Category: Business

WINNSBORO (April 15, 2016) – As consultants continue their work on Fairfield County’s newest set of long-range plans, County Council during their March 28 meeting received a word of advice during an update on their Economic Development Plan: officially get behind the next Strategic Plan.

“I will point out that that 2010 Strategic Plan was never formally adopted by County Council and that was a real obstacle to implementation,” Crystal Morphis, of Creative Economic Development Consulting, LLC, told Council during her presentation last week, “so one of the key recommendations for this update is for you to adopt it and endorse it and pass it on to your staff to implement it. Without that endorsement from Council, staff and the department was able to move forward really on a limited basis. They accomplished some things in the Strategic Plan, but they really needed the endorsement of this Council.”

Morphis and her firm are working on an update to the County’s Economic Development Plan, while T.Y. Lin International is preparing an updated countywide Strategic Plan. Council voted in 2014 to launch the planning process to help prepare the County for the influx of money expected from fees-in-lieu-of taxes on two new reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station, the first of which may come online in 2020.

Fairfield County has some things going for it, Morphis told Council last week. Unemployment is down, she said, and wages are growing. Home values are also growing, she said, while at the same time home prices are competitive when compared to the region.

On the downside, she said, Fairfield County’s population is declining, and with it the labor force. Income is stagnant, while overall education attainment remains low.

“That (education attainment) is a key factor for companies that are considering moving to the area,” Morphis said, “because they want to find a skilled and trained workforce.”

SWOT

Reviewing her firm’s SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis, Morphis said the county’s key strengths are its location in relation to transportation access (I-77), and in relation to larger metropolitan areas (Columbia and Charlotte). Utilities in the county are also competitively priced, she said.

Key weaknesses, she said, included a lack of direction and overall consensus, which she said an updated Strategic Plan should help address. And while the county is conveniently located near a major interstate highway, she said, the development of additional railway sites would be a “key advantage to this community.”

Long-term poverty, Morphis added, was also a significant weakness in Fairfield County.

“That (long-term poverty) is something that we find in other rural communities,” she said, “but it’s concentrated here and that’s why this economic development strategic plan is very important.”

The projected revenue from the nuclear reactors, Morphis said, presents the county with a golden opportunity.

“You have the opportunity with new revenue to create economic transformational projects,” Morphis said, “and the leadership on this Council is going to be critical in making key investments, especially in infrastructure and economic development.”

The declining population and the difficulty in keeping youth in the county topped Morphis’s list of threats.

“The millennials are now the largest part of the workforce and communities that do a really good job of retaining and attracting those young people will be the communities that are successful going forward,” she said. “Companies go where they can find a trained workforce.”

Morphis also reviewed the county’s “product inventory,” or available buildings for prospective industry. The County has one spec building at present, she said, and recommended that the County consider adding at least one additional building.

“Communities that have quality buildings are those that are getting looked at by companies,” she said. “You do have one building, but it would be good to have more than one, so we do recommend that you take this model that you have started with the spec building and carrying it forward.”

There remain, she said, “a few due diligence items” at the Walter Brown 2 Industrial Park “that would really make that park stand out.” A virtual spec building, she added, should also be added to the County’s Economic Development website.

Target Sectors

Morphis identified four “target sectors,” upon which the County should focus its economic development plans.

“When we talk about ‘target sectors,’ these are the sectors where you would focus your marketing dollars and where your regional alliance, the I-77 Alliance, is focusing its marketing dollars,” Morphis said. “That doesn’t mean you would not accept and welcome other companies, but this is where you’re focusing your marketing dollars.”

For Fairfield, she said, those sectors are: Energy (services that can be provided to V.C. Summer); Advanced Material and Transportation Equipment (to serve the state’s aviation and automotive industries); Chemicals and Food Products (industries strong in Fairfield and Chester counties, she said); and Business Financial Services/Life Sciences (industries with a presence in Richland and York counties, she said).

The 2010 Plan

Reviewing parts of the 2010 Strategic Plan, Morphis said the County, which is still searching to fill the position of Economic Development Director, should also consider creating an Assistant Director for that department.

“It is more work than one person can implement,” she said.

Morphis also said that while the County had budgeted for product development, for incentives and for other economic development spending, “there was no funding in the department for things like marketing or existing business programs,” she said.

Morphis recommended budgeting for marketing, including a business retention and expansion program.

“In a small community like Fairfield, you cannot afford to lose even one company, because it is so hard to recruit a new company,” she said. “I believe that this has been a missed opportunity in this community when you have relied on others for your business retention and expansion program.”

She also suggested that Council consider additional product development funds “to be put in the budget for engineering studies and additional due diligence on sites.”

