City Council - Regular Meeting

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Good morning. Welcome to our City Council workshop on Tuesday, May 26th. We're a little late today. Debbie Connor is traveling and Bill McClure is under the weather, did not want to share whatever it was with anybody, and we appreciate that very much. So we wish Bill a speedy recovery. Thank you for being here today. We have three items on the workshop agenda this morning, beginning with Al Simpson and Jimmy Gray.

Good morning, Mayor and Council. I want to take a moment of personal privilege before we get into today's presentation to just say thank you to the police department and the fire department and all city staff, really, and staff around the region that worked this past weekend and kept us all safe. Just remarkable stress on these departments. And as a, I guess a spokesperson for the business community wanted to say thank you for the hard work and for their families too, for the time away from their families, because we know that the season's really just ramping up and that this is gonna only get busier. So thank you to our public servants for serving our public in such a great way.

Thank you. And I think City Council would agree with you. It was a very busy weekend, not only with events happening in the area, but with the Memorial Day celebrations too.

That's right. Well said. So that's a nice transition to kind of what we're here today to talk about, which is federal advocacy. And the gentleman I'm joined with is Al Simpson, who is a tremendous federal advocate. I've been working with Al for about 10 years now, and he actually has experience in public safety and law enforcement, spent some time with the South Carolina Highway Patrol. So excited to kind of introduce Al and explain my thinking here to counsel. So The real reason I'm here is I think it's time for the city and the community to get serious about federal advocacy, about bonding, about grant opportunities that exist, funding opportunities that exist outside of this community here. The chamber and now the collaborative, we've been working with Al Simpson on federal advocacy, like I said, for about 10 years, and we've got some real, real successes under our belts during those 10 years. Al has been a tremendous advocate for the business community on visas, H-2B and J-1 visas. With a couple phone calls, he helped us secure a couple extra tens of thousands of extra visas a couple years ago. He's been tremendous on the beach renourishment front in terms of advocating for beach renourishment, but as well as a schedule that works for the business community and residents on beach renourishment, protecting our access there. road funding. Al has secured tens of millions of dollars for road funding for area projects. He's worked hard on grants. He's also been working with me on some projects related to tourism funding formulas and federal funding formulas that send money back to communities based off permanent resident population, which isn't really fair to communities like ours that have 18 million visitors per year. So we've been looking at things like that. So I'm going to let Al kind of give you a little bit of his background. But ultimately, what my thinking here is that the city and the collaborative work together or collaborate on a contract with Al. and split the difference of his contract to ultimately work together and speak with one voice in Washington, D.C. with our lawmakers there to bring home the bacon and bring more money back to our community, but also to advocate for policies that are good for Myrtle Beach area residents and businesses as well. So with that, Al, why don't you take it away and give a little bit about your background and how we got to today.

Good morning. Good morning. Good to meet you all. Good to see some of the old friends as well. Mr. Mayor, good to see you again. Good to see you. Yeah, that was a very generous introduction from Jimmy, I will say. But it's a group effort with the chamber, of course, and they've been good to me. And a lot of positives have come out of it, as he said. So a little bit about me, for those that don't know me. I live up in the Lancaster area, but I go back and forth to D.C. pretty regularly. We'll soon be relocating down here in about a year. But at that point, what I've done over the years is many things, but in the government space, I started off in 2010, I was Chief of Staff to then Congressman Mulvaney from up in the 5th District. Worked with him until he went into the administration. Had no desire to go into the administration, so I went to work for a company called Mercury Public Affairs, which is where I initially became involved with the chamber. I have worked with Mercury for about seven years. went and opened up, left that, that was a big firm, international firm, fun for a while, tired of it, opened up my own deal, partnered with a young lady in Columbia. We've got a South Carolina practice, South Carolina State House practice, and a D.C. practice with a company, we call it D. South Public Affairs. Been doing that for almost three and a half years now, and doing well. We represent a variety of people. But what we try to do in our business is a little bit different. We're not looking for everybody, and we try not to pitch everybody and say, hey, hire us. We try to be more boutique about it and keep people for a long time, much like I've done with the Chamber. And I think that Jimmy made a good point. I think there's a lot of things. I've talked to Fox and the people here over the years, gosh, several times, and talked to them regarding different funding levels or different funding mechanisms. But the things that I think I would be able to help you on, we're in a unique position in the seventh district because you've got a senator and a congressman who are willing to do member directed funding. that's something that you know you need to ask for and you need to have people like you know someone up there working with them to do that uh to try to secure those funds um between between russell and and lindsey graham we're pretty lucky in the in the fourth i mean in the seventh in the fifth not so much But anyway, between that, doing different things along the lines of supporting your grant requests, federal grant requests, helping you find grant requests that you're doing. Municipalities are largely money when you're dealing with a lobbying type thing up in DC. But some of the things that you don't realize that we could work on and we could help you with is, for instance, we had a meeting the other day with the Grand Strand water people and what they're having to do with the PFAS program. the PFAS chemicals out there and having to upgrade their systems, which is going to be very expensive, which is going to pass their costs along to you, as Fox and I have talked about that a time or two. Even though that's not something you're doing, it does directly affect you, and you can use people like me or use a lobby firm to actually help with that to try to reduce your rates, things along those lines. But would love to work with you. Would love to answer any questions you may have. I'm more than happy to entertain anything.

First, are you working with any of the other local political jurisdictions

Not federally. We do at state, and then we work with the City of Columbia State, but that's, y'all already have a state.

Nobody here along the Grand Strand?

Nobody along the Grand Strand, other than Jimmy. Yes, sir. Council?

You asked my question.

Okay. Don't make it easy on me.

No, sounds good. I don't know whether this is the right forum to ask about cost sharing or not. That's his department.

Sharing, exactly that, Mayor. So, you know, you can certainly go out and I'd encourage you to go out and look at other federal advocates that are out there. I think that's a good practice to do. But what I'll share with you is that from a cost perspective, and an effectiveness perspective. I don't think you're going to find anybody that's more effective than Al in Washington, D.C., especially with our South Carolina delegation. And then you'll like this answer. I don't think you'll find anybody as affordable in terms of especially splitting the cost with me on the contract. So I think it's a good deal for the city. And then when you look at ROI, too, I was counting up here as I was talking of the tens of millions of dollars that I was mentioning. I promise you that his contract is not that much. So the ROI on this contract in terms of what we're gonna bring back to the community is tremendous.

Jimmy, curiously, does the county have a representative in Washington?

Yes. I believe they have actually two companies that they, two different companies that they work with.

Well, I just, my thought would be there should be a commonality of interest. Why wouldn't this be a trivector instead of just dually represented? I can't imagine we have competing interests.

No, I do think there are some different things and different priorities I think is really what it comes down to and time too when we talk about something like this. I think, you know, I would recommend nominating or having one or two people as the daily points of contact for Al. He can provide weekly updates to all of council. But when you start adding in multiple bodies, that are gonna be under one contract. It can get a little complicated in terms of him understanding what are his marching orders of what we all want him to advocate for. But I understand what you're saying, certainly councilman, and that's about speaking with one voice. And we endeavor to do that much more now as we did with a Washington DC trip in December. Hopefully we'll be going back this fall. Are earmarks in style?

Did they ever go out of style like they did in Columbia?

They do. Earmarks are in style right now, but it all depends on whether or not they pass a budget or not. If they don't pass a budget and they're working off of a continuing resolution, which they do in some areas do and some don't, depending on the politics up there. But right now, yes, they are active.

Even with a $38 trillion national debt?

All I can say is you're right, but...

And I don't know what the deficit is as a percentage of GDP now, but the numbers are not trending right is my point. 100%.

Any objections to getting a written proposal or whatever the next step would be, Jimmy and Al?

I can get a contract from Jimmy. He can send me some information. We can take a look at it.

Sounds great. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you, Al.

Good to see you.

Up next, we have Suzanne Hind, General Manager over at the Middle Beach Sheraton Convention Center Hotel.

Hello. Hello.

