Town Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome to the July 7th, 2026 Pendleton Town Council meeting. It's seven o'clock, so we are going to begin. And I don't know if you know this, but I'm really excited. The Pendleton Recreation Association baseball team, 12U, is playing right now on Greenwood. And if they win, they're going to go to the Little League World Series, which is, yeah. So it's all, yeah, I'm really excited. So thanks to my friends at Main Exchange, they told me to get this book written by Jackie Reynolds. And if you haven't picked up a copy, you should get it. It's really interesting. And I looked in the appendix under baseball, and we have some baseball history in Pendleton. All right. In 1877, the Anderson Baseball Club challenged the Pendleton Baseball Club to a three-game series in August of 1877. Baseball had been introduced to South Carolina by federal troops during Reconstruction. The Pendleton Club won the series. They won the first game 33-23. It's pretty high scoring. The Anderson Club won the second game 33-29 and the Pendleton Club won the third game 36-23. But there was some controversy over ineligible players because apparently some of the players were only visiting from Charleston. Can we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance?

indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

We will now turn it over for our council comments and reports. um i want to begin by just giving a huge shout out to leadership pendleton and the june 24th patriotic sing-along and celebration i had the best time so thank you lindsay and leadership pendleton um for putting on that really just fun event it was amazing And then I'm gonna turn it over to, and Barbara's gonna talk about the amazing fireworks from the volunteers for the fire department, but I'm gonna turn it over to Lynn. Any updates on the strategic plan as well as the branding initiative?

The branding initiative is continuing. We're getting reports over the rest of the month and then we'll report out to the rest of the community. Thank you.

Barbara, fire department.

Well, I don't have an official fire department report because one wasn't given to me. But be that as it may, be that as it may, I attended my first fireworks for firefighters. I was the handicapped parking lot police.

Good job.

Thank you. And the weather kept in theme. It was fire and hot. I've never been that hot in my life. um my sweat in the sweat but it was a nice event i'm not sure what the total was um i do know that they said that they did um in fact have a um they actually made money good money you want to understand i'd like to also thank the businesses who um sponsored the t-shirts Hopefully we'll continue doing these t-shirts. I hope the town will because we'll continue doing t-shirts. Believe it or not, that was a good boon for Pendleton. It wasn't sponsored by us. It was done with the committee, but those fire, those t-shirts sold well. I've had people from Clemson. I bought one for my friend in New Bay. We took a picture and posted it on Facebook. And I've had people, you know, from out of town. I love the T-shirts. Where did you get them? So I know New Teak Boutique had them, but I'd like to also thank the Printing House. Printing Hut?

Print House.

Print House. Thank you for their contribution and also State Farm. I know they were a sponsor. So hopefully this is something that the committee, and again, I've always said that we need to, if you're going to start something in Pendleton, don't look after it becomes successful, don't look for it to be taken up by the town of Pendleton. Apparently I proved right. They were able to get a lot of financial support and that's what needs to be done. You know, we are, we, we have to be fiscally responsible because I said, no, we won't support fiscally. Something does not mean I'm against it. It just means I'm trying to be fiscally responsible, but if you don't want me to be fiscally responsible, we can all go to jail together and have our taxes. But thank you.

I'm gonna just piggyback off that and just thank Presley and all the volunteers for putting on that event. It was wonderful. I ran into her on, And I think she said at that point they had raised $20,000 and correct me if I'm wrong, but that's amazing. And I also want to say that I talked to the mayor of Pelzer today because they are like us and they have a volunteer fire department. And I asked like, does the town fund the volunteer fire department? And he said that they do not. And they have really relied on fundraisers like fireworks for firefighters to really help to raise money for the fire department. Turn it over to Nancy. Any reports on trails as well as public works?

Thanks, Sarah. On the trail, on the Pendleton Pride of Motion effort, Duke Energy awarded Anderson County $3,500 to cover the litter cleanup projects. We benefit from that grant. Samantha Porter and Melissa Powell lead that effort for us. So it was a grant. award to Anderson County, but we benefit from it greatly because they give us all the bags and all the pickup material and it's all free to us because of things like this grant from Duke Energy. So thank you Duke for supporting us. On public works, they've had a very busy month. The work continues in the TIF district with the drives and the installations that are going on there. The water and sewer department, They're always working in the water and sewer department. There's always maintenance and continued repairs. And you might notice they paved East Queen Street. Well, that's a load on the water and sewer department because they have to go and raise the manholes and take care of things before the paving can go through. And we're still arm wrestling the Central Road Pump Station.

So we're still, we need...

That was done, but we're still arm wrestling that. The water and sewer completed the consumer confidence report and the galvanized requiring replacement reports. If you receive one of those reports, I think our advice is to get the water tested.

Correct? It's already been tested. Everything is fine. It's just a matter of we have to notify any of the citizens that do have a galvanized line of service or site.

That's all. It doesn't necessarily mean that you're in any danger. No lid.

We've got no lid in the town at all.

So we just had to, under EPA rules, we just had to notify you. And you'll notice that on the Village Green, there's a lot of work going on. And also the handrails at the entrance in front of Main Exchange were kind of on hold. It's a very expensive cleanup because they keep getting hit. And the GPS equipment is installed. This Friday, the rest of every equipment will have GPS, which is great. The bruised parking lot, you may have noticed the first phase demolition is completed on that. And they're continuing to do the initial engineering. Well, not initial engineering, but they're doing the engineering on the remaining of it and the wall on Buddy Durham's lot. I keep getting Durham gossip mixed up. Yep. So anyway, thanks for the guys to Public Works. It's hot out there, as we all know, and they're working in really hot conditions and they're working really hard. So thank you, Jay.

Thank you, Nancy. Jeff, PRA.

Yeah, hello. Our summer programs are in full swing. Our athletes are achieving remarkable post-season success, and we continue to make vital upgrades to our facilities in partnership with the town. We've had an incredible summer tournament run, and we are proud of all our young athletes, coaches, and volunteers who have represented Pendleton so well. Softball all-stars, our 12 and under girls team captured a thrilling victory in their best of three tournament against Williamson. Our baseball all-stars, eight and under, went on a spectacular performance, officially earning a trip to the state tournament. 10 and under baseball team fought hard to finish as the district tournament runner-ups, and our 12 under as the mayor's mentioned, is playing a high stakes game tonight. A victory will officially punch their ticket to the World Series next month. Building on this momentum, the PRA is thrilled to announce that we will officially be hosting All-Star Baseball at Veterans Park next year. We're excited to bring teams and families from across the region into the town of Pendleton. Summer and fall programming updates, adult tennis, baseball. Still haven't seen how that goes. The Summer Adult Tennis Baseball League is well underway with five teams currently competing. The games have been highly competitive and well received by the community. The season is scheduled to run through the first week of August, wrapping up with the end of season tournament. Fall leadership, as we prepare for a massive fall sports season, several new directors have stepped up to take over program roles. I know that was a big push of theirs. This fresh leadership will help distribute the operational workload and bring new energy to our programs. Registration for several of our fall sports programs remains actively open for signups. We encourage families to visit our website to get enrolled today so we can finalize our rosters, facilities and park maintenance improvements. We are continuing to work hand in hand with the town staff to keep our park infrastructure safe, efficient, visually excellent. Capital equipment impact, we've officially taken full delivery of the new infield drag machine and transport utility cart purchased by the town. These assets are already being put to incredible use daily, and they are the direct reason the infields at Veterans Park look as phenomenal as they do right now. Field two upgrades. We're moving forward with park enhancements, including the upcoming installation of permanent scoreboard for field two. The bleacher repairs. The PRA has been in active communication with town leadership regarding broken and aging bleachers at several locations throughout Veterans Park. We are working collaboratively with the town to address these issues quickly and ensure spectator seating remains completely safe. The lightning detection system calibration. We are aware that the Thor guard lightning detection horn is not signaling as loudly as originally intended. We are currently following up directly with the vendor to service and adjust a specific piece of equipment. So it provides the necessary safety alerts for the park.

