The regular council meeting for January 7th, 2025.

We start on time so we can end on time, and we always start the same way by the invocation by Mr.

Hardy, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Can I get everybody please stand?

Our father, thank you for this today.

You gave us thank you for this wonderful county and all the many blessings that you have bestowed upon it.

We would like to ask for your guidance and wisdom to help keep this county moving forward and make the right decisions and take care of the people that lives within the county.

And we ask that you look after all our first responders, keep them safe and out of harm's way, that they maybe go back home to their families.

We ask all this in our holy name.

Amen.

Amen.

I pledge at least to the flag.

Thank you.

Please be seated.

Next up is next up is me.

All right.

Good evening.

Happy New Year.

January, I'd like to take a few minutes at the start of this meeting to reflect upon everything we've accomplished in 2024, the opportunities and progress we've enjoyed together, and provide a preview of what's coming up.

I'll begin where I always do with one of the topics I feel most strongly about, and that is the safety and security of our shared community.

In 2024, we saw a record year for our public safety division.

Our award-winning 911 team handled over 320,000 calls for service.

As our community calls upon us more, we continue to work to grow our departments to maintain the same level of service.

We celebrated grand openings for three new fire stations and entered the design and construction phases for three more.

The Central Coast Complex, which will house a fifth police precinct, taxpayer services and courts is actively under construction and is expected to open this September.

On the parks and recreation side, we saw the addition of pickleball courts, inclusive playground equipment, renovations to existing centers and boat landings, as well as key steps in the planning for our future rural civic center and three new recreation centers.

The Myrtle Beach International Airport saw record breaking passenger counts and the addition of new routes and multiple travel markets.

It seems only fitting that in 2024 NYR broke ground on another concourse expansion.

As part of the new fiscal year that began in July, we also added 99 new positions.

Alongside competitive compensation and development opportunities for existing employees, these additional additions ensure we can recruit and retain with the best of the best to serve Orie County.

A number of our existing team members and new employees found new purpose in 2024 as we work to address the nationwide mental health crisis and opioid epidemic.

Orie County Fire Rescue marked one year of the harm reduction specialist program, while the Ory County Police Crisis Intervention Team launched with a team of licensed counselors.

This is Orie County, so natural disasters are never a distant thought for us.

But by and large, 2024 was a year of proactive effort.

In April, we celebrated when our county's community rating system score from the national flood insurance program improved, moving down to a five from a seven.

This significantly lowered flood insurance premiums.

At nearly the same time, we also saw a significant update to our hurricane evacuation zones.

Our top-notch community development team continued to implement the buyout program, working with the state's Office of Resilience.

Over the course of the year, community development also brought in millions of dollars in grant funding to support programs ranging from the East Coast Greenway and Pedestrian Initiatives to the transitional housing and domestic violence victim sheltering.

In many of these programs, we saw departments and agencies partner and act as one to serve our community.

The stormwater and public works departments completed a number of ditch cleanups, drainage upgrades, road improvements, water purification, and litter management projects.

These crews live and die by the old adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

But even when a potential crisis came calling, this team was proactive up until the very moment we had to switch gears and become become reactive.

In August, just after Hurricane Debbie, we saw forecast for drastically elevated water levels in some of our watersheds.

With time ticking down, the infrastructure and regulation division elevated Big Bull Landing Road in Bucksport to reduce flooding impacts.

Orie County accomplished in three days what would normally take three months.

In 2024, Orie County achieved the coveted Triple A bond rating.

This rating represents how well the county is managing its debt to achieve long-term goals and the ability for us to get good interest rates for capital projects.

Work continued towards smart growth in our communities.

The MRDP zoning district was created to help preserve the rural nature of some of our developing areas.

Residential design standards were created to improve aesthetics of our neighborhoods, and a housing projection model was created to help guide current and future growth in concert with our imagined 24 comprehensive plan.

Measures were also taken to protect buffers in our commercial zoning districts.

Team ORI also saw the advancement of our ongoing road improvement and development effort, also known as Ride.

We celebrated the grand opening for major projects, including the Middle Ridge Avenue extension, and continuing work on other major undertakings, including the widening of US 701, SC 9, Highway 501, and the extension of Fred Nash Boulevard.

In November, the next generation of our infrastructure and transportation program, Ride 4, was approved by 56.78% of the voters via a tax referendum.

The responsibility the voters have placed upon us is great.

We must execute a transformative 25-year $6 billion program to connect our community.

Despite the hard work ahead, I have no doubt that this team is up for the challenge.

And speaking of challenges, I want to commend our voters' registration and elections team.

In the 2024 general election, our local team managed record turnout.