Phil Cromer
New Mayor is Old Hand at Public Service
story by JEANNE REYNOLDS photos by PAUL NURNBERG
If you were creating criteria for the ideal mayor for Beaufort, what would be on the list? Extensive experience in small-town government management, hands-on work in community development, degrees in political science and public administration, deep roots in the Lowcountry, a commitment to preservation, and a passion for public service might all be important — but possibly hard to find in just one person.
Until you meet Phil Cromer.
Phil stepped into the role of Beaufort’s new mayor following a special election last December to fill the last year of Stephen Murray’s term, who resigned a few months earlier.
It wasn’t necessarily a job he was looking for, but if you read his resume, it may be the job that’s long been looking for him.
DEEP LOWCOUNTRY ROOTS
Phil was born and raised in Charleston, the son of a physician father and a nurse mother. He grew up dividing his time between surfing at Folly Beach and haunting the halls of the city’s libraries and museums.
“I’ve always loved history,” he says. “Growing up in Charleston had a lot to do with my interest in preservation.”
Phil left the Lowcountry for college at the University of South Carolina, graduating in 1972 with a bachelor of arts degree in history and political science. He took a year off before enlisting in the U.S. Army at the end of 1973. Basic training at Fort Jackson in Columbia was followed by three years at West Point serving in the ophthalmology clinic. After his active duty ended, he spent several years in the Army Reserve, finishing as a lieutenant colonel in the Medical Service Corps.
During that time, he began studying for a master of business administration degree at The Citadel before shifting to a master of public administration through a joint program at the College of Charleston and the University of South Carolina. He also worked as a research assistant with a College of Charleston professor and for the City of Charleston in the archives department, “rescuing records from old buildings and creating the city archives.”
It was a perfect fit for history-loving Phil, who began to feel the pull toward public service. At the end of 1980, with his degree in hand, he moved to Beaufort for a job with the Lowcountry Council of Governments as regional energy coordinator, assisting entrepreneurs with financial packaging for two proposed energy projects: as an ethanol plant in Hampton County and a tire recycling operation. Not all the projects came to fruition due to economic factors and changing priorities, but the experience and contacts would be valuable in the future.
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
Phil always felt a career in public service was right for him, but he was even quicker to spot the right wife. One of the Lowcountry’s often-balmy February days drew Phil to Hunting Island in 1982, where he met Beaufort native Amelie Sams Aimar — and proposed the same day. Amelie, thinking he had been separated from his good sense, laughed it off and told him to call her in a few weeks. Two weeks later, he did indeed call and joined her in Savannah for St. Patrick’s Day.
“It was amazing!” Phil says. “It was as if we had known each other for years.”
About six months later, Phil approached her father, Dr. Charles Aimar, to ask for her hand. Dr. Aimar advised them to wait a year, then plan the wedding around a high tide and a full moon since the reception would be held in his backyard on the river.
Check, check, check, and check. The couple celebrated their 40th anniversary last year and now have two daughters and sons-in-law with four grandchildren between them.
CAREER OF PUBLIC SERVICE
Just a year into marriage, Phil took the only sideroad of his career to the private sector: a four-year stint with the Maersk shipping company that sent him to Savannah and Miami.
“I realized that wasn’t what I wanted to do, so I came back to Beaufort and the Lowcountry Council of Governments, this time as a community and economic development coordinator,” he says.
A year later, he took a post in Ridgeland as town administrator and then moved his office even closer to home as town manager in Port Royal. After two years in that job, he was lured to Columbia to serve the Municipal Association as a risk manager, a position he held for the next 24 years.
RETIRED … SORT OF
Phil retired in early 2014, and he and Amelie moved back to Beaufort and began renovating a house while living with Amelie’s mother. But it wasn’t long before the siren song of public service called again. That November, he decided to run for city council, won the election, and served two terms before “retiring” again in December 2022.
“I believe in term limits, so I stepped down,” he says. “And I wanted to take some time off.”
The plan sounded good at the time. Phil and Amelie celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary with a three-week trip to Scotland. But then, during a September fishing trip with friends in the Bahamas, his phone began blowing up: Beaufort Mayor Stephen Murray had just resigned with a little more than a year left in his term.
“Friends started encouraging me to run for mayor,” he says. “I told them ‘No’ at first.”
Eventually, Phil found he couldn’t resist the call to serve his community again and agreed to throw his name in the hat. He won a special election in December with almost sixty-six percent of the votes to defeat opposing candidate Mike Sutton.
BALANCING GROWTH AND PRESERVATION
Phil says the opportunity to help preserve Beaufort’s special character is one of the main drivers compelling him back to public office.
“We have something special here in Beaufort,” he says. “I want to engage the community in keeping it the place we all love. We don’t want what’s happened to Charleston and Bluffton to happen here.”
That doesn’t mean Beaufort should be frozen in the past, and Phil is quick to say he’s not opposed to growth and development.
“Expansion of our tax base is necessary, but our region’s rapid growth and development will overwhelm us unless it’s managed. We have to manage development, so it doesn’t manage us. I would also like for new buildings to reflect the architectural character of the Lowcountry and our community, as it will attract, not detract, from business.”
Phil cites the new Refuel station on Highway 21 as an example of an appropriate addition. “It looks Lowcountry.”
“A goal of mine is to improve the quality of life for our citizens,” he adds. “It’s one of the primary reasons people and businesses are attracted to our area.”
The area’s many popular festivals and events are part of that quality of life. One idea Phil plans to push is making it easier for residents to get to some of them.
“I’d like to have a trolley system between Beaufort, Port Royal, and Lady’s Island,” he says. “A park-and-ride during special events would help with the growing traffic and parking problems we’re seeing.”
HISTORY IN THE WRITING
Phil acknowledges his life is going to be “very busy” in his new role, but that’s nothing new. In addition to his “paying job,” he serves as president of the St. Andrews Society, president of the Beaufort County Historical Society, and a docent at the Beaufort History Museum. He says he still has his surfboards and would like to get back out on the waves. He’s also a competitive tennis player. And, soon, he’ll add self-published author to his resume.
“My avocation is genealogy and history,” Phil says. “I’m working on a book about my wife’s family, which has old roots in the Lowcountry. I’m calling it ‘Children of the Pluff Mud.’ I want to capture it for my children and grandchildren.”
The mayor also promises he wants to invest more than the next 11 months in his new job.
“I’ll definitely run again as many of the city’s strategic goals are long-term,” he says. “My professional career and my life have been devoted to public service. You’ve got to give back. We’ve got to get more people involved, especially younger people. We live in a beautiful place. Don’t you want to keep it that way?”
