During their meeting Tuesday, West Pelzer Town Council approved second reading on the adoption of International Building Codes, held first reading on an ordinance to rezone property for new Townhomes and heard a year end review of accomplishments for the Town.
Council approved first reading on an ordinance to rezone approximately 5 acres near 501 Woodcock Road and 190 Mill Street West Pelzer. Nine properties are being rezoned to R-6 High Density Residential/Multi Family to allow for the construction of residential Townhomes.
West Pelzer Clerk Payla Payton reported there were nine work orders completed in November. Payton also reported that ReWa will have a rate increase effective with the Feb. 2023 billing. The current base rate of $12.38 will increase to $12.75. The current usage rate of $6.27 per 1000 gallons wil increase to $6.56 per 1000 gallons.
West Pelzer Police Chief Scott Stoller reported there were 12 reports written with two arrests, one for domestic violence and one for public drunk. There were 35 tickets written, with 12 warnings and two motor vehicle collisions.
Stoller presented a list of accomplishments for the police department during 2022.
Among them are new policy and procedures being completed and in the final phases of review prior to approval by the town attorney and leadershp. The document meets the standard for SC Law Enforcement Accreditation which the department hopes to get in 2023. Currently there are only 29 accredited law enforcement agencies in the state out of 272 agencies in the state.
The police department has upgraded their current hand-held two way radio equipment to maintain compatibility with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office and other agencies. This was done at no cost to the town, Stoller said. “This is a short term fix to remain interoperable with surrounding agencies. Our radios are still out of production/end of life and will need replacement.”
Chief Stoller said the police department has worked to computerize record keeping and reporting, drastically reducing paper consumption and making case files more legible with improved record keeping.
The department also secured a $5,800 non-matching grant from the SC Department of Safety (SCDPS) for body cameras allowing an update from out of date and unreliable system to a state-of-the-art system with cloud storage and additional features, at no cost to the town.
All patrol vehicles have automated defibrillators and trauma kits to better serve citizens in the case of a medical emergency, at no cost to the town.
Stoller said the department continues to step-up code enforcement actions in an effort to help beautify the town.
The department had added updated speed measuring devices to help curb speeding and improve safety in the town.
Officers continue to attend classes, in person and on-line to continually improve education and capability to serve the town.
Officer Cauthen and Chief Stoller were recognized by Gov. Henry McMaster for saving multiple people who suffered opioid overdoses where they stopped breathing.
Chief Stoller completed training as a SC Fusion Liaison Intelligence Officer, which enables the police department to have access to greater investigative resources throught SLED, the FBI andother agencies to help solve cases.
West Pelzer Mayor Blake Sanders gave a recap of the year for the Town which includes increased fund balances, completed capital projects, new homes, new businesses and new partnerships.
Town Clerk Paula Payton, MMC, ABL had the following achievements: Athenian Fellow Designation, Accredited Business License Official Designation and appointment to the Municipal Finance Officers Clerks and Treasurers Board of Directors.
Funding from the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) allowed the Town to have infrastructure upgrades, technology upgrades, crosswalk signs, meter/utility billing software upgrade, equipment purchase and Master Plan and Zoning Ordinance update.
Council projects included safety, beautification, finance and the new Text My Gov program.
Safety improvements included additional security cameras, four way stops on secondary roads, demolition of dilapidated home.
Beautification projects included landscaping on Main Street, Holiday Decorations and Mulch and Maintenance of Chapman Park.
Under Finance, the Town was able to sell the sewer system to ReWa; pay off the Greenville Water buy-in three years early, and see property tax, business license and hospitality tax funds increase due to growth, with no rate increases included. Twenty-one new homes have been constructed in the town.
Using the Text My Gov service, citizens can text the Town to find information and report issues. Text HI to 864.865.8030.
Citizens can receive two text message alerts by texting: WPALERTS, WPEMERGENCY or WPEVENTS to: 91896.
Sanders said volunteers helped make several events happen including Dog Days of Summer, National Night Out, First Friday movies in the park, Pumpkin Palloza and the annual Christmas parade.
