County Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Welcome out tonight to this Tuesday, July 14th, 2026, Kershaw County Council meeting. We have One council member, Mr. Shoemake, coming in from his day job, who should be arriving shortly. And Mr. Brazel is out of town, but should be calling in shortly. But at six o'clock, we want to be respectful of your time. And so we're going to go ahead and get the meeting started, anticipating those council members will join us fairly soon. Again, welcome out tonight. Glad to have everyone here. We've been called to order. We've got an invocation tonight. Councilman Toml

Thank you, everyone, and thank you, Shu, for that moving prayer. Thank you, Councilman Tomlinson, for leading the Pledge of Allegiance. And welcome, Councilman Shoemake. All right, we've been called to order. We have the invocation, and we've now moved to the adoption of the agenda. Is there a motion on the agenda?

Mr. Chairman, the motion that we adopt the agenda is submitted.

Mr. Tucker has the motion. Is there a second? Second. We have a second. Any discussion on the agenda? And I'll just note, do we have Mr. Brazel yet online? Okay, just get my attention, whatever he is able to chime in. Seeing no discussion on the agenda, we'll move to a vote. All in favor of the agenda, raise your hand. Ms. Hanna is unanimous. The agenda passes for those who are present and voting with Mr. Razzle not participating at this moment. As we did last meeting, everyone's here for the ordinances. And so under the chairman's prerogative rule 4.2, I'm going to move section 10 up until af

So grateful to have you here. I've actually been involved in some litigation in the past with the ADA, uh, to, to make sure businesses and those who accommodate the public or government entities, uh, accommodate those with disabilities to make sure they have access to various parts of society and can participate meaningfully. And so we're very thankful to have you here. Um, if you're able to, and you want to, you're able to come up or you can even share a brief comment. If you like, we do have a mic here. If, if anybody with you wants to say something.

Thank you so much for coming out tonight. Ms. Phil, Mr. Brazel, I understand we have you on the line. Are you there?

I've been here, and for the record, I'd like to add that my vote was in support of this proclamation. I'll seek comments and consent from counsel to amend the record for Mr. Brazel's vote to be in favor of the proclamation. Everyone consent? No objections? It's so amended. Thank you again, everyone for participating that. All right. That moves us up to, uh, public comments, not Mr. DuBose tonight, Ms. Douglas. We gotta get you a name tag. Uh, how many folks do we have signed up for public comments?

Okay. Just as a general reminder, I'm happy to hear people. tonight on public comment section. It's not a time for Q&A with counsel. It's a time for counsel to hear from the public, similar to public hearing, though the timing is more limited, but the topics are general. We found it helpful in the past if there's a bunch of people that showed up. If you do have one spokesperson that's going to share a similar message, you might unite behind that person and consolidate your time some. But we're happy to hear whoever wants to come up tonight and whichever order you signed up. Who do we have firs

Sir, if you could pull the mic over so we.

Therefore, the... Mr. Burns, your time has expired, unfortunately. And that's why on these nights we also have public hearing, which has a much longer time period. I've got a lot of people on the public comment section that have signed up, and I usually try to give people a little bit of extra time after the time's expired under the rules that this council's voted on. And if you could, would you conclude your remarks?

Okay, thank you, sir. We appreciate you coming out tonight. Ms. Douglas, who signed up next?

Mr. Horton, yes, sir. If you could pull the mic up some, I know you're quite tall, but folks won't be able to hear you.

Thank you for coming out tonight, Mr. Horton. Ms. Douglas, who do we have signed up next?

I don't, I don't think that's at risk for tonight. Go ahead. Yes, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Cato. I just got to let you know that your time is expired and we do have public hearing on these matters a little bit later. Ms. Douglas.

Thank you for coming out tonight, Mr. Brown. Appreciate you. Ms. Douglas.

Ms. Conto. Ms. Conto, if you could go ahead and start, please. I'm speaking for them. Great. I've seen many children here tonight. Yes, ma'am.

Ms. Conto, I just have to let you know that your time has expired. That's fine. We do have public hearing a little bit later. If that's of interest. Thank you so much, Ms. Conto. Ms. Douglas.

Thank you for coming out, Ms. King. Ms. Douglas.

Ms. Curley, and just make sure I'm on track with your numbers. Ms. Douglas, that's number seven? Yes. Okay. Ms. Curley, please. Yes, ma'am.

Ma'am, if you could move the mic just a little bit, some people are telling me they can't hear.

Thank you for coming out, Ms. Curling. Ms. Douglas.

Reichbost. All right. That would move us to person number nine. Oh, she has it. Okay. Ms. Reichbost. Did I get that right? Close enough. Okay. What was your first name?

Can you make sure the mic's in front of there?

Yes, sir, we will. I'm sorry, we didn't catch your first name.

Thanks for coming out tonight, Ms. Whitecloth. Ms. Douglas.

Thanks for coming out tonight. Ms. Douglas.

Please let me know. Thank you for coming out tonight. Ms. Douglas.

speaking on waste management and convenience center changes mr pierce miss pierce oh miss pierce excuse me what was the first name again uh donna miss donna pierce yes ma'am miss pierce

Thank you, Ms. Pierce. Thank you. Ms. Douglas.

Thank you, sir. Appreciate you coming out tonight.

Is there a Vicki Craig present? We'll check one more time. Is Ms. Craig present? There she is.

Thank you, Ms. Craig. Yes. Ms. Douglas, who do we have next?

If you would pull the mic up just a little bit.

Thank you for coming out, Mr. Webb. Ms. Douglas.

Ms. Knight. Ms. Gina Knight. Am I correct? Is that the concluding or is there one more?

Thank you, Ms. Knight. Ms. Douglas. So there's one more speaker.

