Upper West SC News

City of Newberry issued the following announcement on February 11.

Newberry City Council discussed the concept of working with Bird Scooters, an electric scooter company about making their product available to citizens and guests. City Clerk Jeff Wicker led council through a presentation Tuesday on the scooters, noting they were controlled with a smartphone app and that a local operations manager would oversee the fleet.

Controls can be placed on the scooters limiting hours of operation, speed and designating where they can and cannot operate. Wicker said the scooters were currently in cities and towns of all sizes, with the smallest population currently being 5,200.

Council wanted further time to research and discuss the scooters, asking city staff to research safety measures of the bird scooters as well as asking the thoughts of other cities already partnering with the company.

City Updates

As an update for council, Utility Director Tim Baker recapped the ice storm that impacted the city on Sunday, January 16. The first outages were reported at 7:45 a.m. that morning. At the height of the outage, Baker said about 600 customers were without power, with most only experiencing an outage of a few hours. Those with major damage were restored later.

Mayor Foster Senn thanked all departments for their hard work in preparing and taking care of the community throughout the ice storm. He shared positive comments received from the community as they expressed their gratitude for the efforts in restoring services and updating the public through social media.

Senn updated council and those in attendance on the Affordable Connectivity Program, noting that it was an FCC benefit program to help ensure that households could afford the broadband they need for work, school, healthcare and more. The program provides a discount of up to $30 per month toward internet service for eligible households, meaning broadband services could be delivered for little out of pocket cost.

A household is eligible if a member of the household meets at least one of the criteria below:

• Has an income that is at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines; or
• Participates in certain assistance programs, such as SNAP, Medicaid, Federal Public Housing Assistance, SSI, WIC, or Lifeline;
• Participates in Tribal specific programs, such as Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance, Tribal TANF, or Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations;
• Is approved to receive benefits under the free and reduced-price school lunch program or the school breakfast program, including through the USDA Community Eligibility Provision in the 2019-2020, 2020-2021, or 2021-2022 school year;
• Received a Federal Pell Grant during the current award year; or
• Meets the eligibility criteria for a participating provider's existing low-income program.

Senn encouraged council and those in attendance to help promote the program so that those that qualify were able to take part.

As a follow-up to a public comment at December’s meeting, City Manager Matt DeWitt shared a report from SCDOT’s Nick Rebovich on the intersection of Glenn Street Extension and Adelaide Street. The two-way traffic volume on Adelaide, Glenn Street and Glenn Street Extension was approximately 1,100 to 1,500 vehicles per day. The crash history from January 1, 2018 through June 30, 2021 shows no reported crashes at the intersection.

While onsite, it was noted that line of sight could be blocked by the property owner at the southeast corner. However, if a driver is pulling up on Glenn Street Extension, they can pull to the edge of the travel way of Adelaide/Glenn Street and see sufficiently both left and right.

Reestablishing the dashed edge line of Glenn/Adelaide Street along Glenn Street Extension is recommended, DeWitt said. A reestablished stop bar on Glenn Street Extension but placed closer to the intersection is also recommended. The current faded location is far from the edge of Glenn/Adelaide and if a driver stops there, they must look through parked vehicles.

At this time, DeWitt said that SCDOT was not recommending an all-way stop. The new pavement markings are expected within the next 60 days.

Public Hearing

Senn convened a public hearing for the purpose of receiving comments concerning an ordinance to provide amendments to the revenue and expenditure appropriations in the fiscal year 2021-2022 budget. With no one speaking in favor or opposition to the ordinance, the public hearing was declared closed.

Old Business

Under old business, second and final reading was passed of an ordinance to change the date of regular elections for the offices of mayor and members of council to SC Municipal Election Day. Motion was made by Councilwoman Jackie Holmes and seconded by Councilman Carlton Kinard.

This ordinance shall be effective such that the election presently scheduled for September 2022 for Districts 1, 3, 5 and the office of mayor shall be held in November 2023 and the elections presently scheduled for Districts 2, 4 and 6 to be held in September 2024 will be held in November 2025.

With a motion by Kinard and second by Councilman David DuBose, second reading was also passed to provide amendments to the revenue and expenditure appropriations in the fiscal year 2021-22. First reading was unanimously approved by council at their January meeting.

New Business

Under new business, council approved a consideration of a petition to annex from Newberry Center LLC for a portion of TMS 342-21 located on Wilson Road. Motion was made by Councilman Edwin Wicker and seconded by DuBose.

Senn said that this area was where Harbor Freight was slated to go in Newberry.

First reading was then passed on an ordinance to annex a portion of certain areas to the city limits. City staff received an annexation petition from Newberry Center LLC to annex the property above totaling 1.147 acres on Wilson Road. Currently, the land contains a multi-unit shopping center.

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

First reading was then approved for that same parcel 342-21 located on Wilson Road to assign a zoning classification of General Commercial and to amend the zoning and future land use maps. Second reading as well as a public hearing will take place on Tuesday, March 8 at council’s next regular meeting.

For approximately twenty-seven years, the Newberry Dove Club has leased for dove hunting purposes a parcel of land (approximately 13.5 acres) belonging to the City of Newberry and located adjacent to the Bush River Waste Treatment Plant.

DuBose made a motion, seconded by Kinard to table first reading of an ordinance authorizing the renewal of the lease. Senn shared that the Dove Club board of directors had not yet had time to meet and review the lease agreement and recommended waiting until they had the opportunity to do so.

Original source can be found here.