 The Ensar Kenan House was built in 1868 by Dr. Joshua Fulton Ensar, a major in the Union Army during the Civil War, who was sent to Columbia to treat wounded Union soldiers. The house was purchased in the 40s and later restored by the Kenan Oil Company. Of course, this house and many of you who are, I know several historic preservationists here recognize the name Ensar. It has a connection to the Bull Street District. It was obviously, he was also the second, Dr. Ensar was the second medical superintendent of the state of asylum on that campus. You know, this city long before I was here, many of you have been in Columbia for several decades, about a half a century ago, a little longer than that, began to finally recognize its commitment to historic preservation, recognizing the importance of preserving our past, some of the painful images of our past, but certainly those historic structures that create a sense of place in neighborhoods and if you have the wonderful opportunity to adaptively reuse those structures and put them into the public realm, into the public domain, so that it helps build and sustain and edify communities, is a wonderful opportunity. Some of our community leaders, when I walked up to them and said every time Mr. Davis walks into their meeting, they want to know what's up with the Kenan House, what's going on with the Kenan House. And just as we see the redevelopment of Hyatt Park and Greenview Park and Erwood Park, and even as far south in the district as where Lynch Park, Sam has been so amazingly committed and dedicated to making sure that all these public spaces in District 1 were not only preserved, but restored and given new life for a new generation. And we're seeing that come to life today here at the Enzer Kenan House. Before I take my seat, I just want to say thank you so much to our incredible staff at Parks and Rec, of course Henry Simons and Randy Davis and just their entire team. They do an amazing job, particularly over the last year, where things have been so difficult as we've managed through the greatest pandemic we've seen in over a century. So Randy and Henry and the whole team, thank you so much. I'm going to step aside and I always have to get a passport or a visa to come in the District 1 anyway. Sam requires that. So I'm going to go ahead and step aside and give the microphone to my friend, the incredible councilman of District 1, Sam Davis. There's a saying out here, a lot of the historians and people who have planted roots years ago. And that is, today is a good day. It's about time and we won't forget you. The reason this is a good day is because I had the opportunity to kind of do a little sneak walkthrough with staff about a month or so ago. And very impressed with the intricacies of the craftspeople, the workers, the folks who advised, I think, staff on, I think, what things should look like if you can't get it back to its original style and shape. And having a background in blacksmithing through Philip Simmons and Charleston, I was impressed by the fact that those windows, take a look at them when you go in there, those windows were sent to Charleston for refurbishing, not first, not secondhand, not a hit and a miss. The delicacies of this building, what it meant, what it does mean to this community and its history, were all taken into consideration to make this day possible. And I want to congratulate not just the people who live in this neighborhood, who are very, very close and in love with this building. But everybody in North Columbia, the historians who keep this city on the map and function as a magnet for folks to come here, and the citizens in general, this is an example of commitment, of pride, a feeling of worth, that the things we do, the things we enjoy, add value to everybody's life, whether they live here or not. And so I thank the staff on behalf of the city, and thank the historians that worked with them, and names we probably won't hear, that made a commitment to do the right thing. And the bottom line in doing the right thing in this location was to take it back as far as we can to its original. Its original shape, style, looks and meaning. And so congratulations to everybody that made this day possible. The city thanks you, I thank you, and the visitors will thank you for making it possible for them to walk up those steps. Thank you. Again, I want to recognize Assistant City Manager Henry Simons, maybe just before Henry speaks, I want to ask our Chairman of Richland County Council, Paul Livingston, to come and say a word. In this age in which intergovernmental, intersectoral, regional thought is necessary to advance all of our common goals, there is no better partner at the county. I dare say city-county relationship than we could find in Paul Livingston. So Paul? What a good day for historic Columbia, historic Richland County, and particularly this community. You know, I can recall years back when their conversation about the Kenan House and whether or not it's an county government can play a role. And I remember when we did. And as I said, it's been some years ago. As a matter of fact, present here this morning is the former chair of the commission, the current chair of that commission is Cal Ciscloskey, who was the chair at that