A Unified Voice

Summerville Town Council – with decisive, quick action – moved forward last week administratively changing the form of government the town operates under. As it pertains to state law, Summerville will still operate under the “council” form of government, but in actuality it’s moved to a strong mayor form of government.  Summerville Town Council transferred the authority of the town administrator to the mayor and eliminated the town administrator from their organizational chart.

The time was never better for Summerville to make the administrator power change. We are currently without a Town Administrator, and by council enacting the form via ordinance, Summerville would essentially get a of this form without having to change it via a referendum.  Many reasons exist to adopt this plan including accountability, saving taxpayer dollars, and allowing for the development of a more cohesive vision for the community.

The first advantage is accountability. A “strong mayor” form allows for a “buck stops here” mentality, and helps to avoid constant finger-pointing while failing to address underlying issues. The incident at the Gahagan ballfields is a prime example. A mayor accountable to the voters for hiring of department heads will think twice before allowing a situation like that to go unchecked. The other advantage as far as accountability goes is that a mayor is required to live in the town. The mayor would be directly affected by these decisions, as opposed to an administrator without that requirement and subsequently one who maybe detached.

There is a cost savings associated with this move as well. The mayor was already making $15,000 and since his salary can’t change while in his term, there won’t be any change to the mayoral salary for four years. The administrator was making $125,000, so even if an assistant mayor – which was approved to be hired – is hired at $75,000; it’s still a $200,000 savings during Mayor Collins’ first term. If an assistant mayor is never hired, it’s a half a million dollar savings during his term.

Economic development, tourism promotion and being a regional player are the buzzwords we hear during every town election. All 3 mayor candidates ran on it. Every council candidate runs on it. With a mayor devoted full-time and able to administratively make decisions, things can happen. Mayor Collins promises to deliver on recruiting more commercial businesses, promoting Summerville as a tourist destination and no longer being bullied around on the regional scene by mayors Joe Riley and Keith Summey.

These are the important issues facing our town – whatever side of the political spectrum you are on, we can at least agree on that. As Mayor Collins likes to say Summerville’s biggest threat is going to bed in Summerville and waking up in ‘Summeyville.’ Our leadership almost allowed that to happen during the last decade, it’s time to put one man in charge and see if we can correct the ills of our past this decade. Mayor Collins won decisively over two well-known opponents, showing our town voters trust him – now, fortunately, our Summerville Town Council has decided to put their trust in Collins that he can lead the charge every day.