My fellow citizens,
 I wanted to share with you a letter I received from two men I have come to respect very highly in the time I have gotten to know them. It is truly an honor to have the endorsement of Tega Cay’s two biggest commercial developers, Herman Stone and John Shell. Although they are only two men, they have invested millions of dollars into seeing our commercial property become a successful economic engine for Tega Cay. I would be honored to serve you in working to make our commercial areas a source of revenue that allows our city to provide the citizens with all the amenities that make Tega Cay so special, while returning as much money back to your wallets as possible.
 I have been asked along the campaign trail how I feel that being on the York County Economic Development Board of Directors can correlate with success at the municipal level. I have answered that question with the most widely accepted definition of economic development, “the process by which wealth is created in a given geographic area.” This does not just mean industrial growth, but all types of commercial growth. The main goal of any economic development organization is to retain as much wealth in their community as possible, which means keeping the money of Tega Cay citizens in Tega Cay businesses, so it is filtered back into the government to improve our city. I have also discussed the very proactive steps our wonderful county board have been making the past year in creating a small business development committee. We realized that economic development does not just mean industrial, but retail, service, medical, and office development as well. As the economic strains continue on our country, every commercial opportunity becomes competitive and challenging. We need leaders who have had the chance to work with the captains of commerce in our community and have formed the relationships needed to bring in our developers and proprietors together for collective growth. I have also challenged our fellow citizens with one simple fact, we are the only municipality in York County that has no economic development arm. I feel we are a unique city and will have unique targets in economic development, but we should not shirk away from forming a committee that includes our business minds, because we feel Tega Cay isn’t big enough to achieve great things in commerce. We have amazing business minds in our city and I feel including them in laying our path for prosperity is crucial for success now and for decades to come! I look forward to seeing this committee work closely with our Tega Cay Area Council for the Chamber of Commerce, who have been rock solid partners for all small business in our Township.
 Please find the letter listed below. Thank you all for the privilege of sharing in this most important discussion.
Sincerely,
Greg Rogers

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April 7^th, 2011

Dear Greg,

  We are pleased to be writing you in regards to our decision to support your campaign for Tega Cay City Council. As commercial developers with over forty years, combined experience, we have worked with many private and public leaders along the way. It is vital to a community that its elected officials understand and believe in economic development as being a vital part of their future. Having experience in business and commercial development from the retail to industrial level is invaluable wisdom to bring into office in making decisions for a community.

  Over the past few months we have had the opportunity to get to know you and listen to your vision for the city of Tega Cay. We have also had the opportunity to speak with leaders in your community to gain their insight on your sincerity and performance as a member of the York County Economic Development Board.  After this time we came to the conclusion that is was important we make this effort to let the people of Tega Cay know it is important that they use this special election opportunity to put a candidate on their council who can truly make a difference in the future of the city.

  We are both confident that you clearly represent that type of candidate in this election cycle. The time you have put into the community the past two years as a member of the county economic development board has allowed you the chance to build the type of relationships and gain the knowledge needed to be more than a councilman, but a strong advocate for the growth of Tega Cay’s commercial sector. We look forward to seeing you serve on the Tega Cay City Council, should you be elected, and know you would work hard to see the Stone Crest area become the success we know it can be.

Respectfully,

Herman Stone (CEO- Stonecrest Enterprises L.L.C.)

John Shell (COO – Centurion Partners)