In this small SC town, the mayor-elect has big plans for change
It’s 10 a.m. on a Monday in Clover, S.C., and about three dozen customers hankering for a Southern breakfast fill up the booths in busy Victoria’s Diner.
A painted chalkboard takes up an entire wall with the day’s specials. Included among them is Victoria’s Benedict — it’s a homemade biscuit with a choice of bacon, sausage or livermush topped with two eggs and gravy for $6.99.
On this day, lifelong Clover resident Bo Legg walks in the front door, and immediately, people notice. He waves at some and nods at others with a smile. On his way to a booth, family friend and customer Carol Jenkins laughs and takes him by the arm, offering him a hug. “How’s your mama doing?” she asks.
Legg is Clover’s new mayor-elect. He ousted incumbent Mayor Greg Holmes, who has been in office since 2017, on Nov. 7 by collecting 567 votes out of 890 ballots cast — nearly 64%.
Legg said he ran for the office because it’s his civic duty to represent his town.
“I’m trying to teach my children that if you want to change something, you have to do it by using your muscle,” he said.
Legg has served on the town council since January 2022.
“I love this town,” he said. “I’m trying to protect it for my kids and for everyone else’s children so they can have the same experience I did.”
Active in the community
Legg said he likes to stay active in the community. An example: On a recent weekend, Legg went to a Veterans Day event, followed by the town’s Highland Games and then to a Joy 4 Tots motorcycle rally.
Monday, after coffee at Victoria’s, Legg took down about two dozen American flags he put out for Veterans Day.
Legg said he loves being a voice for the town of Clover — but not a voice for housing developers.
The 44-year-old said he wants the town to stop high-density residential growth, mainly because of the stress he believes it’s causing schools.
“Go by any school in town at dismissal time and look at the lines around the building,” he said. “Our schools are going to be overrun and that’s not good for anybody.”
The Clover school district will build a new high school and an elementary school by 2026. Currently, the Clover school district has seven elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school.
On the school district’s website, an FAQ stated projections from an independent, outside firm show that student enrollment in the Clover School District will exceed this projection in the 2026-2027 school year.
District spokesman Bryan Dillon referenced schools that are at capacity or near capacity, but said the district has schools that have space for students.
Clover, a town of about 7,300 residents 30 miles southwest of Charlotte, encompasses a 4.5-mile radius. Even though Lake Wylie residents attend Clover schools, the Clover mayor does not represent the busy Lake Wylie area, which is not incorporated.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Clover has grown nearly 11% from 2020 to 2022..
Other Clover concerns
Schools are not the only things Legg is concerned about.
Legg said he would also like to bring infrastructure up-to-date, including fixing broken water mains and addressing problems with sewer lines.
Legg said he would like to grow business in the community.
He said he wants to focus on bringing industry to the town, namely to Westgate Industrial Park, which he says is overgrown.
“If you look at the comprehensive plan and where we want to be … we are very residential top-heavy,” he said. “We don’t have that commercial and industrial to balance that out.”
Case in point: Legg said he had been to one ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new business over the past two years he has been on town council, but has been to three over the past month.
He wants to see more.
“I wish I was at a ribbon-cutting every week,” he said.
For current mayor Holmes, this is not the last time the community will see him, he said on a Facebook post.
“My head is not down and (I) remain high because I don’t need a title to make a difference in my community,” he wrote.