I think all of you all know me, but my name is Suzanne Hind. I've been the general manager at the property for 20 years now. I've been with Ambridge Hospitality, who is the management company for the last 38 years, just celebrated this week. I want to introduce you to Alberto Semide. He is our director of sales and marketing, and he has been at the property for eight years. And then we have Courtney Hayes. She's the director of human resources and has been at the property for three years now. So my goal is to give you an update on how the hotel is performing. All right, this is our financial results for the last three years. So we just finished our fiscal year, March 31st, 2026. That year finished at 23 million in revenue. 2025 finished at 22.3 million. And 2024 finished at almost 21 million. So pre-COVID, we were at 16 million seven. So you see we've had some nice growth year over year over year. EBITDA, which is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, finished this year at $7.9 million compared to the previous year at $6.3 million. In the previous year, 2024, at $6.2 million. And before COVID, we were at $1.2 million. This sort of gives you an idea of our mix of business. The red line indicates group. We are a group hotel. That's what we strive to do. The black line is our transient or leisure. Most of that time, most of our transient probably comes from the group segment because groups typically have a 30-day cutoff and some people like to book outside of the group block. So most of our transient is related to the group conferences. And then the green line represents contract. We host some airlines crew at the hotel. The right one indicates where our business comes from. The black line, which is the predominant, is from Marriott.com. So you can see most of the reservations come from Marriott. The second largest is Property Direct. With the amount of groups we do, we do group rooming lists, and therefore we enter all those in on the property level. When we look at contribution from Marriott, 62% of our occupancy last year was Marriott Bonvoy members, their elite program, so you can see they do drive to our market. And then some of our key strategies that the hotel focuses on, we're a group hotel. That's what we focus on. We work closely with the convention center. We look for new large conferences. We look specifically for weekday, because that's our biggest opportunity, but we also look for weekend pieces of business. We have a lot of repeat conferences. We are very blessed to have a lot of repeat conferences. So then it's trying to find where we can put the new conferences in with our repeat. SMRF is our biggest segment that is social, military, educational, fraternal. Then associations would be next. And then corporate would be next. So what we've seen in the last few years, we've actually been able to establish a couple of corporate groups weekday that are rotating between us and other markets, which is nice to see. And then we look at short-term groups to fill any open gaps. Our booking window is typically 24-plus months out for the large conferences. So within the 24 months, we start looking for smaller pieces of business to fit some of the holes so we can maximize. We strategically do revenue planning all the time. With a group hotel, we have to take a look at every piece of business closely because we only have 400 rooms. So we have to make sure that we're maximizing the space. So we have to, when we get a piece of business, Alberto and I will review it very closely with the team and we'll look at it and say, okay, it's only taking 100 rooms and this is two years out. Can we find something that's greater that's gonna take more than 100 rooms and we'll analyze every piece of business to make sure that we're maximizing revenues for the hotel and for the city. We understand the transient segments. We watch that very carefully as well. We know what's booking in what market segments in the transient line so we can understand will we be displacing transient and if so, what type of transient business will we be displacing when we take this piece of business. And then we try to determine if there's other generators out there. A big part for us is a contract that is a nice layer of base business for us. But we're also looking at how we can maximize catering revenues as well. So we're very focused on all those issues. Guest satisfaction. So Marriott's very big on our guest satisfaction. So the top boxes are last year, calendar year, and then the second set of boxes below are how we are currently trending. So in the Marriott world, it's intent to recommend. That's the question they look at. And they only look at those that rate you 9 or 10. 8s don't count. So when you look at this overall satisfaction, 70% of the people, 70% of them rated us a 9 or a 10. And you can see year to date, we're trending even higher at 72.4. Cleanliness last year ranked at 78.7%. This year, cleanliness is at 80.2. So you can see we have a good solid product and represent the Marriott brand well. From our associates, we have 116 full-time associates. Pre-COVID, we were at 108. We're very blessed to have a very senior team. Like I said, I've been here for 20 years. We established the Hotel Heroes where we look and recognize those that are at five-year milestone, 10-year milestone, 15-year milestone, and 20-year milestones. We've been able to fund quite a few capital projects. Marriott dictates how often your hotel is renovated. As you all know, we went through a PIP and there were some requirements that were needed. We were scheduled to go through a major room renovation in April of 2020. Obviously that did not happen. And once we were able to find capital, then we started that project and completed really the guest room renovation and the corridors this past year. So the picture you see is our new guest rooms. We had to redo the bathrooms. Marriott required 200 half-year hotels have walk-in showers. So we were able to do that and then the new corridors. The next phase of the renovation is happening right now. We just finished the restaurant, so the restaurant renovation. That's the pictures of the new restaurant. Club lounge, we are required to have a club lounge. Our club lounge is on the 11th floor. That hadn't been renovated, I think, since 2014, so it went through a major renovation just completed last week. The pool also was under the renovation scope, and that just got complete last week. You can see that the designer picked a mural to be done, and the mural was done actually by a local artist. Our pool is an indoor pool on the third floor, and it's three feet deep, so it caters really for, again, the convention group. And then the fitness center, the fitness center was also remodeled and just turned back over to us and has all new equipment and modern equipment at that. This is the next phase we're getting ready to go into. This is the Sheraton and Moore concept for Marriott. So this will be happening on the second floor. The bar and the coffee shop really become one is what's going to happen. And this is the design concept. So this project will start in December. And then this is the last phase, which is the lobby renovation. The lobby is going to go hand in hand with the third phase of the exterior renovation that's happening. We really were wanting to do the lobby sooner, but they were concerned, the contractors, that there might be some damage when they go in to do the exterior phase. So again, so this will be happening next year, probably. probably say next fall is probably when this phase will happen for the lobby. Is there any questions?

Hey, Suzanne, thank you. I didn't realize it had been 20 years. My mental clock is not running that quickly.

It sort of dates me.

Goodness gracious. I remember when the hotel was built, when it opened. I remember September 11th at that time period, too. So we've had a lot of challenges with the hotel. The numbers look good. You're profitable. You're, in colloquial terms, throwing off money to the city at this point.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. We have been for the last four years. Right. Thank you.

Is there anything we could do to improve the guest experience, to improve your life? I know that it's not a beach hotel, but driving Oak Street, 21st Avenue North, I see your guests walking down 21st to the beach. Do you ever get feedback on that sort of thing? What traffic?

You know, obviously our selling point for the hotel is that we're attached to the convention center and we're a convention hotel. What's important to our meeting planners are things within walking distance and being safe within this walking distance. So Broadway at the Beach plays a big role for our group. as well as going straight down to the beach. I think what will be happening downtown will also be a great improvement, because that would be an easy walk from the hotel as well. But I'm not shy, so if I think we need something, I'll definitely reach out.

And I guess they get to Broadway at the Beach either by vehicle or down 21st Avenue North on foot. We own property that connects to Gritsom Parkway to Broadway at the Beach. We could cut a path back through there.

Now, that would be great, you know, because that is something that some groups will hire transportation to do that type of shuttle back and forth, and others just leave it on their own to do.

Just out of curiosity, what are the busy months? What are the slow months?

Well, obviously the summer is the busiest time period. But the shoulder seasons are, you know, February, March, and April, and May. They're all decent months. The slowest months for us are November, December, and January. I mean, I'm pleased to say in February we ran, I think, a 67% occupancy, which is not what this market normally sees. But we have good conferences even in the off seasons. So it's just a matter of finding them.

And then just out of curiosity, who controls the former Hall of Fame space on the first floor? Is that you guys or is that the Convention Center?

That's the Convention Center.

We need to have a conversation about the Hall of Fame at some point. Okay. Councilman?

Suzanne, your numbers look really, really strong. And curiously, perhaps more question for Michelle. Can you quantify what the waterfall throw off now is with those good numbers as compared to five years ago? And if you don't have those numbers at hand, we can get them later, but I think it's important that particularly newer members of council note the improvement there and how much money's being thrown off.

Any other questions? Thank you. We used to do this semi-annually or quarterly with some regularity.

Yeah, we did. We did. When I first got here, we were doing it a lot more frequently, but yes.

So at least annually would be a good idea.

Absolutely.

All right, let's plan on that. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good to see you.

Thanks, Suzanne.

Next up on the agenda is the beach wheelchair update. And I've got Dustin listed as the speaker on this. Dustin Jordan.

All right. Good morning.

Good morning.

