Business View Magazine | May 2019

300 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE MAY 2019 NEWBERRY, SOUTH CAROLINA ...... Founded in 1856, Newberry College is a fully accredited, private, liberal arts college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The College is ranked #12 for Best Regional Colleges in the South and #3 for Best Value by U.S. News and World Report. With enrollment of nearly 1,200 students, Newberry offers an individualized undergraduate learning experience that allows students to have meaningful interactions with their professors. Students put their knowledge into practice through a focused program of internships, simulations and study abroad experiences. The College offers a broad spectrum career-focused liberal arts majors along with pre-professional programs in medicine/allied health, law, engineering and ministry. Additionally, Newberry Online offers degree-completion programs for adult learners in Respiratory Therapy, RN-to-BSN, Psychology and Criminal Justice. The Newberry Wolves compete in 20 NCAA Division II sports, along with cheerleading and dance. The College also will field its first intercollegiate esports team in the 2019-2020 season. Newberry College provides two innovative programs to help student and families manage college costs in school and after graduation. The Tuition Promise freezes tuition for incoming freshmen for the four years they attend Newberry, and the Loan Repayment Promise helps graduates earning modest salaries to repay student loans. ...... Learn more: www.newberry.edu to people of all ages in the community. The problem was that the city wasn’t getting enough bandwidth to support folks who might operate their business from home on the internet. So, the last four or five years, we’ve been talking to industry leaders on how best to implement this fiber to the home program, and we’ve been fortunate to partner with a third-party provider who will light the fiber for the city. We’ll build the network, so the system will be owned by the City of Newberry. It will allow us to bring gigabit speed internet to every business and home in the city. It will be subscription-based, but that kind of speed doesn’t exist anywhere around here. now. “I liken it back to the early 1900s, when Newberry decided to get in the electric business. The industry leaders, at the time, who provided electricity didn’t want to serve the city because we were too small, so we had to get in the electric business and supply our own electricity to our residents. That’s sort of where we are now with fiber. Technology is the electricity of the future, and we approached industry leaders for help to provide high-speed internet to our residents. It didn’t work out, so we found someone who would step in and fill that gap for us. High-speed internet is an expectation now, like water, sewer, and electric, and we’re positioning ourselves to continue to grow and prosper and move forward. It’s an exciting time in the City of Newberry.” Tim Baker, Newberry Utilities Director, reflects on the city’s innovative “Pay Go” system. “We recently started a pre-payment option for our utility customers, where they can monitor and track their usage to a smart phone,” he explains. “This initiative required the city to make many upfront utility/IT improvements. Customers are given notifications of spikes in usage and when they are getting low in their account. They can recharge it online, or in our office, or pay a small convenience fee and recharge at several other providers including Family Dollar and Dollar General. By pre-paying, at the end of the month, they’re not receiving a bill for $300, if they had a water leak or problem with their HVAC unit, and they can now see those kinds of issues in real time. In every case where we’ve had a customer