City Council - Regular Meeting

Councilman Skidmore here. Councilman Thomas. Mayor, you have a quorum.

Thank you. Um, our invocation tonight is Pastor Brian Church of the OD Church of the Lost and Found. Heavenly Father, first Lord, we want to thank you for this beautiful city that you that you allow us to call home. Lord, I pray for this group of elected officials. I ask for your wisdom, your guidance in all that they do. help them to decide matters for this public for the trust that you've given them, that you've placed in them, and we as voters have placed in them. Lord, I pray specifically for our departing mayor. I want to thank her for her service. Lord, I ask you to bless her, continue to grow her, Lord, in all that she's done. Lord, I pray for our incoming mayor tonight. Lord, I ask that you give him wisdom that can only come from you as he helps decide the future of this city and the people of North Myrtle Beach. Lord, we thank you for all that you do for us, all the blessings that we can't even count. Lord, most of all, we thank you for your son. It's in his name I pray. Amen.

Amen. Would you please stand for the pledge of allegiance? Oops.

I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible and justice for all. Council, we have in our packets the minutes from the city council meeting of Monday, November the 3rd, 2025, and also of the city council workshop, Thursday, November the 13, 2025. Is there a motion to accept as submitted?

So moved. Second. All in favor say I. I. All oppose.

Thank you. We'll move into communications. And I think that's why a lot of you are here tonight. Um, and item A, the first, it's an oath of office for James O. Bowwin, mayor. and my sons and my pastor. Okay,

I'm ready. I do solemnly swear that I am duly qualified I do solemnly swear that I'm duly qualified according to the constitution of this state according to the constitution of this state to exercise the duties of the office to exercise the duties of this office to which I have been elected to which I've been elected that is mayor of the city of Northr Beach that is mayor of the city of North Beach I will equally fairly and impartially I will equally fairly and impartially to the best of my ability and skill to the best of my ability and skill. exercise the trust reposed in me. exercise the trust reposed in me. And I will use my best endeavors And I will use my best endeavors to preserve the peace

to preserve the peace and to carry into effect. and to carry into effect according to law according to law the purposes for which I've been elected the purposes for which I've been elected and I will preserve protect and defend and I will preserve protect and defend the Constitution of this state and the United States the Constitution of this state and the United States. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. Thank you. [applause] [applause]

Matrix. Matrix. [applause] All right.

[applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause]

Got [applause] [snorts] [clears throat] some skill. I do swear that I dy qualified

I do solemnly swear that I am duly qualified according to the constitution of this state according to the constitution of this state to exercise the duties of the office to exercise the duties of the office to which I've been elected to which I've been elected that is councilman for the city of North Myrtle Beach that is councilman for the city of North Myrtle Beach I will equally fairly and impartial I will equally fairly and impartially to the best of my ability and skill. To the best of my ability and skill, exercise the trust reposed in me. exercise the trust reposed in me. And I will use my best endeavors And I will use my best endeavors to preserve the peace to preserve the peace. And to carry into effect and to carry into effect according to law

according to law the purposes for which I've been elected the purposes for which I've been elected and I will preserve protect and defend and I will preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of this state and the United States the Constitution of this state and the United States. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. Thank you. [applause]

[applause]

Yeah. swear that I duly qualified. I do solemnly swear that I'm duly qualified according to the constitution of this state according to the constitution of this state to exercise the duties of the office to exercise the duty of the office to which I've been elected to which I've been elected that is councilman for the city of Northr Beach that is councilman for the city of Northr Beach I will equally fairly and I will equally equally fairly and partially to the best of my ability and skill to the best of my ability and skill exercise the trust imposed exercise the trust reposed in me. And I will use my best ends I will use my best endeavors to preserve the peace to preserve the peace and carry into effect

and to carry into the effect according to law according to law the purposes for which I've been elected the purposes for which I've been elected and I will preserve protect and defend I will preserve protect and defend the Constitution of this state and United States the Constitution of this state and the United States.

