[0:02] This conference will now be recorded.
>> It is now 6 PM and it's my distinct
[0:07] honor and privilege to call to order the
regular town council meeting of
[0:10] September 8th, 2026 for the town of
Surfside Beach. Please stand as we begin
[0:15] with an invitation by Pastor Oki Landers
of Pine Drive Gospel Church.
[0:23] Let's pray. Father, as always, we humble
ourselves before you at the beginning of
[0:29] this town council meeting.
Father, not only do we humble ourselves
[0:36] this evening,
but often we are humbled by the
[0:40] circumstances of life. We're especially
mindful, Lord, in this time of year of
[0:46] 911,
of the brevity of life, the sudden and
[0:51] unexpectedness of death, and aresh of
our very real need of thee and
[0:58] dependence upon thee.
Father, we pray for thy grace and thy
[1:04] mercy.
Grace for the salvation which is in thy
[1:08] only begotten son,
mercy for life, Lord.
[1:13] And we thank you for that grace which
has attended many of us who are present
[1:17] here this evening and your mercies which
are a part of all of our lives.
[1:23] Father, we especially thank you for
those who serve in our community.
[1:28] those whose lives, Lord, are given that
that others may live. May we never take
[1:35] for granted the mercies of life. May we
always be a thankful people. And again,
[1:42] I pray for your continued grace, your
continued mercy. How good you have been
[1:48] to Surfside.
We thank you for this community. We
[1:53] thank you for our leaders, the powers
that be are ordained of thee. I ask your
[1:59] blessing both upon the community and
upon those who lead it, Holy Father. And
[2:06] I pray this evening that our deport
before thee might be that which is
[2:11] acceptable unto you and pleasing in your
eyes. And may the issue of this time be
[2:18] that which is your will. Thou art the
God who is there. and we worship thee in
[2:25] the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
>> Amen.
[2:32] I pledge algiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
[2:37] republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible with liberty and
[2:44] justice for all.
>> All right. Thank you very much.
[2:54] All right. I will now ask if there are
any motions related to the agenda.
[3:00] » Hearing none, we'll move on to minutes
approval from last meeting.
[3:04] » Mr. Mayor, I
>> I'd like to make a motion that we
[3:07] approve the town council meetings from
meeting minute meeting minutes from
[3:13] August 24th, 2026.
>> Second.
[3:22] All right. Is there any discussion?
All in favor? I opposed. None. Motion
[3:29] carries. Meeting minutes are approved.
We will now move on to public comments
[3:33] on agenda items only. Do we have any
public comment?
[3:39] All right. We'll now move into
communications. Uh looks like we got a
[3:43] double header. Police and fire
recognition. However you guys want to do
[3:47] it.
[3:52] Good evening, Mayor Council Public.
So, this is I know I probably said this
[3:58] before, but it's one of my favorite
things I I like to do in my job. I get
[4:02] to actually recognize some of the
officers that do just such an
[4:06] outstanding job. And when they go above
and beyond, you know, we like to really
[4:09] recognize them and and u in a public
forum. So today uh our officers uh
[4:17] worked with uh our fire department and
responded to an incident where they they
[4:21] excelled and saved a life. So we just
wanted to share that with you. So how
[4:25] that came about is we were looking at
some body cam footage on a call and when
[4:28] we watched it we were like wow what a
great job officer did. We saw what the
[4:32] fire department did too. So I contacted
the chief said hey I think we need to do
[4:35] this together and recognize our staff.
So I'm just going to uh read this out
[4:40] loud. the uh this recognition of
performance. On July 3rd, 2026, Corporal
[4:44] Corman responded to an address within
Surfside Beach, South Carolina in
[4:48] reference to a one-year-old toddler that
was unresponsive and not breathing.
[4:52] Corporal Corman arrived on scene before
EMS medical staff to find a resident
[4:57] department conducting CPR on a child to
which Corporal Commer took over until
[5:01] the Surfside Beach Fire Department
arrived. A few minutes later, Corporal
[5:04] Corman remained with the patient and
assisted medical staff by retrieving
[5:08] medical supplies as they administered
medical treatment. With the child being
[5:11] well cared for, Corporal Corman and the
other officer switched their focus to
[5:15] conducting an investigation in the
circumstances into the circumstances
[5:18] behind the child's condition. While the
care medical staff in the ambulance, the
[5:23] child regained consciousness before
being transported
[5:26] to Grant Hospital for further treatment
and observation.
[5:31] It is due to the swift action of
Corporal Corman and the medical team of
[5:35] the Surfside Beach Fire Department
providing immediate first aid and
[5:38] life-saving CPR that attributed to the
child's survival. The child did make a
[5:42] full recovery and um
DSS took over the investigation and took
[5:47] the appropriate actions. So, the child's
alive and well thanks to Corporal Corman
[5:51] and the firemen. So, Corporal Corman, if
you could come up here, please.
[5:57] And of course, we're all recognizing
him, but this is what this is. This guy
[6:01] does this kind of stuff every day, all
day. He um he's just solid. He's here.
[6:06] He's here. He's answers the call and uh
he's a great he's a great asset to our
[6:11] community. And uh I just want to thank
you for what you do. And uh saving that
[6:16] child's life wouldn't do it anywhere
else.
