[1:59] Mhm.

[2:23] » Hey. 21st along with our public hearing. We

[2:28] will begin our public hearing uh

[2:33] first and then go directly into our regular council meeting.

[2:38] In our public hearing, now I will read this statement for you.

[2:42] Notice is hereby given that the county council

[2:46] of Alachua County will conduct a public hearing

[2:50] relating to an ordinance to provide for the control and

[2:56] prevention of litter and illegal dumping within

[3:01] Alachua County. To provide procedures for for for

[3:05] enforcement. To provide penal penalties for

[3:11] violation of this ordinance and other matters related thereto.

[3:17] So, >> [snorts]

[3:19] » ladies and gentlemen, we certainly would like to hear your

[3:23] concerns on our litter control, something that

[3:26] we've been doing for a long time. Mr. Bankhead, you seem to have some

[3:30] problems. Could could you let us know? Yes, sir.

[3:35] I thought we already had a ordinance for that.

[3:38] Well, you will see why we did not.

[3:43] We did not cuz you blocked it. >> [laughter]

[3:45] » You will see that what we had was not strong enough.

[3:48] » Okay, what's the problem with the code? There you go.

[3:52] And I won't blame anybody for that. >> [clears throat and cough]

[3:59] » But anyway, please,

[4:01] » [snorts] >> if you got concerns

[4:03] » Does that Does this not include people using their property for a junkyard?

[4:08] Using what, sir? Their property for a junkyard.

[4:11] You know, that's one piece of legislation

[4:15] that our legislators have dealt with over the years.

[4:20] And they've yet to make a decision on it. Well, cuz I deal with that on a

[4:24] daily basis. >> Uh well, I

[4:26] we're not the only county. Uh larger counties certainly have

[4:30] indicated a desire to have an enforcement on

[4:34] county-wide literacy, uh abandoned property, etc.

[4:40] Our legislators kind of They listen very politely,

[4:46] but have not done anything. Walter, that's your take on it? Yeah.

[4:50] Okay. I don't want to say anything bad about

[4:52] [clears throat] Walter, but when it comes to legislative that

[4:56] But it does account for abandoned cars in yards,

[4:59] doesn't it? Excuse me? It does account for abandoned

[5:03] cars in yards. >> unsightly property in the definitions in

[5:06] there, so that that would fit in that definition, I think.

[5:10] What the chair was talking about is

[5:14] I do work professionally with a a recognized salvage yard. That's what

[5:20] we're talking about. Yes, sir.

[5:23] Yes.

[5:26] But I'm a Who's going to enforce this? >> Who's going to enforce this? The

[5:31] sheriff's department. I'm confused.

[5:34] The The counties have never had the same

[5:36] ability that cities have had to clean up unsightly property.

[5:40] Okay, good. They got no job on my way. Cuz they

[5:44] The legislature has never given them that This is what we're talking about.

[5:48] » Yeah. has never given counties the same kind of power

[5:51] to clean up the piece of property and then

[5:54] levy a fine or a fee to pick it up or to cover the cost.

[5:59] Uh we've been asking for it because a lot of cities people in Illinois used to

[6:02] do that and they just didn't want to tax people

[6:06] because they can't we can't do that in the county because

[6:09] I think what I've actually been told is that,

[6:12] you know, out in the rural parts of the county

[6:15] it may be 2 3 4 miles to the next neighbor.

[6:19] Four or five cars sitting there on sitting on the block may not disturb a

[6:22] guy 4 miles away as opposed to sitting next door in in the

[6:26] city in the city of ours. Yeah. So they don't

[6:32] One person's treasure is another person's trash and that's that's kind of

[6:35] the way they treat it out in the county. Absolutely.

[6:38] And down in Wayne County, my in-laws live about a mile deep in the woods and

[6:43] nobody around. So we have all kind of

[6:47] property, trash,

[6:50] cars, tractors.

[6:54] Nobody bothers us. So.

[6:58] And hunting stands.

[7:04] Well, I think it's very important for us to have this because then this allows us

[7:07] to keep the larger percentage of the money that we've been collecting for

[7:10] this type thing for the last couple of years. So this is

[7:14] really good. Really wonderful that you consider it and I certainly hope it

[7:18] passes. Well, Councilman Carl Evan researching

[7:22] this thing for as long as he's been on council. So I think we got something we

[7:25] can sink our our teeth in. I commend it.

[7:30] Get it done.

[7:34] Matt, do you want to say something or this is Joe? No.

[7:37] I thought um

[7:44] Hello everyone. first were talking about it, we weren't sure on the fines and

[7:49] um

[7:52] Is it too late to change the fines at this point?

[7:55] Unless you give an amendment or you give it a third reading. I mean, if I'm

[7:59] reading right, the fine for a deposit of collection of litter or garbage in a

[8:02] mount not more than 15 lb in a area facility not intended for public deposit

[8:07] of litter or garbage uh

[8:11] it's $50 and not more than $150. Okay. And this is going to have to do with the

[8:17] state. Most of this has to do with the state. Most of this fine structure out

[8:21] of the state law. Yeah, but the people that belong

[8:24] to the state law can be We can't go higher? Okay. But if the sheriff writes

[8:28] a citation under this ordinance or if I state ordinance, the people of the

[8:31] county govern. Okay. No, I just okay, that makes sense.

[8:35] I was just hoping I have a question about that.

[8:38] Um I know that he's been charged a lot more than that for the subject of

[8:40] junking. It's over 15 lb, so it's

[8:44] Yeah, there's um

[8:49] If it gets like 500 lb, it's It gets up there. Like $500.

[8:55] I think right. But they've been going by the state law

[8:59] on that, so I mean we might need to put in that in that part of the state law

[9:02] ordinance. I think I think you I think the big

[9:06] littering

[9:09] This should be in the It's not less than 500 or the dumping, I guess it would be

[9:13] considered. Right. It's not less than 500, no more than 1,000, so

[9:18] I think the dumping is our biggest I mean litter can

[9:23] All litter is important, but the dumping seems to be the

[9:27] the kind of like the major problem. And I like that fine.

[9:33] But that's all I have. I'd like to see it finally come to fruition.

[9:36] Yes, sir. It's mainly

[9:38] If that fee schedule is a part of the ordinance? Mhm. Yeah. Yes. Yes, sir.

[9:44] You got to put your glasses on, James.

[9:50] You got any shoes? Thank you, sir.

[9:53] I didn't pick I didn't pick it up. Okay.

[9:58] » [clears throat] [snorts]

[9:59] » Any other comments?

[10:03] Council? No.

[10:05] Nope.

[10:08] Mr. Braden, is that your phone?

[10:13] Mr. Gillian? No. Okay.

[10:16] Mr. Sanders? Anything you'd like to

[10:21] leave us with?

[10:26] You say no? >> [laughter]

[10:29] » Okay. All right.

[10:33] If I'm in order, I will call this public hearing

[10:37] to an end.

[10:40] And thanks again for being here. At this time, we will call uh regular

[10:45] council meeting of May 21st. And I will ask uh councilman

[10:53] Mr. White to do the invocation.

[10:56] Let's pray. Our Father, our God, our creator and our

[11:00] sustainer, we just thank you for allowing us to be here at this moment.

[11:04] We ask that uh you enter this session, that you would guide us through this

[11:08] session, that you would give us knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, uh

[11:11] that we take care of all of the matters for the citizens of Down East Al County.

[11:15] These and continued blessings we ask in your precious son, Jesus Christ's name,

[11:19] for his sake. Amen. Amen. Thank you. We're going to item

[11:24] uh three. We do have a quorum, so the declaration has been made.

[11:30] Item four, approval of the agenda. Can I get a

[11:34] motion? Second. Moved by

[11:37] Councilwoman Jenkins, second by Councilman Cheney. Any questions?

[11:42] All in favor, let it be known by saying I.

[11:45] Opposes?

[11:49] We're down to approval item five. Approval of the minutes.

[11:55] And this is on our 5 12 20 26 regular

[12:00] council meeting and budget workshop. And also

[12:05] April 23rd, 2026 [clears throat] regular

[12:09] county council meeting. I shall make a motion that we approve the regular

[12:14] minutes for 4 23 26 and a special called meeting on May 12th. Second.

[12:19] Moved properly second. Any questions? All in favor, let it be known by saying

[12:25] I. I second.

[12:28] Again, welcome to our regular council meeting.

[12:30] And we do have down to item seven, public

[12:36] comments. And like to say that this council welcome

[12:42] input from our

[12:45] community. And uh I had a conversation today

[12:53] about a library. And uh

[12:58] I frequent USC library all the time. It's once or twice a month.

[13:04] » [snorts] >> I do place there.

[13:07] Go in do research and

[13:09] » [clears throat] >> actually

[13:13] have some quiet time to do other things. So, you know, libraries are very useful.

[13:18] For small community, we we're certainly uh

[13:22] happy that the regional library has always kind of been here and and

[13:27] » [clears throat] >> I will report to council later on about

[13:31] our support for our regional library. I notice

[13:35] our legislators has increased their contribution to the library

[13:40] for the upcoming year, which is good. And I'm sure at some point

[13:45] we will do the same, but we have

[13:50] Lady Reed and Lady is our branch branch manager uh

[13:55] here at the county library and Lady

[14:00] welcome. Good to see you again. Thank you. Thank you. Glad to be here.

[14:04] I just let you give you a little packet Yes, ma'am.

[14:06] » talking about our summer reading program and it's got all of our upcoming events.

[14:11] And it's the theme this year's called "On Your Mark, Get Set, Read Story" and

[14:15] it's dinosaurs and everything dealing with dinosaurs. We've got a um

[14:20] a fossil dig. A lady comes in and the children actually get to dig through the

[14:23] dirt and find fossils. Great. We've got a gentleman coming from the state park

[14:28] doing um "Sew Like a Soldier". He tells them how to sew. We've got the South

[14:33] Carolina Aquarium coming and we have lots of other activities. We've got

[14:37] "Dino Dollars" that the kids can get when they read a book, they get so many

[14:40] points dollars [clears throat] and they buy prizes. So we just left you a little

[14:44] packet. We just want to invite everybody to come by. We have stuff for adults. We

[14:47] have weekly crafts and activities and story time. So we just want to invite

[14:52] y'all in and tell them about a nice quiet place to go. You can sit, read a

[14:56] book, read a story, read the newspaper, look at a magazine.

[14:59] » Absolutely. >> Anything you want. But anyway, we

[15:01] welcome y'all to the library. Thanks. Any questions from

[15:05] » [laughter] >> any of the ladies?

[15:07] I just got one. You know the we capture

[15:11] the numbers of participants coming in and that number is holding pretty

[15:15] steady. >> It is. It really is. We have a good many

[15:17] people using our computers and then we have story times. We have a lot of

[15:21] little children coming in doing story times and SC Works mobile van comes to

[15:26] the front of the library and parks and we had he had a good many participants

[15:30] today with the SC Works. >> It seemed like it traveled speaking up.

