Why Are They Running?

The nine men and women vying for four seats on the Mount Pleasant Town Council took questions from the public Tuesday night in a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters Charleston.

Development, taxes, municipal employee benefits and even bike paths were up for discussion over the two-hour forum that drew 50 to 60 audience members.

The November 8 election is less than two weeks away. Nick Collins, Thomasena Stokes-Marshall and Kenneth Glasson are seeking re-election. Joe Bustos, George Freeman, William "Tate" Mikell, Chris Nickels, Chris O'Neal and Mark Smith also seek seats on the council.

Mount Pleasant elects its council at-large. The four highest vote-getters will win seats on the eight-person council.

On Tuesday , candidates found consensus on issues such as development. Freeman, Glasson and Nickels said they had received or been promised political contributions by prominent Beach Company developer John Darby. But those men, along with all the other candidates, said they would stand up to developers who proposed projects that weren’t right for Mount Pleasant.

On the issue of town employment retirement benefits, all the candidates said they believed the town should stand behind promises of health insurance benefits to retirees, since many town workers had planned for years on those benefits, but none said specifically that the health insurance plan should continue without changes.

Mount Pleasant faces a looming unfunded financial obligation if the funding continues unchanged. Shoring up that debt would cost the town roughly $1 million more each year, and costs could rise markedly into the future as the retiree pool grows and workers live longer and health costs increase.

Each candidate gave a brief opening at the start of the forum, where they stated why they were running for town council. Here’s a quick rundown:

JOE BUSTOS
“The reason I’m running for town council is about experience and service,” Bustos said. “For over 38 years, between the Army, five years on the Charleston Police Department, and nine years on the Mount Pleasant Town Council … I feel my judgment and experience will be important in the years moving forward.”

NICK COLLINS
“I’ve been very fortunate and very blessed to be able to live in this beautiful city and serve the wonderful citizens of Mount Pleasant,” Collins said. “We’ve got a great place to live; I love Mount Pleasant. I love my job as a town councilman, and now I would like to continue on.”

GEORGE FREEMAN
“We’ve been a bedroom community for too long,” Freeman said. “It’s time for us to diversify and find new tax revenue for the Town of Mount Pleasant. We can no longer afford to depend on revenue from new home construction. … We need to recruit new businesses to the area, and when I say new businesses, I mean other than retail.”

KEN GLASSON
“I came on the town council five years ago with the goal of using the (masters in business management) the Marine Corp paid for and using it,” Glasson said. “I’ve sat on the finance committee for the last five years, and the items that we’ve had have remained under budget. … Look at the projects that come through the town and we’re under budget every year. … The goal of having this community a AAA (credit rating) has never been achieved, but under my watch it will.”

WILLIAM 'TATE' MIKELL
“I was a City of Charleston police officer until June 13, 2005, when I suffered a ruptured brain aneurism, which caused my disability,” Mikell said. “With some very hard work with a personal trainer … I was able to run a 5K race this past weekend. I hope that my willingness to do hard work will benefit the citizens of the Town of Mount Pleasant if I am voted onto town council.”

CHRIS NICKELS
“If you are looking for a candidate with integrity, if you are looking for a candidate who believes fiscal responsibility is paramount, if you are looking for someone to hold government to be open and accountable, if you are looking for conservative leadership and values, then I ask you to a hard look at my candidacy,” Nickels said.

CHRIS O’NEAL
“I’m running for town council because I took a long look at the candidates and said there’s not anyone who has the financial experience that I do,” O’Neal said. “This is a difficult economic time. This isn’t about where you got a degree from 20 years ago, this is about what you do every day. What I do every day is look at budgets, look at how people spend their money … and my job as a CPA is to make sure my clients pay as little in tax as possible.”

MARK SMITH
“I want to continue to make sure that the Town of Mount Pleasant continues to be a wonderful place for live, to raise our families and to work,” Smith said. “I’m proud to be a local small-business owner here and I’ve been very active and engaged in serving our community. I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to have a leadership role in many civic, social and business and non-profit organizations. That’s taught me the value of a dollar, to do more with less and to build my leadership abilities. I’d like to put all those items to work as a councilman for the Town of Mount Pleasant.”

THOMASENA STOKES-MARSHALL
“I am currently into my 13th year on the Town of Mount Pleasant Council,” Stokes-Marshall said. “My life has been dedicated to serving people. I don’t know anything else to do, and I enjoy it tremendously. I am running for re-election because I want to continue to provide the services, maintaining our budget and looking at expanding our senior services center, and making sure our road projects are completed.”