I'm here this morning to present an update on our beach accessibility. Um, I think we all understand this is an important service and one that's been a challenge to staff in the past. Uh, but we do believe we have found a solution. Um, and that solution comes in a company called rent fund. I guess I'm on the button here. All right. Rent fund is the company that manages our, uh, kayak rental service out at Thunderbolt park. We've had some conversations with them and they are also interested in managing a similar service with beach wheelchairs. They would manage the wheelchair program, maintenance and customer service functions of the program. While the wheelchair space would be something new for them, they do currently have over 200 locations throughout the United States of similar services, so they are not new to the game. And I'll get into it a little bit on the next slide, but what we're talking about is self-service kayak, I'm sorry, not kayaks, wheelchair lockers. So it would be a locker that the user could come, access, unlock all themselves. We are looking at proposing four locations across the city, and those are 15th Avenue South, 2nd Avenue North, 26th Avenue North, and 53rd Avenue North. All four of those locations do have adequate parking. They have handicapped parking. um they have ada beach entry so they have ramps instead of steps and importantly they do have room to fit the lockers without losing any parking spaces there would be four chairs or four lockers at each location so a total of 16 chairs throughout the city there would be a cost to the city an initial investment of 125 000 This covers the construction and installation of the lockers, as well as the first year of operation for the service. After that first year, it would be a payment of $12,000 annually to cover the operation, maintenance of the chairs and lockers, and also replacement of the chairs and lockers as needed. So how it works. You see the large picture in the middle here is our current kayak lockers out at Thunderbolt Park. The wheelchair lockers obviously would be, they'd be a similar style but a different size because they're housing wheelchairs instead of kayaks. The top right picture is on the side of that kiosk there and that gives the user instructions of what to do. So essentially you download the app, you put in your information, Um, the app will prompt you a certain locker and it'll say, scan the QR code on the locker to unlock the door, scan the QR code, access your wheelchair. Um, you would use that, put it back in the locker yourself at the end of your designated time and lock it back up. Pretty simple. All right. A little bit about the software and what it would allow us to do. Um, it, it does allow custom reservation links to be set. And what I mean by that, um, whatever we determine that maximum amount of rental time to be, whether it's four hours, one day, weekly rentals, um, that is customizable. So we can set that to whatever we want. It allows customizable forms to be included that the user must agree to before they would be able to access the wheelchair. So that would be any waiver forms, rules and regulations, all your terms and conditions. Allows admin users to track rental data and chair locations in real time. So any annual usage, things like that, it tracks all that. And of course, if a chair is not returned, we're able to locate the chairs at any point in time. Allows admin users to lock and unlock lockers remotely. So we would have that function to lock and unlock the lockers ourselves. However, I will say that rent fund would handle the customer service. So the user, if they're having trouble, they would speak directly to rent fund and they would be able to unlock it as well. This is an important one. It allows users to see inventory availability in real time. So if you're here on vacation or a resident, you can pull up the app, pull up our kiosk and see the availability before you actually get to the kiosk. All right, cost to the user. We are recommending the use of the beach wheelchairs be free of charge. However, I will mention that the software does allow you to set fees if council decides in the future to change that. They can be set hourly, daily, weekly, however you want to do that. Uh, customers will enter credit card information to reserve a chair, even though there will be no fee charged. Um, what this does is by capturing that information on the front end, it would allow us to, uh, to charge the user if a chair is not returned. And that is pretty much the beach wheelchair program in a nutshell. You guys have any questions?

What would the charge be in the event that someone doesn't return a chair?

I think that's something that we would decide or you guys would decide.

I mean, the chairs are $1,500. Are we talking about potentially charging them for the cost of a chair?

We want the chair back, obviously, so we haven't decided that. We're trying to take, I think, one step at a time. If this is something we want to pursue, we'll certainly come up with a fee. There's got to be some fee in there if you don't return the chair.

The feedback I've heard from the community is that people return the chairs, that it's an honor system and they're good about returning the chairs. People are people, though, and I understand that doesn't always happen at the end of the day. Four boxes at four chairs apiece, are the boxes, are the rental units sized at four? Could they be six instead of four?

They could be. We're gonna start getting into some location difficulties.

And that's a good point.

But they could be, yes. They are building these to our desires. So they could build six instead of four. Okay.

Council?

That was good. I gotta admit, I kinda like the idea. You can pull your microphone up if you would, please. My bad. I like to talk too much, so I'll keep it down there. I'm not so sure that 16 chairs is enough. If you look at the amount of people who come to Myrtle Beach, especially during the summertime, that may need that service, I have a feeling that 16 chairs could be taken pretty quick. And I don't know what that magic number is. I think what might help is if we got information from other areas that have similar service and similar crowd and see what their demands are as to the use of these wheelchairs. The whole idea, I know I'm not the most savvy person when it comes to using my phone and all this technical stuff that you do there, but it seems pretty simple to do. but I'd just like to look at what other areas do, what their requirements may be, and see. I also get the idea about the locations and whether we have enough room to actually have enough chairs, space to put those chairs. But then one thing that might be considered is we had someplace offsite somewhere that somewhere in the recreational division area somewhere where there could be some store that could be taken maybe or something like that to someone. Just a couple thoughts there. Thank you.

I will add this in too. 16 was the number that we proposed to start with. We do have it built in the contract that we could add another kiosk within the first two years for a set price if we decided we needed more.

And we have the ADA compliant beach ramps that would allow us to use that as a starting point for locating a box.

We do. We've got 39 ramps.

I think this is a great starting point. I appreciate all your hard work and finding this organization and stuff. I think it's going to be a great thing.

What would you propose for a starting rental period?

A day? A week? I would not go more than a day, personally. I'm afraid if we go longer than a day, then people might rent them for the week or multiple days when they're not on the beach for that length of time, and then it just makes it unavailable for others.

I agree with that.

And a day being 24 hours? No.

That's also something we haven't discussed. The lockers, you can make them...

available and unavailable for certain times so whether we determine that's eight to five ten to nine you know whatever that that time frame is you can make them unrentable for the other times and i i ask that because i think about the difficulty of dealing with a person who has a physical impairment of some description um just the the logistics of picking up a chair i don't have a car that would pick up a chair i don't think those sorts of things there may be some extra time required to do the returning process or the picking up process so that you've got some actual use time with the chair and the individual on the beach, too. So anyway, that was my thought process.

And I understand that, Mayor. Really, I do, but allowing a 24-hour period. Then folks said, well, I really don't have to turn it back in today. I'll do it tomorrow kind of thing. That's the whole thing.

If you rent it at noon, you've got until noon the next day?

Then you start the next day and somebody may need the chair and there's none available because they haven't brought it back yet. I think we need to look at that time frame during that period of a day instead of a 24-hour period. I do understand that.

My thought process is that if somebody arrives at the beach, they check in at 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon, they want to go on the beach in the afternoon and again maybe the next morning, are they going to pick the chair up at 4 or 5 o'clock and return it at 8 o'clock, 7 o'clock at night, or would they have it until noon the next day or something like that?

At this present time, it's not costing them anything but effort to do it. I would look at, to start, where we'd be very

limit on the amount of time there i think 24 hours is a long time to keep chair yeah i agree i think 24 hours is a little bit too long i think they had they need some beach time parameters and i'm sure there's other cities that's you know let's see what everybody else is doing can we do that look at that yeah okay other questions sounds good thank you

And I think there's a item on the agenda today to adjust. There's a budget amendment on today's agenda. Just the budget to get this rolling to get this rolling. Yes, sir. How quickly can this happen?

They're targeting two months. Once we get the agreement, they'll have them installed within two months. They say.

Okay. Okay. Super. All right. Any other questions? Thank you.

All right. I do have a quick review on beach mats. This is the same information that I went over a couple of weeks ago. So it will be a review. Um, process that that we did we inspected all 143 public beach access points to determine how many access points could potentially accommodate a beach mat we look for parking handicap parking and ramps as opposed to stairs and a straight line from the ramp to the beach um we did determine we have 39 ramps currently um that allow you to access the beach many of those on the north ends do get you to the toe of the dune lines um so i would say we're doing a pretty good job with ada walkovers already the toe of the dune line is the same place the beach matting would get you um so we have a good number of those ramps on the north end that already get you to that point we did identify a location where the beach access mat could be implemented as a pilot program established a beach a maintenance plan for the mat and determine the installation time frame So 15th Avenue South is the pros pilot location. We'll add 24 foot of beach mat from the end of the ramp to the dune line. And we're currently still working on the permitting through SEDS, and we're hoping to get that in place in the next couple of months as well. Any questions on the beach mat?

