e e e e e re you do the honor of invocation okay main stand for the Pledge of Allegiance okay father we thank you Lord for this day your grace and your mercy and as we come Lord to do the business of Greenwood City we ask that you will get the glory and honor out of all of this seion and as we continue to be servers in our communities and the Ws we serve in we thank you for the city police for protecting and serving our community and keeping us safe and all the emss that serve us when we need them in Jesus name we pray amen amen pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which ites one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all all right in accordance with the freedom of act chapter 4 titled 30 code of laws of South Carolina 1976 an agenda has been posted on the front door of City Hall a notification of this meeting has been given to the news meeting I can confirm we have a quorum correct yes sir Mr all right first up we've got approval of the consent agenda anybody's reviewed those will a motion motion approve cons second motion by Mr Miller second by Mr Dean any further discussion about the approval of the consent agenda all in favor of approval of the consent agenda that motion carries unanimously with seven votes we have one public hearing this evening and is to consider ordinance number 25-1 our first ordinance of the Year amending sections 34-9 34-11 of um chapter 34 of our code of ordinances this our uh Solid Waste section of our ordinance um this uh ordinance is to amend sanitation fees um which reflect a 26% increase which will eliminate the subsidy that city council has been carrying for the delivery of commercial sanitation thank you is there anyone that wishes to speak in favor of ordinance number 25-1 let the record there none is there anyone that wishes to speak in opposition to ordinance number 25-1 let the record reflect there are none all right as you mentioned this is this is just getting rid of the subsidy for commercial sanitation that's correct we've always subsidized commercial sanitation to a degree this just and we we've talked about this many times this eliminates that subsidy that we've been carrying for commercial sanitation for many years thank you we hear a motion motion to approve ordinance number 25001 second have a motion by Mr Bass second by miss hudo any further discussion regarding ordinance number 25-1 all right all in favor of ordinance number 25-1 motion cares unanimously I think it's a little out of order all right under new business item number one is to consider ordinance number 25-2 which amends our zoning ordinance chapter six of our zoning ordinance adding article 11 temporary emergency housing uh this allows for the temporary use of um recre Recreation Vehicles RVs or campers um on Residential Properties that have sustained um damage by Hurricane Helen I mentioned previously that the in December County Council passed a very very similar ordinance to this um and essentially like I said it allows for people who have sustained significant damage to their homes to live in a recreational vehicle or a camper on their own property while they um home is being repaired this uh ordinance automatically sunsets on 12 31 2025 unless city council extends it the specifics of the ordinance are listed there I'll be happy to run through them if you'd like or y'all can read them there um essentially it just gives some people some flexibility while they're making repairs to their homes I I still do not believe we have had any inquiries for this so Mr Roger never called about it last I spoke to the staff he had not and I actually ran into him somewhere and mentioned to him that he needed to reach out to the staff Travis Lether did speak to him on the phone but he had not I wasn't able to catch up with them today to find out but last I heard no one had come so all right um all right do we hear a motion regarding ordinance number 25-2 Mo to approve ordinance 25002 second have a motion by Mr Dean second by Mr Miller um had he had Mr Rogers contacted we they could have accommodated him right even before we passed yes right we were we were willing to accommodate anyone that needed needed such um under just the pending ordinance doctorine knowing that this was coming before Council we'd already discussed it at but we haven't had any inquiries that I'm aware of okay but yes and we'll have second reading on February 27 of 20 whenever the February meeting is and if anyone anyone were to come in between now and then we would we would um approve it you know in line with this proposed ordinance gotcha thank you any further discussion regarding ordinance number 25- Z2 all right all in favor of ordinance number 25-2 motion carries animous Sly all right uh new business item number two to consider policies uh approval of policies and procedures for dedication of uh commemorative benches within the city um Katie's given this presentation I think twice year she's actually at the um agricultural um she's L of farmers market conference today so that's why she's not here but um this would um allow for folks to um dedicate a bench um in memory of a loved one or someone that had contributed to the Greenwood Community um the application would go online uh we do have some benches now that are dedicated Uptown we will keep those because I do not I have not been able to discern the history of how these came about um we have the the sorry the program allows for it's $1,200 it covers the installation and the purchase of the bench it lasts for 10 years and then you get the option to renew for another 10 years for um $500 and after that 20 years the bench will be allowed to be dedicated to someone else we have um already done an inventory of the benches that we have now that do not have plaques on them and