Town Council - Regular Meeting

hello and welcome to the regular session of the town council meeting for june 2nd 2026 at seven o'clock so we're going to get started i wanted to begin today's meeting just recognizing the tragedy that happened with those three pendleton high school students that resulted in the death of spencer martin and i was wondering if you all would just join me in a brief moment of silence for spencer Thank you. I know we are all sending our condolences to the Martin family and wishing the other two students a speedy recovery. You are not far from our thoughts. Please join me in standing and reciting our Pledge of Allegiance.

to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

We will now open it up for council reports. We'll begin with Councilwoman Nancy von Meyer. Nancy.

Thank you, Sarah. Two reports, one is from the Green Crescent Trail, just a little bit of progress on the 15 by 30 campaign and the trail along Berkeley Drive, which comes off of Visequina and goes up towards Clemson Elementary is nearing completion. And there are some future plans to improve some connectivity between that area and downtown Clemson. The Pendleton Pride of Motion is working with Green Crescent Trail to explore connecting Pendleton to Nettles Park down our central road with some right away acquisitions and we're trying to get some costs for what that trail would cost. With the Town of Pendleton Public Works, Jay and his crew have been working hard and I know you've seen them all around town. Jay, if you forgive me, we'll put the full packet in the minutes, but just to some highlights, They have completed the installation of the irrigation system on the Village Green. You might have noticed a few of the dead dogwoods, the ones that have been looking kind of ragged have been taken out and are being replaced. And they're looking at some larger shade trees to put in there. Street crews responded throughout the past week to address the tree debris and right away obstructions from all the rainfall and storm. I know we've all been experiencing that. They've been clearing the sewer lines. as well behind Buddy's Auto and also clearing the areas that have been damaged by the runoff from the water on the edge of the roads. Please remind you that leaves placed for collection must currently be bagged until the loose leaf collections resume. This is really an important thing for all of us to remember because loose leaves in the side of the road will wash into our storm water system and then that creates backups and that creates flooding and that creates debris. And those are all things that we don't want to have to have our guys have to address. Jay is also working with Wolverine Welding to repair a quote to repair the damaged handrails at 102 Exchange Street following a vehicle impact. They've submitted a work order to Duke Energy to repair the damaged light pole near the PRA complex storage container. Um, and they're coordinating with a paving contractor regarding the restoration of utility cuts along East main street associated with the ongoing utility work at exchange street. And if any of you have hit those road cuts at speed, I'm telling you that they're pretty good cuts. Um, the town recently distributed the annual galvanized requiring replacement notification letters to applicable customers. So if you receive one of those and you have any questions, please reach back out to the town. and the sanitation department continues transition efforts towards the automated side loader sanitation collection. Please properly position your trash can as that can is able to just pick up your, in my neighborhood, it gets a big cheer every time it comes by. We live in a very low entertainment neighborhood, but they're doing a great job with that new trash can.

Can you just tell everybody what the proper position of that trash can is?

It's got the road sign on it. So it faces so that the lid opens that way, opens from the road, right, Jay?

And then the hinges towards the ditch. Oh, right.

And that includes your blue bucket can't be jammed up against the roller cart. That's true.

and i will add to that if there is anything that is touching the trash can they will take it as trash so please please um do not have things propped up against the trash can please please i those are the worst emails i get if your bike is popped propped up against the trash can it will be thrown away that's just the reality of it um Yes, and then I'm also going to add to Councilwoman von Meyer's report regarding the green, because we have had several concerns about the green and I want to make sure that that's addressed. Council, about two years ago, approved the irrigation system to the green, which was installed a couple weeks ago. With that installation, there was also the, I guess the beginnings, the foundation for the up lighting of the trees. So green is going to look really cool when it's done. A couple, I guess, meetings ago, this body, this council approved for the green to be resotted and everyone in town should have received information regarding that process. Mayor Pro Tem Lynn Merchant and myself have met with Jay on several occasions and we're meeting with Jay again next week but in the meantime we have asked Jay to meet with a third party to arborist as well a third party arborist as well as an expert in what is the word who is an expert on grass thank you Turk management To ensure that all of the trees on the green are healthy and being monitored properly and to ensure that resodding the green will not in any way damage the trees on the green. And so I believe Jay is meeting with that person tomorrow on Wednesday, and then we'll present that report to Lynn and myself. And if that third party expert believes we can move forward, we will move forward with the project. And if that third party expert has advised us not to move forward with the project, we will not. I just want to make sure that everyone knows that we love that village green. Everyone on here loves that village green, and we know that all of you love it. And we will make sure that that green

