City Council - Regular Meeting

Jim, you ready?

Good evening. I'd like to call the city of North Augusta City Council meeting for March the 16th, 2026 to order. It's great to see everybody. Thank you all for being here. Uh you're welcome to join me in prayer. Dear God, we come to you tonight asking for your guidance for our council as we make decisions for our citizens in North Augusta. We also ask for your protection for our country, for our men and women who serve in our public safety and in the military. We ask you to watch over all our elected officials and municipalities, state government, and federal government at this time. Amen. If you're able, please stand for the pledge. Okay, roll call. Starting from my left,

John Felac, Robert Freighus, Pat Carpenter, Britain Williams, Kevin Tul, Dennis Briatico. Okay.

Item four, approval of minutes. Are there any corrections, deletions, or additions to the regular city council meeting minutes of March the 2nd, 2026? Study session minutes of March the 9th, 2026. As I'm looking at John Felac, he's the first one to ever bring one up in five years. Uh, all right. Hearing none, they stand approved as distributed. Very good. No, he would have told me. Okay. um have them with me. I'll read them off. That's okay. I'll just I I'll read it off. Okay. Uh we've got three proclamations. The the first one I'm going to read here. Uh for folks who may or may not not know, we this normally is going to be would be our youth appreciation night. And you have we'd have students who would have spent the day at the at all the part offices of the city and then they'd all be sitting up here. They'd be sitting out there with our administration and clerk uh chief of police. But uh due to the weather, we postponed that. But the last couple years, we actually have had a student in that program that actually was a military child. It was always kind of neat to have them read this proclamation. So, uh we don't have that tonight. So, I am going to read That's from the dis and then we're going to have well we'll do this one first and the other two we'll do up front. Whereas the city of North Augusta wishes to pay tribute to the resil resilience and courage of our military children over two million active duty national guard reserve and children veterans who did not make the choice to serve but live each day supporting their brave parents. And whereas from a young age, children service members sometimes endure long separations from their parents and shoulder the burdens of service. They spend holidays and milestones apart from those they love

the most or celebrate with only a short phone call or virtual chat from a farway parent. And whereas the physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and military families is essential to their success and has a direct impact on the strength of military families serve in our country. And whereas by ensuring military children are safe and supported in our schools and communities, our men and women in uniform can focus on the challenges and missions they face in the line of duty. And whereas observing the month of the military child demonstrates our support for military children who make daily sacrifices so their parents can keep our nation safe. Now therefore, I Britain S. Williams, mayor of the great city of North Augusta, do hereby proclaim April 26 as a month of the military child. And I encourage all citizens in North August to take time to honor our military youth and the family members who care for them. And all three of these we're doing in April because we won't actually be meeting till the third Monday in April and that'll be halfway through the month. So, we're doing it ahead of the game. Okay. Um, right now we're going to do I would like to ask uh Lauren Maloney and Peggy Ford from Children's Place. Y'all would meet me right up there. Hey, you got tired of standing up here by just with me. So, okay. you I don't trust my note. Okay. Uh I'm gonna let let y'all talk in just a second, but u this is a proclamation for child abuse prevention month whereas South Carolina's 1.1 million children residing in the diverse communities across our state, including 38,104 children in Aken County are our most valuable resource and will shape the

future of our great state. And whereas childhood trauma, including neglect and abuse, is a serious problem affecting every segment of our community. And finding solutions requires input and action from everyone. And whereas adverse childhood experiences can have long-term psychological, emotional, and physical effects that have lasting consequences. And whereas protective factors are conditions that reduce or eliminate risk and promote the social, emotional, and developmental well-being of children and youth. And whereas effective child abuse prevention succeeds where partnerships are create when partnerships are created between child welfare professionals, education, health, community uh and faith-based organizations, business, mental and behavioral health, law enforcement agencies, and families. And whereas communities must continue to work together to promote programs and activities that build strong children and families, raise awareness about child abuse and neglect, and support the social, emotional well-being of children, youth, and families in safe, stable, and nurturing environments. And whereas prevention remains the best defense for our children families. And whereas in fiscal year 2024 2025 there were 7,024 substantiated child protective services investigations with 12,371 children in South Carolina and 135 investigations with 234 children in Aken County. Now therefore I Britain S. Williams, mayor of the great city of North Augusta, do hereby proclaim April 26 as child abuse prevention month throughout North Augustine encourage all South Carolinians to dedicate themselves to protecting the quality of life for our families and children so we can end child neglect and abuse. And so excited to have Lauren, Miss Peggy Ford who uh just Peggy has been with the children's place. They do just amazing work uh for all of Aken County including North