we also with the construction of parks are adding benches so there are options in the in Grey Street Park Magnolia Park Foundry Park and and there's several locations up town where we have benches that do not have plaques on them um we have I've had two or three inquiries from folks that have have asked about bench dedication so I think this just gives us a a way to um offer that opportunity to people that want to do it um and if you'll remember um at the last work session um you all did ask um for some language to be added where if the person is still living that those applications will come before city council for approval um so approval tonight just approved these policies and procedures so that we can start getting them online so that people can start that process if they choose to do so I know we've heard a lot about this proposal I appreciate Katie Smith's work on yeah Katie got married so she has a new last name and she's tripping us all out welcome to the club got her email changed very fast Smith Club the marriage club and the Smith Club all right we hear a motion motion to consider policies and procedures for dedication of member VES within the city of Green motion to approve second motion by Mr Bass second by miss hudo any further discussion on the only one comment the application still doesn't have Uptown on it the application that's on our oh there was some kind of um error with the application because and Katie wasn't here so I know there's a couple changes she has to make to it but you're saying the Uptown locations are not yeah there's just like desired bench location and there's check boxes for Foundry Grace you can see here how some of the um formatting some some of the formatting so I know she was going to fix that before we put online I'll make a note of that and I know we might it could be that it got pushed off the page maybe I okay and I know we don't have I mean I don't know how much space we have there because there's a lot already existing but did we want to include West Cambridge we'll look and see how many benches are out there so there's already a lot there there might not really be space for additional sure I will also just mention and I think I said this before but the Matthews um lines Club had some program where they were able to obtain uh benches made out of recycled plastic for relatively cheap it's just worth looking into we have one one of their benches up town Fountain I think we have a couple I know want gazebo too I think I know we have at least one U maybe two yeah they reach out to us from time to time um so we' partnered with them before I think continuity of what the benches look like so maybe placing all of those benches in one location agree all right um all in favor of approval of the policies and procedures for the dedication of commemorative benches within the City of Greenwood that motion carries unanimously this I thing is jumping all over the place all right new business item number three is considered the appointment of Miss danda Sals to serve the unexpired term on the city County Board of zoning appeals um Miss sales is in the back of the room this evening um she's a resident of w one y'all recall she ran for city council we had a nice discussion about remaining engaged and she wants to do that um she's a graduate Greenwood High went to Lander P M Tech and sside Village girl which is delicious all right we hear a motion about Miss Sals proposed appointment motion to approve the appointment of danda sales to serve the unexpired term of City County Board of zoning appeals second motion by Miss huto second by Mr Dean any further discussion regarding the motion all in favor of appointing danda sales to serve an unexpired ter term on the city County Board of zoning appeals that motion carries unanimously with seven votes um Tiffany is going to administer the oath of office for vza so you come on up need me to do anything you go ahead your earrings I'm EAS ENT I thought she was all right so this is office for officials of citywood aalis and Municipal Corporation of state of South Carolina so I will give you all right other right is the left hand right your right hand I've never Tak okay Trump Didn't Do It All righte That me i d sales i d Sals do Solly swear do Solly swear affirm that I am affirm that I am duly qualified duly qualified according to the Constitution according to the Constitution of the State of the State to exercise the duties to exercise the duties of the office of the office to which to I have been appointed I have been appointed and then I will and that I will to the best of my ability the best of my ability discharge the duties thereof and preserve and preserve protect protect and defend and defend the Constitution the constition of the state of the states and other United States states congratulations thank you for your service Miss sales thank and um Tiffany and or Carol will be in touch with the um schedule whenever y'all meet and all that so all right our final item is to consider executive session for these two reasons here um I'm not going to read them all because I know y'all will read them in your I'll make a motion to um go into executive session discussion of the employment appointment compensation promotion demotion discipline or release of an employee a student or a person regulated by a public body or the appointment of a person to a public body however an advisor hearing involved the employee and client is held the employee or client May has the right to demand the hearing be conducted publicly nothing contained in this item shall prevent the public public body and its discretion from deleting the names of other employees or clients whose records are submitted at that hearing second reason is for discussion of matters related to the proposed