So help me God. Congratulations. [applause] [applause] Have to lower that. [laughter] Okay. I do solemnly swear that I am duly qualified

I do solemnly swear that I am duly qualified according to the constitution of this state according to the constitution of this state to exercise the duties of the office to exercise the duties of the office to which I've been elected to which I have been elected as councilwoman of the city of Northr Beach as councilwoman of the City of North Myrtle Beach. I will equally, fairly, and impartially I will equally, fairly, and impartially to the best of my ability and skill to the best of my ability and skill exercise the trust reposed in me exercise the trust reposed in me and I will use my best endeavors and I will use my best endeavors to preserve the peace to preserve the peace and to carry into effect and to carry into effect according to law according to law

the purposes for which I've been elected the purposes for which I have been elected and I will preserve pro protect protect and defend. I will preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of this state and the United States. the Constitution of this state and the United States. So help me God. So help me God.

Congratulations, Captain. [applause and cheering] [applause] [applause] Okay, we will move into item E, communications, which is a proclamation. for Arbor Day, December 5th, 2025. And I'm going to come down and read that. I don't know if somebody's coming down to accept it or Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So whereas in 1872, Sterling Morton proposed to neg to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for planting of trees. And whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska. And whereas trees can reduce the erosion of our precious top soil by wind and water, cut heating and cooling cost, moderate the temperature, clean

the air, produce oxygen, and provide habitat for wildlife. And whereas trees are renewable source, giving us paper, wood for homes, fuel for our fires, and countless other wood products. And whereas trees in our city increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of business areas, and beautify our community. And whereas community forest other offer some protection to life and property from damage caused by low car category hurricanes and tropical storms. And whereas trees wherever they are planted are a source of joy and spiritual renewal. Now therefore, I Jay Baldwin, mayor of the city of North My Beach, South Carolina, do proclaim December 5th, 2025 as Arbor Day and

[snorts]

urge all citizens to celebrate Arbor Day and to support efforts to protect our trees and woodlands. Thank you. [applause] All right. And this is the uh time of the meeting where we honor uh with longevity awards for our employees in addition to the employee of the month award. So Tammy Johnson, if you want to come on up here, I've only got one this month. And Tammy is celebrating 15 years of service with the city, which began on 126 2010. She currently serves as the community center manager for the parks and recck department. Tammy is a wife, mom of two, has two beautiful grandchildren, and she loves walking, traveling, and reading. Tammy, congratulations. [applause] And for the employee of the month, I'm going to hand it over to Chief Crawl so she can uh hand that out. So, I have the pleasure of the employee of the month coming from my department this um this month. And it is Sergeant Ray Pollock. Sergeant Pollock is responsible for our he's our community services sergeant. He's responsible for all of our special events, uh things like the Christmas parade, uh Memorial

Day, making sure that those those events go off without a hitch. He's also responsible for our 1033 program, which is a program where we're able to get military um items at um for free most of the time. And uh he does a really good job of that as a former armed force uh veteran. And um that's just what he does on a day-to-day basis. He is a guy that always shows up, that always gives a 100%. But several of his uh co-workers nominated him this month for employee of the month because we recently got a new space. Our police department is growing and we are we're always adding new members which means that we're running out of space and so the city manager and city council was was able to accommodate us to get us a new space and it was just an open um area needed a lot of work and for in a very fiscally responsible way in a quick and speedy way Sergeant Pollock went in there and was able to accommodate uh several divisions including our real-time crime center and our our investigations unit and without him, uh, we'd still be we'd probably be waiting for months and months and months to get into that space and to be able to do good work for our citizens. So, Sergeant Pollock, please come join me. Uh, he hates attention. Um, [applause] well, [cheering] He's not going to say anything because he really hates attention. Um [applause] the citizens award, but I am going to ask his division to come up and join us as we have our police academy graduates tonight. They're they have been doing our um citizens academy for the last several months and so they're going to be going um to get their awards tonight. So Taylor and Okay, if you guys will come up.