Augusta. As always, so nice to see you, Peggy. And I want to just uh if you would tell a little bit about Children's Place, anything else you want to share? And uh this first time Lauren's been with us, so she may be new. I'm not sure. She's not new, but she hides.

Thank you so much. What I really want to say tonight is thank you. Thank you to all of you because it is through the partnerships that children are protected and protecting children is about supporting children and families. It's not just the investigations. People want to think about the ones that we find that are hurting, but it's about supporting all children and all families. And so tonight and all through April, we want to just thank you for all the partnerships you give to all children and all families and the work you do. And to celebrate that of the 46 counties in South Carolina, there are only six doing better in data than Aken County. And I think it's because of the care that our communities give to their children and families and the support that they offer to all community agencies helping children and families. And I wanted to say thank you.

Thank you. So let's give a round of applause. Beth Mims, come on up here, young lady. All right, Beth. This is neat. Beth is our is our supervisor or we call dispatch, which is uh the official telecommunications. So, uh, how you how do you like it?

I like it.

Well, thank you. You really love this. You really love this part, don't you? Yeah. She's very happy about being up. Yeah, she's happy about being up front here, everybody. Anyway, um, well, this proclamation is for National Public Safety Telecommunications Week, April the 12th through the 18th. Okay, we're early. Whereas emergencies can occur at any time that require police, fire, emergency medical services. And whereas when an emergency occurs, the prompt response of police officers, firefighters, and paramedics is critical to the protection of life and preservation of property. And whereas the safety of our police officers, firefighters, and paramedics is dependent upon the quality and accuracy of information obtained from citizens who telephone the city of North Augusta Emergency Communication Center. And whereas public safety to telecommunicators are the first and most critical contact our citizens have with emergency services. And whereas public safety telecommunicators are the single vital link for our police officers, firefighters, and paramedics by monitoring their activities by radio, providing them information, ensuring their safety. And whereas public safety telecommunicators of the city of North Augusta have contributed substantially to the apprehension of criminals, suppression of fires, and treatment of patients. And whereas each dispatcher has exhibited compassion, understanding, and professionalism during the performance of their job in the past year. Now therefore, I Britain S. Williams, the mayor of the city of North Augusta, hereby recognize the week of April the 12th through the 18th to be the National Public Safety Telecommunications Week in honor of the men and women whose diligence, professionalism keep our city and citizens safe. And um we are just so proud of what you and everyone is doing. And we thank you so much for your your service to us because you are the front line. And anything you'd like to say?

No, sir. Now you put her in the chair dispatch. That's never I rather you be up here than she. But anyway anyway. Okay. You don't get a picture.

Oh yeah, that's for you. What am I? Hey, let's give them a round of applause. Awesome. All right, we are moving into old business planning development ordinance number 2026-06 to approve the revised general development plan of the 195.39 plus or minus acre Hammonds Fairy Plan development located on the west side of George Avenue between northwest of Greenway and Savannah River. revisions related solely to phase B of such revised general development plan. Do I have a motion to remove this ordinance from the table?

So moved. Uh pro Tim tool. A second is who? Mr. Who is that? Mr. Barico. Thank you, sir. Okay. Uh there's no discussion. We'll have a vote. All in favor? And that is unanimous. Very good. Okay. Okay. Now, I've already read the ordinance, so we'll move into do I have a motion to now approve this ordinance on first reading? So, moved. Second. Tim Tulle and Mr. Buck. Thank you. All right. Anything you like to share about this, Miss Clifford or Mr. Paradise?