location expansion or provision of services encouraging location or expansion of Industries or other businesses in the area served by the public body we may take action after this executive session second we have a motion by Mr B second by Mr Miller any further discussion all in favor of going into executive session for the stated reasons um and for the record I'll just note that the um employment matter is in the police department and the um the uh second item B is to receive a retail update from retail coach and we'll go that motion carries un namous to seven vot thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e um just a couple things quickly uh just a reminder just confirm with no action being taken okay um the city County food drive is ongoing it started Monday January the 13th um it goes through February the 20th I know that um the mayor and Robbie timson filmed a little video last week has that been posted already y seen it I had seen it um and the goal is to raise collect 10,000 pounds of food um so I want to win so let's be creative and we had 7500 last year something that's what it said on your little in the newspaper I throw around a lot of Statistics I can't guarante they're all right but did we ever get the can of corn Robbie has it yeah they have we never got it we won last year he he lost it he found it and he he lost it found they just didn't want to give it up there was there was a question somebody asked did um they give it to us and then you gave it back so they could get the plaque put on it but I don't know that's false I just throw around things I don't know if they're true or not [Music] so um if you want to donate cash a lot of people will like staff and you know even coun sometimes will donate cash and then staff will just go and buy a bunch of food with that so you can do that if you want to um rather than bringing your own cans or food you can uh if you want to do a cash donation you can bring it to admin or to finance by the 13th and then we'll go just Collective shopping if you want to donate just food uh you can do that by 17th and the weighin is on the 20th 10:00 at the um farmers market so um I wanted to show you guys some um construction progress on Waller uh construction projects sometimes are painful uh and I I know that this there's been some challenges with the businesses here we have we have tried our very best Austin has done a really good job of communicating with the business owners uh Gibson everybody's been really really Katie has been trying to uh talk them a lot I know um there's there are going to be challenges uh we're trying to work through them the biggest challenge here being that this is a one-way Street and so it has to be closed during construction um AOS is making good progress um and I think this is going to be beautiful when it's done and the the property owners and the business owners here are going to be very pleased we are planning a an event here Katie's working on an event here um February uh April the 5th it'll be like the old Spring Fling is kind of how we're marketing it um cuz I like that and I think that's kind of nostalgic and you know we used to have concerts and Waller used to be extremely activated and so that's kind of our goal here is to um really reactivate this street so I just wanted y all to see some photos um I want to remind you all if any of your um constituents ask uh the last day to apply for FEMA assistance is tomorrow okay great uh I don't know if you guys are on Katie's event email list she this went out today I think um she does this maybe once a month is that right um if you aren't I'll send you a QR code um in a couple ask report today but again she wasn't here so you guys can sign up but here's some upcoming winter and spring events that are coming up I know I saw um Tiffany has this printed out so I'm sure she's going to put this on your on your weekly update of event any questions about any of that okay uh we have three we have these are our current job openings three firefighter positions three police officers uh one uh senior crewman position on Pet Works and three regular crewman positions we did have two um interviews last week and I believe we've started the hiring process with those individuals so um we do we are full in our CDL driver um slot which is great um we one like Duty so we are technically short but we are full on paper so um and that's all I have other than if y'all have any questions about debris collection all right seems like they've been just a little more um maybe Direct in their pickup because I think before maybe some of the confusion was yeah they were going through in different phases you know picking up small stuff picking up big stuff but they were also just like picking up a part of a street and then leaving still and now well so like they picked up our my entire neighborhood in two days and they didn't leave they just stayed there and worked on so maybe some of the contractors were being a little more I don't know they picked up a lot New York they've been they did yeah but still some of the what I call tremendous stuff on the curve side um I mean they picked up some big stuff they did pick up some of the big stuff but some really huge root balls and and then there are still those trees in the yards that we need rub I'll tell you kind of how this is operating ised they're working the whole County in these zones um and when they're saying a zone is cleared doot is going behind them and saying yes you've cleared it or no you haven't um and so in order to supplement that piece that's why we put out that um uh what is wrong that little widget on our website and our Facebook page where people can report I sell debris in front of my house that just gives us a little bit an extra layer of information to