City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. We're going to start the public power hour. It is great to see everybody. We got some energy in the house tonight. Good stuff. I'm excited. I'm excited. Um, okay. You can see you can see the uh instructions behind me. I do need to apologize uh whoever the anonymous person or protect South Carolina group that sent out a mass text stating that we're having a public power hour at 5:30 and this would be your first chance to talk about parod was mistaken. Part of the problem with these type of posts are the people who don't always know what they're talking about when they're trying to get people out. The power hour cannot be used to address anything that's on the agenda tonight. It's never been that way. It is for everything but the agenda. And because we already have two participants uh who are going to be speaking uh which I'm really glad this works out really better to be honest with you because these two organizations if you don't know about them you're going to find out about them tonight and they are amazing amazing assets to our community what they do. So, we are so please um don't you know blame the person or the group that sent the text out. Don't blame us. Uh but we will have a public hearing in 15 minutes and then the council meeting. So, there's going to be plenty of chance for everyone to speak. I promise just not at 5:30. So, with that being said, uh the first person we have is uh Mr. Wanda Baitman from Tri Development Center. Come on down, young lady. And I think you got uh somebody you brought with you, right? All right. And you know how to do it. You got I'm gonna let you state your name uh for the record and who you represent.

Um good evening, council members, mayor Williams, and distinct guests. My name is Ariel Mundy and I am the vice president of the self advocacy fighters development center. The self advocacy fighters is an active group of people with disabilities who stand up for the rights of people with disabilities in Aken County. I am deeply honored that last month the council presented child development center with the disabilities awareness month proclamation. The disabilities awareness month proclamation is more than words on paper. It is public affirmation that people with disabilities are respected and valued citizens of North Augusta and that we consider to the vibrant needs of our community. to each member of this council. Thank you for your leadership, your vision, and your willingness to advocate on behalf of North Augusta citizens who live with disabilities. Your support sends a powerful message that North values unity, inclusion, and progress to advance the rights, needs, and ideas of people with disabilities. I'll be on behalf of our executive director Heather Wardell and child development center. I would like to present you with a cookie treat made by

the veggie bakers. Thank you for believing in our work and for believing in us. even though that gift probably value less than $20 I will be reported on my South Carolina ethics just to let you know.

Well, thank you young lady so much. We always we we do the proclamation. Wanda always Tanda always invites us to come out and um not we can't always go all the time but I know this year uh Pat and uh maybe I think David we had just a blast. Uh thank you for what you do uh because these folks are actively employed. I mean they are working and doing things. So uh thank you. You're a huge asset for us and we really appreciate your kindness. All right. THANK YOU. AND THEN ONE OF OUR DEAR FRIENDS, Miss Margaret Key, executive director of the Aken Center. She's going to introduce some folks and tell about a new program that I know she's about excited we are to get started.

Absolutely. Thank you so much again, Margaret Key here in North Augusta. I have with me our Aken County opioid prevention and abatement coordinator here Rebecca Summer and our recovery services manager at Aken Center Tina Luendowski and I'm going to bring be bringing up in just a second a very special person um yet to be named unveiled um again I'm going to speak for two minutes and the last two minutes are going to be a guy named Chad who I can't wait to introduce. We are making good progress on our partnership with uh the city of North Augusta with the opioid settlement money. um and are excited to say that beginning May the 12th, we will have a full-time certified peer support specialist right here embedded in the department of social services at the BTC building and the hearts center, the Aken Barnell mental health satellite here in North Augusta to serve North Augusta families who have substance use disorders, addictions, and all of those things that come with that. And the treatment offerings we're looking for to trying to hire a counselor. We have two more interviews next week, but we have the office space set up. We've got a certified peer certified peer support specialist, great staff. Um, and actually with you're not going to believe it that I'm actually going to stop talking and I'm going to bring up Chad Scanlon who is just going to be wonderful. Um, he met with Chief the other day and going to be working with public safety and those other community service agencies and available to everyone. Chad, this is a miracle that I'm actually turning the microphone over this soon. Come on up.

Hello, my name is Chad Scanland. I'm a person in long-term recovery from substance use disorder, which means that for the last 18 years, I have not found it necessary to use a drug or drink alcohol. many of these l for many of those last 18 years I've wanted to give back to the recovery community but there was always an excuse not to some allegedly insurmountable hurdle preventing me from turning that desire into a career thanks to the Aken center and score funding through North Augusta public safety I now get to guide others in recovery as a peer support specialist based in the community here at DSS and in Aken Barn eneral mental health. I won't go into vivid detail about my life as an active substance user, but I do want to briefly touch on the timeline. While I started using whatever substance I could get my hands on much earlier in my teens, wasn't until the opioid crisis in the early to mid 2000s that my my using really reached its peak. Prescription pain medications made my life very unmanageable very quickly. I lied, cheated, stole, and manipulated whoever I had to in order to maintain my habit. Thankfully, and with a lot of help from an incredible support system, I found recovery in 2008. As it turns out, the pharmaceutical industry was held responsible and forced to pay billions of dollars in penalties. These funds get divided up across various states and counties to help battle opioid misuse as it continues to our neighbors, friends, and loved ones. does not care how old you are or what color your skin is. It has only one goal and that is to destroy lives. But because of that settlement money, we have some means to fight back. And that same settlement money paid by that same industry who overprescribed those same opiates that got me arrested, that sent me to rehab and brought me to my knees. Because of this little ironic

twist of fate, I now have the opportunity to use my lived experience to be a recovery coach and help my peers find a new way to live. Thank you. I'm telling you how many years I've said many times when the Aken Center hired Margaret Key to be their executive director probably was the best decision they've ever ever made. And um Margaret has uh has um been coming to our council, educating us, talking to us, promoting uh building camaraderie, getting people in the community, and uh just your leadership, Margaret, has been phenomenal. And I think I know you are just so pleased to be able to for this to implement this program. And Chad, uh man, just so proud of you. and could not be more excited to have a man of your character. What you gonna do, folks, you're going to help in North August is huge. And uh so just God bless you. We just so thankful for what y'all are all doing. And um anyway, anything else, Margaret, before we end this thing? Okay, I'm just kidding. All right. So, anyway, we are going to uh now uh we the public power hour is over and we are now going to go on the public hearing. Let me tell you, we got some open seats. Oh, I can't do that yet, can I? Oh, that's right. Is it 5:40? Oh, it's 5:40. Okay. Well, it'll take you long that long anyway. We've got some open seats. So, if you got open seat near you, raise your hand and we can we got some down here. Y'all folks come down here. I'd rather you not sit on the steps cuz uh I figure those steps going to get a lot of carpet burns and rubbed off tonight. So, we want to have those clear for citizens. So, we got a good bunch of

seats over here on this second row. for the director. We got to wait on Kelly's here already. Okay. Jim coming. I think I got enough now. I think I got

All right. You good, Jim? Ricky. Ricky.

Okay. Good evening. I'd like to call the proposed fifth amendment to the master development agreement uh public hearing on April the 20th, 2026 to order. Um I guess it's Groundhog Day. It's good to see everybody again. Uh, I want to thank everyone for coming to our meeting tonight. Let me reassure everyone, we are not putting a 15minute time limit on this. We have to list our meeting dates and times for the whole year in the end of December for the whole year. We cannot change them. But as we if we start a meeting later than scheduled due to a public hearing, that is okay. So just rest assured. I'm I'm saying this as much for our council as our citizens. This p this is a public hearing is guided by the laws which require the municipalities to do three things. Provide appropriate notice to the public. Allow the public to attend and invite them to provide comment or input. This is not a question and answer forum. Any questions that we are asked during the public hearing, if necessary, will be answered in the regular city council member when it's appropriate based on the item that you're asking about. Um, also our council received a list of questions from one of our citizens and I will answer those if they relate relate to what we will be discussing in the council meeting item nine after the public hearing. Remember this is not a political rally. This is not a debate. This is not a time for a dialogue between our council and audience. We are here to listen to your input. And I would ask that as as I'm stating this for our council as well as to to everyone, let's all be respectful and you are addressing all of us, not any one council member when you come forward. Also, we will have five minutes

to you will have five minutes to speak. Jamie Paul, our city clerk will be tracking this time. This is about giving us input to help us make the right decision tonight. So, at this point, I'm going to turn over to our city administrator, Jim Clifford, to review about the fifth amendment to the MDA to give you some context about the public hearing in case uh that's necessary. Mr. Clifford.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh we'll have the slides brought up here for the MDA public hearing. Thank you. Next slide. So, as with uh all municipalities, the master development agreement is um governed by South Carolina state law. And you can see the the relevant sections there under title six chapter 31. Uh citizens can certainly look at that at their leisure. It's listed in South Carolina code. Uh but that's more of the generic of hey what a master development or a development agreement is and the rules that are associated why you have to have a public hearing uh and associate with a development agreement and the things that can occur in a development agreement. So next slide and then I'm just going to go through the history of what the development agreements are. And here we are with the fifth one. But I'll start back with the original master development agreement which was signed in uh March of 2017. That was the original Riverside Village uh agreement which laid out the different uh types of parcels and what was going to go on all those parcels. Uh that went for uh a number of years. I think five years is the original MDA. Uh the city council did a first amendment which simply extended the MDA by one year. Didn't do any other substantive changes to the MDA. The second amendment was a one-year extension as well into 2024. And the reason for the third amendment, which was only extended by 60 days, uh is because the city was at that time in negotiations with South City Partners uh for the fourth amendment. And so the fourth amendment had uh significant changes to the village and that modified the master plan to allow South City Partners to de develop parcels C, K, G, and H. So parcel C is the one that's directly in front of the stadium. Uh K is the apartment building that's closest to Hammond's Ferry and GH are actually two separate parcels but were combined uh for the purposes of the apartments and the uh retail or restaurant space that is closest to the amphitheater uh with those expiring uh

on the 15th of March of 2028. And what you have uh which is up for discussion here in the public hearing is the fifth amendment which is a modification of parcel D uh which essentially changes its use from residential to commercial. Uh there's some other items in there, but that's the the big so what of why we have this uh public hearing today. And so with that, uh I will turn it back over to the DAS, Mr.

All right. Thank you, sir. Okay. So, um four things. Just remember when you come to the microphone, state your name and address, speak directly into the microphone. If you're tall, please lean lean down because everybody won't be able to hear you. Uh you don't need to thank us or address us. We don't want you to waste your five minutes. Start immediately in after you give me your name and your address. Feel free to get right in and tell us give us what you want to tell us. And finally, remember any questions uh that are necessary to be answered, we will address those. Uh I promise you in the council meeting where that's appropriate. Uh to give you a little time to to kind of decide who wants to raise their hand first. I've got one public card already and I'm going to let I'm going to uh I don't know if Diane is here. Oh, there you are. Diane Laroo uh 608 Railroad Avenue. And um I'm going to let you come on down, young lady. And I've already told your name and address, so jump right in with your thoughts.

A cyber community center can be genuinely transformative. And here are six key dimensions worth considering. Bridging the digital divide. For residents without reliable home internet or services, a cyber center provides equitable access to job boards, government services, health care portals, and educational platforms. This matters most to lowincome households, seniors, and recent immigrants who may otherwise be systematically excluded from digital life. Two, workforce and economic development. It can become a job pipeline when paired with skills training, resume writing, basic coding, Microsoft Office literacy or certification prep. High unemployment or industries in transition can use it for training and retraining purposes that benefit economic mobility. Three, educational support. Students without home internet face a real homework gap. A center staffed with knowledgeable helpers extends the school day in a meaningful way. It can also host adult literacy programs, GED prep, and English language literacy serving multiple generations. Four, civic engagement, access to government websites, online voter registration, benefits, applications, public meeting archives help residents participate fully in civic life. Communities with lower digital access often show lower civic participation. A cyber center can interrupt that pattern. Small bit business and entrepreneurship. Micro entrepreneurs like food vendors, freelancers, crafters often need document creation, accounting tools, or e-commerce setup, but can't afford dedicated equipment. A center gives them infrastructure without the overhead.

Social connection and mental health for isolated residents, seniors, people with disabilities, and community members. A cyber center offers both internet access and a physical gathering place. The social dim dimension shouldn't be underestimated. Loneliness is a genuine public health concern. These benefits don't come without challenges. Sustainability is the hardest problem. Many centers open with grant funding and close when it runs out. So, a realistic operating model, fees, partnerships, municipal support matter from day one. Staffing with people who have both technical knowledge and patience for varied skill levels is also harder than it sounds. and security. Protecting users personal data on shared devices requires deliberate policy. The most successful centers tend to be embedded in trusted community anchors such as libraries, churches, schools, nonprofits rather than standalone facilities. out for programming, not just equipment, drop-in hours alone, underperform centers with structured workshops and consistent staff. A cyber center is most useful when it's conceived not as a room full of computers, but as a community-f facing service with real staffing, programming, and a sustainability plan. So my concern as an engaged citizen is that I have not heard any of the benefits articulated by council other than the use by the public school students who actually seem to be doing a great job within their own building.

Mr. Briatico has expressed concern about the sustainability which gives me pause. At last week's study session, the mayor himself opined and rightly so on the great partnership the rec center has established with seniors. In fact, he stated that a physical facil facility was not necessary to provide support for seniors. Miss Carpenter openly expressed her limited understanding of the benefits of a cyber center, expressly identifying her source of expertise as Mr. Clifford when it comes to this matter. Mr. Clifford as the planning at the planning commission session when asked about other suitable sites particularly the old police station indicated that they didn't want that site. I'm not sure who they is but it should be the citizens of North Augusta.

