Pickens County Council, District 1 - Republican Primary Choose 1
Pickens County Council is a six member elected governing body. The Council is responsible for adopting the annual budget, setting the county property tax rate, and creating legislation via ordinances, resolutions and proclamations. Daily operations of the County are directed by the County Administrator, who is appointed by the Council. Council members serve a four-year term.NOTE: If a candidate's answers are not visible, the candidate may not have completed the survey prior to our publication date. Updated response will be posted as they are received. Voters are welcome to encourage the candidate to share their views.
Biographical Information
Campaign Phone
864-230-0229
Qualifications for Office
I served two terms on the council from 2015 until 2022 when my wife was dying. I did not run for office in 2022.
Given the projection for continued growth for Pickens County, what steps do you think need to be taken to ensure appropriate infrastructure and services (sewer, water, electricity, roads, police, etc.) to address that growth?
Since four of the six districts of Pickens County are rural areas, candidates in those areas tend to get reelected by promising to NOT raise taxes. That had been happening frequently when I was elected to serve in 2015. I quickly learned that the prison that was designed to house 93 prisoners actually housed 200 to 225 prisoners each night. The county was frequently sued by inmates who had been injured in the prison.
Another area where nothing had been done in eight years was the industrial park. The director told me that he felt like he was a car dealer with no cars. There were six foot high pine trees growing over a large area of the park. I suggested that I buy a used scraper pan to level off an area. The council members had done nothin
What measures should Pickens County consider in addressing the situation of homeless encampments?
We are blessed in Pickens County with faith-based and other groups that help the needy. I was the original treasurer of Family Promise of Pickens County. A good rule of thumb is to provide the product that a person needs. That makes it harder for a person to support their drug habbit.
What strategies do you have for addressing affordable/workforce housing?
I have donated time and money to Habitat For Humanity and other similar organizations. After Hurricane Katrina my 12 passenger van was sent five times to Biloxi, MS. I attended two of those week long trips to repair the devastated homes. Recently I wired a tiny house for a church to use for temporary housing. I am learning Spanish so that I can communicate better with that portion of the population.
What is your position on restoring the Pickens County Library System to its own dedicated millage, rather than being part of the county General Fund? Please explain.
The county library system is something that is changing. I think that Pickens County should control the purse strings of the library. There may be a time in the future that the county may have a more urgent need for one or more of the library buildings.
What will be an important additional issue that the council will face in the coming year? What is your position on that issue?
The thing that concerns me the most is that several of the current council members want to do things like cutting spending on county roads. They are much like the ones who would not deal with the prison issue back in 2016. The county has many dedicated employees who do excellent work if they are given the money to get the materials to do their job properly.
Biographical Information
Campaign Phone
864-353-5293
Given the projection for continued growth for Pickens County, what steps do you think need to be taken to ensure appropriate infrastructure and services (sewer, water, electricity, roads, police, etc.) to address that growth?
A candidate for anything Clemson has to recognize the 800 pound elephant in the room - the university, its growth, and plans for more growth. All of us appreciates the new found national recognition, but there has been many negative consequences of the massive student growth (17,465 enrollment in 2000; 29,077 in 2025, 36,000 expected by 2035).
Roads are already strained and additional development without a clear plan to deal with the extra vehicles, EMS/ Fire access, sewer capacity and public safety is poor leadership and will continue to harm our quality of life.
Build first and deal with the consequences later is not a plan or wise course of action. Nor is this a Republican or Democrat problem. We are all in it together.
What measures should Pickens County consider in addressing the situation of homeless encampments?
There is a huge homeless issue on SC 93 and almost at US 123. I actually had my car broken into there and it made me realize the problem and their situation. Sometimes it takes something like that to wake you up to a problem. I am investigating this.
What strategies do you have for addressing affordable/workforce housing?
I don't know if we can control the price of housing, but we can better prepare our children for life and careers. We are fortunate as the Clemson area is an education hub from K4 through college graduation. It starts at Clemson Elementary which is down my block, then RC Edwards, Daniel High School being in the top 5 in the state, the Pickens County Career Center too, and finally Tri-County Tech and Clemson University.
I don’t know how much County Council has a role in education, but all from Clemson must be a voice for, support and protect our high ranked academic institutions.
What is your position on restoring the Pickens County Library System to its own dedicated millage, rather than being part of the county General Fund? Please explain.
What is wrong with it being part of the general fund and the county government's 60.6 millage tax rate? The library budget continues to grow and increase every year. My understanding is the Central, Liberty and Easley libraries will soon get new roofs and later in the year they will build out the wings on the second floor of the Easley library.
What will be an important additional issue that the council will face in the coming year? What is your position on that issue?
According to county council records, there are 1,289 miles of state roads in our county, 639 miles of county roads and 256 miles of roads inside the cities (Clemson has 70 miles).
The Anderson/Clemson Area Transportation Study (ACATs) is a federally designated area and organization that focuses on road redesign in the Anderson County and Clemson area. Their focus is intersections. ACATs is funded by the federal government ($8.5 million a year) and the funding is funneled through the SCDOT which manages the projects.
Our County Councilman is on the ACATs board and if elected, I hope to replace her as the county government’s representative for Clemson on that board.