Want to thank the mayor council and town administration for their unwavering support of youth and adult recreation.

Please visit our website to get enrolled. And we look forward to seeing you all out on the field.

I have a question. And I don't know, but I'm just asking. The bleachers that we have, are they wood?

They're aluminum.

Thank you.

Thank you for those reports. We now move on to item three, which is the approval of the minutes. We have become very close lately as a council. So we have consideration of prior meeting minutes from May 26th, 2026, called meeting. May 28th, 2026, called meeting. June 2nd, 2026, called meeting. Town Council meeting, June 2nd. Town Council meeting, June 8th, 2026. Town Council, or sorry, called meeting, June 9th, 2026. And the called meeting, June 11th, 2026. Do I? Yeah, okay. Nancy, second. Barbara, all in favor? Motion carries. Item four is public comments. We would welcome your comments. Just a reminder, comments are limited to three minutes per resident business owner or town property owner. This is not a time for Q&A. These are comments. So we will not be able to respond to you, but we definitely are listening and looking forward to hearing what you have to say. I'll open up the floor for comments.

And please state your name and address when you come up. Did you say that?

Hi, Alex. Can you go after? Hi.

Good evening. My name is Suzanne Hellams Griffin. I live at 826 Crouch Shrive. I am asking this Council to reconsider the decision to remove the traffic light at the intersection of Mechanic and Queen Streets. This intersection is more than a downtown crosswalk. It is a major route connecting Anderson, Pendleton, and Clemson University. In January, this Council passed a resolution requesting that SCDOT conduct the necessary traffic engineering studies and approve the installation of two four-way stop intersections, one at Mechanic and Queen and one at Main and Mechanic. Because that resolution could lead to a permanent change, I believe the evaluation should be based on complete year-round data, not a limited 90-day study. I would also like to know when that 90-day period begins. It is my understanding that SCDOT advised the town that a four-way stop at Main and Mechanic was not feasible because of its close proximity to the existing traffic signal. If that is correct, I think the public deserves to understand how that determination affected the proposal to remove the traffic signal at Mechanic and Queen. The January resolution also anticipated a reduction in traffic because of the middle school closure. Has that assumption been evaluated against actual traffic patterns, particularly during Clemson's academic year and other peak traffic periods? We're truly trying to determine whether this intersection functions safely without a traffic signal. Shouldn't that information also be collected during football weekends, festivals, and other times when the signal is operating normally when traffic is at its heaviest? SCDOT placed traffic counting strips on Mechanic Street in June, not for very long, to collect vehicle speed and traffic volume data. June is one of the slowest traffic months of the year in Pendleton. If those traffic counts are being used as part of this decision, they do not represent the amount of traffic this intersection handles during the busiest times of the year. While pedestrian safety around the square is an important goal, the data to justify a permanent change should reflect how Pendleton actually functions throughout the year. Collecting traffic data during one of the quietest months does not provide a complete picture. Relying on limited summer data risks undermining public confidence and community trust in this decision-making process. A permanent decision deserves complete year-round data that reflects Pendleton at its busiest, not its quietest. We should instead ask SCGOT to utilize improved signalization, improving an existing traffic signal with better timing, pedestrian features, or updated technology not replacing a traffic signal with a four-way stop. For years, we have heard that the town's priority is walkability. Walkability is important, but Pendleton is still a town where people arrive by car. Motorists deserve that same consideration as pedestrians. Has the Pendleton Fire Department been consulted formally regarding their access through this intersection? 465 people have signed a petition asking this council to reconsider this proposal. Those signatures represent people who care deeply about Pendleton and want this decision to be based on complete information. So I'm gonna leave you with one question. If this proposal is truly the right decision, why not wait until the study includes football season and the busiest traffic our town experiences? Thank you.

Thank you. Other comments, Alex?

May I request, I have some heavy commentary, and I'll refer to the last to keep from taping anything else that might be said. Okay.

Hello. This is new for me. I'm Katherine Watt. I live at 201 Wren Street in Clemson. I'm here tonight to introduce to some of you, you may not have heard, we are getting a newspaper in Pendleton. The Pendleton Post will launch August 15th and it is going to be part of the journal family.

Do you have a business in Pendleton?

We are part of PABA now. So yes, we are going to be here in Pendleton. Okay. Sorry. I just wanted to make sure. Yes. Thank you. And so, yes. so that will be in Pendleton and that's why this is important it is going to be a local paper I will be at the tennis baseball which I'm really curious to learn about We will be at the Pendleton High School games. We will be in the businesses. We will be highlighting the new businesses that come interviewing Jen next week to talk about the opening of town. And so I hope that you will participate. It will be for the businesses here. We're working with PABA and a member. And so everything is advertised will also appear in the journal. So we are very hopeful and is part of our goal to really increase the traffic sorry about that after the last topic, increase the traffic, sorry, to increase the business for our small businesses, because that's what brought me to town in the first place. So thank you very much. And we look forward to working with you.

Good evening members of the town council and residents. My name is Micah Smith. I'm a taxpayer residing at 522 Seabourn Circle. It's one of the newer residents or newer developments here in Pendleton. 522 Seabourn Circle. I'm standing here tonight to remind this council of a foundational truth that seems to have been forgotten. You do work for us. Every single dollar you allocate, every contract you sign and every seat you occupy exists solely by the consent and funding of the taxpayers in this room. Your FY2027 strategic plan outlines a direct intent to expand flock safety, mass surveillance, public spaces, and community parks. Let me be unequivocally clear. Using our hard earned tax dollars to track, log, and catalog the daily movements of innocent citizens is a flagrant violation of our Fourth Amendment rights. These dragnet operations are fundamentally unconstitutional and treating local drivers as suspects by default is a severe breach of public trust. Worse than the constitutional overreach is the massive potential for system abuse. We have seen investigative reports nationwide proving that these systems are actively misused with training materials showing officers how to track individuals from location to location and features designed to spy on pedestrians. By building this infrastructure in Pendleton, you're creating an unacceptable spying tool that monitors where our neighbors go when they leave their homes and who they visit. To make matters worse, the information gathered by these cameras isn't even owned or controlled by our town government. We're paying a private out of state corporation to spy on us and flock safety retains the ultimate keys to that data infrastructure. You're using taxpayers money to hand over the private habits of Pendleton residents to a third party business vendor that answers to shareholders, not voters. Once our data is swallowed by their corporate network, there is zero true accountability for who accesses it or how it is cross shared. We're watching how you spend our money shifting recurring front funds out of our $1.3 million police operating budget to line the pockets of a private surveillance company, instead of fixing our roads, sidewalks, and basic infrastructure is unacceptable. This is not a request for a workshop. It is a direct demand for accountability. If this council chooses to push forward with unconstitutional surveillance and ignores the constituents who fund this government, we will remember exactly who voted for it, we will pull the funding, we will challenge these actions, and we will actively campaign to replace every single one of you at the ballot box. Treat our rights and our privacy with the respect they deserve, or we will elect a council that does. Thank you.

