By Todd Glover, Executive Director, Municipal Association of SC
At the Municipal Association of South Carolina, the number "271" comes up fairly often. It's the number of cities and towns across our state — some located in metropolitan areas of many hundreds of thousands of residents, some located in rural areas with hundreds of people, and everything in between.
The Association holds a deep appreciation for how unique each of the 271 cities and towns are in South Carolina. Each has its own history and economic base, and perhaps most importantly, its own vision for the future of the community. In 1930, municipalities came together to form the Association for the betterment of cities and towns throughout the state, and we've been doing it ever since.
When the Association decided that the time had come to replace its existing mark, a logo which has served us well for the last 20 years, we landed on a visual that speaks to how all South Carolina cities and towns from every background come together to serve the residents of our state.
When you look at our new brandmark, you'll see the crescent that you've seen many times on the state flag, signifying how we are one South Carolina. But above that crescent you'll see some of the visual clues of our diversity. There's tall commercial buildings but also a small storefront with an awning. There's a field with a barn — so many of us are agricultural — and there's an institutional, government-type building, as we have all come to the world of government to make our hometown communities the best they can be.
As we developed this image to encapsulate everything the Association has become in the last nine decades, we decided to launch it at the traditional beginning of our advocacy work at the State House during Hometown Legislative Action Day. We're also taking this moment to launch an improved website, www.masc.sc.
The Association's many services, from its advocacy and education efforts to its affiliate associations and publications, all remain organized much as they have been within the site. Members of the SC Municipal Insurance Trust and SC Municipal Insurance and Risk Financing Fund will find that the Association's Risk Management Services resources have moved to their own tab in the navigation. Beyond that, simple changes to improve flow and search functions will make for an overall improved experience.
Our visual messaging and website are important ways for the Association to convey who we are and how we can help. Our staff has worked hard to bring these projects to fruition, and I'm confident the updates will benefit our collective dedication to the cities and towns of South Carolina for years to come.