[0:05] Me, we'll come to order. If y'all would please rise for the invocation.

[0:08] The Lord's Prayer. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

[0:13] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[0:18] Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive

[0:23] those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from

[0:29] evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

[0:35] Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of

[0:40] America, and to the republic for which it stands.

[0:44] One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[0:50] Thanks. Please be seated. Thank you all for being here this evening.

[0:53] Yes, sir, you've got a mic. You want to bring it up?

[0:55] Mayor, if we may, I'd like a motion to amend the agenda to

[1:01] have an executive session concerning the multi-track.

[1:06] So moved.

[1:07] All right, that's a motion and a second. Any other discussion?

[1:10] Did you want to go any more than that?

[1:12] No, I don't.

[1:12] That's fine. Yes, sir. That's a motion and a second. Thank you.

[1:15] All in favor of that motion, say aye.

[1:16] Aye.

[1:17] Aye. Opposed, the noes have it. Our first item on the agenda would be a draft

[1:20] Downtown Master Plan RFQ presentation. Mr. Rucker, yes, sir.

[1:26] Thank you, Mayor, Council. We have yes RFQ on board

[1:32] there.

[1:35] So let's walk through this, and we'll tell you what we changed, what we added,

[1:39] what's different,

[1:41] and then we'll elicit your responses.

[1:45] We will hopefully, at the end, have an RFQ that you're happy with, that we could

[1:51] move forward for announcement to

[1:56] provide feedback from consultants. Right?

[2:00] First off, we're going to change a couple of things on that front page, just to

[2:05] kind of help you be... We're going to bump the deadline response Friday, October

[2:10] 16th. We thought just to give a little bit more time. It says the 2nd right now.

[2:14] Thought give it a little bit more time.

[2:17] Okay, so that's the one thing. We're going to add a website link on as well to bid

[2:21] so that folks can see it, find the link immediately, and then see the

[2:27] RFQ. Okay. So,

[2:31] I'm just going to go through this, and you stop me at any point in time, but I'll

[2:37] just roll through and tell you what we did here.

[2:38] So we've incorporated the vision throughout the

[2:44] RFQ, as expressed from comments that we've received all through

[2:50] this process, really starting at the March MASC Busbee Tree,

[2:56] last week's workshop especially, and then the comp plan that I think is already in

[3:02] there, and that's especially noticeable in the historic downtown district.

[3:08] Sorry, let me back up a minute. We expanded the planning areas to include the

[3:13] Jasper County Courthouse and surrounding neighborhood, town hall, where we are

[3:17] tonight. We elongated the segment along Green Street

[3:23] and extended out Ramseur Road, right to Bee's Creek, that additional portion where

[3:28] it transitions from Main Street.

[3:32] We also added right here, a market guide.

[3:37] So that was provided to the town by Retail Strategies, and it's got some

[3:43] good information, demographics, and market information data that's in there.

[3:48] We wanted to include that.

[3:51] We took the three distinct planning areas.

[3:55] Remember, it's the historic

[3:58] downtown, Jacobs Smart Boulevard, and Exit 21, and we tailored those with

[4:04] anticipated services and deliverables.

[4:07] So as you work through this, it's more refined.

[4:11] We also added a three-phased project schedule to the scope of work

[4:16] for each separate planning area. So we envision historic downtown

[4:22] first, a three-phase process, as well as Jacobs

[4:28] Smart, and then finally Exit 21. The idea would be let's emphasize the focus

[4:34] for downtown first, then we'll move out to Jacobs Smart, and then we'll go finally

[4:38] out to

[4:41] Exit 21. The phasing, phase one is this assessment of the

[4:46] data, a SWOT, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, to sort of accumulate

[4:51] all that information with the future consultant.

[4:55] Phase two is then gathering that and creating a plan to achieve the goals that

[5:01] we're trying to get to. That's phase two.

[5:04] And then finally, phase three would be to adopt and implement.

[5:08] So the idea is, again, for each of these districts, there's a phased approach, and

[5:12] we're communicating with council, or we're communicating with the public.

[5:16] We're in a robust public engagement, and that's being

[5:22] workshopped with you all, and it's been shared.

[5:24] And when we get to a final okay, that's the phase three. One, two, three. Right?

[5:34] We have enhanced, if it wasn't clearly articulated, it is now,

[5:40] about a robust community engagement request.

[5:44] So we want to make sure we're including the merchants

[5:49] in all the areas. Not just downtown, all the areas.

[5:52] And the investors, like Richmond Development Group, for example.

[5:55] We want those folks providing input along the way.

[6:00] And we also are emphasizing immediate actions.

[6:04] What can we do immediately in kind of day one, short term, and then more long-term

[6:10] visions in those deliverables. Okay? So we start with the historic downtown.

[6:16] In the historic downtown, I'll just go through what we're expecting in terms of

[6:21] actionable items or deliverables. It's the same.

[6:26] So we want to create or modify existing ordinances. Right?

[6:30] So we talked about architectural regulations. We want to hit that.

[6:34] Which produce the town's preferred architectural styles.

[6:38] We're going to talk about signage, storefront window regulations.

