Attendees at last Friday’s Marion County Development Partnership Catchy Friday Breakfast listened intently as the City of Columbia’s new mayor and Board of Aldermen spoke about the upcoming term.
Mayor Justin McKenzie, Ward 1 Alderman Wendell Hammond, Ward 3 Alderwoman Anna Evans, Ward 4 Alderman Mike Smith and Alderman-at-Large Ed Hough spoke to a large crowd of area business leaders at the event. Ward 2 Alderman Jason Stringer was unable to attend the breakfast due to a work conflict.
Board members shared a vision for the city as they each spoke for about five minutes to the crowd.
“I love Columbia and I love Marion County,” Hammond said. “I was born and raised here. It’s about people working together, cleaning up our community and pitching in. We’ve got streets and main thoroughfares that have trash and old cars in them. You can make ordinances all day long, but if you can’t enforce them or don’t enforce them, it’s no good.”
Hammond said he is enthusiastic about beginning the next term, which begins with a 4 p.m. meeting Wednesday.
“This new administration is going to move forward,” He said. “From the talks we’ve had amongst ourselves, it’s going to be a great administration. We want your prayers, your help and leadership. Let’s just all get together and make Columbia better.”
Evans, a newcomer to the Board, then spoke about the goals of the new group as it takes office.
“My direction for Columbia is the same as Wendell’s,” she said. “I have a passion for the elderly and the youth; I’m in line with a sports complex because I really feel that if we don’t get our youth today, then we’re going to lose them. We need to have something lined up to help our youth. That goes as far as saying that we could start small in our communities by giving them something to do, like doing big brother and big sister projects. After that, we need to venture over into the complex.”
Evans agreed with Hammond about the appearance of some areas in town.
“We need to talk about cleaning up,” she said. “We need to clean up Columbia. Everywhere and every one you talk to says that we need to clean up; so let’s start. Why are we talking about it and not doing it? Working together in our communities and having community work days could really help us in cleaning up our city.”
Smith also shared his views on the incoming Board and what actions could be forthcoming for Columbia.
“Most of us have been able to meet with the mayor-elect and we’re so on the same page,” the newcomer said. “There’s nobody on this Board that has their own agenda. The only agenda we have is to make Columbia better and to get stuff done.”
Smith, added that having a Board that has the interests of the entire city at heart will benefit Columbia.
“Anna (Evans) said she doesn’t want to hear about what I’m doing in Ward 4 and what Wendell is doing in Ward 1, she wants us to get together and go to each ward and find out what the problems are, prioritize them and get stuff done,” he said. “We all agree with that. We have a lot of work to do, but we’re going to do it. We need your prayers and support every day.”
Hough, who has served several terms on the Board, said he is also enthusiastic about the upcoming term.
“Take a look at Justin McKenzie in his police uniform,” he said. “This is his last day, for a long time, to serve as a captain. We’re looking forward to working with him and getting things done. Being last to speak, everyone else has taken a lot of what I wanted to say, but cleaning up Columbia and working together is important. Just like in downtown, one merchant starts by painting his building and it is contagious. If we all start doing something, it will be contagious and things will end up looking better. The event this weekend with the fireworks will bring a lot of people into Columbia and we need to do more of that. We need festivals and things to bring people into Columbia. We need to advertise ourselves. Nobody will know about Columbia if we don’t get out and talk about Columbia.”
McKenzie then shared his views for the future of the city.
“I think we have a great Board of Aldermen to work with,” he said. “I’ve had an opportunity to speak with everyone. I have to echo everything that has been said so far about the sports complex and infrastructure improvements. Something else that we have to work on as a team, not just the Board members, but as a team in the community, is growing our community. Whether it is encouraging a young entrepreneur to step out on that limb and take a chance or taking that chance yourself. You’ve got a team of people around you that will help you with every type study that you can imagine. We will do whatever we can to see that you succeed in Columbia. It’s going to take us working as a team to grow our town.”
McKenzie said improving the community’s image will be one of the ways to help grow the city.
“One way to get involved in that is through the MCDP’s Keep Columbia and Marion County Beautiful,” he said. “Yvette Cutrer is the representative on that committee and we have already met. We have a cleanup day scheduled
Aug. 5. We encourage you to take part. We plan to meet at the Marion County Development Partnership at 7 a.m. and go from there. Until then, we’re going to work on the logistics and breakdown with it.”
McKenzie is also anxious to see city departments, police and fire, work together for the cleanup.
“I want to have some of them become the team leaders,” he said. “We discussed this recently. It will be a good time as school is just starting and it will be before people come from out of town to visit for ball games and other events involving the schools. It’s a prime opportunity to hit the ground running as a team to help cleanup the town.”
However, the new Board won’t be without its hurdles, according to McKenzie.
“One challenge will be declining sales tax numbers,” he said. “We also have decreasing ad valorem tax numbers. We’ve been tearing down about 10-15 houses a year. Over the last eight years, there have been only two rebuilt following Hurricane Katrina and one or two new builds in the city. We know that the housing market is stagnant. I hope that we can come together as a Board and encourage people to build. Following annexation, we will have more area to develop within the city limits. What you can depend on from us is for us to provide good services. One of those will be a good fire service. The second one will be a good police service. The third will be good public utilities; water, sewer, limb and debris removal and more.”
McKenzie continued by focusing on the positive aspects of the community.
“We see a lot of opportunity for growth around our town,” he said. “I know that we will be able to work together and make good things happen. Our fire rating has moved from a Class 7 to a Class 6, that’s a substantial improvement. It’s impacted all of your insurance and a Class 5 is within reach. We believe that we can achieve a Class 5 and save our residents money.”
McKenzie also mentioned several other ideas as he spoke.
“Upgrades to the water treatment system are needed,” he said. “One thing is that we have, through the Department of Environmental Quality’s tests, we have a 5, which is the top rating you can get. We have less water leaks than we’ve ever had. When Michael (McDaniel) took over the contract, there were 216. It was an enormous amount. It cost us to produce that water and it cost us to utilize it. We were going in the hole with every drop. To see that leakage stopped is something the previous Board and mayor made improvements with.”
McKenzie said the previous Board and mayor were to be commended for their efforts.
“I hope we can keep going from here,” he concluded.
Pictured Above: New Columbia Mayor Justin McKenzie addresses the crowd at the MCDP’s Catchy Friday last week. | Photo by Mark Rogers
