[1:04] Arthle, you going to be good right
there? Okay. Good evening and welcome to
[1:08] this regular Lawrence County Council
meeting for August 10th, 2026. It is 6
[1:13] pm. We will open the meeting with
invocation by Vice Chairman Brownley
[1:17] followed by the pledge of allegiance.
[1:22] Please bow your heads with me. Dear
gracious heavenly father, Lord, we thank
[1:26] you for today and we thank you for all
your many blessings. We appreciate you
[1:29] sending the rain to all of our farmers
and Lord, I just pray your blessings on
[1:32] everyone in this room tonight. May they
have safe travels home. Just pray that
[1:35] you guide us as a council to make the
best decisions on on behalf of the
[1:39] citizens of this county. It's in your
gracious heavenly name we pray. Amen.
[1:46] To the flag of the United States of
America to the stand,
[1:54] indivisible, liberty for all.
[2:03] » Thank you all for being here this
evening and watching us online. Our next
[2:07] item of business would be approval of
our agenda for August 10th, 2026.
[2:12] There's a motion to approve.
>> Second.
[2:15] » Second. Any additions, changes to the
agenda.
[2:22] Hearing none. All those in favor, please
raise your right hand.
[2:26] 5 Z.
Next item will be approval of our
[2:30] minutes. There are two sets. One is July
13, 2026 regular session and one is July
[2:36] 24th, 2026 committee on
intergovernmental affairs and economic
[2:41] development.
>> What is your pleasure?
[2:45] » Motion to approve the minutes as
presented for July 13th and July 24th.
[2:51] » Motion second. Any discussion?
All those in favor of approving the
[2:56] minutes, please raise your right hand.
5. Excellent. Our next item, there'll be
[3:03] special recognitions. The first thing we
have on the agenda is uh emergency
[3:09] management awareness month. And I'd like
to uh present that.
[3:14] This is a proclamation on behalf of the
county of Lawrence, South Carolina, with
[3:18] deep pride and honor that we, the
Lawrence County Council, do hereby
[3:23] proclaim the month of August 2026 as
Emergency Management Awareness Month.
[3:28] And whereas emergencies and disasters
can unexpectedly pose significant
[3:33] threats to life, property, and
environment. And whereas local emergency
[3:37] managers across all sectors, community
leaders, as well as state and federal
[3:41] agencies dedicate countless hours to
developing preparedness, response,
[3:46] recovery, and mitigation programs to
protect the lives and property of all
[3:50] persons in Lawrence County. And whereas
emergency managers are charged with
[3:55] establishing and maintaining the
capabilities necessary to effectively
[3:59] direct, coordinate, and support
emergency and disaster response
[4:04] and recovery align with the core
efforts and the mission areas of
[4:10] prevention, protection, mitigation,
response, and recovery with the core
[4:16] capabilities identified in the national
preparedness goal. And whereas Lawrence
[4:20] County Emergency Management served this
county by responding to emergencies and
[4:24] disasters,
demonstrating commitment, compassion,
[4:28] and professionalism in in protecting the
public. And whereas the efforts of
[4:33] Lawrence County Emergency Management
Team have helped many citizens recover,
[4:38] rebuild, and become more resilient in
the face of adversity.
[4:42] Now, therefore, the Lawrence County
Council do hereby proclaim the month of
[4:45] August as Emergency Management Awareness
Month. proclaim this 10th day of August,
[4:50] 2026.
Is there
[4:56] motion that we accept this?
Are those in favor? Congratulations to
[5:01] our emergency management team. I have a
proclamation like
[5:07] [applause]
[5:57] Um if if you want to be up here, you can
usually if not you can use that mic down
[6:01] at the podium, but they'll want to hear
you. Yes, sir.
[6:23] This is a certificate of recognition to
Caroline Barnard in recognition for your
[6:28] unwavering dedicated service to the
citizens of the Lawrence County and the
[6:33] animal control division.
[6:39] as well as Kim Jones. She's not here.
[6:49] » We also want to recognize the deputies
in the animal control um division. That
[6:54] would be Summer Palmer's,
Brandon Schultz,
[6:59] Melody Thompson,
and Mackenzie Hotar.
[7:17] No, sir.
>> We want to recognize the following
[7:20] people for their unwavering volunteered
and dedicated service to the animals of
[7:24] Lawrence County. To the animals of
Lawrence County and the animal shelter.
[7:28] Diane Armstrong,
[7:33] » Summer Flowers,
[7:37] » David Smith,
[7:42] Doris Gomez. That was Smith.
[7:48] » Cheyenne, who was that last name?
>> Doris Gomez.
[7:57] Kennedy Robertson and Legendary Canines,
[8:04] Aaron and Don Halbert with Dog Pack
Patch Rescue.
[8:11] [applause]
[8:25] She's a volunter.
[8:53] Make sure it's green.
Thank y'all for what y'all do for
[8:57] Lawrence County every day. Anything that
we can do for us, y'all really let us
[9:02] know. This ain't the last time y'all
going to be up here. Mr. Filson, hold up
[9:06] one second. Need you back up here.
>> We have We have something else this
[9:10] evening.
>> Up here.
[9:13] Every month, Mr. Filson has been giving
away certificates and he is a constant
[9:17] reminder, you know, seeing county
employees in the hall to always give
[9:20] them a thanks that we appreciate them.
But it come to my knowledge that Mr.
[9:24] Filson himself does not have a
certificate. So two weeks ago we were at
[9:28] the association of counties conference
and Mr. Filson graduated from his level
[9:31] one um association of counties instant
in institute classes. So Mr. Filson this
[9:38] certificate for you for completing those
classes and graduating level one.
[9:44] [applause]
[9:49] » [applause]
[9:57] » He's coming back with us.
[10:05] » Let me get in the middle of the night.
>> Yeah. Come on. [laughter]
[10:13] » Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[10:14] » Congratulations. Go. [applause]
[10:22] Our next item this evening is public
comment.
[10:27] We'll start with John Parnell by Bobby
uh regarding data center.
[10:44] » All right, y'all. I appreciate the
opportunity to come up here again. I was
[10:48] here last month and um I do want to
cover some comments and thoughts on data
[10:53] centers and maybe not cover the exact
same details of last week, but still
[10:58] some more concerns and believe me there
are a lot of them. So, um here goes. Um,
[11:06] I am thankful for being here uh to be
able to speak just a few minutes and I
[11:12] want to give a thanks to you guys on the
council um for it appears to be uh
[11:17] proactive instead of reactive uh when it
comes to data centers because here's why
[11:23] there's so many communities that are
taking another route and I can use
[11:28] Spartanberg as an example. Anybody's
been on the internet any at all lately?
[11:32] Uh there's one group I think that is uh
meeting tomorrow and uh it's probably
[11:38] not a very pretty site because the data
center has already been started and a
[11:43] lot of objections have came into place.
So here's what I'm trying to say to you
[11:46] all again proactive instead of reactive.
So um you brought it to our attention
[11:53] and I just happen to be one of them. I
live in Hickory Tavern that I'm
[11:56] concerned about our community and I want
you guys I'm going to ask you guys a
[12:01] real big favor to continue to be
transparent with anything that's
[12:05] happening in our county and our
community when it comes to these data
[12:09] centers. Okay? So, having said that, I
am not against data centers per se.
[12:16] That's not why I'm here. But what it
takes to create a really large hypers
[12:21] scale data center um it's ruining some
communities. I'll just be blunt. And
[12:28] there are some people that are really
struggling because of that. Now, can
[12:32] they be made where they aren't harmful
to the community, where they are a huge
[12:36] plus to the community? Maybe. So,
but I'm not sure if we're there right
[12:41] now. We have the technology to to create
those and build them, but everything
[12:47] that it takes to make that happen, there
is so many negatives. So, that's the
[12:53] point I just want to make once again on
that point. [cough and clears throat]
[12:58] Um, what I'd like to offer, and I'm
trying to talk really quick because
[13:02] usually I'm a slow talker, but I only
have a few minutes. So, I'm trying to
[13:05] cram as much as I can in a few short
minutes. I would like to offer a
[13:09] suggestion to you guys of two names and
one of them may be familiar uh and
[13:15] that's Aaron Brachovich and uh it just
came to my knowledge just recently after
[13:21] I've done a lot of research myself that
she has created a a website of maps a
[13:28] map of the US with all the various data
centers that have been created those
[13:33] that are being built and I believe those
that are being planned. and maybe I'm
[13:39] not sure there's four categories. Uh the
ones like our little county
[13:43] moratorum has being looked at and
created. So that was one name I just
[13:48] wanted to throw out there. Like I said,
I've been doing a little research on my
[13:52] own. And another name that probably
isn't familiar. Uh and again, this came
[13:56] on the internet which came through a
data center to get to to me, right? Um
[14:01] and his name is Doug CVI. He's an
individual that seems like from what I
[14:06] can tell he knows a lot about them
because he's built data centers. Uh it
[14:11] seems that he has a wealth of
information. So I'm just kind of
[14:14] throwing out a couple of names, couple
of resources that I've come across and
[14:18] what little time I have to research on
the subject. So those are the two names
[14:25] I wanted to mention.