[6:43] What can we do there? Historic protections for residential and historic commercial

[6:48] buildings. Town used to have an overlay, it was the Craftsman bungalow

[6:54] overlay. Right. Which helped with historic architectural

[7:00] revitalization. We can talk about bringing something like that back.

[7:05] We want to explore Main Street South Carolina program. Right?

[7:07] We talked about this program. How can we leverage that and those resources?

[7:13] We want to review our zoning standards, particularly T4 and T5.

[7:16] Can we make some improvements?

[7:20] We want to

[7:21] elicit or receive recommendations of how the town can better accommodate

[7:27] redevelopment and infill for private investors.

[7:32] We want to do immediate steps. What can we do immediately to beautify the historic

[7:38] downtown area?

[7:41] We would like to evaluate what buildings, maybe the entire historic core, that

[7:45] could be added to a national register of historic places. Right?

[7:49] We just want some input on that. And with all three of these, we want to consider

[7:55] what the town can provide in the public realm to enhance the private side

[7:58] revitalization. What can the town do?

[8:01] What can we control on the public side to help drive reinvestment?

[8:06] So that's historic downtown. Jacobs Smart Boulevard.

[8:09] We want to re-envision a Jacobs Smart Boulevard. Right?

[8:13] And again, the keyword is re-envision, as it were to function as more of a walkable

[8:19] Main Street-type destination. Unique turn lanes at major intersections, just

[8:24] re-envisioning how that roadway might look.

[8:29] Now, that's going to take a

[8:31] lot of work. Right? If we envision something that's different in that roadway, we

[8:35] know SCDOT owns it. That can be a heavy lift, but we're at least painting the

[8:40] vision, right, of where we're trying to achieve

[8:44] as we move forward.

[8:47] And it'd be like with a consultant, from a

[8:49] consultant. Again, review the zoning

[8:55] ordinances for T4, as well as any pending and enacted ordinances on related issues

[9:01] like architecture, signage. We want to optimize them for that corridor.

[9:06] We'd like to identify opportunities to enhance the street grid, improve

[9:10] walkability, connectivity, beautification

[9:16] We want to identify these sort of store sites or buildings that might serve as

[9:21] catalysts, so we can build off them.

[9:23] And in the end, what can we do in the public realm to enhance revitalization?

[9:28] So finally, Exit 21.

[9:31] What would East Main Street look like redesigned as, again, a more

[9:37] walkable Main Street type vibrant gateway, because it is a gateway, that

[9:42] prioritizes transformative placemaking and public amenities?

[9:48] So how can

[9:50] we reorganize those areas as it redevelops?

[9:54] We want to

[9:56] connect the dots. What's working out there?

[9:58] How do we bring that in, like Route 2 Memorial Park, Blue Heron Nature Trail.

[10:03] We want to talk about dog parks. We want to bring all of that into the mix of what

[10:08] we're trying to achieve in this corridor.

[10:11] Review the zoning standards.

[10:14] We want to look at

[10:18] addressing non-conforming auto-oriented uses of the corridor, and recommendations

[10:23] on how we should address that or future possibilities of revitalization.

[10:28] Again, what can the town do in the public realm to help this whole effort?

[10:35] What we're looking for from a consultant. A firm to come in and do this.

[10:39] Somebody who's demonstrated experience preparing downtown master plans, form-based

[10:44] code amendments, overlay districts, historic downtown design standards, projects

[10:49] involving traditional architecture and new urbanism, and implementation strategies

[10:54] for small towns like us. Bringing that kind of experience to the table.

[11:01] We want to make sure that firms recognize and understand that they're going to need

[11:04] to present to you all their qualifications and their approach prior to the final

[11:10] selection. So that's boiled down from this document

[11:16] into

[11:18] what I just gave you.

[11:22] Did we miss anything? Are we hitting the right spot?

[11:31] Are we close or not?

[11:33] Yeah, I think you've got the right vision here.

[11:37] We've got a plan. At least it feels like, hey, we're going to start here and work

[11:41] through the steps, and then we'll go on down.

[11:44] And is this all going to line as far as the timeline with when

[11:49] the Exit 21 is actually completed?

[11:53] I'm just curious how that's all going, because

[11:56] if we go and revitalize the 21, and say they haven't came through yet to do the

[12:02] construction. I just didn't want to be on top of everybody while we're trying to

[12:05] get it done as well.

[12:07] Right. That's a good question. Yeah.

[12:09] Right now, DOT estimates that they're going to put that out for bid

[12:15] about this time in 2028. So that leave you at an adequate time.

[12:22] Not only that,

[12:25] in terms of wayfaring signage and what we want to do, we still have the final say

[12:30] in terms of what DOT does for Exit 21.

[12:34] So no, that's a great point, but I think the way everything aligns is probably

[12:40] we're not going to get until farther 2029, so we really have to address those

[12:45] questions in terms of what kind of signage you want.

[12:52] Well, and I think it's one of those things that we have the plan in place, but we

[12:55] may not put up the signs until we know that 95 has come through.

[12:59] Right.

[12:59] But we can go ahead and get the plan in place and work on both sides of the

[13:02] interstate in the meantime.

