Municipal Association of South Carolina presents Six Mile with statewide Municipal Achievement Award for preserving 63 acres of green space
Town of Six Mile presents Red, White, and Brew Coffee Company with Business of the Year Award and Tom Von Kaenel of Semper Fi Barn with Non-Profit of the Year Award
By Karen Brewer
Six Mile Mayor James Atkinson accepts a statewide Municipal Achievement Award on behalf of the Town of Six Mile from Naomi Reed of the Municipal Association of South Carolina. (Photo by Karen Brewer, The Pickens County Chronicle)
During the inaugural State of Six Mile event, held the evening of Thursday, July 25, 2024 in the community room at Six Mile Town Hall, Naomi Reed, Field Services Manager for the Municipal Association of South Carolina, presented Mayor James Atkinson with the statewide Municipal Achievement Award (for population category 1 – 1,000) for preserving 63 acres of green space (the Bryson Children’s Walk). As the Municipal Achievement Award trophy states, the award is “in recognition of its superior performance and innovative program leading to an improved quality of life for its residents.” During the same event, Mayor Atkinson, on behalf of the Town of Six Mile, presented Jenni Brink of Red, White, and Brew Coffee Company with the Business of the Year Award and presented Tom von Kaenel, founder of the Semper Fi Barn, with the Non-Profit of the Year award.
Six Mile Mayor James Atkinson presents Jenni Brink, owner of Red, White, and Brew Coffee Company, with the Business of the Year Award. (Photos by Karen Brewer, The Pickens County Chronicle)
Six Mile Mayor James Atkinson presents Tom von Kaenel, founder of the Semper Fi Barn, with the Non-Profit of the Year Award. (Photos by Karen Brewer, The Pickens County Chronicle)
The meeting opened with a welcome from Clemson Area Chamber of Commerce President Bryan Lee, who introduced the evening’s first speaker, Matthew Golden, the Town of Six Mile’s Business Liaison and a financial advisor. Golden, who recently graduated, along with Lee, from Leadership Pickens County, was at the State of Six Mile event, Lee said, “to discuss how we can utilize our resources and help small town Six Mile thrive.” A graduate of the University of South Carolina Aiken, Golden graduated Magna Cum Laude and received the Most Outstanding Senior, Lee said.
Golden thanked Lee and Mayor Atkinson for the opportunity to participate and spoke about Six Mile’s “commitment to maintaining our natural landscapes and preserving our heritage…Every corner of Six Mile reflects our dedication to preserving the beauty that surrounds us.” He spoke of traditions such as the Issaqueena Festival, gathering at the town square, and the farmer’s market that “guide us and remind us of the importance of connecting and belonging.”
Golden shared resources and opportunities for local businesses, including recommending local business owners join, or utilize resources from, organizations including the Clemson Area Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Small Business Administration (which has a branch in Clemson), the Piedmont chapter of SCORE, Alliance Pickens, the Upstate South Carolina Alliance, Ten at the Top (which offers grants), and the Community Foundation of Greater Clemson. He also advised that seminars would be held, in the community room at Six Mile Town Hall, for Six Mile business owners or those thinking about starting a business.
Mayor Atkinson thanked Golden and then presented the Business of the Year Award to Jenni Brink, owner of Red, White, and Brew Coffee Company on Main Street. “They were also the Business of the Year of the Clemson Chamber,” Atkinson noted.
Mayor Atkinson then presented the Non-Profit of the Year Award to Tom von Kaenel, founder of the Semper Fi Barn in Six Mile. “Tom does a lot of great things for veterans in our area,” Atkinson said. “He puts on a lot of great events, a lot of times in conjunction with the town. We appreciate you, Tom, and what you do.” In addition to the certificate, he was presented a check.
Mayor Atkinson then introduced Naomi Reed, local representative from the Municipal Association of South Carolina. “We provide support to all 271 municipalities across the state,” she said, noting that she covers the Upstate region, which includes about 90 municipalities, and she helps to create ordinances or give advice on policies or general advice, and attends events. “Tonight, I have the honor of celebrating with Six Mile and presenting an award. This is the Stanley Cup of municipalities. This is a very coveted award. Over 40 applicants applied for an achievement award, .and the town of Six Mile was awarded this at our annual meeting last week. Mayor Atkinson received this award on behalf of the town for the project that you will hear about in the video. Mayor, Town Council, Town of Six Mile, I want to congratulate you on behalf of the Municipal Association for receiving this award.”
