Meet Greer City Council Candidates Karuiam Booker, Lee Dumas, Judy Albert, and Paul Lamb. Your vote is so important for the 2025 election! Please take a listen and share with your neighbors.
How the interviews worked:
All candidates received the same question at the time of their invitation to join us, and they were given 10 minutes for their interview. Candidates were allowed to bring along a companion, such as a campaign manager, family member, or friend, and to record our session themselves. There were no edits made to the interview.
Candidate links:
Katy Smith: On Tuesday, November 4th, there are elections in all six cities within Greenville County. I'm Katy Smith with Greater Good Greenville, and we are pleased to bring you interviews with most every candidate in contested races. Today, we feature the city of Greer. But first, a quick primer on elections in the city of Greer. Greer has six seats on its council plus its mayor. In odd-numbered years like this one, Greer holds elections for half of its council members, and in every four years, its mayor.
An Overview of the Greer City Council Elections
This year, Districts 2, 4, and 6 have elections, and in each, the incumbents have filed to run for re-election, and each one has an opponent. In District 2, Tahitsha Pearson is running against the incumbent Karuiam Booker. In District 4, Charles Lander is running against the incumbent Lee Dumas. And in District 6, Paul Lamb is running against the incumbent Judy Albert.
Today, you'll hear from all of the candidates except Tahitsha Pearson and Charles Lander, who did not respond to multiple attempts to reach them. All of the details on how these interviews worked are at the end of this episode and in the show notes. But in short, know that each candidate had the same three questions and 10 timed minutes to respond. To find links to each candidate's campaign information, please check the show notes.
Meet the Candidate: Karuiam Booker (District 2)
First up in District 2 is Karuiam Booker. I'm pleased to be here with Karuiam Booker, who is running for re-election for Greer City Council in District 2. Thanks so much for being here.
Karuiam Booker: Thank you for having me.
Katy Smith: Well, tell us about yourself and why you're running for re-election.
Karuiam Booker: I'm a Greer citizen, born and raised in Greer, South Carolina. A little bit about me is I've got a huge background in public work. I worked for SCDOT for seven-plus years, very familiar with the process of dealing with the public, dealing with the demands of state and local governments, of fixing infrastructure, things of that nature. I'm a civil engineer by trade.
And I'm a problem solver at heart. That is one of the biggest reasons that got me involved in politics is with my background of wanting to help people, help solve problems, seeing the issues that we see in our communities day to day. That is ingrained in me to do that. So that's a little bit about me.
Katy Smith: Thank you. What do you believe are the biggest issues facing your constituents?
Karuiam Booker: It boils down to three things. Affordable housing. Next is entrepreneurs having access to good quality information, and then third, economic development and infrastructure.
When I talk about affordable housing, I think some of the statistics now say that the first-time homebuyer is something around 30-something years old, which is unacceptable. In the city of Greer, our average home price is probably around $330,000, and that is just not affordable for anyone. So just creating opportunities and figuring out ways that we can help offset costs or incentivize developers and some of these community organizations to bring attainable housing, attainable workforce housing for our police officers, our teachers, the everyday worker that doesn't have access to all this capital to put down towards a home.
Next would be, of course, Greer has a huge entrepreneur spirit, so much so that Greer High School is basically centered around entrepreneurship. A few years ago, they brought in Greenville Federal Credit Union, and the students actually run the credit unit inside, but also with our Bonds Career Center. It's all focused around entrepreneurship.
For the past few years, Greer has done a great job with the Platform at Greer program that we've transitioned to our Chamber of Commerce, providing access to resources, information, even grant opportunities. And that's been a huge push for me since I covered our downtown area. And also, OneSpartanburg, Inc. has a huge program that they've launched with their entrepreneur program. I actually serve as the community captain for the Greer area for OneSpartanburg, Inc.'s Power Up program. That's a great opportunity to create, outside of owning a home, generational wealth for family members is owning your own business.
And then third, City of Greer has done a great job over the past few years, so much so we've got this ForGreer initiative in which we've implemented some large projects. The largest one we have is a sports and events complex which will rival something that you see in Rock Hill. With the sports and events complex, it's going to bring an approximately $20 million impact to the city of Greer. But along with bringing more people into town, you have to think about infrastructure and things of that nature. I'm very intentional about creating economic development through strategic infrastructure investment. Whether it's if we've got a bridge out, for say, if we put this bridge out that's out in this community, what type of economic development could we unlock in these areas and also create passive recreation for folks as well?