[13:05] And I believe starting with Main Street also, that's the right call.

[13:08] I think we go to Main Street, we'll start right at our front door, right at home

[13:13] base and work out from there. I think that's a great idea.

[13:17] Yes, sir.

[13:21] To me, this is more of a visionary thing.

[13:24] I don't see

[13:28] actually implementation or some beginnings of this program, but it's going

[13:34] to take years to do this. So, I don't see what...

[13:39] Oh.

[13:40] Did you all consider

[13:44] timing, or

[13:47] you put any estimates, or is that something you want the...

[13:50] And there's all kind of factors that are going to impact that.

[13:54] There's going to be the economic factor, there's going to be so many things that

[13:57] are going to impact how fast this might happen.

[14:00] It's more creating a vision of what this council wants to see happen.

[14:06] It is.

[14:06] And then starting down a path that accomplishes those goals.

[14:13] Right. Yes, ma'am?

[14:15] No, I'm hoping that this group is going to give us a roadmap or a timeline

[14:21] of, "I would focus on this. I would do this. Here's your order.

[14:23] Here's your roadmap." And then it's up to us to make that happen.

[14:29] Yes, sir.

[14:32] But along with that, and I think what's interesting here is that there's a lot of

[14:37] the smart code that's going to have to be

[14:40] modified

[14:42] to implement this plan or incorporate.

[14:47] Oh, yeah.

[14:50] Yes.

[14:52] Can you do one more? The

[14:56] good thing is a lot of smart code is there already, and really it's underutilized.

[15:03] There could be more that the smart code allows.

[15:09] It needs to be tweaked, yes. And I'm hopeful and anticipating

[15:15] suggestions on how to strengthen it, but I think we're coming

[15:21] from a good base already. No doubt it's got to be revised.

[15:24] There's got to be some revision.

[15:28] Hang on, hang on. You want to say more?

[15:30] Go ahead.

[15:31] Yeah, actually,

[15:33] it's kind of buried in the fine print, but if you look at the core deliverables,

[15:39] recommended projects with priorities, in other words, how we want to phase things.

[15:45] An ordinance code audit, which I think is important so you could find

[15:49] inconsistencies in the smart code.

[15:51] I know you and I have talked about that for quite some time.

[15:55] Ordinance-ready overlay smart code language, so it would be teed up and ready for

[16:01] the council to adopt, if that's the direction they want to go.

[16:06] You can also take examples of what others have done.

[16:09] If you look at--

[16:12] I'm just going to use what they had that downtown master plan, and

[16:18] thanks to the doctors and I think with the demographics and the number of people

[16:23] moving to our area, I could see it going pretty quickly.

[16:29] I know the Municipal Association has a program for downtown

[16:35] revitalization. And obviously they've engaged with firms or

[16:41] businesses that do this type of work. How are we going to advertise?

[16:46] Are we just going to put it on our website and ask for proposals, or how are we

[16:51] going to approach...

[16:54] Sometimes there's no need to reinvent the wheel.

[16:56] If we've got people that have done this for other like communities, perhaps they're

[17:00] a good fit for us. And I just don't want to miss somebody that might be good for

[17:05] us.

[17:07] South Carolina business opportunities will be putting it out to some professional

[17:13] planning organizations. So we're going to cast a wide net on it.

[17:18] I think firms are pretty hungry for this type of work because this is really

[17:24] interesting stuff, generally speaking.

[17:26] So we anticipate we're going to have a pretty big...

[17:32] And one last question. Did we fund any monies in our current year budget for this

[17:38] money?

[17:38] We sure did.

[17:39] Okay. I'm not going to ask you what that is, but okay.

[17:42] Yeah, I don't want to give that away just yet.

[17:44] Okay.

[17:44] But just remember that when we go through the selection process, you all will have

[17:48] the opportunity to negotiate directly with the firm.

[17:52] Obviously, staff will help

[17:56] make that process manageable, but we want to make sure.

[18:00] It's the old saying, do we have a champagne taste on a beer

[18:06] budget? We want to make sure we get the best bang for our buck.

[18:11] Sure.

[18:14] Is that everything? Or well, curious, do you all want staff to take the lead on the

[18:20] scoring?

[18:22] ... um, to get those consultants before you to then make their pitch?

[18:27] Or do you want to be more part of that process from the beginning?

[18:32] How do you want to handle that?

[18:34] Mm-hmm.

[18:34] I mean, I have no idea how many proposals we're going to get, but assuming you do

[18:38] get a hefty amount, I would say if you could bring the top three to council with

[18:43] your scores and explain why you scored them the way that you did, and then we have

[18:47] time to review them, that would be helpful.

[18:48] Yes. All right. That's a good plan.

[18:51] We should set up your finalists,

[18:55] and maybe have them come and meet with this directive council.

[18:58] I'm sure they would, so that would be interesting.

[19:03] Yes, sir.

[19:04] And just keeping in mind, too, the enthusiasm that the original development group

[19:08] had the last meeting when they-- or the workshop when they came in.

[19:11] Let's try to keep them in mind because you may see it from different angles, inside

[19:17] looking out, outside looking in. They're just totally different ideas that may

[19:20] work, so I say let's use all resources.