um is is protected um i'm going to turn it over now to councilwoman barbara for a report on the fire department good evening during the month of may the fire department responded to 23 calls for service 14 calls were within town limits nine calls inside the penalty fire district outside of town limits and no calls assisting outside of the pound and fire district On 5-14-26, seven personnel attended the mayor's quarterly conversations at the Greenville Street Market. The Anderson County Fire Department headquarters smoke trailer was also present with one member from the fire marshal's office. We'd like to remind everyone of the Fireworks for Firefighters event on July 1, 2026 at Veterans Park. The event will begin at 6 p.m. Thank you all for your continued support. Also, at the mayor's conversations, we were held at the Greenville Street Market and it was in my district. One of the things that was brought up by one of the attendees was the number of trucks that go through Pendleton. So I received an email And it was from Elizabeth Rolstad Wright. She's the regional director of Coalition Against Bigger Trucks. Yes, there is such a thing. And so for any of you who are concerned with the trucks going through and would like more information on what is going through Congress as far as bigger trucks, they're passing laws, apparently, to allow bigger trucks. Her number is 703. I'd like to add to what Sarah said about the students then involved in the accident. We also have other students. Mark Lamatina III died Monday in a work accident. He was a volunteer firefighter and the father of five. His children attend or are attending Pelden High School and or other Anderson District 4 schools. Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Barbara. It's such a great time with you at quarterly conversations, by the way. Yes, never a dull moment when I'm with you, Barbara, and I'm grateful for that. And our prayers are to that with that family. Jeff, PRA?

Yeah, I'd like to provide an official operational update on behalf of the Pendleton Recreation Association regarding recent milestones, upcoming programs and community initiatives. First one's on governance and leadership updates. PRA Board of Directors recently underwent a scheduled transition. Longtime board member Mike Weingarten has resigned from his position as secretary. The board formally accepted his resignation and full compliance with current bylaws as unanimously appointed Reese Alexander as the new board secretary. Like to publicly thank Mike for his years of dedicated service to the youth of Pendleton. Major highlight from our spring calendar was the successful hosting of the annual Spring Super Saturday. Event generated a total of $2,705 in gross revenue, 2,465 from the gate, 240 from local vendors. Preliminary costs are currently tracked at approximately 1,100, meaning this event will directly inject crucial funding back into our safety equipment and scholarships. Furthermore, looking forward to our fall programs, The board has explicitly prioritized cutting costs to reduce the financial strain on our local families wherever possible. They are proud to report that this fall tackle football will be $25 cheaper and soccer will be $35 cheaper than last year's registration. Additionally, fall soccer registration has been locked in an affordable $50 flat rate matching tee ball and will fully include Jersey shorts and socks pound requests. Summer and fall programming lineup. They have tennis baseball. Still haven't figured that one out. Following a successful inaugural run last year, the adult tennis baseball league is returning for a five-week season running from June 15th through July 23rd. It will culminate in a single elimination tournament with team registration set at $275, operating out of Field 3 at Veterans Park. Fall sports registration is currently underway for fall baseball, softball, cheerleading, flag football, tackle football, and soccer. Following our recent town of Pendleton 5K, the board listened closely to resident feedback regarding road closures and route disruptions. Rebecca Carter has been appointed to head up the 5K moving forward. She is actively evaluating a full route redesign for next year aimed at either securing more structured support or drastically minimizing neighborhood vehicle disruptions altogether. Additionally, the board is aware of recent community complaints regarding limited roster spots and the elimination of the six and under cheer division and leadership is currently evaluating the underlying reasoning and long-term feasibility of those program structures. Facilities and town partnerships, we continue to see wonderful progress via our shared infrastructure efforts at Veterans Park. The lightning detection system has been installed following consultation with town staff, clear guidelines have been established. Automated lights and sirens will actively monitor from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily to ensure player safety. Lynn and I were out there When was that?

Just yesterday.

Yesterday. We were out there looking over some of the facilities and it went off. There's blue skies, but it went off and it works. And it wasn't that loud. I mean, it's loud enough to hear it on the field, but it wasn't something that was going to aggravate everybody for a mile around. And there was storms in the neighborhood yesterday whenever we were out there. Capital procurement, the new infield drag machine and its utility transport vehicle have been officially delivered to Veterans Park. Spring soccer expansion. The board is currently exploring the operational feasibility of bringing a spring soccer program to Pendleton. It is logistically viable, but we will be communicating with Pendleton Elementary School leadership to secure necessary support regarding auxiliary parking and back hallway restroom access. Volunteer burnout and community call to action. As council considers the town budget this week, I want to reiterate that PRA's administrative and logistical requirements have grown exponentially. We are currently navigating multiple open program director vacancies, including flag football and tackle football, because the purely volunteer model is facing severe burnout. If you believe you are the right fit and want to get involved, please reach out to the PRA.

