Port Royal mayor faces opponent in November; Lee won't seek re-election
For the first time since 2003, Port Royal Mayor Sam Murray will have an opponent in the November election.
Murray, who hopes to win a sixth term, has filed for re-election. He has been mayor since 1995.
Port Royal resident Kristina Wetzel also has filed to run for the post, providing Murray opposition for the first time since he faced Town Councilman Vernon DeLoach.
Wetzel was unavailable for comment Tuesday.
Candidates have until noon on Sept. 4 to file. Council members and the mayor serve four-year, staggered terms.
A town resident for almost 50 years, Murray said he wants to see the sale of the Port of Port Royal property to completion.
"Since I've been working with it so long, I'm hoping I can see it through," the 75-year-old Murray said Tuesday.
The town also will elect two at-large council seats.
Incumbent Tom Klein has filed to run for re-election and is joined by Jerry Ashmore of The Greenery.
Klein has been on the council since running unopposed in 2011. Like Murray, the port was a primary reason he chose to run again.
He said he has knowledge of the property and its history that will be useful during another term.
"I owed it to the residents of the town to stick to it and get something done in the next year," said Klein, who is also a member of the Redevelopment Commission and a past vice president of the Historic Port Royal Foundation.
Ashmore is a past member of the Redevelopment Commission and has served on boards of the Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce, Technical College of the Lowcountry and Beaufort-Jasper Academy for Career Excellence.
Ashmore said he decided to run out of a sense of civic duty and noted the port property as one of the town's top priorities.
"I think this is a defining moment in Port Royal," he said. "We've got one shot to do it right, and I want to be part of that."
Councilman Joe Lee said Tuesday he will not run for re-election because he believes in term limits. He came to the council in 2006 to complete an unexpired term and was elected in 2007 and 2011.
The port was one of the biggest disappointments of Lee's time on council, he said. Lee was a member of the Redevelopment Commission before serving on the council and remembers the optimism as the town crafted a plan together for the property.
The property is under contract with Palmetto Alliance Development Group, one of several attempts to purchase and develop the property in recent years. If the sale doesn't close by the end of the year, the property will go to auction, per state law signed last year.
"I would have thought it would have sold right away," Lee said. "It just amazes me we're still doing this so long down the road."
Follow reporter Stephen Fastenau at twitter.com/IPBG_Stephen.
This story was originally published August 25, 2015 at 9:07 AM with the headline "Port Royal mayor faces opponent in November; Lee won't seek re-election."