Delegates from the state’s 271 cities and towns elected Barbara Blain-Bellamy as president of the Municipal Association of SC during the 2023 Annual Meeting in Greenville.
Blain-Bellamy drew attention to the Municipal Association’s ongoing civility in local government campaign, which has gained attention among municipal leagues around the nation. In South Carolina, municipal councils are using the civility pledge, and the Municipal Association has built a civility partnership the SC School Board Association.
At the same time, Blain-Bellamy said, the Municipal Association has achieved success at the State House “supporting and passing legislation to ensure our elected officials have the tools necessary to govern our cities and towns and provide the best services to our residents, visitors and business owners.”
Outgoing president and Aiken Mayor Rick Osbon praised the growth of the Municipal Association’s federal outreach efforts. Municipal Association representatives now regularly meet with South Carolina’s Congressional delegation and host meetings with their staffs.
“This outreach has already paid dividends, from heads-up phone calls, questions, changes made to bills and relationships formed that we have never had in the history of the Association,” he said.
Osbon listed some of the state-level legislative wins of the last year, including the removal of a budget proviso that would have prohibited cities and towns from regulating short-term rentals, allowing the use of state and local accommodations taxes for workforce housing development, a ban on dangerous “squat truck” modifications, an act allowing smaller municipalities to provide a compilation of financial statements instead of cost-prohibitive audits, and an increase in penalties for fentanyl trafficking.
He cautioned that proposed bans on short-term rental regulations continue to be introduced in the General Assembly, with one such bill, H3253, remaining active for the 2024 session.
Association Executive Director Todd Glover echoed this issue, describing the push for a regulation ban as something that “may be the biggest act of preemption since I’ve been with the Association.”
“We all know that short-term rental answers for Edisto Beach or Folly Beach or Charleston are probably not the solution for Greenwood or Simpsonville. We have to maintain the ability for all of you to make that local decision.”
Glover called attention to the Association’s first Small City Summit, which took place simultaneously with the first day of the Annual Meeting, addressing the needs of municipalities of fewer than 3,000 residents, a group that makes up nearly 70% of South Carolina municipalities.
He also highlighted the efforts of the Association’s downtown technical assistance program, Main Street South Carolina, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, expanding its staff and launching WeShopSC, a statewide e-commerce platform for small businesses.
The Annual Meeting’s keynote speaker, Chris Singleton, is a former professional athlete drafted by the Chicago Cubs. Following the loss of his mother in a racially motivated mass shooting in Charleston, Singleton became an inspirational speaker who has shares his message of unity and nationwide every year.
Singleton drew a connection between his campaign of unity and the Municipal Association’s civility pledge, which reads, “I pledge to build a stronger and more prosperous community by advocating for civil engagement, respecting others and their viewpoints, and finding solutions for the betterment of my city or town.”
In respecting others’ viewpoints, Singleton said that everyone who disagrees with someone else needs to reflect on the life experiences, or personal story, that would have led the other person to arrive at their stance.
His request to the audience, he said, is not that they change who they are in the pursuit of civility, but that they “remind people there is a story behind every single stance.”
Find presentation materials for the Annual Meeting, the Municipal Association’s 2023 Annual Report and 2023 Legislative Report online .