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Columbia City Council meets March 7, 2007
Columbia City Council convened at 9 am, Wednesday, March 7, in City Hall for its regular meeting. All council members were present: Daniel Rickenmann, Sam Davis, E.W. Cromartie, Mayor Bob Coble, Anne Sinclair, Tameika Isaac Devine, and Kirkman Finlay III.
Valencia Park The baseball field at Valencia Park was named " Charles Ellinger Field ." Ellinger was an active father of a Dixie League player, and his plumbing company, Expert Plumbing, sponsored teams in the Rosewood Dixie Youth League. For 20 years Ellinger helped with coaching the kids and with maintaining the field. He passed away in 1997 at the age of 52. Lisa and Travis Wheeler presented the naming recommendations to council, and council concurred.
Boys & Girls Clubs Carter Clark , CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands brought council up to date on his organization. The BGCM has been a strong organization in Columbia for 48 years. There are five core program areas: (1) Education & Career Development, (2) Character & Leadership Development, (3) The Arts, (4) Health & Life Skills, (5) Sports, Fitness & Recreation. BGCM serves over 2,500 members, ages six- 18.
Incubator Joel Stevenson , executive director, brought council up to date on the USC Technology Incubator, which occupies the city's former annex at 1225 Laurel Street. So far, 17 companies have graduated from the USC Technology Incubator. Stevenson showed council a copy of The Wall Street Journal ad the incubator ran to congratulate the graduating companies.
Conventions Bill Dukes , chairman of the Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports and Tourism, reviewed with council his latest news. The convention center's construction is final at $37.5 million, about $700,000 less than budget. The economic impact of the Columbia CVB sales department from July '05 to January '06 was $2.8 million, while the most recent six months, July '06 to January '07, reported $7.5 million. To date, the CVB has sent 108 groups to the new Hilton in the form of qualified sales leads. These 108 groups represent 74,054 room nights of potential business for the city if booked.
Gangs Dr. Michael Smith , chairman of USC's Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, and Jeff Rojek , assistant professor, joined Benedict's Abigail Rogers to discuss with council their anti- gang strategy. They plan to report back with a six-month assessment.
Five Points
Presidential primaries Mayor Coble, a Democrat, joined forces with Finlay, a Republican, to put together a PR package to show Columbia's better side during the course of the presidential primaries and all the preliminary activities. Council approved a $50,000 support sum to handle the promotions effort.
Arts Columbia's Festival of the Arts, due in late May, was represented by director Marvin Chernoff and volunteer Don Tomlin . Chernoff asked council to help with $132,000, which was earmarked for out- of- town advertising. Council suggested an appeal to the Columbia Visitors Bureau, where matching funds could be available. The festival will include 75 events put on by 40 organizations. Most events are free, but the opening gala is $125 per person, and the gala should raise $60,000 for the festival.
Township The city's requested participation with Richland County in the renovation of the Township has been declined. The city expects to lose its authority to appoint anyone on the Township board, and the city also expects to return any hospitality tax money generated by the Township. Richland County is free to do whatever it wants to to the Township at whatever budget it can afford.
Next meeting Council meets at 9 am for its regular meeting on Wednesday, March 21, and there is a zoning public hearing scheduled for 10 that morning. Both gatherings are on the third floor of City Hall, corner of Laurel and Main.
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