Junior Leadership Participates in Their State Government Day

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Junior Leadership Florence County enjoyed a fantastic day in Columbia for their State Government Session Tuesday, March 10. The Students were able to network with the Florence County Legislative Delegation, Lt. Governor Evette, and JLFC Alumni! Special thanks to Senator Leatherman and AT&T for making the opportunity possible for our youth. We would also like to thank JLFC Advisory Board Members, Celia Urquhart and Neal Vincent, for their help chaperoning the trip.

Eggs Up Grill Celebrates Joining the Chamber with a Ribbon Cutting

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by Ardie Arvidson

Eggs Up Grill joined the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce and held a ribbon cutting on Monday, March 9 with the Chamber and its ambassadors. Eggs Up is located at 250 N Beltline Drive in Florence.

Dean Patel is the franchise owner. He opened the breakfast and lunch grill in August 2018. This is his second location. He also owns the Eggs Up in Sumter. Patel lives in Sumter.

Patel said he decided to open in Florence because the chain started in Pawley’s Island and has a big following in this direction. The first Eggs Up was started in 1997 by Chris Skodras.

Patel said he chose the franchise because it is family-oriented.

“Our staff is what makes Eggs Up so good,” Patel said. “It is a good workplace.”

He said the staff enjoys the fact that the restaurant is open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., and they get to spend the rest of the day with their families.

Patel said he has a staff of 15 employees.

Patel said he is a member of the chamber in Sumter and saw what it did for his business. He wanted to be a part of the community of Florence.

“It is not just about serving breakfast; it is about helping the community,” Patel aid. “We want to get to know the community and to help.”

The restaurant serves traditional breakfast food with its own twist.

“Our new best seller is the Texas Farmhouse omelet,” he said. “It is huge. It takes up the whole plate.”

Other items include steak and eggs, buttermilk pancakes, French toast, waffles, eggs benedict and more. Lunch menu items include salads, pimento cheese burger, bacon cheddar burger, BLT. reuben, wraps, soup and other sandwiches.

The restaurant has a seating capacity of 98.

To read the full article on SC Now, click here.

Woodforest National Bank Celebrates Opening in Florence

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by Ardie Arvidson

The Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce welcomed Woodforest National Bank into its membership on Friday, March 6 with a ribbon cutting ceremony. The bank is located within the Walmart Supercenter on North Beltline Drive in Florence. Chamber ambassadors joined the staff for the celebration.

Woodforest opened its first account on Thursday, February 13. Friday, March 6 was its official debut for the Florence and Hartsville locations, said Takiyah Sheppard, Branch Manager of the Florence location.

“We are a full-service bank,” Sheppard said.

Sheppard said the bank offers seven-day-week banking. The bank is open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday. It has two ATMS with one full service ATM that accepts deposits.

Sheppard said the bank offers direct deposit with pay a day earlier.

The bank has a staff of four.

Sheppard said plans are to open a branch in the Walmart Supercenter on Irby Street in March 2021.

Woodforest is also in Dillon, Marion/Mullins, Cheraw, Conway and Myrtle Beach, she said.

The bank is based in Texas and operates in 17 states with more than 800 locations, Sheppard said. There are 46 branches in South Carolina. Sheppard said all are located in Walmart except for some in Texas.

To read the full article on SC Now, click here.

Fellows in Education Hear South Florence High School’s Dream

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by Lauren Owens

The Fellows in Education got to experience South Florence High School’s dream during their visit to the school Tuesday, March 3.

Lisa Suggs, assistant principal, told the fellows that dreams do come true.

“Last year we dared to dream, and we’ve seen things, successes this year, and that’s why we are here to tell you it can happen in a short amount of time,” Suggs said.

During the meeting, the fellows heard a presentation from a few administrators and teachers.

Suggs, during her presentation, said South Florence High imagined being a school where the arts flourished and students are encouraged to think creatively.

Suggs cited several areas in which the school in the past year has seen great growth, including the addition of a new piano lab and broadcast studio and the renovation of the auditorium, library and several classrooms.

Jackie Shuler, assistant principal, spoke to fellows about the newly created arts magnet program at South Florence High.

The school has been an arts school for several years, but for a long time the school wanted to become an arts magnet school. The creation of the arts magnet program allowed students from across the district to apply to the arts program at South Florence High.

Last year, the school received its first group of students to the arts magnet school program.

“When we all started at South Florence, it was not all blank pages,” Shuler said. “It was actually an outline of where we wanted to go, and what we’ve been able to do with Dr. O’Malley and the arts is we’ve been able to color in the pages.” (Richard O’Malley is the district superintendent.)

