Roads
Former administrator on track for seat on DOT commission
The former Georgetown County administrator is on track to get a seat on the state Department of Transportation Commission.
Sel Hemingway was one of two new commission members and two returning members at a confirmation hearing before the Senate Transportation Committee meeting this week.
With approval from the committee, Hemingway will require approval from state lawmakers in the eight-county 7th Congressional District.
Hemingway will replace Tony Cox, a retired vice president at Burroughs & Chapin Co. in Myrtle Beach and a former chairman of the Horry County Planning Commission. Cox served two four-year terms.
Local legislators agreed the appointment will be good for Georgetown County, whose last resident DOT commission member was Mike Wooten, an engineer from Murrells Inlet.
“Tony Cox did a wonderfull job. He was good for the area and good for Georgetown,” state State Rep. Lee Hewitt said. “To follow up with a new commissioner that knows the area inside and out is the perfect choice, especially when you know what’s going to happen with Georgetown.”
Hewitt chairs the policy committee of the Grand Strand Area Transportation Study, which allocates federal funds for DOT projects in Georgetown, Horry and Brunswick, N.C., counties.
State Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, who is the past chairman of GSATS, agreed the appointment is good for the county.
Cox did a good job, he said. Hemingway is “going to understand the needs of Georgetown. That will be helpful.”
The closure of International Paper’s mill, the idling of Liberty Steel’s mill and the redevelopment of the former state port by Georgetown County will all create infrastructure needs.
“Georgetown’s getting ready to undergo a huge change. There has to be infrastructure to support that,” Hewitt said.
At a legislative breakfast hosted by the Chamber of Commerce last month, Goldfinch renewed his proposal that a new bridge over the Waccamaw River would create more opportunities for affordable housing in the western part of the county.
“If you want affordable housing near the Waccamaw Neck, the bridge across the river is the way to go,” he said.
With approval from the Senate Transportation Committee, the 7th District Delegation will either circulate a letter for members to sign off on the appointment or call a meeting to vote, Goldfinch said.
“It wouldn’t have reached this stage if there was any opposition,” he added.
Hemingway was elected to County Council in 1996. He served as chairman from 2001 until 2008. He gave up his seat later that year to serve as county administrator.
Before becoming administrator, Hemingway had managed his family’s car dealership in Andrews for 30 years.
After retiring in 2020, he served as a field director for U.S. 7th District Rep. Tom Rice. Rice lost his seat in the GOP primary after voting to impeach President Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
Hemingway said he was contacted by Justin Powell, the secretary of transportation, to see if he had an interest in serving.
Powell took over the department last year. Hemingway first met him when he was county administrator and Powell was deputy administrator in Horry County.
“I was very impressed by him,” Hemingway said, adding that he thought about ways to bring Powell to Georgetown County. Instead, Powell became a deputy secretary at DOT.
Hemingway said he recalled a time when the DOT commissioners took their directions from the local delegations. Powell assured him that isn’t the way things work now.
“He gave me some comfort level,” Hemingway said. “It’s supposed to be policy setting and administration. That would be nice if it could stay in that realm.”
Powell recommended Hemingway to Gov. Henry McMaster, who makes the appointments with the advice and consent of the legislature.
Hemingway also talked with Cox, who served a term as the DOT commission chairman.
Cox told Hemingway the same thing he told his colleagues at the commission meeting last week: “It takes you about four to five years to learn the acronyms.”
“It’ll be a learning curve,” Hemingway said.