Thank you very much, Ms. Carlin, for coming out tonight. Ms. Douglas, does that conclude the public comment list? All right, gentlemen, with public comment concluded, and thank you again for everybody coming out and participating. With public comment concluded, that brings us to a series of public hearings. We've got four public hearings on for tonight. Again, the process is you sign up for the public hearing. Each individual will have up to 10 minutes to speak on the particular public hearing. And the matters that are spoken about are supposed to be germane or related to the public hearing item under the rules that this council has voted on. I'll go ahead and open up the first public hearing and see, do

Okay, and since there are multiple public hearings tonight, I'm just going to make sure people have signed up for the thing they intended to. The first public hearing is an ordinance to approve a lease. This is 7A, ordinance to approve a lease of real property located at 632 West DeKalb Street. And that would relate to the South Carolina Forestry Commission. Who do you have signed up?

Ms. Buchanan, did you intend to speak on a lease related to the Carolina Forestry Commission? Did you intend to speak on another matter for public hearing? Okay. Oh, well, we can transfer your name as you did sign up to the public hearing section. What were you intending to speak on? Oh, you weren't speaking. Okay, well, then you can just sit down and enjoy the meeting. Okay, so we don't have anyone signed up at all for item number 7A? Okay, I'll open the public hearing, and we will therefore close the public hearing. It requires sign-up. Public hearing on 7A is closed. We'll move to the next public hearing and check the list. Do we have anyone signed up for 7B on the agenda?

And again, I'll announce that 7B is an ordinance to approve a lease of real property located at 632 West DeKalb Street, and that's in relation to the Department of Natural Resources. No one has signed up. I'll go ahead and open and close the public hearing. It's open and closed. And forgive us for the formality, but we have to go through these machinations to comply with the rules to make sure things are binding under state and local law. That takes care of item number 7B. Number 7C, do we have anyone signed up?

Okay, item number 7C is an ordinance authorizing execution of a delivery of a special source revenue credit that is a SSRC related to a project previously known as Project Gemstone. And it relates to the name of the company, Candy Root Lodge Holdings LLC and Affiliates. It relates to certain economic development properties and incentives related thereto. Since we don't have anybody signed up, I'll open and close the public hearing on 7C. It's open and closed. And we move to item number 7D. How many folks do we have signed up for item number 7D on the public hearing?

Okay, under the rules, again, you've got up to 10 minutes to speak for each person. I don't know that you intend to speak that long for each person. I don't know that the council would have to vote at some point to condense the public hearing because we do have to conduct this business tonight. Public hearing is not designed to have a filibuster, but we're interested in hearing from those who have something to say and share tonight. And so you've got the list of 15 folks. I'll go ahead and open up the public hearing. Who's the first person that signed up?

I can feel that. I feel that mistake in my bones.

You sound like councilman. You make praying. Who's the first person signed up?

Mr. Horton. You signed up for what you. Okay. You signed. You said your piece. Yes, sir. Okay. All right. So let's move to person number two under public hearing.

Thank you, Miss Poole. Miss Douglas. Who is signed up as number three on the public hearing?

Thank you for coming out tonight. Ms. Douglas, who do we have next?

Ms. Conto has signed up again. Yes, ma'am.

Thank you, Ms. Conto. Ms. Douglas, who do we have up next?

Thank you very much, Ms. Cain. Ladies and gentlemen, please. We're going to have a respectful evening. I hope I know everybody's very charged on this and I believe in the first amendment wholeheartedly, but we don't embrace the heckler's veto. Let's let everybody speak and say their piece and then sit down. Um, Ms. Douglas, who do we have next on the list?

Would you say the name one more time, please? Ms. Cato. Is there a Ms. Cato present who signed up? Is that Ms. Cato? Nope. We'll call the name one more time. Christine A. Cato. Not seeing a Christine A. Cato. Who's the next person on the list?

Thank you for coming out tonight, ma'am. Ms. Douglas, who do we have next?

Mr. Adam Smith. What number is that, by the way?

Thank you, Mr. Smith. Ms. Douglas, who do we have signed up next?

Mr. Webb, was that a double sign-up, or do you want to speak again?

He's coming. You know he's coming back up. He knows the rules.

Thank you, Mr. Webb. Ms. Douglas, who do we have signed up next?

They cannot be overstated, my apologies. That's why I need to stay on my script.

Thank you for coming out tonight. Ms. Douglas.

Thank you for coming out tonight. No one else has signed up, correct, Ms. Douglas? Okay, that moves us to the next. Thank you again for everyone's participation. It's going to be a long meeting, and so I'm going to move us on through. We've got approval of the minutes up next as an agenda item that requires a vote. Do we have a motion on the minutes? Make a motion. We approve the minutes. Second. Mr. Cato, we've got a second as well. Any discussion on the minutes? Seeing no discussion. Mr. Brazel, any discussion remotely on the minutes?

How do you vote, Mr. Brazel, remotely? yes that's a yes mr brazel all present and voting raise your hand if you're in favor on the minutes it is unanimous in favor the minutes are approved miss hannah uh next up we're going to go ahead and address ordinances and so we're going to start with section 10 item number a Item 10A is third reading. We had first reading and second reading as indicated, and we just recently had the public hearing. Third reading on an ordinance to authorize a fee and lieu agreement between BRNG LLC. It's a company that was previously identified as Project Ballas. one mo

Sure. A few things. First off, I appreciate everybody coming out tonight. You know, when we do this job, I think we got some feedback, by the way, councilman Brazel, I think you may be on.

Mr. Brazel, if you could please mute your phone, we're getting some feedback, it appears, and you will be recognized at some point to speak whenever appropriate. Thank you, sir.

