“Walking is good for you,” the 82-year old Ziegler said. He walks about three miles every week and “it makes me feel good to get out there and exercise.”

When the Regional Medical Center announced plans to open a quarter-mile community walking trail on the front lawn of its U.S. Highway 601 campus, he wanted to attend.

“It gives the community a place that is secure to come out and walk,” Ziegler said.

The hospital officially cut the ribbon Wednesday for the four-lane trail, which is free and open to the public.

RMC Vice President of Strategy and Compliance Brenda Williams said the walking trail shows the hospital’s “commitment to improving the health of the community.”

“As citizens, we must take full responsibility for our health,” Williams said. “We can build and ribbon cut all the trails in the world, but unless we as citizens get up and come out and walk it, it will do us no good. I would encourage all of us to seek a state of healthiness for ourselves and our community.”

Orangeburg Mayor Michael Butler encouraged all those in attendance to look at one another and say, “Let’s start walking.”

“Walking is a great exercise that can reduce and eliminate many health issues,” Butler said. “This walking trail is a beautiful addition to the medical center and I know it will be utilized by many.”

The trail is constructed of an asphalt foundation covered with a soft blue rubber top.

Recommended hours of use will be from dawn to dusk. There are plans to add lights to the walkway in the near future. There are also plans to add exercise stations in the future, depending on the availability of funding.

The cost for the project was $108,518, which includes all design and engineering fees. A U.S. Department of Agriculture grant provided $42,100; the RMC Auxiliary donated $15,000; the RMC Foundation donated $15,291 and Sen. John Matthews, D-Bowman, obtained $36,127 from the state legislature.

Acting State Director of the USDA Rural Development Community Program Michele Cardwell praised the hospital administration for its foresight in developing the walking trail.

“The leaders here at the RMC are trailblazers,” Cardwell said. “I guess that is why they wanted to put a walking trail here.”

Cardwell says walking about 30 minutes a day can reduce heart disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Barbara Riley says the walking trail is important to her.

“I am a diabetes patient,” she said. “I am looking at it because I know I can walk but it is something I don’t do.”

Riley said she plans to use the trail.

“Most times when you go exercise, you have to pay a fee to go to the gym,” Riley said. “Here there is no fee. You can just come out and walk around. I can bring my mom out. That is a good thing.”

Bernice Rivers says the trail provides her with another option.

“I love to walk,” she said. “It is a safe area and it will be a good place to walk.”

Rivers said while walking in the mall is good, “you walk better when you walk outside.”

“Walking is a good exercise,” Tameka Eison said. “It does not hurt anyone. The little kids and the older adults can walk. Exercise is always best.”

More than 37 MW of the customer-scale solar generation on SCE&G’s system comes from net energy metering, which allows customers to offset part or all of their electric usage. Act 236 also required SCE&G to make net energy metering available to customers on a first-come, first-served basis until the capacity equals two percent of the utility’s five-year retail peak demand (84.5 MW).

As of June 30, SCE&G had interconnected more than 4,800 customer solar generating systems under net energy metering, including homes and businesses. Net energy metering customers participate under a tariff that is effective until 2025.

In addition to customer-scale solar initiatives, SCE&G continues to work toward its utility-scale goal of 42 MW. SCE&G energized the first utility scale solar facility under Act 236 in December 2015, and has announced plans to add 48 MW of utility-scale solar facilities by 2020.

SCE&G serves approximately 713,000 customers in 24 counties in the central, southern and southwestern portions of South Carolina. The company also provides natural gas service to approximately 361,000 customers in 36 counties in the state.

For more information about the company, visit www.sceg.com.

Bruner provided a quick overview of some of the projects going on in the county, though he said the projects need to remain confidential until finalized.

An example, he says is the land clearing on North Road near Walmart. The project, which is called Magnolia Village, could see site preparation for building to begin “any day.”

“We do have a letter of intent from a national franchise business,” Bruner said. “If we can get that one started, we will probably have about five or six others to follow.”

Bruner also said the former Ryan’s restaurant on North Road “has a major national retail franchise” that will be locating. The restaurant closed in March 2016.

“You will hear some really good and exciting announcements upcoming in the next several months,” he said.

In addition, he said there are “several deals in various stages of due diligence” on U.S. 601 north. Bruner said there could be four or five projects on that stretch of road that have a good possibility of closing and moving forward.

Bruner said the last 30 days’ calls about the newly expanded U.S. 301 and I-95 interchange have “tripled” from hotels and restaurants.

And closer to Orangeburg, he says 886 John C. Calhoun Drive will be getting A Town Wings in the former KFC restaurant in about a month or month-and-a-half. This comes on top of the new Dollar Tree and KFC already on U.S. 301.

