GROTTOES - Mayoral and town council candidates came to Grottoes Town Hall on Sept. 12. The Grottoes Ruritan Club hosted a candidate town hall for the public to get to know who is running to run the town.

Mayoral Incumbent Jo Plaster grew up in Augusta County and graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. She moved to Grottoes in 2020 and works for Funkhouser Real Estate Group, having been in real estate for the past decade.

Plaster pointed to her record to show why her leadership was right for the town.

"We needed a pharmacy in this town," said Plaster. "I found out that things just work in the way they should, and I got the people together. That's the person that you need on the forefront; the person out here negotiating on behalf of the citizens, on behalf of our town, identifying areas within the town that can be more profitable business locations."

Challenger Joshua Bailey has "always lived in and around Grottoes." He has worked in Augusta County Fire Rescue for the past 17 years, moving up from firefighter to lieutenant to captain and, now, battalion chief. He was elected to town council for the first time in 2016.

"I've had experience in supervision," Bailey said. "I do performance evaluations with my employees. I have more employees that report through the chain of command to me than the town of Grottoes actually employs. That's the type of management and leadership that I bring to the decision."

A pressing need in Grottoes is necessary repairs to the town's water system. Bailey is on the town's water and sewer committee, examining what repairs the town will need in the coming years. The lines are "essentially rotting" in the ground, Bailey said, and repairs will be expensive. Plaster agreed with the assessment, saying it's a "couple million dollar" project.

Both candidates agreed the town needed to get up to date with its audits, an ongoing process over the past few years.

"In the first few months [of being on council], I went in and asked the town manager at the time for our annual audit," Bailey said. "They couldn't produce one from like 2012 or 2013. Since then, ... that's been one of the things we've been talking about. We've been trying to pursue and get those caught up, to where we're doing an annual audit on a regular basis."

"We did have delinquent audits. We're almost right where we need to be, at [2022]," said Plaster. "Once we start getting that mess cleaned up, we can apply for grants and do so many other things."'

Though not specific, the candidates both weighed in on "professionalism" with city staff.

"I think there has been a lack of accountability over time and making sure that we're bringing people in, setting the expectation," said Bailey. "Maybe they don't know the expectation. Let's set the expectation, hold them to their job performance requirement, bring that accountability to this position, and so our tax dollars are really going to what the citizens are paying for."

"We need a form of professionalism in our Public Works Department, in our administration, and we're doing that," said Plaster. "We have come a long way from where we were before, as a training ground for town managers."

A contractor, the Berkeley Group, is currently recruiting a new town manager.

When closing her final comments, Plaster emphasized one final point.

"Register to vote!" Plaster said. "If you're not registered to vote, that's your fault. You have until Tuesday, Oct. 15 to do that. Sept. 20 is early voting. That's when early voting begins."

Lyra Bordelon (she/her) is the public transparency and justice reporter at The News Leader. Do you have a story tip or feedback? It's welcome through email to [email protected]. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.