes district three district three votes Yes. District four. District four. Yes. District five. Yes. District six. Yes. District seven. Yes. District eight. District eight will vote yes. And the mayor vote yes. First reading on that ordinance carries.

All right. That brings us to approval of the vendor for the police department reporting software. Do we have a motion to give approval, Mr. Mayor? Yes, sir. Uh I make a motion we do approve the vendor for the uh police department reporting software. All right. That's that arms, right? Yeah. Yes, sir. I have a second. I'll second. All right, we have a motion and a second to approve the vendor for police department reporting software which we talked about in Yeah, that was in one of those one of those work sessions recently. One of the work sessions we talked about

that was April 27th. So we know what it is. Um it's now open for discussion, Mr. Mayor. Yes, sir. Uh this is an unbudgeted item. Um where is the money coming from? This will be part of the new budget. It is not going to be coming out of the current budget. It will be it would be part of the 2627 budget. So we're actually approving items out of a budget that we have not seen.

Yes. But this is it's one of those moments where we have uh action that is required. Um it will it will be something that will have to be included in the budget. Yes sir. But it is not coming out of the 256. When will this agreement take effect?

I believe July. I I will defer to the major. So the so the reason that we have asked for this to take place now is SLED has mandated that all users of Law Track, which is our current reporting software, cease using Lawrack as of December 31st, 2026. It does not meet the security requirements. In all of my research and all of the the vendors that I've spoke with, um, ARMS is the best. ARMS is the one that's ready to move forward for us. They are the they are the folks that bought Law Track. They don't charge for data conversion and we have 20 almost 27 full years of data to convert. Um, that's the a huge cost savings. The reason that we want to move now is it's about a two-month process that they've found, but we are the largest, so it may take a little bit longer, and we don't want to be waiting until on down the road into the year and have issues because it'll be very difficult to for us to function as a police department without reporting software because we cannot do paper reporting. We must do electronic.

Yes. Yes, sir. I appreciate that. But back to my original question and that is when will the agreement be signed and when will they start providing a service? They they the agreement will be signed upon approval so that they can begin working. We have to we have to go into contract with them so they can start working on

my concern is the auditor. All right. This is a uh obligation that we're placing. uh we are actually under the uh situation where when the cost is incurred it should then be posted against that fiscal year per se. This is not a cash basis situation. So my concern is do we take it out of the current reserves and replace it or but I'm concerned with the auditor. So Mr. Hri well I

I can't speak to exactly what the auditor would say but this is similar to what we did with the Springbrook conversion where we we did vote to I'm trying to remember exactly actually no that occurred in the budget so um I I don't have a good answer for that. Uh the discussion had been centered around the fact that uh the police department needed to move forward in a timely manner uh to get it done. I have no I have no issue with approving the authority. I just want clarification as to when this will be posted in what fiscal year and will we be taking the money out of the current onhand general funds balance.

It would be financial year 27 would be when it will be paid to answer that part of your question. It it it's a minimum a two-month process. Selection and medical center just went through it and they're not going to bill until we're moving forward. Okay. All right. I I have no problem. All right. Any further discussion? I was going to ask a question. The quote expires July 7th. So, were we trying to get this approved before that deadline?

We don't anticipate the cost going up after this quote expires. However, we don't want to wait until we we we don't want any more time to pass because of the urgency of having to have a replacement in place and fully functioning. And we just feel it's imperative that we move as soon as possible. We had a lot going on with the poultry festival this year and all of that. So, that's why we talked about it in the work sessions in hopes that, you know, we would have been able to been on the agenda for this evening. But we just we don't want to we don't want to get caught with our proverbial pants down and not be able to function as a police department without being able to submit electronically to SLID. Okay. Okay.

If I could major, uh I know we covered it in a work session, but we were had a lot of stuff thrown at us that night in a fast manner. Uh what is the department with about 75% of the state using law tracks them going out? How many people have already went to this and do you know who they are?

The the only I only focused on Lexington County agencies. The only agency in Lexington County that has left law track and has gone with arms is Lexington Medical Center. However, I've attended virtual um demonstrations for Smart Cop. That one is used by the town of Lexington and that is used by highway patrol. I know DNR maybe not highway patrol. The high patrol is doing a lot of swiping swapping right now and um they're very expensive.

