County Council - Special Meeting

Well today, this time I will call to order the York County Council special call meeting agenda for July 8th, 2026 as a matter of chairman's privilege. Please join me if you will in an invocation and pledge. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for all the many blessings that are given to us in York County. We thank you for the people in this room. We thank you for our staff. We thank you for our citizens. And we thank you for the great opportunities that you bring to us. And we thank you, Lord. We ask for your wisdom and your guidance. As we go through making decisions, that we would look at the issues that are important, that we would make decisions that are fair, reasonable, just, and that are in accordance with your will. In Jesus' name, amen. I pledge allegiance to

Madam Chair.

Before we get to the action item, if you'll give me a minute. Okay. Before we get to the action item, a couple of things that I do want to say. So Council was advised Thursday, right before the holiday break, that the City of Rock Hill had passed a resolution 10 days earlier on June 22nd attempting to lock in percentages that affect the FLO decision that we are discussing, which obviously is the OctoPharma discussion. And just, there were questions that were asked of me and publicly. I think the first time that anyone on the county side was aware of that was Thursday right before we went on the break. Is that correct? Yes ma'am. So in light of that information, that prompted us to do a special called meeting that we notified on Monday for today. And special called meetings are a little bit different in that they don't have the same framework as the regular agendas. I understand there will be a motion in a minute to maybe change that. What I do want to start out with before we get into the action item is to say, and I don't think that I will have any dispute from any council member, but they'll certainly can do that when we get to debate. There is no question here that we unanimously believe that this project, OctoPharma, is a great project, a good fit with our community, and The fact that it dovetails with our life sciences program and the types of jobs and the amount of jobs that they're bringing here, this council has never been in dispute as to those. Now there are times where council debates FILO amounts and how much money is given. They debate those and that is not one consideration. The consideration has always been and the debate has always been around how do we deal with the internal allocations amongst the the entities when it comes to that funding so um that that framework uh i think is really important to to keep in mind and just to to be sure of um and as i understand it uh i know that you indicated that you wanted to make a motion mr litton yes um i wish to make a motion to suspend the rules to add

20 minutes of public input, two minutes for, to add the following items to the agenda, to add 20 minutes of public input, two minutes for 10 people. Second.

There's a motion and a second to suspend the rules to change how we approach this and to do that. Any discussion?

I'll just say... This is, I've been here for a while when we had these special call meets, we typically follow the same format. Um, procedurally there's nothing that prevents, uh, councilman Litton from making that motion. I personally don't support the motion. Um, it wasn't advertised as a public hearing because if we were going to take input, we will open it up for more than 20 minutes, more than just 10 people. And I think that takes on the role of a public hearing. which we didn't advertise another public hearing, so someone could take issue with, others have an opportunity to speak, or they would have come had they known that a special call meeting allows for another public hearing or more input. So I think that we stick with the rules that have already been set procedurally, that we've followed for many, many years. So I don't support allowing another public hearing, per se, within 20 minutes.

Well, let me just say that the idea behind this was not a public hearing. It's the same 30 minutes we give at the beginning of every project or every meeting, and I just felt like with all of the people here that have come out to be at this meeting that we should give them the opportunity to speak as we do for all of our meetings. You can talk on any agenda item you want. It doesn't have to be about this agenda item, but just like we do for our

normal items this is not a public hearing not requesting a public hearing i'll add to the comments that have been shared thus far as well so since i've been on council in 2023 a special call meeting a phone call was made to every council member asking them if they were in favor of special call meetings my knowledge three members of this council did not get a phone call maybe if i got in a phone call i would be suggesting this that we had at least if we had public turnout like this that the public had a chance to stand up and share their opinion tonight So I am in favor of, and I appreciate the 20 minutes and 10 people instead of 30 minutes and 15 people. But I think we're asking the public's opinion. We're asking you to be engaged, and you're here tonight. So therefore, you should be given an opportunity to step up and share what you want to share, as long as it's not redundant.

Yeah, I would actually second that in regards to this is a unique situation. And again, we do give people a chance to speak at the beginning of our regular meetings. So again, I wouldn't look at this as a public hearing, but I think an opportunity to kind of fill that same void that we normally have on regular meetings.

I'm going to give a different perspective here. Because it was a special call meeting, we had the agenda prior to along with a lot of phone calls and a lot of messages and a lot of meetings I've had over the past couple of days. I also had a lot of my constituents who wanted to come And well, they asked if there were going to be two-minute comments. And I said, you have the agenda. There are not going to be any comments. So I turned people away. that wanted to come and do a two minute talk. So that's my position.

So the record added as well because there was not. I didn't know.

I wanted the people to be here and people to be and I certainly heard from every eliminate these people many times, but I don't support that. Any other discussion?

Well, I appreciate the motion. I certainly understand where it's coming from. I do think that as a matter of looking out in the crowd, I think a lot of these folks have already reached out. We do know what the position is. We have limited time here today, and I'm not sure where. You never know where things are going to go. So I think we do need to devote the time to the main meeting. It's also difficult to manage how you do that when you don't have sign-up sheets, and that is reserved for the council meeting where there are a litany of items on there, not just one. So I do appreciate the motion. I won't support it simply because of the comments that others have said. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed?

No.

So, we will move now to our action item. Council, I'm sorry? Karen didn't hear the vote.

I'm sorry, I'm not clear on Mr. Atkins. What's the call for again?

Yes, sir. I said no.

Okay.

Council to consider third and final reading of an ordinance authorizing the execution and delivery of a fee in lieu of ad valorem tax and incentive agreement by and between York County and an entity or entities identified by the county as Project Palmetto Rock and its affiliated and related entities whereby York County will provide for payment of certain fees in lieu of ad valorem taxes and provide certain special source revenue credits. The allocation of fees in lieu of ad valorem taxes payable under such agreements, the establishment or maintenance of a multi-county industrial park and other matters relating thereto.

Move to approve third reading of the ordinance authorizing the fee in lieu of tax agreement and the special source revenue credits agreements for Project Palmetto Rock with the following amendments. That the ordinance have an effective date of July 21st, 2026. That section 4B1 be amended so that the only company included is OctoPharma Plasma. And that the following changes be made to the revenue distribution provision. following the application of all special source revenue credits and all other terms of the agreement each taxing entity shall receive the allocation otherwise provided under the ordinance except that 85 percent of the annual allocation to the city of rock hill will be allocated to the rock hill school district for the duration of the special source revenue credit schedule and that the 10 annual allocation of the economic development funds will instead be allocated to the Rock Hill School District annually for the life or the fee in lieu of tax agreement to be used for capital improvements.