No, I think giving it a try is a good idea.

All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Those are our workshop items for this morning. We've got about 20 minutes before the 10 o'clock regular meeting. We do have one executive session item. Can we do that in 20 minutes?

Yes, sir.

Okay. If you all don't mind. We've got one executive session item. The following are invited to attend in addition to the City Council. Fox Simons, Will Bryan, Brian Tucker, Josh Brugger, Michelle Shumpert, Marla Bell, Meredith Denary, and Amy Neuschafer. A motion to go into executive session to receive legal advice relating to pending litigation involving development on the cane patch tract. I'll make the motion. Is there a second?

Second.

All those in favor of going into executive session briefly, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? And we'll step in the room back here. Thank you. Good morning again. City Council met in Executive Session, took no action. Is there a motion to come out of Executive Session? So moved.

Second.

Motion and a second. All those in favor of exiting Executive Session, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? We've got nine minutes, so we'll take a quick break until 10 o'clock.

you

Good morning. Thank you all for being here today. This is our regular meeting on Tuesday, May 26th. We have a full house and the agenda is not very long, but there are important and exciting things to do on the agenda today. And before we start at 10 o'clock, we've got a public hearing on the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2627. So that public hearing takes precedence at this point. Michelle, are you our public hearing presenter? So we'll call that public hearing to order.

Thank you and good morning. Good morning. State statute dictates that we must have a balanced budget passed by July 1st every year. They also dictate that before we pass that budget, we have a public hearing on the budget advertised in a paper of general circulation 15 days before the date of the public hearing. That was done on May 8th of this year, giving us the 15 days.

Oh, I've got it.

All right. The public hearing lays out the tax millage proposed in the budget and the revenue expected to be generated, the operating revenue expected to be generated by that tax millage. Along with the deadline for a budget passage and the requirement for a public hearing, the state also dictates how much we can raise taxes in any given year. we are capped by CPI, growth, and we can take the last three years of accumulated unused CPI and growth factors for millage increases. We are not increasing millage in this budget this year. However, were we to choose to do so, we could increase millage by 31.37% or 24.3 mils. We're gonna generate $64 million in operating revenue with the 77.4 mils of operating tax that we apply every year. And now we are open for any questions or comments.

It's a public hearing. Council, do you have any questions or comments? Members of the public, do you have any questions or comments? Hearing none, we'll close the public hearing. The plan is at this point to have the budget on for first reading next time?

At this meeting, sir.

Oh, it's on, sorry, I apologize. Yes, sir. This meeting, sorry. Thank you. Thank you. Second reading next time, thank you. All right, that was the public hearing. It is now time to start the regular meeting at 10 o'clock. So let us call to order. With our invocation, Councilman Chestnut's going to present that, and if you'll rise for the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance, please.

If you wish, you may join City Council for a standing for a moment of solemn invocation. Almighty God, creator and sustainer of all that is or will ever be, accept our profound gratitude for this day and all its blessings of life and freedom. We remember those who make our freedom possible and recognize it is because of their sacrifice that our community can practice our shared and enduring values of fair expressions of faith, civic duty, and respect for all. We gather today to render our public service in proper manner, perform our civic duty in good order. Therefore, we solemnly invoke divine wisdom and guidance in this day's meeting.

Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, Mike.

Yes, sir.

Approval of the agenda. We have an agenda before us. Are there any changes or amendments to the agenda?

So moved.

Second. All those in favor of the agenda as presented, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The approval of the minutes from the May 12th City Council meeting. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Mike and Mike. Any comments from council? Mike and Mike.

Sounds like a morning talk show. It does, doesn't it? Mike and Mike. Yeah.

Any comments from council?

Gives me a good idea.

Any comments from the public?

All those in favor of the minutes for the May 12th meeting as presented, please say aye.

Aye.

We have public request presentations, awards, and memorials, and again, a full house today. So let us begin with recognition of the Myrtle Beach Police Department's Officer of the Year, Chris Holmes. I believe Chief Smith is coming down.

Good morning, Mayor. Good morning, Council. We appreciate the time this morning. It's an incredible honor to be able to recognize Corporal Chris Holmes for his success in selection to be the 2025 Myrtle Beach Rotary Club Joseph McGarry Police Officer of the Year. He continues to do outstanding work every year from his experience in SRO and currently as one of our investigators. uh he has a incredible representation for the team that he works with standing in the back of the room we couldn't be more proud of his work i couldn't be more proud of the work of every officer here at the police department but we certainly wanted to recognize corporal chris holmes outstanding work i'm going to allow his lieutenant lieutenant vest to say a few words in recognition of

So first, let me say he absolutely hates this. He asked me not to say anything, so I'm going to embarrass him as much as possible right now. I have to say, nothing he does, he does for any recognition. When he won the award, nobody was more surprised than him. And there's a photograph that shows his face. At the moment, his name was announced. I'll share it with all of you. He's an incredible detective. He's an incredible officer. from his time in SRO until his time now has just been great at everything he's done. Just last night on his way home, he went to a call to offer his assistance, ended up staying for seven hours, went home at one o'clock in the morning, and he's still working on that case now. As soon as we're done here, he's gonna go sign some more warrants. So just an incredible individual who is just an asset to our department and our community. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you and congratulations, Chris.

Thank you Chris.

You can make a speech if you'd like.

Thank you everybody.

And thank you to the Rotary Club for recognizing a Police Officer of the Year annually. That's a great honor, too.

All right, up next, we're recognizing someone who

has been a frequent contributor to the ideas and thought processes that come before City Council. You may have heard the name, but you may not have met the man. I've met Fred through the years. I think Fred is in my telephone here at this point. But we are recognizing today Mr. Fred Portway for decades of... contributions and kibitzing to the city of Myrtle Beach.

I'm going to read the proclamation for Mr. Portway and then he can say a few words. All right. Thank you for being here today. In honor of Alfred Fred Portway and his contributions to golf. Whereas Alfred Fred Portway has dedicated much of his life to the game of golf, beginning as a teenage caddy and later working at the Titleist Golf Ball Factory at age 17. And whereas following the closure of the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base in 1993, Portway worked with then-Mayor Bob Grissom and organized a petition effort encouraging the conveyance of the former base golf course to the city of Myrtle Beach for $1.00. gathering hundreds of signatures in support. NWRES, that effort contributed to preserving the golf course known today as Whispering Pines Golf Course. NWRES, Portway later served as a paid ambassador for Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday, traveling throughout the US and Canada to promote Myrtle Beach as a golf destination, and also taught golf at Horry Georgetown Technical College. And whereas Portway created and championed the phrase Golf Town USA as a way to promote Myrtle Beach and recognize golf's lasting impact on the city's identity and economy. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the Myrtle Beach City Council hereby honors Alfred Portway for his contributions to golf and for creating and promoting the phrase Golf Town USA, helping strengthen Myrtle Beach's reputation as one of America's premier golf destinations. Signed and sealed this 26th day of May. Thank you, Fred. And thank you for the letter that helped me write this. Thank you, Fred.

Fred, one second.

Let me also say that Mr. Portway was the person who suggested that we place...