Diane we got about seven minutes. I'll finish up real quick if you don't mind. It appears to me that council in a rush to meet a grant line deadline has missed the opportunity to adequately immerse themselves into crafting a vision for a standalone cyber center with no clearly articulated plans for partnership within the community. I urge council to clear their calendars, secure a knowledgeable facilitator, and postpone this vote until they do the hard work of securing partnerships among community members invested in generating a genuinely sustainable plan for community cyber center. Thank you, Dian.

Who's next? Sandy Zenko has her hand up. Come on now, young lady. You can get out. Sandy Zenko, 400 West Forest Avenue. And I apologize. I write better than I can speak, so bear with me. I spend a great deal of time at Brick Pond, not just walking, observing. In the early morning hours, I'm getting emotional. Sweet spot for wildlife activity. You see the park come alive. Birds move along the edges. Turtles climb onto the logs and banks. Alligators begin to stir, appearing along the water line or in the sun. Over time, what I've come to understand is that brick pond isn't just the water. It's everything around it. The natural buffer, the undisturbed edges, and the space that allows that life to exist and move. That space is not empty land. It is part of the system. And that's why partial D matters. I understand that without the city's restoration efforts years ago, the ponds would not be what they are today. I also understand that Brick Pond is not going anywhere. But what I'm here to ask is that we also recognize what this place has become to many. It has become a gem in our city. It has become a place where people come to walk, observe wildlife, and connect with nature in a way that is increasingly rare. For many that includes not just the ponds themselves but the surrounding areas that give the space its character and function. My

concern is not about growth itself. It is about how we are making decisions in this moment. Over the past several weeks I have taken the time to ask questions and listen. What I found is that there are still pieces of information that are either incomplete, not yet available or not clearly understood publicly. There is not yet a clearly defined final plan. There is not a current sightspecific analysis available to the public and not all the information guiding these decision is in a form the community can fully understand. That does not mean anyone is doing anything wrong but it does mean we are not operating from a fully shared understanding yet and still we are being asked to move forward with decisions that begin to shape the future of that land. I have also heard the idea that the city can move forward now, purchase, amend, and decide later what ultimately goes there. But in practice, those early decisions do not leave things open. They begin to define what is possible. And they make it much harder to step back and choose a different path. I also believe the way property is acquired matters just as much as whether it is acquired because how it is funded can begin to shape whether it becomes what it becomes. If that funding comes with expectations or limitations, then that effectively narrows the outcome before the community has a full opportunity to understand and weigh in on what is best for this space. From spending so much time at Brick Pond, I've seen how small changes ripple through the environment. I've seen shifts in wildlife patterns. I've seen how actively excuse me, seen how activity affects behavior along those edges. These are not abstract

concerns. These are real observational changes. My fear is not that the park disappears. My fear is that over time it becomes only paths around ponds with less of the living habitat that gives it character and makes it special. He's playing with me. Young lady, the young lady right in the white there is by not on purpose, but I I need you somebody just just a tad. Bring it down just a little bit. Uh there should be a control. We got flood lights. Right one second. Make it make it tough. Sorry, Sandy. That's all right. Can you The the flood lights on.

All right, I'll go ahead and finish up. Sorry about that. That's right. Brick Pond has become one of the few places in our city where people can experience wildlife and feel connected to the nature natural world. Now is the time to treat it as the sanctuary it has become. I'm not asking you to stop. I'm asking you to make sure we fully understand this before we continue. I hope this becomes a moment remembered for wise stewardship and part of your legacy of protecting what North August what makes North Augusta unique because once this space is gone, we do not get the opportunity to ask for it back. Thank you.

Thank you, Sandy. Good. Who we got next? Come on down. Somebody's got to raise their hand. Mr. Ly, come on down, sir. I didn't see you hiding up there.

You finally missed us enough to come show up, didn't you? It's good to see you, sir. It's good to see you. We miss seeing you. Always good to see you. Make sure you're still hanging around. Thank you. Hope I live a lot longer. Hope you do, too. Dear Mr. Mayor and Council, you have the ability tonight to please the total population that's here. I didn't announce my name. Mayor Fred Lard. Want me to go back and say that? Now I got your name. Fred Lardy. Yes.

346 Shoreline Drive. Excuse me. Dear Mr. Mayor and council, you have the ability tonight to please the total population. And that's what I'm hoping to accomplish by speaking before you tonight. If you don't execute what I propose, I would characterize your actions not hearing the people who elected you to re represent them. In the past, a former mayor decided that he would make decisions because he was elected to do so. I believe he was wrong. In my opinion, he was elected to execute the will of the people who elected him. He left office He left office having gotten his way and never got to enjoy his victory because he decided not to run for re reelection. Would he have been reelected? Maybe. He left the city in debt for about $40 million and now has that has now grown to about $70 million. success. You be the judge. Yes, we have a ballpark and team that Augusta, Georgia didn't want. And by the way, it's still called the Augusta Green Jackets. How is that? How is that for irony? Before you before you tonight are many, many people who are deeply concerned. You can say they don't count. You can decide like the previous mayor, Mr. Jones, and say we make the decision. How many people are against approval of the cyber center on the location suggested? No one knows. How about a simple solution? Why don't you ask and satisfy the will of the majority? We have the opportunity to do so something correct or don't the citizens who have tried to deliver a message count? You be the judge. You are elected to represent all

of the people and their concerns for the city. Why don't you table tonight's decision and ask all of the people in a vote? They deserve it. Thank you.

Thank you, Fred. Yes, ma'am. Come on down. Hello, Michelle Wilson, 1901 Burns Road, North Augusta, South Carolina. Um, first of all, I support exactly what the previous gent said. There are a lot of people who would have changed how this planning, how the city has moved in the last 10 years, but that is in the past. What I'm wondering is under uh at SRS, if I decided to pave a sidewalk, I needed to follow the National Environmental Policy Act, I needed to do an environmental assessment or an EA, EIS or any other document that looked at the environmental impact to the surrounding area. And

yeah, yeah, Michelle, you don't need to be looking from side to side. I can't tell. Just look into the microphone and speak to you. I hate you have to look for me. I'll try to dug you behind me if you want but just speaking in the microphone if you don't mind.

Okay. So what I'm asking is have you performed and if you have I can't find it any type of environmental impact analysis environmental impact statement environmental assessment because this would be considered a major federal action if it is funded from a federal grant. NEA compliance is not optional. It is mandated. So I'd like a copy of any environmental assessments done because I think the significance is that we always forget that buffers around an environmentally sensitive area matter. Which is why most places have large acreages around them. for example, SRS, you need that buffer. You are crowding downtown. I think Brick Pond would be significantly impacted. Now, if the people that interested in a cyber center, which cyber security centers usually don't spend time educating students, providing grant funding, they're not in that kind of business. If they really wanted to place an activity in town, I would think the police station area or some of the other areas in town have adequate resources. They can even use the existing parking. But I'm guessing they don't want to have to pay the fees for an asbestous assessment, lead paint disposal, or demolition activities. But I do believe that you should not go forward with an activity of this potential impact without environmental studies that are subject to public review.

Thank you. Thank you.

Yes, ma'am. Come on down. I like the way y'all doing that. You're moving to the front doing the top. Come down. That's good. Like that. It's a good system. Amanda Ari, 1903 Burns Road. We're a tag team. Um Michelle comes from a whole another direction than I do. I moved over here. I am your Augusta transplant. Okay.

So excited for North Augusta. Was talking about how wonderful the direction that North Augusta is going. Husband worked for 35 years with, you know, city of Augusta. Not dogging them, but things just kept going in more and more. Sorry, no other word for it. In toilet bowl. To me, this would be such a detriment. I mean, can you open your eyes to the lovely area that y'all about to plop a building on and hurt so many community members with some ugly probably some squared off building. And you know I come from a design point of view and u very passionate about it too because we build another ugly building in North Augusta. I don't know what you got. I've hung on the hopes that we could get our little downtown so looking so pretty and putting up baskets and watering those having businesses. We got millennials moving over here. I'm always a big advocate of, hey, you got to come to North Augusta. Leave Augusta. Come on over. I don't know what I'm going to tell them now. Y'all just right over a beautiful area. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Amanda. Appreciate it. Who we got in? Yes. Yes. Come on down. I didn't see you there, Chris. My name is Christina Brower. I live on 794 Greenwood Drive. So I moved 10 years in North Augusta. I could live in Augusta but I moved here because nice natural place and it's nice to see you know some stuff growing but what I founded for 10 years to observe we have citizen who can't who making business and citizens like we are here we we cannot say nothing because nobody ask and we need to fight all the time I see why I fight about Brick Pond Park is like you know my husband just passed away last month. I know many people who coming in Brick Pond Park like in the sanctuary to heal. Nature is medicine. There is we take it everything in this town for the normal human. We started be very materialistic. We cannot do this because I tell you where we departed one day we not take buildings, we not take cars, we not take the clothes, we take what we left for others the love. So I will ask you consider about the old citizen who walking there many who don't have money

go in hava or other places I know many old people who coming with dogs many people who have health issue where they going to go in downtown in hot or in the ballpark no they're coming in the nature to be healed so Please consider all of us and other people. Thank you very much. Good job. Yes. Come on down. You had your hand up. Yes, ma'am.

Hi. Um, is am I doing this right? You're gonna really need to lean down because you have a calm voice, which is very nice, but I want everybody to hear you. Uh, my name is Grace Wei. I live at 436 Crossroads Drive. Um, I can't I had a whole thing like written out, but I think the people that spoke before me said most of what I wanted to say, so I'm just going to make two points. Sure.

Um, there's a cyber center already over in Augusta. It's like a mile away from us. I don't understand why we need one in downtown North Augusta. Um the second Oh yes, the clubhouse building. It's almost entirely vacant and I don't see any reason why the cyber center in North Augusta of all places wouldn't be too. And yeah, that was pretty much it.

Great. Great. Thank Thank you. Who's next? Oh, hey Mary. How you doing? Good. Knock up there on me. Okay, I'll stand up. Mary Pettit 70. You can turn it toward you, Mayor. You don't have to. Yeah, I mean, you can move it.

Thank you. 70 Fulton Street. Um, I've talked to a couple people who have explained to me the need for the city to produce revenue from a structure on parcel D. And I get it and I understand it and I think it's going to happen that the a structure is going to be built there. Um, and I don't want to argue that. However, I and many others are still concerned about the impact on brick pond park, our urban wetlands, and the encroachment of yet another brick and mortar structure. So, may I offer a compromise uh that would perhaps that would help the citizens with what they desire and help the city with what I know you require and that would be a larger buffer zone rather than the required 30 feet of 50 plus buffer zone. that would when the agricult when the um architectural design is made for the building and for the area that there could be a natural walking path and perhaps a natural park, a little small park back there that could still be that could be incorporated with the rest of the of the uh walking paths around the ponds. So, that's my that's my suggestion and I hope you'll consider it. Thank you. Good job. Hello, my name is Amber Flechek, 804

West Avenue. I am I also want to talk about parcel D, not as a currently blank spot on a map, but as a choice about our future because this is not a zoning question. It's a risk question. It's a health question and it's a responsibility question. I remember hearing videos of the dams cracking during Hurricane Helen, the thunderous sounds of danger straight up in Lexington. And we live in an area that by all local historical accounts is prone to flooding. It is known for flooding. That's why they told us an elementary school at North Augusta even got founded because Augusta kept flooding. So when we talk about this development, we're not guessing about danger or choosing whether or not we want to acknowledge it. If parcels be developed into buildings and hard surfaces, we reduce the land's ability to absorb water. We shrink this buffer between storm water and people's homes. And when the next so-called unprecedented storm hits, like it has every storm season this year, we're going to act surprised. Even though this outcome will be entirely predictable and its risks mitigable. That's what I mean by responsibility. When this floods, not if, when, who's going to be responsible? Are we going to say that we didn't know? When we do know these risks, will we say it wasn't avoidable when this is something that we're choosing right now? People are going to ask who approved it, and your names are going to be the ones remembered. If this is about money, FEMA's own data shows that natural disaster mitigation saves $7 for every $1 spent. Seven to one. That means green space is not just pretty. It's flood infrastructure. The trees slow rainfall. It prevents erosion. Every acre of green space that we preserve is a piece of insurance that we do not have to beg for later. And if I have to remind anyone how low FEMA

funds are, how our people are still suffering from the effects of Helen to this day. So the idea that we can fix it later is a fantasy. This cost isn't going to be theoretical. It's going to be emergency services. It's going to be insurance hikes for the entire city. It will be future tax dollars. It will be families displaced livelihoods disrupted for a building that may or may not be occupied in five years. Because by all accounts, the cyber center in Augusta is not heavily occupied most of the time. That's not growth. That's debt for our children and our children's children disguised as development. Now, let's talk about what this gives us in return. Um, I did send an email about four or five weeks ago. Urban green space reduces violent crime and interpersonal conflict. It improves community cohesion. It reduces social isolation, especially for seniors. And as an OT who works in North Augusta, that's something that our seniors really need is just places that they can be outside safely and green. It improves a perception of safety and belonging. And mentally, it reduces depression, anxiety, and stress. It improves mood, improves cognitive function, and even shows positive behavior changes in people with dementia. Physically, they lower our heart rates. They increase our physical activity. They reduce mortality. They improve outcomes for our cancer patients. They increase birth rates in marginalized communities. These benefits are not tied to age, gender, or ethnicity. These are universal benefits. So, it's about the money. The answer is yeah, it is. It pays us back in safety, health, and avoidant disaster costs. And Parcel D is uniquely positioned to help us serve this role. It's already in a vulnerable area. It already functions as part of a buffer, and keeping it green space would strengthen the entire area, not just aesthetically, but structurally, which has not lost economic value. It's just diversified into our future. And we live in a time

of intensely limited foresight for the shake of sake of short-term gain. And I just want to know I just want y'all to think about your long term. What's going to be your legacy at the end of the day? Officials are meant to represent the voice of the people. And the people are saying, "Protect our town. Protect our future. Protect this land that protects us. Bris should not be another gamble against us. It should be a buffer. If we can, a park, a safeguard, a statement that North Augusta values long-term survival over short-term profit. Green space is fiscally responsible, socially beneficial, physically protective, and mentally healing. Building over won't cause flooding immediately, but does our city deserve minimum standard thinking, or do we deserve future oriented thinking? Are our children going to be picking up the bill or worse, paying with the livelihood of our decisions that we're making right now? Uh, and in case you would like to read my sources, uh, again, I sent an email about four and a half weeks back that have, uh, sources for all the benefits of green space.

