November 2020 Council Highlights

  • We want to congratulate Pilgrim’s Pride, the Sumter School District and Palmetto Health Tuomey Hospital on being recognized as the 2020 “Extra Mile Day” honorees. The organizations were recognized at the same time the City of Sumter declared Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020, as “Extra Mile Day.” Along with Extra Mile America, the parent organization of “Extra Mile Day,” we celebrate the positive change in our community each of these organizations has created in the last several months during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • The City of Sumter has been awarded an Achievement in Excellence in Financial Reporting by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada. This is the highest form of recognition in governmental accounting, and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by our administration.
  • Congratulations to Sumter Economic Development and Santa Cruz Nutritionals for having such a great partnership. Santa Cruz recently announced a new expansion that the create and additional 164 new jobs in the Sumter community.
    • An additional congratulations to Sumter Economic Development, who was recently recognized as a First-Rate Economic Development Agency in the South by Southern Business and Development Magazine. This recognition is based on several factors, including deal activity, deal quality and the organizations reputation among those in the economic development in the state. Our Economic Development team works tirelessly with city and county officials to facilitate and support continuous economic growth for our region.
  • With Veteran’s Day just having passed us… this is a wonderful time to remind everyone of the incredible military display, put together by Dr. Sammy Way. We want to invite all citizens and visitors to visit the Sumter Military Museum. With over 7000 photos and pieces of memorabilia, the museum is located in the James Clyburn Transportation Center, at 129 South Harvin St., in Sumter. It is open weekly on Fridays from 9 AM – 12 PM and Sundays from 2 – 4 PM and on special request. The museum has a new website at sumtermilitarymuseum.com for more info or to schedule a visit.
    • We also want to remind everyone that Team Sumter has a very active and informed Veterans Affairs Their office has recently moved into the historic Sumter County Courthouse at 141 North Main Street and is located inside Suite 100 on the first floor (just across the street from their former location on Law Range). For more information, please contact their office at 803-436-2302.
  • Our litter prevention department is off to a good start – working with county and state agencies on cleanups as well as over 50 volunteers so far. We want to say thank you to the students at Central Carolina Technical College, Sumter area Boy Scouts and various Sumter Neighborhood Associations for reaching out and contributing to the beautification of our community thus far. We encourage all citizens to get involved. Please contact our codes department for assistance setting up a cleanup day in your neighborhood or volunteering with other litter initiatives around the City. Call 803-305-5266 or fine more info on the City’s website at sumtersc.gov.
  • This is American Education Week…
    • The City of Sumter was excited to host the Liberty STEAM Charter School Family Preview Sessions at all three HOPE Centers recently. These sessions are designed as a way for prospective parents to learn more about the schools mission, expectations, values and options available for our children. They have additional sessions planned and details are available on their website at libertysteamcharter.org.
    • Additionally, the Sumter School District is hiring! They are hosting a Virtual Teacher Interview Day from 9 AM until 3 PM, November 19 – 20, 2020. You must visit their website, sumterschools.net, to register or call the School Board office at 803-469-6900, extension 201 or 206.
  • Duke Energy and the Sumter Police Department have joined forces with utilities across the continent to bring awareness to criminal scam tactics on the fifth annual Utility Scam Awareness Day on Nov. 18. Utility Scam Awareness Day is part of the week-long International Scam Awareness Week, an advocacy and awareness campaign focused on educating customers and exposing the tactics used by scammers.
    • Common scam tactics include:  
      • Threat to disconnect: Scammers may aggressively tell a customer their utility bill is past due, and service will be disconnected—usually within an hour—if a payment is not made.
      • Request for immediate payment: Scammers may instruct a customer to purchase a prepaid card, cryptocurrency, or to send funds via a mobile app to make a bill payment.
      • Request for prepaid card or using certain mobile apps: Customers are instructed to pay with a prepaid debit card. The impostor asks the for the prepaid card’s number, which grants instant access to the card’s funds. More recently, customers have also been instructed to send a payment through a mobile app. Duke Energy currently does not accept payments through the Cash App, Venmo or Zelle apps. However, customers can make payments on Duke Energy’s mobile app available in the Apple App Store for iOS and the Google Play Store for Android.
    • Personal information: 
      During the COVID-19 crisis, criminals are promising to mail refund checks for overpayments on their accounts if they can confirm their personal data, including birthdays and, in some cases, Social Security numbers. Duke Energy will apply refunds as a credit to customers’ accounts and will not contact customers to verify personal information by phone, email or in person in order to mail a check. 
    • Protect yourself:
      • Customers should never purchase a prepaid card to avoid service interruption. Utility companies do not specify how customers should make a bill payment and always offer a variety of ways to pay a bill, including online payments, phone payments, automatic bank drafts, mail, or in person.
      • If someone threatens immediate service interruption, customers should be aware. Customers with past due accounts receive multiple advanced notices, typically by mail and in their regular monthly bill. Utilities will never notify of a disconnection in one hour or less.
      • If customers suspect someone is trying to scam them, they should hang up, delete the email, or shut the door. The utility should be contacted immediately at the number on the most recent monthly bill or on the utility’s official website, not the phone number the scammer provides. If customers ever feel that they are in physical danger, they should call 9-1-1.
    • Visit duke-energy.com/stopscamsfor more information or contact the Sumter Police Department at 803-436-2700.
  • Patriot Hall is opening its doors this weekend for the first performance on stage in quite some time as the Columbia City Ballet is set to bring two shows of ‘Nutcracker,’ on Saturday. The first show on Friday, November 20 begins at 7:30 PM. There will be two shows on Saturday, November 21 – 1 PM and 7:30 PM. For online tickets, visit: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4808931. The box office of Patriot Hall is (803) 436-2260.
  • City Council meetings are held on the first Tuesday at 1 PM and on the third Tuesday at 5:30 PM. Currently, we are hosting our meetings as hybrid, the first meeting of the month is primarily virtual, while the second is often in-person. Residents may watch our meetings online by visiting youtube.com/cityofsumter. Public comments may be submitted online through our website at www.sumtersc.gov/council/meetings, or citizens can contact the Mayor or their Councilmember any time prior to a meeting to discuss any concerns or ideas you may have for the City. For our regularly scheduled meetings, agendas are announced the Friday before each meeting and will include links to agenda item details as well as meetings location, and more.
  • Next month our regularly scheduled meetings are on December 1 at PM and December 15 at 5:30 PM.