So obviously the job that we do up here can be very difficult at times choosing know in these projects and what we support what we don't support i've been vocal that i have voted for this project twice i plan to vote for it tonight i've been very up front with everyone that has reached out to me and told them that so i want to lead with that i don't want to bury the lead here i support this project but and again i don't expect to change the minds of anyone in the room i think you've come here having done your research and got to the place where you feel like you should be and i just want to ex

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I won't be quite as long-winded as Councilman Shoemake. He did have a lot of the same points that I wanted to touch tonight, and I don't think there's really any need for me to repeat some of the things that he said. However, I would like to state, over the last couple months, I've had the opportunity to speak with a lot of residents, to do a lot of research. There is one phone call that I do still owe a call to, is Ms. Bone. She called me this afternoon, and I have not had the opportunity to call her back. I plan to call her back tomorrow after this vote. And I, too,

So thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Tomlinson. Council members who are present, any other comments or questions? Mr. Jones.

Thank you very much. Let me just start. I've got a couple things I want to share here, but let me just start saying this. I, too, feel I have gotten very little information on this. I don't like the fact that it's been a $10,000 shut-up money offer to certain folks. And I truly believe that this is a Trojan horse for a data center. And I'm going to tell you right now, I'm going to stand with the people from Bethune. And I'm going to go. And I've got to share something with you folks today. Some may like it, some don't. I don't really care. And by the way, too, I'm not a typical politician. I d

Oh, okay. They require significant water for cooling with some large facilities using up to 5 million and some hundred feet. I think it's 150,000 gallons away, but it can go up to millions, 500 million or 5 million gallons daily. This can lead to water shortages in an already water-scarce environment. Regions. Pollution is a problem. Economic impacts are a problem. Increasing utility bills. Pollution. To operate, the center generates noise, light pollution, which can disrupt local wildlife, negatively affect residents and quality of life. Limited local benefits. Despite promises of job creatio

Thank you so much. But it makes me, I just want to make sure y'all understand why I may hesitate or whatever. But anyway, having said that, I love you guys. Thank you for the time you've given me to serve on county council. Thank you for your friendships over 20 years. I'm going to support the majority tonight. I've always said I put people before money, and that's just the way I feel. But let me say this, too, about these folks up here. Every one of them are good men. Every one of them are doing what they think is right. We just don't agree. Okay? I happen to be right. Thank you very much.

Does that conclude your remarks, Mr. Jones? It does. Thank you. Mr. Brazel, while we still have you on the phone, anything remotely?

Hey, thanks. Councilman Jones enjoyed your remarks. You did just fine, sir. Chairman, I'd like to, not being in the room, it's difficult, but I've been listening and keeping up as best I can. The few questions that have crossed my mind regarding the power center or the power plant, rather, where do we know where that power is going? Is it just going into co-ops, into a general grid? Would it help decrease rates? What benefits do we know that the citizens of Kershaw County would have from that power plant? Do we have any answers?

Well, um, is that a rhetorical question or you're asking me?

Well, I'm not sure if there's a representative there that could answer it, sir.

I mean, I've done my own individual research since I had the entire council take a tour last December, and I'm aware of those concepts. Okay, so we don't have anyone in the room. I mean, if you wanted, I mean, who are you looking for?

I didn't know if there was a representative. Santee Cooper or Dominion or someone who purchases power? Right.

All right, I can generally explain the process. I did not receive your request to try to have one of those folks here, but they do an RFP. No, no, no.

I understand the process as I've worked for Santee Cooper when I was in college, coal fire stations, hydro, et cetera. So I do understand the process. I just wanted to find out if we had someone in the room that could better explain to us how it could benefit the citizens of Kershaw County. But that's the one thing that I searched for. that i haven't been able to find you know anybody on the city's um grid has been paying a tremendous price and and if if someone said russell this is going to lower rates across kershaw county and it's going to help the city of camden who's experienced especiall

If you have a question that's directed to a particular member or staff member or council member, um, please state it and we can make sure we try and respond to you as you're chiming in remotely.

So one, one question that I would have for our attorney, and I don't think John's there tonight, but. whomever's representing Kershaw County tonight, are we conclusive that a data center would not be on that property?

Well, I can respond to that question. It's not zoned for a data center. And so any attempt to have a data center land on this property or any other one in Kershaw County, except for those industrial zonings that directly relate to it, would have to come before the planning commission or this council. And so just like any of the neighbors or myself could not build a skyscraper on my property, my property is not zoned for it. It couldn't happen unless it is applied for and brought to this council or the planning commission.

Well, that is good to hear. And I hope that that stays, um, stays true. And that we, I know that we, we turned one, well, we didn't have to turn it down at one showed up and it disappeared rather quickly. Um, a few months prior to looking at this, which left questions for a few of us. But from everything I've heard, that's not the case. And I hope that continues to be the case. So I'm still left with a lot of unanswered questions. For those reasons, I will continue to not support the Fee and Lua Tax Agreement that I would have to say, regardless of zoning, this project hinges on the agreement.

Thank you for your comments, Mr. Brazel. Mr. Kato or Mr. Tucker, any comments, questions? Mr. Tucker.

