Like many issues City Council has undertaken in recent months, reorganizing the City Redevelopment Commission (CRC) and outsourcing downtown parking to the CRC and Mainstreet are very complicated and perhaps even emotional because they involve change.

 While many local government leaders have been frozen like deer staring into the headlights of the economic collapse, waiting for someone to bail them out, I am proud to say that Beaufort’s City Council has had the courage to find new ways to do some things differently to meet today’s financial challenges. Outsourcing garbage collection and thinning out top heavy departments are among the most visible recent changes to maintain, and actually improve, city services with about eighteen percent less money, necessitated because revenues fell more steeply than any other time in recent history. One proven way to save money and achieve better results is to engage our citizenry to do some other things we have relied on government to do over the years.  We achieved success in creating a panel of citizen volunteers to recommend improvements to our neighborhoods, to recommend updates to signage into and through Beaufort. Furthermore, Beaufort has historically called on citizens to serve on an assortment of regulatory bodies that carry out city business. 

 Changing the Redevelopment Commission

The concept of an autonomous “City Redevelopment Commission” (CRC) is not new to Beaufort.  About 25 years ago, then Mayor Henry Chambers led the Council in establishing a CRC in which the Council served as the commissioners. About six years ago, when I served on Council, the current CRC was established and it was also composed of citizen volunteers tasked with stimulating economic growth and associated physical redevelopment.

 During the previous administration that seemed to feel differently than I do about citizen engagement and transparency in government, and when the City wanted its CRC to plan and finance the new Municipal government complex, the Mayor and Council injected themselves back into the process for fear of losing control. Oddly enough, while they gained control, they became so close to the project that they, perhaps, lost the capacity of oversight and let the complex become more expensive than planned and ultimately forced a tax increase. Had the City Council been overseeing, rather than controlling, perhaps that project might not have gotten out of hand. 

 Furthermore, there are many citizens far more qualified, by virtue of their experiences in the workplace and who have more time than members of City Council, to tackle challenges of growth.  Why not engage better qualified citizens who want to contribute to their hometown to handle the assignment?

 The Council and I understand very clearly that the Redevelopment Commission, as enabled by state law, has very broad powers. This is the reason the proposal we passed on first reading has some very strict controls:  (1) No one will be appointed to the Redevelopment Commission without the support of at least four of the five City Council members; (2) Any member of the Commission can be removed “without cause” if we detect the commission is heading in a direction that is not in the best interest of the people; (3) The Commission will be required to provide quarterly reports to City Council outlining their activities; and (4) the City Council will maintain budget authority over the Redevelopment Commission.  Lastly, and if proven necessary at a later date, we can mandate that one or more City Council members be selected as commissioners.

 Turning Over Parking

While the media has focused on the potential for higher parking fees and fines, this is not the Council’s primary motivation. We simply want to try to fix something that has been broken for many years and we realize that perhaps others are better suited to do what we have failed to do in the past.

 Specifically, we are seeking  to have someone who has experience managing parking, manage parking; to involve the stakeholders, specifically merchants and downtown property owners, in overseeing parking which they understand better than City Council; and finally, to ensure that revenues from parking be reinvested in the promotion, maintenance and growth of the core business district.

 Different?  Yes!  Entrepreneurial?  Yes!  A risk?  Perhaps!  There is usually some risk involved when one changes the way we do things. But the agreement provides a safeguard by acknowledging if the process does not work as intended, the City is free to cancel the agreement in the same manner they created it.

Change Brings Opportunity

When City Council first discussed outsourcing garbage pickup, many of us — who were loyal to the employees and wanted council to remain in control and accountable – were afraid that city employees would be put on the street and there would be no one to oversee garbage pickups.  From all I hear, the system is working well and the employees who did not go to work for the vendor have been assigned to other public works functions thereby addressed unmet many of the city’s needs. The reality is more is getting done with less. When our police and fire chiefs retired, there was concern that their replacements were streamlining management to ensure patrols on the streets and firefighters trained and ready.  I have no reason to believe our ability to manage public safety has diminished.  Quite the opposite is the case, as I understand morale is higher than it has been in years and police officers and firefighters are ready and able to do what we expect from them.

 Change is not easy. We get used to things the way they are and become comfortable with that predictability.  But the times warrant change and I firmly believe that your City Council is working hard to ensure that our staff and employees are able to do more with less and that sometimes this requires looking at things a little differently which often brings change.

Recently, MCRD Parris Island hosted a town hall forum where Retired Four Star USMC General Robert Magnus discussed the ways environmental conditions, like climate change, create a threat to our national security.  The military’s solution to dealing with these threats, combined with a national commitment to clean energy, translates into potential jobs for Beaufort and South Carolina.

General Magnus spoke about how the U.S. Department of Defense can help lead the transformation of U.S energy use by addressing its own security needs and serving as an incubator for new energy technologies. Those who attended the presentation learned that senior retired military leaders including General Magnus have identified climate change as a “threat multiplier” which will make the most unstable places around the world even more fragile. More drought, more extreme weather, less agriculture production spells more humanitarian disasters as well as civil unrest, and consequently more active involvement by the U.S. military.  General Magnus also spoke of the ways in which every American and the military’s energy use puts our troops at risk.  His message was loud and clear: we must move to a clean and efficient energy economy for the sake of our national security, and DoD can lead the way.

As Mayor of Beaufort, I walked away from the town hall meeting thinking about how partnering with the military could bring clean efficient energy jobs to our town, and others around the state.  But how do we attract the clean energy industry to Beaufort, where we have no traditional industries and a very, very small manufacturing base?  How can we move these job opportunities forward?

An answer: strong federal policies to help build the emerging clean efficient energy industry. Federal policy that increases the demand for clean efficient energy will effectively put a foot on the accelerator of jobs and economic growth in Beaufort and the entire state of South Carolina.  

The Greater Beaufort Chamber of Commerce recently reported that the total direct and indirect financial contribution of the military to Beaufort County approaches $3 billion. Most of this revenue comes from housing rentals and sales, automobile sales and servicing, hospitality, entertainment, food and retail sales. 

If you talk with the Commanding Officers at our bases, which I do, you would know that they are working hard to significantly reduce their own energy consumption. General Magnus called on every South Carolinian to do the same.  But I am convinced there are more and better ways we can serve our military and our country, and help Beaufort at the same time.  

One example:  A Beaufort entrepreneur recently told me that he is developing a battery charger that is powered by harnessing the tides in the Beaufort River. In the event his experiments move forward, and he is able to build a large battery charger, a contract to charge batteries for the three bases could be the start of a new industry in the lowcountry.  Furthermore, a DoD contract would undoubtedly help him raise the required capital to go into production. And once he is in production he could serve not only the military but other sectors of our economy that rely on