Downtown mural proposed: Orangeburg called ‘a blank canvas for public art’

The mural will reflect Orangeburg’s culture and history, Herman Keith of the South Carolina Rural Arts Project said.

“Orangeburg is a blank canvas for public art,” he said.

Keith discussed the proposal with Orangeburg City Council last week.

Keith said the city offered the building at 1129 Middleton Street for the mural. The building, which the city owns, is next to the small park with a gazebo at the corner of Russell and Middleton streets.

The mural will be painted in acrylic panels, which can be brought to schools, churches, nursing homes and other places and events in the community for anyone to paint them before they’re installed on the wall to create the complete mural, Keith said.

The team behind the mural, called Uniting Orangeburg Through Art, is made up of Keith and other art educators in the community. They hope the mural will bring more artwork and development downtown, he said.

“I’ve seen it revitalize communities and I can’t wait to see what it will do in our town of Orangeburg,” he said.

The Rural Arts Project has painted six murals in towns across the state.

The previous murals were funded through donations from local businesses, Keith said. The murals usually cost around $40 per square foot.

The largest mural the group has done was 20,000 square feet in Lake City.

The size of the mural in Orangeburg is still being decided, he said.

Keith has been in talks with city officials and community members about creating a mural downtown for years, but was approached by the city “a month or two ago” for this project, he said.

The UOTA team will begin the research process before deciding on a design that will best reflect the community, he said.

The final selection will come from community feedback, he said. The overall process will likely take around a year, depending on the ultimate size of the mural, he said.

“In order to tell these stories, we go into the community to gather the story, so as artists we can interpret what the community gives us, what they would like to see visually on a public building,” he said.

Council did not vote on the proposed mural, but did speak in favor of it.

Council member Annette Dees Grevious committed to helping raise $5,000 in community funding for the project and challenged her fellow council members to do the same.

One of the two Lake City murals had some panels painted by students in Los Angeles, Keith said. Council member Dr. Kalu Kalu said he had seen similar mural projects bring the community together when he lived in Los Angeles in the area of the 1965 Watts riots.

“This type of project will also help brighten downtown, brighten up our downtown because of the projects that we have in hand,” Kalu said. “It will also help us attract people to Orangeburg.”

In other matters:

• City council gave first reading approval to a proposal that would allow the Department of Public Works to post notices on properties violating maintenance codes. The proposal would also amend fee amounts for violations.

Department of Public Works Director John Singh said the department has already been posting notices on properties that violate building codes and has had better success with getting property owners to fix violations.

The proposal will formally allow the department to post notices on buildings, which will streamline the fine process and make it easier to get action from property owners violating codes, Singh said.

“It has been a major project of the city, city administration, to work on cleaning up Orangeburg and taking care of code issues,” Singh said. “One of the hardest things that we find is actually being able to get ahold of individuals sometimes, or hold them accountable or even track.”

The new policy has also helped the department get quicker responses from property owners who do not live in Orangeburg, he said.

The new proposed fee rates for first-time violations not corrected in the given timeframe start at $25 a day for 30 days, then increase to $50 a day, until the violation is corrected. Second and third offenses will be fined at $50 and $75 per day, respectively.

The department has also created a spreadsheet keeping track of code violations and the statuses of buildings downtown, he said.

• Council received a report of the city’s 2021-2022 audit. The city’s general fund posted an overall loss of $2.4 million, compared to a loss of $467,000 the year prior.

The auditor found the city showed “an overall lack of proper and adequate accounting on a timely basis,” according to the report.

The firm, Mauldin & Jenkins, LLC, recommended the city consider investing in more staff, training and equipment for the city’s accounting team.

Property taxes made up the largest portion of the city’s general revenue at $3.9 million. The city’s largest expense was to Department of Public Safety funding at $11.6 million.

• Council received updates on the city’s ongoing skate park project.

A groundbreaking for the park is expected in February with completion by summer 2024, Singh said.

The overall cost is still to be determined, he said. He estimated it will likely cost at least $1 million, with additional “bells and whistles” optional for closer to $2 million. The park currently has funding from the city’s share of the county’s capital projects sales tax, he said.

Singh said he believes people will be “very pleased” with the design.

Council member Jerry Hannah suggested the park’s construction employ local and minority workers, which Singh said the city would work into its contracts.

A public meeting on the park will be held on Nov. 30 at 5:30 p.m.

• Council gave final approval to changes to its event licensing process to better regulate special events at venues and homes.

The new policy will streamline the event licensing process to better regulate private events where tickets or food and drinks are being sold.

Department of Public Safety Chief Charles Austin previously said the policy would help DPS officers better prepare for and respond to safety concerns at large private events.

Butler called the implementation of the policy “wonderful.”

• Council gave final approval to amendments to adjustments to the annual license fees for businesses in the city.

Rates are based on the individual business’s revenue and classification by the North American Industry Classification System, city spokesperson Jennifer Van Cleave said.

The city’s financial department is in the process of determining how many businesses will be moved into a higher or lower fee rate, she said.

All South Carolina cities are required to update their rates every two years, City Administrator Sidney Evering said.

• Council gave first approval to a rezoning of the Railroad Corner redevelopment area to allow for the mixed-use buildings planned for the project.

• Council voted to table discussion of a rezoning proposal for properties on St. Matthews Road. Mayor Butler moved to hold off on the discussion so the council could “get a real good understanding” of the proposal.

The motion to table passed with Hannah as the lone objection.

• Council received updates on the upcoming Dixie Youth Baseball World Series, which Orangeburg will host beginning on July 25, 2024.

The city will be investing in landscaping improvements at the North Road sports complex where the games will be held, Interim Parks and Recreation Director Shawn Taylor said.

This will include improvements to the complex’s roundabouts and adding more sod to the fields, he said.

• Council voted to amend the city’s 2023-2024 budget to include the Municipal Airport budget.

Evering said this would not affect the city’s general fund, as the airport has its own separate fund.

• Council gave second reading approval to the Department of Public Utilities’ acquisition of the Bull Swamp Water District. It also voted to adopt the Bull Swamp utility rates into DPU’s.