Courtesy of independentmail.com

Bamberg County is pleased to announce the selection of a contract county administrator. After a several months of selection process, Bamberg County has chosen to contract with Preston Consulting, LLC owned and operated by Joey Preston.

Joey R. Preston has twenty-one years of public service, including nineteen years of service as a County Administrator in both Cherokee and Anderson Counties. Mr. Preston’s philosophy is to respond to the challenges and needs of government with creativity, continuous dialogue, prudent planning, vision, careful budgeting and ongoing collaboration between communities, their government and businesses.

Preston holds a master’s degree certificate in Public Administration from Clemson University, is a graduate of the Furman University Richard W. Riley Institute’s Diversity Leadership Academy, and a graduate of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, State/Local Government Program at Harvard University.

During his thirteen year tenure with Anderson County, his efforts proved instrumental in creating a Comprehensive Plan for Anderson County’s immediate and long-term needs, including the construction of new infrastructure, improvement of older facilities, and expansion of Anderson’s water and sewer lines, thus enhancing Anderson County’s economic development potential. Working with a private-public partnership, he established the County’s first Tourism and Visitor’s Bureau, marketing Anderson to sight-seers and vacationers alike. After improvements to the efficiency of the County’s finance department in his first year, Anderson County began receiving unqualified (clean) external annual audits and have received them ever since resulting in the County winning the Government Finance Officer’s Association award for sound financial management and planning. Additionally:

• In 2000, under his then four years of leadership, Anderson County won the All- America City Award, a very distinguished honor that acknowledged Anderson’s cooperative efforts to “innovate, achieve and inspire.”

• In 2002, he was named nationally as the County Leader of the Year.

• On June 1, 2004, he was recognized by the South Carolina as “one of the most innovative and effective local government officials in South Carolina.”

• In 2006 and 2008, under his leadership Anderson County was awarded the “Regional Cooperation Award” by the S.C. Association of Counties.

Preston will begin serving November 5, 2012. Until then, Interim County Administrator Booker Patrick will serve. Bamberg County is excited to bring Preston aboard and extremely thankful to Patrick who agreed to serve as Interim Administrator.