[19:22] I have to run that by the desk, yeah.

[19:24] Right. We need to keep them in mind.

[19:29] I would say, I've just seen some suites today, and I was talking with

[19:35] Christian Gesen, Councilman Gesen, so we're definitely communicating.

[19:41] We'll definitely bring them to the table.

[19:46] If there's nothing else for them, I think then thank you very much.

[19:50] Thank you very much.

[19:51] Thank you.

[19:54] Next item will be our public comment time. Happy to hear from anyone.

[19:59] There's no public comments, then I will move to a reading and approval of August

[20:03] 20th meeting, and I'll make that motion.

[20:05] Second.

[20:06] All in favor say aye.

[20:07] Aye.

[20:07] Opposed, no ayes, have it. Our next item would be item number two, a resolution of

[20:10] the original town council approving surplus of a 2017 Caterpillar mini excavator

[20:16] and purchase of a 2026

[20:22] Caterpillar mini excavator for the water department. Yes, Mr. Hammond?

[20:24] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Your ATEX committee met

[20:30] a week prior. They gave their recommendations to your council.

[20:37] I did distribute that to the council a week ago, so you had time to consider those

[20:42] recommendations. We had considerably less money to distribute this

[20:47] year. I think we all know why. I'm not going to get into that.

[20:51] But on a positive note, we did have some funds that were not expended that come

[20:56] back. So the total to distribute is a little higher,

[21:03] roughly $20,000, $21,600 higher.

[21:08] So the total to distribute this year is $45,635 just

[21:14] for that.

[21:17] We asked applicants Friends County Hill, Gopher Hill, Keep Jasper Beautiful, the

[21:23] Morris Center, Operation Patriots, FOT, and you

[21:29] have the appropriate recommendations corresponding with the appropriate

[21:34] recommendation for each.

[21:40] With that, I'll

[21:42] yield the floor to any questions you may have.

[21:46] Were there any other requests aside from these? These were the only requests?

[21:51] Then I make a motion we approve the disbursements of the ATEX money

[21:56] as prescribed in this ordinance.

[22:01] I'll second the motion. Any other discussion?

[22:05] All in favor of that motion say aye.

[22:07] Aye.

[22:07] Aye. Opposed, no ayes, have it. Our next item would be number two, a resolution of

[22:11] the original town council approving surplus of a 2017 Caterpillar mini

[22:17] excavator and purchase of a 2026 Caterpillar mini excavator for the

[22:23] water department. Yes, Mr. Hammond. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[22:25] Now, unfortunately,

[22:28] the

[22:30] mini excavator which we acquired, we keep out said he

[22:36] wrote in the essence of repair of parts exceeds

[22:41] the value of the machine. Given that in our

[22:47] replacement policy, we are recommending to move forward to purchase a

[22:53] 2026,

[22:55] in accordance with state contract pricing, $58,000.

[22:59] Our goal is to surplus the mini ex and still have some value for parts and

[23:04] whatnot.

[23:06] But given the importance of that machine, when we have to work in a tight spot,

[23:13] it's very important for the water department to have the excavator.

[23:20] Matt, then I motion that we approve of two or five...

[23:27] How do I add that number in?

[23:28] $58,406.60.

[23:32] For the purchase of the used Caterpillar mini excavator?

[23:38] Second.

[23:38] That's a motion and a second. Any other discussion? Yes, sir.

[23:41] And if I understand, it comes from the enterprise fund, not the general fund,

[23:44] right?

[23:44] Correct. This is enterprise fund.

[23:47] We do have what I call rain day budget money.

[23:51] This is just one of those unfortunate things. We had a couple this month.

[23:55] I don't know why, but the next item on the agenda is another example.

[24:00] But,

[24:02] we'll put the surplus, whatever we get out of the surplus, will go back as

[24:08] disbursements.

[24:09] Any more direct questions?

[24:13] That's a motion and a second. All in favor of that motion say aye.

[24:16] Aye.

[24:16] Opposed, no ayes, have it. Number three, then a quote from Professional Pump and

[24:20] Well Incorporated for an effluent pump at the Jimmy Mixon Wastewater Treatment

[24:24] Plant. Yes, sir. As you would begin, one of the pumps for the effluent pump

[24:29] station has failed, and then it can probably be funded on

[24:35] Cecil, but our understanding from our supplier is that pump, that particular pump

[24:41] model, is no longer made. So in previous cases, what we've done is we've rebuilt

[24:46] those pumps, but we can no longer get parts.

[24:49] So unfortunately, we have to purchase a new pump.

[24:54] That quote came in at $18,750.

[25:00] I make a motion that we approve the pump purchase for $18,750.

[25:07] I'll second that motion. Any other discussion?

[25:10] 58. What's the total?

[25:12] $18,750.

[25:14] Perfect. Okay. I'll show from the enterprise fund.

[25:17] Enterprise fund.

[25:19] Yes, sir.

[25:20] I'm done.

[25:24] When something goes down like that, how critical is it to the operation of the

[25:28] facility?

[25:30] That's our pumps that run the go to Newark.

