Latest Municipal News
By John Zawacki
I would like to start out this month’s column with a thank you. The Barnwell County Arts Council and their sponsors did a super job in hosting the Patriotic concert on July 2nd. What a great time in the City of Barnwell. This kind of event truly exemplifies our new slogan BARNWELL- LIVE WELL. Once again Thank You for a great concert.
The City Hall renovation plans are now complete and approved by City Council. The plans will be advertised in the People-Sentinel and in the South Carolina Business Opportunities publication. We hope to have a contractor identified by the end of the month and start work on the New City Hall in August. Please click here for information about the Invitation t o Bid.
I know every one is getting tired of seeing the Cones on the circle, but believe me we are moving forward on this project also. This week we received the contract from SCDOT for the project grant. Now that the Mayor has signed this contract we should receive our notice to precede letter within the next two weeks. We also now have a new crosswalk between the police station and the library parking lot. This new crosswalk is a test of a synthetic material and is being conducted at no cost to the city by the manufacturer of the material. 
Thanks to the work by Community Development Director Lynn Cox and help from Senator Hutto and Representative Hosey, the City received a grant from the Budget and Control board in the amount of $24,000 to repair the Circle Fountain. This work will go on at the same time as the road work on the circle. We are planning to have the fountain up and running by the end of November.
The Lemon Park Sports Complex project will go out for Bid request on July 21st. We will be hosting a voluntary pre-bid meeting of interested contractors at Lemon Park on July 30th. We hope to recommend a contractor to the City Council for their approval at the August 4th City Council meeting. Recreation Director Melanie Johnson and her team have already been moving and dismantling items at Lemon Park in anticipation of an August 11th construction start date.
At the July 7th City Council meeting three new police officers took their Oath of Office given to them by Mayor Lemon. The new officers are Stephanie Adams, Jason Woodruff and Rodney Creel. Officers Woodruff and Creel will be attending the SC Criminal Justice Academy in the next month. Officer Adams is a SC certified law enforcement Officer with 9 years of service with the Charleston Sheriffs Department.
Due to the SC State Climatology Office declaring Barnwell County to be in a moderate drought state, the city council has passed a proclamation that requests residents within the city to voluntarily limit non-essential water use (washing cars, irrigation and other similar uses) while we are in this status. Please be aware of water usage and plan accordingly. We thank you for your cooperation on this matter. Click here for more information on this proclamation.
Finally, we would like to remind you that our website (www.cityofbarnwell.com) has a great deal of information and it is updated frequently. You can find out information from all departments as well as read over the last several months of city council approved minutes. Our home page is updated to guide the visitor to links that have been recently changed or updated on important city issues and information. Many questions can be answered by browsing the site.