After sharing South Florence’s dream and what it has accomplished, Erick Figueras said the school is beyond grateful for what it has received, and it is going to keep moving forward.

“So we dared to dream, we accomplished some of our dreams, but we are not going to be satisfied,” Figueras said. “We are going to continue to dream.”

South Florence High wants to continue to upgrade its facility, including a dance studio, new gym with an athletic training facility and new instructional space for band and percussion.

After the presentation, the fellows toured the school’s dance class, visual arts class and the distance learning classroom. The fellows also heard an algebra class sing a song to remember the quadratic formula and another class play “Stand By Me” on guitar.

The Fellows in Education is a program that offers Florence business leaders a chance to see what takes place in schools. The program, which is in its fifth year, is sponsored by Florence One Schools, The School Foundation and the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce.

The next Fellows in Education meeting will be April 14 at Briggs Elementary School.

To read the full article on SC Now, click here.

Mailroom Barber Co. Joins Chamber

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Staff Reports

The Mailroom Barber Co. hair studio in downtown Florence downtown has joined the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce.

The company is expanding and is expected to soon cut the ribbon for their West Palmetto Street location, which will be more of a barber shop.

The downtown location at 116-B S. Irby St.will be a full-service hair salon and cosmetology studio.

The company also is going to open a shop in Taylors in Upstate South Carolina.

To read the full article on SC Now, click here.

Willard Dorriety: Collaboration Essential for Continued Growth in Florence County

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by Matthew Robertson

Collaboration seems to be at the top of newly elected Florence County Council Chairman Willard Dorriety Jr.’s agenda.

Dorriety, elected council chairman in January, provided the annual state of the county address at the 2020 Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce Legislative Breakfast held Friday, February 28 at the Florence Center.

He spoke for about 33 and a half minutes, using a PowerPoint containing several slides of photos.

“Florence County has a $64 million budget,” Dorriety said. “Some people think that’s a lot of money and it is but we run a very tight ship, a very thin ship, so we don’t have a lot of extra revenue to throw around.”

Dorriety implied that the lack of revenue necessitates working with partners. His presentation provided several examples of the collaboration between partners.

The Drs. Bruce & Lee Foundation: He thanked the foundation of providing the funding to construct the county’s library system. Dorriety also reminded the crowd that the county is responsible for paying the employees at those libraries.

Dorriety said he felt the main branch of the library, the Drs. Bruce & Lee Foundation Florence County Library, was part of the county’s contribution to the city’s downtown revitalization efforts.

He also thanked the foundation for donating approximately $4 million to the building of the Florence County Museum.

Once again, he said the county must pay for the employees of the museum.

Dorriety also mentioned the foundation’s involvement in the location of a Buc-EEs off Interstate 95’s exit 170.

Senator Hugh K. Leatherman Sr: Dorriety also thanked State Sen. Hugh K. Leatherman Sr. for his work in securing approximately $4 million for the construction of the county museum.

He mentioned that Leatherman helped the county acquire over $300 million in funding from the State Infrastructure Bank for the building of six roads in the county’s first capital project sales tax.

Dorriety also pushed back on criticism that Leatherman received for funding the expansion of S.C. 51, the Pamplico Highway, and U.S. 378. He said the critics had no idea how much those expansions were going to open up the areas of Pamplico, Johnsonville and Lake City.

City of Florence: Dorriety used the example of the Florence Center as showing the power of cooperation between the city and the county.

He said the facility had two profitable months in the previous year, very unusual for that type of facility.

The Florence Center’s economic impact is $52 million and growing, Dorriety said. That growth can be felt in the location of several hotels around the center.

Dorriety thanked the city for its help with water for the new Niagara Bottling Plant coming to the Pee Dee Touchtone Energy Commerce City.

On Wednesday, at the Florence County Legislative luncheon, Dorriety said working with the city on water was essential to continued economic development.

Dorriety also spoke about the county’s somewhat strained relationship with the city. Dorriety indicated at the February county council meeting that the county’s intergovernmental committee would be meeting with the city at least quarterly.

Florence Mayor Pro Tempore Frank J. “Buddy” Brand II indicated that the city had also set up a committee of himself and council members Glynn F. Willis and Teresa Myers Ervin to meet with the county’s committee.

Other municipalities: Dorriety also spoke about the transformation of Lake City, something he credited to the Darla Moore Foundation.

He recommended that those attending visit the new Lake City Park, now complete with accessible playground equipment for disabled children.

He also spoke about a project at another smaller municipality where the municipality sought and received $500,000 for the building of a new water tower in the second capital project sales tax. The municipality then used that funding to get a $1 million grant to build the water tower.