Are there comments before Mr. Zimborski?

All right, Alex. My name's Alex Zimborski. I live at 1200 Cherry Street Extension, just beyond the city limit. I have four items I'd like to present and ask town to commit to performance relative to those. First is the matter of public access. There are rules within the state that speak to who may address a town council, a planning commission, and under what terms. They're found in state code 629-760. I've got that memorized. I would like the town to state please how those statements pertain, one, to public hearings. The public hearings of July and September failed to follow the prescribed self-imposed rules of the Planning Commission. Only in December did they adhere to those rules. I understand that we are novices in this arena and I protest that certified planners fail to point this out and have the commission follow proper procedure. Also within that code, there's a requirement that is rather sketchy and I need the commission and the council please ascertain how they'll implement it. Outside of public hearings, 629.760 says that if a developer speaks, any individual withstanding must be given the same opportunity. The town stands in opposition to that and has refused to seek any further clarification for whatever reason. Also under seven or excuse me, also under 760, there is a stipulation that notice be provided. And I did a survey of my neighborhood. I have nine neighbors of mine that sit on the property line of the 80 acres that the town's considering, and they've never been notified of any proceeding. These people feel lost from the town. They feel like they're unidentified relative to the town. I don't care that they're county residents and not town residents. I would like the town to make a statement as to whether or not they see these individuals as having standing and permission to speak in proceedings. That's item number. Apologize for that. My wife has two items she wanted to ask you to certify. One is the inadequacy of the staff report, and I'll try to make it short. I can't find two consecutive sentences, neither can she, that have any truth. Also within that statement of a report, there are surrounding statements that ignore 100 acres of surrounding citizens who happen to live in the county, but are not referenced as surrounding the 80 acres. I'd like the town to commit as to how they see that. Is that acceptable or not? I'd like to have the town commit to rewrite that status report because that issue of that ADA for development will arise and it's not going to go away. The last item I'd like to have confirmed. The last item I have. the last major item is the result of the delegation to the mediation. I know so blessed little about what information was presented. What I do know is documents claim to be non-existent within town records have been located and have not been produced within that hearing. As far as I know, I was told that they were too late to be admitted and the attorney had refused to supply a motion to have new evidence admitted. I would like a statement as to how that transpired. I want to know, and I don't, I refuse to be stopped on this. What was contained in that proposition was a 60-bed senior living hospital. Next to it was a 20-bed apartment with senior assisted living. Adjacent to that were 25 single-level, handicap-equipped independent living cottages. with electronic connection to the other two facilities to guarantee nurse call care or any slight assistance that they might need i would very much like to know how passing that up is acceptable to this community one last item of minor importance coming up in this coming planning commission agenda i assume will be a correction to the zoning map where it will now show that the acreage next to me is indeed agricultural and not part of some phantom residential area that supports the 80 acre PDMU. I would like a commitment from the town that that map correction will occur. That's all I have. I thank you for your patience. And I apologize for the stiffness of my presentation. It's my home. It's what I've worked for all my life. You've messed with me. You're done messing with me. You don't mess with my family. Excuse me.

Thank you. Other comments? Seeing no, we can't respond. I wasn't going to respond. Okay.

I was just going to ask, and this is a respond.

Okay.

Those of you who spoke, please provide us your documents so that we can't ask or answer anything anytime if we don't have what we need. That's all.

All right. Seeing no further public comments, public comments are closed. Moving on to Section 5 reports, we'll begin with Chief Paulson in the police report.

Good evening. It's good to see everybody tonight. Had a pretty busy month last month. The police department answered over 962 calls for service since the 1st of June. We also had a burglary in progress call. I want to bring everybody's attention. It was the last night of the month. It was on main street. Our evening shift guys were close enough. They got there quick and they were able to find two suspects coming out of the house, got them into a car. The vehicle pulled out in a very short, very slow pursuit. They decided to go down a one-way street to a dead end, which made it pretty easy for our guys. But they wrecked the car, and they did get out, and they ran. But our guys was able to chase them down and got them over in Morton Farm. So we appreciate when they don't know where they're going. And the job that our evening shift guys do, I'm really proud to have them doing those things. In June, 31 reports were taken, 10 of which were cleared by arrest or by a warrant. Additionally, 128 warning tickets were issued and 45 state citations were issued. Of those 128 warning and 45 state issues, 47 total issues or summonses were issued, whether it be warnings or traffic stops on Main and Depot, Broad and Cherry, Lebanon and Cherry, those four-way stops that we've been really trying to concentrate on. We had over 47 traffic stops on those intersections alone. During the month, members of the police department had the honor to attend some vacation Bible school events, both with the Bishop Branch Baptist Church and King's Chapel AME Church. We were able to go out to Veterans Park and able to spray the kids down with fire hose and water out of the fire trucks for the Bishop Branch Baptist Church event. That was a lot of fun. A lot of kids out there. And at the King's Chapel AME Church, we really had a good time. We had dinner with them and sat through a service and able to make some bracelets with kids and really had a good time spending some time with them. Our officers also attended the summer concert events on the green. These were the Wednesday evening events where they had some really good music, some great, great crowds there. I got to say, I kind of gave Lindsay a hard time every Wednesday because Lindsay's really, really good at creating extra work for us. But she did a really good job putting all those things together. So it was a good event. We enjoyed it. The police department also teamed up with Tri-County Technical College Police Department. We did some driver training in their parking lot. We took advantage of not having any kids there. Corporal Bishop, who was a driver instructor with our department, actually set up a course. We put cones out and had stop signs and actually had our officers running through those just to get a refresher on driving and how to drive fast with lights and sirens and how to stop at stop signs and all of that. So it was a really great event, and it was fun to be able to partner with Tri-County Tech. The officers also, myself, we attended the American Legion Post 113 monthly meeting, had a great time with them, spent some time with them, gave them a presentation on, you know, what our department does and how many police officers we have and the way that we can serve our community. Had a great time with them, had good breakfast or had a good dinner with them and just spent some time with them. We also assisted the 2026 Leadership Pendleton Group by escorting a group of veterans who were honored at the last concert on the green. We all met up at the new strip mall down where the hair cuttery place is, and we escorted them through town. They didn't stop for stoplights and all. They had lights going. They thought it was the greatest thing in the world, and it was really fun. We brought them to the depot and took them from the depot back to the square, and it was really good. They honored them, and I think they were really appreciative of that. We also attended a monthly HOA meeting for the Preserve at Pendleton. Again, this is just our way of branching out into our community engagement. And just trying to meet as many community members as we can. And then we assisted with the public meetings held by Anderson County Republican Party for the candidates for South Carolina governor. That was done at the Bishop Branch Church. Had a large crowd there. All our evening shift guys were there. Really helped out with traffic once it was over. And they got them out of there. I was really proud of them. So those are the things that we did during the month. That's all I have. If you have anything for me, I'm glad to try and answer any questions that you have.