Thank you. Thank you.

Hey everybody, I'm Tabitha Wal. I live at 193 Village Parkway. I want to ask folks in this room the question that was asked last week and it was not the right forum to respond. Who in here knows what a skiff is? Raise your hand.

Thank you. For those that don't know, a skiff is an hardened room inside of a building. It's called a special compartmentalized information facility. It requires a top secret SCI or special compartmentalized information clearance to step foot into it normally if you're going to do any work in there. And we're talking about we might want to put a building with a skiff across from SRP Park where families gather. How many games do we have? 70 games a year or something. I've stepped foot inside of a skiff. I've worked in a skiff and I'm going to tell you something. I don't have kids and I don't have grandkids, but I would certainly not build a building with a skiff beside a baseball park in today's day and time with the amount of crazy ideas walking our streets every day. So, I have a completely different concern and this isn't a question that was sent to y'all. What are we doing if we're how are we thinking about mitigating the risk that we might be planting beside our beautiful brick pond area and our awesome SRP park? Just something to think about.

Thank you, T. Thank you, Capital. Yes, ma'am. Come on now. You don't have to go slow down. I don't want your He's running with clogs on. It scares me.

Um, Rachel Johnson, 628 West Point Buista Avenue. Um, everything that I was planning on saying has kind of been said, but I want to pose a few theoretical questions. Um, this doesn't seem like it's going to be bringing too many jobs to the area. So, who is benefiting from this? Who in the community is benefiting from this? What are we going to do about parking? Because parking in Hammonds Ferry is already an issue. Traffic in Hammonds Fairy is already an issue. Are we going to be parking in Brick Pond Park for the cyber center? Is there going to be another parking deck built? Is it going to be valet? What's going to happen? These are just things that I think should be laid out for everybody to see because right now I do not understand how anybody in the area other than a select few are going to benefit from this.

And that's all. Thank you. Thank you.

Tyler, come on in, buddy.

Tyler Gallas, 71 Center Street. Um, just a couple questions I haven't heard answered. So, this is all about the 08 acres of land. So, I haven't heard a true valuation of that parcel itself. The I feel like a misnomer is that $5 million price tag. I think that's mostly for the parking deck. Um, I'm for the cyber center. Um, Diane just educated me a whole bunch, so I appreciate her presentation. I think that'd be a excellent thing to have and I just don't think that's the right location for it. So my but I think what's been argued is that's the only way to protect the land. So I think the key component of finding out whether we can protect the land is what's the true value of that land and my own guesstimates it's 100 to 200,000 just by looking at the tax record and just asking a couple realtors but 100 to 200,000 is something that the city could get a grant for. I did reach out to um what is it called? Aken County Land Conservatory. I encourage the city to reach out to them. They're posting grants weekly about um my two favorite places to walk my dogs are Langley Pond Park and Brick Pond Park and and they just did a wonderful land um preservation at Langley Pond. I just I just don't know why we can't look into grants um to preserve that land. I I think we can have two wins here. Preserve the land and get the cyber center.

Very good. Thank you, Colin. Yes, ma'am. Come on down.

Hi, I am Patty Bushelon and I have recently become a citizen inside streets of North Augusta.

Nice to have you with us. And my question becomes it's residential versus commercial. I agree with wanting to keep the green as green. But my question becomes how do you protect it whichever way you go? That's the alternative I want to propose is what's the solution for keeping it green and finding another place for the cyber center which we have plenty of places to go in North Augusta but it's commercial versus residential to be able to keep that parcel completely green and available as it should What what do you what is it designated as? Because residential will do the same thing as commercial. You're going to have buildings there. So to keep it green, what's the solution there? We got Who we got next? Yes, ma'am. Come on down.

My name is Angela Briatico. I live at 1738 Marian Avenue. like speaking is not my forte and I'm extremely nervous. You don't have to be. But um I just wanted to let you guys know I'm speaking from my heart.

I am a transplant from Columbia County. my husband poached me and brought me over and I love this city so much and I think it's beautiful and special and like a little Hallmark town and um I think everyone has made really valid points and so I just wanted to speak a little bit about what Brick Palm Park means to me. Um, I think that it is our treasure and I think it is a source of great pride and it's something that we should strive to protect and improve on. We could stand to have more picnic tables. Um, but in terms of what it means to me, in addition to the wildlife and the nature, um, and some people kind of already spoke on this, it's a place where our babies go on field trips and learn, you know, the scientific method and and practice, you know, learning science. It's um, where our teenagers go to have their first date and to have their prom pictures taken. It's where our young couples go to have their engagement photos. It's where our grieving citizens go to find a place for peace. It it means so much in so many different capacities to so many different people. And one of the underlying things is that no matter your demographic, no matter your how much money you make or don't have, it's yours. It belongs to you and you and you and you and you and you. belongs to all of us and I am not opposed to a cyber center and I'm not opposed to progress. We need to stay, you know, future forward and thinking about the upcoming generations, but I just ask and I implore everyone to please do so responsibly. You know, let's not throw

the baby out with the bath water. Let's let's, you know, let's be careful. And I think a cyber center is a good idea. I just don't for the life of me understand why we have to destroy or risk someplace so special,

you know, that that means so much to so many people and and that's all I ask is is that we I mean it's already hard to get down there. It's already hard to enjoy it because of the it's overdeveloped now and parking is already, you know, an issue and so What's going to happen? What's going to happen when we just add more and pile on more? I just feel like we're being shortsighted. And I don't pretend to know what the solution is, but I I am begging everyone to to please come up with something that works for all of us because the city belongs to all of us, not just those who own businesses. And thank you. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Good job. You did very good. Who we got next? Yes, ma'am. In the way in the back hiding.

Hi, my name is Paige Davis and I live at 351 Expedition Drive. Um, everything that I feel has already been spoken. However, I would like to give a viewpoint as a mother who has lived in North Augusta. I've lived here my entire life. I love North Augusta. U my husband is also a transplant from Atlanta, by the way. Um and so my children are here. They are in the school system. My daughter goes to Mossi Creek. My youngest goes to First Baptist. We love it here. And as a mother, as a as a millennial, younger generation raising the future generations, I absolutely agree. I do I want it to stay green for all of the benefits that everybody has spoken about. Um I'm not opposed to a cyber. Well, I'm kind of opposed to a cyber center, but you know, if it's going to if it's going to come, at least come to a different spot. Um so that's all I have to say.

Thank you, Paige. Yes, ma'am. Right in the back there.

Hi, my name is Bunny Nestrom. I live at 18 H Highinth Way uh 29841. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. Brick Pond Park is one of the few public places in North Augusta where people can regularly engage with the living ecosystem. Families walk here, residents decompress here, and many rely on this park as an accessible way to experience nature without even needing to leave the city. It serves as a social and emotional role in our community. But more importantly than all of this, Brick Pond is home to wildlife that cannot simply relocate when construction begins encroaching on the fragile interdependent wetland and pond ecosystems. When they are destroyed, the plants, animals, and water systems that rely on them are permanently disrupted. It's going to be irreversible. While it has been stated that no construction will occur directly in the water and that that small buffer exists that people have mentioned before, buffers do not exist in isolation. Wetland ecosystems depend on what happens around them. Soil stability, noise, vibration, runoff, and human traffic will alter quality and wildlife behavior permanently. Without comprehensive environmental impact and delineation studies, there's no credible way to claim that these systems will remain intact. Meaning minimum regulatory standards does not equate to protecting an actively functioning ecosystem. The EPA compliance is a flaw, not a guarantee of preservation, especially in wetlands like Brickham Park. That damage often becomes irreversible or only visible after it's already irreversible. While cyber senators may offer short-term economic incentives, they come with significant long-term environmental costs. These facilities demand immense amounts of water and energy, placing ongoing strain on the local infrastructure and natural resources. These costs are carried by residents and the environment. While the benefits largely flow to corporations with no lasting relationship with this place, this decision matters. Once the space is used, it's gone for good. No amount of future funding can recreate a mature ecosystem or replace a public space that the people of North Augusta already love and use. So, I asked the council to look beyond immediate

projections and consider your responsibility to the long-term well-being of the city, its land, its wildlife, and most importantly, the people. You are not just voting on the development proposal. You're deciding what North Augusta chooses to protect while protection still matters. So, please preserve the safety of Brick Pond Park and for the current and future generations. Thank you. Thank you. Who we got? Yes, ma'am. Oh, you're next. Go ahead, Tom.

I'm Tom Roberts. I live at 1848 Bowling Road. I hope we can see a roster of how the votes go from the council on this on this matter. Uh particularly with elections coming up. They do every year. It's very important. We do that every time. Okay. Um this is uh I think a lot of people are riled up about this. I think it's very important that u you all are aware of that. Thank you.

Yes, ma'am. Hi. Hi.

My name is uh Jenny Reynolds. I live at 234 Amy Circle. I'm also a transplant here. My husband and I were military and have lived all over the world. The last place the military sent us was uh to Eisenhower and um we were living in Grovetown and a big part of the reason why we left Grovetown was because we were watching every bit of natural beauty just be mowed down in favor of uh of progress. They would take out entire neighborhoods, take out every single tree to build cookie cutter houses that looked exactly like each other and could not withstand the storms that we are now getting in this area. So when we finally decided to use RVA loan and and get a home somewhere, we chose here. And a big part of the reason was the natural beauty here. Another was the community, which has been lovely and inviting. We are the millennial family that you want coming here. We brought three of our kids to grow here. And I actually like the idea of a cyber center. We taught all of our kids, go into STEM, go into STEM, go into STEM. They did. They listened and the jobs aren't necessarily here for them. So, I I absolutely love the idea. But according to WRDW, um in previous meetings, you guys said uh that you chose this prime real estate near SRP Park because there are few other suitable locations in the city. Well, that tells me that there are others. If there are few, there are others. My concerns where the wetlands are concerned are are two things. One, we are already in Aken County getting a 700,000 square foot data center. Those data centers according to uh Earth observation group of Cambridge are increasing the heat in the area by 16 degrees. Now you add another parking lot, you add

destruction of wetlands which are also critical to cooling areas. And I worry about our increased energy costs, the damage to the waters because it feeds right into the Savannah River, which we all rely on. On top of that, we have animals that are critically endangered. We have some of the last lightning bugs, which I know it seemed like something we don't care about, but they were a magical part of my youth, and I want them to exist for my children. And we have some of the last ones in the nation in the world here because our wetlands across the United States are being endangered by by building on them, which by the way, as someone else brought up, are flood zones. Now, I like a lot of other people here had damage during Hurricane Helen. And like other people here, I lost my insurance immediately after. And what I found during that process was how hard it was to even get an insurance company to talk to me once I had my zip code. My fear is if we build this facility and we put all this high-tech stuff in it, when it floods, because it will because you're building on a flood zone, then it's going to make us even less insurable. Yeah, I now have to pay thousands of dollars more on my premiums. And I I've done nothing wrong. I'm a good homeowner. I do everything that you should do to protect your your property. If I and and my husband can barely afford that. My my concern is uh what what will that mean for people who are even lower income? If we have to build here, I personally would rather it be residents residential. I would rather it be small homes uh to bring in more families that impact the the existing ecosystem much less because at least those people will be invested in caring about what's near

them. No one cares about what's next to their work. That that's all. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Appreciate it. We got next. Well, oh, come on down. Yeah, I didn't see you. Caleb Chansy, 236 Red Bud Drive, North Coast. Uh my wife and I moved here in 2006 and we moved off exit 5. When we got there, there was a lot of trees, a lot of brush, there's a lot of natural, you know, natural scenery in that area. Now, it's really grown up in the past 20 years. My wife and I had our son about 14 years ago, and one of the things that helped him recover after having heart surgery was Brick Pond Park. We used to take him out there all the time after each surgery. Having another building there is going to destroy that area. I walked that parcel a few days ago and there's at least a five to six foot drop down in that area. There's a big old tube in there that you can see where the water runs out from. Now talking about flooding, it's really going to flood in that area. It takes up a lot of energy in that area. It's not about should we have a cyber center. It's about where we should have a cyber center. It's about finding the right location. Partial D6 sits right next to Brick Pond Park and is a valued area of North Augusta, probably more than any other space in North Augusta. This land had been identified as a green

space, a natural buffer that should be protected at all cost. Residents have consistently over the years raised concerns about protecting this space, about traffic and congestion and about environmental mental impact. And these are not isolated concerns. We even tabled the council even tabled this decision because you knew that there was a need to pause on this. I do I do not support putting a cyber center on partial D at all, but I do support putting it in another place like the old police building, city building, any other place around this area that we can put it, just not on parallel D. We need an environmental impact survey. From what I hear, that has not been done. Now, excuse me if that's wrong, but in my opinion, I haven't heard a single thing about an environmental impact study at all. Need to conduct a citywide site review for better locations and prioritize existing properties like the old city building, like I just said. Fourth, we need to ensure infrastructure is ready before any approval. And fifth, bring the public into the process early. Because from what I've experienced, from what I've seen, we bring it we're bringing in the public after decision has been made or right before a vote is to be done. We We have a responsibility to the people of North Augusta, not to ourselves. And from what I've heard and from what I've seen, we're only making decision

for yourself and not the residents of North Augustine. And lastly, I ask you to protect it at any cost. You need to follow a better process and choose a location that not only benefits our families, but a community as a whole. Thank you. Thank you, Taylor.