[6:18] » All right. Good job. Appreciate
[6:39] I'd like to echo what said. I I feel as
a department, both of us doing public
[6:45] safety, that's our job. It's what it is
to take care of our public. And it just
[6:49] shows what a great team that we have
that could work together in something
[6:52] like that. You know, police officers are
already out on the street, so they can
[6:55] get there quick. They're trained to do
what they need to do. Matter of fact,
[6:58] today they were our captain was teaching
CPR to them. We put automatic external
[7:03] defibrills inside the police cruiser so
that we could help out the public. And
[7:06] this just shows what we can do as a
team. On July 3rd, 2026, Surfside Beach
[7:12] Fire Department Rescue 56 responded to a
cardiac arrest involving an infant.
[7:17] Captain Paramedic Chanty Kelly,
firefighter engineer Michael Henderson,
[7:21] and firefighter engineer Gabriel Lunders
arrived to find Corporal Sedo Corman of
[7:26] Surfside Beach Police Department
actively performing CPR. The Rescue 56
[7:31] crews immediately assumed medical care
and initiated advanced life support.
[7:36] During the resuscitation efforts, the
infant regained a heartbeat. Care by
[7:41] Rescue 56 and Corpal Corman continued
until the infant was transported by
[7:45] ambulance to the hospital. Following
extensive hospital stay, the infant was
[7:49] discharged. The incident exemplifies the
very best of public safety services.
[7:53] Throughout our teamwork,
professionalism, and unwavering
[7:57] dedication, these first responders work
together to give the child a second
[8:01] chance. In recognition of this
exceptional action and life-saving
[8:05] commitment, this Phoenix award is
presented to the firefighters, engineer
[8:09] Michael Henderson, Captain Kelly, and
Captain Sorry, promotion today.
[8:15] [laughter]
Not one. You guys come up.
[8:40] Yes.
[8:48] Can we get one more up here?
[9:09] All
[9:14] right. Thank you very much, gentlemen.
We do appreciate that and it is uh
[9:18] emblematic of the family beach. Um we'll
now move on to our business items. Uh
[9:24] business item 7A, strategic payment
services. Uh Director Guber, are you
[9:29] going to introduce that?
[9:33] » Yes. So, I'm gonna have Melissa Ali come
up and give a presentation about the
[9:37] services they provide.
>> And since we have an outside speaker,
[9:41] I'm going to suggest that we wait on a
motion until after the presentation.
[9:48] » Oh, we're turnish
[10:00] equipment.
[10:16] warming up.
[10:19] » Yeah, we could probably hit at least the
front lights.
[10:22] » The last turn on. Good evening, mayor
and council members. Thanks for having
[10:25] me this evening. Um, I'm Melissa Elliot.
I'm the vice president at Strategic
[10:30] Payment Services and I have my partner
Jim Hutto with me as well who is the
[10:35] president and um actually began the
company years ago. So we're going to
[10:40] talk a little bit today about what we
offer to help you guys um with fraud
[10:45] protection as it relates to your
accounts payable services. So, we do
[10:50] what's called a comprehensive payment
solution through a process called Smart
[10:55] AP. And what Smart AP is, and I'm going
to try not to get too far down into the
[11:00] weeds. I am an accountant by education
and I've worked with uh local government
[11:05] entities and K12 school districts for
almost 30 years and utilize the same
[11:11] financial system that you guys utilize
here at the town. So it is a passion of
[11:15] mine and sometimes I have to make sure I
don't get too far down into the numbers.
[11:19] But so what we do is we deploy a process
through your existing financial system
[11:27] that helps you guys mitigate fraud,
generate additional revenue, sharpen
[11:34] your oversight, and create efficiencies
within the team. So really our value
[11:39] proposition is the fraud mitigation as
well as the rebates that you earn and
[11:45] the efficiencies gain through this
process.
[11:48] Now if we look at our key benefits
you'll see here mitigate fraud. Anytime
[11:53] that we make a payment on the town's
behalf the fraud for that payment is
[11:57] shifted to SPS.
So
[12:01] [clears throat] it gives you some
protection for some things that have
[12:05] happened in the past that we've seen
across the state, across the southeast
[12:10] as well as that has picked up since
really since 2020. We've seen fraud
[12:16] really accelerate since co um we
monetize payments. So we have a supplier
[12:22] activation team that works directly with
your vendors. Many of our team members
[12:26] have worked for entities such as this
with the same accounting system as well.
[12:31] So, they understand the process, they
understand your language, they
[12:34] understand Melany's language and her
team because they've sat in their seats
[12:38] before. Um, as well as the sensitivity
between you and your vendors.
[12:43] We maximize efficiencies. And when I say
that, there's multiple ways that
[12:47] efficiencies are gained here. So keep in
mind that when I say this process is
[12:51] called smart AP, it's just a deployment
of a function that already exists in
[12:56] your financial platform. There's no
changes to the process for your accounts
[13:01] payable team. There's no changes to how
you get invoices, how they're approved,
[13:05] your procurement process to your POS.
All of those things remain the same as
[13:10] well as all of your records are still
maintained in your ledger.
