Civility, Association Successes Highlighted at 2022 Annual Meeting

Delegates from across South Carolina’s cities and towns elected Aiken Mayor Rick Osbon as the new president of the Municipal Association of SC during the 2022 Annual Meeting. 

In accepting the presidency, Osbon recalled his election as mayor in 2015, and wanting to learn more about municipal governance.

“I knew I wanted to learn more about the Municipal Association and get involved in the many education and training opportunities that they offer us. I was impressed,” he said. “And when you elected me to the board of directors, I learned even more about the services of the Association and what it offers to our cities and towns. It’s this level of service and added value that I want to continue and even expand in this upcoming year.”

He also called attention to the Association’s expansion of its federal advocacy efforts. In the past year, he has joined Association staff in Washington, D.C., to meet with the state’s U.S. senators and representatives. 

“Our advocacy team continues to build positive relationships with legislators, legislative staff and leadership at the state level as well. It’s this spirit of cooperation with other stakeholders where we have seen so many legislative successes this year,” he said. 

Rock Hill Councilmember Kathy Pender, the Association’s outgoing president, also called attention to the Association’s accomplishments in the past year, including collaborating with local and state officials on American Rescue Plan funding, and the addition of a new Association field services manager to help answer local questions.

Pender was one of many speakers to discuss civility in government, named by the Association’s board of directors as a top priority in 2021. Leaders in every part of the state have faced incivility and a lack of respect in council meetings and community interactions, she said.

“Even when it’s tough and frustrating, keep listening and talking with your colleagues and your residents. Don’t become one of those elected officials who only responds to their friends and the like-minded. Be willing to learn from one another.  Our communities, our towns, our cities deserve that, and they will be stronger as we get better at engaging others in meaningful dialogues,” she said. 

Association Executive Director Todd Glover called attention to some of the Association’s initiatives relating to the other major priorities, including workforce development, where the upcoming Build the Bench program will aim to increase the number of qualified city managers and administrators available in South Carolina. 

The economic development priority includes numerous projects, including the Retail Recruitment Training program, through which 26 cities and towns so far have learned the steps to successfully pull in new businesses to locate in their community. The City Connect Market, meanwhile, is a cooperative purchasing program that plugs into a nationwide network and allows South Carolina’s municipalities to use the purchasing power of more than 700 other governments. An upcoming initiative, We Shop SC, will provide an e-commerce platform for all Main Street South Carolina communities, through which local businesses can pay a small monthly fee to sell their products and services online.

“This is assisting our small businesses, and by strengthening our small businesses, we strengthen our cities and towns,” Glover said. 

He also introduced some of the individual features of the Association-wide civility initiative. This includes the civility pledge, crafted both in a longer form that councils can use in a resolution, and a short personal pledge that can be used in contexts like meeting agendas. 

“We have to get to a point where we can disagree without being disagreeable. That if we’re on opposite sides of an issue, that we’re not enemies,” Glover said. “We have to restore vision to our communities and get everyone behind that vision.”