HOLLY HILL – Growth and improvements in a proud and once prosperous eastern Orangeburg County town are the issues as the mayor of Holly Hill is facing two challengers in the Nov. 3 nonpartisan municipal election.

Mayor Jim Jeffers, who is seeking his second four-year term, is being challenged by political newcomers Dianne Bergen and William Johnson. Jeffers won election in 2005 by defeating incumbent mayor David Whitehead and challenger Jeff Boyd.

Holly Hill has a population of 1,281. Of the 836 registered voters, 419 are white, 411 are black and six are designated “other.”

n Jim Jeffers

Seeking reelection to continue the effort he began four years ago, Jeffers cites the accomplishments made in Holly Hill, including his pride that “the town is now in black ink, which it was not when I took over.”

“I’m running on what I did and what I can do,” Jeffers said. “I brought in $1.8 million in grants for infrastructure. Buildings have been upgraded, sidewalks and streets (have improved) and there are new tennis courts. Also, we have the one cent sales tax money, and we’ve been spending it real wisely.

“I’ll continue to work with industry. We picked up one small industry in the downtown. I’ll continue to work with the industrial sites we have available ... Local industrial sites are really better than the larger ones.”

If reelected, Jeffers says it’s important to him to see a lab at the sewer facility that could save money and he’ll continue to seek grants. Noting that “I’m big on grants,” he says the town has a grants writer who works daily on bringing in funds.

“I’m always for upgrading our town park, Gilmore Park. Nothing has been done in 20 years,” he said. “We voted last week to establish a new playground, with cookout sheds. That’s a long-term thing as we acquire grants.”

Efforts are still under way to “try to establish more businesses” downtown, the mayor says. Some of the old buildings were sold but, with the downturn in the economy, there has been a “little setback” in improvements, Jeffers said. But, there is pressure to get things done, he says. It’s just hard to do without money, he says.

“We’ll work with the schools and the garden clubs to get Holly Hill back to where it used to be,” he said. “We’re on the way to growth. It’s coming; it will pick up in the future. It was going well until the (economic) downturn.”

A Holly Hill native, Jeffers is a high school graduate who took continuing education courses at Trident Tech. He is retired from the cement plant after 30 years. He has also been in farming, and he owned a store in St. George.

n Dianne Bergen

Five years after moving to Holly Hill from the Charleston area, Bergen is running for her first political office.

The town has so much to offer with its proximity to hunting and fishing, easy access to interstate highways and old charm, she said.

“Since I’ve been here, I’ve noticed that Holly Hill is a small glimmer of what it used to be,” she said. “I’d like to try to do something about it rather than talk about it.”

If elected, Bergen says she’d work to “stop the erosion of Holly Hill,” where so many businesses are pulling out and homes are up for sale. In addition to downtown revitalization, she also calls for improved health care facilities and better relations with other communities and Orangeburg County.

“We’re losing senior citizens, and our youth have no jobs. There’s nothing to hold them here,” she said. “Buildings here are deteriorating and not maintained. I don’t see a lot of effort to get something in there to stimulate jobs.”

Calling for a Web page to make the town better known, Bergen says the town should be promoted as a place for retirees and recreation.

“I was in management for 18 years and that’s where my strength lies. I see (the mayor’s office) as a job with duties and responsibilities,” Bergen said. “Most of the (issues) I’ve talked about come from the community. They call and let me know their thoughts. I’ve heard Holly Hill doesn’t like change. Change is occurring, and it’s not change we have control over. We need to make sure it’s change we do have control over.”

Retired from the telecommunications business, Bergen is a high school graduate who has college credits and a technical certificate in telephone systems. She has also worked in the health care field.

n William Johnson

Making his first bid for political office, Johnson says that until he retired, he’d “always had some interest in politics, but never enough time.”

As a member of the Orangeburg County Economic Development Commission, he says he sees ways that Holly Hill can improve and provide residents with a better quality of life.

“All of my signs say I’m for better quality of life,” Johnson said. “That means better jobs, law enforcement, education, affordable water and sewer, better race relations, recreation, housing and businesses. At the end of the day, I want an area we can all be proud of.”

Johnson also says he’d work to “clean the little town up” in an effort to attract industry and he’d work for better communication.

A native of Mississippi and a 12-year resident of Holly Hill, Johnson relocated to the area because of his job at a local cement plant. He is a retired production coordinator with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education from Alcorn State.

n T&D Government Writer Tucker Lyon can be reached by e-mail at tlyon@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5545. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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