My name is Taylor Mitchell. I'm also under Mr. Sergeant Pollock here. So I'm with the community service division. I'm community service engagement. Um over the course of eight weeks we have had citizens police academy. So I'm gonna try to give a little short speech just tailing our appreciation. So just saying it's an honor to stand here tonight as we celebrate the completion of the North Myrtle Beach Citizens Police Academy. Over the last eight weeks, each of you have made a commitment not only to your time, but your curiosity, your awareness, and your desire to better understand the work that keeps our community safe. Throughout this program, you explored 10 different divisions within our police department. You saw firsthand the teamwork, the discipline, and the dedication that goes into every call, every investigation, and every service [clears throat] our officers provide. from patrol operations to communal communi excuse me to criminal investigations from K-9 demonstrations to emergency communications and everything in between. Each division opens its doors to you so you could see the heart behind the badge. But what has truly made this academy special was you five. Your questions, your engagement, and your willingness to learn strengthened the partnership between our police department and this community. You didn't just attend eight weeks. You participated. You connected. And you grew in an understanding. Tonight, we celebrate your achievement. You completed an intensive program. You gained new knowledge and deepened your connection to the North Myrtle Beach Police Department and City and those who serve in it. More importantly, you learned here as informed ambassadors of public safety, people who know the value of communication, operation, and community trust. On behalf of the entire police department, congratulations on your accomplishments.

Thank you for your commitment, your enthusiasm, and your support. We are proud of you, and we look forward to continuing this partnership for many more years to come. So, congratulations to you all. [applause]

Mr. J, if you will come down, Miss Victoria Mr. Tim, Miss Leas last but not least, Miss Maryanne. Thank you to all five of you for participating and coming back. that shows you how much you care about our city and everything that happens within it. We look forward to actually having you in the class many more times on each one that we have. So, congratulations [applause] [applause] Congratulations.

[applause] So, further under communications is departmently monthly reports and they are online for October 2025. They're available online so we don't read them out here. Um, we will go into announcements by mayor and city council and I have a few here to make. First, I'd like to thank Marilyn, Mayor Marilyn Hatland, I always always call you mayor, for her 26 years of dedicated service to our city. Mayor, thank you for answering the call to serve. I appreciate you very much. Um, it has been an honor to work for you with you for the last 23 years. [applause] I'd also like to thank my family, friends, the community, and all those who supported me on my campaign for mayor. I'm humbled and honored to have your trust. And there's a lot of things coming up right now, this time of the year, as we all know. I'd like to remind everybody that the Christmas tree lighting is tomorrow at 6 PM at MLAN Park. Um, the Christmas parade is this Saturday at 5:30 p.m. on Main Street. The Christmas Canada is at Living Water Baptist Church. And Allison, correct me if I've got these dates wrong, but I think I got them right. Saturday 3:30 p.m. Um, Sunday 3:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Sunday 6 p.m., right? Yeah. Okay. Anybody else? Okay, we will move into unfinished business. No, we will move into consent agenda.

And there is nothing on the consent agenda. So, we will move into unfinished business which is an ordinance first reading amendments to chapter 23 zoning of the code of ordinances of North Beach, South Carolina revising murals. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Have a motion and second. Are there any comments by councel?

I would just like to say that I really I love the idea of the murals, but I think we need to have some oversight over them. Uh we have our arts commission that we are going to appoint. So I think that that might be a job that we could assign to them because we just want to make sure what is being painted in our city is something that would be appropriate in our city. And I I I like that idea a lot and we've discussed that. We've had several council meetings on this and we had a workshop on this. Murals are already allowed in our city. What this change does is allow um a business to actually put their name uh into the mural, the name of their business. So um but I like the idea and we're getting ready to appoint an arts commission um tonight in executive session at the end of this meeting. So, uh, if we could add that in there, I would be all okay with that. I'm not so sure if that can be done.

Uh, I mean, we could certainly explore the idea, but as we discussed during the, uh, the workshop, I mean, you're getting more into the subjective. I mean, this is this would be somewhat like a architecture review board, but instead of architectural review of a structure, you're talking about, you know, the subjective nature of what would be acceptable as a mural. So that I think that needs a lot more exploration and u but we can certainly do it. So I get it. So we we could pass this and I would recommend we pass it. We've had two meetings on this. We've two council meetings. We've had a workshop um and then further explore adding that in if that's Yeah. I mean the only difference is we walk out of here tonight, you don't do anything. You can still put a mural on the back.