[25:34] So if one of them goes down-

[25:36] And the other one goes out, I guess there's enough water out there

[25:38] ... There would be.

[25:40] I guess I'll find some afterthought of this when you first sent us an email.

[25:44] Right.

[25:45] Do we need to be waiting on something like this sometime?

[25:47] Or does that compromise your ability to deliver what needs to be delivered?

[25:53] Oh, the water can still go. It's just the two pumps that does the re-

[25:56] Or it takes longer to get it out there?

[25:58] Yeah. But it'll still work. It just-

[26:02] So it didn't shut you down entirely.

[26:04] No, no. But from a redundancy standpoint, typically, if one has gone down,

[26:10] we're usually able to pull it out, have it rewired, new

[26:15] brushes, and so on, so forth. Unfortunately-

[26:19] Of course they do

[26:19] ... it'll stop possibly longer.

[26:21] All right. That's all.

[26:25] All in favor of that motion say aye.

[26:26] Aye.

[26:26] Aye. Opposed, no ayes, have it. Administrator Gordon. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[26:32] Quite interesting stats. A couple of new things that came up this week I wanted to

[26:38] run by the board. The SMERC, that's our municipal insurance research

[26:43] fund,

[26:45] has a grant out there for cybersecurity.

[26:49] And so we applied for that grant. What it means is,

[26:55] SMERC will pay 100% of the cost of third party, in

[27:01] this case BC3, come in, perform an audit, a cybersecurity audit,

[27:07] and help us implement whatever we need to do to get up to speed.

[27:13] So that's really a beautiful program. So I sent that off today.

[27:18] I hope that we'll have some word on that soon.

[27:22] The waterline grant application,

[27:25] I did forward that information to the council, but effectively, Commerce came back,

[27:30] said we have to perform a study, survey, if you will, an income-based survey.

[27:36] We've had, that's up on Facebook. It's up on the town's website.

[27:41] We encourage everyone who has experienced issues

[27:47] perhaps with ground water in the past, we would ask

[27:53] everyone to complete the survey. There's a QR code.

[27:57] It'll take you at most 10 minutes of your day.

[28:01] It would greatly help the town secure funding for this project.

[28:06] Additionally, next Wednesday we'll be out going door to door doing the survey

[28:13] with the cost, and hopefully we'll have everything wrapped up this week.

[28:17] We'll have enough feedback to be able to go back to Commerce and say, "Yes,

[28:23] we qualify for this grant."

[28:26] Are we going to advertise that maybe on Facebook, see if we can get some people to

[28:30] hit on it?

[28:31] Yeah.

[28:31] Okay.

[28:31] It's out.

[28:32] Perfect.

[28:33] And we've gotten,

[28:35] at least this morning, a couple hundred hits already.

[28:37] Nice.

[28:38] So, yeah. Seems to be working, and I know it's been a discussion topic

[28:44] for some. But again, we should have enough responses

[28:50] to meet the Commerce threshold. So-

[28:54] Let me interrupt you one second.

[28:55] You want to ride up on the other?

[28:56] I'm just going to say that'd be something I honestly think we should share every

[28:59] day-

[29:00] Oh, yeah

[29:00] ... until we get the numbers that we need to get this grant-

[29:03] Yeah

[29:03] ... and the responses on the survey.

[29:05] Yeah. We will, for sure.

[29:10] So that's good news. The federal appropriation's still pending.

[29:14] I did not get any response yet from the RAM staff,

[29:20] so I'll just keep trying on that.

[29:25] The Quala building, long story short, they were supposed to be wrapped up this

[29:30] week. They are

[29:32] not. So what we have now are the remains of the main building,

[29:38] and a metal warehouse, which is in the back of the building, which must be taken

[29:44] down. A building official has given him 90 days to take everything down.

[29:50] It really was my hope to have everything down in time for Gilbert Hill.

[29:54] That's probably not going to happen, unfortunately.

[29:57] But the demolition, to be clear, is required to have everything off that

[30:02] foundation, the slab. So no junk vehicles, no piles of debris,

[30:09] no structures, everything has to go. So we'll be close and we'll monitor that.

[30:17] Next week we have our kickoff meeting for the USDA grant.

[30:21] We finally got a green light, so we'll be signing contracts on the

[30:26] 10th. USDA will be here, hopefully to get

[30:33] everything taken care of.

[30:35] The latest drought update, I know everybody's been getting a lot of rain lately,

[30:40] and that's a good thing. But DNR says we're still in a severe drought

[30:45] status.

[30:47] It has been suggested maybe we could get the splash pad going this weekend.

[30:54] Okay, let's see what-

[30:55] Special favor of that, we can get that turned on.

[30:58] How much water do we actually use down there?

[31:01] We do not have a meter there, so I actually don't know.

[31:04] So the water that goes in is not recirculated through a pump system, it's all fresh

[31:09] water coming in?

[31:09] Yes.

[31:10] I just hate to see us go through the entire season, and especially this weekend,

[31:17] and not... If a motion is appropriate, Mr.

[31:22] Mayor, I would make a motion that we

[31:25] crank open the splash pad this weekend.

[31:27] Second.