[15:34] It is. It does. It really does. Yeah, we are one of the best kept secrets in

[15:38] Allen Dale but we don't want to be stay a secret.

[15:41] Absolutely. All right. Thank you all. Thank you too.

[15:44] And just for council and to Clay and Judy and Walter uh

[15:51] I have invited

[15:54] our regional library uh

[15:57] Mrs. Lord, Cena Lord. She will be with us at our next budget

[16:02] meeting on next Tuesday which will be the 26th.

[16:07] I don't think most [clears throat] of us have not had a chance to meet her but

[16:11] she's going to come and and give us an in-depth

[16:15] you know, what's going on in and I will

[16:18] have some additional information for council [clears throat] when we go into

[16:21] executive session. So.

[16:25] Great.

[16:32] And now we're down to Mr. Pinkney. Library HVAC

[16:38] restroom at the Pinkney Park and

[16:44] equipment at public works. Very good. So, you're going to bring us good news.

[16:48] I hope so. Yes, sir. Good. Okay, you got some more.

[16:56] Good afternoon to uh

[17:00] Chairman Robinson and to the councilmen and councilwoman and to all the county

[17:05] staff. Good afternoon again.

[17:09] Uh most of my questioning was going to be

[17:14] yes or no. Uh HVAC

[17:18] for the library and the learning center. Does we have we put that

[17:24] those H vac units in the budget with a line item that we will be doing?

[17:30] Yes and no. There is some capital outlay. I don't

[17:33] know if it's enough, but there's some capital outlay in the budget right now.

[17:36] For the that

[17:38] » For the capital outlay. That's a broad That's a broad That's a

[17:43] broad statement after the budget is passed. I believe it's in the

[17:46] non-department part of the budget. Okay. After the budget passed, then you say,

[17:50] "Well, we don't We hadn't budgeted, so we don't have no money." Okay. All

[17:54] right. Same thing with the restroom at Martin Park.

[18:00] You know, we've been tangling with this thing now for about 3 years. We've done

[18:03] had DHEC out there twice. You surveyed to put in a septic tank

[18:09] and letting have them done. So, has we actually sent out a little something for

[18:16] a design of the restroom and then so that we can give it to PRT

[18:22] so PRT can give us, once it's finished, 80% of reimbursement back or 90% of

[18:29] reimbursement back. Did we do that? It's not on my radar right now.

[18:33] Mr. Chair, Mr. Yes, I let the recreation Okay. Oh, thank you.

[18:37] Um, that was really going to be a part of my report. [clears throat]

[18:40] » Okay. Okay. All right. Well, I bypass that. Mhm. I bypass that. About the

[18:46] What did you say? Restroom. The restroom is you got on your agenda. I don't need

[18:50] to belabor that. Okay, I'm going to talk about it. Okay.

[18:54] Now, the equipment for public work. Yes, sir. Is that in

[19:00] the budget? Other than what the fee

[19:04] » for contractual services. What we're doing right now is trying to determine

[19:07] if, since y'all won't pay the lease directly, we're trying to determine on

[19:10] pieces of equipment we can operate enough to generate enough hourly for

[19:14] that for that piece of equipment to pay the lease if we go through the lease

[19:18] process. Okay. >> some lease numbers. We're just trying to

[19:21] figure out whether or not we can run enough

[19:25] equipment operators to get enough money back from you guys

[19:28] to pay the lease. But could we

[19:32] maybe if you don't get enough hours on it to pay for it, take the 185,000 fee

[19:39] that we get per year and pay for it? What

[19:42] What's What fee you talking about? The $185,000

[19:46] fee you're talking about the the road user road user fee.

[19:50] Yeah. That That's used as part of I mean, that's just a revenue that comes

[19:54] in and helps offset the road maintenance.

[19:56] » Or you're going to end up going to court. But you know,

[19:59] but that's that's your problem. No, the road maintenance fee the road

[20:01] maintenance fee does not generate enough money to cover the public works budget.

[20:05] Right. Right. So there is there it's not it's not being used for

[20:10] something else. It's just part of the revenue stream. Yes, but the thing it is

[20:14] is I can ask this question. Where What those people are doing now

[20:20] while we don't have no equipment? We're still trying to fix that.

[20:25] Yeah. Well, I can tell you one thing I did

[20:28] our director last week we actually went down we got a call we went down and did

[20:32] some investigation. And

[20:37] our director Mr. Terry >> [clears throat]

[20:40] » who knew the problem, I did not know the problem, but

[20:43] uh once the citizen called we did get out there and uh

[20:48] did some investigation. I hadn't had a chance to tell you.

[20:52] Mr. Kelly knew about it, but I thought it was a good opportunity for me to see

[20:55] exactly what was going on. And

[21:00] prior to that I ran into another citizen who

[21:06] pretty much been dealing with with some of the problem for the last 6-8 months.

[21:11] And she said, "I was so happy Mr. Terry rode with me at home

[21:19] followed me home and saw the condition of my road.

[21:23] And he indicated that yes, we can do

[21:27] something until we are better able to

[21:31] to do what a greater motor grader would do.

[21:34] So, and the same thing would would be >> [clears throat]

[21:36] » would be with the other road that I saw last

[21:40] week. >> [clears throat]

[21:42] » And of course we she was pretty understandable.

[21:46] And I did correspond with the lady here just outside of the city limits about

[21:51] her roadway. And which

[21:55] on a personal note it was not too too bad, but it's if

[22:00] you're traveling every day it's it can be bad bad bad. So, I think to answer

[22:05] your question, we're doing what we can with what what what we have in terms of

[22:12] some equipment. But I think

[22:15] I'm a little perplexed because I think that your initial

[22:20] introduction to us was "Hey guys, we can help." And I'm just waiting to see that

[22:25] happen. We still can help, but we have a hard time getting the numbers.

[22:29] We know what it's going to cost at least, we just don't know whether we can

[22:32] run it enough to pay for it. I need to reimburse him from there. So,

[22:37] that's out of my court. That's back in your court.

[22:39] » [laughter] >> Well, Thank you, sir. Thank you.

[22:42] » [clears throat] >> Okay.

[22:50] We're down to Ms. Tony Majors.

[22:56] » [clears throat]

[23:01] » Thank you for allowing me to this evening. I would appreciate equal time

[23:05] to respond to the statement made at the County Council meeting on April 23rd of

[23:09] 2026. I will be as brief as possible.

[23:13] For several months, the Office on Aging Committee was made aware that the

[23:16] organization was in severe financial position. On April 6th, William Robinson

[23:21] Jr. presented the committee with a report showing a total balance of

[23:25] $212,544.98

[23:29] on bills that were owed. Three had a deadline payment of May 1st.

[23:34] Those were the majority of the ones that are owed. The two County Council members

[23:38] assigned to the committee weren't in attendance at that meeting. However, the

[23:41] debt owed had been a topic of discussion for several meetings.

[23:46] Since I hadn't heard that any progress had been made to resolve this, I called

[23:50] William Jr. on April 17th to follow up on whether arrangements had been made

[23:54] for payment. He told me that there weren't any arrangements.

[23:58] Since some payments were due on May 1st and another had to have a concrete

[24:03] payment arrangement by the same day, it was decided to have a meeting.

[24:07] Furthermore, the 27 2027 budget was about to be finalized.

[24:12] I then called Chairman Robinson to discuss the impending situation. We

[24:16] agreed that a meeting should be held to figure out what our options were. That

[24:19] meeting was scheduled for April 21st at 10:00 a.m.

[24:23] It included Chairman Robinson, William Robinson Jr., the administrator, and

[24:27] myself. That meeting took about an hour. Um the reason that we picked that day is

[24:33] the fund budget was finished on the 22nd.

[24:38] During the meeting, we discussed how we could pay State Fleet for the vans that

[24:42] we leased from them. We had to make a viable plan have a

[24:45] viable plan in place by May 1st in order to not have our leased vans repossessed.

[24:51] That total was over $100,000. We agreed the company would release the

[24:56] $40,000 that had already been approved immediately.

[24:59] The contribution of $40,000 was given the last two

[25:04] budgets. [snorts] Then we figured out approximately what

[25:06] would need need to be put into the budget to help

[25:09] sustain the Office on Aging. In the past, the Office on Aging was not

[25:13] considered part of the county and was supposed to be self-sustaining.

[25:17] Since that wasn't possible, it was agreed to fund the Office on Aging in

[25:21] the budget for approximately $200,000. The meeting then ended.

[25:26] Afterwards, William Jr. called the director of the Office on Aging and

[25:30] asked for the reports from July 1 through 2025 through current showing the

[25:35] income from Lower Savannah Council of Governments. I went to the leisure

[25:38] center and picked them up and brought them back to the administrator.

[25:42] The administrator, William Jr., and I figured out the total from those

[25:46] reports. That was put into the computer by the administrator.

[25:49] Then William Jr. added some other revenue sources that I was not aware of.

[25:55] The administrator added those in. He then worked to balance the accounts so

[25:58] it could be added to the budget. I never saw what that final figure was that day.

[26:04] At the April 23rd County Council meeting, the citizens were told that

[26:08] this was inappropriate. And now I do not believe that is

[26:11] accurate. A citizen has every right to express their opinion regarding the

[26:15] budget. It's taxpayer money. However, County Council is the one that

[26:20] has the final approval of the budget. Council received their copy of the

[26:24] budget during that meeting last month. I received my copy after the meeting. I

[26:29] never saw the budget before that point. Budget workshops are public meetings. I

[26:35] have attended the majority of them since Mr. Pinckney was the administrator,

[26:39] which is many years ago. You can observe but not speak unless

[26:43] you're asked a direct question. I would ask that the council seriously

[26:47] consider accepting the funding in the budget for Office on Aging. If not, the

[26:52] county is still responsible for that debt as it falls under the county.

[26:56] The nonprofit was dissolved many years ago.

[26:59] We'll have to hope this works, otherwise we'll be like Barnwell since Generations

[27:03] Unlimited closed. They have We will have no

[27:07] transportations for our seniors the same as those.

[27:10] William Jr. just advised me that we did pay off a couple of those bills since

[27:14] this meeting, so that's a good thing. And we'll just hope that we're

[27:20] we're able to pull this off. And I thank you for letting me clear this up. Okay.

[27:24] Thank you so very much. And

[27:27] I'd like the only not necessarily correction, but I think

[27:31] I was invited to the meeting. >> Yeah, I called you. You wanted to Yeah.

[27:35] Okay. Thank you so much.

[27:40] Okay.

[27:59] Now we're down to visitors. I have a tendency to lose my paperwork here.

[28:04] Thanks to Matt and Jared, they kind of keep me straight here.

