Bluffton Blog

After more than three decades in the private sector and six years as Bluffton’s engineering director, Bob Fletcher has decided to call it a career.

This time he means it.

Although technically retired at the time, Fletcher was hired by the town about six years ago to manage several high-profile projects then under development, including the new police station and the “tech park” at Buckwalter Place.

“Projects were my forte as it turns out, and most of those projects are done now. And I am 65, so it’s time,” he said in an interview.

Bluffton Town Council has created a new May River advisory committee, and officials are hoping some well-connected residents will get involved.

“We’re looking for people who have some political clout, who are willing to make calls and knock on doors if that’s needed,” town stormwater engineer Ron Bullman told council members this week.

“We want individuals who aren’t afraid to get involved … if they have to,” he said.

The town of Bluffton has joined Hilton Head Island, Beaufort and at least 36 other communities across South Carolina that are designated “Tree Cities” by the Arbor Day Foundation.

Roberts Vaux, head of Bluffton’s tree committee, says the town’s application for Tree City USA designation has been accepted, but that the town still hasn’t received anything “official” from the foundation.

A spokesman for the Nebraska City, Neb., foundation confirmed that Bluffton’s application for the program has been accepted, and the town will soon be listed on the group’s website.

It could still be several months before anyone moves into the six new homes in the $1 million Wharf Street Redevelopment project in Bluffton, but the S.C. Housing Finance & Development Authority is already calling the project a success.

The agency has selected Bluffton’s project and an apartment complex in Greenville for its Housing Achievement award in the “new development” category. Bluffton town officials are expected to travel Thursday to Columbia to collect the award at the Palmetto Affordable Housing Conference.