Uh, Mr. Mayor and Council, I know this is an item that's been discussed in the past, but I'll just do a a quick recap so we can all be on the same sheet of music here and our citizens in the room and watching online can also uh be appro situation. So, uh, the city staff had, uh, gone to the planning commission with the intention of changing the, uh, PD parameters within Riverside Village, specifically for the intention of changing the use of parcel D is in Delta. If you drive down Center Street, like you're heading to the stadium on the right hand side, that undeveloped lot there, uh, in between the parking deck and the brick pond and the stadium front, that's parcel D. It's a thin, uh, piece of parcel. Uh and so ultimately what is currently approved for parcel D is uh town homes residential along with the limited amount of retail space on that uh location. And the city staff uh with guidance from the council approached the planning commission about changing the usage of parcel D for uh commercial office space which would ultimately be used for cyber infrastructure or cyber office building. Uh and so we took that to the planning commission. Uh the planning commission u heard arguments on both sides uh and ended up voting to recommend that action and brought it back here to city council. Uh there were some questions involved from the city council that involve tableabling this action for some more research uh and answers. And so ultimately we're back now uh to talk about this particular uh action. And there's a lot of pages. There's a total I think of uh you know 26 pages of Riverside Village documentation in here. But what I'd really have you focus on on the majority side is on page 7 of 26 and you have a a handy table there that shows partial identifiers A through the letter L. Uh and you can see there in parcel D is delta. Uh it changes it to

commercial office and parking and that's 83 acres uh for 80,000 square foot. As we've discussed, we're not going to be able to afford to build an 80,000t building. that's just the maximum size building that could go on that lot. Uh I would envision a much smaller building going uh on that piece of property uh just based on the overall cost of construction. So again, what you have in the table is what the maximum allowable uh building footprint is, not actually what's going to go on there. Uh and so there's a lot of other uh information in the Riverside Village uh documentation here, but in essence, that's essentially what you as the council are going to be considering here on the dis as this ordinance is allowing the change of use from a um commercially owned uh piece of property with the intention of putting residential and a small amount of retail there and changing that to the ability to put commercial there. Uh and to get to the rest of the story though, what I anticipate is if the city council passes this ordinance uh on first reading, what you're going to see at the next council meeting is the second reading of the same ordinance along with the resolution to purchase uh that property along with the stadium deck uh to support that cyber infrastructure. So I will pause for any questions. Obviously I brought our planning director Tommy Paradise. So, if you have any specifics uh as it relates to the guts of the ordinance, uh either Tommy or myself will attempt to answer your questions. Any questions for M. Click. All right. Any citiz any citizen comments? Any council discussion? Thought about this a long time. I just want to reiterate that if we don't take this action right now, then the most likely thing that's going to

happen with this parcel is there's going to be 10 11 very closely built town homes put on it. And I don't think anybody wants to see that. Councilman, in my discussion with the I'm sorry, my discussion with the developer, that's that's a fair statement. All right. Any other council discussion? Just uh quickly, Mr. Clifford, the um the change in uses to office space and parking. There is not parking places dedicated there or are there handicap places?

There's going to be a minimum of requirement of ADA uh parking requirements on site. Uh we cannot accommodate all handicap parking on that facility through the uh the parking deck. I think there's a requirement for a certain amount of spaces to be right next to the facility. So that we have to include parking on there as well.

And that would be on the lot itself, not on the street. That's my intention. Any council discussion, questions? All right. Hear none. I'm going ask for a vote. All in favor? That is unanimous. Very good. Thank you. All right. Item eight under old business planning and development ordinance number 2026-07 amending table 5.1 use table related to telecommunication tower and antenna of the North Augusta development code article 5 of chapter 18 of the city of North Augusta South Carolina code of ordinance ordinances. Do I have a motion to approve this ordinance on second reading?

So move. Is that Miss Freighus? Yes sir. You said that so strong I couldn't and Miss Carpenter second. Thank you. Anything you like to share about this, Miss Clifford?

