Month: October 2021

Each of the three entities on Seabrook Island will hold elections in the coming months. Since Seabrook Island is a municipal town in SC, its election is on November 2, a statewide election day. The Seabrook Island Property Owners Association (SIPOA) and the Seabrook Island Club will hold their separate elections in early 2022.

The information about the candidate in this post is for the town election only.

Below is information about Jeri Finke who is running for one of the 4 Town Council seats.

When Jeri Finke and her husband Fred started thinking about a retirement home, it was an easy decision to return to a vacation spot that had wowed them years earlier. They purchased a lot in 2006 and moved into their new home in late 2010. Even after making the Washington, DC, area home for more than 30 years, they have never had any regrets about leaving behind that faster paced lifestyle for the calmness and beauty of Seabrook Island.

Before retiring to Seabrook, Jeri spent 30 years on Capitol Hill, working for individual members of the House as a legislative aide/director and as chief of staff. She specialized in parliamentary law and the budget/appropriations process, and her work included several years focusing on transportation and infrastructure legislation.

Jeri has been active in various volunteer roles on Seabrook, including co-chairing SIPOA’s Newcomers Committee and volunteering on the Environmental Committee. For seven years, she was a member of the Seabrook Island Green Space Conservancy Board, chairing the Green Space Gala each of those years and serving the last four of those seven years as president of the Board. She has also volunteered on advisory committees for the SI Club.

During her first term on Town Council, Jeri was tasked to serve point for the Town in opposing offshore oil and gas drilling and ensuring the Town’s position was on record with the appropriate state and federal agencies.  She was the liaison for the lawsuit against seismic testing — a lawsuit SC coastal communities won last year. She also initiated and shepherded through the Town’s plastic ban, initiated Council’s consideration of occupancy and other safety requirements that are now in place for short-term rentals, and she took the lead on implementing the Town’s Community Development Grants program.  She is currently chairing a committee appointed by Mayor Gregg to explore how the Town might use its share of Charleston County’s Greenbelt Program funds.

As to why she first ran for Town Council four years ago, Jeri says she was looking for other ways to get involved in the island’s activities and was inspired after a conversation with then-Mayor Ron Ciancio about issues facing the Council.  She was a Life Science major at the University of Nebraska and believes that background helps her address issues challenging the Town. That includes sea-level rise and how it will impact infrastructure on the island, preserving green space for wildlife habitat and protection, and the many regulatory challenges involving our coastal waters and critical habitat on our beaches.

-Provided by Jeri Finke to Tidelines

Each of the three entities on Seabrook Island will hold elections in the coming months. Since Seabrook Island is a municipal town in SC, its election is on November 2, a statewide election day. The Seabrook Island Property Owners Association (SIPOA) and the Seabrook Island Club will hold their separate elections in early 2022.

The information about the candidate in this post is for the town election only. 

Below is information about John Gregg who is running for Mayor.

Katie and John Gregg have owned property on Seabrook Island since 1997 and became full-time residents in 2006. Before closure, Katie worked at the Freshfields Village WonderWorks store and maintains contacts with the business owner and local customers; John is retired. Prior to moving to Seabrook Island, Katie taught in private schools in Cincinnati and John served as Patent Counsel for a machinery manufacturer in Cincinnati.

Since becoming a full-time resident, John served on the Property Owners Association Legal Committee from 2007-2013; was first elected to Town Council in 2013, re-elected to Council in 2015 and 2017 and was elected mayor in 2019. He served as chair of the Town’s Public Safety Committee with his election to Council and served as Mayor Pro Tem from his re-election to Council in 2015. John is a candidate for re-election as mayor in 2021.

In consequence of the ongoing pandemic, 2020 and 2021 have presented challenges to Council to guide the Town’s response while conducting Town business under modified practices using video conferences. During John’s tenure as mayor, Council adopted regulation of short-term rentals with a focus on matters of public safety; continued review and rewriting of the Town’s Development Standards Ordinance to transition away from the current “planned development” based zoning; approved comprehensive revision of the Town’s sign regulations and adopted revised administrative procedures to accommodate the use of video/audio conference techniques for the conduct of meetings by Council and Town Commissions, Committees and Boards. The foregoing “legislative” undertakings have been in addition to the Council’s continued attention to ongoing matters such as updating of the Town’s Comprehensive Emergency Plan as well as unusual undertakings including hiring of a Town Clerk and Zoning Administrator/Chief Code Enforcement Officer.

-Provided by John Gregg to Tidelines