[28:10] Our first visitor is Dr. Lawrence Ford. >> [cough]

[28:15] » And he's going to talk to us about Forging Father and Family proclamation

[28:21] for the month of June. >> [snorts]

[28:23] » Thank you so much. I appreciate I'm Lawrence Ford, I'm one of the directors

[28:27] at the South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families in Columbia. We are the

[28:32] umbrella organization for the entire state. We were founded in 2002.

[28:38] Our mission is to provide the resources for fathers to become great dads. We

[28:44] were founded uh, by the Sisters of Charity Foundation

[28:48] in Columbia in order to help alleviate family poverty in the state. And they

[28:54] realized very quickly in the late '90s and and after the sale of Providence

[28:59] Hospital, what do we do with this money? How do we help families across the

[29:03] state? They realized they needed fathers in the equation.

[29:07] Because um, when a family is whole or at least operating to where both parents

[29:13] are contributing to the the thriving of that child or children,

[29:19] that the families are stronger, the the fathers are stable providing for their

[29:25] children and families, and a community is stronger. We have strong families, we

[29:29] have stronger communities. Every year we create a theme for what we do, um, here

[29:35] going on 25 years. The theme this year is Forging Strong Fathers and Families.

[29:41] And so we have asked uh, the counties each year to

[29:45] declare or proclaim uh, the month of June as that month. So

[29:51] the month of June this year, Forging Strong Fathers and Families Month. Uh,

[29:55] we uh, involve the the governor, we involve the major cities and small towns

[30:01] around the the state of South Carolina. I I myself have been to six county

[30:05] council meetings in the last uh, seven days.

[30:08] It seems like. So um, and I have to say, I know this is a busy

[30:14] time because of budgets and and a lot of ordinances before the fiscal year end.

[30:19] So uh, I'm I'm always [snorts] trying to be

[30:22] mindful of how much work that you do, uh, especially here toward the end of a

[30:26] fiscal year. Our our programs and services, we're the only statewide

[30:32] network that provides fatherhood programs and services in the United

[30:36] States. We work closely with the Department of

[30:40] Social Services, uh, work with each of their county

[30:43] offices. They refer fathers to us in each county.

[30:48] And then we have 17 offices around the state

[30:51] in in major cities. The we've got some in Beaufort and

[30:56] Charleston and Dorchester County and so forth. And they

[31:01] those are 5 days a week full-time offices where dads can come in either

[31:05] voluntarily or they can be mandated to come in by a family court judge. Maybe

[31:10] they're having struggles with child support payments. And the judge can say

[31:15] in family court, you can either spend 30 days in detention or you can go see the

[31:20] fatherhood men in the corner there and they will enroll you in their parenting

[31:24] program and they will help you to [snorts] find

[31:27] a job. So that's what we do. We provide free education. We do not hand out money

[31:31] to dads. We provide free education for parenting, healthy relationships so they

[31:36] can get along in the family dynamics as well as economic mobility. How do you

[31:42] how do you get your life economically stable and mobile to where you can be

[31:48] a contributor to your child and to your family. And then we help we help dads

[31:52] with jobs. I was encouraged to hear about SC Works. We have a partnership

[31:57] with SC Works around the state where they help us to locate fathers and we

[32:03] bring fathers to them in order to do get resume help in order

[32:08] to find connections with employers in their area.

[32:12] And then hopefully we get them the jobs that they

[32:15] need. We often say an economic problem requires an economic solution. And for a

[32:20] lot of dads, their struggle with in a lot of areas,

[32:24] a good bit of that can be solved when you take that financial stress off

[32:28] through them getting employment. We also have physical and mental health

[32:33] screening that we do around the state. We have a nurse practitioner and we work

[32:36] with grants from Blue Cross and Colonial Life to help us fund that nurse

[32:42] practitioner to go and have that education with dads about their their

[32:46] screenings and refer them if necessary to

[32:50] regular health or mental health providers to get the the the help that

[32:55] they need. I provided you our 2025 impact report. You can see what we've

[33:00] done around the state. Last year we served 300 3,409

[33:06] fathers and over 3,800 children. We We We come in contact with more.

[33:13] And but that's the ones who've actually gone through our program. We provide

[33:16] dads education and in counties where we don't actually have an office, such as

[33:21] Allendale office, our our partner affiliate that we work through is a

[33:26] Father's Place and it has 11 counties down the coast including Allendale. So

[33:31] we have men that's they're going out to family court in each county in order to

[33:37] meet fathers and provide them the opportunity to get the services they

[33:42] need or programs they need. And so your your uh

[33:46] uh proclaiming June as forging fathers and families month that it's a real

[33:51] encouragement to us. And a number of counties in the state are

[33:55] doing this. It is June. It's It's for [clears throat] dads. It's for fathers

[34:00] because of Father's Day. We want to make sure dads are remembered.

[34:04] Dads are recognized. I'm a father and grandfather and um it's it's always a a

[34:10] joy to know that um whoever a dad or dad figure in the life

[34:16] of a child that they are encouraged because of how they've invested in those

[34:20] children. So thank you very much for your participation in this. Great.

[34:25] Council, any questions? Thank you. Well, Allen, the office is

[34:28] open and will be located in Beaufort, you said?

[34:30] We have uh we have an office in Beaufort that has our our educational programs

[34:36] and services. I think the next one over is North

[34:39] Charleston or Moncks Corner, yeah. So, yeah, we are still expand We actually We

[34:44] actually opened the Beaufort office just late last year. Okay. So, we're

[34:48] expanding that. It's a matter of capacity. Yeah.

[34:51] I think the system charity that I've dealt with was from the Beaufort area,

[34:56] so therefore me with Allen Dale the same.

[34:59] » So, >> Yes, sir. it's good to know and

[35:03] reading your stats here, do you have any

[35:08] exact number of the number of fathers that you serve here in the county?

[35:12] » So, in Allendale, I I apologize. I've given you for the the coastal areas the

[35:18] the these numbers here for uh the area and for Allendale in

[35:23] particular, uh the number of fathers our uh our new data person is brand new and

[35:30] he's out this week, so >> Okay. otherwise, I would have asked him,

[35:33] "Tell me about Allendale." Because I stand before a lot of councils and I

[35:38] want to be as accurate as possible. And the way that it really works, I was

[35:42] asked uh the other night in um in McCormick, it is dads do come to us

[35:48] voluntarily. They We have an 800 number they can call us from anywhere in the

[35:52] state. Uh we have a contact form they can tell us who they are, where they are

[35:57] at, and and then what they need. And we have attorney referrals and so forth for

[36:02] them if it's a legal issue. Uh but then also we we do recruit fathers. Um I was

[36:09] thinking about the library system. Uh sometimes we use libraries in different

[36:14] counties and and ask dads to meet a particular

[36:17] time of the month and use the meeting space available in county in county

[36:22] libraries so the dads have a place to meet. We can provide them a seminar and

[36:27] provide for them the services that we need. So, I can get [snorts] back to you

[36:30] on the the exact numbers here in Allendale. And our library would

[36:35] be an excellent place for location cuz we

[36:38] we do have the space. Yes, sir. So, uh And it's it is a matter of uh how how do

[36:44] we serve more? We're [clears throat] shooting for 5,000 fathers by the end of

[36:48] this year. That's that's up 1,500 dads. And to do that, we have determined the

[36:54] strategy is we need to more capacity, more more of our people in two counties

[37:01] that are away from our offices. And in order to have more time in each

[37:06] county. So, we're we're actually hiring uh uh on contract some men who will go

[37:12] out part-time, but they'll have they'll only focus on these outreach counties of

[37:18] ours. So, yeah, thank you. Very good. Can I ask

[37:21] you a question? Yes, sir. Sure. Um how do you how do people know about your

[37:25] services like in Allendale County? Do do y'all have someone who regularly attends

[37:30] family court here? That that that is what we do. We have a

[37:35] uh arrangement with DSS that we go at least they they say only once a quarter.

[37:40] But, oftentimes [snorts] we go once a month to family court.

[37:44] Yeah, and we we work typically through the clerk of court. Uh

[37:49] we have a uh we had a meeting with Jim Swig, who's

[37:53] the one of the directors of Child Support Services in Columbia. He

[37:58] [snorts] asked us to to create a child support uh information card rather

[38:04] because there are so many variations on the AP hearings, for instance. So, that

[38:09] um we he he I printed 15,000 of them and he

[38:13] spread them out through all of the DSS offices in the state. So, and our our uh

[38:20] employees, our staff in each of the offices, when they go out to each county

[38:24] they connect with the DSS offices. So whether it's in a court for a hearing or

[38:29] the DSS offices, last year we created a portal for referrals that DSS

[38:34] caseworkers use. You go online to our father365.com

[38:39] website, they log in as a DSS caseworker and they give all the

[38:44] information for a father in that county. It goes to our office automatically. It

[38:50] serves that county and then they contact the father. So we have a variety of

[38:53] ways. We have recruitment and social media and as well as websites that we

[38:58] get the word out to make sure that we we can meet as many dads as possible.

[39:05] We never [snorts] never meet enough, but we want to meet as many as we can.

[39:09] Thank you for the question. >> Thank you so very much and for what you

[39:12] do. That [snorts] sounded like a

[39:15] very fulfilling job to have really. Seeing a dad get

[39:19] visitation back with his kids for the first time in years, I mean there's

[39:23] they're so excited sure and the child is excited so that it's worth it.

[39:28] Thank you so much. >> Thank you very much.

[39:31] Okay.

[39:34] All right, we're down to a council report

[39:39] and a vice chair Mr. Cheney.

[39:44] Good evening. Mr. Chairman before we move forward

[39:46] there is a proclamation that Yes. Yeah, I was going to get that in new business

[39:50] but we can

[39:53] But but since Dr. Ford is here well why don't I get a motion on that please?

[39:59] Uh yeah. Mr. Chairman I move that uh council proclaim June as Forging

[40:07] Fathers and Families Month in Alachua County. Second.

[40:12] Moved and properly second. Any questions?

[40:16] I I think we need have to read the entire proclamation, but we'll make

[40:20] certain that we'll we'll put it in our records and put it on some

[40:24] some good paper and have it available for

[40:28] » think Judy's going to get that to you. Okay. All right.

[40:31] No question. All in favor of it being known by saying I. I.

[40:37] Nays. I said.

[40:39] Thank you very much. Thank you.

[40:44] Okay, we're down to council reports and our vice chair, Mr. Jamie. Good evening

[40:50] again. [clears throat] The sheriff didn't give me a report, but

[40:53] I'm quite sure they're still out there doing what they normally do for the

[40:57] county. Especially the litter part.

[41:01] Um as I was riding around the county, I did notice one of the deputies

[41:06] had a litter traffic stop. Good. And um I'm glad of that. Like I said, most of

[41:11] the funds from the litter, since it's a county ordinance, we should get that for

[41:16] um those funds. And that would be a tremendous help to the county.

