Weekly Update 9-29-06

TO: Woodruff City Council

FROM: Scott Slatton

SUBJECT: Weekly update

DATE: 29 September 2006

Administration Department
1. Mayor Bell, Council member Bettis, Council member Norman and Scott attended MASC’s Hometown, SC Road Show presentation in Greenville.
2. DP3’s John Dunham continued his work at city hall on the rehabilitation feasibility study, including work on the roof.

Fire Department
1. Volunteer and former junior firefighter Jordan Phillips graduated from the South Carolina Fire Academy this week.

Police Department
1. The new Tasers were deployed into the field after training on the newly-adopted policies. A press release was also issued.

Street Department
1. Crews began permanent repairs to the broken storm drain under the playground equipment at McKinney Park. The equipment should be back in service on Tuesday.
2. Crews mowed a small portion of the alley in Abney between Buncombe Street and Poplar Street after complaints from property owners.

Sewer Department
1. Buddy, WRWD’s Curt Dillard and Scott met with HSMM’s Tom Bowles to continue work on the sewer expansion feasibility study.The wastewater plant’s effluent pump control panel installation was completed. The pump station is now operating on the new equipment purchased by the CDBG funds.

Up On The Roof

Ventured onto the roof of city hall this morning with an architect and an environmental assessment engineer as part of the feasibility study to determine how much it will cost to rehabilitate city hall.

As you can see in one of the photos, we have a small pond on the roof that has resulted from the roof sagging. On the far end of the city hall, opposite from where the photos were taken, is a four foot drop off to the roof of the auditorium stage. As my colleagues and I were walking on this roof, we noticed the roof heaving up and down as we stepped. This is a sure sign of structural weakness in the roof and what could someday mean a collapse. The building’s roofing problems alone merit the cost of the study DP3 architects recently undertook.

The architect spent most of the day taking photos of problem areas throughout the entire building. And believe me, there’s a lot to assess. From sinking, cracked load-bearing walls to a flooding basement, our city hall needs a lot of work. After many years of neglect though, the city council has agreed to address the problems.

There will be many more visits to city hall by a lot of architects and engineers over the coming months. Once they finish poking and prodding, they will deliver their findings and recommendations. It will be great information to have. We’ll just have to wait and see if we can afford the corrections they recommend.

Tasers Ready to Use

The City of Woodruff Police Department is now authorized to use its recently-acquired Tasers. Last night, the city council approved the department's Taser use policies and these new tools will hit the streets as early as this weekend. Check out this story for details: http://www.wspa.com/midatlantic/spa/news.apx.-content-articles-SPA-2006-09-25-0016.html

Weekly Update 9-22-06

TO: Woodruff City Council

FROM: Scott Slatton

SUBJECT: Weekly update

DATE: 22 September 2006

Administration Department
1. Reminder: The state-mandated planning/zoning training session is tomorrow, Saturday, September 23 from 9AM-3PM at city hall.
2. Attached is the September council meeting agenda.
3. Council member Bettis, Teresa Foster and Scott met with Spartanburg County Library’s Todd Stephens to discuss movement of the Timrod Library and the new park to be built at the library.
4. Council member Bettis and Scott met with DP3’s John Dunham to begin the city hall rehab feasibility study.
5. At her request, Council member Bettis and Scott met with representatives from the Landart Design Group to discuss potential projects for Transportation Enhancement grant funding.
6. Scott met with SCMIRF’s Amy Lindler to review the city’s workers’ comp performance in FY 05-06.

Fire Department
1. The department received a pre-notification of award questionnaire form from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in advance of a possibility it has been awarded its second Assistance to Firefighters’ Grant in three years. If awarded, the grant will total $180,000 and will be used to purchase a new tanker for the department.

Police Department
1. Officers conducted a drug raid on a house on Irby Street. Six suspects were arrested, 12 arrest warrants were served and 7 grams of crack were seized.
2. Lt. Dawkins conducted a child safety seminar with a women’s group at Woodruff First Baptist Church.
3. The department investigated a death that resulted from an accidental shooting over the weekend.

Street Department
1. Crews completed the cleanup of downtown following last weekend’s festival.
2. At Mayor Bell’s request, attached is a plat map of the former Street Department property.

Sewer Department
1. Buddy, Lee and Scott walked the Jimmies Creek project with officials from Caliber Engineering and PM&C to compile a punchlist of items left to be completed before accepting the project.
2. A pressure relief valve at the high school property was replaced.

Double Barrel

City officials, engineers and the construction foreman on the Jimmies Creek sewer line project walked the new line this morning to develop the “punchlist” of items left for the contractor complete.

We lifted the lids on all of the new manholes, inspected them, and discussed fixes for a variety of minor problems. Small items like painting the interiors of some of the manholes to leveling some rough patches in the grading were the dominant items. However, most of today’s discussion involved how pleased the city officials are with the work.

