Fort Mill’s top job is down to these three men. Here’s what they have to say.

Fort Mill is down to three candidates to fill its town manager position.

Interim town manager Davy Broom; Bessemer City, N.C., city administrator James Inman; and Coastal Regional Commission of Georgia senior planner Quentin McPhatter are in the running to replace Dennis Pieper, who left this summer to take the same position at Surfside Beach.

In Fort Mill, the town manager serves under town council. The town manager oversees police, fire, utilities, planning and other departments.

A date for choosing the final candidate has not yet been announced. Council next meets at 7:30 a.m. Sept. 24. An agenda for that meeting hasn’t been released.

Here’s what the final three candidates, in alphabetical order, say about becoming Fort Mill’s town leader.

Broom

Broom, 49, adds local experience to the final candidate list. He was named interim town manager in June.

“It has been a fun experience over the last several weeks serving in this role,” Broom said. “It has been an honor.”

Broom graduated from Fort Mill High School before earning an associate’s degree from York Technical College. He worked for Duke Power, now Duke Energy, for 13 years. He worked in warehousing, meter reading, line work and customer service.

“When I came to Fort Mill, it was with a customer service background,” Broom said. “And that’s what I’ve tried to instill in the public works department.”

Broom has been with public works almost two decades, and was head of that department when named interim manager. Along with decades working for the town, Broom gained experience leading departments through an emergency the past week with Hurricane Florence hitting the Carolinas.

“We were fortunate that we missed the largest part of that storm,” he said.

Broom said he would continue serving the town as manager as he has for years leading public works.

“My goal hasn’t changed from day one,” he said. “I’ve served the town as public works director for 18 years. I’ve always tried to provide residents the best services possible. And that’ still my goal.”

Whichever candidate is picked, Broom said, will have support in place to succeed.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for the applicant that’s selected,” he said. “They’re coming into a situation with a very good town council and a wonderful staff across the board. I’m looking forward to serving this town in whatever role they have for me.”

Inman

Inman, 55, has been city administrator in Bessemer City, N.C., for almost seven years. He was city administrator in Locust, N.C., for a decade prior. He has three decades in local government service. He also was a full-time police officer.

“I’ve had a lot of experience in a community that’s experiencing rapid growth,” Inman said. “And of course, Fort Mill is one of the fastest growing places in the area and in the state. There’s tremendous pressure there to accommodate that growth and plan for it.”

Serving as budget officer in Bessemer City, Inman is experienced with economic development. He has a master’s in public administration from Appalachian State University. He also has a degree in criminal justice and is working toward another.

“Fort Mill is a wonderful community,” he said. “It has a lot of exciting things that are going on there. It has a wonderful staff that works hard and elected officials who are dedicated to making Fort Mill the best community that it can be.”

Bessemer City is less than an hour drive from Fort Mill, in Gaston County, N.C. As of last year, the city had about 5,500 residents. Fort Mill had about 17,500.

McPhatter

McPhatter, 44, is a senior planner and grant specialist for the Coastal Regional Commission of Georgia. The multi-county commission serves 35 municipalities and 10 county governments with planning, development, economic, transportation and other services.

The Kingsland, Ga., resident has been with the commission two years, and has almost a dozen years in municipal management in North Carolina and Georgia.

“The big thing is we do a lot of work here with comprehensive plans,” McPhatter said.

Those plans involved bringing counties and municipalities together for a common vision.

“Sometimes it’s difficult to get people to play in the same sandbox,” McPhatter said, “but I do a good job of that.”

McPhatter has a speech communication degree from Wake Forest University and a master’s of public administration from North Carolina Central University. He minored in counseling, which McPhatter said he wasn’t expecting to be as important as he since found working with various government groups.

“I think counseling is a key attribute to have,” he said.

The Fort Mill job is attractive, he said, because of the strong school system, growing community and cooperation among public bodies. McPhatter pointed to the deal between the town, Fort Mill school district, Upper Palmetto YMCA and Leroy Springs & Co. to keep the the recreation complex on Tom Hall Street.