[41:20] Um I'm on the officer aging committee, but

[41:22] I'm just going to do that report. I don't know Mr. Conaway, him is on the

[41:26] fire department. He might have a report on that.

[41:29] Um

[41:32] As I was riding around Sunday, and I noticed at the old welcome center, um

[41:37] they there was a tractor trailer

[41:41] that got caught on fire and burned up, but it's still parked in the parking lot

[41:44] down there. Um could you check on that with the

[41:47] sheriff and find out you know, how long it's been there and what they're going

[41:49] to do about it? Sure. >> [clears throat]

[41:52] » That's it. I'll bring you up to date. Good. That's a great idea and

[41:57] that at the uh

[42:00] the old welcome center, which used to be uh

[42:05] and we used to call it our little closer Savannah River Alliance.

[42:11] And they used that facility quite a Had several good events out there.

[42:16] And I've been disappointed that we removed the entrance

[42:19] corner to keep traffic out. So, we don't know exactly who's using

[42:25] that facility. And the barricade's been removed.

[42:31] And it's been some time, so Mr. Keeling, as you looked at it, you

[42:36] might want to talk with our public works. Maybe we can put those barriers

[42:40] back up. I'm glad the trailer didn't burn up on

[42:43] the highway, but caused an accident, but we get a lot of traffic that shouldn't

[42:48] be there. Cuz they think it's an old weapons site.

[42:53] And they're going to pull up in there. Thank you, John.

[42:58] Mr. Cannon. Yeah, I'll be brief. Um, I got some reports from the public safety

[43:02] uh EMS. Mr. Les Sampson in the for last 2 months, they had 242 calls with 159 of

[43:09] those patients being transported to Allendale County Hospital.

[43:13] There's also a rural health transformation fund grant of $200

[43:17] million that's going to be available [clears throat]

[43:19] to various EMS entities in South Carolina, and they're going to be um

[43:24] talking with council about some ways to try to go after some of that money.

[43:30] And from Chief Stanley with the fire department, they didn't get an actual

[43:34] report of number of calls, but he said most of all the calls have been brush

[43:37] fires. I know we've had several out in Allendale,

[43:40] we're thankful for the firemen and ladies out there doing a great job for

[43:44] us. Also, on the St. Mark fire station, uh construction's been slightly delayed

[43:50] due to issues with um the plats, [snorts]

[43:53] property plats. That issue has now been corrected, and

[43:57] uh permits for the well and septic tank has been applied for, and he expects

[44:01] groundbreaking to begin fairly soon.

[44:04] Uh and that's all I have right now. Okay.

[44:08] Does he still project or Okay. He said the time. He didn't He

[44:11] didn't say. He didn't say. He just said the construction soon. Okay.

[44:15] All right. Mr. White. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[44:19] Uh, Mr. Chairman and Council, um, I wanted to start with a kind of a

[44:24] feel-good story. On the Saturday, May 16th, I had the

[44:29] privilege of serving as a judge for Southern,

[44:33] um, Southern Palmetto Regional Chamber of

[44:36] Commerce Civic Speed. Um, where eighth graders uh, competed

[44:42] um, for some scholarship funds that'll be in provided. Um,

[44:47] and it was eighth graders in Barnwell and Allendale County. And I just, um, I

[44:51] was pleased that uh, three Allendale County eighth graders, um, excuse me,

[44:56] seventh and eighth graders, um, were finalists. And there was

[45:01] actually, uh, one eighth grader, uh, whose name was Layla Robinson, uh, who

[45:06] was a top five finalist out of, uh, 19 who were selected from essays and

[45:11] academic achievement, um, during this academic year. So, it was definitely,

[45:16] uh, a pleasure for me doing that. And I would say that, um, I I I wanted to have

[45:19] Ms. Robinson, um, as a guest here tonight.

[45:24] Um, we couldn't get that in on the the

[45:27] agenda, but in June I would like to like to invite her to make her presentation,

[45:31] to present her essay, uh, to Council. And I will I will tell everybody and all

[45:36] the citizens, it is remarkable. You know, a lot of times we don't think

[45:39] about young people um, paying attention to to what we do in

[45:43] government, uh, the things that go on, um,

[45:47] the resources that we have in our community, but but they're aware, um,

[45:52] they're aware of the things that we say, they're aware of the things that we do.

[45:56] So, um, so that was definitely enlightening and and, um,

[46:01] it was very encouraging about our future in Oconee County.

[46:04] Um, I also wanted to uh bring to the

[46:08] attention, I know that there's been some interest um that we've all been made

[46:12] aware of um about development

[46:15] um in the county and and possibly in the town. And um I brought this up last

[46:20] meeting um the interest in what we're going to do

[46:24] with the dilapidated buildings. Um and I think that we definitely should

[46:27] explore um HUD CDBG and and I know that that's come up a little bit.

[46:33] And um so you know, those CB- CDBG funds uh

[46:40] address demolition of buildings, not only that, removal of environmental

[46:44] contaminants, uh

[46:46] movement of structures to other sites and all of those things. So when we have

[46:50] those opportunities, I think we should look for those notices of funding

[46:53] availability. Um not only HUD, but uh USDA.

[46:59] So those possibilities are there. Uh

[47:02] one other thing I wanted to um look at. I was talking to uh Mr. Killian

[47:08] and um and Mr. Robinson Jr.

[47:11] regarding um RCI and I got a good report that things are moving along smoothly

[47:16] with RCI as far as inspections and and permitting.

[47:20] Um one thing I I would ask that we do and we talked about this before is to um

[47:26] work to update our website uh however we can so that um

[47:31] RCI's permitting process is is updated on the website cuz we don't have we

[47:36] don't want to have a situation where uh businesses are are thinking that

[47:40] they're applying on the website because we don't use that particular form uh

[47:44] anymore. Um also I think we need to include our

[47:49] ordinances um on our website. I was looking at our

[47:52] website. I know that the the agendas are updated

[47:56] you know, but um you know, the minutes from from meetings

[48:00] and all those things, we need to update those. And also

[48:04] council members who have served years ago

[48:07] are still on the website. You know, the group

[48:09] picture. So So those things need

[48:13] the group picture. >> [laughter]

[48:15] » Well, we need to update group pictures. I mean, you know, we we need to we need

[48:19] to think about how the county is being presented to

[48:22] to the world, you know. I agree. Um so anyway, that's just something we need to

[48:26] work on. Lastly, uh public works, uh we were supposed to

[48:30] have interviewed uh employees for one position for public works. It was

[48:34] discussed at our last special meeting. We didn't have the opportunity to do

[48:38] that because of the um posting [snorts] of the job. It needed to be posted 2

[48:41] weeks. So, we should be coming to a close uh to that and we'll get that

[48:45] interview done. And absolute last thing, July 6th, um

[48:50] Allendale County Planning and Zoning Commission

[48:53] uh will meet again July 6th. So, I'm encouraging all the citizens to be

[48:58] present for that. Mr. Chairman, may I address the website

[49:02] thing you just mentioned? I know Mr. Holloway has requested some funding in

[49:06] the budget this year for us to get somebody to update it.

[49:09] Great. Great. Great. Yeah. Yeah, I looked at it yesterday, matter of fact.

[49:12] » [laughter] >> Yeah, sure. Yeah.

[49:16] You have a vote, Jamie. That's That website is the key to the introduction

[49:20] [clears throat] to

[49:22] our county. I visit a lot of the other counties'

[49:26] website and I said, "Oh, wow." Aiken County has a

[49:31] has a very good one. Even McCormick County,

[49:35] uh small like us, has an excellent website. So, we need to do that.

[49:40] And uh getting folks to update it and

[49:44] and put the things that we need. And And most of the counties do have past

[49:50] minutes. Goes back for years, you know? So,

[49:55] and I think the public should know what we're doing. And like you said, the

[49:58] young kid, Mr. Robinson, he's apparently he's

[50:01] he's keen on what's happening in local government. And uh

[50:06] that's good. Mr. Chairman, I can comment real quickly

[50:08] on the Aiken website. They They get awards very often for

[50:13] transparency and and the quality of the website.

[50:17] And I've jokingly said there is so much on that website the reason they get

[50:21] these awards is there's all that stuff on the website, there's so much on there

[50:24] you can't find anything. >> [laughter]

[50:27] » It takes you forever to go to the right spot to find

[50:30] All that stuff's there. They got check registers, ordinances, minutes, all that

[50:34] kind of stuff. It's not hard to find. Well, it's not I take that back, it's

[50:38] It'll take you a while to find, but it's all there if you take the time to look

[50:41] for I remember a couple years ago we went on

[50:43] there just to see how many uh What were we looking for? To see exactly

[50:50] the tax levy. I think y'all guys have uh drainage leverage

[50:55] Stormwater Stormwater fee. Yeah. And you had plus probably 10 or 12 more.

[51:02] I would You know.

[51:05] Okay. Thank you, Mr. White.

[51:08] And Councilwoman Jenkins. Thank you. Mr.

[51:11] Chairman. Um first of all, you know, um

[51:15] first um on behalf of Allendale County Council,

[51:20] um we would like to extend our condolences to

[51:23] the family of Ms. Sally Branch um um

[51:29] on on her passing. And um just to show that the county will

[51:32] be doing something Yes. >> doing something.

[51:34] » Yes. Ms. Council.

[51:38] Yes, she might have to do that. Huh? Yes, she has.

[51:41] She has direction on that. Thank you. Okay, thank you.

[51:45] And also um Attorney Sanders and I have been working

[51:49] on uh the Max Sweeney building uh

[51:52] to see if we can get it on the national historical register.

[51:56] Um, it's an old building. It used to be a

[51:59] hotel in in Allendale in South um we've uh

[52:05] gathering information so that we could present it to

[52:09] um our guest of state first. State Historic

[52:14] Preservation is the first place to ship it off.

[52:17] So, uh the State Historic Preservation Office is generally where that process

[52:21] starts. Yes, um so there's a lot of information that

[52:25] we've already gathered on on that building and um in fact uh

[52:30] Attorney Sanders' granddaddy is in the in the deed.

[52:33] » [laughter] >> Uh

[52:35] the paperwork that we had that you know he had something to do with the the Max

[52:40] Sweeney building. I didn't realize that that building is not in the best

[52:43] condition. It's kind of falling apart, but um

[52:48] I don't know if we can save it or what we can do.

[52:52] Um >> [snorts]

[52:52] » but anyway, we're checking into it and I guess we got to do it quickly as

[52:56] possible so it won't fall down but before we get it done.

[53:01] But anyway, and also on this past Friday I attended the graduation um Miss

[53:08] Chairman Robinson was there, too of the at the um

[53:14] Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Center. Um there were 14 graduates that

[53:20] graduated. Um I don't know how many were from

[53:24] Allendale, but there were some from Allendale. There was one from my church.