Um, let's see.
[14:32] One thing I wanted to offer
um
[14:37] maybe a little bit off base, but I don't
think it is. One thing that I want to do
[14:43] is uh maybe check out one of the uh
largest
[14:47] data centers in our state. Uh the reason
being um there's a lot of things that I
[14:52] can or we can research that's that's
online, but the noise created by some of
[14:58] the larger data centers seems to be a
very bad nuisance. Y'all, I have tonitis
[15:06] when I'm speaking. I don't hear the
ringing in my ears, but when things get
[15:10] kind of quiet, I'm to myself. I have
tonitis. I don't want to live next to a
[15:15] data center that's going to throw more
noise into the area for me or anybody
[15:21] else to live with. I want to experience
that. So, I'm going to offer you guys I
[15:26] think the largest one in our state, if I
looked at it right, is uh in Mons
[15:30] corner. There's 10 buildings there. And
one of them in particular uses a huge
[15:36] amount of power.
Um I'm going to offer you guys if you
[15:40] want to ride Corner with me one day, I
want to see firsthand what this noise is
[15:45] all about. I want to see how bad it is.
I can watch it on my phone or on a
[15:50] computer and I can hear the audio, but
that's not the same as living next to
[15:53] it. I can't do any research. I can't do
any research on noise. But I can take
[16:00] few hours and a little bit of gas and
buy you guys lunch, go to Mon's Corner
[16:04] and I can drive by there and see what it
sounds like. Okay? I'm just offering
[16:08] that.
>> So, um, I said maybe a little bit off
[16:13] key there.
I want to find out what this noise is
[16:16] about. I can't physically do anything
about the other parts of this that
[16:22] people are objecting to. I can't do
anything about the water usage, the
[16:26] electron, the electrical power, and how
it affects individuals and communities,
[16:31] but I can certainly do something about
that. And one more small thing that
[16:35] » part can you wrap it up? It's been like
twice what we do.
[16:38] » All right, my time is is up. All right.
I live near some uh pine trees in my
[16:44] backyard. There's acres and acres. And
one thing I'm going to do if the nice
[16:49] person that owns that property goes
clear cutting those pine trees, I'm
[16:52] going to find out. I'm going to be a
nosy neighbor. What's going to be
[16:56] planted next to me? Is it going to be a
data center? Is it going to be a
[16:59] Walmart? I'll close with that.
>> Thank you.
[17:03] » Thank you guys.
>> Appreciate you.
[17:04] » Thank you, sir. Nancy Garrison.
[17:12] » Good evening.
>> Good evening.
[17:14] » Um, [clears throat]
tonight uh you have you're going to have
[17:17] before you ordinance uh 1013 proposing
the amendment to 926 which I think is
[17:23] wonderful, absolutely wonderful
amendment. Um, one statement in the
[17:28] proposed amendment particularly caught
my attention. and it acknowledges that
[17:31] ordinance 926 has been interpreted in
ways that are contrary to the intent
[17:36] proposed and the design of the
ordinance. I believe there's another
[17:41] interpretation of ordinance 926 that
council needs to address. Public
[17:45] notification of campgrounds and RV
parks. I first raised the issue in April
[17:51] after an RV park was scheduled to come
to the planning commission without
[17:55] public notice signage required under
division 7 of ordinance 926. That
[18:00] meeting ultimately could not proceed
because there wasn't a quorum. Then at
[18:05] the April 30th planning commission
meeting, the minute specifically uh
[18:09] documented discussion regarding RV parks
and campground regulations and
[18:14] commercial notification and public aware
awareness requirements.
[18:18] The commission also empas emphasized the
need to improve public notification
[18:23] procedures. So this issue has been
identified and discussed. Yet since the
[18:29] April meeting, two additional campground
RV park developments have been approved
[18:34] by the planning commission without
public notification.
[18:37] combined with the project that
originally caused me to raise the issue
[18:41] that represented approximately just you
know uh what I could kind of gather and
[18:47] get the numbers there's 180 RV or
campsites and the different ones um that
[18:53] have come through the process without
public notification required by
[18:58] commercial projects under 926.
When I originally questioned why the
[19:02] notification requirement wasn't being
applied, I was told campgrounds are
[19:07] governed by 872 and that ordinance does
not reference ordinance 926. But when I
[19:13] went back and read 872, section 1.3
states, however, where sections conflict
[19:20] or overlap, whichever imposes the most
stringent restrictions shall prevail.
[19:25] Then I went back and reviewed actual RV
park approvals that have come before the
[19:30] planning commission
and at least two of those approval the
[19:34] county itself explicitly applied
ordinance 926 to the RV park. The
[19:39] approval condition stated in accordance
to 926 appendix B section CA and then
[19:45] opposed ordinance 926 buffer and silk
fencing requirements. So I believe the
[19:50] council needs to get the answer. You
know, a very straightforward answer. If
[19:55] 926 applies to the RV park when imposing
buffers requirements or bas and on what
[20:02] basis does it not apply when it requires
public notification?
[20:07] Division seven of ordinance 926 states
within five days of applying for
[20:11] residential subdivision or commercial
project the applicant must post the
[20:16] proposed development site with public
notification of a sign and the ordinance
[20:21] doesn't treat that required optional. It
specifically states that the failure to
[20:26] comply with the signage requirements
will result in a delay of the
[20:29] application to the planning commission
and it says or county council. That
[20:33] might be something else needs to be
changed. So, um, and yet yet these
[20:38] applications have proceeded to the
planning commission without notification
[20:41] to the public. Um, where does ordinance
872 exempt a campground or RV park from
[20:48] public notification provisions of
ordinance 926? And if ordinance 926
[20:54] applies to these developments for
buffers and other requirements, why
[20:57] doesn't public notification apply as
well? Tonight, council is already
[21:02] considering, like I said, the ordinance
1013 because we recognize that ordinance
[21:07] 926 has been interpreted in a contrary
way to its intent. And I'm asking you to
[21:14] address this interpretation, too. If
council intends for, you know, RV,
[21:18] parks, and stuff not to go without
notification, it needs to be said
[21:21] publicly. Otherwise, apply the existing
notification requirement. We should not
[21:26] selectively apply ordinance 926 when it
places requirements on development while
[21:32] disregarding the portion of the same
ordinance that gives public notification
[21:36] and development. And you know my whole
reason for bringing this up. Communities
[21:40] need to know what's coming into their
communities. That's it. It's called
[21:44] transparency. And for RV parks to come
into communities with no public
[21:48] notification, I you know it's it's
troublesome to me. You know, we've had
[21:52] it happen to us. So, thank you for your
time. Appreciate it.
[21:56] » Thank you.
[22:01] » Joe Kohler referencing or ordinance 926.
[22:08] Thank you for this opportunity. Council,
I appreciate this opportunity to speak
[22:13] as a concerned citizen of Lawrence
County. Tonight there is a reading of
[22:17] two ordinances being proposed. the
moratorium on data centers and the
[22:22] amending ordinance 926 to clarify and
restate the approval process for major
[22:28] subdivisions.
While I think both of these items have
[22:31] value, neither are addressing the core
issues we are facing in this county,
[22:36] such as overcrowding schools,
deteriorating roads and infrastructure,
[22:42] limited to non-existent emergency
services, rising property taxes, and our
[22:48] loss of culture through
overdevelopment.
[22:52] Shouldn't we be drafting and voting on
ordinances that address these core
[22:56] issues?
I ask you to consider putting forth an
[23:00] ordinance to put a moratorum on major
subdivision development. This would give
[23:06] the county time to get impact fees
implemented. The these fees can help
[23:11] build infrastructure to support growth.
Create a future land use map. Both the
[23:17] comprehensive plan and ordinance 926
reference the future land use map and
[23:23] yet one does not exist.
implement topography studies. All over
[23:29] the country, communities are plagued
with unprecedented flooding. This is a
[23:33] fairly new phenomenon and it is tied
directly to overdevelopment.
[23:38] It's not too late for us in Lawrence
County, but that is the path we are on
[23:43] if we continue. A moratorum on
subdivision development would address
[23:48] the core concerns of many citizens in
Lawrence County. It would give you the
[23:53] decision makers, council members, time
to give the TRC and the planning
[23:59] commission its missing tool, the future
land use map. They need that to make
[24:04] proper development decisions.
