Cheraw Town Council Meeting

Cheraw Town Council Meeting Minutes Tuesday, April 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm 1. Call to Order Minutes: Mayor Byrd called the meeting to order at 5:30pm. Members Present: Mayor Byrd, Jim Crawford, Tom Boan, Cherryl Melton, Jerry Tucker, Amy Gavin and Harvey Johnson Others Present: Brian Rogers (Interim Town Manager), Patti Norris (Clerk/Treasurer), Madison Scott (HR Director), Carolyn Cole Green, Dawson Melton, Lindsay Munnerlyn, Sharron Melton, Jackie Melton, Stacey Short, Tina Ellis, Evelyn Mack, Rev Joseph P Kovas, Janet Carrigan, Mary Gillespie, Delphenia Rollins, Patricia Dixon, Brian Morgan, James Dixon, Helen Palmer, Karen Wilkerson, Melvin Wilkerson, P & B Yohe, Bennie Miles (The Link), Steevenson Pierre, Sandi Thompson 2. Invocation given by Joseph Kovas of First United Methodist Church Minutes: The invocation was given by Joseph Kovas. 3. Pledge to Flag. 4. Approval of Minutes of March 10th council meeting. Minutes: Councilwoman Melton made a motion to approve March minutes. Councilman Boan seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. 5. March Financial Report. Minutes: Councilman Boan made a motion to approve the March financial report. Councilwoman Crawford seconded the motion, and the motion passed by unanimous vote. 6. Public Hearing in Regard to the Town of Cheraw's Zoning Ordinance relating to the Historic District. Minutes: Mayor Byrd stated that there has been a request to postpone the hearing. Councilwoman Melton made a motion to postpone the public hearing. Councilwoman Gavin seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.  Councilwoman Gavin did ask if we would have the updated guidelines available here at Town Hall. Brian stated that yes, there would be copies here at Town Hall for the public to review. 7. Comments from Trish Leviner of October's Own Regarding Handicap Access on Duval Street. Minutes: Mrs. Leviner owns October's Own, a thriving consignment store located on Duvall St and the business opened in September of 2025. She states she wants to bring attention to the dangerous handicap ramp that is placed in front of my business. For five months my business was inaccessible to handicapped patrons because it lacked a ramp onto the sidewalk. A ramp was installed in February however it was placed in such a way (pictures provided in council packet) that any person using a mobility device must now walk onto a two-way asphalt street and continue for 50ft into oncoming traffic to access the ramp. I am proposing a simple solution to install an additional ramp directly across the street that is accessible by the adjacent parking lot so that a handicapped person would simply walk directly across the road rather than into vehicular traffic as well as become compliant with ADA guidelines. The inability to access my location safely by any handicapped patron has cost me valuable potential revenue. As a new business that can mean the difference between success and closing my doors. I would urge you to please do two things. Remedy the extremely dangerous situation swiftly and by using the federal ADA guidelines. And please visit me at Octobers Owns at 114 Duvall St. Councilman Boan did ask if the new concrete he was seeing in the photo is the ramp Mrs. Leviner is speaking of. She stated yes, it is. Brian states we are actively looking into a better remedying of the situation. 8. Comments from Pee Dee Coalition about Sexual Awareness Month. Minutes: Mrs. Stacy Short, the coordinator for the Chesterfield County Satellite Center for Pee Dee Coalition stepped forward. April is sexual assault awareness month as well as child abuse prevention month. I came this evening to share some awareness and some different things that we are doing throughout the county. But before I do that i wanted to share some stats about sexual assault and child abuse awareness that is here in our county. Every 98 seconds there is someone being sexually assaulted. We have served over 85 victims in 2025 and over 90% of those victims have also been a survivor of either childhood sexual abuse or adult sexual abuse. Those two things go hand in hand. People will come in just talking about sexual abuse. This is a very sensitive topic especially when you are in such a rural area where everyone knows everyone. This is a very sticky situation for someone to want to help or to be believed that it did happen. This month in recognition to continue to bring awareness because every story and voice matters. We have done a pinwheel garden in the square at Craig Park in Chesterfield. We did cookies for cops to acknowledge and appreciate our law enforcement because as they work with us diligently with victims, we know we all have to work together. We will be having a candlelight visual on April 16th at the Chesterfield County Courthouse to honor victims of child abuse and sexual assault. On April 18th we are doing a walk in her shoes. This is an awareness walk about sexual assault. This will be held at Arrowhead park starting at 9am until 11am. April 29th is called Denim  Day and this is to give recognition for sexual assault survivors. We re asking that all county members and departments would wear jeans and take a picture so that we can say we stand together for victims of sexual assault. We have served over 108 children this year in our family center who have either been sexually abused, child abuse or some form of neglect. The pinwheels are representative of child abuse awareness month. The green ribbons is for sexual assault and the blue ribbons are for child abuse. 