His community and civic affiliations have included his membership with American Legion Post 4, the Orangeburg Lions Club and the Rotary Club of Orangeburg. He’s served as board chairman for such groups as the Orangeburg County Council in Aging, Edisto Habitat for Humanity and the Orangeburg County Disabilities and Special Needs Board.

Tomson championed senior issues as a representative of the state’s first Silver-Haired Legislature and served as the director of the Orangeburg County Department of Social Services from 1979 to 1998.

He began service in the U.S. Air Force in 1954, retiring as a master sergeant in 1974. For the first six years, he was hospital foreman before completely changing fields to become an aviation physiology instructor.

Tomson has led a fulfilling life working for causes that are important to him.

He was recognized last week with a building dedication and plaque presentation ceremony at Amelia Village, a senior housing complex in Orangeburg. He previously served 16 years as board chairman.

It was an honor Tomson appreciated.

“It’s been a labor of love. It’s just been a great group of people to work with. I think we’ve done a good job,” said Tomson, who was flanked by his family members and friends, including his grandchildren and two sons, Chester and Michael.

“We’ve got a lot of people that’s got a nice home to live in now. I guess what touches my heart the most is that they’re all senior citizens like I am. I might have to get a room somewhere,” he said, laughing.

NHE Inc. is the real estate management company that manages Amelia Village. NHE Chief Executive Officer Harris B. Davis said Tomson’s fiscally prudent leadership lifted the 44-unit Amelia Village from a mountain of debt and led to the creation of five other elderly housing complexes.

“From Amelia Village and $50,000 worth of debt, we are what we are today under the capable leadership of Mr. Chet Tomson. Today we’re honoring Chet Tomson, a gentleman that’s quiet, but always knows where he wants to go. He’s firm in his leadership. There’s only one way to do it, and that’s right. And he’s always held out. Many times he didn’t take the cheapest price. He was looking for quality,” Davis said.

Patricia Sherman, NHE vice president of affordable property management, said she, too, enjoyed working with Tomson.

“I know the residents here don’t get to see you day to day, but you were instrumental in everything that we needed to do here and keeping things moving in a positive direction. All of the property that you have been involved with have truly benefited,” Sherman said.

Amelia Village resident Ruth Kelly thanked Tomson for assisting in upgrades at the complex and wished him a “blessed retirement.”

“Thank you so much for having those floors renovated for us. I’m in one of those apartments that don’t have the wood floor, and I appreciate it. I love it and I’m enjoying it,” Kelly said.

The additional complexes built during Tomson’s chairmanship include: Holly Way I and II in Holly Hill; Morgan Lane in North; Otts Branch in Branchville; and Elloree Smith Senior Living in Elloree.

The Asbury, New Jersey, native and his wife, Esther, have lived in Orangeburg since 1979. He considers his Orangeburg community family.

“It’s hard to go uptown and not know somebody. You’re constantly running into somebody that you’ve known, seen or worked with one time or another. I can’t go to Bi-Lo without seeing one of my former employees from DSS,” he said, smiling.

Tomson described the building dedication as “out of this world.”

“It’s an honor and pleasure. It’s nice to be recognized for what you’ve done, but there’s been just as many other people doing as much somewhere in the process. You can’t build a place like this by yourself,” he said.

Grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have made the building development possible, along with the hard work of other local team members, Tomson said.

“Harris’ philosophy just matched mine so good. He would say, ‘If that apartment is not good enough for my mother, I don’t want to build it.’ I felt the same way. We’ve got about 165 senior citizens that have adequate housing now that they didn’t have,” he said.

Santee Mayor Donnie Hilliard, an Amelia Village board member, said he’s known Tomson since the 1970s.

“Chet is the reason I’m on the board. We started out at DSS together, and then from DSS, I became the county administrator. … At the time, his vision was always conceptually for those that were in need. The thing that I loved about it was that it wasn’t just Orangeburg,” Hilliard said. “He thought about the whole community of Orangeburg and still thinks that way.”

Herbert Tait, Amelia Village board president, said, “I’ve been on the board for probably five or six years, but Chet has built a great base for hopefully money being available so we can expand to other parts of Orangeburg. That’s our goal.”

Orangeburg County saw its November jobless rate drop to 7.2 percent. The rate was 9.4 percent in October.

That’s the lowest unemployment rate in the county since May 2007, according to the BLS.

The county had the fourth-highest unemployment rate in South Carolina in November. The state has 46 counties.