Katy Smith: Great. What would be your priorities if re-elected?
Karuiam Booker: Well, I kind of hit on a lot of them. The priorities would be for the past four years, I've been able to set a solid foundation, reaching out to our community organizations, understanding what the needs are. I'm fortunate in my district that we have a plethora of help organizations. We've got the Soup Kitchen. We have the Greer Relief & Resources Agency, United Christian Ministries. And also we have some development organizations like the Nehemiah Hope Revitalization Organization. So there's just a lot of people there. It's just putting the puzzle together at that point.
Over the past four years, I've worked to set a solid foundation with these organizations and understand what their needs are and be able to implement things at the city level to provide opportunities, the funding through our accommodations tax program, through our CDBG funds. We literally a year and a half ago, we gave away a whole house debt free to someone. They were able to build a home and give it to one of their tenants as a gift.
We're seeing that time and time again with Habitat for Humanity Greenville, Habitat for Humanity Spartanburg. BMW is coming into the mix to allow funds. My priority is just to continue to highlight these organizations, give them the opportunity to succeed, and give them the funding that they need to understand how do we tackle these problems and carry out these solutions that these creative individuals have identified.
Katy Smith: Thank you. We have a little bit of time left. Is there anything else you'd like to share with listeners?
Karuiam Booker: Over the past four years, alongside with the city providing funding opportunities, myself, I've created a whole community initiative called the Booker for Greer. Basically, my wife and I have made a commitment to the Greer community, particularly the District 2 community. Through microgrants, when the city may have not been able to provide opportunities to groups, we came in to provide microgrants to these organizations.
So much so, our largest recipient this past year was through the Nadia Natural Hair Festival. That's something that we have been working on to bring them from Greenville to Greer. And last year they had the largest showing ever, over 50 vendors, over 2,000 people showed up. And now they outgrew that location. They'll be having it in downtown Greer. But through these microgrants, my wife and I have been able to provide over $50,000 to different organizations and groups. That's something that I don't highlight, but it's definitely through the opportunity, being on council and the salary I'm afforded, to be able to just turn that money around and put it right back into our communities.
Katy Smith: Well, thank you so much for joining us and thank you so much for your willingness to continue to serve.
Karuiam Booker: Thank you.
Meet the Candidate: Lee Dumas (District 4)
Katy Smith: Next up in District 4 is Lee Dumas. I'm pleased to be here with Lee Dumas, who is running for re-election for Greer City Council District 4. Thanks so much for joining us, Lee.
Lee Dumas: Thank you, Katy. Glad to be here.
Katy Smith: Tell us about yourself and why you're running for re-election.
Lee Dumas: I'm just an old Greer boy. I'm from Greer, grew up there. Fortunate enough to be in a big family, get to play a lot of sports, got to play in college. And thank God, married my high school sweetheart. And we wanted to come back and settle down in Greer and just love living where we do and plugging in and making it a great place to live, work and play.
Katy Smith: Great. What do you believe are the biggest issues facing your constituents?
Lee Dumas: I think the biggest issues right now is misinformation. I think one of the greatest challenges is everybody's a media company now. They have a smartphone and they can make claims. And I feel like we're constantly on the defensive of all the positive and the wonderful things that we're doing and trying to accomplish within the city. That's the biggest challenge right now is just the misinformation. We've got to get that great message out there of what is Greer and to speak to all the wonderful things that we're doing and why all the people are coming here and why the people stay and want to make a part of the city and to plug into.
Katy Smith: Thank you. What would be your priorities if reelected?
Lee Dumas: If reelected, I really want to make sure that we're clear on who we are and what makes us different and sets us apart and makes Greer that great place to work, live and play, to speak to some of the decisions that council has to deal with and wrestle with on a regular basis and talk to constituents and hear about their issues. But the main thing, I think, is to maintain those great services that we have. We have an award-winning police service, award-winning fire service. We have parks, recs, tourism that's outstanding. And we're doing so many good things. And I just want to keep that momentum going.
