Incumbent Rock Hill Mayor John Gettys is running for re-election. He vows to revitalize the city.
“I believe I have the experience and know-how to drive our community forward,” Gettys said.
According to the City of Rock Hill’s website, Gettys served two terms on the city council, first being elected in 2002 and then re-elected in 2005.
Gettys believes his greatest achievement was “opening up that vaccination clinic… and putting over 50,000 shots in peoples’ arms.”
“Since we’ve opened up this vaccination clinic … and the vaccination has been so widely distributed now, … I don’t think a mask is necessary,” Gettys said. “It was before we had vaccines, in my opinion, or at least what we thought at the time, and now I think people are using some revisionist history to suggest otherwise.”
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention website advises that all those who are vaccinated should still “wear a mask indoors in an area of substantial or high transmission.” According to Statista, South Carolina is ranked the seventh–highest state in COVID-19 cases per capita, as of Sept. 17.
Gettys said he wants to revitalize the south side of Rock Hill.
“What we’ve done is started the process of creating a tax-increment district … so that we can take new property taxes and put them to public infrastructure on the south side only,” he said.
On the issue of police department expansion, which his opponent, Ishmael Lowery, says is the biggest difference between the two, Gettys supports police.
“Well, Mr. Lowery, I’ve never seen him at a police ball supporting our police department. I’ve never seen him at a gathering of police officers. I didn’t see him downtown helping the police when I was there … so he can jump up and down and say all he wants, but he’s never shown that in practice,” Gettys said.
The vote for the Rock Hill Mayorship will be held on Oct. 19. Deadlines for voter registration are Sept. 17 in person, Sept. 19 online, and Sept. 20 by mail-in application.