Ordinance 926 references that map three
[24:10] times. The comprehensive plan references
it three times.
[24:16] The purpose of that in the document,
it's a decision makingaking tool to
[24:21] approve or not approve development, and
we don't have it. Makes no sense to me.
[24:27] Errors will continue to be made if
development is allowed to continue in
[24:32] its current form. Infrastructure is
stressed beyond its limits. Poor
[24:37] drainage can lead to flooding. Car
crashes due to insufficient roads. I
[24:42] don't think I'm exaggerating. These
things are happening near Durban Road
[24:46] these days. There are real consequences
to life and property for developing
[24:53] without the thought through plans.
Lawrence County needs a moratorum on
[24:57] major subdivision development until
these root issues can be addressed.
[25:02] Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[25:10] » Nick Bab on data center.
[25:15] Good evening. How how's everyone doing
tonight?
[25:19] » Okay. So, um so I'm just going to try to
keep it uh brief. I just came up here to
[25:24] just just u show support for the uh
moratorum on the data centers. I think
[25:30] uh Councilman Lane put it best during
his county council comments that it is a
[25:34] good thing that this county is being
proactive rather than reactive because
[25:38] coming to these meetings for about 10
years now, there's been a lot of
[25:42] reactive stuff when it comes to this
council. they like to wait until the
[25:44] very last minute to do stuff. And it's a
good thing that that this council is
[25:49] being proactive and I commend uh
Councilman Brownley for putting up this
[25:54] uh ordinance for the moratorum on data
centers because I mean it's become a
[25:58] really big issue across the upstate. I
mean all of all of our neighbors are
[26:02] pretty much having these problems.
Spartanberg, Newberry, Greenwood, even
[26:05] pass an ordinance. And um and it's and
it's kind of and it's kind of weird that
[26:11] some someone would say that, oh, we're
just passing this just to feel good. But
[26:17] I mean, well, how about if you ask
people in Spartanberg that have to deal
[26:21] with it who can't even sell their homes
anymore because of the no because of all
[26:24] the noise ordinance or the family down
in Georgia that had their home imminent
[26:29] domain so that they could have more so
George Power could have more property to
[26:33] do a data center. This is not supposed
to be feel good. This is real life for a
[26:37] lot of people. And I commend uh this
council for voting unanimously last time
[26:43] on the first reading. I hope they do the
same tonight for the uh second reading.
[26:47] Thank you. Thank you.
[26:53] » Michate on data center.
[27:02] » Good evening.
>> Good evening. Um like like you already
[27:05] said, my name is Michanna Tate. Of
course, I live here in Lawrence County.
[27:09] Um I wanted to speak on data centers and
specifically the moratorum. Um and I'm
[27:14] speaking from the standpoint of an
attorney that does real estate
[27:17] litigation. Um one of my concerns is
that we don't want a data center to look
[27:22] at certain counties moratorum and ours
doesn't maybe match up or maybe we have
[27:26] a loophole in it. Um, so I went and I
looked at the moratoriums for the
[27:31] neighboring counties of Newberry and
Greenwood and compared it to Lawren. I
[27:35] think the Lawren moratorium is is great.
It's written, I think, better than the
[27:39] other counties. Um, but one of my
concerns was um section 4, there is an
[27:45] exemption. Um, section 4B, there's an
exemption for facilities owned and
[27:49] operated by a governmental entity for
governmental purposes. I don't know if
[27:54] you all had a reason for putting that
language in there. um it does not
[27:58] specify whether it's a county
government, a state government or a
[28:02] federal government. So my concern is
with that exception in Laurens County's
[28:06] moratorum um and not in Greenwood or
Newberry, I hope nobody tries to use
[28:12] that as a loophole. So of course I'm not
asking you to answer that right now, but
[28:17] is there a reason that that was in
there? And I think that might be
[28:20] something that the council needs to
further discuss to see if that needs to
[28:24] stay in there. Maybe it can come out or
get more specific as to what government
[28:29] could get around our moratorum. Thank
you.
[28:32] » Thank you,
>> Miss Tay. You said 4B.
[28:35] » Yes.
>> Okay. Thank you.
[28:36] » Section 4B.
>> Thank you.
[28:38] » You're welcome.
[28:42] » All right. We appreciate that public
comment this evening. Next item is
[28:47] reports to council. our county
administrator report. Uh, county
[28:50] administrator Jerry Threat.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I only have
[28:56] one report this evening and that is from
Darby Jackson, our new PIO, and she
[29:01] wants to give an update from the public
information office.
[29:17] » There's something come up with it.
[laughter]
[29:20] All right. Good evening, council. Um,
>> come down here.
[29:26] » Let me know when
>> got one more to come up. Ma'am, just
[29:30] wait it low.
>> You're good.
[29:33] » Okay. Um, good evening. As we spoke
about a little bit last month, um, we
[29:39] have a lot of exciting things that we
are coming forward from the public
[29:42] information office. Um, one of those
things is our new Facebook page. So, um,
[29:50] and upon your guys's approval, this is
going to become live. As of right now,
[29:55] it is currently unpublished, so it
cannot be found um, if you just kind of
[29:58] look it up. Um, but like I said, if you
guys like it, then we can go ahead and
[30:03] make it go live uh, tomorrow.
So, the purpose of this Facebook page uh
[30:08] will specifically be to post agendas for
upcoming public meetings, um provide
[30:13] government updates, press releases from
the public information office, and to
[30:17] boost visibility alerts, excuse me,
boost visibility on any safety alerts.
[30:22] While there are a few public pages
associated with Lawrence County
[30:25] departments, this page is not intended
to replace those pages. However, we'll
[30:29] be glad to work uh with those
departments to ensure another route for
[30:34] vital information to be released to the
public. So, um if you could scroll back
[30:38] up to the top for me, if you don't mind.
So, as of right now, how it's going to
[30:41] look, we have our uh government logo
right there as our profile picture. We
[30:46] have the uh historic courthouse on its
opening day as our cover photo. And I'll
[30:51] have you scroll down a little bit. And
all of this can be adjusted if you guys
[30:54] decide to. Um so just as an example of
how it's going to initially look is um
[31:00] that first post there is the agenda for
tonight's uh meeting. Um and as we get
[31:05] other agendas, you know, those will be
posted as those meetings come up. We
[31:09] have our hours of operation available.
We have our main there they are. We have
[31:14] our main address available. That link
there is going to link uh directly to
[31:18] our county website and we have our main
phone number there. Um,
[31:23] so
that's really it. This is the going to
[31:26] be, as I discussed last month, this is
our first step to make sure that we have
[31:31] more another route for information to
get out to the public. So those who may
[31:36] not be able to access our website or
they have difficulty understanding our
[31:39] website, a lot of people understand
Facebook. So, uh, we have that going
[31:44] there and we have our little bio there.
Welcome to the official Facebook page
[31:47] for Lawrence County, your digital
gateway to information regarding public
[31:51] meetings, safety alerts, and county
government updates. Um, are there any
[31:55] questions?
>> I just want to tell you, ma'am, thank
[31:58] you for have you did the setting up this
and thank you for the short time that
[32:03] you have came on and already got the
ball rolling. Thank you.
[32:07] » Yes, sir. Thank you.
>> What What would be the process for
[32:10] approval of submissions on a post that
you you publish? How would we approve
[32:15] that?
>> Um, so as of now, I mean, it's really
[32:19] just going to be like agendas. Um, we
since the public information office is
[32:24] underneath the legal department, how we
currently go about getting approval
[32:28] about anything that I do, it comes
through uh the approval of the county
[32:32] attorney and the county administrator.
Um, but if there's anything outside of
[32:36] what I listed that you guys would like
to post or something that you would not
[32:40] like posted um from the things that I
just mentioned, I'm happy take any
[32:44] suggestions. So, you can just contact me
and talk to me about anything you'd like
[32:48] posted. Did that answer the question?
>> Yes. I just if you wanted action tonight
[32:53] by this council to give you the ability
to make it live tomorrow, I wanted to
[32:56] make sure we had everything in place to
be able to know that the content that we
[33:01] want on that page is accurate, is what
we want, and then we're prepared for
[33:06] what's out there. So,
>> administration, are is this ready for
[33:11] prime time yet? Do we need to wait or is
there
[33:13] I think we're good to go. Um so
obviously when we had the uh the train
[33:18] derailment recently um Darby was on the
ground uh putting information out and
[33:25] this will allow us to um to distribute
that information on our own platforms um
[33:31] while also working closely with the
media and and other folks.