I want to talk about the block cameras, and I appreciate you bringing that up. And full disclosure, I feel really ignorant in the matter because I didn't even know we had them until someone posted on my Facebook page. Thank you, Suzanne. I see you in here. She's like, we have them on the square. And I was like, what? Because I don't like that either. I don't like feeling spied on. So can you talk a little bit about that? Because I do, I think that citizens deserve to know how their money is being spent and how that data is being used. And full disclosure, we talked about that as soon as I was informed that not only do we have one camera, but we have three, which I feel like citizens need to know. Um, I don't know where the other two are, uh, um, uh, but I would like you to address that please.

Yeah. So, and I, and I totally understand the concern there. So we do have three cameras in town. There's two of them that are on west queen street, one facing one way and one facing the other. And then there's one on, on north mechanic street. Now the, the, the thing that the flocks do, and they've actually been there for almost a year now, they were approved through a grant that was done. We did the west queen street streetscape project where we did the realignment of, of, uh, Winston street and the, the neighborhood over there on Riverside doing the sidewalks and all that. It was part of that project. It was a grant that was given to us, a CDBG grant. The total cost of those funds for those cameras was $21,000 that we didn't pay. That was all done through a grant that was given to us through the state. Now, I understand the concern with the flock cameras, but I want to make sure that we understand that with those cameras, I can't look at it and say, you know, the mayor went right on North Main Street, took a left on Elm Street, took a right on the South Street, and then went to the fourth house on the corner. I can't do that. That's all those cameras do. What those cameras do is it tells me that this vehicle was at a particular point at a particular time. And that's all it does. It gives us the opportunity, like if we have a lost individual or a lost adult, or a crime that's been committed, say if he has a drive-by shooting or something like that, that we can get a license plate from, we can enter that license plate into the system. It will go into the camera system. If that car passes one of those cameras, it'll alert us, hey, the car you're looking for just went by. It doesn't tell us where it went or where it came from. It just tells us this car was at this particular area at this particular time. Now, that information is stored in the flock camera systems. It is overwritten every 30 days. If we don't review it, we don't look at it, we don't do anything with it for 30 days, and it just goes away. So it's all done by information that's shared through us. If we need to put information in, if we're looking for somebody, that's how we do it, and that's the reason why the cameras are there.

So... My question is, because I know that's the big thing now with these cameras. Everybody's afraid of Big Brothers.

Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

But the reality of it is Big Brothers on your doorframe.

They're collecting more information from you on your cell phones than we always can.

Exactly. Because, I mean, it amazes me. I get a text for paying somebody. I don't even give them my phone number. So I also have to say, where they are, especially on West Queen, and knowing that there has been some crime over there, drug activity, things like this. I know people who live in the area over there who don't even utilize their sun porches, their front porches. These are older people. They are afraid. These are the people who will probably tell you, put them everywhere you want to. But my thing is, I feel that everybody needs to know where they are. I'm okay. And, you know, people can always talk about your rights. I've got other rights that are being taken away from me. I can give a crap list whether you take my picture on the car. Because, you know, y'all stop me anyway.

Yes, ma'am. It's absolutely no different than me having an officer sitting in a particular place and writing down every license plate that drives by for a particular time.

Well, and you know, when it comes to time, we will need this. It's better to have something that are not needed, that needed, you know.

Yes, ma'am.

But this to me is a safety issue and it's not a violation of rights. It becomes a violation of rights when we know that this data is going for stuff it should.

I'm okay because the grant paid for it.

And also people need to realize, even if the town was paying for it, there's a process. We can't control who gets the contract, whether they're in state or out of state. We can't do the preferential treatment anymore. Those good old boy days are gone. So there's a whole lot that comes into play with this.

Can I ask what was, because I was not on council last year when this was decided, can I ask what the motivating factor was, you know, for adding this to the grant?

It was part of the safety procedures for that, and I'm speaking on information that I was told that I know firsthand because I wasn't in this position.

Six years ago, right? Well, it was done last year. But I meant the grant was applied for.

It's been a while, yes, sir.

Yeah.

Just quickly, and I can add to what David is saying. So part of that whole grant created a neighborhood revitalization plan. And we had a committee of residents from that area who served to create that plan. And basically, they took the crime statistics in the area, and they placed the cameras in the hot spots where the highest crime areas were. So that's why they were placed out there.

And I do want to make sure that because the grant did cover this year in the town, we'll have to pay for that after after this year's up. And I understand the concern. I do. And I'll be glad to sit down with anybody that wants to come see me. I'll be glad to sit down with you and go over how we do things with it and how it's used. Anything that we can do to try and ease the concern from from the community, because I understand that. But it is a very valuable tool that allows us to really hone in on some criminal activities as well as finding people that are lost.

Do you have any idea what the cost is going to be next year?

I want to say they're $3,000 per camera, but please don't hold me to that. Okay. It's in that range.

Well, the young man, I can't remember his name, mentioned that they were in the budget for more of them this year.

No, the only ones we've done so far was the one that was on the grant.

Because we've discussed this and I'm opposed to them and have been for a long time.

Sure. No, we haven't budgeted for new ones right now. What's been installed was done through the grant. Okay. Yes, ma'am. Thank you.