And how do they do that?

Well, it's on the town website.

I didn't ask if it was on the website. I asked how they do that. Everybody doesn't know.

I don't know. I don't know.

Well, they need to, you know, upgrade their media in some way, shape or form, because we have enough retirees who have good needs and they're not old retirees that I'm sure old teachers, retired teachers, teachers in schools and parents looking for something to do because their nest is empty. that would be glad to assist if they knew about it. Sure.

I will be sure to include contact information in the Mayor's message this week. And we will talk more about the PRA and what the budget has in plan for the PRA when we get to the budget in just a couple moments. Moving on to public comments. Just a reminder that this public comments are limited to three minutes per resident business owner or town property owner. Please state your name and address for the record. And we welcome public comments. Also just a reminder, this is not a Q and A session. We're just here to listen to your concerns. Sorry, I skipped. I already had an X because I'm just moving forward. Sorry, this is on me. Thanks, Amber. I don't like that you didn't give me an eye roll, though. I don't respond unless you take the glass. That's what I need. I need the glasses down and an eye roll. All right. Approval of minutes. I'm asking council to consider approving the minutes from the May 5th, 2026 meeting. Do I have a motion? Motion approved. Nancy, second, Barbara, all in favor? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, Amber. All right, public comments.

My name is Chuck McEwen. I live at 132 South Mechanic Street. And I want to thank all of you for your service. I know it's a lot of work and I appreciate that. I'm up here to thank a good friend and someone who has served this town for an incredible amount of time. As you all know, it's not an easy job. It takes a lot of effort, a lot of heartache at times, a lot of pressure. I had the privilege of working with this individual during my time of service to this town, which was many, many years. I was honored to do that. I was honored to work with Steve Miller. We will miss you. Thanks for your expertise. Thank you for your friendship and thank you for all that you have done for this town. I just wanted to publicly thank Steve, thank y'all and God bless.

Thank you. Any additional public comments? All right, you're taking it easy on us tonight. I'm gonna close, oh, Alex.

Mr. Zaborski would like for me to come up and let everyone know he will not be making a comment today to town council.

oh my god my heart my alex my heart like sank his wife has let him know he cannot make a comment while she's not here I do appreciate you and your wife so much, Mr. Zaborski. I just wanna say, I feel like your wife is my personal librarian sometimes. I email her and ask her questions and I'm very grateful. I know I'm not supposed to be doing this, Amber, insert eye roll, but I'm very grateful to you both. To you both. All right, moving on to our reports. Chief Paulson, I feel like we are always together, you and me, Chief. We have been busy. I welcome your report.

Thank you, Mrs. Mayor, Council. Good evening, everyone. It's good to see everybody tonight. The Pendleton Police Department answered more than 702 calls for service in May. In that same month, 30 reports were taken, eight of which were cleared by an arrest or a warrant. Additionally, 115 warning tickets were issued and 37 state citations were issued. I think 114 of those 115 warning tickets were given at the four-way stop signs at PF Meet. So we're still constantly monitoring those intersections. You know, you just gotta stop for them. During the same month, officers participated in a partner with Tri-County Tech Campus Police for a traffic safety campaign. What we did, we were working with the campus police to kind of look for traffic violations on 76 in a particular area in front of the University College and down by our town, just trying to slow traffic down, trying to avoid accidents and citations. We're still working on getting a report from everything we did through that, so as soon as I do, I'll get that to you. Officers intend to stop the bleed for field first aid training. We had a paramedic from Anderson County come in. All the officers from the department got in here. not really a first aid, stop the bleed, but it's when you have a really traumatic event or something where there's just a lot of bleeding involved. There's different tools and things that we have, the use of tourniquets and things to help us control since we are most of the time the first responders on the scene. It just gives us an extra tool, a little bit more training to utilize to help our citizens if something happens and we get to a traumatic bleeding incident. So really great training and I appreciate Anderson County for doing that for us and it will go a long way. Officers also attended the Law Enforcement Memorial Service held at Anderson County Courthouse. This was part of the Police Appreciation Week last month. They honored all of the following police officers and first responders in Anderson County at this meeting. It was a really good time. It was a really touching moment. We also assisted with the mayor's quarterly conversations at Greenville Groceries. If you haven't had a chance to go into Greenville Groceries, you need to go check it out. It's a really neat place and we had some really good conversations. We held our first fraud and scam community engagement event at the Iron Oak Barn. This was a really fun event. It was a rainy, nasty evening. I was really starting to panic because it was five minutes to six and nobody showed up. And I was like, this is not going to go well. And then like four minutes to six, everybody showed up. We had 21 residents come out. And it was a really great time. We had some really good information. I've got some of the information from the training that we have left. If you were not able to attend it, I've got a few of these left. And it just gives you some information on how to avoid being scammed, how to avoid falling prey to that. So come by and see me. I'll be glad to give that to you. We also had the opportunity and the honor to be invited to a couple of the neighborhood HOA block parties. We attended one at Heritage Oaks neighborhood and also at Piper Glen. And I can honestly tell you there's some really good cooks in this city. So we really enjoyed that. Thank you so much to them for inviting us. And we hope to do some more of that. So, ma'am, that's all I have. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to try and answer them.