That's right. And not have your name. Correct. We pass this. The only difference is someone who owns a business can go put a mural on the side of their building and put the name of their business or their logo up to um 15% I think is what it's at or is it 10 10% 10%. So that that's the only difference. But yes, that what you're Jerry what you're looking to um explore certainly we could do that. It's just a completely different Sure. And you know for a different day and time we'll uh we'll start exploring it and um come back to you with

and I still want to beat a dead horse because this all concerns me. I I don't know how far as a city we want to have murals all over our city. I personally would like to see it more into district areas. I know anybody can go in right now and paint a mural wherever they want to on their building. I definitely think there needs to be some type of approval process. And once again, serving on the BZA board, and I know most people don't think that they're somebody can go out there and paint a mural on the side of a building just to get a sign, but what exactly is a mural? A mural could be a a wall painted blue with the bottom of it in in beige and say, "This is the the sand in the sea." and then it gives them all that area to put a big sign on the side of their their building. Um because we don't have anything that says what a mural is. That's just your interpretation of the mural. So to me, this whole ordinance concerns me. Um but that's just me as council.

Well, and I look at it too. It's a sign. I mean there there's no way around it. We have ordinances on our signs now. So you can only put what we approve on a sign. Well, this is the same thing. If you're putting a business name on it, it's a sign. So, there should be some kind of approval process. We don't just let anybody put anything on a sign.

So, J, if you wouldn't mind getting up. I mean, in terms of the content of a sign, we don't police it whatsoever. We really have no control over the content of a sign. We can control the size of a sign or the location of a certain type of sign, but to get into what a sign actually says, um, I we don't have the we don't have the ability to do that. I don't want to dictate what the sign says. I'm just concerned more on the, you know, ending up having murals up and down 17 just because they wanted more signage.

I just want to avoid conflating the two issues. So, you've got the issue of a mural and just simply saying because right now, um, anything that would would have a business's name on it or logo, it's going to be regulated as a sign. All we're trying to say is a mural, which can happen anywhere in the city right now, we can't do anything to stop it, nor do I believe we want to. But once you put the name of your business or a logo on there, now it's going to be regulated as a sign. So, we're just saying we want to allow murals to take place. We don't want to dissuade or um you know, we don't want to prohibit people from who own businesses who want to paint the side of their business in a colorful manner. the same way in which we discussed it during the workshop. I highly doubt that anyone who is trying to attract customers is going to put something offensive or distasteful on the side of their building and then slap their name on it. You know, I I believe that they're going to do the right thing and and put something that would be would contribute to the community as opposed to to to be um a negative. But that aside, like I said, we walk out of here tonight, anyone can do that. All we're saying is we're just giving businesses the right to do that, but then also put their name or logo on the side. Then there's the conversation with I believe you guys want to pursue maybe some sort of subjective review board that decides what is acceptable and what would fit within our community or not. I'm not saying that we can't do that. I believe we can, but that's a much slippier slippery slippery slippier

slipperier slug. Got me. But uh so we'd be happy to go down that road, but I think you know that's just going to require a little bit more homework and uh you know make sure we know what we're talking about before we we go down that road.

So Jim, do you have something you want to add? Well, I was also going to point out um you know, sometimes I I I feel like maybe we're confusing the difference between a publicly funded mural, which like if you apply for a facade grant and you want to use that funds for um uh to put a mural on your building, then yes, the arts commission would have absolute control over whether that mural gets approved or not. uh if it's using public funding. You know, all we're talking about here is is just simply allowing somebody to uh paint a mural on their building, which they already have the right to do, and use up to 10% of that mural space to identify their business as just an extra incentive for them to to put a mural where where they may not otherwise feel it's it's worth their investment.

