By Billy Keyserling

With the election finally behind us and the TV commercials off the air, hopefully our worlds will settle down to normalcy and the National Congress and the administration will get to work on long overdue conversations and solutions to the pending budget crisis. Not the least is Sequestration, which is hanging over the heads of all Americans and those charged with our national defense and will have an adverse impact on Beaufort.
At home I am looking forward to moving forward with our many initiatives including the promotion of economic diversity though workforce development and industrial recruitment, engaging the public in new ways more appropriate for Beaufort, and a transparent and user friendly zoning ordinance which will be known as the “Beaufort Code”, even though it will include elements of form-based code. The work on Boundary Street is around the corner and phase I of the Rail to Trail is done, with a formal opening in a few weeks,
The Transitional Work Force Education Assistant Collaboration, (TWEAC, which is nonprofit in which the city is participating along with the Lowcountry Economic Alliance) thanks to seed funding from the Lowcountry Economic Alliance, is off to a good start having hired retired Staff Sergeant Dwight Hora, USMC, Ret. as the Military Liaison. Dwight is already recruiting soon to be exiting Marines and Sailors and matching them with skilled Lowcountry jobs that exist. I continue to believe this will be a model for our state if not our region and the nation as it is a truly unique approach to solving the challenge of jobs for those who served our nation and the desperate need for industry to find skilled workers.
Also, thank you to City Council candidates Mike McFee, George O’Kelley and Pete Palmer for offering yourselves to public service.

<em>Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling can be reached by email at billyk@islc.net.</em>