By: Natalie M. Zeigler
City Manager
Our City is staffed with approximately 160 employees, each of whom brings unique skills, talents, and interests to the table to serve our 7,800 residents and roughly 30,000-person daytime population. Through their efforts, we are proud to say that we have seen considerable improvement in the variety and quality of services offered by our local government to our citizens. While we are far from perfect, we work diligently to improve upon our weaknesses and ensure that we are best fulfilling the needs of our people.
We as City staff must do our part to ensure a high quality of life for all who call Hartsville home. In recent years, we have given particular priority to revitalizing those areas of our City most in need of a little TLC. We do this by leveraging our limited resources to creatively and collaboratively address the problems associated with poverty. Since bringing in a team of experts through the American Planning Association to craft a comprehensive revitalization plan two years ago, our focus has centered primarily on the area known as South Hartsville, formally known as the Historic Butler District and by some as the “Southside”.
In the past year, City staff has diligently worked to implement the recommendations of this plan. We are grateful for the many service providers, businesses, Foundations, non-profit organizations and dedicated individuals who have joined us in developing innovative solutions to problems ranging from crime and recidivism to blight to unsafe living conditions to saving an abandoned cemetery.
Many key City staff spend a substantial amount of their time and energy concentrating on addressing the problems plaguing this neighborhood. The overwhelming reality, though, is that the City, and its partners, cannot do this alone. President Ford once said, “If I can, I must.” Residents must take accountability in improving the areas in which they live, to the greatest extent allowable by their means and abilities.
Ironically, Hurricane Matthew brought out the worst in weather but the best in many people. It was so refreshing to see neighbors getting out of their own yards to go lend a helping hand to those affected by the storm. It should not take a hurricane to inspire us to action, though. I encourage you to take this opportunity to consider how you can more fully engage in supporting those around you. Rather than complaining about the single working mother who lives next door and never seems to make cutting her grass a priority, why not spend an extra 30 minutes helping lighten her load and making the world a little better for both of you?
To borrow the great words of John F Kennedy, “ask not what your [community] can do for you, but what you can do for your [community]”.
Natalie Zeigler is the City Manager of Hartsville. For more information, call City Hall at 843-383-3015 or email info2@hartsvillesc.gov.