Greenwood’s future a lunchtime topic

With Greenwood’s future on their minds, the local legislative delegation and city and county government officials sat down for lunch Friday and a discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing Greenwood County.

The Greenwood SC Chamber of Commerce hosted the meeting, called a legislative luncheon, at Harris Baptist Church’s social hall. Chamber President and CEO Barbara Ann Heegan said she was honored to host the elected officials, heads of local law enforcement, CPW representatives and officials from major local stakeholders and chamber partners.

The panel of guests set up to speak included county, city and state officials. Heegan asked them all a series of questions fielded from Chamber members about their priorities and plans for Greenwood’s future.

A clear priority across all levels of government was expanding broadband internet services throughout the county. State Sen. Billy Garrett said federal and state funds are on their way to pay for internet infrastructure.

“I think that broadband right now is something we all need to be working on,” he said. “Most importantly, it’s something we need to be doing for our students.”

State Rep. Anne Parks agreed, and said as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, classrooms aren’t equipped to allow for social distancing. Quality broadband service for all students is essential for providing virtual education, she said.

“Our children are our most precious commodity, and with the virus continuing they need to be in class,” she said.

County Council Chairman Chuck Moates said Greenwood suffered a great loss with the death of the councilman Steve Brown. Still, the work initiated under his tenure will go on, including Capital Project Sales Tax projects, the expansion of the county’s fire service plan and the Lake Greenwood Master Plan.

“Even though his leadership will be missed, the work will continue,” he said.

Public safety has been a clear priority for the city, said Mayor Brandon Smith. License plate reading cameras have made it easier for law enforcement to find offenders, and he praised Police Chief T.J. Chaudoin’s approach to policing.

City Manager Julie Wilkie said the city is hoping to use federal American Recovery Plan Act funds to hire on six additional police officers for the department’s Crime Suppression Unit. This team spends time in neighborhoods building relationships and trying to halt crime at its source by connecting with and providing resources to their community.

“They don’t answer 911 calls, they are a proactive unit,” she said. “We live in a wonderful place. We just have to show people that there’s more to crime than these 15 ‘bad guys’ shooting back and forth,” Wilkie said.

Across the board, everyone agreed infrastructure investments are needed — funds are set to be allocated to broadband internet infrastructure, roads and bridges. Many of these funds will come from one-time federal programs, said state Sen. Mike Gambrell. South Carolina has $2.5 billion from those funds, but Gambrell joked his requests alone were up to $3.5 billion.

Gambrell serves on the state Senate Finance Committee.

“Last year we were fortunate to have more funds than normal, but if you remember last year that was really a two-year budget,” he said.

Because these are one-time funds, Gambrell said governments have to be cautious not to fund recurring costs with these dollars unless they have a revenue stream to maintain the cost moving forward. State Rep. John McCravy said it’s unclear whether the federal government plans to follow up this wave of funds with another, and he’d like to see dollars go toward Lander University and Piedmont Technical College, the Greenwood Pathway House and infrastructure projects.

State Rep. Stewart Jones said the money needs to go to local governments, who will know best how to spend them. Still, he cautioned against this flow of federal dollars, saying people will pay for them in increased costs of goods and services. Parks agreed, saying while broadband and infrastructure are well agreed-upon projects, the state can’t tell local governments where to spend their portion of these funds.

On matters of economic development, Wilkie said Greenwood is working with the development cooperative Greenwood Together and looking at expanding housing options in the city. This year’s festivals were successes, she said, and they’ll continue to play a major role in Greenwood’s economy.

“I think the Festival of Discovery and Festival of Flowers are huge hits in our community, and we’ve seen how we can safely return to events as we come out of this, I hope,” she said.

Moates said for the county, economic development is not a synonym for industrial recruitment. While enticing industry is a part of it, the county’s model is more holistic. It includes providing public transportation, bringing in housing development and ensuring a high quality of life for residents.

“We had six wins — six different companies expand or come to Greenwood, which totaled about $238 million,” said County Manager Toby Chappell.

Greenwood’s partnership with McCormick Area Transit to provide busing services was an effort to ensure people had transportation options for getting to work. It was funded through a $150,000 match grant with the state Department of Transportation, and recently expanded to include more of the county and more locations it will take travelers.

Greenwood County is about halfway through with fund collections for the 2016 Capital Project Sales Tax, and 14 of its 27 projects have been completed, Chappell said. Next year, much of the funds are going toward building up the Wilbanks Sports Complex, located at the site of the former civic center.

“I think we’re in a tremendous position here in Greenwood,” Garrett said.

Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Oct 15, 2021

By DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ ddominguez@indexjournal.com

Article Link: https://www.indexjournal.com/news/greenwoods-future-a-lunchtime-topic/article_86d2c866-8a0c-518c-aade-c498774cf6f2.html