[31:28] All right. That's a motion and a second. Any other discussion about the splash pad?

[31:34] I want to vote on that motion, say aye.

[31:36] Aye.

[31:36] Opposed, the ayes have it.

[31:37] And if we're going to do that, again, let's post it on Facebook with a picture of

[31:41] the splash pad. Labor Day celebration.

[31:43] We have the splash pad at least for a weekend, a long weekend.

[31:47] Right. Yeah, we'll have it for sure.

[31:50] Youth Council, so

[31:53] the application deadline was the

[31:57] 31st. We unfortunately got applicants from four of

[32:03] the five schools. We were hoping to get...

[32:05] We still have not got any applicants from Jasper County High.

[32:10] We do have five applicants.

[32:13] We had a late applicant on the 31st.

[32:16] But

[32:18] looking at their applications, and I know some of these kids,

[32:24] I think they're all going to be fantastic.

[32:26] So I think what we'd like to do is see if we can't move forward with those five to

[32:31] apply. And I think what we need to do next is figure out what the

[32:36] bylaws of the youth council will be, what projects we'd like to get them

[32:42] involved with,

[32:44] figure out dates for the coming weeks so we can have our first inaugural meeting.

[32:50] Yes, sir. I contacted Highway International, if I could attend their first youth

[32:56] council. They've been doing this for a few years.

[32:57] And just for comparison purposes to see how they operate during an actual

[33:03] meeting, the subject matter and that type of thing. And Harris said that'd be fine.

[33:07] So if anybody would like to go, I've got a date, I'll let you know.

[33:13] Just send that to us please.

[33:15] Yeah. But after that, I was really impressed with what some of these had written.

[33:23] Some of the things that they wrote were, one wrote, "I would bring effective

[33:29] collaboration and communication skills.

[33:32] I practice integrity in everything I do, provide logical problem-solving

[33:38] skills." Oh, that's Paul. So that's just one example of the type of things

[33:44] this group will bring. So I'm really encouraged by this,

[33:50] and I'm actually pretty voicing.

[33:51] I haven't only, I'm discouraged. School system is not that disciplined yet.

[33:56] Well, they're working on it.

[33:58] Oh.

[33:58] Yeah. I actually reached out to somebody out there. It's my neighbor.

[34:03] She works out there. And so she got back with me today.

[34:07] I think their biggest thing is transportation.

[34:09] She said, "Well, you got transportation provided?" And I said that, "No, I didn't

[34:14] think so." And they wanted to know if they couldn't make it, could we do a Zoom?

[34:19] But I said, "I wouldn't think that would be possible." But she's working on it, so

[34:24] they might be a little late, but they're working on it.

[34:28] Do you mind if I could add more to that?

[34:30] I remember,

[34:32] believe it or not, as far back as it was when I was in high school, we did this.

[34:36] Not only did we have council members, but we had department heads of each of the...

[34:42] So somebody would be associated with planning, utilities,

[34:47] police department, fire department, they kind of shadowed those folks, those

[34:55] department heads. So I

[34:57] guess what I'm saying is maybe not this year, but if it's successful and we have an

[35:03] overabundance of applicants, maybe we can expand the program to do something like

[35:07] that.

[35:09] Based upon this program, hopefully we can have maybe a future summer

[35:15] internship program,

[35:17] so we can expose some of these students to actual workings in government.

[35:21] So that was my hope. I don't think we're there yet.

[35:26] Space is an issue, honestly. But yeah.

[35:32] We were envisioning we could have

[35:35] projects for these kids in various departments, and then we can give them some of

[35:41] the everyday things that we have to go through and say, "Hey, how would you

[35:46] handle this? How would you budget for this?" So on and so forth.

[35:51] So

[35:53] a lot of possibilities there.

[35:55] Yeah.

[35:57] It's going to be interesting. I think you're going to be trying to get that done.

[36:01] Yeah, for sure.

[36:04] Let's see. Ridgeland Elementary, yes, we did get the grant application in with

[36:09] SHPO, for the, it's called a stabilization grant.

[36:14] I want to thank Graham for your work on that.

[36:18] I could not have done it, honestly, without your help.

[36:24] I'm breaking more environments these days, so thank you.

[36:28] Fox Chase, I know from email traffic,

[36:33] that here's those last units that finally have been recorded. So that's good news.

[36:39] Yeah, let me, I'll tell you that. When you say in here, you mentioned, "I

[36:45] am," you say in here, and I quote, I think this is what you said in your email.

[36:49] "I am told they have been recorded at the registered deeds office." With all the

[36:55] time that we've put in this, I thought for sure you could verify that.

[37:00] It's easily verifiable, as you know, we all know.

[37:05] And, then when you sent me back

[37:08] the first email, you sent a link that said, in effect, "Here, look for it

[37:14] yourself."

[37:16] I was kind of shocked by that. And to your credit, I'm very familiar.

[37:21] I look at documents on the registered deeds office quite often.

[37:25] I certainly don't need you to send me a link to the registered deeds office

[37:28] website. I look up documents all the time, the assessor's office even more so.

[37:32] But, and then on your second email, you sent us a copy of the document which had

[37:37] the information to confirm that it has been in fact done.