[13:14] So the efficiencies that are gained are
you'll no longer be standing in front of
[13:19] a large multifunctional machine to print
checks. You'll no longer be reconciling
[13:23] hundreds and hundreds of checks that
haven't cleared. Um all that will then
[13:28] move over to our team to process a
payment file that's created at the end
[13:32] of your AP process. Uh the costs are
reduced obviously from not buying check
[13:37] stock, from not putting postage on
checks, folding them, all those sorts of
[13:41] things, not paying stop payment fees on
those checks. All that is then picked up
[13:46] from our team.
So when I say comprehensive solution,
[13:52] what does that really mean? So for a
comprehensive payment solution that
[13:57] means that SPS strategic payment
services manages your payment processing
[14:02] to ensure secure efficient transactions
that reduce cost and risk and allow your
[14:07] team to focus on other high value task.
So what does that consist of? Today
[14:15] you're paying all of your vendors with a
check or with an a.
[14:19] Now, we all know that checks and AC hold
the highest fraud risk associated with
[14:25] any payment channel. So, we have various
payment channels that we work with your
[14:30] vendors with to accept a virtual card
being the most secure. Have any of you
[14:35] ever heard of a virtual card? You know
what a virtual credit card is?
[14:39] So, a virtual credit card is just like a
credit card that you would have a
[14:44] physical card except for the vendor
receives it via email. It's a card
[14:50] number that is a direct replacement of a
paper check. It's only for that one
[14:55] payment and it's only for that specific
amount. So, let's say you're paying
[14:59] Tractor Supply. There's 10 invoices on
that payment. They receive this virtual
[15:04] credit card number. The total of the
payments is $3,000.
[15:08] If they try to accept that payment on
their point of sale system for $3,0001,
[15:13] it'll decline. Once they accept it for
the $3,000, that number is no longer um
[15:19] activated. So, the next time the town
pays Tractor Supply is a different a
[15:24] credit card number. It's a 16-digit
number.
[15:27] So, it's our most secure form of
payment. Um it's a Visa. So, we all know
[15:32] what a Visa is. Obviously, not all
businesses accept credit cards. So the
[15:38] the businesses that we work with, not
the businesses, the local government
[15:41] entities that we work with, um have a
lot of local vendors that they work with
[15:46] that don't accept those types of
payments. So we have to offer other
[15:49] channels as well. And the next channel
we'll talk about is a secure AP plus. So
[15:54] secure AP plus is delivered via AC. Now,
the difference in when we do an AP+ or
[16:00] an AC versus what you can do today is we
don't make any payments via AC until
[16:07] we've done a micro deposit and verified
the account. So, I'll just use Tractor
[16:11] Supply as another example. And let's say
they prefer to have an AC or AP plus
[16:15] payment. We send a micro deposit to that
account. They have to verify it with the
[16:20] amount back to us prior to us making any
payment on their behalf.
[16:27] Uh the next form is a multi card. So uh
basically this is an actual uh you can
[16:34] do a virtual or a physical. This number
doesn't change. So we also have vendors
[16:38] that will accept a credit card for
payment if the number doesn't change. Um
[16:43] or we also have um clients that order
these for each department. Let's say
[16:49] your fire chief is going out and you
have a procurement card for him. You can
[16:53] control his expenses. you can control
what he can use that card for. Uh you
[16:58] can turn it on and off. Um there's all
kinds of restrictions built into that,
[17:02] [clears throat] but it's just meant to
help streamline point of sale um at the
[17:06] register purchases.
So the other thing that helps with this,
[17:12] especially with smaller organizations,
is separation of duties made simple. So
[17:16] as we all know, your AP person, your
finance director, um your entire team
[17:22] here wears multiple hats. I was a
finance director for a school district
[17:25] for 11 years and I knew that anything
that I could implement to increase
[17:30] efficiency so that I could utilize the
team for higher value um objectives was
[17:35] something that I was interested in also
from an audit perspective. Everything
[17:41] here is cleared by your auditor is audit
approved AP workflows. It reduces your
[17:46] risk of errors and payment fraud. Um
efficient use of limited resource
[17:50] accountability every step one time to
focus on
[17:57] So, how does this work?
So, today you use a system called Smart
[18:02] Fusion. That's your financial accounting
system. Your AP resource, she does the
[18:07] same thing she's doing every week when
she processes AP. She's looking at those
[18:12] approvals. She's keying the invoices.
The difference is when she gets to the
[18:16] end of the process, instead of standing
in front of machine to print the checks,
[18:20] the system automatically creates a
payment file that's sent to SPS to
[18:25] process on your behalf through those
various channels we just discussed.
[18:29] It's one payment file. Um, it's one
collection from your bank to fund the
[18:36] payment file. So, instead of doing a
bank reconciliation, as I said before,
[18:41] for all of those checks, let's say this
week's AP total is $400,000.
[18:46] You reconcile that one $400,000 to find
that $400,000 file. You're no longer
[18:51] going through all of those processes and
contacting vendors to say you haven't
[18:55] cashed this check. Um, did you lose it
in the mail? Did the mail take three
[19:00] weeks to get it there, which we all know
is also an issue now. Um so that's the
[19:05] way the efficiency is created at the top
of the um
[19:10] the slide here at your bank account. So
we collect the funds, we store them and
[19:14] we distribute them to your vendors um
through those various channels.