Troll Logix was the other one. Those were some of the folks that left Law Track when they were when Arms purchased them and they kind of Troll Lodge is who Law Track was working with before the purchase by Arms of Law Track. And so some of those guys went there. They have town of Gaston, town of Springdale have signed agreements with patrol logics and that several months now and nothing's been delivered. And so um as much as I like the looks of Smart Cop, it's just a little too expensive for our for what we need it to accomplish. And ARMS the the biggest cost is that data conversion and ARMS seems to be where we need to point towards

where we're going need to go. Any further discussion?

There's no further discussion. We'll vote on the motion to approve a vendor of the for utility department software. District one, we're voting for utility or the police. That's the next thing. I'm getting ahead of myself trying to get through with this agenda. Police department reporting software. Excuse me. District one. Yes. District two. Yes. District three. Dist. Yes. District four. Four. Yes. District five, yes. District six, yes. District seven, yes. District eight,

district eight, vote yes. And the mayor vote chess that approval carries. All right, that brings us to approval of a vendor for the utility department software. Do we have a motion and a second for that? I so move. I'll second. We have a motion and a second to approve the vendor for the utility department software. It's now open for discussion. You uh somebody want to enlighten us on this? Andrew, you want to tackle that one?

Get get you in front of the firing squad.

Thank you. So at present we use a group that's called Latapul that has recently changed its name from GeoTink which was how it originated. The history beyond that predates me but it was used primarily as a sewer service. Um we had a group come in years ago that physically mapped some of our manholes. They overlaid those manholes onto this mapping service and then kind of drew a line from this manhole to that manhole and that's what we use as our sewer map. Now it is not GISbased and it's not coordinated based. It's basically just kind of shows a manhole here and there. Uh as I mentioned that group is called Latapul. Latapul does have a work order system that is available to us. We have found that it's not very uh user friendly for what we'd like it to do. And when I say work order system, I'm talking about a work order system that the utility crew would use if town hall would notify them in the event of, hey, we need to go replace a meter or we've got a a sewer tap here or there. um the system was not super exciting to us and uh started looking into it and said there's got to be a better way. So that started the discussion of where we are. We've talked to Latapool. They do offer some additional services at additional cost and that we're also limited by the number of people we can put in at the set fee. So if we wanted to add viewership to another employee or or more employees or something like that, the fee would also go up. That led us

down the road of finding alternatives. Zipility is who I'm referring to here came recommended from a neighboring utility company. They use Zipility. They brought it to our attention. And so we reached out to Zipility and Zipility uh was great in their communications. They offered us a trial. Try see if you like it. See if it does what you want it to do. And that trial was well received by the utility crew and the town hall. You mean you mean Archie liked it? Yes, sir. Okay. Yeah. Yes, sir. I'm good.

And his crew. Um, what it will also do is we can take our sewer map that we were we we are able to and we have been able to we can with I don't I'm not going to use the right words here y'all forgive me. We can we can take that map off of the existing one and put it on to zip tility. And we are currently um expecting a water map to be presented to us through another grant we have and it can also be put on the zip tility. Our entire utility staff, if allowed, access to zip tility would be able to access this from a mobile device out in the field and would also have access to work orders from a mobile device out in the field and would be tracking. Uh so that's the history of of where we were and where we are now. Council Kane,

give us a We We are Well, I'm gonna say I'm a dummy. How does this work in real world application?

Okay. Yeah. So, um if if you for instance call in and say, "Hey, my my meter I want my meter reread. We probably would not generate a work order system for that." But if you called in and said, "My meter I I got a leak out by the road." You call the town hall. staff in the town hall could enter into this uh if we go with this platform could enter your information into it, send it out to the crew. The crew would all get a note through through an app that could we could have on our cell phones and it would say, you know, uh such and such address has this issue. Then staff can go out, handle the issue, put comments into it, upload photos of what they did. It's contained into into the software and database. Town Hall can see that that work order was completed. It also has the ability to keep a running tab and and alert us and say, "Hey, we got a notification early this morning from Councilman Kane's house. He had an issue. It hadn't been resolved." So, at the end of the day, we can say, "Wait, we still need to we still need to tackle that." At present, uh, as I mentioned in the white paper, at present, we have a group text message. That's how we do it. And we don't really have good tracking ability on a text message. It bogs down everybody's phone and we physically have to look back and say, especially on cutoff day, did we do that one? Did we do that one? Did we do that one? Did we do that one? It's just the next step of accountability and trackability.

The geek in me would like to know if these uh mapping assets are going to be geollocated. So again, I mentioned I'm not real techsavvy here. So our sewer map, I hope I answer your question. If I don't, you you ask me more. Our sewer map is no GPS data to it. Well, the water model that's coming or the water map that's coming to us, we hope is a little more precise. Okay. Um, is that what you need here? Absolutely. and and the new system would have water and sewer where currently it's just sewer.

