SUMTER COUNTY, S.C. NEWS

Sumter County Government is pleased to introduce qPublic.net, an online service that encompasses all your property search and mapping needs.

To conduct property searches, click on this link: https://qpublic.schneidercorp.com/Application.aspx?App=SumterCountySC&PageType=Search

You can search by owner name, property address, parcel number or legal description.

To search a GIS map of Sumter County, click on this link: https://qpublic.schneidercorp.com/Application.aspx?App=SumterCountySC&PageType=Map

“We are continually working to improve customer service for Sumter County residents and by adding qPublic to our website, we’re making property searches much easier,” said Sumter County Administrator Gary Mixon. 

Sumter County Recreation & Parks is excited to announce two new Spring Leagues: Adult Softball and Adult Kickball.
Registration is underway, there’s a fee $500 per team, and at least 10 people are required per team. Up to 18 people can be on a team.
For softball, there will be five divisions: Open Men, Open Women, Corporate, Church Men, and Church Women. Church leagues are 15 years old and up, every other division is 18 years old and up.
Kickball is co-ed, each team must have at least three women, and all players need to be 18 years old and up.
The Spring League begins play on Monday, April 3, 2023. All games will be held at Dillon Park.
Open Men and Open Women play on Mondays; Corporate on Tuesdays; Kickball on Wednesdays; Church Men and Church Women on Thursdays and Fridays.
There must be at least four teams to comprise a league. All leagues will play 7 regular season games with a double elimination tournament to close the season. First and second place trophies will be awarded.
A coaches’ meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on March 23, 2023, at the Recreation & Parks Department, 155 Haynsworth Street.
The deadline to register is Friday, March 24, 2023.
The registration form is available under the Recreation & Parks section of our website.

You can register online: https://web1.myvscloud.com/wbwsc/scsumterctywt.wsc/splash.html

Or you can register in person at the Recreation & Parks Office, 155 Haynsworth Street.
Questions? Call 803-436-2248 

Students can win cash prizes in a cheerleading/step team competition, a social media video challenge and a poster contest, and the winners will be announced at the second ‘Stash the Trash’ event on March 25, 2023, at the Sumter County Civic Center.
We’re focusing on Quadrant 2 for now, which includes these Elementary schools: Alice Drive, Cherryvale, Kingsbury, Manchester, Millwood, Pocalla Springs, Wilder, and Willow Drive. The Middle Schools are: Alice Drive, Bates and Furman. Sumter High School is also part of Quadrant 2.
Wilson Hall, Westside Academy, Liberty STEAM Charter School, Berea Junior Academy and Sumter Christian are also included in Quadrant 2.
The Sumter Litter Advisory Board divided Sumter County into quadrants to focus on one section at a time for thorough litter cleanups. To split up the County, the LAB used U.S. 15 as the North and South line and U.S. 378 as the East to West line.
For the cheerleading/step team competition, participants are asked to come up with a 3 to 4 minute original routine that embraces the anti-littering ‘Stash the Trash’ theme. Cheers will be judged on clarity of theme, originality, overall design and inclusion of helpful information. The cheer or step routines will be performed live for judges on March 25 at the Civic Center. Deadline for registration is March 17, 2023.
First place winners will be awarded $300, with $200 for second place and $100 for third place. There will be 3 categories: Elementary, Middle and High School.
The social media video challenge also focuses on the ‘Stash the Trash’ theme with a 25-45 second video on social media conveying how litter is detrimental to our county as it’s illegal, wrong and costly. Sumter County’s ‘Stash the Trash’ logo must incorporated into the video. Videos are not allowed to use inappropriate language or music. Copyrighted music may only be used through social media apps and original music by local bands require a waiver.
All videos must include this hashtag: #StashtheTrashSumterSC
Winners will be chosen from two categories: $100 for best content and $100 for most likes.
A poster contest is also part of this event and is open to K-5^th graders. Students must use the ‘Stash the Trash’ theme, and only one student per poster – no teams or groups. Standard white poster boards will be used and all mediums are acceptable. Posters will be judged on clarity of theme, age-appropriate neatness, originality, overall design and inclusion on helpful tips. Please send in the top 3 posters from your school.
First place wins $100, second place is $75 and third place is $50.
For official entry forms, please visit www.sumterlitteradvisoryboard.com and you will see the PDFs to register, along with all the official rules. 

Sumter Veteran Curtis L. Helms led the Pledge of Allegiance Tuesday evening before County Council’s regular meeting.
Chief Master Sgt. (Ret.) Helms honorably served our Nation in the U.S. Air Force for 30 years, from Aug. 1989 to Aug. 2019. He’s a Gulf War service Veteran that supported the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Helms lives in District 1, which is represented by Councilman Carlton Washington.
Thank you for your service, Mr. Helms. 

Sumter County Council Tuesday evening dealt with land use matters and more during its regular meeting.
City-County Planning Director Helen Roodman spoke first about a request to rezone 20.12 acres of land at 3221 Camden Highway from Residential-9 (R-9) to Agricultural Conservation (AC).
First reading was approved.
Roodman then spoke about a request to rezone 1.89 acres of land at 4605 Patriot Parkway from General Residential (GR) to Agricultural Conservation (AC).
Third reading was approved.
Council then approved a Resolution proclaiming April as Fair Housing Month in Sumter, South Carolina.
Councilman Carlton Washington then advocated for the importance of Delaine Elementary School to that community.
Councilman Artie Baker reported on an earlier Public Works Committee meeting, and said there was a thorough discussion of litter and no action was taken. He noted Sumter County Government is making a lot of progress in that area. There was also a discussion about private roads, he said, and no action was taken.
Council Chairman James T. McCain Jr. reported that he and Councilman Washington recently attended the 2023 S.C. Rural Summit in Beaufort, S.C., during which there was much discussion about litter. It was eye opening, he said, and noted that Sumter County is ahead of other counties regarding the issue of litter. Other topics included public transportation and brownfield properties.
Sumter County Administrator Gary Mixon spoke briefly about the schedule for the upcoming budget.
Council will have budget workshops on April 25 and on May 2, with the latter featuring requests from elected officials. First reading of the budget will be held on May 9 with second reading on May 23. Council will hear from the School District during a June 13, 2023, workshop.
Mixon also reported that FTC recently was awarded $3.6 million from the state to bring 85 miles of broadband access to rural areas of Sumter County.
During the Public Comments, two Sumter residents advocated for Delaine Elementary School. A member of the Turkey Creek Neighborhood Association advocated for increased law enforcement presence.
A Pinewood resident advocated for the roads in his area.
The meeting adjourned at 6:55 p.m.