[53:28] And um it was a nice graduation and the students were really excited, you know,

[53:34] about getting the certification. And so we're looking forward to more students

[53:39] participating in the programs. And in fact, um,

[53:43] » [clears throat] >> I took some flyers with me, you know, to

[53:46] give to students in the community because many of do not know about the

[53:50] program. And so, but I gave out of flyers, um,

[53:54] so I guess I have to get some more. We can get some more for you.

[53:58] We can get some more for you. Yeah, I need some because

[54:01] um, there are many uh, students that would could benefit, um, many

[54:05] individuals that could benefit from the program.

[54:09] But it was a very nice graduation. And also,

[54:13] » [clears throat] [snorts]

[54:14] » um,

[54:16] uh, the bid submission for deadline for the walking trail

[54:22] is, uh, Tuesday, June the 2nd.

[54:26] Um, we've been working on this now for a

[54:29] couple of years, so we're And so, we're finally getting to

[54:33] the point where we can look at somebody, you know, getting it

[54:37] done. But anyway, um,

[54:41] we'll be, uh, the office of aging, you know, we have

[54:46] several plans, uh, once the walking trail is completed.

[54:51] And so, we'll be involved with the community, the churches, and

[54:55] organizations, whatever, uh, to promote some other programs

[55:00] centered around the walking trail. And we may do, uh,

[55:05] um, a community event.

[55:08] You know, a big, uh, community event. And you

[55:12] know, the walking trail is not just about the cement.

[55:17] Cement is is about the the health of our senior citizens. And so, by us building

[55:24] this walking trail, they, uh,

[55:28] uh, the county

[55:30] » [clears throat] >> is showing interest in [snorts] the

[55:32] welfare of our senior citizens. And so, we're looking forward, you know, to the

[55:37] walking trail because it really, you know, once I asked my doctor,

[55:41] » [clears throat] >> "What's the best thing I could do to

[55:43] remain healthy?" And he said, "Walk." He said, "Let's walk. Walk." He said,

[55:49] "That's the best thing you could do." And so I think that's the best thing for

[55:52] our seniors, you know. It can reduce high blood pressure,

[55:56] diabetes. Um instead of arthritis, and I probably

[56:01] need to walk. It's But anyway,

[56:04] um we are I'm really excited about the

[56:08] walking trail because we're we've been waiting on it for a while now for it to

[56:12] get done. Mr. Chairman, also

[56:15] » [clears throat] >> uh Mr. Payton mentioned uh

[56:20] the park at Martin James uh Payton Park.

[56:24] Now, we've been Mr. Roosevelt is here and and he could

[56:29] tell you we have uh been working on getting restrooms at

[56:34] the James Payton and Park for some time now.

[56:37] And Lori said that uh

[56:42] we could not use inner park money until county the county do something about the

[56:49] situation with the 14th Street Park in Fairfax.

[56:54] So we've been talking about the park in Fairfax and moving the playground

[56:59] equipment to another location. But that's all they're doing, talking

[57:04] about. You know, um

[57:07] Lori said that the company uh A company will move the

[57:13] playground equipment for $16,000.

[57:18] And also if the county did not want to pay the

[57:22] 16,000 the

[57:25] the company will work with public works and move it for $2,500 a day, and it

[57:32] would take about 3 days to move the equipment uh playground equipment to

[57:37] another location. So, I'm asking council

[57:41] uh because we've been talking about it for a while now, because we can't do

[57:45] anything with the park money. We can't get any park money until we

[57:50] take care [music] of that situation.

[57:54] Now, in Martin, at the park in Martin, the community have a huge event every

[58:01] August. I think this will be the third one,

[58:04] Mr. Payne? The fourth? Fourth one, yes. Um it's almost a

[58:09] it's almost a mini spring festival because

[58:12] it's it's a very huge event at that park.

[58:15] And they do not have a restroom. And this is for years now, you know,

[58:21] they've not had a restroom. And so, I think that uh we need to do

[58:27] something about the 14th Street Park in Fair Park, so we'll

[58:33] be able to use the park money to help out with the restrooms.

[58:38] Just one question, Council. Woman Jennings.

[58:43] The issue of the 14th Street Park

[58:49] equipment, >> [clears throat]

[58:50] » is that being mandated by PRT? Or is that something that in other

[58:56] words, is the mandate coming from PRT saying that you're going

[59:00] to have to move those equipment to a different location

[59:06] before we we can disburse PRT money for another [clears throat] project?

[59:10] » what Laura said. Okay. I mean, that's what she said. I mean,

[59:14] she sent me um some information on that. Okay.

[59:17] » And so, And the reason I ask because we're looking at doing some things on

[59:21] the on the uh on our trail,

[59:26] our trail one trail, and Where? 301 Trail. Yeah.

[59:32] And the PRT money is is portion of that money is

[59:39] is included in the redevelopment of that trail and I just wanted to know if that

[59:44] would jeopardize what we're planning to do for the walking trail.

[59:50] So, maybe that's a good question we can we can uh

[59:54] put the PRT or they can put to us in writing no

[59:58] disbursement of additional funds until we

[1:00:02] uh move the 14th Street park equipment.

[1:00:06] I think we need to know. Yeah. >> [clears throat]

[1:00:11] » Mr. Jolly. Yes, sir. If we're going to pay somebody, don't we need to

[1:00:14] put it out for bid? You know that

[1:00:16] » That's our policy. Well, that's our policy and I I think before any decision

[1:00:20] » you say? What did you say, Mr. Jolly? I said if we're going to pay somebody to

[1:00:23] move that equipment, we need to put it out for bid for our policy.

[1:00:27] Oh, okay. Well, I'm just letting you know what Yeah, I mean I know I agree.

[1:00:31] So, is that what we want to do? I think we can get verification that PRT

[1:00:38] will not allow us to use any additional funds until

[1:00:42] the equipment has been moved to a different location,

[1:00:47] then I say let's move quickly on establishing that park and getting

[1:00:52] uh We need that verification on Laurie from PRT. I mean, who do you I think if

[1:00:56] PRT going to say that to Laurie, I think they will put it in writing also. Yeah,

[1:01:01] that would make sense to do this. >> [clears throat]

[1:01:03] » And do we know where we would relocate the Fairfax equipment to? Well, that's

[1:01:07] one of the things that I think and I would have to

[1:01:11] refer back to the recreation committee if they find a location. Okay. But I

[1:01:15] think that's probably uh would be the easiest fix. Either we can

[1:01:22] go back down here on the winter park

[1:01:25] and uh or maybe

[1:01:29] Almer's Almer's Yeah. Yeah, Almer's. or Sycamore Sycamore

[1:01:34] I think Sycamore has kind of taken their their park back.

[1:01:39] And but I think Almer's certainly would be a

[1:01:41] good location for it. And of course we have a little small

[1:01:44] park at the welcome center that we do have and have and we have

[1:01:50] » do some PRT money there. Put up uh a few uh

[1:01:55] recreational wood equipment

[1:02:00] which is holding up pretty well. So.

[1:02:04] So, I think I'm asking that we do some verification on that PRT money so we can

[1:02:09] move.

[1:02:12] Okay. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Okay. And also um

[1:02:16] I have a

[1:02:19] a grant award from Congressman Clyburn for district six

[1:02:24] and I might be your last one, you know, but Well, we hope not. We hope not,

[1:02:28] though. But it's a grant award for the amount of

[1:02:31] and I have copies I made for everyone. Well, we're very hopeful that you will

[1:02:37] deal with uh

[1:02:40] any congressman that works with us because

[1:02:45] for a long time we had uh Congressman Wilson

[1:02:50] and he does have

[1:02:52] Well, the first I can I can finish my sentence. Well, let me say. Congressman

[1:02:56] Congressman Wilson does have a connection to Allen Allen and I'm sure

[1:02:59] he will do what he can. Well, the total amount of this award is

[1:03:04] $1,572,924.

[1:03:09] Um the first um award is um

[1:03:13] $738,017 and that's for

[1:03:18] All of this for the airport. All of it is for the airport.

[1:03:22] And um

[1:03:26] this one is for the uh existing taxiway aid lighting.

[1:03:33] Um and this is to replace the lighting for the taxiway

[1:03:37] for repairs or whatever the case and that's for the $738,000.

[1:03:42] And the the other one is for $748,101.

[1:03:48] That is for the airfield signage and markings.

[1:03:53] They have reached the end of their useful lives.

[1:03:56] And the last one is for $86,006

[1:04:01] and that's for

[1:04:05] construction. Uh

[1:04:11] this is for existing runway 7 and 35 runway.

[1:04:16] And so it's a total of And and this year

[1:04:21] uh Carson Carbon has given Elmore County $3,051,924.

[1:04:28] For this For the three awards that was given to Elmore County.

[1:04:33] The first one was for uh

[1:04:36] the replacing the courthouse roof.

[1:04:40] Uh the voter registration uh roof and support

[1:04:45] needed to be done at the administration office. I'm not sure

[1:04:50] you know, what that was. >> Okay.

[1:04:53] And we received [snorts] that money? Yeah.

[1:04:55] No, most of the time it's the county, you know, once you awarded the money,

[1:04:59] you don't get it until, you know, my September or something like that. I

[1:05:03] don't know, Mr. Killian. Yeah, I I'm not exactly sure how this

[1:05:08] grant works and we talked a little bit about it.

[1:05:12] » [clears throat] >> You know, I suppose it was a session. I

[1:05:15] told you I got a notification from Grant's office. You couldn't decide

[1:05:19] whether it was the same Grant or not. It is the same.

[1:05:24] » [clears throat] >> I did not get the the notification

[1:05:29] from Congressman Clyde's office. William did. I did not and I was not aware of

[1:05:33] this. So, for which one? That's on the buildings

[1:05:37] or the one It's the same Grant that just Jenny

[1:05:40] talked about the same three Grants that Jenny talked about. Oh, this one? Yeah,

[1:05:44] the notification I got from I did not get a notification from

[1:05:48] Congressman Clyde's office. William did. I got a notification for the same Grant

[1:05:52] from Senator Grant's office. So, it's We cleared up it's not more

[1:05:57] money. It's the same same Grant. Everybody But the FAA will

[1:06:01] get that money, not Alabama County. So, I was just No, no, this is It's

[1:06:05] coming to us. We got this from from matching here. I I think we're talking

[1:06:09] about the best interest of the citizens. Okay.

[1:06:14] Yeah, our consultant airport consultant Holt Construction,

[1:06:19] I'm sure they're on top of it, too.

[1:06:24] But, I mean any information any information that you need about any

[1:06:30] of these Grants, you can get in contact with Dalton

[1:06:34] because he's the one that called me in several weeks ago about these Grants.

[1:06:40] Yeah. I do. He will provide you with that

[1:06:43] information you need. Councilwoman [snorts]

[1:06:46] Jennings on the other 1.3 that for the renovation of of the facility,

[1:06:52] do you have a similar paperwork?

