Meet Chris Moody
Chris is a native of Dillon South Carolina. His father was a politician, school teacher, and farmer. His mother was also a school teacher. Chris was destined to continue his parents careers in public service. Chris grew up working on the family farm where his parents instilled hard work, faith, and integrity into each of their three children. After graduating from Avalon Academy, Chris attended North Greenville University where he majored in Business Administration and Minored in Computer Science. While at North Greenville, Chris balanced athletics and academics, when he was selected as having the highest GPA on the men's cross-country team. Chris's academic performance landed him a spot on the Mid-South Conference Academic All-Conference Team, where he was selected as academic all-conference. Upon graduation, Chris located to Fort Mill in August 2001 where he began his telecommunications career as an IT Engineer at Comporium Communications. Chris also obtained his MBA from Winthrop University in 2008. Chris and his wife Lottie have three children
Listen to Chris on WRHI's Straight Talk
Infrastructure Improvements
As chairperson of the Water and Sewer Committee, I am proud of the infrastructure improvements that have occurred over the last four years. The Town of Fort Mill has recently broken ground on the Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) expansion. This project is the largest financial project in the history of the town. This expansion will allow additional capacity for years to come. Notice the progress on this project:
The town has recently started construction of the Bass Street Water Tank. This will give the town much needed water capacity. Staff was able to secure a $500,000 grant from the Rural Infrastructure Authority for construction of new water tank site. Please check out these photos so that you can see the progress!
In May of this year, the town broke ground on fire station #2. This facility will open in February 2020. It will provide quicker response times and allow a lower ISO (Insurance Services Offering) rating within a five- mile radius of that station. The lower ISO rating will help keep insurance premiums low for our taxpayers. This station will also provide coverage to areas outside of the town limits if needed.
Economic Development
Façade Improvement Grants:
The Town of Fort Mill wants small businesses that thrive downtown. One tool that has been created to drive economic development is a Façade Improvement Grant program. This program provides a one time matching grant up to $5,000 to assist businesses in making exterior improvements to buildings in the commercial district. The Mud Puddle and Cutting Room have taken advantage of this grant program. As you can see in these photos, these businesses have made significant work and improvements to the exterior of their buildings. I hope that many other businesses will utilize the available funding to make further improvements and enhancements in the near future.
The Bailey Bill:
The Bailey Bill was created in 1992 to provide local governments with a tool to spur economic development and re-investment of historic properties. In May of 2016, town council voted to expand the Bailey Bill to encourage businesses and land owners to re-invest into downtown. At a high level, this incentive allows a business owner an opportunity to lock in the lower tax value (for the town's portion of their tax bill) prior to revitalizing distressed properties for a period of 20 years. Two properties have taken advantage of this opportunity. The Center Theatre Building that houses Southern Sugar and EW Process have become welcome additions to Main Street. The building that houses the Improper Pig and Amor Artis also took advantage of the Bailey Bill. I hope that other businesses will see economic development opportunities that are available so that our downtown area will continue to thrive.
Impact Fees
Shortly before I was elected, Town Council adopted an Impact Fee Ordinance. An impact fee is a charge that the Town of Fort Mill issues for a residential or commercial property at the time a building permit is issued. Impact fees fall into four broad categories: Parks and Recreation, Fire Protection, Municipal Facilities, and Transportation. The town currently does not charge the transportation impact fee because it greatly hurts commercial development and businesses. The Parks and Recreation Impact Fee will allow the town to pay for the entire cost of the new amphitheatre that is going to be constructed at Walter Elisha Park. The fire protection impact fee collected will cover almost 25% of the total cost of fire station #2 that will open in 2020. The municipal facilities impact fee allowed the town to pay for the entire cost of our new town hall. These fees truly do allow growth to pay for growth. Impact fees have helped the town not to raise taxes on existing residents. Town Council will look to update the fees this fall once the new impact fee study is completed. To learn more about impact fees please see this link: https://fortmillsc.gov/index.asp?SEC=B20ED6B5-93A6-4D5E-A68C-27F863B708A2