Katy Smith: Thank you. We have a little bit of time left. Is there anything else you'd like to share with listeners?
Lee Dumas: I'd just like to let them know that the big things that are going on right now in the city are the big four projects. And I'm sure a lot of them have heard about that and the investment that we're making in public safety. We've got a police and fire training facility that is almost built. And we really look forward to that. It's going to continue to allow our police and fire to function at a really high level. And we're excited to have that facility open up.
There's so much growth in downtown Greer. We want to support that. And we're going to be building a parking garage coming up soon. And in District 4, if you're listening out there and you're in the city of Greer, this is specific to you. We're going to build a fire department in my district. So very supportive of that and excited about expanding services in the northern part of the Greer area up around Blue Ridge Plantation serving O'Neill Village. And excited to see that fire department come online.
But the last big project I'll tell you about is one we just broke ground on just two weeks ago. And that's the Sports and Events Center that's in Greer. I finally got to see the visuals of it, and it's going to be the size of literally two Targets or Walmarts side by side. It's going to have the capacity to host nine full-court basketball games at one time and then up to 16 volleyball games. And then that doesn't, we also have the ability for seniors to come in and to work out and to walk the track and to play pickleball and just expanding services and recreational opportunities to so many in our community.
I'm just so thrilled to see what this facility is going to be and excited for the people of Greer to get the benefit from it. And also, in the unique fashion of this, is to have people from outside of Greer to come in and pay for it. Tourism dollars are going to help to fund this. We couldn't pay for it and do it ourselves, but people from outside the city, from all over the southeast, are going to be coming in and playing sports with us. And they're going to be looking for places to stay and places to shop and spending their money inside the city. So we look forward to the big economic impact that this facility is going to have and how it's going to improve the quality of life for citizens inside the city of Greer. It's a great time.
Katy Smith: Well, Lee, thank you so much for joining us and thank you for your willingness to continue to serve this community.
Lee Dumas: Katy, thank you. It has been a pleasure. And y'all are doing a great job and we appreciate your service getting the word out to the city and to everybody that's interested in what's happening in Greer. We really appreciate you.
Meet the Candidate: Judy Albert (District 6)
Katy Smith: Next up is District 6, Judy Albert. I'm delighted to be here with Judy Albert, who's running for Greer City Council District 6. Thanks for being here, Judy.
Judy Albert: And thank you very much for having me.
Katy Smith: Great. Tell us about yourself and why you're running for re-election.
Judy Albert: This will be my fifth term on city council. I ran in 2010, and I've been on council since 2010. And I have enjoyed serving the people. I am always glad and happy to be able to help them in any way that I can. I don't know of any real tragic issues that brought me into it here locally. I know at the time when I ran, there seemed to be so much political issues going on nationwide. I'm not saying in Greer or Greenville or South Carolina. I'm just saying that nationwide.
And there just seemed to be so much disruption and so much corruption. I thought, okay, maybe I'll see what I can do. So I did run, and I did win that time. We had several people running. And I'm just willing to serve and have enjoyed my time. Greer is a great city.
Katy Smith: Thank you. What do you believe are the biggest issues facing your constituents?
Judy Albert: Right off the top of my head, about the only thing that I can really say would be a concern would be the overcrowding in our schools. Woodland Elementary is certainly overcrowded, but they have brought some relief. They have opened up a new elementary school that kind of will serve some of the students. And also, we hear the traffic conditions. Our roads were designed years ago where we had lots of farms out in that area. So we have narrow roads and heavy traffic.
But if you go out at the peak hours, then you're going to have traffic. Going to work, going to school, but just in the middle of the day, if you need to go out for something, traffic's usually okay. Not like Woodruff Road or anything.
Katy Smith: Thank you. What would be your priorities if reelected?
Judy Albert: I will continue to serve as I have to continue to make Greer a great place to live, work, and play and enjoy. We have great parks. We have four great projects in the works. One of them is a large sports complex that will be built over in Greer off of 14. We have a lot going on now with a new fire station training center for the police and different departments that need to go there for special training.
Then we just opened up a fire department not far down on Suber Road. And we have also built a very nice outdoor basketball court to replace an old smaller one that we had. So this one's two or three times bigger than the one that we had. We've just had a lot going on. We have added more sports activities, different activities for different people and moving up like everybody else in pickleball. Things have just really been growing rapidly in Greer.
