City Council Highlights | Tuesday, February 18, 2025

To begin the City Council meeting this evening (Tuesday, February 18, 2025), City Council presented several proclamations including Jayme Hill’s Kidz Kindness Day and Corey Mitchell Multiple Sclerosis Foundation Day. 

Born in 2018, Jayme Hill is a book author, kindness advocate, and founder of the Kidz Kindness Club who believes that kindness, respect and good manners can change the world and foster a more compassionate society. Her book “Good Manners, Good People” was written with the goal of helping teach other children by example and through her book founded a club on how to be kind and respectful to others so they can lead by example at home, in school and in their communities.

Columbia Police Department Officer Corey Mitchell founded the Corey Mitchell MS Foundation in early 2020, as a grassroots organization dedicated to enhancing and uplifting Multiple Sclerosis awareness in Columbia, through community engagement, advocacy, and the stewardship of unselfishness. Since 2020, the foundation has played a vital role in promoting sustainable practices, Multiple Sclerosis education, and community involvement through initiatives such as community back-to-school bashes, Multiple Sclerosis walks, health fairs, and the Multiple Sclerosis Scholarship Gala, enhancing awareness and the quality of life for all residents.

Before approving consent agenda items, City Council also received a presentation from the University of South Carolina Student Government City Advocacy Committee. The committee addressed a variety of student concerns, questions and focus areas in which they hope to address with leadership within the University of South Carolina and the City of Columbia.

During the consent agenda portion of the City Council meeting, Council approved two significant items that align with the City’s commitment to develop affordable and mixed income housing and to enhance our Columbia Water infrastructure for our existing customers and future growth of our City.

The first highlighted item is City Council approving a new professional services contract for development strategies and analysis for affordable and mixed income housing in the City of Columbia (Item #6). This contract was awarded to DreamKey Partners, Inc., who will work collaboratively with the City of Columbia on strategies to ensure we develop a diverse housing stock across our communities. The City of Columbia remains committed to establish key partnerships for facilitating new developments, as well as revitalizing existing communities to ensure we have affordable, attainable, vibrant and walkable communities across our City.

The second highlighted item is City Council approving a professional services contract for a new North Columbia pump station and force main (Item #15). The purpose of this project is to replace aging infrastructure with a new facility to better serve water conveyance needs of customers in the Crane Creek and Smith Branch sewer basins. This new station will also serve Scout Motors and surrounding developments, as well as the Bull Street District and the new University of South Carolina School of Medicine. The existing station will continue to receive these flows until the new station in constructed; estimated completion of the facility is 2030.

Here is a link to watch the full City Council meeting: https://www.youtube.com/live/VvZIjqxqA7E

To view all City Council agendas, please visit https://columbiacitysc.iqm2.com/Citizens/calendar.aspx.

For more information about upcoming City Council meetings or general information about the City of Columbia, please visit www.ColumbiaSC.gov.