Meet the candidates in the running for Horry County Council
Races for two open seats on the Horry County Council will be decided on Tuesday. Here are the candidates running for those seats.
Jimmy Washington
Age | 58
Address | 1655 Racepath Street, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
Occupation | Manager and corporate trainer for Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville Restaurant
Family | Married to Ronetta Washington, two daughters and three grandchildren.
Civic and political experience | Current Councilmember for Horry County Council District 3; former member of Horry County School Board District 3. Active with Myrtle Beach Downtown Redevelopment Corporation. Past service on boards of numerous Horry County organizations including Grand Strand Housing, Salvation Army, Myrtle Beach Advisory Board, and Academy of Arts, Science and Technology in Conway.
Education | 1977 graduate of Myrtle Beach High School; attended Benedict College
Contact Information | Phone: 843-421-5475 email: Washingtonjimmy4@aol.com
Question | Three things you would like to work on if elected:
Answer | 1.) Continuing to ensure smart development when it comes to public safety funding and staffing. Strong commitment to bringing on additional public safety personnel to cover the entire county, as well as striving to increase employee retention. 2.) Ensuring completion of International Drive. Strong support for proposed Ride III projects across Horry County, especially the critical widening of Hwy. 501 and extending Hwy. 31 to the North Carolina state line. 3.) Developing and implementing a comprehensive plan to utilize growth in technology and clean industry to attract new and better-paying jobs to Horry County.
Dennis DiSabato
Age | 38
Address | 606 Uniola Drive, Myrtle Beach SC 29579
Occupation | Attorney, mediator and small business owner
Family | Married to Laura DiSabato
Civic and political experience | Past-chairman of the Coastal Carolina SERTOMA Club, Past-president of the Carolina Forest Civic Association.
Education | BA, English from SUNY Binghamton University, 2000; JD from New York Law School, 2004.
Military experience| none
Question | List three things that you would like to work on if elected.
Answer | 1.) See more of our tax revenue be returned to myrtle beach and Carolina Forest for infrastructure programs, 2.) Increase resources for police to provide better training and hiring more qualified officers, 3.) Provide efficient and effective constituent service for all residents of District 3.
Gary Loftus
Age | 77
Address | 1551 Deer Park Lane, Surfside Beach, SC 29575
Occupation | Director, Grant Center for Real Estate and Economic Development, E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration, Coastal Carolina University
Family | Wife Kay (deceased); Daughter Barbara; Sons Kyle and Keith
Civic and political experience | S.C. Transportation Policy and Research Council, former board member, S.C. State Infrastructure Bank, former advisory committee, former chairman of Hospitality Association of South Carolina, former representative on the S.C. Department of Transportation Commission, former RIDE chairman.
Education | Princeton University, 1962, Bachelor of Science Engineering
Military experience | None
Question | List three things that you would like to work on if elected.
Answer | 1. Storm Water: Work on updating the comprehensive storm water plan to ensure that new development not only does not adversely affect existing development, but actually improve the drainage in existing development. And make sure that developers are adhering to County storm water regulations. 2. Public Safety: Develop the funding to attract new officers to the force, and to retain the officers we currently have, and to improve our fire department with the necessary personnel and equipment to lower the ISO ratings in the County 3. Zoning: Make sure that re-zoning makes sense. Be sensitive to the needs and quality of life of existing residents when re-zoning commercial areas.
Robin Gause
Age | 52
Address | P.O. box 31232 Myrtle Beach SC 29588.
Occupation | Self Employed , has just started USDI Village an affiliate or Birthing Project USA out of Little Rock Arkansas .
Family | Married , with 5 girls and 1 son
Civic engagement | This is my first time running . I also serve on the Family Outreach board, Phoenix Renaissance board , and the NAACP, which all are located in Myrtle Beach SC .
Education | Studied Maternal Child Health at Union University and institute in Cincinnati OH.
Question | List three things that you would like to work on if elected.
Answer | I would like to work on Economic development pertaining to transportation , roads, drainage issues, and jobs. I also would like to work on educating the public about the problem of Human Trafficking , the Heroin epidemic, Domestic violence issues, and work on making sure that our police department and emergency management department have adequate resources that they need to maintain public safety.
This story was originally published November 6, 2016 at 3:57 PM with the headline "Meet the candidates in the running for Horry County Council."