So, there are no changes uh dictated by the council at the last reading, but for the citizens watching uh tonight, uh this is an action for the city council to uh amend a usage table for uh public property. And so, you know, we have within our guides for uh commercial businesses to include telecommunication companies that if they're intending to build a a site or a tower in the city of North Augusta that they should first come to the city to do something on public property before going to private property, but our use table actually does not allow for that. So, this this would marry up those two requirements uh to be a little more streamlined. And then in the the long term is there is definitely an interest in a private company putting a tower on the Riverview uh park near the activity center. Uh that's not this action here. This would be a pre this is a precursor action before you actually get to a resolution to allow for that. And there's still some work to be done to um make sure we have the sighting information correct uh and the leasing agreement. Uh and that'll be coming back to council at a later date in time. Uh but this is strictly to do a uh usage change in the table itself. Any questions? All right. Are there any citizen comments? Okay. Hearing none. Are there any council discussion? Okay. Hear none. I'm going ask for a vote. All in favor? That is unanimous. Thank you very much. All right. Moving the new business item nine, administration resolution number 2026-17, approving a fourth repri rep prioritize project and funding list for capital project sales tax 4. Do we have a motion to approve this resolution?

Moved second, Mr. Buck. Thank you, Mr. Batico. Second. Thank you, sir. Any like share about this, sir, Miss Clifford?

Uh, Mr. Mayor and Council, really for our citizens watching tonight, obviously you were very involved uh at the council offside to talk about uh capital project sales tax 4, which is the existing capital project sales tax. The collection period for that ends uh in the next quarter. So, we're really getting down to the last two collections, quarterly collections that we'll get from that. And as we've gotten to that point, we've gone from projections to actual u you know, dollars in the bank. And so ultimately what the staff presented the city council at the offsite were several options uh of you know major projects to consider along with some smaller projects to consider and the city council went through a prioritization drill uh to figure out what were the priorities within the remaining funds. Uh and so what you see here on exhibit A is essentially uh that rep prioritized list and then we as a staff uh based on the dollar amounts that are estimated uh that has been uh recalculated and put on that uh overall matrix. And then this action is predicated if this occurs and is passed by the city council. We have a number of staff actions that we're bringing to you. one of which is in this session uh for project funding out of capital project sales tax 4. Okay, very good. Uh any citizen comments? Okay, any council discussion hearing? None. I'm going ask for a vote. All in favor? That is unanimous. Thank you. Item 10, engineering public works resolution number 2026-18, authorizing acceptance of the low bid of Palmeta Construction Management for the Crestview Woodland drainage improvements. Do I have a motion to approve this resolution?

So moved. Second, second, Mr. Freighus. Thank you. Um, and you like to update us about this, sir? So,

Mr. Ran Council, this is the very first of the actions that we're bringing you after the rep prioritized capital project sales tax 4 list. This is a storm water project. In the original capital project sales tax 4, there were eight uh storm water projects that were uh listed, one of which has already been accomplished through ARPA funding and also through private investment at the mealing tract. This is the second project which is now being considered here by council. And so ultimately this would be funded through capital project sales tax 4. We received uh a low bid on this on the day of the council offsite uh in the amount shown which I believe is $57,000 uh along with some contingency. Yep. And so ultimately uh this is going to be able to fix a portion of a stormwater feature that is uh not too far off of Woodlon Avenue. I know you as a number of the council members have received complaints uh from citizens in this neighborhood about the status of the stormwater project. Uh the good news is this one's ready to go. So as soon as this is uh approved by council, we're ready to move forward with a contractor uh to get after the fix actions here on that location. Uh, and even though Tom Ceser begged me to come here to the city council trying to advocate for you his project, I told him I thought I could cover it. So I figured we're, you know, if you have any questions, I'll do my best to take a swing at it.

I'm sure he was begging. Any questions for Miss Clever? Any citizen comments? Any council discussion? All right. Hear none, we'll ask for vote. All in favor? That is unanimous. Thank you. Item 11, public safety resolution number 2026-9, adopt Lower Savannah Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan. We have a motion to approve this resolution. Second,

Carpenter. All right. Pro 10 tool. Thank you. Uh any like share about this? Just as a reminder for uh the council and obviously chief has been participating in the meetings associated with this, but this uh would allow the city to participate in the lower Savannah's uh regional hazard plan and essentially the requirement for us to gain FEMA and or SEMD funding in the case of a natural disaster emergency is predicated on the fact that we participate in these plans. U doesn't cost us anything to be in the plan. Uh but it would definitely cost us if we weren't uh if it came down to a federal disaster. So, if you have specific questions about uh the makeup of the plan or the the constitution of how that was arrived at, then Chief Johnson was our representative of that group. Uh but I'll defer any questions to him on on the makeup of that plan.

