Adams, Savage share a vision for Fort Mill

It was a Monday night in August, and it was an anomaly.

Of the eight votes taken Aug. 10 by Fort Mill Town Council, mayoral candidates Tom Adams and Guynn Savage took opposite sides on six of them. That night offered a rare glimpse into two candidates who otherwise have much more in common.

Even at the first Council meeting after candidate filing closed, Adams and Savage paused over a friendly fist bump to acknowledge how much they share.

“We have a lot of admiration and respect for each other and no matter what happens,” Adams said, “that will not change.”

As the two have on so many Council votes, one echoed the other.

“We’re not running against each other,” Savage said. “We’re absolutely running for the seat.”

Savage joined Council in 2005. She left from 2008 to 2010 following a move out of her ward. She now serves at-large. Adams joined Council in 2008. He serves Ward 4. Based on voting record, the two show more similarity than contrast.

Through mid-September, Council cast 51 votes so far this year with both Adams and Savage in attendance. The pair voted the same way 44 times. They opposed each other just seven times.

One was a rezoning for luxury apartments at River Crossing Drive and Sutton Road. Savage said she had no problem with the plan, but had committed not to rezone commercial property to residential as the town looks to increase its business tax base. Savage voted the same way at a later meeting, but Adams wasn’t present.

The other six occasions all came Aug. 10. Adams voted to move ahead gathering proposals on a fire station along the Dobys Bridge Road corridor. Savage voted against, saying firms shouldn’t be solicited since Council hadn’t voted to allocate money for the station.

Adams twice voted in favor of development impact fees that night, and Savage against, in an eventual 4-3 decision that passed them. Adams voted to set up a capital needs list for the impact fees, to amend the town comprehensive plan to include them and to budget revenue from the fees. Savage voted against each time.

“The only time we’ve gone against each other much is on impact fees,” Adams said.

“I see that as a way to get funding for the town to pay for growth that’s been going on without putting the burden on taxpayers.”

At the most recent Council meeting, the town heard plans for a 32-acre shopping center anchored by Harris Teeter. Which tells him sentiment against impact fees for the harm they would do to new business was exaggerated.

“I think that’s already been proven wrong,” Adams said.

Savage said even with the impact fee vote, she and Adams shared many ideas and opinions. Both saw fees as a tool to pay for town services. Both saw potential impacts to business.

“The impact fees probably is the hallmark issue that Tom and I voted differently on,” Savage said. “Notice I didn’t say disagreed on.”

Savage had concerns charging the fees and putting them toward as comprehensive a town needs list as she has seen in eight years, constructed in unison with the fee ordinance. All while having to figure out potential impacts on business, schools, churches and other groups that would have to pay it. And without items on that needs list having prior Council approval.

“It has a broad brush,” Savage said.

Like Adams, Savage said voters will choose the candidate who best appeals to them, but the candidates won’t pit themselves against each other. Even for the candidates, picking out areas where one trumps the other is difficult.

“That’s going to be a hard one,” Savage said. “We’re both equally qualified, and we both have a strong desire to lead Fort Mill moving forward.”

Both candidates see similar issues for the town in coming years. Both see a need for strong community relationships and communication. Both see fire and police facilities in need of expansion, and the appeal to new business broadened. Even when they fail to agree, both candidates say differing conclusions come from the same place – a desire to do what is best for Fort Mill.

“Differences of opinion are just that,” Adams said. “They don’t make one person right and one person wrong. They just make you different. We need to deal with each other with respect.”

This story was originally published October 5, 2015 at 1:35 PM with the headline "Adams, Savage share a vision for Fort Mill."