[19:21] So you may say well what does it look
like for our vendor? Everything is
[19:25] branded with your name and with your
logo. So they re this is an example of
[19:32] an email. They receive this email. It
will say town of Suride Beach here.
[19:37] It'll have your logo at the top. Tell
them their steps here at the bottom to
[19:40] process it. When they click that green
activate payment button,
[19:47] then the next screen pops up with their
16digit code. The remittance information
[19:52] that you currently have on your checks
on the stub is the remittance
[19:56] information to send this email so they
know where to post the payments.
[20:00] Um, [clears throat]
in addition to that, the vendors that
[20:04] will not accept electronic payments, we
mail a check on your behalf as well. So,
[20:09] those checks have your logo on there.
[clears throat] They have um Town of
[20:14] Surfside Beach Care of Strategic Payment
Services. Again, the remitt at the
[20:19] bottom is the same remitt information,
so they know where it goes.
[20:26] Now, why choose SPS?
Well, there's a lot of different
[20:30] reasons. Um, really the ERP integration
with with this particular situation is
[20:36] very valuable because as I said, the
process is already written in Smart
[20:39] Fusion. There's nothing you change
there. Everything is outlined. I
[20:44] actually worked for the company that
wrote this product and I helped develop
[20:49] this process into Smart Fusion. Um, so
the integration is seamless. um the
[20:55] program manage piece of it which we
talked about with our team and being
[20:58] market experts the fine print really
understanding how this works and then
[21:02] the customer satisfaction.
So, one important thing too, this is no
[21:07] cost to town. We are partners with
Harris. We um went into that partnership
[21:12] probably
10 years ago. Um so they agreed that it
[21:19] was a value proposition for their
product as well and that's why they
[21:23] agreed to write this functionality into
the system. Um so there's no cost. Now,
[21:29] the payment channels that are
electronic, such as the virtual card and
[21:33] the AP plus AC that's delivered via AC,
the town actually receives a rebate on
[21:40] those. So, we've looked at your spend
history over the last 12 months and
[21:45] we're estimating 12 to $15,000 in
rebates
[21:50] based on this process that we'll be
performing on your behalf if approved.
[21:59] So, we're going to pay you to protect
your payments. [laughter]
[22:03] We've got client testimonials here. Um,
if you go to our website, that that's
[22:07] really the end of the presentation. Um,
our website's www.spsay.com,
[22:13] you'll see all of our clients listed
there. There's video testimonials,
[22:16] written testimonials. Um, we only deal
with, like I said, local government
[22:22] entities and K12 um, public school
districts across the Southeast.
[22:28] » All right. Thank you very much. I am now
going to request a motion to approve
[22:32] this proposal.
[22:36] As presented,
I'm going to make a motion to uh I'm
[22:40] going to make a motion to approve this
presentation
[22:44] to prove uh approve this process as
presented.
[22:46] » Second.
>> All right. I'm going to start the
[22:48] discussion then. So, um, Miss Miss
Elliot, um, come back, please.
[22:53] » Oh, yeah.
So, so I'm just gonna be blunt and lay
[22:58] it out there.
>> Absolutely.
[23:00] » What's in it for you?
>> What's in it for us?
[23:03] » Yes.
>> So, the way that we make money, and this
[23:05] is always our question, is the processes
that were with the virtual cards and
[23:11] with the AP plus generate processing
fees. We share those processing fees on
[23:17] the back end with you guys. So Visa, for
example, I'll use Tractor Supply again.
[23:22] We don't control those at all. The
company that accepts a credit card has a
[23:26] merchant that they have negotiated with
and said, "Yes, I'll take American
[23:29] Express, Mastercard, you know, Visa, and
based on their volume is what they pay
[23:35] percentage-wise to accept a credit
card." Well, we're the middleman
[23:39] processing those payments for Visa. So
they're sharing a portion of that with
[23:42] us which then we share with you guys.
>> So the only way that we make money is
[23:46] when we make
>> and and and then the rebates similar is
[23:50] » that is the rebate. Yeah. That's that's
what generates the rebate. Yes sir.
[23:53] » So so the rebates are actually much
larger and you get a portion and we get
[23:57] a a portion.
>> Correct.
[23:58] » And and so tractor the hypothetical
tractor supply or anybody else is
[24:03] willing to pay these because they get
security as well.
[24:07] » Correct. It has to be a win-win on both
sides for the vendor as well as for us.
[24:10] » Okay.
>> So, when our enrollment team is speaking
[24:13] to a vendor about the different payment
channels, they discuss with them what
[24:17] the value points are each with each of
them. We also have vendors that have
[24:22] maximum and minimums on the payment
channel that they're accept. So, you can
[24:25] imagine for construction projects, we
have really large $3.2 million payments.
[24:30] Well, that company may say, "I'll accept
a credit card up to $30,000 and then I
[24:34] want the rest in a check or I'll accept
it up to 30 and then I want AP plus and
[24:39] you know, so we handle all those in the
background as well."
[24:43] » And and then I have one question for
Director Grover. Is there any downside
[24:46] to this?
>> Not that I can see.
[24:50] » That's all I have. Thank you. Anybody
else?
[24:54] » Mr. Mayor, Mr. Stamy,
>> I do have a question.
