Local issues

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Beaufort County, SC District 10 voters!
Here are some things to consider at election time:

1. I told our councilman, Jerry Stewart, about the defective roof truss connections in Sun City LONG before The Island Packet ran their stories. Why didn't Councilman Stewart follow up on my warnings, and warn YOU?

2. Arthur Cummings, Director of Beaufort County's Office of Building Code Enforcement, made false and misleading statements to the public. He was quoted in Bluffton Today as saying "a FEW bad roof truss connections" had been found, and he was quoted in The Island Packet as saying that "only 2% of the re-inspected houses needed repairs".

3. It's on Arthur Cummings "watch" that roof truss connections were not properly inspected in the first place.

4. In October 2007 Gary Kubic, Beaufort County Administrator, promised a final report on the Sun City roof truss connection problem. Arthur Cummings' answer in July 2008 is a short, two-paragraph email to The Island Packet in which he says that "only 2% of the re-inspected houses needed repairs".

Will the REAL story of the deficient roof truss connections and missing roof bracing EVER be told? Will citizens EVER get the REAL information on the County Building Code Enforcement Office's ineptness in their initial inspections, AND RE-INSPECTIONS, of our houses? Will the public ever be told that hurricane clips should be installed as these connections? Mr. Cummings? Mr. Kubic? Mr. Stewart?

5. Also in October 2007 Gary Kubic promised that an independent firm would evaluate the County Office of Building Code Enforcement for the purpose of "restoring public confidence." Only after another Island Packet story TEN MONTHS LATER, has Arthur Cummings FINALLY turned over the NEEDED records to the independent reviewer. Will the evaluation be made public? Mr. Stewart, Mr. Kubic and Mr. Cummings, IT IS YOUR DUTY NOT INTERFERE WITH THE FIRM'S EVALUATION, AND TO MAKE THIS REPORT PUBLIC.

6. A recent article in The Island Packet revealed that not all designated houses in Sun City have been re-inspected. This is more than one and one half YEARS after the County was notified of the roof truss connection problem. This is our SECOND hurricane season after the problem was discovered, and this hurricane season is VERY active.

7. Gary Kubic has failed to answer my direct questions as to what agency is responsible for assuring that retaining walls and timber bridges in private housing developments in Beaufort County are properly designed and inspected.

8. Some lagoons (ponds) in Sun City are full of silt. Trees in wetlands are dead and dying. What have Jerry Stewart and Gary Kubic done to get Pulte Homes, developer of Sun City and currently in-charge, to address these problems?