Town Council - Regular Meeting

All right. Thank you very much. I'll now move on to motions related to the agenda. Mr. Mayor. Mr. Lawhorn.

I'd like to make a motion that we remove item seven, no, eight, I'm sorry, 8B, a second reading of the ordinance to repeal chapter 17, blah, blah, blah, landscaping and tree protection.

Second. All right, you got a second in there? I couldn't hear it. We're removing the tree ordinance from the agenda today, the tree ordinance discussion. And you got a second on that? Yes. Okay.

Any discussion on that? I'll start. I just, over the last several days, actually even a little longer than that, I know most of us have been getting some significant feedback from citizens of the town to include a certified arborist that frankly has raised some doubts, concerns that I think we need to get some additional input for, I don't feel the time is right at this point to vote on this one way or the other. I think we need more information, however that might be done. So that's kind of where I'm coming from.

I feel basically the same way, but delaying this another couple weeks is not going to make a difference. We've waited on this for four years, and I think that since this Arbor's task come aboard, since I was mayor, maybe we could reach out to him and talk with him a little bit more about it. I think that would probably help our ordinance be a better ordinance in the long run.

Anything else? I'll just make a couple comments myself. I honestly think we're fairly close. We're getting hit from both sides. And I used to be an umpire in baseball, and that kind of tells me you're probably doing OK if both sides are complaining about you. I think we are really close. Personally, I'm for personal property rights, but this town exists as a tree city, USA. There is no doubt that the tree canopy is a big part of what attracts people to Surfside Beach, so we do need to thread the line, walk the line, thread the needle, don't mix our metaphors, and get this done properly. so i'm

Yeah, I'd just like to say that I know we got a, a letter, a very well-written letter from the arborist. But we also got a lot of other very good letters from members of the community. And they too would like to see the tree ordinance be a little more professional before it's passed. So I'm in support of removing this from the agenda, not just for the arborist's views, but for everyone's views. Thank you.

All right. With that in mind, Ms. Medina, will you call the roll?

Yes, motion carries unanimously. So can I make a motion now on this? Okay. What I would like to do is make a motion to direct the administration to set up a workshop, hopefully a final workshop on the tree ordinance as soon as reasonable. so that we can address this maybe within a month or so. I'm not going to hold it to a month, but just have a workshop so that we can review this in a near, so that we can do the second reading in a near meeting, a regular council meeting.

That was a really bad motion, but thank you. I understand, but we understood it. Got the point across.

Any discussion on that? I have a question about the process. The planning commission is supposed to submit to us a recommendation, which we either accept or reject, or maybe make minor changes to. I'm not sure that the town council holding the workshop and doing the footwork is the right place. Maybe we should be directing the planning commission to hold further deliberations and take into account citizen concerns.

I tend to agree. I mean, I hate to put it back on the Planning Commission because I know they've done a ton of work on this already. But I mean, personally, since we approved the first reading, I've had a lot of reflection on this whole thing. And like the mayor, I'm also a property rights person, but I also know we need to balance that with the needs of the community from a stormwater standpoint as well. My biggest concern is that honestly, I'm concerned about existing citizens. I mean, residents that currently own properties that to me, the biggest problem in this town has been developers co

All right, I'm going to step in there too then. I definitely do not want to send it back to the Planning Commission. I think Planning Commission did a good job. I don't think we stripped it. I think we have maintained a lot of what was in there. It is certainly the framework of what we have now. I would prefer to just see a workshop if something in that workshop comes out that we need to diverge us into multiple ordinances or it's so radically different that it needs to go back to Planning Commission. I think we could address that at that time. But right now, what I would like to do is just go

Mr. Stamey. With the workshop, we are going to take public comments and all into that consideration when we have this workshop.

I just want to make sure that the citizens are the ones that I've been receiving mail from would have a chance to come in here and State your case in front of the council and see if we can't keep this to where everybody's sort of happy. They don't all have to be happy, but sort of happy. It would be a whole lot better than what we've got now because a lot of people's mad. A lot of people's happy. So I'd like to get in between there somewhere. And that's the main thing. I want to make sure we have citizens who want to speak, come and speak.

Any others? Mr. Meyer, Mr. Coleman. I got mixed feelings on this. Um, plenty of commissioners done this already. It changed a few things. Stormwater committee did it. Um, they changed a lot of, uh, plenty of commissioners changed quite a few things from them. Um, but I don't know that, uh, not going to the planning commission is the right way. Um, unfortunately I think we. And I would love to have one of the people on that, a panelist or someone who knew things, like an arborist, who would actually tell them. We've got a lawyer, we have a realtor, we have all very intelligent people. But nobod

Before I take any other comments, I'd like to ask, and I don't know if this is for Mr. Vincent, Mr. Bouchette, or Director Broder, but can town council make a motion to return something to the planning commission with a condition, for instance, that the planning commission consult an arborist or some tree expert in its deliberations? I mean, I know the Planning Commission is essentially an independent body, but can we give that direction?

um mr mayor yeah i want a lot of people now i just want to clear no i just want to throw something out there i'm just sitting here thinking um we got a lot accomplished when we did a joint a joint workshop with business and on the overlay i'm wondering if we couldn't do a workshop jointly with them and we could request an arborist to speak at that would that expedite our situation and being able to tweak this into a second reading with their input with an arborist input and with our review and questions maybe we could get there quicker i don't know sending it back to committee um could delay i

Yeah, we've got a motion on the table. We've each taken one turn speaking on it. So if anybody wants to speak anymore, we'll open up for a second turn.

The motion on the table can be amended, correct?