I'll second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion?

How about explaining all of those items?

Can we have a copy of that, please? Yes. It's the first we're hearing of this.

Karen can make one, but I'll lead the discussion. After all the several phone calls and public outreach, I was talking with staff to try to figure out where could we be, how could we still support our schools, how could we still do something for the city of Rock Hill, and partly to explain the 85%. So we went from 100% of Rock Hill's revenues being committed to fund the project down to 85%. So we're not taking 100% of Rock Hills revenue taxes. We're going down to 85%. And also, we heard that many people have said, well, why isn't New York County giving anything to support the schools? That's where the 10% that typically goes from fee and lieu deals over to economic development, we're going to commit those funds annually to the Rock Hill School District so that they can use those funds to support their capital improvements, whether it's building new schools, capital maintenance that they have to do. The whole premise behind shifting some of these revenues from the start, and we've had this conversation among council, those who wanted to participate, as to how we better support our schools and get off the 50% guarantee of our children's money that needs to go for schools and education. We saw several school districts, three out of the four school districts in this county come asking for help, asking for funding. Rock Hill's the only school that doesn't ask for an impact fee. Rock Hill's the only school system that has to deal with TIS. So it's not just about this one deal. It's about the total picture of how we garnered that support. Obviously, you can talk to any school superintendent, school board member. They say the only way that they can raise money or funds is to increase their millage, which affects everyone in that school district. They can ask for a school bond, a bond referendum. They ask the taxpayers for millions of dollars. And so one other way that they receive revenue is when we do these fee-in-lieu tax agreements. Yes, they do receive a percentage, but they're receiving a percentage at 50% of what they would be getting. And that's a huge chunk because 50% of the biggest pot of money out of the fee-in-lieu is being cut. I will give up every single day of the week for 50% of York County's portion because we have the smallest portion. But at the same time, we're going to commit our funds, some of our funding that goes to economic development, to the Rock Hill School District. That's how much we believe, this council believes, that we need to do a better job. What worked for the 50% across the board 20, 30, 15, 10 years ago is not working for our school systems now. We're seeing schools needing to be built. We're seeing maintenance need to be done. And if you look at the handout that went out earlier this week, in conversation with some people that that's closer with the Rock Hill schools that know their situation, they have about $400 million in improvements that they're going to have to make. And here we are readily agreeing, without question, giving up 50% of their money. I think this is a new day. It's a new economic time. And we have to do more to support our schools. That's why I made the motion. That's why I feel like it's imperative that we lean in the way of education. And it's no secret that there are many ways that a municipality can recoup what it gives up in these fee and lieu tax agreements. As we know about the utilities, water, sewer, electric, we all know about the business license. We all know about the permitting fees and other ways that a municipality has the opportunity to recoup some of their money. York County, we don't sell water, sewer, electric. We don't have business license. You don't have to even purchase a business license to operate in York County. So we have no... revenue recovery system. Our schools don't have a revenue recovery system. Increased millage, bond referendums, is basically it. And fee and lower tax agreements, that puts something on the table. And also, to back it up, I learned this in these conversations, that our school district gets penalized for not collecting the actual percentage or portion of its tax revenue. I learned this year alone the state of South Carolina penalized Rocking School District 3 $22 million for not collecting what it should have been collecting. The state would have given them $22 more million. had some of these agreements, such as fee and lieu, not be in place, such as a TIF bid not in place. That was $5 million more cut from the Rock Hill School District than any other school district in York County. We have to make sure, and we're charged with this, we're charged with this, of protecting and preserving their revenues. So I just wanted to leave with that. That's why we are at this juncture, and I think this is the right move. Everyone on this council supported Dr. Farmer. 7-0. The only issue, like Chairman Cox mentioned, is how do we finance it? And if we're going to say continuously over and over again that everybody's willing to give up 50% of our school's tax revenues to support Rock Hill and its economic development ventures, I'll say right here, on the record that that is wrong. We've got to do something different, and I think this is another opportunity to start doing something different.

So I've got a follow-up comment in regards to this. So I do have a follow-up amendment to this amendment. So basically, this is what I'm going to request here. Motion to approve fee and lieu tax agreement special source credit arrangement as originally presented, providing 40 years of fee and lieu tax agreement for a 4% assessment ratio, 30 years of special source revenue credit schedule of 50% And for years 1 through 10, 35%, 35% for years 11 through 20, and 20% for years 21 through 30. As part of this motion, I'm going to suggest an amendment here as part of it. as follows the following request would be to amend the the prior statement i just stated as follows the application of all approved special source revenue credits and all other terms of agreement each taxing entity shall receive the allocation otherwise provided under the ordinance except that rock hill and york county shall each contribute 10 percent of their prospective amount allocation to Rock Hill School District for the duration of the agreement. I've got documentations. I'd like to go ahead and talk about this now.

Second the motion. So we have an amendment presented and a second on the amendment to the main motion. Just so that we're clear, the main motion is to approve the total amount that was presented to Oxfarm, the allocations being, as I understand the motion, the allocations being essentially the net effect of that, as I understand it, is $40 million from each component so each part would contribute to that the main the the amendment seeks to rip to reduce that to 10% from the city and the county alike yeah and I'm going to go ahead and explain that okay yeah so we know it's not no no no no no no no Because we all want to have our say, this is the way I'm going to deal with this. We have an amendment that Mr. Audet has presented to the main motion. Technically, it presents a question, but I think the best way for us to deal with this as a council and for this to be clear is for us to go ahead and debate the amendment that has been seconded. And what will happen after that is we will vote on the amendment, and then we will go back to the main motion. What I would encourage each council member to do, though, is since the amendments have been, since both of them have been stated, use the opportunity that you're given to talk through, I would say talk through the issues collectively. I think that would help us on that. Agreed. I'll yield the floor to Ms. Raudette.

