Newberry County voted with the state of South Carolina in its choice of Donald Trump as the next President of the United States.

On the local level, these individuals were voted into office:

Rick Martin — Republican, S.C. House of Representative, District 40

Beth Folk — Democrat, Clerk of Court

Laura Kneece — Republican, Newberry County Coroner

Harriett Rucker — Democrat, Newberry County Council, District 5

In the city of Newberry, Al Harvey retired as city manager and Matt DeWitt was promoted from assistant city manager to the city post.

Around the county, Newberry High School finished its new football stadium.

Newberry College was rated the 16th best college in the South. Newberry College also won the football South Atlantic Conference Championship.

Jim Suber, assistant superintendent was named District Superintendent, bringing 36 years of experience to the position, after Superintendent Bennie Bennett was killed in an automobile accident.

Newberry County voters passed renewal of the one-cent sales tax in Newberry County for capital projects in 2017. This is the third renewal of the sales tax,

The Preservation Honor Award was presented to Misti and Billey West on June 17, 2016, in recognition for the preservation of Oakland Mill West Development in Newberry by Palmetto Trust for Historic Preservation and the Office of the Governor.

Newberry Mayor Foster Senn was named president of the Association of S.C. Mayors during the Municipal Association annual meeting held June 15. The Association has 110 members and provides opportunities for the state’s mayors to more fully engage in advocating for issues.

Economic Development

West Fraser is investing another $33 million with the renovation of a log merchandizing system. This modernizing effort will allow the company to boost production by 37 percent and will make the Newberry facility the most capitalized West Fraser facility in the Southeastern United States.

MetalMasters relocated on U.S. 76 in Newberry County. After 35 years, a larger building facility was constructed across the highway to a larger 40,000-square-foot building. The expansion was worth about $4 million, with 20 new jobs.

ThermaFlo Incorporated is an incoming business located between S.C. 121 and 2806 Fair Ave. The company manufactures industrial steam and fluid systems. Construction is now underway and is expected to begin operations in March.

Their vision is to be able to train all reps and have a place to bring engineers and other customers for demonstrations and training for all their products.

Falcon Boats chose Newberry a home in the former BJ Graphics facility on U.S. 76. The business will build their own brand of boats. Falcon Boats and Marine Pro have tripled their workforce and doubled their dealer base in 2016.

Sea Pro Boats comes on strong in Whitmire to build the “Next Generation” of Sea Pro boats. They have 100 employees and build 15 boats per week. They are located in the former closed textile facility.

Caterpillar, located in the Newberry County Industrial Park, announced it is scheduled to close by the end of 2017. The Newberry facility will merge into in a larger Caterpillar factory in Georgia.

Mid-Carolina Commerce Park

MM Technics announced in December that it will be constructing a new 40,000-square-foot facility in the Mid-Carolina Commerce Park. This will be the first industry to locate in the 10-year-old park.

The German BMW supplier will create at least 65 jobs in the next five years with an average wage of about $22 per hour. This a big deal that Newberry County has the BMW seal of approval as a location for suppliers and it will be easier to land additional projects.

Building Alliances and getting prepared for growth, the Mid-Carolina Commerce Park was also the No. 2 story of the year, as the county embarked on a $1.25 million project to clear and grade two sites within the park.

If this project had not started in the falloff 2016, MM Technics would not have selected Newberry County because we would not have been able to provide a ready site in the time frame necessary by the company.

And perhaps the best thing about this pad-ready site effort it is it will ultimately not cost the taxpayers of Newberry County a dime. Our allies in the S.C. Department of Commerce, the South Carolina Power Team, Newberry Electric Cooperative and AT&T picked up about 92 percent of the expenses, meaning Newberry County only had to pay $115,000 for the engineering.

And when you factor in the lumber sales from clearing lumber sales from clearing the sites and thinning the park, the county will actually make a small profit from the effort.

If a label had to be placed on 2016 with economic development, it would be the year that all of our preparedness efforts started coming to fruition. Economic development today is all about supplying companies with speed to the market.

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Margaret Brackett

Contributing Columnist

Margaret Brackett is from Newberry. Her columns appear weekly in The Newberry Observer.