So can we turn our tickets in at PF Meats for a discount?

So that's something between you and Mr. Wirth. I mean, you might be able to work something out there. So I'm going to stay out of that one.

Let's get back to talking to us.

Yes, ma'am.

Well, thank you, Chief. I'm so I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful to you. Like I said, we feel like you and I have just been be bopping around town. I'm very grateful. I've learned a lot. All right. Next up is our planning department report. Owen.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Nice to see you all. In the month of May, we only issued two new home permits, and that was for the Sunrise development. We had no new electrical upgrades. There's no new businesses that came into town. We had three interior renovations, and two of those were for the commercial strip mall that is down there off of 76. It's the last parcel in town. And that was for a nail salon and a dentist's office that's going to be going in. We had no new signs or building additions. There was one new roof. We issued five encroachment permits and there was two accessory structures. So in the May 7th Board of Zoning Appeals meeting, they selected Ms. Jamie Brothers as chair of the Board of Zoning Appeals and Ms. Pam Patterson as vice chair. During this meeting, they also heard a request for a variance from section 5-1 dimensional requirements from the town of Pendleton zoning ordinance. The applicant was wanting approval to reduce their front and rear setback for a property located at 309 Key Street. The board approved the request as submitted. The Planning Commission heard a request on May 14th to consider a request to rezone 610 Cherry Street from R1 low density residential to R2 low density residential. The commission approved the rezoning request and affords recommendation to town council for final consideration, which you guys have before you tonight. And Ms. Rebecca Vance from Vance LLC came up here to the town of Pendleton, and she assisted staff with discussion of Resolution 03-2026, and as well as some of the differences of the UDO and the current zoning ordinance. She's going to be coming up here next Thursday and also assist me with discussion of Article 2 from the UDO. Staff also met with representatives of a group that's interested in purchasing Benson House on North Mechanic Street. They're looking to do a sort of like arts instruction kind of business in there. So we just kind of went over some of the requirements that we have with our zoning ordinance, what they're allowed to do in the central business district, as well as like what SODOT might require as well as Anderson County for the commercial outfit of that property. Code enforcement received and investigated nine new violations in May and identified six contractors or businesses operating in Pendleton without a Pendleton business license for a total fee collection of $644.12. Staff sent a notice of violation in early May to the owners of 729 Greenville Street regarding the manufactured home that's been placed adjacent to Greenville Street. I have the notice returned to me unsigned. So I've sent out an additional notice as well as a first class letter. So I'm hoping to hear back from them soon. That was last week and the last week or something else. So as I mentioned earlier, the planning commission is going to be meeting next Thursday to discuss the UDO. And that's pretty much all I have for you guys. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer them.

I just have a follow-up question about the properties down in the Tick District. Okay. Are we moving forward on those? How many of them have we not gotten any time response from at all?

Yeah, can you address the cleanup efforts there?

Yeah, so Two Blue Sties is down there. They're still cleaning up. I think they've done most of their properties on Soror Street. They have a couple that they still need to get cleaned up. I went down there this morning and re-looked at all the properties that I had dealt with when I had something to notice originally back in February or January of this year. So I'll be reissuing the citation or the notices. I had two, since we discussed that last, approach me about their cleanup efforts. So I have one of them that was today was cleaning up their property and we'll be hauling off the trailer. They're trying to get Anderson County, the court of Anderson County to issue in the title for the trailer to remove it. And then the other property that I discussed that also had abandoned manufactured home on it, they have sold that since I sent the violation. There's a new LLC that owns it. However, they are trying to sell that now. And I had a gentleman call me and was interested in actually building a home on that property. So he was also very interested in using our overlay district that we passed to construct a home there. So I worked with him, explained some of the details for that. So I believe I have.

seven property owners that i needed in contact with about the violation i want to follow up on that on the jay and his crews have finished the cleanup of the town-owned properties in the tiff district so that part of it is done yeah and the other question i had for you is what are the fines that we leverage for uh owners that don't comply with our enforcement so if the design review board for example suggest that somebody does something and they ignore it. Do we have a fine structure that goes with that? Same thing with a trailer that's parked there.

