Campaign Phone
(224)520-1098
Qualifications for Office
JB’s qualifications for Oconee County Council, District 1, combine local service with experience managing complex operations: Community involvement: A Salem area resident and longtime Oconee property owner, JB chairs the Keowee Key Fitness Racquet Center Committee, serves on the Marina Villas HOA Board, and coordinates emergency communications for his neighborhood. Operations experience: He has led service delivery and process improvement work in regulated organizations, managing budgets, technology changes, and teams that must be accountable to the people they serve. Business perspective: He has owned a warehousing and distribution business and worked in trucking, giving him firsthand experience with jobs, roads, and the practical demands on local infrastructure.
I support business growth and housing that create opportunity while protecting the reasons people choose to live in Oconee County. His proposal is to plan before projects arrive: set clear development standards, evaluate road and utility capacity, public safety needs, environmental impacts, and the combined effects of nearby projects before approving major growth.
He would support businesses that provide good local jobs and housing that meets community needs, while asking major developments to contribute a reasonable share of the infrastructure costs they create. For Lake Keowee and other valued places, that means protecting shorelines and property while preserving recreation and boating.
The goal is predictable rules for applicants
I support clear, enforceable standards before a data center application arrives. He is open to data centers where the benefits outweigh the costs and the site is a good fit.
Before approval, he would require a site-specific review of electricity and water demand, roads and traffic, noise, buffers, environmental effects, public safety, infrastructure costs, and the combined impact of nearby development. He would also weigh promised jobs, investment, and tax revenue against those demands.
If a proposal cannot meet the standards or does not provide a sufficient community benefit, the County should be able to say no.
My budget priorities are public safety, roads and infrastructure, and the core services residents rely on every day. We need to recruit and retain qualified Sheriff’s Office, Fire, and EMS personnel, maintain what we already own, and plan for the demands of growth before costs become emergencies.
I would ask what each major expenditure delivers for residents, explain the tradeoffs openly, and make sure new development pays a reasonable share of the costs it creates. Before taking on significant debt, the County should clearly show taxpayers what they will receive, what the full repayment will cost, and why the investment is worth it.
I want residents to see how Council reaches a decision, what it will cost, and how their concerns were addressed. Before major votes, I would push for clear explanations of the options, their costs, and their likely effects on neighborhoods and county services.
I also want more public debate at Council meetings and a structured question-and-answer period. Residents should be able to ask questions in a public setting and hear meaningful answers before important decisions are made, within the Council’s meeting rules.
Fiscal responsibility means looking beyond the initial price tag. For major spending and debt, I would ask what residents will receive, what the full cost will be, and how we will measure results. When residents raise a con
An important issue is protecting Lake Keowee and Lake Hartwell as boating activity grows. Residents are concerned about unsafe wakes, damage to docks and shorelines, and inconsistent enforcement. Boaters deserve the freedom to enjoy the lake responsibly. I would document complaints and damage, review enforcement data, and bring DNR, the Sheriff’s Office, Duke Energy, lake groups, boaters, and property owners together. I would press for better education and consistent enforcement of existing rules, especially in narrow coves and busy areas. Council cannot enforce state boating laws, but it can help agencies coordinate and turn residents’ concerns into action.
Campaign Phone
(864)873-1426
Qualifications for Office
I retired from the US Postal Service after 34-years climbing through its ranks. Along the way I acquired 11-years of experience performing life cycle economic analysis as an Operations Research Analyst where I calculated the return on investment for major equipment purchases of over $10 million and wrote decision analysis reports presented to the highest levels of corporate management. The largest project was $374 million for multiple parcel sorting machines. I gained 4 years of practical program management experience as a Mechanical Engineer contracting for the construction and national deployment of over $60 million of unique material handling equipment. I also gained more than 13 years of building maintenance and facility management experience as a Building Equipment Mechanic, a Supervisor of Building Equipment Mechanics, a Plant Maintenance Engineer, an Energy Management Specialist, and in my last position as Acting Manager, Administration and Building Services.
In general, I am in favor of the current building moratorium. There are new building codes being established and new developments should adhere to the new codes. I was at the meeting where residents could express their concerns. I think the Council should have made some accommodations for projects that were already in development. I don't think the Council intentionally caused financial harm to landowners, but it happened. There needs to be some sort of set-asides or fees to cover all impacts, not just roads and utilities, but fire, and police protection, as well as trash disposal. Growth should pay for growth.
The public has been lied to about data centers. The social media platform "X" found a bot farm with over 200k Chinese accounts attempting to negatively influence the American public against data centers. Take water usage, as a certified facilities manager with over 15-years’ experience in building maintenance and facility management, I can tell you that water usage has been over inflated. Chilled water-cooling systems use cooling towers to recycle water. Excessive noise is associated with the centers generating their own power and can be addressed with noise abatement procedures. Any data centers would not be built in residential areas, but on land set aside for industrial development. Ambient noise codes could and should be address
I spent over a decade as a Financial Analyst for the US Postal Service calculating the return on investment of projects over $10 million. If I am asked to vote to spend taxpayer money, I want to know that money has a return on investment to the citizens of Oconee. That return could be in the form of actual dollars saved, revenue generation, life safety, or improvements in community quality of life via things like parks and recreation.
I don't always agree with Matt Durham, but at the meetings I have attended he seems to go out of his way to address concerns of the public.
I have no idea what will become an issue. But I can tell you where I intend to dedicate my attention. I intend to investigate all the county owned facilities. Do inspections of those facilities and identify deferred maintenance and help establish annual inspections. This is based on the recent sale of the old Court House that was vacant for 20 some years.