[37:42] But I just thought that was a better way to do things than to just leave it at,

[37:46] quote, "I am told they have been recorded at the registered deeds office." Yes,

[37:52] sir.

[37:52] Thank you, sir.

[37:53] Yes, sir.

[37:53] All right.

[37:56] Still the highway water sewer project bids came in, yes, actually on the 1st.

[38:02] Now when we did this

[38:05] a year ago, the takeoff on the project cost was about 8.3 million.

[38:12] A lot of the grant money's dried up.

[38:14] Contractors are getting hungry, so the low bid came in at 4.2 million, which is

[38:20] amazing.

[38:22] So JR Horton is reviewing. We're also reviewing

[38:28] the bid, but we expect that to be in

[38:32] hopefully by mid-October. So you're going to see that project

[38:38] actually take off. So that's good news.

[38:41] Yes, sir. Is there anything else that's holding that up, or?

[38:44] There is one last permit, but we got a note, actually an email yesterday from them

[38:50] that it should be forward here next week or so.

[38:53] And the deadline is? Isn't there a deadline?

[38:57] Not really.

[38:58] Anybody up against a-

[39:00] No, there's no real hard deadlines here.

[39:03] Obviously we want to get all permits in hand by October,

[39:09] so I did say. So.

[39:12] Let me know when you're finished, ma'am.

[39:13] Can you give us an idea of what that will look like on that busy road as this

[39:18] project progresses?

[39:22] Obviously there could be lane closures at some point.

[39:26] But again, that's all part of what's being planned because DHEC obviously

[39:31] requires that you have a flagman

[39:36] if you have lane closures. Some of it will be done after hours to avoid

[39:42] morning commute, evening commute.

[39:45] School commutes, yeah.

[39:46] School commute, right. And a lot of it will actually, I've heard there'll be what

[39:52] we call underground boring, so there won't be any overhead cut.

[39:56] So a good example of that would be by the post office, everything will be

[40:01] underneath.

[40:04] Yes, sir. Thank you.

[40:05] Yes, sir.

[40:07] Let's see. I-95, we were up very late the other night.

[40:11] But we got our design package for all the utility.

[40:15] We had to get everything submitted, and we got it done at 11:45 on the 31st.

[40:21] So

[40:23] that package has been received, and that's certainly good news.

[40:28] So, that was the deadline,

[40:31] came down to the wire because we had some permitting issues.

[40:37] But anyway, I think we got that resolved.

[40:41] I've also opened discussions. We talked a lot about council chambers, technology,

[40:47] audiovisual, a lot of improvements that need to be made.

[40:51] VC3, which is probably one of the leading technology IT consultants

[40:57] for municipalities in South Carolina.

[41:01] Talked to them at municipal association meeting in Greenville, got their technical

[41:06] team involved. They're going to send a technician out here

[41:12] for next week. We'll do an inventory, and I hope to have a proposal in hand for

[41:18] the council

[41:20] certainly by October. So, we can get a lot of these technology improvements

[41:26] done here. So the idea would be everybody would have their own console.

[41:30] We'd have audiovisual, hopefully make some improvements to the sound system

[41:36] and maybe even give us the opportunity to do our own building. Nothing against you.

[41:42] Yeah.

[41:42] But

[41:46] I think that's the direction we probably need to go.

[41:48] And I do think it's very important, and I've mentioned it before, with our lawyer

[41:53] out of town, to have the ability to, in my opinion, we don't need to have him

[41:59] here in person. But if we could have-

[42:02] Yeah. Bring him right in on Microsoft Teams.

[42:06] Teams.

[42:06] And, yeah.

[42:08] Yeah.

[42:09] And I would like to take this out of the wall here and have two monitors on the

[42:14] sides of the flag. So the public, who's there, who's watching at home, this is just

[42:19] an awkward setup.

[42:20] Absolutely, yeah. That's kind of the idea, actually.

[42:24] So we'd probably have a more modern, higher definition television.

[42:30] Yes, sir. I think we'll need to redesign this desk area.

[42:34] And then for those of us that are vertically challenged, if you put a screen in

[42:37] front of me, I don't get... They might see the top of my head, and like.

[42:42] If May involves some changes here-

[42:46] This would be right.

[42:48] Yeah. That's a great point. So we'll have to see.

[42:52] Obviously, we don't want screens blocking.

[42:55] So we'll have to do that.

[42:59] I've brought my laptop here before as well.

[43:02] I think as long as you have a 14, 15-inch screen, you're fine.

[43:06] As you're not asking for a 20-inch screen in front of you, so.

[43:10] So, Commissioner. As I understand it, though,

[43:15] that laptop will always be subject to a FOIA

[43:20] request if Adam comes up, am I correct?

[43:24] It is. Now, it's not going to be a laptop.

[43:26] Yeah, I'm not asking for a laptop. I'm just saying size-wise, a monitor of that

[43:29] size.

[43:31] Okay. So

[43:33] actually what we'll be doing is moving to an electronic

[43:38] packet, which you'll have on your screen. You can take notes, et cetera.

[43:43] If you want to bring hard copies, you certainly can.

