Outgoing councilman feels he’s made York County better, but says ‘ it never ends’

It popped up today. It isn’t just any York County Council meeting agenda. For Bruce Henderson, it’s his last meeting as Dist. 2 councilman after serving six years.

His last official Council meeting is Dec. 19.

“It's mixed emotions,” he said. “I'm kind of ready for the break."

In fall 2010, Henderson won a three-way general election with more than 73 percent of the vote. He took his seat Jan. 3, 2011.

At his first Council meeting two weeks later, he voted to move road work along on S.C. 274 as part of the Pennies for Progress campaign four years earlier. Council talked road funding, visitor bureau funding, debated the Morningstar Ministries tower in Fort Mill, and talked about traffic needs at the Fort Mill Southern Bypass.

After winning his second term in 2012, there was debate on county emergency response service as River Hills/Lake Wylie EMS was feeling squeezed out by undue regulation.

His last term included talks of incorporation in Lake Wylie, purchasing Carolina Water Service, community push back on high density residential growth and issues of fire protection control in Lake Wylie.

"There (are) several things I feel like I've had a positive impact on," Henderson said. "It took twisting some arms occasionally."

Issues tackled include about two dozen purchase agreements, leases, bid awards, a public hearing, money for law enforcement vehicles, animal control, and trash and recycling.

Some issues were specific. Henderson is proud of work to allocate hospitality tax money for the aquatic center water park in Lake Wylie and Lake Wylie SportsPlex plan on Crowders Creek. The Clover School District Community YMCA outdoor water park has been “almost an instant success,” and Henderson expects the same when the sports fields open.

"There's no doubt it will bring in some activity that otherwise wouldn't be in Lake Wylie," he said. "It's going to be a generator of quite a bit of activity."

Other issues were more general. When Henderson arrived on Council, the county and region were still feeling the sting of recession. The county had to make decisions with an eye toward retaining and attracting business. The county as a whole, and his district in particular, worked to “overcome the odds greatly.”

“We always were resilient,” Henderson said. “We kept ourselves fairly afloat when others were seeing far more negative numbers. My people were resilient, and their determination was what carried them.”

But the one he takes the most pride in is handling emergency response, the “ambulance wars.” The issue was whether volunteer emergency response groups would continue to operate in York County. Henderson and others on Council held firm. He said he has been hugged, kissed and had tears shed in front of him by people thanking him for “being stubborn enough” to keep a place for groups, which literally can mean life and death for people in an emergency.

"Something was changed because of what we did,” Henderson said. “Apparently some good came out of that."

He sees longest-lasting impact as possibly the recent changes impacting residential building density near Lake Wylie. Henderson advocated against high density growth near the water, focusing not just on road and infrastructure, but also the health of the lake. Henderson said those discussions led to a "tremendous awareness about the lake."

He is hopeful those talks will continue with Allison Love, who takes the Dist. 2 seat in January, and perhaps lead to a “fully intact overlay for the whole lake.”

"I've tried to pass along as much information as I can, to where hopefully on some things the fight continues," Henderson said.

Some issues, like the county exploring the purchase of Carolina Water Service, won’t be resolved until the turn of the year. County leaders this year negotiated a six-month extension as the contract expires in January 2017.

"That's still in the making,” Henderson said. “That's still being worked on."

While he understands a new Council member, one of seven seats, has their own ideas and agendas about how best to serve the area, Henderson offers Love help on catching up with ongoing issues. Having supported her in her campaign after he announced he wouldn’t run for re-election, Henderson is confident in his replacement.

"She will be determined, just like I was,” Henderson said, noting the water sale issue in particular. “Being that she's new, she's in there with guns a blazing, she's very enthused about it and she's wanting to move on the Carolina Water issue."

In some ways it wasn’t that long ago Henderson was the new official ready to take on county business. He had been on Clover Town Council, and was involved in other areas like the Clover Economic Development Board and Clover Planning/Zoning Commission. The 1984 Clover High School graduate and part owner of a painting and property preservation business in Clover always had an itch for public service. Still, it may not entirely be scratched yet.

"We'll continue to be active in politics in general,” Henderson said. “It wouldn't be surprising to see me up there before Council on any given subject, especially any hot button subject that may be going on."

Public service, like the task of Council, isn’t something that fits into two- or four-year windows. It doesn’t sync up with election cycles. Henderson knew it well before he looked over his final agenda, filled both with issues he worked hard on and ones he won’t see through to completion.

"It is an ongoing task,” Henderson said. “It never ends. It's a job that's never completed."

Council meets at 6 p.m. Dec. 19 at Council Chambers, 6 S. Congress St., York.

This story was originally published December 16, 2016 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Outgoing councilman feels he’s made York County better, but says ‘ it never ends’."