All right, so let me explain the numbers in regards to this. And this was something that has been agreed upon by THE CITY OF ROCKHILL AND THROUGH A PARTNERSHIP WITH YORK COUNTY. AGAIN, THIS IS CRITICAL WE HAVE A PARTNERSHIP AS WE MOVE FORWARD WITH THIS. ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL. BASED UPON THE REVENUE PROJECT PRESENTED TO COUNCIL, THE AMENDMENT WOULD ESTIMATE AN ALLOCATION OF $7,966,332.57 FROM THE ROCKHILL from Rock Hill, an allocation also of $5,793,696.42 from York County that will all be allocated to Rock Hill School District for the life of the term. All other terms and conditions of this ordinance and agreement shall remain unchanged. This means that Rock Hill will get out of this, with our partnership with Rock Hill, will get an additional $13,760,028.99 estimating. On top of this, based on these projections, AND THE ORIGINAL PROJECTION, AS I STATED IN THE BEGINNING OF THE ORIGINAL AGREEMENT, THE SCHOOL DISTRICT IS ANTICIPATED TO GET $224 MILLION, 24, EXCUSE ME, LET ME START AGAIN, $224,505,736.20 of revenue off the original agreement. Again, over $224 million in the original agreement they were going to get. Also, Rock Hill in participation would be getting $79,663,325.75. And the county would be anticipated to receive $57,936,964.18. This is in the original, okay, original. With this modification, with the increase of $13.76 million, THE SCHOOL DISTRICT, ROCKHILL SCHOOL DISTRICT, WOULD NOW RECEIVE $238,265,765. THAT'S A HUGE INCREASE. THE ALLOCATIONS WOULD THEN DECREASE FROM ROCKHILL, AND THEY WOULD RECEIVE $71,696,993. York County would receive $52,143,267. Again, we're talking about the school district receiving probably three times as much money as Rock Hill would be receiving. More than three times the amount of money that the county would be receiving. This is a great deal. I appreciate the partnership and the conversations that we've had with Rock Hill. I want to thank Kevin Sutton. I want to thank John Black, David Vion. I want to thank our county manager, Mitch, and our legal team that worked through talking through this and working through this agreement. This has been agreed upon by Rock Hill. This is a great deal. This will be a win for the school district. and a win for the county and the people of the county because we've got an amazing company that's coming here with 1,200 new jobs, with other jobs that will follow, high-paying jobs. This is changing the whole dynamic of our area to allow this kind of life science company to come in here. This is a huge opportunity. This is a win-win proposal, and I would ask that you support this, Jenny. Thank you.

So just so... Just so that we all are operating from the same sheet of music, I'm going to clarify, make sure the motions are clear. And I'm inviting our county attorney and y'all to tell me, I mean, I guess, here's, we need to debate first before we do that. But I do think that, so... Let me just – and I'm probably going to mess this up, so I invite you all to tell me. What the FELO incentive deal does is everyone has agreed that OctoFarmer will receive 40 years of 4% tax rate that is adjusted every five years with reassessment. So when those property values go up, that's the normal piece. They have also received SSRCs. SSRCs are essentially credits to those fee-load payments as well that reduce that obligation that coincides with agreements of a collective number. So there's a collective number of property tax revenue that goes into this pot of SSRCs. And that is... That actually comes off of the FLO payment through the years. So in this particular case, the first 10 years, there's a 50%. The second 10 years, 35%. The third 10 years is 20% according to the agreement. Both of these motions have that same piece in it. Mr. Audet's motion is to take nine million, as I understand it, roughly 9 million. I'm going to get the wording different. But to take 9 million from the city of Rock Hill and give it to the school district and, OK, tell me what the numbers are again.

So the allocations would be as this. 7.9 million would come from Rock Hill. Oh, I am sorry. 7.9. 7.9. Yeah, 5.7 would come from the county. Equaling roughly $13.7 million additional. How much from the county?

I'm sorry.

Yeah, $5.7. Okay.

So of the allocations that typically would go to the – as everybody knows, when you get your tax bill, 62% of your tax bill is the school because they cost that much. That's them. It belongs to them. Roughly $20-something for the city and about $15 or so for the – County. In this case, the motion, just so that we're clear, the motion from Mr. Audet is to go back to the main original allocations and to put $7.9 million from Rock Hill's allocation and $5.7 from York County to the Rock Hill School District. And the main motion approaches it the same way, but does, essentially, the amounts through the life of the philo would result in the county contributing $40 million and the city contributing $40 million to the schools of this project. So that's the distinction. That's, to me, the easiest way to kind of get to the heart of it, but we can continue to debate that.

Anything? Yeah, just again, I want to emphasize $238,265,000 going to the Rock Hill School. That's a huge amount of money. We're talking three times as much as what Rock Hill would receive and almost four times as much as what the county would receive. This is a great deal. This is a very good deal.

So I'm going to open this up. I just wanted to explain it. I haven't done my debate piece, but I'm going to let the others speak. If we're continuing to move on and let whoever speaks next wants to speak.

We'll go on the line. I don't mind. So just speaking on Councilman Audet's motion for amendment. If you're going down the line, that'd be Debbie first. She's not inclined to speak. So I have a few questions for staff and legal in my opinion. line of questioning. Since Mr. Ardette says the City of Rock Hill has agreed to his motion, I want to ask legal, have we received, has legal received anything stating that they will agree in writing to that effect of what his motion presents? And I have a follow-up question to that. No, sir. What was that?

No, sir.

And if we do decide to pass Councilman Ardette's amendment, given the fact that this resolution hasn't been withdrawn by the City Council, has legal received anything rescinding the resolution that the City of Rock Hill put in place to make way for this, his amendment to be, to advance this, any agreement that he has made?

Well, if I, I believe that his amendment mirrored the amendment that The resolution has not been withdrawn, right? No, ma'am. But the motion itself, doesn't it put in an effective date?

My motion puts in an effective date of July 22nd. Councilman Ardett's motion does not take into account an extended effective date. Was that in there? No. And the reason why... my motion had the extended effective date is to give the city of Rock Hill a chance to rescind that motion because if we make this motion effective tonight, with the resolution standing in the way, the resolution says the deal is killed. They withdraw their consent. So that's the inner workings of what the resolution was set up to do. Thus, that's why we're here tonight to make an approval so that Rock Hill has time to rescind that resolution that was trying to bind us into agreeing to go back to the original percentage. The motion that Mr. Ardett made, if we passed it and this council moved forward with it at 1201 tonight, the deal is over. There's no out because of the resolution.

And so that's... Have you spoken to Rock Hill about your...

I have the floor. And so I'm asking, has management received any agreement from the city of Rock Hill stating, because legal is one section, county manager's office is another section, have we received any... legal documentation or any notice that the resolution has been rescinded or that Rock Hill has agreed to what Councilman Audet is proposing.

