PROSPERITY — Prosperity Town Council decided that due to sidewalk construction taking place downtown, Prosperity Hoppin’ will be cancelled for the first Saturday in May.

Instead, the Town agreed to hold a Prosperity Celebration and Dedication of Sidewalks to present the new sidewalks to the community. The date is to be determined.

“What we thought about doing, since it’s such a tight timeline, is cancelling Prosperity Hoppin’ and instead of having a Hoppin’ this year do a sidewalk dedication with live music in the Square, maybe like a Shopper’s Walk in July or August. Then next year carry on with Hoppin’ in May like we’ve done for the first Saturday in May,” said Town Administrator Karen Livingston. “The timeline is just really pushing for it to be finished by the first Saturday in May. It costs a lot of money to advertise, a lot of time to plan, and then the week before if people are going through a construction zone everyday they might not want to go around that. If we can get it cleaned up and finished, we can then plan a one night event with live music, open the businesses up and show the beautiful sidewalks.”

Livingston added that the sidewalks may be completed by May, but said she doesn’t want to risk spending the money on advertising and getting the vendors in Prosperity to turn around and cancel Prosperity Hoppin’.

In other business, Newberry County Coroner Laura Kneece came before Council to address communication and speeding within the town.

She said that with recent water line breaks and boil water advisories being issued, she was unaware of the advisories or when they had been lifted, until she received the Nixle alerts later in the day, hours later, from the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office. Kneece suggested the Town of Prosperity utilize Nixle themselves to get information out to the community faster.

Livingston informed Kneece that the Town of Prosperity does utilize various outlets to get town alerts to the community.

“We have four ways that we communicate. We communicate through Nixle, 911 Communication, WKDK and The Newberry Observer. We also put it on our Facebook page,” Livingston said.

Kneece also addressed speeding in Prosperity.

“I know this (speeding) is a big issue. The safety of these citizens in Prosperity and Newberry County as a whole is a big concern of mine. I definitely don’t want to be the one knocking on that door when something happens,” Kneece said.

Other business:

• Chief David Beddingfield reported that the Prosperity Police Department has responded to various calls this month including assaults, two hit and runs and shoplifting.

• Ed West reported that the Utilities Department experienced seven water main breaks this month. He said that they are also working to clean up limbs and debris in the Town.

• A motion was made by Councilman Allen Gallman to pass the second reading of the Clean Air Ordinance. The motion was seconded by Councilman Robert Martin. Councilman Mike Hawkins voted in opposition of the ordinance.

• A motion was made by Councilman Chad Hawkins to pass the second reading of the sanitation collection fee ordinance. The motion was seconded by Gallman.

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By Kelly Duncan

kduncan@newberryobserver.com

Reach Kelly Duncan at 803-768-3123 ext. 1868 or on Twitter @TheNBOnews.