Katy Smith: Thank you. You have a little bit more time. Is there anything else you'd like to share?
Judy Albert: Our city since 2010 has just about doubled in occupancy, and our employees for the city have doubled. Years ago before I came on, or right before I came on, we had a new city hall built. And it's a wonderful building. Everybody's made use of in very many ways. Different people rented out for different groups and things and parties or weddings or what have you. And we basically outgrown that building.
In the years past we've added other places for our employees to go to work. Our police department training center has outgrown, so this will go with the new training center that's being built. We have a lot going on and I just hope that everyone will go out and vote on November the 4th to their polling place and I would certainly appreciate it in district six if they would cast their vote for me, Judy Albert.
Katy Smith: Thank you so much, Judy, for your willingness to serve and for joining us today.
Judy Albert: And thank you again for having me.
Meet the Candidate: Paul Lamb (District 6)
Katy Smith: And finally, in District 6, Paul Lamb. I'm pleased to be joined by Paul Lamb, who is running for Greer City Council District 6. Paul, thanks so much for joining me.
Paul Lamb: Katy, thank you for having me. It's really great to do this. Thank you.
Katy Smith: Great. Tell us about yourself and why you're running for office.
Paul Lamb: I've lived in Greer's District 6 since 1998. During this time, I've been honored to serve on several city of Greer boards and commissions, including the Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee, the Recreation Association Board of Trustees, the Election Commission, and the Planning Commission, which I currently serve on.
In addition to these roles, I've also long served on my Homeowners Association board and currently on two 501(c)(3) boards. I have leadership positions in most of those organizations. So I think that's given me a lot of experience in leadership. Also, a long time artillery officer for the United States Army. That's why I think I've got a range of leadership that I think will prepare me well to be on city council. And that's the best answer I have for that.
Katy Smith: Thank you. What do you believe are the biggest issues facing constituents?
Paul Lamb: Greer, as you probably know, is experiencing some rapid growth. One of the top priorities would be we've got to work with the county, the state, and the feds, because most of the road problems we have are on those roads that belong to them, not the city. The only solution will be to get funding from them, to get them to concentrate funding to solve those troubles. The roads the city owns are actually in pretty decent shape. They just don't own the ones that matter. So that's the number one.
Additionally, Greer has one of the highest millage rates among all the municipalities in the state. Significantly higher than the cities of Greenville or Spartanburg. We need to investigate that and find out why that is. Especially Greer right now is pretty well full of commercial, there is very little commercial land that's not currently occupied and producing revenue, so why does millage need to be that high? That's the biggest issue I think the constituents are facing, too much bad roads and too much tax.
Katy Smith: Thank you. What would be your priorities if elected?
Paul Lamb: First thing, you've got to meet with the city manager and his reports, and probably some that report to those individuals, because that's where the decision making of the city happens. Council does not manage those individuals directly. Council hires the city manager and the city manager runs those individuals, but council does need to know what's going on and how things work or don't work across the city. That'll be a time-consuming job but one that needs to get done because we need to know how the city works and where the problems are.
Katy Smith: We have a little bit more time left is there anything else you'd like to share with listeners?
Paul Lamb: That went all faster than I even thought it would. Let's talk about redistricting. After the last census, as everybody else, we're redistricting.
A cursory look at the maps, if you know where the city council members live, it's kind of obvious that the districts are designed to do one thing, keep an incumbent in their district. The district that I live in and want to represent has five subdivisions that are split between more than one city council seat for really no reason other than to tailor a district for an incumbent. And that's just not very good.
Subdivisions are enshrined in state law, so they're basically the lowest level of government. Splitting a community like that, that is just not right, and there's no reason to. I can't tell you there won't be some day that you have to split one to make the numbers balance, but it can't be very often, and it certainly couldn't be as often as we have done it in this redistricting session. That's a thing that needs to be addressed, and I would address, but it's not the first priority, mainly because it's several years down the road.
I'd like to finish with, again, thanking you for doing this. And I want to make sure that I ask the people of Greer District 6 to please vote for me on November 4th. Thank you very much.
Katy Smith: Well, thank you so much for joining us, Paul, and thanks so much for your willingness to serve.
Credits
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