Go ahead, Mr. Tucker. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to all of you showing up here tonight. I want to say a special thanks to the ones that came out Thursday at the town hall in Bethune at the Women's Center. I'm elected, have been for a while. Any darts, arrows, bad comments, I put myself in this position to take, and I'm okay. I appreciate that day, and I appreciate today when you came out and spoke so courageously for your community. Now, where my problem lies is with Ms. King. I'm going to start there, and then I'll roll back. She spoke up Thursday night in that meeting as well, and sh

Yes, sir, Mr. Chair. Well, I've patiently waited my turn. For over two hours tonight, we listened to the concerns of the citizens of not just Bethune, but all of Kershaw County. And I appreciate each and every one. I appreciate the concerns from the ones that are opposed to this plant. I appreciate the ones that come out in support of it. I wanna say to start with that I appreciate, and anybody that knows me very well in here knows that I'll shoot you pretty straight. I'm just gonna say what I think and how I feel. I wanna thank Beaufort Rosemary because every time I've called them or I've had

Thank you very much, Mr. Cato. um i'll conclude i have a i have a few remarks um just so folks understand my position i've stated i support this and i want to say why this is one of the most challenging votes that i'll encounter perhaps on council i may have a little bit of run way ahead of me but it's already been eight years i've been serving um and longer than that if you include time at the state house First, I wanted to state that this really has been a unique project as far as economic development goes in that it's the only one I'm aware of in the history of Kershaw County where the coun

or bring businesses in i'm very interested in that figure out how you can get the matching uh funds to help the area with that we'll move it mr tucker yes if i can and i know that someone's probably people listening or or in the audience from rosemary um i don't know the exact protocol on who received letters and who did who didn't but um just from my personal standpoint um If this does go through, can you reach out to the others who may be in that corridor that you might have skipped or that just wasn't in that area that you thought they were in? I'd just like to know that whatever's been off

Thank you, Mr. Tucker. Mr. Chair. Mr. Jones.

Just very quickly, one last plea with y'all. Vote no.

Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't get that earlier. Thank you, Mr. Jones. All right, so with that, we'll move it to a vote. All those who are present and in favor, raise your hand on third reading. That is Shoemake, Tucker, Connell, and Tomlinson in favor. All who are present and opposed, raise your hand. That is Cato and Jones. And then Mr. Brazel voting remotely, how do you vote?

That is a no vote remotely from Mr. Brazel, Ms. Hanna. It passes for the record on 10A. That's third reading. That brings us to item number 10B on the agenda. This is an ordinance regarding. Yes, sir. Thank you. Council has asked that we take a five-minute break. We've been at it for a good while already. We'll recess. We'll recess for five minutes. Thank you. All right, we're going to come back in session. We've reconvened a quorum, and we'll pick up with the agenda where we were. Mr. Brazel, are you still on remotely? Yes, still here. We got Mr. Brazel still. Okay. That moves us from item nu

Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Just yes, that's all.

And there she goes. It's not John's. Thank you.

Yes, Ms. Douglas. Thank you. One thing before we move on from the last agenda item, there was a matter that was brought up from staff and council about a common consent request, and we would seek common consent that for the third reading of 10A, they had, was it Richland County, or Richland, the word Richland was on the resolution.

Yes. Okay, later on. Well, we'll address it when we get there. All right, then we're back on item number 10B. This is an ordinance authorizing the execution and delivery of a SSRC or special source revenue credit agreement between Kershaw County and Candy Root Lodge Holdings LLC and certain affiliates of Candy Root Lodge Holdings LLC, also previously known as Project Gemstone, with certain economic development property in the county. And matters related thereto, we've had first and second reading and the public hearing. Is there a motion on item number 10B?

Mr. Chair, I'd like to make a motion that we approve third reading.

We've got a motion to approve. Is there a second on 10B? I yield. We've got a second from Mr. Tucker. Any discussion?

None. We don't mean through two readings. This is the approval for the... candy root lodge golf resort coming up to mount pisgah and i'm excited to see i think it's a great opportunity for the area for the community and for the county i'm glad you're excited about something thank you i think it is important to note as a factual matter that this is technically the second most controversial bethune project we've talked about tonight

Well, the audience dumped out, and I want to thank Attorney Smoke for hanging in there because he's three hours in now just like us. But thank you for spending the night with us, sir.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. Any other comments, questions? Mr. Brazel, anything remote? None. How do you vote?

That's a yes on 10b remotely from Mr. Brazel. For those who are present and voting, raise your hand if you're in favor. It is unanimous for those who are present and voting with Mr. Jones being out of the room at the moment. All right, 10b passes. Thanks, Stephen.

We can get your name tag if you want to come back. Thank you, Stephen.

Item number 10C. This is an ordinance regarding approval of a lease for real property located at 632 West of Cab Street. We've had first and second reading. We just had the public hearing, and of course, it is in relation to the Department of Natural Resources. Do we have a motion on third reading?

Make a motion we approve on third reading, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Tucker has the motion. Is there a second? Mr. Cato has a second. Mr. Tucker, anything on third reading?

Mr. Chairman, can I get some, with my father-in-law being the head of DNR, should I recuse myself on this vote, third reading? My father-in-law is the director of DNR. I think I actually voted on it the other two readings, but would there be any issue related to this? Should I recuse myself from this third reading? Would you recommend that I recuse myself?

That is Shoemake, Tucker, Connell, and Cato in favor with Mr. Tomlinson abstaining for the reason stated. Mr. Brazel, any comments or how do you vote?

Okay, that's a yes. So it passes with Mr. Jones being absent at the moment. That brings us to item number 10D, third reading, regarding an ordinance to approve a lease of real property located at 632 West DeKalb Street. This is in relation to the South Carolina Forestry Commission, and we've just had public hearing. First reading and second reading are appropriate as occurred and listed in the agenda. Do we have a motion on third reading?

Make a motion on third reading, Mr. Chairman.

Second. All right, we've got a motion and a second. Mr. Tucker, anything on third reading? Hearing none, any other comments or questions from those who are present? Seeing none, we'll move it to a vote. Actually, let me just check Mr. Brazel real quick. Any comments, Mr. Brazel?