He said another franchise restaurant may locate on John C. Calhoun as well.

“We are waiting on site approval right now,” Bruner said, noting an announcement may be coming in a month.

He also reminded those gathered of the new Cicis on Chestnut Street.

“There is a lot of other activity out there,” Bruner said. “I think you will see a difference in Orangeburg, especially in the next two or five years.”

“One of the things I hear and everybody hears is that there is nothing going on in Orangeburg,” Orangeburg County Community Planning Director Richard Hall said. “We see what is on the ground every day and we are on the ground behind the scenes working. We know what is going on.”

Hall said since the beginning of the year there have been 32 new single–family residences permitted  for a value of $4.6 million.

“This is an uptick in growth of what we have seen over the past few years,” he said. “We are finally getting the calls about developments, we are getting calls about unfinished subdivisions and people looking at buying lots and finishing it out. These are good things to see.”

Hall said more people are also building accessories onto their houses over $500,000 in projects since Jan. 1.

“To me this is an indicator of money,” he said. “We are seeing those types of projects picking up.”

Hall said commercial projects include an upgrade to Eutawville and Rowesville town halls.

He said a new medical office building is going up on Cook Road near the Regional Medical Center, the Town of Holly Hill is adding to its ballpark and a car wash is going up on St. Matthews Road in Orangeburg.

Hall also said the Love’s Truck stop by Interstate 26 on U.S. 301 is adding a tire shop addition for about $200,000.

He said a new sporting goods store is going up on Bamberg Highway at the S.C. Highway 4 fork.

He says there is a $1.2 million project that would add about 40 new parking spaces at the Orangeburg County Courthouse on Amelia Street. It will be complete in about four months.

In addition, Hall said there are new hotels going up by Interstate 26. He said a $5.5 million Tru Hotel by Hilton is locating on Citadel Road and a new $7 million Fairfield Inn and Suites is going up on Highway 6 in Santee.

Hall also pointed out the Lidl supermarket for $7 million is under construction on North Road.

City officials also updated attendees about the $17 million sports complex project. The public and private-funded complex will be built behind the upper Orangeburg Preparatory Schools campus. It  includes two clusters of nine baseball and softball fields, restrooms, concession stands, press boxes and meeting rooms.

It will have walking and biking trails, picnic tables, playground equipment, open green space, as well as about 600 parking spaces. Construction is expected to start on the project in September 2017 with the opening of the complex in September 2018.

The One Orangeburg grassroots team meets as part of the initiative, which has the goal of making the county a better place to live, work and play.

In addition to focusing on enhancing retail, housing and commercial development, the initiative is also focused on improving gateways into the county, improving marketing and branding efforts, and improving education.

Briggs noted that unemployment in county was at 15 percent in 2010. In 2015, it had gone down to 10.7 percent and by March, the unemployment rate was at 6.7 percent.

“In the same timeframe, per capita income has risen from just under $27,000 to just under $31,000,” he added.

Orangeburg County joined the alliance in 2004 and has since, “been blessed with $1.1 billion in announced capital investment and 2,200 jobs,” Briggs said.

From 2016 to the present, the county has seen $248.9 million in announced capital investments and 108 announced new jobs.

Briggs said part of the county’s success in recent years has been due to the county’s investments.

He said the county, “is as busy as I have seen it in the 20 years I’ve been doing this.”

There are 16 active projects which are all new. None are expansions.

The total value of all the projects if the county lands them, which Briggs said is highly unlikely, would be worth $1.4 billion and roughly 3,300 jobs.

Over the past year, there have been 24 project announcements. Fourteen are new projects and 10 are expansions.

Briggs said foreign companies are looking at South Carolina specifically.

“Europe is coming,” he said. “They want to be in this marketplace.”

He noted Interstate 26 is particularly attractive to potential businesses. The interstate connects to Charleston, the new Volvo plant, the Mercedes plant and BMW.

Briggs said along with the U.S., the alliance has made presentations to potential industries in Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

“Our nine counties, that partnership represents about 20 percent of the state of South Carolina,” he said. “Wherever we are, Orangeburg County is there.”

In the next few years, the alliance plans to target automotive and aerospace suppliers such as Volvo, Mercedes, BMW and Boeing.

“We are in a perfect position to generate business with those folks,” Briggs said.

Councilwoman Janie Cooper-Smith thanked Briggs for the alliance’s hard work and showing that the council is “not just sitting on our laurels.”

“We are working very hard to bring jobs to this county,” she said.

In other business:

• Council passed third and final reading of an ordinance rezoning property at 7656 Old Number Six Highway in Santee from Forest and Agriculture to Commercial General as requested by James and Donna Beck.

