Swails: Town Needs Stronger Mayor

Mount Pleasant Mayor Billy Swails wants future mayors to have more power and influence and full-time pay.

Mount Pleasant has operated under a "weak mayor" system for as long as anyone can remember, Swails said. But now Swails says it's time for the town to give the mayor more power.

"We need to be on the same playing field as everyone else," Swails said. "I do not have the same power (neighboring mayors) have."

Moving to that system would require council approval and then a referendum vote in November 2012. Councilmen are set to discuss the proposal at a planning retreat today, but no votes are expected.

Currently the mayor works part-time, and the town councilmembers chair committees which vet legislation, set the budget and approve purchases. Those items then head to the full council for a vote.

The system Swails is pitching will side-step the committee process and put the mayor in charge of running the town on a daily basis. It's the same system the cities of Charleston and North Charleston already use.

Day to day, the town is currently run by Town Administrator Eric DeMoura, but Swails said he is called away to sit on various committees and boards, so much so that his job is practically full-time already.

"I'm talking about a full-time, strong mayor," Swails said recently at a Mount Pleasant Business Association meeting. "That's his job. He directs the town, the town employees report to him."

Swails said he doesn't see himself serving as that full-time mayor, though he said he regularly works 40 to 60 hours a week for the town. He also owns Billy Swails State Farm.

"I do not want to be a full-time mayor," Swails said. "There are a lot of people out there that can do that."