Meet the City Council Candidates: John McCants

Patch is introducing readers to the candidates for Goose Creek City Council. For complete coverage, visit our Election HQ.

Goose Creek City Councilman John McCants pauses when we point out his long history in the city, moving to the area in 1973.

"Is that almost 40 years?" McCants asked, laughing. "I was assigned to the Army Depot. I looked at Otranto and the houses were $31,000. The one in Foxborough was $29,000, and it was a little farther out, so I could take the back way and get into the depot without any trouble."

He also wanted a good school. His family was stationed in Thailand for more than three years and McCants and his wife wanted their children to continue with a strong education.

McCants went on to work for the city as a building inspector and moved on to work in community development and grant-writing for Charleston County. He won a seat on Goose Creek City Council in 1992.

"We were created to serve each other," he said. "Seeing things that were beyond the main road, you go back into the woods and see how people suffer."

He also continues to volunteer with aid groups throughout the area. "You can't just look at the borders of the city," he said. "I want to see beyond the borders."

McCants is proud of working with staff to update building inspection policies and guidelines. He notes the city's honors, including Businessweek's "Best Place to Raise Your Kids."

"The city council really had to look inside itself to see what makes a city unique," McCants said. "What makes it more than a wide spot in the road. We are working toward what makes people want to stop in Goose Creek, live here and work here."

That includes downtown redevelopment and landscaping imporovements along U.S. 52.

He also sees neighbors interested in annexation. "I go over to the chapel at the Weapons Station," he said. "We've got people who live in St. James and Beverly Hills who want to know how to get into the city."