Cheraw Town Council Briefing

Cheraw Town Council Briefing Minutes Tuesday, February 24, 2026 at 5:30 pm 1. Call to Order Minutes: Members Present: Mayor Byrd, Councilmembers Jim Crawford, Tom Boan, Jerry Tucker, Cherryl Melton and Robert Williams Others Present: Brian Rogers, Madison Scott, Patti Norris, Jackie Hough (The Link), Jason Stout and Sophia Turner Mayor Byrd called the meeting to order at 5:30 pm. 2. Approval of Minutes of November and December 2025 Town of Cheraw Council Briefings. Minutes: Councilman Boan made a motion to approve the November and December briefing minutes. Councilman Williams seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. 3. Approval of Minutes of January 27th and 28th Town of Cheraw Council Retreat. Minutes: Councilman Crawford made a motion to approve the minutes from the Cheraw Council Retreat. Councilman Tucker seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. 4. Presentation from Alphonso Bradley of the SC Housing Authority to Discuss Possible Upcoming Project. Minutes: Mr. Bradley was not at the meeting. 5. Discussion of Circle K from Bob McPhee. Minutes: Bob McPhee called in to discuss project Circle K. Basically there are two separate projects we are dealing with, there is an underground storage tank situation on the site, where we need to install some wells on the property. The property owner really did not want to let us on the property unless we would indemnify anything that we may find, including contamination. We were not able to agree to that with the property owner, so we have reached out to the state for different locations. There is potential that we could put something in the sidewalk on Beverly Road behind that structure. There is also a residential property directly behind that. Certainly, we would want to be able to put one well on that sidewalk assuming there are no utilities under there. Brian stated the town would have to check for utilities and then would have to reach out to that property owner if they would allow us to install a well on that side of their property. With prospect to Circle K that project is in the superb program that picks up the larger part of the cost of assessment and any cleanup. This can have a life of its own and we would see it through until we have a no further action. The other side of the road, the voluntary clean up contract portion of the property. As part of the corrective action plan, we are just now getting all of our quotes to get contractors to come in and remove one underground tank, and we would pump out the context of it. There is two hydraulic lifts and a floor drain on concrete slabs that remain. We would need to pull these up and excavate if there is any contaminated soil. We have already installed a well on the property to the east that the town owns as part of the assessment. Brain asked if that property was circled yellow, Bob stated this property is not shown on the map. We have done some soil samples on the property and the only thing remaining is to pull the tanks and lifts and get them off the property and excavate any contaminated soil and get a report off to the state. As part of this there is a median management plan that is generally part of most voluntary site cleanups, basically stating when the property gets redeveloped how you would do that. The site is effectively capped with respect to having contact with any contaminants. The state does have this to review in the next few weeks. Things are moving along and we hope to have contact with the contractors soon to have them out on the property. I have updated the Circle K people, and they seem to be fine with the timeline. Since they are a gas station company they are used to no further action letters. However, this site is covered under VCC and when the scope of the VCC is complete you get a certificate of completion. So, we probably need to have a conversation about that with potential barriers to closing and to see what they need to get on site. I feel this is one item we need to clear up with them because that could dictate the potential close date. Councilman Crawford asked Bob which firm he was with. Bob stated he is with GEL Engineering, which is an environmental consulting company that has worked with the town in the past. Councilman Crawford asked what the parcels with the red dot mean on the map they were presented with. Bob states that those properties are owned by Mr. Webster and we were not able to come to an agreement. The yellow dots are residential lots that we are hopeful of putting monitor wells on along with Beverly Drive. We had to get a DOT right away for the sidewalk as the town did not own the sidewalk. Permission from residential landowners has not been secured. Councilman Crawford asked what the timeline was, Bob stated he hopes to be on the property in March. His goal is to have everything wrapped up substantially by the end of March, that is assuming we can get access to the properties. Councilman Crawford asked once we receive the no further action letter, concerning the closure date would we be closing possibly by summertime with Circle K. Bob stated that it depends on what they want, as waiting on VCC process, would Circle K need that. So, again it really just depends on if they want to do a phase two assessment of their own. They are still a little unclear on that part. Councilman Crawford asked if what Bob is doing would be phase one or phase two. Bob states this would be considered a phase two. The tank and lift removal have been bid out and we have received one bid for close to $100,000, this was from Furr and they did the hotel in the past and did a good job on that. This would save us some money by using someone local and these are in-house and we just need to get them  under contract. We are hoping this work begins in March. Mayor Byrd asked if the pink and yellow on the map is either or? Bob stated that the groundwater flow is moving directly north running to the front of Mr. Webster's building. The ideal situation would be one well along Beverly and one off the backside of his property. Using, those areas we would potentially try to use one on each property. There is a chance that EVS reviews the data and then closes the site or puts another couple of wells in depending on what we find. The only problematic thing is that in the past his building was possibly a gas station and that across Beverly Rd there was another station. That could complicate matters if those sites are contaminated and we get higher concentrations there than on our sites. So that is where it could get a little bit complicated. Brian thanked Bob for his time and said they would be in touch by the end of the week. There was a brief discussion on who owned lots along Beverly between council and the mayor. 