A video about the Bryson project (which may be viewed below) was shown to the audience.
Lee thanked Reed, stating, “Thank you, Naomi, for that amazing award, something to be very proud of here in the town of Six Mile.” He then welcomed Mayor Atkinson to give the State of Six Mile address.
Mayor James Atkinson delivers his inaugural State of Six Mile address. (Photo by Karen Brewer, The Pickens County Chronicle)
Atkinson thanked the caterer for the dinner and thanked everyone for attending the State of Six Mile address. He thanked Clemson Area Chamber of Commerce President Bryan Lee and Natalia Martin from the Clemson Chamber of Commerce for organizing, sponsoring, and promoting the State of Six Mile event.
“What a great job the Clemson Area Chamber does for Central, Pendleton, Clemson, and Six Mile. A Chamber membership, as Matthew alluded to, certainly provides tremendous benefits for businesses and municipalities, more value than you can possibly imagine.
“In South Carolina, 46% of the state’s municipalities have a population of less than 1,000 residents. As a moment of pride for Six Mile, with the Bryson Children’s Nature Walk, we are celebrating our second statewide Municipal Association Achievement Award from the Municipal Association of South Carolina in nine years.” (Six Mile’s previous Municipal award was for their bank project.)
“What a great accomplishment this is for our town, considering the competition and the number of small towns vying for this honor in South Carolina.
“The Bryson project means so much to our children, town, and area. I hope this project will make you want to open your checkbooks and/or find room within your governmental allocations to make this project a reality. We are distributing a donation flyer tonight and have on our website methodologies to expedite the donation process.
“It is truly an honor to represent the Town of Six Mile as Mayor. I take that responsibility very seriously. My only regret is that there is never enough time in the week to accomplish what we need to do in Six Mile. To make even a dent in what needs to be done, it takes the help of a good Council, staff, contract labor personnel, and volunteers. We have a great staff, Council, contract labor personnel, and a handful of great volunteers I am very dependent upon, and I compliment them all very highly – but we need more volunteers.
“From day one of my administration, I have stressed the need for volunteers and continue to do so. Too often, the talk is centered around people’s desires for local government to do more, but, in a small town, and for a small town with one full time employee, the talk needs to shift to what citizens can do to assist the town. In Six Mile, we have events projects, grounds maintenance projects, litter projects, and many other areas needing volunteer help. So, I ask you to please volunteer to help Six Mile.
In my first address as Mayor, at my swearing-in in December, I spoke of the lack of civility today. Our nation was founded by people who believed they were creating a system of governance that would enable citizens to work together constructively, whatever their differences of opinion. But the system relied upon those citizens treating each other and their governmental units with patience, tolerance, respect, and maturity. Unfortunately, this premise appears to have taken a back seat. Constantly, I hear political leaders at all levels discussing civility shortcoming issues they face. Even at a local hospital that I was at the other day, a posted sign read, ‘Aggressive behavior is not tolerated here.’ I am wearing a lapel pin from the Municipal Association of South Carolina that reads ‘Civility, Respect, Solutions.’ That says a lot.
“The Mayor and each member of any Council in South Carolina takes an oath to uphold ordinances and policies. There is a duty to protect the safety of everyone – youth and adult – and to look out for risks to the town from a fiscal and legal liability perspective. Any public official or employee anywhere seeking to fulfill these duties should be treated with respect and thanked for their willingness to carry out these sworn responsibilities.
“It is easy for folks to constantly be critical of what is done without taking the time to understand the background. It takes no courage or effort to go on Facebook or to join the uninformed and unknowing and all critical on social media. Likewise, in any town, it only exemplifies immaturity and disrespect when people use foul language or stomp out of a room with disagreements over decisions made for the well-being of the town and its residents. But it takes courage to actually make the effort to be there, attend a council meeting, conduct research, and meet with elected officials.
“Monthly, I try to provide the opportunity to personally communicate with the Mayor over a bag lunch or really to communicate anytime. Unfortunately, not too many people take advantage of that opportunity, but we still try to provide that opportunity in Six Mile.
“It takes courage as an elected official at any level to take a firm stance on a decision made in the best interest of the governmental body and citizens and safety versus waffling or not taking a stand.