say if dot says all right well they're saying they're clear are y'all do y'all see anything we can say well yeah we gotten reports in the last three days that there's still debris on these roads um so a lot of people now are starting to report multiple times um so we do have some automated messages going back out to people we've received your request you don't need to submit it again um you know I've gotten a lot of um submissions for people saying I have this huge tree in my yard I have a tree on my house what can I do we have been sending those out to to team Rubicon they are no longer physically here but they um are still committed to trying to work in our community when they can she said it's probably going to be about two to three weeks before they can really jump on the list though because their team has some mandatory training that they're having to do and so they won't be back here until maybe the second week of February to really jump on it I have a call with her tomorrow to really understand what their capabilities are because she told me today like big root balls she said we're not going to be able to get those um so yeah I mean like one's in people's yards um I mean those are massive and do you mind including me on that cuz I I'm waiting on her to tell me when she she never replied she said I'm available today but she was she's really responsive but then I don't know she must gotten to what they may need like do they like they're all a unit do they need volunteers I think they do have a volunteer component but I don't know how it works there's a lot of training that when they were at the W for a lot of their stuff there's a lot of there this a very regimented group of folks and they have they have just Tak a lot of um trainings and stuff they have to have before they allow somebody to come in there actually they're doing a Lara set up a chainsaw training with Team Rubicon for our P work staff that they're going to do for us um so they have some really like you said very regimented like training um so there are going to be challenges that exist even after this debris collection is completed I've reached out to some of my counterparts in other parts of the state just to ask them some questions ones that have dealt with like large scale debris um things so hopefully get a little guidance on anything I might be missing no but it's been much improved because they went through but there's I mean there are some completely topple trees that you know pulled up the sidewalk they're right there they're in the RightWay I mean the whole tree is like in the RightWay but they're so thick I think that the do contractor will get those if they're in the RightWay they're they're going to get them they they'll get root balls it's the ones that are still in people's yards that we don't have the capability to go private on their private property and get those things and so that's why we've been sending those items to team Rubicon and hopefully there's some some assistants they can provide there um did they at one point assist with root balls and now they're not to that I don't I don't I I'm very grateful I I'm not throwing anything I told her today her name is Annette I said I think it would be helpful if we could just jump on a call you know and and let us let me just have a really good understanding of what y'all's um abilities are because I don't want to send them things that I don't want them to waste their time I know they do a lot of they'll do housing demolition they'll help with rebuilds and um they'll help people with you know repairs and things like that they do debris removal but she did mention specifically that root balls was kind of out of their scope is there a possibility because for these people that have these roof balls that are basically been pushed by pushed back in they're kind of back in the could there be a stump grinder or some sort of Stump Grinding Service I just don't know that we want to engage with a Stump Grinding Service to go on private property to do anything I just don't think it's wise for us to hire anybody to go on private property I agree maybe just a referral service not even not we're not like I think that people are are are very capable of contacting services to do things um I will tell you that when we met with FMA last week there was an envir there's an environmental guy on their staff and he was just emphasizing the importance of putting them back in the ground if you can rather than pulling them out so just just get your friends up what about all the um debris I mean on Cambridge on both sides of the main road yep that's on their list they know it's there okay yeah that road has been reported to them okay so do is driving around they're looking at their roads and our roads we're looking at our roads and we have that sort of extra layer of people reporting things I've been emailing them every day or every other day to the um the cleanup contractor so he's aware of them so that's say the Eric's group started back picking up just yes other stuff so I pulled them off of because you can tell that it's they're they're nearing the end of debris collection you can tell it's getting you can see that progress being made now so we um we pulled our staff off of um storm debris removal effective last Tuesday and they're focusing on their regular collections now bulk and leavs and all that tell them right now old Street I I did a lot of riding today and and Gage Gage is just yeah I take that way home all the time it's awful it looks like somebody comes and just dump stuff M that's probably true can we put a flock camera there solid waste ordinance in 2025 um and then the traffic area in the Northeast part of the city uh and County with that road closure over there it's awful it is bad it is terrible