It depends on what violation you're doing. Some fines are $20 and it stacks up per day. Some fines are $500 and it stacks up per day. I think for the town square overlay would be $500 or any of the corridor overlays. So for any zoning violation, I believe it's a $500 a day fee.

So some, so things like that trailer are going to be running into that eventually, right?

Yeah. Once they, once we go and actually get the work with the court of Anderson County and get started on that process and the judge issues, the violation ticket, it'll start stacking up.

Okay. So the guy who owns the trailer is just not on Greenville street. Yes.

It's a company and they're out of North Carolina. That's the issue I've had. I've called them originally when it happened, however, months ago that was, and it goes to office in Anderson. the guy had told me that, you know, corporate they're dealing with it doesn't happen. So I've sent them a notice and they're just not answering me yet.

Well, I appreciate your report. And one of the things that we had talked about Lynn, myself and Owen was that we have all these amazing citizens that serve on these committees and that we really didn't know the outcomes and, and, um, And so one of the things we'd ask Owen to do is kind of talk a little bit about the outcomes so everyone knew what was going on. So I really appreciate that. Thank you, Owen. Oh, my gosh. Now I'm going to turn it over to our town administrator, Steve. Your final report.

Can you believe it? And so, you know, the student has become the master. So I'm not going to bore everybody with this, but y'all can kind of read the numbers. You're doing really good. You're doing really good financially. So that's a good thing for anybody trying to take this job. So, you know, thank council. Thanks to have Chuck. Thank you guys.

Steve, we haven't worked together that long and You are, you're so impressive, you're so full of knowledge, and we cannot wait to celebrate you on Friday to, for a town, everyone, the whole town is invited. Yeah, so please come to Steve's going away party, although you're not going away, because we literally are gonna be next door neighbors someday, we've already talked about it, because I know you and your wife mow your lawn, and so I have no problem with that. I cannot wait. Yeah, I cannot wait. Yeah, Owen will not have to come to our house. But I just want to thank you for everything that you have done for, for our town, your leadership, your knowledge, you truly are irreplaceable. And we're so grateful for you. And I think I mean, I've said this, and I'll say it again. I would not live here if it wasn't for you. My neighborhood wouldn't exist. I wouldn't have my friends. I wouldn't be sitting here if it wasn't for you. So thank you for everything that you've done for Pendleton. We are so grateful for you. We cannot wait to celebrate you on Friday at Raines. All right, action items. Item 6A is the consideration of amendment to fiscal year 2025-2026 memorandum of understanding with the Pendleton Volunteer Fire Department for reallocations of remaining volunteer payment funds to equipment purchases. So essentially, council provided the volunteer fire department with stipends, and approximately $12,000 of those stipends, the fire department has asked council to reallocate towards equipment. So that is what this motion is. Do I have any discussion?

Yes, I just want to make sure that this is good, that the money will be utilized in agreement

the other funds that are in place and also um this is this is in addition to um so we're not dumping back from what they've already been allocated and when we allocate the stipends all they're asking is that whenever whatever is left over the last month of our fiscal year if it hasn't been that that is used for equipment upgrades and things like that. So I made a motion. Okay.

Sorry, Barbara, will you restate the whatever's left over going to the fire department? I'm confused.

Well, they're specifically asking for this amount.

Are you saying they're not asking for the amount you billed at the end of the year? Yeah, but what it is, that we agree to provide science. and whatever's left over in that last month of the fiscal year. And what they're asking for now is to go ahead, but in the future, that amount, they're asking if it is a surplus that they use that for any other equipment. They do specifically have, they want to purchase radios Okay, my my understanding is that 12 and from everything I read in the packet is

was $12,000 from stipend. They're asking for $12,000 from stipends to be reallocated towards equipment like radios, which would then fall under the agreement that the town has with the volunteer fire department. I am, and that is it. That is all that's in this. Okay.

This is not binding us for future years, so this is just a one-time deal. Yes. Okay. Sorry. So nothing to do with next year.

No. Okay.

All right.

Do I have, yeah, do I have a motion, a specific motion?

So when you're saying that, what are you saying, that future years, they'll have to come back and ask for the leftovers to be used for something?

Disagreement, my understanding after reading the packet is that this agreement is for just this year and this agreement expires at the end of this year. And so. Yes.

Yes.

Everything. This is not an in perpetuity agreement. My understanding is it was just for this year. And so at the end of this year, they wanted to take the leftover dollars and buy the radios because Tommy found some at a discount and we need the radios. That's my understanding of this. It's not a commitment to next year. It's just for this year.

Yes.

I move we adopt that as presented in the agenda.

I can go with that. All in favor?