The completion of the construction represents the end of a more than two-year process. It was in the spring of 2004 that the ACOG and I began work on the city’s CDBG application for this project. The application was submitted in September 2004 and the grant was awarded in December 2004. From there we chose an engineer, Caliber Engineering, who designed the project. After engineering was completed earlier this year, we chose a contractor, Payne, McGinn & Cummins. Now, here we are two years after we started with a new parallel sewer line that will be placed into service in the coming weeks.

The wheels of government turn slowly. Tons of paperwork, meetings and phone conversations have taken place over the years to reach this point. But in the end, it will all be well worth the effort. In fact, it’s already paying off. Last week during some heavy rain, a manhole that normally spews raw sewage into the street, didn’t! I noticed this change, but didn’t know why wastewater wasn’t pouring from it like usual. During the walk through today, the contractor told me that one of the sewer lines that used to feed into the old manhole was now flowing into the new one and Voila! No more untreated sewage running out! This represents a small test of the new line, but a significant one in that it proves our solution to this problem is the correct one. Of course, the real test will come once the entire Jimmies Creek system is converted to the new line. We’re confident it will work.

Our double-barrel approach to the Jimmies Creek sewer problem is near completion. It has passed all of its tests so far. All that’s left now is to break open the new lines, plug the old one and wait for the rain. I get all tingly inside just thinking about it!

Lots of Libraries

The City of Woodruff has a plethora of ongoing projects that include a CDBG Housing grant, a wastewater expansion feasibility study, a city hall rehabilitation feasibility study, planning and zoning training and a lot of other stuff. But the city isn’t the only organization at work in Woodruff.

Monday morning Spartanburg County Librarian Todd Stephens, City Council member Audrey Bettis, Woodruff Historic Preservation Committee member Teresa Foster (in the photo above) and I met to talk about two exciting projects the Woodruff Library will soon undertake. The first is the library’s development of a “reading park” and amphitheater in an empty lot adjacent to the library building. The project will create walking loops, reading gardens and a 100 or so seat outdoor amphitheater for use by the library and the community at large. Todd, the Woodruff Friends of the Library and I met back in the spring to review the drawings for the park and discuss funding issues related to it.

At that time, the park project had a budget of about $90K, but the funding fell about $20K short. I suggested to Todd that the Friends and he request those funds from the city’s Hospitality Tax budget. They did and the city council approved the request as part of the FY 06-07 budget. Consequently, the project will become a reality very soon, with groundbreaking to take place as early as next month. The addition of the park will further enhance what I call our “civic square,” which includes the library, city hall and McKinney Park.

The next step in the evolution of this “square” is to better connect the three pieces I just mentioned with more walkability. And we will. It’s just going to take some time.

The other library project the city is working on is relocation of the city’s first library building, the Timrod library. The building was moved to an empty lot next door to city hall several years ago in order to prevent its demolition when a new retail store was built on its former site. Though the Timrod was moved, nothing happened after that. As a result, it has sat vacant and decaying since it was moved.

But a local citizen, who holds fond memories of the library from his childhood, has agreed to donate a piece of property adjacent to the new library and have the Timrod moved there. Once moved, it will be the city’s responsibility to see the Timrod rehabilitated. Once again, Hospitality Tax funds and private donations will be the likely funding sources for the project.

Lots of plans, lots of anticipation. Coordination of all these city projects is kind of like herding cats sometimes. But once we pull them off, the difficulty in completing these projects will be well worth the effort.

"Your Town" Really Works!

Last week I had the opportunity to take part in an educational experience that I initially thought would yield little benefit for Woodruff. Upstate Forever, a local advocacy group that promotes “sensible growth,” won a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to host “Your Town: The Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design.” Your Town brings together leaders throughout the community to discuss growth management strategies that enhance the sustainability of our communities. Though Spartanburg County represents one of the larger areas Your Town has worked with, many of the problems we face here are common to rural areas around the country. Thus, the participants in the workshop had much to share and learn.

One of the more interesting things I learned about was the “transect model.” The transect basically is the growth in development density that occurs as a community moves from rural to urban. As an area transitions from rural to urban, it can be placed into six transect zones: Rural preserve, rural reserve, sub-urban, general urban, urban center and urban core. Bear with me here. If you were to follow a country road from say the Sumter National Forest into downtown Charlotte, you could pretty easily identify each transect zone. Identification of the sub-urban to general urban transects may be a little tricky, but otherwise, you could find the other zones pretty easily.

Surprisingly, the same holds true for Woodruff. Starting outside our city limits, you transition from rural to urban in identifiable ways. You can even map those transitions, as our working group did in the photo above. So, despite its size, planning models can be applied to Woodruff.