9. Proclamation Recognizing Chief Robert M. Stewart Minutes: Tabled for now. 10. Proclamation of Recognition of Melton's Florist for 75 Years of Service. Minutes: Mayor Byrd asked that the entire Melton family come forward while he read the proclamation honoring Meltons Florist for over 75 years of service. After reading the proclamation Mayor Byrd stated what an honor it is to have a business in this town for 75 years. We are very appreciative to have you here and to be able to honor you and your family. 11. Citizen Comments. Minutes: Janet Carrigan, 317 Market St, I think everyone is aware of the problem of the water and the rising rates of our water. For those who do not have a problem paying $120 for water, it is ok. But we have a large contingency in this town who have issues and their water gets cut off regularly when they have to decide between paying for food, medication, air condition or water. What I am asking the town to look at is perhaps like Dominion Energy does and put a box on the bill stating that you want to donate to help a neighbor pay their water bill. I have asked Hayes about this and he says he hears from people daily who cannot afford to pay their water bill. This is where leadership can shine and step up to the plate. I am asking that town council empower our administrator to look into this as it is not going to cost a lot of money to add one more thing to our level. Secondly I would like to thank Councilwoman Gavin. I have been through the proposed historic guidelines many, many times. There are so many gaps in this that if you had voted on this, it would not be complete. I am not sure how many people have read and understand the impact. 90% of it is from Charleston, SC and I think we can all agree we are not Charleston. We don't have $2million homes or even $1million homes for that matter. We would have people dancing in the streets if they got half a million dollars for their homes. This guides the historic district, hundreds of homes and hundreds of families positively and negatively. There are words in there like shall, you shall not change any specific thing to a historic house. That is not a recommendation. There are also no teeth, like Faith Christian put up a beautiful fence, that my husband calls the Fenway Park big green wall. They are supposed to put plants there but I found out last week that there is no teeth to that. They do not have to invest in thousands of dollars of putting plantings in that wall even though they agreed to that on their permit. I appreciate and applaud Councilwoman Gavin, but we need historic district residents to be part of this. I just found out from the town manager that this has been handed over to the COG. The COG is not local and they do not live here. I have  been on a COG and those are for broad brush not specific historic... time called. Brian Morgan, Church St, Brian and I have already had our offline conversation that we are working on. So if he comes to you about this, please listen and please give him your support. This is regarding safety of our streets, safety of our kids and our family members that are walking around Church St. Second items is we have a lot of activity going on right now with the upgrades, the innovation that is going on with the power lines. So a lot of streets being closed, a lot of rerouting through this area. But what we are also seeing is a lot of semi trucks coming down Church St. BGF, is the industry that is right behind our house, I understand that one. But we are getting semis coming all the way through. I know there is a bypass that I don't know if it was a bond issue or a taxpayer. This was done before I moved here. But down the street that is actually posted but trucks come down that road. The last thing I want to bring up is we have semis going down Market St, we have a lot of low hanging branches. So think about it, we got wind blowing down branches. You have a semi truck hitting it to break it off into oncoming traffic. Lastly I would ask that council remember our folks that are serving our country right now. I have one that is part of the military strike group and he will be over there taking care of business. Captain Henderson is also Navy and it is going to be a coin toss in what happens after this. Steevenson Pierre, My concern is that we are allowing some contractors to come here and mess up our roads over the years. They still have not fixed part of the roads that they messed up. Martin Luther King Drive is separated in two different districts four and six. They did a pipeline down there over a year ago and they messed up the whole road but yet have not fixed it. But they fixed the pipeline. I am wondering are we allowing the contractors to come here and destroy our roads. When we try to get