[43:46] But I think that's the direction we'll probably be going, and then we'd be able to

[43:51] put,

[43:53] for example, all the council packet materials up on the screen as well, so

[43:59] all along. So that's really the direction I can tell.

[44:05] And that's all I have.

[44:06] Yes, sir. We'll move to Councilman Perkins.

[44:10] So the River Health Festival's in less than a month, or a month.

[44:14] I just want to make sure that we're getting everything ready around town.

[44:18] We're

[44:20] street sweeping. We've got flags up. We're wiping things down.

[44:24] We're cleaning things up. Everything is as pretty as it can be for the town of

[44:28] Ridgeland because we have many visitors, and that's been a source of contention for

[44:32] citizens in the past. So I just want to make sure that it's all hands on deck to

[44:37] help not only the committee, I know that they have a great loyal committee that

[44:41] helps with the festival, but the town should be willing in any way possible to help

[44:46] with facilitating this festival. It's just a great opportunity for our community.

[44:50] A lot of history. I just want to make sure that the festival committee feels very

[44:55] supported by the town, and that we do our best to put our best foot forward.

[45:00] That's all.

[45:01] Nothing to add, Mayor.

[45:03] Probably no support on those things, Patricia. When's that coming up?

[45:07] Yeah. They are running behind schedule.

[45:11] We talked first week of September, and obviously that hasn't happened.

[45:16] So I'll be reaching out to them tomorrow to kind of see where they are.

[45:21] Yeah. That gets a bit hard getting those comments from them.

[45:24] Yeah, we need to get those comments as clean-

[45:26] Regardless.

[45:27] Yeah, exactly. So, once that's done, we can really get into some of the other

[45:32] things.

[45:35] Mayor, on the Brown v. Board thing, it's been something I've been hounding you

[45:40] about. And I am excited about what you're doing now to kind of facilitate

[45:46] moving that issue forward. Like I said, it's hard for us to embrace growth when

[45:52] we got old infrastructure that we're not taking care of or haven't been able to

[45:56] afford to take care of for a variety of reasons. I'm glad we're doing that.

[46:01] In addition to the Facebook thing, I'm just trying to think of different ways we

[46:05] can get the word out. And I

[46:09] see the

[46:11] kids flyer tacked on the side of a light pole with a

[46:17] tag on it, with a phone number at MoMart. I mow your grass.

[46:22] Can we print something like that and maybe put them at Eat n' Sweep and Sheffield

[46:27] and places that some people... I'll do it. You said we had a QR code.

[46:33] It'll

[46:35] make it easy for them to get to the website, I guess, is what I'm talking about,

[46:39] leave on paper for everybody.

[46:40] Yeah.

[46:41] Right. Yes. We've got it up on Facebook right now.

[46:47] Our goal is also to move to some other platforms as well, supplement Facebook.

[46:53] I just don't have enough hours in the moment, but-

[46:58] When is the deadline?

[47:00] We would really like to get this wrapped up within the next two weeks.

[47:07] Let me interrupt you one second.

[47:08] Just making a proposal as well. Something that maybe, with all this

[47:14] revitalization and all, and then the circumstance that you're portraying right now

[47:18] about trying to get the word out, why don't we look into getting some type of

[47:22] digital billboard for the town? Maybe have it out front here on Town Hall, or have

[47:27] it in a designated area, and let's try to look to build something like that.

[47:32] That way, we can post stuff like tonight.

[47:34] If we wanted to get the word out right now, we could blast it onto our own

[47:39] billboard, essentially.

[47:42] Events and stuff, just like Gopher Hill, just got to keep the town reminded, hey.

[47:48] There's so much we could utilize that for.

[47:51] But I know this is not going to resolve right now in this moment, but I think we

[47:54] could look towards that.

[47:57] But anyway, to have something printed, if that's the way you'd fly it, that we

[48:00] could put a poster somewhere with something like that.

[48:02] It's simple, and it may get, what if we got 10, 15 more responses?

[48:07] That's 10 or 15 more that we didn't have, so I just want to make it easy for people

[48:11] to find it.

[48:13] Sure.

[48:14] And I've seen the apathy around here.

[48:16] I just don't want people to assume because the town's attention to tackle the

[48:20] problem that it's going to resolve itself just because we're talking about it.

[48:23] It's not.

[48:25] Right.

[48:25] Yeah. We've got to get serious about the implementation of this

[48:31] stuff.

[48:31] Right.

[48:31] Yes, sir.

[48:32] We have an executive session matter to take up on discussion and negotiations

[48:38] incident to proposed contractual arrangements, discussions of a proposed sale of

[48:42] parts of property, receipt of legal advice, settlement of legal claims, or

[48:45] discussion of the public agency's position in adversary situations, discussions

[48:50] about development of security personnel or devices, and that's per South Carolina

[48:55] Code of Law Section 30-4-70. And the specific matter to be discussed is the

[49:01] Moultrie Track, and I'll make a motion we go into executive session for that

[49:04] reason. All in favor of that motion say aye.

[49:06] Aye.

[49:07] Opposed, no. Those have it.

Town of Ridgeland Council Meeting - September 3rd, 2026

Transcript