[1:06:55] I gave it to you. Okay. I I don't remember the breakdown, so we

[1:07:00] can

[1:07:02] I have it. Do you have the one, Mr. Killian, for the first one?

[1:07:07] Uh, William does not. You have a Miss Cannon?

[1:07:12] I gave everybody a copy of it. >> Okay. Well, if you don't mind we uh let

[1:07:16] Yeah. That was several months The first one was several months ago.

[1:07:20] Let Miss Judy give it to Miss Judy and let her just first it to us.

[1:07:23] Make sure Walter get a copy also.

[1:07:29] Make who got? Make sure Walter get a copy also.

[1:07:33] All y'all lost your papers? >> [laughter]

[1:07:36] [snorts]

[1:07:40] » Miss Cannon? Miss Judy, she will actually

[1:07:44] you will scan it and send it to us. Yes. Okay, I'll find it.

[1:07:49] Thank you. That's it for me. That's it. Okay. All

[1:07:53] right, thank you. Very good report. Thanks Miss Jennings.

[1:07:57] We'll all see you guys. Thanks.

[1:07:59] $3 million in 1 year. That's That's That's really help help the county.

[1:08:05] » Yeah. And

[1:08:07] we're appreciative and hopefully next year we we do the same

[1:08:12] thing, you know. I'm going to be brief, but I just want

[1:08:17] to piggyback on this Councilwoman Jennings uh

[1:08:22] She talked about SCA and the graduation program that we had last Friday.

[1:08:27] Very well attended by the locals and out of towners.

[1:08:32] Uh I've been

[1:08:35] » [snorts] >> worked at facility over the years

[1:08:38] and it's seeing the number of graduates. And by the way, to give you a little

[1:08:41] history, this is not the first time SCA has done this kind of work. It's kind of

[1:08:46] broadened out a little bit. We offer a lot more, but doing

[1:08:51] the time frame with 2010 to 20 15, we did over 145

[1:08:57] welders that graduated from there. So, and a lot of those

[1:09:02] folks are still in our community and work in Plant Vogal, etc. So,

[1:09:07] and the inclusion of the drivers, James, I know you're looking for drivers

[1:09:12] all the time and there's always a need for drivers

[1:09:16] and to be able to grow our own, I think that's a great. So, my hat's off

[1:09:21] to uh >> [snorts]

[1:09:23] » to uh SCA and the Innovation Center. And to

[1:09:27] the board members,

[1:09:30] » [snorts] >> that served from the county on SCA.

[1:09:34] Had a conversation with uh our library folks today and as I

[1:09:39] indicated uh Mrs. Lawton will visit us on next

[1:09:44] Tuesday. When we meet on the 26th, which I think

[1:09:48] will be our fourth workshop, and I think

[1:09:53] we ought to be able to wrap it up with maybe one other,

[1:09:57] knowing two. So, we'll make it headway. I look back a couple weeks ago about

[1:10:05] our budget process. It was September, October, November

[1:10:09] before you actually, you know, got through that. So, we made a made a lot

[1:10:13] of progress. >> [snorts]

[1:10:15] » Also, I met with town officials and folks from Genesis

[1:10:19] uh this

[1:10:21] this week, couple days ago actually, and as you know, that's the health entity

[1:10:26] that's looking to come here. They purchased land and they're going to be

[1:10:31] hopefully using uh the town of Allendale facility for

[1:10:35] mobile unit. We've seen a lot of stats on the

[1:10:38] population uh Allendale county over the last

[1:10:43] three to five years. Most of them

[1:10:46] says that we're declining in population, but it what it what it doesn't say is

[1:10:52] that we maybe declining and I saw something two

[1:10:56] weeks ago that said, "Hey, you know,

[1:10:59] the state the rural communities will see an influx of people and that may be the

[1:11:05] case, but >> [snorts]

[1:11:08] » when you talk to folks away from here, they say your population is declining,

[1:11:13] but your health care or your healthy community is getting worse,

[1:11:18] you know? So,

[1:11:20] and I imagine groups like Genesis have done their

[1:11:23] homework and feel like we do need additional

[1:11:28] additional uh access to

[1:11:32] medical facilities. So, we we'll see where it

[1:11:35] goes. Also, we had a TAC committee uh 2 weeks

[1:11:39] ago and uh as you know, couple weeks ago, maybe a couple months now, we heard

[1:11:45] from Mayor Allen from Sycamore

[1:11:48] talking about the 301 641 intersection and a four-way stop.

[1:11:55] But, we uh last week or week before we did

[1:11:59] have a conversation with SCDOT concerning that

[1:12:04] intersection. >> [snorts]

[1:12:06] » And they will get back with us and I think they will study that and see

[1:12:10] exactly if it if it's feasible. And I certainly hope it will be feasible.

[1:12:15] We also had a COG executive committee meeting last week uh

[1:12:21] and of course uh we looked at the budget.

[1:12:25] And one of the things that was pointed out that we have not had an increase

[1:12:31] county portion increase almost 5 to 10 years. So,

[1:12:37] we didn't talk about increasing, but I think within the next year or so, it

[1:12:41] will be increased. What do we pay the COG? We pay the COG

[1:12:44] about $12,500 a year.

[1:12:47] And that's based on uh population.

[1:12:50] And I think for us that's probably adds up to be uh

[1:12:55] a dollar and a half per person looking at 8,000 people there about.

[1:12:59] That's the way it That's the way it works and you look at

[1:13:02] Aiken County 170 times a dollar and a half, that's

[1:13:08] over 200,000. Yeah. Yes. So, but [snorts and clears throat]

[1:13:13] even small as we are, we we we do have a seat at the table and I think Allendale

[1:13:18] certainly has benefit from uh being part

[1:13:22] of the talk. Our regular meeting for the crew is next

[1:13:26] Thursday, the 28th and we did have a Zoom meeting talking about ATP program.

[1:13:32] That's the uh asset transfer

[1:13:35] transfer program. >> [clears throat and cough]

[1:13:38] » And uh there's been some downsizing. I said

[1:13:41] downsizing, been some uh delay in getting equipment off the site,

[1:13:46] but and that's because of the change in the

[1:13:49] law and all mainly. So, we expect the numbers to go

[1:13:54] up and that's where uh the crew actually get majority of

[1:13:58] their money from the sale of those uh excess equipment. So,

[1:14:04] that looks uh

[1:14:08] pretty good moving on and we had mentioned two things in our

[1:14:14] workshop. I think the Brantley family has asked

[1:14:19] council to kind of sit down with them to talk about the CBD

[1:14:24] CDBG CDBG CDBG grant for some things they want to do. So, I asked them

[1:14:31] Ms. Killian and and William to kind of schedule something. Could be a Zoom

[1:14:35] meeting or face-to-face meeting with that family.

[1:14:38] They own two of the hotels uh on 301 and apparently they want to

[1:14:43] they want to do something uh

[1:14:47] I don't know what it is, apparently there's some money on the CDBG program

[1:14:52] that they can have access to. Also, did attend a Relay for Life last

[1:14:59] Friday at the high school. Probably one of the biggest and best

[1:15:03] event that I've seen. They had good participation from Mobile

[1:15:07] County and uh I think everybody certainly enjoyed it.

[1:15:13] And as you know, Relay for Life is all about cancer

[1:15:19] prevention and awareness, and I think they're doing good job. So, I was happy

[1:15:23] to see that the county was sponsor, and I hope we continue to uh

[1:15:29] sponsor such a very eventful and very important event in this county.

[1:15:36] So, a lot of laughter during that

[1:15:41] that time period, but also [snorts] a lot of genuine concern about

[1:15:46] our health factors here in the county. So, I will ask, you know, I will

[1:15:50] recommend to council if you get a chance, uh

[1:15:53] I think our own Elaine Savage here from the clerk I called she kind of has that

[1:15:59] up for us. So, uh

[1:16:01] just let them know job well done.

[1:16:05] Also, I did ask Mr. Ude to reach out to superintendent

[1:16:11] uh Cave about the MOU.

[1:16:16] I did receive a uh receive

[1:16:19] comments that they were concerned about two

[1:16:22] things, and I think they're easy fix. One of them we won't fix,

[1:16:28] but it was something about a signature, who's to sign.

[1:16:31] And I think we will stay the way

[1:16:36] the way that is, but I think we can fix the other. And Walter, I don't know you

[1:16:40] may not be aware of it. I'm not aware of it. Okay, and

[1:16:45] I [clears throat] don't know if the studio were you able to get anything

[1:16:48] back? She told me she was going to call me again.

[1:16:51] She never called. Okay. When when I talked to her, I asked

[1:16:55] her about it. Yes. And

[1:16:57] she said she would call you back. Okay. And I maybe more concerned cuz

[1:17:02] what I got was kind of do or die great ride, so you never know.

[1:17:06] But anyway, I know I hand delivered it to her and I know

[1:17:10] you sent email on that, right?

[1:17:15] We'll see and I look for her get in touch with me and we'll go from

[1:17:20] there. Okay?

[1:17:23] And lastly, I think we I think I sent counsel out

[1:17:27] sent to counsel by email what we received from Mrs. Fitz, town of Allen

[1:17:33] Dale about the winter ball. And I asked that you take a look at it

[1:17:37] and maybe we can talk in depth about it but

[1:17:41] and our budget meeting. Okay?

[1:17:44] Also, elected officials basically I think it's been a general rule here at

[1:17:50] for council since I've been here that we don't tie the hands of elected

[1:17:54] officials. They kind of have a way of hiring their own folks

[1:17:59] etc. So uh and I know personnel committee has kind

[1:18:03] of followed that protocol, so and I hope we can continue to do that.

[1:18:09] Department heads and etc. I think they have any choice. Excuse me?

[1:18:14] I said I don't think you have any choice cuz the elected officials are over their

[1:18:17] offices and Thank you, Walter. And that's what I was

[1:18:21] saying from the county. That the county's probably coming from

[1:18:25] Sheriff Cleveland calling me today. He called me today to ask me if it was okay

[1:18:29] to hire somebody. And I told him, well, I thought it

[1:18:32] didn't matter but he wanted [snorts] to prove to some you know, if he wanted

[1:18:35] approval if he needed approval or whatever. Sure.

[1:18:39] And but agree with Walter. May I ask you a question?

[1:18:43] And one of the things too, I think that you know, the kicker on this thing is

[1:18:46] the fact that you know, we gave him

[1:18:51] the ownership or oversee of E911, which prior to that, it was pretty much open.

[1:18:58] You know, the personnel committee did just like in that. So,

[1:19:02] now it's a kind of a new day and it it's his baby, so to speak, and

[1:19:07] we expect him to go ahead and handle and I think he's doing a good job. So, I

[1:19:11] agree. Can I add one thing? We just we just need to be sure that they're

[1:19:14] following our hiring or the county's policies on drug testing

[1:19:20] and and you know, they still need to follow the same policies, but they can

[1:19:23] » Well, what happens and and Mr. Bridges asked me about that today, what will

[1:19:27] happen is if a person now has that is hired will have to still submit

[1:19:31] to the pre-employment stuff. If they've already

[1:19:35] started and they fail, they [snorts] will be unemployed.