I can't say much. I'm a little hard of hearing for one thing. But I am overwhelmed. With this recognition, I've known Mark for, Mr. Mayor, for 15 to 20 years. Miss Jennifer, close to that. And Dr. Rinder also. I'd run into Dr. Rinder a whole lot up the street here, one of the markets. I'm at a big disadvantage because of my hearing in the last few years. Before that, I was really lucky and able to function, but I'm dwindled a little bit. Plus when you get to 94, You have to expect that. You'll all find out in another 30 years. Well, Jennifer, a little more than that. This is unbelievable. As you know, I've done a few things, but I'm Sometime I boast, but I'll tell people I'm not boasting. I'm just telling you what I've done. I can back everything up, everything back to when I was 15 years old as a caddy and a caddy master. 19 years old, into the Coast Guard. Not a hero in the Coast Guard. I was lucky. I served in headquarters in Boston for half of my three-year term. And how lucky I was. My superior at headquarters in Boston was a man named James Gracie, an ensign out of the Coast Guard Academy. He was an ensign in 1952, 53. 25 years later or thereabouts, James Gracie. I'm watching television. I'm a civilian. I only served three years. And I see they're interviewing an officer. and he's got stripes from his wrist up to his elbow, and I look at him, and no names, but I say to myself, is that James Gracie? 10 seconds later, Admiral Commandant James Gracie. I jumped up out of my chair. I got a piece of paper and a pen and I sent him a letter. And I was so close to Jim as an ensign, 26 years old. He was four years older than me. And lo and behold, I was his right hand for about a year and a half. And I'll tell you, I hope there's a few people here that are thinking of military service. And I shouldn't plug one over another, but I served in the Coast Guard, and I'll be glad to go back again. And I hope that people will consider their role. People that get things done don't look for all the credit in the world, although I do pat myself on the back maybe too often. Just a little. Okay. This is a great honor, really, and I've known Mr. Mayor Mark The city is very fortunate that they elected Mark Kroer. I'll clue you. I've been around government since I was 17, 18, 19, and I know pretty much in Massachusetts, but I still know and recognize people, what they've done and have done and will continue to do.

Thank you, Fred. We're honored to honor you. I also want to let everybody know that Fred is the person who suggested that we fly the military branch flags on the boardwalk. So that was Fred's idea as well.

All right.

All right, Public Works people, come on down.

Please make your way to the front.

Bring the whole crew.

I don't think anybody's left out on the street.

I'll let him get out.

Are you going to read it? Ventra.

Working proof. Yes, sir.

Let's see if we can get everybody inside the horseshoe, if you will. We may not be able to do that.

No, we don't bite. But there are a lot.

Easier, correct.

As you're assembling, please know that City Council is aware that the Public Works crowd not only has been busy, this was a busy weekend, but you've got another one or two coming up here in the near future. So we thank you. Y'all have got to be tired, hot, and sunburned at this point. So thank you for coming out today to be recognized. But we recognize what you do daily, I hope, if not hourly and minutely. So thank you very much.

Our public works crews have helped us very efficiently get those beach signs installed at all of our beach accesses and they're finishing those up. In addition, one crew specifically hung more than 200 banners in about a week, all the America, America 250 and military banners in addition to their regular jobs because they knew how important it was to get those up before Memorial Day. So great work on that. All right, now to the proclamation. National Public Works Week. Whereas the City of Myrtle Beaches Public Works Department plays a critical role in maintaining the infrastructure and services that protect the health, safety, comfort, and quality of life of residents, visitors, and businesses working around the clock to serve the community. And whereas the facilities, systems, and programs maintained by public works professionals are essential to a strong and sustainable city, supporting clean water, reliable utilities, safe transportation, environmental stewardship, and infrastructure improvements that benefit millions of people each year. and whereas the dedicated employees of the public works department including engineers managers and staff work together to plan build operate and maintain vital services such as solid waste collection infrastructure projects recycling litter and beach cleanup water and sewer systems mosquito control street maintenance special event operations mapping traffic engineering parks and facilities maintenance the alert crew and many other critical functions Now therefore, be it proclaimed that the Myrtle Beach City Council hereby designates May 17th through 23rd, 2026 as National Public Works Week and recognizes the outstanding service, dedication, and professionalism of the Public Works Department, extending sincere appreciation to these often unsung employees whose work helps keep Myrtle Beach safe, clean, and moving forward. Signed and sealed this 26th day of May, 2026.

Thank you very much.

I'll make it super quick with a thank you to council for recognizing the hard work and dedicated people at Public Works team. Meredith did a great display of everything we do, which is keep the city running. So we appreciate you all and everything you do.

Let's see how long this difference is.

Oh, yeah, I think it's a couple months. It'll be worth it.

If you want to. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, guys. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Thank you for coming this morning.

Mayor, I'd just like to say that this crowd here gives boots on the ground a whole new meaning.

Very, very true. They shake a pretty mean hand too. Yes.

I think that was the biggest turnout we've seen for that sort of thing.

They're probably trying to get out the heat.

Could be.

Could be.

It's going to cool off for a little bit.

all right so thank you again to our public work staff for all that they do across many different fields and responsibilities up next we've got the communications and creative services update please Patrick Lloyd here with your communications update here are some of the sights and sounds from a meaningful weekend here in Myrtle Beach dedicated to our military

My home sweet home Before the weekend, veterans were also honored at the annual Military Appreciation Game at Pelicans Ballpark on May 16th. Looking ahead, the Field of Honor will return to Myrtle Beach this week. 250 American flags from different periods of American history will be placed in the field next to the Warbird Park parking lot. They'll be there through July 7th. A similar flag installment is also coming soon to the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk. Thank you, veterans, for your service and sacrifice to our country. Overall, Memorial Day weekend was busy as usual, thanks to our hardworking crews for keeping the city safe and clean. In other news, the America 250 banners are up in Nance Plaza and along 9th Avenue North, as well as the Market Common. Most of the new beach signs are up. They're being installed at every public beach access. If you haven't seen them at your favorite beach access yet, hang in there. They'll be up soon. A big thanks to SCDOT for re-striping part of Kings Highway in downtown. The updated lines go from Mr. Joe White Avenue to 6th Avenue North. Seasonal fireworks are back starting Wednesday, May 27th. You can catch them from the Boardwalk every Wednesday evening at 9 through September 2nd. And bring the kids out to a free football clinic at Ashley Booth Field Saturday, May 30th from 8 till 1. You can register at MyrtleBeachPRST.com. That's all for now. Hope you have a great rest of your week.

Excellent. Thank you. We had a busy weekend from the parade to the... Jack Platt Veterans March to the World War, I'm sorry, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Dedication yesterday. And then of course, all the activities from Memorial Day too. So again, thank you to all of the city staff and all the public who participated in all of those events. Speaking of the public, non-agenda items from the public. Is anybody signed in?

No, sir.

Can anybody not control your urge to speak to us at this point? Thank you. Moving right along. We've got the consent agenda today. There's one item on the consent agenda.

Good morning. Yes, there is only one item on the consent agenda this morning for your consideration. That's motion 202665, approve the city to enter into a memorandum of understanding between the City of Middle Beach Police Department and the City of Florence Police Department for the purpose of securing part definitions when we help each other out.

Super. Thank you. Council, let's do a motion. Is there a motion for the consent agenda?

So moved. Seconded.

Jackie and Phil. Any discussion from council? Any discussion from the public? All those in favor of the consent agenda as presented, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Moving to the regular agenda. Jennifer, we've got second reading of 26-34.

Second reading of ordinance 2026-34, to close and abandon a portion of an alley between 27th Avenue North and 26 North, abutting the rear of lots three and four, portion of pin 4241104002, through lot five and six, portion pin 4241104001, Washington Park section of the City of Myrtle Beach.

Just a summary. The second reading, no changes since first reading. I can go through this once we get the money.

Do a quick version, please.

Yes. Ordinance 34 would abandon that portion of the alley there on between 26th and 27th Avenue North. It would be conveyed along with the parcel just behind that, which is the following ordinance. Talk about values. The alleyway plus the third row parcel were appraised at $745,000 in total. The alleyway itself is valued at just over $71,000. I will just skim through all three of these while we're here. Third row parcel there is the piece we would be conveying. Again, all of these parcels are being conveyed or relocated to accommodate the development of a new oceanfront resort that would stretch into the third row, formerly the CDEP property, will be the jewelry property, and then the alleyways that you see there in red, we would be swapping those red alleys for these two parcels that are at 9th Avenue North, Oak Street, and Broadway. Again, happy to answer any questions, happy to go into any further detail. Motion to approve.

Motion to approve, second? Second. The mics. Any discussion from city council? I think we're excited to be able to move this forward. I'm excited that we've updated the alleyway swap ordinance to allow council to use its best discretion in making opportunities like this available to the public. Any comments from the public? All those in favor of second reading as presented, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? And that's approved. Jennifer's second reading of 26-35.

