Town Council - Regular Meeting

conference will now be recorded to call to order the regular town council meeting of March 24th, 2026 for the town of Surfside Beach. Please stand as we begin with an invocation offered by Reverend Kirk Lton of Ocean Lakes Campground.

Will you join me as we pray together, please? Our heavenly father, as we begin this meeting tonight, we would pause first to invoke your blessings upon us. Lord, we do not come asking for divine approval for blessings upon what may be our own self-centered plans, but we do come praying for your guidance during initial formation and development of plans and goals. Oh Lord, deliver us, we pray, from the hypocrisy that would invoke your blessings upon public meetings like this if at the same time we close the door to you in our private living. Father, we ask your special blessings this evening upon those who have assumed places of responsibility. Grant them wisdom and courage to lead us a right. May they have vision to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, knowing that a nation or a community is blessed, whose God is the Lord. We thank you, oh God, for those who have served in the past and those who are serving now. Whether it's in an elected position or as a volunteer or whatever the situation may be, we're grateful for the time and the effort that they give toward making our town better. Now, we come to dedicate ourselves to the task that's before us this evening. And as we do, Lord, we claim your promise of divine aid. As we serve our community and we serve this town, may we do it as unto you. We pray and this our prayer we offer in our master's name. Amen.

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. All right. Thank you very much. We'll move on to item number three of the agenda. Motions relating to the agenda. All right, we have none. So I will ask for minutes approval from our last meeting. Mr. Mayor, I move that we approve the minutes from March 10th, 2026. Second.

Any discussion? All in favor? I opposed. None. Motion carries unanimously. Minutes are approved. We will now move to public comment relating to the agenda.

Good evening, mayor, council, uh, residents. My name is Bill King, North Drive. you've got on the agenda uh special session and uh I want to made a few comments about how he got here. Um when I first moved here, there was a lady manager and I thought she did a really good job. And one thing she did do that I really have appreciated and miss is we could ask questions. She wouldn't answer it that night, but she'd go out, do the research, and come back. Then we had an interim, no comment on him. We had another gentleman here who at one point couldn't go in the uh town hall unless she had a appointment. There's none of this free flow that we've enjoyed. Uh then we had an interim because he didn't last long. And then we had another gentleman. I just tell you, we we dealt with him. Uh you go to his office, all he wants to do is play darts. So you know who I'm talking about. So we he did he did get smart quit and we had another interim. Then we entered up was a list of about 10 people uh for manager's job. We had, in my opinion, we had a 1A and a 1B and it started down to five because it was the quality dropped off tremendously. Um 1A, he wanted $150,000. This we bid at 125. He wanted 150. He wanted $20,000 house allowance. He wanted a car allowance. And there was something else. I don't remember, but it

it was going to be $190 to $200,000 off the bat. We went and the difference between 1 A and 1B 1A worked in South Carolina. 1B it worked in North Carolina. So, I'm I'm hoping you all come up with a good plan to keep Jerry here till he's ready to retire. He's done a good job for this town. If you don't believe it, look at the people sitting on my left. He hired all but one of them. He's hired great people. We This town is so blessed to have the leadership that we have, little old town like us. So, I hope you can work it out. Uh but I encourage you to uh come up with a good plan so we can move forward with consistency. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, sir. Any other public comment? All right, we're going to move into the communication items and uh with that lead in Administrator Vincent, I need to ask Mr. Kink if he can break it for you. Thank you, sir.

Uh good evening, mayor and and council members. Um, under the administration, um, we were tasked with, uh, providing the retreat at the holiday end to make sure that we could successfully have visual and audio, and we can. We did a test run, um, last week uh, with staff and also with Wendy Foster. Um, so it works successfully. So, we're we're very confident um that we can have an online meeting for our budget. That's on April 9th starting at 9:00 a.m. Um an update with Crein Associates. Um we are at 30% design. We're starting to get into the nuts and bolts of the design. So, we've been discussing uh special inspections, furniture, landscaping, generator, AV, IT equipment, surveys, geotech services, metal detectors. So, we're we're actually getting into the nuts and bolts of this new building, which is the courthouse council chambers um just next door to us. As a followup to the resolution, a letter that was approved by council two weeks ago um for the Ory County uh county solid waste authority in regards to the landfill um expansion. The US Corps of AR uh engineers has acknowledged receipt of both and have officially recorded it in administrative record and will give it full consideration. Um surf Der update when I wrote the report there was really no official update but uh as being there the last couple of days they have opened over the weekend and Monday and Tuesday. So they are serving two meals of the last four days and they plan to serve the dinner meal in the next couple days. So they will have full course breakfast lunch and dinner. Um also attached to this report is the human resource uh resources report for your review. And that's about it. I mean

everything else I have that's been reported to you the last couple weeks is actually on the agenda for action items. All right. Any questions, comments for Mr. Vincent? Mr. Mayor, Mr. Walls. Uh, so I I understand just so everybody else knows that may not have a copy of this, we're about halfway through the pay study. We've we've successfully completed the phase three and had 100% participation from all job types. That's correct. So, uh, they're moving into phase four, which is classification, review, and development of new pay plan. That's correct. So, we're moving right along. Moving right along. I'm I'm expecting it to be about it'll be after the retreat, so it'll be closer to the end of April. Yes, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Hi, I've got a couple three questions. Um, number one, why I'm kind of new having just been elected in November. Why are we moving forward with the town council court chambers first rather than the police department? Seems like the police department has more severe problems than we do here. It was decided by town council to move forward. We had two options. Court chambers or police and they went to court chambers. Okay. Um second question if I might before go ahead proceed. The courthouse is bigger. We can function more easily but the court is the bigger problem. Yes, that's the bigger problem. Yes.

I mean we can do this but yeah court we have court. They're lining up outside the door. I know that. Yeah that's I'm sorry. I didn't want to interrupt, but I just want to make sure that is part of the answer. Um, on the U Sonia's report, the financial report on the back it says work joint jointly with RTS incorporated. I have no clue what RTS is. Do you? Under the graph, first line under the graph. Auditors for insurance. Yeah, it deals with our insurance with Massie. Okay. So, it's Yes. So, that's an insurance broker. That's an insurance broker out of Columbia.

Okay. And then a third question, but you probably can't ask, but Son is not here. Says, "How do you uh" She attended um a class and how to know if it's okay to fire an employee. I thought we were not will employer so we could fire anybody who wanted. That's correct. I mean, she's just doing this as far as her credits for human resources. So, these are the classes they offer. But you're correct. in that real estate. All right. Thank you.

Um I got I got a couple and I'm thinking maybe that's more the touchyfey part of HR to make them feel better if you have to do that. That's my guess. I don't know. Um but uh we we've talked about the uh budget retreat a few times. And uh the the um point I wanted to make I I've seen some you know chatter about why don't we just have it here and uh you know the good news is we actually get a better deal I believe at Holiday End. Is that correct? That's correct. You can thank Tabitha for that last two years. She's worked out a deal with Wendy Foster that is actually cheaper cheapest cheaper for us to go to Holiday End than have it here to citizen.

Yeah. I think I think the catering because they're right there. Their kitchen's right there. They do and they give us the room for free included with that. Is that correct? Yes. And the setup is so much better. Yeah. So, that's why we do it and it's an easy decision every year, but we seem to get that question every year. Why don't we just do it at the civic center? It doesn't really work well here. Um, okay. And then, uh, I I wanted to follow up uh with what Mr. Wall said, and I think you you sort of answered it. uh not the budget retreat but end of April we should have the pay study and will we be able to work in some of the learnings do you think? Yes sir. Okay. All right. It'll it'll have to be like the second round I guess.

Yeah before April 9th but just turn out that way. All right. That's all I've got. Thank you. M Miss Coleman question you only have two years ago resources was working on the employee handbook. It's been pushed aside for for a couple different projects, but we plan to bring it back for uh this summer. Yes, sir. The last uh update was in 2022, and you typically update every 5 years, so we have it until 2027. Mr. Mayor, hang on just a second. Any other time?

All right, Mr. Walls. Go ahead. I would I would just think just piggybacking on that for me, won't it be better if we could rewrite after we've done the pay study and reorganized all the job descriptions and stuff like that? Is that part of this whole process? There's some items that may come out of the pay study that may need to go into the hand be incorporated into the new handbook. That's correct. So, okay, that's so it actually worked out based on our delays.

Yeah. Thank you. Any others? All right. In that case, I am going to uh move on to the uh director's report. So, we're going to start with the finance report director Guber. And thank you, administrators.

Good evening. Uh February is kind of a slower month, but um we are 6 7.6 6 million in operating revenue and um 6.7 million in operating expense. Our property tax collection through February through February totaled 5.8 million. Um there were 20 new business licenses opened. We were right on track with our accommodations tax um the local one and hospitality. We will not see our third quarter um accommodations tax probably until I I probably said beginning of May the way because it's been coming a little late. Um we let's see what else was worth picking out. Um the north side drainage project is in the process of closing out. And then on the period fund um we had no revenues for parking in February. Um but we are at operating revenue and 131 in 131 of that was the peer parking revenue but that didn't change from the prior month. Um we're at 219 in the expenses. sanitation. Again, they're at 1.8 million and their expenses are at 1.2. So, we're we're very close there and we'll be talking more about that fund when we get to the budget retreat. Um, parking revenues at 344,000 and the expenditures are 154,000 through February. Um, read the investment pool. Um, the current average interest rate is 3.889. So, every month it seems to go down

slightly. Um, our main main things that happened during February was that our business license official prepared and mailed out all the renewals um with a due date of April 2026. We compiled all the information for the accommodations tax committee meeting um that took place beginning of March. Uh the finance department also continuing to work on the revenue and expenditure projections for the fiscal year 2027 and prep preparation for department meetings that also occurred at the beginning of March. Um the accountant prepared all vendor insurance information for the South Carolina Municipal Insurance Trust audit. So we're still waiting on the results of that. And that's about it for the month of February. since I'll be every day and working on the budget.

