Hilton Head candidates to debate in virtual forum Tuesday. Who’s running and how to watch
Tuesday night is your first opportunity to see candidates on Hilton Head Island face off on the issues in a virtual forum.
The candidates who will be on the ballot for Hilton Head Town Council will meet virtually and discuss the issues at 7 p.m. The forum will be broadcast on the HHI Community Forum Facebook page.
Tuesday’s forum will be hosted by native island leaders, and candidates are expected to discuss issues such as the U.S. 278 corridor, the airport and Hilton Head’s growth philosophy.
Hilton Head Island’s Town Council may be one of the last races listed on your ballot come Nov. 3, but half of the council is up for election this year, and the winners will chart the course of the town for the next four years.
Only residents of the ward may vote for their town council representative, and candidates must live in the ward they are running in.
There are three seats up for election this year:
Ward 1, which sits at the base of the Hilton Head bridges and runs along U.S. 278 to the Mathews Drive and airport area, has been represented by Marc Grant for eight years.
Ward 3, which is mid-island, includes Shelter Cove, Long Cove Club, Wexford, Shipyard, Palmetto Bay Road and the Point Comfort area. David Ames has represented this ward since 2016.
Ward 6, which includes part of Palmetto Hall, Hilton Head Plantation and Port Royal Plantation, has been represented by Glenn Stanford since 2018, when he took over after Mayor John McCann was elected and vacated his seat.
The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette has distributed questionnaires to candidates and will launch a sample voter ballot later this week. A second candidate forum is scheduled for Oct. 3.
Here is a list of candidates running in each ward on Hilton Head Town Council:
Hilton Head Town Council election: Ward 1
Alex Brown
- A native islander, Brown was born and raised on Hilton Head. He has worked as vice president of operations at Resort Retail Associates for 30 years.
- He is assistant boys varsity basketball coach at Hilton Head High School.
He has served as chair of the Town Planning Commission, treasurer of the Martin Luther King Celebration Planning Committee, a member of the Town of Hilton Head Island Vision Project Management Team and is former chair of the Greater Island Council Vision Steering Committee.
His top issues: Gullah Geechee Land and Cultural preservation, controlling short term rental capacity on the island, promoting cultural tourism to island historic sites and revising the town’s relationship with the Chamber of Commerce, where he thinks the town should take back more responsibility for leading the business community.
Brown has hosted several outdoor community conversations events with residents in recent weeks. The schedule of events can be found on his campaign’s Facebook page.
Peter Kristian
A 20-year resident of Hilton Head Island, Kristian lives in the Jarvis-Jonesville area of ward one off Spanish Wells Road. Kristian has four children and seven grandchildren.
He is general manager of Hilton Head Plantation.
He is currently the chair of the town’s Planning Commission, served on Town of Hilton Head Island’s Board of Zoning Appeals for 11 years, served as chair of the Greater Island Council’s Sustainability Advisory Committee, was on the Mayor’s Task Force for the Future and served on the development team for the Town of Hilton Head Island’s Vision Project.
His top issues: Maintaining native island ownership of property, resolving disagreements between the town and Beaufort County on the Sheriff’s Office budget and Arbor Nature solid waste transfer, implementing plan for workforce housing and finding ways to mitigate noise at the Hilton Head Island Airport.
Hilton Head Town Council election: Ward 3
David Ames
- Ames moved to the island in 1973. He has served on the Town Council since 2016.
- He worked as a developer with the Sea Pines Company. He was chair of the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry and has been awarded the Chamber of Commerce’s Alice Glenn Doughtie Good Citizenship Award.
- He chairs the town’s Public Planning Committee. He has served as chair of Former Mayor David Bennett’s Task Force for The Island’s Future and was a member of the town’s Vision Steering Committee, the Circle to Circle Task Force and the Bridge to the Beach Study. He proposed and served on the Regional Urban Development Assistance Team (R/UDAT) that studied Ward 1 and Native Islanders’ needs.
His top issues: Preserving the environment, planning and redeveloping areas on the island that are in declines, protecting taxpayers’ dollars and home values, and facilitating the new town manager’s transition with the town council, residents and businesses.
Tom Reitz
- Reitz moved to the island two years ago after vacationing here for 30 years with his family. He lives in Shipyard and works as a business development manager at Earth Supplied Products.
- He lived in Charlotte for 16 years before coming to Hilton Head but was born and raised in New York.
- He has not served the Town of Hilton Head before, but is a member of the Knights of Columbus and taught religious classes at his previous church for 14 years. He is becoming a member of the Bicycle Advisory Committee and attends Holy Family Catholic Church on Pope Avenue.
- His top issues: Giving input on the U.S. 278 corridor project that will replace the Hilton Head bridges, addressing business closures, preserving natural look of the island by limiting signs and billboards, and promoting sea turtle nesting.
Hilton Head Town Council election: Ward 6
Kent Berry
Berry moved to Hilton Head from Bluffton in 2011 but has lived in Beaufort County for 29 years. He came to the Lowcountry from Raleigh, N.C.
He is director of maintenance at Carolyn’s Landscaping and lives in the Folly Field area.
He has not held elected office before, but ran for the Ward 6 seat in 2016 and 2018.
His top issues: involvement in hiring a new town manager, requiring more reporting from the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce on how it spends public funds, and minimizing impacts of the U.S. 278 corridor project on historic Gullah communities.
Glenn Stanford
Stanford has lived on Hilton Head full time since 2006 after vacationing on the island as a teenager. He moved from Atlanta, where he was a lawyer in a private practice.
He lives in Hilton Head Plantation and was the chairman of the town’s Board of Zoning Appeals. Stanford has served on the town’s Planning Commission and the Southern Beaufort County Corridor Beautification Board.
He was vice chair and chair of the Greater Island Council and is a member of the Rotary Club of Hilton Head Island.
His top issues: Assisting in the search for a new town manager, overseeing the U.S. 278 corridor project, addressing the loss of small business on the island, speeding up the creation of workforce housing on the island.
This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 10:00 AM.