[24:56] » Absolutely.
>> Not mostly for Mr. cover. Is this going
[25:00] to help you out with staffwise? Will it
make it easier for your staff to be able
[25:07] to handle handle all this or does it
change anything for y'all?
[25:11] » It it doesn't change the process the AP
process. It's just the end when the
[25:17] checks would go to be printed. That we
save the cost in the time of printing
[25:21] those checks, having to fold them,
having to put them through the mail
[25:25] system that's in and out. And again,
they they take on all the fraud
[25:30] liability.
[25:35] » Okay. I got one,
>> just curious, how many um municipalities
[25:39] or jurisdictions you all currently?
>> Uh, approximately 50.
[25:43] » 50. And that includes the schools as
well.
[25:46] » Yes. Yes.
>> Just curious.
[25:49] » And a large majority of them use the
financial we're agnostic, meaning we can
[25:54] do it with any financial system. Um but
a majority use smart fusion because of
[25:59] our partnership and our efficiencies
that are written into the product.
[26:03] » Thanks.
>> Uh Mr. Master Walls, um I guess you're
[26:08] aware of the scenario that we just went
through unfortunately. So,
[26:15] I think it's important to for folks to
know one of the main reasons that we're
[26:20] considering you and are so excited about
this opportunity that Melanie brought to
[26:24] us was because
um you incur all the liability, but from
[26:29] what I've understood, you've never had
to
[26:33] pay. You've never had
>> we have never had a claim
[26:37] » something like we had happen to us.
You've never had anything like that with
[26:42] all your municipalities and the schools
that you all
[26:45] » I have not
>> Well, I know. I know. I'm really jing.
[26:50] But still, it's it's
this has been going on for a while and
[26:54] it's spreading like wildfire.
>> It is. It is.
[26:57] » For you all to have avoided this through
your processes says a lot.
[27:01] » It does. We have an amazing team.
>> Yes.
[27:04] So
that's I just wanted to draw that out
[27:08] because when I was interviewing Melanie
about this it was
[27:11] » she had mentioned this to me and I'm
like no way
[27:14] » never had to
>> I know we've been very very um lucky and
[27:20] you know we continue to improve our
processes because
[27:23] » those that are trying to create the
product continue to find new ways.
[27:28] » Thank you.
>> Absolutely.
[27:30] » Mr. Mayor I'm gonna let Mr. Hay go
first.
[27:33] » Yeah. I just um you know devils are in
the details. Do we have a viewable
[27:37] contract that we can read that uh
>> Oh, Melanie does.
[27:40] » Melody does. Okay.
>> Yes.
[27:42] » So, you can get us a copy of that,
Melanie?
[27:45] » Yes, she is.
>> Okay.
[27:47] » Um
[27:51] how would your service have stopped the
fraud that um occurred to us?
[27:57] » Because we would do a micro deposit
prior to sending the payment to ensure
[28:00] it was the right amount. Explain to me a
micro deposit.
[28:03] » So a micro deposit, let's say a vendor,
it it could be one we're already paying
[28:08] via a or it could be a new vendor and
they have sent us a form and said we
[28:12] want payment to go to this account
number and this routing number.
[28:16] » Okay, we can do that. But we're going to
send a micro deposit
[28:21] » and it's a different amount every time.
Um so let's say it's 31 cents.
[28:25] » I see.
>> Um they'll call us back the next day.
[28:28] They have to confirm the exact amount
and the date that it was deposited.
[28:32] » Okay. I understand that this is part of
an existing service that we're already
[28:36] receiving.
>> It's part of your AP module with um
[28:39] smart.
>> Why weren't we uh why didn't we have
[28:42] this in place before? Now
>> question.
[28:48] » We didn't know about it until the Harris
conference this spring that must have
[28:53] one.
>> They attended a presentation that I did
[28:55] at the user conference for Harris. And
that's how they became aware of it.
[29:02] » Thank you.
>> Absolutely.
[29:05] » Anything else?
[29:09] » In that case, the motion on the table is
to approve this uh
[29:13] uh service as presented. Miss Medina,
will you call the role?
[29:18] » Mr. [clears throat] Allen.
>> Yes.
[29:20] » Mr. Hay,
>> can you come back to me?
[29:23] » No. [laughter]
I would really like to see a contract
[29:27] first before I vote.
>> You got to vote. Yes or no?
[29:31] » No.
>> Mr. Lawhorn?
[29:34] » Yes.
>> Mr. Walls?
[29:36] » Yes.
>> Mr. Coleman?
[29:37] » Yes.
>> Mr. Stamy?
[29:39] » Yes.
>> Mayor K?
[29:40] » Yes. Motion carries six to one and the
uh process is approved. Thank you very
[29:44] much.
>> Have a great evening.
[29:47] » All right. We will now move on to uh the
award of courthouse bids uh Christian
[29:52] Associates.
[29:58] Mr.
>> Yes, sir.
[30:00] » Go ahead and make this.
>> Um,
[30:04] » well, this is this is going to be a
pretty short presentation. So, yeah, go
[30:07] ahead and make the or somebody can make
the motion first.
[30:10] » M.
