Palmetto State News

Newberry City Council recognized many groups and employees Tuesday during their April council meeting.

Mac Bartley was honored on his recent retirement as City Public Works Director. Bartley began working for the city on August 27, 1990 and retired in January.

Mayor Foster Senn a city or entity could not ask for a more dedicated staff member than Bartley was every day.

“As the Mayor highlighted, Mac has been a most dedicated employee,” City Manager Matt DeWitt said. “We were very blessed to have had Mac for 31 years.”

Field Representative Jeff Shacker with the Municipal Association of South Carolina (MASC) was present Tuesday to present council with an award recognizing them as an honoree on the Municipal Elected Officials Institute of Government’s Honor Roll.

Established in 2018, the honor roll recognizes annually the city councils that can count all members of their sitting council as graduates of the MASC’s MEO Institute. City Council is among 10 other cities and towns across the state with this achievement. There are 270 municipalities in the state, meaning only 4.1% of state municipalities received this recognition.

Also recognized by council was the city’s utilities department for earning the American Public Power Association’s Safety Award of Excellence for safe operating practices in 2021. Over 300 utilities from across the country entered the annual safety awards. Entrants were placed in categories according to their number of worker-hours and ranked based on the most incident-free records during 2021.

The City of Newberry was named a 2021 Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation in honor of its commitment to effective urban forest management. Newberry achieved this recognition by meeting the program’s four requirements: a tree board or department, a tree care ordinance, an annual community forestry budget of at least $2 per capita and an Arbor Day observance and proclamation. Newberry is one of more than 3,600 Tree City USA communities, with a combined population of 155 million. This is the third consecutive Tree City USA distinction earned by the City of Newberry.

 

Two proclamations were signed Tuesday, the first designating the month of May as Building Safety Month. The second, designated the week of May 1-7, 2022 as Drinking Water Week. Senn went on to read from each proclamation.

Main Street Update

Utilities Director Tim Baker updated council and those present on the Main Street water line project. Baker said their contractor was still progressing ahead of schedule and thanked customers for their continued patience as work was completed.

From Glenn to Holman Streets, Baker said crews were currently working in the Calhoun Street area. Calhoun to Holman Streets, he said is the final block to be completed. Baker said that sidewalks were being replaced in phases, dependent on the testing of the line, placement of cut off valves and the scheduling of the crew.

Major work is complete in the section of Glenn to Kinard Streets, Baker said, with additional cleanup, tie-ins and road repair still needed.

All major work should be completed by the end of April.

“We know it’s inconvenient for everybody, but at the end of the day we’re going to have a great product,” he said.

Community Development Block Grant

Chief Building Inspector Wayne Redfern updated council on the Community Development Block Grant in the West End, noting that the demolition grant process was approved by City Council in December 2019. In this process, qualified properties in disadvantaged or persistent poverty areas are identified and the City provides 10% of the funding.

Working with CDBG, Redfern said 46 houses were identified in the West End area that needed demolition. Hearings were held on all properties prior to beginning the final investigation and demolition process. This process began by dividing the 46 properties into three phases. Once this was done, an asbestos evaluation of each property had to be conducted prior to bidding out the actual demolition work.

Phase one was done by the Environmental Holdings Group, LLC and included 16 houses. Redfern said that work had been completed.

Phase two included seven houses and was done by Han Construction & Management LLC. The group began work in October 2020. Of the seven houses, three have been demolished. The other four were delayed but have been restarted this week. Redfern said demolition on two of the houses should begin this week and the hope was to have them all completed by the end of the month.

Nine houses were included in phase three, Redfern said. The bidding process was delayed several months due to issues in getting the asbestos reports completed. However, he said they hoped to have a contract signed and the project awarded in early May and to be completed by the end of June.

Out of the 46 houses, Redfern said 12 were brought back up to the current code and three of the houses were demolished with city funds due to not qualifying for the CDBG funds.

New Business

Under new business, council approved first reading of an ordinance to repeal and replace a previous ordinance to establish the standards for the placement of small wireless facilities in the City of Newberry.

Senn said the city previously enacted ordinance #2018-1013 on October 9, 2018 and ordinance #2018-1020 on November 26, 2018 which established the terms, conditions, procedures, rates, and fees that shall apply to the deployment of Small Wireless Facilities in the right of way.