How do you vote? I vote in favor, yes. That's a yes remotely for Mr. Brazel. All who are in favor who are present, raise your hand. And it's unanimous for those who are present and voting with Mr. Jones being absent at the moment. This brings us to our discussion items now, which is section number nine. So we move now to item number 9A, placed on the agenda by Mr. Brazel. Topic is inmate work crews, road crews. Is there a motion?

Yeah, I'll make a motion to discuss whether or not we can utilize inmates to pick up litter and trash in Kershaw County.

Is there a second? Second. Mr. Thompson has a second. Mr. Browse, you have a floor for discussion.

Hey, thanks, Mr. Chairman. So I've had actually, um, Other members of the community, including, uh, some city council members, um, reach out to me and ask this question repeatedly, and I've failed to get a clear answer. So I think it's probably best to ask legal. Um, it seems like that before COVID inmates, uh, that were, um, incarcerated at Curacao County, um, jail and detention center were able to get out and. help keep Kershaw County clean. Post COVID, I think things changed and maybe they didn't revert back to the natural state. I would just like to gain some clarity as to how inmates can

Mr. Brazel, Mr. Cato has a response initially.

Councilman Brazel, I can speak a little bit on what happened And it mainly happened back around COVID when I still worked for the state and for SCDC. What happened was we seen a influx of contraband being brought in and escapes. But the main reason for the Department of Corrections was the staffing and finding people that was able to transport these inmates, stay with these inmates. I believe the same was with the Kershaw County Detention Center. However, I am very much in favor of bringing this back if it's possible. But I do know that there was a lot of problem between... some of the scdc in

Mr. Shoemake. So, Councilman Brazel, this is Derek. Another point on this, first off, would love to see it too. I've actually had this issue come up a lot over in my area, and I actually have talked to the, well, he is no longer the SCDC director. When I talked to him, he was the SCDC director, Brian Sterling, who's now a U.S. attorney. And I actually, I saw this on the agenda, so I texted him and confirmed with him that's still the policy. SCDC is not providing MA work crews statewide at this point. Now, maybe they'll change that. Maybe we can talk to our delegation. As to the jail itself, th

Well, I think it's something that we've done in the past. If we've done it in the past, we can certainly do it in the future. I think if there's the willingness, and it sounds like there's a willingness uh from several members of council and danny i'd like to thank you for your input uh you certainly know more about it than i do and derek you as well um so what we can do is we can hey councilman jones as well yes absolutely um i didn't know if you were back in the room yet but i i what we can do is is we can maybe defer this into the next meeting and have some better conversation and try to co

I don't know where we are with what's been said. I apologize. I had to leave for a minute. We always, one, you can't put pre-sentenced inmates out on the road. They got to be sentenced. And the only sentenced inmates I had when I was the jail administrator were mostly family court. I don't know how that's going now. But if you do have some sentenced family court there, I'm certainly in favor of using them on the sides of the road.

Well, I think, you know, pending Gerald's remarks, you know, Gerald, thank you. And Councilman Jones, thank you as well. What I would like to do is continue this conversation. And had I been satisfied where I was at, I would not have put this on the agenda. I'm dissatisfied with the situation. And I think a lot of citizens are as well. as well as other political members of different councils in our county. And they'd like to see these things happen, right? We are the ones that make the at-will decisions, the council itself. And in our direction, I would like to find a way to make this happen.

Oh, that's easy. Thank you. Mr. Browse. Are you requesting that we put on as a discussion item on the next agenda?

Yes. And we can have, um, others available for further discussion and then council can make the decision as a group together.

Okay. Whoever those others might be, please inform staff. So they might be present. Um, Ms. Hannah, please note that for the next agenda. Thank you. Any other discussion?

All right. That concludes item number 9A. No vote is required. Item number 9B placed on the agenda by Councilman Jones, Convenient Center Hours. Is there a motion? So moved. We have a motion. Is there a second? I'll make a second. We got a second. Mr. Jones, you have the floor for discussion.

I'm so enthusiastic on that second. I know it's been a long night.

Listen, keep this short and simple. I think one thing that we might have overlooked, I'm all in for the hours of the convenience centers to do Sunday and Monday. Just take the lake hours and make them open on Sunday and maybe enclosed another time. Because the people at the lake, it's tough on them to have to – They either rent to somebody and then they got that garbage coming out and there's no place to put it at the end of the day. You know, I would really like staff to consider. And one thing I say, I talked to Gerald. Gerald said, well, we're not always, he looks at me like, what are you g

Mr. Jones, would you like to make a motion? If you would like to make a motion to open the lake recycling centers, I can make an amendment and then we can put it to a vote. I don't think I can because I didn't put it.

Yeah, I've got to call a point of order. We're in a discussion item. Yeah, Mr. President. Is there going to be a request to be placed on the next agenda as new business or some other old business matter or something?

I'd like it placed on the agenda for new business. Next meeting. Since I did put it on for discussion now. And, guys, what I'd like you to have is just have an open mind. Just think about what I'm saying. Just make it so much easier for those folks at the lake. And I know y'all want to do the right thing. Follow my lead.

Yeah. Councilman Jones I've received, obviously the lake is inside my district and I've received numerous calls, text concerns, uh, people that are disappointed, um, you know, slightly upset and, um, we'd really, really be hurting a considerable amount of rural population. And people do use their homes at the lake on the weekends, and they do need to empty their trash on Sunday afternoons. So I think a limited schedule on Sunday afternoons. I've done some research, and I've seen that in other counties, maybe from 3 to 6.30, depending on sunset and that sort of thing.

Well, I believe in my mind that my brother, John Thomas, is going to ambush Mr. Shoemake and Mr. Tucker and Mr. Connell. Well, may I say something, Mr. Chairman?

