Councilman Walter Bailey has at least one challenger in this year's race to represent District 3.
Bailey and Brandy Sutherland, an accountant with WestRock, have confirmed they will be in this year's race for town council. Filing for council seats doesn't open until Aug. 9. Sutherland is running for the first time and Bailey said he will be running for re-election.
Summerville Mayor Wiley Johnson's advisor, Peter Gorman, has stated in the past his intention to recruit council candidates to break up the "gang of four" that often votes against the mayor.
Sutherland, however, said she is not affiliated with Gorman and was not recruited by anyone to get involved. She also said she was not affiliated with a flyer that recently arrived at some homes claiming that prisoner release services and homeless shelters could set up shop in the historic district if a zoning ordinance passes – claims that Councilman Bill McIntosh have said are false.
Sutherland said her main goal is to be more involved in the community – "and I feel like I can be a good representative of my district," she said.
"Where I can make the most change is right here where I live and I want to do that by getting involved," she said.
Sutherland announced her plans to run via a press release issued July 4. She mentioned a recent town council meeting she observed that appeared to be "damaged communication."
She said that meeting was the May 11 town council meeting, when there was a lot of hubbub about the Confederate flag along with some residents escorted out of council chambers.
“It made it clear to me that there’s a lot of discord in our community over various issues,” she said.
Sutherland said she did not think the situation was "handled in the best way" by any of the parties involved.
Brandy Sutherland
She said the three main issues she would like to address in Summerville are traffic, managing growth and planning ahead as far as infrastructure and development goes, and maintaining the town's current recreational facilities.
She is a graduate of Stratford High and Charleston Southern University. She and her husband, Bryan, have two sons, ages 8 and 2.
Meanwhile, this will be Bailey’s third time running for town council. Bailey said he would like to see Summerville maintain its council form of government, which is the main reason he is running again.
Bailey noted that council members have had a difficult time with a “difference of opinion” on how strong the mayor’s powers should be.
“I think the people spoke strongly during that referendum and they want a council form of government,” he said.
Bailey said he thinks things are “running pretty well” without making the change in the form of government and that he thinks Colin Martin is doing a good job as the town administrator.
“The council, including the mayor, should be focused on setting policy and let the administrator be the administrator,” he said.
Bailey also said he wants to see the town move forward on some of the projects that it has been working on, like Hutchinson Square and the National Guard Armory.
Bailey has been on council since 2009 and is a retired attorney. He graduated from Summerville High School and earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from Baptist College at Charleston. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law.
Prior to serving on council Bailey was the solicitor for the First Judicial Circuit and as Summerville’s town attorney for 15 years.
Bailey has been married for almost 50 years; he has four children and eight grandchildren.
In addition to District 3, the Districts 1 and 5 seats, held by Aaron Brown and Kima Garten-Schmidt, also come up for election this year.
