Candidates Talk About Issues Mauldin Faces During Debate on Tuesday

A few dozen people gathered at Mauldin City Hall on Tuesday night to hear candidates for city offices discuss the issues facing the town.

In a debate sponsored by Mauldin Patch and the League of Women Voters, each candidate had two minutes to answer questions posed by moderators Shawn Drury, editor of Mauldin Patch, and Kathleen Kempe, president of the League of Women Voters of Greenville County.

The candidates participating included:

Mayor - Don Godbey and Dennis Raines. Godbey is the incumbent mayor.

Seat 4 of the City Council - Incumbent James Kennedy is being challenged by Scott Crosby.

Seat 6 of the City Council - Incumbent Michael Reynolds is being challenged by Larry Goodson.

Nantambu Calhoun, who also is running for Seat 6, was unable to participate.

Topics up for discussion ranged from tax dollars being spent on The Cultural Center and the Sports Center in Mauldin, to budget and revenues, citizen participation, unemployment and annexation.

Two minutes went very quickly with each of the candidates, trying to give as much information as they could on each subject.

One of the biggest topics of discussion was the Mauldin Open-Air Market. The market's longtime owner Joel Ann Chandler has been stepping up the pressure on the South Carolina Department of Transportation to negotiate how to minimize the effects of road construction to her business and her property.

Plans are in the works to widen the road at the intersection of East Butler and Corn Road and at East Butler and Bridges Road. The project is an example of how Mauldin might manage growth in the future. While the business is not within the city limits, it is a good steward of Mauldin, many of the candidates said.

Many praised Chandler for the way she has dealt with the situation and hope a resolution is around the corner.

Incumbent Michael Reynolds acknowledged that "managing growth is quite a problem." Reynolds said during the time he had been on council, they had approved the hiring of an economic development planner to help plan for the city's future and who could also act as a liason with business and property owners and the developers.

"We can sit as leaders and say this is how we should do it," Reynolds said. "But this gentleman's job is to do that, he's gone to school for it... We need to empower the right people to help us do things."

"Ms. Chandler is a good neighbor to the City of Mauldin, she identifies with Mauldin, as much as anyone else in the city," said Mayor Don Godbey.

Godbey said the home-air market is a "part of Mauldin's fabric" and he hopes solution is coming soon.

"It's like your neighbors getting a divorce," Godbey said. "You don't want to get in the middle of it, you care about both of them, you just want to find a mutually acceptable solution."

Incumbent Kennedy, Seat 6, said he doesn't want to see anything happen to the market.

"I'm a regular customer in her store," Kennedy said. "I'm on Ms. Chandler's side, not on the DOT's side. And I'll tell anyone that."

Reynolds' opponent Goodson agreed, saying that the 45-feet the DOT is proposing cutting off of Chandler's property would devastate the business.

In the future, Raines said that he would like to see more talk with developers to see who wants to come in to the city.

"Planning ahead would reduce the negative impact that occurs," Raines said. "They wouldn't be able to come in and invade her property."

Crosby agreed with that point saying that city roads also needed better planning for the future. He said he would love the opportunity to sit down and talk with the SCDOT about what roads would be used as main thoroughfares.

Another topic along those same lines was annexation.

Raines said people don't understand the process of annexation.

"It takes an 85 percent residents vote," Raines said. "I think we should go to some of the subdivisions that border us and explain the benefits of annexation."

Raines said this could mean better services for the resident.

"Annexation is voluntary," Crosby said. "Not many people realize that. The value of annexation is to increase the number of businesses and personal residences that will feed the tax base. That is one of the ways we can increase the revenue the city has to spend."

Kennedy said that annexation is the only way for the city to grow. He said 85 percent of property owners have to sign an agreement to be annexed.

But Reynolds said planners also have to look at what the cost is going to be to the city. He said asking if roads have to be repaved, what the benefit of it is and what it's going to cost the city long-term.

"Is it in Mauldin's best interest?" Reynolds said. "If it's not, it's a no."

Godbey said they tell businesses up front how much it would cost them to annex.

Greenville Area Development Corporation is currently being used to help recruit business for the City of Mauldin. Candidates said it was in Mauldin's best interest to generate ways to bring business.

"Businesses create jobs, that's something the government can't do," Crosby said. He said the industrial park that currently is in the works is an ideal setting for creating jobs.

Kennedy said the community is highly-educated and that too is important to companies considering relocating.

"Most companies if they are going to locate somewhere, it's going to be right here in Mauldin," Kennedy said speaking of the education level of the town. "It's one of the best cities in South Carolina, and that attracts a lot of people."

Goodson said the city needs to take a harder look at development along Highway 276. "We need development," he said, pointing out businesses that had long since gone and left an empty building behind.

Reynolds said the city's relationship with Greenville Area Development Corporation speaks for itself, as they've brought business partners such as Samsung to the city. He said he would continue to partner with the group.

Godbey stressed that international companies looking to bring jobs to towns are looking for several things, but mainly they want livability. He said workers want a place they can live, as they can work almost anywhere.

"We have to invest in our community or we are selling ourselves short," Godbey said. "And that's what we have done over the last four years with the cultural center and the amphitheater, the 276 project..."

Godbey said in the Golden Strip, the three communities of Fountain Inn, Simpsonville and Mauldin, need to work together with one voice, because if as predicted by the Clemson study, two-thirds of the growth in the area over the next 30 years will be along the corridor south of 85.

While Raines and Crosby agree that growth is needed, both said the city isn't business-friendly. Raines said he knew of three instances recently where existing long-term businesses were threatened with fines. Raines said if the city wanted to bring more jobs to the area, they might want to go ask some of the businesses how the city is doing, first.

Raines cited one business had been fined because it's sign had blinked one second too fast, he said instead of an inspector talking to the business owner, he received a fine in the mail.

"We might want to go ask some of the businesses," Raines said.

Crosby said in addition to the businesses, the city also needed to spend some time talking to SCDOT. He said the city needs to be a residential community and not a crossroads of five- and seven-lane roads.