Mr. Shoemake. Yeah, that ambush has already occurred, but I will say this. I want to be very clear about something. I would oppose any vote on this, and I want to tell you guys why in advance the next week, just so you can think about it as you prepare your thoughts. You know, one of the worst things we can do in my opinion as a council is send the signal out that we're gonna second guess our administrators before policies even went into place. This is Danny's policy. He briefed the finance committee. We backed him on it, even though it wasn't a vote like here, because he just asked our opinio

So I will not be supporting it. Thank you, but I disagree with you on that. Because we set the policy, you know, and we make sure that the people, we're the ones that are really accountable to the people, the staff are accountable to us.

We don't set the landfill hours, right? We could. We could, and that's my point. We could step into every one of his roles, and that's why we don't get a good administrator.

Well, no, no, no, no. That's a good argument, but it's not realistic.

Let me just tell you. Anyway, I know it's not new, but that's all I have to say.

Okay. Mr. Jones, are you still holding on to the floor? Mr. Cato would like to say something if you're ready to re-yield.

No, I will re-yield because I need to come back. Go ahead.

No, I mean, I do understand what Mr. Shumate's saying, and I do agree. However, I do see the issue at the lake as being the problem in the county. i think what i'd rather see happen is maybe let's give administration an opportunity to see if something can be changed or worked out rather than us just step in and try and take a vote to take over give them an opportunity to see if there's something that might could be worked out hours or change or something

Any other council member not spoken yet? Wish to speak. Mr. Uh, Mr. Brazelman, um, Mr. Blanchard.

Go ahead. Thank you. And, um, I don't, you know, I don't think I made any unclear statement initially when this was brought before us. Um, nobody asked me if I liked it. It was. It was told to me that this was going to be done. And so it's, it's, it's nothing personal towards administration. And I certainly can't find how us hiring someone in the future, how this will be detrimental. It just shows that we're representing the people, uh, no different than the votes earlier tonight. Everyone had an opinion and everybody was respectful of the opinions, even, even in a very heated situation in a,

Well, I think we've already got it as an agenda item on the next available agenda. And so y'all have made your wishes clear as an individual council member or two council members wanting to put an agenda item on under new business, which will be eligible for a vote. So in the meantime, folks can do the research. Before we move on from the discussion item, I just wanted to mention that there is some root cause for the policy. And one of the questions that I know staff is researching is this is a a issue that costs us several hundred thousand dollars don't cost no more money well um before you s

Thank you, Mr. Blanchard. If you can't get us the data in the meantime on what we can estimate, the fraud is resulting in additional costs. And I'm sure between now and next vote, we can talk about the most narrowly tailored way to address those issues.

That was very eloquently put. I didn't agree with it. Thank you very much, Mr. Jones. I still got the floor.

Mr. Jones, Mr. Chairman, if I may say one more thing. One more thing. To clarify, Mr. Blanchard, I understand your perspective and your point of view and the 500 employees that serve 72,000 people in Kershaw County. Our situation is the exact juxtaposition is yours. We're accountable to the people. You guys are more accountable to your employees and trying to provide a wonderful workplace. And I appreciate that, but no different than us trying to make a quick adjustment after we were told something was changing. Our phones start lighting up. This is an immediate concern for the people that liv

Well, Mr. Brazel, I'll just say in reply, I think it's directly a part of the discussion. I'm interested in the data because overall we're talking about a holistic solid waste convenience hour policy that might need to be catered to particular areas, maybe some not. I've heard from several folks that want staff and us to root out fraud, waste, and abuse. I think this is an attempt at that. I'm not saying it doesn't need to be refined, but I think that's squarely one of the issues in front of us.

Can I say one last thing? I don't disagree with the situation in Elgin. I think that makes a lot of sense. But here's a for instance, if you were to leave, when I leave Edisto Island, I was taking trash off and I was stopped and I was asked to see my ID. I said, well, I'm not a Charleston County resident, but I own a home and I pay taxes here. And he says, oh, okay, could you bring your tax bill next time? I said, sure. I'll try to put it in my truck. So there are many people that live on Lake watery that pay a 6% rate in tax that come from Charlotte or wherever the user, their Lake home. And

Mr. Braswell. I'll just note that I'm in the exact same boat in regards to the property on Edisto and that facility is on Sunday. Extraordinarily frustrating. It's closed on Sunday. I figured out a way to work around it.

It's frustrating for me. It, it, it irritates me every time.

Okay. All right. Any other discussion council members, Mr. Jones? No. Okay. No votes required. Thank you for the discussion. Again, we already have it as a new business item under, I believe, Mr. Jones and Mr. Brazel's names, and others can add in if they like.

Thank you, staff, for working with us on this.

Yes, sir. That's 9B, and then no votes required. 9C, project ballast, Mr. Jones, you had as a discussion item. Okay, we will have no motion on 9C from Mr. Jones. That brings us to 11A. And I would, before we seek a motion on 11A, just like to get clarification from council or staff. The Scrivener's error related to Richland County Was that in relation to 11A that I mentioned earlier?

Okay. All right. So do we have a motion, and then we'll seek a motion to amend, but do we have a motion on 11A? This is a resolution committing to negotiate ad valorem taxes. This is really kind of a housekeeping matter after the third reading that we just had between Kershaw County and BRNG LLC, a company previously identified as Project Ballast. Do we have a motion?

Mr. Tucker makes a motion. Do we have a second? We have a second from Mr. Shoemake. Before we have any discussion, is it okay, Mr. Tucker, if we get an update on what amendment might be needed from legal counsel? Yes, Ms. Douglas.

Mr. Tucker, you had the floor, but will you yield to a motion to amend as stated by legal counsel?

