Andy Gilliom

For Charleston Commissioner of Public Works

Vision, Issues, & Values

Energy

Charleston Public Works, by state law, is legally entitled to sell electricity to our residents. Yet ratepayers find ourselves at the mercy of out of state energy conglomerates and Columbia politicians who enable them.

We must assume our legally mandated right to provide our own electricity. Charleston has an abundance of Wind, Solar, and Tidal capacity that we can harness to achieve sustainable municipal energy independence. We can reduce energy costs for the city, while reducing our environmental footprint.

Broadband

It’s time to treat internet access as a public good. Municipal broadband has a stellar track record of reducing costs, improving speeds, and increasing access where it has been implemented.

Unfortunately, special interest groups and their cronies in Columbia have made it all but impossible for us to serve ourselves. I’m prepared to take the fight state-wide to enable Charleston businesses and consumers to have the premiere broadband capacity that your Telecom providers refuse to provide.

Water

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Charleston has received national recognition for it’s water quality. Average water rates have increased slower than the rate of inflation. On top of that, the utility has a substantial budget surplus and AAA credit rating.

When it comes to managing our water, I’m not interested in swimming against the current.

Smart Grid

We need to invest in the technology of tomorrow to improve workflow, reduce incident response times, and lower costs. We can achieve this by leveraging commercially available sensors and data analysis technology to improve the efficiency of maintenance.

As an added benefit, modernizing the technology infrastructure eases organizational risk as Baby Boomers begin to retire. Technology affords us the opportunity for efficiency improvements to maintain service, even as a generation of institutional knowledge transitions into retirement. This shift will lead to lower operational costs over time, resulting in savings for ratepayers.

Customer Experience

Have you seen the reviews?!?! The Charleston Water System has 1.6 stars out of 5 according to customers on Google, which is strange for such a well run organization. I found the majority of poor reviews revolved around information technology issues and an outdated online billing system that is cumbersome and lacks the ability for customers to serve themselves according to their preferences.
The Charleston Water System is in the middle of rolling out a technology overhaul that will fix these problems, and I’ll ensure we’re successful in adopting 21st century e-commerce best practices.

Hardening Infrastructure

It’s no secret that our critical infrastructure is a potential target from both foreign adversaries and domestic terrorists. I want to ensure that we have taken every precaution to ensure the safety of our water supply.

Source Water Contaminants

We live in the swamp. So do mosquitoes. The pesticides used by the county to control their population does have a role to play in public health and quality of life, but bio-toxic chemicals have the potential to be more dangerous to our long-term health than a bout with tropical disease. We must be measured and mindful in their application, and thorough in treating our water supply for their runoff.
We must also be mindful of the effects our area’s growing industry has on new potential sources of contamination, from microplastics to chemical compounds

Insurance

I believe we need to reform home water line insurance currently offered by the water utility. I want to replace the 3rd party out of state insurers with a captive insurance model, wholly owned by the utility. Not only will we be able to exert more oversight on pricing of premiums, but we can lower costs over time as the fund matures.

The Leadership Charleston Needs Right Now

About Andy

Andy resides in West Ashley, with loving wife Kate and their two children, Leo & Ruby. With a diverse background in business, music, and political/economic policy, Andy is a collaborative systems thinker who seeks to align his passions to an achievable public good. He possesses an entrepreneurial spirit of progress imbued with a conservative financial risk management framework geared towards sustainable, long-term growth.

Andy graduated Auburn University with a B.A. in Political Theory tailored towards the future of political economy. Andy has worked the past 7 years in business development and operations across multiple domains, including engineering, logistics, platform integration, information technology, cloud computing, and training. This background has given him a broad foundation in government procurement, honing skills of requirements generation, qualitative research, contract negotiation, and pricing models.

When he isn’t at work or raising children, you can find Andy fronting his band, Short Division, attending the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on Sundays, or working on transforming his backyard into a permaculture garden.