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Over the past year, I have been a regular attendee at Saluda County Council meetings. What I have witnessed during that time has left me increasingly concerned—not only about Council engagement, but also about the lack of oversight and accountability within our local government.

As a District 3 resident, I attempted numerous times to contact my councilman through official channels. It was troubling to learn that he does not check his county-issued email account. I then provided my phone number and respectfully asked for a callback. Despite repeated attempts, including addressing this issue publicly at Council meetings, no response ever came. Accessibility and responsiveness are not optional qualities for an elected official; they are fundamental responsibilities. The people of District 3 deserve better.

In Saluda County, Ordinance 07-22 called for a referendum on adopting a Council-Administrator form of government, which passed in the November 8, 2022 election.  The ordinance required the County Council to formally establish the new government and hire a County Administrator, but the Council began operating under the new system in January 2023 without passing the ordinance.  Now, Ordinance 16-25 seeks to retroactively legitimize that failure while also making a procedural change to allow citizens to sign up to speak at council meetings at the door, rather than ten days in advance.  Since the Administrator assumed many of the Council’s responsibilities, the move has significantly reduced council members’ workload, though their pay remains unchanged.  No wonder they praise the change in the form of government!

My concerns deepened after I conducted an audit of Council meeting minutes from 2021 through 2024. The findings were alarming: while my District 3 councilman logged higher hours in 2021 and 2022, his involvement dropped off dramatically after the appointment of a County Administrator in 2023. Since then, many responsibilities once carried out by elected officials seem to have shifted to the Administrator. Yet, despite this decline in Council involvement, the “cost per hour” of that involvement has only increased.

I shared these findings directly with my Councilman, along with an invitation to rebut or explain them. While he acknowledged receipt, no explanation or accountability was offered. I want to be clear: my criticism is not personal. I am not calling his character as a man, husband, father, or friend into question. Rather, I am holding him accountable in his role as Councilman. Public office is a privilege, not a guaranteed title. It requires transparency, dedication, and responsiveness to those who entrusted you with their vote.

What makes this lack of engagement even more concerning is that, in practice, our District 3 representative has contributed fewer than 15 hours per year in recent sessions. That raises important questions: Can a council member truly be adequately informed—or effectively represent their community—on so little time invested? And is this an effective or fair use of taxpayer dollars?

Beyond attendance and accountability, leadership also requires vision. Sadly, too often I hear Council members speak about Saluda only in terms of limitation. “Saluda is a poor county,” we are told, over and over. One even declared at a public forum that we are simply “a bedroom community” that will not change for 25 years. But words matter. The way leaders describe our home shapes the way we see ourselves and our future. When leaders speak only of limits, they discourage hope. Negative words breed resignation.

What Saluda needs is the opposite: words of possibility, of growth, of belief in a brighter future. Our leaders should be the voices that light the path forward, not dim it. We don’t need a “good old boys’ club”—we need vision, innovation, and optimism. We need council members who will breathe life into Saluda, who will inspire neighbors, businesses, and families to invest their hearts and efforts into this community.

But leadership does not rest solely in their hands. It also rests in ours. We, the citizens, must hold Council members accountable and refuse to accept disengagement or complacency. We must reject hopelessness and negativity and embrace our roles as change-makers. Together, our voices can demand integrity, commitment, and vision from those who represent us.

This article is not written in anger, but in hope. Hope that we, the people of Saluda, will recognize our collective power. Hope that we will expect more from our leaders—and from ourselves. Hope that, when the time comes, we will make the necessary choices at the ballot box to ensure that our county receives the dedicated, transparent, and forward-thinking leadership that it truly deserves.

The choice is ours to make. Let’s choose accountability. Let’s choose optimism. And most importantly—let’s choose a better future for Saluda.

Written by Gail Meyer, a concerned citizen of Saluda County.

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