Yes, sir, I most definitely will. I will make that motion, Mr.

Chair. Mr. Shoemaker has the motion on the recommendations from legal counsel and some Scrivener's corrections. Any second?

Mr. Shoemaker, you've got a second. Any discussion on the motion to amend before we get back to the original motion? No discussion. Seeing no discussion on the motion to amend, any discussion, Mr. Brazel, remotely? Hearing none, we'll move it to a vote for those who are present. All in favor of the motion to amend, raise your hand. We have Shoemake, Tucker, Connell, and Tomlinson in favor, all opposed on the motion to amend. Jones and Cato opposed, who are present and voting. Mr. Brazel, do we still have you? We just lost Mr. Brazel. He's going to take trash out. Okay, the motion to amend pass

Yeah, okay. Give us a brief background, and then we can see if we get a motion.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Blanchard. Do we have a motion on the recommendation from staff and the item before us in relation to pickleball courts?

I make a motion that we approve this request from staff on the pickleball courts, but I do have a question.

I will second it. Okay, we have a second. Mr. Tucker, you had a question?

Yes, sir. Mr. Blanchard, of this 249, how much of that was private?

I can speak on that. So... Approximately $210,000 has been committed, though we have not voted on it yet. We will, the council, and perhaps I'll have- This is going to be a gift?

A gift. So we won't be pulling anything out of our coffers?

No, we have already budgeted $300,000 towards pickleball improvements. I'm trying to make sure some of the funds go to Mr. Cato's area as well. What's the name of that tennis court?

Does it have a- Oh, that's Boyd Young. Boyd Young.

All right, so next to Boyd Young, where we've had significant improvements- There's private citizens interested in donating up to $210,000 through various means to split between those two pickleball projects, Casey West and the one adjacent to Boyd Young, which is a tennis court that needs to be revamped into pickleball, which is extremely popular now. And I'm hearing a bunch of demand for it. I assume council members are hearing some of the same demand for conversions.

You hadn't heard anything about pickleball? Okay, well, I don't know if it's generational or not, but everybody tells me they want to do it. So at any rate, instead of having the vote just on the 249 tonight, which I think we move this forward, just know that maybe next meeting, as soon as we can get it lined up, we'll be looking at a substantial donation, which I think will let us almost... Can we wait until next meeting to do this? No, I think we need to go ahead and prove this and get the contract working and work from the capital that we have.

I'd be more apt to support it if I knew the money was there. A grant, I mean, not a grant, but a donation.

No, an amount greater than this. In the budget that you just voted in favor of, the budget amount has already been allotted higher than the 249. Yeah, okay. So the money's there to get this project done. I'm just saying that in a future meeting, we'll be able to vote on another $200,000 that will allow us to address Boyd Young, I think, at the same time.

Would this just be for Casey West, or is this going to include Boyd Young?

No, the $249,000 is the quote for Casey West.

So where would the other come from for Boyd Young?

You're going to get a $210,000 donation, I anticipate, coming in, assuming the council votes to accept it. And I'm hoping economies of scale, perhaps with the same contractor, won't have to mobilize twice in Kershaw County. They can do one project in Kershaw County and then roll right into the next one. And if they have some of the same equipment that needs to be used on the next project, it's easy to transfer. And I'm hoping we can save some costs there and benefit another portion of the county.

I'm going to tell you why I probably will support this tonight, if you're interested.

I am, yeah. We budgeted for it. I think we need to get this rolling. And then jump on the next one.

The pecan orchard money is still in the budget. Right. Okay. And we're going to move forward on that too.

Okay. All right. Thank you. If you want to put that on as a agenda item, we can discuss it.

Maybe next time. Sammy and I are working together on that.

Okay, but for the matter before us, Mr. Tucker, you did have the floor. I just want to give that background.

No, and I appreciate that. So that gave me great clarification on where we're at, and I look forward to the generous donation by private citizens to move forward in the upper end of the county.

We're going to have $50,000 left over to help with that Boyd Young project anyway. So if it comes in at the same with the $210,000 plus the $50,000 left over, we're still good. Yeah.

Yeah, this is awesome. We just we just cut the ribbon on the KC West new parking lot. This will be huge. Those tennis courts get very little use and starting to fall in disrepair anyway. This is awesome.

I'll just say, since it's immediately adjacent to where we're doing this renovation, assuming the vote passes tonight, the, um, the playground, which is also donated. We gotta make sure we do a good job of staying on top of equipment repairs. And I get calls from time to time about, you know, whatever apparatus it is that's having an issue. Um, people really notice that. And especially with their kids playing out there, we wanna make sure we stay on top of it. Mr. Chairman, and it's gonna be more highly traffic. Once the pickleball courts come, people are gonna be in and out all the time.

So if you don't mind, let me speak to this since we're talking about Casey West. So, um, great, uh, picture photo for the ribbon cutting last week. Sorry, I missed it, but, um, we need to look at, cause I've got my butt chat pretty good for some basketball courts to go out there somewhere. Yeah. I'm telling you now, I will not take this beating by myself. All of you sitting up here is going to get part of this if we don't do something. We need to find out where we can locate some basketball. God bless you out of that part. Because it sends the wrong message, number one, for our community and our county.

Thank you, Mr. Tucker and Mr. Jones. Any other discussion on this agenda item? 12A. Seeing none, we'll move it to a vote on the bid before us of $249,239.96. All in favor, raise your hand. It's unanimous for those who are present and voting with Mr. Brazel having dropped off the call at the moment.

Y'all just remember that when I come back to y'all.