With Act 179 of 2020, referred to as the South Carolina Small Wireless Facilities Deployment Act, the South Carolina General Assembly established the terms, conditions, procedures, rates, and fees upon which small wireless facilities may be deployed in the right of way.

To ensure compliance with Act 179 of 2020, the city repealed the previous ordinances and replaced them, effective immediately, with ordinance #2022-1006.

Councilwoman Jackie Holmes made a motion, seconded by Councilman Carlton Kinard to approve first reading.

Also approved by council was first reading of an ordinance to grant council approval for a mural at 1109 Caldwell Street.

The specifications for murals within the city limits are as follows:

• Murals are defined as Artwork painted or applied to a wall where the architectural elements of the wall and immediately surrounding area are harmoniously incorporated into the painting.
• Murals may only be approved in the Core Commercial, Office Commercial and General Commercial zoning districts.
• The owner of record of the building on which a proposed mural is to be placed shall, in writing, consent to the placement of the mural on the property, agree to maintain the mural and consent to restore the wall or façade upon which the mural is placed to its prior existing condition if the mural is not properly maintained.
• Upon removal or failure to maintain a mural, the owner shall paint the entire surface with quality exterior paint guaranteed by the manufacturer to last a period of at least 10 years.
• Neither the subject nor location of a mural shall constitute a significant traffic hazard, endanger public health or safety, or be detrimental to the use and enjoyment of other property in the immediate vicinity of the proposed mural.
• Lighting shall conform with Section 308 of the zoning ordinance.

 

The Architectural Review Board reviewed the application for 1109 Caldwell Street at their March 17 meeting and approved the mural design and placement. To officially approve the mural application and its installation, council must approve two readings of the ordinance. A public hearing will be held prior to second reading on May 10.

Councilman Kinard made a motion, seconded by Councilwoman Holmes to approve first reading.

First reading of an ordinance was passed Tuesday to provide for amendments to the revenue and expenditure appropriations in the fiscal year 2021-22 budget. DeWitt said this adjustment was needed to account for the American Rescue Plan Funds. The funds need to be returned to the general fund, DeWitt said so that the general fund can be used to pay back the utility fund for the fiber optic project. This adjustment also accounts for the second half of the American Rescue Plan funds that the city hopes to receive prior to the end of the fiscal year.

Motion to approve first reading was made by Councilman Kinard and seconded by Councilman Edwin Wicker. A public hearing will be held prior to second reading on May 10.

After a discussion of council, a motion was made by Senn and seconded by Councilman Kinard to rename Wise Street Park as Israel Brooks Park. As improvements have been made over the years to various city parks, Senn said two of them had been renamed after notable members of the Newbery community – Dr. Ulysses S. Gallman and Dr. Julian Grant.

“We’re excited that renovations are underway at Wise Street Park now,” Senn said. “Council discussed a few years ago when we had these plans on the drawing board for Wise Street Park that when done, we should consider renaming that park also for a notable Newberrian.”

Major Israel Brooks grew up in Newberry, not far from Wise Street Park, Senn said. In 1967, he became the first African American to serve as a State Trooper for the South Carolina Highway Patrol. He also became the first African American promoted to a supervisory rank within the SCHP, Senn said, where he was quickly promoted through the ranks to Corporal, then Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain and Major.

In 1994, he was named United States Marshal for the District of South Carolina by President Bill Clinton, where he served until his retirement in November 2002.

“As Wise Street Park over the next few months will be remade, something we will all be proud of and I hope the citizens in that neighborhood will be proud of as well,” Senn said, “I believe it’s an appropriate time to rename it in honor of one of Newberry’s most famous citizens and a trailblazer in South Carolina.”

 Mac Bartley was recognized by City Council on his retirement from the city's Public Works Department after 31 years. 

 Mac Bartley pictured with his wife, Cindy. 

 Mac Bartley pictured with former colleagues and coworkers that came to show their support. 

 Field Representative Jeff Shacker is pictured with City Council on their award recognizing them as an honoree on the Municipal Elected Officials Institute of Government's Honor Roll. 

 The City of Newberry was named a 2021 Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation in honor of its commitment to effective urban forest management. 

 The city's utilities department was recognized for earning the American Public Power Association's Safety Award of Excellence for safe operating practices in 2021. 

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