Mayor Seeks Sixth Term in City’s Tuesday Elections
Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
Early voting remains open through tomorrow for the City of Anderson Elections, where two offices feature candidates with opposition. The Observer earlier featured the two candidates seeking Seat 5 of City Council, Darryl Thompson and Tonya Winbush.
Incumbent Mayor Terence Roberts faces Van Sullivan Jr. in the race for mayor. Sullivan, despite multiple requests for an interview (at least five attempts), declined to be interviewed. Here is Roberts talking about why he is running for the office.
In the City of Anderson, where the textile mills have long given way to splash pads and holiday ice rinks, Mayor Terence Roberts is seeking a sixth term this April, after two decades at the helm of this Upstate city of close to 30,000 souls.
Roberts, who entered office in 2006 with no political experience but a background in student government and nonprofit boards—the Chamber, the Y.M.C.A., United Way—beat an incumbent in a runoff, thanks to an important local endorsement. He recalls learning on the fly: there was no “mayor’s manual,” only veterans such as councilman Dennis McKee to advise on the niceties of public comments and meeting protocol. Now, at the end of his fifth term, he likens himself to a latter-day Tom Brady or Peyton Manning—wiser, if not quite as spry, still figuring out “how to win games” for Anderson.
What he’s proudest of is the transformation of downtown, from a barren stretch without a single parking garage to a bustling scene with two (and whispers of a third), plus proliferating restaurants, retail, and the return of the signature Soirée event. The old Belk’s site, once an “eyesore” during the 2008 recession, sprouted into a multifaceted space: amphitheater, pavilion for weddings, splash pad, trail—even a real ice rink these past two winters, drawing crowds at Christmastime. “We owned the eyesore,” Roberts notes dryly, crediting incremental visions from folks like Neil Workman.
Looking ahead, he pledges more recreation: upgrades and expansions at Cater’s Lake and Linley Park, a new pocket park at North Bank Commons, bolstering the overburdened Rec Center with its ball fields and classes.
Anderson runs on the council-manager model—Roberts chairs a nine-member council that acts as a policy board and that hires a full-time city administrator (he’s had three in 20 years) to oversee 600 employees, a far cry from the all-in-one mayors of smaller towns like Williamston.
As for the compensation for serving as mayor?
“Pennies on the dollar,” he said, recalling words of his father, William Roaberts, referencing compensation for 47 years coaching; Instead, it’s the edge from statehouse relationships and stints like president of the Municipal Association that keeps him going.
