Ninety Six gets update on park project, MRB consulting work
Ninety Six will soon get help from a town native in handling matters throughout the town’s government.
Mayor Mike Rowe said the town contracted with MRB Group, an engineering and strategic planning firm based in Charleston, to help with issues ranging from reporting the spending of federal COVID-19 recovery funds to helping streamline ordinances and other town business.
Rowe said the town has worked with MRB group since January and has been in contact with MRB Senior Planning Associate Riccardo Giani, who town council heard an update from at Monday’s town council meeting. At the May 16 town council meeting, Ninety Six native Julie Wilkie will take Giani’s spot working with the town, Rowe said.
Wilkie, Greenwood’s city manager, is leaving her position in Greenwood’s government on May 6 to start working with MRB Group.
“MRB is a group we hired to do a lot of different things in town,” Rowe said. “They’ve helped with reporting our ARPA fund spending, they’ve also helped with economic development, taking stock of what’s available in town and talking with some residential developers.”
Rowe said MRB has helped the town government streamline some of its internal processes too, to cut down on errors and redundancy. Consultants have helped draft property maintenance ordinances, standardize internal forms and are taking a look at the depreciation of town vehicles and developing a schedule for when to replace them.
MRB has also helped some with the town’s 2020 financial audit, which was because of the state Treasurer’s office at the end of October. The most recent hold-up was a request by the auditing firm for a number of documents after auditors noticed inconsistencies among certain account balances and duplicate entries in the 2020 budget.
Rowe said Town Clerk Ketekash Crump-Lukie submitted the requested documents about three weeks ago, but he hasn’t heard back from their auditing firm. The audit has to be completed so the town can move on to the 2021 audit, which they have yet to start on, Rowe said.
At Monday’s council meeting, town officials also approved the first phase of the Capital Project Sales Tax improvements at the town park. Davis & Floyd engineering firm helped the town lower the cost of the project by making adjustments to the planned renovations.
“Anything we could do to try and trim a dollar here and there because what we found from the other park projects in this first phase, they came in over budget,” Rowe said.
The park upgrades were going to include a new gazebo and bathroom facilities, but instead, they are remodeling and expanding the existing gazebo. The park will have new handicap-accessible walking paths, playground equipment and a renovated and expanded bathroom.
In order to get the cost of the project down to its current predicted cost of about $372,000, they’ve cut new lighting around the park and electrical outlets. Rowe said they hope to have the renovations out for bid at the end of May.
Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Apr 20, 2022
By DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ ddominguez@indexjournal.com
Article Link: https://www.indexjournal.com/news/ninety-six-gets-update-on-park-project-mrb-consulting-work/article_51b0dd98-525a-51ac-a658-7e3528b78bba.html