[33:36] » And if I can piggyback off of that um
that was a very good point in terms of
[33:39] like what we're doing presently. So when
that situation happened in terms of
[33:43] press releases um I drafted those press
releases upon approval from
[33:47] administrator and county attorney they
were uh sent out to the news um by
[33:52] luckily we have our emergency management
who has their own Facebook page and
[33:56] Becky Bagwell and um the director Sunny
was able to really coordinate with us to
[34:02] get that information out as well and
luckily we were able to work with
[34:05] Greenwood too so that everybody could
get information. So, this is just an
[34:09] extra route to get information out.
>> Any concerns from legal department?
[34:15] » No, sir. Mr. Chairman, I've vetted the
um Facebook page and there's nothing
[34:19] legally objectionable.
>> We don't need formal approval.
[34:23] » Formal approval. That falls with under
the job description of the county
[34:26] administrator. He can authorize the page
to go off.
[34:28] » Okay. Can
>> you just give me a thumbs up and we're
[34:30] good to go.
>> Thank you.
[34:32] » Thank you.
>> Appreciate it. You need a motion.
[34:36] » He's gonna No. Awesome.
[34:41] Our next item is uh committee reports.
We had one uh committee meeting that
[34:45] will have a report this evening. I'll
turn it over to Councilman Brownley.
[34:49] » Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Patterson was
not able to be with us tonight. Uh but
[34:53] July 24th, we had the Committee on
Intergovernmental Affairs and Economic
[34:56] Development uh to discuss our score
funds. That's our opioid recovery fund.
[35:01] Uh coming out of that meeting was to
recommend to full council that Lawrence
[35:04] County work with plays safe to
administer score funding for Lawrence
[35:08] County. In the process, they will
research and compile a list of desired
[35:12] funding and present to a board. And that
will consist of a representative from
[35:16] the sheriff's office, coroner, EMS,
state health department, gateway board,
[35:23] two county staff representatives, and a
representative from Lawrence County
[35:26] School District 55 and 56. and that that
board will then come back to full
[35:32] counsel for approval before submission
of any new applications. And that's also
[35:35] pending a review of the contract with
the county attorney.
[35:42] Be happy to answer any questions that I
can.
[35:45] So with that the U plays safe entity
would be the representative for us but
[35:51] we would have a committee set up to uh
vet opportunities for funding that we
[35:57] would approve and then they would
administrative for us.
[36:00] » That's right. So we will have a board
consisting of representatives from those
[36:02] respective departments or agencies. That
board would then deliver council with
[36:08] their objectives
and council would have final approval on
[36:12] that before score or before play safe
could apply for score funds.
[36:20] » Mr. Mets, do we need any action from
that?
[36:29] » Mr. Mr. Chairman, we do have uh an
executive session item to discuss
[36:33] contractual arrangement regarding score
funding. So y'all could reserve formal
[36:37] action until then or you could take
formal action now. It's really at the
[36:41] discretion of the council.
>> So discussions we will have an executive
[36:44] session maybe germanine and we could
take a motion after that discussion.
[36:49] » Yes, Mr. Chair.
>> Okay. Does council have any questions
[36:53] for Mr. Brownley or the committee
report?
[36:56] » Just thank you what y'all do.
Awesome. Thank you.
[37:03] Next item is reports from our county
attorney.
[37:12] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As uh Cheyenne
is pulling up my PowerPoint real quick.
[37:17] Uh this is a little awkward for me
because I normally don't give you guys
[37:20] legal briefing in open session. We
normally do this in executive session.
[37:23] However, last Monday, the city of
Clinton held their city council meeting
[37:28] and the county was a large topic of
discussion at that city council meeting
[37:32] and there's some information that was
shared at that city council meeting that
[37:36] I don't believe is necessarily accurate.
So, I wanted to give you guys an update
[37:40] as where we are in our litigation with
uh concerning the Cambridge Farms
[37:45] development in Clinton. U the de the de
developer's name is Miranda Homes LLC
[37:51] and I may have stalled long enough to
get my PowerPoint up. There we go. All
[37:56] right.
[38:00] Now you lost the big screen. Okay. All
right.
[38:03] Um Okay.
Give you a brief history lesson here.
[38:08] Um, I don't expect you guys to read all
of this, but this is a snippet from the
[38:12] official minutes from the April 7th,
2025 regular meeting of Clinton City
[38:18] Council. Cambridge Farms originally went
to get approval of their uh subdivision
[38:24] from the city of Clinton. They asked to
be annexed into the city of Clinton. Um,
[38:29] and it did pass first reading. Um,
however, there was some strange things
[38:33] that went on there and the mayor said
that uh it needed to be brought back
[38:37] before council with discussed judgment
judgments adjustments, excuse me,
[38:42] sometime around June. The discussed
adjustments were concerns about the
[38:47] zoning levels, whether it was R1, R2, or
R3.
[38:53] The application was then pulled from the
city. And I always wondered why this
[38:57] application was pulled from the city of
Clinton. Uh but when uh the developer
[39:02] came and testified before the Lawrence
County Planning Commission, he told us
[39:05] specifically why it was pulled. Um and
I've highlighted the the appropriate
[39:10] language here. No, we're not going to
final read on it. They were zoned in
[39:13] that way anyways, right? And so we had
we had to pull out at that point. And
[39:18] then he says, and this this was some
discussion about whether it was R1, R2,
[39:22] or R3 zoning. The developer wanted R1,
R2, and R3. And the city told him he
[39:27] could only have R1. And when the city
told him he could only have R1, they
[39:32] pulled their application from the city
and to the county we go.
[39:38] Here I'm going to give you a brief
timeline of events if my eyesight will
[39:41] allow me. On May 6, 20125, Randa Holmes
submitted an application for approval of
[39:47] the preliminary plan from Cambridge
Farms to Lawrence County. On May 19th,
[39:50] our TRC reviewed it, deemed the
application incomplete, and returned it
[39:55] to the petitioner to address certain
comments by the TRC. On May 20th, 2025,
[40:00] the Lawrence County Planning Commission
meets and they vote unanimously to
[40:05] recommend Lauren County impose a
six-month mortorium on open space
[40:08] residential developments. On July on
June 16th, 2025, Cambridge Farms
[40:14] resubmits their application.
Here's where timing becomes important
[40:19] and the words of documents become very
important. On June 23rd, 2025, the
[40:25] Lawrence County Technical Review
Committee completed its review of the
[40:29] application for Cambridge Farms, deemed
the application complete, and issued a
[40:34] conditional approval letter providing
that the application would be forwarded
[40:38] to the planning commission for review
and approval tently scheduled for July
[40:42] 15, 2025.
Later that evening, Lawrence County had
[40:47] their first reading of ordinance 989
imposing a moratorium on open space
[40:51] developments. July 14th, there is a
second reading of Ordinance 989. July
[40:57] 15th, the planning commission meets and
votes 50 to table the motion to approve
[41:03] the preliminary plan for Cambridge
Farms. I can tell you that the reason
[41:07] they voted to table that was because
they did not have a letter from the
[41:11] electrical provider saying that they
will serve utilities to the location. So
[41:15] there is a question about who was going
to be the utility provider. They come
[41:19] back before the planning commission on
August 19th, 2025 and the planning
[41:24] commission votes unanimously to deny the
approval of the preliminary plan.
[41:29] To the courthouse we go.
Here's where I say words are important
[41:34] and documents are important. This was
the letter that Cambridge Farm said
[41:39] granted them approval of their
preliminary plan and it plainly says
[41:43] that your application has been forwarded
to the planning commission for review
[41:46] and approval. So it doesn't say it was
approved. It says it was going to the
[41:51] planning commission for approval.
And our statute allows our our ordinance
[41:56] allows for that. It says that a
preliminary plat approval is an approval
[41:59] by the staff of the planning and public
works departments and or the planning
[42:04] commission which documents for the
subdivider that their proposed
[42:07] subdivision is in accordance with
applicable regulations and that
[42:11] construction of the subdivision may
proceed. So we've got the andor
[42:15] language.
So we go to court and Brandon Mahomes
[42:19] makes the following arguments. That the
preliminary plan was approved by the
[42:23] technical review committee and approved
and approval by the planning commission
[42:27] was duplicative and unnecessary.
And two, the decision of the planning
[42:31] commission to not deny approval of the
preliminary plan was arbitrary and
[42:34] capriccious.
Here's what we argued. The preliminary
[42:38] plan was not approved because it was
denied by the planning commission.
[42:42] Because the plan was never approved, it
was subject to Lawrence County Ordinance
[42:45] 989. the open space moratorum and
finally the decision of the planning
[42:49] commission was not arbitrary or
capriccious.
[42:53] So we have our day in court.
