Colleton County has welcomed its new County Administrator, Thomas Higgs II. Higgs, originally from Barnwell, comes to Colleton from Laurens County South Carolina and has a long career in administration, “I did a lot of various jobs throughout my career, I worked in the financial sector, the government, and the political fields. My father was a city administrator, became a County Administrator, and then worked in the private sector with engineering companies that created their own cities. It was something that always fascinated me. It was kind of like the computer game, The Sims. I found myself doing what my father did. I started my public service career for the city of Bishopville in Lee County, South Carolina. They gave me a great opportunity, because they took a gamble on me. I was still young at the time, but I had the energy and the passion, and I think they saw that in me. I went in there and help develop a Capital Improvement Plan that they’re still realizing successes on it today. I went to the city of Clinton in Lawrence County. That was a good transitional time for them and a good opportunity for me. I went in as the assistant city manager at the time, so a different form of government, but it’s also an electric city. They run their own utility. That was a great learning experience for me, realizing, here’s how the electric service works. The city manager retired, and I filled in at that point in an interim role. The county position opened up in Laurens County and they saw the work we had done with the city. They wanted to keep that momentum but wanted to grow it county wide. I was fortunate and blessed. They gave me the opportunity to become the County Administrator. We did a lot of things, especially on the financial side, to grow that county very similar to Colleton County. They were a county that’s primarily agricultural community, very rural, great people, great natural resources, and rich history. South Carolina is on the move, so they were in that pressure cooker between Greenville and Columbia. It was a pivotal moment to say, wait a minute, we need to do this the right way and not to get overrun by lackluster housing or logistical growth. We need manufacturing jobs. We need equitable housing for everybody. How do we make this work? So that was a great opportunity to be there. We got things built up, a reserve balance that was outstanding and got the county in a great financial position.” Higgs had come to a pivotal moment in his career, He thought, “If I could be anywhere doing this, where would I want to be? I had a list of counties, and they were all right here from where I grew up; Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper. That’s my home that’s where I would love to be living. Colleton was always number one on my list, surprisingly enough, because it’s very similar to Laurens, it’s at that crossroads of development. How do we how do we do this, and do it correctly, while growing and preserving what makes Colleton County great. It was hard leaving Lawrence because things are coming to fruition, plans were put into place, and I left it better than I found it. A good staff was developed that worked wholeheartedly as a team, and they’re they are still moving the ball down the field, along with the great council. They supported me every step of the way to the point I still hear from them. It’s great to leave that behind and hopefully bring some of that magic here, and create a team, a vision, and a path forward. Higgs came in at the change of the budget year, but came in ready for the challenge, “I actually took some time before I officially started to meet with some of the staff who I’d be working directly with, John Carpenter, Megan Danielle. The staff here is amazing. And we hit the ground running and I got a 60,000-foot view. We narrowed that down to 30, and we sort of massage it to the point we could get the budget through to final reading. It’s hard to prepare a budget; number one, know how your staff feels and know the needs of the operation, number two, know the vision and the direction that you’re council wants to carry, because they are representative of the citizens. Bringing all the pieces of the puzzle together and trying to put it together at the last minute is a challenge, but we got it done. I hate to use the word conservative or progressive, because those get tied to politics. This isn’t a political thing. It’s a mathematical thing. We made some pretty substantial changes and philosophies with this budget. One thing we are doing is growing our reserve balance. That’s our savings account. We’ve seen it during COVID, Helene, all of the storms that have come through, we have to rely on the reserve. We don’t know what FEMA funding looks like, and what’s on the horizon. South Carolina’s got the highest per capita foreign investment in the state. Everybody wants to be here, and it’s a blessing and a curse at the same time. The curse is, I think, the culture here, we have not been expecting it at the rate, and now it’s knocking at the door. We have to get infrastructure in place, study infrastructure and prepare ourselves for residential, retail, and major industry. We need to work with our counterparts and municipalities to have one trajectory, because we all have a seat at this table to make sure it’s done properly, while again, maintaining what makes this place great. Budget wise, we made some decisions, we cut spending across the board for all county departments by 15%, the beautiful part of that is a lot of those departments were already doing that anyway. They do a great job. I’ve had a chance to meet with all the directors and elected officials, but they were pretty much already doing that anyway. There was not met with a lot of resistance and we’re going to make it happen. Another thing we did is we froze all new head counts. We’re not filling a lot of those positions that are open, with the exception of those public safety positions like fire, EMS, law enforcement. We still have slots open right now and we need to fill those positions, So we’re not we’re not freezing those. We’re going to run lean and mean for a little bit. That’ll allow us to basically put