By J. Todd Davis,
Mayor-City of Dillon, SC
The State of the City is very strong. We like many small to medium size municipalities throughout this country have our challenges. We also have our opportunities if we plan for them and the will to follow through.
Just last week I sat in on a meeting of men and women at the Dillon Wellness Center to initiate the process of recruiting a hotel. I called Senator Williams’ office back in the fall to facilitate a meaning between parties who can get the process going. At the last City Council meeting, it was voted unanimously to fund the feasibility study. This study will be done very fast. With that study and other market analysis material, investors can gauge the need for a hotel and determine their financial risk in pursuing the project. You will hear much more about this very soon as we are already underway.
Dillon has always been proud of our City Recreation Department and the facilities. We now, however, need to spend some money on the ball fields and the complex in general. We have already begun to get bids from landscapers to address the appearance while we also wait for estimates on improving the playing fields.
We have five parks if you include the new playground area at the Wellness Center. When I came into office approximately thirteen years ago, Harmon Park was in dire need of work. Soon after we installed lighting throughout the park and landscaped each corner of the park. We have since added new playground equipment and made other improvements. It’s time to work on Harmon Park again. I asked Maggie Riales to bring me a plan that will involve the community in sprucing up each corner of the park. The idea is to have charities, local civic clubs, or clubs at our schools landscape each corner of the park. The city will provide the materials and pay prize money to the winners. It would be a great fundraiser for the clubs and a plus for all the people that use the park.
The city has received two CDBG grants to upgrade over 600 new connections in the Stewart Heights and JV Martin area. It will be roughly a $1.1 million dollar investment. The city’s match on this grant was only $100,000. The project will enhance water pressure, water quality and better sewer mains. These areas were targeted due to ongoing issues and consisting of low to moderate income households.
We are going to have to replace a sewer main at the Little Pee Dee Bridge and 301 due to SCDOT building a new bridge. Estimated cost for the city to relocate this line under the river will be approximately $400,000. We secured a low interest loan from the state with a 1.5% interest rate over 10 years. The other cost will be the inconvenience for months with travelers being detoured via another route.
Our 20-year State Revolving Loan will mature in March of 2016. This is a major deal for the city as it will free up approximately $90,000 per quarter. The loan originated at $13 million. Perdue pays 60 percent of the loan and the city the other 40 percent. This loan was to fund the sprayfield facility off of Sugarhill Road. That long range planning, done years ago, has positioned Dillon with the infrastructure to accommodate other projects in the future. Beginning in June of 2016, the only debt on the books will be the 10-year note for relocating the line for the new bridge and the 10-year note remaining on the Wellness Center. I would bet very few municipalities out there today have as little debt. This will most likely change as new projects are planned and needed repairs long are overdue, especially concerning infrastructure.
We hear your concerns about the odor off of Commerce Drive. Frankly, it’s my number one priority at this moment. There is a lift station off Commerce that is fed from Perdue. We have just secured a grant for $350,000 from Rural Infrastructure Fund to address this issue with the Perdue line. This money will probably not be enough to resolve the problem. We will do our best to find a way solving this through our discussions with Perdue and our engineering team.
Last spring we secured a grant to install the new playground area at the Wellness Center. The cost to construct the playground was $100,000. Our total outlay was $60,000. The past three years the city has spent $75,000 resurfacing the allies along Main Street. We’re scheduled to complete two more allies this year.
Last summer, the City of Dillon Police Department hosted our first community cook-out at the local parks. The goal was to enhance better communications between the public and our police force. It was a tremendous success and we look forward to hosting another one this summer.
I would like to thank the community for supporting me and City Council. Serving you and this community has been a pleasure. It’s not the City Council that makes Dillon a great place to live. It’s the people who volunteer and get involved the reason Dillon is a wonderful place to call home!