Hey, if you want a cyber center, don't be shy. Now is your time. We're not having any conversation from the council. I've already set the rules. Now, who's next? Yes, ma'am.

How we all do it? My name is Richard Cornett at 1843 Ran Avenue. I would just stand here and like to remind the folks um as you're standing here and we're looking and seeing what's going on with the the town, the city, and now we're talking about the brick ponds. I've lived here for 21 years when the military brought me here after I got out of the army. Right. This was a great place to live. And I've watched I won't say this council because I've been here for 20 years, but I've watched everything go downhill chasing greed, money. You look around at every corner, there's nothing but apartment buildings, gas stations, car washes, and fast food places. I moved over here because this was a family community, and I was told to invest here, live here, because it's going to stay a family community. This is beginning to feel like South Augusta. All right? It doesn't feel like North Augusta anymore. I can remember standing in here with other folks that with Fiona pressuring this council to take care of the brick pon. And I remember us being told that until we organize like the people do over at the Living History Park, there there's not going to be anything done with the parks. And we've had to push and push and push until things were done. The studies that were supposed to been done to put in this area over here at SRP Park, the traffic surveys and everything else were over 10 years old. I looked, none of it was done. And yet, we're still talking about building another building right next to this property, which we know is going to destroy it. So I sit here and wonder when we're doing this, are we doing this just as an exercise? Because I remember when I stood in here 6 months ago and was told, "We're not going to do anything with the brick ponds until the town organizes." Well, look, mayor, we're here. Thank you, Richard. Who we got next? Yes, sir. Come on now.

Hello, Patrick Yonke 609 San Salvador. I just want to thank y'all how communicative you've been on this whole issue. I listen online every week and you guys you guys tell us everything that's going on and I love it. Thank you.

Um I love Brook Pond too, but from what I understand this isn't a decision about green space or not. Right now, town homes are going to go in there and and that would be probably fine and it's going to bring economic activity. But if the city has an opportunity to take control of that property and probably even build a smaller footprint, um we still get economic development. We get people that work there, spend their money here, bring their families down in the evenings, go to the games, but it also probably will have a little more barrier that somebody mentioned earlier to the brick pond. So, I think by the city taking control, we actually have a better chance of keeping that area smaller and nicer for the community. So, I just encourage you to go ahead and vote for that.

Thank you, sir.

Who we got next? Come on down, sir. Name is David Dean, 132 Drive, North August, South Carolina. How you doing, David? I'm doing good. Good to see you, sir. Good seeing you. I missed you Saturday. I don't know if you was down there Saturday. I was I missed you. I didn't What time did you get down there? I was down there all day. You were? I was walking one of the pound dogs. You didn't hear me on stage.

I had one of the Northwest Pound Dogs. I saw David Buck. I saw Dennis, but I didn't see Pat. I didn't see y'all. We had a great turnout down there. A lot of kids, a lot of adults, a lot of handicap people. And I noticed we don't have handicap spots down there for nobody to park unless they in the parking deck or by the Mexican restaurant or one over on the other side of the parking deck. But we built golf cart decks where the where the project D is supposed to be. What happened to the parking deck? I mean, what happened to the handicap spots? We don't have handicap spots down there no more. We're talking about building. We came to take care of the seniors in this community. My sister came down there and she paid 20 bucks to have somebody to park her vehicle. 20 bucks. Handicap. A handicap shouldn't have to pay a dime to park in a public area. Yes, ma'am. Come on down. My name is Joyce Swah and I live in Hammond's Ferry, 615 Arrington Drive. My complaints are a little bit different than everybody else's.

I support the brick pond, but I'm opposed to all the money you're spending. You took all the parking garages and given them to apartments, allowed them to build down there with no parking. And the last week when I was here, you want $5 million to buy another parking garage because you gave the space away already. And I my taxes in North Augusta City and Aken County are more than my South Carolina state taxes. So, I feel like I'm a contributor financially to everything in this community and I really feel that you are giving up what what North Augusta and Hammonds Ferry was designed for, for families, for the environment. Even New York City knew better than to give up all their green space. And and what what what are you doing to us? We can't park our you gave us four spaces for golf carts. Now we're allowed to park in in section D until you built a cyber center. And if you go down Martintown Road where I went to get my passport so I could get through security, there's a building that North Augusta built that's sitting there 90% empty. Why can't you put a cyber center there? It's already there. and and I love North Augusta and I I I appreciate you and everybody here for all you do for us, but think about um I'm a single woman and I can't afford all the things that y'all are spending and taking away. Thank you.

Thank you. Appreciate it, Joyce. Who we got? Come on now. Yes, ma'am. Come on now. Debbie Howard Stankis, 517 Dove Street, North Augusta. A lot of y'all might think you don't know me, but I was the girl

in the late 70s, early 80s, riding a strawberry roan horse from our family farm pond property on Martintown Road down to the river. Been around a long time, seen a lot going on. Now, I want to piggy back on a I really appreciate everything everybody has offered this conversation and there needs to be a lot more of it. You know, if you want good foresight, you got to have the the conversation and not go off halfcocked. All right. So um somebody already said that the green space is important not just for the animals and the plants for the wildlife but because of it's for the people. Somebody mentioned the the flood damage and and uh the rise in temperatures. um the a you know the green space the brick pond park makes everybody's air cleaner. It's it's better for everyone. Now, we used to be able to enjoy the uh the property that the South Carolina Nature Conservancy bought out Old Plantation Road. And then now, I mean, we can't even park down there. I've been hiking down there. I was I rode horses down there when when Martintown Road was a two-lane road. Was down swimming in the rapids before you know, that was developed if over there on Indian Rocks Court and whatnot. I just want to know where are we supposed to go to be outside

to have fresh air? Um, and the concern about older people is is a very valid concern. Where else can our disabled or handicapped people or aging seniors go and and just get to walk on a path, see some birds, take their their grandchildren or great grands fishing or something. I mean, you know, come on. Um, that's really all I have to say, but I I just I don't understand. And it feels like we're going off halfcocked. It feels like that money and greed is is is what's really going on here. And that's not a good that that's not going to turn out well for anyone. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else got anything new they want to add? This is all good stuff. Now come on down. You can do it. I'm embedded in.

So, I'm a little late to the party. Admittedly, I'm a little behind on everything that's been going on with this. Yeah. Speak in the microphone. Can you with these decisions? I need your name if you want. Heather Holloway, 1131 Dietrich Lane, North Augusta, South Carolina. What was your first name? I'm sorry. Heather Holloway. Heather. Okay. I couldn't hear you. Okay. Thank you. So quiet. Thank you. So, I'm a scientist, so I really like analytics and data.

I have not seen much relating to this topic. And I would ask I mean I look around this room feel like we could probably put this in a different venue where we'd be more comfortable next time. So maybe we could plan for the next meeting to be held at a different location since we are obviously very engaged and concerned about this topic um so that everybody especially the elderly would have a seat for this meeting. But I think we have a lot of questions and I think for the next forum it would be nice if you could pull the data together that shows us that you analyzed and determined I mean AI was a blip on the radar two years ago. Fast forward two years, five years, 10 years. Is this summer going to be relevant and viable for our community? Is this what we need? Is this the best way to spend the money? Right? Um that would be nice to see if you've done that research and you have that data. We welcome the chance to review it with you. Um it's a lot of money and it impacts us all. There's quite the veil of secrecy at the national level. So I think we would all really appreciate the transparency that would happen if you shared that data with us.

Thank you. Thank you, Heather. Okay. Anybody else at this point? We still got a meeting after this, so you'll have an opportunity. All right. So, let me just uh kind of wrap this up by saying uh Dan Laroo, thank you for what you shared. I appreciate uh the positives that you shared of what could come from a a cyber building and the concerns you have. And then we go with the lights again. You can't lean up against the wall there. Uh Sandy Zenko, always so passionate about the parks, the ponds. Thank you for sharing. Uh Fred Lardy, uh hear what you're saying uh about tableing it and what we can do to please the whole population by not making a decision. Michelle Wilson, uh, you one of your that that your question would be answered when we at in the public in the planning I mean in the planning in the city council meeting uh from our city administrator about the environmental impact study. So very good question there. Uh I will so we'll talk that will come out we answer your question there. Amanda, thank you uh being transferred from Augusta. appreciate you sharing the concern about the an ugly building next to the pond and what that may look like. Um my new dear friend uh Kesha, I can't ever say her name, but thank you for loving the ponds and your healing and medicine. Um thank you for

Thank you for that. I know uh Grace W uh in a grace way. Um question about the Georgia Cyber Center already in Augusta. Why we need one in North Augusta in the clubhouse? Well, that's a question we can answer. Mary Pettit, thank you for thinking outside the box. Idea of the larger buffer zone incorporate the path in the building. Uh very intentional thoughts. Amber fleece check concern about flooding. Uh health benefits, concern about the future risk. Thank you for sharing that. Tab of the Waldrip, I think the question about the skiff will come out. Uh we'll talk about that. Rachel Johnson, thank you for coming up forward. Um, you know, the benefits. Uh, we will answer that. I will do that. I'll try to get the answer that in my own comments at the end. Um, about the parking deck. Uh, so I think your questions will be answered. Tyler, uh, your question about the value of partial D will be answered. Patty Bush Line, uh, new citizen, thank you for moving over here. or how do we protect? Anyway, uh the zoning question you had to change, that's part of what this is. So, I think that question will come out. Uh Angela, thank you for sharing what it means to you. Uh I love the way you walk through from young children to to our our kids and prom and adults and engagement, all of those things. Uh you know, we know that's very you're very passionate. Thank you for for your honesty there, Paige Davis. Uh your viewpoint as a mother, keep it green. Very good. Bunny Nestrom ecosystem concern about the wetlands preserved for future generations. Uh thank you for that. Tom Roberts. Um yep, I can assure you when you get elected to the council, there's voting pressure on everything you vote on. Uh Jenny Reynolds, uh left Grovetown due to

beauty being torn down. Love STEM. Um, lightning bugs, I hear you. Uh, I think your question about other locations will be answered. We'll talk about that. Um, this is not a data center though. That'll help. Caleb Chansy, um, Sharon, about your son and the health benefits. I I think that was Appreciate you sharing. I think you'll get your questions answered uh, about what other old buildings were looked at. Uh on that end, uh Richard, couldn't get your last name, Coronet, I think. Um thank you for sharing. I know you definitely have not been pleased with what you've seen and I'm sorry about that. Uh Patrick Yonke, thank you for saying some positive comments. Uh David, uh Brick Ponds, I I'll respond to you about the trolley uh as I give you an alternative about the handicap, but yes, we'll answer about the handicap spaces. JD will. Uh, Miss Wah, I think she's already left. Um, we're going to talk about the parking plan of Riverside Village. That's not really going to be done so much tonight, but we do have a plan. Uh, and then Heather Holloway. Yes, I think you'll see some of the data that Jim will share, our city administrator, in just a little bit, and I think that will be helpful, and I think we'll give you some perspective of that. So, I I cannot tell you how respectful y'all were, how much I really appreciate your your passion and everything. Uh, but at this time, we are going to close out the public hearing. I'm going probably, it's right at uh maybe two minutes. I'll see if I if everybody council any you want to use a restroom. If not, we will start our planning our planning we'll start our city council meeting in just a minute. So, at this point, the public hearing, we are closing that out. Thank you very much. Okay. You need to go to the bathroom. Anybody need to go to the bathroom? Go fast. Go fast.

You good? Good evening. I'd like to call the city of North August City Council meeting for April the 20th, 2026 to order. You are welcome to join me in prayer. Dear God, as we come together tonight to do the business of the city and to give our young people an opportunity to experience how local government works, I ask that you continue to open our hearts and minds to what is said and discussed as we work to improve North Augusta. Amen. If you're able, please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance

to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nationisible and justice for all. Okay, we're going to start roll call just of our city council from my left please. John Felac, Robert Fredus, Pat Carpenter, Britain Williams, Kevin Tul, David Buck, Dennis Fatico.

Okay. Item four, approval of minutes. Are there any corrections, deletions, or additions to the regular city council meeting minutes of March the 16, 2026 or the state session minutes of April 13, 2026? Okay. Hearing none, they stand approved as distributed. Thank you. Okay. Number five. Here we go. We got four proclamations. And uh the first one I'm going to ask Miss Karen Freighic to meet me and uh Maggie down in front of the dice. Karen's prettier than you, Rick. All right. This is the national proclamation for National Tennis Month whereas on May the 21st, 1881, the USA, originally known as the United States National Lawn Tennis Association, was founded in New York City, New York to create rules and standards for the emerging game of lawn tennis. And whereas the USA is a nonprofit national governing body for tennis in the United States and leads the promotion growth of the sport at every level of play from beginners to professionals at US Open. And whereas the USA is the largest tennis organization in the world with over 729,000 members from every corner of the country. And whereas USA proudly partners with local tennis programs to showcase the important health, social, and educational benefit of tennis and make the sport available to everyone regardless of age, environment, condition, or ability through USA adaptive grants. And whereas the latest research by the Physical Activity Council shows that more than 27.3 million Americans play tennis in 2025, this reflects the sixth consecutive year of growth which nearly 10 million players added since 2019. And whereas by increasing accessibility of tennis for

citizens of North Augusta, South Carolina, all ages and ability, the USA has contributed to making our community happier and healthier. And whereas the USA has declared the month of May as National Tennis Month to encourage players, organizations, facilities, retailers, tennis manufacturers, and more to promote local programs and activities at parks and facilities to showcase tennis and spread the word about the sport and its benefits and to help players and non-players alike find courts and play opportunities in their communities. Now, therefore, I Britain S. Williams, mayor of the great city of North Gusto, to hereby proclaim May 2026 as National Tennis Month. We uh Rick, I'm going you I'm going to have you if you would just tell a little bit about our city council uh invested I thought well earned money to redo all the tennis courts. We have an amazing tennis population North Augusta very passionate and Karen Frillic has been up here about every year that I can think and she's been very ardent supporter of the of tennis. So anything you want to share about the new tennis court?

