City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

We'll call the meeting to order and ask the clerk to call a roll.

Mayor Baldwin?

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Thomas?

Here.

Councilman Collins?

Here.

Councilman Coyne? Here. Councilwoman McCombie? Here. Councilwoman Skidmore?

Here.

Councilwoman Wilbur? Here. Mayor, you have a quorum.

Thank you. So we'll move into the invocation, and I believe is Father John Zimmerman here? with Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church. Thank you for being here.

Good evening.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you for so many things. We thank you for the gift of your Son, Jesus, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. We thank you for the gift of the wonderful weather we've been having, and we pray for some rain for our farmers, that they may produce fruits of the land to feed the people of this earth, including their own families. We thank you for the people you bring to this community, whether new residents or visitors, tourists. May we all learn to drive and live in peace. Send your Holy Spirit upon us on our meeting. Help us to discuss things that will be fruitful for our community, safe for our community. Help us to discuss things in peace and with integrity so as to glorify you and to build up our community and with your kingdom in mind. Bless all of us. Bless our council members. Guide our decisions. And we ask all this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Amen.

Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. We'll move into minutes, and I'll read them out. There's item A, B, and C. Item A is a city council workshop Wednesday, May 13, 2026. Item B is city council meeting Monday, May 18, 2026. Item C is city council special call meeting Monday, June 1, 2026. Is there a motion to approve?

Motion.

Second. Any comment by council? Hearing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed?

Ayes have it.

We'll move into communications, and I have a couple of proclamations to give, so I'll come down front. So the first proclamation is for the Humane Society, honoring the 25th anniversary of the Humane Society of North Little Beach, designing July 2026 as Pet Supply Donation Month. Is there somebody here from the Humane Society? Hi, guys. Come down. Thank y'all, so I'll read the proclamation. Whereas the Humane Society of North Myrtle Beach has served the community with compassion, dedication, and unwavering commitment to the welfare of homeless, neglected, and abandoned animals for 25 years, and whereas the Humane Society of North Myrtle Beach was founded on July 1, 2001, and will celebrate the 25th anniversary on July 1, 2026. And whereas since its founding, the Humane Society has provided shelter, medical care, adoption services, advocacy for countless animals while promoting responsible pet ownership. and animal welfare throughout our community. And whereas the Humane Society staff, volunteers, donors, and supporters have worked tirelessly to improve the lives of animals and connect them with loving families, making a lasting and positive impact on the quality of life in North Myrtle Beach. And whereas the Humane Society relies on donations of food, supplies, enrichment items to care for the animals entrusted to its protection and to help ensure they receive the highest standard of care. And whereas the City of North Myrtle Beach encourages residents and businesses to support the Humane Society throughout the month of July by donating needed items at designated collection locations, including City Hall, the North Myrtle Beach Police Department, and the J. Brian Floyd Community Center. Now therefore, I, J.O. Baldwin III, Mayor of the City of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, along with the City Council, do hereby honor and congratulate the Humane Society of North Myrtle Beach on its 25th anniversary and proclaim July Oh my goodness. 2026 is Pet Supply Donation Month in the city of North Myrtle Beach. I further encourage all citizens to support this effort by donating items to the Humane Society of North Myrtle Beach.

Thank you all so much.

So now the next proclamation is recognizing the sanitation division on national garbage mandate. Is there anybody here to accept this proclamation? Appreciate y'all very much. Whereas National Garbage Man Day is observed annually on June 17th to recognize and honor the dedication sanitation professionals whose essential work protects public health, preserves the environment, and enhances the quality of life in communities across the nation. And whereas the sanitation division of the North Myrtle Beach Public Works Department provides a vital service by collecting and properly disposing of residential and commercial waste, helping to maintain a clean, safe, and beautiful community for residents and visitors alike. Whereas sanitation personnel perform their duties in all weather conditions, Early morning hours and holidays demonstrate an exceptional dedication, reliability, and professionalism to the citizens of North Myrtle Beach. And whereas the efforts of the sanitation division contribute significantly to the health, safety, and appearance of our city, supporting the high quality of life that makes North Myrtle Beach a desirable place to live, work, and visit. And whereas the city of North Myrtle Beach wishes to express their sincere appreciation and gratitude to the hardworking members of the Sanitation Division for their commitment to excellence and their unwavering service to our community. Now therefore, I, J.O. Baldwin III, Mayor of the City of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, along with City Council, do hereby proclaim June 17th, 2026 as Garbage Man Day in the City of North Myrtle Beach and recognize all residents in joining in recognizing and thanking the dedicated men of the Sanitation Division of the Public Works Department for their outstanding service and contributions to our community. Thank you so much. Okay, we'll move into item C. Got a few people leaving. Departmental monthly reports for May 2026 are available online. Are there any announcements by mayor and council?

