City of Newberry recognizes milestones, accomplishments

NEWBERRY — Newberry City Council recognized various employees for years of service to the city and one retirement during their employee recognitions on Sept. 14.

City Manager Matt DeWitt helped to recognize the following employees:

• Brad Eckhardt, five years.

“Brad is a water/sewer crew member with utilities. His first day with the city was January 29, 2016. He is very dependable, especially in his work testing and flushing hydrants. In his free time, Brad enjoys spending time with his farm animals,” DeWitt said.

•Luke Layman, five years.

“Luke is the network administrator with the Utilities Department. He was hired as IT systems support services technician June 6, 2016, and promoted to his current position July 1, 2018. He began as part time parks and recreation employee and transferred to IT, where he has become an integral person for IT support for all city departments. In addition, he is completing his bachelor’s degree and also enjoys computer games,” DeWitt said.

• Moses Groom, 15 years.

“Moses is a meter services supervisor with utilities. He was hired as a maintenance worker with public works May 8, 2006, promoted to meter servicer September 10, 2007, and promoted to his current position February 11, 2011. He is well known in the community and always goes above and beyond in his efforts to assist his customers,” DeWitt said.

• Don Hurst , 15 years.

“Don is the utilities and municipal special projects manager with the Utilities Department. After an initial stint from 1988-2005, he was hired as the residential/commercial inspector April 11, 2006. He was promoted to his current position May 16, 2015. He is instrumental in not only utility projects, but also all city departments. He is a jack of all trades, and his fingerprints can be found throughout all city projects,” DeWitt said.

• Johnnie Caldwell, 20 years.

“Johnnie is a program manager with the PRT (Parks, Recreation and Tourism) Department. He was hired as a program coordinator June 18, 2001, and promoted to his current role July 7, 2018. He is an integral part of everything PRT does, from sports programming to events to maintenance to his starring role as “Super Johnny” on PRT social media,” DeWitt said.

• Sharon Lucas, 20 years.

“Sharon is a senior administrative assistant with the police department. She was hired as a customer service representative one with the Finance Department on May 29, 2001, promoted to customer service representative two on May 9, 2005, promoted to customer service coordinator on July 21, 2007, promoted to customer service supervisor on January 4, 2010, transferred to administrative assistant with the Police Department on August 21, 2017, and promoted to her current role on October 24, 2020. She is very dependable, often arriving early and staying late, as needed. She is very professional and represents the city in a positive way,” DeWitt said.

• Dell Rowe, retirement. Rowe was a maintenance worker with PRT 2004- 2017 and then with Public Works 2017-2020 Rowe originally retired on December 20, 2004, but came back in 2011-10, he once again retired on November 30, 2020.

“Dell is enjoying his retirement. Since retiring, Dell is operating Rowe’s Professional Lawn Care and enjoys the time he can spend with his family. As a city employee, Dell was reliable, dependable, and a hard worker. When Dell was hired in 2004, you could visibly see the city parks had never looked better,” DeWitt said.

Also during the meeting, Jeff Shacker, with the Municipal Association of South Carolina and former city manager for the City of Newberry, recognized the City of Newberry for winning the Joseph P. Riley Jr. Award.

“(I’m here) to present an award to the city for a project I think is exemplary and serves as a demonstration for not just cities in South Carolina, but all over our country,” Shacker said. “Newberry, like many small communities in our country, I guess you could say have been on the wrong side of the digital divide. High speed infrastructure is so critical in today’s world, when you look at economic development in the 21st century. While water and sewer is important, internet and power are two critical pieces of infrastructure.”

Shacker said the City of Newberry has been able to overcome that digital divide, and so many communities that are small like Newberry have not.

“I think that is what is so important about this project, not only the accomplishment of Newberry, but how it can serve as a demonstration for other cities,” he said. “This is why it was so wonderful to recognize the city on July 24 at our annual meeting. A video was shown showcasing this project, what they city did taking advantage of its resources — they are one of 21 cities in South Carolina with an electrical system and they established a fiber optic network and cultivated partnerships.”

Shacker said that the system designed not only meet current needs, but is designed for expansion and higher levels of service in the future.

“The project was built and accelerated, there was a tremendous need for infrastructure for remote work, remote schooling and education, they accelerated a three-year build plan to meet the needs of the community during the pandemic,” he said.

Shacker ended by saying he hopes this will lead to many more efforts like this in small communities.

Mayor Foster Senn also said that Rep. Ralph Norman sent a special Congressional recognition, and thanked Norman for doing so.

PRT Director, Scott Sawyer was also recognized for receiving a “Tourism Advocate of the Year Award” from Capital City/Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism Board.

“They recognized Scott for outstanding work for tourism in Newberry and the region,” Senn said.