All right. Thank you. Questions or comments? Mr. Mayor, Mr. Stam, uh, I had a comment from a gentleman this morning regarding the business license that they have to purchase. He was asking since the fire department is adding on an ine inspection fee, could that could that not be listed into the business item as as one and y'all take it out because of the fire department? It's listed as a separate item because he was explaining to me this morning that uh the the the inspection went up to $150 for fire inspection. And he was he assumed that was part of the business license and that's what he was saying. He he saying Sam why didn't they just add it into the business license where that would have been just

business license are a wholly separate thing than inspections. So that would be a question more for planning zoning and then but um fire inspections are different than regular building inspection. Well, he was saying it was just a inspection that it was just going to be added on every year from the fire department and he was saying, "Why didn't you just pay all at one time and have that one inspection be done?" So, I I'm I'm just asking the question. I'll talk about it. Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you. Any others? Mr. Mayor's loss.

Just curious as to why last month we were at 4 something. My report says 39 and our current average interest rate that you quoted tonight was 3889. Mhm. Why is this Why are we seeing such a dramatic down change so quickly? I it just seems monthly it's dropping significantly and I just wonder is there any way we can yeah we were at four I think at the beginning of the year we were at 4 point I want to see two or three and it's just been gradually gradually going down I mean has to do with the what's going on in the political environment I'm sure

we really don't have much control over okay that's that's just what we have no control I wanted to hear thank Any others? Thank you, Director Ruber. All right, we'll move on to the uh fire department report. I said you knew you were coming in next, so I can. Yeah, however you want to do it.

Either way, um basically, uh fire inspections are done under our department. Uh last year uh we started the fire inspection fee was passed. It started this year is when it started. Uh part of keeping that with our department is that we can track it. We can figure out if people have paid that. Uh when we go back to do that inspection. Um we're the ones doing it. So we would have to give information over to the town to have them make sure that let's say we go in there and we do an inspection the first time they don't pass. Now we have to go back for the second time. You get that second one for free. the inspections then then afterwards we start billing for every time we have to come back that you haven't corrected the issues that have been corrected. So this keeps us in the know how of it. We have a new program it's called live safe uh that we talked about in the uh I'm drawing the blank uh the meeting that we're workshop sorry

um the workshop that we all got together and we discussed uh like we have some people that come in here that just use a pressure washer and and clean out the hoods and stuff like that. this actually makes sure that they are actually certified to do that. Uh when they come in and do that, we're getting that information back. This is a lot of stuff that we weren't getting previously uh that we are now. Um so what we're trying to do is keep hold of it as far as we can and what we're going to be doing as we start doing out building inspections at the end of year I get that report out that will all be included for you guys the information that's going to be there for that. All right. Thank you. Okay. Well, hey Mr. America,

but he was just asking about it and he was saying why couldn't he just go ahead and pay upfront when he got his business license for that $150 inspection. He said it would just make that more easier on him. He said because he expected a check every year, you know, then and and I didn't know the reason behind like if it could be separated or it was just something that had to be done on line item by itself. So, I'm I just none of y'all was here tonight and I was gonna ask question.

Another reason is also that uh we lost Jason and we just replaced the new fire inspector. So, we have one fire inspector trying to get to all the businesses and sometimes he can't get to all the businesses with that to build him up front. Then what if we didn't get to do the inspection and that would be bad for the customer. So, we don't want to do that.

Thanks. I'm happy to announce we've been pretty busy uh call-wise as well. Uh we we actually had two of our exterior firefighters complete firefighter one and firefighter 2, which are uh 210 hours for fire one and a 40hour class for the fire two. Um firefighter Margaret Emerly and firefighter Christopher Seammons, both are volunteers, completed that. Uh, and they actually got recognized uh during our graduation and stuff like that during their graduation, my bad. Um, that they were in a career class, meaning they went Monday through Friday. Uh, so they took time off from work and attended this class, knocked it all out in one swoop. Uh, Margaret came in second in the class. Uh, and to see Margaret, she's about so tall, wears a size five shoe. I've never seen that. and she's a beast, I'm telling you. Uh, and actually they asked her if she would like to apply for Georgetown Fire Department as a paid member. So, she's going to be interviewing for that. We hope well for her on that. We still want to keep her as a volunteer and we do plan to have that. So,

wow. We had three current firefighters complete their firefighter 2 as well. Uh, Mike GZnell, uh, fire inspector Robert Moran, and Lieutenant Joe Patrushi. Uh all the training helps our department be a better department, not more knowledgeable, safer, and our members safer in the community safer. Uh we currently have 21 volunteers. We just lost one volunteer. Um he actually got promoted. Um and he travels as it is and he said with the promotion, he's going to be traveling a lot more and he didn't feel it was uh appropriate to stay with the department that he couldn't give the time that he wanted to give. He he did ask if if there's any time that his job takes him back down or anything that he can come back and we said absolutely and we're and we're more than happy to have him. We have seven auxiliary members. Uh these are spouses or family members that come and assist us when we do t-shirt sales and everything else. So, we're pretty excited about that. Um of the 22, I'm sorry, 21 now that we have volunteers, 16 of them are interior. Uh I believe when I started we had five to seven interior. So, we have 16 interior firefighters and that's the way we want to keep going. So, we're really happy with that. Uh 15 career firefighters and we're getting ready to hire our second part-time and we have one more part-time position open. So, that completes my report.

All right. Thank you, sir. Any questions coming for Chief Nelson? Mr. Coleman. For the firefighters, this went from exterior to interior. You got turn out? Yes, we do. So yeah, you're getting

start we we just got there actually Margaret just got her gear in. So that was awesome because she was a hard fit because she's so small. We had to reach out to a couple departments with her getting ready to start to see if we could get some loaner and stuff and we actually did. So that was really good. Chris, his gear just came in too. We put him into that. Um, and we're hoping uh this year coming up we have we put in for a grant for four more sets and then in the budget we're hoping I believe it's six or eight we have more in there so that we can continue to get here. So everything's looking up as we get more interior firefighters. Absolutely. And how many trucks you getting out? Um on an average two three

uh sometimes three even. Yeah. Great job. Um, we had the the charges for people have an accident. How's that working out? Uh, I believe last we had the 600. I haven't seen a new check come in or anything. So, whatever the last one I gave you, that's exactly where we're at still right now. We're getting some revenue, but not it. It's not as big as I thought it would be. Uh, but we're at six or 7,000 around there. 67,000 more than we have. Exactly. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Hi, I've got a couple questions, chief. One is, is there a way to separate out how many calls are from mutual aid versus how many calls are inside Beach?

Um, the last program we had, we could when we switched to nearest, we could not do that in. Wow. Um, the other question I have is calls by month. We've got three in July, two in August, two in October, 12 in November, then 133 in December, 144 in January, and 153 in February, and now so far in as of March, we've had two. What What causes that to jump so drastically during those three months?

Well, it's colder weather. Everybody's staying inside. Everybody's starting up their fireplace or anything like that. Uh that tends to give us a lot more when you start kicking on your heater and stuff like that. Uh one thing I've learned down here is you get dust on your emergency uh heating elements and when you get that it it comes out uh it starts smelling up the whole house with smoke and we get false calls for say false calls. We get calls that for smoking. So heat related related. Yes sir. Okay. Thank you Mr. Mayor M. Walls. Thank you Mr. high for that because I had the same questions. U and by the way, nice nice touch on the the look of the report.

Just one observation. You left off September. Was there a reason when it looked like we were tracking on the grid on calls per month? Sorry, that's when the transition was happening. That's when we started switching to November, December, we had to start reporting by January in the nearest system. It was a national federal reporting switch over. Okay. So we had about a four to five month data wasn't fully being collected. It wasn't in one reporting system and some in the other multiple agencies didn't even report on federal level for six months because of that switch over. So that's why our data as we're as we're moving forward I shouldn't worry about that month missing from the

It also went into place January 1st when the federal government was closed down because it was holiday. Uh which made it a little more difficult to try to call in to say hey we got a problem. got an issue uh to get that done. But we we actually did real well for ourselves, but it's just getting statistics up to there. Did it uh The second question was again for Mr. Height that that that dramatic jump from November to December and then rising again in January u and February. It seems like I'll be honest. Did that surprise you when you guys

I feel we become more busy to be honest. Uh last night we had three or four calls in the middle of the night. Before it was two or three or one or two maybe uh but it's becoming on an average that we're getting two or three calls uh in the evening time as well as throughout the day. Uh so we're averaging almost three to six where before we were averaging around three calls a day. So I'll be interested to see how the trend trend goes from, you know, March forward when we come kind of back into the season and and it could go either way. You know, with it getting warmer out, you get more people out on the road, you start getting traffic versus that. Those are okay. Thank you.

Any others? Thank you, Chief Nelson. All right. Well, we'll now move into the communications report. Mrs. Mo.

Good evening, everyone. All right. So, let's start with communication. Um, I just want to point out one thing about our social media. It continues to grow. We're now at 46,000 followers. We have a lot of engagement on our social media, which is really is it's really spectacular actually. Um, our engagement's up, our reactions are up, all the all of the moving parts of social media and people sharing the information is really good. So, we're we're definitely doing a good job in that area. Um, and I also want to call out those beautiful swings under the pier

that um, our amazing public works team uh, installed that hit 300,000 views in one week or under. It was like literally amazing to see that. And not just 300,000 views, people are sharing it. It is the feel-good story. It is the quintessential definition of the family beach. It's all the moving parts that we really want to represent as um the town of Sai Beach. Um today, two things we had. So, HGTV uh Battle on the Beach. Make sure you all tune in to that. um did their opening promo to the series at our pier this morning from 8 to 10. That went really well. Um we were excited to to uh have them and host them. Our police department did a fantastic job as well um hosting them as well. So we appreciate that. Then we rolled right into Grand Strand Today live with Hi Muro. Um and we featured our peer and our peer businesses. Um that went really well. Hi is a just a gem. So um if you guys have not seen that yet or didn't get to see it live, um jump in, take a look at it. It's on Grand Strand today. So it's on their actual website. Uh the barbecue fest. Let's get right into that. It was super awesome. Uh very well attended, great success, uh paid for itself, including overtime. Um it it was phenomenal. We even had a business that hit their top sales since existence. So that was exciting to see. And then we also sold $3,500 worth of