Absolutely. Just to clarify, the motion on the table right now is to direct the administration to set up a workshop in the near future so we can bring this back for a second reading.

I don't want to take away Skip's thunder, but I'd like to make a motion to amend it to a workshop that includes the planning commission should they choose to join.

Second. All right. Do you want to say any more about that since you made that motion?

No. Skip had a good point. We did pretty well with the discussion of the Highway 17 development with having everybody here from all the stakeholders. And I think that that's a good point. If we don't have to extend it back to the Planning Commission, then I'm okay with participating in a workshop, but I think they should be there, too. We'll put all of our heads together, and maybe we can work out a final product that people can accept. All right. Anybody else?

Mr. Stanley? Are we going to have an arborist here that day, or is it going to be up to council to get an arborist here to put in his input? to help us make some of these decisions. Would that not be a better idea than just counsel on planning and get somebody in here that, not saying that Mr. Broder don't know his stuff, but get another person in here to help us out. I'm sort of like Harry, trees are trees, you know, and I love trees. I don't want to cut them down, but I want somebody to tell me that knows something about trees the language that we need to have in our ordinance to make it a s

All right, before we move on, we can amend the motion one more time, right?

The specifics part... We'll work out the agenda later, basically, and who would be included. I mean, we're saying invite planning commission.

Okay. All right. I guess I'm not going to poll council here. No, you can't do that. So I will simply say that if somebody thinks it's necessary to make a motion to add an arborist to the agenda, feel free to do it. If council here thinks that we can trust one another to do the right thing once we get this decision made, then we don't need the extra motion. and I'll let you guys decide what you want to do. Mr. Walsh, go ahead.

If I could, please. I think it's important that we include an expert in the field with this workshop. Now, does the verbiage need to be there? Maybe it does, because I'm not sure that this gentleman, this one gentleman that did this, would be willing to do this, again, for what he does for a living. It's his profession. So if we don't require it, in the motion and in the setup of the workshop, will we be able to get good qualified people without pain? I don't know. I don't know.

You're not amending the motion, but you're just pointing out a potential issue.

I'm just asking a question is that I don't really think that us getting together again would be as beneficial as having someone there who could speak to the real hard questions about the tree.

Oh, you want to make a motion, though? Yes. All right. I'd like to make a motion that we amend it, that we have to have an order on our meetings when we have that meeting.

I would suggest we invite one based on Mr. Wall's comments, if you're okay with that. We can't force anybody.

No, we can't. If we have to, we could pay somebody. So that, well, it might not be cheap, but it's worth the time or a little money to spend to get an expert to tell us what we're doing and what we should be doing right. So, yes, I'm saying that we need an arborist whenever we have this meeting, whether it's the gentleman that sent us the package or if it's somebody else. I think we need an arborist here for that time or however long it takes to pay if we have to. All right.

So, yeah, let's just get back to making the motion. So you want to make a motion to bring an arborist in. Come in. Amended again. To bring another, or to bring an arborist in, including paying him. Yes, sir. Okay. Do we have a second for that?

All right. Any more discussion? All right. So the motion on the table is to set up a joint workshop run by town council, inviting the planning commission and inviting an arborist uh with even going so far as to pay one if necessary and we'll obviously we can't set a number and all that at this point but that's the motion on the table now did i get that pretty pretty good from okay any other discussion miss medina call the roll mr staney yes mr coleman yes mr walsh yes mr lawhorn yes mr hyatt yes miss fallon yes Yes, all right, we will direct Mr. Vincent to get that workshop going, and it proba

Anybody, or is there any discussion on that? All right then, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? None. Carice will speak after the public comments. Are there any other motions related to the agenda? Now I'm seeking a motion for minutes approval from our last meeting. Mr. Mayor. Mr. Hyatt.

I'd like to make a motion to approve the town council meeting minutes from Tuesday, September 8th, 2026.

You get one of them? Okay. Any discussion on that? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? None. Motion carries. Minutes are approved. We'll now move into public comments on agenda items only. And I think by definition, the tree ordinance is not part of the agenda anymore. So, uh, Keep it to items not including the tree ordinance. All right, I see no public comments at this time, so we will now move into item 8A, Contracts for the New Courthouse. Mr. Vincent, do you want to introduce the topic or just move right into the Creech and Associates?

Do we need to have a motion to accept this before we get started?

I don't think we have to at this point because, I mean, this is a presentation from the outside.

I was going to get into the contract discussion of the episode.

Well, I mean, he's going to go over some general terms first. Okay. I just want to make sure that we don't need to make motions. You good with that? Yeah, it's fine. I mean, it's general information before the contract discussion. Okay. All right. I think we're okay, but thank you.

All right, with that in mind, I would now like to entertain a motion to approve the contracts. the three, the set of three contracts in whole, I think is the best way. But I'm seeking a motion for that.

I'd like to make a motion that we accept three contracts, VEC contract for our new courthouse council change.

Second. All right. Any discussion, comments, questions for Mr. Spino, et cetera. I'm going to get started then. I read this thing. I really did. Not every single word, but I went through the whole thing. I appreciate this. We've been talking about the peer in some of our other meetings. I don't think we had a template like this for the peer contract. We've got an architect a general contractor and the owner here. The relationships seem cleaner to me than what we would have had in the pier. I'm looking at the terms of the initial decision maker, the construction administrator, the superintenden

I've got a few. Thank you. What happens when the architect's plans for the building and the construction superintendent's plan for the building collide? How does that matter so?

