Fort Mill 11

No. 1 one on our annual list is the City of Tega Cay administration. After an eventful year, residents ask, "What's Next?"

Enhancing downtown Fort Mill is the catalyst town leaders contend will help increase foot traffic.

With that mission in mind, Fort Mill leaders have taken some bold steps this year to draw locals and newcomers alike to the downtown area.

Just over a year ago, Tega Cay's Connor “Bear” McKemey was badly burned when an outdoor fireplace erupted days before Christmas.

Connor suffered burns to more than 89 percent of his body. He wasn't expected to live.

But he did.

Then he wasn't expected to walk, let alone shoot hoops or play football or lacrosse ever again.

But he does.

Carol and Ben Baker can't forget their daughter, Michelle DiBernardini.

Angie and Randy Hoover can't forget their son, Luke Hoover.

The Nation Ford High School students died less than a week apart in two separate October wrecks. The double tragedies shook a community and crippled an extended school family.

No one, it seemed, was immune to the recession that hit the country and Fort Mill residents in 2009.

The victims of the recession were varied and included residents young and old, and businesses small and large.

2009 saw the rise – and the fall – of the town's first downtown arts center, the Art Mill.

Marcia Buike opened the Art Mill in February with funding assistance from her husband, Jim Buike, and local arts supporter Jim Harper. The Art Mill was home to weekly events, including art classes, and the gallery was filled with works from local artists.

Schools throughout the township felt the pinch of a tight budget in 2009.

The cause of the township's budget woes stemmed in part from Act 388, the legislation that replaced residential property taxes with a statewide sales tax increase to fund public education. Cuts in state funding to the districts were made because of a decrease in state sales tax income, and the Fort Mill and Lancaster County school districts were left to reconcile their budgets with the deficit.

York County Councilman Paul Lindemann had a busy year.

First came a fine for a 2008 DUI-related charge.

For that, some people called for Lindemann's resignation, but the Republican stood his ground while representing District 1 voters who live mainly in Fort Mill and Tega Cay as well as a small area in Rock Hill.

First, Memorial Day was a holiday for Fort Mill students.

Then it wasn't.

Then it was.

Again.

The on-again, off-again student holiday sat in limbo in Fort Mill after Mother Nature twice doled out snow, prompting officials to close York County schools.

Was it the Year of the Flu?

Certainly the fear of the flu swept Fort Mill Township as children and adults alike were hit with the H1N1 bug, also called “swine flu,” and other debilitating viruses.

Although the magnet for the township's growth is the excellent reputation of the schools, success can't be measured in test scores along.

To compliment the strong academic performance of local schools is the hardware earned by students and their faculty leaders in competition outside the classroom.