Didn't you say about every four years we we renew this? You're required to have a current one every five years and the last one that council approved was in 2021. That's what I thought. Okay, good. Thank you.

Are there any any citizen comments? Okay. Council discussion hearing. None. I'm going ask for a vote. All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. All right. Item 12, administration resolution number 2026-20, authorizing funding allocation recommendations of the accommodation tax advisory committee for the redistributed redistributed dispersement of revenues from the accommodation tax year 2024 to 2025. Do I have a motion to approve this resolution? Second.

Carpenter. Okay. Tulle, thank you. Um, any you like to share about this, sir? or maybe Mr. Mayor and Council, I'll defer to our uh very able city clerk, Jamie Paul, on this particular topic. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Um included in your packet for the resolution on exhibit A breaks down what they requested and what the recommendation from the AAX committee and I will defer to you for any questions beyond that.

Any questions for any of that? Okay. Are there any uh citizen comments? All right. Uh any council discussion? Okay. Hearing none, I'll ask for a vote. All in favor? All right. That's unanimous. Thank you very much. Ripping through that. Okay. We are now here at item 13, administrative reports. I just have one report for the council. We will be conducting some core samples uh on Georgia Avenue in the downtown corridor. Uh this is all part of the preparatory work for the Georgia Avenue uh traffic calming road work. Uh that is currently with SE DOT for approval of the plan. But uh before we get approval of plan, we're going to do some core sampling just to check out the uh the road depth and see what is required. Uh and so ultimately Tom Ceser's got that uh contracted out and some of that work will occur tomorrow between 1 and 4 pm on Georgia Avenue. So we'll have to do intermittent lane closures, but that should all be starting well after rush hour starts and should be completed before rush hour begins.

What exactly will this they they're just going to they're going to drill small holes into the road just to check the uh uh the road composition. I got you. Very good. Okay. A certain area I don't have very specifics. said just in this downtown corridor between here and the churches. Okay. All right. We're at item 14, presentations, communications, recognition of visitors. And this is citizen comments. A time for citizens or anyone who would like to speak to mayor and city council guarding matters not list on the agenda. And I already know that Miss Tequia Da uh Tea is with Exfinity and she's got some exciting news that's going to be happening tomorrow. So, welcome.

Good evening, Mayor Williams and city council. I am Tequia Dous and I know I need to give you my address. So, I am at 3495 Riverwatch Parkway, Mares, Georgia 30907. Thank you, ma'am.

I bring you greetings from Comcast where I represent them as the government and community affairs manager. I come to you with some exciting news because Xfinity is bringing one of our retail stores to your area. Being a neighbor, I too am excited about this new development. It will be located in the Walmart Plaza at 1229 Knox Avenue. You already know the area very well over near Chick-fil-A and Coulstone Crearyy. We will open our new store on March 20th. However, we look for each of you to join us at our community celebration in our grand opening on April 17th. Notice we made it a little bit after the major holiday in the area. So, each of you should have had plenty of time to rest and relax. But this is a time for us to invest in the community. So those who already have Comcast services and Exfinity services can look to receive support there, come out and meet our team as well as receive any type of technical assistance needed. I brought for you this evening some promotional materials that I'll leave with the clerk to pass out willingly. But should you all have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me. And other than that, I look to see each of you on April 17th between 10:00 a.m. and 12 noon on Knox Avenue near the Walmart Plaza. Thank you.

Thank you. We're excited. Great plan. Have to wait to Robert Daniel Parkway to turn in a box or something. That's exactly what that means. And so if you would like a new cell phone or new internet service, we're we'll be more than willing to assist you there. A little bit closer to home, huh? Thank you. Thank you, Tequia. Any other citizens?

I did want to say it's great this young man has brought these their his three children here tonight. That's awesome uh example and they have sat so attentively and uh ladies I hope you'll enjoy this and we'd love to have you back. Never too early to start, right Pat? You said what they'll be up here in 20 years, right?

