Lexington once again has its full complement of Town Council members.

At the body’s May 15 special called meeting, Gavin Smith, the owner of a public and government relations firm and a partner in the scuttled Navy Yard on Main beer garden, was sworn in by Mayor Steve MacDougall while his husband, Matthew Smith, stood with him. 

As far as the town (and the Chronicle) is aware, the 31-year-old (who celebrated a birthday the day before he was sworn in to his council seat) is the youngest-ever council member in the town’s history and its first openly gay individual to win a seat.

“I am humbled, and I am most grateful for the opportunity to serve,” Smith said in a statement to the Chronicle. “My campaign was forged on the promise of bringing fresh ideas and a new perspective to our Town Council, and I will spend every day of my term focusing not on the personal milestones and accomplishments I can achieve, but instead, on all we can achieve together as a community. Today is a great day for Lexington, but I’m confident that even greater days are still ahead."

Smith won the May 2 special election to replace Steve Baker, who resigned due to a move out of state, and will serve out the remainder of Baker's term, which is set to expire in 2025.

The new council member attended his first regular meeting and workshop the same night Wesley Crosby, assistant to the town administrator, shared the 2023 allocation recommendations from Lexington’s Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee.

The requests that the committee received totaled $218,000, while the available funds for this year were $169,500:

• The Capital City/Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism Board requested $50,000 for marketing and promotion and operating its area visitors center; the committee recommended $9,500.
• Columbia Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau requested $40,000; the committee recommended it receive the full amount.
• The Columbia Museum of Art requested $10,000 for marketing; the committee recommended it receive $5,000.
• Crossover Athletics requested $8,000 for the Run Hard Half Marathon, the committee recommended it receive $5,000.
• The Greater Columbia Education Advancement Foundation requested $17,000 for the 21st Annual Chick-fil-A Classic Holiday Basketball Tournament; the committee recommended it receive the full amount.
• The Midlands Authority for Conventions requested $10,000 for its 2023 Regional Sports Marketing Campaign; the committee recommended it receive the full amount.
• The Lexington County Museum requested $8,000 for advertising and restoration; the committee recommended it receive the full amount.
• The River Alliance requested $15,000 for the Tartan Day South Highland Games and Celtic Festival; the committee recommended it receive the full amount.
• The Town of Lexington requested $60,000 for the Icehouse Amphitheater; the committee requested it receive the full amount.

Discussing the recommendations during the workshop session, Mayor Pro-Tem Hazel Livingston questioned why Capital City/Lake Murray Country didn’t receive the full requested amount. Crosby shared that the committee believes the board focuses more on the lake and does not primarily work with the town or focus on pushing tourism into the town.

Livingston also asked whether this is the first time the town is allocating money to the Columbia Museum of Art. Crosby said the museum tends to get a fair amount, mentioning that the past two years it has received $5,000.

Crosby added that the museum has expanded its strategy and has worked with the town more.