particular time. Even our former staff members here at that particular time. So what I'm telling you is, again, you to think about is it's been a while coming. So we're happy to be here. And I want to thank all those persons with our conservation commission, Richland County, and also the staff for the collaborative effort here in making sure this happened. As the mayor said, we are committed to collaboration. We're committed to working together to make things happen in our county and Richland County. We always have to remind folks the city of Columbia is located in Richland County. It is our heart. We must make sure we're successful if we're going to be successful as a county. So again, I just want to just say thank everybody for the efforts, the collaboration, the hard work. For the community, the patience. I know it took a little patience. I know you weren't sure we ever get here to this point, but we're here and we won't stop here. We continue to do what we need to do to continue to improve our community and make sure we continue to improve all of our historic sites and locations throughout our community. So thank you so very much and keep on pushing us to make us do what you think we ought to do for you and what's in the best interest of our community. Thank you so much, Chairman Livingston, for your remarks and comments. Good morning again to everyone. My name is Henry Simons. I am the Assistant City Manager of Operations for the City of Columbia and yes, today is a good day. Thank you so much for your presence today. Thank you to our Mayor, Steve Benjamin, for his leadership and continual support. Councilman Sam Davis, of course, who represents District 1. Thank you so much for your remarks and comments. We appreciate you very much. Of course, I want to acknowledge our City Manager in her absence, Teresa Wilson, for her continued leadership and guidance and support for the Parks and Recreation Department. With such historical significance, it is essential that we maintain the very essence of the building behind us. So with this project, we have been able to totally restore the windows of this facility as Councilman Davis spoke of earlier. The ways of wood completed the work of restoring the windows and Amy Moore, our principal preservation planner for the City of Columbia, ensured that the restoration met the appropriate historical standards. Thank you so much, Amy, for your support. Because of the historic value and design of these windows themselves as Councilman Davis or Ellicott, we spoke earlier. Yes, we did have to send these windows to Charleston because of the design of them. We're grateful for the work that was done by the Ways of Wood organization. This portion of the project was supported by a grant that we received from the Risen County Conservation Commission. We're grateful for their support. The grant was $29,403. Thank you so much for your support. And in addition to that, we were matched with over $13,000 of funding from the City of Columbia as well with a total of almost $50,000 for the portion of this project. In addition to this over the last few years, we have replaced the roof. All interior rooms have been painted. We have a newly renovated kitchen that you will be extremely proud of. The removal of abestos that was in the building. Historical life fixtures have been replaced. We have revitalized the vestibule area to include tile work, enhanced landscaping, and a newly installed fencing in front of the property. A new elevator has been installed at the rear of the actual facility. Of course, improvement to the front porch and the rear awnings of the facility as well. A lot of work has gone into this project. And we will continue working on the exterior of the building in the next few months. We also recently received a grant from the Risen County Conservation Commission in the amount of $15,000 with a match from the City that totals to $18,000. So we're continuing to do the work to improve this amenity behind us. We are very proud of what we have accomplished during the restoration process of the Inser Kenan House. This amenity within the city has created memories for many in our communities. We are grateful to be in a position to open this historical facility to the community once again. I want to take a quick moment to acknowledge a few people. Of course, as I referenced in my comments earlier, Principal Planner Historic Preservation and Development Services for the City of Columbia, Amy Moore. Thank you, Amy. Of course, thank you so much to the Risen County Conservation Commission for their generous support. Galease Pearson and John Grego of the Commission, thank you so much for your support. Quinten Epps, Risen County Community Planning and Development Services. And all of our contractors that work on this project in particular. I know there are several contractors that are present with us today, and I won't get into naming names, but if you just raise your hand and let the community acknowledge your work on this project, several of our contractors are here. Thank you so much for your amazing work. Thank you as the Mayor of Reference to our City Parks and Recreation Leadership Team, led by Randy Davis, our director. I also want to acknowledge Mr. Chris Campbell, our project