I know that when we built the pier, a lot of issues could have been avoided that we ended up having to deal with, had we had a construction project manager that overlooked, didn't oversee, but overlooked and reviewed the architect's plans. And I'm just wondering if we just have our architect building this and the contractor has issues, how do those issues get resolved?

to not not ever get to that okay thank you um another question i have is i'm aware of a construction project where a discount employee burned the project down about halfway through i read through the insurances but i didn't couldn't tell whether an event like that would be covered i don't know that i know the answer to that excuse me somebody had an answer

Okay. And the third question I had, if I can find it. I didn't see in the contract a statement about payment would be made, but we've just had some problems with payments of a contractor. So we would really want the payment to be stated how it's going to be made in writing and not changed without

Very good. Thank you. And one other thing I'd like to say is I appreciate the safety information you got. It's exactly what I wanted and it was satisfactory.

Mr. Mayor. Mr. Malhorn. Not really a question, but a couple of comments and probably more for Jerry. So the mayor mentioned the issue of project manager in consideration of that. I know we had a discussion last week not trying to at least get cost data, or if we were to attempt to get a secondary project manager representing the town. I don't know if you've been able to do that or not.

Okay, because I mean, I'm still in the camp that the more eyes, the better, and the more clear representation for us, the better. Nothing. I mean, it's nothing towards preach because I expect what you guys are doing. But, you know, so cost is going to be a factor in this. I mean, you know, if it's reasonably low cost to me, it's kind of a no brainer to have, you know, I'd rather spend a little bit of money up front and potentially save money in the long run. That's where I'm coming from. So that point A and point two is kind of the same aspect. I know the contract lays out the work, the change

Mr. Mayor. Mr. Stanley. I might be on the same line as Mr. Pike. I mean, Rick was. But my question is, who is going to be from the town representing the town? Will it just be Jerry, or is it Jerry and Eric, or is it more so all three of you, or John? What's the town? Who is in town? besides council, going to be in charge of looking after this? Eric, you and Eric. John ain't going to be involved in this?

So you will be giving us reports back to council every probably once a month, maybe, or something to that effect. And you will let us know if they do come up with some kind of outrageous change order that's A lot of money changing.

Okay. Because when they keep talking about the fear, we had a value engineering design overlay of the fear that wound up costing us a lot of money. So I don't want that to happen again.

Okay. It cost us money last time. But with that being said, I've got a lot of confidence in you guys and I do appreciate you stepping up as the owner of the company saying that you're going to look after this project because this is going to mean a whole lot to you as much as it does to us. Because if we have a problem, it's going to fall back on you just as much as it will the town. So I hope that y'all keep up with what's going on and keep I have all the confidence in the world that you will do that. Thanks.

Any others? Do we have any representative from BEC here? Yes, we do. I just want to have you come up for a minute. Introduce yourself, first of all. Does anything in here create any concerns for you?

We're good. All right. Anybody else have any questions, comments?

And Mr. Spina, I think last meeting you said you would have regular meetings like every two weeks. And then you'll probably have phone conversations somewhat more often. Yes.

Okay, thank you. I guess the last thing I have, you know, we've been talking about project manager, so I'll go to Mr. Vincent now. And, you know, between permitting, and any site prep work and material orders and maybe you know these guys will weigh in how long do we have to figure out if we want an additional project manager in addition to all of these guys um you know before the project actually commences roughly i guess well we just received the rfes for third-party inspections so that's going to come to you on october the 13th we also have a public hearing for the budget amendment for this

But I mean, it's still going to be a couple of weeks after that before it starts. So if we wanted to wait until the end of October, we could, I mean, that'd still be well before the start. We're not going to be doing anything in a month.

Okay. All right. That's all I have. Anybody else?

Mr. Wallace. If I could, please. In reading through this, I understood that it was a pretty standard, but change orders work orders deviations cost us millions of dollars okay so one of the areas that I specifically pay attention to could you if you would please since this is what you guys do every day all day thirteen twelve point eight or three I'm sorry three point twelve point eight where where we talk about the word shall be in accordance with the proof all the things that will be tied to this contract the drawings in the so forth. But in layman's terms, I don't see where the owner's invo

Okay. That's in layman's terms, I need to understand. Yeah, I read that.

Yeah, thank you. There's just that sensitivity. We want to be kept in the loop. There were too many that added up to be millions of dollars in these work orders that crippled the problem. So thank you.

so you'll always kind of know what's been done and what's coming down the pipeline um okay thank you okay go ahead but this ain't nothing to do with it but what i'm going to tell you we have a meeting every two weeks if any of you guys are in town drop in and let us know what's going on personally We'd be more than glad to listen. So just extending that, extending that. I'm sure they'd love to do that. We're number one on the agenda. That's why I invited you.

Go ahead, Mr. Hyde. I just wanted to ask Mr. Stafford if you could, since you're going to be the project manager, if you could give us a short version of your background managing projects.

Prior to that, I was in residential construction as a superintendent, so I've seen all different kinds of construction from the ground up.

Okay, thank you. Any other? Motion on the table is to approve the three-document package as the contract, total contract for the new courthouse. Ms. Medina, will you call the roll?

Yes, motion carries unanimously. Contract is approved. Thank you, gentlemen.

