SULLIVAN’S ISLAND, S.C. (WCBD) – Sullivan’s Island Mayor Pat O’Neil announced he plans to run for another term.
“After much deliberation and discussion, I have decided to ask my Sullivan’s Island neighbors to elect me to another term as Mayor,” he said in an announcement on Monday.
O’Neil was first elected as Mayor in 2015 and served as a councilmember from 2001 until he was elected Mayor in 2015.
“Like the rest of the world, we on the Island continue to face a myriad of challenges posed by the pandemic, and I believe it would be irresponsible to walk away while conditions persist for an indeterminate time,” he said in his announcement.
“We face immediate pressure from escalating development and population increases in the tri-county area, growing long-term danger from sea level rise and climate change, and severe threats to the Island’s unique identity from economic factors that compete with our traditional values of conservation and historical preservation.
This election will determine whether we want the Island to be a community or a commodity.”
O’Neil is now calling on supporters to add their signatures to a petition that would add him to the ballot.