I would just like to say thank you to our public sanitation department. They do an outstanding job to keep our city clean. Without them, I don't know what our city would look like, but they are very, very good at their job.

They really are no doubt. I'd like to take a minute to to thank. Public works and also sanitation, but also public works last week. I was in the city looking at some things and heard these weed eaters going and went around the back of the fence and there was about a 14 foot ditch probably 1000 feet long and it was 3 of our public works guys with weed eaters. down there weed eating a ditch which you never see i mean you know you don't even realize what these guys do for our city because they're in the background but i'd like to just dana please thank them for us yeah absolutely our city looks great it's incredible they do a great job no doubt are there any other comments by council

We'll move into consent agenda, and if it's okay, we'll take item A through H, unless somebody wants to separate something. We'll talk about each one, but we can take them all together. Is that okay?

I would like to make a comment about A, the resolution.

You want to take it out of the consent agenda?

No.

Okay. Well, we'll make a comment.

I'll read them by title, and then we'll comment on any one.

um and we'll open it to public comment too so item a is a resolution annual update to cherry grove assessment role item b is a motion to approve fourth of july salute to america to be held july 4 2026 Item C is a motion to approve Windy Hill Golf Cart Parade to be held July 4, 2026. Item D is a motion to approve SOS Fund Sunday to be held September 20, 2026. Item E is a motion to approve SOS Fund Monday to be held September 21, 2026. Item F is a motion to approve greater triad shag club fall migration sos party to be held september 25th 2026 item g is a motion to approve north myrtle beach live to be held september 26 2026 and item h is a motion to appoint one appointment to the tree board is there a motion to approve so moved second The motion and the second, or any comments by council on these items?

I do have one comment about the Cherry Grove assessment role, not as much about the assessment role itself. That's just paying for the dredge work that we've done over the last, since last year. is that I think our permit, and Dana may know more than I do, that our permit for that dredging operation, I think we've used it all up. And I'm not sure where we stand with reinvigorating that process and getting that permit for a maintenance dredge, whether that's going to be in four years or five years or six years. Sometimes it takes several years to get those permits done. And if we haven't started that process, I'd like for us to get engaged on that so that we will have that permit in place when we do another maintenance dredge. I don't know how many people for me would cherry grow, but if they could go back to 2017 and look at those channels they were absolutely mudflats you had about two hours of life in them and then it was just flat and since that dredging which those homeowners that live on those channels pay the have paid the bulk of those uh those the cost of that um that infrastructure improvement and they're still paying for it in this resolution we're having here it's just reauthorizing that we build that particular section for that work that's been done but that was my what i wanted to make sure is on our books that we get in that we get into the process of uh renewing that permit for the future dana and tara may can elaborate on this more but i do know we have requested for an extension of that permit okay thank you are there any other comments by council

on item A through H. I think they're pretty much all pretty clear. Are there any comments by the public? Hearing none, we'll take our vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. All against? Ayes have it. We'll move on to Unfinished business, item A is an ordinance, second reading, amendment to Chapter 10, finance and taxation of the Code of Ordinances of North Myrtle Beach regarding the physical year. Is there a motion to approve?

Motion.

There's a motion and a second. Is there any comment by council?

This is just a bit of housekeeping to formally adopt the budget year. That's the way I read it.

That is correct.

July 1st to June 30th.

Are there any other comments by council? Are there any comments by the public? Please come forward and give your name and address.

Tax rate, right? Increase?

No. No, this is just setting the date for the budget.

Okay, then I'm at the wrong time. I'm sorry.