“I know that you do have some other product development money for long-range planning,” she added, “but this would be for studies that could quickly support projects.”

Morphis also recommended expanding the Economic Development Committee to include more private-sector members, as well as upgrading the office of the Economic Development Department.

“It has been my experience that companies will not invest in communities that do not invest in themselves,” she said.

Internal Marketing

Morphis said the County may also want to consider marketing itself to itself, to combat what she said was the County’s negative image within Fairfield County.

“In everyone that we talked to, there is an undercurrent of negativity internally in this community,” Morphis said. “All of you (Council) present a very positive image to the outside, but internally there’s some public relations work to do.”

That can be accomplished, she said, for little cost using social media and marketing tools. Internal marketing, she said, could be one of the roles for the Assistant Director of Economic Development.

Next Steps

“I would encourage this Council to adopt this strategic plan,” Morphis reiterated. “That was a shortcoming of the last strategic plan. It’s hard for you as leaders to hold your staff accountable to an economic development plan without adequate funding, support and your endorsement and leadership in the plan.”

Morphis urged Council to work with an expanded Economic Development Committee, and to expand the staffing of the Economic Development Department and budget the funds for that department.

But the tallest hurdle, she said, was leadership.

“The main difference in communities that are successful and those that aren’t is leadership,” Morphis said. “I have worked in communities that have inherent assets and they should be prospering, but they’re not because leadership is not pulling in the same direction. And I have worked in communities that have lacked in significant assets and they’re making progress because their leadership has consensus in the community and they’re pulling in the same direction.”

 

BLYTHEWOOD (May 31, 2016) – After Michael Switzer, Executive Director of the Blythewood Chamber of Commerce, challenged Town Council to repair the town’s Wi-Fi system during Council’s annual retreat in February, Council rejected the plea on Monday night, voting 4-1 to eliminate the Town’s current failed Wi-Fi system and to ask AT&T about providing more hot spots around town for the convenience of visitors to the community.

At the retreat, Switzer told Council that he had surveyed about 20 of the town’s businesses and that the majority of them wanted the Town’s 8-year-old Wi-Fi system returned to working condition.

But on Monday evening, Kevin Williamson, the Town’s IT consultant, told Council that the system was flawed in its installation, its design, had never worked properly, could probably not be really fixed and is costing the Town about $200 per month.

“The system is down right now. It’s intermittent at best. It has a router that’s bad on top of the Comfort Inn, and the system was never designed to provide Wi-Fi for the businesses or anything inside of a building,” Williamson said. “Even though the router was on top of the Comfort Inn, when it was first installed and was fully functional, you still couldn’t pick it up inside the Comfort Inn which is 30 feet from the antenna.”

The system, which was installed in 2009 during Mayor Keith Bailey’s administration, was intended to broadcast from the Comfort Inn to an antenna behind the Town Hall and across the Interstate to the Community Bank Building in the Food Lion shopping center.

“When the system was installed,” Williamson recalled, “the contractor complained that the trees were too high around the router. My argument was – the trees were there before the system was quoted.”

Williamson told Council that the package being supplied to the antenna is not an industrial speed package.

“They are charging a very high rate, and the pieces on top of these buildings are industrial/commercial style routers intended to broadcast over long ranges – 5 miles or so. But system was never completed. It was not installed in such a way that it can work the way it was proposed,” Williamson said.

He said there are only three or four users and they are local addresses and it would cost about $5,000 – $6,000 to repair.

“And now the trees are taller,” Williams said, “so it wouldn’t work anyway.”

Switzer insisted that about 20 businesses in town want to be able to use the Wi-Fi system and asked Council to defer a vote until he could get quotes from internet service providers to repair and redo the system.

“We have three chamber members who provide this service – Time Warner, AT&T and TruVista,” Switzer said. “I’d like to see what they have to say about the repairs, the cost, the strength and I’d like to survey some other towns and Chambers of Commerce to get their advice.”

“Just so you don’t waste your time, none of the service providers you mentioned do this. This is a hardware issue. They won’t even talk to you. They’ll provide you with internet service for your hardware,” Williamson told Switzer. “AT&T has put hot spots in different locations around town so travelers can get service.”

Councilman Eddie Baughman pointed out that most of the Town’s restaurants – McDonald’s, Hardee’s, Carolina Wings and others – provide Wi-Fi.

“You say all these businesses want Wi-Fi service but I’ve never gotten a call from a business disappointed that the Town’s Wi-Fi doesn’t work,” Mayor J. Michael Ross told Switzer.