>> Go ahead. I'd like to make a motion that
[30:13] we accept the bid the lowest bid on our
new courthouse
[30:18] adjacent building of 460,350,000
[30:24] 4 million excuse me
>> I would definitely approve that
[30:29] [laughter]
>> with the contractor
[30:34] » I'll second
[30:39] [clears throat] thank you for having me
here tonight to update you on the bid
[30:43] opening for the courthouse and council
chamber project. Uh we opened bids uh
[30:48] August 11th. We received five total
bids. The first bid was Coastal
[30:54] Structures Court at $4,18,141.
[31:00] BEC Construction
at $4,60,350.
[31:06] Southcon Building Group at 4,573,681.
[31:13] Monteth Construction Company at
4,122,300
[31:20] and Sammit Corp at 4,486,67310.
[31:28] Uh all of those all of those bids do
include a 5% owners contingency. So uh
[31:35] if you have your base bid plus owners
contingency the number I gave you is the
[31:38] total of of those
uh we have looked into uh the BC
[31:44] information that was presented to us.
Everything seems to be in line. Uh
[31:49] reached out to a few of their uh clients
that they've worked with and received
[31:53] good information. Um so I think uh next
step would be to gain approval from you
[31:59] folks and enter into contract
negotiations.
[32:03] » All right. Thank you very much. Any
questions or comments on this uh
[32:08] recommendation?
>> I have a question.
[32:11] » Yes, sir.
>> I'd like to understand the contingency
[32:13] fee.
>> Uh so we really what we asked them to do
[32:17] was uh provide a base bid for the work
that was outlined in the project manual
[32:23] uh which consists of the project
specifications and the contract
[32:26] documents uh and then a separate line
item for owner's contingency of 5%. So
[32:31] they're carrying an owner's contingency
for unforeseen items that may come up,
[32:38] unsuitable soils.
>> So there's a base uh contract that's
[32:45] less than the amount you stated,
correct?
[32:48] » And then there's 5% for cost overruns
that can or cannot be used depending on
[32:55] what they are. Correct. And if they're
not used, then that money does not go to
[32:59] the the bid amount, right?
>> I think that would all be spelled out as
[33:03] we enter into contract negoti
negotiations with them. There's
[33:07] different ways of handling it. Uh
sometimes there is some sharing of that.
[33:10] A certain percentage would go back to
them. Those remaining money or you can
[33:14] structure it, but it's all back to you.
It really kind of depends on on how you
[33:18] structure your contract with the GC. You
[clears throat] know, in the past, we
[33:23] got pretty burned by having a contract
that was low
[33:27] » and then it turned out to not have been
low because there was all kinds of stuff
[33:31] added to it over the years that made it
quite high actually.
[33:35] » Yes.
>> How do we make sure that this isn't
[33:37] going to happen here?
>> Uh well, we will be acting as your
[33:41] contract administrator through the
construction process. Uh keep an eye on
[33:45] all of the items. We'll be down here
every two weeks to meet with um the
[33:50] contractor and owner representative. Um
keeping an eye on construction, having
[33:56] making sure that our consultant team is
down here, right? Um want to make sure
[33:59] that we have structural input, civil
input at all various stages of
[34:03] construction. Um and we uh it's kind of
how we hope to to mitigate any any
[34:09] potential issues. What in the contract
says can be charged in addition to the
[34:15] contract amount?
>> Uh I don't know. We don't have a
[34:18] contract uh yet. I think we're waiting
to to gain approval for this first the
[34:23] acceptance of the bids and then we will
enter into contract negotiations. And
[34:27] » so we'll have another chance to bid on
this to vote on this later
[34:32] with the contract. Is that correct? Uh
you will I
[34:36] » you approve you approve the the low bid
for tonight and then the contract comes
[34:39] in two weeks
>> and we get to approve that.
[34:41] » Yes sir.
>> Okay. Very good. That's what I wanted to
[34:44] know. Thank you.
>> A couple small [clears throat]
[34:47] um probably one for you and maybe one
for Jared. [snorts] So first one that is
[34:52] for you guys. I'm I'm very familiar with
how the federal government does this
[34:56] stuff but not as familiar on the local
level. Are we required to take the
[34:59] lowest bid?
>> No.
[35:01] » No.
>> Okay. So back that would come back to
[35:04] you. So the due diligence um I I can
read through your stuff that you talked
[35:10] to you know you you did a you did a
review of the low bid. Yeah.
[35:14] » Did you also look at any of the other
bids and at those companies?
[35:18] » Uh I didn't. Some of them I've worked
with so I'm familiar with uh most of the
[35:25] ones on the sheet. Um, but in order to
gain some familiarity with BC
[35:29] specifically, we did reach out to a
couple of their clients, uh, a couple of
[35:33] their local ones and talk to them and
received kind of positive feedback from
[35:37] from all that we spoke to.
>> Okay. But we didn't So, you're familiar
[35:40] with the others, but you didn't reach
out to customers of the others?
[35:42] » I did not.
>> Okay. Um, I mean, I'm I come from the
[35:46] Pennywise pound foolish, you know,
school, so sometimes saving $100,000
[35:52] ends up costing you a half a million.
