By: Natalie M. Zeigler
City Manager
Walt Disney is oftentimes a great source of inspiration in just about anything in life. He once said, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” In previous articles, the topic of small town development and revitalization has been discussed in length. While it is important to have the knowledge of why our administration takes on these projects and initiatives, it is equally important to know how we make these dreams a reality and some of the recent results of our success.
Like Walt Disney, we dream big for a small town. With a population of committed and diversely thinking people, our community is united in one overarching cause: to make the City of Hartsville the greatest place to live. Equally so, our administration unites together in taking on projects that allow us to be a unique small town with a metropolitan flair and to have things in our city that you might would only see in a large metropolitan area.
Our administration spends an extensive amount of time researching what other cities are doing to solve identical problems that our community faces. Additionally, our staff attends trainings and seminars to learn from experts and other communities about their projects and initiatives. We then take this information and see how best we can apply it to Hartsville.
Our dreams have become so large and successful that it is no surprise that other cities have reached out to us for advice and training on what we are doing in Hartsville and how to apply it to their communities. Most recently, City Department Heads and other staff joined the City of Inman for their development and revitalization retreat in Hartsville to present the work being done here. Inman, a city of roughly 2,500 residents, is looking to dream as big as we have and chose the City of Hartsville as the location and inspiration for this retreat. This March, the City of Hartsville will host over 50 individuals from Aiken, SC for an economic development retreat. Again, this community recognizes the need to push forward with innovative thinking and has chosen us as one of their locations of inspiration.
Hosting these communities is not only a neighborly gesture but one of pride. By having these communities visit our beautiful city, we are able to show them what makes our city so great. We are able boast our community pride, our thriving hotels, our unique retail spaces, and our delicious restaurants. Most importantly, we are able to share with them our dream and vision for the future of the City of Hartsville.
Natalie Zeigler is the City Manager of Hartsville. For more information, call City Hall at 843-383-3015 or email info2@hartsvillesc.gov.