Dear Island Neighbors, 

You may have noticed we recently had an election. 

Congratulations to Councilmember and Mayor Pro Tem Justin Novak on his re-election, and congratulations to Melanie Burkhold and Laura Schroeder on their election to Council. Thanks also to all of you who voted to keep the Mayor around. I am looking forward to the next four years and working with our continuing and new Councilmembers to advance the interests of our residents and the Island.

Our outgoing Councilmembers, Gary Visser and Scott Millimet, deserve a huge amount of thanks for their dedicated, selfless and effective service over the last four years. I will personally miss working with them for the Town.

Gary’s leadership of the Land Use and Natural Resources Committee of Council has been very consequential. A long-time unequivocal advocate for our wonderful natural resources including the Maritime Forest, Gary championed the effort to support, recruit and hire our first Director of Resilience and Natural Resources, Rebecca Fanning, a great hire. Coming from his prior service as Chair of the Planning Commission, Gary kept Council focused on the need to respect the work of that group. He also established an ad hoc committee of citizens and staff to review the parts of our zoning ordinance concerned with historic preservation, building size, and incentives for historic property owners, a group whose recommendations were subsequently reflected in changes to our ordinances.

Scott, as Chair of our Finance Committee, applied his experience and knowledge from a career in finance to our Town’s fiscal management and investment strategies.  With his guidance we have realized a far greater return on our investments, going from earning less than $50,000 a year when he took office to more than $850,000 this past fiscal year. Working with Town Administrator Joe Henderson, he led the development and implementation of a much more systematic and transparent approach to budgeting and to communicating that process to our citizens. Scott has also been a staunch defender of our natural resources, especially the Maritime Forest.

TOWN FINANCIAL INFO, AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
Speaking of communicating our financial information, we have much more extensive and more readily accessible information on our budgeting process and financial status at the Town website 

Says Town Administrator Joe Henderson, “The Financial Transparency Center was developed to reflect the Town’s commitment to maintaining fiscal responsibility, transparency and accountability; we are extremely excited to present the budget in this new digital format now viewable at the Town Finances page (https://bit.ly/SITownFinances ). The interactive Financial Transparency Center provides a fresh look for reviewing all departmental operating budgets, approved capital projects, debt, and more ( https://bit.ly/3VK5hxS ).”

Please do not hesitate to contact Joe at Town Hall should you have any questions about Town budget documents or navigating these new resources.

POLICE NAVIDAD
The 5th annual SIPD Bike Drive benefiting Toys for Tots Officially started Nov 1 and ends Sunday, December. Delivery to Toys for Tots will be Monday, Dec 15.

This is a wonderful effort by our great Police Department under the leadership of Chief Glenn Meadows. Says Chief Meadows, “We haven't set a specific goal this year but last year we collected 300 bikes and over 70 helmets. Our hope is to collect more this year.”

Prior to the official start date, the department received just over 50 bikes from early donors. This year, they've established a gift registry on Amazon to make it easier to donate. You  can use this QR code to take them straight to the registry.

One request: Please don’t contribute unassembled bikes with hand brakes, which make it lots more difficult to put together.

THANKSGIVING THOUGHTS
As I have previously expressed, I frequently catch myself taking the Island for granted in the course of day-to-day activities and responsibilities.

So I always find it healthy to remind myself of the abundant blessings we enjoy here: a wonderful small-town place with great neighbors; tremendous natural resources all around us with an amazing array of flora and fauna; a fascinating history that predates the founding of the country, with lots of historic resources all around us. What’s not to like?

As I reflect on life here, I remain very thankful for the size of our BIGGEST problems! 

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

See you around the Island!

Pat O’Neil
Mayor
843 670 9266
oneilp@sullivansisland.sc.gov