Second reading of Ordinance 2026-35, authorizing the sale of pin number 4241104003 for fair market value to facilitate future development.

third-room parcel has been appraised $745,000. Motion to approve.

Motion and a second. Any discussion from the City Council? Any discussion from the public? Again, this is to facilitate a 400-room oceanfront hotel that's coming.

Yes, sir.

Any other comments? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Second reading was approved. One more on this. Second reading of 26-36, Jennifer.

Second reading of Ordinance 2026-36, authorizing the closure and abandonment of two certain alleys in exchange for two parcels at 8th Avenue North and Oak Street, pin number 44401010027 and 44304020086 to facilitate future developments.

Motion to approve. Second.

Same project, same goals. At the end of the day, the public, the city will receive roughly a million dollars worth of public benefit as part of this. Any discussion from council? Any discussion from the public? All those in favor of second reading of 26-36, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Jennifer, second reading of ordinance 26-38, please.

Second reading of ordinance 2026-38 to amend section 23-142 of Article 6, Division 2 of Chapter 23 of the City of Myrtle Beach Code of Ordinances relating to wrecker services and non-consensual towing.

Good morning, Mayor and Council. This is an update, or there's been no changes from first to second reading. This is updating the ancillary fees from towing on the no-tow fees, storage fees, and decoupling fee.

Is there a motion to approve?

Motion to approve.

This mic and that mic. Any discussion from City Council? Any discussion from the public? All those in favor of second reading of Ordinance 26-38 to amend the charges related to non-consensual towing, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Second reading is approved. Second reading of Ordinance 26-40, please, Jennifer.

Second reading of Ordinance 2026-40 to amend Article 1, Chapter 23 of the City of Myrtle Beach Code of Ordinances, Vehicles for Hire to include Section 23-11 relating to applicability of article.

There's been no changes from first to second reading. Just as a reminder, this cleans up that chapter a little bit, and with the addition of the Pedal Power Passenger Vehicles section that goes in there, this ordinance essentially says that the general regulations that are in that chapter do not apply if there's a specific section in there that applies.

Motion to approve. Second.

Any discussion from council? This does not, I'll figure out how to ask the question. This is for the pedal powered passenger bicycle?

That's part of it, but there's other sections in there, taxi cabs and other vehicles for hire, and it's the general sections in there do not apply if there's another section that's specific to that mode of transportation.

They're operating under a special event permit currently. This won't affect their ability to operate under a special event permit until they've applied for the proper

Correct. Coming up behind me, Amy Neuschafer is going to come up on the franchise agreement for Pedal Pub. We pulled the Pedal Passenger Power Vehicle Ordinance off of the agenda because if we would have passed that and then you would have passed the franchise agreement on first reading, there would have been the problem.

There would have been a restriction. Super. Thank you. I don't know whether I asked any comments from the public. All those in favor of second reading as presented, please say aye. Aye. 26-40 is approved. Jennifer, first reading of Ordinance 26-42, please.

First reading of Ordinance 2026-42 to amend the municipal budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1st, 2025 and ending June 30th, 2026 by authorizing the use of hospitality tax fund balance for beach access mobility devices.

This is the budget amendment that we talked about during the workshop hour.

And this is to provide for the four beach-going wheelchair boxes in that process. Yes, sir. Any discussion from city council?

Motion to approve. Second.

Jackie was the second. Well, that's the motion. Is there any discussion from council?

Mayor, let me just add, I also... I asked Dustin to, as far as the beach wheelchairs, take a look at bringing back some recommendations as far as being able to provide some assistance if people need some assistance at those wheelchair rental spots.

Contact of some sort? Yeah. Okay. All right. Any discussion from the public? All those in favor of... First reading 26-42 to amend the budget, the current year's budget to provide funding for the beach wheelchair boxes that we discussed at workshop, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, first reading of ordinance 26-43.

First reading of ordinance 2026-43 to levy taxes and establish a municipal budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027.

All right, good morning again. As we stated in the public hearing, we are going to have a discussion for first reading of the budget today. We've been through most of this, but I'm just going to do a quick summary just to sort of cement it. The total budget for FY26-27 is $384 million. That is a 6.5% increase over the total budget for FY26. This budget contains no property tax increase. It does include a reduction of the tourism development fee credit from 67.5% to 53.4%. That equates to about $47 per $100,000 of assessed value on a property tax bill. There is no proposed rate increase for any of our recreation facilities, no business license increases, and we do have proposed increases for the cemetery, encroachment fees, water and sewer, and solid waste, which I'll talk a little bit more about in the next few slides. The budget includes a 3% cost of living increase scheduled to be effective July 1st. We have some insurance premium adjustments, We are continuing the take home police car program. We've added the education reimbursement, or increased it up to 30,000 as council requested. And housing rehabilitation program has been reinstated with the CDBG funds. The Merle Beach Downtown Alliance, originally when we came to you at retreat with that budget, it was 1.8 million, it has been reduced by $350,000, so there's a reduction in that outlay. We have enhanced our roadway maintenance budget by adding another crew as requested by this council. And we have enhanced landscaping through an additional landscaping crew again as requested by council. The service enhancements included, as I just said, are going to be that right-of-way landscape crew, the street road crew. We're going to have a health insurance benefits coordinator. We've talked this year about how much our health insurance is increasing, how much medical expense is increasing. So we need that coordinator to help us really get a handle on this over the next year. We've also added in the revenue department a meter tech. This meter tech will be used to help us locate non-billable meters, meters that are broken, more quickly and address those, saving lost revenue out of the water and sewer funds. The budget also includes $1.8 million in capital. $434,000 of that is associated with that added road crew and that added beautification or landscaping crew. We've added those different crews using some of the fund balance in the general fund. We start the budget with a $50 million fund balance estimate. And after adding the road crews, the maintenance crews, your benefits coordinator, and subsidizing that first year of the health insurance premium increases, we end up with a $49.8 million fund balance. That's a use of $416,000. Normally, when we talk about use of fund balance, we don't recommend it. However, what we don't recommend is use of fund balance for recurring expenses. We have, as I just said earlier, almost $2 million in capital outlays, and a good portion of that is for these new crews. Those are one-time expenditures, so we will not be using that fund balance for one-time expenditures. Also, even after using that fund balance for those expenditures, we will still be within our targeted unassigned fund balance range of 15 to 20%. We'll actually be at 22.3% of unassigned fund balance after we make these recommended expenditures. Governmental funds, those are the funds that pay for most of those public works guys back there, not solid waste of water and sewer, but the other folks, our police officers, our firefighters, our recreation folks. That's where all of your governmental funds come in. That's a $365 million budget. Public safety actually makes up 22.9% of that budget overall at $83.6 million. And 32.1% of the budget is for personnel because we provide services. That's what we do. Enterprise funds, that's solid waste, water and sewer, and the parking utility. The budget for the enterprise funds is $68.8 million, with the bulk of that being in our water sewer fund at about $55 million. The tourism development fee, we talked about that a good bit this year during the budget process and how if we did not make some adjustment that we would have a $2.3 million deficit in FY27. That has been adjusted, like I said earlier, 67.5% to 53.4%. By doing that, the City of Myrtle Beach still maintains one of the lower millage rates within our comparable area, with an effective millage rate of 38.9 mils. Water and sewer, we talked about that earlier. The utility rate will increase water by 6%, sewer by 9%. That's going to be about a $5.53 cost for our folks each month. A big driver of that is the increase in operating costs due to inflation, the increase in wholesale water, and the increase in construction costs. Solid weight increase is also anticipated at 3.5%. That's about $1.08 per month for our folks. you know when we presented this before we talked about a possible increase in the march 26 2006 budget meeting for solid waste they did they are going to increase a dollar fifty per ton when i looked at it we we use about 40 tons 40 000 tons a year so that's going to be an additional 60 000 in cost to the city just in the tipping fees alone and stormwater rate there will be no change in the stormwater rate this year proposed seminary cemetery rate increases are here they've also in all of these we've provided you with the comparison of some of our nearest competitors or like likewise you know like businesses and you can see that the city of myrtle beach still is very affordable when compared to those other entities

and the capital plan.