And I will say for our residents, please come talk to us. We don't do Q and A's at council meetings, but I mean, Chief Paulson, I know we're all checking our email all the time. We're always in town hall. Please, please, if you have questions, please ask and we'd love to answer them. But yeah, I really do appreciate the feedback on the flock cameras, because I was curious about that as well. All right, turning it over to... Planning, Owen, hi, nice to see you.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. In the month of June, the Planning Department issued 28 permits. A breakdown of those is six of them for new homes, four of those were in Sunrise, one of those was in Morton Farms, and one was for the manufactured home that was on Greenville Street. They placed into the park. There was no new businesses or permits issued for the construction of a commercial outfit or a new business. There's three electrical upgrades, three interior renovations, one building addition, three signs, two of those were temporary commercial banners, nine encroachment permits, one accessory structure. And then two, I received two rezoning applications last month with the applicant for those with Drew. their request. And there is, I have received a rezoning application for the property on Cherry and Broad Street that will be going to the Planning Commission in August for the public hearing. That's to go the same as the one for you tonight to go from R1 to R2. So June 11th, the Planning Commission held a work session on the UDO draft and discussed amendments to the commission's bylaws. This was a pretty productive meeting for the commission. This was the first time they had to look at the UDO and discuss it with each other. So there were some, some of the topics discussed included changing the neighborhood commercial zoning to make it more of a conventional mixed use. Cause right now it's, you have a live work unit so that you can pretty much only live in every commercial if you also own the business and the building that you're in. So this is going to open it up a little more so people can actually have an additional layer above or on their property. So that was discussed. Another thing that was discussed was removing your quarter overlays such as Greenville Street and West Queen that are primary residential. We only have one commercial on both of those and that is the apartment complex across here. So that was from that they decided maybe to do more stricter residential standards and also commercial standards for facade designs and renovations. And then the creation of historic overlay So with that, they are thinking about doing is expanding your current town square overlay, building off of that and then doing non-contiguous parcels and including that in there for properties that would be eligible for that. And also that would require design review board approval for any kind of facade changes. They also discussed, oh, so part of that as well for the commercial aspect of that is that you're going to have Any kind of new building on like highway 76 or 187 that's going to be commercial is going to require to go to the DRB now. Since it's not, you don't have a corridor that's going to be over that on top of that, no matter what it is, it's going to go to the designer view board for approval. And that's also for Eastman because there's a couple of businesses down there. We don't have a commercial corridor for it. Let's see. Overall, it was a pretty good work session. It was the first time I really got to hear some input on the UDO and work with them on it. So that was pretty cool. So I'm going to be providing the planning commission with a map of that theorized historic overlay district as well as with the current overlays so they understand where those are at. And also give them the town square overlay protection standards to see if they want to build off of that or make any changes to that to implement into the UDO. They also had discussion on their bylaws and part of that was the virtual attendance. So we heard some suggestions on that and just a couple of restrictions or things that maybe they wanted to come up with that, like how many times you can actually attend virtually requirement for how long beforehand you got to notify staff that you would like to attend virtually so um and also the design of your board met to discuss amendments to their bylaws as well which also included virtual attendance and also introduced the bailey bill to them just to get some input from them and see how they thought about it and also just to say hey you know here's an additional responsibility you're going to be working on in the future so um Overall, it's pretty productive enough for planning staff and on the code enforcement side of things. I got 11 new complaints in June. I'm currently working on those. I sent additional notices to property owners in Village Hills. I know in this report it says I have not received a response. I did get two people come up and discuss to me what they're going to be doing to handle their situation since I wrote this. Yeah, and also I attended the certified stormwater plan reviewer training in Columbia this month. And I think it's going to help with my knowledge personally of stormwater and erosion on developments. I'm just currently, I'm not really, people ask about stormwater. I'm like, I don't really know what to tell you. So I think that's going to be good for the future of the town. Also helpful to check whenever I'm going to developments to see if they need to empty out their silt fences or the retention ponds, because I'm not really sure if that's being done.

So that's something I think would be important to look at.

So what kind of meetings you have for your boards and commissions? On July 16th, the Planning Commission will hold another work session to revisit Resolution 03-2026. The Design Review Board does not have any meetings scheduled or upcoming as of right now. Neither does the Board of Zoning Appeals and the International Property and Maintenance Board. I'm hoping to schedule a call meeting with them, call the current members, remind them like, hey, we are still meeting. Y'all have any questions for me?

I do too. Is CVS in the town limits?

The CVS store is in the town limits. That property itself is in town, yes.

It is. And I don't know if we have this right or not, but as much money as I have invested in CVS, I would like and i just feel they are becoming an eyesore okay and you know we've seen it i'm sure all y'all have noticed um whatever once a building becomes an eyesore the next thing you know is is it's gone i think enough of us invest heavily in cvs that they need to bring this stuff up to par thank you

um thanks owen uh as you know you are in my phone under my favorites we communicate a lot um a lot um and i i apologize and i thank you for for putting up with me can you talk a little bit about r1 r2 what that means um for yeah like i i I kind of need, yeah, just some clarification and ease some nerves because I think we hear rezoning and automatically think we're going to get town homes or we're going to get crazy density. And yeah, so can you just put some of our nerves at ease a little bit?

Sure. So you have R1 through multifamily. That is, so it's R1, R2, R3, R4. That is your commercial or that's your residential zoning districts. R1, R2, and R3, and R4 determine how large of a property size you can have. So R1 is a minimum of 20,000 square feet. And the only thing allowed there is single family. And same thing with R2, R3. R4 is the same. The only stipulation with R4 that's different from the others is that you're allowed to have a manufactured home on that property if you meet the conditions. I think that's replacing one within 30 days of it being destroyed or burned down. The R's pretty much tell you how big your property can be. So R2 is 10,000 square feet. R3 is 8,000. And I think R4 is also 8,000 and also your setbacks. So it just kind of determines like how large of a parcel you can create and then the size of the home that you can put on there essentially with your setbacks and stuff. The setbacks are relatively pretty much the same. There's a major difference between agricultural forests, which you can also have a single family home on, That's got a hundred foot setback and then 30 foot setbacks on your side and your rear. And the rest of them are pretty much within 30 feet and then eight feet on the sides and the 15 on the rear. Multifamily, you can also have a single family home and multifamily and the minimum lot size for that 6,000 square feet. And that zoning is what allows you to put duplexes or town homes on it. And those require planning commission approval and review. That's the main difference is just pretty much determines like how big of a property you can have and then

you can create from that zoning that you're you're allowed to that's what you're on your property so thank you um and then can you kind of go through the process so like something gets rezoned so like let's say from like what we're talk discussing tonight so like something gets rezoned from an r1 to an r2 then what does the process look like before that single family home would be built so

If I had a parcel and I rezoned it to R2, so let's say I had 40,000 square feet and I rezoned it to R2, that means I can then split up my parcel four times because I have 10,000 square feet. So since it's less than five, you have five or more, you got to go to the planning commission and they'll review it because then at that point, it's a major subdivision. Less than that, it's a minor subdivision that's required a staff level review. So basically what happens is we get the survey submitted to us with the new plats. It's got the measurements of the parcels on there. um and we review that with compliance with our zoning ordinance make sure each one of those are ten thousand square feet and it meets the requirements we sign off on it and send it to county and then after that they can then build a house

Thank you. And kind of my last comments or feedback is I do not attend any of our commission meetings and I want to just kind of clarify as to why. It's not that I don't care. I'm very invested. Everyone up here is very invested, but I believe, we believe in shared governance and that is what these boards are. It is shared governance. And I've had, you know, I've been, places where people said, I'm on, you know, I'm on this board. What is, what is council's vision for this? And my, um, I guess what I always say is we want to know what the board thinks if we cared about what Sarah thought or what, you know, Lynn or whatever it, we would not have boards. Um, So please tell them that they are empowered to do what they think is best for the town. We will have our turn when things come here. So please empower them to do that. I also wonder if to get the UDO done in a timely manner, they need to meet more than once a month. Like I know that's a lot to ask on our citizens but I do know that, you know, we need it, like things are coming, you know, we've just had a, just had, I mean, we're going to have an election in November and County Council is going to look very different than it is now. And they're going to be coming to the towns and we need to be prepared. And so that UDO is really important. So please consider, meeting more if the citizens would be open to that, because like I said, this is so important. And then I do appreciate you bringing up the Bailey bill. I know we have talked a lot about the Bailey bill, and that's definitely something that I hope will will come to fruition before for the end of the year. Anything else for for Owen? Sorry, can you tell I'm getting my master's in public administration? I'm like all about this nerding out. Thank you. Perfect. Amber. Our town administrator. Interim.