them fixed, we are told it is not a town road, not a state road, so who fixes it. For the last six weeks I have been going down that road once a week and it is still not fixed. Same thing with Stanley Rd but they can not come into town unless we allow them to come here. Who are we going to hold accountable to fix these roads. For Council Action 12. First Reading of Ordinance: Minutes: Tabled a. Ordinance 2026 - 12 13. Request from Town Manager for Approval of a Water Tap at 4 Stokes Road Minutes: Brian states we have received a request for a new tap outside of town limits. Doug Stowe, Utilities Director has reviewed this request and he has approved the request from his end. I am requesting council's approval to add a water tap at 4 Stokes Rd. Councilman Crawford made a motion to approve the request. Councilwoman Gavin seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. 14. Request from Town Manager to Award the Request for Proposal and enter into Contract with Carolina Pickleball LLC  Minutes: Brian states that on Feb 4th we issued a notice of intent to award Carolina Pickleball LLC with the contract for Caston Park Pickleball League. Councilwoman Melton made a motion to approve the request. Councilman Tucker seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. For Council Information 15. Activity Reports a. Business License Report b. Code Enforcement Report c. Fire Report d. Parks and Grounds Report e. Personnel Report f. Police and Animal Control Report g. Recreation Report h. Public Utility Report i. Public Works Report j. Loss Control Committee Report 16. Executive Session Minutes: Councilman Boan made a motion to enter into executive session. Councilwoman Gavin seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. Entered into executive session at 5:58pm. Councilman Crawford made a motion to exit executive session. Councilwoman Melton seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. Exited executive session at 7:10pm Councilman Tucker made a motion to enter into a contract with Brian Rogers to be the permanent town manager. We have offered him a salary of $110,000 annually with the language of this contract to be the same as it was before. Councilwoman Melton seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. Mayor Byrd stated that he was looking forward to where Brian would be taking this beautiful town in the future. a. Request to Enter into Executive Session to Discuss Personnel Minutes: Councilman Boan made a motion to enter into executive session. Councilwoman Gavin seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. Entered into executive session at 5:58pm. Councilman Crawford made a motion to exit executive session. Councilwoman Melton seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. Exited executive session at 7:10pm Councilman Tucker made a motion to enter into a contract with Brian Rogers to be the permanent town manager. We have offered him a salary of $110,000 annually with the language of this contract to be the same as it was before. Councilwoman Melton seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. Mayor Byrd stated that he was looking forward to where Brian  would be taking this beautiful town in the future. 17. Adjournment. Minutes: Councilwoman Melton made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Councilman Boan seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 7:11pm. Rules for Citizen Comments The citizen comment period is designed and intended to allow members of the public to provide information directly to the Town Council. Other than asking a question to clarify a statement council members will refrain from entering into a dialogue with the speaker. This time on the agenda is not intended to be a discussion between Town Council and the speaker and should not be intended for that purpose. Persons wishing to make comments during this time will need to observe the following: 1. Person should approach the podium and state their full name and address before addressing the Town Council. 2. All speakers must conduct themselves in a professional manner. 3. All speakers will be limited to three minutes to speak. This time allotment may not be transferred to anyone else. The Town’s Clerk/Treasurer will notify the speaker if they exceed their three minutes to talk. 4. Speakers will refrain from using: profanity; language likely to incite violence or outbursts from the audience; language that is disruptive to the orderly process of the meeting; engaging in conversations with individual council members; making comments of a personal nature regarding others; shouting, yelling, or screaming. 5. Speakers should understand that the Town Council cannot deliberate on any questions presented by the speaker if the question or topic is not posted on the agenda. Freedom of Information Act In compliance with the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act written notice of this agenda was delivered to the local media by email at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting time, duly posted at Town Hall located at 200 Market Street, and made available on www.cheraw.com. | Minutes published on 05/08/2026 at 2:55 PM