The five-year capital plan in this budget identifies about $74 million worth of projects for the first year. What I do want to say is in the budget, we'll pass that dollar amount. We don't necessarily break out all of the projects and adopt those projects in the budget ordinance. That will come in the resolution for the five-year capital plan at second reading. The total plan over the five years is anticipated to cost $464 million. Council's always interested in the amount of long-term debt that might be generated with this five-year plan. The current five year plan is ambitious and it has a lot included in there. The debt estimate at this point is 340 million. Now we fully expect that to be offset by number one, hopefully grant funds or proviso funds. Number two, private participation. And number three, maybe we'll be able to use some of our other tourism revenues to help offset the cost. The big drivers of this are going to be the police station. It's over $100 million. You've got fire station number one at 26 million. There's contemplated parking garages for downtown at 40 million. And then you have the 48 inch parallel water lines for water and sewer at 36 million. So you really have a number of very large projects and needed projects included here. I was asked before about how do we compare debt-wise. Our credit rating is AA negative. That kind of sounds like, ooh, negative. No, it's actually really good. We have some of the highest, lowest risk debt out there. That is why that we are able to continue to secure good rates. What that means is sometimes we hear you have too much debt. Moody's, Standard & Poor's, they are looking at us. They're looking at our income mix. They're looking at willingness of council to pivot and raise rates when necessary. They're looking at the resilience of this area. And when we receive a rating that high, it is saying, Myrtle Beach, you do not have too much debt. You have sufficient reserves. You have set yourself up in a way that you can comfortably pay for your debt. Now, we all know that there's a lot of uncertainty into the economy. Every day I read the paper, there's something new. Oh, oil prices have dropped because there's going to be a ceasefire. Or, oh no, groceries are at the highest level they have been. You know, credit card defaults. You hear something new every day. But here at Myrtle Beach, we're really experienced in dealing with uncertainty. Because when we put these budgets together, we don't just do it looking at, okay, this is what we're going to fund this year. We also look at, okay, what do we do if something were to happen? What do we do if there is a storm or some other major factor that impacts our economy that reduces the revenue that we have coming in? Well, we're watching that. We pull back on projects. We hold vacant positions. We cut spending. So through that careful process, we're here to make sure, we also have the reserves too. We're here to make sure that we have tools in place to keep Myrtle Beach going regardless. And if things look better throughout the year, then there are more projects that council can do or further build those reserves. Either way, we'll be communicating with you all throughout the year. I do want to say one other thing. I didn't mention this in the capital, but I've heard and seen some comments about beach restrooms. I understand that that is an interest in all of council and logistically how we can do that. They're not included in this budget. However, what I will say is that right now we've been looking at some alternatives and some ways that we can make that happen. I won't really be able to put a good number in this budget right now. However, the discussions are ongoing and that is something that just like the wheelchairs that you just did a motion to amend and deal with that. We can do that same thing. We'll have some capacity say in your hospitality tax fund. that over the next month or so as we look into and try to address that desire for those beach restrooms. We can do that. While it's not here, that does not mean it cannot go forward.

Thank you. I think council generally likes the idea of adding a beach restroom or two per year if we can pull that off. Safe statement. A quick question. Does the budget before us today include the additional $92,000 in part-time money for the Chapin Memorial Library?

It includes an additional $80,000. They asked for, they had $120,000, so that took it to $200,000. Okay.

And I believe that we may get a little extra money from Horry County for the library this year. Not a lot, but a little bit. That would be great. In the neighborhood of $50,000.

Nice little $15,000 bump.

Yes. No, in the neighborhood of $50,000 extra. Oh, nice. $45,000 extra. So that's a little more than 15. Is there a motion?

Let me ask you, I know we have talked about stage at Charlie's Place. Is that?

We have that in the five-year plan, and when we go over the resolution, when we adopt that resolution for the five-year plan, you will adopt that in the first year.

Okay.

So it is in the current year's spending plan to answer Mike's question.

Mayor, do you want a motion on the floor before we discuss a little bit? Ideally.

I think that would be.

Is there a motion to approve?

Motion to approve.

Is there a second? Second.

Second.

Now, quickly, the solid waste fee increase seems minimal to me, particularly for the service that our residents get from the solid waste division, which is outstanding. There's probably no better word for it than that. on the water and sewer increases the dollar amounts that you mentioned are based on usage of 7 500 gallons per month which is a family of four probably so if you use less than 7 500 gallons per month you will experience a lower cost than that council any comments yes i just wanted to um

Your increase in the operating budget this year is what I would categorize as a modest 3% to 4%. Is that in the realm?

It is, 3.3%.

And if I were king for a day, I could firm that up a little bit, but I'm not going to sacrifice, what's the saying, the good trying to achieve the perfect. So I commend you on what you're trying to do and this council will vote on. What caught my eye initially at first blush was the $74 million in year one of your five-year plan, of our five-year plan. But when I examined that, 26 million of it appears to be for a fire station that staff was so gracious to accommodate Mr. Chestnut and I when we went and looked at fire station one and we could stand some improvement there. Do you agree, Councilor? But again, I'm not convinced that that 26 is hard, so it always takes longer, it always costs more, so I appreciate that's the best estimate you could give, but I think we need to be prepared down the road for an adjustment there, most likely up. And if you could explain to me exactly the near 30 million in water and sewer, are there specifics you can tell why that's

Sure, so actually the total cost has been spread out over four years. I think the first leg was 10 million, the second might have been 13. Either way, we did get about 10 million in proviso money to help with that. So it's an even much larger project, but it is a 48-inch parallel water line, and what this is going to do is increase our capacity. You know, you look at the growth here in this area over the past several years. We've got to get ready for that capacity. At some point, the existing line is not going to be enough to push that water through. We did this with our sewer lines back, oh gosh, I don't remember how many years ago that was. It might have been 10 years ago at this point. It all seems, like you said earlier, to just go by in a flash. But we've already done it with our sewer lines, so now it's time for our transmission lines for the water. So growth is fueling that. We've also used some hospitality tax money to help offset the cost of that to our taxpayers because a bit of that growth is driven by the tourism industry.

Okay. And again, no increase in stormwater management fees.

No, sir.

And we do not flood unlike other jurisdictions around us. I mean.

That is very true.

And we're sure that's the conservative right way to go right now.

Yes, right now we are.

And I know that's Janet's department, but that's where we used to get phone calls years ago, Mr. Chestnut, Mr. Louder. And I don't know what our investment now is, but in days past it was upwards of 120 million dollars. And I remember the Joaquin years, we didn't flood but for a moment. So I just want to make sure we're covered with regard to future

But we've got a team that is very aware of where the water stands, where it pools, and they're not afraid to come tell me they need money to fix it or to even try to get grants. I think they've done an amazing job over the last few years.

Well, it's easy to look at numbers and say this is not a conservative budget. This is a conservative budget. And as I say, could some of us firm it up even more? What we do has to be practicable. It has to be implementable. It has to benefit the city and not an ego talking on a microphone. So that's kind of where I think we all are. So thank you for your hard work and I'll think hard over the next two weeks.

Sure, sure. And really, a lot of the benefit and the credit goes to these department heads that have worked so hard to make their budgets as lean as they can.

to dr render's point about this stormwater management fee no increase this year on the heels of a 22 increase last year so i don't think i would be in favor of an increase this year regardless yes so anybody else any comments from the public on the budget I would point out that this leaves us with $49 million in change in fund balance. Is that a true statement?

It does. And the general fund alone, yes.

Yes. So we have significant reserves.

Yes, sir.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

All those in favor of the budget as presented with no tax increase, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Thank you very much. Madam Clerk, first reading of 26-44, please.

First reading of Ordinance 2026-44, granting a franchise agreement for operation of a pedal-powered passenger vehicle business to Amanda Sabrandi, Myrtle Beach Party Bike LLC, doing business as Pedal Pub Myrtle Beach.