So you're asking about a document, but in our conversations, I know Councilmember Audet met with some of their council, and I've talked with the city manager, and Mitch is engaged with their economic development team. They are prepared to amend the resolution if Councilmember Audet's motion passes. So they are aware that they would have to do that.

As chair of the council, I do think it's important to point out that since the resolution was made known to the council, the county has reached out repeatedly to the city and There has never been anything brought to my attention from you or from anyone that there actually is this communication. So I think this is new information. But I think to the issue at hand, and I think what we've got to do is we've got to move on to the substance of the motions first. But to the issue at hand, the resolution is still there and has not been rescinded as of this moment. At least that's the clarification.

So let me just piggyback off that. So there was, and you were aware that I did meet with John Black and Kevin Sutton, correct? You were aware of it.

I was aware today that you called me up with a motion, but I've never heard from our manager about any of this and has never been brought out. I've been dealing with legal to determine has the city provided any response to where we are. I think the main... You shared that you had met with one council member or two council members and that then they had talked to their county manager and communicated support. I assume that that happened hours ago.

So after council member Odette met with their council members. I think the city realized that there was an opportunity to talk about this, and that's when the city manager made himself available to talk to me as follow up to their conversation. I did try calling you the last two days. I hadn't heard back from you, so I tried.

So when did you find that information? Because I've been doing that.

after Councilmember Audette had that conversation the following day.

Was that today or was that yesterday?

That was yesterday that we worked on this motion.

I've been talking with our legal counsel and confirming since she was the one who reached out to their legal. That's never been communicated to me at all.

And from a basis, since I have the floor, I want to make it known that one councilmember does not have the authority to enter any binding agreement with another body. This should have came. We should have been emailed. We should have been text messaged. We should have been wrangled in to say, hey, there's an offer from Rock Hill asking us, will we agree to this? That was never the case. I cannot go to the seat of Rock Hill and say, will you agree? I don't give that authority to Debbie. I don't give it to Tom, Tommy, Christie. No one council member can enter an agreement. That is not how this operates. We make the decision.

As chair of this council, I have heard nothing from the city, and I checked with our legal counsel up through and including this time.

Have you met with Rock Hill to talk about your problem? So you haven't spoken to him. So we're telling you we've met with Rock Hill. We've worked with their county manager.

Who is we?

Who was with you? Myself, Josh, Mitch.

I was in a follow-up phone conversation.

That's right.

But you didn't meet with them. Tom said you met with them. We had a call. They had a call. Josh, you're getting involved in something that the countermeasures shouldn't.

No, this is the understanding of what occurred, Bump. You're proposing something that you haven't even presented to Rock Hill yet. We have got something that Rock Hill is agreeing upon.

Let's finish the debate. I do want to speak to this, though. Let's move. If any council member would come to me wanting to create a motion, I would have helped them work on that motion to see if it was something that was palpable. Tom came forward to me and asked for help on his motion, and so I helped him. If you would have come to me with your motion, I would have helped you.

I would have expected our county manager to alert the chair if you had had communications with the city manager about anything.

I've been calling you twice. I told you that.

I have been dealing with Laura for two days now, and I've asked her, has there been any communication, and she has said she's communicated with you and that there was nothing, no response, no indication through today. And so that's out here.

We are going to move on. I'm sorry? Why didn't you just call him back then if he called you?

I don't know because I have a million things going on. People are calling me, but I think at the same time, he can definitely tell me that answer to that question. He should definitely tell the council chair there's an agreement because I'm talking with our legal counsel who says there isn't. And there is still a resolution.

There's not a legal agreement. There's an understanding that this could work.

We're exposing a lot here today, but let's go. It's better to do it publicly. So we are back at the main motion. I mean, the amendment. I've got a question. I'm going to let each council member have the floor.

Others have had a chance to go back and forth, so I think this is important. Yes, this is important. So we're criticizing Tom for going out of his way to try to negotiate something that's palatable for Rock Hill and York County. It's not an agreement. It's an option to consider. We have to vote on this. And you're saying you didn't know about it. Well, the rest of the council knew nothing about what you brought to the table in your motion today. So what's the difference?

The difference is this. We are trying as a council to get feedback from the head of the city of Rock Hill. One council member meeting with a different city council member who is not the mayor, and the feedback that we're getting from legal and working through legal that they do not want to meet, with the council presents the exact problem we have here if you're meeting with one council member they don't have the ability to do anything and there is nothing being communicated to the chair that we can travel to legal but they originally legal legal didn't even know this tom's defense tom reached out to rock hill okay you could have reached out we all have reached out we have all reached out

You've reached out to the right people to have a conversation.

I'm happy to go into executive session to talk about any discussions that have happened with the legal department.

We all have, and there has been no response, and this is frustrating.

Let's focus on the amendments tonight, and we can focus on that later and fix it. Well, I want to know...

The amendment, again, is what's being debated, Mr. Audet's amendment.

This resolution is non-binding, correct? I mean, it doesn't automatically kill the deal that Rock Hill automatically.

I'm happy to go into executive session and provide you provide you all with some legal advice as to my perspective on the resolution but generally speaking a resolution by one body is not binding upon another.

What is it binding upon themselves?

So County Council passes resolutions. If County Council wants to change that resolution, they can adopt a new one or rescind the old one.

Okay. In any time frame?

Generally speaking, understanding there are plenty of nuances out there, yes.

I'm just trying to clarify that Tom doesn't necessarily need the time frame in there. Yeah, it's the life of the deal. No, I meant the time frame for when the ordinance goes into effect. I make a motion we go into executive session to get legal advice on the matter at hand.

Is there a second?

I don't know if we're ready for executive session yet. I think there's more conversation to be had. Is there a second? All right.

Hearing no second, motion fails.

All right.

We're back to the amendment. Anyone else want to debate the amendment that's been presented or the other?

I would like to make one point of order. Mr. Roddy has the main motion. The main motion has some amendments in it that are separate and apart from the distribution of revenue. Councilmember Audette's amendment is to the distribution of revenue portion of that main motion. My framing of that is that we're still dealing with the same timeframe. We're still dealing with those other amendments that are a part of the main motion made by Council Member Roddy. So the item that is being amended or being debated right now is the revenue distribution portion. Of that motion.

Of which motion? Mine or?

Of yours. His is an amendment to the revenue distribution that you laid out in your main motion.