Okay. We're now going to move back into, we're going to move back into communications and we will start with the proclamation. Let me get a drink of water. Yes. Proclamation 26-151 fire prevention week. Whereas the town of Surfside beach is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all those living in and visiting Surfside beach. And whereas fire remains a serious public safety concern, both locally and nationally, and the presence of lithium ion batteries in many household devices introduces fire risks, and whereas most of the rechargeable electronics used in homes daily, including sma

And whereas the 2026 Fire Prevention Week theme, Charge into Fire Safety, Safe Charging is a Superpower, serves to remind all residents that safe charging can help reduce the risk of fires in homes and communities. Now, therefore, I, Robert Krause, Mayor of Surfside Beach, do hereby proclaim October 4th through 10th, 2026, as Fire Prevention Week throughout the town of Surfside Beach and urge all residents to learn about and practice safe charging habits. Thank you very much. We'll now move into the administrator's report. Administrator Vincent.

Do you want to go over anything on the HR or facilities or just leave it open to questions? It's open to questions. Okay. All right. In that case, any questions, comments for Mr. Vincent or staff? Mr. Mayor. Mr. Hyde.

I appreciate the breakdown of the HR report by the department with the questions. So I just want to acknowledge that we know that you did it and we appreciate it so much.

But I think if I understand you properly, you're talking what he did last year too, right?

Because we put like 20,000 in last year.

Any other questions, comments on Administrator Vincent's report? I'm sure a lot of this is going to be coming up in our future meetings. And I'll just make one comment. It looks like virtually almost every spot that uh was approved in the 26-7 budget has been filled i i know there's still a a pb and z spot but i think that's basically it now right for new spots that we uh that we approved in the budget yes uh yeah miss angie has moved to code enforcement so we've got applications that we're going to interview i think next week for the building tech We have the two finance people. Well, they we

Okay. Yeah, there's one or two others that I skipped. Well, Mr. Robinson's assistant, which you just mentioned, is another one that we approved. Okay. All right.

All right, with that, we'll move into the director's reports, and we will begin with finance report director Gruber.

Questions or comments for Director Gruber?

Mr. Mayor, we have a couple. Mr. Hyatt. The stormwater fund, does that pay for any of the drainage? stormwater drainage work or does that money come from somewhere else yes that's all that's how it is okay um on the sanitation fund the expenses do they include payroll yes and one other question i noticed The investment pool seems to fluctuate, so that means there's money kind of going in and out of it fairly regularly. Is that correct?

Okay. What's the procedure for moving money into there and out of there?

Okay. Thank you. One quick question. Sanitation fund, I'm assuming that's the money that comes to us from people paying their trash bill each month and all that kind of stuff, correct? So was it this past month that the new rates went in place? Okay, so we would expect to see those numbers go up.

All right, thanks. I wasn't sure that was where it all came from.

I got a couple. We hear every year that it looks like tourism's flat or a little down each year, and we don't have really great gauges, but we do have A-tax, local A-tax, and H-tax. And you mentioned the vehicle registrations, which went to our general fund, but the other numbers continue to outperform last year, correct?

Right. We've been steady or slightly ahead for two or three years as we keep hearing this looks like a down year, down year. OK. OK. And then I noticed the other things, the sanitation and so on and so forth, stormwater. Okay, that's all I have. All right, thank you, Director Gruber. I will now move into the fire department before Chief Nelson.

And that concludes my report. Thank you, Chief. Any questions, comments for Chief Nelson?

Mr. Mayor. Mr. Walts. If I could please, just to help me understand, this response time is real impressive, Chief. I was just curious as to, do you include our mutual aid runs? So these are just four calls for, okay. That's what I wanted because I know sometimes we venture out.

No, no, no. I don't care about Horry County. I care about- Absolutely. This is us responding to any call. Even if you're out on a mutual aid call outside of the city. Wow. okay that's that's even more pressing um the uh the next page under your fire inspection report um just trying to follow and understand what what we're doing here uh business is broken apart from mercantile yes our mercantile

And one other comment on that report, is it concerning that we're only collecting 60% of, or not collecting, but correcting 60% of the collection?

And so the violations are the same? Correct. Okay. And then just one other comment. I noticed that you run the 2026 collections on the VA fire recovery and the fire inspections. That's your income. You're reporting that on a calendar year. I'm just asking, would it be easier for us in-house and for you to manage that on a fiscal calendar? that's set up with town?

No, what I'm thinking is, I'm just thinking this is your money that we hold. Correct. In the general fund. Correct. And I'm just wondering, she's accounting for it on a fiscal calendar and you're tracking it. would rather see it you know i'm just yeah i'm just throwing that out there yeah they break it down this way uh so when we look at it it's easier for us to just write it down that way but if you'd like to see it done by the physical counter i'm just thinking it might be better for you to track it on the same calendar as as the town so you can keep up with your money and know when to ask f

Here's where we're at. I just wondered if it would be between you and Melvin. Not a problem. Either way. Okay. That's my only comment. Thank you. Mr. Coleman, go ahead.

I'm glad you're starting to look into cancer. gotten a lot worse because all the building materials, there's a lot of toxic material that when it burns, firefighters get canceled. And how many turn ideas does each firefighter have, everyone?

So when they go into a fire, the turnip gear, do you wash them right away?

I think I've already read it, but I heard that the engineer gets cancer probably more than a virtual firefighter. And the reason why is they're out there. Well, my question would be, do they also have breathing apparatus or no?

the engineering sitting right outside the fire the smoke's all around them you can't leave the truck absolutely so if i'm using breathing apparatus you could possibly you know absolutely the capabilities are there for them to use it and there's no problem with that okay no i just want to make sure absolutely thank you mr stanley

I happened to be at the festival when you called it off, sir. I thought it was the right move. I did hear a little feedback from, they're saying things about we shouldn't have done it because it didn't happen out here in the area, but it was a smart move. If I go to a football game and they have a lightning strike within five miles or six miles, they cancel the football game and send you home. So with that being said, sir, I think you made the right decision. And the next time, I hope you do the same thing. And the people that don't like it is fine. Thank you. Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, Ms. Hyatt, our chief collaborated with Seagrove, who I've never heard of them.