Interim. Are you sure?

We are working diligently to get a new one here. Good evening. Okay, so this was a very busy month for us, of course, because it was a short month for me because I was out a little bit getting my child married off. But so the depot had two rentals, and if no one knows, we do rent out the depot building. You can rent it for birthday parties, graduations, anything like that. So please consider that if you're looking for a spot. We collected $1,566 in business license revenue and motor vehicle taxes, almost $30,000, and property taxes right at $34,000 for the month of June. For the month of June, we have actually processed 816 in-house transit transactions. And that does include the city of Clemson and Anderson County, because just those 816 transactions totaled $1,067,620. And Amy will tell you the majority of that is your contribution for the wastewater treatment plant upgrade. Staff also processed 1,271 online transactions. That included 45 transactions through our open forms, as well as the website. That number is going to look a lot different next month, and you're going to learn why in just a minute. Our customer service representatives began using our United Community Bank's remote deposit service to process the check payments. So Amy has worked with her staff so that we still have to go to the bank for cash deposits, but they no longer have to go to the bank for check deposits. And we do receive a lot more checks than we do cash, so it is cutting that time down. We did finalize the budget in one of our last seven meetings, and we started our new fiscal year July 1st, and Amy has finally given department heads permission to enter POs now. So we're going to start working on that budget. We began transitioning our IT services from TSA Choice to Asset Technology Group. That is a big, big deal for us. Amy and I think all staff was having issues with our IT service. And I think Councilwoman von Meyer would agree as she had to work with them on her own one time and Councilwoman Merchant as well. But we'll get up and going with the new IT service and hopefully there won't be too much lag time in that. So community engagement, let's talk community engagement. That seems to be the biggest topic here. PAVA summer event has been altered a little bit from your original application approval. They are going to have the sidewalk chalk event downtown, but they're going to move the water events to the West queen street park and the community center. Lindsay, our community engagement manager also received a grant from the South Carolina arts commission. And she's going to be working with the art gallery to bring some art festivities to the fall festival so we're excited to add that also if you go to our website lindsay has added a new i'm going to call it a widget i don't know if that's the correct terminology for it but there's a little circular image that now appears on the bottom left hand side of the website and you can actually tailor the site to meet any of your needs And so what that's going to do is that's going to help us meet the upcoming handicap accessibility requirements. Community engagement staff is also working to find an organization to help us assist with the 250th float for Anderson County's parade on October 4th. So if anybody out there is creative and wants to join in, please let us know. Lindsay's also been wrapping up working on Main Street program, Fall Festival, Chris Kindlemark, tree lighting, probably many more things. But July 1st, we opened the applications for Fall Festival and the Chris Kindlemark. And Lindsay broke our payment gateway. All the staff, including myself, were getting over hundreds. I swear we got over 500 emails. It was 238 nights. So she had to go in there and work her magic and get it going again for us. But just keep in mind, all those have to be processed as well in the system. So thankfully, that is done in full, right?

The velocity error is corrected.

All right. Good job, Lindsay. all right so village hills infrastructure project that's a big one that's starting up now um you guys just awarded the project to garcon and we issued the notice to proceed on april 29th they hope to have substantial completion by december 15th and final completion of that project by january 15th y'all are actually making a decision hopefully tonight on a piece of that project which is the pump station right now in the last 30 days they've actually completed about 65 of some water line that needed to be installed and they have completed about 50 um of a cured in place pipe that they are using with the what are the j sorry not to put you on the spot but they are are fine thank you that's working So they're lining the pipes out there, and if you've ridden out there lately, you'll see that they've got all their construction mess out there. If you haven't noticed, SCDOT did just pave East Queen Street, and it is a large, wide street now that makes you want to drive fast, basically. so councilwoman merchant did bring that to our attention fairly quickly and we were able to reach out to scdot and they are going to come back out and restrike a white line to make the lane 11 feet wide the remaining they are calling a drainage tunnel We had asked them if we could make that into a bike lane. They said there's sufficient width for a bike lane. However, they will not stripe it or mark it for a bike lane. So we're hoping when they come back in with that white stripe on the side making 11 feet, it'll slow it down a little bit. But we had no clue that was coming. The last little bit, the SRF loan for Village Hills Pump Station replacement is on now. I'm working with Hannah on getting that one up and going. And then we also submitted the quarterly report to RIA, which is the Rural Infrastructure Authority for the Water and Wastewater Study Grant.

So I will not go over all the billing comparison because you've got it there.

What I will say is every month from bill date to bill date, you have accounts that are constantly changing. So what I'm going to do is just compare it from the bill date in May to the bill date in June. But bottom line on that, our consumption billing, we averaged about seven new customers and our flat rate billing, we had four new customers and the whole month we increased about 11 whole connections. But as I said, that just goes back and forth and changes all month. We went from in our flat rate billing, we had an increase of $306 in the revenue and the water sewer consumption billing. We actually had a decrease of $6,020 in that one, but that's very common and you'll see it goes up next month. So it's just something we track anyway.

And that is all I have. Any questions?

on the east queen though striping is there any chance that we can put bull yards barriers like the bollards sorry on separating because if you're walking to school or biking to school as a kid a child it's going to be more dangerous and i'm concerned about protecting the children from cars that could Because there's no stopping, there's no curb, there's nothing to separate them.

We will make that ask to SCDOT and see what they say. If we were to do it, it would require an encouragement permit, but we'll see what they will do first.

Okay.

And will that influence at all the crosswalk at the?

It shouldn't.

It's just a longer crosswalk now because you've got to get across all that. Yeah, I know.

I know. Maybe they can do some sort of landing pad so it doesn't look so long on each side.

That would be nice.