So we'll be voting on my motion, my amendment first.

No, sir.

Okay. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Well, I mean, I'm sure you all heard from me plenty, but I will just reiterate as we go down this. We haven't got anything official from Rock Hill School District asking for any of this money. They have not, you know, if they really want this money, they need to stand up and publicly ask for it. Uh, it's real easy to get out here and give away other people's money. Um, but if I'm getting a new roof on my house, I don't go over to my neighbor and demand that he pay for my roof, or I don't demand that my neighbor pay for my other neighbor's roof. You know, this going through here and just arbitrarily picking things, uh, just because we can, it's not how leadership works. It's not how cooperation works. It's not how a community works. I applaud Ms. Raudette for going over and trying to work out some type of compromise with Rock Hill. Whether they agree to it or don't agree to it, at least there was a conversation had before we just threw something in their face on it. Even at that, I don't like rewarding what I consider to be bad behavior. And so certain people, council members and other groups getting money that was requested behind closed doors by strong-arming or poison pills or any other way is just not a proper way to go about this. These negotiations should have happened during negotiation phase at the very beginning of this project when it first appeared. This is too late after everybody's kind of agreed to this that we go, oh, well, now that we've got you on the hook and we've got this project in our hands here, now everybody's agreed that we like this. Let's start holding people hostage because they want it too. And this company is now called hostage because they've gone out and done, you know, they've kind of backed away from other places, made a commitment to be here. And this is just not, this is what the mob does. This is what criminals do. This is not what democracy and leadership does. They don't go out here and do these type of things. If they wanted to, if Rock Hill School District showed up and said they wanted this money, I would be more than supportive of giving away all of York County's money to do that, if that's what this council wanted to do. Because we can make that decision and it's our money to give to them for that. Now, I wouldn't necessarily agree to that because we set a precedence for other school districts. If Rock Hill needed more money, maybe they should have come and asked for impact fees. I know that certain school districts, like Clover School District, asked for a bunch of impact fees that were created and studied and had a whole lot of documentation for, and that was an official request. And this council shot them down and chopped them in half, which was a fight just to get that. It was even threatened that we would cancel all of their requests and not even give them anything because the votes were there. I was also stated that there was plenty of taxing capacity over there. Rock Hill can raise taxes if they need more money. And the school district can raise taxes. York County has water and sewer. We can raise our water rates to pay for, to get more revenue if that's what we want to do. That's what we're telling Rock Hill to do. You know who else? I've mentioned it before. You know who pays for Rock Hill's water and sewer? York County residents. Tiga K residents, Fort Mill residents, City of York, they all get water from Rock Hill. So if we jack the rate, if Rock Hill jacks the rates on everybody outside the city limits, we're gonna be subsidizing the money that was given away from Rock Hill and given to the Rock Hill School District. So all of the residents of York County are gonna be paying this. This is just a poorly laid out way to do this. If we want to have these discussions in the future and set some framework for what these discussions need to be, then let's do it after the project, after we get this project through the door, so that we can have a successful project here and not risk playing tit-for-tat or Hatfields and McCoys or anything else and threatening over a company to be here. I don't agree with any of this whatsoever, but in a method of compromising, as much as I hate it, I will support Councilmember Audette's motion. All right.

A couple of points of clarification. So, Councilman Roddy, you want to reduce... Rock Hills from 100% to 85%. Can you share the dollar value of what that is? I don't have that in front of me. So I'm thinking it would be reducing it from $80 million to $68 million. So we're going to take $68 million of Rock Hills revenue. That's what you're suggesting?

$40 million and $40 million from us.

I think over 40 years, I believe it's 80 million. At least it's 80 million from them, and he's taking 15%. Can somebody clarify that?

We've done the math.

We just did it. Thank you. We just pulled together the math here. So Rock Hill's revenue over 40 years with the FLO and the SSRC is how much?

According to Councilman Roddy's motion, what we heard was for the duration of the special source revenue credit, which is 30 years. That's correct. The value comes out to $42,882,669.86. OK, $42 million. All right, thank you.

So that was a clarification I was going to make, too, because I thought you said. Over the life of 40 years.

That was 30 years. SSRC is only for 30 years. For Rock Hill's portion.

And the county was.

The ED fund value is estimated value at $40 million. $234,002.99.

That's as good as the Excel sheet I got.

And that's over 40 years, right? That's over 40 years. That total amount, roughly 82.8. Okay.

All right, so that helps me. 15% off 42 million is what would be taken away from the city of Rock Hill. Thank you. All right, so let's go back to York County. Help me understand what you were asking for. You said that what the school district would receive would be I didn't catch it. Did you say 10% of what's in it?

They're going to get the 10% that we typically move forward to the economic development fund. Instead of that 10% going to ED, it's going to go to the rocket schools. So the full amount? The full amount, the full 10%.

And what's the value of that over the SSRC period of 30 years?

As I said, it's $40,234,000.

$40 million and two. I thought you said that was Rock Hill's share.

No, that was reflecting Councilman Roddy's motion. Rock Hill's value was over a 30-year period, which you referenced, the special source revenue credits. That's $42.8 million. Okay. The economic development fund would be over the life of the agreement, which was 40 years. That's $40,234,000. Yep, $232,000. Okay. All right.

Two things were mentioned I want to somewhat disagree with that you shared. Number one, the impact fee. It's my understanding that you cannot ask for an impact fee unless you're enrollment population is growing. If your enrollment population is decreasing, you can't ask for an impact fee. Just a point of clarification. They're not asking for one. Yeah, but you were saying Rock Hill has never asked for one.

I think Andy talked about that.

Yes, but you said Rock Hill has never asked for one, but you can't ask for one when your enrollment is declining. I didn't say they asked for one. That's the only reason why Clover, York, and Fort Mill have asked for an impact fee and received some of the impact fee. And then the issue of diminishing, so when we offer a fee agreement.

On that point that you just made, could you say it a little bit louder? Because people don't understand why Rock Hill has not asked for an impact fee.

My understanding, if I'm right, am I right? Do you all know if you get an impact fee, you have to have a growing student population to qualify. That's one of the qualifications of an impact fee. So if your enrollment's declining, you cannot request an impact fee.

Why is it declining? Pardon me?

