“If we can make Orangeburg County into a more desirable place to live, more companies will want to come here,” he said.

Middleton said “the penny” has helped improve the community by leading to new retail development, housing and increased amenities for people all ages.

“It is almost painless to the citizens but is powerful for the county,” Middleton said.

On Nov. 8, Orangeburg County voters will be asked if they want to renew the capital projects sales tax for a fourth time to fund a variety of building projects. County leaders believe that over the next seven years, the tax will raise $74.3 million for 122 projects.

Since it was first approved 18 years ago, the tax has contributed to the development of the Orangeburg County/City Industrial Park on U.S. 301 near Interstate 26, the John W. Matthews Jr. Industrial Park on U.S. 301 near U.S. 176, the 75,000-square-foot speculative building at the Matthews park and the 16,000-square-foot building in the Jafza Magna Park in Santee.

The penny has also been applied to the upgrade of the U.S. 301 and Interstate 95 interchange and the start of the western Orangeburg County Industrial Park in Neeses. It has helped create the International Industrial Park near I-26 behind Zeus Industries.

“Every park has benefited in some way, shape or form from the penny,” Orangeburg County Development Commission Executive Director Gregg Robinson said.

For example, the penny helped pay for water and wastewater service at the Matthews park. The land was previously a cow pasture.

“The spec building would not be there and the Sigmatex building would not be there,” without the tax, he said. Sigmatex is a British-based company specializing in the manufacture of carbon-fiber textiles.

The Orangeburg County/City Industrial Park was built before the tax. However, it has benefited from the penny through the addition of a perimeter road. The tax provided a match for South Carolina Department of Commerce grants for the road.

The penny also allowed for park sign improvements and construction leading to the eventual arrival of British-based GKN Aerospace, which manufactures Boeing lipskins and Honda jet fuselages.

Robinson said Allied Air, Monteferro, IPS Packaging and Quality Model-South Carolina all would not be at the park if not for the penny.

The penny’s impact may still not yet be fully realized, Robinson said.

He gives the example of the Mount Holly Industrial Park in Berkeley County.

Today, Google has an operation in the park.

“It is one of the largest data centers in the Southeast,” Robinson said. “Google did not exist when they built the park. We are building parks for companies that may not exist.”

Robinson said GKN was not making lipskins for Boeing when the park was built.

“They are now,” he said. “We have to be proactive and we have to answer the call of business.”

The land for the International Industrial Park and the western Orangeburg County Industrial Park were both purchased and developed with the penny, Robinson said.

He estimates that since 1998, about $1 billion in investment and at least 2,500 jobs can be attributed to the penny.

“It is so hard to put a tangible number on it” Robinson said, explaining that each company resulted in additional related jobs and service jobs.

Voters first approved the 1 percent capital projects sales tax in 1998.

In the first penny, $4 million was set aside for economic development infrastructure for interstate corridors.

In the second penny, about $7 million was set aside for water and wastewater infrastructure in the U.S. 301/I-26/I-95 area, which has been trademarked by the county as the Global Logistics Triangle.

About $2 million was set aside for the Western Orangeburg County Industrial Park. The 230-acre park is located northwest of Neeses. About 3,000 feet of the property has S.C. 389 frontage.

The third penny saw about $12.8 million set aside for economic development and the fourth penny, if approved, will allocate $6.7 million to economic development.

The largest chunk of money for economic development in the third penny — about $7.8 million — is set aside for the development of the Global Logistics Triangle and the western industrial park.

The fourth penny

In the fourth penny, $1.2 million is set aside for infrastructure improvements in the western industrial park and another $1 million is for eastern industrial park development and property acquisition.

“We are going to build a new park down on the eastern end of Orangeburg County,” Robinson said. “We have to have future product.”

Sen. Brad Hutto, an Orangeburg Democrat, said the state’s new port, which will be built in Jasper County in partnership with the state of Georgia, is slated to be completed by mid-2020. He said the new facility will be a major economic boon for South Carolina.

