Orangeburg County continuing broadband expansion

Orangeburg County Council Tuesday unanimously approved continuing to extend its broadband infrastructure throughout the county.

The council voted to spend $3,333,865 for the first phase of the broadband extension. The company doing the work will be Columbia-based Utility Service Contractors Inc.

The county also approved engaging with Missouri-based Graybar for $1,482,146 for the second phase of the broadband project.

The monies are a part of a $13.5 million U.S. Department of Agriculture ReConnect Program grant the county received that covers Cope, Felderville, portions of Santee, Neeses and North.

Phase 1 is eastern Orangeburg with a targeted completion by the end of the year, though there could be delays due to supply-chain issues.

Phase 2 is in western Orangeburg. Phase 2 should be completed by mid-year 2023.

Council also unanimously approved engaging St. Matthews-based Porth Construction for $3,496,190 to build the SC Gateway pump station and make sanitary sewer improvements.

The project, which is expected to be complete by year’s end, will help connect the 1,322-acre South Carolina Gateway Industrial Park (formerly JAFZA Magna Park in Santee) to the county’s wastewater system.

In other matters, council gave unanimous first reading to provide a fee-in-lieu-of-tax incentive to a company publicly being identified under the name Project Stallion. Typically, projects are not publicly identified until deals are finalized.

The company is planning to invest $17.6 million and create 30 new jobs in Orangeburg County. The investment includes $6.5 million in buildings and $11.1 million in machinery and equipment.

The company is planning to locate in the former Mayer Industries building at 3777 Industrial Boulevard. Industrial Boulevard is near Interstate 26’s Exit 145.

The company will also request the project be placed in a multicounty industrial park with Dorchester County. A joint multicounty industrial park is not a physical park but an incentive mechanism for a company.

Council also unanimously approved a resolution accepting a grant to help fund Orangeburg County sheriff’s officers to serve as school resource officers for the Orangeburg County School District.

In January, the OCSD received a six-month school resource officer grant from the S.C. Department of Public Safety. Under the $568,692 grant, six school resource officers will be funded through June 30 of this year.

The grant will bring SROs to Holly Hill-Roberts Middle School, Elloree K-8, Marshall Elementary School, the Cope Area Career Center, the Orangeburg Technology Center and the Lake Marion High School Technology Center.

The SROs could be placed in other schools if needed.

The grant will pay for salaries, equipment, training and vehicles.

It is renewable for five years and would total about $3.5 million over five years, if desired.

The district plans to apply for a renewal for an additional year running from July 1 through June 30, 2023.

The district currently has 10 SROs.

Council also gave unanimous first reading to an exchange of property with the county school district for possible future needs.

Young explained the county has a piece of property off Red Bank Road near U.S. 601 that could be advantageous to the school district and the school district has property near Interstate 95 on U.S. 15 — the site of the former Dantzler Middle School which closed about 14 to 19 years ago.

“We are just swapping properties between the two,” Young said. “Because the value of our property is a little higher, they are allowing us to harvest the timber off of that property that they have to balance it out.”

Following the agenda portion of the meeting, Councilman Johnny Ravenell asked about the status of the county’s plans to expand the wastewater-treatment capacity at its Goodby’s Creek Wastewater treatment plant on U.S. 176. 

The tank is designed to treat about 500,000 gallons of wastewater a day. Currently, the plant is permitted to treat about 250,000 gallons a day. The plant will primarily serve the Matthews Industrial Park on U.S. 301 and U.S. 176 but will eventually look to serve the town of Elloree.

Young said the county is working with the USDA and has requested from the federal and state delegation to receive funding to expand the facility’s capacity.

Ravenell said expanding the facility will be important for economic development.

Ravenell also expressed his hopes that broadband projects ongoing in the county would help provide increased competition to existing providers such as Frontier. Ravenell said he has heard from some individuals about their difficulty in getting out of their broadband contract due to the lack of competition.

In other business:

• Council agreed to approve a resolution providing tax incentives to Orangeburg solar farm Brewer Renewables LLC.

Brewer Renewables, a subsidiary of Seahorse Capital, is building a solar farm on Cannon Bridge Road near Riley Road. The project is expected to be operational in 2023. There are no new jobs associated with the solar project.

The resolution was needed to transfer the original fee-in-lieu agreement approved two years ago to a new entity.

• Council gave unanimous second reading to an ordinance adding provisions to its public services code to ensure commercial driveways in the county are in line with state codes in order to better ensure the integrity of pipes and culverts. No one commented during a public hearing on the ordinance.
• Council read a proclamation naming the third Saturday in February as Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated, South Carolina Zeta Youth Affiliates Day in the county.
• Council gave unanimous first reading to an emergency ordinance allowing electronic meetings of council to continue. The extension was approved for 60 days and is in place to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
• Councilwoman Janie Cooper-Smith, who has often been outspoken on the importance of not littering, reminded all that April is a countywide cleanup month and said there will be a number of group cleanup events planned.

She also noted April is zero-tolerance-for-litter month and noted law enforcement will aim to double down on littering crimes.

• Council went into closed session to discuss contractual matters related to the Orangeburg County School District.