BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.—In less than 20 days, Berkeley Co. voters will head to the polls, casting their ballots in a primary involving several county seats up for grabs. The position of Berkeley Co. supervisor is one of them.
On Thursday, Goose Creek 9-12 hosted a forum at Harbour Lake Baptist Church on Redbank Road in Goose Creek where the three candidates vying for the county supervisor job explained why voters should elect them. Former Dorchester Co. Sheriff Ray Nash moderated the event.
In one corner, there’s Bill Peagler. For nearly the last decade, he’s served as the mayor of Moncks Corner. Prior to that, he spent about another ten years on town council. Combined, he has approximately 20 years of experience in the political realm.
In the other corner, there’s political newcomer Jerry Beckley who is presently an assistant vice president at Heritage Trust. While he’s never served in public office, if elected, Beckley says he refuses to be labeled a “career politician,” vowing to serve only two terms.
Both men are challenging current county supervisor, Dan Davis. For the last eight years, he’s served in that role and hopes to continue.
While Thursday’s forum remained civil, the two challengers were critical of Davis’ current time in office.
“Berkeley Co. has the highest unemployment rate in the tricounty. We have an underfunded sheriff’s department, underfunded EMS and a jail that’s been two-thirds empty for years,” stated Beckley, who was first to address the crowd. “I know that I don’t have the big name. I don’t have all the money, but I do have one thing that they don’t—you.”
According to Peagler, his time as Moncks Corner’s mayor speaks for itself, and his record in that role makes him a strong contender for county supervisor.
“We have made life better in Moncks Corner. We have nice facilities downtown. We’re business oriented. These are the same proactive environments that we can bring to the county,” stressed Peagler. “I want to work for you. My door will always be open.”
Davis defended his record stating that the county is in much better shape than it was eight years ago.
“We’ve reduced the debt ratio to about 45%. We have increased our funding balance to about $12 million,” stated Davis. “Back in December, we broke ground down on Daniel Island at Benefitfocus. They are building about a $50 million facility, and they’re employing 1,200 people. In February, we broke ground on the Palmetto Primary Care Physicians up by Exit 199. This will be creating 1,125 new jobs.”
A big hot topic up for discussion included the status of the county jail. Several years ago, the county spent millions to expand the jail, however, a lack of funding has made it difficult to staff and hire the appropriate amount of detention officers. As a result, the added levels remain vacant.
“Not having those other two floors puts all of us at risk,” warned Beckley. “One of these days one of these offenders is going to get seriously hurt, and there’s going to be a lawsuit, and we’re going to pay for it. We have to fund these things.”
Peagler stated that the majority of county council wasn’t even aware of how inadequately staffed the detention center was until he brought it to their attention.
“I said that as an attorney, by not funding the last two floors of the jail, you’re taken out of the protection of the Tort Claims Act.—which limits liability,” explained Peagler. “It’s gross negligence not to fund the jail. If I was
an attorney and represented somebody that got hurt there, I could get enough money to open that jail for my client.”
Davis stated that hiring additional jail staff is on the county’s radar, but past financial hardships for the county had made it difficult.
“We wanted to hire the officers, the problem simply was we entered the recession,” said Davis. “We were trying to manage things with what we had. We just had to hold off on hiring those detention officers until the recession was over and our revenues returned. That hasn’t quite gotten here yet—but we are getting closer.”
Both Peagler and Beckley were also critical of the lack of money provided to emergency services.
“We don’t have enough patrolmen on the roads. We don’t have enough ambulances. It does worry me because when I dial 9-1-1 I want somebody to come. I think we can do things better. I think we can prioritize,” Beckley responded.
Peagler also offered insight on the issue.
“The current budget that was just offered to council does not have a pay increase to any of the employees, does not include any police cars, only has one ambulance,” Peagler informed the audience. “I don’t understand that
if they (the county) understand this to be a problem, why aren’t they addressing it?”
Again, Davis reiterated that it all comes down to money that the county just doesn’t have.
“If the citizens are willing to vote for a tax increase to satisfy this need, then I’m perfectly fine with that,” expressed Davis. “You just have to understand that the county government, you’ve got a limited amount of money, and you have to make it go as far as you can.”
In 2005, a county impact fee was approved by council. County leaders say the original purpose of that fee was to provide funding to the Sheep Island Interchange near Jedburg.
“It had very good intentions. The impact fee turned out to be a bad thing. It is a business killer, one of the worst things Berkeley Co. has ever done,” stressed Davis. “One of the reasons I’m so eager to get the penny sales tax renewed and on the November ballot is to take some of the money from that and replace the impact fee.”
Both Peagler and Beckley also agreed that the county’s impact fee needs to go but not necessarily replaced with the penny sales tax referendum, a tax that recently paid for the completion of Highway 17A from Summerville to Moncks Corner.
One big issue that did not get really get discussed in detail was Daniel Island’s attempt to break away from Berkeley County and join Charleston County. Most residents stated that they had felt neglected by the county. It was only within the last few weeks that Daniel Island actually ended its efforts to secede from the county. Dave Williams, the president for the Daniel Island Neighborhood Association, had previously stated that residents’ feelings toward annexation didn’t necessarily change, only that the political battle and costs to continue with it became too much.
Voters will head to the polls on June 10th.
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