12b um i don't know this necessarily requires a vote because we're not adjusting the schedule for the rest of the year i think we'll talk about that at our next meeting um but council meetings what's that it requires a vote to cancel yeah yeah i'm just i mean well if if a quorum don't show up the meeting's canceled yeah so either way um i'll make a motion that we cancel the 728 26 excuse me make sure i have that date correct 20 is 728. Yeah, the 728-26 council meeting. I'll explain after we get a second.

We have a second. So we've got the annual South Carolina Association of Counties training seminars and conference during that time period. So every council member that's attending, which would be a quorum, will be out of out of town and unavailable to attend the meeting. And so we typically cancel that meeting. And then I would suggest that the next meeting that we have in August, we take up the council schedule for the rest of the year, look at holidays in November, December, whether or not we want to do other meetings based on schedules. But that's my motion just related to the 7-28-26 meeti

7-28-26, July 28, 2026, the annual South Carolina Associated Academy Conference is occurring. Okay, all in favor? It is unanimous for those who are present and voting. Ms. Hanna, the 7-28-26 meeting is canceled. It takes care of number 12B. 13A, we've got a reappointment on the agenda from... District 3, Councilman Schumach, this is related to the Kershaw County Clean Community Commission. Do we have a motion?

Yeah, I have a motion to appoint Ms. Dennis. She has been on the Clean Community Commission, so I understand that she's willing to serve again.

Thank you, Mr. Schumach. Is there a second? Second. We have a second. Any further discussion? All right. All in favor, raise your hand on the reappointment. It's unanimous for those who are present and voting Ms. Hanna that Kate takes care of item number 13A1. We'll get to council member briefings. Mr. Cato.

I don't really have a whole lot. I think we've had a long enough meeting tonight. But I do want to thank the ones that come out for the ribbon cutting at both Boyd Young and up in Bethune. We had a good crowd, I think, at Copeland and at Boyd Young. And the parks look amazing. And I just thank everybody for their hard work and for their support. And I want to say thank you to all the ones that Lifted up prayers, I'm a new grandfather.

My grandbaby was born on the 3rd of July and a few little complications that sent her to the NIC unit and she stayed in there for about seven or eight days and she was brought home Sunday evening. But I thank you all for your thoughts and prayers and reaching out to me during that time.

Thank you, Mr. Cato. Mr. Tomlinson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The 3rd of July is a good day. That's my late sister-in-law's birthday. So when one leaves, one comes in place. So congratulations, Mr. Cato. And I was being sincere earlier in my comments when we were on the third reading of that ordinance. And I know that there's not a person sitting in this audience who was here during that time, but I'm sure that some are still listening or they might come back and listen. But I sincerely appreciated every single person's comments, whether for or against. And that's what this process is about. I

So people, but I'm being, it's an all sincere, you know, I'm being very sincere because I think this is something that impacts the people.

Please do not interrupt Mr. Tomlinson's time.

Thank you. And staff, as always, thank y'all for being here and thank you for all you do. This would not be possible without you.

I'll give y'all a list of who I want to thank. Let me just say that I don't know if y'all are aware or not. Y'all know Gary Patterson with Patterson Insurance, Offset Insurance. He was named the new head of officials for football in the ACC. He's supervisor of the football officials of the ACC. That is really neat, you know, and very proud of him. Also, Jonathan and I want to make sure we get the pecan orchard on the agenda and get something done as soon as possible. Thank you, Jonathan. and having said that i don't think i got anything else just i appreciate this council i don't agree with yo

So we're pushing 10 o'clock? I think I'm good.

I'm not going to quite be that brief. I want to say thank you, Mr. Blanchard and Ms. Douglas, for stepping in and filling in. I thought that you guys did a magnificent job tonight. Never had any questions about you. abilities or talents, but it's always good to have council will be willing to step in when our attorneys out and the same thing with our administrator and we appreciate all you do behind the scenes as well. So And I just want to say, so it can be recorded, that I feel the same as my colleague here to my right. I'm not willing to snatch the rug from any staff on these recycling cent

Just remind everyone, hug your kids, hug your parents, hug your family members. It still echoes for me. My dad's recent stroke and I've had other family members or friends, excuse me, also who have almost lost someone or lost someone recently. And there are so many things that are more important in life than some of the things that we get distracted with. And family is really what matters. And I just want to share that. in God. So with that, we'll carry on with the, uh, agenda that brings us to Mr. Deputy administrators briefing, Mr. Blanchard.

Where are they hauling it to? Do you know?

Thank you very much, Mr. Blanchard, and for serving tonight and filling in. And we miss... Mr. Templer. His name's Danny. Sorry, I'm a little tired. Mr. Danny Templer. His name's right in front of me on this big sign. I think he's vacationing locally. Bless his heart on that.

Any non-privileged legal briefing? Thank you very much. That will bring us to item number 17, which we do have three matters for executive session. I would seek a motion on items number 17, A through C. This would be discussion of negotiation institute proposed contracts for A and C, and then receipt of legal advice related to a potential claim and other matters covered by the attorney-client privilege. This is all under SC code 30-4-70A2. Do we have a motion for executive session?

Very begrudgingly, I so move. I'll second the motion.

Yeah, we have a second. Any discussion on executive session? Seeing none, all in favor, raise your hand. It is unanimous on executive session. We are in executive session. And for public's benefit, Ms. Douglas, I don't think any votes are anticipated.

Okay, thank you. Second. We have a motion and a second. Well, I guess I made the motion. I'll take your second. All those in favor of any executive session, raise your hand.

It passes. Mr. Shoemaker, you in favor of any executive session? It's unanimous, Ms. Hanna. And then seek a motion for adjournment. So moved. Second. And we have a second. No discussion. All in favor, raise your hand. We are adjourned.

Go ahead. A friend of mine, his name is,