Dec. 7, 2022 • Volume 11, Issue 12 • Complimentary • HiltonHeadSun.com
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Perry ready to hit ground running in his first week as mayor By Tim Wood CONTRIBUTOR
There was a minute in the late 1990s when Alan Perry was on the verge of leaving the island he’d called home for more than two decades. Multiple job offers in Atlanta beckoned and for a day or two, Perry was intrigued with the prospect of a major life change. “Thankfully, I came to my senses,” said Hilton Head Island’s new mayor, who was sworn in Dec. 6. “I checked myself, said, ‘What am I doing?’ And it was right then that I decided to dig in and double my efforts to be involved with the community I love.” Perry said he feels that the biggest victories, like his work in expanding the Island Recreation Center, and his biggest failures – including his 2018 mayoral race loss – have made him the right leader for a crucial time in the island’s history. “A bad loss sometimes creates a good win,” Perry said of his 2018 election loss. “I was more prepared this time than I was the first time. That loss made me realize that I needed to listen more, to focus my message and my priorities around that listening.” The redux appeared headed toward an equally disappointing loss, as JoAnn Orischak led by 440 votes after the results were counted on Nov. 8. The lack of a majority triggered the runoff, which gave Perry
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and his team another chance to win over voters – specifically those who had voted for Thomas Cleary, who had dropped out of the race a month before the election but whose name was still on the ballot. Team Perry turned the results around, winning by 1,000-plus votes and 56% of the 8,600 ballots cast in the Nov. 22 runoff. Even more impressive, he converted votes in crucial neighborhoods like Hilton Head Plantation and Sea Pines away from Orischak. “I feel very blessed to be given this opportunity to lead,” Perry said. “I want to show our voters results and show them that bureaucracy does not have to halt positive change. I think I can provide a different style of leadership both among the Town Council and to our citizens. And that begins with transparency and communication.” By the time you’re reading this, Perry has finished his first day in office – a time he said is going to involve a lot of face-to-face meetings and imparting his message of teamwork to the full town staff team. Perry had no interest in running a negative campaign and walked an impressive tightrope of discussing what he’d do differently without criticizing past administrations or councils. “Where would that get us? It’s about what’s ahead of us and how we can impact
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LYNNE COPE HUMMELL
As official mayoral runoff election results come in, Alan Perry, center, embraces his wife, Kathy, at a watch party for friends and supporters at Club Seats Grille on Hilton Head Island. Perry’s brother, Reid, gestures in celebration at right.
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