My involvement in County affairs for you.
I see my job of your Council member as daily finding ways for you to get the most out of your government. You are forced to spend your precious dollars on taxes - you don't have a choice. Therefore, it is my highest duty to ensure that taxes are collected only for legitimate and important priorities and that every penny collected is accounted for publicly. This public office is a public trust and there should not be even a hint of irresponsibility or impropriety.
I'm convinced that your Council member is the ONLY potential voice and advocate you have at the County. And I do say potential because many of the twelve, in my opinion, are not. You are up against a large, well-funded, interconnected, and coordinated organization of people who prioritize large new corporate interests and tax income over your interests. You are also up against a host of "non-profit" advocates who are paid by their organization to present at every opportunity to have your tax dollars and government help the goals of their organization. Those advocates have (understandably) learned that it is much easier to go to the county for money than to solicit contributions from supporters of their organization. Likewise, you have some Council members who game the system to take advantage of funding sources and rules to benefit their own lands and careers. Residents ask me, "why is our quality of life going down while taxes are going up? Why is there no dividend to the people who have lived here, paid taxes here, voted here, and peacefully built our families and lives here?" You can't have both. You can't have the residents benefiting from County government's decisions while the county network is enriching itself. You and I, working together, are the ONLY chance we have at transparency, advocacy, and a fair shake from our County government at this time.
Below is a running list of my involvement over the past years:
- Led the fight against the unnecessary historic new ad ad valorem tax increase.
- Voted NO against the proposed new penny sales tax.
- Fighting for more parks and drastically less development to fix traffic congestion.
- Promoted and appointed the citizen-driven list of Library Board members.
- Wrote demand letter to County Attorney for clarification on Grove Road Clinic Nuisance Business.
- Oppose all new corporate welfare FILOTS that hurt our county.
- Oppose all "affordable housing" FILOT schemes that subsidize wealthy developers.
- Fighting to stop the Planning Commission from helping developers with variances.
- Fighting to stop new development upon floodplains.
- Anchorman advocate of, and voted YES to, the new riparian buffer and septic tank setback ordinance.
- Filed and fights for the Stallings Road moratorium ordinance.
- Filed an ordinance requiring residential developer impact fees.
- Established the Stallings-Reid School-State Park-Edwards Road protection overlay zoning area.
- Joined in and led meetings with hundreds of Pebble Creek area residents fighting residential development in the Stallings Road corridor.
- Successfully fought with Pebble Creek residents to kill proposed townhomes and replaced with single-family homes of the neighborhood character.
- Fought with residents to stop the natural gas pipeline along the Enoree River properties.
- Was the key vote in establishing the Natural and Historic Resources Trust with $1 million of federal Covid money.
- Co-created the new Agricultural Zoning and was the first Councilor to establish an Agricultural re-zone in his district.
- Has more new Agricultural Zones than any other council member.
- Advocated for SCDOT to complete resurfacing of Stallings Road.
- Works with Piedmont Park Fire to enhance road safety at the State Park-Mt. Creek Roads area.
- Supported massive expansion of hiking trails lands in Paris Mountain State Park while also ensuring no access from Altamont Road.
- Laboring alongside with Pebble Creek leaders to establish a Camp Sevier historic and recreation park.
- Working with Linkside residents to find a way to have a special district expand recreation on unused golf course property.
- Recently awarded the prestigious EPA Excellence in Site Reuse Award for conservation efforts.
- Filed the most significant strengthening of Greenville County's noise and nuisance ordinance to reduce noise pollution.
- Made significant new investment in traffic calming to protect pedestrians on cut-through roads.
- Personally picked-up hundreds of pounds of roadside litter with Palmetto Pride bags.
- Weekly reports to code enforcement illegal signs that litter our roads and clog surface water drains.
- Weekly monitors county recycling convenience centers for upkeep and litter.