t-shirts. So pretty pretty successful. Um, I do want to say thank you to, and I'm just going to say big thank you to our police department, fire department, keep Surfside Beach beautiful, and all of our resident volunteers for helping us out that day. It was a lot going on, but you know how I always say teamwork makes the dream work. It definitely went very well. So, it was exciting. Both markets are kicking up. Um the one that has currently started is the Thursday arts and crafts market in Memorial Park. Um both markets are 10 to three and then Tuesday, April 7th, I believe the number is. Um that starts the actual farmers market. So make sure you visit that. Um it's promised to be a great event. Um upcoming events I want to invite you all to Campion Autism Network. Um, they are having their Easter egg hunt that will take place at the fire department from 10:00 a.m. to noon. Um, and I believe you guys are the fire department's doing a a whole host of things there. So, um, feel free to come out and join them. On April 2nd, the business committee will host their business with a twist at Neil and Pam's. Um, we invite all, uh, town business owners and managers to come out and attend. Just make sure you register on www.surfside beach.org. Um and and or our social media at the town of Surfside Beach on the Facebook page. Um April 4th 1 to 3, we have a brand new location right here in town for the uh Easter egg hunt and children's fair. Um, so again, that is at Martin Field, which I believe, if I can recite it, 601 Dogwood South. All right, Tabitha. Um, all right. So,

we've got that going on. Then we're going to roll into April 5th, 6:45 a.m. The First Baptist Church of Surfside Beach will host their sunrise service. Last year, they had about 1,500 in attendance. I have a feeling it's going to grow even bigger this year, so get there early. Uh, bring a blanket, bring a chair. You never know what the weather, especially on the beach, what it's going to look like. The winds today were, as you can see with my hair, were crazy. So, just make sure that you have all the things that you need for that service and come out and join us. Um, April 18th, uh, the Source Beach community yard sale takes place from 9 to 1. Uh, register on our website or our Facebook page, either way. The senior center is accepting donations as also selling spots. $10 indoor tables, $5 outdoor tables, and all that money is raised for the senior center. So, please make sure that you guys are are out shopping for all the good things or donating, either one. And then we are going to roll into April 18th again with fishing with a cop. We're really excited about that. Um that is 9 to 1 on the pier and our key Surfside Beach beautiful beach suite takes place at 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. this year. So that's a change. What they realized is it's getting really hot as we continue throughout the beach season. So they were like, let's let's let's have more people come in earlier where it's not as hot. And thank you all for volunteering that you do with the golf ball carts. We appreciate that. Um, and that is my report. I did want to say one other thing though. Yep. I didn't put you on top. We're good. Yes. You have any questions? I'll be happy to answer them.

Questions or comments? Mor Sean. Um, for the sunrise service, um, I went last year. I couldn't even get close to the pier. I mean, it was so well attended. How do they I couldn't get close enough to even see it. So, how do they set it up? Like, do you know the D? You mean like the physicality of it? Yeah. So, public works meets with them at 5 a.m. And then they go in and do the stage, they do the speakers, they try to have speakers on top as well as the bottom and and change. Let me know if I'm different, but they try to have speakers on both.

Okay. I think it's just grown so big, Sean, that we definitely need to rethink so we can have a a bigger audience here and see all of the things. So, it is something I have thought of. Yeah, cuz I noticed um before the pier was open um when they had it like around Well, one time they had it third, another time they had it next to the entrance um by the Holiday Inn. Um it just seemed like it was I guess when I got there people were standing up. Yeah. To see over it was and you just couldn't see. Right. Um I just was wondering about the dynamics of how it was laid out.

Yes. Yeah. But it is definitely on my radar and their radar for sure. Yeah. Thank you. Of course, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Hood,

I've got a couple comments. One is if we were able to make $3,500 in t-shirt sales from a one-day event, imagine how much we could make if we had a store on the pier. Second comment is, and I don't want to take anything away from public works, but the swing started in the peer committee three years ago against pretty substantial headwinds, and it took us three years fighting to finally get to the point where we could get a swings under the pier. So, I'd like to kind of give a shout out to the old peer committee that did that work. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. As she was one of those peer committee people at the beginning. Yes. So were you.

So was I. Yes. A long time ago. Many years ago. Um any other questions, comments? Thank you, Mrs. M. All right. Thank you.

All right. We will uh move on to public works report. Director Adair. Good evening, mayor, council, and citizens. Uh, public works for the month. I'll keep it brief. And our sanitation division of note is the uh summer free time week rollout service will start after May 9th as it does every year, the second Saturday in May. Uh, and also the next household hazardous waste uh and electronic waste drop off event will be held April 10th through 12th at public works from 9:00 a.m. to 1 pm. That's a Friday, Saturday, and a Sunday. So, whatever you can get there with your household chemicals and or electronics, we'll be happy to take them from you and safely and legally dispose of them. And most of it gets recycled. And our streets and drainage division of note is the third to 9th Newground wiring project is uh uh continuing but getting ready to wrap up for the off season. We've had a walk through this morning. There's a few items left, couple more weeks before they demobilize. Some more sidewalk and restoration efforts have to be done, but they're in very close to uh being out of our hair. Um the roads resurfacing project uh came and pretty much went that all the roads that were on the schedule that were paved already and all that's uh left pretty much is thermoplastic striping to go over the temporary striping. Uh that's a separate contractor that does that. Um, in our grounds division, uh, the crews, um, uh, have been replacing worn and unsafe components on our play equipment and the parks and, uh, checking everything for safety for the season, which we do every year. Uh, particular floor playground of our Lakeside Drive is closed to the public right now. It has some worn components, which, uh, I was happy to find out Play World is going to warranty all those components for nothing. That thing is about 10 years old while I was shot. Um, in our fleet maintenance

division in February, our mechanics completed 59 repairs. The town vehicles and equipment. Additionally, 13 vehicles receive preventive maintenance. I'd like to uh take the time to recognize Lonnie de Brule from our grounds division, our foreman for being awarded the fourth quarter employee of the quarter award. That well, he was voted on by the town by a bunch of people and he won that. And also I'd like to recognize Ben Johnson from our sanitation division who we honored with a plaque for 45 years of dedicated service the town of Surfside Beach. How many? 45 years. He's got at least 10 years more than the closest guy.

45 45 years 1981. God bless him. And that's my report. If has any questions I'd be happy to answer. Any questions uh for director there may Mr. John, I've got a question on walkways where we're getting leaves and stuff put in plastic bags again. Are there any effort to to let people know that they're supposed to be putting them in plastic bags instead of just piling them on the side of the road? Now, these stuff like that, it's supposed to be put in bags or plastic bags. Paper bag is what they're supposed to

That's what I'm getting at. If they're in plastic, my crews are instructed to leave them there and the informant the supervisor will put a what's we call an oops tag on it showing have like a little checklist of things you did wrong. That's why we didn't take it. So you'll orange tag and that's to educate the public as to the proper way to put everything. Well, I've noticed around town myself is I ride around a lot of people is just putting them out in piles and not even bagging them or anything and the town's picking them up. I ain't saying they're not. I'm just saying what is the process of getting that stopped and getting it back on to what it should be?

Well, if if someone's picking it up and they shouldn't be, that's a problem. Uh the supervisor has been told to tell the crews not to take loose piles of leaves. They have to be in bags. Uh and if not, again, the the the supervisor has to go and educate the homeowner as to what the proper procedure is. So if that's not happening in certain cases, if you have any locations, I'd happy happy to to follow up on it. Okay. Thanks, sir. Mr. Sean,

um your crew has done a great job on 17. Um it looks really pretty. I wish they could do my yard. Um, and I noticed they were picking up the signs, too, cuz it's spring, you know, getting to be spring. All businesses are putting signs out everywhere. Well, I've noticed a lot of those signs throughout the streets in town. Do they go around like for businesses, you know, we Yeah. dog or do this or whatever. When they see them, do they pick them up? Mostly just on 17. Typically the code enforcement officer mean and Z will pick up signs throughout town.

Okay. Uh we take care of Highway 17. We have commitment to SEO, right? Take care of Highway 17. So public works will do that. Additionally, if we see signs up on poles that are high, we need like a bucket truck to get to it. We'll take those down. We don't expect the code enforcement guy to do that. But pretty much throughout town, illegally place signs. The code enforcement officer will take care of those. And if he doesn't know about it, he's happy to take the email or phone call. He's very cooperative. Okay. Thank you. Yes.

I have I have a couple comment and a couple questions. One is I'd like to say that I took a tour with John Adair and saw the the town yard and and shops and things and in a former life I saw lots of shops and yards and I was extremely impressed with how organized um how well managed, how clean um our the yard was. It's kind of was absolutely shocking. I don't think many people could keep their garage the way that that John's able to keep um our yard. Um couple questions. Um I see that in the recycling we've had a substantial drop in from 2023 to 2026 in recycling. Is there any reason that's happening? Is there anything the town council can do to inspire people to participate more in recycling? Yeah, it's an age-old question. We talk about it a lot in this room. Uh, you know, recycling is not mandatory in the state of South Carolina. We put out public recycling receptacles in parks, on beaches. We we provide free recycling uh service to the homeowners. There's no charge for the can. I was going to give you two, three cans if you want to recycle that. Uh the South Solid Waste Authority, as Edmar told you all, does not charge us to tip those trucks at the recycling uh center, the MURF they call it. Uh and uh every ton that we can divert from the waist stream helps us put off that inevitable closure of the landfill someday. It just makes economic sense and it makes environmental sense. Um again uh some of the reasons that uh I hear throughout my peers in the state is that products packaging is being made much thinner now than it was. Every year they find new ways to make the water

bottles thinner and and reduce the packaging and and materials and toys and everything else. So a lot of that waste is going to be lighter as far as tonnage goes. So tonnage doesn't necessarily tell the whole story. Um but uh we do everything in our power to encourage recycling throughout the town and um we have it on the side of our trucks. Um so short of the legislator legislature doing something on a statewide level. I think we're doing pretty well. One other question I had. Is there anything to update regarding the four clubhouse?

No, I'm waiting for a price. I'm dealing with a company to get a price on elevating the structure to compare that to the amount of money we have available to spend through our 48% maximum rule that we're under right now since that the structure is a non-compliant structure. It sits below what we require uh for the flood plane in that area. That's an AE11 flood zone. Uh, so we have a three-foot freeboard requirement in town, which means it has to be 14 and it's only about 12 and a half. But so we need to either a foot and a half or we're limited on what we can spend on. If we don't go over that 48%, then we don't have to elevate, do we?

