NEWBERRY COUNTY — After a quarter of a century as a board member for the Newberry County Water and Sewer Authority, Frank Downs has officially retired from service.
Downs was appointed to the NCWSA Board of Directors by former Newberry County Councilman Henry Summer.
“Before I was appointed in 1990 I was appointed by Al Harvey, Newberry city manager, to explore the situation with the water and sewer authority in 1987,” Downs said. “Basically I was appointed to see if it was a relevant organization.”
Downs, along with a group of other individuals, were appointed to conduct a comprehensive review of the NCWSA. They determined that while the NCWSA was a reliable organization, it needed some work.
A few years later, he was appointed as a board member to the NCWSA.
The governor approved the appointment as a board member in December 1990, Downs began work that same month. When he arrived as a board member, Downs said the Authority had a lot of outstanding debt because of situations that occurred prior to his appointment.
At that time the water customer base was a little over 2,000 and the sewer customer base was 165. When it comes to income, the Authority has no taxing ability as income comes from the customers.
“We increased our base with customers about the time Plantation Pointe started coming on board. We obtained more water and sewer customers,” Downs said. “We also curtailed expenses and unnecessary projects.”
At this point the NCWSA began seeing a growth of income. However, Downs said they really came into their growth 15 years ago when Brent Richardson was hired as manager. He said that Richardson and Daniel Quattlebaum, assistant manager, are the reason the NCWSA is doing so well now.
The Capital Project Sales Tax is something else that Downs said has helped the NCWSA in recent years.
“We had two projects in the past. We were able to do major projects we could not do ourselves because of that,” he said. “That included the one water treatment plant and one wastewater treatment plant, which allows the county to attract new industry.”
During his time as a board member, Downs said he is most proud of the NCWSA having a substantial reserve for emergency issues and bonds. He says it is over and above what they are required to carry.
“I enjoyed my stay at the Newberry County Water and Sewer Authority immensely. The Board, and the person taking my place, will do extremely well,” Downs said.
At the time of his retirement, NCWSA doubled in the number of water customers and more than doubles in sewer customers.
Before he was a board member with the NCWSA, Downs was a native of Grosse Point, Mich. Downs, who is 72, was born there to James and Harriet Downs. He attended Grosse Point High School, where he graduated in 1961.
“After high school I joined the U.S. Navy, I was bored with school. I stayed in the Navy for two years,” he said. “My designation was distribution clerk on the U.S.S. Boston, which was the first United States missile cruiser.”
After leaving the Navy, Downs enrolled at the University of Florida, where he stayed for two years. He decided to go to college in Florida because his mother moved there when he went into the Navy.
“I graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a finance degree with a minor in accounting,” Downs said.
While attending Florida Atlantic University he met the woman who would become his wife, Cynthia. The couple married in June 1969, after which he received a management training position with Sears in Atlanta, Ga.
During their time in Atlanta, Downs and wife had two children, Gregory, born in 1972, and Jennifer, born in 1974. After moving to Newberry, the couple welcomed a third child into the world, Jonathan, born in 1981. Before the birth of their son Jonathan, the Downs lost a child, Amanda, when she was 10 months old to a tragic accident.
Today he is the proud grandfather of five grandchildren, something he says he enjoys very much.
Downs found his way to Newberry when he was offered the management position of the Sears catalog store, located on College Street, in 1975.
“I enjoyed working with the public, enjoyed satisfaction guaranteed or your money back. The customer was always right,” he said.
Downs left Sears in 1987 when he started his own company, TLC Realty. Last May he sold out his company, officially retiring, to ERA Realty.