And two, I want to take responsibility for you having to address the shutdown of the end of summer festival. I wasn't there at the time, but I was approached when I got there by several people, several citizens, and then the next day by even more. And I said I would look into it. And the question wasn't, was it a good idea or not? The question was, what was the legal authority? And I've done some research, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but under the fire code, there is no legal authority. But if you do a premises plan, then, and that paying attention to the weather is followed in the pr

Okay. Well, very good. Thank you. I appreciate all your work that you've done on that.

Go ahead, Mr. Wells. I just, real quick, since you've expanded and had so many firefighters now on the volunteer side,

Thank you. I think that does it. Thank you, Chief Nelson. All right. Mrs. Mull is not here, so we're going to have to deal with Mr. Vincent, I think.

All right, any questions, comments on Mrs. Mull's report via Mr. Vincent?

I've got one. Go ahead, Mr. Mull. I've brought this up to Ms. Mull from time to time, and I know it's difficult, but now that she's got another person on staff, I'm wondering if we can look at this again. But the whole idea with these events of trying to figure out a way to compare costs to the town for these events versus the revenue they're generating, I know there's probably no – specific way to do it, but there would seem to be a way to create a methodology to give us some sort of idea of our return on investment. Return on investment. So I would just ask if we can maybe start looking at t

Yeah, I know it's hard because you just can't point to one number and say it was this. That's correct. So anyway, just for whatever action we can take. Got it.

Any others? I'll just make one brief comment. Uh, uh, you may have seen it, but, uh, in the some news best of the beach, the, uh, our barbecue festival is the number one festival event, you know, town sponsored, uh, event on the beach. So congratulations to Mrs. Mull in the town. And there you go. Exactly. Yeah. Yes. Yes. All right, we will now move into the Public Works report. Director Adair.

Question and comments for Director Adair?

Any other questions, comments? I'll just say a little bit. You supplied some good information on the sidewalk. Some council members had questions. You just want to run down briefly what has been going on with that project. I mean, where they are, how they've chosen, what side they're working on and so forth. Just give a general description so the residents can understand that.

All right. And I think, I mean, some people don't like to hear it, but we don't own the right-of-ways. We, the residents, don't own those rights-of-way. We use them. We have our driveways going out to them. I recently put in a second path that could create an arc driveway, you know, and it goes right through that right-of-way. But, I mean, they're substantial, especially on some of the larger roads, right?

And I'm getting more into PB and Z, uh, territory here, but the setbacks and, and, you know, relative to the lot lines is to account also for parking on your property.

But I mean, so that you have enough room, if your house is far enough back, that you can park a car in front of it.

john just so everybody knows can can you describe i think most of the folks here do but maybe some folks listening to what exactly are these sidewalk projects can you just what are the what they are yeah where they at where they're going to be located where are we putting them the first one is very simple fifth avenue north we're going to start at poplar where there is a sidewalk on poplar already so we're going to be pretty much connecting to that and it's going to end it and actually dogwood not ocean boulevard because

Right. And 5th Avenue North is other than Melody, that's the only, north or east-west without stop sign road in town that doesn't already have a sidewalk, correct?

Yeah, I just wanted to make sure folks knew exactly what projects we're talking about. And the Cedar project will basically connect 16th Avenue North all the way to Melody after you make the connection to Hollywood. Sure, once you're on Hollywood, you're going all the way to Melody. That's all.

Mr. Stamey. You still haven't told us, John, which side of the road the sidewalks is going on. Coming up, going from the beach towards 17th.

Thank you, Director Adair. Thank you. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. All right. Police Department report. Chief Mikkel.

I told Papa I was going to do it again. He said I couldn't.

Any questions, comments for Chief Mickle? Mr. Mayor.

Chief, I've had... It's not on the... But how many of our cameras are functional? Do we have 100% of them functional or do we have... Did you put it outside on...

We should stick to it. OK, all right. Mr. Staming.

Anything else for Chief Mickle? Mr. Mayor?

Mr. Walts? On the report, you got a DUI felony and then down under intoxicated drivers, there's three for all of them. So I just wondered, is there anything other than a felony? Is it DUI?

mayor colman i want to talk about top cards um you know the accidents are up but they're also put 124 hours the contacts are good but last year you had 20 citations this year you have 13 citations and you have 50 to do once now the contacts are good My feeling is maybe people will do, you know, it's nice to be able to win. And then you go on with your life. But if you get a ticket and it costs you money, maybe you won't do it again. I get it. I get off to this question. I get once in a while you let someone go. What if we're left with it? The numbers don't really work very well. It works well

I'm sorry. I have a farm on the Swordlock area, but the other morning, I came out of the Golden Egg, me and several other people, and that 17 came in a cop car with the blue lights behind me on 17th. They pulled over in front of the Golden Egg, and your officer rolled down the window, never got out of the car, rolled down the window and told them they wasn't supposed to be on 17th and drove away. Never did he get out of the car. As soon as he left, they got right back on 17 and went up to 5th Avenue and crossed 5th Avenue at the stoplights. Why would you or any officer have a golf cart riding

I don't know the circumstances, so I can't answer that question specifically, but that would not meet our expectations.