money in the bank. We need to maintain operational status, but yet we have to afford it without running a deficit.” Higgs adds, “The beautiful thing about Colleton County the CPST referendum passed. A lot of places across the state are struggling to pass CPST referendums. That shows the will of the citizens and the ratepayers to say, we believe in the projects. The county staff have the heavy lifting of saying, you entrusted us with this responsibility. We’re going to see the projects to the finish line. Every time somebody travels through the county, they stop at a convenience store or something, they’re paying that penny as well. It’s a blended revenue resource, which is great, but we’re still in the boring part of the projects right now. I met with staff the other day to get a status of each project we’re working on, like the animal shelter, expanding the design a little bit to say while the CPST referendum and revenue only cover a portion, we need to plan for B and C as the county continues to grow. It’s always easy to Monday morning quarterback these types of things, but what I rely on is professionals to do professional jobs. We hire professional engineering and architectural firms to work on design. However, they take trends into account, as well as our expert staff to say here are the needs of the community. They really work together to formulate a roadmap on how to move forward.” Higgs is looking to enhance recreational opportunities in the county, “I call this quality-of-life measures. I know I keep talking about growth, but the county’s going to green light a comprehensive plan. We’re required to do it, but this one’s going to have a little more vision to it. It’s going to have a land use map. The quality of life is the other piece of that puzzle. People need to have things to do when they come here. One of the statistics I was looking at is how many people come to the county that stay, live and work here, versus how many commute to jobs elsewhere. You don’t want to be one of those communities where everybody goes to Charleston on the weekend. You know, you want to have things here to do for recreation. I think recreation department is a great program based on the operations I’ve seen thus far, but it’s going to continue to grow. We’re going to add a breath of life into the current facilities that are there. How do we how do we modernize? I remember 5-10, years ago, splash pads, nobody really knew what they were, but now that’s a trend. I’m a huge soccer fan, and soccer is one of those things where you don’t have to go to store buy a bat and glove and a ball. It takes one ball and an empty lot, and kids can have fun with it. And it’s one of the fastest growing sports. I think the number one takeaway is that complacency kills.” I know that the Governor’s been extremely passionate about preserving our natural resources. With development coming in, Tom Mulliken with the Department of Natural Resources, I consider him a mentor, we have conversations quite often about; how do we preserve what makes our state great? One of the recreation pieces in that quality of life is simply just preserving our natural resources but then growing and modernizing with the opportunities as far as recreation at the same time being able to pivot. Taking a look at the Golf Course, Higgs says, “We’re unique, some of our neighboring counties have golf courses. Are we getting a true ROI on our money? Again, it is back to business, sure. Aaron with our park and recreation department, he is a rock star, let’s let him have a little bit of time to shape and mold the clay on this and provide accurate numbers to it. I hope people start seeing a lot of improvement. Granted, it’s a nine-hole course, I was talking with a golf course developers and one of the trends going to golf course communities now is 12 holes, because people generally get tired before they finish 18. We have a great opportunity there, even with a nine-hole course, for a lot of different events, like night golf, those types of things, lots of opportunity.” What is Higgs five year vision, “So the next few years are, I’m going to be working a lot with council and our outside entities as well to say let’s formulate a plan. In my first month I’ve done a lot of research? What’s the history of the county? What are some of the things that make it Colleton County? Looking back at previous budgets, previous financials, previous visions of Council, where are we at? One thing we’re doing is an infrastructure study across the whole county, and that’s going to show what are sewer capacities and capabilities. That’s going to show where we can look at residential growth, industrial growth, those types of things. Working with the city at the same time to say let’s figure this out together. Working with my council and saying, let’s put together a capital improvement plan. You have CPSD projects underway, but as we continue to grow our operation, as we continue to plan for the future, what is our plan? There are resources out there, whether it be grants, appropriations, those types of things, but you have to have a plan to figure out how you’re going to approach that and getting them to agree and adopt that plan. Staff still needs that clear vision and being able to pivot at the same time to figure out us how to do our job, and saying, how do we go fund this? I think the final piece of that three to five year puzzle is establishing that plan, finishing out all these CPST projects, showing the county, we’re on the move forward while preserving growth, at the same time growing our budget and fund balance where it needs to be, getting our financial house completely in order.” Higgs adds, “I’m abundantly thankful for the opportunity, because I feel like I’m coming home and I’m able to use the skill sets I have acquired to help out a place that I’ve been passionate about my whole life. This region is something special. And I tell people all the time, no matter where you go in the world, there’s always a tie to low country of South Carolina. I’m hopeful that I can be a catalyst for the vision that the taxpayers entrust into the council, and how to take that vision and make it grow.”