[1:19:39] That's immediate? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's all I have.

[1:19:44] » I've got one question if you don't mind. Sure. On the Genesis Healthcare, Mhm.

[1:19:48] are they looking at building in the side of the town of Valley View or the

[1:19:51] county? Or in the town of Valley View.

[1:19:54] I know the property that they that that they purchased is within the town

[1:19:58] limits. So, the town will be handling all that. Whatever what incentives We

[1:20:04] won't have any say in that.

[1:20:07] » [snorts] >> I think if they ask for anything in

[1:20:10] terms of incentives, it may, but I don't know of a healthcare

[1:20:15] facility that's that generally they don't they don't need that. You know, if

[1:20:20] they're going to come, they're going to come as is.

[1:20:23] Now, the town providing water, sewer, they may may get get a break on that,

[1:20:27] but I don't see the county having to

[1:20:30] participate in in in any way, but Well, we do believe

[1:20:35] um very important all of us to be aware Oh, yeah. Yeah. for those concerns. I

[1:20:40] agree. requested. >> [snorts]

[1:20:42] » As we look at their investment numbers at some point and SEA may need to get

[1:20:47] involved. I'm not really sure on that. Okay.

[1:20:51] Mr. Kelly. Mr. Chairman, very quickly I have a

[1:20:54] couple of items. Um Mr. Payne mentioned the leisure center

[1:20:58] and walking trails specifically, but

[1:21:01] um the CTC, Mr. Payne, you thank you, has programmed money for the leisure

[1:21:06] center driveway paving uh or entranceway paving and also for

[1:21:10] the old Orangeburg road work repair. So, those funds will be available to us

[1:21:17] and we should be uh waiting to talk about

[1:21:21] all of business 13A in just a minute.

[1:21:25] Uh but that money's been made available to us for those two projects.

[1:21:30] Uh I think I mentioned last month that the Rural Infrastructure Authority has

[1:21:33] given us a notice to proceed with the Hampton Manor water and wastewater

[1:21:36] improvements. Um we now have signed contracts with um

[1:21:42] the contractor we had a previous meeting is Lake Murray

[1:21:46] Construction. They were I think I awarded that actually last meeting. We

[1:21:50] had the pre-construction pre-construction meeting and all the

[1:21:54] contracts are signed. So, that work if it hasn't already started out there in

[1:21:58] the county, I don't know if they started dropping pipe but when I go out there,

[1:22:00] you'll see a lot of work going on

[1:22:03] out there very shortly if it hasn't started already because they've got a

[1:22:06] deadline of September, I think, to get everything in the ground and working.

[1:22:10] So, that should be up and going and and then

[1:22:13] the last thing I have McAfee attended a webinar this morning

[1:22:17] on opportunity zones. Uh the new program has been changed and

[1:22:22] it has put some limitations on it, but the deadline for submitting nominations

[1:22:28] for census tracts that qualify for opportunity zones is June

[1:22:33] 15th and I can't believe that I'm going to meet next week

[1:22:36] to try to look at the interactive map and everything that the Commerce

[1:22:39] Department has out there for us and we're going to be submitting something

[1:22:42] for an opportunity zone for our community. I think it's a

[1:22:46] a real opportunity, no pun intended, opportunity to

[1:22:50] attract some capital investment and things like that. So, we just The first

[1:22:54] thing we need to do is get those census tracts nominated and then the

[1:22:58] governor's going to be He He has to choose. It can't be more than 25%. It's

[1:23:03] 25%. Yeah, and so of the tracts submitted, so

[1:23:08] I think he's got to I think it's 90 60 days till September, I think, to uh

[1:23:13] to approve those or recommend them to uh the feds for approval, so

[1:23:18] um we'll keep you informed along the way on

[1:23:21] on how that is going to work, but I think there's a a good chance for us to

[1:23:25] get some maybe some in in tract attract some capital investment, too.

[1:23:29] Yeah. That's my report, Mr. Chairman. Okay.

[1:23:33] Mr. Sands. I just have one thing. Um

[1:23:37] as y'all remember the concurrent resolution concerning the um

[1:23:43] Sgt. Arianna Tejada J. Smith Memorial Road has been approved by both the

[1:23:50] House and the Senate on the May the 7th and I was notified today that the actual

[1:23:58] road signs will be at at the local uh Department of Transportation tomorrow.

[1:24:05] Great. So, um what the county's got to do

[1:24:10] » never moved that fast. >> [laughter]

[1:24:13] » I was surprised you know that they're already here, but

[1:24:16] um the late tomorrow I talked with um

[1:24:21] Angela who is the uh of the DOT down there and

[1:24:26] um she says it'll come they'll come in

[1:24:29] tomorrow. She she'll want time. So, they wouldn't be able to install them until

[1:24:34] sometime late next week. Or whenever the county wanted it done

[1:24:40] because I told her that it would um that the county would probably want to

[1:24:45] do a ceremony. And what they would do would, you know, erect the signs and

[1:24:50] then they and then they would you know, they would

[1:24:52] cover them and at the ceremony they would be unveiled.

[1:24:57] So, what y'all and I had talked with Roosevelt about it since he was sort of

[1:25:01] heading up the group out there and um I made made sure he was coming tonight

[1:25:07] because y'all really need to decide when you want to do something and what you

[1:25:12] want to do.

[1:25:15] And I agree and I think council will hopefully address that. Maybe we'll talk

[1:25:20] a little bit of about it in executive session.

[1:25:23] Or maybe at our next budget workshop. But I

[1:25:27] kind of envision you know, getting some input from the family what's available

[1:25:32] for I I spoke I spoke with the brother today

[1:25:36] and um she uh had a date talk with me in a

[1:25:39] couple couple three weeks from now and she gathered us some information and put

[1:25:43] it out at the Smoke Panel Village to be part of the ceremony and and

[1:25:47] celebration. So, we're going to get feedback from her

[1:25:50] as what would be convenient for the family? Yes. They will give us a date?

[1:25:55] They will give you a date. And a time? Yes. And hopefully that

[1:26:00] hopefully I can put the sign up a day prior to the event because you don't

[1:26:05] want it out there prior to that. No. So, we want to snatch

[1:26:08] back off you know, like a weekend advance. Sure. So, um

[1:26:12] yeah, we will be getting back with you in the The

[1:26:15] day or so or uh I would say, you know,

[1:26:19] let Mr. Killian know we know it. I will do it. As you know.

[1:26:23] » [snorts] >> Very good, Walter. That's very speedy.

[1:26:26] Go ahead, sir. Well, I will um

[1:26:29] I will let her know you know, what what's going on with the

[1:26:33] county. And um

[1:26:35] cuz I'm sure they'll wait for the you know, the county let her know when they

[1:26:39] want to put them up. Cuz they'll they'll put signs on each end of Moody Road. And

[1:26:44] then they've also got two um family signs that they give to the

[1:26:48] family. Okay. Very good. Very good.

[1:26:52] Well, this is we wait

[1:26:56] Wait, you know, to get more information, you know, time-wise, date-wise. [snorts]

[1:27:02] And I imagine from the council's standpoint of view and the Clayton,

[1:27:05] William, and Judy can help us out, you know,

[1:27:10] should be a small ceremony. Sure. And I don't see any

[1:27:15] you know, any uh

[1:27:18] refresh my head like that. Just kind of I'm ready to sign and let's go home. And

[1:27:23] you probably want to invite the sons to the hotel and

[1:27:27] and let them Sure. Cuz they're the ones that

[1:27:29] the ones that actually, you know, pushed it through.

[1:27:32] And also notify the paper so they'll put

[1:27:36] something Absolutely. And hopefully have a tent out there, too. So, it's probably

[1:27:40] going to be hot. Oh, yeah.

[1:27:44] Okay. Walter, anything else? Okay.

[1:27:48] Thank you. We're down to

[1:27:51] old business and item A, third reading of an ordinance to provide for the

[1:27:56] control and prevention of litter and illegal

[1:28:00] dumping within Iredell County, to provide procedures for the enforcement,

[1:28:05] to provide penalties for violation of this ordinance and and matters related

[1:28:11] thereto. I'll a motion that we accept third

[1:28:14] reading of ordinance delivered control ordinance. Second.

[1:28:18] Moved and properly seconded. [cough and clears throat]

[1:28:20] Any question? All in favor, let it be known by saying

[1:28:23] aye. Aye. Okay. Item B, second reading of an ordinance to establish operating

[1:28:28] and capital budgets for the County of Allendale, South Carolina for the fiscal

[1:28:33] year commencing July 1, 2026 to provide for the levy of taxes for

[1:28:39] Allendale County for the fiscal year commencing July 1st, 2026

[1:28:44] to establish fees and service charges for Allendale County for the fiscal year

[1:28:49] commencing July 1, 2026 to provide for the expenditures of tax

[1:28:54] revenues and other county funds to provide for other county purposes to

[1:29:00] provide for certain fiscal and other matters relating to county government

[1:29:04] and other matters related thereto. Can I get a motion?

[1:29:10] This is second reading. So moved. Second. Moved and properly seconded.

[1:29:14] Second reading of our ordinance establishing our budget

[1:29:18] for 2026. >> [clears throat]

[1:29:21] » 27. Any question? [snorts]

[1:29:26] All in favor, let it be known by saying aye. James, I saw your hand lastly.

[1:29:31] No, we're good. Okay. Well, you can always have a sidebar conversation with

[1:29:35] us. Okay. New business.

[1:29:40] Approval of bid from Steve Steeds Paving in the amount of $47,700

[1:29:50] for the CTC Leisure Center resurfacing project.

[1:29:55] Mr. Chairman, >> [clears throat]

[1:29:56] » I mentioned this in my report that uh might have been set aside for that.

[1:30:01] Williams been the point person on getting the quotes for that. I'm going

[1:30:04] to let him state process and what not.

[1:30:07] Okay. And now we got you.

[1:30:09] » [clears throat] >> Yes, Mr. Hurd, Cooper gave me a list of

[1:30:13] contractors. They don't have been in on paving projects in the

[1:30:17] area before. And I sent them invitations to bid on the project. There were three

[1:30:23] that submitted bids. One was a no bid. The second bid was for 80,000 400 and 40

[1:30:30] dollars. Uh and the lowest bid was from Steve

[1:30:33] Paving for 47,000 700 dollars. Okay.

[1:30:38] You feel that we followed the right procedure and

[1:30:41] Mr. Cooper told me that this would satisfy the CTC's purchasing department.

[1:30:45] Okay. Very good. Can I get a motion? Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve

[1:30:50] Steve Paving's bid. Second. Second. Moved and properly seconded. Any

[1:30:55] question? All in favor let it be known by saying aye. Aye.

