Monday, Oct. 26, 2009

A critic against two incumbents in Atlantic Beach

A longtime local critic is running against two incumbents in the Atlantic Beach Town Council election.

Paul Curry, who has been an Atlantic Beach resident for seven years and has two lawsuits pending against the town, is taking on councilwomen Josephine Isom and Charlene Taylor for one of two seats on the Town Council. The election is Nov. 3.

"I'm running because I feel the incumbents aren't doing an adequate job for the town and I thought I could do better," said Curry, a store clerk at a Kangaroo Express in North Myrtle Beach. "They cannot go on the way they are."

His lawsuits, both filed in 2008, allege Freedom of Information Act infringements. Curry says the town council has not given public notice of meetings and issues that are debated and decided upon in executive session without public discussion.

"I'm trying to get the town to comply without the expense of litigation. [Maybe] I could do that as a council member," Curry said.

Atlantic Beach has had its share of drama in recent months, from Mayor Retha Pierce's run-ins with law to the recent announcement from State Treasurer Converse Chellis that the town was one of 25 in the state that was delinquent in providing its annual 2008 financial audits.

Isom and Taylor said they both believe continuity in leadership is best for the town.

"We have moved forward in the last seven months. We have some positive things in the making. We have a positive [town] manager. We have positive councilmen in the seats that now are working together," said Isom, who works as an administrative assistant at the Horry County Registrar of Deeds office.

She said the biggest issue facing the town is finances. The first step in rectifying that came last week when the Town Council approved a proposal that will seek bids from accounting firms to go over the town's financial statements from the past three fiscal years. Once an accountant is chosen, the audits should be completed by mid-2010.

At that point, the town will have "crossed the bridge to success," said Isom, who was elected to the council in May to fill the seat left vacant by Pierce.

"We will let everyone know that we can give an account of finances," she said.

If re-elected, Isom said she wants to work more closely with Atlantic Beach property owners, who she said are integral to the town's development.

"I really don't have a problem with the landowners. If we call a meeting, I've sent out letters asking them for help. I've always been involving landowners in communicating with them," she said.

The town revenue, development and settling of lawsuits will fall into place once the audit is done, said Taylor, who retired in 2004 from the National Bank of South Carolina.

But even more important is the issue of division in Atlantic Beach, she said.

"People come into town and get that division started and separate the town and separate the people and most people don't know what the heck is going on. They want it done their way, and it's not the right way," Taylor said. "That's something that plagues the town of Atlantic Beach. People come in with these big ideas and all of a sudden, the town is turned upside down."

She said there should be less bickering and back-stabbing.

"It's just too small to have all that kind of confusion," said Taylor, who has served on the Town Council since 2001. "I think we should come together as a group."

She wants to see more community participation in projects like cleaning the streets,and looks forward to working on renovating the community center or building a new one.

Curry said he wants to work to improve town credibility, which is lacking. When outsiders research the town, it's inevitable that they'll find the turmoil.

"There's some long-standing problems with Atlantic Beach, but I think we've been in the news more than in the past, particularly with elected officials," he said. "I think that someone that is planning on doing development in the town has to feel comfortable doing business in the town."

Two other people, Patricia Bellamy and Windy Price, turned in statements of candidacy for the town council seats, but were later eliminated from the ballot.

Bellamy was removed after the election committee discovered she had been found guilty of forgery, which is a felony. The state election laws require that a person is pardoned under state or federal law or that 15 years or more have passed since the person completed the sentence.

Price said she was taken off the ballot by the election commission because of a statement filed by a landlord that said Price lived outside the town limits and because she was misled about a deadline to turn in an economic interest form when declaring her candidacy.

A hearing will take place today at 9 a.m. to decide if she should be added back onto the November ballot, according to the Horry County Clerk of Court's Office.