“Whether it’s volunteering at local events, assisting in a litter pickup, attending town meetings, or simply lending a helping hand to your neighbor, like in the Six Mile of old, involvement makes a difference. When we come together, we create a stronger, unified, and better town. Coming together builds the foundation of a town we can all be proud of. Anger and divisiveness and apathy accomplish nothing.
“My desire for the citizens of our town is a unified effort for the betterment and beauty of Six Mile. Each street in our town should demonstrate pride in our town.
“Flyers at each of your tables present some facts about our town and area. A current PowerPoint on our website tells a lot about our town and its history.”
At slide five of the PowerPoint presentation, titled ‘Electrical and Other’, he paused and read from an article in the March 3, 1927 edition of The Pickens Sentinel that noted: “the progressive little town of Six Mile had electrical light service.” “It was a significant achievement for Six Mile and it was not until August 29, 1938 that a meeting was held to organize the county cooperative electrification association,.” he said.
He paused at slide seven, stating, “Something struck me on that slide. ‘Combined with recognizing its past, Six Mile looks to the future with a progressive comprehensive plan that promotes and recognizes green space in a community, family-oriented setting.’ I like that. We’re talking about green space tonight. And that’s part of our comprehensive plan.
“On slide eight, it’s talking about achieving goals. There is a sentence here: ‘In all of these examples, we see the people of Six Mile pulling together in whatever way needed.’ It’s talking about several projects where the people pulled together and accomplished the tasks here in Six Mile, one of which was our bank project that we won a Municipal Association award for back in 2015.
“Slide nine. Tom von Kaenel, I’m sure, is well aware of this. Six Mile also prides itself in that three of four Pickens County, South Carolina Medal of Honor recipients are from the Six Mile area, more than in any other place in the United States.
“Like all towns, in this inflation-packed time, we are struggling. As in your own household, our expenses keep rising, but our revenue sources do not. This town has not raised its millage rate in decades, even to the tipping point of a local option sales tax offset. As a result, we actually collect a mere $1,500 in total, annually, in property taxes. Our business license fees and other fees are far below other towns in the county. It is a miracle that we are able to, through prudent fiscal management of our limited revenue sources, do what we do in Six Mile.
“As Mayor, and previously as the Finance Committee Chairman on Council, one of my goals was and is fiscal responsibility. That entails spending town funds as you would your own and investing town funds for the greatest return. At all levels of government today, fiscal responsibility needs emphasis. It takes courage to take a stand on fiscal responsibility.
“Now, for a few town highlights.
“We have a recreation program that has, in months, grown from about 77 participants to just over 300. We have actually become more of a county recreation program than a town program, with less than 10% of our program participants actually being from Six Mile.
“Our hope is that, based on the scope of our program participation, Pickens County will consider assisting the town more with Recreation Program expenses, including ongoing maintenance at the Ponderosa Park facility. Ponderosa Park is quite a remarkable facility in a town this size. And we thank the County, who actually owns the site, for what they have done in helping us with that facility, quite an impressive facility.
“We have just completed the Stoddard Pavilion downtown, and we are in the process of constructing the Downtown Community Park. The Community Park’s next phases include parking, a storage area, and plans to make the park and walking track esthetically pleasing. We must focus to make the Downtown Park fully functional as soon as possible.
“Our Bryson Children’s Nature Walk, which was talked about tonight, is another huge project which, when complete, will have 1 ½ miles of walking trails, a boardwalk, pond overlook, children’s garden area, parking area, and Children’s Learning Center – right next to Six Mile Elementary School. What a project that’s going to be.
“Our town has a Business Liaison, Matthew. You heard from him here tonight. One of my goals as Mayor was to benefit the business community by appointing a Business Liaison to ensure lack of knowledge of current trends in funding and investment awareness does not allow our businesses to leave ‘money on the table.’ I also stress membership with the Clemson Area Chamber of Commerce. Business membership is truly a cost-effective means of promoting our local businesses.
“Events are very important to our town, and our town has an Events Coordinator.
“Seniors should not be left out. Thus, our town has a Senior Activities Coordinator.
“From essentially day one, a Contract Zoning Administrator was hired to deal with the enforcement of our zoning ordinance, which has been in effect since 2007.
