The Institute for Leadership and Public Policy (ILPP) at Coastal Carolina University has released survey results that indicate concern on the part of county council members in South Carolina about lack of involvement from state lawmakers.

The purpose of the survey, the first to be issued by ILPP, was to learn more about the concerns of county council members around the state. According to the ILPP, although county councils play an important role in governance in South Carolina, not a lot is known about the issues they face or the nature of county-state government relations. The survey was designed to generate new data on this little-known subject.

The results revealed that the 79 respondents felt their counties received too little funding from the state; 52.6 percent of respondents felt that state lawmakers did not care about county government; and 70.5 percent of respondents felt that counties should be given more control over policy making in the state. The full results of the County Council Survey are available for public viewing under the Polling Center section of the ILPP website at coastal.edu/humanities/ilpp.

The survey was created by Adam Chamberlain, assistant professor of politics at CCU, and the results were analyzed with assistance from Dylan Ramsey, a CCU student.

Established earlier this year through CCU's Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts, the ILPP will focus on polling activities, nonpartisan public policy analysis and leadership activities for students.

For more information, please contact Virginia Norris, ILPP, at ilpp@coastal.edu or call the Institute at 843-349-6952.