Yes, sir. And I appreciate what you're doing and who you're going with. But anytime, anytime you see a goth car, I don't care if it's a town person or if it's a town person that lives here. If you're out on 17 driving a goth car, you should be giving it to me. I don't care who you are. Because everybody, if they're smart enough to drive a goth car, it tells you not to be on that road. That is a dangerous highway. And that if I could got around our equipment, I would have took a picture of the incident because I thought it was that serious. I really wasn't going to bring it up tonight, but sinc

Any other questions, comments for Chief Mickel? All right. Thank you, sir. We will now move into the planning, building, and zoning report. Director Broder.

Thank you, Director Broderick. Questions, comments?

Go ahead. I got a quick question. On September 23rd, it states there's going to be a meeting regarding wild water and wheels. What time is that and where?

Mr. Mayor, the Zoning Board of Appeals, is that tomorrow night or is it Thursday?

If the applicant wants to withdraw. So I guess I'll take that up. Irrespective of whether he withdraws, it's up to him to pursue. We're not involved in this dispute. Nope. I mean, he may have to take some legal action or something like that to go back and understand the history, figure out how to duplicate the original survey, whatever. But that has nothing to do with you.

Okay. That's all I had. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Director Broder. All right, that moves us through the communications side, but we did take care of a big business item at the beginning. So we're now moving into item seven, discussion item, alcohol at town events. Mr. Stamey, I guess we're not sure, no documentation, so just tell us what you're thinking here.

Well, why I put it on the schedule to talk about It was brought up to me at our festival down at the pier that our restaurants were selling alcohol and pursuing people who didn't know since they were on the sidewalk selling it that they couldn't leave that establishment and walk around in our town. I had several residents to come up and I told them that I'd bring this up because our ordinance in our town says that we can approve. The town has to vote on it to approve in a designated area, a designated area to drink alcohol, but they have to have it approved by town council. And I want to know

All right, thank you. Anybody want to comment on that?

Mr. Mayor. Commissioner Lawhorn, the concept, I think there's been discussion up to this point of the concept that Sean's talking about. I mean, my view on it is that people are there to have a good time. and not that you necessarily need alcohol to have a good time, but having a designated spot for it would seem to be more manageable than having to send them. My thought is people are going to do it whether we approve it or don't approve it. So having a designated area for it would seem to make more sense to me, but that's just my point of view.

Mr. Mayor. Mr. Walts. Just along that same line, I'm just wondering, Because when, say, for instance, Mrs. Ball does her request to council when she's doing her events to close streets and do this and do that, which we have to do temporary approvals for, maybe she can look at an area where she would put together a beer garden or something like that and include that in the presentation for our approval for that one time only type That's just my suggestion.

Mr. Mayor. Mr. Coleman, for the past three years, I've been trying to get, and I got some council members who agree with me, that we should try to make Ocean Boulevard, Narnia's events, Ocean Boulevard between First Avenue South, To search I Drive or possibly just to the entrance to the hotel there and have that as a designated area you'd have it Buried around signs on all the entrances and exits of that area And what I like to do right now is like a mega motion Motion to allow all future events to have the option to sell and will drink alcohol beverages beverages in a designated area marked o

Second. Yeah, I'll second. All right. So, okay. We have a motion and a second. You made the motion. You may as well continue if you want to.

Yeah, I just think this is not necessarily my idea of Ocean Boulevard, but any of these events that we have section off a certain area. could be a certain area where the food trucks are and stuff like that. And then you can even incorporate it with meal pans and all the restaurants. I think it'd be a great idea. And even throw a band, put the stage down there and you could have the whole festival set it on Ocean Bowl. But that's not the motion. The motion is to find a designated area. And what we've been doing is these festivals for years and years and years. And a couple of years back, they h

Yeah, the metal ones. So you would section over those, and you'd have entrances and exits, and that signage would say, you can't go past here without the help of everyone. It just gives the people to know where it starts and when it stops. I just think it's a good idea because there are going to be people, believe it or not, there are people walking around with solo cups. Oh, yeah. Cups like Mary's down in front of them. I don't know what he's got. But they're doing it. So, I mean, let's keep them in one area.

Okay, so yeah, I'm going to comment. All of our festivals are a little different. We have some in the pier parking lot. We have some on Surfside Dive. So yeah, I think I like what you're saying about in the plan that Mrs. Mull is developing with the police and fire, they're all going to be slightly different, but she can bring that option if it fits that event. We have six years of experience with Celebrate Surfside, and To the best of my knowledge, we haven't had any serious issues, have we? I mean, I know you haven't been here the whole six years, but has there ever been a problem that celeb

And while you're here, would this present an issue to you, do you think, an enforcement issue? extra work or anything like that for the police department? I don't think it would impact our resources at all.

And you don't have to look inside the solo cup and see what color it is.

You don't have to look for that koozie that's a half inch short. Is that the top of a Budweiser can or a Coke can?

Right, so if we allow the different restaurants and bars to sell, we have to have, you know, the planning will have to account so that they can all funnel into whatever this area is. If we do our own beer tent somewhere, we define that area, something like that. I like the idea of brisket and beer or something like that at the barbecue fest. So it kind of makes sense to me to try it. The way you're phrasing the motion is it's suspended indefinitely, basically. And the inference is that in one, two, three, four events, we say, okay, it's time to either stop this or make it permanent. Okay, so i

uh it's basically what we did for third avenue we've done basically the same thing up there we've marked up an area you can drink and put up signage and said this is your limit you can't go to father and is and i don't think they had no problem doing that either so i think it was a good idea it's but this is the reason i brought this up is we need to have something that we know, and the chief knows, and everybody else knows, what is the deal? What is the limit you can go to? Mr. Mayor, I want to make a statement.

