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Challenges Facing Fort Mill
- Growth — I recognize the inevitability of Fort Mill's growth.
I am a proponent of intelligent growth management utilizing the town's revised comprehensive
plan and, as necessary, all other available growth management tools. My goal will always be to balance growth with infrastructure while protecting
our small town integrity.
- Economic development and downtown revitalization —
I understand the importance of revitalizing our downtown business area. A healthy downtown contributes largely to our positive perception of
ourselves as a town and it is an important part of what identifies us as a community. I believe in applying strict code enforcement to ensure
safety compliance and improve store-front and store-rear appearances. The difference in the first seven months of this year has been astounding.
Property owners are replacing windows, painting and making other necessary repairs to their buildings.
Three major construction projects are being seriously discussed for the downtown area: the Hinson property (on White Street just across the
railroad tracks,) the old post office site (at the top of Main Street and Tom Hall Street) and the middle of Main Street (where Tony's Pizza used
to sit.) These projects are projected to include ground floor retail, second floor office and third floor residential components. I believe "a
rising tide raises all ships." When completed, these quality downtown developments will almost certainly be a "rising tide" capable of elevating
our downtown commercial district's prospects.
It is also important that we reach a proper balance with our commercial to residential tax base. I will work with Council and staff to develop a
marketing plan that will effectively sell Fort Mill to potential businesses and patrons. Our plan will involve an appropriate strategy and utilize
the tools necessary for on-going success. I will look for ways to augment the efforts of York County Economic Development and the South Carolina
Department of Commerce as they work to attract businesses to the Fort Mill area.
- Communication —
Good communication is one of the most important components of any successful organization. I am working with Council and staff to continually
improve Town Hall's internal and external communications. (Internal communication refers to the exchange of information between council and
staff. External communication refers to the exchange of information between council/staff and our citizens and between council/staff and other
public and private entities.) The town manager and I have made a commitment to an on-going, in-house assessment of our communications tools and
strategies. This effort has already identified many areas we can improve and a number of positive changes have been implemented.
- Transportation —
I am working with staff to develop a proposal for commissioning a transportation study which will focus on possible ways we can help alleviate
our traffic challenges. This study will concentrate on our traffic issues from the municipal perspective. We must stop worrying about what the
state or county can not or will not do to help us. My goal is to identify the Town of Fort Mill's transportation infrastructure options and
develop realistic measures we can implement to ease vehicular congestion and improve overall safety. These options could include the limiting of
curb cuts, the closing of streets and intersections; the extending of streets or the building of traffic circles…everything should be on the
table.
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Danny Funderburk voted "Best Elected Official" by readers of the Fort Mill Times.
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Personal
- Lifetime Fort Mill resident
- Wife: Maureen
(married 24 years)
- Daughter: Courtney
(married to Daniel Newell)
Son - Tucker
- Son: Jason - (senior at USC Upstate in Spartanburg, SC)
Education
- Product of the Fort Mill school system (FMHS Class of 1975)
- Winthrop University (BA in Communications)
- Graduate of the Municipal Association of SC Municipal Elected Officials Institute of Government
- Graduate of the Urban Open Space Leadership Institute
- Graduate of the National League of Cities Leadership Training Institute.
Employment
- Gastonia Sheet Metal, Inc., Director of Business Development. GSM, Inc. has been providing roof installation, roof maintenance, HVAC and specialty sheet metal services to the Carolinas
and beyond since 1927.
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Progress To Date
- Establishment of a Strategic Planning Calendar — In January of 2008,
we made the commitment to gather quarterly for extended planning
sessions.
These sessions are Saturday events, four to six hours in duration, with the set goal of investing the time necessary to properly execute
the strategic planning process. We also have the flexibility to use this time for any urgent or timely matters that should be studied or acted upon.
- Addition of a Monthly Workshop — Also in January of 2008 we added a monthly workshop meeting into our Council calendar. This meeting is
tentatively scheduled for the fourth Monday morning of each month. It can be used for, among other things, on-going planning, staff or consultant
presentations, committee updates and, if necessary, the conducting of town business.
- Creation of SpringFest — As I campaigned last year I had the opportunity to talk with many citizens about the issues that concern them.
A big issue for many was the improvement of our town festival. Needing a baseline of information on which to build our plans for improvement, we began
doing diligence on the existing festival and the process revealed serious insurance, liability and public safety issues. Acting on the recommendations
of staff we undertook an overhaul of the town festival. It was decided the town would take back ownership of the event and implement a concept
focusing on delicious food and great music. Working with our friends at Springs we were able to provide a tremendous improvement in the venue by
moving from Main Street to Walter Y. Elisha Park. This move addressed many of the public safety concerns. We eliminated the carnival hawkers,
mechanical rides and for-profit food peddlers and turned the food vending over to our churches and non-profits. The quality of the food was upgraded
and now the dollars stay in Fort Mill and benefit our community. Furthermore, we provided a full day of excellent music performed by local talent (or
regional talent with local followings.) It was all done while promoting a safe and family-friendly atmosphere for our citizens. SpringFest was a
success by virtually any standard of measure.