A big lesson I learned last week was that the city’s zoning ordinance mandates bad planning. For example, Woodruff’s zoning ordinance dictates that a building’s parking area be one and a half times bigger than the building itself. As a result, the sea of asphalt in front of the local grocery store creates runoff problems, is an eyesore and remains largely unused 99% of the year.

The alternative is to reduce the number of required parking spaces for a business in favor of more landscaping and buffer areas on the street and through the lot itself. It’s a small change, but one that would have a significant impact on the aesthetics of our city and the bottom line of a business owner.

The Your Town program was certainly worth the time commitment, two days total during a very busy week. The program’s new-urbanist approach exposed some ideas about planning I had not heard before. Additionally, it opened many participants’ eyes to alternatives to the uncontrolled growth that has swept away many communities across our region. While Woodruff hasn’t been swept away yet, it will happen as Greenville expands southward if we don’t prepare today. The city has already taken some small steps toward planning for the future, but clearly more is needed and will take place in the coming months.

Festival Recap

The Woodruff Fall Festival was held this past weekend and I think it was pretty successful. Though there were a few logistical bumps in the road (a blown transformer on Saturday afternoon among them), it appeared most folks had a good time.

As I was hauling garbage after the festival, all of the vendors I spoke to said they made some money and would come back next year. Some of the vendors estimated about 7 or 8,000 people came through during the event, which is not bad for the festival’s third year. Overall, the vendors were pleased with the crowd and some commented on the friendliness of the crowd.

Building upon this year’s success will be easy. Many of the first-time volunteers learned a lot about festival planning and execution, so they’ll be ready for next year. In fact, discussion for incorporating the Stone Soup Storytelling Festival into this fall event has already begun.

Thanks to everyone who sponsored the festival, including the Mary Black Health System and Coldwell Banker Caine. And special thanks go to the City of Woodruff Parks, Recreation and Tourism Committee. Without the efforts of these dedicated volunteers, none of the fun this weekend would have been possible.

Weekly Update 9-15-06

TO: Woodruff City Council

FROM: Scott Slatton

SUBJECT: Weekly update

DATE: 15 September 2006

Administration Department
1. **Don’t forget the Festival Sponsor Luncheon tomorrow, 1PM at the Broken Teapot. Please make plans to attend this event as representatives from Mary Black will attend.**
2. Scott attended the three-day “Your Town” workshop hosted by Upstate Forever.

Fire Department
1. Department members took part in a 9/11 anniversary ceremony at Gibbs Stadium.

Police Department
1. The department coordinated security logistics for the Fall Festival.
2. The Tasers were delivered to the department this week, but will not be deployed until after city council adopts usage policies and procedures, which will be presented at the next council meeting.

Street Department
1. The department made preparations for the Fall Festival and will conclude its work tomorrow night.
2. Crews made temporary repairs a sink hole at McKinney Park near the playground equipment. A permanent repair will be made next week after the Fall Festival.

Sewer Department
1. Buddy and Scott met with HSMM’s Tom Bowles to begin the sewer feasibility study process.
2. Water service cutoffs due to delinquent sewer payments took place. 145 cutoffs were submitted to the WRWD.

Sparse Posts

The girl was home sick yesterday, so that meant it was my turn to stay home with her. She's fine today. Posts will be sparse over the next couple of days as I will attend the "Your Town Workshop," which will be hosted by Upstate Forever. The three-day event will feature planning concepts for empty big-box stores in locations throughout Spartanburg County. One of those mini big-boxes is located here in Woodruff and will be one of the featured locations to be discussed during the workshop.

The Fall Festival starts Friday afternoon and is expected to draw lots of folks here into town over the weekend. If you get a chance, come to Woodruff, eat, drink and be merry!

We Remember Every Day

Weekly Update 9-8-06

TO: Woodruff City Council

FROM: Scott Slatton

SUBJECT: Weekly update

DATE: 8 September 2006

Administration Department
1. PRT Festival Chairman Mike Rock and Scott appeared on the “Awake with Drake” radio show this week to promote the upcoming Fall Festival.
2. Another environmental assessment company visited city hall in preparation for submission of a proposal related to the city hall rehabilitation feasibility study.

Fire Department
1. Quiet week.

Police Department
1. Council member Smith and Scott walked through the former the building at 329 N. Main Street as part of research for relocation of the police department.

Street Department
1. Staff made preparations for the Fall Festival.

Sewer Department
1. The new effluent pump station control panel for the wastewater plant was installed this week. Wiring and conversion from the old one to the new one is scheduled for next week.
2. The new Jimmies Creek line construction was completed. Testing of the line and finish work will continue next week.
3. Specifications and pricing for replacement of the Cavins Road and Edwards Road pump station control panels were submitted for approval by Caliber Engineering and PM&C. This work will be done as a result of savings in the CDBG project and will allow for rehab of the two stations that were originally dropped from the project due to budget constraints.

