Mount Pleasant Magazine Jan/Feb 2020

39 www.ReadMPM.com | www.BestOfMP.com | www.ILoveMountPleasant.com feature landed a job as the city of Charleston’s assistant director of traffic and transportation. Less than two years later, he was the director, a position he held until 1998, except for the year he spent as city engineer and traffic engineer in Boca Raton, Florida. During his nearly three decades with the city of Charleston, Chapman also was a consultant for several other government entities, including Charleston County and Mount Pleasant. He was the first executive director of CARTA, the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority, and served as chairman of the Charleston County Transportation Committee. In addition, he was part of a three-person committee appointed by South Carolina Gov. James Hodges to study the state’s evacuation guidelines following Hurricane Floyd. Chapman’s lifetime of public service hasn’t been limited to transportation issues. After Hurricane Hugo’s disastrous visit to South Carolina in 1989, he was appointed as a deputy to Charleston Mayor Joe Riley and helped with the distribution of food, clothing and building supplies throughout the Lowcountry, serving as director of emergency operations for the city until 2005. In 1992, he was sent to Florida to help the victims of Hurricane Andrew. A major in the South Carolina State Guard, Chapman was honored with the Military Department’s Meritorious Service Medal in 2017 for his efforts as an advisor during Hurricane Matthew. Chapman’s influence has extended beyond traffic and emergency preparedness. He was a member of the Mount Pleasant Planning Commission from 2009 until 2017, part of that time as chairman. Chapman cited traffic as one of the most important issues facing the current Mount Pleasant Council, especially the decision concerning the widening of Highway 41 from the Wando River to Highway 17. Eventually, local and county officials might have to decide whether to ask some residents of the Philips Community to give up their homes when the road grows from two lanes to four. “I want to work with the Council and the county to come up with a solution. We need to build trust,” he said. “It’s not going to happen until we sit down with the residents and jointly come up with a solution. I’m coming in with my eyes open. I’m willing to look at all the possibilities.” “We need to get things done by working together,” he said. “I want to represent the entire town. I want to be a Council member for everybody. I don’t care if you supported me or not.” COUNCILWOMAN BRENDA CORLEY “A charter school does not operate in a vacuum.” Brenda Corley considers herself to be a lifelong learner, and, looking at her résumé, a person might tend to agree, considering that she’s earned three college degrees. That list of educational accomplishments might be misleading, however, because it doesn’t reference how she learned to speak English – by watching “Sesame Street” and soap operas. Corley, who spent her first 17 years in Puerto Rico, mastered the English language well enough to become a leader in the world of public education. Now in her fourth year as the first and only principal at Oceanside Collegiate Academy, Mount Pleasant’s highly-rated charter school, she is also one of the newest members of the Town Council. She realizes that the town and her school both benefit when they work together. “A charter school does not operate in a vacuum,” she pointed out. “We’re not who we are without buy-in from the community.” For example, the school, which now has 675 students in grades 9 through 12, was ready to open in the fall of 2016, but the building was not, so Oceanside’s classes were held Howard Chapman.