I kind of feel like if you're opposed to murals, we should do away with being able to allow a mural. We already allow murals. So by adding that you can add your name into it, I think adds validity to the mural itself. You're not going to put your name in there, you know, and paint some mural that's obsense obscene or something like that. Just a thought. Look, I think we need to go further with this, but I'd like to get it passed. We've had two workshops. We've had I mean two council meetings. We've had a workshop, but either we do or we don't. It it depends on how we all vote. So any other comments by council? I I just do want to kind of dovetail on that. I think it does if if you're if you're putting the if with by putting your name on or the business name on that there does create a certain amount of responsibility and some ownership in within that that mural. I mean, typically I'd say, you know, 99.95% of most of these are going to be tasteful businesses anyway. So, and there's always the one character that that wants to to buck the system, but I think that I don't think we need to make a rule around that person. We just have to deal with that on on a separate way. But, you know, I think that it all it kind of being that we're in a seaside community that there's a lot of opportunities that that tie in with that and tie into our our main business which is tourism. you know, I think that this is something that makes makes sense and, you know, whether we need to to look at on a separate issue the murals themselves and maybe there's some general guidelines um and how that would look and and you know, you your department's the expert

between you and and Chris and legal that we could certainly come up with, you know, some kind of a framework. there is a mechanism by which you can accomplish what you're you're looking for and that would be to adopt something similar to the Myrtle Beach model where they have a community appearance board that um not only regulates murals but also architecture the um the the construction materials used in a building. So, you know, it that is a tool that's out there and and in the 15 years that I've been doing this for the city, uh we've only seriously discussed that a couple of times. Um, and it's we just kind of go back and forth on whether or not we want to introduce that extra layer of bureaucracy in into the city. Uh, and like like what Myrtle Beach does. So, that that tool remains if you guys are really concerned about the murals. Uh, that tool is is there for the taking if we wanted to use it.

And we could we not use the arts commission to do that? That's that's the whole point. We're getting ready to appoint an arts commission tonight, executive session, and we could use them to review only murals, not going all the way into the effect of architectural review board. Well, all right. Yeah. I think if if if you had a community appearance board and and and that um that arts commission was serving in in some sort of capacity, I don't know if you if the two can legally uh co-mingle those duties. That would have to be something we would research legally

in order in order to have a control over a mural. Let's say they don't want to put their name on it. They just want to paint a mural. And if you're concerned that that it might be unattractive or distasteful and and you want to get into the business of regulating those, I think you would properly do that through a community appearance board rather than the artists commission.

I understand. Are there any other comments by council? you know, just maybe that we could at some point um y'all could put a couple options together, some kind of a framework for something like this that you know, it could either work this way or that way. And it's a little hard to do this kind of on on the on the fly, but that way it'd be something we could we could look at a little bit more in depth and and really focus on it. Um, and we that that would be helpful and and it maybe we decide not to do anything. You could have that might decide we want to go do something. So,

possibly have that before the second rating. This is just the first rating. We could put together a report on how you could accomplish the goal of regulating murals if if that's the direction council wants to go and we could give you the the report on what what tools you would need to to do to accomplish that. I think from what I'm hearing it is any other comments by council are there any comments by the public hearing? None. We'll take our vote. All in favor say I. I. All against.

Eyes have it. We'll move into um new business. Item A is a motion to approve the 2026 city council meeting schedule. Is there a motion to approve? Some moved. Is there a second? Second. Is there any comment by council? It it says here propose. No meeting. We we we have discussions as we get closer to those holidays. Is that what we're looking at?

Yeah. I mean, this isn't this is consistent with what we've done uh the last few years. So, you know, obviously in the summer months, just once a month and then obviously where we have um months where there's a holiday and it's a conflict, we meet just once a month. But this is this is just the regular schedule. Does that mean that council can't decide they want to meet twice once we get closer to those months or any amount of times really? Well, a lot of times we we meet multiple times during those times that we don't have meetings anyway. That's why sometimes we, you know, don't hold a meeting because it's close to Christmas or close to Thanksgiving or something like that. But that answer your question? It does.

Okay. Are 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 I. I. All against. Eyes have it. We'll move into item B. is the ordinance first reading amendment to the Parkway Group Plan Development District PDD revising partial three of the McDow Corporate Center. Is there a motion to approve? Move. Second.

Is there any discussion by council? So basically this was approved as part of um the industrial park um as a industrial center and we approved it under preliminary design and asked them to bring a more permanent design back for final approval and they've done that and I've looked at the design. I'm satisfied with design. I think it looks great. Um, that's my input. I think it looks really good. The industrial park's doing really well and uh very successful and this is going to be another successful addition to it. I

I do have a question that I noticed in one of the elevations or two of them it actually gave business names. Are those businesses going into those buildings? One was ABC, the other was Okay. I think they came back with some really nice signage. Are there any other comments by council? Are there any comments by the public? All those in favor say I. I.