especially when the train stopped and you can't you can't go through you either have to go all the way up 72 to Fuji or come all the way through the city and go turn left at the community theater to be able to get all the way around he causing major issues I was at the light at Bojangle trying to turn left at QT today and I had to wait my my question is why would they not be better off at this point since it seems like based on what they've said it's going to be a while that why can't they just make the other side two Direction one lane each well they were working they were working on that side today they had Cru CPW had Cru out there but oh really yeah they were milling and everything somebody said it's going to be like months they said one month but I think I've heard anywhere from three to five weeks but I I think even for TJ maybe I maybe it's how I don't know but that traffic that whole area over there is terrible I know y'all had a lot of stuff going on at CVS today and and but just that whole area is very very very heavy right now and we to come in and redo the traffic lights so uh right now they have traffic lights are being stopped on the bypass and it's causing traffic get both intersections especially the one coming back you got everybody that's of course they want to turn turn left and can't so now you got all that traffic trying to get across they're supposed to be doing a quick study to see what the timing is on some of those traffic lights and we've also asked if we can get a switch so things get backed up especially at 5:00 we can see somebody down there that can automatic because those two those two lights at QT before they replaced them they were timed together and since they replaced them they have not it so hopefully they're going to get that done and the timing will get back CU used to one was open same time the other and now totally okay becoming unsafe a little bit with with how far the the cars are getting backed up and people are always out the middle of eny section I know youall know that and I have just one more question this is completely off topic but it's not a city council comment for award but um if we could look I don't you may know this off the top of your head and this probably could have been a phone call but does um does interest earned in like our certain funds does it stay in that fund like if there was a capital fund and that money earns insurance does it stay in that had somebody asked me that today and I said I I don't have a clue Sarah you know there's there's a lot of movement of that money so I think that would be a question for me to better clarify with her exactly how that interest moves I think it stays specific to that account until it unless there's a need to move it or pull it out um but probably that capital account doesn't need but is there like an obligate like and it and so on this sheet this is kind of what reminded me of it on this sheet it has it listed out that this is the interest to earn from this amount of money does it have to stay in there do you know or can it be used for can interest be earned for any general purpose you know I'm not sure I totally understand your I'll you're saying can I you're saying can you take this 282,000 and H Tax interest and put it yeah yeah I think it does because the H checks money is what's being invested yeah I would think yeah you said you would think Oh I thought you said you would not think I would think yes it would have to stay probably not the capital fund or the general fund but specific to the H Tax fund yes special one because it's it's to used for a specific purpose yes okay I'll clarify that but yes I would think that that specifically that H Shacks money would have to stay with h Shacks H Shack interest but any specific fund for a specific purpose that money has to stand there okay I think that answers their question well your Capital fund and your general fund can probably blend because they come from the same your your your Capital fund is coming off your general fund right so I got you thank you okay do you okay if you need to call me tomorrow and get clarification on that um um does anybody have anything they want to add to my frequently asked questions before I post this online this is about debris removal if y'all are getting any questions that I didn't list on here pry clear okay I tried to make it like really straightforward um One Challenge I think we might see as we're moving forward is going to be root balls and then trees that are still remaining in people's yards that are down um and we will at some point have to send I think some code enforcement letters is telling people you're going to have to get these trees cleaned up um I know Mr abeles had gotten I believe a letter about some or you called me about somebody there's a tree in people's yard in someone's yard so hopefully um people will get those I really want to emphasize like getting that debris to the curve before do leaves because they they're going to leave at some point and um it's going to be sooner than later so um if y'all you know have time to just ride your Wards if you have have anything you see that you want us to make sure that the contractor is aware of or that you want to push out to Rubicon and hopefully they can help with that we'll be happy to do that I know a lot of y'all have already been doing that so that's all I have all right thank you we'll uh we'll hold city council comments till next week um that I got to run to something so we have a motion to adjourn second a motion by Mr Dean second by Mr Miller any further discussion all in favor Jour my only comment would be come see bright star at the theater Brandon and I are both playing in the band I heard about that nice hopefully we open on Friday yeah right star I'm trying to keep