The videos are now available to be seen and shared. These videos represent the hard work and dedication of the cities and towns of South Carolina and the projects they take on to make their municipalities better for the residents.
Here are the winners in each of the categories.
In the Town of Edisto Beach, the town took on the creation of a Master Park and Recreation Plan, bringing its strategies for its parks, trails and beach access points into one comprehensive document. The process to create the Master Park and Recreation Plan included more than 600 responses from its residents to a survey and more than 250 participants in an online mapping exercise.
The City of Hardeeville also focused on recreation, building the town’s new 38,000-square-foot recreation center to serve a number of community needs. The facility has a collegiate-sized basketball court with seating for 1,000 spectators, racquetball courts, an indoor walking track, classrooms and a rentable community room to serve as the hub for Hardeeville’s parks and recreation activities.
Flooding had a great impact on the City of Beaufort’s Mossy Oaks neighborhood, which is home to more than 1,500 homes. Heavy rains and storm surges would bring incredible amounts of water to the neighborhood, which flooded three times in an 11-month span. The city created a multijurisdictional task force to address the issues, which brought improved drainage pipes at corrected elevations and tidal flap gates to control water flow into the marsh. Since the improvements, no flooding events have impacted the area.
The City of Charleston faced a major issue in implementing social distancing for city council meetings during the pandemic – its facility was built in 1818 and didn’t have enough space to allow for much public participation. Rather than turning to a virtual meeting platform, the city launched its own Public Meeting Engagement Portal, allowing residents to sign up to speak at meetings or submit comments on agenda items. This platform increased public engagement rapidly and is still in use although in-person meetings have retuned.
The City of Florence created a Food, Artisan and Warehouse District to link its downtown with surrounding neighborhoods. The area, which was considered a food desert, has helped to reduce food insecurity in the area and preserves the historic warehouse architecture with its usage. The success of the area has led to significant investment for the City Center Market from the city, the Palmetto Housing Authority and the SC Community Loan Fund.
The police department in the Town of Bluffton sought new methodology in dealing with the stigma’s police officers face around mental health, creating a program to get its officers assistance in dealing with the stresses and exposures of the job. With increased training for officers and their families, sabbaticals for eligible participants and free counseling, the program has helped in officer retention and recruitment.
With COVID-19 vaccines more readily available in early 2021, the City of Rock Hill answered a call brought about by the Piedmont Medical Center. The hospital was unable to provide large-scale vaccinations, leading Rock Hill Mayor John Gettys to take the charge head-on for the city to establish a vaccine clinic. In 59 days of operation, the clinic administered more than 50,000 shots and was praised for its efficiency and customer service.
The City of Aiken is home to the largest privately-owned urban forest in the nation – the 21,000-acre Hitchcock Woods. The woods have faced persistent challenges of erosion, water contamination and wildlife habitat loss as a result of stormwater running from Aiken’s downtown area. To combat this, Aiken Mayor Rick Osbon appointed a task force to develop a comprehensive stormwater plan to tackle the problem. A new monitoring and adaptive control system, costing nearly $16 million, is in place to help alleviate the issues facing Hitchcock Woods.
The 2022 awards had 16 other entries illustrating a variety of innovative efforts, from an employee-driven mural project in Conway to the new Community Development Department in Abbeville. Learn about those efforts here.