And so with the CDBG grant and the the new water project, all of that is all digital and and GPS. So uh the goal is for all of that to be on the zip tility and then that will also be uh the goal is for that to be available on the county one map so that developers can can access it. Well, they would have limited access. It wouldn't be as thorough. The only other question I had um was um what type of customer data is going to be like necessary for this system to operate in our town? And the reason I ask is I read that whole contract about protecting data and all of their safeguards that are in place. And perhaps that is not going to be relevant for us. I don't know.

It's a real good question. And I may not have a great answer for that. Um, what I believe is it would say it would not say Mr. Bradley at 212 his street would just say 212 his street has okay is so so very limited in my mind there would likely not be personal names tied to that. Now um

and and if I may, it is not it is not linked to the Spring Brook software. So they all of their account information, the financial information that may be in our software is not linked to the utility. So it would simply be the address. I mean they may put a name if you know they put you know Mr. Sprdley called and said he has a leak at 232 his street but um but I believe that's county. Yeah. So yeah. So it has no connection to our financial software. And if I may,

in a sense, it is a fancy ticketing system just like it people we use to keep up with track uh to pro track the progress of a ticket. Go step out of the kitchen. It's better in the kitchen.

So this is a tailored solution to let them manage other than being a roof text. things get maybe lost and they can keep up with individual tickets. So, let's see. I've got Councilman Kane's house. His motor water meter needs replacing. Is that me breathing into it? I'm sorry, y'all. Um, if I don't have that meter yet, I can say I can put a note in there that lets the department here know. So, if you call in like, "Well, nobody's been out here." They have an update that we've been out. We don't have that particular meter, but we'll have it in tomorrow. We plan on replacing it. So, it's a way to track. Is that right? Yeah. All right. Yeah. It just helps better accountability and this type of and then their world. Mayor,

I had a question. Oh, um, will this include the storm drains? Like we were talking earlier, we won't have storm drains on there. Just water and sewer. Storm drains, as far as I know, do not belong to the town of Batesburg, Leville. We try our best to leave it that way. Okay. But we won't have any mapping on those. Okay. And there may be some that we could add for whatever reason, but I would at this point I would think we would probably steer away from that. Okay. Please, Mr. Mayor, if I may. Yes, sir.

Uh, I might remind council that we are actually looking at a $3,000 a year cost savings, plus we're getting a better system. My only question is concerns is the way we're handling the fact that we're actually pre-approving an item out of the 2627 budget on a piece by piece uh basis prior to us even seeing that budget and and that's not the way to handle budgeting and that's not good accounting practices. Disagree.

All right. And of course I still asked a bit about when the cost is occurred is when the contract is let or is it when the first payment is made. Uh but the obligation is occurred when the agreement is let it should be coming out of current funds but that's my opinion and uh at that I will call for the question. Well hold on brother hold on brother Hall you got a question? Yes. Why are we doing it in next? Why are we doing it now for next year's budget?

So, I don't know that we're obligated to do that. My thought was, let's swap this over. The transition into the new budget was was aligning well with fiscal year for everyone. So, my intention was for this to go before you all if approved, would become effective in uh July 1st. That was just I I I solely did that looking forward to align with the fiscal year. That way we don't have the contract, let's just say, end in April and it go up and it be above the budget that we did 9 months earlier. Um just so it aligns with our budget. They'll send a notification to us, I believe, 60 days in advance of the contract renewal with the pricing for the following year. I didn't want that to happen in the middle of the year. You guys approved, but it can wait till July then, right? Couldn't wait for the next budget cycle.

Well, my intention is for for this to become active in July. Um that was the contract was my my understanding with the contract is it would be it would start July 1st. So it the motion that is being made says that or no I no well I I don't I I don't I I don't remember what the motion was. I don't either. I'm thinking about all we're voting on is uh approval of a vendor. Correct. not a contract or or approval of the vendor. What says the motion actually says approval of a vendor

and it doesn't say anything else about when a contract's going to be signed if we're approving a vendor to me. It makes sense and makes it easier to budget if we know what we're going to go with ahead of the budget than having to that makes sense. Make an approval after you do the budget. That's fine. It makes sense to me to do it this way, but I'm not an accounting major, so you know, I don't know. But we went down a a long path for something that didn't matter anyway, which is typical here. Well, hold on, brother. You got the gav. Okay. All right.

