Columbia City Manager Teresa Wilson Photo by Josh Cruse
A lot has changed in the city of Columbia in 12 years, but one calming presence has remained. Through good times and bad it’s City Manager Teresa Wilson.
“One of the comments I hear the most from citizens and business owners or stakeholders or partners with the city is that I’ve been steady,” Wilson said. “It’s been steady since I’ve been in the seat. They don’t hear a lot about what’s going on with me or the other staff other than them doing the work. I like that. I like to be in the back drop and doing the work, supporting the mayor and the council.”
Wilson ascended to the seat of city manager on January 1, 2013 following a 5-2 vote from the council. She replaced Steve Gantt, who retired. For Wilson, it was the beginning of a career she didn’t know she wanted.
“I was just plugging away being an assistant city manager and learning,” Wilson said. “I’m a forever learner. Even today I feel like I’m always learning. I fell into local government. I went to law school. I clerked for a judge for three years. I was trying to find a way with how I wanted to use advocacy.
“I had a passion for governmental affairs, lobbying work. I was doing that in my work at USC. Part of my responsiblities was covering local government. At the time, and still to this day, there is a real intersection with the University of South Carolina, being the flag ship university in Columbia, and the city. There are projects we work on with each other. Policy matters are influenced by each other. At the time, my mentor, Shirley Mills, who was over the intergovernmental relations at the university, tasked me with covering city council meetings. Part of the job with the lobbying team at the university was covering city and county council meetings.”
While covering city council meetings, Wilson got to know Mayor Bob Coble, City Manager Charles Austin, and the city staff.
One day, Austin approached Wilson about working for the city. He wanted to start a governmental affairs department and was looking for someone to run it. The city had contract lobbyists, but Austin wanted to create a more streamlined approach. While Wilson would be able to do things her own way, she would have to work with the contract lobbyists as well as be present at the South Carolina State House and Washington, D.C. to come up with strategies to address issues in Columbia.
After praying and talking with her family, Wilson began working for the city in 2007.
While Wilson was working in governmental affairs, she got more and more work from Austin dealing with projects, budgets, and various other things. Then he introduced Wilson and the others, who would become assistant city managers, to ICMA (International City County Management Association), an organization that provided leadership development programs. It was Austin’s way of cultivating leadership opportunities with certain members on staff like Wilson, Missy Caughman, Missy Gentry, and others.
“He encouraged us to explore what it means to be a local government professional,” Wilson said. “We went to conferences and took classes. That’s when I got the itch to stay in local government. That exposure for me meant more in terms of a career.”
Austin retired and Gantt was promoted to city manager in 2009. He stayed in the position until late 2012 when he announced his retirement. A national search was held to find his replacement.
“I was encouraged to apply,” Wilson said. “I was totally happy doing what I was doing as an assistant manager, but I also wanted to challenge myself. The only thing I thought about was how it would impact me and raising my daughter. It wasn’t that I didn’t think I could do the job. I felt I had really grown in the city at the time. I loved the work, but I knew the time constraints and those things. My grandmother, who passed away about a year after I became the city manager, told me ‘this is your time. If you feel this is something you can do, don’t let anything stand in your way. You have a village.’”
Wilson was selected from that list of candidates to be the next city manager. At the January 8, 2013 meeting council took a ceremonial vote to officially announce Wilson to the position.
“I was humbled,” Wilson said. “I was honored to be given the opportunity to serve in my hometown. I think that resonated the most. It was one thing that resonated with the council at the time. Things have been told to me later on. They knew I was invested in here. I grew up here. I knew the trajectory they wanted to go. I knew the interworkings of the city and knew what we could improve upon. I knew the assets and what having been raised in Columbia meant and what it could look like. I understood what it meant for Columbia.”
As Wilson and her family celebrated that night, no one could have foreseen what the next 12 years would have in store.
There were a couple tests right out of the gate. One issue addressed was the city’s finances. At the time, the city was not that far removed from the economic crisis that gripped the country in the late 2000s. While Gantt and then treasurer Jeff Palen guided the city through those tight financial times, the city did not have a chief financial officer. Having seen Palen’s work, Wilson proposed that he be the city’s CFO. Mayor Steve Benjamin and city council agreed with Wilson and awarded the position to Palen, which he still holds.
That was only one step in stabilizing the finances of the city. Throughout her time as city manager, Wilson has had to overcome twists and turns that come her way when June rolls around and a balanced budget has to be approved. Sometimes the budget goes through two readings and is approved smoothly. Sometimes not.
In 2016, council was prepared to vote for a rate increase for water and sewer. However, with only weeks left before a budget had to be approved, there was opposition on council. In short time, Wilson and staff changed the budget and had it passed, without a rate increase.
Then there was the COVID-19 pandemic and the financial constraints it put on everyone. Despite those issues, city council still passed a budget before the required deadline.
Even the 2025-2026 budget faced a possible $4 million shortfall after Governor Henry McMaster signed a budget proviso that would withhold state funds from cities enforcing bans on conversion therapy. Wilson had a plan in place for a budget that didn’t include the state funding, using hospitality funds to fill in the gap. However, council voted to repeal the ban by a 4-3 vote.
“Our priorities with any budget are our core essentials, special projects, water and sewer, and capital projects,” Wilson said. “We always like to have the opportunity to fund community based programming when we can.