There's some important facts here that
[42:58] were not brought up at the city of
Clinton's meeting. The county was not
[43:00] served with a 367page record on appeal
until February 26, 2026, approximately
[43:07] one week before the hearing scheduled in
this matter. The county didn't receive L
[43:12] uh Veranda Homes LLC memorandum in
support of appeal less than 24 hours
[43:16] before the scheduled hearing in this
matter. This gave the county less than
[43:20] 24 hours to review the memorandum and to
prepare its initial memorandum in
[43:24] opposition. Based on the above, we
requested a continuence, but that
[43:28] request was denied by the judge. So, we
received their arguments in support of
[43:32] their motion 24 hours before the
hearing. In a typical appellet
[43:36] procedure, you would have 30 to 60 days
to review that type of memorandum.
[43:42] So, here's what the judge ruled. He
found that the TRC approval was all that
[43:46] was needed. The planning commission did
not need to approve or deny. And because
[43:50] the TRC approved the preliminary plan
before the first reading of the
[43:53] moratorium ordinance, the moratorium
does not apply. And that the decision of
[43:57] the planning commission was arbitrary
and capriccious.
[44:01] So, now we're in the court of appeals.
The county has taken this case and we've
[44:04] appealed it to the court of appeals.
I'm going to give you an appellet
[44:09] flowchart here so you can kind of
understand where we're at. Um, and this
[44:12] is a little hard to read and it's even
harder to understand. So, let me walk
[44:16] you through it. You get your written
notice of order, the order that you want
[44:19] to appeal. You have 30 days from that
day to serve your notice of appeal on
[44:23] opposing parties, and then you have 10
days from then to file the notice of
[44:28] appeal and other required documents with
the Court of Appeals.
[44:32] 10 days later, you can order your
transcript or from the court reporter.
[44:36] That takes 60 days. Then you get your
delivery of the transcript. And after
[44:40] you get your transcript, you have 30
days to file your initial brief and
[44:45] designation of matter. I will tell you
that 30 limit time limit was today and
[44:50] we requested a 30-day extension. So
that'll push it out another 30 days. So
[44:56] in 30 days from now, we will file our
initial brief and designation of matter.
[45:01] 30 days from then the respondent will
serve their initial brief and
[45:04] designation of matter. 10 days after
that we serve our initi our reply brief.
[45:10] 30 days after that we serve a record on
appeal to all parties who served a
[45:14] brief. 20 days after that each party
serves and files its final brief.
[45:20] Then it goes to the court and the court
can do one or two things. It can send
[45:23] out notice of oral argument or it can
hear the case without oral argument. If
[45:28] it send if it decides to have oral
argument, it'll send you out notice of
[45:31] when the hearings are, ask you to have
any conflict. You'll eventually go to
[45:35] court. You'll have your oral argument.
The opinion will be filed. Whoever
[45:41] doesn't like the opinion has 15 days to
file a petition for rehearing and action
[45:46] thereon. And then after that time limit,
it passes. The remitter sent to the
[45:51] lower court unless there is an appeal to
the Supreme Court. I tell you all this
[45:55] to tell you that the appellet process
takes a very long time. Um, it is not
[46:01] something that the county entered into
lightly. It we hired outside appellet
[46:05] counsel to represent the county in this
matter. He's experienced. He has a ton
[46:09] of experience in these matters and he
felt that the county had a meritorious
[46:13] claim. Therefore, he went forward with
representing us in the appeal.
[46:17] All right. I made this um because you
heard a lot from the city of Clinton
[46:21] that they didn't like our chances on
appeal because they kept hearing
[46:25] statistics that only 10% of appeals are
granted. That's true if you include all
[46:30] the criminal appeals of anybody on death
row um that have a right to an appeal.
[46:34] But civil appeals are different. Um and
here's why I appealed this case. Number
[46:39] one, all humans are fallible. Number
two, all judges are human. Therefore,
[46:44] all judges are fallible. And in this
case, I think the judge got it wrong.
[46:49] Um, so I appealed the case to the court
of appeals. And again, I'm relying on
[46:52] the document that was presented to court
that said this subdivision had to be
[46:57] approved by both our technical review
committee and our planning commission.
[47:02] That's it. That's the basis of my
argument. It's in black and white. The
[47:07] judge read the exact same document and
disagreed with me. I tend to think he's
[47:11] wrong. with all due respect. So
therefore, I appealed him to a higher
[47:16] court so I can have three judges review
this and tell me whether the county is
[47:20] right or the developer is right.
Again, our ordinance allowed for it. So
[47:27] that's the end of my presentation. I'll
be happy to answer any questions in
[47:30] executive session because you guys would
ask me for legal advice then, but I did
[47:33] want to put those facts forward since
some other facts were put forward in
[47:37] another public forum.
>> Mr. Mittz, thank you so much. Um, you
[47:41] might have already send it over. Is
there any chance we could get a copy of
[47:44] the slideshow?
>> Absolutely.
[47:45] » Is it it's available? We can share it
correct with people. Okay.
[47:49] » Absolutely.
>> I'm going to tell you my opinion. I went
[47:52] to that meeting and I'm going to call
him out and he can say he got something
[47:56] said to me. Come see me. Ken dog didn't
even know the zoner. He don't even know
[48:00] the zoning in his own county in his own
city.
[48:03] I would dare man don't even know what a
R1 or R2 or R3 is. And you on the boat
[48:08] and been there 30 or 40 years. They're
telling me you don't know. You ain't
[48:13] know your whole town. And I couldn't
speak then, but I'm speaking now. But
[48:17] let him listen to this. Ole Fton Jr.
said it sir to you.
[48:22] You don't even know your whole town and
they don't know your or
[48:28] it like this. The city of Clinton don't
have the balls to tell them a go or no
[48:34] go.
Come back and see me to say the Clint.
[48:39] Anybody else have anything for Mr. Mets?
We appreciate that, Mr. Mets.
[48:46] Next item will be old business. Are
there any council submissions for
[48:50] boards, commissions, or committees this
evening?
[48:55] Okay. Next item would be public hearing
of ordinance 111011,
[49:00] an ordinance to amend Lawrence County
Ordinance 935 adding responsible pet
[49:05] ownership and targeted spayneuter
provisions and other matters pertaining
[49:09] there too. We will open this public
hearing at 18:48. Anybody willing
[49:15] wishing to speak for or against this
public hearing is open, please come
[49:19] forward.
[49:32] My name's Pam and um Riddle and I for
it. You know there y'all know there's so
[49:39] many stray animals. I I actually have
three dogs, three puppies and a dog
[49:44] right now from Lawrence County out of a
ditch. Nobody owns them. Nobody knows
[49:50] anything which adds a lot of dogs on my
property. But anyway, all we can do to
[49:56] support the help for the shelter for the
spayneuter,
[50:01] you need to stand behind them.
>> Thank you.
[50:04] » Thank you.
[50:15] Anyone else?
Seeing none, we'll close the public
[50:20] hearing. Next item is the third reading
of ordinance 1011.
[50:25] Is there a motion to approve on third
reading?
[50:27] » Motion.
>> Second.
[50:29] » Motion is second. Any discussion?
>> First off, I just want to thank Caroline
[50:33] and all the animal control staff. I know
this is a tool that y'all can finally
[50:36] use now that we're to the finish line.
Also want to thank Mr. J and Miss Clark
[50:40] couldn't be with us tonight. Uh part of
the criminal justice and public safety
[50:43] committee. I know we had plenty of
meetings on it and heard all the input
[50:47] that we possibly could uh to get the
best version of this out that we can. Um
[50:50] just again, thank you to animal control.
I hope this is a tool y'all can use and
[50:54] I look forward to finally passing it on
third read and whoever's playing free
[50:58] bird. That was uh that was awesome.
[51:03] Anybody else?
All right, we are motioned and second
[51:09] properly. All those in favor of
approving on third reading ordinance
[51:12] 1011, please raise your right hand
50.
[51:18] Hopefully this is going to be helpful to
y'all. Hope so. Next item is second
[51:23] reading of ordinance 1012. That is the
ordinance imposing a moratorum on the
[51:28] acceptance, review, approval, and
issuance of developmental permits for
[51:32] data centers within Lawren County.
Is there a motion to approve on second
[51:37] reading?
Second
[51:40] » motion and a second at this time. Any
discussion council has?
[51:44] » Yeah, Mr. Chairman. Um,
you know, I I am interested in striking
[51:50] section 4B. Um, so I guess I would need
to put a motion on the table to to
[51:55] strike. Um,
Miss Tate had mentioned, thank you, Miss
[52:01] Tate, for bringing that to our
attention. Um yes, section four under
[52:05] exemptions uh specifically line B
4B
[52:12] » 4B.
Um Mr. Mets, is that an appropriate
[52:15] motion?
>> So I was going to get clarification for
[52:18] why that was in there, what it could be
used for and couldn't be used for, and
[52:22] give us some clarification before we
took action. Is that okay?