Yeah, no problem. Any other comments by the public? Hearing none, we'll take our vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. All against? Ayes have it. We'll move into item B. Item B is an ordinance second reading. yes ordinance second reading an ordinance setting the tax levy for fy 2027 is there a motion to approve so moved second there's a motion a second of any comment by council so we have had public hearing on this we've had a meeting on this and a first reading on this we went to budget retreat we spent a tremendous amount of time on this so i don't have anything else i think we've already said it all but Are there any other comments by council? Are there any comments by the public?

Thank you for that. Dana Brown, 2314 Vera Way, North Myrtle Beach. Couple things. First of all, I would request that maybe, since we've had so much trouble with our finances lately, you know, we're behind on our audits, we're trying to get all caught up, we haven't had a finance director for a while, maybe consider putting off the tax increase until mid-year, until all the dust settles and we actually know where we are if we are making a big enough one or if it's too big. So just wanted to throw that out there. And I had some Questions on the budget for travel. It seems like a lot of the travel budgets have gotten increased kind of a lot. Some of them stayed the same, but we had some big ones. We had a 75% increase for general government legislative, 400% increase for general government administration. We had a 2,600% increase for the police department administration. 289% for the police department uniform patrol, and 400% for the police department beach safety. And then why are we giving $6,500 to the aquatic center admin? So those are just the concerns that I just wanted to know about. And I still wanted to do a deeper audit. Remember I told you last time, you know, a regular annual audit's like your physical, and a deeper audit would be like seeing a specialist, getting an MRI. And the reason why is because like our auditor stated last time, the audit results that they give us for the general audit are based on information that we provide. And that's actually in their audit letter. And like for instance, they say that management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements. They also say that the risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, and fraud may involve collusion intent and all that kind of stuff. And then they give us reasonable expectation, but it's not absolute assurance and therefore is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with GAS, the government auditing standards, will always detect a material misstatement or fraud. So I just due to the fact that it's kind of behind, we're kind of we're getting it all fixed, but maybe put off the tax increase until we know how much we really actually need. And let's do a little closer dive since we've lost so many people and personnel. So all the new people don't get blamed for what might have happened before.

Thank you so much. And I know you're going to send me some emails on some of this stuff. We talked about this earlier today. Yes.

And I appreciate that.

Thank you. Are there any other comments by the public? Hearing none, we'll take our vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. All against? Ayes have it.

Yeah, I would like to make one comment.

Okay. Yes, sir. Okay.

Just to be clear, I know that we don't really have an issue with our money, and we have never not understood it. what we had in 24 is we had a change in audit and the way they categorize and reframe things from a county standpoint when you try to compare that old layout with the new layout the numbers are distorted and and you have to really go through the fine print i just want the public to know that there's not an issue and we did complete our 24 audit and it came out that we were actually ahead of ourselves in our reserve balances we always try to maintain a 35 reserve balance and i think we end up with 36.5 percent and we expect the same thing with the 25. so i don't want to come across that we've got an issue here because we really don't have an issue based on what we've historically, our old way of budgeting and the way they allocated it. the way that they allocate it today differently when you try to compare those two it does it will confuse you but as you dig deeper and dig deeper and dig deeper you you get there so i've looked forward to 25 we'll have that in just a another month or so or by the end of august if not before and i think we can put all this stuff to bed

Thank you. You brought that up in the last meeting, but I appreciate you bringing it up again.

It just needs to be reinforced. I keep hearing about troubles, and right now I haven't seen it, and I've been deeply involved in it. And I understand everybody's concern, but there's definitely no devious intent or intent to hide anything. I just want to overemphasize that.

so we uh had a motion to say it we had comment we had public comment we had a vote it's done so we're done all right all right thank you we'll move into item c ordinance second reading an ordinance to provide for the adoption of the fy 2027 proposed budget is there a motion to approve

Second.

Second. Any comment by council? This is basically the same thing we just did. Hearing none, is there any comment by the public? Hearing none, we will take our vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. All against? I have it, we will move into item D, is the limited obligation bond ordinance second reading to provide for the accommodations fee pledge for limited obligation bonds not to exceed $18 million. Is there a motion to approve?

Second.