Barbara? I'm just abstaining because I'm on the fire thing.

Oh, okay. Okay. Barbara's on the fire thing, so she's abstaining.

Okay.

All right. So motion carries. and i knew that i just did not want people to say no she's she's on the fire of course she's gonna put oh my gosh barbara i'm sorry you're always lighting a fire um somewhere all right i appreciate that i appreciate that okay keep it i said and it's funny no matter where i sit it doesn't matter what room barbara's always to my right and it's turned into like comforting so thank you thank you for always being to my right barbara um All right, motion carries. Moving on, item 6B is the consideration of awarding the bid for the CMAR, which is Construction Manager Risk Project. And I'm gonna open this up for discussion, but I would specifically like those that served on this committee, Jeff and Lynn, if you wouldn't mind providing just some insight for the discussion.

Well, first of all, this is the first time I'd ever been involved in the CMAR process and it is, It seems like an incredible way to go. The people that bid on this were the top construction companies in literally the Southeast. And it was very exciting to see they were interested in what, compared to a lot of the projects they were presenting, is not a very big project. And they came in with big teams to present. And again, I was very impressed with the process. I think we came up with a good company to do this and it's, yeah, it was good. It was a combination of people from the town council and also employees and we work well as a team. We met four or five times, I think, in the overall scheme of it. And it took a few days, but I think we did a good job for the town.

Oh, yes, I just want to echo that I was very impressed with the quality of the companies that did. I think we've done very well. And again, I'd like to kind of thank Steve because he's the one that has gotten us to the position so that we can use the CMAR and the CMAR will allow us to continue to maintain our abilities and have that on a regular basis. So I appreciate your effort in getting us to that position.

And can you tell, just for, just so people know a little bit about what these CMAR projects will do?

The CMAR projects are going to help us maintain all the town facilities, parks, but specifically starting with Town Hall and Veterans Park. It will be an ongoing process that we will continually have a fund to of construction things were being repaired on a regular basis so things are not necessarily maintained.

Thank you. Does it allow us to bundle smaller projects into bigger projects that are more attractive? Yes.

Well I'm excited.

All right do I have a motion? Do I have a second? So Barbara first, do I have a second? Nancy second. All in favor? Unanimous, motion carries. Item 60 is the consideration of rejection of the RFQ proposal for the volunteer fire department substation project. I'm gonna open it up for discussion.

Why are we doing this?

So you only had one bid and your bid came in at $3.2 million. And you got, I didn't check, but it's probably a little over $600,000 in the count that you got from the state in there. So the fire department is a class four building and And that 3.2, what Hogan did give is there's a sheet in there that has like their last 10 years of fire department construction. And you can kind of see, I wish they had put the dates on there, but you can kind of see where the prices of the fire department are going. The last one that I built, which was in 2011, cost $2.5 million for a 10,000 foot building. and central just built a new fire station i believe it was what 5.8 million yeah and that's that was about land cost and so what you're getting right now i thought you have to reject it because you don't have enough money to build it i mean that's just the the simple way right now you got to go back and go to another drawing board or figure out how you're going to utilize the money but the uh But I think this is good for y'all to have because it kind of starts telling you, you know, you're looking at five to six hundred dollars a square foot and your other class four buildings that you have to build are like the police department. Public works is not a class four, but anything that you're going to have emergency management in is probably going to be rated the class for the waste treatment plant is a class four. Now, you're not going to build another $64 million facility, but that's a class four plant. A new town hall, there will be parts of it that would be a class four. So they're all going to be in that $500 to $600 square foot range. And it's all due to wind and earthquake protection. It's to keep your essential services running. And you have to do that with the fire department and the rescue squad building, or you're too much critical.

I think council needs to have some serious dialogue about the fire department and what would be in the best interest of spending that $600,000, about 500,000 plus interest. And I mean, I don't know if a bond is the right answer. I don't know. I've been definitely doing some research and I know some of us have talked individually about it, but I definitely think that we, I'm glad that we have this bid, so we kind of know, but I think that we need to have a lot of conversations around it.

How long is, how long can we hang on to that 600,000?

I mean, I think that he, yeah, until the state calls it back.

Depends on who wins the election.

Can the, there's stipulations on this, but

So yeah, so the money is really controlled by the delegation. So the delegation, what happens with the earmark is you get what they call a budget proviso. It's a one-year law, essentially, that dictates how money's spent. And so you have two of those. One of them is about as vague as you can get. In fact, we had to get the attorney to go get the proviso for us, but the state never provided them to us. but the it i can't remember what they say off the top of my head but the delegation did come back and say you can build or buy which is how we got down this road because there is no structure inside the town limits or inside the fire district you know that fire departments are special built they're they're you know you got to find one you can either retrofit or it's big enough to pull trucks into And that's kind of how we got down this road, seeing what you can get out there for somebody to build you one that's a substation. But even the substations now are $3 million.

