By Mike Woodel
GEORGETOWN TIMES
November 24, 2022
GEORGETOWN — Clint Elliott mostly credits state Rep. Lee Hewitt, his fellow Murrells Inlet Republican, for the decision to run for his first position in elected office.
"I had spoken to him a while back and he had … said that John Thomas was not going to run again, and they needed someone that had a good head on their shoulders," Elliott said with a laugh. "He said that he thought of me, and I told him, I said, 'Well, I appreciate that.'"
Elliott's coming term on the Georgetown County Council will be his first representing Murrells Inlet and southern Garden City in District 1. He will replace John Thomas in the seat about eight months after Thomas resigned, leaving the seat open through the following general election.
Today a scientist with Grand Strand Water and Sewer Authority, Elliott grew up in Yauhannah as the son of a county school board member and county magistrate.
In his home district, Elliott said parking and lighting in the area of the popular Murrells Inlet MarshWalk and dredging of Murrells Inlet are pressing issues in his coming term. Elsewhere in the county, he favors a redo of the county tree ordinance to support stiffer enforcement.
As a representative of a Waccamaw Neck district, Elliott is also well aware of the questions the council faces regarding conflicts between its zoning ordinances and the county's comprehensive plan.
Parkersville residents filed suit against Georgetown County last month seeking to nullify the council's site plan approval of two townhome developments in their area and are seeking a declaratory judgment that the county has “a statutory mandate to bring residential zoning ordinances and land development regulations ... into conformity with the current Georgetown County Comprehensive Plan.”
Elliott said he trusts Georgetown County Attorney Jay Watson regarding the matter, seeing zoning as the law and the comprehensive plan as the guide. But Elliott said he does believe the two need to be brought in line with each other, a process he predicts will be "long and painful" and likely end up in court.
"I think once we get that done, then a lot of our other problems will solve themselves," Elliott said.
Hewitt told Georgetown Times that he has known Elliott socially for many years in Murrells Inlet, though it was Elliott's professional demeanor that made him think of Elliott as a potential successor for Thomas.
"For the council, we wanted somebody that knew Murrells Inlet," Hewitt said. "And that knew the inlet and loved the inlet. And certainly, Clint checks those (boxes)."
Hewitt said he was impressed when Elliott applied for a seat on the S.C. Public Service Commission in 2020. Though Elliott did not ultimately win the seat, his performance kept him in the back of Hewitt's mind.
"In that process in Columbia, as people vie for those seats, it's kind of a popularity contest," Hewitt said. "Who can get the most votes and the most commitments from the representatives and senators gets the position. So, people tend to be overly aggressive in trying to be the first one to try and get commitments and all that kind of stuff."
Hewitt said he found as he spoke with Elliott that Elliott was "firmly entrenched" in the rules governing the process of becoming a commissioner.
"He knew exactly what he was supposed to follow and all of that, and I just was so impressed with his integrity," Hewitt said.
Though he never served on County Council, Hewitt did spend eight years on the Georgetown County Planning Commission and another six on the Georgetown County Board of Zoning Appeals prior to his election to the S.C. House of Representatives in 2016. He said availability is one of the foremost traits required of officials on county boards.
"The biggest thing is that you've got to be available and you've got to be able to have conversations with people, good and bad," Hewitt said. "And just be able to sit down with them and listen to their concerns and help rationalize through that with them so that you can try and come up with ... a good decision that's the best for the community."