Um, so I'm a little concerned from that
[35:58] end about the due diligence at this
point that we didn't at least look at
[36:02] the other companies just to get a
qualitative
[36:07] evaluation. Are we picking the right
people? I mean, we did get burnt,
[36:11] [clears throat] you know, before, you
know, with in a different project,
[36:15] » right? And typically, Mr. Long, we do
not go to the other biders unless
[36:18] there's a red flag on the first one,
>> okay? because they have built a similar
[36:23] building a much similar building town
hall and there were no red flags.
[36:27] » Okay. All right. So ne next question
then when as your in your project
[36:32] administration function
>> um I'm assum obviously there going to be
[36:36] there'll be a project plan and you said
you'll be here every couple of weeks to
[36:40] to to meet with folks. Are we going to
be given the as a council the the whole
[36:46] project plan, the layout of the schedule
so that we have an understanding of are
[36:51] we on time? Are we on schedule?
I'm just curious as to how that's going
[36:55] to look.
>> Yes. Uh we will at kind of the kickoff
[36:58] meeting, we will request a number of
different things. Schedule values is is
[37:02] the first thing that we ask for along
with an overall project schedule. Uh we
[37:06] did as part of the the bid uh opening
and the forms that are in that bid
[37:11] opening we did ask them to provide um
days of completion. Uh so we have a
[37:17] overall idea of how long they think this
will take. Um BC did give us 310 days uh
[37:24] for project completion. Now obviously
that can change with weather events,
[37:28] rain delays, things like that. Um but
those would all have to be accounted for
[37:32] and submitted to architectural team. And
that's from groundbreaking, I'm
[37:36] assuming.
>> Yes, it's you'll have to issue a notice
[37:38] to proceed. And once you guys get under
contract, that includes their
[37:42] mobilization effort and the construction
activities usually taking you to
[37:46] [clears throat] substantial completion,
which ties in your warranty start
[37:50] periods and all of that.
>> Okay,
[37:53] » I think that's it.
>> Okay. I I got a couple. Um, so you you
[37:58] said you're going to be the contract
administrator. Um on the previous
[38:03] project [clears throat] that they're
talking about, no big secret, it's the
[38:06] peer. Um yes, that service was not
offered by the architectural firm that
[38:12] we contracted. Is that correct?
>> They did not have a project manager with
[38:16] their firm. So they did not offer it.
That's correct.
[38:18] » So So right there's a difference, right?
>> And you should be keeping a track. And
[38:23] and speaking of due diligence, um you're
familiar with
[38:28] the other companies here,
>> BEC or not, and that's where you did the
[38:33] research. You you I'm assuming that
means you have a comfort level with the
[38:38] others that you didn't you already know
that they have positive feedback on
[38:43] projects. Am I interpreting that
correctly?
[38:45] » Um I know of them. I know they've done
similar type projects. So, I think all
[38:50] of them are equipped uh to do this
particular type of construction.
[38:54] [clears throat] Um like Jerry said, we
don't typically move on and really dig
[38:58] in unless there's a red flag race spot
the lowest bidder. Um and then typically
[39:03] that goes back to your statutes for
choosing
[39:06] » the contractor what you can.
>> You have to have a darn good reason not
[39:09] to choose the low bidder.
>> But but again, you you have some comfort
[39:13] level with those other companies from
what you
[39:15] » have heard. Okay. So, the one you didn't
know, that's where you did
[39:19] » the extra due diligence.
>> Correct.
[39:21] » Okay. I want to make sure it's clear uh
how that is. So, um has has staff
[39:27] reviewed BEC construction and I mean I
don't know if John John Adair, Director
[39:33] Adair has had any work with them,
anybody not BEC construction.
[39:37] » Okay. So, we are we are going strictly
with what Creeps and Associates is
[39:41] saying. That's correct.
>> Okay. Um well, one thing I see here, um
[39:46] I I will got give you a hand. Uh the
bids come in with a a total of 12.6%
[39:53] uh total variance from from top to
bottom, which I think is generally an
[39:58] indication of clear requirements. I was
an automotive engineer
[40:04] » and you can get wide widely varying bids
depending on how well people understand
[40:12] it. So
>> that's right.
[40:13] » I think that that speaks well of what
you guys did. And in fact, the top three
[40:16] are only separated by one and a half%.
>> So that makes me feel
[40:21] » better that everybody understands this
project and that you're communicating
[40:25] well. So that again that that improves
my comfort level.
[40:28] » Um
and and also the fact that uh we started
[40:34] with a three and a half million dollar
budget with the preliminary reviews with
[40:40] preach. We said we better go to four.
And even at that point, we knew there
[40:44] were still going to be some other costs.
And we said, we're going to deal with
[40:47] that once the bids come in. You know,
the contingencies, the soft costs, we're
[40:51] going to deal with that. That'll be in
two weeks.
[40:53] » Yes, sir. You'll have the contract and
you also also have a budget amendment
[40:58] follow.
>> So, so basically, these bids have come
[41:00] in right at what they told us they
should be.
[41:03] » So, that again makes me feel a little
bit better. Yes.
[41:07] That means you're doing your homework
well.
[41:09] » Yes.
>> All right. That's all I have.
[41:12] » Mr. Mayor, Mr. Sty, so before we get too
far into this, uh, you you're saying
[41:19] Chris is going to be our project manager
on this this
[41:23] job,
>> correct?
