Published: Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012 / Updated: Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 10:43 PM
Pieper accepts Fort Mill's Town Manager job
FORT MILL --
Tega Cay City Manager Dennis Pieper accepted an offer from the Fort Mill Town Council to fill that role for the town.
Pieper, who does not yet have a start date, will replace outgoing Fort Mill Town Manager David Hudspeth, who is retiring Feb. 1.
Town Council voted at a meeting Monday night to offer Pieper a formal contract. the terms include a $105,000 annual base salary, a $7,200 yearly vehicle allowance and four weeks of annual vacation time.
After an initial search that attracted dozens of applications, the town offered the position to Abbeville City Manager Nolan Wiggins, who ultimately turned it down. Soon after, the town identified Pieper, who has been in his current position for just over a year, as a top candidate and he met with council.
Fort Mill Mayor Danny Funderburk said that conversations with the candidate to join the town went "exceptionally well."
Pieper’s familiarity with the area was a positive, Funderburk said, in moving forward.
“I think that’s the way everybody’s looking at it,” he said.
George Sheppard, mayor of Tega Cay, said his city was informed early last week that Pieper was speaking with Fort Mill about its opening and that Tega Cay City Council met and presented Pieper with its own offer.
Tega Cay finds itself in need of a new city manager, but there is recent experience to guide the city. Grant Duffield left the position in the summer of 2011 after 10 years there. Sheppard said the city would name an interim city manager and work with the South Carolina Municipal Association on finding someone full-time, a process he’d estimate at three or four months.