Primary candidates for county supervisor, Peagler and Cribb, discuss infrastructure in Berkeley County

The Berkeley County supervisor position is up for grabs, and it looks like it’s become a competitive race between current Supervisor Bill Peagler and newcomer Johnny Cribb. Peagler is a businessman who’s tried to shepherd the County through some of its growing pains in the last four years, and Cribb is a city administrator in Hanahan who’s proud to consider himself a manager, not a politician. Both candidates see infrastructure and Berkeley County’s rapid growth as the main issues to contend with in the near future and have turned those into the focal points of the election.

BILL PEAGLER

Peagler is the current Berkeley County supervisor. The incumbent was elected to office in 2014 and during his tenure, the County has seen the construction of the Sheep Island Interchange and a growth in jobs for first responders. In that vein, Peagler says that the biggest issue facing Berkeley County today is infrastructure.

While Peagler thinks that these issues still exist, he does believe that the situation is better than when he took office. “There wasn’t a viable road project planned when I came into office,” says Peagler. “Basically, it was at a standstill and things were not getting approved.” He points to other projects that have been underway in his time in office.

“We’ve been engaged with the Lake Marion Water Authority to provide water to us from Lake Marion, which would add redundancy to our system and provide the necessary water we have going into the near future,” he says, referencing a project to bring more potable water to Berkeley County.

The penny sales tax that funded road expansions across the county also happened under Peagler’s watch.

Peagler is business-minded in his approach to the county supervisor position, saying that he uses a “business model for solutions to our problems.” Additionally, he uses his business focus in another way that he says will cure problems around the county. “The plan right now is that we’re going to continue to recruit business and that would provide tax revenues for expanding our water and sewer plans,” says Peagler.

Despite the increased infrastructure, Peagler does see plenty of room to grow in Berkeley County. “Infrastructure is one of the most important,” he says. “The other is getting our EMS, fire money, fire fees, and Sheriff—making sure they have an adequate funding source.” Peagler says that in the past four years there has been an increase in jobs for first responders and the Sheriff’s department and says that it was done “without raising taxes, because I run the county like a business.”

Of course, discussions about infrastructure go hand-in-hand with talks of growth. Berkeley County has seen an explosion in population growth, as noted by several outlets, including the Post and Courier. Peagler believe that the only option to navigate the blessing and curse of rapid expansion is through smart growth. “If we aren’t smart about it, we can dig ourselves into a hole that the taxpayers would ultimately have to pay for, and I do not want to raise taxes,” he says.

JOHNNY CRIBB

Hanahan City Manager Johnny Cribb is challenging incumbent Bill Peagler for Berkeley County supervisor.

Cribb has been in public service since he graduated college in 1994, working at the recreation department in Mt. Pleasant until 2009, when he attained his current spot in Hanahan.

As a supervisor candidate, Cribb claims that the largest concern facing Berkeley is a lack of arrangements for the future. “The biggest problem would be a lack of a plan for growth, a long term plan,” says Cribb. “What’s our long term plan for roads? And what’s our long term plan for infrastructure, like water and sewer?”

“As you can see at the county level, a whole lot of houses have been permitted prior to the existence—and anyone living on Daniel Island will appreciate this—prior to the existence of the infrastructure needed for it to be successful,” says Cribb.

The candidate adds that most common complaint voiced by locals is a frustration with the roads and transportation in the area, saying that it’s a product of improper priorities in infrastructure. “Our commitment at the engineering level doesn’t match up to it being the number one concern of the county,” says Cribb. “I’d make sure we have enough engineers, enough folks in procurement, and finance, and planning to make sure that we move these projects as fast as possible.”

Cribb says that his time as Hanahan city manager gave him the experience to plan for the future. “When a developer comes in to put in a new community, like in Hanahan for example, there’ll be a traffic study done, we’ll figure out what the impacts are going to be,” he says. “And that developer has to mitigate all of those impacts. The taxpayers of Hanahan aren’t building roads.”

The candidate believes that citizens need to accept the population expansion Berkeley County is experiencing in order to work through it. “You can’t just sit back and go ‘I don’t want any more growth,’ so growth is going to happen,” says Cribb. “Berkeley County is growing. It’s a big draw, so you have to get past the thought that there’s not going to be any growth. So, the alternative is uncontrolled, unplanned growth, or smart growth, responsible growth.”

Cribb explains that Berkeley County needs to embrace smart growth. “Whenever you approve communities with large densities, you’ve got to make sure the corridors that lead to and from those communities—that plans are in place to make sure that you’re ready when that happens, not after the fact.”