[52:28] » Yes, Mr. Chairman. Honestly, I I think
this statement or I think this section
[52:32] states the obvious. Um there's only a
certain handful of governmental
[52:37] entities. You've got the federal
government, you got the state
[52:39] government, you got the county
government, and you got the city
[52:41] government, right? And we have no
jurisdiction over the federal
[52:44] government. We have no jurisdiction over
the state government, and we have no
[52:47] jurisdiction over what a city does
inside their city. Um and quite frankly,
[52:51] I don't know that we want to impose
regulations on the county. Um which
[52:55] would be the only other governmental
entity there is. Um, so I I think it
[53:00] states what the the state of the law is.
The supremacy claw of the constitution
[53:03] tells us that we can't regulate the
federal government. Um, home rule tells
[53:07] us that we can't regulate the state
government to the extent they allow us
[53:09] to. Um, and cities, we don't have any
jurisdiction over what they do with
[53:13] inside the corporate cities. Um, so um,
we can strike it, but I think that's the
[53:20] state of the law. Um, so I think it's
going to be that way anyway.
[53:27] I just want to tell everybody
the class they just sent me to, I think
[53:31] he was in that two class, Mr. Matthew,
uh, Council Brownley.
[53:37] And people don't understand
and I'mma let y'all inside where I was
[53:44] taught in class in school.
It retypes a data center.
[53:52] It retypes. Lots of people do not know
that it three types of data center is
[53:57] out there. Some counties where I was
told in in school
[54:03] should have never took some data center
because
[54:08] some counties is still living off of
whale water.
[54:13] That whole town is well water. So they
should have never got a data center
[54:21] there. Lauren County warden sew that I
heard might be wrong but he hear the
[54:28] verified that we have water here in
Lawrence County.
[54:34] So people don't understand
some county went off the first data
[54:39] center that came in front of them and
accept that data center.
[54:44] I thank vice chairman Matthew Brownley
by putting this monitor together to make
[54:53] sure and understand to consider the
people out here. People don't understand
[54:59] we got soda farms here in Lawrence
County. People complaining about noise
[55:06] and all of that.
We are trying to put in a moratorum now
[55:11] to put data center in a location that it
don't be by a residential or by
[55:19] commercial property and what else uh
schools and stuff like that. So we are
[55:26] working on that and I thank him from
putting this together and I understand
[55:31] all the rules of regulation I'm
learning. I'm gonna keep reading but be
[55:37] tell the people it is three types of
data center
[55:42] and like I said last month in my perfect
comment
[55:46] y'all here on the county we putting
something together but people right now
[55:51] can go to law city hall and put in
permit people can go to the city clinic
[55:57] to put in for a permit I don't see y'all
at them meetings when they can go put
[56:02] get a permit today or anytime and they
can go up in the Hun Industrial Park and
[56:09] go TO LAWN. THEY AIN'T GOT TO come
through the county. They can go to the
[56:12] Clinton connection and go to the city of
Clinton and get one and go down into the
[56:18] city of Clinton and put one.
But that y'all need to be talking to the
[56:24] law city and law city Clinton. Well,
some of them don't even know they tail
[56:30] from their butt.
So I'm telling you like you need to go
[56:33] to them. We are putting stuff in order.
It might not be the order you want but
[56:39] we are working on it.
>> Councilman Lane, do you still after
[56:42] hearing
>> Yeah, I agree. Mr. Pson, uh Mr. Mets,
[56:46] now I understand supremacy clause and
everything and I understand we can't um
[56:51] go we can't necessarily infringe on the
cities and the municipalities, but we
[56:56] can manage the county. Is that true? the
the significance of that um
[57:01] » would be that if you took out that
exemption then Lawrence County would be
[57:04] subject to your right our own ordinance
um
[57:08] » which
>> I don't feel like
[57:10] » subject yourself to those regulations
but you may want to put it you know
[57:13] there may be in the future that the
county would want to put a data center
[57:15] somewhere and this would restrict where
the county would be able to do that
[57:19] » I mean you know so I I think it's worth
covering all of our bases I will resend
[57:24] my previous motion and I'll put another
motion on the table to rephrase uh 4B to
[57:31] say facilities owned and operated by a
governmental entity for governmental
[57:36] purposes excluding Lawrence County.
Would that cover all of our bases, Mr.
[57:40] Mets?
>> It would. Gotcha.
[57:45] » That your motion?
>> Yes, sir. Is there a second?
[57:55] That motion does for lack of a second.
Any more discussion?
[58:04] Call the question. All those in favor of
approving on second reading
[58:10] ordinance
should get it right. 1012, please raise
[58:14] your right hand.
50.
[58:20] Thank you.
Next item is new business, approval of
[58:25] our 2026 a tax allocations. Andy Howard,
are you in the house?
[58:40] » Good evening, council.
>> Good evening, sir.
[58:44] So, this year was a very um prosperous
year for accommodations taxes. Um we
[58:52] received more than we've ever received
before, $264,896.13.
[58:59] Um never seen it before. Um but it is a
great year. Um we were able to award
[59:04] everybody that applied and have quite a
bit left over.
[59:09] The recommendations were that everybody
that applied receive everything they
[59:13] applied for. Um I believe everyone has
that um recommendation from the
[59:18] accommodations tax committee.
Um the remaining funds were recommended
[59:24] to go to pay for placer AI and there's
quite a bit left over.
[59:30] Um we have quite a few other
opportunities with the a center being a
[59:36] large um
tourist generating facility now and my
[59:44] recommendation would be that those
additional funds be um sent to that. Um
[59:49] we will have to meet with the
accommodations tax for their
[59:52] recommendations after that. But what I
am asking tonight is that the
[59:57] accommodations tax original
recommendations
[1:00:00] be approved so that we can get those
funds out to those original applicants
[1:00:05] um and pay for those and then we will
bring another recommendation next month
[1:00:09] after the accommodations tax committee
um meets to decide what we do with those
[1:00:15] remaining funds. Does anybody have any
questions on how the accommodations tax
[1:00:20] revenues are dispersed or how they
received? I am more than happy to
[1:00:26] discuss it after 18 years of dealing
with these funds.
[1:00:29] » I realized that you put it in the
newspaper and everybody fill out the
[1:00:33] application and turn back in.
>> Yes, sir.
[1:00:35] » And and this year, like you said, I'm
looking at your sheet. I'm looking at
[1:00:40] numbers
that all of them awarded. I mean getting
[1:00:44] them out the amount the amount they
asked for.
[1:00:46] » Yes sir.
>> And the money that left over from the
[1:00:50] ATAC fund
that can some kind of way we can use it
[1:00:56] here in Lawrence County.
>> Um I'm not quite sure I'll follow Mr. F.
[1:01:03] » The money that left over out of all the
application
[1:01:08] » it come out to be 77 $74,280,000.
I'm looking at my sheet, right?
[1:01:14] » Yes, sir.
>> Can that money be used back in to
[1:01:17] Lawrence County?
>> As long as it's in tourism related
[1:01:20] expenses in in a way that will generate
tourism to Lawrence County. We want to
[1:01:25] bring as many people as we can into
Lawrence County and get them to spend
[1:01:28] more money in Lawrence County. That's
how we boost tourism dollars in Lawrence
[1:01:32] County.
>> Can you share with Mr. Phill
[1:01:36] again?
>> Yes. the a center and you you all have
[1:01:40] seen reports that we've had just in the
small events that we've had so far
[1:01:46] 4500 people at a time coming in.
>> So why saying can we put that money back
[1:01:51] in there to buy stuff for our county?
>> Absolutely. We've had um interest in
[1:01:56] heer sales. Um, most recently the Black
Angus um um
[1:02:03] committee is looking at doing a a black
Angus sale and you're looking at around
[1:02:07] 300 people a night and on the average
around 65 to 120 cattle and that will
[1:02:14] bring in $350,000
in sales over a weekend sale. Um you're
[1:02:21] talking the price of cars for cattle. Um
and that's pretty amazing. I'm not a
[1:02:26] cattle person, but I think we got a few
here tonight. Um, I see one back there.
[1:02:31] Um, and these are sales that are
typically held at Clemson, and they are
[1:02:37] interested in using our a facility,
which is pretty amazing. Um, and we're
[1:02:42] looking at the um red Angus, the
Herford, th those different um those are
[1:02:48] specialty um cattle sales, but that does
come with specialty
[1:02:54] um and specialty sail rings and those
things would be usable in different
[1:03:02] setups in say the horse arena and so
those things would also generate you
[1:03:07] know the use for other different types
of events like rodeos and things like
[1:03:11] that. So it's not just a one use type
thing but it's sales that we would have
[1:03:16] multiple times throughout the year and
again generate more revenue and generate
[1:03:21] more tourists coming in. You know,
typically you're not going to have those
[1:03:25] types of sales and just with residents
from Lawrence County. That's going to
[1:03:29] bring bring people in from different
states. And that's what we want. We want
[1:03:34] out oftowners staying here in Lawrence,
spending their money in our restaurants,
[1:03:39] spending their money at our gas
stations. Again, boosting that that a
[1:03:43] tax dollar here in Lawrence County.