specialist. He was the man in charge of shepherding this project. He did some amazing work coordinating with all of our contractors, so thank you so much, Chris, for your support and leadership. Todd Martin, Todd Martin, our project manager and all the work that he has done on this project as well. Jacqueline Williams, our program coordinator. All the flowers and the plants you see around this facility. Jacqueline, raise your hand. Where are you? I think she's still here. Thank you so much for your work on this and all of our staff. There's several of our staff members with us today. Todd Martin, I think I referenced earlier. Beazley back there. Thank you all so much, Cary Rich and others who are present today. Ebony Kelly, who is my office manager that keeps the train moving. Thank you so much, Ebony, for your work. So we're grateful for all the work that has been done here at this home, and we're ready for the community to enjoy this amenity once again. So now at this time we'll have the President of Seminary Ridge Neighborhood Association, Dylan Gunnels, to provide some remarks. Dylan, thank you all so much. Well, good morning. My name is Dylan Gunnels. I'm the President of Seminary Ridge Neighborhood Association. I'm happy to be here. I must admit I've been asked by some folks if I'm feeling any FOMO about not running in this year's municipal election, and I've said no because between that and the fact that I now have a job that lets me wear whatever I want, I get to wear whatever I want. Usually the podium at 5-5 covers the bottom half, so I do apologize for the shorts today, but I am excited to be here either way. I moved into this neighborhood at the end of 2016, and I remember walking my dogs and wondering, what is this abandoned mansion? And I'm so excited to be here today to not be recognizing it as an abandoned mansion, but a key and crucial part of our neighborhood and as a part of the city. I must admit that this location was on our agenda quite often at our neighborhood association meetings. This was a topic of conversation for many within the neighborhood just wanting to know when we would get to this day. So I want to say thank you again to Councilman Davis for always working with us through that and getting us to this point. We find ourselves at this time in our history and this year particularly very excited where we are as a neighborhood. We're seeing so many new folks move in, we're seeing properties being renovated, houses being updated. We're seeing folks coming back together as we hopefully fingers crossed continue to come out of this pandemic. We're seeing a community really coming together in this particular sector, and what we're most excited about is not only the diversity of those that are here, but the diversity of those that are coming and the diversity of those that have been here for a long time. And so what this house represents to me is not only an opportunity for us to gather, an opportunity for us to enjoy the fruits of the labor of a piece of property that represents so much history, but also represents a future that we can drive towards together. And so our hope at Seminary Ridge is that we represent as a neighborhood more of what Columbia is becoming as well. The excitement of what's happening and where we're headed in the future, but also as we continue to honor our history, learn from our history, and trek forward to that future together based on what we've learned and how we've grown. And so we're just again extremely excited that this is here, extremely excited that we can begin to utilize it again, and we hope that Seminary Ridge can be a neighborhood association that really lays the trajectory and foundation for the future of our city together. So thank you so much for being here and for having me. I think the closer I get to December 31st, I'm going to start wearing shorts too and see how you guys like that. See how it goes. For some of you who don't have teenagers at home, Dylan used the term FOMO. It's fear of missing out just in case you didn't know what that meant. I didn't know it until my 14-year-old told me what FOMO meant. Then we have various members of candidates running for city council. I think once you're successful, if you're successful, you'll probably have the experience like Sam will have at his very next Seminary Ridge meeting. He'll walk in and he'll look for some kudos and enter Keenan House, and he'll be challenged with what have you done for me lately. Let's get to the next project, Sam. But that's the nature of what we do. A great city is a collection of great neighborhoods, of pulling together incredibly diverse, sometimes disparate enterprises, and pulling them all together and creating this wonderful culture base for each and every one of us to thrive. So Dylan and to all of the neighborhood association leaders who are here who make our jobs possible, give us the opportunity to serve you. I want to say thank you and this former municipality of Eau Claire, which still shows incredible streaks of independence long after joining the city of Columbia. Thank you for your continued leadership. If you're going to gather and cut this ribbon, take some photos, and I'll go check out the building together. Let's do it. Dylan, can we do a countdown?