Yeah. Okay. All three. Okay. Um All right. So, just some ending announcements. If you haven't already known that the Boosters Club will be sponsoring an event on March 22nd. That's this coming Sunday at the amphitheater. All that information is it's everywhere in it. It's all over. Uh so please come out for everybody. Uh third Thursday is happening on the 19th. I know the cultural arts is having an event at the arts and heritage center. If you love art, uh whether it's all ages will be displayed there, uh this Thursday. That's always great. So, if you just want to see some great art from citizens and locals around here, please do that. Um council, we will be greeting on Sunday, March the 30th, the I can't believe it's happening, but uh all the ladies who play in the women amateur golf tournament at the Gustin National, they come in and stay at the Crown Plaza starting Sunday the 30th. and and we will for our new council members, we get I think JD or Carl sent you more information, but we greet them. They love it. I tell you, it means a world to these ladies for us because no one else does that, I can assure you. So excited about that coming up. Uh the trolley's back up and running. Pat, you know Pat's fired up when she's posting on on Facebook about people posting her about their children riding the trolley. So you get part C Pat Carter excited about something, man, it goes like wildfire. Rhett Walker, uh, Christian artist will be at the amphitheater Friday. There's no service, no charge for that. That's on Friday, April the I mean Friday, March the 20th, believe it's 7. And uh, there will be no, our next time we meet, Jamie, is going to be April the 13th. That'll be a study session. And our next

city council meeting is on the 20th. So, we're going to have one study session and then we'll only have one city council. Okay. And I told David and Pat I was going to share the story because I just thought it was kind of neat. So, uh Saturday I was down at the Shamrock Stroll and visiting different uh merchants and I went to shop 3130 because my wife asked me to pick up some flowers. So, uh they have great flowers by the way. So any right when in doing that there's this lady in front of me talking to the checkout lady at shout 3130 and I could over I could tell that she said yeah we're we're we're in town here and she's going on and I said I said excuse me uh where are you from? She goes I'm from Atlanta but I'm with four of my my girlfriends and we're all spread out. We're here for a wedding. I said well I'm Briton Williams. I'm the mayor of North Augustus. Oh my goodness. we don't get our picture taken. And then we're talking and I said, "You know what's happening with the with the merchants?" She goes, "Oh yeah, we have our little card." So all the merchants had a have sham shamrocks hidden in their business so you could go around. It was kind of cool. Pat saw on there a bunch of families pushing children and all that strollers. It was a lot of activity. I said, "You know, we have a trolley." She go, "Oh, I saw that." So I uh I wish Carl was there. I got her to download the Explore North Augusta app on her phone in the middle of shout 3130. They were fired up about it. But I say that because the what's happening, why downtown is important is here are five folks stayed at the Crown Plaza, love Riverside Village, they had at Southbound, I think they at Brinkleys, they were going to try another place, but they're shopping at our downtown businesses who which are run by citizens. They're riding the trolley and they say, "Oh, this is a great downtown. Oh, a small town. We love it." You know, they're all on Instagram. So, I'm assuming it's probably gone crazy. But the point is, I just thought it was a great story of our tourism that I just

want council understand that things we're doing with our trolley and the uh support of our downtown merchants, all those things make a big difference to people when they come here. And uh so anyway, I thought that was just a a feel-good story. So with that, no Pat's got something.

Don't hang up yet. No, I as we were sitting yesterday watching those last two basketball teams, which I've coached basketball 44 years, but I have never in my life seen such playing as those young men did. They just beat all I've ever seen. And and we just stood in awe. But I told the mayor and David and John, John, I looked at that and I said, "Thank God for North Augusta." 1991 that building would not have been built. Riverview Park because it only passed four to three by the skin of its teeth. that building got. And I looked at that and I was going out the and I made a picture as I was going out the door and these boys, you know, six and six floors, seven feet. Oh, they were just strutting on out that front door. And I looked on the back of their little warm-up jackets and it said plant trees. I said, "Hold it here, little man." I said, "Would you tell me a young person in high school, why do you have that on your jacket? plant trees. They said, "Well, ma'am, we're concerned with the environment." And I said, "I can't wait to see y'all in July." They were from Utah and they coming back, they said. But, and I just want to say to the citizens, "Yes, do people feel we're growing too much. We might be, but I talked to a lady today and she I told her I said, "If we don't have young people coming into this city, it's going to die." But like I said, when I looked at Riverview Park and those little boys just well, they wasn't little, but just playing their little hearts out and thank go and I told those yesterday, I said, "What do you think of this place?" They said, "Ma'am, it's fantastic." It was fant. And I said, "Well, you

