NEWBERRY — Marquerite Palmer, special programs coordinator for the city’s Parks, Recreation and Tourism department, shared the successes of the Newberry Arts Center’s South Carolina Clay Conference with City Council on Tuesday night at its regular council meeting.
Starting in 2015, the SCCC was the idea of a good friend of Palmer’s who was a potter. Visiting that December, Palmer said she had originally wanted a conference to be held in February as it is generally a slow time for business. She thought a workshop of some sort would be beneficial during that time of year.
“My friend suggested we start the SCCC, which gave us less than three months to plan,” Palmer said.
With support from Al Harvey, the city manager at the time, along with other city staff, Palmer said they were able to put it together and make Newberry the official home of the SCCC. With 15 participants the first year, Palmer said they were thrilled to have started the three-day workshop and to have local businesses involved.
That first year, pottery sales from the conference totaled at $1,621, with the Newberry Arts Center keeping 20 percent of the profits.
The next year in 2016, Palmer said they were able to jump forward and had 40 registered attendees which she attributed to using Eventbrite online registration, allowing participants to register, pay and view details online. That year, pottery sales totaled $5,095.
With this year being most successful to date, Palmer said total attendees jumped to 71, with pottery sales totaling $11,301. Palmer said this year’s conference was the most diverse people she had seen at a conference with ages 19 to 72 reporting and skill levels from amateurs to professionals.
“I’m very excited we got to this point in three years,” Palmer said. “I feel like we are making some huge strides and fulfilled what we saw this conference becoming in possibly five to six years.”
Palmer said the agenda of the SCCC is to make people feel welcome, to educate them and to give them plenty of time to shop, dine and spend time in Newberry.
“It was a really good time,” said Mayor Foster Senn of the SCCC. “You could just feel the buzz of excitement in the air.”
The next SCCC is scheduled for February 2018.
In other business, several public hearings were held with no community opposition. The first was to amend the future land use map and zoning map of the city for a one acre parcel at Player and Silas streets to accommodate the city’s substation.
The parcel was formerly included in Kendall Park which carries the designation of open space. However the parcel has now been separated from the park. Following the hearing, first reading was held.
City Manager Matt DeWitt told council a general timetable for the substation depended first on getting rid of the current structure that is an old storage building on that piece of property. Bids will be opened Friday, Utilities Director Tim Baker told council. Baker said bids were for demolition time of 60 to 90 days. Once the substation gets going, the estimated time limit council was given is one year.
Other public hearings were to amend the future land use map and zoning map of the city for a 5.01 acre parcel at 42 Railroad Ave., TMS 346-46 and for a parcel located at 252 Mt. Bethel Garmany Road. Following the public hearings of these two parcels, second and final reading was held.
City resident Roscoe Bedenbaugh brought forward several questions for council during the public hearing for a parcel located at Dixie Drive, TMS 401-17, the future home of the Newberry Sports Complex. Bedenbaugh owns a parcel of land next to it and was curious as to where the access from the road to the complex was going to be.
DeWitt said the final engineering for the parcel was going to be completed next week, but he thought that S.C. 34 could serve as both an entrance and exit for the property.
With Bedenbaugh’s concern of a possible need for road widening on Glenn Street Extension should that road be used, DeWitt said it may not be required immediately, but that SCDOT may want to conduct traffic studies.
Another concern Bedenbaugh had was if the complex would be giving off a lot of light in the area to which DeWitt said the lights would be very directional. While it may be brighter in the area, DeWitt said most city recreational events are over by 9 p.m. to be sensitive of parents getting their kids home for school the next day. The city is also looking to keep a tree buffer to further diminish light spill-over from the complex.
“I think you make a good point on us being sensitive to the neighbors,” Senn said. “It’s certainly one of our goals.”
Second and final reading was also passed on the Dixie Drive parcel.
New Business
Under new business, a resolution designating the month of May as “Building Safety Month” was approved. Senn said Building Safety Month was sponsored by the International Code Council to remind the public about the critical role of our community’s largely unknown guardians of public safety – our local building code officials.
“We appreciate the good work of our building and zoning department,” Senn said.
Also on Tuesday, council authorized for the consumption of alcohol in designated areas for the city’s Taste of Newberry event on May 19. This allows event patrons to travel in the event with an alcoholic beverage, by foot, if they are carrying the beverage in the designated event cup. The event area includes the block surrounding 901 Friend Street: Friend Street from Nance to the end of Friend Street, Nance from Friend to Main Streets and Main from Harris Street to Nance Street.
“We moved the Taste of Newberry event last year due to some rain and it ended up being a very positive thing,” DeWitt said. “You’ll be able to flow freely inside and out with vendors and it will be a really nice block party style event.”
Participation as a member of the Piedmont Municipal Power Agency (PMPA) requires each member city to name a Director and Alternate Director to serve as members of the agency’s Board of Directors. A resolution was adopted Tuesday night to name Senn as Director and Baker as alternate.
Other Business
· In his financial report, DeWitt told council that they would notice revenue from electric, water and sewer remained flat this month compared to the same time last year, but that it was not a negative thing, just that there had been consistent usage. DeWitt also reminded council that they would be getting budget proposals soon and that they would be going over that budget with a series of three meetings scheduled next month.
· Council recognized a group of Newberry College students for not only being outstanding students, but for their work in the community. Each student was presented with a proclamation honoring their accomplishments.
“These are young people who have not just been students but have really come in and made this town a better place,” Senn said.
· Coming back into open session following executive session, council approved first reading of an ordinance to separate the billing classes of the current water and sewer rate structure. Since the inception of the billing structure, both residential and commercial customers have been billed using the same rate table. Through communication from DHEC, Senn said it has been recommended to cities across South Carolina that provide utilities to update their practice to ensure conservation and economic development.