Utilities: The county’s three power utilities, Dorriety said, were also essential in providing the power to the potential industrial sites.

Dorriety added that three utilities, Duke Energy Progress, Pee Dee Electric Cooperative, and Santee Electric Cooperative, were fantastic partners.

Looking toward the future: The goal of the collaboration between the county and its partners, Dorriety said, was simple: continue to economically develop the county so that it can compete to retain its youth and grow into the future.

The major avenue for continued economic growth will be potentially two separate bond issues.

One, approved by the Florence County Council in February, will be around $22 million. The proceeds from those bonds will be used to acquire and develop industrial property in the county to have on hand when an economic developer investigates locating a facility in Florence.

The other is the potential reimposition of the Capital Project Sales Tax.

Dorriety said the committee created by the council was going to receive requests for about $350 million from municipalities and the county itself but would only have approximately $160 million to spend.

He said the potential penny sales — which would not increase sales taxes in the county — would likely be similar to the county’s current sales tax with a $125 million bond issue and $25 million of pay-as-you-go projects.

Dorriety also spoke about the county’s plans for the future including the construction of a four-level, 390 space parking deck between the County Complex building and the Florence County magistrates’ offices.

He said the new parking facility would cost $14 million and would not result in a tax increase.

Dorriety added that the County Complex and the parking lot that abuts the backside of several buildings on West Evans Street would also be getting facelifts.

Dorriety said it was nice to have organizations like the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce. He added that all the organizations like the chamber share a love of the county.

He said the most important thing was the county’s 900 employees. Dorriety added that the county had some really, really good employees.

“As you businessmen know, your business is only as good as your employees,” Dorriety said. “If you don’t have good employees, it’s not good.”

Dorriety said he was very proud of the new Florence County Judicial Center. He said he was initially skeptical and voted against a bond issue. Dorriety added that his vote actually saved the county around $14 million.

He also spoke about $6 million of previous renovations to the County Complex, indicating that the complex’s additions including a medical facility, helped save the county funds by reducing the number of sick days and the amount of downtime of employees waiting to see a doctor.

To read the full article on SC Now, click here.

Leadership Florence Participates in Legislative Day in Columbia

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The 42-member cohort of Leadership Florence spent the day in Columbia, SC for Florence County Legislative Day on Wednesday, February 26th. The class was greeted by the office of Senator Hugh Leatherman for continental breakfast to start the day.

The class later met with Governor Henry McMaster and Lt. Governor Pamela Evette. The two updated the group on policies affecting economic development, education and workforce in our state and region. Next the group toured the State House and heard from a bipartisan delegation of the House of Representatives. Led by House Speaker Jay Lucas, the group included Representatives Terry Alexander, Roger Kirby and Jay Jordan. The class was also recognized on the House floor by this Florence delegation, and received a standing ovation from the floor.

Lunch at the beautiful Palmetto club included a detailed presentation from the Ports Authority and updates from Florence County and Economic Development.

The group also visited the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), where we heard from SLED leadership got an extensive behind the scenes tour and presentation about their mission and law enforcement goals for the state of South Carolina.

The day ended with a Legislative Day reception at the Columbia Museum of Art. The reception was attended by many companies, agencies and institutions from Florence County. The group had the opportunity to meet many more legislators and business executives.

Young Professionals First Lunch & Learn of 2020

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Young Professionals of Florence had a great turnout for their Lunch and Learn on Thursday, February,20,2020. A big Thank you to all of those who contributed to make this event impactful.
We also want to thank the Hyatt Place for allowing YPF to use the beautiful meeting space. HopeHealth sponsored the lunch that was catered by Notch8. Special thanks to the guest speakers – five of Florence County’s non-profits shared information and knowledge of being a board member.
The non-profits sharing with the YPF group included Care House of the Pee Dee, Lighthouse Ministries, American Heart Association, Eastern SC Red Cross and United Way.

Jr. Leadership Held County Government Day

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The Junior Leadership Florence class gathered on Thursday, February 20 for the program’s County Government Day. The students had the opportunity to experience a Florence County Council meeting and visit the Florence County Sheriff’s Office. It was an insightful day learning how government is handled on the county level. We greatly appreciate our hosts for the day and their support of the Junior Leadership program. We began by attending the February Florence County Council meeting. The Chairman, Willard Dorriety, introduced the class and welcomed us to the meeting.  The councilmen were genuinely happy to have us in attendance, as well as the students. It was great to experience firsthand how the County Council discusses and decides Florence’s obstacles.