>> I'm all for it, sir.
[1:03:48] I'll go ahead and make a motion to
approve this 2026
[1:03:52] a tax committee funding that we've
already got in front of us and to
[1:03:56] approve the remaining allocation of
74,280
[1:04:00] of the remaining balance to go toward
the a center contingent upon a review
[1:04:04] and approval by the tax committee.
>> Sounds good.
[1:04:08] » Is there a second?
>> Second.
[1:04:10] » Any further discussion?
All those in favor of approving the
[1:04:15] motion, please raise your right hand.
5. Thank you.
[1:04:18] » Thank you, council.
>> Thank you, sir.
[1:04:21] » Tell your department thank what they do
every day, sir.
[1:04:23] » Thank you.
>> I know it's hot out there.
[1:04:25] » Yes, sir. Thank you.
>> Next item is first reading of ordinance
[1:04:28] 1013. It's an ordinance to amend
ordinance 926 by repealing and replacing
[1:04:34] division 6.3 and 8-8.B
B and amending division 9A.1
[1:04:42] regarding major subdivision plan
approvals and other matters related
[1:04:46] there too. This came from council member
Brownley. So I'll let him expound on
[1:04:51] this.
>> Thank you, sir. And uh Mr. Mets, our
[1:04:53] county attorney, did an amazing job
explaining um the development in Clinton
[1:04:58] and what happened with the county a
couple months ago. So essentially this
[1:05:01] ordinance is repealing giving the TRC or
andor the planning commission the
[1:05:07] ability to approve major subdivisions
and and now making that TRC also called
[1:05:12] the technical review committee advisory
only.
[1:05:16] Are there any other questions about that
and I'm happy to Mr. Mads if you'd like
[1:05:20] to expand any on anything? Just want to
give a quick overview.
[1:05:24] » No, I think you nailed it. Um I just
don't like losing lawsuits. Um, and the
[1:05:29] only way I can clarify that provision is
to remove the authority of um, and pick
[1:05:34] one. And I figure if we're going to pick
one, it should be our planning
[1:05:37] commission as opposed to our TRC.
And for those that don't know, the
[1:05:42] technical review committee is made up of
county staff. Um, you know, and they're
[1:05:46] really great looking through these, so I
don't want to knock on them one bit, but
[1:05:49] this does give us the the tools we need,
I think, to make the process a lot
[1:05:54] better and more transparent.
[1:05:58] And I will be happy to make a motion to
approve on first reading ordinance 1013.
[1:06:02] » Second.
>> Is there any further discussion?
[1:06:05] » Yeah.
>> Go ahead.
[1:06:07] » Go ahead.
>> Mr. Mats, I do have a question for you.
[1:06:09] I've tried to look up in ordinance 872
for the RV parks. Do you happen to be
[1:06:15] familiar with that language? I know this
is first reading so we can fix it later,
[1:06:18] but I would like to address Miss
Garrison's concerns on the notices.
[1:06:26] Um,
with with all due respect to Miss
[1:06:29] Garrison, she's half right, half wrong.
Um, [laughter]
[1:06:32] and and I do agree with her that that
the public notice requirement um applies
[1:06:36] to all commercial projects and that an
RV campground is a commercial project.
[1:06:41] Um, so therefore, they should have to
follow the public notice requirements of
[1:06:44] division 7. I don't think you need an
amendment to the ordinance. I think the
[1:06:48] ordinance says that plainly right now.
We just need need to make it clear to
[1:06:51] our building and codes and and planning
department that that public notice
[1:06:55] requirement needs to be met for RB parks
as well. Um
[1:07:00] the part that I'm going to disagree with
Miss Garrison about is where it says
[1:07:03] proceeding sections. That refers to any
preceding ordinances before that
[1:07:08] ordinance um and not ordinances that are
passed afterwards. Um but I I think the
[1:07:15] gist of of her complaint and she is
correct is that the public notice
[1:07:19] requirements need to be observed for
commercial projects and we will make
[1:07:23] sure that uh myself and the county
administrator direct our staff that way.
[1:07:28] » Thank you sir. I appreciate it.
>> People might don't like my opinion. When
[1:07:31] somebody want to sell some land they
going to sell their land. whoever they
[1:07:34] going to put on it or sell it to.
As long they meet the county rules and
[1:07:41] regulation
and go by their rules and regulation and
[1:07:45] go by the what they need to go by and
get the permits and stuff, why are we
[1:07:49] talking about it?
[1:07:53] » Any other comments?
>> Yeah. Um I'm I'm glad we're making this
[1:07:58] change. Um, and as in Wes's slides show
earlier, there was an andor uh portion
[1:08:04] line in there. Um, and that's why we
have a fighting chance in that appeals
[1:08:08] court. Um, but I just to piggyback on
what Mr. Brownley was saying, you know,
[1:08:14] the TRC it is comprised of employees,
but it's my understanding it's comprised
[1:08:18] of uh representatives of various
entities as well. Correct. Um, and I
[1:08:24] also learned that district 55 is on
there. District 56, to my understanding,
[1:08:29] is still not represented by their own
choosing.
[1:08:33] » I think they're now on board. Um,
>> we got them on board.
[1:08:36] » Both school districts and actually
Greenville County is on board now, too.
[1:08:38] So, we've got uh Lawrence 556 in
Greenville County weighing in on
[1:08:42] something.
>> So, it's good. We've got things uh
[1:08:44] improving and getting better. Um, love
to see it. Uh, and you know, obviously
[1:08:49] like Matthew said, you know, we're not
knocking the TRC or anything. I I do
[1:08:53] appreciate the fact that we are um
moving that authority and that power
[1:09:00] from an employee entity style committee
to a citizen-led committee or planning
[1:09:06] commission which is citizenled. Um so I
do appreciate that. That's all I got.
[1:09:12] » Awesome. All right.
There is a motion and a second on the
[1:09:17] table. Correct. We've had discussion.
All those in favor of approving on first
[1:09:21] reading ordinance 1013, please raise
your right hand. 5. Great.
[1:09:28] All right. And that gets us to the end.
We'll be at County Council comments. Uh,
[1:09:32] Councilman Lang,
>> I will keep it quick. Um, you always
[1:09:36] know where to find me. Um, Mr. Joe, I
need to get back to you. I'm sorry,
[1:09:40] brother. But I do agree with what you
were bringing to us earlier in your
[1:09:44] comments. Um, and uh I am excited about
these two ordinances. While they don't
[1:09:50] address the core problems that were
brought up earlier, I do think, you
[1:09:53] know, this is something to build on and
it's very valuable, as you said. Um, as
[1:09:59] far as the data centers, I I just want
to, I guess, make my stance clear now. I
[1:10:04] just hope it doesn't get get me put on a
list somewhere, which I might I might
[1:10:07] already be on a list, but um, but I
mean, I'm against them. I a brother Uh D
[1:10:15] Parnell who came up earlier mentioned
the trip. You don't even have to take me
[1:10:19] brother. I'm already against them. Um
for for a multitude of reasons. The only
[1:10:25] situation I see myself being in support
of any sort of data center is if they
[1:10:30] are self-sufficient as far as power and
water do not raise electricity fees for
[1:10:36] for the citizens. Um their water bill
for that matter. also the environmental
[1:10:40] concerns as far as the water supply and
it getting contaminated, polluted um or
[1:10:46] whatever it may be. Um but it would have
to check all those boxes and and I could
[1:10:52] probably think of some more boxes to
check too and on top of that the revenue
[1:10:56] uh benefit that they could bring. Um you
know, if we could check all those boxes
[1:11:01] and not harm the community, not harm the
environment, anything of that nature,
[1:11:05] and it be completely self-sufficient.
And then on top of that, we receive a
[1:11:09] tremendous amount of revenue for the
county. I think I could support it. Um,
[1:11:14] I would love to see it generate so much
revenue, we just cut out property taxes.
[1:11:18] I know I said that might sound crazy,
but um, might be a pipe dream. Wishful
[1:11:22] thinking, but that's just where I stand.
I just wanted to make that clear. Um,
[1:11:27] but I appreciate this council. I
appreciate all the citizens here. And
[1:11:30] yeah, y'all know where to find me.
>> Mr.
[1:11:35] Councilman Filson.
>> Uh, I would like to put on the table
[1:11:40] again
[1:11:46] what Greenwood County been doing about
the taxes. People pay their taxes during
[1:11:52] the year.
