COASTAL OBSERVER

Jay Doyle was 100 days into his first term as Mayor of Georgetown. He hadn’t been counting up, he said. He had been counting down.

“I was retired, living a nice, peaceful life, and this just throws your life into chaos,” Doyle said. “I think it’s intended to be a part time job. It’s anything but that.”

The Belmont, Mass., native fell in love with Georgetown more than 15 years ago when he and his wife Suzanne moved to Front Street. It was a friendly place where strangers greeted each other in passing.

That’s changed since he took office in January.

“There are some people who walk by and can’t even look at me,” Doyle said.

Georgetown has had a temporary City Hall for nearly a decade, and the lack of office space doesn’t help, he said. 

Neither does social media, he added. It’s a vocal minority that’s taking grievances to Facebook about the mayor’s performance.

Doyle has been working to bring new industries to the city. He said it’s unfortunate the vitriol on social media will be the first impression for prospective companies and residents.

“It hurts the city. If they really care about the city, want the best for the city, why don’t they back off and give me a chance?” he said. “Let me prove what I can do.”

Doyle was elected last year as a candidate of the Forward Party, established in 2022. He is the first third-party nominee to win a partisan election in South Carolina since 1894, according to the party’s research. He is also the first Forward Party candidate to win an election outright rather than as a party affiliate, said Clint Eisenhauer, who chairs the state party.

The party has no candidates running in Georgetown County but there are four vying for Horry County Council seats.

“I’m excited about that. In time, you know, if I’m successful I think that’ll help people see that there is an alternative, and more people will come on board,” Doyle said.

He received 56 percent of the vote in the mayoral race against the first term Republican incumbent, Carol Jayroe, who was the first woman and first Republican mayor in the city’s history. 

There was no Democratic candidate in the race, but three incumbent Republicans on the council also lost re-election bids. Democrats Sharon Melton, Hobson Henry Milton and Jessie Walker joined Doyle on City Council.

Running as a third-party candidate was a smart choice, he said, especially as he navigates a City Council with four Democrats and two Republicans.

A council that agrees with each other all the time doesn’t get as far as one with disagreements, Doyle said.

“That’s a great thing because that’s how democracy works,” he said. “You can listen to both sides of the issue and work to come to the middle so you can end up with a solution that’s better for everyone.”

Being a Forward Party member makes it easy for Doyle to interact with state leaders as well, he added.

He said he got 10 minutes with Gov. Henry McMaster, who owns a home at Pawleys Island, at an Association of S.C. Mayors event this month.

“I’m kind of right down the middle so I can talk to and negotiate with everybody,” he said. “Being in the middle is a great place to be and it makes life very easy for me to deal and negotiate for the city.”

Doyle said he met with a representative from U.S. Sen. Tim Scott’s office. He also said he often talks through ideas with state Rep. Lee Hewitt. They are both Republicans.

One of those ideas was the temporary moratorium on rezonings and zoning variances that City Council approved in February. “He wasn’t necessarily in favor of it,” Doyle said.

The moratorium is due to expire in August unless council votes to lift it sooner or extend it.

“We’re trying to streamline things so that as people come to the city to do developments, that it’s beneficial for not only the developers but the residents now,” Doyle said.

Doyle said he is working with Hewitt, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, to get funding for projects. A lot of their discussions revolve around Georgetown’s potential, Doyle said, as Hewitt has been involved in conversations about the former paper mill and steel mill sites and seaport. River Development Equities, a New Jersey firm, has both mill sites under contract.

Doyle said he hopes that the development will help the city’s finances with “good paying jobs,” rather than seasonal tourism work.

Redeveloping the waterfront will be a boost for the city, Doyle said.

“That whole area, that’s kind of the center of the city. This is a gateway to every neighborhood,” he said.

The development generated strong opposition from residents who are concerned it will change Georgetown’s character.

It will be a major change, Doyle said, but will beautify the harbor.

“We just have to make sure that whatever’s developed there stays pretty much in harmony with what we have now,” he said.

He made a resolution to the crowd at his inauguration to bring back to the economic vitality Georgetown had when there was a working seaport with two working mills.

Doyle particularly wants to preserve the timber industry in Georgetown. He traveled to Helsinki, Finland, on a trip sponsored by Clemson University’s Wood Utilization and Design Institute to introduce the city to manufacturers. The city paid $4,000 for the one-week trip.

“I think, in the end, we’re going to be successful,” he said.

Lowering utility rates for residents is also among his priorities.

Since city-owned utilities don’t pay property taxes, Doyle cited an ordinance that requires the city to transfer a percentage of revenues back to the general fund to offset services like street maintenance and public safety.

That’s projected to be $1.9 million to be put into the city’s general fund this fiscal year, he said. 

Doyle’s goal is to eliminate that payment or at least “greatly reduce” the burden on utilities.

“In order to do that, I have to find revenue from other places,” Doyle said. “There’s some things I can’t talk about yet, but we’re doing things behind the scenes to do exactly that.”

Going forward, Doyle is looking into uniting the Maryville community with the downtown area across the harbor with water taxis and a small business district, which is something he envisions for each neighborhood, he added. He said he has an upcoming meeting with multiple developers that have an interest in the inner harbor.

“I’m trying to bring everyone together so we have a unified plan and we don’t duplicate things,” he said. “It would make for a fun adventure for families to be able to just hop on and go around town.”

Earlier this month Doyle met with a Fortune 500 company, which he declined to identify, and said he is optimistic they will come back to take another look at Georgetown.

“I promised to do one term, and I’m going to keep my word there. But that’s why I’m going at so many things so hard and so fast. I want to get a lot done,” he said.