Copyright Charleston Post and Courier
CHAPIN — After an election marred by the sudden death of the incumbent, Chapin mayor-elect Bill Mitchell, Jr. sees his victory as a turning point for the town. And he may have started working toward his goals already. Mitchell was elected as Chapin’s next mayor on Nov. 4. Former mayor Al Koon — who had been running for a second term — died in office on Oct. 17, leaving the position current vacant. In an interview discussing his plans for office on Nov. 6, Mitchell told The Post and Courier that he may ultimately be sworn in earlier than usual to fill the position. Mitchell said he had been in contact with the Municipal Association of South Carolina, former attorneys and mayors and the Attorney General's Office to decide how to handle the situation. Columbia news station WIS reported on Nov. 7 that Mitchell had arrived to Chapin Town Hall earlier that day and was sworn into the office in a ceremony. The news station reported that town officials and staff appeared to be caught off guard by the move. “We are moving forward with this and there is nothing that’s going to stop us,” Mitchell said in a video published by WIS. “Everyone will get used to this in a little while, but right now we are moving forward.” The town’s codes say new officials are to assume office “at the first regularly scheduled meeting in February following their election, unless the office is contested.” Mitchell did not want to wait. “That that seat is vacant for almost 90 days, unnecessarily, is dangerous and a precarious position for our town to be,” Mitchell told The Post and Courier on Nov. 8. “So I moved forward with being sworn in and I believe that’s in the best interest of the Town of Chapin.” Mitchell told WIS he had been advised by the state municipal association and Attorney General’s Office that he could be sworn in early. He posted Nov. 8 to his personal Facebook a screenshot of a portion of a statement from the Attorney General’s Office positing he should be sworn in “to fulfill the remainder of the unexpired term if the office of mayor is vacant at the time of the election.” Spokespersons for the state Attorney General’s Office, municipal association and the Town of Chapin did not respond to requests for comment on Nov. 8. Lexington County Elections Director Lenice Shoemaker had previously told The Post and Courier the Town Council would have to determine when the new mayor is sworn in. The extended time that the seat could have been vacant exceeds the duties of the mayor pro-tem and necessitated Mitchell be sworn in sooner, he said. Mitchell blamed mayor pro-tem Gregg White for the lack of notice given to town staff. White was informed of the inauguration on Nov. 7 ahead of time and declined an invitation to attend, Mitchell said. “Which is a perfect example of why you don’t have this person serving as mayor of the town,” Mitchell said. “He wasn’t elected to be mayor, he didn’t run to be mayor. He only volunteered to help out in an emergency, and he’s not qualified to do the job that I am. And that’s on display by my decisions the first day in office.” White had been fulfilling mayoral duties in the weeks leading up to former Mayor Koon’s entry into hospice care and eventual death, WIS reported. White did not respond to requests for comment on Nov. 8. New mayor’s goals Mitchell has plans to address growth in and around the town, as well as restructure Town Hall. “This is going to be a day forward, where we leverage the talent, the expertise, the education, the experience of people in the town and adjacent to us in the ZIP code, on all kinds of levels,” Mitchell told The Post and Courier on Nov. 6. “We're going to listen to people, and if they've got good ideas, we're going to make them happen and give them credit,” he said. Mitchell plans to reevaluate how often the town approves new accesses to the town's water and sewer system for housing developments, he said. He hopes the higher scrutiny will help slow down growth in the town and in surrounding areas also served by town utilities. The town’s previous administration added new developments to the system too quickly for roads and schools to keep up, he said. “I don't know why they made those decisions, but there needs to be an emergency stop,” he said. “That is very important. And most of the people prior to these kinds of details coming out during the campaigning, most of the people in the town were completely unaware of this alarming situation. So that is a huge change in what I would do differently, and it's very important.” Mitchell also intends to “move aside” the town administrator position to put more responsibilities under the mayor and council, he said. “We're going to have to move this town administrator position aside, because you have handed off the responsibility of the mayor to that staff position,” Mitchell said. “Now the mayor's not going to be a part-time mayor, but a full-time mayor, so that's not needed.” Chapin hired its first town administrator in 2022. Officials at the time said the new position was intended to help address the town’s growth. Mitchell’s expedited swearing in will allow him to implement his plans sooner, he said on Nov. 8. Write-in campaign Because former mayor Al Koon’s death on Oct. 17 was so near to the election, his name was still listed on the Nov. 4 ballots. County election officials said any votes for him would not be counted. Koon’s sons, Chris and Ryan Koon, had publicly encouraged voters ahead of the election to write in Gregg White for mayor, saying there were no candidates on the ballot who shared their father’s vision for the town. White had filed to run for reelection to Town Council. Chris and Ryan Koon endorsed both White and Jerry Taylor for the two open at-large council seats. “Our hope is simple: to keep Chapin on the path Dad envisioned — a town that honors its roots while embracing a bright future,” Chris and Ryan Koon said in a statement released on Oct. 23. “We believe Gregg and Jerry both share our father’s vision for the future and are well-equipped to continue our father’s work.” On election night, write-in votes constituted 24 percent of the mayoral ballot, to Mitchell’s 68 percent. Election officials have yet to process the names listed on the write-in ballots, Lexington County Elections Director Lenice Shoemaker said. It is unclear how many of them may have contained White’s name. White ultimately lost his Town Council race, coming in third place for the two open at-large seats. White — who was running for reelection — had publicly stated he would serve as mayor if elected, but did not officially campaign for the spot. Taylor, the other candidate endorsed by the Koon family, came in fourth. Mitchell "didn't think it was a good idea for one person to run for two offices,” despite it being legal, he said of the write-in campaign on Nov. 6. “It's history now,” he said. “So I really want to move towards healing now that the campaign is over.”
