April 2020 Council Highlights

  • Council approved the annexation requests from two property owners:
    • 44 acres located on south side of Pocalla Springs, and,
    • 64 acres located off Camden Highway (Highway 521 North).
  • Council approved the budget from the U.S. H Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant funding. Funds will be primarily spent on housing rehabilitation programs through our community development office as well as Sumter United Ministries, as well as YMCA summer youth programs and City’s Summer Youth Employment Program.
  • Council approved a resolution to replace water lines on East Liberty Street from Harvin Street to Lafayette Drive.
  • The City continues to work on a balanced budget and have reduced the deficit by another 100 thousand dollars. Staff and Council will continue to work on this budget to have a full balanced budget for the next fiscal year, starting July 1.
  • All four emergency ordinances related to COVID-19 previously approved by unanimous vote by City Council have been extended, including:
    • Declaring Certain Health & Safety Precautions, extended until May 6, 2020.
    • Extending the Curfew within the City limits, from 11pm to 5am, until May 6, 2020.
    • Authorizing electronic meetings for City Council, extended until June 21, 2020.
    • Temporarily postponing meetings for City Boards and Commissions, extended through June 20, 2020.

NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • In this day and age, there are a lot of untruthful news sites and posts online. It’s important for all citizens to follow trusted sources of information. Even if a post has been shared by someone you know, please visit the official page of that organization to verify that the post is real and not a fake. The City has provided important COVID-19 documents, links and guidance on our website for you to follow, sumtersc.gov(then click on the COVID-19 image). Official news sources for the City of Sumter will be through our website and social media as well as the Sumter Police Department.
  • We’ve worked hard to minimize disruption of City services, and with the exception of curbside recycling, all city services are continuing. Curbside recycling requires workers to handle household items, so it will resume as soon as it’s safe for our workers to do so.
    • For those who would still like to continue recycling, all recycling centers and the county landfill are open to their regular hours. There are nine (9) recycling centers across the county and one landfill (details and addresses are listed on our website).
  • Convenience pay centers, such as at the Treasurer’s Office (20 North Magnolia Street) and Summary Court (190 East Canal Street) are open, so if you need to pay your taxes or a ticket, you can still do that.
  • The Liberty Center, located at 12 W. Liberty Street, which houses Business License, Planning, Building and Codes offices is still open, you can call their offices directly to handle most requests via phone, but access to the facility is limited to the rear entrance. In fact, all city offices remain open at this time, please visit our website at sumtersc.gov to look up a department or use our “Contact Us” form if you need non-emergency assistance.
  • All City Parks remain closed at this time for the safety and welfare of our citizens and employees.
  • The City has suspended all scheduled event and procession permits and street closures. Additionally, any new requests received will not be considered until we resume normal business functions.
  • The lobby at our Utility Billing Department, located at 130 S. Harvin Street is closed. At this time, only the drive-thru window remains open. The following services can be performed online at sumtersc.gov/utilities/accounts
    • Pay Your Bill.
    • Start New Service.
    • Stop Service.
    • Request Temporary Service.
    • Start a Bank Draft.

Our customer service representatives remain available to the public via email at [email protected] or phone 803-436-2541.

  • Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast is coming up! Join the entire Sumter community as they live stream this momentous occasion as they lift up our community and world in prayer during this unique time. Instead of canceling this year, they are streaming online on Sunday, May 10th at 9am on the Sumter SC Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast Youtube channel.
  • City Council meetings are Regular City Council meetings are held on the first Tuesday at 1 PM and on the third Tuesday at 5:30 PM in the Council Chambers on the 4th floor of the Opera House, with the exception of July. City residents are encouraged to attend and public comments are welcome. Our next meetings will be May 5th at 1 PM and May 19th at 5:30 PM.

For more information on these events and more, visit our online calendar of events at www.sumtersc.gov.