If they had stayed on the restaurant property, we wouldn't have had to. So, I mean, that was a communication lapse, I guess. Is an establishment required by law to tell us? I mean, they can sell on their property.

that never came they should have told us but i mean they didn't break a law by selling no they did not and you know i mean i would hope they educate their customers and once we do about it right okay all right um anybody else uh i have a couple questions one is i think we need to define what alcohol is because i think there's a state law that doesn't allow an experience but i think beer and wine is allowed so we might want to

amend the statement about alcohol and beer?

Well, I think we're bound by the law, you know, and I think you're right, but yeah.

The other question I have, is this something that we can do by motion or do we need to make this a change of an ordinance like the alcohol ordinance in the town?

Well, his motion is to temporarily suspend it at this time until, you know, for a few events until we decide to take further action. So we can do that.

Okay, I think, I believe, you probably know better than I do, that we're already probably well into the planning for Christmas.

So the next opportunity is the Barbecue Fest, which actually seems like a pretty good opportunity to try this, to do it on a trial basis. um would it be good to say for the and the kite festivals are only a month later so we won't have a whole lot of time to digest anything between that should we say for the barbecue fest and kite fest that it is the option and then that and then we decide what to do after that based on how how well those two go if she even wants to do either of them right right we can we can set the plan and then bring the orders before you

okay so we could do that or or do you think it would be cleaner better to just uh bring a resolution at maybe next meeting or something or you know some future meeting where we say to you know put it on the agenda suspend for these two events yeah i mean in my view at least in my view at least the way we've been doing it's just in advance of the um event based on whatever the plan was for that event request and have the

I was going to say, I haven't heard anybody say we're ready to do that. I mean, maybe somebody is thinking that.

It's not the motion. The way I understand it right now is we have an event and we want to elect alcohol. We have to take a vote to do that, correct? Correct. But I'm making a motion right now If we have an event and they want to do that, we've already made the motion. The motion's been made, they can do it. What you're doing, Mr. Mayor, is you're naming an event. What's the difference? You're naming the event when we're voting on the event. That's what we already have. What I'm saying is that all events, if you want to do it, you can do it. We don't have to vote every time. You already voted o

I think he's saying that would be an ordinance change.

The ordinance says if you want to allow outlaw, you vote on it. Why can't we vote on for every single event now if we want to have it? We do. Why do we have to go back to this? Why do we even have to change the ordinance? I mean, we're doing what the ordinance says. We're voting on it for events from now on. I don't think that's what the ordinance says. Well, what does it say?

I believe the ordinance says alcohol is not served at town events. So we suspend the ordinance is what we've typically been doing. I don't have the exact wording. Yes, by resolution. So, I mean, I think we're pretty close in agreement here.

Well, go ahead. He's still looking at it.

She brings things to us for approval prior to each event. We're going to close this lot. We're going to close this street. We have to approve those. At the same time, couldn't we just say that was going to be my suggestion that she brings it that beer garden or wherever designated area to us at the same time and we approve it for temporary use, not making permanent changes. We don't want to come in and permanently reroute the parking lot down there or reroute Surfside Drive or permanently allow this section of town to be a beer garden. All I'm saying is for this specific event, she could ask u

Mr. Mayor, can we just have a restatement of the motion?

Okay, sure. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the motion right now is to basically suspend the ordinance indefinitely by allowing the town, at its option, the events, Department at its option to bring a plan forward for beer and wine sales. Is that?

Yeah, that would be correct, but I just read the ordinance, and I think it has to be an ordinance change. Or we have to suspend it, but he's just saying not indefinitely. I would amend my motion to change ordinance section 8-64B, I think two, to allow all future events to have the option to sell or drink Okay, you can do that The town has an event they have the option that they can sell but not that it's a big allowed sale or Right I Guess that's okay

yeah if we want to do it permanently yeah so i'll i'll second that okay but i do have a question um if it's an order to change did they have to go to the planning commission before we can approve it this is not this one i want to make sure yeah that we're following our process but yeah we would so you would have to bring something in uh first and second reading yeah okay okay okay so that's the the the amended motion on the table now is to rewrite 864 Yeah, and come up with a new plan, basically, to allow for the sale of beer and wine or whatever, alcohol, as permitted by the state, whatever s

I do. Go ahead. I would just like to ask one more time. is this really necessary if we want to just spend existing existing ordinances temporarily for an specific event what he wants to do he changed his motion it's not about is it necessary i'm sorry yeah he amended it it gives you a question it is necessary if

And if it doesn't pass, that's when we go back to his original motion and we vote on that or amend it or whatever. But yeah, it's not a question whether it's necessary or not, it's what he chose to make a motion. I understand.

that was clear right everybody got that right yeah okay i'm not sure i have that mr mayor okay getting confused on exactly what it is we're trying to do well basically we'll remove the 864 prohibition on selling alcohol in town events doesn't say we have to but that's an ordinance though right right right and he's he's making it so we're just going to get rid of the ordinance to modify the order no no you have to do two readings we are directing the town to rewrite it and bring a first reading to us.

Gotcha. And I understand. Yeah. Okay. So it's on Jerry to rewrite. Oh yeah.

All right. Yes. Now I got it. Thank you very much. All right. And it's, and it's, like I said, it's just that an option. It doesn't say we have to. All right. Any other discussion on, on this motion? All right, and to restate, it's to revise 864 as necessary to allow for the selling of alcohol as permitted by state law, whatever the state prohibitions are, at our town events. You have the option. And we won't define where or what. That will come in the planning. It comes back to us. Okay.