Sure. Well, first of all we we appreciate this uh proclamation. Karen was with us for a while but had to leave for a tennis lesson. Imagine that. And uh Karen does a terrific job following the footsteps of Chris Tully and uh mayor and council between re uh surfacing the tennis courts also in the last four years we've added LED lights to them and it makes a huge difference for the the folks using the the tennis lights. Trayvon, you want to add anything? You were manager of the tennis team, I understand. Yes, sir. Um, let me I really Are they better now than they were? Yeah, much better. You're getting more aces now, aren't you?

I hope so. All right, there you go. Thank you. Let's give him a round of applause. And now, where is Carl? Where's our tourism director? Carl Walt. She's somewhere. Where are you? Come on up, Carl. And we're gonna let Miss uh Mayor Maggie Brown uh read this proclamation. And uh there you go, young lady.

Whereas the travel industry fuels every industry and will continue to be an essential part of North Augusta, South Carolina's economy, development, and workforce. And whereas travel is an economy powerhouse for every state and destination across the country with an economic output of 2.9 trillion supporting 15 million American jobs. And whereas travel spending supports vibrant and safe communities in South Carolina and across the United States by generating 89 billion in state and local tax revenue in 2025 to support essential services such as education, economic respon emergency response, public safety and more. And whereas travel enables success for all industries including manufacturing, agriculture, defense, healthcare and more by driving sales growth, innovation, education and oper operations that power our econom economy. our national and our nation in North Augusta, South Carolina. And whereas America's travel industry cannot be globally competitive without maximizing growth in leisure, business, and international inbound travelers, increasing travel to and within the United States drives our economy to a more prosperous future and connects America. And whereas small businesses account for more than 60% of leisure and hospitality employment and whereas travel is an an essential industry and we must continue to communicate that growing travel leads to economic growth benefits businesses and fosters mutual understanding and connects the nation. Now therefore, Britain Williams, mayor of mayor of the city of North Augusta, South Carolina, I do hereby proclaim May 3rd through 9th at 2026 as National

Travel and Tourism Week, and urge the citizens of North Augusta to join me in recognizing the essential role this industry plays in South Carolina. and witness whereof, I here onto set my hand and caused the seal of of the city of North Augusta, South Carolina to affixiate this 20th day of April, 2026. Good job. Yeah, strong powerful voice. I like that. There you go, Carl. And uh introduce you. We have Jacob Seagler here with us, part of Optimus Youth Day. Thank you. Have you ever ridden the trolley before?

I rode the trolley today. How do you like that trolley? Oh, it was fantastic.

All right, I'm gonna embarrass her, but she needs to be embarrassed. Jamie Paul, come on up. Oh, you're not Paul now. You're Barton. Do y'all know what just happened? this young lady recently. She's no longer Jamie Paul. She's now Jamie Barton. SHE JUST GOT MARRIED. I'm in a lot of trouble. All right. Proclamation. This is the 57th annual professional municipal clerk's court week. May the 3rd through the 9th. Whereas the office of professional municipal clerk, a timehonored and vital part of local government, exists throughout the world. And whereas the office of the professional municipal clerk is the oldest among public servants who serves as the information center on functions of local government and community. And whereas the office of the professional municipal clerk provides the professional link between the citizens, the local governing bodies and agencies of governments at other levels. And whereas professional municipal clerks have pledged to be ever mindful of the neutrality and impartiality rendering equal service to all. And whereas professional municipal clerks continually strive to improve the administration of the affairs of the office of the professional municipal clerk through participation education programs, seminars, workshops in the annual meetings of their state, provincial, county, and international pre professional organizations. Whereas it's the most appropriate that we recognize the accomplishments of the office of the professional municipal clerk. Now therefore, I Britain S. Williams, mayor of the city of North Augusta, hereby recognize the week of May 3rd through 9th as professional municipal clerks week and further extend appreciate the city of North Augusta professional clerk to Jamie Barton and to all professional clerks for the vital services they perform and their exemplary dedication. I will tell you we are very fortunate because often in municipal court municipal municipalities you will get people who will do the job of a

municipal clerk. We were very fortunate. Jaime's background in in the municipal being a municipal clerk prior to coming here from her previous stints has brought a ton of knowledge for us. She has held upheld just the most professional standards. I would tell you um she's done an amazing job for our city administration and uh our council. She does yman work and gets little credit. Never wants credit. But I will tell you the city of North August as far as the things administrally that happen that citizens don't even see would not happen as good as they do if it wasn't for Jamie. And uh I just know as for myself I'm internally thankful for your support and you keep me all out of the gutters a lot and I'm very thankful for that. So um thank you very much and let's give a round of applause. I'm going to read this last proclamation today. This is the 75th anniversary of Northwest Chamber of Commerce. They'll be having an event this Thursday where I'll read the actual proclamation. Uh but what this says is whereas the North Augusta Chamber of Commerce was established in 1951 to support, promote, and advocate for the business community in North Augusta and the surrounding region. And whereas for 75 years, the chamber has played a vital role in advancing economic growth, supporting local businesses, and fostering strong vibrant community. And whereas the chamber has demonstrated a continued comm commitment to advocacy, education, and workforce development, leadership cultivation and community engagement, serving as a catalyst for collaboration

between business, government, and civic organizations. And whereas the Northwest Chamber of Commerce has been instrumental in shaping a thriving business environment, attracts investment, supports entrepreneurs, enhances overall quality of life for residents. And whereas through innovative programming, strategic partnerships, and regional collaboration across South Carolina and Georgia, the chamber continues to position North Gus as a competitive and forwardinking community. Whereas the chamber's 75th anniversary provides an opportunity to reflect on its legacy of service while celebrating his vision for the future of business, workforce, and economic development in North Augusta. Now, therefore, I Britain S. Williams, a mayor of the city of North South Carolina, do hereby proclaim April 2026 as a month to celebrate the 75th anniversary Northwest Chamber of Commerce, founding in the city of North Augustine, encourage all citizens and join in recognizing the chamber's lasting value and contributions to our community. Tara Carroll, who is a chamber president and executive director, cannot be here. Um, but anyway, we will give this to I'll read this to her at in front of the chamber on Thursday. But it's a great partnership for us and bring a lot of value to our new businesses and we do ribbon cuts all the time. The chamber's been a big part of that. So, uh, here here to the Chamber of Commerce. Okay. Um, I'm going to ask Miss Carina to come on and meet me in front of Das. Okay. Before um so Kayla Ferguson is our HR director and normally about a week or so before we prior to our meeting I normally get an email from Kayla and I'm just going to read this email to you because this happens every quarter. This is just absolutely incredible to me. We have an awesome team. When you have the opportunity, please read all these

wonderful nominations. We had nine nominations for employee of the quarter. And that's about we have that many it seems like every quarter. And what's great about and why Kayla's so excited that comes across all our different departments. It wasn't like we had eight from public safety. It was literally all our departments. And you think about a city of we have 280 right teammates. And to every quarter to know we've got eight or nine or 10 people who are so thought highly of from their peers is pretty impressive. Kayla gets excited about it. So when she gets excited, I get excited about it. But I'm really excited about this one. So because part of what I'm going to read is from a citizen. Do you know that? I'm gonna tell you. All right. Uh Carlina, I would like to uh basically you are the employer of the quarter and let me tell you a little bit about why. Okay. Uh this is what was written about her. She's consistently goes above and beyond her core responsibilities. Willingly offering support in other areas whenever needed. Her positive attitude, if you ever walk, she's always smiling. She is how positive and collaboration collaborative spirit makes her a true pleasure to work with. In addition, she has played a key role in supporting the team through the transition to our new software, providing valuable training and guidance to ensure a smooth implementation. She has also received numerous compliments from customers. You frequently highlight her professionalism, responsiveness, and willingness to help. And here we've attached an email from a customer expressing this sincere appreciation for outstanding service. Her dedication, teamwork, and commitment to excellence makes her a highly deserving candidate for this recognition. So, here's what one of our citizens wrote about you. Okay. I'm writing to express my sincere gratitude for the outstanding assistance that Carolina and the tax office provided during my recent interaction with the city of North Augusta. As a new homeowner in this wonderful community, this was my first encounter with the local government. And I'm pleased to say it was a very positive experience. Do

you hear that? Very positive experience. Thanks to her. Her calm, friendly, and professional demeanor turned what could have been a frustrating issue into a smooth and manageable process. I truly appreciate the way she handled my situation, demonstrating a level of care and efficiency that left a lasting impression on me. Her dedication to helping citizens like myself is truly commendable. I feel fortunate to be part of a community that values its residents and goes the extra mile to ensure their concerns are addressed effectively. Her excellent service is a testament to the high standards maintained by the city of North Augusta and it reflects the pride and commitment of its employees. Thank you once again for your exceptional service. It's important to acknowledge the good work being done. I want to make sure you knew how much our efforts are appreciated. You know, it takes that is not a that it's not a oneline text, okay? That is somebody that took time out of their service, out of their day to write uh that's four one, two, three, four paragraphs about you. That says everything to me. Okay? So, I will just tell you on behalf of our council and administration, uh thank you for what you do. and nobody's better earned this January, February, March employee of the quarter than you. So, congratulations. And anything you want to say?

No, but thank you. And I mean, thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve the the citizens of Nordcasta. It's a pleasure. Let's give a round of applause. All right. Now, what we're going to do here, we need we're going to get all the youth to stand up and meet us in front of the DAS. You would So what we're going to do is we're going to go in order and so let let me just real brief. So we met with these folks. Well, first of all, this is sponsored by the Optimus Club of North Augusta every year. Uh especially Joanna Arnold who's a president is does an amazing job. She spearheads all this and then the school will pick out um the students volunteer for different positions and they line them up. But thank you for the Optimus Club, the Friends of Youth. If you're not familiar with them, uh it's a great organization. Uh they got the best Christmas trees in town. So uh feel free to uh support them and eat pancakes as well. But anyway, let me tell you what we're going to do here is we met with these folks this morning. We were fortunate to have three of our council folks. David Buck, Robert Fredus, and uh John Felak were here and our directors. So basically, each of the council folks kind of told why how who they were, why they ran for city council, and then our directors got to stand up and tell the

story about who they were and what their responsibilities were. And then they took a te a tour of our waterworks. They took a tour of public safety. I think you went to Green Jackets, right? Um but anyway, and then they're back here tonight. But anyway, I thought it was a great uh time to talk with them and I told them I said this is our fourth year I guess that we've done the youth appreciation I guess since I've been mayor and I'll tell you I told I told you that you should be this is the most exciting I was right about this night because I said tonight they were going to get the experience that nobody's ever experienced before. I said, "You're going to be in front of a packed house of passionate citizens who are going to tell you their voice, what they are passionate about. You're going to hear from your city council." I said, "Tonight is exactly a microcosm of what an ideal municipal council meeting should be in a community like North Augusta." And I said, "You are, it's a privilege." And I hope you would listen because it tonight hopefully will help them today begin to kind of figure out where they are going to be when it comes to a direct democracy, whether a representative democracy, whatever it may look like for them today and tonight could be a great way to begin that. So, they're having a great experience and so far y'all have done an amazing job as far as helping them with that with way y'all handle the public hearing which we're very appreciative of that. So, with that, we've got some little gifts for everybody. And what I'm gonna do, I want everybody to get a chance to talk or at least introduce themselves. So, the young lady who has been uh mayor with me so far is Miss Maggie Brown. And Maggie, I'm going to let you just tell everybody if you would just state your name. I think you're all in seniors if I'm not mistaken, but any But this is worth it. I'm going to take a few minutes. Just take if you would. I'm not You don't have to. Was there something in

particular that you liked that you saw the day that you were excited about tonight? Is this worth your effort that you did this today? I'm Maggie Brown. I'm a senior at North Augusta High School and today we got to tour the water treatment plant. Walking into that room in the lab where we got to see all the chemicals and the different process that they take to give us clean water every day. It's kind of odd because in my head I'm just like the water goes in the is in the river then it's in our house. I don't think about the chemicals that go into it, but as a student who took AP Chem with some other students up here last year, it was really cool to see like the knowledge I learned in AP Chem in the real world. And so I just thought that was a really cool experience.

All right, that's good. What do you got for dinner? How we doing? You got anything there? Okay. Um, what we are we do are we aren't lined up in order? It's going to be all over the place. All right. Uh, Miss BK. Hello. Hello, my name is Britain Kate Junis and today we got to explore the public safety headquarters. And the coolest thing was seeing all the evidence room and all the things that go into keeping our city and our community safe. And just touring all the different places just really showed us how all of our community departments work together to keep us safe and keep our community great. All right. Very good. Thank you.

Council member Adico, where's your council member? Where is Alissa? Where is she? Hey, how are you? All right, come on. You can get in front of everybody. Hold on.

Uh, hi. I'm Alis Mirez and today I rode the trolley and it was really cool. I've never done that before. Um, I got to see how uh water gets into my house. Our drinking water or is it drinking our drinking water? Um, I got to see um where law enforcement hangs out. I got to see um um what else did I see? I got to see this. I've never seen like I've seen videos of people coming up here and speaking what they're passionate about, I guess, but I've never seen it in real life. And it was really cool to experience that and I'm very thankful. Awesome. Thank you,

Jocelyn. Oh, Joselyn had to go. Where's Oh, there you are. How are you? Good. How are you? Hi, my name's Jocelyn Chavez and I'm a senior at North Augusta High School. And I'm very grateful for this opportunity. I really liked seeing how the people came up to talk and how the mayor and all the city council would listen and how they take this into consideration. And it's not just the city doing this, doing that. It's the city listening to the people and then the people expressing how they feel about it. Thank you, Miss K.

