CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – The City of Conway will start 2018 under a new permanent city administrator after the city dropped Adam Emrick’s “interim” tag.
The city has made the news a lot lately with the draining of Lake Busbee, plans for new development in the downtown area, and with Conway Police searching for plans to hire and keep new officers.
They’re all issues that Emrick will now have to tackle in 2018.
“I’m just excited to be in this new role,” said Emrick after serving as the interim administrator since July of this year.
Emrick says one of his main goals as the new administrator will be to focus on improving and cleaning up the downtown area and facilities around the city. It’s something he previously focused on as the city planner.
“We’ve got great parks, we’ve got great facilities, we’ve got a wonderful historic downtown. I’d love to see some of those things get a little more polish on them. I’d love to see them look a lot cleaner, a lot sharper. We have great things, we just need to work on making them look even better,” said Emrick.
Bringing more businesses and people to the downtown district has been a priority for the city for several years. That’s sparked a great deal of growth, and with plans for a new apartment complex, Emrick says it’s about to grow even more.
“The downtown core and developing that core is what will make Conway a better city,” said Emrick.
With development, Emrick says he knows there will be challenges.
“We know that there’s going to be some hiccups while we’re doing some of the building downtown when it’s under construction. The main street bridge is going to be closed in January of 2019. That’s going to be a hurdle we’re going to have to get through with traffic,” said Emrick.
There are several construction projects scheduled in the city in the coming months. The city has plans to move powerlines underground around Fourth Avenue downtown, but Emrick says one of the biggest projects will be draining Lake Busbee.
“That’s going to be a challenge. We know it’s not going to be pretty for several months and we know we’ve got some issues there that we need to wrap up,” explained Emrick.
As he takes over as administrator, the city also looks to fill several positions. Right now, they’re looking to hire a new parks and recreation director, public information officer, and chief of police.
“We’ve got some high level positions that we know we’re going to have to fill, but those are opportunities as well. We may not be able to fill the shoes of those people who have left, but that’s a challenge that I think we’re up to the task on,” said Emrick.
News13 has reported on the city’s search for ways to recruit and keep new police officers. With the announcement from Myrtle Beach on raising the salaries for police officers, we asked Emrick if he’s worried about officers leaving for better pay.
“We know that that’s a component, and it’s something that we’re looking at now and we’ll look at as we go into the budget season which is sort of getting underway now, but money isn’t the only problem and we’re going to work on that. It’s another opportunity and challenge that we’re going to be facing,” said Emrick.
Emrick says he also plans to work on morale city-wide.
He wants to look at ways to better the workforce for all city employees so that he can keep turnover low.