Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009

Atlantic Beach meeting ends in walkout

ATLANTIC BEACH | Another attempt at routine governance failed in Atlantic Beach on Tuesday night, when arguments before an official meeting ended in a Town Council walkout _ raising anew the annual questions about the future of the embattled town.

The mechanics of the shutdown were as familiar as the accusations the townspeople traded afterward. Before calling the meeting to order, Mayor Retha Pierce announced that the Council had not held its usual closed-door session prior to the meeting because the other three Council members conferred ahead of time and decided it.

Councilman Donnell Thompson replied that they did not show up for the session because the Town Attorney, Steve Benjamin, could not be present, and told Pierce to get on with the meeting. From there, the argument escalated: "This stuff you're doing makes absolutely no sense,'' Thompson said at one point.

Thompson left the room, followed by Councilwoman Charlene Taylor. They returned briefly, but the argument immediately reignited and Thompson and Taylor left the building.

With the microphones still on, Pierce told the handful of audience members that they could speak informally, and the complaints began.

"Why don't you leave your personalities at home?'' asked John Sketers, a former Town Council member now running for the board's vacant seat. "It's very embarrassing, as a former council member and a resident of the town for the last 50 years.''

Some blamed Taylor and Thompson.

"To just jump out of your chair and leave says to me, you're not going to stand up for us,'' said resident Patricia Bellamy.

Others criticized the mayor.

"You're taking your authority a little too out of line,'' said Gary Bell, chairman of the Housing Authority of Atlantic Beach, addressing Pierce.

Abdullah Mustafa, who has occasionally served as a spokesman for Pierce, accused the others of backstabbing her.

"All I recall is her trying to do right,'' Mustafa said. "But unfortunately there's forces here who don't want her to do right.''

And Pierce defended herself.

"I don't have anything against the other council members, but I do believe there's a lot of throwing stones and hiding hands,'' she said.

Standing outside the building while the discussion continued, Town Manager Kenneth McIver could not contain his disappointment. The meeting he had planned, he said, would have covered the town's debts, its upcoming Bikefest and an update on blighted buildings he is trying to speed toward demolition.

Across the street sat one such house, the demolishing equipment paused for the night.

"We have so much work to be done, and it's just boiling down to personalities,'' McIver said. That opponents of the town's existence might see Tuesday's meeting as fodder for their arguments, McIver said, is his "greatest fear.''

The abrupt failure of the council to meet is a pattern well established last year. In June, two meetings fell prey to similar walkouts. In October and December, three more were cancelled when council members refused to show.

While the complaints still ran in the council room microphones, another meeting was being led just a few streets away by Amy Bruenig, who owns and manages several motels in town. Calling her group the "Charter Club,'' Bruenig was collecting about 20 signed letters to send to Gov. Mark Sanford, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, Attorney General Henry McMaster, and state Rep. Tracy Edge, who represents Atlantic Beach.

"I firmly believe the charter of the town of Atlantic Beach should be revoked. ... I believe that Atlantic Beach is beyond repair,'' the letter reads, listing grievances about police, high property tax rates and embarassing acts by elected officials. "Finally let's resolve this issue and erase this blemish on Horry County and the state of South Carolina.''

State law gives very little power to the governor or legislature to dissolve a town, and it remains to be seen whether there is any statewide desire to disincorporate a historically black seaside community.

But Breunig said she believes her effort will prevail. The fact that the Town Council failed to hold a meeting Tuesday night would not even be worth mentioning in her letter, she said.

"They've been disfunctional for years,'' Breunig said. "Today doesn't make it any different.''