New mayor gives time and money

When Mount Pleasant residents elected Billy Swails mayor a month ago, they got not only another leader willing to give virtually full time to a part-time job, but one who has already directed that his salary be donated back to the town.

What's more, while the new mayor is not looking for smokestacks, he is looking for business prospects that will provide new jobs and increase the town's tax base. His most pressing challenge is one confronting mayors in cities across the state and around the country: Find a way in this lagging economy to continue providing needed services without tax increases.

The affable Swails, a successful businessman, knows an opportunity when he sees it. North Charleston, he notes, "hit a home run" when it was chosen last month as the site for Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner assembly plant. Mount Pleasant, he says, now "needs to hit a few singles" by attracting some of Boeing's suppliers and vendors.

It's Swails' idea to send a delegation to Boeing's Washington State home base to start the Mount Pleasant sell. And that's one of the economic development projects he hopes his $24,000 salary donation will help fund.

As a former chairman of his City Council's Finance Committee, Swails knows very well the need to pinch pennies to keep from increasing property taxes. He notes ruefully there have been past increases in certain user fees and wants to bring that to a halt in these tough times.To date, a freeze on salaries and filling positions has helped prevent layoffs and Swails is high in his praise of the town's professional staff, headed by long-time administrator Mac Burdette. But the economic challenge is expected to be even greater in the upcoming fiscal year, particularly in view of business declines reflected in the closing of 12 restaurants in the town in the last six months.

To their credit, town officials are also preparing for the challenges of the future, prompted by projected changes in the town's demographics. According to Burdette, the median age of 26 in 1966 is expected to increase dramatically to 47 in 2025. Swails notes that an aging population will impact not only the need for services, but the way they are provided. Garbage collection, for example, may have to move to backyards rather than curbside and more and more residents may need assistance with hurricane evacuation. Buying patterns may change along with demands on the school system.

A previous priority that's still very much on the new mayor's front burner is the widening of an additional portion of U.S. 17-north. While the town has a total of $14 million for the work, he says the state highway department needs to "step up " with the funds to complete the project.

Even before he began his campaign for mayor, Swails says he started looking at the need for a full-time mayor. The town has been lucky, he says, that his recent predecessors have put an average of 40 hours per week into the part-time job. He's definitely following suit, and then some. He's been either just ahead or right behind Burdette, arriving at town hall shortly after 7 a.m., well ahead of the regular opening. He checks on his insurance business in the afternoons and on weekends.

Noting that the surrounding cities of Charleston and North Charleston have very successful full-time chief executives, he points to his town's 65,000 residents and 450 employees. Mount Pleasant, he says, "is a player now." The town, he says, deserves someone who is willing to work full-time.

But it also should be noted that the cities cited are the only two in the state with a strong mayor-council form of government. While several have studied changing from the council-mayor system, there's been no follow-up referendum. Swails has no illusion it would be an easy sell to get council to bring the issue to a vote, primarily because the change would diminish the power of that body.

While he's heard the argument that professionals are less likely than elected chief executives to let politics influence their administrative decisions, he counters that the Mount Pleasant electorate is "very intelligent" and unlikely to select a leader who has partisan politics on his agenda. But making the pitch for change isn't yet on his radar screen since he opposes calling special elections for a referendum. The next regular town election will be in November 2011.

Meanwhile, advance planning means Swails isn't worrying about who will replace Burdette when he retires next fall after 24 years. He notes that Deputy Administrator Eric DeMoura will have been in training under Burdette for seven years. He has proven abilities and strong support on council, and he already is being given even more responsibilities.

With Swails very much on the job as mayor, and even performing those duties for free, the question of changing Mount Pleasant's form of government may not be on the front burner. But in view of his feeling that there is a need to make a change, it isn't likely to go away.

Barbara S. Williams, editor emeritus of The Post and Courier, may be reached at bwilliams@postandcourier.com.