- Clear Springs & Kanawha Annexations — Working with Council and staff we expanded Fort Mill's boundaries by over 5000 acres, effectively
doubling the size of the town's footprint. This was all done utilizing the recommendations and strategies outlined in our recently completed
comprehensive plan. Our citizens have repeatedly expressed the rightful demand that growth pay for itself and these annexations satisfy that demand.
They are an excellent example of smart growth and I confidently predict they will stand the test of time as a great benchmark in the history of our
town.
- Advancement of Volunteerism — In the first seven months of 2008 we have established no fewer than seven new volunteer boards, commissions
and committees. They include our Hall of Fame Committee, Arts Commission, Veteran's Committee, Recreation Committee, Beautification Committee,
Stormwater Review Board and Code Review Board. These groups will allow citizens the opportunity to put their time and talent to work in helping us
address many of our challenges and make Fort Mill an even better place to live and work.
In 2009, the Town of Fort Mill won an award from the Municipal Association of SC for our volunteer participation program
in which we established eight new volunteer boards, commissions and task teams to give citizens with talent,
time and inclination / motivation an opportunity to contribute to the betterment of the town.
- Establishment of Strategic Partnerships — The development of strategic partnerships is on-going. I can point to two local non-profits as
excellent examples of what can be done with this strategy. Move Fort Mill Forward is doing a great job of spearheading our downtown revitalization
effort and Paradise Community Basketball is effectively providing positive guidance for many of our community's at-risk youth. We granted Move Fort
Mill Forward the use of Fort Mill's iconic Caboose as a base of operations and we have consistently supported Paradise Community Basketball's Saturday
morning sports and life mentoring program. We will continue to look for creative and effective ways to support these kinds of efforts.
- Downtown Revitalization — This issue ranks up there with growth and traffic in many citizens' pecking order of issues. August of 2008
sees the beginning of a two-phase downtown construction project which will eventually culminate in brick in-laid pedestrian crosswalks, new metal mast
arm traffic lights and additional flowers and greenery on Main Street.
It is crucial that we invest time and effort in planning what our next steps are in our downtown revitalization process. I hope that Council will
agree that we should treat downtown revitalization as a capital improvement plan and annually budget money for the purpose of systematically completing
the plan. It is also important that we work cooperatively with Move Fort Mill Forward and the other downtown merchants in order to maximize our
resources and get the most out of our efforts.
- Lease of the Old Center Theater Building — During the course of my time on Council I have studied a number of downtown revitalization
efforts. Many of the successful ones involve the presence of a downtown entertainment venue. Historically, once the entertainment venue becomes a
desirable destination there is an influx of downtown restaurants, coffee shops, ice cream parlors and specialty retail springing up to take advantage
of the traffic the destination has generated. The old Center Theater building on Main Street could become such a catalyst for our downtown
revitalization. We have entered into a very favorable lease arrangement with Chip Smith, the owner of the building. We have selected an architect to
provide us with several art renderings and a preliminary budget for the building's renovation. Once we have these materials in hand we will be in a
position to discuss our options for shepherding the process further. Locating block grants, conducting public fund raising projects and facilitating
possible public/private partnerships are all on the table as we discuss the future of this project.
- Evaluation and Upgrade of Channel 19 — We are working with Comporium Communications to evaluate the potential upgrade of our public access
TV Channel (19.) The goal here is to maximize the potential of this valuable resource. With the blessing of Council, we should soon be in the process
of gearing up our equipment and skill level to allow the possible televising of council meetings, committee discussions, town events and etc. And I
have had several conversations with the Fort Mill School District about the possibility of including them in our programming mix. I foresee Channel
19 becoming an important tool for the dissemination of information pertaining to town and school district news and events. It is another great example
of the potential of partnering to achieve common goals. This successful partnership will require the efforts of the town, the school district and
Comporium Communications. I anticipate it will be public/private collaboration doing some of its' best work.
- Evaluation and Upgrade of the Town of Fort Mill Web Site — Another communications related project being discussed is the evaluation and
upgrade of our town web site. This is another traditionally under-utilized vehicle that, with some attention, will prove to be a valuable tool for the
delivery of important information to our citizens. I see this as another project the town might want to collaborate with the school district to
deliver.
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