6. Discussion of Locations for Low Barrier Naloxone Vending Boxes. Minutes: Brian stated that one recommendation for the boxes was in front of the Recreation Department and the other was in front of the Fire Station. This is a free service offered to the citizens. Councilman Tucker asked if we were going to have one location or two. If we are to have two then he recommended putting them in front of police and fire. Councilman Boan stated he was not in favor of one of the boxes to be placed in front of the Recreation Department. All of council agreed that the Police and Fire Department were the best places for the boxes to be placed. 7. Monthly Update from Town Manager a. Arrowhead Park Splash Pad and Playground Minutes: There is a pre bid meeting on Wednesday, February 25th at 2pm here at Town Hall. Everything is underway with the playground. We are getting assistance from the Pee Dee Council of Governments. We plan on moving dirt on the playground mid-summer. Mayor Byrd asked what the price was for the playground. Brian stated the cost is $300,000, it is two to three times the size of the one at Caston Park. Councilman Tucker asked if some of the existing playground would stay intact. Brian stated yes and that the special needs playground will stay in place as well. Mayor Byrd asked if the splash pad would be done before the playground work started. Brian stated his hope is that we will be wrapping up the splashpad prior to the start of the playground. Councilman Crawford asked when the splash pad would begin. Brian stated that the splash pad would start in the next few weeks and hopefully be done by mid-June. We will be using some of the clear land to utilize as a parking lot for the baseball tournament coming in June. b. Capital Updates c. Caston Park Minutes: Derek states that the bathrooms and water fountains are complete. Parking lots have been lined and striped and the parking lot lights have been taken care of.  No painting done this week due to the weather. Next week is looking better for that. Everything else is complete, he believes, except the courts. Councilman Crawford asked if there was a sound barrier to put on the fence towards the Holland house. Brian states that yes but it has not been put up yet. Several council members stated they have seen them working on the lights today. Mayor Byrd asked if there was a tentative finish date, Brian stated that the date of March 20th has been tossed out via email. Mayor Byrd then asked when opening day at Arrowhead would be, Brian stated that it is March 21st. This weekend we will have a 10U state basketball tournament, with eight to ten teams participating at Long Middle. d. Hotel & Cypress Hall - Parking Lot Minutes: They have started applying the seal coating in all the cracks. You have to let the seal sit for a while and be rained on so that it can bond. They do plan on doing more once the weather warms up. Councilman Crawford asked who is doing the work. Brian stated Sterling Mcdiarmid Paving is doing the work. e. Theatre on the Greene Phase II Minutes: This project is well underway and it looks like it will be finished prior to the Jazz Festival. The flooring has been ripped up and several joists need to be replaced. They do plan on using as much refurbished wood as possible. f. Town Hall Minutes: Market Hall is about two weeks out from getting started. The grant is $150,000 with the town putting up $35,000. The goal is to stabilize steps and paint exteriors. As far as Town Hall, FBI stated that the scope of work was too small for them to bid. We will possibly be creating our own RFP to reach out for bids. We are still working on funding and opportunities for both Town Hall and Market Hall. We have also reached out to several different companies to give us quotes on the elevator at Town Hall. Councilman Tucker did ask if we had a committee together for the baseball tournament coming in June. He stated this is a big deal and it is right around the corner. We do have parks and grounds working on the grounds. Unfortunately, we do not have time to redo the bathrooms, but we will have very nice port a johns. Councilman Boan asked if it would be possible to have signs made of what Arrowhead will look like in five years. Councilman Boan also stated that if there is a committee he would like to serve on the committee. Mayor Byrd stated we need to look into what the actual plan was for Arrowhead. Councilman Crawford asked where we were with the architecture firm. Mayor Byrd said that he wanted to get back to what we had agreed on in the past. Everyone agreed to have the last plan brought back to them so they can review and discuss at a later time. 8. Executive Session  a. Request to Enter into Executive Session to Discuss Personnel Updates. Minutes: Councilman Boan made a motion to enter into executive session. Councilman Tucker seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. Entered into executive session 6:09pm Councilman Tucker made a motion to exit executive session. Councilman Crawford seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. Exited executive session at 6:58pm. 9. Adjourn Minutes: Councilwoman Melton made a motion to adjourn. Councilman Tucker seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 7:00pm. | Minutes published on 03/27/2026 at 12:35 PM