The first phase of the new terminal, to be built on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River about 10 miles upriver from Savannah Harbor, will have two berths with a 55-foot depth that can handle ships carrying as many as 20,000 cargo boxes — about 6,000 more cargo boxes than the ports in Charleston and Savannah.

Hutto said Orangeburg County will have access to the new port straight down U.S. 321/Savannah Highway.

“That port is going to create a million jobs. It’s going to create tremendous growth in South Carolina,” he said.

Schools in the county need to focus on S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) to prepare for this growth and the anticipated new industrial jobs, Hutto said.

While the population of South Carolina has increased greatly over the past decade, Orangeburg County has stayed the same and Bamberg and Allendale counties have actually lost population, the lawmaker said.

“Part of it is how we adapt to growth in South Carolina,” Hutto said. “Change is coming. Change is good. Change is our future, and we’ve got to be ready for it.”

Orangeburg County Development Commission Executive Director Gregg Robinson spoke highly of the Cities Mean Business Reception and the efforts being made at the Western Orangeburg County Industrial Park.

“I wish we had this positive attention throughout the state for economic development,” he said.

Robinson noted that U.S. 321 is being widened for the industrial park in Neeses to create a four-lane highway all the way to Interstate 26 East. He encouraged people to pass the word about the Western Orangeburg County Industrial Park on to industries from other areas.

“Everyone in this place knows someone who could be looking (for an industrial location),” Robinson said.

The park is already a South Carolina-certified property and will receive Palmetto site certification by the end of November, he said.

It will also provide an opportunity to conduct a general discussion on key issues coming before the South Carolina General Assembly in the upcoming year that may impact businesses of Orangeburg County.

Sign-in will begin at 7:30 a.m. and the buffet breakfast will begin at 8. This is on a first-come, first-served basis for Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce members.

Nearly a thousand Orangeburg County citizens gathered at the break of dawn to put on gloves and fill trash bags.

On Columbia Road, North Road, Highway 33, Belleville Road and more, volunteers in “Operation Clean Sweep” neon green shirts worked hard to clean Orangeburg County.

Joseph Rich, CEO of Sunshine Recycling, said, “We’ve picked up thousands of bags.”

Rich thanked the volunteers.

Nine regions ranging from 10 to as many as 20 square miles had cleanup groups. The regions were designated by O’Cain.

“Mike’s done an amazing job,” Rich said. His efforts were “monumental.”

Charlene Frye and Pennye Weaver were assigned their home streets around the Brookdale neighborhood.

“I walk in this neighborhood, and it amazes me how people just throw litter out of their car,” Weaver said. “It’s not all right; it’s gross.”

The two poked their trash grabbers through wet leaves and mud, cleaning up trash like broken glass and even dirty diapers.

“I don’t want to pick it up, but I definitely don’t like seeing it,” Frye said.

Along 601 were members of Embark Church.

The church members were split into two groups and placed on opposite ends, each covering three miles of the highway for a total of six miles cleaned.

“I never really did anything like this,” said Bailey Jameson, a ninth-grader at Orangeburg Prep.

“It’s damaging the earth and I think that we should take care of (it),” she said.

Jameson and her mother Andi Jameson were working together.

“I thought it was great, it’s really needed,” Andi Jameson said. “It’s wonderful for our community.”

Jameson said she hopes the cleanup effort can continue for future years and become an annual event.

Helping the two from Embark was James Carter, who believes this service is what Orangeburg needs to bring people together.

“Orangeburg’s one of those communities, it needs a little bit of togetherness,” Carter said. “It needs a little bit of unity, and I feel like this is probably a good way to do that.”

“It takes a lot to organize something like this,” Carter said of O’Cain. “It says a lot about his character. He cares a lot about the county.”

Across the county, along 301 was Calhoun County Finance Director Denise Christmas. “I think litter control is a big issue in every county in South Carolina.”

Christmas said once she heard of the cleanup effort, she was all in.

“I feel strongly against litter,” she said. “We were excited.”

Christmas’ group had filled nearly 10 bags of trash and was just passing the halfway point.

She said although the effort is helpful, “pickup at every household” is needed.

“Have a company to come in and put a can at every household,” she said.