There's a motion and a second. Is there any comment by council?

i would like to make one comment is that when they started the aquatic center some 22 or 23 years ago i wasn't on council at the time but the way they when they projected that and they planned that out it was never designed it was designed as an amenity and today it's still an amenity but in that first phase it was determined that it will never generate enough revenue to pay the debt service but it would generate enough revenue to carry the operating cost and so far i think in the last six or 12 or 14 years we've been covering that cost i think in 25 we might show a small loss because of some capital improvements that probably don't have to do with their general operating budget i think they've got some air conditioners and some stuff they had to do this year but uh and then this new phase which i'm I'd really hate to spend the money, but I see the benefit of it. And the fact is, it too, based on the projections and based on the man in particular who manages that program, I feel very confident that it'll generate the revenues to offset the operating costs. And just like the previous, the first build-out, The second build-out, the accommodation tax, which we used on the first one, and this time for 15 years versus 20 years, should cover that cost, and the operating cost should be sustained by the operation of the facility.

I'd like to chime in with you a little bit there, too, Hank. In the 20 years, the aquatic center has been there. We've all seen the city grow, but it's also grown. I see it myself in our neighborhood with families. When I moved in there 4 years ago, 5 years ago, I was about the only 1 in Charleston landing with kids and now the neighborhoods full of kids. And that's kind of. The gist of our city in general, we're starting to see families moving with kids and we've got a 20 year old facility that needs to be. enlarged, but it also needs the child services that we're lacking really bad for the families that are here that don't have the programs. So that's a big need too. I'm not a big worker outer, so I couldn't really relate to that. But after the first reading, I did have a lot of people reach out to me by email thanking me for, you know, the first vote moving forward. So I am comfortable with what we're doing.

Yeah, and every time I drive by there, it's full. So our aquatic center stays packed. There's not a parking spot over there. So I see the growth that we've had so far in the last 20 years, and I foresee there will be much more growth with as many people that have moved to our community. So I think it will be very beneficial for our area.

I was not on council either when it was the aquatic center, the first original building was approved and built. however it is part of our city and we need to continue to make it successful when it's 20 some years old it needs to be renovated and plus it's got the most members we've ever had right now so we're running out of space we got we got to add on we got to continue to make it successful and this is part of this move are there any other comments by council are there any comments by the public

Dana Brown, 2314 Varaway, North Myrtle Beach. So just so I can understand, we are going to take out a bond. We're going to borrow money to do a capital improvement. We don't have a current bond rating. We currently cannot borrow money today. How can we approve borrowing money on a bond when we don't even have the credit at this moment to do that? I would think that we would wait until we go meet with the rating agencies and get our bond rating again before we pass spending money on a bond. I'm not even sure we could do that. That's my concern. Again, this all goes back to the financial stuff. Things have just been let go. I'm not saying there's anything devious going on. We don't know. But there's been, you know, we're not current on audits. We're going to vote right now to borrow money on a bond when we don't have the credit to even do it today. And we don't know until we meet with the rating agencies if we're going to get a high enough bond rating to make that. And depending on what our rating is, it could cost us a lot more than you're factoring in right now in your vote. We may not get a AA next time. We might get something not as good, which will cost us more. So what you approved today may not be enough. So thank you.

Thank you. And I did talk to you about that today, too, as well, Dana. And our financial team is, you know, very confident that we will retain the AA rating. I know. I understand. I understand.

If we have a hurricane and something happens, we don't have the money right now.

Okay. We have a reserve fund. Is there any other comments by the public? Hearing none, we'll take our vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. All against? Ayes have it. We will move into item E. Okay. Thank you. Item E is ordinance second reading authorizing the execution, delivery, and performance of a lease purchase agreement and other documents relating to the lease purchase financing of certain vehicles and equipment. Is there a motion to approve? second the motion is second any comments by council this is basically authorizing the city manager to make purchases and staff that we've approved on for vehicles and things that we need even though the word lease is in there we will own the equipment after the terms right it's more of a purchase sure are there any other comments by council are there any comments by the public Hearing none, we'll take our vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. All against? Ayes have it. We'll move into item F, ordinance second reading amendment to the Hope Point Plan Development District PDD, replacing the previously approved townhomes along Sanctuary Way with detached cottage-style homes. Is there a motion to approve?

Motion. Second.

Second.

There's a motion and a second.

Mayor, can I interrupt you just one second?

Yes, sir.

I wanted to recognize Thad Wilson. We wanted to recognize, we didn't mean to ignore you. He's our man that handles our dredging financing, and he was in here today, and I just wanted to at least recognize you and thank you for being here.