That's correct. But it's been anticipated that we're going to if we want to get it the way we want it to rent it out and it's going to need more than what we have available under the 40% unless we unless we wait five years and then the clock resets itself. But, uh, I'm just going to try to give the council the options. This is what it'll cost to raise the building and never have to worry about it again. And this way you can have an educated, uh, vote. Thank you very much, sir. Any others?

I do. Just one of sir, please. John, I've noticed maybe I've just noticed it lately. Has it ever been has it been a big problem? Is it getting better? Is it getting worse? that we may have people that just are just dumping trash off by our streets in town that live elsewhere. I've seen couches that didn't look like they belonged to a property. I've seen things like that around town and I just wondered just curious is that is that a problem that we've faced in the past that just people do that? Yeah, illegal dumping. Have you seen it going on? I mean up

more. Uh, no, not up, but it does go on. Uh, and it's it's gonna it's happening less in less, thank God, because there's less wooded lots in town than there used to be. It used to be every if there was a wooded lot in the middle of the block, that's where all the furniture and all the TVs would go from residents and from anybody driving by. Um, we we we stop people all the time, especially landscapers. There's a lot of landscapers who they charge their customers for disposal and then they at 7 o'clock at night they pull up to the first empty lot they see and they dump their load and again as as the wooded lots become scarcer the problem becomes less and less. People like to dump illegally when there's nobody around. Okay.

So we're not going to have too many of those left. We probably have a tenth of the empty lots that we had, you know, 10 years ago. So but I have it's been going on for a long time. Every city deals with it. Yeah. I just wondered that. I appreciate the insight. I was afraid maybe there was a trend of it happening more in search. You haven't seen it. Probably on the decline, I would say. Good. Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. Mr. Coleman, the household has waste and lot of electronic waste problem. You have that four times a year, right? Twice a year. Twice a year. April and September. Okay. Now, if you can't make it, you can still drop stuff off at Cypio or you can't drop any of the stuff off.

Well, you can drop it off at Cypio, but I I caution people who ask me that because the the residents of Surfside Beach don't pay that county tax for Cypio. So, if they know that you're from Surfside Beach, they could turn you away. Okay. I've had that happen to me already, but only reason why they knew is because I had a sticker. Back in the days, we had a stick owners. They normally won't they normally they normally won't ask you for identification, you know, unless it's obvious that you're not a county resident. So, uh I can't tell people to go there, but uh uh many people have Yeah, I have in the past.

I've been myself to know what they know now. They're looking um underground wiring. They're finishing up. What needs to be done after this?

Well, uh if if if let's suppose that they're done with their work, their work construction is to put all the conduits in, all the junction boxes, the transformers, the pedestal bases for the street lights, all that infrastructure goes in. if they get none before they leave that they don't have to come back in next off season. But they will come back just for little odds and ends. But the next phase would be Sandy Cooper coming in pulling wire and then connecting to the houses and then taking the poles down the wires. That's like the last part of the job. Do you think they're going to get done today? It they'll be real close. They're real close. They'll be close. Yeah, I know. They were real close. They have to restore that Fourth Avenue parking lot that they've been using. Yeah. Are they paying for that? Yeah.

Oh, yes. Okay. They're restoring it. I was told this morning better than the way we found. So, we'll see. We'll see when we see it this time. Yeah. We'll see. But, uh there still six to 9 still has to have the sidewalk put in. Uh it's done up to 6. Yeah, absolutely. Uh so, uh they'll be out of here soon and then we'll see if there's anything left on that contract that they have to come back for. Uh if not, it's all city cooper. Are you happy with this company or not particularly? I mean they they're doing the work but the I don't think they have very good supervision to be honest. Little slow.

Yeah. Yeah. The company who uh who did it the last project in 39 South was very very good but they weren't the low bidder on this job. So we were kind of we had no reason to reject this company. So we had to go with the low bid. Yeah. Sometimes the lowest bid is invest. Um it's hard to pick and choose from government. Just one last question. Beach Nourishment we still on for the middle of the summer or are they?

Yeah, they're set back from their schedule. They published about a month and a half ago. They're they're about three weeks behind that now. They should be in reach three which is starting in the bottom of Garden City. Instead of like the May 12th, it's like May 28th now. They're about two or three weeks behind schedule because they had a couple breakdowns. So they'll still be through us in June into July a little bit. That's it. I agree. Yes, sir. Any others? Thank you, director Adair. Thank you. All right. Uh, last in the director's reports, planning, building, and zoning. Director Broer. Oh, no. I'm sorry. I skipped one. Sorry, I got chief pickle.

You skipped maple. Yeah, sorry. Forget the interum even right past it. I apologize. Good evening everyone. Hey, so for February, uh 79 citations, two ordinance, and 234 warnings. Um councelor high, you asked me to add some uh prior year information on this reports we threw in the 2025 data there on there. Thank you.

And uh then the arrest uh for 20 for February 2026 was 11 arrest warrants. You can see that those arrests were I did forget to put in a a little blurb and I apologize, but the total arrest was 15 arrests. So, there were four other arrests for um DUI and warrant arrest and smaller misdemeanor stuff. And then, of course, the next section does show 2025 to 2026 difference in reported crimes. Uh, also you asked to try to take out take out the self initiated the vehicle stops out of the calls for service. So I did that. I see there was um 778. Well, if I go back up to the front page, I get also there too. I apologize. So look at total calls of service. It was 1,178 um for the year so far and 682 of those were selfinitiated that were not um

so the difference was yeah there was 1860 year to date 1178 was calls for service and 682 was selfinitiated so the rest are calls from citizens correct thank you very much chief I appreciate you doing that

yep and then also if you look at the top calls for service as well same thing there the traffic the 778 traffic calls we received for traffic incidents. 682 of those were selfinitiated traffic stops. The rest were reports to our department. Um, of course, no beach activity yet. And then then to see the golf cart activity as well that also has 2025 as well and has in the past. Uh, for personnel actions, uh, we have, uh, We were struggling to get a uh communications officer in there. Things have happened and the people we selected just seem to not not follow not go through and so we had to keep reassessing that. But now we have finally another round of interviews and uh we gave a conditional offer yesterday. So hoping uh she goes she and she's a currently a a dispatcher somewhere else. So she's already certified. So hopefully her background will be no issues and we'll be able to get her on board if we'll leave us with a uh a part-time opening. We did have one officer who resigned uh officer Chad Waserman who you met the other day. He entered on duty. He is still in the special basic to become a certified South Carolina officer. And then a conditional offment went out to another in February and he started yesterday as well. So that worked out.

Uh notable events. Um we did respond to a domestic domestic violence situation where adult female did receive some u injuries that required medical treatment and a suspect was located on scene and he was taken into custody and she did go to the hospital. Um this one's kind of a a good one. Back in 2025, we had a commercial burglary. We were unable to identify the suspect. Uh, we did collect DNA evidence at the scene. You know, when I say we, I mean our detective who does a great job and every time I can detective Bishop, he did and he set that off. And unlike uh the TV and the movies, it didn't come back within three hours. Uh, it took until it took until uh uh here in February, the DNA came back with a match. Uh I know it's shocking, but the individual identified as already in custody and similar crimes from another jurisdiction. So we just uh went to the jail and served more warrants on him. So he's still in custody as far as I know. So that was a good a good uh investigative victory for Detective Bishop. Um another one here he did he had investigated theft of a golf cart business. He spent a lot of time and effort on that, believe it or not. Uh the golf cart was obtained uh fraudulently. Uh he used a lot of uh a lot of camera systems throughout the state. I think multi-states I believe and long story short, he was able to identify the offender or the offender is uh currently wanted. We have warrants in the system for that. In lighter news, the Citizens Police Academy did begin in February and that's been going really well. Sergeant Brett Camp putting out a great program. Way to go. uh certain camp. Uh I think the officers are having just as much fun as as the participants. So uh we're having a great time and we looking forward to do another one um

probably two or three. Okay. That's my report. All right. Thank you, sir. Any questions, comments for Chief Nichol? M Shaw. Uh first of all, thank you. Uh I was victim of a porch pirate this past week. Um officer came out. The only reason why we did that is so Amazon. You have to have a police report. So if somebody steals your package, you have to get a police report. Even if it's only $25, $50 for Amazon to return it. Um, has there been any others that you've heard about?

I don't believe we had any other reported thefts from the porches. Okay. Recently, okay. Um, we had someone outside of my house last night and um my daughter pulled up because the neighbor told me. So, he sat there for a little bit. I think they figured out our camera was back up. So, uh, we're keeping an eye on that. And if we could identify the car, I would have called back. But,

well, and again, you know, just because we didn't give her a call about something that's going off a porch doesn't mean it didn't happen. So, always I I tell everybody, please call us. Even the smallest thing, you don't think it's a big deal, but call us anyway because it could play into something else. If somebody's here hitting all the porches, it'd be nice to be able to connect those dots. So, yeah, call us for anything. Again, we come out for any call. Every call we come up for. Thank you. Police officer was very professional.

You better be your sister, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Wall, I could just help me understand. Are we in the difference in the the citation data for February 26 versus Sorry, I was choking. I took a long um versus 25. the dramatic downturn from 25 to 26. Are we just being kinder gentler?

No, I think really the biggest variable of that is we just had a bunch of people in training. We had a lot of less people staff out. Uh so we had a probably two or three people in training. So that was less less uh patrol officers on the street. One in light duty. Um and we were down I think two at that point. Two or three at that point. So I think we it was just uh we had a lot less staff working during that that that time period. So um most of those folks are off training now guys back off from light duty and um we have one out had a baby but other than that I think we're kind of we're looking good at the moment. We just have one vacancy at the moment. So hopefully those numbers with the higher staff will will come up a little bit.

Oh I was just yeah I don't mind it. I'm just interested, you know, 147 in February 2025 as far as citations versus 79 in 26. That's that's good. I mean, that's half almost and and I just wonder why. I just I think that's the biggest variable chair, but that that would be the biggest. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Is it possible the numbers have gone down a little bit because you're not keeping your people on 17 just looking for people over in the streets actually patrolling?

