StaffWhen it comes to city administrators, North Augusta, South Carolina, City Administrator Todd Glover (MPA ’98) has an unorthodox resume.
“It’s kind of unique in my line of work that I’ve worked for four different governmental entities and I’ve never moved out of the same county,” he says.
After receiving his undergraduate degree from the University of South Carolina Aiken, the Aiken County native was hired full-time by the Lower Savannah Council of Governments, where he’d been an intern. From there, he immediately enrolled in the MPA program at then-Augusta State University, which up until his graduation had been run by Georgia Southern University. After stints in Columbia County and Aiken County, Glover took the job in North Augusta six years ago. Since then, he’s probably mostly identified with Project Jackson, the ambitious riverfront development that includes a new ballpark for the Augusta GreenJackets. Glover calls the project a game changer for North Augusta.
“I’m excited about this project because it really gives us a density we’ve never had before,” he says. “We can attract restaurants and things like that to come be a part of our community now, something we’ve just never been large enough to support on our own before.”
» I was at a conference a couple of years ago and somebody said that you can tell the health of a city by its skyline. If you see cranes, that’s a good sign. I think that bodes well here and across the bridge in Augusta as well.
» I tell people that social media has all the power of the press but none of the accountability. It’s very hard to manage the information you want out there because misinformation is so easily transmitted.
» I was actually headed to law school when I interned at the Lower Savannah Council of Governments and saw that I loved government administration. And in these types of jobs, you’re still working with the law. So I was able to access that, too.
» When I’m riding to church or out to eat with my family or shopping or getting gas, more than likely I’m riding past something we’re doing. To see something we’ve done that makes our city better, look better or solve an issue — there’s a great sense of pride that comes with that.
» When you hear something it’s hardly ever the full truth. I’ve learned to save my reaction until I have all the facts, and as you get older, you need that — you don’t want to expend needless energy getting worked up over something that doesn’t really need you to be worked up over.
» By getting my secondary education where I grew up, I truly believe I advanced my career by five years. I stayed here the whole time, so when I was interning here I stayed involved here, and as soon as I graduated, they hired me full-time. So I didn’t have to leave college looking for a job; I already had one.