Has It Been a Year Already?

Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of City of Woodruff Cites. One year, 216 posts, a little controversy and lot of information later, and here we are. I’ve heard from a lot of folks over the past year who have told me they read it. Most people like it. Some have deemed it dangerous to children. But what everyone can agree upon is that it’s been effective.

It has effectively disseminated information about the City of Woodruff. It has answered questions about the inner workings of the city. It has highlighted the mundane, but important work of Woodruff city government. It has generated numerous print, radio and television stories. It has halted the advance of rumors. It has provided positives about Woodruff in the face of negatives elsewhere. Most importantly, it has been fun.

I hope you agree with my assessment of this blog. I’m proud of it. So, keep reading. You never know what might pop up tomorrow!

Nowhere Else to Turn

I met with a local business owner today to inspect an interesting problem she’s having in her shop. Moisture has mysteriously appeared from somewhere underneath the floor of her shop and it’s ruining her tiled floor. She’s had the flooring company confirm there’s no problem with the tile. She’s had folks inspect her building for drainage problems. She’s called the water company to find out if she has a leak somewhere. So far, nothing has been found.

Exasperated, she called here to city hall this morning. Dutifully, I went by and looked at her problem, but soon concluded there’s nothing the city can do to help her. I made a few suggestions about where she might seek more advice, but honestly, she’s done everything I would have to find the source of the moisture. At this point, it appears nothing short of digging up the sidewalk in front of her shop and finding a water leak will uncover the problem.

Though the city can’t help her, folks like this business owner turn to the city for help when all else fails. Sometimes we can be of assistance, sometimes we can’t. But we’re always willing to listen and offer information on resources that might help. In a small city like Woodruff where folks don’t always know who to call, it’s nice to know that they can call city hall. I bet you can’t get that kind of service in New York!

Festival Prep

Spent part of the morning with Spartanburg radio legend Bill Drake today. Bill invited Woodruff PRT Festival Chairman Mike Rock and me on to talk about our fair city and our upcoming Fall Festival, in particular.

Mike has worked for many months planning the two-day event, which will be held September 15 and 16 in downtown Woodruff. Hoping to make this the biggest Woodruff festival ever, Mike and the PRT Committee have been working nonstop the last few weeks in preparation. Nearly 100 vendors will be here, musical acts will perform throughout the festival and a cruise-in car show will cap the festival near its close on the 16th.

The city has leant a hand again this year with sponsorship dollars (courtesy of the city’s new hospitality tax) and city staff and I will be present with logistical support as well. Road closings, detours, security and garbage collection are all parts of the city’s role to bring what we hope will be several thousand visitors to Woodruff.

Last year’s festival was the first one on Main Street in many years. This year’s will again be held in the downtown corridor. Lots of planning have gone into the Fall Festival this year and I’m certain it will pay off with large crowds again.

Weekly Update 9-1-06

TO:Woodruff City Council

FROM:Scott Slatton

SUBJECT:Weekly update

DATE: 1 September 2006

Administration Department
1. As part of the city hall feasibility study process, DP3 Architects issued an RFP to solicit contractors to do a hazardous materials assessment on city hall.
2. A local property owner requested the city’s assistance with having a large tract of property he owns, which is partly located inside the city, listed as a potential industrial site with the SC Dept. of Commerce and the Spartanburg County Economic Development Corporation.
3. Mayor Bell, Mayor Pro Tem Gist and Council members ? attended the grand opening of The Chopping Block butcher shop.
4. Mayor Bell was the only representative from Woodruff to attend the Spartanburg County Municipal Association meeting last night.
5. Scott attended a MASC Public Information Officers network meeting at the Mary Black Foundation.

Fire Department
1. Staff made preparations for arrival of the tropical storm’s rain and winds.

Police Department
1. Lt. Dawkins was requested to begin removal of the tint from the police cars.
2. Staff made preparations for arrival of the tropical storm’s rain and winds.

Street Department
1. The new swing-arm mower was placed into service this week after Jessie and Lee trained on and practiced operation of it.
2. Staff made preparations for arrival of the tropical storm’s rain and winds.

Sewer Department
1. The new effluent pump control panel was delivered to the wastewater plant. Footings for the new panel were dug and poured. Work will continue next week with installation and conversion to take place.
2. Estimates for construction of new pump control panels at Edwards Street and Cavins Road came in $6K under budget. These are two pieces of the CDBG project that were originally dropped from consideration because of budget constraints. However, $21K in savings has been achieved thus far, which will allow for replacement of the two control panels.
3. Staff made preparations for arrival of the tropical storm’s rain and winds.