McCann wants to be Hilton Head’s next mayor and fix Bennett’s ‘mistakes.’ Here’s why

Hilton Head mayoral candidate John McCann said he’s unhappy with how the town government has been run the last four years and says his experience with “fiscal responsibility” makes him the best candidate for mayor.

McCann, a two-term Town Council member, shared his take on big issues facing the island in an interview with the Island Packet editorial board Oct. 26, including what he called “wasted time” by government leadership, health care, the town’s visioning process and transportation.

McCann represents Ward 6 on Town Council and is the chairman of the finance and administrative committee.

He said he wants to bring his business experience as a CEO in the finance industry to bring “fiscal responsibility” to the Hilton Head mayoral office.

Lost time by leadership

He said that the last four years under Mayor David Bennett have been “lost” and that town officials have “lost an awful amount of time” not communicating, “doing things behind closed doors” and “trying to change the type of government to a strong mayor.”

McCann called one of Bennett’s biggest projects, the town’s visioning process, a “mistake” and that there was no real “end game” for the process. He said it left a lot of people feeling “alienated.”

Where he stands

Here’s a breakdown of other opinions McCann shared with the Island Packet during the one-hour interview:

Transportation

• McCann said the traffic and infrastructure problems with the Hilton Head bridges need to be addressed. McCann said that solutions could be in the form of constructing a new bridge or reassigning lanes so that three lanes are used for traffic going onto the island and one used for traffic leaving the island in the morning and that lane structure reversing at night.
  
  

• He called the Pope Avenue construction project “a fiasco.” McCann said traffic problems are getting bigger and worse on the island. He suggested putting a pause on timeshare building because the roads “can’t handle” the traffic now.

Workforce

• McCann said he wants to use vacant commercial space for workforce housing. He said there should be no government subsidies for housing and that “the capital markets will take care of it.”

Development

• He said “we’re missing the boat on health care” and that the visioning process did not get any input on health care. He proposed rezoning land for hospitals instead of retail as a way to help health careon the island.
  
  
• McCann said he wants to “keep the sky black” and clear of artificial lighting on Hilton Head, but he said the new developments in lighting that shine downward could help make crosswalks safer.
• He said the new apartments at Shelter Cove are a “mistake” and that the timeshares on Folly Field Road look “like Myrtle Beach.”

Transparency

• He said the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce should be more transparent, but that the town should not have to see the actual invoice for services. His said vendors may give the chamber a discount they do not want to share with other cities. He said those discounts “should not be known to anyone.”

• He said the town now posts finance records and meeting footage online because of his transparency efforts.
• McCann said he has visited with many gated community residents on the island and that the “volunteerism” from people in gated communities benefits those “outside the gates.”
• Asked if he sees a split on the Town Council, he said that divided votes are a sign of “good government,” but it’s “dysfunctional” when the losing party on a vote “continues to fight their case” after the vote.

Election information

Voting in the Hilton Head mayoral election will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 6. Voters can check their registration and polling places with the South Carolina Election Commission here.

If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two candidates will move into a runoff election, which will take place Tuesday, Nov. 20.

Six people are running for Hilton Head mayor. They are:

• Town Council member John McCann
• Native Islander Rochelle Williams
• Holocaust revisionist Michael Santomauro
• Real Estate broker Barry Ginn
• Sales Manager at SunTrust bank Alan Perry
• Town Council member Kim Likins, who currently represents Ward 4.

The Island Packet interviewed several candidates in its editorial board endorsement process, and the endorsement will be published in the newspaper Saturday, Nov. 3.

This story was originally published October 30, 2018 at 8:30 AM.