I want to like, I don't know, maybe have like a shared conversation about SCDOT. We talk with SCDOT on a regular basis. they don't communicate with us. So we didn't, I didn't have, we didn't have any idea Queen Street was happening until they just showed up and I'm dead serious. And when I called them to say like, hi, why wouldn't you have told us about this? Why wouldn't you have asked us what we needed? Why wouldn't you have added a bike lane? Why wouldn't you have added the crosswalk from the elementary school? they basically said we don't do that if you it's on the rotation and if you want to know the list of our next projects check the website so that's the reality of the situation it's ridiculous um it really is it's infuriating i won't give it a time prime either for this drive no and i i feel like if you would have told me this a year ago i would have said people aren't trying, you're making this up. It is like this, this is the reality. And so I am going to urge our citizens to call your state representatives and tell them to invest in roads, call County Council and tell them to invest in roads. That's the only way things are going to get done is if we all, and let me tell you, I talk about roads all the time, but that's what's going to have to happen in order to get stuff done. SDDOT, I don't want to say I feel like it's going to get worse, but when Governor McMaster's term ends, he has SDDOT commissioners, and so we have an SDDOT commissioner. When his term ends, they are doing away with commissioners. I have no idea even how we're going to communicate now with SCDOT, but I want to just make sure you all know that we hear you, we ask these questions. Even though they're going to say no, we still ask, why are there not sidewalks outside of schools? Why are there not whatever outside of schools? It's very frustrating and I want to apologize that we can't do more as a council and as a town. I do, I feel very responsible and I can't do anything. It's a really horrible, it's very frustrating. I was also wondering if you would mind talking a little bit just about kind of recycling, because we just had a lot of questions on that. And then also Councilwoman Von Meyer, I'm just going to kind of throw this out there, which I did not know that the town offers a service. So if you have a disability, if you were unable to roll your trash can to the curb, we, the town and our wonderful public work staff will absolutely do that for you. Please come to town hall and fill out that form. So I'm going to turn it over to you and that's my last comment.

So our plan right now to bring the council on recycling is in at the August council meeting, we will bring them a resolution to approve a transition plan to eliminate or to basically eliminate curbside recycling, alter a cardboard route on Fridays and eliminate dumpster service, which is the commercial dumpsters. by the end of December 31st. And so when we go into the new year, we will not be offering those services if council chooses to go that route once it's proposed.

to cover. Yep, thank you. Okay, that's our last report. Moving on to discussion items. 6.A is the discussion. Keep in mind, we're not voting on anything. This is just the discussion of the proposed amendment to the social media policy to add the town websites. website policy. Lindsay, do you want to say something about this before?

I mean, I can stand up there if you have questions or it doesn't matter.

All right. Any comments?

I do have one mention that there are some organizations, if this were to go after discussion, that will be added. I did look through my updated list and we need to add some people to the list that are nonprofits that we work with.

i think my biggest thing is just making sure that council is aware that we have certain non-profits like paba that use our website we're also a friends of main street and this is our first year of really getting involved in main street and this policy would impact that if there is not an exception And I think Main Street is very important to the future of our town. I mean, it has really amazing economic impacts if we invest in it and get it up and going. But in order for us to see those impacts, the town has to invest in Main Street. I want to make sure that is very clear. So I just want to make sure as council continues, there's conversations that they are looking into these policies and how they're going to impact, like I said, PABA and Main Street. Any other?

But now PABA. Because this is where it's going to... What they post is not their business advertising. Correct. It's events and things like that. It's not like, hey, we're having a white sale.

Correct. What's currently on the website is under our tourism section. Right. And it just includes information about the organization and how to be part of the organization. And links to their... Correct. to their signup forms, et cetera. I'm sorry, I didn't catch you on this again. There is an individual ads for businesses that is not happening on that app site, correct?

So where did this language originate from? Is it boilerplate language from like the MASC or where did you?

Yeah, it was a, oh my gosh, my first hire about two years ago, I started looking at what the social media policy was and we didn't really have one. So I looked at different policies around and I know coming from Clemson, they have a policy about approving a list of nonprofits that they use for their wide assign. So that's kind of where the idea came from was the experience I had and going ahead and improving those organizations. So you don't have to go ask permission continuously to, you know, promote those events that would benefit the citizens. So it kind of came, it came from different examples that I found.

Okay. So as our lawyer looked at it or.

Yeah, because there's state laws included in that question. We have the alliance of pilgrim churches. Yes. So does that blanketly cover each individual church that's affiliated with the Alliance or do churches themselves need to apply?

I think that's a good point of contention to think about because you don't necessarily want to ostracize any churches who aren't part of the Alliance that they should have also the opportunity to do that. So I appreciate that feedback and could list the churches on here or include Pendleton area churches in general because we do have a whole section dedicated to churches on the website. So I think that verbiage is a good point and I'll make a note to add that.

So is the red a change in our current, you said we currently have a policy. We do, that's the change. It's a change, yes. I was just a little confused.

Further discussion from council? all right seeing no further discussion we are going to close discussions and move on can i okay sorry i was like i don't know i don't know how to close a discussion um all right thank you uh moving on to 7B, the consideration of the first reading of an ordinance to amend the code of ordinances of the town of Pendleton, South Carolina, by replacing ordinance number 80-09, which established a municipal court and provided for the election and appointment of municipal judges, recorders and court personnel, and which further provided for the administration and operation of the town of Pendleton Municipal Court. did i skip over oh i said oh sorry um i'm con i was confused because the discussion items and action i'm sorry hannah i had a i meant questions for hannah okay hannah you're up um 7.a i'm sorry is the consideration of discussion and directions regarding operations for the village hills pump station so this is hannah she's amazing she's a pe from gmc she's our engineer on this project and um has sent um so if you could just I mean, and feel free to, I'm not an engineer, so feel free to put it in language that we are all going to understand.

Okay, so the Village Hills Pump Station collects wastewater and exists currently. This is a pump station that was identified as not meeting the SCDES, so that's our regulatory agency requirements.

Mainly because it is in a flood zone.

So this was identified in 2022, I believe, as a lift station that needs improvements. So we submitted and received an SRF, which is a funding agency loan this cycle to improve this pump station. So the proposed project is to replace it in a new location to get it out of the floodplain.

And it's like, it's rough, like the current one, like there's wasps, sorry, I just gotta tell you, like there's wasps in there, it floods all the time, like it is, it's rough.

Yeah, and Jay can probably second. It's not, it's not great. And this is the area where the improvements that we mentioned earlier, water and sewer, are currently happening. So if

wastewater lines that are sending sewer are improved but then the pump station is not improved those are those are integral pieces they should work together so it's kind of phase two of that okay and then um you provided um like i believe four is that four three three three recommendations um for where you've where this pump station could go right can you talk a little bit about those

Yes, first option would be the location that it exists currently. We just talked about how that's a pretty poor location, so it would have to be raised above the floodplain as opposed to move to a different location. The second location is generally speaking in that same area along the creek. I know this is hard to picture without a map. Third location is completely different. I believe that's Cherry Street, that it is adjacent to?

No, the third option removes the pump station and uses the Town Creek pump station and runs the line.

That's a gravity sewer? Yeah. Option two is Cherry Street. Option three is to remove the pump station altogether and use a gravity sewer instead, which our recommended option was option two. That's the most reasonable financially and property acquisition-wise. All three are feasible.

We don't have the property yet?

No. I'm sorry.

I would like to move that we adopt recommendation two, which would move the Village Hills Pump Station to the upgraded location two or as near to that location as we can get it. And I would also like to inquire about having GMC add a generator to that pump station. And I would also, third thing is to direct staff to look at either a land swap or a land purchase for siting.

