After 16 years (and a week) Lisa Sulka hands the gavel to Bluffton’s new mayor Larry Toomer
After 16 years as Beaufort County’s mayoral matriarch, Bluffton’s Lisa Sulka’s tenure came to an end Tuesday night with the swearing in of her successor Larry Toomer. Sulka supported Toomer’s candidacy since August when she announced she would not be running for another term.
“This is a sad moment”, Toomer said as Sulka gave him a gavel as her last official act in the leadership role. She was elected mayor in 2007. After the exchange, Sulka then took her place in the crowd, which was more lively than usual with families and children present to see the swearing in by Chief Municipal Court Judge Clifford Bush III .
Toomer, owner of the Bluffton Oyster Company, has been on the town council since 2012. Most recently he was reelected to serve a the council in a term that ends in 2026. A race for his former council seat is ongoing.
Adding a note of levity to the moment, Toomer said with a smile that he would “out do” his predecessor - when it comes to recognizing each of Bluffton’s students of the month during his term. Toomer offered to buy the winner lunch with the new mayor - and the student gets to select the meal.
During the campaign, Toomer talked about the importance of slowing residential expansion while increasing commercial development in the town. Having a family of his own, he said, he knows how expensive it can be to live in Bluffton and hopes to see the creation of a more affordable Bluffton.
Toomer was sworn in one week later than expected. Last Tuesday’s meeting was canceled due to the bad weather Beaufort County was experiencing.
Along with Toomer, Council people Bridgette Frazier and Dan Wood were also sworn in. This will be Wood’s third term and Frazier’s second on the council. Additionally, Wood was unanimously elected as the new Mayor Pro Tempore.
With Toomer becoming mayor, the council will be one member short until someone is sworn in to finish out his term. A special election scheduled for Feb. 13 to decide who will fill the role beginning in March.