know, we still have room to build two more gyms over here. This place was set up for eight gyms." And of course, as you know, moneywise, money talks sometimes. But I just want people to know I am so proud of North Augusta. I am proud to serve on this city council. I'm proud to coach your children and love on your children. And thank God I live in North Augusta. I think said it all. Amen.

Mayor, I got one thing. Speaking of Comcast, um it's been a rough couple weeks and you know my family lost my best friend um last Saturday and he worked at Comcast for 20some years. So um just you know Yep. Joe Gerard worked for Comcast and he's been a longtime citizen of North Augusta and just want to say uh to Melissa, Noah, Eli, Maggie and Hannah, I love you. All right. Very good. Thank y'all. I think. Yes, sir. One last. Okay. We we welcomed a new phone volunteer recently and one thing she pointed out to us that I'd like us to consider in the future is

even though we do have the signage for the animal shelter inside of the facility grounds that we put a sign down at the corner of Walmart and Clay Pit because really till you get up in there when you know you go up in there on the weekend all the equipment is parked and everything you're just not sure where you're at. So, she pointed out that she thought it would be a good idea that we put signage further out down towards Clay Pat Clay Pit and Wrath to let people know that they're on the right path up in there. And I thought that I went up there Sunday to work with the dog I've been working with. And I thought that was an excellent idea because I agree if you go up there, it's kind am I driving further out into the country? Where am I going? And then once you even get inside the gate, you don't see the signage for another 30.

That's a tough That's a tough road to miss. I miss and I've been there many times. I still miss. I think we would look into that. Yeah. I would just say is that as we look at uh capital project sales tax 4, I think we still have some additional funds at the end of it. I'd like to get through the priorities, but ultimately wayfinding, which is really a fancy word for signage, uh is certainly part of that. And as we and as the staff have looked at it, uh recognize that it's not just the animal facility there, it's also the recycling facility, a number of other things. So there's no no active sign is there at the corner to bring it in really. Uh and so certainly that's something that we've wanted to consider as well. But I think that's certainly something we could all agree on.

Just something to let people know they're on the right path because there's a ton of our I mean even if one of the people that worked out there if their family member had an emergency and they had to go out there, you know. Yeah. Well, let her know we appreciate that and we will work on it. All right. We stand here. Thank y'all. Mayor, one more time. Oh, no. We're not actually two more. You got to move fast now. Well, I'm always the last one. I know you talk slow, boy. Come on. Um, I would like to say that not this weekend, but next weekend, the Living History Park is having another big event. It's their under the crown event. Living History Park really took a hit during Hurricane Alen, and it took them a long time to get back and

through um through the help of the city uh and some volunteers there. It's a great tourism uh effort that they have there. So, we're excited to get another big event and the improvements in Kraton Park will be a big That's next Saturday. next weekend. It's actually Saturday and Sunday. 21st and Friday, maybe Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It's 20th and 21st. Okay.

Pretty pretty big event. And the other thing I'd like to say is we we had a lady at um at our local church pass away um a few weeks ago, and she may have been the oldest person to have ever lived in North Augusta. I'm not sure, but there couldn't have been too many. Miss Kathy Parker passed away. She was 105. 105. and she was very very active, sharp mentally um suffered physically the last couple years but um 105 years is uh is an incredible incredible life. We had the opportunity to see Mr. Arnold, Tom Arnold, who recently celebrated his 100th birthday on Curtis Drive and he is in he is another sharp cat.

Oldest veteran by the way. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, just u just kudos to her for a long a long life. Now, I'm going to say one more thing now when we go home. You sure? Okay. These three young ladies sitting right here, I'm going to tell you something. What we're here for is to be sure you and your children and your children's children will have a good place to live in years to come. Okay? And we doing a lot of this for you. Okay? And thank you for coming. Can I hit the gavvel? We stand a journ.