Spartanburg council OKs business license update, awards Hangar D floor bid and makes appointments

Spartanburg City Council approved several routine and regulatory actions on Nov. 10, 2025, including an ordinance update to the city's business-license schedule required by Act 176 (2020), acceptance of the lowest bid for a Hangar D floor system (funded by the Department of Commerce), and the appointment of Angela Jeter to the public-safety board.

City Manager Chris Story and Finance Director Dennis Locke explained the business-license update, saying municipalities periodically rebalance classifications using NAICS codes and OMB data to reduce administrative burden and maintain fairness among businesses. Story told the council the change "is done based on NAICS code classifications and ... OMB data that comes to us from Washington," and that, assuming the same set of businesses and activity, the update would reduce collections by about $90,000 annually. Staff recommended continuing participation in the statewide portal that supports multi-jurisdiction business licensing and committing to direct outreach to any firms adversely affected by the reclassification.

On the Hangar D floor project, public-works staff said bidders toured the site, provided references and returned closely clustered bids. The project manager told council the lowest responsive bid would be accepted and that funding comes 100 percent from a Department of Commerce economic-development allocation. Council moved to accept the lowest bid and voted in favor.

Council also approved a motion to move the Dec. meeting from Dec. 8 to Dec. 15 because of a County Council conflict and the Christmas parade; and unanimously approved the public-safety board appointment of Angela Jeter. Near the meeting's close, a council member moved and the body voted to enter executive session.

The transcript records motions, seconds and vocal 'Aye' counts but does not include a roll-call showing individual yes/no votes or numeric tallies for each item. Where possible the city will publish formal minutes with complete roll-call results.

What passed

- Amendment to business-license ordinance to update class schedule (Act 176 of 2020): approved after staff explanation; staff noted an approximate $90,000 per-year revenue reduction if business activity remained unchanged. - Award of Hangar D floor-system bid: lowest responsive bidder accepted; funding 100% from Department of Commerce economic-development allocation. - Appointment of Angela Jeter to the Public Safety Board: approved unanimously. - Calendar amendment: December meeting moved to Monday, Dec. 15 (added to the council calendar). - Motion to enter executive session: approved.

Quotes

"This is done based on NAICS code classifications and ... OMB data that comes to us from Washington," City Manager Chris Story said when explaining the license schedule update.

Next steps: Staff said it will notify affected businesses about the license schedule changes, pursue FEMA/ARPA reimbursement where applicable for other projects mentioned in staff updates, and follow up on tenant concerns at Archibald Rutledge as staff coordinate with Spartanburg Housing.