I'm not on the school board. I'm not on the school board, so I'm not here to debate that. I support the Rock Hill School District, but I'm not on the board, so I can't answer that question. And then the mention was about when fee and lose take place, it actually costs the schools because they didn't get the revenue. And the revenue obviously goes to poor school districts, by the way. You can dig into that and learn a little bit more about that. But that state law has nothing to do with us. yes we may give a fee but if we don't give a fee to octa pharma octa pharma is not going to be in south carolina they're not going to be in york county maybe they're going to be in texas maybe they're going to be somewhere else stay in charlotte becklenburg county north carolina i don't know but that's a state law issue that has to be dealt with not us just just a clarification there um now a couple of points i want to make that i think are important number one um Tom, I appreciate you being open-minded. I was very disappointed in the second reading, personally, but I'm thankful that you were open-minded enough to reach out to Raquel and talk with who you spoke with. and i know they're appreciative of it as well so thank you for doing that that's the right way to do business is to have a conversation and talk through things it's amazing what happens when you have a conversation the resolution that you get to and so collaboration made sense and it makes sense moving to the future as well and i encourage this council to follow suit with what you've done because it does make sense number two I want to thank Commerce for identifying life sciences as a priority for South Carolina. And then in suit, Rock Hill did the same thing. They went through a difficult decision when they went through the Panther debacle, and they decided to identify that property for high investment projects like OctoPharma. So I'm glad Commerce thought enough about York County to send us this opportunity with close to 1,500 jobs, average wage of $104,000 a year, and a huge impact to the school district, who's picking up roughly 60% to 4% of the revenue without any cuts. I mean, they're getting the lion's share of the revenue. We get the least amount. So that's great for them. And every fee deal we do, they get a piece of that fee deal.

64%. Thank you. I thought they were getting 50% of the 60%.

I know, but originally they were getting 64% of the figure.

Of the regular tax bill. Yes, sir. The regular tax bill.

Yes. Regular. That is correct. So they're still getting the higher percentage even with the cut. They're getting 50%. Then the other two entities left. The one thing I think is critical for us to think about is, and I know in your motion you said that we're going to say that this, we're not setting a precedent with this, so this is the only time we're going to do this. Well, we've already had calls from other school districts saying they want to have a meeting to discuss this as well, so I've heard hearsay. So it seems to me that before we potentially set a precedent tonight, that we choose a different path that Councilman Litton had mentioned. And we don't take action that's going to set a precedent. We actually vote on what we need to vote on tonight, and that's protecting the opportunity to bring OctoPharma into York County. That's what's most important. And then after the fact, it's already proven that it can be done because we're having conversations with Rock Hill and they're talking to us. So why will we not have meetings after the fact and let's, first of all, us decide what we're going to do. We're going to set a criteria that says if a project comes to York County that hits a certain threshold, a billion dollars, let's say, then we deviate from our fee agreement. But instead, we're trying to rush to a decision which may not be in our long-term best interest and could cause significant trouble between us and other school districts in the future and the taxpayers. So rushing to make a decision tonight is not necessary. We all agree that we want OctoPharma here. So what it seems to me is that we need to focus on that, making sure that OctoPharma's here. And then if we were able to agree on that as a council, then we have a meeting with Rock Hill and the school district, and we talk about our priorities. We have priorities in this county as well. You know, if Octa Farmer brings in 1,500 people, which they're planning to do, those 1,500 people aren't living in Rock Hill. They're going to live all over this county. And all over this county, there will be a future expense associated with those 1,500 being there. And then they're expecting 2,000 more employees to come in for incidental companies. Where are they going to live? All over this county. So the school districts, plural, and the municipalities, nine, are affected by it. And that's going to cost money in the future. So there is an impact. So we all have needs, and I think we have to be careful to rush to a decision. What is the rush? The rush is to put Okta Pharma to bed. So Okta Pharma doesn't have to come back to these meetings anymore. They know they're coming to York County. The question is, how can we have a conversation, which has proven it can be done, how can we have a conversation with the school district and with Rock Hill about what we do with this fee deal after the fact? They've already shown that they're willing to have a conversation and consider something. And so are we, are we not, I'm not asking for a reply. So I say this tongue in cheek reluctantly. Um, I can support the motion. But I don't agree with the process this has gone through. I agree with everything Councilman Litton said. I do not agree with the process. You know, it's like I told somebody, it's like punishing your child or your grandchild, and then you take them to get ice cream. That's just a simple assessment. But I think it's... I don't know whether the school district really wanted this or not. But we didn't get anything in writing either way. So I don't even understand why we're taking action on this, which is another reason why I think we need to address this after the fact. So I have an amended motion. But if you want to, I'll support this reluctantly. But I do have an amended motion that I'd like for consideration. If you'd give me the nod to make the amended motion, I'll make it. Or I'll wait.

I'd wait. I'll wait.

I'll just wait. I'll wait. OK.