Are there any comments? Do we want to hear from staff about this? Suzanne? Is Suzanne here? Oh, or Jim? Okay. I know we had in the, uh, first reading, we had some requests, some concerns about the driveway distances, and also we got that everybody was kind of for going from town homes to more of a single family type home, but we wanted to look at a reduction in density as well.

Yes, sir. And they, they went down a unit, they changed them from townhouses to single family and all of them have the minimum 24 foot driveway lengths that, that we expect. do you have a blow up of that the 24 foot yes it should be in your packet that's right it is but i can't see what was left i see it but i can't i see it but i can't see it it's so tiny let me show you this one

And I'd like to say while we're waiting on this to zoom in for people that are in the audience that weren't here for last reading, this is a pre-approved PDD that they have came back in front of us asking for a change from the townhomes to the single family. So this is not a new subdivision.

There you go.

24-foot length on those driveways.

They were kind enough to upload that onto the website this morning, and I spent about a half hour going over each one of the individual lots and the spacing.

Okay.

Okay. Are there any other comments by council? Are there any comments by the public? Hearing none, we'll take our vote. All in favor say aye.

Aye. All against? Ayes have it.

We will move into item G, is the ordinance second reading amendments to chapter 11, fire prevention section 11-9 of the code of ordinances of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina regarding open burning. Is there a motion to approve?

Motion.

Second.

motion is second is any comment by council this is basically just a housekeeping thing to prevent fires and we are in a drought right now the timing is good timing is good no doubt are there any other comments by council are there any comments by the public hearing none we'll take our vote all in favor say aye aye against Eyes have it. We'll move into new business. Item A is an ordinance first reading amendments to Chapter 20, Land Development Regulations of the Code of Ordinances of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, clarifying specific development plan requirements and applicability. Is there a motion to approve?

Motion.

Second.

So motion is second. Any comment by council?

I just want to clarify the way that the bedrooms slash sleeping areas as they're referred to in the building and zoning code. Essentially, what it's doing is it's saying that there were a lot of homes that were built that had – maybe they were labeled office, library. kids' playroom, what have you, but they ultimately were being utilized as sleeping areas. And so kind of the, I guess, innovation and creativity of some of the designers have come up with a way to kind of work around the amount of bedrooms. And so essentially what this is saying is, hey, when we look at these floor spaces, it can conceivably be used that way. And it excludes living rooms, excludes dining rooms, excludes kitchens and areas, hallways, excludes all those. But it gives us a truer picture of how many actually bedrooms there are, if you will. And then once we get to the sixth, then it kicks in and it's going to be reviewed more as like a commercial type property where it'll go through the technical review committee or the TRC. And then they can start looking at, you know, does the parking, is the parking suitable for it? And along with impervious surface. So I think this is a good move and I think we're headed in the right direction.

Yeah, so the parking will determine the number of sleeping areas, right?

Are there any other comments by council? Are there any comments by the public? Hearing none, we'll take our vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. All against? Ayes have it. We'll move into item C, ordinance first reading amendments to chapter 23, zoning of the code of ordinances of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, removing the maximum area count for bedrooms, sleeping areas, and residential districts. Did I miss B? Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. All right. All right. Item B is ordinance first reading amendments to chapter 23 zoning of the code of ordinances of North Middle Beach, South Carolina, clarifying the site specific development plan requirements and applicability.

Is there a motion to approve?

So moved.

Second.

There's a motion and a second. And this goes back to what kind of what we were talking about, right? Um,

same thing are there any other comments by council jim did you have something you want to point out say this um this effort to more formalize our trc process has to has to span across both ordinances the land development regulations and the zoning ordinance so this is just the second half of the thing that you passed a minute ago

And this ultimately helps folks when they come in to develop a piece of property. That's correct. Or redevelop a piece of property, have a clearer process that's mapped out a little bit better because a lot of this stuff, you know, city government's not perfect and it didn't come with a handbook. A lot of this we have to learn as we go and keep refining the process and this is just really a good way to formalize it.

