By Betsy Finklea
Dillon County Administrator Clay Young was named the Dillon County Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen of the Year at the Chamber’s annual banquet on Thursday.
Young was presented the award by Ernie Adams, the Dillon County Chamber Chairman of the Board, and Rhett Tompkins.
Young said that he was very honored to receive the award and to be recognized by the Chamber of Commerce meant a lot to him. He said he has enjoyed working with great county councils and a good staff and looks forward to continuing the momentum. He said there are some wonderful things on the table at the moment.
Young is a 1984 graduate of the University of South Carolina. He earned his master’s degree from Webster University in 1991. He has over 25 years of experience having served as county administrator for the counties of Dillon, Hampton, and Kershaw, and as city manager of the cities of Hanahan and Chester. He was served as the finance director for the counties of Chester and Lancaster and worked for the low country Council of Governments as Economic Development Coordinator. He has also worked as an adjunct instructor for Limestone College, Coker College, and other colleges in the state for more than 15 years.
Young has numerous professional affiliations. He is a graduate of the South Carolina Executive Institute (2002-2003). Young is a member of the NESA (North Eastern Strategic Alliance) board, a member of the Dillon, Marion, and Marlboro counties Industrial Park Corporation, a member of the International City-County Management Association, member of the South Carolina Managers, Administrators and Supervisors Association, where he served as president in 2007. He is a member of the Dillon Rotary Club and attends Latta United Methodist Church.
Among his professional activities, Young completed the first Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for Lancaster County and Charleston County; worked to establish county wide zoning for Dillon County; created code of ordinances for Chester, and Dillon counties and re-codification of the Code of Ordinances for the Cities of Chester and Hanahan.
Young completed major wastewater system expansion for the County of Kershaw; worked on over 25 fee-in-lieu of tax agreements and incentive agreements totaling over 700 million in investment and some 3,000 new jobs in the State of South Carolina; worked on five South Carolina county reassessment requirements; worked on a county youth program for the County of Lancaster, and completed one of the largest downtown redevelopment projects in the City of Chester.
Young worked to establish the Hospitality Tax for Dillon County; worked on and completed all of the Capital Projects Sales Tax Projects for Dillon County; and established the first comprehensive accounting system for Dillon County.
Young’s work with the Dillon County Council will have a major impact on this county and its citizens for years to come.
Young along with the Dillon County Council brought a $115 million investment and 400 jobs with Wyman-Gordon; brought a $60 million investment and 150 jobs with the Harbor Freight Tools Expansion; built a new Dillon County Judicial Center; built four new fire departments to bring better protection and lower home insurance rates to the citizens; complete3d the Frontage Road Project at Hwy 34 and I-95; completed a $4 million 84-bed expansion at the Dillon County Detention Center; completed new Animal Shelter; worked on the expansion of the Latta and Lake View libraries; received over 20 million in State and Federal grants to improve the water and built the first spec building in the county; and completed industrial site certifications for the Northeastern Industrial Commerce Park, Dan Rogers Site, Jeff Price Site, and the Carolinas I-95 Super Park.
They are currently working to expand the Dillon County Airport and more good news is expected to be on the horizon.
Young’s valuable experience and vision for Dillon County are huge assets making the county grow and progress.

Tony Ray Cooke was the winner of the Dolph Braddy award at the Dillon County Chamber of Commerce’s annual banquet on Thursday.
He was presented the award by Pat Laird. She read the following:
The Dolph Braddy Award was established by the Braddy family to honor the memory of Mr. Dolph by recognizing individuals who display significant community involvement in civic, cultural, educational, historical and religious activities which contribute to the betterment of life in Dillon County and for its citizens.
This year’s recipient was born in Lake View, South Carolina. He graduated from Lake View High School and Francis Marion University with a degree in Business Administration. After college he taught at Gordon Elementary School.
For more than 30 years he has been involved in nursing home patient care and has served as administrator of Thorne Retirement Home, Sunny Acres Nursing Home and McCoy Nursing Home and serves on the board of Cooke Management, Inc. He is the owner of Cooke Funeral Home.
As a member of the Lake View First Baptist Church, he has served in many capacities. Currently he is the Chairman of the Deacon Board and has serve as church treasurer for more than 30 years. He also is responsible for decorating the church for Christmas, Easter and other special occasions.  He is very generous with his time and talents to help other churches in the community achieve their goals as well.
This year’s recipient has served on the Dillon County Development Board, McLeod Hospital Advisor Board Christmas on the Boulevard Committee including directing our Christmas parade and as Poll Manager of the Kemper Precinct.
In his spare time he enjoys farming, working in the greenhouse growing plants and vegetables to share with the community.
The list could go on and on, because there are so many things he does behind the scenes always looking to help and avoiding any credit for his generosity.

DILLON COUNTY CHAMBER VOLUNTEERS OF THE YEAR—Volunteers are a very special group. They are not limited to age, size, or race. They all have different abilities and talents. For many it is a family tradition.  The Dillon County Chamber of Commerce does many things throughout the year and we depend on many volunteers. 2015 was no exception and a very busy year. We changed a few things, added a few things, did things a little differently, and thought outside the box. We needed those volunteers with all the different talents and abilities. Valerie Grimsley, Vicki Simerly, Doorhty Stephens and the Pilot Club of Dillon were named as the Dillon County Chamber of Commerce 2015 Volunteers of the Year. The award was presented by Johnnie Luehrs and Rhett Tompkins.