Pickens County Council approves rule changes, tax incentives and funding requests

Pickens County Council met Monday and approved a series of procedural and economic items including amendments to council organizational rules, fee-in-lieu tax agreements for development projects, and a local match for a workforce center feasibility study.

Council first moved to divide the question on agenda item 8A so members could vote paragraph-by-paragraph on revisions to Rule 7 governing boards and commissions. The motion to divide passed unanimously. Council then approved paragraph 71C — a requirement that board and commission members be county residents and registered voters (with a council-waiver exception) — by a 4–2 vote. The chamber subsequently approved paragraph 71D, which establishes a 12-year term limit on one board (also subject to an exception), by the same 4–2 margin. The remainder of Rule 7 (71A, 71B, 71E, 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4) was approved unanimously and will be posted online, the chair said.

On economic development items, the council unanimously approved a fee-in-lieu inducement resolution for Project Hawk and Hawk 2 and completed second readings of fee-in-lieu agreements for Project Hawk (9A) and Project Hydro (9B), all passing without recorded opposition.

The council also approved a staff request to use restricted Tri-County Technical College funds to provide the local match for a feasibility study on a proposed workforce and business development center; staff said the funds are held for Tri-County Tech purposes and the vote was unanimous.

The chair closed the regular business by moving the meeting into a brief recess and then into executive session to discuss personnel matters and board and commission appointments.

Votes recorded in the meeting transcript are summarized here as reported from the floor; individual roll-call votes were not read into the public record during the session for most items.