Mayors blast Beaufort County Council for lack of plan
Just three weeks after almost 400 local business leaders met to discuss Beaufort County's economic development strategy, area mayors are begging county leaders for direction.
Without a clear consensus from Beaufort County Council, Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling and Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka say there is little they can do together to build a strategy.
"My conversations with (the S.C. Department of) Commerce is that they think we're an absolute joke," Keyserling told council members Monday morning. "They're not taking anything we say seriously because of our record."
"Commerce does pay a higher respect to those who work together, (and) they haven't seen us do bologna in the last 20 years," he said.
The mayors' comments echo those of S.C. Commerce Secretary Bobby Hitt, who addressed the issue at this month's economic development summit in Bluffton, hosted by the Beaufort County and Hilton Head Island associations of Realtors.
Hitt's main message in the day-long conference was that Beaufort County cannot lure new business to the area until it creates an overarching plan to unify the many scattered public and private groups working to develop business leads in the area.
"It was very apparent from Secretary Hitt's comments that Beaufort County can't do it alone," said Janet Gresham, executive officer of the Beaufort County Association of Realtors. "We can't afford to do it alone and regionalization is what we should be looking at. We can't survive on tourism and the military forever."
Drafting an economic development strategy has dogged County Council for years. The struggle has only gotten more divided since the Lowcountry Economic Alliance, the county's long-time economic development group, dissolved late last year.
Now Keyserling, Sulka, Hilton Head Mayor David Bennett and Port Royal Mayor Sam Murray have met repeatedly in the last several months to help develop a type of nonprofit, countywide economic development organization the municipalities could invest in alongside the county.
But the ideas are coming to a standstill until county leaders can say whether they would agree to fund any economic efforts, Sulka told the council's Governmental Committee on Monday.
"Who in the world would come into this mess? Who would we hire to take on this challenge?" she said. "I think we're all going in the same direction, but to hire someone before we have our act together is just another mistake."
The turnout at this month's summit underscores that a large swath of the local business community feels the same way
"It's definitely a need and it's got to be talked about," said Jean Beck, president of the Hilton Head Area Association of Realtors. "The more you can get the grassroots involved, the more the elected officials are going to feel they have to pay attention to this."
Councilman Stu Rodman, who is leads the council's Governmental Committee considering the new organization, will revisit the concept with the full council in the coming month, he said Monday.
But county council leaders admitted this week there is still discord between members' personal views on whether the county should create a group, join an existing multi-county alliance or do both.
"Until all that stuff is put together, we're fooling ourselves," councilman Jerry Stewart said.
Follow reporter Zach Murdock on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Zach and on Facebook at facebook.com/IPBGZach.
Related content:
- Economic development, river preservation dominate Bluffton candidate forum, Oct. 7, 2015
- Beaufort County may form corporation to lead economic development, June 5, 2015
- Lowcountry Economic Alliance votes to dissolve, Dec. 19, 2014
This story was originally published November 29, 2015 at 4:52 PM with the headline "Mayors blast Beaufort County Council for lack of plan."