Greer Hosted 105 Mayors, Council Members

The City of Greer had a host of visitors Thursday.

About 105 mayors and city council members from throughout the state had an opportunity to see Greer's vision, during a mobile workshop at the Municipal Association of South Carolina's meeting.

It's an opportunity that Francenia Ellis, mayor of the Town of Furman, said she is glad she didn't miss out on.

Ellis' town, which has a population of less than 300, is located near Walterboro.

Ellis said she'd love to do half of the things she had seen during her tour of Greer. 

"Everything is so beautiful and so well done," she said.

As she looked around the Cannon Centre, Ellis said she couldn't believe all the changes that been made to the building, even after having seen the video earlier."

"The way they took this old building and brought it up to date, I just love it," Ellis said. 

City Park with the fountains and the flowers was something else that has her thinking about what she could do in her own town.

She said she also wants to know more about is the special equipment at Kids Planet that is designed for children with special needs. 

But what's first on her list?

"The first thing I'm going to do is to get Mayor (Rick) Danner's phone number," Ellis said. 

Mayor Rick Danner told the crowd about the Inland Port that is under construction within Greer's City Limits. The Inland Port is expected to open in October. The group had an opportunity to drive by the port on the return trip to Greenville for the rest of the MASC meeting.

The group had an opportunity to walk through the grounds of City Park, visit event space inside Greer City Hall and have lunch at the Cannon Centre.

City Administrator Ed Driggers talked to the group about how City Hall had been planned, designed and built. He also discussed how Greer City locations had been consolidated. While city employees were once housed in 12 different locations, the city has been able to reduce the locations to three. He said doing so had also put services in line so that residents could come to one place to conduct business.

Driggers also talked about the event space and how the rooms were being used by the public for weddings, reunions, rehearsal dinners, receptions, and other events. A move that has helped to generate money for the city.

City officials also showed a brief video presentation of how the Cannon Centre was transformed from an old Armory into space that can be used for events, as well as theater performances.