[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