And if you can't get a swap to purchase, if they don't want to sell it, then what?

but we're looking for the closest proximity. I think we'll just cross that bridge when we get to it. There's some other options in the vicinity where they're suggesting the upgrade location too is, but let's just do this one at a time. I think I would agree with GMC's recommendation that we do what we can do with what they've recommended. And if we need to fiddle around in that area a little bit, maybe go to the north side of Cherry Street, if we have to, we'll do that.

So is that a motion?

That's a motion. I agree.

I second.

Perfect. All in favor? Motion carries. Barbara was an A. All right. Now moving on to, yeah, thank you. I appreciate you spending your Tuesday night with us. I know it's exactly what you wanted to do. And I was like, and you can leave if you want. I felt bad, Hannah. You don't have to stay. Anyway, thanks for being here. Okay, action item 7.B is the consideration of first reading of an ordinance to amend the code of ordinances of the town of Pendleton, South Carolina, by replacing ordinance number 80-09, which established a municipal court and provided for the election and appointment of municipal judges, reporters, and court personnel, and which further provided for the administration and operations of the town of Pendleton municipal court. Do I have any discussion?

Yes. When did we eliminate the municipal court penalty?

2023.

And so why didn't we do this in 2023?

That's well, my question exactly. Cause they were just waiting for me to get here, Jeff. That's my answer. I don't know.

The question though is, I mean, not that anyone's considering restarting the municipal court, but in case 10 years, why are we doing this then?

if we haven't done it yet and then you talk about from the time we started going with anderson county right so we had actually had the attorney we had at the time reviewing it and it was a very very slow process and when we got when we took on our new attorney we gave that as one of their projects so it was just basically waiting on getting the right attorney

But it's something that has to be done?

It does, yes, sir. If you don't have that department anymore, if you were to establish it again, then you would just go back and do it.

Okay. Do I have a motion?

So moved.

Nancy, do I have a second? Second. Second, Barbara. All in favor? Motion carries unanimously. Action Item 7C. is the consideration of first reading of an ordinance of the town council of the town of Pendleton, South Carolina, amending the town of Pendleton zoning map to rezone the property located at 610 Cherry Street, having TMS number 40-16-01-002 from an R1 low density residential property to a R2.

two low density residential property owen kind of talked about what that means is there any discussion uh do the r1 and r2 distinction again please r1 has a minimum lot size of 20 000 square feet for that parcel r2 has minimum lot size of 10 000 square feet for that parcel single family single family only so it's higher part two is higher density yes but i would say the applicant um He's not interested in, not that it's going to affect your decision, but he's not interested in splitting it up anymore. He just wants to cut off that one piece on the back. And then he even suggested rezoning because his property wants to split up back to R1.

Yep. Any further discussion? Do I have a motion?

I make a motion. Second.

Motion lands second. Nancy, all in favor?

Motion carries.

Okay, moving on to action item 7.D, the consideration of second and final reading of the ordinance to amend the Town of Pendleton's budget for fiscal year 2526. Discussion? Do I have a motion? Thank you. Barbara, do I have a second?

Second.

Second, Jeff. All in favor? Motion carries unanimously. Wow, okay. We did it. We made it. I asked Lindsay to talk about opportunities to connect.

Sure. Sleepy town we are not. We've got a lot going on, even in July. I know it's super hot outside. So we talked about the website policy. There is a way to report information to me that you have events or programs going on. So these are the things that are sent to me that are happening around town. In August, we have quarterly conversations at the Pendleton Bookshop at 10 a.m., There is a 250th Historic Home Tour that includes Clemson University, the Inn at Magnolia Hill, and then one more, Ashtabula. So you can sign up for that. That's through the Pendleton Historic Foundation. There's also Second Saturdays Community Music. That is through the Pendleton Historic Foundation. Janet Greenlee Day, which will be at Veterans Park, Saturday, June 25th. So the information is up there for that as well, working with them for that event to be sure they have everything they need there. Family Fest, yeah. July, I'm sorry, it's already July. July 25th. Yes. Um, July 25th for family fest as well. They, uh, Amber mentioned that location has changed. So last splash will be from 10 to 11 and then the sidewalk, uh, festival from 11 to 12. Um, so we did work with both of those events. They are happening on the same day and we are going to cross promote each other. So you can come do last splash and then also go to the greenly day at veterans park. So fun, exciting family day on July 25th. Also selflessly promoting the scarecrow festival or the scarecrow competition. That application is open so you can begin planning your scarecrows. So if you would like to apply to be part of the scarecrow competition this year, you can do so online.

Lindsay, how quickly did the vendors sell out for the...

Very quickly. I think it was less than eight hours. So we opened July 1st and then we closed it by the end of the for Fall Festival. We're on waitlist only. And Chris Kindle Market is a jury show. So we have assembled a jury of people and those applications will be presented October 6th and their applications are due by August 1st. I think we have like 42 people already interested in Chris Kindle Market as well. So we had 90 different vendors who have multiple spots already registered for Fall Festival. So with Buddy Durham, maybe not in the picture, we capped it so that... we could be sure we fit everybody this year. Yeah.

All right. And I, whatever, I'm just going to do it. I don't care. I just want to say that our staff is amazing. Lindsay, Jay, Owen, Amy, David, Amber, like you, we text at one in the morning, we text at 7am. We call, we, I mean, in constant communication like lindsay's husband had surgery and she's answering her phone i don't know why because i told you not to um i have to instruct jay not to respond until monday morning and his he said i listened to you but i just want to like people to know that we are understaffed um especially now we we're waiting you know we're waiting to hire a town manager and um And we put a pause on hiring to make sure that we're hiring the right positions because we are cognizant of taxpayer dollars. We want to make sure we're using it responsibly with the positions that are going to help our town get where we want to go. And I just want to say that it's not unnoticed. And I just wanted to just thank all of you for all the work that you do and your kindness and just thank you. So thank you. All right, nine is the consideration of executive session. The first part of that is to discuss an appointment, discuss appointments to town boards and commissions pursuant to XSC code of laws, section 30-4-70A1. And two, the recipient of legal advice where the legal advice relates to a pending threatened or potential claim or other matters covered by attorney-client privilege, settlement of legal claims, or the position of the public agency in other adversary situations involving the assertion against the agency of a claim. SC code of laws, section 30-4-70A2, civil action number 2026-CP-04-00160. Just a reminder, no votes take place during the executive session. Do I have a motion?

Motion.

Second. Jeff, second. Barbara, all in favor? Motion carries to enter executive session.

Thank you.

Okay, we should be back live.

We have to make a motion together. Nothing was said in public. No decisions were made. I make a motion that we recommend that we put John Connell on the International Property Maintenance Code Board.

Second.

Second.

All in favor? Motion carries. And just to remember, nothing was voted on during the session.

And I'll make a motion to adjourn.

Do I have a second?

Second.

All in favor? Motion carries.

Thank you, sir.

Good night.