Hi, I'm Kay Andrews. I'm also a senior today. I really liked looking at the lab and like the water place, whatever it was called, and the public safety because I'm a nerd. And also, I really liked uh the meeting because I thought most meetings were like boring, but it was a lot of fun today. Not a dull moment. Not It's just begun. Okay. It ain't over yet. Trust me. Just begun. Mia's not here, right? Yeah. Mia. Oh, hey Mia. She's

Hi, I'm Mia Mcadori. Um, I'm also a senior at North Augusta High School and my favorite part about today has been sitting up here with Mr. Felac and listening to everybody express their opinions and what they're passionate about because I know we can all be very passionate about what we believe. Jonathan Jonathan Oh, you you change it for me. Okay.

Hey, Jonathan. Come on. My name is Jonathan Garcia Lopez and it was really uh nice to see about it was really nice to see um everybody um in the city and speak um so proudly and um really um raise their voice about things they're passionate about and things they like or dislike about their city that they live in. All right, sounds good. All right, Caroline. There's Caroline. There you are, Carolina. Caroline's got the coolest charger, right? Portable charger.

Pink. You help me charge my about to run out the 51% real quick. You're way to go. Good job. My name is Caroline Grace Fronson and I thought it was really cool. We got to see like behind the scenes of a town that we all grew up in. That stuff like you don't think about like trash and the water and obviously, you know, people keep you safe, but you got to like see behind the scenes when they're not on the roads patrolling everything. Very good. Uh Emily Corey is one of our outstanding softball players and they are on the road. So she unfortunately was here this morning but could not stay. They are they are they're going they're on the road, right? Who are they playing tonight? You know,

South Aken. So anyway, um but we do have uh Mr. Luke Wallower here. He is going to be sitting here with Mr. JD Macau. So Luke, there

uh afternoon y'all. Um, man, I've really enjoyed it. My name is Luke Waldau, as he said, and I've had the privilege to represent everybody here as student body president at the high school. And my favorite experience for the day was definitely just to see that echoed on a larger stage. It's much more broad than like Trayvon coming up to me in the hall and being like, I think this would look really cool at the senior day. It's like I like seeing all the people come into obviously the board to talk about what they want to see in the community and it really just gives me hope and inspiration for our future and the city as a whole.

Now, Robert was so excited because he got to be the attorney because you were in a mock trial and did very well, learned a lot and anyway. Yes, I'm sure I'm Robert Christian as he just said. I'm sure many people are tired of hearing about me talk about mock trial because I've heard some people say like it's the only thing I say. But um I was also in it with Cararissa and Seth here. It was a great experience today just sitting up here with Mr. Deer. He gave a lot of guidance in the short time that we've had together and I've really enjoyed sitting in and watching people give their opinion. Good. Thank you,

Aubrey. There's Aubrey. Good evening everyone. My name is Aubrey Mobly and this past summer I was able to go to Palmetto Girl State and elected to be in the Senate and I got to sit in Mr. um William uh Britain William seat and it's just been an honor seeing him in the community recently with our school after winning the states championship with basketball and then seeing him go from that and then being in here in front of everyone and being able to actually see him and what he does in the day-to-day was just really cool. I didn't pay her to say that. I promise. Um,

all right, Trarevon, you've already been up here one time. Where are you? Where are you, Mr. Tennis Guy? Here you go, man. Do it. Give it one more time, everybody. Uh, good afternoon. I'm Trayvon Reed. I'm a senior at North Augusta. And my favorite part about today um was hearing everybody uh speak about what they're passionate about and you know just talk about like what they liked about it and um what they saw in the future. All right, sounds good. All right, Jacob. Oh, Jack is right behind him. There you go, sir.

Hi, I'm Jacob Sigler. My favorite part of today was learning about the heroes that you never see. Mr. Michael at the water treatment plant spends night shifts monitoring the water plants and no one knows his name. So I like to thank them like 16 hour days. I know that he works hard. All right. Where is Amaya Dempsey? You behind me. There you go.

Um good evening. My name is Amaya Dempsey and I'm a senior at North Augusta High School. Um, I had the privilege of touring the public safety headquarters for the first time today and I would say my favorite part was seeing the municipal courthouse. Um, I plan to take up a career in criminal law so seeing the symbolism of the lights on top of the ceiling um was really my favorite part of the whole day.

All right, the man he loves to wear a suit. Seth, come on up here, boy. Uh, my name is Ces Short. Uh, it's very clear that I am overdressed for this. Um, but my dad told me to wear a suit, so I did. Um, uh, I am a football player for North Augusta, and I'm an 18-year-old boy. So, I don't get out of the house much unless it's going to eat food or play golf. So, it was good today to see how a real society actually works and how people contribute um, to the community they live in. and I also got a free lunch out of it. So, it was a great day. Thank you.

Now, Seth, we don't say it's free. We just say no charge. Oh. All right. Look, look. My name is Luca Lovado, and I really enjoyed touring the public safety uh building today. It was really cool seeing all the dedicated professionals that go into keeping us safe that a lot of people don't see all a whole ton of different backgrounds and it was really cool seeing that all mesh together. Um yeah. All right, Taylor.

Um hi, my name is Taylor Bonet. I am a senior for North Augusta. Also, I know this don't have nothing to do it, but I am a three-time state championship for Northwest. Um, I just want to say um my favorite part of the whole thing was the public safety cuz I also want to be a FBI. So, that kind of was like one of my things. Um, seeing like gun room, being in the judge chair. It just felt like I was kind of there already. So, that was one of MY FAVORITE THINGS. AND WE BROUGHT HER down from the uh shelter out there with Ricky. Chris a week. Come on, girl.

Hi, I'm Chris Weekes. I'm a senior at North Augusta High School. Um my favorite part about today was getting to see um the public safety, the new headquarters. Um we got to see a little bit of what happens. Um they talked a little bit about what happens to North Augusta when we have a um a natural disaster. um and all of the things and all the things that are poured into it to try and make sure that people are safe and taken care of um and recovering from it as quickly as possible. And I thought that was really interesting. Thank you. All right, Joan, you want to get a We're going to get a picture. And let me ask y'all, would y'all say this is a fair estimate? Do you think our future's pretty bright with this group?

I think it's the most impressive group we've had. It's pretty good. So anyway, let's behind behind. Yeah, I'm going to mention that too. Let me see. Yeah. So, one of the things we talked about this morning with the with with these uh amazing students was I told them this will probably be a late meeting. So, I told them actually we set the alarm for 8:00 and it's about 7:40. So, what we're going to do, the alarm's going to go off at 8:00. Uh I would tell you if your parents are here, if you if you got to leave at 8, I won't just you just get up and leave if you have to. I hope you can stay. Uh if you can stay, it'd be great because our last uh agenda item, we're

going to let y'all do a mock vote, but we kind of need to get through the crux of some other things. So, just if you see anybody, any of the students get up, that's because they need uh the leave, but if you can stay, we'd love to have you stay. If you can't, totally understand. Uh so, I just wanted to kind of set the tone of that so you didn't think that was something weird. All right, here we go. All right, we are in item 8, old business planning development ordinance number 202606 to approve the revised general development plan of the 195.39 plus or minus acres Hammonds Fairy Plan development located on the west side of Georgia Avenue between the north gust of Greenway and the Savannah River revisions relating solely to phase B of such revised general development plan. Do I have a motion to approve this?

Motion to table on second. Second. All right. We have a motion to let me get that right. Mr. Briatico. Huh? It was Freighus. Mr. Oh, Mr. Freighus. Buck second. Okay. Freighus. Who was second? Buck.

Mr. Buck. Okay. So, uh, all right. So, there is no discussion about a, uh, table. So, I will now ask for a vote. All in favor of tableabling this, raise your hand. So, what I got to hold it up, but I can't see. Okay, we got one, two, three, four, five, six and one. Okay, very good. Thank you. All right, let's see. Um, number nine, administration resolution number 2026-05 authorizing the city to purchase real estate located within Riverside Village, specifically parcels B and D table. Well, it's already tabled. Okay,

so just give me a second. Uh, is there a motion to take remove this from the table? All right. There's no motion to remove this from the table or second. Then it stays table Kelly if I'm correct. Okay. Very good. All right. So, we're good on that end. So, now we're moving into new business. Uh, item 10. All right. Item 10, planning the development ordinance number 202608. Authorize and approving the execution approving the execution delivery of a fifth amendment to master development agreement a development inducement agreement and other matters relating thereof. Do I have a motion to approve this ordinance reading?

Second. Okay. Who was the first? Y'all got to speak loud. Mr. Batico or David Buck who?

Okay. Councilman Briatico, thank you was the first. I know Mr. Freighus was the second. Thank you. Okay. There's no uh discussion on a table. So, uh all in favor, please uh raise your hand. That's one. Hold on. Don't don't hold it up. One, two. All right. That's three, five, five, and two. Okay. Gotcha. Very good. Okay. Um let's see. We are skipping along. Item 11. Are we at item 11? Just Oh, yeah. 11. Okay. Good. Uh item 11. Okay, here we go. Ordinance number 20269 to approve the general development plan for the 201.8 plus acres of the Hive plan development on the east side of West Martintown Road between Knob Cone Avenue and Interstate 20. Uh do I have a motion to approve this ordinance on first reading?

Second. That was Mr. Briatico was the first and second was Mr. Freighus I think. Okay. Anything you like to share about this M Clifford?

So Mr. Mayor and Council this uh item went through the planning commission. So those of you familiar with the hive, it is the development that is in between Martintown Road uh there closest to exit one and extends all the way behind North Augusta High School. There is a commercial component which is closest to Martintown Road by the Waffle House. There is a multif family component which is in the middle of the development which you can actually see from uh most of the approaches and then there is a single family uh portion of that development which is being developed by Stanley Martin Homes and that's the portion that's on the very east side of that development uh and is closest to the North Augusta High School. And so because of some of the topography challenges uh associated with what they found there, the developer came back through the planning commission requested uh a lesser number of homes and smaller lot sizes there. Planning commission uh recommended that action and that's the action that's before you here on the council. So actually there going to be fewer sites because of this, right?

That's correct, Mr. Mayor. Okay, very good. Any questions for Mr. Clifford?

All right. Are there any citizen comments on this? All right, I don't see any. Are there any council discussion? All right, hearing none, I'm going ask for a vote. Uh, all in favor and we That is unanimous. Very good. All right. Thank you very much. All right, let's see. Bear with me one second. We're zipping along here. Okay, very good. Make sure I had my my ducks in a row. Thank you. Okay. Item 12, administration resolution number 2026-21 authorizing additional golf cart parking and pedestrian safety improvements in Riverside Village. Do I have a motion to approve this resolution?

So move. Okay. And that was Debbuck. Thank you. And that was Miss Carpenter. Thank you. Okay. U that on this one. Um just a question is probably more for attorneys here u for the motion because it's affiliated with the other items above. Is it okay to still approve or do they Oh yeah, I didn't think about that. This is the

Yeah, it doesn't have to come into play. Okay. Uh, thank you for that. Okay. Uh, if either Miss Clifford or JD McCauley, you want to uh kind of update us on on this, please. So before I turn over to uh JD Mccau, um this particular resolution is really accomplishing two things. It adds golf cart parking to the median in between the Crown Plaza Hotel uh and the retail spaces that would include Rio Cantina. And so that's the largest portion of this uh fund of the $270,000 because that's the the improvement required. However, part of this resolution also uh does minor improvements and site improvements on parcel D. And since the city council has tabled uh the action to purchase the parcel D, I would say that you aren't going to be able to move forward on some of those aspects. So you could either have the option, and I'd defer to Kelly on the legal options, but you could either table this uh item in its entirety or you have the ability to bifrocate it uh and go for a lesser amount understanding that those improvements would only go for the meeting in between the Crown Plaza uh and the Rio. All right. I I think generally what can be done if council is in agreement with this, they can approve it, but it will not go into effect unless the city ends up owning the property or the owner would authorize the usage of it at this point.

But but there's two parts of it. So the the that would parcel D is currently owned by the developer, but the medium piece does that still we could do that with regardless of partial D. Right. Right. So I think so they could have some Yeah. You could as an option approve the resolution as is with giving verbal guidance from the dis that says hey you you know you were authorized and we're limited anyway. You cannot improve somebody's private property. So we can just do the median portion of that project uh and not do the parcel D portion of that project.

Yeah. I mean that's basically council's given authority to do it. We may need to go through some legal hoops to be able to to do it on the piece that we do not own right now.

All right. So but what I'm Okay. Yeah. But so do I need to change the do I need to adjust that the Okay. All right. Yeah, but but what I'm saying saying is all right, it's two parts. So, we can't the section with parcel D is the is the is a golf cart parking. We can't touch that because we don't we we table that. But the question is there's a section of the money for the median which has nothing to do with partial D. So, we can that's what I'm saying. Do I need to re we don't need we can keep the resolution as is and then adapt change take out that piece of it. Do we need new resolution for for the meetings? The part I'm talking about.

What I'm saying at this point, you're authorizing this to be done and you're authorizing the funds, but we're aware now that we don't own partial D and we would have to make arrangements to be able to do that. If they if the owner does not authorize us to do that, then you just don't do it and no money is spent. But we can approve the resolution to So we can still approve the resolution and partial D would be muted point because we don't own it. But the median, which we do, we can still do those improvements. That's what we're voting on. You still Well, no, you still can absolutely do the median.