The property is already in use as an auto repair shop and is located next door to a cement shop.

• Council gave first reading by title only to two ordinances dealing with the county budget for the next fiscal year.

“That’s just the first part of the budget process,” County Administrator Harold Young said.

• Council read a resolution honoring SI Group as Industry of the Year.

• Council read a resolution honoring SI Group Senior Director of Southeast Operations Jeff Prickett as Ambassador of the Year for 2017-2018.

• Procurement requests were approved for two items.

Council approved $189,176 for ATI Systems for an emergency indoor warning system which will give warnings based on weather or any other emergency. The payment is a match that goes with a grant from the Hazard Mitigation Program.

The system will work in the courthouse, magistrate’s building and the administrative building.

There are no service fees such as monthly recurring charges.

Council also approved working with Low Country Billing for EMS collections and billing services.

Young said they use the same type of software and equipment so there will be no need to purchase any new items.

• Council went into closed, executive session to discuss economic development updates for projects currently operating anonymously under the names Project Halo and Project Columbus. They also discussed contractual matters for broadband.

“Today’s event is the aftermath of a whole lot of days in the trenches,” Middleton said. “When you are grinding it out, it does not feel very good, but when you are able to stand at the podium today and see success, you want to go back home and say what are we going to do next?”

The newly revamped Interstate 95-U.S. Highway 301 interchange opened to traffic in February. Officials gathered Monday to cut the ribbon on the U.S. 301 extension to Old Number Six Highway, the final piece of the project.

Officials say the $45 million interchange project will help draw development to the Global Logistics Triangle, which is the name Orangeburg County uses to market the area bordered by I-26, I-95 and U.S. 301.

The interchange and connector road are expected to handle increased traffic volumes from commercial and industrial development.

Middleton said the county is poised for great things and there are great things in the pipeline.

A person at a “very high level” has informed Middleton that “you’ve got some things coming that you will be very proud of and that it will be almost like a BMW in your area.

“The world is coming. We will be ready.”

Sixth District Congressman James Clyburn described the exchange as part of a larger effort to improve the area for development.

When he first entered Congress in 1993, Clyburn sat down with the chair of the S.C. Department of Commerce and discussed the area bordered by U.S. 301, I-95 and I-26, he said.

“He said to me there are significant infrastructure issues that must be addressed successfully if you want to get things done,” Clyburn said.

Clyburn said he sat down with Johnnie Wright, who is now chairman of Orangeburg County Council, and tried to find out how they could bring infrastructure to the area.

The Lake Marion Regional Water Agency was born.

The agency provides more than 8 million gallons of treated water per day to Orangeburg, Calhoun and Dorchester counties, as well as the town of Santee. The LMRWA is a collaborative effort among the Army Corps of Engineers, Santee Cooper, local governments and area businesses.

Clyburn said the community and its leaders had a vision and “stuck with it.” He said the Lake Marion Regional Water Agency gave birth to the Volvo plant that is being developed in Berkeley County.

The state was within days of losing Volvo to Georgia, but then officials began to look around for a water source, Clyburn said.

“If we had given up on the Lake Marion water system, if we had walked away when others did, we would not be on the eve of celebrating one of the biggest economic development industries to come into this area in decades,” he said.

Clyburn said as long as individuals here have the guts, the I-95 interchange can experience growth like the Interstate 85 interchange in the Upstate.

OCDC Executive Director Gregg Robinson said Monday’s ribbon-cutting marks a new day in Orangeburg County and is the development of a vision from long ago.

“We stand here today ready now to recruit those companies and create those jobs in an area that desperately needs it in a state that is on the move,” Robinson said.

Orangeburg County Councilman Johnny Ravenell said teamwork lead to Monday’s success.

“If we were not together, this project would not have happened. When you look at Orangeburg County, if we stay together to do everything, we can to be prosperous,” he said.

Ravenell thanked voters for approving the 1 percent capital project sales tax, which helps fund infrastructure and recreational projects.

Preliminary work started at the interchange in August 2013 and a formal groundbreaking ceremony was held in October 2014.

The project was scheduled to be complete by Oct. 18, 2015, but officials said that month’s flooding delayed the project. Last year’s Hurricane Matthew delayed the project as well.

Because the project was done in a design-build format, the contractor has been responsible for any delays or added costs.

The interchange upgrade was funded by the Lower Savannah Council of Governments, $17.2 million; a federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery Grant, $12.1 million; federal earmarks, $11.2 million, and $500,000 in local funding from the Orangeburg County Transportation Committee.

Jafza South Carolina donated about 43 acres of its land to help facilitate the construction of the interchange.

The project was constructed by McCarthy Construction and designed by Civil Engineering Consulting Services out of Columbia.