PICKENS COUNTY — The town of Six Mile was honored recently by Pickens County Council for receiving the 2015 Municipal Association Award, the highest honor offered by the Association.
Councilman Trey Whitehurst praised the citizens of Six Mile for banding together to ensure economic growth.
“This little town, every time I find out stuff about this town, how their citizens get together and how they move to make things happen … They had a bank out there that had left and they went out and recruited a bank,” he said during council’s meeting last Monday.
“Our Bank” came into existence after the town found itself without a community bank for the first time since 1919 when the regional bank that was located downtown decided to close. The town’s project was chosen over 28 other entries in the Municipal Association’s 1-1,000 population category.
“Our Bank is a great example of residents and local officials coming together to improve the quality of life,” Miriam Hair, executive director for the Municipal Association, said in a release.
At the council meeting, Six Mile Mayor Roy Stoddard accepted the council’s praise.
“Thank you very much and thank you for the recognition, but it would not have been possible without the whole community,” Stoddard said.
“We’re probably the only municipality that — and you’ll have to excuse me, I’m getting a little emotional here — we share in the profits of that bank. So it behooves the residents in Six Mile to participate. You put your money there, you take out some loans … it’s a very unique thing that we pulled off.
“We also have a new dentist office in town that now has over 3,000 patients,” he added. “There’s $7 million in deposits in that bank, great things are happening in Six Mile.”
“You know, if you haven’t ever been out that way, you really should go. They have a fantastic farmer’s market. I call it the ‘Mayberry of South Carolina,’” said Whitehurst. “It’s just a lot of good people with good hearts.”