Any other discussion? So I'm going to go and get all my stuff out on the table. First of all, I have no issue at all with having discussions. I'm just going to be painfully honest. If we're being honest here, we've reached out many times and there has been no desire that has been communicated. I have checked every day. The way this process has worked is that we have known for a long time that the Rock Hill schools are struggling. struggling more than others, and I'm going to explain that and why I feel that way. So there have been many attempts to reach out. And the concern, while I was aware of a meeting potentially happening, and shared that with legal as well. My concern was that one meeting with one council member from a county and one or two city council members who do not have the authority of the city is going to yield bad results that we need to use our process to go through our attorneys because these are contractual negotiations. and I have repeatedly reached out since we became aware of this resolution that was not given to us until after we had passed second reading and there was already a note obviously in order for that resolution to have been passed before and not sent to us there is awareness that our schools need additional help. They knew that that was going to happen. Now, I am all for let's finding other ways, but I'm also going to be transparent about I have attempted many times. I have worked with the county attorney. I've called her many times a day to ask her, have you gotten any feedback? Is there any interest to want to deal with this? But when I found out today at 1130 that there's going to be a motion, my question was, have you – have you actually gotten something? Have you talked directly with the mayor or have you directly talked with the council because one or two people saying something is not how that works. So when we're talking about a process, that is a concern. At no time was it ever suggested to me that communications between the managers that happen and that is directly opposite of what I was advised from legal so that is important to me to share because I take this job very seriously and I reach out and I try to have these conversations and honestly there are there are hurdles to that and I'll leave it at that but I am trying and I have tried I am going to support Mr. Roddy's motion. And I want to start with this. I was born and raised in York County. I'm a graduate in 1993 of Rock Hill High School. This is when my alums always say this was the golden age of Rock Hill School. This is when our principal, Les Meister, was there. And my mom, a single mom, single income, she couldn't have afforded for me to go to private school. And so having quality place to go to public school was integral to me being able to have the opportunities I have and it's very important to me. Why does that matter in this? It matters a lot because the obligation that the council has, the statutory obligation is for the council to decide in each instance, how are we going to allocate these funds? And you allocate these funds based upon how do you think that folks can use that? Who's going to be able to use it well? Who's getting this money over here? Who's doing it there? Sometimes folks get less than others. And that job is for us to do and it is an uncomfortable job because there are folks fighting for this. There's some folks that are fighting for the city to get all the money or whatever. I approach this objectively and here's the concern that I have. The Rock Hill School District is uniquely positioned in this situation. Rock Hill School District is the only school in the entire county that is subject to TIFs and to FELOs. These TIFs and these FELOs impact really the only source of income they have. Our schools have property tax, they have state allocation, and in situations where it's justified, they have impact fees. That's basically it. That's all they have. They don't have water and sewer utilities. They don't have business licenses. They don't have H tax. They don't have a tax. They don't have selling of the property as a way to provide income. That's it. This is all that they have. Rock Hill School District has been subject to downtown TIF that started nearly 40 years ago, 40 years ago, concerning downtown property, and they have not received any appreciable amount for 40 years. And under that TIF, for the next 13 years, I'm using the projections from the city's numbers here, that TIF alone for the next 13 years is going to cost our school district $50 to $60 million. They are going to lose $50 to $60 million in 13 years for that tip. Nobody else has to deal with that. Rock Hill School District also loses $22 million a year from the state allocation. And the reason why is because assessments they give at the state level, part of that formula, is that you have an assessment. And they assess you at the full property value, even if you don't get any money off of it. They're still going to assess you at that, and they're going to cut your state funding basically assuming that you receive all of that money. Rock Hill School District, and all of our schools are subject to that, but the distinction here is that Rock Hill School District last year got $5 million, $22 million cut from their state funding. That's $5 million a year more than any other school district. That's an issue. That's affecting them, and it's because there are so many, and there are TIFs and FELOs. One of the other things, and there was no intent here to be ugly or to do anything. This issue has been on the table. The city of Rock Hill previously agreed to forego all of their property taxes on all of the 200 acres when this was under the Tepper deal. All of it. 200 acres. What we're talking about here and what happened at second reading, we're looking at only trying to move those funds to the school where they need it for 50 acres 50 acres of that that doesn't control all of the rest of it 50 acres so there's there are justified reasons for this and this has been known that there are concerns In addition to this, the same parcel that all of us are invested in, this Palmetto Parkway, 25 other acres of that prime industrial land that there were expectations that all have had. I mean, there were things that were lost. And in that bankruptcy, there are things that have to be honored that still, I mean, I'll leave that part alone. with a novant which we all fully support i've been to the state commerce recruiting life sciences like octoparma i have been instrumentally involved in that too but this 25 acres that's part of this property too yields no property taxes at all and on the novant on this same parcel the school gets none of it they and again they are uniquely positioned that this impacts them tremendously more than any of the rest This is where we turn the corner. As someone who has gone to these schools, I have seen that there's tremendous need. Tremendous need. And I'm thankful that we have a school board that is now putting pen to paper to do a capital improvement plan. My understanding is that 58% of all of Rock Hill schools are over 50 years old. Let that sink in. 58% of their schools are over 50 years old. 21 out of 22 of the rock hill schools are title one eligible which means they have so much low income that they qualify for title one funds you don't get them all because you can only have a certain number 21 out of the 22. that's that's those these are the folks we're helping 350 to 400 million dollars is needed in the next 10 years alone for rock hill schools to do maintenance on those buildings 350 to 400 million over the next 10 years. You combine that with the fact that the TIF is going to impact them for the next 13 years to the tune of $50 to $60 million. They're losing the Novant property revenue, which is another $350 million, which yields a ton. And you look at the $5 million more that they're losing from the state allocation. The schools are the ones who pay the highest price. And they don't get a vote. But I'm going to stand up here, and I'm going to fight for them when I think that they need to have it in this particular instance. And I think all of the moons align here to say, let's help them. Let's help them. And their ATC program is completely at capacity, has been for years. They need to construct a new ATC. Isn't that going to help us economically? Isn't investing in our young kids going to help our community, going to help our economy? Don't we need that? to help them. Aren't they the ones that we hope someday will be able to do these jobs that we're recruiting from Okta Pharma? We have to start there. We have to do this. I wish that there had been a better back and forth. Quite honestly, I don't think that there wants to be a back and forth. Folks are trying to keep their funding, and that's fine, but I'm going to make a decision, and I've gotten lots of calls from folks who only hear one side of it. I have to give kudos to the city of Rock Hill every time Because they do a lot of good information. They put out the narrative. And I don't have time to counter that. But what I can do is I can vote. And I can share the reasons why I'm voting this way. And I can tell you that I'm voting this way because I believe it is the best interest of our schools. And I heard comments from folks that if you're going Ask for additional funding. Do it. That's what Mr. Roddy's motion does. That provides $40 million from both sides. Give it to the schools and let's help them. Because if we don't, we are going to be looking at impact fees. We're trying to get ahead of this. Or we are going to be looking at increased taxes. But at a minimum, these projects that the school needs, especially with that ATC program, that's a fantastic thing that we all need to help with. And if we can help with this project, I think Okta Farmer would be proud of that too. and i think um so so i will not um i will not support the amendment on the table but i will support the main motion um all those in favor of the amendment Usually I talk, I mean I... Well, I want to talk some more.

I mean, you talked. I think you had some more points to make. You did talk. I know. I want to talk some more.

I have a few more points to make as well.