“Missy Caughman, Jeff Palen, and I work all year doing some forecasting because we know these things happen and we have to pivot.”
Another issue Wilson had to address early in her tenure was the position of police chief. By 2014, the position was seen as a revolving door. Since Austin left the job in 2003 to become the city manager, there had been three full-time chiefs and many more interim chiefs.
“The city of Columbia and the citizens deserved a chief who was going to be there, going to commit to being there for the long haul, and who brought a certain level of professionalism, community policing background, and a real desire to right the ship with the department and all the officers, who deserved good leadership,” Wilson said.
She, along with Human Resources Director Pamela Benjamin, took it upon themselves to conduct a national search. They selected Huntington, West Virginia Police Chief Skip Holbrook on April 11, 2014. Holbrook recently celebrated 11 years as Columbia’s police chief.
Those tests set the table for what would be one of the biggest events in the history of Columbia. Heading into the first weekend of October 2015, weather forecasters had warned South Carolina residents about the impending impact from Hurricane Joaquin. What forecasters couldn’t have predicted was the hurricane stalling just off the South Carolina coast. While Joaquin approached from the east, a front stalled off the southeast coast. There was also a strong upper level low pressure system to the west. All three merged to bring a historic rainfall to South Carolina. Portions of the state began receiving rain on October 1. By the time the rain ended, some areas had received as much as 20 inches. Multiple dams failed resulting in flooding all over the Columbia area. The Columbia canal was breached causing concerns about the drinking water.
Throughout all the chaos, Wilson stepped up to provide a calming presence.
“I was wearing multiple hats,” Wilson said. “I was Mom trying to comfort my own child and making sure my own parents were safe and dropping my daughter off with them because I was going to have to go into work.
“That night or early the next morning (Columbia fire) Chief (Aubrey) Jenkins and I were heading to the emergency operations center. It was a real time scene. We could see the potential for flooding where we were traveling. We witnessed some of the water rescues that were going on. It immediately grounded me because I was going to have to muster the strength to be that steady force and face and voice for our citizens and to make sure that Mayor Benjamin and council were briefed on what was going on.
“We worked with our county partners and others with the state to harden some of the assets and to make sure there was a plan. There were a lot of moving parts. It was a team, not just me, that came together, and we just had to get it done.”
While guiding the city through the storm and the subsequent flooding was a tough task, it was only the beginning. Once the storm was over and the flood waters rescinded, there was still much work to be done. Residents who had lost their homes had to look for places to live. Residents also had to be assisted with applying for grants. There had to be a plan for how to rebuild the city.
“It was unlike anything we would have imagined,” Wilson said. “We were fortunate to have individuals who, as much as we were feeling how we felt, knew not to show it and focus on the work. We had a great communication staff to help get the word out and amazing first responders doing their best to get people rescued from their homes.”
From that event, Wilson learned other ways the city needed to grow. She promoted Harry Tinsley to the emergency management director.
That steady presence Wilson displayed through the 2015 flood has been a calling card of her time as city manager. Whether guiding the city through the 2020 pandemic or helping city council through last minute budget changes, Wilson has led the way.
“I immediately knew as the manager that I was going to have to have the right people around me to manage all across the city,” Wilson said. “I can’t be present as much as I want to be with every department, every day. That translated to having the right experts in their fields who I can trust are going to think like the manager sometimes and be responsive and use good judgement with the departments they oversee.
“Early on I tried to be methodical and put together a team of professionals with the executive management team I knew I could count on. I tell everyone I have the A team. I have the best of the best in my executive management team. It trickles down to our departments and division heads. I rely on them a lot on a daily basis, along with our police chief, fire chief, and emergency management director.”
Some of that steadying presence has come while city council experiences turnover. During her time, each seat on council has changed hands at least once. Those changes impact her directly as she interacts and guides each council member who serves.
“I want to establish a rapport with all of them,” Wilson said. “That is first and foremost what I want to do. It’s my job to make sure that as they are shaping and setting policy, they have the confidence I am going to carry it out. I learn early on what is important to them and what they want to achieve for the citizens of Columbia during their terms.
“I learn and ask questions. I want to focus on things that are going to resonate with them and what I can do to move the needle forward during their time. There is always going to be give and take, and it requires time spent to get to that point where we are organically comfortable with each other. They know I’ll shoot it straight with them, and it doesn’t hurt my feelings if they want to come up with an alternative solution. It’s about being respectful and solutions oriented.”
Much has happened in Wilson’s 12 years as city manager and she’s not ready to see her time in the seat end.
“I still have a passion for the job,” Wilson said. “The job has evolved where there are so many growth opportunities in the city that need me to be forward facing with executing and communicating with the citizens so they understand the why.
“No one would disagree when you talk to citizens about Columbia that it has all the resources for a family or a business owner to be successful. We are at a place now to take Columbia forward. We have made investments we may not see returns on for a few more years. This mayor, this council, they want to invest in those things—economic development, growth, real estate, and the riverfront. People are seeing us doing that.
“Our own investment internally with our people and developing a municipal complex and a new police headquarters and putting other city properties back on the tax rolls, I want to see those through to a point. I hope those things in the next three to five years will be really apparent to not only the citizens but also the visitors and people we want to come to Columbia. Again hopefully the students, who we want to stay here, will see there is so much opportunity here with the rebrand. We are going to tell that story. I’m looking forward to still being a part of that.”
Loading Comments