“I ask you, what little town of less than 1,000 residents has the volume and level of initiatives as does Six Mile?
“During my eight months as Mayor, a tremendous amount of my time has centered around too long neglected infrastructure. We have achieved new signage for our town entrances and our Town Hall area, dealt with a redo of two town property septic systems, cleaned up and painted the exterior of our bank property and the interior of our Town Hall, completed a path at the Community Park downtown, redone our town Information Technology System and backup, and made the front of Town Hall more esthetically pleasing. Infrastructure and aesthetic improvement to our town are ongoing. Parking lot repaving at Town Hall should be underway soon. We have dealt with, and continue to address, invasive species removal at the Bryson property. If you build it or own it, you must maintain it.
“Outside of our undertakings, despite our small-town status, we strive to be a leader, not a follower. Our town’s two Municipal Association Achievement Awards demonstrate this desire. While we want to be aware of current trends and legal changes affecting us, we do not strive to always be looking at those ahead of us. In looking solely at those ahead of you, all you ever witness is the rear end of the other party ahead. Two statements that make me cringe are ‘What is everyone else doing?’ and ‘We’ve always done it that way.’ We should do things better tomorrow than we do today.
“Our goal is to control the destiny of Six and keep Six Mile Six Mile.
“We want to be a leader in green space, because, once green space is lost, it is gone forever. Our town, which encompasses but two square miles, today has very little green space remaining. In January of 2023, our Town Council forwarded, per our protocol, an Open Space District Designation for our Planning Commission for inclusion in our town’s zoning ordinance. An Open Space District is essential to our efforts to maintain and preserve green space in Six Mile, and we must ensure completion of this to our zoning ordinance.
“Again, I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude for your presence here tonight. Our small town should be a community where we should support each other, treat each other with respect, exemplify civility, courtesy, and unity, mold our children to grow into good citizens, maintain town fiscal responsibility, and retain our unique character, inclusive of greenspace.
“We can only accomplish these and other great things by working hand in hand and not against each other, and exemplifying the courage to physically ‘be there’ versus on social media.
“By actions and not merely words of respect and unity, I truly believe God will bestow many blessings on our town and its citizens.
“I thank you for having the courage, commitment, and interest to be here tonight. May God bless Six Mile. Thank you.”
“Thank you, Mayor.,” said Lee. “What great leadership we have. Naomi, thank you. Matthew, Natalia. It’s a delight to see the passion, the enthusiasm that define your community and have great leadership like this to come together. We can’t express enough thankfulness for the patience, engagements, contributions making the first ever State of Six Mile a success. We aspire to keep reinforcing the spirit of innovation and collaboration that makes Six Mile a town like no other. We sincerely hope that our discussions have sparked new ideas and deepened your appreciation for the remarkable, one-of-a-kind treasures that define your beloved town. We invite you to continue the journey with us and explore more of the town’s offerings and initiatives through the Mayor’s leadership, Matthew’s initiatives, and other things that come, maybe from the Chamber. It is our belief that the resources available will keep you informed, engaged, and motivated. Thank you for your participation, your support, and your unwavering commitment to the future of our community. As always, the door to the Chamber of Commerce is always open. Thank you again.”
Six Mile Mayor James Atkinson and the Town of Six Mile Business Liaison Matthew Golden (Photo by Karen Brewer, The Pickens County Chronicle)
Pickens County Administrator Ken Roper and Six Mile Mayor James Atkinson (Photo by Karen Brewer, The Pickens County Chronicle)
Pickens County Administrator Ken Roper, who attended the State of Six Mile address, issued a statement the following morning during his Pickens County update, sharing the good news about Six Mile’s statewide award from the Municipal Association of South Carolina, recognizing the town for saving green space within the town, adjacent to Six Mile Elementary, for the Bryson Children’s Nature Walk. “It was land that was deeded to the Six Mile community, and Six Mile was recognized last night for having dedicated that, through the work of Upstate Forever and some other folks, to be available for generations as a nature area for the children of our community,” Roper said. “I thought it was great that they were recognized.” Speaking of the love he has for Six Mile, Roper added, “I think the way that Six Mile comes together around projects, the way that they take what is unique about them and turn it into a huge asset, is something that is inspiring and constructive for all of us. Congratulations, Six Mile. We love you, Six Mile. Well deserved award.”