It’s tempting to focus on the red and blue team jackets that Charleston County Council members wear and suggest that the election of a new Democratic chairman, the Rev. Kylon Middleton, is a realignment that’s simply the same old back-and-forth.
But if you closely examine the November vote on the half-penny sales tax referendum that failed, the significant voter majority (61% versus 39%) — comprised of red and blue voters and those in between — all shouted, ‘No way.’ The vote was not about team colors, but the road-building proposal at hand.
“There is no Republican or Democratic way to pick up the garbage,” Depression-era New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia stated. He was emphasizing that local governments and county councils oversee municipal services. The performance of these essential services for many communities is a core of the council’s function.
The failed ballot referendum basically was a 2050 strategic survival and growth plan. It was a funding program for a street project in the city of Charleston, rather than a conceptualization of transportation or a way for everyone to get from one place to the next. And this frame is an excellent starting point for reshaping and reevaluating the county’s service agenda.
The newly formed majority, chaired by Middleton, needs to put aside the jackets, sharp spikes and counter-programming to concentrate on the needs of county residents. We are already experiencing a high level of dysfunction in which issues compound and interact more, becoming increasingly complex and expensive to untangle.
Unpredictable travel times, increasing delays, extended area commutes, rising water impacts, lack of affordable housing and groundwater stresses are just a few of the urgent threats facing Charleston County’s pulsing economy. Addressing these challenges will require active input and participation from the business community and resident taxpayers, not closed-door or secret sessions of a select few.
Navigating the county’s current state to a newly defined common ground will be challenging, take longer than desired and require phased steps to secure a vision. There is no magic solution to eliminate discomfort or fund all aspects of the vision. Deliberate speed spoken in timetables for action is needed.
Trust and open communication are fundamental and will demand genuine, multi-level efforts to provide adequate municipal services. Council members should limit discussions in executive secret sessions to the specific issue at hand. If the discussion pertains to a contract, cover all elements except the specifics of legal threats, trade secrets, negotiating strategy and the like in an open session.
If you wish to engage the public, continue the current outreach by posting performance statistics and finding ways to enhance its utility, quality and quantity. Separate the bimonthly, time-restricted listening session from the business calendar so that you can truly listen and understand.
Neither the council nor voters are traffic engineers. But both groups have valuable insights into local conditions that need to be considered, such as opening up traffic flow (turning lanes, traffic controls, speed bumps, widening, etc.). Secure meaningful outside expertise and inform the public as you tackle challenging questions.
In our increasingly wet environment, many existing roads will deteriorate faster, necessitating a revision of specifications based on expected lifespan. Travel during low tide may become necessary in low-lying areas. Roads and water are inextricably linked, affecting housing choices, resale values and the risk factors influencing insurance availability and pricing. Livability, sustainability, growth and equity cannot be neglected and should not be seen as mutually exclusive.
We are surrounded by water and areas that absorb it. We try to mimic wetland water storage in our flood remedies but too often treat the existing wetlands as an uncoordinated system lacking efficiency or a coherent natural system that stores water. The more water we retain within existing wetland infrastructure, the less we will need to replace with green or gray solutions funded by taxpayers.
Fred Palm of Edisto Island is a retired professor of oversight and investigations at the John Jay College School of Public Management and a former executive director of the Association of Inspectors General.
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