Three candidates are running against current North Charleston Mayor, Keith Summey on Tuesday, November 3. Reverend Chris Collins, Clifford Smith and John Singletary join incumbent, Mayor Keith Summey on the ballot.
Meet the candidates:
Incumbent, Mayor R. Keith Summey has become widely known as a community consensus builder. He was elected as the 3rd Mayor of North Charleston in October of 1994 to fill an unexpired term of office and has been reelected in 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011. During his tenure he has led North Charleston to achieve a new sense of pride never seen in his City. Becoming the retail sales leader in the State, improving municipal services and defining a vision for the City have hallmarked his tenure. Upgrading the quality of life of the citizens of North Charleston continues to be the top goal of Mayor Summey.
Under Mayor Summey’s leadership, North Charleston continues to drive the State’s economy as the epicenter of business development, offering a business friendly community, rich with incentives to allow companies to compete on a global scale. He has promoted a young, highly skilled workforce and has attracted diverse industries, such as aerospace, automotive, aviation, bioscience, defense, renewable energy, financial services, and information technology.
Highlighting the successes of Mayor Summey’s vision, North Charleston continues to receive validation on a national level. North Charleston has received the National League of Cities Award for Municipal Excellence and Home Depot Foundation’s Award of Excellence for Sustainable Community Development among other recognitions.
First working in community service, Mayor Summey was selected to serve on the Charleston County Election Commission eventually becoming its Chairman. Both political parties gave him glowing remarks for his fairness in handling the elections.
In 1986, Mayor Summey continued his community service by winning election to the North Charleston City Council and then elected to Charleston County Council in 1988. He served as Chairman of Charleston County Council for three years and during his term, led the expansion of County Library System and oversaw the way solid waste was handled by the County. A new Tri-County Economic Development Authority was formed under the desire of Chairman Summey and the Chairmen of County Council in Dorchester and Berkeley Counties. The successes of the Authority have been many since the mid-1990’s.
With the Mayor’s roots in his local community, he offered himself for election to the Office of Mayor of North Charleston in 1994. Growing up in Cottageville, South Carolina and eventually Atlanta, Georgia gave Mayor Summey his perspective of community. His family moved to North Charleston, South Carolina in the early 1960’s where he graduated from Chicora High School and Baptist College.
Mayor Summey received recognition from Charleston Southern University with the reception of an Honorary Doctorate of Public Service on Saturday, December 16, 2006 during the University’s fall graduation ceremony.
Mayor Summey was born in Cottageville, South Carolina in 1947. He graduated from Chicora High School and the Baptist College at Charleston, now Charleston Southern University. He and his wife, Deborah, have two children, Elliott and Annie and daughter-in-law Allison, and four grandchildren.
OTHER PROFESSIONAL AND COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
Charleston County Aviation Authority, Board Member
Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments, Past-Chairman
Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments CHATS Policy Committee, Member
CARTA, Board Member
Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, Liaison
Charleston Area Convention and Visitor Bureau, Board of Governors, Member
Charleston Regional Development Alliance, Board Member
Greater Charleston Promise Neighborhood, Board Member
Youth Endowment for the Arts, Founding Board Member
Lowcountry Alliance for Model Communities Mitigation Oversight Committee, Member
U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, SC Advisory Committee, Member
Past First Baptist Church of North Charleston, Board Member
1993 and 1994 Chairman/CEO, Trident’s BEST Committee
1992, 1993, and 1994 Elected Chairman of Charleston County Council
1990 Chairman, County Council Public Safety Health Committee
1988 Elected to Charleston County Council
Former Member of North Charleston Weed and Seed Program Steering Committee
Former Member & Chairman of Charleston County Election Commission
Former Member of North Charleston City Council
Former North Charleston High School Booster Club, Treasurer
Former Cameron Terrace-Oak Park Civic Club, President
Former North Charleston Jaycees, President
Former North Charleston Exchange Club, Member
HONORS
Honorary Doctorate of Public Service from Charleston Southern University
US Green Building Council – Outstanding Leadership in the Public Sector
Barrett Larrimore Leadership Award for Outstanding Tourism Leadership in Local Government
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons Honorary Member
Supreme Council Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Certificate of Outstanding Service
1994 Charleston Southern University Alumni of the Year
1996 Historic Charleston Foundation Robert N.S. and Patti Foos Whitelaw Founders Award
2004 John Ancrum SPCA Humanitarian of the Year
2006 Adjunct General of the State of South Carolina Palmetto Patriot Award
2010 Greater Macedonia AME Church Black History Month Humanitarian Award
2011 Breaking the Silence, Liza’s Lifeline Person of the Year
2011 American Institute of Architects Government Affairs Award
All information from: http://www.northcharleston.org/Government/Office-of-the-Mayor.aspx
Charleston County School Board member and Reverend, Chris Collins, graduated from the University of South Carolina with a Bachelors in Political Science and a minor in criminal justice.