Oh, we still voting as a resolution, but you're still saying that it's okay to do that parking if we get permission to do it. Okay. Okay. Yeah. You're not authorizing the purchase of it or anything. It's just saying if we get permission from the owner to do that, which I have no idea we will, and the other part wouldn't matter because the medium part. Is everybody you clear? Everybody clear on that? Is the question okay? Yeah. Yeah, that's what this So, Mr. Clifford just said that we aren't allowed to spend taxpayer dollars on private property, but we've already put fencing and signs and Well, we're going to answer that. JD's going to talk about where that came from.

Okay. We're going to get there. But what I'm saying, are you good with the Well, the point is, so what Kellyy's saying is we we've done a motion to put it on the table, not table it, but put it up for us to vote. So, as we go through this, I think what what we're saying is that the piece that's written in there, we are not moving on concerning the part golf cart because we don't own partial D, but there's a piece that we do own, which is a median, and that's really what we're going to be approving. Okay? So, that's where we are. So with that, I'll turn over to you or JD, whoever we need.

I just answer one question here from Councilman Briatico because there was some other I hate to call them improvements, but uh safety measures that were at the edge of parcel D. What we found over time is that if you don't have a barrier on parcel D, cars will park there illegally, and it causes a concern about cars driving over the sidewalk where pedestrians are walking. So the city had fencing at its disposal to put on parcel D with their approval from a pedestrian safety perspective. What I'm talking about is material improvements to a property. Uh and so because we don't own parcel D uh until we have some kind of other legal arrangement uh which would have to be agreed to by both the property owner and the city which we don't have uh we would not be making material improvements to that parcel. But a temporary fence uh in my understanding based on discussions with city attorney and uh the planning folks is authorized.

So material resources don't count like gas and labor that type of thing. Well, that's material is something that's I would view as permanent. Understood. Okay. All right. So, let's So, you want to tell about it? Are you going to talk about it?

Sure. Um, good evening, mayor and council. So, these are uh just to reiterate what we talked about last week. Um, these are improvements in the area of Riverside Village. Kind of it continues on the traffic uh trafficcoming and pedestrian safety improvements that we've done in throughout Riverside Village. And in the median, we're looking to put additional ballards, um, benches, and tables, uh, between the Crown Plaza and SRP Park. Um, and then the improvements that we were talked about for the parcel Dart is just minor improvements to the areas to make it safer for golf carts to park. Uh, permanent curb cuts and some fencing. That is what encapsulates the resolution that's before you. Um, and that total is, uh, $270,000 for both those projects. The majority of that is going into the median between Crown Plaza and SRP Park and that come from the river riverfront central core uh redevelopment fund which is primarily used for um it's H&A tax hospitality on commentations tax and it's primarily used for uh things to increase uh tourist uh uh tourist attract tourists and uh make it more uh community and leisure improvements for uh the city. So, the main parts of the meeting, they're going to be park benches or benches there. And we are rearranging some of the flower pots because what we don't want is for folks to drive cars or golf carts up there. That was part of phase two anyway of our parking three phases of Riverside Village. Correct.

That is correct. Yes, sir. Okay. JD, um, real quick, can you just let everybody know that, you know, the money in the river front core can only be spent on tourism and things like that? They can't be spent to fix potholes. They can't be spent to Yes, sir. hire another officer or something like that. Thank you. That's a great point. Um actually, yes, it's South Carolina um law for both what the uses are for hospitality tax and accommodations taxes, and that that is listed in in state law, and it is for tourism related um activities. Um there's a there's a laundry list of things, but public facilities such as restrooms, um you know, tour shuttle transportation, just to highlight a few of the things that we've used it for in the past and will continue to use in the future.

JD, people come here to visit our parks. That's considered tourism, correct? Uh that is correct. We have uh funding in the in that uh fund earmarked for park improvements. Yes. So we could just take that $270,000 in bipartial D if that's what it was evaluated at or under. It's my question. Jim, you want to answer?

I think I can. The um and we did not get a chance to go through because this was tabled, but I had a discussion with the developer today uh about parcel D and parcel B. Uh and the developer is not interested in selling parcel D as a sole parcel without the sale of parcel B. So independently, parcel D uh cannot be purchased, at least not from the developer, and he is the private property owner at this time. So understand that uh from a technical perspective you are correct and that the you know riverfront central corps could be used in some manner that way uh to be able to procure property but you also have to have a willing participant to buy that property from.

Understood. Um, but we could still buy the parking deck with the DOE money and separate out parcel D if we wanted to for something else. If we could find somewhere else to put the cyber center down there. Correct. That's not correct, Councilman. Any other uh questions for Mr. Clifford?

So, the question was, why can't we buy the parking deck with DOE money? The Department of Energy settlement funds are listed as cyber infrastructure and the whole idea of buying the stadium deck was to provide parking for cyber infrastructure. We've had a legal opine from the city attorney uh because we've looked at other options with inside Riverside Village to include the clubhouse. Uh and that still is an option for the city council to consider if they want to purchase the clubhouse. But you cannot use Department of Energy settlement money to buy the stadium deck in conjunction with the clubhouse because the clubhouse does not require the stadium deck uh to be procured because there's already existing parking uh set aside in the master parking agreement for uh the clubhouse. Whereas parcel D uh needs parking and part the stadium deck would be the the argument about why you could use Department of Energy money that way. I mean, have we not made such a walkable downtown that we couldn't walk from the old public safety building space to parcel uh to to to the parking deck that we're talking about? Could we not walk from the corner where we piled up all the storm debris across from that area or from that empty space that's behind the AA? Could we not walk from there to the parking deck?

I'm not prepared to answer that question, Councilman. I think we're talking about off parking. So, if you're not prepared to answer that question, then what you said before wasn't accurate.

No, what he's saying is we are not talking about parcel D or the parking deck anymore. That was tabled. We're talking about this resolution, which is basically the money. The only thing we can deal with is the money for the median. So, so those are the only questions. It's tabled. So, we can't talk about anything else. So, with that being said, are there any questions from council to the administration concerning this resolution, which is specifically the median? All right. Are there any citizen comments about that? Yes, ma'am. Come on down, Diane. And you don't even have to state your name or address, young lady. You're good to go. You can jump right in. But just make sure this is about what we're this res this meeting. I just want clarification that you will be putting amenities in that median to prevent golf cart parking. Is that correct?

Yes. Prevent vehicles from parking in the median. Yes. That you can sit down on. Yes. In spite of the fact that I am a golf cart owner living bought the golf cart for expressly going to the uh Riverside Village. I applaud that decision because that should be a walkable space for the community. Yeah. Well, that's about since we don't we don't have any uh parking for golf cars. We tailed it. So, you're going to be good to go to find a place. You're good. All right. Who else about this resolution? Thank you, Diane. That was a good question. Any sen comments about this resolution only? This resolution? Yes, ma'am.

I just have a question because I'm kind of confused with all the the back and forth. So this can't be retroactively stated to be like oh this other land was already agreed and a agreed to be worked upon by this resolution like if the bill isn't end up bifurcated basically and split up in the median versus other I'm not following

there's there's nothing in this resolution that would allow the city to do something else with parcel D if that's your concern like this is not a a back door if you will into doing something on parcel D that would involve city ownership. There would have to be a separate council action in public uh as a resolution to procure that property or so that's that's not this is not a way to get or kind of foot in the door if that's the question. Yeah, I was just wondering if it was like development for all of those and that's what it was slating it for, but you said no. So, okay, good. Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, ma'am. What happened on my phone? She's young. Yes, ma'am. Hi, Laura Garner. Um, do I have to do my address and all that? Address. Okay. 706 Edgewood Avenue. Okay. Um, with regard to this resolution, it seemed like that Diane needed clarification and she believes that the median is going to be um just for pedestrian basically. And it is Ballard's but it's for golf cart parking, right?

No, ma'am. That's a different piece of property. That would that would be if something's done on parcel D. This resolution had two components of golf park and the pedestrian safety piece. Yeah, additional golf parking is right there in the verbiage. And so it seemed confusing. It seemed like there was going to be additional golf cart parking, but you're saying absolutely not in the median. Just the ballards. Yes. The the golf cart parking center was center around paral was going to be only on parallel D, but since we tabled it, we don't own that. So there is no additional golf. No, ma'am. Got it. Okay. Thank you.

Yep. Great. Thank you. Any other citizens? Who is that? Who raised their hand? Oh, come on now. Yes, ma'am. Just one second. Let me just We'll have to council discuss. Let me just Hi. Um, my name is Susie Armstrong. Yeah. Um, I was just wondering, can the owner of the current parcel D give you permission to make improvements? Let me respond to that, ma'am. That's what I said. That's something we have got to to receive in order to do this. All this does is council authorizes us to do that if we get permission to do it. That's not written in the resolution. Make a point.

It's not written in the resolution. It doesn't have to be written in the resolution. We We do not have the right to say we're going to build something on somebody's property that we don't own unless the property owner gives you the permission. Yes, ma'am. And that's what we'll be do that without a council action. No, ma'am. We will be looking into that on it. I can give you permission. Well, that he's done as far as the temporary piece that we did. JD, do you want to jump in? Because he was talking about y'all had fences two different things. You had fences that you could put up. We have Why don't you talk about what we've done temporarily? That's not going to go

Yeah. So, temporarily, what we've done leading up to Green Jacket's opening day is we put up some temporary fencing. I'm right here. Sorry. Um, we worked with the property owner, um, and worked out insurance with them to allow for additional golf cart parking. And that was really to make sure that we had a place for folks to park for, you know, Green Jackets's opening day is a big event for us. And, um, we really wanted to make sure that they had a place for those folks to park. Ma'am, I would tell you we would normally not do it in this manner, but to avoid having to come back for for an additional uh resolution at some time later, we we're saying to prove it this way, if it's okay with the owner, we do it. If it's not okay with the owner, we don't do it. So, who paid for the fence?

Big part. We already had the fence. Everything. Who paid for the fence? The city of North Augusta. Yes, ma'am. We did. Okay. So, that's what I'm talking about. Why didn't you put that behind the public safety building for the dog run? Say, for example, the fence you said some fence that the city already owned. Yeah, they're they're barricades that we use for Well, you were saying fence. Well, it just confuses me that you're making improvements on a piece of property that you don't own and then you're telling me we can't make improvements on this property until we own it. You're talking We're doing it for the city's benefit.

I know, but it it is to benefit the citizens. Thank you. I appreciate it.

That's not So, let me try to help clarify this. Prior to the Green Jackets opening game, we went to the property own on par partial D and said there will be a resolution down the road that we're going to consider, but up until that point, we know that that's not going to be till the 20th. And the Green Jackets game started last week. Would you allow us as a property owner to use this spot for the first few games of the opening week for the Green Jackets? everything that's currently there, the gravel, we already had that in our supply. We didn't have to go buy anything. Now, that was all contingent upon us deciding to approve this resolution for the golf cart parking. So, I would assume without jumping ahead, JD, that the property owner is probably not going to continue to let us just do this ongoing. He did it temporarily thinking that we would consider the buying partial D. But since we part bought partial D that is table now. So all we are talking about now the golf cart parking is out of the equation. The only thing we're going if we approve this resolution it's going to do one thing. It's only going to use the money that's listed in the resolution. Those dollars that are going to be for the median. So, as far as golf cart parking, as far as anything else, that is out of the equation at this point. Am I Is that the best way to say it?

Yes, sir. Does that make sense? Am I cl Did that help the clarification?

Yeah, that that again, we're not talking about the golf cart. So, all I'm concerned about is this resolution about the median. So, any other question about the median? Okay. All right. Any council discussion? I think Miss Bara, you had a question. I'm sorry. Yeah. How much should we spend on the baseball bullards and the bullards between them? How much should we spend on the bullards we just put up at Riverside Village? Uh that first resolution was about $163,000 for all those improvements. Yes sir. So all those improvements were $163,000, but we're about to spend $270,000 on some concrete benches.

But we telling these people that we can't go find money to buy that parcel. We can't do this. We can't do that. To me, that seems a little bougie for for North Augusta. Um, but we're not going to spend it all on on the uh Well, how much? Because I was told we were only going to spend $36,000 on the golf cart parking, which we were going to turn around and tear up when we go to build parcel D. So, how much are we really going to spend there? Because that's still $244, thou so or $234,000 that we're going to spend on concrete benches. again. Okay.

Are we the type of Are we the type of like when these citizens come in and fill fill this place up and tell you you're they're irritated, are we the type of city that's going to spend that kind of money on some concrete mentions when they really want us to do something else with money? Well, that that's not JD. And you can vote no when we vote on the resolution. Okay. Well, finish my point. JD just told me that we could do something with park space with that money to attract tourists. We're going to Why don't we just spend 100,000 and so on on the bowlers? I agree. We need to make people safe and put some regular benches in there and then put the rest of that money towards something else the citizens want.

Again, that's not what we're doing tonight. So, if you do not want to approve this resolution when we ask your vote, you can vote no. That's all we're doing. We're not we're not game playing in the future of other money. We're talking about this piece of money. And if you do not want to vote it, you as a council, each member will have an opportunity to say yay or nay. Right. So council discussion. We any more discussion about this? One thing is there a way for us just to like clean up the resolution and vote on it next time. You know, just the way it's written. How do you clean it up? I mean, get because we're not going to additional golf cart parking. Just get rid of that. Well, so right now there will be no golf cart parking. Diane,

he's just saying it. Wait a minute. Except in the parking deck, which when that place was built, what 2013? Not built, 2018 is when we opened up. We were going to have park golf cart parking, but it was brought up. Well, we probably won't have that many down there. Look down there. How many golf carts are all over North Augusta? So So I was just talking about cleaning up the way it's written, the way that the that the resolution is written. What I'm reading right here, I'm talking about just changing the verbiage.

