As Mayor of the Town of Port Royal, Kevin Phillips knows the importance of giving back to the community in which you live. Growing up in Snellville, just outside of Atlanta, Georgia, Mayor Phillip’s family was all about giving back.
“My family was always very involved in the community. My Dad was always coaching Little League. My Mom was on the P. T. A. Board and held a weekly women’s Bible study at our house.”
Phillips graduated from the College of Charleston in 2014, majoring in Communications and then the Charleston School of Law in 2016. Between his second and third year of law school, he did an internship with the 14th Circuit in the Solicitor’s office, living on the USCB campus in Beaufort.
“That is when I was really introduced to northern Beaufort County and the city of Beaufort and Port Royal. For some reason, I’ve always just been drawn to the Lowcountry and its natural beauty. I also love history and there’s so much here. Dr. Larry Rowland, who co-authored a book on Beaufort County, always says that all of American history runs through Beaufort, and I think he’s probably right. The history of this place, the people, the food, the culture, I treasure it all.”
Once Phillips graduated law school, he moved to downtown Beaufort on Green Street and waited tables at Paninis at night and worked doing landscaping during the day for The Greenery. Once he found out the good news that he officially was an attorney, he worked a year for the nonprofit the South Carolina Victims Assistance Network where he helped some of the most vulnerable members of our society.
During this time, he also became involved with Leadership Beaufort where he learned, “ten years of information in ten months”. He continued his community involvement when he joined the board of the local YMCA where Bennett Schiller, his future boss, just happened to be the Vice Chair. After being courted by Schiller, Phillips joined the law firm, Schiller & Hamilton, in 2020 and handles workman’s compensation and personal injury cases for the practice.
Phillips’ journey to public office began at the College of Charleston, when he became involved with student government. The desire to be actively engaged in his community and help people experience a great quality of life led Phillips to run for Port Royal Town Council in 2019. Phillips served on council four years before being elected mayor in 2023.
“I am a very active and present mayor, answering daily many concerned citizens phone calls and emails and attending most every community event!”
Phillips is extremely proud to say that Parris Island is part of Port Royal. He shared that graduation occurs almost every week and each graduate brings between seven to eight family members and friends to the area to attend graduation.
“They come each week to pick up their Marine and that makes me feel so honored to be mayor of our beautiful town.”
In looking at economic development for the future, the Town of Port Royal has looked forward to the redevelopment of the port.
“Safe Harbor, the partner in the project, appears to be extremely motivated. We are very optimistic that after we work out a few kinks, the work will commence. Building the marina will be first, followed by creation of open space, parks, restaurants, shops and homes, both commercial and residential development. The completion of this project will fundamentally change the Town of Port Royal forever.”
According to Phillips, Port Royal with its 15,000 residents is the densest of all the municipalities in the county. Managing the growth is critical says Phillips,
“We must make sure that as more people move here, we have the infrastructure in place to serve the new residents and businesses. We want to maintain the pristine environment that we love and the quality of life that we love and make sure that we grow in the right way.”
When asked where we could find him outside of his work, Phillips answered,
“I think I would be downtown riding around in a golf cart, visiting Sands Beach, watching the sunset, walking on the Boardwalk, then driving down to Shellring Ale Works for a beer, listening to live music at Fish Camp and just enjoying God’s creation!”
Mayor Kevin Phillips shares the latest economic development updates for the Town of Port Royal, South Carolina as part of the CONVERGE 2024 Lowcountry Economic Development Summit.
