By J. Todd Davis
Mayor-City of Dillon
While the first quarter of 2018 is already in the rear view mirror, The City of Dillon has been busy, and we look for things to ramp up even more for the remainder of the year.
We have temporarily put the golf course behind us the council voted 6-1 to renew the existing lease agreement for an additional two years.
I advocated for this extension mainly because I would like to offer any new perspective businesses that may decide to plant here in Dillon the opportunity to play golf. Also extremely important to me and council was the many charities that hold golf tournaments to raise the funds that benefit so many in Dillon and the surrounding areas.
This will be the year the public will begin to see some improvements on Main Street. The two condemned buildings on Main have been bought. The owners of these two properties should just about be done obtaining the proper permits to restore these buildings. You can also look for the recipients of the façade grants making improvements on their store fronts.
While I’m on Main Street, discussions are now ongoing about the possibility of a Downtown Hotel on the corner of Main and N. MacArthur Ave. If this gets done it may be somewhat the anchor that Main Street desperately needs.
I’ve been discussing about the lack of a hotel in Dillon for a few years now. The hotels off Radford do a fine job serving the travelers up and down I-95, but not so much for the business client. We need a hotel to send that corporate executive and his family to for overnight accommodations. With the Port soon to open and all the potential spinoff business, we badly need a nice place to recommend to our business clientele.
This week I along with our City Manager and Engineer will be accompanying officials with the county to Columbia to discuss future funding to expand the sewer system out and around the industrial park. Right now our system can accommodate our existing customer base and some future growth. There is a time coming, however when that will not be the case.
The City is currently limited by DHEC where we can discharge any future treated outflow. The treatment capacity for The City of Dillon’s system is now five million gallons per day.
We treat four million at the treatment facility on Hwy. 9 and one million at the spray field. A new treatment plant can run anywhere between $15-20 million from what I’m told. As you can see the Water/Sewer business involves big bucks!
Financially, the city is doing okay. We have retired a lot of debt on the Water/Sewer side. Currently we only owe around $800,000. The General Fund is in good shape. As of the end of our last fiscal year in June of 2017, the City had 157 days of reserve.
It’s a new day in and around the City of Dillon. Better days are ahead of us. I look forward to witnessing this transformation.