Well, I mean there might have been a change of some enforcement priorities here and there. Uh you know that that may be another small variable to it too as well. Again the officers I mean I don't tell them to write two not red tickets or two right tickets. you know, they have the lawful discretion and if they choose to exercise that appropriately, then that's great and giving warnings instead of tick, but they have no problems writing citations as well. I personally rather see him in the streets looking for criminals and um just most of the time on 17 looking for movie violation. Um you're doing a great job. Um we're getting a lot of good good officers. We got some a couple two or three retreads guys that came back. We have officers who are from other departments either retired or decided to change. We one of the offices retired, opened a donut store and then made a lot of money off it, I think, and then decided to move down here, went to Myrtle Beach, and then he came here. You have a county police officer who came over here. Um, we have one officer did his time in Pennsylvania, came came down here. So, instead of people leaving here, we got a lot of people we could experience coming here. I I think it's a lot to do with you and your command center. I appreciate you doing that.

Thanks, sir. Um, you having any problems with the uh the calls going 24 hours? It was a big thing with people. They thought there would be so many accidents and stuff, but I just see this so far this year is only one. Yeah, there hasn't been an issue so far. I mean, we're coming in busy season, so I think we expect to have a lot more traffic on the road the next uh, you know, through the next few months. So, I guess we'll we'll just keep monitoring it and reporting back and going from there. But yeah, it hasn't been an issue so far. So, thank you. Any others? All right. Thank you, Chief. Thank you very much. Now, Director Brother,

good evening, mayor, council members, and town citizens. Um, I'm going to highlight in my director's report the activities of the planning commission because I am working them hard and fast. And so I wanted to bring you up to date on some of the things that they're going to be bringing forward to you. In April and May, we're going to be holding four public hearings, two in May and two in April. Uh, two include zone changes and the other two are simple modifications to the zoning code. cleaning up language relative to uh allowing the town to place municipal signs and also to direct the director's ability to allow some small adjustments to lot coverage on legal non-conforming parcels. Um I'm really pleased to uh report that the planning commission continues to work tirelessly on the tree ordinance and if I take my lead from members of council, we are doing exactly what you've asked us to do. We're simplifying it and we're shortening it. And that is the the key goal here without really changing the strength and the power behind the ordinance. We're simply going to make it easier to understand, easier to navigate. And um like I said, the planning commission members are just doing a yman's job on that. Um because of the workload, the planning commission is considering holding two meetings per month. We're going to have what we call an A and B meeting. The A meeting is going to be what we we've been doing all along. That's the activities, public hearings, zone changes, action items. And the second um meeting, we'll call we'll call it the B meeting, I'll call it, is going to be more of like a workshop type meeting. Uh no votes are going to be taken. We'll still have you still have a quorum, but we're going to we're going to use it to debate issues that we don't generally get to do at the A meeting. So, it's going to be kind of a working workshop meeting and we're going to do that on an as needed basis.

We're not going to we're not going to firm up every second meeting of the month. We're going to do it on an as needed basis. Uh the planning commission is also working on some modifications to the bylaws that they've identified in the last election that they feel needs fixing. Um the um department is also working with the fire department to establish penalties for vacant buildings, dilapidated vehicles, abandoned vehicles, and those sorts of things. I think that's a positive thing. And um two new businesses have have identified have come to us in the last month. Uh one is uh something called Go Gas and that's going to be on the former water park site. Um I have reviewed your initial site plan and everything applies which is u which is a credit to that. Um and the reason I say that is the components of the design overlay that we all work with is not the easiest thing to follow. It really isn't. Um and unless you sit at the desk where I'm sitting, you don't have a what I call a working knowledge of it. When I reviewed their plans, I was just blown away that they met everything to the letter. I was just like, "Oh my god, they got every tree, every shrub, every second. I know exactly where that's all." Credit to them. Um we're also um in preliminary discussions with Seven Brew Coffee for an establishment being located on the old gas station site out here. Um and more to come on that. I don't have a lot of details for you right now. Um but um from what I've heard from coffee lovers in the department is how fast can we get them here? And that concludes my my brief report. Happy glad to answer any questions that you might have about anything here or anything else.

All right. Thank you, sir. Questions for director Broer. I have a question. Mr. H. Um, on the number of inspections chart on the back. Um, you know, whenever I've built anything, it seems like I've always have an inspector breathing down my neck. But yet, here we're issuing uh permits, but we're only having like one or maybe one and a half inspections per permit. Is that normal? I'd say we're doing anything that requires what I would call building code compliance. We're definitely sending an inspector on all of those make sure that they're building to the code. So, you're out there several times per building.

Let me give I'll give you probably the prime example. Somebody is placing a garden shed that they that they bought at Home Depot and they're dropping it on their lot. There's no reason for us to inspect that because those come with an engineering report. So, I won't send an inspector out. I understand. Look at that building. That's probably the best example I can give you. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Miss Walsh, just real quickly, you talked you spoke of the uh the tree ordinance and I'm glad I'm glad to hear everything

moving along so well there. I know there was a lot a lot of work to do. um enforcability. Enforcable being one of I didn't hear you mention that, but I know that in the whole review of this thing and wrap up, you and I had preliminary discussions that we also had to make sure that it had teeth so we could protect these trees that we wanted. It's going to have jaws, teeth. Okay,

we are going to there are going to be serious repercussions. Everything from revocation of state licenses if you if you come in and falsify your plan. We've actually had one of those occur two weeks ago. Well, we got a plan and surveyor the surveyor did his job. He placed all the trees where they were supposed to be on the plan. We actually go site visit those. They don't know we do that, but we go out and we site visit that. We found that three of the trees that were shown on the plan have somehow disappeared.

So, imagine Yeah. So, imagine that. So, we uh we get on that really fast and we we fine and and we're going to have a series of fines and penalties, both different fines, money. Penalties are revocation of permits, revocation of licenses, reporting you to the state licensing board. We're going to do a number of things beyond just plunking you with a $500 fee fine for removing a tree. Um I'll give you an example of a heavy duty one. Yeah,

you remove a landmark tree, $10,000. $10,000. If you remove a landmark tree, a landmark tree is basically an oak tree. I'm not going to remember fall cypress. And there's one other um if you remove one of those and it's over 24 in, it's plain. It's plain black and white, $10,000. That money will then go into the tree fund. We'll use that tree fund to plant trees. Another if I could just another example that I would like you to bring forth in the public forum that you and I discussed and I really really liked. Um we have had in the past it happened here. Well, okay, I can go in here and just strip mine

my lot and I'll just write the check for 10 grand. Yeah, we've had that happen. you have you have a stronger enforcing to keep that right from happening and I just if you would kind of go over what you so we talked about fines and penalties right

one of the things that we're considering and it hasn't been aging yet but we're thinking this is the fine is going to be a heavy one it's going to be like a $10,000 boom here's your here's your fine it's also going to be you're not going to get to develop that lot for a number of years that lot stays vacant you're not going to be able to build that home for three four maybe five years. So, we're thinking about some pretty heavy duty penalties. So, if you mess with us, we're gonna we're gonna That should be a significant deterren. It's got to be deterrence.

I suspect that once we publish that, we're going to get compliance because we're going to show for once we're serious about this stuff because these trees, it's serious business. And unless you show that in the ordinance, $10,000 revocation of licenses reporting to the state licensing board, people will get religion very quickly. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Uh Micheline how much longer this is going to take? because when I started changing the ordinance, it took a long enough time to do that and apparently um they tried to enforce it, but it didn't work well. It's not strong enough. Um is there any hope this is going to be done by I mean I got neighbors living next to junk cars, junk houses, empty houses.

So what can I tell them? Nothing. Nobody. No. No. Don't tell them nothing. Early summer. It's got to go through the whole planning commission process, the public hearing process, noticing requirements, all of those sorts of things. If if I had it if I had it today, I would tell you midspring. But that I don't have it published today. I would say early summer. and and that's going to be that's going to be another fines and penalties um approach.

And my second um you talked about um business going into where the water park property is, but that property doesn't look like it's ready to even build. The rear of that property is clearly not ready to build, right? We all know that there's still crushing concrete at the back of the property. Um the property that we're talking about is the very front property. Um the improvements that are going to be made is part of the capital of putting no what's called no gas in there.

The infrastructure of roads and all those things falls on is going to fall on them. So that's going to be that's going to be the first step in the redevelopment of that site. We're going to see new roads, new streets, new land street landscaping, those sorts of things. So it comes along with the development rather than all of the infrastructure being placed in at whose cost.

The way it's moving is that each developer will develop theirs as a requirement of their going into that project. So I've got plans for what the curb radiuses are going to be. I mean everything right down to how wide the sidewalks are along goas. How long I mean how far how wide the driveway openings are. So all of that gets articulated in the set of plans that gets approved. What I wish would happen is that there would be a master plan for the entire site. Um but I don't know how we get there. How do we get that applicant to prepare a master plan? All we've got so far is a subdivision plan just showing parcels. So we're we're doing it slowly but surely. Not the ideal way, but I'm sure you all probably wanted to see a master plan when you saw that site.

Sure. But that's not where we ended up. So, have they just completely stopped like clearing that lot, removing stuff? I mean, there's still cement piles, still cement pile, still crushing. And um I feel really bad for the people that live behind that. Um I actually sat with an uh one of the residents who lives behind that and we both sat at my computer and issued a complaint order

to d the uh the environment department of environment. It's used to call DHCK. I still call it DHCK. Department of Environmental Services. We filed a formal complaint with them on the crushing of the of the concrete that they're doing back there because one of the mitigations is that you're supposed to water that pile the whole time you're crushing. Not happening. So, we find is incredible. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we all know that particulate matter for anybody who has COPD or any kind of breathing problems is a is a big issue. So we we took matters into the state's hand. We we went to the state have the file complaint the state because they're the ones who control air quality. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.

You're welcome. I well I got I got one uh first uh the uh follow up on uh Miss Sean's point about when the uh dilapidated abandoned vehicles might come and and also Mr. Walls asking about the tree orders. When do you think that might be coming to us? Yes.

Be careful. I don't I'm just I'm just asking for gas. I mean, are we end of spring? Okay. End of spring. We're still a couple months, but not a couple months fining the fines and penalties right now. We'll come to you. That's all I have. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. H. Um, one comment I have is sometimes trees can be removed for certain reasons like an addition or a pool. But does the department ever go back to see if the addition or the pool got built after they? Yeah, we do.

Okay. We usually follow up probably about a month and a half to two months later just to make sure that the improvement was actually put in to remove that tree. My point because what we suspect and I think you're all sitting here nodding and suspecting is that they say they're putting in a pool. We allow them to take the tree out. So we go in the backyard. There's a nice garden there because they didn't want the tree shading their garden and then they get in trouble. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Sam. My question to you is you're you're standing there telling us that you're going to put a lot of teeth in all these ordinances and stuff. Do you have staff to back it up?