All right, good morning. Josh explained to you all that we have held second reading on the code amendment that would specifically govern the operation and franchising of the pedal-powered passenger vehicles so that the Pedal Pub, who currently has a special event permit, can continue to operate. We can catch these two items up together next meeting. This is the proposed franchise agreement that would allow the Pedal Pub, the pedal-powered passenger vehicle, to operate on the city streets in the city right-of-way. As drafted, we have provided for a one-year franchise term with an annual franchise fee of $1,000 for the first year and $1,500 for any subsequent year. The applicant has requested at this time two decals for two vehicles. um the franchise agreement would allow operation only on the route specified in the application which were provided to you all and i can give you a little summary if you need that and she would only be allowed to deviate from these routes in the event of extraordinary circumstances or emergency The agreement incorporates all the operational requirements from the code amendment, the vehicle equipment standards we've discussed previously, the insurance requirements, indemnification requirements, and all the other provisions of the code amendment presumably will be adopted next meeting. The agreement does allow the city manager to approve route changes and additions after the fact and does allow the city manager to provide approval for transfer or assignment of the decals. There's a provision for the temporary suspension in the interest of public safety for two hours by the police chief and then for a longer period of time temporarily by the city manager in limited circumstances. Any further suspension or revocation would be at the will of council. The code amendment prohibits the franchisee from using city-owned property other than the streets or right-of-way unless specifically approved in the agreement. Here the applicant has requested use of Nance Plaza for parking of the Petal Pub during what she has termed non-peak hours and temporary staging. Staff does not recommend to allow staging and parking in Nance Plaza. So we have not incorporated that into this proposed agreement. Let's see. Like I said, we have drafted it as a one-year franchise term. That is at the discretion of Council. We thought one year would be appropriate, at least this first year, since we have never previously had a franchise like this before, and we can explore a longer term on renewal next year if that's the will of Council. um happy to oh the only other thing i think you will see at next meeting potentially we will have a second route she is interested in that we will tack on to the agreement that would allow her to go to swiggins swig and swine um right now the the only routes listed in here are are the there's a four-stop route around um downtown and then her route back to the storage location

So that other route would include a portion of Broadway Street?

That's correct.

Franchises in South Carolina can be up to seven years?

I believe that's just for the beach franchises, is my recollection. That's specified by statute for the beach.

Correct, for our purposes, but I think state law says you can do a franchise for up to seven years.

I'd have to look at that. I know the general statute just gives council the authority to grant franchises and charge for them.

I think to start at one year is fine. Why not recommend, why is staff not recommending parking at Nance Plaza and staging?

Certainly out of equity to other businesses nearby or not nearby who may want to stage or use Nance Plaza. And then typically because it is a city park that is governed by the facility use or special event permit to rent or use a city park like that.

We have food trucks that are parked on there on occasion.

I believe those get a special event permit, to my knowledge.

They're probably under a special event permit. Yeah.

I would be opposed to using our park as a parking place for it.

Okay.

Any other thoughts, Council, on that? I can't get to the train depot at the moment.

Not at the moment. There is the paver parking lot behind Nance Plaza.

And that would be a good alternative, I think. The train depot is going to be problematic, I think, because it gets rented as a whole. And if you impose somebody on top of that, I think that's going to be a problem.

We need a motion and a second.

All right. Is there a motion to approve this as presented, please, as first reading? Motion to approve. We're going to go over here. Mike and Phil, please. Any discussion from council?

Is there an appetite to amend the ordinance to increase the franchise term or amend the ordinance to allow use of Nance Plaza for staging?

I didn't hear the Nance Plaza side of life. I'm okay at one year to start with unless they'd like a little more comfort from that. But I think one year to start is not a bad thing.

One year.

Do we need to amend to allow staging in the parking lot?

We can discuss that with the applicant and come back to you on second reading with a proposed alternative plan for staging.

The applicant's here. Would you like...

If we could use Nance Plaza temporary, that would be very helpful. The problem is with the construction, it makes, we would have to get on 501 to come around the back way, because we come from Lumber Street, Octavia Street, we don't want to get on 501 at all. And so, it would just be helpful in the meantime, until we, in construction, I'm sure once construction is completed, we can park in that paved parking lot behind Grand Strand. have to access 9th Avenue and Ocean Boulevard. It's just, we would have to go on 501. Okay.

And I believe construction's another 18 months to two years?

More than 18. Okay. And we don't, I think, I want to clarify, we don't have to even stage it there. What we do is just pick up and drop off there. But it just, we can't access that back parking lot like we want to and then get to Ocean Boulevard and 5th Avenue safely. do you pull into nance plaza to do that just in that little there's like a little the gate has to be open and then we get out and i think the businesses have been in favor of us going there because it actually brings business to them because it's a pickup like a quick pick up and drop off so they actually benefit from that

Let us work through it, because I think some of this is going to be temporary and going to change, and Brian and I were just talking that. Let us come up with a solution between first and second reading to bring back to you on some alternatives for some consideration.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Any other comments while you're here? Nope. Apparently not. Any comments from the public? All right, all those in favor of first reading for 26-44 as presented, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

Thank you.

I lost my place here. All right, resolution Jennifer 26-8.

Resolution 2026-8 to adopt the Myrtle Beach Housing and Community Development Annual Action Plan and budget for fiscal year 2026-2027.

Yes, good morning.

Good morning. So the city is the subrecipient of Horry County's entitlement for CDBG funds and every year we have to adopt the amount or the allocation. This year the allocation is $390,740 and that is slated to entirely be used for housing rehab.

Thank you. I think as Councilman Chestnut suggested, we haven't done housing rehab in a little while.

In a couple years.

The need is strong. So all of this money will be used for that purpose under this current plan.

I have a meeting later this week with Horry County and Habitat to really set up a good program and get it started off well.

And rather than the city managing it, Habitat has offered to manage the housing rehab piece of that.

Yeah, we're still working through the logistics of that.

Is there a motion to approve resolution 2026-8, please? So moved. Second. Any discussion from council? Any discussion from the public?

Just glad to see us getting a housing rehab program started back and looking forward to you guys coming up with a plan that's going to work and getting applications so people can know what they're going to do.

Thank you, Brooke. Thank you. All right. All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Thank you. And that passes. I should have mentioned at some point along the way, I did it at the beginning of the workshop, but Councilman McClure was under the weather and did not wish to share his misery with the rest of us. So we appreciate that. And Councilwoman Connor is still traveling. She'll be back shortly. But I did not mention that when we went into the regular meeting. So...

All right, non-agenda items from the public. Anybody else care to speak?

We may set a record for time on this one. Communications from board and commission members? Communications from city council and the city manager?

Mayor, I'd just like to thank all of our staff. from the Public Works, Public Safety, every member, all of our guys, the guys that work out, our recreation people, I mean, everyone involved. This city has performed wonderfully the last, two weeks especially.

And the work that was done out at

out at Warburg Park with the Vietnam Memorial, which is absolutely amazing. And if you think about the memorial itself, this council passed that we would create this memorial, I think it was in January. And speaking to a couple of the guys yesterday, said it was kind of an aggressive timeframe to have it ready by. Memorial Day. And so, although everything was not in place, some of it not due to anyone except, I won't mention a shipping company, but we did have an issue there, but overall, an outstanding job on that as well. An enormous amount of people here. And considering what's going on around in the country, I think our folks did a fantastic job. And my hat's off to every one of you. Thank you. Absolutely.

And I think we all agree. I'm not sure we could have added much else to the weekend. There was a lot going on, so everybody did very well. Thank you. Anybody else?

Mayor, I'd only add it's, when you observe our staff, our employees now, there's a confidence of purpose that I see amongst the group, and it's something you recognize as an employer, as a former employer, that they appreciate when they're recognized on a job well done. And in the old days when nobody had any money, that meant more than money. So the confidence that we have in our group and our staff that you know what you're doing. And if you have a question, you'll go to your supervisor. That's what we want to instill. And I like what I've seen in six months. Of course, I'm new at this game.

The clock started over. Again, thank you. Thank you to Meredith Denary and her staff for the excellent ceremony yesterday at the Veterans Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Warbird Park. More than 1,000 people, I think, easily there, which caused a traffic jam, but that's all right. It was good. Again, thank you, everybody. Summer is about upon us. Go out and enjoy. Is there a motion to adjourn?

So moved. Second.

All those in favor, say yes.

Yes.

11-10.