Year in Review: 2015
Darlington City Council signs WalMart agreement for WalMart to come to Darlington.
The Greater Darlington Area Chamber of Commerce hosted their Annual Banquet and Awards Ceremony at the Darlington Country Club on February 5, awarding nine community members: Legacy Award for 2015: The late Dr. Josiah S. Matthews; Lifetime Achievement Award for 2015: Lina Pearson; Citizen of the Year Award for 2015: Howard Garland; The Educator of the Year Award for 2015: Dona Jo Brown of Darlington High School; Small Business Person of the Year Award for 2015: John Isgett, Raceway Automotive Group; Future Business Leader Award for 2015: Keith Parnell; Community Pride Award for 2015: Janie Howell; The Board Member of the Year Award for 2015: Fran Knotts; Darlington’s Employee of the Year Award 2015: Lt. Steve Buffkin.
Terence Arrington hired to replace Dale Surrett
The February meeting of the was the last regular council meeting for interim county administrator Tommy Edwards of Georgetown, who has served in that capacity since the firing of former administrator Dale Surrett last summer. Edwards will turn over admin duties to new county manager Terence Arrington, former deputy city administrator of Salisbury, Maryland. Arrington officially assumed the position on February 15.
Walmart coming to Darlington
Darlington City Council voted on February 10, 2015 to install water lines to the worst kept secret in Darlington – the advent of the Walmart Supercenter construction S. Main Street. “We are extremely excited about the possibility of a large retailer coming to Darlington,” said Mayor Tony Watkins. “We are very far along in the process, and we are to the point where we feel an agreement will be signed very soon and that opens the door to the ability of this company to purchase and begin construction in the very near future.”
Watkins continued; “What that means for Darlington, is that it will provide the kinds of choices that the people of Darlington want, and they will no longer have to go to Florence or Hartsville to shop in the numbers that they are now. Not only that, we expect this company will provide around 255 jobs; and even beyond that, we feel that will accelerate and provide for a second wave beyond their coming of companies and businesses that will come. That always happens in other towns. The potential for the economic expansion to Darlington….is huge.”
News and Press launches new website
The newspaper that has served Darlington County since 1874 launched our new website on May 1, 2015 offering readers a new way to view the news and share on social media.
Robinson Plant Ash Cleanup
Concerned community members gathered April 30 at the Lawton Park Pavilion in Hartsville for a public meeting regarding the disposal of coal ash at Duke Energy’s H.B. Robinson Plant, located just north of Hartsville on the shores of Lake Robinson.
Hosted by the Coastal Conservation League and Conservation Voters of South Carolina, the meeting featured a brief history of the unlined ash basin – and Duke’s newly announced cleanup proposal – presented by Frank Holleman, attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Holleman spoke of the high levels of arsenic found in test wells at the 72-acre ash pond – levels sometimes far in excess of the safe drinking water level of 10 parts per billion. SC Department of Health and Environmental Control has directed Duke to test and evaluate groundwater at the site and formulate a plan to remedy the problem.
Duke Energy announced earlier in the day that it plans to excavate and relocate 4.2 million tons of coal ash to an on-site landfill, where it will be stored dry with multiple layers of synthetic and natural barriers. With this announcement, Duke has committed to clean up both of the ash storage facilities at its South Carolina plants. This decision follows Duke Energy’s recently announced plans for on-site landfills at its Dan River and Sutton plants in North Carolina.
The Ditch
City officials met with Davis & Brown, Inc. and owners of the Hartsville Oil Mill on Tuesday, June 16th to formulate a plan of action to combat the issues of a malodorous ditch that traverses through the mill property and nearby homes.
At the Darlington City Council monthly meeting for October, city manager Howard Garland announced to council and attendees that the city had done all their testing of water and sewer lines to determine the cause of the unbearably malodorous ditch off of Chalmers Street, and found that the city had not caused any sewage to enter the ditch.
In addition, the city removed many things that had been dumped into the ditch that blocked flow, and added countless amounts of lime.
The News and Press asked the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control what their findings were. In a reply dated October 30th, Cassandra S. Harris
DHEC Media Relations stated:
“This is an ongoing investigation. The City of Darlington has submitted a report which we are currently reviewing. We plan to schedule a meeting with Darlington to further discuss the report and potential next steps.”
As of December, DHEC has still not met with the City of Darlington.
Biker Round Up Bike Rally at the Darlington Dragstrip.
From Aug. 5 though Aug. 9, The Darlington Dragway hosted the South Carolina gathering for the 38th Annual National Bikers Roundup, a camping and cookout-style event that could brought between thousands of visitors to our area.