Eyes have it. We will move into item C, second public hearing regarding the first amendment to the amended and re and restated development agreement for Bahama Island phase 2. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Are there any comments by council?

And mayor Baldwin, I'll present this a summary of the um edits to the development agreement. Um the summary of the amendments to the Bahama Bahama Island development agreement are as follows. One is regarding the maximum height of the piano lots. The development agreement is amended to revise the maximum allowable building height for the lots designated as piano lots. These uh piano lots are located on the inter coastal waterway. In the um original amendment to the development agreement, they were at a height of 35 ft. This amendment will allow a height of 52 feet measured from grade. Um the second major um edit to the development agreement for the Bahama Island is survival and enforcement of restrictive covenants. The development agreement is further amended to provide the restrictive covenants contained shall survive the expiration or termination of the development agreement and shall remain in full force in effect thereafter. The restrictive covenant shall be incorporated into and disclosed in all sales materials provided to third-party purchasers. Enforcement of the of the restrictive covenants shall be the responsibility of the administrator of the applicable covenants conditions and restrictions. The city may but is not required to enforce the restrictive covenants set forth in the CCRs. And those are the the major items that the amendment to the development agreement covers. And this is a public hearing. And at this point, um the mayor could open the meeting to public comments from the um public regarding this item.

Well, we will first we'll get comments from council, but Yes, sir. Um it's my understanding that this was already approved and it did not get in the development agreement and now we're just adding it to the development agreement. Is that correct? We're amending the de the development agreement to include these items that was already approved. Yes. Correct. Yeah. Yes. Correction. Are there any comments by council? It's not increasing density. It's just height. So for those houses near the water. That is correct. Yeah. But we already approved those on the elevation. So it's just more or less sinking the the developer agreement in the PDD. Yeah. Clean up because

it's kind of a housekeeping. That's right. Absolutely. Yes. Absolutely. Are there any comments from the public? Hearing none. [clears throat] We'll take our vote. All in favor say I'm sorry. Public hearing. Public hearing. We'll do the vote next. Oh, okay. So, this is just a public hearing. Okay. So, there there's no comments by the public. So, we don't need to vote on this. We'll move into the next to move into the next item, which this is okay. which is the same thing. But we'll so we'll move into item D, ordinance first reading, amendment to the amended and restated development agreement for Bahama Island phase 2 to auth to and authorize the city manager to sign the document on behalf of the city or do I have a motion to approve?

So moved. Second. Are there any comments by council? Are there any comments by the public hearing? Hearing none, we'll take our vote. All in favor say I. I. All against. So eyes have it. We'll move into item D. Item E, ordinance first reading, reszone request for 8.32 acres on Y old Kings Highway. Um the applicant uh has requested to postpone. So basically do I have a motion to postpone? So moved.

Are there any discussion by council? Is there any discussion from the public? So this item will be postponed if we vote on it. So all in favor say I. I. All against. Eyes have it. We will move into item F. Second public hearing regarding the first amendment to the development agreement for Laurette Associates track staff as requested to postpone. So do I have a motion to postpone? I move. Do I have a second? Second. Is there any discussion by council? Is there any discussion from the public? Hearing none, we'll take our vote. All in favor say I.

I. All against. Eyes have it. We'll move into item G, ordinance first reading, first amendment to Laurette Associates track development agreement and to authorize the city manager to sign the document on behalf of the city. Staff has requested again the same thing uh to postpone. Have a second. Have a first and a second. Are there any comments by council? Are there any comments by the public? All in favor say I. I.

All against. So eyes have it. So we will move into public comment. Are there any comments from the public? Please come and give your name and address. And we have a threem minute limit. I'm Damian Trielair, 902 Parin Drive, uh, Crescent Beach, North Carolina. Uh, congratulations, South Carolina. I'm sorry. Oh, God. Sorry. Only 31 years here. Uh, congratulations to to all of you. Um, thank you.