“When this Wi-Fi was installed, it was stated quite clearly that the businesses wouldn’t be able to use it. It was to be used by travelers from parking lots. So what are the businesses wanting and missing if the Wi-Fi doesn’t go into the buildings, anyway,” Councilman Tom Utroska asked.

Councilman Malcolm Gordge shared some of his research on the subject.

“The overwhelming impression I get from the experiences of other municipalities that provide Wi-Fi service is that we don’t want to go there,” Gordge said. “The cost of setting up the system, supporting the system, uploading the system, etc., far outweighs any advantage of it. The state of North Carolina forbids its municipalities from subsidized internet services.

“We might rue the day if we did this,” Gordge told Council. “Even if we got our system up and running, the internet service providers are not just going to give up that revenue and let the Town of Blythewood provide free service (to their potential customers). It doesn’t make economic sense.”

With that, Utroska made the motion to discontinue the Town’s Wi-Fi system and try to get more hot spots installed around town. Utroska, Baughman, Ross and Gordge voted for the motion, and Councilman Larry Griffin voted against.

In other business, Council voted unanimously to install two way-finding signs in the town directing visitors to the schools, business districts, park, historical society and Town Hall. The signs are to be installed at Blythewood and Boney Roads and Main Street and Blythewood Road.

The next Council workshop will be held on Thursday, April 14.

 

WINNSBORO (March 18, 2016) – Town Council Tuesday night gave the OK to a formal resolution to provide water for The Pointe at Blythewood, a multi-family residential development slated for 423 Main St., Blythewood.

According to the agreement, Winnsboro will reserve 19,200 gallons per day of capacity for the 56-unit apartment complex recently renamed Just The Pointe, while developers Prestwick Development of Atlanta, Ga., will pony up $57,000 in impact and meter fees.

Impact fees include $7,500 for two 1-inch multi-family meters and $22,500 for three 1 ½-inch multi-family meters. Impact fees must be paid within 180 days of the signing of the agreement.

Meter fees include $6,750 for the two 1-inch multi-family meters and $20,250 for the three 1 ½-inch multi-family meters. Meter fees will be paid before installation and within eight months of the signing of the contract.

 

BLYTHEWOOD (March 3, 2016) – The prospect of impending growth and serious consideration of a property tax to pay for that growth will be the focus of Town Council’s annual day-long retreat on Saturday at the Langford Nord House.

“This is a time we need to be looking at what services can be provided to a growing number of residents by the town or through intergovernmental agreements and what services those residents are expecting to receive,” Town Administrator Gary Parker told The Voice.

Parker will share various estimates at the retreat that show Blythewood’s population increasing to between 6,000 residents by 2025 and 12,000 by 2035. Parker said that growth likely won’t pay for itself.

“In most cases, growth in residential development costs more in services provided by the municipality than what the municipality receives in revenues generated by that development,” Parker said. “Data collected from studies across the nation have determined that, on average, residential development requires $1.16 in community services for every dollar of tax revenue it contributes. So all this residential development that we’re seeing here in Blythewood will require more government services while very likely providing revenues that will only partially fund those services.”

While a dozen or so of the town’s current services, including police, fire, EMS and election oversight, are now provided through low cost intergovernmental agreements with the County and water agreements with Winnsboro and the City of Columbia, Parker said the reality is that one day, with a much larger population, the town government may have to start providing some of its own services. Without a property tax, Council will not be able to fund a large enough budget to do this, Parker said. Parker sees the need for Council to initiate planning now to provide better revenue sources for the town in the not too distant future.

“What we’re soon to be in need of,” he said, “is annual revenues to fund a larger annual operating budget.”

Blythewood’s share of the Penny Tax revenue for road improvement projects will also be discussed. And Parker said he wants Town Council to give strong consideration to whether it truly wants to pursue what has been heralded in the Town’s Master Plan as a walkable Town Center District.

“A pedestrian-oriented gathering place, while a laudable goal if achievable, is definitely challenging in the Blythewood Road and McNulty Road areas,” Parker said. “Also, there are currently no inviting sidewalk storefronts along McNulty Road or Blythewood Road to ease a transition from what is now an automobile-oriented ‘downtown’ to a pedestrian-oriented one.”

Parker pointed out that, generally, a walkable town center has a mixed-use character to it with housing very close and somewhat mixed-in with commercial establishments.

“That certainly isn’t the case now,” Parker said.

He also noted that the town’s proposed walkability has been somewhat marginalized by changes the Town government has made in zoning since the Master Plan was adopted with the intent of accommodating and promoting walkability. Parker said he would talk about some ways Council could retrofit existing development into a more walkable community if that is what Council desires.

