Heated arguments and tensions flare at Greenville County council meeting

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Tensions were high at Tuesday night’s Greenville County Council meeting, leading to a heated verbal altercation between two councilmen.

The tension started months ago when they couldn’t come to an agreement about the millage rate increase. Ever since, there’s been some type of back-and-forth at almost every meeting, mostly involving Councilman Steve Shaw and Stan Tzoulelakas.

Tuesday, Councilman Tzouvelakas began reading two proposed ordinances, when Chairman Dan Tripp said he was speaking out of term, Tzouvelekas ignored Tripp and continued reading. Chairman Tripp began banging the gavel to get him to stop talking—but he kept going. They adjourned the meeting.

Then at the end of the meeting, our camera caught a heated verbal altercation between Councilman Ennis Fant and Tzouvelekas. Fant left right away, but we spoke to Tzouvelekas afterwards, he claims Fant called him a “racist.”

Woven tax break final approval

Despite the tension, the council got some work done. They approved a tax break for the controversial “Woven” project in West Greenville.

Using the county’s new affordable housing policy, it will guarantee that 44 out of the 214 units will be in the affordable or workforce range. It was a close vote, 7 to 5. councilman Alan Mitchell says he voted against the tax break because he felt the developer could have added more affordability.

“Our policy says that if you meet this criteria, then you qualify for our tax break, but Project Woven to me did not meet the spirit of our policy,” Mitchell explained.

Tzouvelekas’ ordinance to prohibit mask requirements

Councilman Tzouvelekas presented an ordinance that would make it against county law for a business, school, public building or other entity in the county to require you to wear a mask. The ordinance gives an exception for hospitals, medical facilities and also, if a national state of emergency has been declared.

“It’s not a federal mandate right now, so I want to make sure that we in Greenville County do not require our citizens to wear masks, they can wear them if they choose to,” said Tzouvelakas.

The ordinance will have to be discussed during a committee meeting before the council can vote.

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