Collins lives in Park Circle and has served on the school board for seven years.
John Singletary aspires to be Mayor of North Charleston.
John is married to Carla Singletary, has three children Alexis, John III, and Aveh, he was born on December 25, 1961, to a loving father and mother in South Carolina. His Father, the late John Singletary Sr., was a veteran and a Principal, at C. A. Brown High School (The Mighty Panthers) and an educator for 30 plus years in Charleston County School District. His father taught at the Veterans Hospital and received a Master’s Degree from South Carolina State University. John grew up in North Charleston were he still lives.
His Mother , Helen Singletary, was an Educator in Charleston County School District. She was a Business Teacher at Baptist Hill (the Mighty Bobcats) for nearly 30 years. She carried students with the FBLA club across the nation and also taught at Trident Technical College, then Palmer College, and at the Medical University of South Carolina. She also received her MBA from Winthrop University.
John Singletary’s humble beginning started with the Head Start Program in North Charleston, Calvary Kindergarten, Murray Hill Elementary School, and then Gordon Garrett High School (Fighting Falcons). While in school, he worked as a dishwasher a Charleston County School District bus driver, harvester (watermelons, cotton, tobacco, etc.), construction worker, Clemson Extension Lab Assistant, Chick-fil-A, Citadel lifeguard, equipment room attendant, substitute teacher in Charleston County School System etc. After high school he attended the Citadel on a wrestling scholarship. After winning the Citadel Bulldog Invitational Tournament, John was later noted by the Coach, Gene Styles, to be “The best athlete on the team”. He later received a Business Administration Scholarship while at the Citadel. After receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration he went on to Butler University for graduate work in Business Administration and Computer Science. John Singletary place 3rd in the 1980 Regional Olympics the year the US Boycotted the Summer Olympic Games and was the winner of the Marriot’s Great American Karate Tournament in Santa Clara California. He was a Charleston County 4-H barbecue winner for two years at the Charleston County 4-H cook off in his younger day under the careful eye of the late Gussie Green. He has gone from North Charleston’s Camp Shipmate to Camp Baskerville in Pawley’s Island, thanks to the late Father Macky, were he again was a standout winner for swimming, horseshoe throwing and the coveted “Grease Watermelon” Contest. John has been involved with his community like no other candidate in this race. John Singletary Jr. himself has also taught in Charleston County School System as a Substitute Teacher, a Charleston County School Mentor, Charleston County Schools Career Day Guest Speaker, Special Olympic worker, and as a Computer Science teacher on the college level in Georgia at Atlanta Metro College.
