What is your overall vision for Polk County and please list your top three priorities and how you will accomplish these priorities? 
RENEE MCDERMOTT:

My vision for Polk County is one in which we all work together toward the common goal of preserving the county’s rural atmosphere while developing opportunities for all citizens to thrive and prosper.

My vision for Polk County is to continue providing support for existing and new businesses, so that more Polk County young people can find jobs and stay here, and so that others can stay in Polk County for work, rather than commuting long distances. It is to continue our progress made in the first year of the re-organized economic development department.

In addition to new textile jobs at CYP, 180 new businesses have opened in Polk County in the past year. My vision for Polk County includes keeping our schools great. We commissioners have helped, through good funding and making up for shortfalls because of the state legislature’s reducing education spending.

My vision includes a county where good housing is available for all citizens. People in Polk County’s workforce, teachers, police, fire fighters and other county employees, sometimes have a hard time finding affordable housing. Steps must be taken to have housing for all income levels.

My vision is to have good, open, honest government, as we have had for the past four years. It is to have government that is responsive to the people. For example, when I learned that a Saluda business needed changes in two ordinances to be able to expand in a way that was compatible with the mountain beauty, I quickly developed and proposed the necessary changes.

My vision is to have a government that is fiscally responsible. We lowered the tax rate, placing Polk County in the lowest 25 percent for county tax rates in the state. We lowered Polk County’s debt by 40 percent. I pledge to continue work toward these goals.