Helping to recognize this Region’s role in Revolutionary War history has enabled the Upper Savannah COG to win a 2024 Aliceann Wohlbruck National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) Impact Award.

Upper Savannah won an award for its Revolutionary War Interpretive Marker Installation project.

The 2024 class of awardees consists of 96 projects from 64 organizations spanning 22 states. These projects will be recognized at NADO’s Annual Training Conference in New Orleans in October.

The Greenwood and McCormick county SC 250 committees jointly applied for funds to construct two Battle of the Long Canes interpretive signs along SC Highway 10 near the Town of Troy.

The State SC 250 Committee awarded the grant and will provide $15,000 for the signs. USCOG assisted in the grant application process and will administer the funds.

The county 250 committees are charged with documenting and commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War era in South Carolina. The Star Fort National Historic Site in Ninety Six is a great example of this Region’s role in the Revolutionary War era.

Every county in the state has an SC 250 Committee that is eligible to apply for similar-type grants. The committee members are local tourism staff, historic association members, and any members of the public who have an interest in Revolutionary War history in South Carolina.

Upper Savannah Government Services Director Rick Green assisted with the grant application.

“Tourism is economic development,” Green said. “This project will be part of a coordinated effort to both document and interpret Revolutionary War sites in our area.

“As these sites are interpreted, they become part of a larger program to link the sites so that tourists can follow along and hopefully learn and contribute to the local economy at the same time.”

On December 12, 1780, Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Allen and a British force of 400-500 men defeated Colonel Elijah Clarke and 100 Americans, an advanced detachment of a Patriot force commanded by Colonel Benjamin Few in the Battle of the Long Canes according to The American Revolution in South Carolina – Long Canes (carolana.com)

The exact location of the battle is still being studied, but it crossed between what is now Greenwood and McCormick counties near Troy. The committees will work jointly on all aspects of plan development.

The creation of the interpretive signs will begin with the development of two oil paintings of the battle created by local artist Eric Williams. The paintings will be transferred to outdoor signs and placed in Wisteria Park in Troy. Hope is the signs will be installed by next summer.

The completed project will be advertised in both counties on their tourism information and SC 250 websites. QR codes will be available at the signs for the continuous use and access of visitors and tourists. If new information on the exact location of the battle becomes available, the QR code can be easily updated.

Since 1967, the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) has provided advocacy, education, networking, and research for the national network of 540 regional development organizations. NADO members provide professional, programmatic, and technical assistance to over 2,300 counties and 15,000 municipalities.

The Town of McCormick has received a $50,000 grant from the S.C. Energy Office to install two electric vehicle charging stations.

Upper Savannah COG helped apply for the grant on behalf of the Town and will administer the project.

McCormick Mayor Roy Smith Jr. is thankful for the funding.

“I feel the electric vehicle charging grant is going to be huge for our community, especially with the rising number of electric cars we are now seeing on the roads,” he said.

“It’s going to be great for locals as well as visitors who won’t have to worry if they have enough power to make it back home when visiting us,” the mayor continued.

“Also, they will be able to charge while shopping. It’s going to be located behind Town Hall, which is a centralized location. We are in the process of constructing a new city parking area. The timing couldn’t have been better. It’s a win/win.”

The new parking area is part of a Community Development Block Grant streetscape project which was also applied for and is being administered by Upper Savannah. That project is due for completion this summer and includes a veteran’s park.

USCOG Government Services Director Rick Green who assisted with the charging stations grant application will help with background administrative items such as putting together requests for proposals and keeping the project on track.

The SC Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant annual mini-grant program is a competitive funding opportunity for a small number of high-impact demonstration projects to encourage the awareness of emerging technologies or innovative approaches to energy efficiency, renewable energy, or clean transportation.

The State awarded $1.3 million for 19 projects, including electric vehicle supply equipment and/or electric vehicle purchases, lighting retrofits, heating, ventilation and air conditioning replacements, energy audits and/or weatherization, energy-efficient doors and windows, and solar panel installation.

Upper Savannah COG Community Development staff prepared and submitted the grant application on behalf of Laurens County.

The grant award will help Laurens County continue the project that was awarded in August 2022 but came in over budget. The latest grant award will be Phase II of the project.

In June 2023, the project for the plant was bid for construction, including installation of a second 750,000-gallon sludge holding tank as an alternate bid item. However, due to the high bids the second tank was unable to be funded. As a result, the project was awarded with the construction of only one 750,000-gallon tank.

While the addition of the one 750,000-gallon tank was a considerable improvement from the old drying beds, it still did not entirely fulfill the biosolids handling needs of the plant. The original design for the plant included two 750,000-gallon tanks which would work in tandem with each other. Basically, one tank would be filled and then digest/age the sludge for land application. Once digestion in the first tank has begun, the second tank would then begin to be filled. The tanks would provide approximately 45 days of storage.

In the spring 2024 CDBG application round, funds were requested to continue upgrading the plant including the purchase and installation of the second sludge holding tank, aeration, mixers, pumps, controls, and other necessary fittings. Project cost is estimated to be $1,780,000, with $1.618,000 in CDBG funds and $162,000 in matching funds provided by Laurens County Water & Sewer Commission.

The proposed improvements consist of installing the 750,000-gallon tank. The drying beds were removed as part of the original scope in Phase I. The location is already cleared and will provide the space necessary to house the proposed second tank and its equipment, without acquisition and/or land clearing.

This additional tank will be the completion of the 2022 original scope, providing the Clinton-Joanna plant its necessary capacity to not only sustain its increasing wastewater volume, but to handle the facility’s max capacity.

The grant is one of 10 awarded statewide in the CDBG Community Infrastructure Spring 2024 Funding Round. It is the largest of the 10 grant awards.

In honor of National Volunteer Week in May, the Upper Savannah Regional Long Term Care Ombudsman Program recently recognized Chasity Lewis and Natasha Duncan for their work as Volunteer Ombudsman.

Volunteer Ombudsman are volunteers who conduct friendly routine visits at assisted living facilities and nursing homes providing information and education to residents, their families, and facility staff about residents’ rights.

“We appreciate everything Chasity and Natasha are doing to make a difference with our residents,” said Ashley Capps, who is Upper Savannah’s Long Term Care Ombudsman/Volunteer Ombudsman Coordinator. “Their efforts are not going unnoticed. Our program would not be where it is today without them.”

Upper Savannah Regional Long-Term Care Ombudsman Ericca Livingston added, “I appreciate Chasity and Natasha and the impact they have made.”

Livingston and Capps are the two certified Long Term Care Ombudsman of the Upper Savannah Region that advocate for and work to resolve problems or complaints affecting residents in the nursing homes, assisted living facilities (community residential care facilities), and the facilities that are owned/operated by the Department of Disability and Special Needs, and Department of Mental Health.

If you are interested in becoming a Volunteer Ombudsman, please contact Ashley Capps via email at acapps@uppersavannah.com.