Just to give you a very brief history of how the TRC came into being, we used to do our development plans sequentially, like the planning department would review it and then pass it on to public works, and then they would pass it on to fire department and things like that. And it was taking a long time for projects to get reviewed. Plus, there was not consistent internal communication and that dialogue back and forth between departments that can often result in a better final product. So when we started the TRC process, it was just informal. It was just a working group that we had. Then we went to a conference on land use law, and I presented the question to some of the attorneys that advised the Municipal Association, and should that process be more formalized? and and they said yeah you probably should formalize that because now you've got a working group of staff that are making development review decisions as opposed to a sequential review and because it needed to be more formalized and open to the public then that's that triggered the need for us to to formalize it within our ordinances so that everybody understands what the process is

I want to ask a question. If you had a resident that wanted to build an eight-bedroom house or a ten-bedroom house because they have a large family, a grandparent has six children and grandchildren, how would they go through this process? What would they have to do?

Well, a home that big with more than five bedrooms would have to go through the TRC process, and then it would just be based on the number of parking spaces that are required per, you know, it's one space for one bedroom, one and a half for a two bedroom, two for a three bedroom, and then each additional bedroom after that results in another half space requirement.

So as long as they had the parking required, they could build the house.

Yeah. I had some concerns about our ordinance. It was written 20-something years ago that says that you can only have five bedrooms. That sort of... could be viewed and somebody could challenge us on that based on the theory that we're trying to illegally or artificially limit family size by establishing an artificial limit on the number of bedrooms that a house could have. You know, just as a personal story, I myself, my mother had four children and she married a man that had 12, so we had 16 in our family. And we could not have lived in a five-bedroom house, and we did not. That was in another state. But, you know, if the city that we lived in had such a limit, we would be out of luck.

The only reason that ordinance was made that way, and I get it didn't work that well, but the intent of it was so that you had enough parking. So if you had a rental house that had 10 bedrooms and you had 10 cars there, but you could only park four, then you were parking in other people's yards. You were disturbing the neighborhood. And that was why we started that. But now we're cleaning that up and making it better so that if you have that number of bedrooms, you're going to have to be able to provide a place for the people to park.

Yes, that's correct. Thank you.

Are there any other comments by council? Are there any comments by the public? Hearing none, we'll take our vote. All in favor say aye.

Aye. All against?

Ayes have it. We'll move into item C, ordinance first reading amendments to chapter 23, zoning of the code of ordinances of North Middle Beach, South Carolina, removing the maximum area count for bedrooms, slash sleeping areas in residential districts. Is there a motion to approve? So moved.

Second.

The motion is second. Is there any comment by council? I think we just discussed it. Is there any comment by the public? If not, we'll take our vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. All against? Ayes have it. We will move into item D. Is the ordinance approved? First reading amendment, amend chapter 23, outdoor storage of personal property in residential districts. Is there a motion to approve?

Motion.

Second.

It's a motion and a second. Is there any comment by council?

Yeah, I have one on the, there's a provision here for temporary storage on, during renovations. It currently limits it to 30, but I'm just thinking that there are a lot of times people will, if they're having a home renovated, they need to move their furniture out of the house in order for the work, especially if they're doing multiple rooms, that they have to move the furniture and stuff out of the house and their belongings out of the house in order to actually conduct the project. In that case, you know, several times, multiple times people have rented, you know, a pod or a similar type container like that. To do that, I would just wonder if we shouldn't be looking at some type of provision that as long as there's like an open building permit, you know, associated with the project that there would be a provision for that.

Yes, and I believe that's currently our practice. I talked to the building official, and I think we could just add that in. As long as they have an open building, they could have a residential storage container on site.

This doesn't change anything with the ordinance where somebody can park their boat or RV or trailer in their side or rear yard. It's just compiling a bunch of stuff out in their front yard, which we don't have many people that do that, but we have some. And it puts a burden on neighbors where they can't sell their house because people have so much stuff. So we're just trying to clean up our city.

Now, in one... 1b that eliminates parking your boat in your driveway is that correct

That is not being changed. One of the parts of this ordinance, we have five different sections in the zoning ordinance that contain all this. So we're just consolidating it all together. You cannot currently park your boat in your driveway. It has to be either in your carport or behind the front face of your house. So we're not proposing to change that. We're just reorganizing all the storage and outdoor display stuff so it's all together.

That's boats, RVs, and trailers all have to be behind the side.

Now, it can be there, I believe, for 24 hours for repair, but that's it.

Are there any other comments by council? Are there any comments by the public? Hearing none, we'll take our vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. All against?

Ayes have it.