Very good. Um, I just wanted to uh this is a a letter that I wrote to the editor and I just wanted to read it out in honor of this moment. Uh, it's a moment of history moving forward for North Myrtle Beach. For more than more than any other person in our city government, Jay Baldwin has consistently committed to slowing the growth and preserving as much natural land as possible. During the time when I helped coordinate and organize the community effort to preserve Ingram Dunes, Jay Baldwin was urging the city and his fellow council members to preserve and purchase the Ingram Dunes Nature Preserve. If it wasn't for Jay Baldwin, the Ingram Dunes would not have been saved. Developers had plans to bulldoze flat the highest relic dunes on the coast of South Carolina, according to our state geologists, and build 50 houses there. It is a miracle that the dunes have been saved. Um, un Jay has taken actual steps to slow the growth in our area. He has been involved in the Ingram Dunes and in the Cherry Grove wetlands, Wadies Island, which is very close right now to being preserved. And he also um helped with Possum Trot, making it more dense there. The truth is Jay Baldwin is an extremely honest and trustworthy person who has carried cared for our city and its nature since he was a little boy. He is a servant of his fellow man. That is, he lives his faith to help others. We are at a huge turning point now in our city and surrounding area. We live in the fastest growing area in the whole

United States. And while growth has been rampant already, these forces will be even stronger in the next few years. who having a new mayor um with Jay Baldwin as our leader and his fellow council members will be able to save more natural areas and improve the quality of life in our city in many practical ways. We we are honored to have Jay serve as mayor and you all serve as city council. And I just wrote a little note saying to my friend and brother Jay, may the Lord guide us to save more and more natural lands all around North Myrtle Beach.

Thank you. And this is what we presented to uh the state conservation bank which got a half a million dollar grant to preserve the Ingram Dunes. And this is the document we

Thank you so much. Are there any other comments from the public? How you doing? Jay Van Deven, 2500 North Ocean Boulevard. Congratulations to you guys and gals. Um, being a veteran of the uh of the city, being a veteran, um, I'm part of some organizations. I'm on an honor guard. We, uh, it's the American Legion. We, we, um, we ensure the flag walk on the beach on the 4th of July. We do uh uh honor guard uh military uh funerals whenever asked. Uh we've [clears throat] been there for parades, honor guard, and a bunch of other things. Um a couple years ago, we our doors almost closed because of that uh talk law. And uh I said to the I'm on the executive board. I said to the board, "Well, let's reach out to uh North Myrtle Beach City Council." And the response was, "No, they don't like us." And I've had some conversations with you guys before about this and it was um I was a little hurt and um recently there was a North Myrtle Beach veteran recognition but that was from uh at the at the museum that was something else and I was like oh great finally. Um just the Little River uh Patriots Day this past September 13th was first approached uh there we tried to get a a veterans committee with the city council and it was wasn't received. It wasn't received. Um so as a veteran uh I'm just asking with a new regime please you know please you know reach out to us. Our doors almost closed. We're still struggling from uh the talk the talk laws. laws. That's the city in me. Um and um just, you know, as a veteran, we just need we want to that this um the

next one, the Patriots Day will be uh next around September 11th. It's it's going to be a yearly thing. It was done with Little River. Maybe we could do it together, you know, and just asking for uh support, you know, let's change that that feeling that and this isn't just me. this is some other veterans in in the organization and we're there for the city, for the for the county, uh for parades and everything. So, thanks.

Thank you. Harola, Park Point, gentlemen, congratulations. Miss McCie, congratulations. Jay, good job. Thank you. Like to thank public safety and staff from parks. Everything is going spectacular out there. Five years into working and we got to a place where the neighborhood could get home nice and easy. And thank Mr. Pollock. He was out there the first night and they utilized the three lanes going south and everybody got in the park. Guys, all the best. Good luck to you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other comments from the public? If not, I need a motion to move into executive session to have a discussion regarding potential appointments to the public arts commission. So moved. Second. All in favor say I. I. I. Okay. We will move in executive session and after that's done, we'll come back and close this meeting. U Thank you all for being here.

So, council met in executive session and no decisions were made. Uh, do I have a motion to adjurnn? So, move. Second. All in favor say I. I. Our meeting's over. Thank you.