The Horry County Council convened on February 3, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. in Council Chambers. The meeting opened with an invocation, the Pledge of Allegiance, and a report from the County Administrator on the county's response to the recent winter storm. The bulk of the meeting focused on public input regarding a proposed mediated settlement agreement for a psychiatric hospital (Asha Vista Behavioral Institute) and council discussion/vote on that agreement. Numerous consent agenda items and second-reading ordinances were also approved.
Public comment lasted 30 minutes and was overwhelmingly focused on the proposed mediated settlement for Asha Vista Behavioral Institute, a 78-bed acute psychiatric hospital to be located off Highway 707 in a former office building. Fifteen speakers signed up; seven spoke before time expired. Key points:
6 o'clock p.m. We will start this meeting the way we always do on time, so we will end on time and we will do it the way we always do with the invocation tonight by Mr. Causey, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by Mr. Howard. If I can get everybody to please stand. I'd like to thank you for all our many blessings. You bless us with so many things that we probably don't need at times. I thank you for the opportunity that we have to live in this great country that we do where we can gather as a group and express our opinions. Also ask, dear Lord, that you just be with each and every one of us as we leave here tonight and keep us safe and help us get back to home or wherever we may be going. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Thank you. Please be seated. For the record, this is our regular council meeting for February 3rd, 2026. Before we start the public input, I would like to bring up Mr. Spavy, our administrator, to talk about some of the things that's happened and some of the great work that Ory County has done for us. Thank you, Chairman and Council members. It's a pleasure to be here with you tonight to talk about Team Ori. Over this weekend, our community was faced with something unique. I suspect a number of people moved to Ory County to get away from snow. But it came here. And I've actually heard this described as a bomb cyclone or a winter hurricane. If you look at the normal category one hurricane, the uh pressure is about 980 millibars. What we experienced this weekend was 976, a lower amount. It was the equivalent of a hurricane impact, potentially to our community. And we've got two inches of snow at the very least part of the county at the southern part in Garden City, but the northern part had eight inches or more of snow, which impacted our roads and a lot of activities for our community. Public safety works 24-7, and during this event, they lost no opportunity to serve our public. And I want you to be assured of that. But there are some unsung heroes we want to call out that helped them be able to do their job. We had over a hundred personnel in our public works and stormwater departments that were involved in the preparation. Over 2,000 man hours went into this event. Our public works assisted SCDOT because they were stretched with the impacts across the state, and actually did road preparation and response efforts to many of our state roadways. We had nine plowing crews, worked a thousand lane miles of roads across the county with our motor graders. Six pretreating crews that address the bridges and high traffic areas of intersections on county roads. Fourteen crews from public works and stormwater cleared each of our fire stations, each of our solid waste convenience centers, and many of the Ory County government facilities to allow us to open back up to the public. Over 45 pieces of heavy equipment were utilized in clearing snow during this, all while having zero reportable accidents from our employees. And it's not just public works and stormwater. Our Ori County maintenance team addressed the sidewalks and parking lots and all that with each of the county facilities across the county and our department of airports. They were at in place when the snow began, and they stayed at the airport until it was clear and open the following day. A mammoth effort, and I think I could share with you that I'm extremely proud of the team effort or uh impacts and how they made a positive impact for our community. So thank you, and thank you, Team O. Re. Not just the slogan, commitment to excellence. Okay, we'll go ahead and start the public input tonight. We had a lot of people sign up. I just want to remind people of the rules. By rule, the total public input can last no longer than 30 minutes. Each person gets up to five minutes. We have this clock here. Green is go, go, go. Yellow will remind you you only have one minute left, time to wind it up, and red is stop.