And
[1:11:55] I don't know that we had to put it on
agenda
[1:12:00] for to vote on it. It's mostly made for
the s citizen
[1:12:06] or lawn county and it made for
everybody. They can pay their taxes all
[1:12:11] during the year.
But I think Greenwood County, if you
[1:12:17] miss a payment, you're on a payment
plan. If you miss a payment plan and you
[1:12:21] miss it, you get all your money back and
you got to pay the full amount.
[1:12:27] But it's mostly made for I call it
military wise they call it hardship.
[1:12:33] So people pay it all during the year and
make a payment so they won't have to
[1:12:39] come up with all the funds at one time.
Everybody not able to read Facebook
[1:12:47] internet I mean Instagram
zel cash app and all of that. So that is
[1:12:55] one of my thing. Uh I want to thank the
councilman's Matthew from putting up um
[1:13:03] the Maran together and like I told you
earlier today
[1:13:09] people don't understand it is three
types a data center
[1:13:14] and nobody don't sell whoever come up
and selling you say my car I sell BMW
[1:13:20] you go to the BMW lot they going to say
your BMW you go to a Ford lot they going
[1:13:25] to say your board. So you go to the
youth side. So that how these other data
[1:13:30] people been coming up in front of these
other county and they went off the first
[1:13:35] center data center. I'm I learned a lot
about data center while I'm in school. I
[1:13:41] think we go back I think we're going to
have another class about data center and
[1:13:45] we're going to meet in Colombia. L46
county going to meet there in Colombia
[1:13:52] and they gonna talk about the BRE data
center.
[1:13:55] And I tell everybody
I ain't for a data center myself but
[1:14:00] it's three types
and it like this and like Justin said
[1:14:07] some data center going to help certain r
and we can they do bring a loss revenues
[1:14:15] in but let us get more detail about the
data center and so we can pass it on to
[1:14:22] y'all. We ain't finally keeping that
from y'all. Just realize that
[1:14:30] I'm glad that we are putting something
together to probably make it. Not by if
[1:14:37] one ever want to come in front of us and
pose up, but because the people y'all
[1:14:43] the one that gohead, we the one that
decide,
[1:14:47] but we finally put stuff in order.
I want to thank every department y'all.
[1:14:52] It been a hot summer.
I want to thank the park and wreck the
[1:14:58] purple work department billing and cold
janitor to everybody who work outside
[1:15:03] for this county
because
[1:15:07] and it been hot and I our it rain every
day look like we ain't going to never
[1:15:14] get caught up on yards. Thank the uh
billing uh park and billing and code.
[1:15:23] Your people got to go outside. Just make
sure all your people y'all drink water.
[1:15:28] Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Mr. Brown,
[1:15:33] » I'll keep it very brief. Just appreciate
you all coming out, all those who spoke
[1:15:36] in public comment as well as all of our
departments. That is it for me tonight.
[1:15:40] We just appreciate everybody and
appreciate council as well.
[1:15:42] » Awesome. Thank you. And
there's some
[1:15:48] concerns that some people have related
to a moratorum that
[1:15:52] it means something will never come,
something will never happen. And we had
[1:15:58] a moratorum on
our subdivisions.
[1:16:02] And to many people's chagrins, it hasn't
stopped them from coming. It changed the
[1:16:07] way things come.
But we've had um growth in as it relates
[1:16:14] to business and industry in things that
we weren't 100% ready for or sure about.
[1:16:21] And we entered into things such as solar
farms assuming or thinking that they
[1:16:28] were innocuous and they would just be a
good neighbor to you and bring in
[1:16:33] electricity and it wouldn't impact
anything negative. And then some come
[1:16:40] and environmentally uh they affect
citizens uh things happen. And so this
[1:16:45] is an opportunity to look at something
another thing that wants to be here and
[1:16:52] make sure that this is something that
would fit within Lawrence County that it
[1:16:56] doesn't have these dilitterious effects
that are going to cause these things
[1:17:00] that some of these things do.
It doesn't mean there aren't places for
[1:17:04] them. I mean you if you're on your
phone, if you're doing things like that,
[1:17:08] data centers are part of our
infrastructure. Any AI you ever use will
[1:17:14] be coming from a data center. So it's
it's going to be there, but it doesn't
[1:17:18] fit everywhere. It's not for every
community. And just because it generates
[1:17:22] a lot of money does not necessarily mean
that it's right for us. We're learn
[1:17:27] they're learning a lot. They're going to
classes, learning things. And that might
[1:17:30] be in the future something that the
county wants to consider pieces of or it
[1:17:34] may not have any interest whatsoever.
This gives us an opportunity to look at
[1:17:38] that to get something before the county
transparently have meetings have
[1:17:43] everything that's decided and discussed
be in the open and then we'll together
[1:17:49] understand this is not for us or this is
for us. But this is something that is
[1:17:55] caused so much issues because on the
surface of it, somebody may have assumed
[1:18:00] that this was a good thing and in good
faith did something
[1:18:04] and it turned out to be very bad for a
community. And I if anything I've
[1:18:08] learned in my time here about to be done
is that the expectation of the citizen
[1:18:13] is that they know what's going on that
they're they're involved in those
[1:18:16] decisions and the things that we do have
impacts and we have to be held
[1:18:20] responsible for them. And so if nothing
else going forward, everything this co
[1:18:24] this this uh board does, this council
does keeps that in mind and it on this
[1:18:30] Facebook thing that everybody knows what
the agenda is, not just people who know
[1:18:35] how to get to a certain thing. If it
becomes packed houses every time, it's
[1:18:40] the way it should be because if you're
interested and want to be involved in
[1:18:43] your government, you should have access
and know everything there is. we should
[1:18:47] be doing good government and not
stopping and figuring this out would be
[1:18:51] bad bad government and I won't be a part
of that. So I appreciate all the work
[1:18:56] everybody's done. Hopefully you'll
continue to trust what we're doing and
[1:18:59] we'll get that trust by being uh
transparent with what uh we're doing.
[1:19:04] The next item we have is executive
session. We have two things on that. One
[1:19:09] is the receipt of legal advice relating
to the settlement of the county of
[1:19:13] Lawren versus Happy Valley LLC and the
second is discussion of u negotiations
[1:19:20] incident to our proposed agreement our
contract with regarding SCORE funding
[1:19:26] administration. That's what came from
Matthew Brownley's u report from
[1:19:32] committee related to SCORE funds. We're
going to be uh discussing the
[1:19:36] contractual impacts of that and when we
finish that discussion any motions that
[1:19:40] are taken will be done out here in
public. So if you're interested in that
[1:19:44] uh please stand by and we will come out
after our executive session and have
[1:19:49] discussion. So with that
other item what did I miss?
[1:19:56] » Okay.
Okay. All right. So
[1:20:01] » motion to enter
>> motion to enter executive session.
[1:20:05] » Motion and a second. All those in favor
of entering executive session. It is
[1:20:12] 7:20. So we'll enter exe executive
session at 7:25 and we'll try to be
[1:20:17] mindful of your time. Thank you.
[1:50:25] All right, we are back from executive
session. No action was taken in
[1:50:31] executive session. We will now entertain
any motions anyone would like to make.
[1:50:36] » Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Y'all bear with
me on this one, but I would like to make
[1:50:39] a motion to allow the county
administrator to enter into a
[1:50:42] contractual agreement with PlaySafe to
apply for Lawrence County score funds in
[1:50:46] the amount of 210,000
for the 2026 year, 35,000 of which to
[1:50:52] continue the program at the corner's
office and the remaining 175,000 to fund
[1:50:57] two full-time outreach coordinators to
work exclusively in Lawrence County
[1:51:00] Schools and to establish a committee
that submits recommendations to council
[1:51:05] as presented earlier in my committee
report from the intergovernmental
[1:51:08] affairs and for this committee to begin
in the beginning of 2027.
[1:51:14] » There is a motion. Is there a second?
>> Any discussion?
[1:51:19] All those in favor of approving the
motion
[1:51:22] 5. Mr. Filson, you want to share
something?
[1:51:26] » Uh I just want before closing tonight, I
forgot to put in my public comment
[1:51:32] in Clinton
55 56.
[1:51:36] We lost two people. Uh, one of them is
coach Bill Ro
[1:51:41] and Mr. Hary
>> Har
[1:51:47] that. Um, he long time jury man in
Clinton that he was in the AOS.
[1:51:55] Uh, he did a lot of volunteer
give back to the kids at the Clinton
[1:52:01] YMCA.
This man did a lot and I would make sure
[1:52:06] his family get recognized later on
and we just want to say
[1:52:12] um a moment silent for those two.
[1:52:19] » Thank you.
>> I'll entertain a motion. Motion to all
[1:52:24] those in favor of journ
so moved. This meeting is adjourned.