IILOCAL NEWSII
THREE CANDIDATES FOR TWO BLUFFTON TOWN COUNCIL SEATS
TO THE POLLS FERRELL
HAMILTON
TOOMER
BY MARK E. LETT | PHOTOS SUPPLIED
Three candidates are competing for two seats on the Bluffton Town Council. Facing off Nov. 2 for two four-year terms are incumbents Fred Hamilton and Larry Toomer, and challenger Nathan Ferrell. Terms for council are staggered every two years and beginning January 2022, council members are paid $11,000 annually. Hamilton — the council’s current mayor pro-tempore — joined the council in 2005 when he was elected to complete the term of his late cousin, Oscar Frazier. For all but two years since, he has served on council. An Army veteran and lifelong Bluffton native, Hamilton, 62, is a graduate of the former H.E. McCracken High School. His career as a self-employed entrepreneur has included landscaping, a music store and a car dealership.
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In reviewing his council participation and leadership, Hamilton cites Old Town streetscaping and initiatives for the historic Garvin-Garvey House, affordable housing, May River protections and environmental preservation. “Managing growth smartly is the biggest challenge we have,” Hamilton said. “We are growing rapidly and we must have smart growth to preserve resources, culture and our quality of life. “This is my home for life. I want to be here and make sure we are not just Somewhere U.S.A.” Toomer has been a council member since 2012. A fou r th-generation f isher man and May R iver mariculture farmer, he is owner of the Bluffton Oyster Factory and the Bluffton Oyster Company restaurant in Old Town. Toomer, 63, said issues related to land and water
