Personal Background
My name is Jimmy Syfrett. I was born and raised in Walterboro. I graduated from Walterboro High School in 1981. I have served as a fireman for the Walterboro Fire Department for 16 years. I was on the board of zoning appeals before I was on city council in 2013. I served on city council 2014 15, 16, and 17. After that, I've served on the city's planning commission, and I'd like to run for city council again this year.
What made you decide to go ahead and run for council again?
It just feels like the time is right. There's a lot of good things going on in Walterboro. There's a lot of the projects that we've been talking about for 8-10 years that are starting to come to life now, and I just like to be a part of watching some of this stuff unfold.
Where do you think Walterboro is on violence?
I think it's always going to be a problem that has always popped up, that's always poked his head, and something that is always on somebody's mind. You know, a part of helping with that, is getting together with the neighborhoods. Make sure they've got neighborhood watches put in place. Let them form some neighborhood watches. I think the police department is doing a good job going out and being visible and being proactive and not just reactive. I think we have to stay on that, being able to hire good police officers, letting them be seen in the community. It's not just one thing that's going to solve the problem. It's a lot of little pieces.
Where do you see Walterboro going on infrastructure?
Well, I think an important set that probably most of the people around Forest Hills and they're seeing the trunk line being replaced, bring it into Walterboro from out of the mega site on Bells Highway. That's going to be really important for the industry and the development on that side of town. There's always the need for economic development, and we got a lot of buildings we can put people in, but having the infrastructure in place to support it once it comes is important. That's a big project that's probably going to last another several months before it's in place. The wastewater treatment facility getting a face lift and being able to handle more capacity is a big deal for any kind of annexation and the future of the city.
When businesses come to town, some say city ordinances stand in the way. What is your stand on going to the business and saying, what can we do to help you open instead of just perceived negatives?
I say it's always been looking at what they want to bring where they want to bring it. You must have some ordinances in place, because you want to protect your community. You want to protect the neighborhoods from different things building right up on their side door, but you have to work with these folk and find out what needs they have. If it's something that can be as simple as going to border zoning appeals to get something and, get a variance for something there are a lot of options there to help businesses.
Conclusion
I would appreciate everybody's vote. The early voting begins on the 20th and runs until the 31st, I believe the two weeks before the election, and the Election Day is November 4, which is obviously a Tuesday, so you'll have a couple of weeks that you can go out and vote early before that and then come out and vote.
To see the complete interview visit The Press and Standard's YouTube page at this link: https://youtu.be/bNbq6xk3cvU