Calhoun County had the 11th highest unemployment rate in the state. The rate fell from 6.3 percent in October to 5.3 percent in November. This is the lowest rate the county has seen since April 2008.

Local unemployment usually declines when seasonal industries such as Husqvarna and Allied Air begin ramping up manufacturing operations.

The state’s employment level in November surpassed 2.2 million people for the first time in state history, as the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 4.4 percent from 4.7 percent in October.

November’s unemployment rate is the lowest in nearly 16 years. It also marks the seventh consecutive month the unemployment rate has dropped.

“South Carolina’s workforce is at record levels and growing every month,” DEW Executive Director Cheryl Stanton said in a prepared statement. “Our citizens are reaping the benefits as the state’s existing businesses grow and new jobs come to South Carolina.”

Nationally, the November jobless rate decreased to 4.6 percent from 4.9 percent in October.

The November jobless rates in other area counties were:

• Allendale: 7.3 percent

• Barnwell: 5.8 percent

• Dorchester: 3.6 percent

• Lexington: 3.3 percent

“We’ve done several years of facade improvements and it’s really starting to make a difference in our downtown in the appearance of the buildings,” City Administrator John Yow said.

“I think it would make a big impact on the downtown if we could do 10 grant apps and 10 building improvements this year,” he said.

A total of ten projects were approved by council. A maximum $10,000 can be awarded to individual projects.

A facade grand application review committee consisting of citizens appointed by council suggested five priority projects.

The priority projects are Palmetto Office Supply, Acacia Flower Shop, George Amash, Wes & Freda Summers and AYS Holdings. The five will share almost $48,000.

An additional five proposed facade grant fund requests were approved for a total of $33,323.These facade projects are for Ann E. Epps, One Source Dist., the Rev. Sammie Gordon, The Music Doctor and New America.

While council initially planned to fund only $50,000 in grants this year, Yow said the additional money will not be hard to cover.

“That is one that will not be a strain to do,” he said.

Councilman Bernard Haire asked if the owners of the old newsstand are aware of the available grant money and eligible to apply.

“They have not applied but we’ve talked with them through each cycle,” Assistant City Administrator John Singh said. “They’ve decided this time to go ahead and get the code areas that they needed to get done first done.”

Singh said there may be some additional areas that they will be making improvements on.

“We want buildings that we know are not deteriorating where the facade would start deteriorating in a couple short years,” Yow said.

When the building gets the other issues addressed, it would then be eligible for a facade grant.

“I just think it’s a great idea that people would like to upgrade their properties,” Councilwoman Liz Keitt said. “It’s really looking good.”

Keitt said more people are visiting the downtown area because of building improvements.

Also in the meeting:

• Council approved first reading of an ordinance adopting amended electric and gas rates for the Department of Public Utilities, effective Feb. 1, 2017.

Department of Public Utilities Interim Manager Warren Harley proposed changes in the net metering rates for customers with a solar panel system.

“The staff is recommending that we amend the rate to reflect what is industry standard of crediting customers only for the power generated and not for the cost of distributing the power,” Harley said. “What we’re doing is we’re only going to be crediting them for the amount that they essentially put back on the grid.”

Currently, DPU credits customers with a solar panel system a one-to-one ratio for energy cost from SCE&G at approximately 10 cents per kilowatt-hour. The change will be to $0.0309 per kilowatt-hour.

This cost is reflective of what SCE&G charges DPU for energy generation, making the ratio of customer-generated energy and SCE&G-generated energy a one-to-one ratio.

“We won’t credit them for distribution charges of the transportation to get power there because that’s our infrastructure, not theirs,” Harley said.

Changes in gas rates for gas transportation services were also proposed.

“This is a rate that is available to larger customers using a certain amount of gas every month,” Harley said.

The rate is important for those companies that have large gas loads and economic development opportunities.

“As their gas load goes up, their cost will decline,” Harley said.

The first 60,000 dekatherms per month would be $0.95 per dekatherm, $0.60 per dekatherm for the next 60,000, and $0.40 per dekatherm for all dekatherms over 120,000 per month.

• Council approved first reading of changes to the city purchasing ordinance.

Changes include a more uniform way of purchasing IT equipment, the addition of equal opportunity policies and procedures prohibiting discrimination, competitive solicitation processes and equal opportunity for women/minority business enterprises in all aspects of the city’s contracting and procurement programs.

“Those are things that we typically always practice anyway but it’s something that needs to be in the ordinance,” Singh said.