Any further discussion? If not, we'll vote. District one. Yes. District two. District two votes yes to approve the vendor. District three. District three votes yes to approve the vendor. District four votes yes to approve the vendor. District five yes. District six district six votes yes. District seven yes. District eight district eight votes yes. And the mayor votes yes. That motion carries. All right. The next item on the agenda

is resolution the peach tree yard 23 yard sale. Do we have that resolution up there so we can look at it? Uh do we have a motion to adopt the resolution that's on the screen? So made second. Let's move.

We have a motion and a second to adopt that resolution that's on the screen about the peach tree peach tree 23 yard sale. It's now open for discussion. If there's no discussion, we'll vote. District one, yes. District two, yes. District three, District three votes yes. District four, four, yes. District five, yes. District six, yes. District seven, yes. District eight, District 8 votes yes.

And the mayor votes yes. The resolution carries. That brings us to the manager's report. Mr. Hendris, J. See you. All righty. Good evening. Hopefully everybody recovered from the weekend. I managed to catch a little head cold. I blame the wife, but she thinks I shake too many hands. Um, just a couple updates, a reminder, town holidays today. Technically, today is a town holiday, uh, day after the Poultry Festival or Monday after the festival. We also have Memorial Day coming up in two weeks and Independence Day with the 4th being on a Saturday. It will be observed on the 3rd, which is Friday. Uh, just a couple of schedule updates. Uh, next Monday, uh, planning commission has a meeting. Uh the crew from Central Midlands will be here to go over uh some mapping with the comprehensive plan with PC.

Is that Gregory? Greg's coming.

Uh Gregory, I think Gregory will be here. Yes. Um and council work session. Uh we're shooting for again the 26th, 25th, but Tuesday, May the 26th. I had that incorrectly in the uh weekly report. Um some updates again. Uh Pure Festival was a great success as the weather cooperated. Uh big thank you to all the community volunteers, town staff, um did a lot of good things. Uh you know, the police department, street department, utility, fleet. Uh it's a big group effort to to get it done. Um upcoming events, our event planner has a busy schedule coming up for the summer. Uh May 30th, Saturday, mom, son camo clash at the train depot. Nerf war will be featured. uh team-based skirmishes, capture the flag, and the last man standing. Um, Peach Street 23, as we just touched on, June 5th and 6th. Uh, July 3rd, we will have the combination of the 250th celebration for America and the 150th celebration for Batesburg, Leisville. Uh, it starts at 4 p.m. at Leisville College Park. Uh, be entertainment on stage, food trucks, historical displays, partnering with Lexon County Museum, and uh hopefully creation of a time capsule. So, uh, maybe we get a good picture of council at one of the upcoming, uh, meetings to include in that. Um, summer movie series will get started in June. Uh, June the 2nd is The Lion King. June 16th is Finding Nemo. July 14th, Zootopia. July 28th, Charlotte's Web. Those will all be on Tuesday mornings. I believe it's 10:00 a.m. in Hannes Auditorium. Uh, there will also be a movie night

on June 20th. I made the mistake of uh pointing out to the LMA and it that is now a joke. I referred to the kids movies on Tuesday mornings and then the adult movie on the 20th. It is not an adult movie. It's just a little bit more familyfriendly. So it's it is Superman the uh one from 2025. So the R movies what? PG-13 R movies. Yeah, maybe not R. Maybe PG-13. PG-13. Okay.

PG-13. Yeah. Uh but it's more adult friendly, I guess. Not so much animated kid stuff. Uh there's also a summer concert planned for August 16th. And staff is also working on National Night Out for this fall. Instead of the traditional August date, uh they're targeting uh Thursday, September the 10th, which will uh coincide with the 25th anniversary of 911, which is hard to believe it's been 25 years. Um and then the foodies event will be September 11th through the 13th at the old high school middle school campus um right in the center of town on Highway 1. Uh project updates. The park restrooms are open for use. Uh there's still a few items they're going to tweak and you know some touch-up paint and a few little things, but uh they are open for use. We did have some problems uh Saturday during the volleyball tournament with high usage. Uh so Derek Plumbing will be back out either tomorrow or Wednesday to camera the line. There's something it's possible that a part got broken and and we'll get that taken care of. But, uh, it so it did have a little bit of problems on Saturday, but we'll get that taken care of. Um, the CDBG service line grant, uh, for North Peach Tree, Maple, and South Oak, uh, they are permitted and operating. We're closing that project out shortly. We've got the final invoices, and it does come in under budget of close to $100,000. Uh, CDBG valve assessment is also nearing completion, and that is also expected to have about $100,000 of leftover funds. Unfortunately, a lot of that 100,000 is grant funding. So, uh there is an effort to find a way to use some of those grant funds. Um

you said you're going to put sidewalks down Line Street. What did you say? Good try. That that would that would not be uh that was not in the original grant. So, no, this is the CDBG valve stud. Oh, valves. I heard I heard what was going on.