We are allowed to amend. We can amend the resolution. We could amend it tonight and still vote on it. Or if we don't want to amend it tonight, then do what do we do? We can just provide a revised okay resolution. Yeah, we haven't voted on anything. So, well then I'm make a motion to table forward with I'll second that motion because I don't table. I I want these people to know exactly how much they're spending on concrete benches and exactly how much they're spending on golf cart parking. We're not spending any money on golf cart parking. Well, then the resolution should should reflect exactly what we're spending on concrete benches. I agree with that.

That's what I asked in the very beginning. Nobody said anything. Okay. So, there's a motion to table this by Mr. Briatico. There's a second by Mr. Buck. Um, there's no conversation. So, all in favor of tableabling, please raise your hand. So, we have four four three against. Okay. All right. It is tabled. So, we are now jumping along. All right. Um, number 13, uh, parks and recreation. I screwed that up. Uh, parks and recreation, uh, resolution number 2026 22, authorizing CPST4 activity center improvements. Uh, do I have a motion to approve this resolution?

Motion, Mr. Batica. Second, Mr. Buck, anything you like to share about this, Mr. Clifford?

I'll turn over to J McCauley for the specifics, but just as a reminder for the council and for our citizens that are watching, uh, at the offsite that we conducted in Greenwood, uh, the city council considered a number of different projects through funding through capital project sales tax 4. We are coming upon the end of the collection period of capital project sales tax 4. So that means we're getting away from earnings projections to actual money in the bank and knowing exactly what we have. Uh and so we went through a a list of potential options. And the city council had reacted positively towards improvements at the activity center. Uh and so that's what this resolution is uh accomplishing. And I'll turn to JD for the specifics of what this uh funding action would do out of capital project sales tax. So again, not general fund but out of penny sales tax money.

Great. Thanks, Mr. Gilbert. Uh yeah, just refresh your memory. We went over this in in detail. Um uh Director Meyer did, and this will allow for um upgrades to the activity center. Uh it's going to be upgrading the locker rooms, installing new indoor track, refurbishing uh the HVAC systems and new fitness room equipment. Uh refinishing the basketball gym floors, and then upgrading the basketball goals. We did discuss that. They'll be have the adjustable basketball goals. Um locker room renovations. Um and some interior wall repairs. Um, so it's a it's a big uh big lift, a big upgrade for the activity centers. Um, been meeting it for a little while and so CPSD4 gives us the avenue to do that and submit $1.2 million worth of improvements to the activity center. Any questions for Mr. McCauley? Any citizen comments?

Yes, ma'am. Oh, you just thumbs up. Okay, great. All right. No cent comments. All right. Any council discussion? All right. I'll ask for a vote. All in favor? All right, you know, thank you. You're having fun tonight. All right. Item 14, plan development resolution number 202623 to approve mural installation at Kraton Park. Do you have a motion approve this resolution? So move. All right, Mr. Buck. Is there a second? Can't.

All right, Mr. Freighus. Thank you, sir. All right. Anything like to share about this? I'm sure it's going to go back to you, Miss McCauley, or So, this is uh a um an add-on to the donated bathroom atraton park that we're receiving as part of Kraton Park uh phase 2 enhancements. This is just a request for Northwest Ford to be able to paint a mural on the restroom that they're donating to us and it's gone through our planning and uh um planning and development department and they have proceeded to pass this to mayor and council as it needs your approval because it is on public property on our property. So that's before you um in your packet for review and approval. Okay. Consideration.

All right. Any questions for Mr. McCauley? All right. Are there any citizen comments? All right. Any council discussion? Yes. Um I still want that alligator off that picture because I'm sorry. I know y'all might like alligators, but go down there and shake one's hand. See how long you going to be around. Uh but um I just think that does not have anything to do with children. An alligator. So that's my I'm gonna vote for the mural, but I don't want the alligator. Well, they going we vote with the mural. You going to have alligator? All right. So any other any other any other discussion? Huh? So that's not

Well, we're voting for this resolution has the alligator. So whoever wants it will vote yeah if you you vote against. Yeah. All right. Any other discussion from council? I mean I understand where where Miss Pat is coming from but with all due respect there are alligators in our community. Educated children are safe children. Um don't teach scared kids to be scared of everything that they might encounter in their neighborhood. That's right. Um so teach them be scared of alligators. That alligator that that alligator is as much part of our community as the yellow jacket is. All right, here we go.

All right. Uh, any other discussion? If not, last vote. All in favor? And that is six to one. All right. Very good. Oh man, we are having fun tonight. All right, we are down to item 15, resolution number 2026 24 authorizing the city of North Gasta amending the previously authorized budget for the watershed tree cutting removal disposal project. We have a motion to approve this resolution. So move have a second Mr. Buck. Thank you. Any like share about this, Miss Clifford?

Yes, Mr. Mayor. We're asking to increase the budget for uh TNT Lane works to do uh the tree clearing near the waterways associated with Walnut Lane uh and the boardwalk that extends into that neighborhood by exit 5. Uh and this again comes out of the National or correction natural resource conservation service grant. So there's a ceiling to that grant. This $60,000 increase uh will still keep us under that grant uh threshold. So, we will not have any out-of- pocket expenses for the city out of the general fund. Uh, and this is because of the fact that as they've gotten deeper into the waterways, uh, they've just encountered more trees. The initial tree estimate I think was about 150 and I think they've determined there's at least 500 uh, that are down and those some of those trees are large trees uh, not sapling size trees, but require a fair amount of work to get those out. So, the request is for continued improvements out there at exit 5 uh for this uh grant. Again, not anything out of pocket for the city, but it does require uh council action uh to change the the contract that we have existing uh with TNT Land Works.

Any questions for Miss Clifford? Any council discussion? I mean any citizen comment period? Any citizen comments? Period. All right. Any council discussion now? All right. Now we're here. Ask for a vote. All in favor? Ask. You in favor of this one? Yeah. Unanimous.

All right. All right. Uh Maggie, I I'm sorry. I was hoping this was going to be the one we're going to let all council. was a mock vote and um so apologize young lady but you did get to read a uh proclamation and and and spoke very well so you done good tonight. Uh item 16, um engineering public works resolution number 202625 authorizing a professional engineering services contract for the CPST4 bowling road reservicing project. Have a no. Do I have a motion to approve this resolution? Motion second.

Mr. Briatico. Is there a second? Who? Mr. T. Mayor Pro Tim. Thank you, sir. Um all right. Anyone want to share about this? Miss Clifford.

So much like the discussion about the activity center, we the staff also presented some capital project sales tax for options that involved uh road work. Uh and so Bowlan Road is definitely in need of a redo. And so this will be the first of two resolutions if approved for council consideration. This resolution with Kimley Horn uh in the amount of 20 uh $2,000 or not to exceed $25,000 for a $22,000 bid is for the geotechnical and engineering required for uh the subsurface review. Uh and then there will be a secondary resolution for the actual paving contractor. Uh and I suspect that will likely be u nested or very similar time frame as the rest of the road projects uh that'll be coming before council. But on this one, because of uh the damages to the roadway, we have to do some additional engineering on the front end, and that's what this would do.

Good question. Any questions for Miss Clifford from council? All right. Are there any any citizen comments? All right. Uh any other council discuss? All right. Hearing none, I'm going to ask for a vote. All in favor? And that is unanimous. Very good. Thank you. All right. We are now down to administrative reports. Anything you got to say, Miss Clifford? I have nothing to report, Mr. Mayor.

Okay. Item 18 is presentation, communications, recognition of visitors. This is where citizen comments. At this time, citizen may speak to mayor and council regarding matters not on the agenda. So, is there anybody want to say about something we haven't talked about that's not that we've talked about tonight? All right. Hear none. All right. So, basically, I've just got a couple com a couple things. Uh Brenda uh Bankor is in it bank

bro call me I meant to do this other thing they had at the last living history park they had 1,800 visitors uh Brian amazing come Columbia Lexton Aken there were some for like several other states so living history park just phenomenal so what that's happening there and Brian just said it was over 2,000

over 2,000 y' give me 1800 now 200's even better that's awesome Awesome. Um, we're going to have the brick pond committee come to one of our probably our next study session and let them highlight everything about what happened this past weekend. It was amazing. Uh, but for all everybody's loves the brick ponds, we only have seven people signed up for the wetland planning workshop this Saturday from 10 to 12. Michaela and Brooke in our storm war department will be uh spearheading that. That's going to be a great um workshop. So, if you care about the brick ponds, I would hope more than seven people would show up to that. Uh, the last thing is National Day of Prayer is going to be at Fair View Presbyterian is hosting our National Day of Prayer for the for North Augusta on May the 7th. So, I'm excited that they're they're getting involved, but that's your church. So, we're excited about that. So, there'll be more information coming out on that. So, those are only main comments I had. So, we'll go around the horn real quick. We've got it. Jamie, if you would, yeah, just call Jamie. Jamie, uh, your Bart now, Jamie Bart, our city clerk, and if you stay afterwards, she'll give you the number. Okay. Thank you. Yes. Uh, that's your question. I believe they have a a piece of it. They have a piece of it. They have a a a flyer downstairs and I believe it's posted, if I'm not mistaken, it should be on on the public information page. If not, we'll get it on there. I think it should be. If not, we will. But thank you. Appreciate that. Okay. Uh very good. Uh that's all we got. But let's you know, I'm going to let you do one last thing. I'm going to let you I'm gonna let you slam the gel down. I got something. No counsel comment.

Huh? I said around the point. Nobody said anything. Oh, I'm sorry. I I didn't. Yeah, I did. Just I'm sorry. JD, can we circle back about David Deans about the handicap parking? And you said you want to talk about it and we didn't get there.

Sure. So, I know that um in the Riverside Village development, we most definitely meet the minimum requirement for handicap parking. That being said, that may not be something that we uh that may be something that we could do better at and so we'll look at that as we go through Riverside Village and I know we have an RFP out right now for parking management services. So, working with them as parking consultants seeing where we could add more handicap parking is always something that we're looking to do. We've done it um at Beck Park and we've also are looking at doing it in the Georgia Avenue traffic calming project is that as a priority for um accessibility in our city, is a priority for us. Thanks, Katie.

Can you clarify? I know state law says that um handicap parking is free, but it's like talking about parking meters and things like that. How do we handle that in the parking garage as well? Is is that still considered free parking for handicap or or is it is it paid for? We had several questions.

I apologize. I'm going to have to yield to Attorney Zer for questions for for that matter. I'm not I'm not fully versed in the free parking aspect for handicap parking. I know you have to provide, but I'm not so sure that it has to be free. That you have to provide the spaces uh for the parking and if you're putting it in and for example in the parking garage where people are having to pay to access, right, they still got to do that, but there'll be specific handicap parking areas for them to park in.

Okay. Yeah. I can we look into that because I do know I read specifically about the city of Colombia they have to uh they give free parking at the parking meters for um for handicap spots. And like I say, I'm just not familiar, but I will research it and let you know. Thank you. Is that it, David? Okay. Yes, sir. Mr. May I also received a few complaints from different people that don't know each other over the week over the brick pond parking lot filling up during the ball games and it seems just wrong to shoe people away from visiting the brick ponds because people want to park back there for free and walk over to the ballpark. Um Mr. You got something he's pointing.

He's gonna give you the answer. He's I I hate to sound like a a broken record, but part of our parking management overhaul in Riverside Village will address that. And as you know, we're having high enforcement in the area and also we're revamping all of our parking management system and allowing for brick palm parking to be um to hold that sacred to make sure people can get to the park as intended um will be of one of the main priorities in that area. Okay. Yeah. Because Sandy reached out to me about it. So that will be coming up probably in the next month.

Thank you. And secondly, I want to say real quick over, you know, the conversation over the conversation. Let's even I got hung up in it this week a little bit and I apologize. Let's try to remain kind. I will say that so we can go ahead and put it on the minutes meeting so I don't have to go on oath that I did not generate a meme that went around. I did not generate a text that went around. I have no idea who did it, but y'all had a room full of people in here that were upset about what's going on with the government. So, it could have come from anywhere, but I will also say this, I got hung up in that a little bit. Let's try to remain kind to one another. We don't have to be in here giving each other ultimatums about who can be involved in the election and who can't be involved in the election. Um, you know, let's respect one another. Let's remember what we learned at uh our municipal training. Um I don't ever try to raise my voice in here, be ugly to anybody. So, let's tone the rhetoric down. But I will say this, my dad told me, I mean, cuz y'all wanted to grow this city and now we're part of big city politics. We're not a little sleepy town anymore. Grow a thicker skin. If you want to represent this city and these people and you want to do something that upsets them, they're probably going to come to you and complain. I'm not sure what you're referring to. I haven't said anything.

Well, Mr. Mayor, I was accused uh before the meeting of distributing an AI meme that went around today when actually I had nothing to do with it. Well, I hadn't said anything, Adam. Okay. I hadn't said anything. I just, you know, and somebody threatened to put me under oath. So, I just want to go ahead and say it on the meeting minutes so it can be, you know, law enforcement's here. We're documenting this that I didn't have anything to do with it. I'm gonna say one thing, too. They got the memes. I mean, doesn't that matter?

Being accused of being dishonest and taking money under the table, I want that proved. I'm tired. That is slaughtering our names. None of us do that. And so when you see it on Facebook and social media that somebody's making money off this, somebody's making money. Well, Pat Carpenter's not. She would, she wouldn't be in here in North Augusta. All right, we're Sounds good. Anyway, thank y'all for being here tonight and we stand Oh, we're going to let you do it. Go ahead. Say we stand and journey and hit the G as hard as you can. We stand and adjourn. Stand. We stand and adjourn.