November 2019 Council Highlights

• Council held four public hearings this month, to receive public comments on the following:
  • To receive additional comments from the public regarding the expenditure of our annual Community Development Block Grant funds from the federal HUD program. The purpose of these funds is to improve neighborhoods and make life more livable for residents, especially those whose are considered low-moderate-income households. Not only does this fund cover our community development department overhead, but also our summer youth employment programs, demolition and repair service to residential homes, and several community agencies, some of the previous recipients of the funds have been the YWCA, YMCA and Sumter United Ministries. To date residents have requested assistance in their neighborhoods with Demolition & blight, sidewalks, street lighting, speed bumps, paving, drainage, park improvements and more.
  • Rezone a 14.2 acre parcel, located at 32 Wall Street, from professional Office (PO) and Residential (R-6) to General Commercial (GC).
  • Rezone a 6.03 acre parcel, located at 235 N. Bultman Drive from Residential-Multi-Family (RMF) to Professional Office (PO).
  • Closing of a portion of Brown Street, between Stark Street and West College Street, and transfer closed street to the adjoining property owner (Morris College).
• City Council approved a resolution to transfer or grant 10 rights-of-way or property to the SC Department of Transportation. This ordinance was necessary to help expedite the North Main and Manning Avenue Streetscape Revitalization project. This project is also part of the one cent capital penny or Penny for Progress program approved by Sumter voters in 2014.
• City Council approved a resolution that will expand our current Aquatics Center, located at 115 S Lafayette Drive. The expansion will add a lazy river as well as redesign the parking areas between the facility and the South HOPE Center. The contractor for the project will be Hardee Construction of Sumter, SC.

NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS:

• Representatives from the Sumter Voter Registration Office demonstrated to council the new statewide voting system this month. The ExpressVote ballot-marking device provides voters with the familiarity of a touchscreen combined with the security of a paper ballot. Voters will navigate the ballot and make selections using a touchscreen. After verifying selections, voters will print their paper ballot. Voters will then have the opportunity to review the paper ballot before inserting it into a scanner. The scanner counts the votes, and the paper ballot is automatically dropped into a ballot box. Votes are recorded on the scanner, and the paper ballots are saved for auditing and verification of results. scvotes.org
• The Link’s Ross McKenzie Emerging Leaders held their annual legislation and government day. Team Sumter discussed government services and the difference between public and private funds as well as held three activities, including a Penny game, where youth had to decide how and where both the City and County spend their money. The last two activities focused on the youth participants and what challenges they see in the community and what projects they desired to have in Sumter.
• Fantasy of Lights will have a full display this year, even though construction has the main entrance closed to the park closed. All lights and figures will be moved along Garden Street and around the Heath Pavilion. Please note that there will be a new traffic pattern along Garden Street this year, where lighted figures will take visitors through the gates at the Heath and around it. We ask for patrons to have patience as we expected long lines at the event as always. Santa’s Village will be open from 6-8 PM on Friday December 6, Saturday, December 7 and again the following weekend Friday, December 13 and Saturday, December 14.
• The City of Sumter and Sumter County utilize the latest in GIS Technology to create mapping solutions for residents, developers and contractors. From identification, location and ownership to property cards, traffic & census data and weather, our GIS teams work to make sure the data available to our community is accurate and up-to-date. We have created a repository for many of our mapping assets at www.sumtersc.gov/mapping. If you need assistance, please contact the Sumter City-County Planning Department at (803) 774-1660 or by email at [email protected].
• For the Census2020, the Census Bureau needs every person to tell the country they are "here" in every home and every neighborhood! The correct count helps your government determine what your community needs... that could mean more funding for schools, teachers, after school activities, roads, housing and healthcare and so much more! For more info, visit www.SumterCensus.com
• It's that special time of year for a favorite project of Sumter Volunteers, Inc. It's the 27th annual "Shower Shaw with Cookies". Please help us spread the holiday cheer and bake cookies or candy -- pack in boxes, plastic bags or tin disposable containers. Number the outside of the container as to how many homemade dozen are on the inside. Drop off location this year is The Meeting House at Memorial Park, located at 407 W. Hampton Avenue on Wednesday, December 4 from 9am-2pm. KIDS... don't forget your handmade cards and letters too! For more info, you can also contact Mrs. JoAnn Morris at 803-774-7423.
• Things are heating up this weekend at the annual Tom Garrity Firefighter BBQ Challenge. This year the event will be held at the USC Sumter Nettles Auditorium from 10AM-1PM. Attendees will have a chance to taste endless amounts of barbeque and vote on their favorite team. There are 11 fire stations participating this year. Tickets are $10 at the door and all proceeds benefit Red Cross Disaster Relief. For more info Contact Will Fort at 803-983-0648.
• SAVE THE DATE:
  • Annual Sumter Chamber of Commerce Retreat, Jan. 31-Feb 2, 2020. Theme is “Inspire the Future”
  • (see attachments below for more events this holiday season, including a map of the new drive thru area for Fantasy of Lights.
• Regular City Council meetings are held in the Council Chambers on the 4th floor of the Opera House. City residents are encouraged to attend. Next month our meetings will be on December 3 at 1 PM and December 17 at 5:30 PM.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON MEETINGS, EVENTS AND MORE, VISIT WWW.SUMTERSC.GOV.

For full listing of community events, visit www.sumtersc.gov/calendar