[1:31:00] Eyes have it. Item B, selection of a firm to conduct

[1:31:05] energy saving audit. That's something that we've been talking about for a long

[1:31:09] time. Mr. Killian. Mr. Chairman, we did >> [clears throat]

[1:31:12] » we did put out a an RFP for

[1:31:16] the these companies that do this kind of work, energy savings performance

[1:31:19] contracts. We received two bids, two proposals.

[1:31:24] I wouldn't read every word of this one. He stole it.

[1:31:28] » [laughter] >> One was from Schneider Electric and one

[1:31:32] was from Ameresco. Uh the folks that do the tires and

[1:31:36] things. Uh we we really haven't been through

[1:31:39] these proposals. We didn't read every word, but we've been through all of the

[1:31:42] heavy stuff and and I can I can tell you that both pro- both

[1:31:46] companies have the capability of doing what we're trying to do.

[1:31:50] Um and they both have the financial wherewithal to guarantee the savings and

[1:31:55] and that kind of thing. So, we would be very comfortable with either one. The

[1:31:58] tipping point I think probably for us and we're going to recommend to that you

[1:32:01] go with Schneider Electric. Their proposal included all of our

[1:32:05] telecommunications, phones, and all of all of that stuff to make sure that

[1:32:09] we're getting what we're supposed to get when

[1:32:13] we're when we're paying for it. Okay. Uh so, there's really

[1:32:17] not much of a catch, but there is a possibility of a catch. What we What

[1:32:21] we're going to ask you to do is approve approve

[1:32:26] and Mr. Sanders has not seen this agreement, so I would make it if you do

[1:32:29] make a motion to do this, I'd make it contingent upon

[1:32:32] Walter being comfortable with this agreement. I did not see anything

[1:32:34] egregious in this. It's a very short agreement.

[1:32:37] This is what they call an investment-grade audit agreement.

[1:32:40] They come in and look at all the buildings

[1:32:44] and come back to us with recommendations on which buildings to do what to.

[1:32:48] Um the only catch is if they um

[1:32:54] if we decide not to go forward, then there's a $40,000 fee for them to

[1:32:58] do that to a done that audit and provide those recommendations

[1:33:02] We decide not to move forward with it, there's a different agreement uh what do

[1:33:07] you call what they call that agreement? Um

[1:33:11] There's a different agreement to move forward. I I'll find that name.

[1:33:14] Uh if y'all choose not to do it, then you'll owe them the $40,000 for the

[1:33:18] audit that they did. Mhm. If you do move forward, that's rolled into the cost and

[1:33:23] they'll pay for that with the savings that's generated from that.

[1:33:26] Um the um

[1:33:29] The other catch is if they cannot find the savings, always a

[1:33:35] chance. If they cannot find the savings and guarantee the savings, you'll be uh

[1:33:40] on the hook for that $40,000, too. I don't think that's going to be a I don't

[1:33:43] think that's going to be a problem. Okay. Uh

[1:33:45] so, what when you get into that other agreement with them if you if you go

[1:33:49] that route, they will guarantee the savings that they say they'll get, they

[1:33:53] will pay uh they will help you get financing. We

[1:33:56] have to finance it up front, and then the savings you get will pay back

[1:34:01] the loan or the financing that they get in place for you.

[1:34:04] Um so, if you go forward and they can and if

[1:34:07] they if the savings doesn't come back like they say it will,

[1:34:11] they'll pay the difference. Um it won't be something that you'll be

[1:34:14] on the hook for. Um

[1:34:16] these are pretty um common practices out there.

[1:34:21] I've done several of them throughout my career.

[1:34:23] And they've always worked out in my favor of the company. Mhm. Uh and that

[1:34:27] we get Now, we've done some set things here, but

[1:34:29] » Yeah. uh if we do what they recommend we do,

[1:34:32] and we get the financing help with their help to get it,

[1:34:36] then they'll they'll pay for it either through the savings or their own pocket

[1:34:40] to get the um the um

[1:34:43] program in place. And Schneider has already done some work for us here

[1:34:48] at the facility. >> They did They did an initial

[1:34:51] walk-through. Uh in fact, we have um

[1:34:56] I don't know if they made you recommendations, but I don't think they

[1:34:58] got recommendations on which buildings they think probably will get us those

[1:35:03] savings. Okay. Um but yeah, they have.

[1:35:06] What do you have anything else to add to that? Um yeah, they did an initial

[1:35:09] walk-through. There was some things with the buildings they recommended, you

[1:35:13] know, and a lot of doors with gaps where it was causing energy loss. There could

[1:35:18] be some savings there. But um yeah, they they definitely have a lot of

[1:35:23] recommendations which they think could improve our energy

[1:35:26] efficiency. For 40,000,

[1:35:30] if they can guarantee that moving forward, that's two mills better that we

[1:35:34] can in in Well, that's I think they'll be able to to bring in a whole lot more

[1:35:38] savings than that. Just to be honest. I mean, that's my guess. Now, we may That

[1:35:42] may prove me wrong. So, they come up with they come in and do the audit, give

[1:35:46] us a proposal. If we don't accept it, they owe us 40 grand. Right.

[1:35:50] If we do, we'll go into that other agreement with

[1:35:53] them and they'll start doing the things to save the money enough to pay off the

[1:35:56] money. But they will have a rate.

[1:36:00] Any idea what that's going to be the cost to do all the things? No. I think

[1:36:04] it's kind of wait and see. Right. They're going to get 40 anyway.

[1:36:10] Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Guys, what's your pleasure?

[1:36:18] You need to choose a company name. I mean to me, I mean I don't know I don't

[1:36:21] know if I'm going to try it or not, but I mean I'm

[1:36:25] No, I I mean at first at first at first sight I don't like it, but

[1:36:29] It's not an act. I mean $40,000 to make it a sound on it, you know, I don't

[1:36:32] know. Well, But I mean you have an experience

[1:36:35] with these type of products and these type of companies. There's I mean there

[1:36:39] are there is that possibility you have to pay $40,000 if you if they don't come

[1:36:43] up with enough savings. I don't have enough experience to to make that

[1:36:47] decision. I would be I would yield to you to to

[1:36:50] to give us some clarity and some recommendations. Yeah, I think these

[1:36:54] things um I have not seen one yet.

[1:36:59] I'm sure there is one somewhere, but I have not seen one yet that did not

[1:37:03] produce savings enough to cover the cost of what you have to do to bring

[1:37:09] to bring the cost of your energy down. In your energy And and and if they if

[1:37:13] they if the savings doesn't, they're on the hook for what's the difference. I

[1:37:16] mean if you have the payment is $40,000 a year and they only save

[1:37:20] $30,000 a year, then they got to pay the other 10.

[1:37:24] So. That's a That's a catch all for us, you know, but

[1:37:29] I'm

[1:37:31] I can tell you it's we got to do something versus nothing.

[1:37:36] I don't see the cost of energy going down,

[1:37:39] you know, so if we can spend 40 with the hopes of saving And

[1:37:45] you may not even spend the 40. it. In your experience Clay, I mean how many

[1:37:49] years would it take to recoup recoup those savings to pay for I mean I know

[1:37:54] that's probably a loaded question but I think it depends on the amount of money

[1:37:58] we have to finance up front versus the savings that they think it

[1:38:03] will generate. The two will marry itself up. If they think they can save

[1:38:09] $50,000 a year in um

[1:38:13] doing all this stuff and $50,000 will retire X amount of debt.

[1:38:17] So they may even phase it at some point. And they're going to find financing for

[1:38:21] this project. >> They'll help us locate financing. And if

[1:38:24] they don't, what's I mean if we can't get financed, I mean

[1:38:27] Well, that that would be a that would be a problem obviously. If we can't get

[1:38:30] financing, then we'd be on the hook for that 40,

[1:38:33] but I I think in these kind of situations with a company the size of

[1:38:37] Snyder or even in Marasco

[1:38:40] backing the payment cuz that would be involved

[1:38:44] in paying paying that payment if the savings isn't there.

[1:38:47] I don't think financing will ultimately be a problem.

[1:38:50] I think the financing piece is actually back up what they say can be done. So

[1:38:56] their name is certainly out there and their reputation. Oh sure.

[1:39:01] So I mean it's not without some risk. God I understand that

[1:39:07] My experience is the risk is worth taking. And I recommend that we take

[1:39:10] that risk council. So uh Would you send it to me about the

[1:39:14] 10th of the month or look at all of it or something? He has not seen this

[1:39:18] agreement yet. Right. It's always been my practice to have the county attorney

[1:39:23] look at any agreement that

[1:39:26] We can make a motion I have no intention of practicing law without a license. I

[1:39:30] don't want to be accused of that anymore.

[1:39:33] I've [snorts] been around lawyers all my career.

[1:39:36] » [laughter] >> But it doesn't have the two things that

[1:39:39] everybody says. It's laws of this state and does not have any implications

[1:39:45] Can I would recommend that we

[1:39:48] uh

[1:39:50] pass a motion with the uh

[1:39:55] claim that if our attorney have any doubts about it or concerns

[1:40:03] it would be base considered be null and void if they find

[1:40:07] something that that that we need to be aware of. And we

[1:40:10] going with Snyder? Yes. Snyder.

[1:40:14] Second. Well, I can't I can't make the motion.

[1:40:18] » I make the motion I make the motion that we go with Snyder

[1:40:21] Electric contingent to our county attorney

[1:40:24] approving it. Second.

[1:40:27] Move it properly second we go with the bid from Snyder

[1:40:32] uh with the understanding that

[1:40:34] uh it will take the approval of the county

[1:40:38] attorney to move forward.

[1:40:41] Any question?

[1:40:44] All in favor let it be known by saying aye. Aye.

[1:40:47] Opposes? I say Okay, we're down to

[1:40:52] executive session we'll take a five minute break and

[1:40:57] So we all agree we get out of here by 8:00. It's 7:38.

[1:41:03] Yeah. Hold on. You running the show?

[1:43:34] » Mhm.

[1:45:29] » Mhm.

[1:47:24] » Mhm.

[1:49:19] » Mhm.

[1:51:14] » Mhm.

[1:53:09] » Mhm.

[1:55:04] » Mhm.

[1:56:59] » Mhm.

[1:58:54] » Mhm.

[2:00:49] » Mhm.

[2:02:44] » Mhm.

[2:04:39] » Mhm.

[2:06:34] » Mhm.

[2:08:29] » Mhm.

[2:10:24] » Mhm.

[2:11:21] » And I'm asking if there any action need to

[2:11:26] be taken at this point. I'm sure I'll make a motion we adjourn.

[2:11:29] Second. Moved and properly second. Any questions? Any concerns? All in favor?

[2:11:34] Aye. Let it be known by saying aye. Aye. Have a good

Regular Council Meeting 5/21/2026

Transcript