John also receive special recognition while at Hewlett-Packard and was featured in Hewlett-Packards “Measure Magazine” for a Total Quality Control (TQC) Project that resulted in millions of dollars in monthly savings for HP. He also received special recognition for installing ISO 9000 servers and going beyond the call of duty while in Puerto Rico and special recognition for technology training and rollout out of HP’s Personal Computer – Common Operating Environment (PC-COE) while in Canada during a HP training session and technology rollout implementation, John Singletary implemented the first computer based production tracking system for crew members on Nucor’s World Wide recognized Pickle Line and was featured in a write up in a local paper in Washington State for Nucor. John Singletary has assisted numerous Father-to-Father participants in receiving jobs and has assisted several North Charleston Father-to-Father participants in starting their own business. Many are still going strong today. His skills in business management, business leadership, and business consulting have been proven in North Charleston. John has done much more than simply help other to get a job he has done the ultimate by locking arms with business owners and helping them to achieve successful business that also created jobs for others in the Charleston community.
John Singletary has been a long standing member of the American Society for Quality. He has also been certified as an ISO 9000 lead point person for Nucor Steel and was the lead point person for ISO 9000 for Hewlett-Packard. John Singletary is known for precision execution of process improvement techniques and a team leader while at Hewlett-Packard and while on contract with Microsoft, John Singletary quickly established himself and was recognized as a valuable leader and a team builder. He has proven himself a competent leader at all levels of management in some of the United States most prestigious fortune 500 companies. Home grown in North Charleston, world tested and horned at the Citadel, contracted out because of his leadership skills to some of the World’s leading Corporations. John is now ready to assist North Charleston in moving to the next level. John Singletary and North Charleston residences will be a winning combination.
In 1996, after extensive travel with corporate America, John Singletary moved back to his roots in North Charleston and became involved in community organizations that improved the lives of North Charleston and state wide South Carolina citizens. His efforts have touched the lives of thousands of South Carolinians and now he is ready to use his talents to turn the page for a new day in North Charleston were prosperity, liberty and justice is for all.
John Singletary is North Charleston’s homegrown candidate. He has been assisting North Charleston Citizens for over 40 years. During his high school years he planted a garden every year and shared the fruits of his labor with his neighborhood. When at the Citadel, he worked at Clemson Extension Laboratories and was authorized to share, without cost, thousands of pounds of fresh vegetables with North Charleston Residence’s from 1980 and still does so to this very day. Over 34 years and still engaged in providing for his community. While at the Citadel he provided free lifeguard services for the Florence Crittenden, Special Olympics, and after graduation he participated in the Citadel’s Role Model Project Program (ROMP) as a guest speaker funded through the SC Commission on Higher Education Institutional Grants Program for Student Retention Activities. John Singletary, in collaboration with the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina, partnered together to start the South Carolina Fatherhood Practitioners Network back in 2002. While in Operator Training School in Atlanta GA, he won the coveted “S. Truett Cathy Award” and received recognition for over and above achievement performance while in Bermuda from the Chick-Fil-A’s top executives. John went on from a Business Intern to be a Business Consultant for Chick-fil-A and eventually a Chick-fil-A Owner Operator at one of Indiana’s largest Malls. He also served as the President of the White Oaks Mall M
erchants Association, the President of the Cherry Lake Homeowners Subdivision, the President of one of Indianapolis’s largest church’s men’s groups, The St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church Men’s Group, and as President of St. John’s Young Adult Usher Board. He gave his business administration skills to assist with coordinating the Hands across American leg across Indiana, he assisted with the Pan American Games in Indianapolis, the Circle City Classic and the Indianapolis Black Expo, which was one of the United States single largest African American events with record numbers reaching over 350,000. He also sponsored the Annual Gospel Workshop of America Gospel Fest in Indianapolis while he was a Chick-fil-A Owner. John Singletary, while President of the Mall Merchants Association had Halie Bryant of the Harlem Globe Trotters to do motivational speeches for local youth development in Indiana and likewise used Wally “Famous Amos” with the South Carolina Fatherhood Practitioners Network to speak to and Motivate Young men in South. For numerous years he worked as the Employment Consultant for the North Charleston Father-to-Father program that re-acclimated young men of all races back into their communities as value providing citizens. John was a professor of Com
puter Science in Atlanta, GA at Atlanta Metro College and During Hurricane Hugo he was instrumental in organizing Indiana effort sending generators, water and food to the North Charleston area residents from Indianapolis Indiana. John has worked with and received awards from Marketing Education & DECA (Developing Future Leaders for Marketing and Management and Charleston County Mentoring Program at Brentwood School. He was responsible for Governor Jim Hodges proclaiming a “Fatherhood Initiative” Month in South Carolina.
