By Stan Welch
Ken Waters, the incumbent District Six County Councilman, has been unopposed in recent years. That has changed, as lifelong Wren area resident Jimmy Davis has decided to “get off the sideline and into the game. I just feel like I want to be involved.”
Davis, forty seven, has lived on Highway 17 in the Wren area for his entire life. His family has been there for a hundred fifty years. “ My mother was a King and my Dad is a Davis. I went to Wren and graduated from Clemson. This is my home, and I see tremendous potential for this area. The growth is obvious and undeniable.”
While Davis clearly favors growth, he is aware that it makes demands as well. “Our unemployment in this area is so low that finding quality employees is becoming a real issue. And it is harder on small businesses than it is on the larger corporations. I am in favor of using the fee in lieu of taxes (FILOT
) approach to entice or retain companies and the jobs and investment they bring. But I would like to see smaller businesses offered comparable advantages as well. They remain the backbone of our economy.”
He acknowledges the importance of the Tri County Technical College and in vocational schools in helping to prepare and provide those employees. “I am a big supporter of TCTC and will be as a member of Council. Their presence has played a large role in attracting some of these recent additions to the county, and that role is unlikely to decrease.”
Davis is also aware that such explosive growth as that being experienced in the northern part of the county will require significant improvements in the area’s infrastructure. “The two simply go hand in hand. We need to thoroughly review our needs in that area, and we need to take a hard look at how we are allocating our resources. Are we using the taxpayers’ money wisely? Are we being transparent about that, so that people rust use to use their money well?”
He favors having periodic meetings in his district where people can at least get a snapshot of how the government is performing. “The question I am asked most often as I campaign is where is the money being spent? I am a staunch protector of the taxpayer’s dollar. I want to know where every cent of it goes.”
Davis praises Sheriff Chad McBride for his efforts to get more deputies into the community. “Chad has done an excellent job so far. He also has some good ideas on the issue of the jail, which has to be dealt with. I think he is the man to lead us through that process, and I will support him in any way I can.”
Davis also supports the efforts to put the zoning issue on a referendum for the people to decide on. “We need some sort of structure , and we need a more focused definition of zoning. That is a pretty broad term. We have no true structure to shape our growth at this time, and I fully support a referendum on zoning.”
He says as general manager of a fast growing company that handles refuse equipment e knows what it takes to balance a budget, and to cut costs. “I have helped open the Greenville and Atlanta offices of our company, which has added more than fifty employees in the last several years. I know how important small businesses are, and I want to see them get a fair shake in Anderson County.”
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