Historic flooding in Darlington County
Named the “Once in a Thousand Year Flood,” the devastating flooding from Hurricane Joaquin devastated much of South Carolina October 2 – 4, and damaged many areas of Darlington County. Bryant Street, one of the various roads in Darlington County that washed out during the storm flooding. Damage from the flooding damaged the City Administration Building on Pearl Street in Darlington. One of two chimneys collapsed, forcing city employees to move to the nearby City Hall building. Repairs may be too costly for the city, and a vote will be taken at the January city council meeting to determine the fate of the historic building.
DFD ISO Rating
Residents of the City of Darlington will see a reduction on their homeowner’s insurance next year, and they can thank their local fire department for the extra cash. During the recent Public Protection Classification survey conducted by ISO (Insurance Services Office, LTD.), the Darlington Fire Department improved its rating from a 4 to a 3, and that’s no small feat.
“Not every fire department even qualifies to get an ISO rating. Some don’t have the equipment or the personnel to be rated,” says Darlington Fire Department Chief Pat Cavanaugh, noting that fewer than 50,000 departments nationwide are ISO rated. “For taxpayers in Darlington, this is a significant savings on their homeowner’s insurance…. just estimating, but it could be about $100 bucks.”
ISO collects and evaluates information on structure fire suppression capabilities from communities across America, providing their findings to insurance companies so policy rates are based on data-driven risk assessment. Ratings range from 10 (worst) to 1 (best), and very few agencies inhabit that upper echelon.
“The cool thing is they surveyed 48,000 fire departments and we are in the top 3 percent. Only 3,000 departments made a 3 rating,” Cavanaugh says. “Towns our size don’t usually get 3 ratings; we usually top out at 4 or 5. Hartsville is a 5.”
Mayor Tony Watkins retires
Mayor Tony Watkins is preparing to close the book on twenty-six years of local government service, and he’s finishing out his third term as mayor on a high note. He says the three incoming city council members and new mayor will be charged with shepherding the city through a very exciting period of growth
“I believe that we are on the verge of a big change, a big influx of business coming into Darlington,” says Watkins, citing the potential for several new ventures to spring up around the Walmart Supercenter currently under construction on South Main Street.
Mayor Watkins has a lot of time and energy vested in bringing Walmart, and all its attendant businesses, to Darlington. He spent several years courting developers – and enduring skepticism and derision from numerous doubters – to bring the project to fruition. He could hardly be blamed if he had run for a fourth term and taken a four-year victory lap, but he says it’s time to let new leaders step in and take the reins. He’ll be watching with great interest as Darlington moves ahead into a bright future.
In addition to Watkins stepping down, council members Dyan Cohen and Wayne Chapman both decided not to run again.
Political Forum
The News & Press hosted our first ever candidate forum on Thursday October 22nd, and approximately 300 Darlington residents filled the seats and bleachers at the Darlington Area Recreation Department Harmon Baldwin gymnasium to hear 15 of the 16 residents vying for city municipal offices.
Bill Rogers, the executive director of the S.C. Press Association and moderator of the forum, said more newspapers should follow Darlington’s lead in hosting such events.
“For a community newspaper like the News & Press to sponsor such an event helps bring the community together and help build the strength of the electoral process. The turnout was amazing.” said Rogers. “This was a great way for citizens to see and hear the candidates first hand.”
Elections & Runoff
City of Darlington voters went to the polls for Election Day Nov. 3 and narrowed a slate of four mayoral candidates- James “Jimmy” Cooper, Gloria Hines, William Jackson, and Jim Stone -down to two, and winnowed a field of twelve city council candidates down to four.
Voters cast a total of 448 ballots for Gloria Hines and 421 for Jim Stone, moving those two mayoral contenders into a Nov. 17 runoff to take the city’s top elected office.
The top four vote getters among city council candidates were John Milling (620 votes), Diane Sigmon (532 votes), Carolyn Bruce (516 votes) and Bryant Gardner (485 votes). These four will contend for three available at-large council seats in the Nov. 17 runoff, with the top three taking office.
Mayoral candidates Gloria Cheeseboro Hines and Jim Stone – who were tied at 814 votes each – received an additional 14 votes and 4 votes respectively, placing Hines on top by ten. Her final total was 828 votes, with 818 cast for Stone.
The final council vote totals were as follows:
Carolyn Bruce – 907 (previously 893)
John Milling – 851 (previously 846)
Bryant Gardner – 847 (previously 840)
Diane Sigmon – 845 (previously 842)
As this was an election year for Jimmy Cooper, his loss for his mayoral bid also signified the end of his seat on city council.
The seat formerly held by Gloria Hines will be up for a special election later in the year.
Hines – set to become Darlington’s first African-American mayor. The first African-American mayor in Darlington County was Valencia S. Thomas, Mayor of Society Hill from 2008 – 2013. In 2009, David McFarland took over as Mayor of Hartsville in 2009 when Mayor Holt became Family Court Judge Michael Holt.