We we're writing it so that we don't need a lot of staff to back it up. Um we're writing it so it's very clear, very concise, not a lot of interpretation required. Um and that's why we're going heavily on the penalty section because the penalties are almost easier to apply to some of these. um non-conforming law breakers, if you want to call them, people who remove trees at the dead of night, you know, things like that. I mean, we thought about all sorts of all sorts of ways to to reduce the amount of illegal removals from everything. We It got us crazy is we're not going to allow any tree removal on weekends. We talked about that tree removals on weekends because that's when all the illegal work happens. So if you hear a chainsaw start up in your week in your neighborhood on a weekend, call the police department. But we're but that's the kind of stuff we're considering where it's going to be really easier to enforce than the one we have right now, which is very very difficult to enforce. I I understand what you're saying,

but as you put more ordinances and tougher fines and tougher penalties, that puts more work on your staff that you have. Yes, it does. and and and to do that, you know, and keep up with it. You you have a tree removed and you got to go back in six months and check on it. That's that's putting more work. I don't care how you look at it. That puts more work on. It does. I'm just concerned and I believe me, I think it's good a good thing,

but I think you're going to have to look at make sure that you're going to have enough staff to carry out because it don't matter how we word it or how we put it. If we don't carry out the enforcement behind it and keep up with it, it's a worth it. It's not worth the paperwork.

And and that concerns me in that sense of of a matter that we need to make sure that we've got enough staff to handle whatever we put in here. you you should know that I have in reserve a position that I am not filling right now and I'm planning that would be that would be the exact situation that I'd be in where I would be able to say I've got a position it's time to fill it Nick is working a day and night like a dog trying to get out these things that's when I'll come to you and say that's when I need that position but until then I've talked to Nick several times and he's pretty busy he's busy

he's very busy what is doing right now. And I just, you know, I I don't want to run off the people we've got. Believe me, we're doing better right now with our with the planning and zoning department we've done in years. So, I am very proud of your department for getting up, but I just don't want to get them to be behind either. You know, I don't want to get to that part. We we as you know we've had the reputation our department has had not a great reputation of being business unfriendly and those sorts of things. We're working hard to correct that but at the same time if we go lax on our enforcement that word spreads amongst the I'll call it the tree removal companies like lightning. Um, that is not the message we've been sending so far with the tree companies that have illegally removed trees and that word's gotten out because I've gotten other tree companies coming in who will repeat the story to me that they heard from another tree. So, I know they all talked to one.

Well, I I I do know that you have a position that you're holding back. So, I do hope that when you're writing these or ordinances and and redoing things, you just consider staff while you're doing it. I'll try not to kill myself. Yes. Thank you, sir. Mr. Mayor, uh Mr. Walls, just one brief, prior to your joining us, and thank goodness you're here. But getting back to the GO gas, there was talk that the state wanted to get involved with that intersection. Have you heard anything more about I have not heard anything but that and that answers a question that I saw in the plans.

SC DOT has reviewed their plans for that intersection and they're not going to allow them to take access directly off of 17. They're going to have they're creating a new street that they're going to have to go on and then come into gas. That reads to me SC DOT all over because SC DOT tries to reduce the number of curve cuts on your state highways as much as possible. But you've not heard anything from the state that they want to be involved in that development. I have not at least at this No. Okay. I have not heard that. But that was I was trying to clarify whether that was just rumor or we simply heard some pretty hard conversations about the state wanted to take a look at that intersection. I can't remember.

Mr. walls. I know before Mark got here, um the plans have been sent to SC DOT and actually um the private company has a former employee of SC DOT so they know what the standards are. Okay, it's good to know. Thanks. Well done. Yeah. Anything else? Stay up there.

Thank you, Director Broer. But right, we'll now move into business. And the first one is a facade grant presented by Director Broer. Thank you, mayor, members of defense and member of citizens. Um, as you know, um, facade improvement program is something that we've had in place for a number of years and not really taken a lot of of advantage of. Um, I'm proud to I'm actually happy to hear that we had an applicant come forward. Um, and the key principle, as you know, the facade improvement program is to help fund visible permanent improvements to public facing exterior building. That's what the key is. The maximum is up to $5,000. So, it's a maximum that we'll match with you. So, if you have, let's say, an $8,500 worth of improvements, we'll match up to 50% of that or basically 42 $4,250. Uh, we've listed the eligible activities that we that we have here in the decision paper. And we the process is very simple. Um, and we want to make sure that people know that it's very simple. Uh, they come in and talk to me. We discuss a proposed project. We talk about what their eligible activities are. I walk the site with them. I go out there and I walk the site with them and I walk around the building and tell them what I'd like them to see. I'd like to see my highest priority is safety of the building, not not the aesthetics. So, I will go around the building and say, you know, that door needs to be fixed. That window, broken window needs to be fixed before I'll even go to the I'll call it the pretty stuff. Um, and the applicant that you have before you for this recommendation did exactly that. We met with them. We walked around the building. The applicant is agreeing to spend $11,450 and the request is for our maximum of $5,000. So, our recommendation is to approve the facade improvement grant for

a reimbursement up to $5,000 as approved by the business committee. Questions? I was just going to say when he's done, we're going to before we just start discussion, we're going to get a motion. So, Mr. Are you done? Okay. I am done. I would make a motion that we accept Mr. decision paper uh with regard to the reimbursement or the payment of this uh of this uh grant for law firms LLC that all right so any discussion any questions for director you made the motion you want to start you got anything or you good

I've just taken my hat off Mark this is what I wanted to This these are these are things that I wanted us to get proactive on and start seeing. I mean this is great. I love that these people are doing taking on just making their their storefront prettier and that we are able to support that and yeah 11,000 five of it that's I think that's a good investment on our part. This is this is what I've always wanted. For the first two two years I was on council, I was we've been trying to get something like this going.

It it does take when they come in, it takes us a little bit of cheerleading to get them unwork, but I've already got a second one interested and it's a building not too far from here. It's literally behind me back here. I'm talking about making some modifications to that building. Um there are a couple of again safety issues, but most of it's going to be aesthetics and it's really going to improve the look of the building. So, it does take a little bit of cheerleading to get them on board to because I think everybody's just a little, oh my god, really? You're going to give me half the cost of what I'm doing? They have a hard time actually picturing that. And I have to kind of do a little sales job out with them.

We've had we've had this in place, though. Nothing's really changed. You've just taken it forth. And I appreciate that because maybe you need a cheerleader to give somebody five grand. from now. I want to come to you and say, I want you to guys to fund this for $30,000 and have it all spent and hopefully we'll have a That's what I would love. That would be a success beyond my level. Yeah. I have a question. Mr. A couple questions actually. One, who who gets to who qualifies for the loan? Is it a renter or the owner or both? It can be either.

Either. Okay. But the but the tenant has to have the owner's approval on a on a application that says that they can go ahead and do that. Obviously, we don't want tenants running ramp rampant with the owner's building if the owner isn't approving what those improvements are. So, it can be either.

Okay. Well, this this person seems to be a a renter. Um not the owner. Uh when I did a property search, unfortunately I couldn't get on the the county website today to do it. But um the stuff I came up with is the building's owned by maybe a Harrison Associates LLC and the renter is a a law farms, not firms farms LLC. So I was kind of curious.

I had to look into that for you. I But um I I was under the impression it was the owner. I was under the impression that it was the owner doing improvements because we talked about a lot of things that a tenant wouldn't talk to me about because they're doing the entire building, not just doing a portion of the building. They're doing the entire building, which leads me to believe it's the owner. But but you might be right. I was not able to get on the on the county website. So, I kind of did a workound and I might not be report back to you. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Height. I can say that buildings are right ac across the street from town hall and I've seen the owner, Mr. Harrison, right there with the contractor. So, I don't know which one owns it, but I have seen both of them.

Oh, so you know Mr. Harrison. Harrison. Yes. Oh, Harrison. Okay. I might have had that wrong. And the website is the county website is now being a little difficult to get on to. You got to have a login and everything. So, I'm not sure what's going on there. Even with that, it doesn't work. That's what I found today. Okay. And that'll answer their phones. So I couldn't get on but anyway I would like to check that out. I will to make sure that the owner is okay with it. Yeah is knowledgeable. Other than that I don't have a problem with or there wasn't falsification of the application. Yeah because he says he's before we got him a check make sure that the application has signature.

Yeah. Any other questions comments? All right. In any case, the motion on the table is to approve this facade grant request as presented uh with a maximum a reimbursement of the maximum of $5,000. Miss Medina, will you call roll? Mr. Spe, yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Walls, yes. Mr. Hyatt, yes. With clarification, Miss Bonad, yes. Mayor Cra,

yes. Motion carries unanimously. 6 and the facade grant is approved and director Boder has already indicated he will come back with that information. Um, okay. Our next business item is the uh purchase property. Um, it's going to be pretty short, so why don't we just start with a motion before uh Mr. Vincent even comes up. Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion that we approve the decision paper written by Mr. Vincent on the resolution 26210 purchase of property. Vincent.

Yes sir. Mr. Mayor and council. Um the town has been investigating vacant property for several years due to the growth and needs of the public works department. This had been become more critical recently with the limited structures in place and the the leasing of public park. We proposed to build a metal building multi-use for storage and workspace. The building footprint will be approximately 3500 square feet and this property is directly adjacent to the public works facility. If approved by council, we can move forward with design, procurement process and permitting and we're proposing to accomplish this in the fiscal year 2027 starts July 1. Mr. Mayor, if I would once all the questions have been answered, um if I we could amend the motion. Um our town attorney had one minor change to the agreement and the amendment to the uh motion would be just to remove or section 16, which is the last page of the agreement. There's no other added information in the Okay. All right. So, um, yeah, we'll we'll do that, I think, at the end in case any anything else would have to be amended. So, um, yes. Any any questions, comments for administrator?

I have a question. Mr. Hi. Are we certain that this is this project is complying with all ordinances and um any other regulations? The purchase of the property, the purchase, the use of it. We myself and Jared, we we researched this when we were selling the property behind town hall knowing that we were going to purchase this property. So, um the property behind town hall required an ordinance first and second reading, but the the requirements to purchase property is a resolution.

