Proactive Leadership, Collaboration, and Investment Are Needed to Meet Future Challenges
While neighboring communities and many others across South Carolina have proactively taken bold steps to manage growth and invest in their futures, Isle of Palms has too often stood by and "monitored", studied, deferred, delayed, or done nothing . Challenges include growing neighborhood congestion/traffic, beach preservation, infrastructure projects, safety/service policy, and quality of life impacts—the default approach has too often been to kick the can down the road. A reactive approach has led to avoidable conflicts, events, and more costly solutions.
That’s where leadership matters. The job of the Mayor is not to monitor, kick the can, or ignore, but to plan in advance, negotiate, find common ground, work with residents, businesses, Council and Columbia to deliver results. I will collaborate with Council, listen carefully to residents/stakeholders, and ensure voices are heard, respected, and reflected in policy.
This is my commitment and I'm excited for the opportunity to work with you.
Scott Pierce’s Leadership for Isle of Palms
Think Bigger. Move Faster. Deliver Results.
Commitments to the Community
Residents Deserve Better—and Council Can Do Better.
Protect Quality of Life
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Keep residents at the center of every policy decision.
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Address root causes of pressures on core services, neighborhoods, and livability.
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Leverage what other communities have learned and implemented - no need to reinvent at every turn.
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Reduce congestion and cut-through traffic.
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Formally enlist rental community (i.e. owner/operators, FVRG, resort) to establish practical policies, practices, monitoring to preserve neighborhood quality of life for home owners.
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Prepare and protect the IOP Parking Plan - up for state review/submission soon.
Restore & Preserve Our Beach
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Establish stable, long-term proactive plans & funding sources.
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Protect the shoreline and our economy with durable strategies and policy.
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Leverage other beach communities approaches - new funding sources, policy, techniques, resident participation.
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Enact several of the Ad-Hoc Committee recommendations. Time to act.
Strengthen Public Safety & Core Services
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Ensure policy is practical and enforceable.
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Resource police, fire, and essential services to match growing demand.
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Expand traffic management capabilities.
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Benchmark and explore innovative ways to deliver best in class core services.
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Address the "importing" and dumping of debris from off island.
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Pursue additional funding sources for public safety and services.
Modernize & Maintain Infrastructure
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Roads, drainage, beach access, parking, sewer access, and public facilities all require sustainable investment and maintenance.
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Prioritize maintenance projects and establish sinking funds for future long term upgrades.
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Actively pursue sharing the resource burden and funding to match with actual use.
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Engage at higher/deeper levels with Columbia, Federal level and other communities for shared solutions - make the use case.
Partner with the Business Community
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Engage more formally with IOP’s business community for partnerships and investment.
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Explore opportunities to address public needs with public/private sector solutions.
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Pursue outside partners and agencies in needed infrastructure and maintenance projects.
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Support local businesses in shoulder season - cooperative local incentives and events for residents and businesses.
Fiscal Responsibility & Full Transparency
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Practice fiscal responsibility and full transparency.
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Reconstitute the IOP Ways & Means Committee for financial oversight and stewardship.
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Consider zero based budgeting techniques and prioritize all capital allocations.
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Adopt modernized tools, forecasting, budgeting, modeling, AI use.
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Adopt competitive procurement policies vs. extensive use of sole source awards.
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Publish the Check Register, it's taxpayer money - see Folly Beach.
Think Bigger. Move Faster.
Secure investment proportional to our real-world scale.
IOP is a regional engine, generating over $550 million in annual business revenues from more than 3,500 businesses thriving here. Yet the dollars we send to the state and elsewhere far exceed what we receive back. As Mayor, I will fight for investment and service support proportional to our scale—to maintain and protect what makes IOP extraordinary and to ensure contributions match real-world usage, instead of placing it solely on the backs of the 4,400 residents, property owners and businesses.
Offering Leadership
Direct. Proactive. Prepared. Objective.
My career has been about building and leading teams, earning consensus, and producing tangible results. I will hear all sides—thoroughly—so the city reaches durable solutions.
Partnerships matter. We will work closer with neighboring municipalities, Charleston County, state leaders, and federal agencies to secure resources and funding, protect our shoreline, and invest in the infrastructure that everyone uses. That is how we safeguard our future.
“I have no doors. My office hours are all hours and what you see is what you get. You will always know where I stand.”
- Scott Pierce
Shaping the Future of Isle of Palms
Your voice, your home, your future.
The next few years will shape our island for decades. Regional growth, environmental realities, and financial constraints demand strong, balanced, and forward-looking leadership. I will lead with collaboration, transparency, accountability, and respect—and will always listen.