• Council passed second reading of an ordinance adopting state and national building codes as the state of South Carolina has adopted during the legislative session.

• The character trait for the month of December was declared to be “compassion.”

• The Jan. 3 city council meeting was cancelled due to holiday travels. Council could call a meeting if matters require it.

• Council went into executive session to discuss contracts for insurance and reinsurance as well as a legal matter regarding a street closure.

Orangeburg County Engineer John McLauchlin said the interchange upgrade has been delayed by the weather, but through the first week of December, all the concrete has been poured at the site with asphalt work still remaining to be done.

The project is to be fully complete in June 2017.

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.

Because the $41 million project was done in a design-build format, the contractor has been responsible for any delays or added costs.

The project has been described by leaders as a key to boosting economic development within the Global Logistics Triangle. The Global Logistics Triangle is the name Orangeburg County uses to market the area bordered by I-26, I-95 and U.S. 301.

The new interchange is expected to benefit plans for a 1,300-acre logistics, manufacturing and distribution park in Santee. The Jafza South Carolina project was announced in 2007 but has faced delays and changes since the worldwide recession.

The interchange upgrade is being 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.

“We want to clean up U.S. 601 and turn U.S. 601 into an appropriate boulevard leading all the way down to our universities,” Orangeburg County Development Commission Executive Director Gregg Robinson said.

The S.C. Department of Transportation is seeking public comment on the proposed installation of mast arm traffic signals at the interchange.

About $56,000 is being considered for the project as part of the S.C. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Alternatives Program.

The TAP is a federally funded program that provides local governments with an opportunity to pursue non-traditional transportation-related activities.

Orangeburg County officials have often stressed the desire for improvements of the city’s entrance or gateway roads.

Design proposals are already on the table for beautification projects at the interchange, including underground wiring, fencing and a gateway monument.

About $3.5 million has been set aside for the improvements in the next round of Orangeburg County’s capital projects sales tax.

Road paving

Several local pavement improvement projects have been identified for inclusion in the National Highway System Statewide Program.

Local projects include:

Orangeburg County

• 2.25 miles on John C. Calhoun Drive from Broughton Street to Rivelon Road in Orangeburg.
• 1.78 miles on U.S. Highway 78 from Freedom Road to Bridge Street west of Branchville.

Bamberg County

• .64 miles of Heritage Highway from Calhoun Street to Free Avenue in Bamberg.

Pavement improvement projects included in the Primary and Secondary Pavement Improvement Program include:

Orangeburg County

• 4.39 miles on U.S. 78 (Dorange Road) outside of Branchville from near Sub Road to near Rigby Road.
• 2.67 miles of Whetstone Road to Country Road near Woodford.
• 1.26 miles of Old Number Six Highway from Lone Star Road to Whistling Swan Road near Elloree.
• 1.63 miles of Gardner Boulevard from Boyer Road to Barksdale Street southwest of Holly Hill.
• 1.8 miles on Old State Road from a little past Coach Road to near Boyer Road near Holly Hill.
• 1.85 miles of Shillings Bridge Road from North Road to Lake Edisto Drive near Orangeburg.
• .46 miles on Bunch Ford Road from Eutaw Road to near Lindstedt Lane near Holly Hill.

Calhoun County

• 4.10 miles on Bull Swamp Road from U.S. Highway 21 to A Z Road near St. Matthews.
• .6 miles of Burke Road from Riley Road to New Hope Road near St. Matthews.
• .29 miles of Kennerly Road from Burke Road to near Stacey Bridge Road near St. Matthews.
• .82 miles on Old Belleville Road from Hammond Cross Road to Great Circle Drive near Sandy Run.

Bamberg County

• 3.64 miles of U.S. 601 from Clear Pond Road to Macedonia Church Road south of Bamberg.
• 2.65 miles of Cannon Bridge Road, a little past Virginia Road near Bamberg.

Review and comment

Both the FY 2016 Transportation Alternatives Program and the 2017 Federal Aid Pavement Improvement Program documents are available for public review and comment online until Dec. 22 at www.scdot.org/inside/public_comment.aspx.

A hard copy is available for public review and comment at the SCDOT District 7 office on U.S. Highway 178 in Orangeburg.

Comments should be forwarded to Vivian Patterson, public involvement manager, SCDOT Office of Planning, 955 Park Street, P.O. Box 191, Columbia, S.C. 29202 or pattersovm@scdot.org.