Can the money be used to, I don't want to call it remodel, I guess I'll say patch up the current- I would say the delegation probably would approve that.

your fire department as it currently stands, it's just not, like the trucks are so much bigger than they were 30 years ago. And you're getting to a point where you don't have enough clearance on either side of them, you don't have enough height, you can't put a ladder truck in there. And with Tri-County Tech and Clemson University coming into the fire district with the height of the buildings that they're building, that ladder truck is gonna become more critical It's critical on a single family structure just to get roof ventilation in there and not have to stand on a roof and, you know, just falling through it.

So have we even talked with Clemson? Because to tell you the truth, they're going to need something nearby with that building out there. I'm surprised when it went through and they built the Garrison Arena that they didn't put anything out there. And I know that the university, the town of Clemson basically uses the university, but the university uses the town of Pendleton for what they did. And like I said, all it takes is sparking that whole Garrison Arena is gonna go up. It's too much. you know, out there that's flammable just because you've got animal stuff. But I think that that's something we need to consider.

I agree. I think we need to have a lot of conversations around this. And I think, and I think that we need help from the County and from, from the state or like in the university, or like I said, we need to talk about bonds. We, we, we do, we need, we need to have a serious conversation. I know we've talked a lot about having, or we have, we've had meetings when we're trying to say like open, open meetings, we all have discussions. And so maybe this summer we'll have one of those and this will be on there and we can just have a discussion about the fire department or where a, Fire Department should be, do I, sorry.

When you're talking about the CMAR too, just for y'all's benefit, what you're doing for CMAR and parts of it is called a pre-construction service. There'll be a fee established for that. Now, you cannot give, because this wasn't named in that CMAR bid, so you can't just hand, if you get to a point you can afford a building, you can't just hand it to that CMAR, but you can have that CMAR go through a pre-construction thing

you want to look at other sites or you want to look at other buildings you know if you want help pricing past that that's a pre-destruction activity that you can take advantage of inside of your bid thank you do i have a do i have could we have um could so we put the original fire state remember we did the fire station study and they looked at five sites can you get that on the sharepoint for us so we can all review that again i would like that too discussion

All right, well, do I have a motion?

Thank you, Lynn. Do I have a second? Second. Second. Barbara, all in favor?

Motion carries.

Item 60 is the consideration for approval of the information technology contract for the town's IT services. I'll open it up for discussion.

And will we accept the IT contract as reviewed by our financial person?

All right. Thank you, Nancy. Second. Barbara, all in favor? Motion carries. Item 6E is the consideration of a resolution by the Pendleton Town Council accepting the recommendation from the Pendleton Planning Commission to rezone the property located at 610 Cherry Street, having TMS number 40-16-01-002 from R1, which is low property residential district to R2, low density residential district. I will open it up for discussion. Hearing no discussion, do we have a motion? Nancy first, Barbara second. All in favor? Motion carries. Item 6F is the consideration of a resolution to recommend Pendleton Town Council releases a temporary letter of credit slash performance bond for $157,087.50 for the, I know I'm like going back to like what first grade math, or writing a check for the onsite improvements in phase two of the Development Champions Village at Cherry Hill phase two. Do I have, I'll open up the floor for discussion. Hearing no discussion, do I have a motion?

Motion.

Jeff, motion. Do I have a second?

Second.

Second. Barbara, all in favor? Motion carries unanimously. Item 6G is the consideration of first reading of an ordinance establishing a project ordinance for the Village Hill area water and sewer line improvements projects in the town of Pendleton, South Carolina, providing for the receipt and expenditure of community development block grant funds, local matching funds, and other town funds and other related matters. Do I have, I will open up the floor for discussion. Hearing no discussion, do I have any motions?

Motion to approve.

Barbara, motion to approve. Do I have a second? Second. Second, Jeff, all in favor? Motion carries. Item 6H on the agenda is the consideration of first reading of an ordinance to set the town of Pendleton's budget for fiscal year 26-27, including the town's fee schedule and other matters related thereto. I will open up the floor for discussion.

One is that the budget does include hiring some new staff, but we are also in the process of doing gap analysis and a review of job descriptions, as well as Steve's departure in the process of seeking a new administrator. I would like to make sure that those positions are not filled until that time. that those two issues are resolved. And also, there's not an agreement in the budget or in this proposal that matches the agreement we've typically been using with the volunteer organizations. So I'd like to make sure that that's in there. I have two amendments. Can I make those readouts?

Do I have further discussion? And then I'm sorry.

