Orangeburg City Council members sworn in; Keitt elected mayor pro tem

Council members Kalu Kalu and Sandra Knotts were sworn into the seats they retained in the Sept. 12 city election. Annette

Dees Grevious was sworn into the District 4 seat previously held by council veteran Bernard Haire, who decided not to run for re-election.

Council member L. Zimmerman Keitt was also elected mayor pro tempore in a 4-3 vote during the Oct. 3 meeting.

In other business:

• Council approved first reading of an ordinance amending an error in the Department of Public Utilities’ rates that charged customers only 10 cents for natural gas service.

The error occurred when rates were being adjusted to reflect the increase approved by council in September. A decimal was left out, changing the rate from the intended $1.05 to 10.5 cents, DPU General Manager Warren Harley said.

“We’re quickly moving to correct that error and want to make sure that it’s on record that it is not intended to be 10 cents and a half,” Harley said.

The mistake affected 13 customers who had not gotten the bills as of Tuesday, Oct. 3, he said. DPU planned on communicating directly with the customers before the bills were received and paid, he said.

“Remember to say something real nice to them,” Keitt said.

The inaccurate rates will not impact any residential customers, Harley said.

“These are customers that we are constantly in communication with on a regular basis, so it’ll be fairly easy for us to communicate with them,” he said.

• Council voted to table an ordinance that would make it illegal to camp in urban areas of town. The ordinance previously received two of three required readings.

Council anticipates taking up the issue later, once a coalition of interested parties meets to discuss possible solutions.

City Administrator Sidney Evering said there had been some misunderstanding of the purpose of the ordinance.

“That ordinance was certainly not meant to be punitive or to punish the unhoused in our community,” he said. “We’re not that, as you all know. But there was no legal way to address that growing concern. By all means, if the community wants to come together, as we’ve suggested, in a coalition to find alternative solutions, then I would certainly welcome that.”

The ordinance was intended to move the homeless population out of downtown and to a place where they could have more resources, Mayor Michael Butler said.

“I know the community got a little upset about it,” Butler said. “There wasn’t any harm (intended).”

Kalu suggested mental health providers be brought into the discussion.

The Orangeburg Department of Public Safety has a good track record of including mental health counselors when engaging with unhoused people, Evering said.

ODPS Chief Charles Austin and Samaritan House Director Henry Miller said mental health and addiction service providers will be a part of the proposed coalition.

The Samaritan House is not equipped to provide significant mental health resources, Miller said in an update to council.

“Moving the homeless population from one site to another doesn’t help resolve their issues,” Miller said.

Miller suggested the proposed coalition could come back to council with solutions next quarter.

Jerry French of the Samaritan House appeared before council to request $50,000 to purchase 24 bunk beds for the shelter, which would increase its capacity from 40 to 55, he said.

The Samaritan House had originally written a letter to the city asking for the funds in June 2023, French said. The letter had not been answered, he said.

The city’s proposed urban camping ordinance would send more people to the shelter, he said.

“We’ve heard repeatedly to ‘take them to the Samaritan House’,” French said. “We don’t have room. So I’m not sure where those people are going to be able to stay unless we can increase our capacity.”

French said the shelter appreciates the support council has already provided and anticipates more in the future.

Council member Richard Stroman said council appreciated the Samaritan House’s work and will consider the request.

Kalu suggested a second building be built at a second location to increase shelter capacity in the community, which French said is a long-range goal for the Samaritan House.

• Council voted to also table the second reading of a proposal to sell the old city gym building for redevelopment.

The potential buyer, Firefly Toys and Games LLC of Columbia, had been interested in buying the gym property together with the adjacent basketball court. Since the proposal got first reading approval on Sept. 19, the city has learned that the court must remain in city hands because it was purchased with federal funds, Evering said.

Firefly Toys is reevaluating whether it still wants to buy the gym building, necessitating the tabling, Evering said.

• Council unanimously accepted an offer from Orangeburg County to buy the old Palmetto Inn and Suites at 465 Orange Street to build a new county courthouse. The county offered $100,000 for the approximately 1.137 acres of land, Evering said.

• Council received a presentation from Isaiah McGee, dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Claflin University, on the upcoming South Carolina Humanities Festival to be held in Orangeburg on Oct. 19-22.

• Council also received updates on the Railroad Corner redevelopment project from developers Luna Development.