Um selective hearing tonight. Um, so they are working uh to try to find some uh other uses for the the grant funds. Um, and then we have received that final report that was sent to you a couple weeks ago for the phase one environmental study regarding the Middberg Mill property. Uh, we I've sent that to Tyler the Kataba Cog. He's kind of the brownfield expert just to confirm that is our only requirement to be eligible for Brownfield funding and I'm just awaiting his reply. Um, I've also reached out to Republic Services about potential donation and I think we're still on the same page. She goes, "We're not going to turn down money, but they don't really expect it either." So, um, so we'll we'll have more for for that coming up soon. Um, and you've got all of this in front of you, but, uh, just running through the financial reports. Uh, May 1st balances, police department drug forfeitures 15,206, municipal court 58,438, utility account 462,533. The capital improvement impact fee account is 505708. Uh fire 1% account is 38,374. The town account is 632,916. Police donations 21,415. Age tax 346455. Victim's assistance is 12,260. Senior assistance is $2. Just so you know, that the senior assistance is just a a transfer that's made and the $2 is just that balance to keep the account open. Um, and then LJIP accounts general fund is at 1,ion1 195842. Utility account is at 3,386,932 and the hospitality tax is 991,949. Anybody have any questions?

I do. Yes, sir. It's relating to um the town pond. Um we had talked about taking a field trip. Is that still what are we doing? Uh we will be discussing town pond in the executive session. So I think we can talk about it in there. But we get a feel if that's Well, okay. Because that I think that's okay. Yeah. All right. Thank you, sir. All right. At this time, I entertain a motion to go into executive session. What do we do? So move second.

Let me get to the right page so I can write it down. Oh, that's right. I had to stand. All right. Who did it? Newton and All right, we have a motion and a second we go into executive session. It's now open for discussion. There's no discussion. We'll vote. District one, yes. District two, yes. District three, yes. District four, four, yes. District five, yes.

District six, yes. District seven, yes. District 8, yes. Mayor Bochess, we are in executive session 8:14.

Make a motion that we return from executive session. Have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. All right. We have a motion and a second to return to uh regular regular session. It's now open for discussion. There's no discussion. We'll vote. District one, yes. District two, yes. District three, yes. District four, yes. District five, yes. District six, yes. District 7, yes. District 8 here.

Mayor B chess, we are back in regular session at 9:06. All right. The Mr. Mayor, can I make a motion that we um accept the uh contract for our town new town attorney for Mr. Cunningham? We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. Have a motion and a second to accept town attorney's. Yes, we got a choice. Contract. It's now open for discussion. There's no discussion. We'll vote. District one. Absolutely. District two, yes. District three,

yes. District four, yes. District five, yes. District six, yes. District seven, yes. District 8. Mr. Mayor, may I get his phone number before I vote? You don't already have it. Who you pulling? District 8 votes yes. And the mayor votes yes. All right. There's nothing else that we're going to discuss. Okay. Out of executive session. So, do I hear a motion that we adjourn? So, moved, Mr. Mayor. Hold on. Hold on.

Is there any any items to be placed on the June agenda? I'm getting ahead of myself. Items. It's getting late. If we had that full council, anybody want to bring anything up? Mr. Mayor, I move we adjourn. M

Mr. Mayor, one one second. I if you if you would allow me, I want to um just say thank you for to the town and council for allowing me to uh serve as your town attorney the last um couple years. I really appreciate it. I've enjoyed it. And please uh do not hesitate to uh reach out if you have any questions or or anything in the future. So again, thank you all for the opportunity. I really appreciate it. Dave, can I have your number before you lose? You've already got it. Thanks, David. Thank you, Dave. Enjoyed having you as an attorney, Dave. Thank you very much. Thank you, Dave.

All right, we have a motion to adjurnn. Do I have a second? Second. All right, we have a motion and a second to adjurnn. It is not debatable. District one. No. Yes. District two. Yes. District three. District four. Yes. District five. Yes. District six. Yes. District seven. Yes. District eight. Yes. Mayor vote chess. We are adjourned at 9:09.