Okay. So, so but what I think you're asking is is the building that is now going to be planned is that compli but not there yet. This was the Yes, I realize that was answering the question and this kind of answered what I was I yeah page. Okay. Um any other questions, comments? I think director of there's been looking at this property for some time interested in it be much more uh you know simplified for quite a few years. Yes. And very convenient.

Yes. Instead of being three miles away at Huckabe or however that is. And I do I've been spending a lot more time at Huckabe recently and I I see our trucks going back and forth all the time. So yeah, spent a lot of time there. Okay. Um, if there's nothing else, um, I I guess we'll ask for the, uh, amended motion to just strike uh, what was it? Paragraph 16. Section 16. Section 16.

Somebody want to do that? Uh, Mr. Mr. Mayor, I'll amend my motion to approve uh the decision paper u for resolution 26210 purchase of property with the modification that the uh final section 16 will be removed entirely. I'll second it. All right. Any uh other discussion? In that case, Miss Medina, will you call the role? Yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Hall. Yes. Mr. Coleman. Yes. Mr. Yes.

Yes. Motion carries unanimously. 6. The uh uh decision to purchase the property is approved. We will now move into our next resolution uh for kiosk under the pier. Make a motion for that, please.

All right. I guess I will do it. I will make a motion to uh approve resolution 26-211 to amend the resolution 26-206 to allow kiosk under the PR second. Mr. Vincent, will you uh walk us through this?

Yes, sir. So, uh the previous resolution 206 that was approved by council on February 24th meeting allowed kiosk under the pier with an approved conditional use permit. After much discussion with staff, the conditional use permit will require approval by the planning commission and not town council. So this would further delay the time frame for approval of applications. Currently the applications for kiosk applications on the pier are approved by town council. Plus, as you heard from Mr. Broer, planning commission's got a lot on their plate. So, in order for me to keep this process consistent, staff recommends amending resolution 26 2011 to require kiosk applications under the Peter to also be approved by town council.

Any questions, comments, discussion. All right. In that case, Mr. Medina, will you call the role? Mr. Yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Coleman. Yes. Mr. Yes. Yes. Motion carries unanimously and the uh the revised resolution is approved. And I will say we were getting a lot of applications. Okay. Good. We've got we've got vendors waiting for this resolution. Wow. Very good. Have the applications. We've already I've already been them. I'm just waiting for this approval. It'd be very quickly tomorrow. Wow.

All right. Well, while Administrator Vincent is on our roll, um I'd like a uh motion to uh uh approve the award agreement for the uh Martin Field plan, master plan. Mr. Mayor, well, I'll make a motion that we accept Mr. Vincent's decision paper subject park and recreation development fund award and agreement regarding market field. Thank you. All right, Mr. Vincent.

Yes, sir. So, uh, this is the park and recreation development fund called PAR and an agreement. The facts here in April of 2025, there were discussions in the decision by the town council to apply for funding through the Ory County delegation to conduct a master plan for the repurposing of Marty Field. on Friday the 13th. So it is lucky staff received an award an agreement from the department of parks and recreation and tourism in amount of 52,134 and 38 cent. The town's share is $10,426. So we have to approve the next steps will be to contact our engineers which is Bolton and mink to prepare an agreement that outlines the master plan process and cost to match the funding agreement. Any questions, comments?

I have a question. Is this uh town share of $10,000 plus budgeted? We're going to budget for fiscal year 27 July. So, it will be in the upcoming budget. Yes, sir. It's a reimburseable grant. So, we're going to we're going to budget the entire 52,000, but our share of that is 10,426. So, that'll be in the 26th budget. 27th. 27th budget. Yes, I'm sorry. And one other question if I can remember what it was. Oh, how are we going to use this money? Is this for an engineering or is this for actual um improvements at the park?

We we discussed this back in 2025. We have a an agreement with our engineers Bolton and Mink. They came in and and did a kind of a discussion with the town council about how they can go through a master plan process. Typically, you you need a master plan to repurpose a site before you can ask for funding to build the entire site. So, this is basically for engineering. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you,

Mr. Mayor. Mr. Walls, just want to comment, Jerry. Is this what we were hoping for? Yes, sir. This is about as much as we could hope for, wasn't it? It's as much as I think Bolton and me came in with a very lengthy process at 76,000. I think there's there's a lot of meats we could cut out of that to get it to 52,00 and the reason why we're doing this is how government does it u to get more possibly more money from a grant you have to have a master plan

state and federal government uh programs and departments require you have an approved engineered master plan before you can request funding to build it. Just want to so the community knows why. Yes, sir. Why we're doing it this way. That's the way you have to do. And and following all that, I'll say we're going to work with Bolton and Mink to prepare an agreement that outlines the master plan process. They're not necessarily going to do it, right? I mean, do they create the master plan or does that get bid out?

They they will do it. Okay. because we have an existing contract with them for this kind of work. Okay. I I kind of looked at him. I saw you looking. Um, anything else? All right, then. Um, the motion on the table is to uh accept this decision paper and the award of funds. Miss Medina, will you call the role? M. Yes. Mr. Hyatt? Yes, Mr. Walls. Yes, Mr. Coleman. Yes, Mr. Sty. Yes, yes. Motion carries unanimously and the award is accepted.

Okay, that takes us to item eight, public comments.

Thanks, Rod Chilling. S2 Golf Car 780 Highway 17 South. Well, coming to you guys with a little bit of a heavy heart tonight. Got a couple of complaints. Uh we opened our doors in 2018. Uh very proud of what we stood for and what we wanted to accomplish in this uh small community of Surfside Beach. being better serviced than everybody and offering what we thought was the best in what an LSV was uh to the community. Obviously, there's going to be competition that comes up. Um what what my problem is is what's good for the goose ain't always good for the gander. When I opened in 2018, there were stringent responsibilities that I had to uphold before I got my license. One was signage cost me an extra $11,000 to make sure that my signage was not covering any of the architectural of the building. But yet, three months later, unit B in the same complex that I'm in got away with it because we didn't have somebody active in the zoning committee. doesn't matter to me. Still cost me an extra $11,000. Also, parking out front, I had to have a certain number of parking spaces accessible for customers if I was going to have a showroom, right? So, I got a second building to make sure that we had the number of parking spaces available out front that accommodated that. Also, we had to make sure that there was wheelchair accessibility, drinking fountains for the for the handicap. There was many things that had to be put into place that I'm not seeing upheld with other businesses that are being put into this community.

It cost me a lot of extra money to make it happen, yet I'm not seeing it with other companies. Now, I get it. We weren't allowed to have golf carts out on the frontage of our property after dark at night. They were supposed to all be pulled in. Ram does it. ABW does it. Everybody does it. Don Coastal comes into town. They got them sitting out there all night long. Doesn't matter for them. Now, I didn't give the the town a golf cart obviously or anything. So maybe there's something to do with it there. But it bothers me. Now we have a new company coming into town and it's called RDR4 Carts. It's a rental company that took over a building that was an RV. There was no vetting to that company. What they were going to do, do you guys know what they're going to do? 200 golf carts. They're going to park them at Surfside Reality locations. I'm rented out this year. many to two Surfside reality locations. He's going to have a car card there where you can go and scan them, right? And then rent from there. Great idea, except for one thing. If you have a four-bedroom house for rent in Surfside Beach, you also have to have four parking spaces for your customers to sit at. His golf carts are going to take up one of those places. So, if I deliver a golf cart to that place, he needs to move that golf cart. Now, if Surfside really decides that they're not going to allow my golf carts there, I'm good with that. I'll start a campaign saying rent from anybody but Surfside so you can rent for a decent price. It bothers me that we're not vetting these companies. We're not looking. There was nothing done for those guys. They didn't have to uphold any anything for their building. They got an empty building with golf carts parked out front of it right now.

I could I looked at the property across the street from my place because I wanted to put a storage facility in there where people that were snowbirds could park their golf carts in the offse. Can't do that on the on the main road there. Has to be set back. What do you think this guy's doing? It's a storage facility. There's 150 golf carts parked out there. If you drive by the bowling alley, they're just sitting there. You can't access the building. There's been no upgrades to that building. There's no been no upgrades to the grounds. So what was the overlay for? Why did I sit on a business committee for as many years as I did where we all we did was talk about it. We didn't do anything to uphold it. There is more golf carts here. There is more pieces of the pie getting shrunk down for me to where I don't know how long I want to be here. Now, we've got a plan in place where we want to grow and do something different as well that we're going to add to our golf cart company and hopefully that works out. If not, I'm getting out of Surfside. I want the same thing that I had to uphold as far as um what was allowed from uh Sabrina and John Barrier Barrier to be held up with these other companies. It's only fair. Anyway, I'll leave it at that. I appreciate your time. Thanks.

All right. Thank you, sir.

Good evening, council. I'm Bill Kink, North Dog Wood. U a month ago, y'all talked about putting lights on stop sign down by the beer. I have since found out that we no matter what you did down there, it's not enforceable. That's for our police chief. We did not do a traffic study, so the speeds uh limit and stop signs really aren't enforceable. Only one enforceable is the one coming off Side Drive. I think you need to make do take steps to either go back to way it was, which I think we did it for safety reason. had a lot of good sense to us at the time and and do the traffic study to make it legal because people do run through the stop sign, but I've had it I've seen it twice last summer. Well, actually, one was in the fall. So, it does happen and I don't spend a lot of time down there, but it does happen. Uh, we do have people walked across the street. That's why we did the 10 mph speed limit. It it it makes practical sense, but it's not useful if the police can't enforce it. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other public comments? Okay, I do not see any. So, we are now going to move into the town council discussion on your comments. And I'm going to start with uh Mr. Coleman. want to thank you all for coming out to the people at home listening. Um reference to what Mr. King said the infrastructure committee is looking on several different traffic studies one of them being for possibly doing 25 miles per hour uh and also calming calming ways to slow down traffic on certain streets. What we did initially find is in this town I don't believe I'm not sure but I don't believe a traffic study was ever done on any roads you have roads that one way is going 20 miles per hour the speed limit going the opposite direction it is 25 miles hour you have roads that go past uh parks that are one direction is going 10 miles hour and the other direction is going 30 miles It was never done with rhyme or reason. Well, maybe it's like a treasure map. If you find if you look at where the slow streets are, you pretty much find a past politician living on that road. I made up a map and the map is unbelievable how many different roads have different speed limits on the same way in opposite direction. It makes no reason rhyme or reason the way they did things. It seems like some people just bought a sign. You can get a sign for $25. I don't tell you that, but it's $25. You get a pole and you can stick it