You know, first we talked about the Panthers project. You know, Rock Hill agreed to that at their own will. They agreed to give away. But that was a totally different project than this is. I would hope that nobody would hold us to an agreement that we made with some project four years ago and say, oh, well, y'all did this. Y'all got to do the same thing again and do it on this totally different project. You know, we're making this – this thing is getting framed around the kids. And everybody knows that helping the kids is an emotional situation. This is a business sense. Clover School District has a lot of old schools also. Clover School District needs funding. Clover School District has an ATC center that's doing great because Clover's willing to fund it. They say that, you know, we talk about the impact fees. That's because over in the Clover School District, we don't get a whole lot of industry because we're not near the interstate. So there's not a lot of FLO information or taxes coming in that provide no benefit or no strain on the school system, but just gives a whole bunch of money. We got lucky with one, but we get a whole lot of housing that all it does is strain the school system. You know, Rock Hill is along the I-77 corridor, which gets all of these big companies coming in that just have taxpayer money, taxes coming in, a whole lot of taxes, but no strain on their school system. So they're reaping, let's see, according to this thing, they're going to get like $240 million over 40 years But it's not a strain on their facilities to have this company sitting there. Just like has been said, the people that move here to go work there are going to be all over the county. So they're going to be in housing that's straining possibly other school districts too. But none of this money is going to them. I've heard some things over there that they had great school systems. I don't keep up with the Rock Hill School District that much. I know a couple years ago they were under budget or way over budget. The Clover School District also loses money from the state due to fee lows. We've got a couple out there, not many. We don't benefit from it like... some of the other places, but we need to look at this as the process of doing it up front. They said we've known about the Rock Hill School District has been a problem for years, but yet we haven't ever done this before. Why didn't we set up a process and guidelines five years ago, ten years ago, so that we were prepared for when these companies come here instead of throwing this all in the blender at one time at the last second And I still stick with that we're throwing everybody else's money away. They did not, at second reading, nobody said, let's give away all of your county's money. They gave away somebody else's money by what they felt like they should, you know, contribute.

Since this is a conversation about schools, spending eight years in the school board in Fort Mill, YOU KNOW, YOU LOOK AT, AND THIS IS ALL OF A SUDDEN TURNED INTO LIKE A SCHOOL BOARD MEETING, AND I FIND IT INTERESTING BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, YOU LOOK AT THIS DYNAMIC, AND YOU LOOK AT ROCK HILL COMPARED TO FORT MILL, ALL RIGHT? ROCK HILL HAS TITLE I FUNDS THAT COME IN, ALL RIGHT? THERE IS A DIFFERENCE FROM AN OPERATING PERSPECTIVE WHERE ROCK HILL WILL RECEIVE ADDITIONAL FUNDS MORE THAN WHAT FORT MILL DOES BECAUSE OF TITLE I FUNDS THAT COME INTO THE SCHOOL. And so we're talking about a dynamic here where we're talking about a school situation here where we don't really have all the numbers. Do we have school board members sitting in front of us and talking about these numbers? We don't. There's dynamics and numbers behind this that there is funds that they receive that's not being talked about right now, and it's not being brought out. This proposal that we have was approved. We have an agreement. We have a mutual agreement between the county and Rock Hill, and this is something that will be supported and it gives THE SCHOOL DISTRICT, $238 MILLION. HANG ON ONE SECOND. $238 MILLION. THAT IS A WIN FOR THE SCHOOL DISTRICT, AND IT'S BEEN, WE HAVE THE APPROVAL, AND IT'S GOING TO GO THROUGH. YOU'VE GOT A MOTION HERE THAT HAS NOT BEEN APPROVED. THERE'S BEEN NO DISCUSSION WITH ROCKHILL OVER WHAT YOU'RE PROPOSING. THEY COULD SAY NO, AND THIS WHOLE DEAL FLOPPS. THEY LOSE $238 MILLION.

Madam Chair.

I ask that you support this. This has been approved. This is a great deal.

Madam Chair, everyone has spoken. I'll call for a question. Mr. Ardette's motion.

We both asked a second ago if we could make a comment. I still have a comment to make, if you don't mind.

I call for the question, because we still have my amendment to go through, but I call for the question.

Technically, she's already called for the question, but she's allowing for conversation. She hasn't called for the question.

I will take up two minutes. I do have a point of order. Is there anything legal in writing that there is an agreement? I mean, has the resolution been rescinded legally?

I am not informed of any... change with regard to the resolution. It remains in effect or in place as far as I'm aware, and I have not received anything in writing from the city.

All those in favor of Mr. Audet's amendment say aye. Aye. Can you raise your hands? Those opposed? No. Amendment fails. We're back to the main motion. Any other discussion?

Yes, please. I don't know how the TIF got involved in this conversation. I get it. I mean, I listen to the comments. And I, for one thing, looking back, I probably should have joined the school board. I've spent my entire adult career supporting schools. That's probably where I should be seated today, not in county council, for one thing. It sounds like you should have been seated right beside me. The TIF. Any TIF that's passed is passed by the school district. They have to agree to it, and so does the county. So the TIF was voted on and approved. I understand new people come to the table and disagree what was done in the past, but it was voted on and approved by both parties. And it was done for a reason. And from what I can tell, I don't have the numbers. I've asked for them. But you can see there's a benefit to the reason for the TIF. Ride through Rock Hill and see what's taking place. It's a good thing. Number two, there was mention of school districts lost $5 million. Look, we are blessed, if it continues, we are blessed that we're in a county where good economic growth is taking place because it is the commercial and industrial growth that drives your tax base, right? Act 388 did a number on us, and the only way to make it up is to tax the businesses. And quite frankly, you've got to tax the hell out of the businesses. As a business owner and multiple businesses that own, we pay the taxes. I see people nodding their head that have called me after assessment. So that growth has put more money in the school district's budget than the state has taken away, far more. And will continue to, hopefully, depending on how this vote turns out tonight. Maybe. Look, I got to give credit where credit's due. There was mention of us being present in meetings in Columbia. It's my understanding we were present. We, the county, was present at those meetings in Columbia because Rock Hill invited us to the table. And I think that's part of what I was saying earlier, that the opportunity there is to collaborate and mend some fences. And I think we need to lead the charge there and get it done. last thing is I'm not a gambler and so It looks like the motion you've made, Councilman Rodney, is going to pass. And it's being passed not knowing what the outcome is going to be. And it'll be really unfortunate if Octa-Pharma goes somewhere else. In the school district, Rock Hill and York County end up with zero tax dollars. Then you don't get anything taken away from the state because there's nothing to take. So I want to follow up with an additional motion.

We have a call for the question.

All those in favor of the main motion say aye. Aye. Aye. Raise your hands. Opposed?

Opposed.

Motion carries.

And I'm not opposed to Acafaro.

Motion to adjourn.

I am fully supporting Acafaro.

I am fully supportive of Acafaro as well.

Motion second. Motion second. Second. Adjourned. All in favor say aye. Aye. We are adjourned.

Thank you.