He wants to be Hilton Head’s mayor but doesn’t want to run the island. Here’s why

Hilton Head Town Council member and mayoral candidate John McCann says he opposes the idea of a strong mayor form of government — which he contends current mayor David Bennett supports.

In an interview Monday with The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette, McCann said two days before announcing his candidacy last month, Bennett told him in a private meeting that he favored a mayor-council, or strong mayor, form of government. McCann, who noted he had arranged the meeting with Bennett to inform him of his candidacy for mayor, said he told Bennett then that he disagreed with him on the matter.

“You’re not going to find a lot of qualified people that can be strong mayors,” McCann said. “I think the current form has been demonstrated to work for the last 32 years. And to go to a strong mayor form, you’d lose the professionalism of the town manager. It works better when you have a professional handling the day-to-day operations.”

McCann has served on Town Council since 2012, and represents Ward 6, which covers Port Royal Plantation, Palmetto Hall and parts of Hilton Head Plantation and the Folly Field area.

McCann said he wants to run for mayor mainly because he believes he can bring better leadership, build consensus among a divided Town Council, improve transparency, and respond to the needs of residents. He emphasized, though, that he told Bennett that his candidacy was “not about him (Bennett).”

Bennett, who was elected in 2014 to his first term as mayor, did not respond Monday to multiple requests for comment.

If a strong mayor form of government is instituted on Hilton Head, longtime town manager Steve Riley, who often has been at odds with Bennett, would lose much of his authority. McCann said he supports Riley.

Contacted Monday, Riley said while he appreciates that McCann has positive comments about him, the town manager’s code of ethics prevents him from commenting on forms of government or more generally, politics.

Since last summer, Riley, the town manager since 1995, has sought at least four out-of-state government jobs, though he was not offered any of those positions. He is considered to be a current candidate for the position of longtime Beaufort County administrator Gary Kubic, who is retiring at the end of this month.

In a mayor-council form of government, the mayor has hiring and firing authority of public employees. An administrator may be appointed to assist the mayor, according to the South Carolina Municipal Association. The form of government is the most used in South Carolina, according to the association’s website.

McCann said he prefers Hilton Head’s current council-manager form of government. Under that structure, a town or city manager has hiring and firing authority.

To change the form of government on Hilton Head, there must be a referendum vote, according to the association’s website.

McCann announced his run for mayor in a written statement at about 5 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 25. A week earlier, when asked about whether he planned to run for mayor, McCann told a Packet and Gazette reporter that it was “too early” to make a decision.

Asked Monday about his earlier statement to the newspapers, McCann said he wanted to speak with more residents before deciding whether to run.

Contacted recently, council members Marc Grant, Bill Harkins, Tom Lennox, and Kim Likins, who is the mayor pro tem, each said they have no current plans to run for mayor. Council member David Ames said it was “premature” to say whether he would run, noting it “depends on the mayor’s plans.”

“The time was right,” McCann said Monday about his decision to run. “I believe we have a leadership issue.”

Between a “split council that does not work together,” and transparency problems, McCann said he had been considering a run for mayor for six months.

McCann said he wants to keep Riley, build consensus among council members, and cut down on the number of closed-door meetings. Private discussions happen frequently at Town Council meetings, including receiving outside legal counsel pertaining to the town manager.

“I would shrink down executive sessions as much as I possible could,” McCann said. “Transparency’s the easiest thing to do. If you don’t lie to anyone, there’s nothing to hide.”

McCann said he will announce more specifics about his campaign platform in a few weeks through his email newsletter. He said he and campaign manager Jim Webb are planning 45 meet-and-greet events before the election in November 2018.

This story was originally published September 18, 2017 at 6:51 PM with the headline "He wants to be Hilton Head’s mayor but doesn’t want to run the island. Here’s why."