For new city manager, ‘Always something different’

Darlington City Manager John Payne. PHOTO BY DAWSON JORDAN

By Bobby Bryant, Editor
editor@newsandpress.net

John Payne is Darlington’s city manager. But on this day, he’s also a weather forecaster and a crisis-response planner.
It’s Jan. 20, the day before a big winter storm is predicted to hit South Carolina. Payne has just sent out an e-mail to department heads and City Council alerting them that most city offices will be closed the next day as a precaution.
“Hopefully, it’ll be nothing. Hopefully, it’ll be much to do about nothing,” says Payne, sitting at his desk at City Hall. But he’s been making storm plans for days, looking at weather advisories.
“We’ve been following this all week,” Payne says. “I’ve been in touch with all my departments, basically on a daily basis, to prepare for this. Police, fire. Our EOC will be the Fire Department – our Emergency Operations Command, in case we have any emergencies.
“ … Trees that are down, any accidents, we’ll be prepared for. … I’ve been in pretty much daily contact with the county administrator – I wanted to know what they’re doing, so I didn’t drop the ball on anything. We’ve been in constant contact with state officials, county officials and our department heads, so we’re ready for whatever comes our way.”
Payne is nearly six months into his job as Darlington city manager, and so far he likes it a lot. It’s his first time serving as a city manager. It’s his first real winter-weather alert (not counting the previous weekend’s storm, a dud in the Pee Dee). Winter storms? By this week, it will be budgets, policies, purchase orders.
As manager, Payne is responsible for 80-90 city employees and overseeing a roughly $7 million budget. “I’ve got good people that work for me. We talk. I don’t just give them orders. I ask them questions, because they’re the professionals in their respective area, and I listen to them, and we make a decision.”
“It is never the same thing every day,” Payne says. “There is always something different going on. It keeps me on my toes. But I enjoy it. I feel like I’m making a positive impact.”
Payne says he’s been pleased by the dedication of the city employees he’s worked with. “They give a full day’s work. They work hard.
“The majority of my City Council are very dedicated to trying to make positive change. A lot of people don’t realize how much work goes into being a council member. Sometimes it appears that they just show up, sit there for two hours or so … then they go home. These people are going to meetings on a continuous basis. They get phone calls nonstop at all hours of the day and night. … But they keep coming back.”
Payne says things are in motion. “I feel confident that in two years, Darlington is going to look different than it does now. With all of the development we’ve got going on – there’s roughly $170 million flowing into Darlington, Georgia-Pacific (expansion) being the bulk of it, about $140 million – but we’ve got the new courthouse coming in, the historical (museum) that’s being built, Genesis (Health Care) is expanding …”
Payne also has been making changes, generally the kind the public doesn’t notice. He’s created or refined city policies on sexual harassment, COVID, employee grievance, drug testing, use of city credit cards and purchase orders.
“The feedback that I’ve gotten from a lot of people around town … I’ve had people come up to me and tell me they’re glad that I’m here. They see that I care. I don’t sit in this office all the time. A lot of the time, I’m out and about. If there’s a sewer or manhole that’s being worked on, I’ll go jump in my truck – I want to see it.”
After a nearly four-month search, Payne was hired July 20 to succeed 11-year city manager Howard Garland, whose contract was not renewed by City Council. (Because of a glitch with the phone system at City Hall, some callers to Payne’s office still hear Garland’s recorded greeting.)
Payne, who had not served before as a city manager, beat out four other finalists for the job. He was the only local candidate. When City Council brought him back for a second interview, this one held in public rather than in executive session, Payne offered some frank perspectives on the city’s problems.
“When I grew up here a long time ago, in the ’80s, this was a very nice little town. It was a great place to raise a family, and I enjoyed it. That why I’m back now,” Payne told council in his public interview.
But he said that Darlington must deal with infrastructure problems, financial issues and “personnel problems that need to be satisfied.” “My primary focus is really to right the ship, if you will,” Payne told council. “ … If Darlington doesn’t get ahold of these issues, it’ll continue to crumble. And at some point in 10 years or so, you’re going to find a Darlington that you probably don’t want to see.”
Mayor Curtis Boyd acknowledged the city’s issues, but he told Payne, “We’re not crumbling.”
Before becoming city manager, Payne was a financial adviser for Edward Jones Investments in Sumter. He also served as controller for Ramsul LLC of Florence, finance manager for Beaufort Memorial Hospital, a staff accountant with a Beaufort certified public accounting firm, an administrator for Beaufort County Council, and an aide to then-U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond from 1991-99.

Author: Stephan Drew

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