We will move into public comment. If anybody would like to comment, make a comment to council, please come forward and give your name and address.

Excuse me. Harvey Eisner, 1113 Swan Lake Drive. I'm not here to cast any negative. I was here two weeks ago and heard too much negative. I'm here to give some positive feedback based upon the city council, mayor, city manager, staff, and so on. I want to thank you. for continuing on the right quality of life. I've lived here full-time 26 years, and I can honestly say it's the best place I've ever lived. I again want to thank Public Safety, Public Works, and everyone associated with the city for keeping our city the way it is. Again, I approve and commend the city council for the rate increase, millage increase. I don't like to pay more, but to maintain that quality of life, again, I thank you. Thank you.

Are there any other comments from the public? By myself.

Hi, John Duresky, 1728 Little Leaf Loop. I'll start by saying I'm a dog lover and I don't drink, right? So the other day I was down at the beach, you know, beautiful day about 1 o'clock, and someone had a dog out there. And, you know, they might not have known the ordinance, might not have read it. So the lifeguard comes and tells a person to leave, and they do. Whilst the lifeguard was going over there, they're passing three or four people cracking a beer, cracking hard seltzer, everything else. So my question is, why do we still have prohibition of drinking on the beach when it is never enforced? If there's anybody here that has ever seen a lifeguard or anybody, tell somebody they can't drink on the beach, raise their hand.

Okay, no hands go up.

So why do we have that in there for the beach rules? Having a rule that is not enforced is worse than having a rule. Same with the cigarettes. I'm not going to beat that dead horse. But my question is, maybe it's time to examine again why we don't allow people drinking on the beach if it's never enforced. Have any of you ever seen someone being told not to drink on the beach? Have any of you ever drank on the beach?

Back in the day, they used to. No, no, no. I'm answering your question. I'm answering your question. Have I ever seen someone? I've seen people arrested for drinking on the beach years ago.

Years ago.

Okay.

in recent history, and that's a rhetorical question. And to go with that is, when was this put in there? It might have been put in 15, 20, 30 years ago, that particular thing, when they might have people on the city council that were trying to evangelize us, saying the evil's a drink. So what my point is, I think we ought to re-look at that particular part of the beach code. And it wouldn't have to be advertised, now you can drink on the beach. You just don't have it up there anymore. Because it is ridiculous, and there's a couple other things there that I'm not going to have time with. But if you have a rule and don't enforce it, it's worse than not having a rule. Because people think, oh, how come they're telling me I can't have my dog, but they're not telling the person right next to me that's drinking a beer or having a blender down there that they can't do that. So that's it. I'm just about out of time. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Are there any other comments by the public?

Just a general comment tonight. Dana Brown, 2314 Verraway. My question's about jury duty. I recently had jury duty in March, and I looked on our website, you know, how to show up, where to go, and all that, and it says that jurors get paid $15 a day or something like that in North Myrtle Beach. I didn't get paid. Now, I noticed going through the budget, we had a $10,000 line item for jurors. But I just wondered if our accounting is three months behind or I just didn't miss or it went to my address in the real longs. Not sure. But I just wanted to check and just confirm that jurors are supposed to get paid.

Yeah, you were going to send me an email on that, too, and I'll get right back to you on it.

Okay, I didn't know if that was really your area.

That's okay, I'll find the area.

Okay, well, thank you. But there is money in the budget for that.

Yes, thank you.

Hi, Diane Hornick, 11736 Avenue South. Two things in regards to the drinking on the beach. Maybe they should start allowing it if it bothers certain people. that they can't walk their dog, but people are drinking that, you know, I mean, I don't really think that anybody causes problem drinking on the beach, but anyway, I'm here to request that you guys put golf cart lines at sixth Avenue at the beach.

South or north?

South. So like on our street, we dead end right into the beach and they need to be repainted anyway. So if you have to repaint them this summer or even in the fall, if you put that golf cart line in the middle, like you have at main street and at other places, I took pictures. I didn't print them out, but I have like pictures of eight golf carts from one day. And if they wouldn't have pulled right in the spot, we could have put 16 there. So that would be like a big, for us to have.

Okay.

Thank you. Thank you.

Are there any other comments by the public? Period. Done. I'll need a motion to adjourn. Motion and a second. All in favor say aye.

Aye. Aye.