BATESBURG-LEESVILLE MAYOR: Lancer Shull speaks on hopes for new term after reelection

BATESBURG-LEESVILLE, SC (WOLO)– Batesburg-Leesville is a town of about 5,000 people that has a place in history when it comes to Civil Rights.

While a new historic plaque is now in the twin cities to commemorate that history, the mayor wants to do more to move Batesburg-Leesville into the future.

“I just want to enjoy my next four years and work to bring solutions,” said Batesburg-Leesville mayor Lancer Shull. “I want to leave it better than I found it, which is something my parents taught me growing up in Missouri.”

In the eyes of most Batesburg-Leesville residents, he’s doing a job so far. Shull took two third of votes in Tuesday’s election against councilman Steve Cain.

While he may not be a native of the town, his family has certainly called it home for a while now.

“Our school system, Lexington School District Three, is top notch. It’s so great,” Shull said. “My daughter will be graduating in the spring. She started there in kindergarten.”

In the next four years, Mayor Shull hopes to improve the city’s parks and help mom and pop shops in both downtowns.

He also believes agriculture could play a part in the revitalization of Batesburg-Leesville.

“Young farmers are getting into it and doing some no till farming and regenerative agriculture,” he said. “Some of that is going to hit our area. You may end up seeing some pretty amazing things coming to Batesburg-Leesville in the next couple of years.”

With additional COVID funding coming from the state and many locally owned small businesses, Mayor Shull says the future is bright for Batesburg-Leesville. While the opponent he defeated for his reelection bid is on city council, he believes the two of them can work together for the betterment of the city.

“I think it’s always great to have someone with a different perspective. You can have too many yeses in the room sometimes,” Shull said. “You have to think of the other side of the coin. What else is this going to impact?”

One of those things the mayor and city council will have to work together on is the city’s aging infrastructure.

“We have a lot of pipes in the ground and a lot of infrastructure. We’re discovering over the last couple years that things need to be replaced as they are breaking down,” the mayor said. “We have put in place an infiltration and inflow study in our sewer system.”

It’s a study that will be part of a long term project, one that will take possibly more than 4 years.

So will Shull run again for mayor when this 4 year term is up?

“You probably have to ask my wife,” he laughs. “I don’t know. It does take a long time to get things done in government. I will say that.”

Mayor Shull says the city’s infrastructure has been helped by state Rural Infrastructure Authority funding and is open to receiving any funding from the governor’s proposed 500 million dollar project to improve water and sewer systems in the state’s rural areas.