campaign phone number
864-905-4675
I presently serve on the Greer City Council and have for the last four terms,
It will be 16 years end of this year.
My priorities, if elected will be to continue to serve my constituents and all the citizens of Greer. I am always willing to meet with citizens to discuss any issues or to receive any calls and ready to handle any situation that I am able to. I will also continue to work with and represent the city to best of my ability to keep Greer a great place to live work and play. We have great employees and a good workable council.
I would be glad to listen to any strategies that would be presented. The city has a planning commission and zoning commission that meets to discuss and receive information on new projects. The meetings are open to the public. Many departments throughout the city and county have representatives that attend the meetings including City staff, SCDOT, Greenville/Spartanburg county and local school systems to evaluate the building impact related to traffic, accessible streets, and impact on schools. I have voted against several developments based on location and size looking at impacts on existing traffic and over crowding schools many safety concerns. I encourage residents to attend planning meeting and council meetings to voice their concerns.
My question would be at this time what is affordable housing? The housing cost has risen to double over the last 5 or more years building materials have certainly doubled or tripled in price. As a council member, we are always ready to listen and receive information pertaining to the affordable housing that could be presented to our city Affordable Housing is a very important issue. The impact of higher interest rates has played a big part in affordable housing and low inventory in existing home market. Especially over the last 3-5 years with the doubling of our population.
campaign phone number
8649050882
I have been honored to serve on several City of Greer Boards and Commissions, which include:
• Planning Commission
• Election Commission
• Recreation Association Board of Trustees
• Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee
In addition to these roles, I have long served on my Homeowners Association Board and serve on two 501 (c) (3) Boards. I have held leadership positions, including President or Chair, in five of these organizations. Over the years, these experiences have provided me with a solid understanding of how to interpret accounting records and how to build consensus among governing bodies.
Greer is experiencing rapid, sometimes unchecked, growth. My top priority is to seek funding at the County, State, and Federal levels to expand and improve our road infrastructure. Major roads in Greer are owned by these government levels, not by the city. Additionally, Greer has one of the highest mileage rates among municipalities in South Carolina, which is significantly higher than those of Greenville and Spartanburg. I will investigate why this is the case, especially given the city’s ongoing commercial development. I also believe our police force needs to be increased to meet the challenges of growth.
This is a complicated problem. The city currently requires traffic studies, but I don't always agree with the recommendations of those studies. So I will first learn exactly how these studies are structured and funded. Then we run up against the SC DOT. The State of SC owns most of the major roads in our area, and any changes to them must be approved by the state. The state is not always amenable to some proposed improvements. The City of Greer needs to establish a stronger relationship with the SC DOT. If we tried to stop development completely, we would lose in court very quickly. Therefore, we must work with the system to build better roads; this will not be a fast or easy process.
The City Council should certainly be supportive, and I would likely support any necessary zoning exceptions to facilitate the construction of affordable housing. I would likely be supportive of many things except for spending taxpayers' money on this.