Move to amend the budget ordinance on the first reading to add a new section 24, postponing the preparation for hiring any future positions in their associated post until the new town administrator has been appointed. The gap analysis has been completed, reviewed, and approved by town council. And council takes further action authorizing these positions to proceed, excluding previously approved positions in the fiscal 2025-2026 budget. So it's not impacting any position that's been correctly funded and replacing anybody, including the plain position I think is in . And secondly, that I move that any funds that are issued to the recreation or to the fire department, staff be directed to draft an appropriate agreement for the town council to approve, and also staff be directed to create a grant program for the town council approval prior to the release of the funds specifically funds budgeted over 34,520 and 3,400 non-002. Can you give your opinion on that?

So the motion is Lynn, the second is Nancy. All in favor?

All in favor? Okay, motion carries unanimously. Man.

Is that it? We don't have up to like M or Z today? It's crazy. All right, so opportunities to connect. First and foremost, I would like to remind everyone that It is the statewide primary is going on and there is also a lot of additional questions on the ballot. Please, please go vote. Open voting is happening now. It's so easy. Just go to the library and vote. And the election day, the official election day will be on June 9th. But please exercise your right to vote. I would also like to wish all of our dads such a happy Father's Day this month. So happy Father's Day to all of our all of our Pendleton dads on June 9th, Main Exchange, which is that amazing building on, and they've worked so hard, years and years of work. They have restored that building. It looks great. And they are having their ribbon cutting on June 9th. I really, June 8th or 9th, it's that Monday, whatever. next monday as i apologize um but please please um check it out i cannot wait to to see that building um but yeah they've worked really hard um barbara mentioned fireworks for firefighters on july 1st i hope to see everyone there and i just want to thank presley and carol for putting that event together and i'm hoping that they will continue to do it every year what a great what a great event and what a great way to raise awareness for our firefighters um Yeah, I love that. The Pendleton Historic Foundation is doing a Midsummer Night's Scream. I'm also going to ask Lindsay to talk a little bit about the concert series. as well as some initiatives of Leadership Pendleton, if you don't mind. I do want to congratulate our Leadership Pendleton graduates. I went to the graduation last week and it was so fun. Lindsay, I'm going to turn it over to you to talk about all the fun things that are happening around town.

Sure. Starting tomorrow out at the Village Green, we're going to have live music. Every Wednesday from six until eight, we mixed up the genres of music this year. We have jazz, blues, contemporary, and country. On June 24th, we are doing a tribute to America for 250th celebration. Lots of storefronts in Pendleton, not just downtown, but all over town are going to decorate red, white and blue. We'll have activities for kids and all kinds of fun things. We'll have a tribute to our veterans presenting of the colors. And then at eight o'clock, we have a community sing along. So get those patriotic songs. out and we're all going to sing together at eight o'clock. So super excited about that. Please come out and see us. Hopefully everyone got the trash can flyer on your trash can that had a whole download of all kinds of things going on in Pendleton. If you haven't gotten it yet, it'll be there on trash day. So I'm happy to be here, happy to do the events and look forward to seeing you there.

Mayor Stokowski, I just want to compliment you on bringing all the various politicians into our town. I think we've had the Lieutenant Governor, we've had Democrats, we've had Republicans in the town, and I think it's going to pay off. And I appreciate your efforts in bringing, I don't even know how many people have been in here, the US members of Congress. It's been pretty impressive and it's nice to see those pictures of them standing out on our green. And hopefully again, it pays off for us.

Thank you for, I think, understanding what we're doing. And I will say, you know, we just had the Lieutenant Governor here. I think she had a great time. She had a great time at Swamp Box Distilling and learning about the history of our green. And it's really been a community effort. So many from our community have just come out and represented everything that we are. And it's been really special. I've learned a lot. So thanks for saying that. um i also sorry quickly um the pendleton foundation for black history and culture was just recognized by the anderson county united way as the non-profit of the year that is so huge so i just want to give that yes Yes, and yes, so I want to recognize them and then mention their Juneteenth events that they have coming on. But yes, our community is so amazing. I am reminded every single day and just, yeah, it's just such an honor to sit up here and serve as your mayor, along with just all these people of council that have literally become family. So I'm really grateful to all of you. If there is nothing, we've all been together since, we've all been together for about the last nine hours today. Barbara?

That was not the whole United Way. That was an award that the foundation received from United Way's African American Leadership Panel.

awesome that's awesome thank you barbara um yes if there's nothing does anyone have anything else before we for real all right well let's not change let's not jinx it let's not jinx it um okay nancy do i have a second i just don't need a second jeff do you do all in favor of a journey unanimous have a great night

Woo! I know.