The motion is to, okay, I was adding a little clarification to it. The motion is to revise 864 as necessary to allow the town the option to sell alcohol as permitted by the state at town events.

Okay. To sell and or consume. Well, for the people to. Yeah. Yeah.

But the town isn't selling. No, but the town, okay. The residents and visitors. Is there enough clarification? Do I need to, I mean, you're gonna write the ordinance, but the intent is clear? Okay. Yeah, it doesn't have to be the town selling it, but the town to permit it. Okay, with that in mind, Ms. Medina, will you call the roll?

Yes. Motion carries unanimously. So we do not have to go back to the original motion. And Mr. Vincent is going to develop a plan to revise 864. Okay. Wow. We are now moving past the We've already done the courthouse, and we've removed the tree ordinance, so now we're moving on to pickleball renovations project. That's Director Adair. And as he starts, I'll make a motion, or I'll take a motion.

Or request a motion. I'll make a motion to approve the awarded contract for the tennis pickleball court renovation to the low bid of Advanced Atlantic Athletic Services.

All right, any questions, comments, discussion? Mr. Walls?

John, how many different ways can you do this job that would allow an $11,000 swing between the low and the second? And a $12,750 swing between the second and the third.

I just wondered on a project like this, it's swinging from 21,000 to 47,000.

Yeah, I was amazed at the price difference. But John gave me two different, well, I heard in the right way that some of the higher bidders were doing, but it seems like there's a new possible product called Fortline. And it's recommended and sanctioned by the Professional Football Association. This is what they do. So it's supposed to be the up and coming.

Is that going to be a different bid or is that going to be covered under your present budget?

Thank you. Anything else? All right, the motion on the table is to award this contract to the low bidder, which is Advanced Athletic Surfaces. Ms. Medina, will you call the roll? Yes.

Yes. Motion carries unanimously. The contract is, or bid is approved. Thank you. Thank you very much, Director Adair. All right, we have one more item, committee reappointment.

Mr. Mayor. Mr. Coleman. I'd like to make a motion to reappoint Colin Vanish to the Surfside Beach Business Committee.

I will answer that. Mr. Banish pointed out to me that we have different rules for original applications and reappointments. It says it right in the ordinances that you must fill out a form to apply to a committee, but then it says town council can reappoint person by simple nomination now of course we need to know that he wants to be reappointed so I did say then please send us an email let us all know I mean don't don't just tell me even that would be okay you'd have to take my word for it I guess but he did write the email and I said you're right it just says you can you can be reappointed b

So let me, if I could, Mr. Waller, just let me understand. That process, like anybody that's currently sitting on the committee can reach out to one of us, and we can sponsor their reappointment to the council. Yes. And we can vote for it. That is what it says.

I never read that before. I would have assumed it. Yes. I was very surprised to read that. You really do. I mean, you can reapply with the form again too, but I get it. You already have one on file. Why go through that again? Just say, I want to keep something. And we should have a pretty good idea if we think the person's doing a good job or not and want to . Any other discussion on that? In that case, Ms. Medina, will you call the roll?

Yes, motion carries unanimously. Mr. Vanish is reappointed to the business committee. That brings us to item number nine, public comments. Town services or business conducted? We have a few people still out there. Anybody want to say anything? Everybody's thinking the same thing we are.

With that in mind, I'm going to move to town council discussion and comments. I'm going to start with Mr. Haya.

I'm going to be short and brief. Thank you all for coming and we'll see you next time.

Thanks for coming out. I'm going to be short, too. Hopefully more people come join me. I'd like to see that. The sidewalks was an issue. I got a lot of emails about it, and really nobody came and said anything about it. And there's a lot of misinformation out there about sidewalks. So before you believe anything, make sure you know what the problem is. Thank you.

Thanks to all the staff and all the people that's doing the work here in town. We set up here and do a very small part of it. I'd like to thank all of you, everybody that works for town. And we'll see you in about two weeks.

Ms. Warhorn. Same. Thanks for coming. Thanks for hanging in. And Mark, just want to thank you. Nick did get back to me today about the issue we discussed. So please tell him I appreciate it. Good night.

I promised my wife we'd go to 11 o'clock.

You have 10 minutes for final comments. I'm always brief. I just wanted to thank the staff for all the hard work that you do. It was nice interaction today. We got a lot done. Thank you very much. And we'll see you in a couple of weeks. Good night. Y'all are going to make me look bad, but I won't be long.

But I do have a couple. He's got a recap. First of all, Sun News did the best of the beach. I mentioned that the town won the best event, the Barbecue Fest. We had 40 plus winners in town. And you can find that stuff on the Sun News Facebook page, among other places. So yeah, but check it out. It's a lot of other things you'd expect in some companies, some businesses I've never heard of, but congratulations to all of them. We had that economic development workshop a week ago. We are setting up a follow-up with the key stakeholders to figure out how to do the public engagement stuff, bring peop

Oh, okay. Okay. All right. I'll have to look, but I won't see him again until Friday. So too late. Maybe he'll catch the next one. Last thing I want to say is three weeks to our next meeting. We've got a fifth Tuesday this month. So the next meeting will be October 13th. The news for me is that I won't be here. So Mr. Walls is gonna run that meeting and he has been informed as such. We gotta meet. So yes, we'll talk a little bit. But with that, I will then conclude and the only thing I need is a motion.

Mr. Mayor. Mr. Walls. I make a motion that we adjourn this regular meeting of the town council.

Second. All right, any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? None. Motion carries. Meeting adjourned.