The second part of our day consisted of a visit to the Florence County Sheriff’s Office. Several officers spoke about their specific positions and backgrounds. They had several videos for the students to watch along with hands on activities.  Our students were encouraged to be engaged and got to volunteer to take a sobriety test while wearing “drunk” goggles. We also got to see the K-9-unit, explosives, different guns that the officers carry, and we also had the opportunity to observe the SWAT team perform some tasks. At the end of the day, the class gained a better grasp on how our County Council and the Sheriff’s Office work to make Florence County a better place to live. We are so honored to have great men and women who give so much on the daily to keep us safe. Special thanks to all of those at FCSO whom made this day possible.

Health Facilities Federal Credit Union to Merge with South Carolina Federal

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by Ardie Arvidson

The Health Facilities Federal Credit Union in Florence is merging with the much larger North Charleston-based South Carolina Federal Credit Union. The merger is to take place on March 3.

This will be S.C. Federal’s third merger in Florence since 2016. It added Florence DuPont Employees Federal Credit Union in 2016 and last year S.C. Telco Federal Credit Union.

In an announcement, South Carolina Federal President and CEO Scott Woods said, “We are very proud of our presence in Florence and are thrilled to deepen our community reach by merging with Health Facilities, a strong and trusted local entity.”

He said, “Florence is a thriving town and we are committed to providing the best service to our soon to be 10,000 members here.”

Members of Health Facilities Federal Credit Union voted in November to approve the merger. Health Facilities has two branches in Florence. Its main branch is at 501 S. Irby St.

Health Facilities was started in 1977, said CEO Robert Harris. It provides loans and other financial services to health-care employees and municipal employees in the Florence area.

Health Facilities Federal Credit Union has roughly $35 million in assets and more than 9,000 members, he said.

The announcement said “both Health Facilities locations and all employees will be retained. Health Facilities CEO Robert Harris will continue in the role of city executive.”

Harris said the merger will provide several benefits to the credit union and its members.

“The leadership of Health Facilities believes this merger is an opportunity to provide more convenient, competitively priced products and services to our members, while keeping pace with the growth of Florence,” Harris said. ”We look forward to the future and serving both the Pee Dee region and state of South Carolina.”

South Carolina Federal is a much larger credit union that was set up as the Charleston Naval Yard Credit Union in the mid-1930s, Harris said.

South Carolina Federal now has more than 155,000 members and operates 21 offices in five major markets: Charleston, Columbia, Georgetown, Florence and Spartanburg.

“It has close to $2 billion in assets,” Harris said.

Harris said the merger will provide Health Facilities Federal members enhanced technology, expanded services, investment options and a full line of insurance products and ATMs.

Harris has worked with Health Facilities Federal for about 16 years.

The last official board meeting of Health Facilities was held Tuesday night at The Peddler. Members of the Health Facilities Federal Credit Union Board of Directors and the Supervisory Board were recognized. Each member present was presented a plaque for his or her tenure on the board, some having served almost from the beginning when the four hospitals in Florence came together to form the credit union. In the 1980s the credit union merged with the Florence municipal employee credit union and some board members are from that merger.

Donald Wilcox, chairman of the board, said he is looking forward to the merger.

“It will mean great advantages for our members,” he said. “They (South Carolina Federal) will be able to offer them more financial services than we could because of our size.”

Jeannette Glenn, board member since 2003, retired from McLeod Regional Medical Center and a charter member of the credit union, said Health Facilities Federal Credit Union has been a tremendous value to employees and has enabled them to have valuable financial services. She said it has been a wonderful opportunity for people to save for both their living and retirement.

She said the company has partnered with the community and supported other institutions and organizations, contributing to worthy causes.

“It was a tough decision for us,” she said. “When you look at the number of services that will be provided for members through the merger it will be a wonderful thing. They already have many services that we were longing for but couldn’t have due to our size.”

Mary Ann Turner, member of the board since 1993, worked for a physicians group for 35 years before retiring. She said of her time of the board, “It is a wonderful organization and our board is the best.”

Other members of the board of directors honored at the meeting on Tuesday night were Waymon Munford (1986); Josephine Jupiter (1998); Dorothy Hines (2005); Howard Parnell (2010) and Joe Page (2017).

Harris presented a check for $25,000 to the First Responders Memorial as part of a $120,000 giving program above the company’s normal gifts given annually over the past 20 years. This portion of the gift will help finance a planned memorial for all fallen first responders to be placed at the Florence County Judicial Center, Harris said.

Previously, $10,000 was given to the Youth Mentors of the Pee Dee (formerly the Big Brothers Association), $50,000 to the McLeod Foundation ($25,000 for the Hope Fund and $25,000 for the Children’s Hospital) and $25,000 for the Boys & Girls Club of the Pee Dee.

To read the full article on SC Now, click here.