WHITMIRE — The Town of Whitmire held a final public meeting Wednesday regarding a potential village renaissance grant for the Old Mill area on and around Grant Street.

Cyndi Gawronski, community development planner for Central Midlands Council on Government, gave a PowerPoint presentation to town council members and residents.

Gawronski said the meeting was the “close-out public hearing of the Old Mill Village Renaissance planning grant.”

However, now the grant is in the hands of the S.C. Department of Commerce, which will decide whether to award the grant.

“We spoke of the implementation of phase I starting this spring, with an upgrade to water lines in the neighborhood,” Gawronski said. “Larger sized lines would be installed, bringing them to Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) regulation size, new fire hydrants would be installed, bringing fire protection in the neighborhood to 100 percent coverage and new sidewalks would be put in, where the construction removed the existing ones.”

Mayor Billy Hollingsworth said there were about 20 people who came Wednesday to hear about a potential grant in the community.

In other business, the Whitmire State of the Town meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Feb. 18 at the Community Center.

“The purpose of this is to get as many citizens in Whitmire involved as possible,” said Hollingsworth.

During the first half of the meeting Hollingsworth and Town Council will report on the state of the town including where they currently stand and the direction they should take economically, physically and recreational.

Hollingsworth said he wants to hear what the citizens have to say and welcomes suggestions.

Before the meeting starts, light refreshments will be served between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.