He has assisted veterans who have unjustly had their life belongings placed in the pouring rain and helped North Charleston Widowers stay in their homes protected from rogue mortgage companies who misuse reverse mortgage programs. The list of community involvement is certainly too long to place on this page, but the deeds of John Singletary rest in the hearts of all those he have assisted over the years and continue to help. Many of you will remember John Singletary “June” from playing little league baseball, basketball, and football over 40 plus years ago in North Charleston and the championships he lead his team too and later as a Citadel outstanding wrestler. He later assisted with coaching and working with area high school teams in the Charleston and North Charleston Areas. No question John Singletary has added value the lives of North Charleston residents in major ways and as Mayor he wants to put the sum total of his experiences to work for a better North Charleston for tomorrow.
John Singletary believes that a strong inclusive economy with opportunity for all to be a part of capitalism, liberty for all and justice for all and will be the foundation of a better tomorrow for all North Charleston citizens. When you live something you know it intimately. From the heart of North Charleston, no other candidate has lived the issues that face the majority of the North Charleston residence like John Singletary. He already knows your issues because he has lived them with you. You have nurtured and groomed him and today he is ready, willing and able to help educate and give back even more than he has in the past. Together you and he will change North Charleston into a better place for all to live. Deep down in his heart just like you the voice is saying “It’s Our Time for Justice”
INSPIRING A GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT
John Singletary has organized a grassroots movement in North Charleston built from the ground up by people who believe in “The Possible”. John Singletary believes that with faith, works, and perseverance all things are possible.
Information from: http://www.johnsingletary.com/
Clifford Smith
“I will be working for you; I will be listening to you; your voice will drive my agenda.” -Clifford Smith
Clifford Smith has established deep roots in our community. He developed a successful business and will use his knowledge and broad experiences to serve our community and provide opportunities for all local business to thrive. Smith is President of the North Charleston branch of the ECE(Energy Construction Environmental) Corporation, a full service design-build, environmental management and energy firm that provides services throughout the Southeast.
While serving in the United States Air Force, Clifford was the leader of 200 airmen and also analyzed, maintained, and operated advanced computer navigation systems. After his service in the Air Force, Clifford worked in the aerospace industry as a Senior Subcontracts Administrator and Senior Contracts Administrator with Lockheed, Ford Aerospace, Hughes Aircraft and Northrup Grumman. In 1999 Clifford Smith founded SBG, LLC to help small businesses navigate the complex government and corporate contracts arena. This service included advocacy, finding procurement opportunities and proposal development.
In 2004, SBG joined forces with North Charleston based Environmental Enterprise Group (EEG). Two years later, SBG acquired EEG with Clifford as its President/CEO. He recently resigned from SBG and formed ECE to focus on local projects and expand his involvement with the public sector.
Why Clifford is running for Mayor
Clifford Smith will be a mayor for every neighborhood. Every family deserves to feel safe in their homes and every child needs to be given the support they need in order to thrive and become productive citizens. We need more opportunities for economic development, better public transportation and more support for our veterans. Local businesses deserve first crack at city contracts so our tax dollars create jobs here where we need them. We need to bridge the divide between our police force and residents. One of Clifford Smith’s first actions as mayor will be to implement a viable neighborhood policing program with a well-trained and modern police force that will inspire and expand confidence of North Charleston residents in City government.
“It all starts with neighborhoods. We will work together to restore North Charleston neighborhoods and ensure that all neighborhoods are represented, preserved, and developed.” – Clifford Smith
Information from: http://www.cliffordsmithformayor.com/