Also included on the agenda will be discussions about economic development, a vision for the town and an action plan.

“We’re going to be discussing some very important topics on Saturday, and the public is invited to have input,” Mayor J. Michael Ross told The Voice. “We will have a time for citizens to comment on agenda items at the beginning of the meeting and on discussion items at the end of the day.”

The retreat is scheduled from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., with a lunch break from 12 – 1. The Langford Nord House is located at the corner of Main Street and McNulty Road. For more information about the agenda, call Town Hall at 754-0105.

 

RIDGEWAY (Feb. 26, 2016) – Intergovernmental meetings have a reputation of being either mundane, elbow-rubbing affairs, or fur-flying cat fights between elected officials. Last week’s meeting at the Century House found a middle ground.

With the focus of the Feb. 18 meeting on economic development, particularly in the wake of last month’s closing of Walmart in Winnsboro, State Sen. Creighton Coleman (D-17) set the tone.

“I think this is a time to unite,” Coleman said, then told County Council officials, “I’m excited about the (strategic) plan that y’all are doing. I think it’s time the County and City sit down and try to work together jointly on Winnsboro, the town of Winnsboro, to make it a viable entity in our county.”

Fairfield County is at a critical state, Coleman said, and the County holds the purse strings.

“Let’s face it: Winnsboro’s got a little bit of money, the County’s got a lot of money, going to have a lot of money coming in the future,” Coleman said. “I don’t mean to be casting stones and don’t want to, but sometimes I think the County doesn’t want to help downtown because it’s downtown. I know y’all do the Courthouse and Town Clock, but to me there’s more to it than that. Correct me if I’m wrong.”

Interim County Administrator Milton Pope said he was not aware of any request for assistance from the Town of Winnsboro that has not been honored. However, he added, the respective roles of the elected bodies were “terribly misunderstood.” There is a mindset, Pope said, that the County has all the money and should therefore “be able to do anything and everything.”

“To a certain degree that is reality,” Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy interjected. “The County does have all the money. We are the richest poor county in South Carolina. Because we get all this money from V.C. Summer we have tremendous amount of expectations from the county, and I think sometimes you can fulfill those and sometimes you can’t.”

But, Gaddy said, he did not know of anything the County had not helped Winnsboro with when Winnsboro had asked.

“I think that the shortcoming between the Town and the County is in economic development,” Gaddy said. “There has been little or no communications between the County and the Town on economic development. The Town has been totally left out of it and we’re the ones who provide the utilities.”

Terry Vickers, President of the Chamber of Commerce, said there were plenty of opportunities for businesses in the county, but the trick was promoting and selling Fairfield. That is difficult to do, she said, when even the leadership cannot get on the same page.

“We shoot ourselves in the foot every day,” Vickers said. “I was absolutely mortified at the social media comments that went online when Walmart made their (closing) announcement. I have never been so put out and disgusted with the citizens of Fairfield County that were so negative. Even leaders who have people who look up to them, talking so negative about leadership, about taxes, about theft. And of course, everything on the street was that Walmart closed because of a theft issue. That was not the major reason and that came straight from Sen. Coleman who had met with the executives from Walmart. But still we have people in a position where they are looked up to and they talk about theft in our community. I’m sorry folks, that’s not how you attract tourists or businesses, developers or housing. Nothing.”

Vickers said businesses are looking at space in downtown Winnsboro, but the buildings that are available are in such disrepair – some costing as much as $300,000 to upfit – companies are reluctant to settle here.

“When they look at the upfitting, the rent and property taxes,” Vickers said, “are they willing to take a chance on Winnsboro that just lost a Walmart to come in here? Those are the things we need to look at. If we truly want to attract business in this community, we need to be an attractive community.”

Vickers said Ridgeway was thriving with only one block of merchants. Winnsboro, meanwhile, has three blocks, she said, with two restaurants, a gift shop, two consignment shops and a thrift store. Taking up one of the largest spaces on Congress Street, she said, was a building filled with antiques that, sadly, were not for sale.

“If the paper would come out of that window, if that door could be unlocked, that would be the hook for Winnsboro’s success,” Vickers said. “There would be interior designers from all over the east coast that would come to Winnsboro to shop, that’s how fantastic they are. But no, it is a warehouse for a hoarder. How did that happen?”

Vickers said if Downtown Winnsboro and the county at large is to survive in the wake of Walmart’s closing, businesses need their local governments behind them.

“We have got to change our communication, we have got to change our reputation, we have got to change our outlook,” Vickers said. “The businesses need the support of the decisions that elected bodies make. I have seen so many opportunities missed because we could not come together and agree.”