Hartsville wins MASC award for Public Safety
By Samantha Lyles, Staff Writer, slyles@newsandpress.net
“I’m very pleased to be here to recognize the City of Hartsville for winning our Municipal Achievement Award for the Hartsville Police Department’s Community Outreach Division,” said Bill Taylor, Field Services Manager for MASC.
Taylor said Hartsville bested over 30 other cities and towns from across the state, each of which submitted their own public safety program for consideration.
As explained in a video detailing their program, Hartsville developed a strategy to address high crime rates in several neighborhoods, and created a Community Outreach Division and a new satellite office to build trust between residents and law enforcement. With grant funds from the US Department of Justice, the department created a community liaison officer position. They focused on outreach programs to divert offenders from jail and into school, training programs, or jobs, and increased school visits, community presentations, and friendly face to face efforts like “Coffee With a Cop.”
The award was officially presented at a recent MASC retreat in Hilton Head, where Hartsville Mayor Pro Tem Johnny Andrews accepted the trophy on behalf of the city.
Council received an update on the Boys and Girls Club from director of operations DeCar Brown and board chair Gray Segars. Brown said the Club served 225 kids during the school year and about 200 kids over the summer, sometimes for 10 hours a day. He spoke briefly about the Club’s funding, which includes a recently secured three-year commitment for $275,000 a year from the Department of Education, which the Club won for its outstanding reading skill evaluations.
On the regular agenda, Council approved final reading for Ordinance 4341, adopting standards regarding the location and design of small wireless facilities in municipal rights of way and abutting utility easements. These SWFs will be considered ‘permissible use’ unless proposed to locate within a historical, design or underground utility district, in which case additional review would be required to protect the character of the districts.
Council approved final reading of Ordinance 4342, amending the business license codes to include the following changes: licenses are due yearly May 1 to April 30; each business requires a separate license; annexed businesses will have a 30 day window to obtain a license; to determine license rates, gross receipts and gross revenue from tax returns must be submitted instead of income figures; conditions for ‘Change of Occupancy’ are further defined; Appendix B of the code has been revised to reflect the latest published 2016 NAICS Business License Class Schedule.
Ordinance 4345 also received final reading approval. This measure proposes to suspend the hospitality tax committee in years when the city’s full H-Tax proceeds are budgeted for other operations, such as the EdVenture Children’s Museum and the Neptune Island Waterpark.