in the ground. And I think a lot of people did that, too. So, we're thinking about 25 miles per hour. But what we that might not fly, but we what we have to do, we have to straighten this all out. It is crazy. I've never seen a hodgepodge of different signs. 10 miles an hour, 20 miles per hour, 25 miles per hour. You a 25 mile per hour sign. Three uh three houses on the stop sign. It's only for three houses at 25 miles per hour. It doesn't make any sense. So, and it's not John's problem. He This is This is for years and years and years. I mean, you got Willow. He goes, he's 20 miles per hour the whole length in both directions. How do they figure this out? So, we're going to have to do some kind of cost us some money to fix this because the police can't enforce it, especially if you have the speed limit from one direction and then the other direction is totally different. That's all I got to say. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, sir. Uh, Mr. Hyatt. Yeah, I'd like to say a couple things. Um, one is Rod, I understand that um that you'd like to have a level playing field and I feel for you and I'd like to see a level playing field as well. Unfortunately, we don't have a magic wand we could snap, but we can all work in that direction. I hope we achieve it in time. Um, second thing I'd like to say is that I grew up on a military base. The speed limit was 15 and it didn't seem to provide any real hardships. If we go to 25 m an hour, I have a hunch we can adapt to it in this town pretty well. Be a lot simpler, a lot less signs. Um, no 10 mile an hour be be 25, but it'd be easy to enforce. Um, I don't know that we need a traffic study. I did a little research and found out that other towns have gone to all 25s and they were able to do it just one study for the whole town. But then the question comes, the state says that residential speed should be between 25 and 35. Well, if it's a 10 mph stretch from the bottom to the top of that range, why do we need a traffic study? Why can't we have the the authority to just decide within that range what we want our town to be? So, I I wrote a letter to Val Gast asking that question. I haven't received an answer yet, but hopefully I will receive a favorable answer. We'll see. Anyway, that's all I have to say. Thanks everybody for being here.

All right. Thank you, sir. Uh Mr. Waltz,

uh I just uh want to thank everybody for coming, listening in. Want to thank our directors for another amazing monthly report, keeping us all a breast of things u council and of course the citizens. Um you guys are doing an amazing job for us. Um, I mean, still enjoying the police academy. I'm gonna keep plugging this thing the whole time because I I just want you all to know that the the incredible quality of our police force. Uh, it even becomes more evident every week when we're introduced to another one uh or another few that and what basically their jobs are and so forth. It's it's amazing. We truly are blessed in this town, y'all. You should go through the police academy next time Mr. Tickle puts these together. It It's an incredible experience. I'm I'm enjoying that. Um but anyway, uh see you in a couple of weeks. Um I think somebody threw out there um might have even been Mayor Krauss. I don't want to put words in your mouth, but we're coming up. We're coming up on budgets. And if you guys have anything that you need us to be aware of, think about as we go into this, April 9th starts the the whole work workshops and everything. If there's if there's something that you all need us to be aware of from a resident's point of view, uh, let us know, let your favorite councilman know. and and of course we'll be keeping you a breast of the process as we work as we work through it and do the very best that we can for our town and our resident. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, sir. Uh Miss Sean, I want to thank everyone that's helped uh me and the senior citizen um committee. Um we're making a difference there. Um and I appreciate the shout out. Um, Mrs. Moss talked about the yard sale. They're all excited about it.

Uh, the police department has given me a lison and um they're going to be excited about that too because they like seeing their firemen and they're going to like seeing their police officer. So, um, note about speed limits. Uh, I live off a fifth and Cedar Drive. So, I'm at that stop sign where that flashing light goes off when they're speeding. I have seen it up to 55 miles an hour. Okay? I don't care what we change. I Well, I would like the 25. I would love it, but there's got to be a way to enforce it because um we always I would say not always. I would say there are several accidents on Fifth and Cedar, that little intersection right there on the north side, especially in the summertime. And um cars are flying. Just today, I was sitting there and I couldn't go anywhere cuz cars are coming left, cars coming right, and I got somebody on the back of me beeping the horn. Okay, they want me to move and I can see where the accidents are happening, especially if you have an older person, they hear that beat and it's, "Oh, I got to go." And that wasn't the case. And um it it just seems like no matter what speed limit we put in, which we need to change it, we got to be able to enforce it. Um I just it just bothers me a lot. Fifth Avenue Um, and that light flashes. I've never seen when I've been sitting at that stoplight where someone is going to speed.

It It's very sad. It's a strip. So, with that said, um, I appreciate all the help. Um, especially our first responders. You guys, gals are wonderful. Um, and I encourage the residents to take part in this budget workshop. I've been answering um text this week, you know, you don't do this, you don't do that, blah blah blah. Well, you know what? Come to the public work, I mean the budget workshops, take part in it, tell us, talk to us, and um if we do it together, maybe we would have a better plan. Um I feel bad for um us two. It is not fair. So, a lot of unfair things that go on. Um, and we should answer his concerns. I mean, we should figure out that building and um, we should get back to him. But that said, have couple weeks. Uh, enjoy this cold weather again. I hope it gets warmer, but God bless you all. See you next time.

All right. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Stamy, can I ask you please?

Uh, I want to start out I want to start out by saying thanks to everybody that's showed up tonight. I'd like to thank our staff. Our our staff here in town is getting better and better. Um, but if you read on social media, and it's been bothering me here lately, that we have a select few in town that thinks that this town is very bad about a lot of things, that we don't do a lot of things, right? And possibly that we do. But I'm telling you, I've been here a long good while now. And uh as I look around this town incorporated in 1964, it has never ever once been in the black since 1964. So this council council's past and our town staff has done something right in this town. And for the all these negative people that don't think that we're doing our jobs, just look at the town how it works. Um, we might not be on target on everything. I, you know, we're going to make mistakes. Our staff's going to make mistakes. But overall, where everyone is sitting in this room and everyone's listening and everyone's going to comment after this is done. We have a great town. And this town, as I just got through saying, is is always running the black in the in the black. It ain't never been in the red before we worried about money or can't get something done. And I think that a lot of people believes a lot of this stuff is been out on the internet and we get some of the emails that tells

us how bad we are or how just just look at it. Just look at at what's going on and how it's been run. And we are going to discuss Mr. convention's contract tonight. I've been here for three administrators since we've been here in and several. I'm telling you right now, the process of of of looking through a new administrator is is very hard. We have somebody that we put in this in this position and I hope everybody's been to the town hall, been over to the planning department and and seen the the the growth of good people that we've hired in this town. And this man is done the majority of that work. Y'all, I hope this council tonight can come up with a good agreement to try to get this man to stay on for another three or four years. I hope. We'll see what happens. But I want to say one thing. I appreciate your work, Joe. I know what you come into this town. I was on on council when you stepped in to a a bad situation to take over and and and do the job. You've done a great job. Sherry, I know you get a lot of feedback from a lot of people. Thank you. Thank you for what you do for this council. Maybe some of the council don't appreciate it, but I do. I thank you, John Nichols, everyone of you who who help run this town. A great thanks to y'all. I hope that our citizen tonight that has this concern about people getting different treatments on different businesses. I hope that our planning

department or whoever needs to look into that finds out why we got somebody ch doing one thing and another doing something else. That ain't right. I don't care if it's S2 or ABC. You know, I don't care. Everybody should follow the same rules. I should follow the same rules. If I'm building something that is one of these other councils building something, we have rules for for a purpose and it shouldn't be changed for Mr. Mayor than it is for Mr. Stain. Uh, you know, they want to be the same, whatever it may be. But with that y'all, I've been a little bit back to what I started out. I've been a little upset about the way our staff and people on the internet has been treated. And I hope I hope that everybody don't believe everything they read on some of these Facebook pages. So with that, thank you for coming and good night.

All right. Thank you, sir. Um, since you were last but not least, does that make me least? That makes me And I'm going to go on the record first by saying I did I did an addition on the house um in the fall and we followed the entire permitting process. It was in the window the whole time. Had all the inspections. We failed one of the inspections and I spent an extra thousand dollars to get it fixed. So,

but it got fixed. So, it was uh it was just not a a pass through. Um, but a little more seriously, I you know, I'm looking forward to the beginning of the season. Mrs. Maul showed that uh April we're really going to get going. Um, a lot of events coming up and of course it only picks up speed from there. Uh, if you didn't notice, uh, we just had the town's birthday, which was also the pier, uh, opening anniversary uh, two years now, and that was uh, on March 14th. So, um, it's good. everything's finally open and uh I'm looking forward to a very good year on the pier this year. The Grand Strand live uh show today was great. So um as she said, look it up on the uh on the website if you did not see it. Um but we also heard at the AEX meeting a couple of weeks ago and I think I uh mentioned this at our last meeting. The projections are touris tourism is going to be down a little bit this year. So, um, we're going to need to, uh, work for each of those A and H tax dollars. So, um, seriously, talk it up. Um, you you people matter, your friends, your your relatives, uh, anybody who's talking, um, tell them what a great place it is to be. And then so far as Mr. Vincent's contract goes, um, we did get some input. Mr. King made some comments today. He stopped by and saw me uh last week as well. And uh we've gotten a couple other comments from uh a few other folks. We can't do it publicly because we're going to be putting some performance objectives in. Um we're just trying to clarify some job responsibilities and so forth. But as we do that, we talk about performance. So um that is, you know, by definition a personnel issue, but uh we're going to work through that. And uh we're not going to come out with a contract after this meeting, but uh you know, we'll still have to do legal reviews with the attorney and so on and so forth, but we're working through the process. Nothing mysterious, but it just takes

some time to do it. So, with that, I am uh going to close this out and uh I am going to ask for a motion to enter executive session for those contract discussions. Mr. Mayor as well. I make a motion that we enter uh that excuse me that we uh adjourn the regular meeting to enter into uh executive session pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act section 30-4-70 A1 discussion of employment appointment compensation promotion demotion discipline or release of an employee town administrators evaluation and contract Thank.

All right. Is there any discussion? All in favor? I opposed. None. Motion carries. The regular meeting is adjourned and we will enter executive session. Thank you.