[41:24] » I want you to tell who the project
manager and what his affiliation is with
[41:31] Preach Associate. So we will know how
much you're invested in this to keep
[41:36] your name in good standing along with
getting something done. So with that,
[41:42] I'd like for you to tell everybody else
what your position is in preach
[41:47] associate. Sure. Uh so our our CA team
is I'd like to take all the credit, but
[41:52] uh it's made up of several different
folks. Um Charles Pierce in our office
[41:56] handles uh some of the big work. Um, but
I will be the one that you will see 98%
[42:02] of the time, unfortunately for you.
>> Um, I am an principal at Reach
[42:07] Associates, so one of the owners.
[42:12] » That it
[42:15] » um,
as you said, you look into BEC.
[42:21] Have they come
on time with their projects? Have they
[42:26] Sorry.
>> Have they come with other projects? Have
[42:29] they been on time with the timeline of
completing the project?
[42:34] » Um to my knowledge they are. Uh they
have. Um like I said, I don't I don't
[42:39] have a ton of familiarity with them,
which is why we reached out to
[42:44] an owner that is in Ory County. It is
Ory County. Um and had a good discussion
[42:50] with them regarding their work with
them. Um and if there are any red flags
[42:55] from a delayed standpoint, from
[clears throat] a billing standpoint
[42:58] sometimes, you know, with with design
bid build situations, bid low and change
[43:04] order to death and so about their
financials as well. They've got positive
[43:09] feedback from from the county
and their their experience with BC.
[43:19] » Little nervous about that just because
we got this town got so burnt with our
[43:24] beer.
>> Yes.
[43:25] » That it's it's we're walking I'm walking
very cautiously.
[43:31] » Well, we will do our best to make sure
that everything goes smoothly on this.
[43:34] Um, we did we did add that contingency
in place. Um, which is a fairly common
[43:40] practice to cover anything. You never
know when you start taking dig what
[43:42] you're going to find. Um, but we have a
a pretty tried and true method for
[43:46] reviewing any change orders, making sure
a lot of times, you know, they'll say
[43:52] something like, uh, we found an issue
here, we need to make a change, and
[43:56] they'll charge you for the change, but
they won't necessarily credit you back
[43:59] for the information that was included in
the set prior to it. So we uh we take
[44:04] time and look through all of that. Make
sure if there is a change that credit is
[44:08] given for what was going to be in place
and it's not just charges for new ones.
[44:12] Uh schedule making sure the schedule is
followed uh and updated on a regular
[44:17] basis is really important. I'm sure you
all are familiar. Time is money, right?
[44:22] And so we make sure that the schedule we
want to schedule update preferably every
[44:27] two weeks but at minimum once a month.
Um that way we can track any sort of
[44:32] weather delays, rain delays, all of all
of those items and make sure that we are
[44:35] staying on budget
>> and schedule.
[44:41] » Mr. Mayor, you done?
>> Yes. Yes. M
[44:46] » first of all, uh are you sure you want
this gig?
[44:51] I mean, knowing and and that leads right
into what I'm going to add. How familiar
[44:56] are you with our previous circumstance?
>> I know here. Yes. Uh yes, we're gonna
[45:05] we're gonna make sure that uh we we take
good care of this project. Uh we are
[45:12] obviously devoted to this. We've been
working with you folks for quite some
[45:15] time to develop this project. Um, as far
as knowledge of your of the pier and the
[45:20] issues with it, I have bits and pieces,
not the full full story, but I do know
[45:25] of it.
>> Well, and also co happened with it. So,
[45:28] it was a it was just a nightmare from
beginning to end, but there's some
[45:31] things outside of of probably what I
dealt with. Guess where I'm going is
[45:36] it's it's going to be
it's it's you're we're going to be going
[45:43] we're going to be scrutinizing you under
not you but we're going to be asking you
[45:48] to take very good care of us.
>> Yes.
[45:51] » Because we're a little bit gunshy. Maybe
PTSD might apply to this situation. But
[45:57] » we're we're afraid. You know what I'm
saying? We're just careful.
[46:01] » Careful. We don't want to repeat the
mistakes of the past. So
[46:05] » yes,
>> I just that's that's all I've got. We're
[46:09] going to do things differently than
before.
[46:11] » Yes.
>> First of all, the main thing is having
[46:14] you
>> right
[46:15] » to represent us and overseeing that
things are being done properly and on
[46:20] schedule.
>> Thank you. You're aware. And
[46:26] » Mr. Mayor,
>> Mr. Com um what kind of work What kind
[46:31] of buildings have they made previous?
>> They have a a pretty good range of of
[46:36] project types. Um, as Jerry mentioned,
they they do have a town hall, a couple
[46:42] other uh municipal type buildings. Uh,
they do some uh commercial work, um,
[46:48] some higherend residential work. So, it
it's a pretty good mix of building
[46:52] types, but there are a handful of those
uh
[46:57] building construction types that closely
align with with what we're building over
[47:00] there.
>> Okay. So, that they didn't do a couple
[47:03] of bathrooms or a couple of kitchens.
[laughter]
[47:05] » Yes.
[47:16] » I've got a second.
>> Yeah.
[47:18] » Okay. I got a second. else has done. Um
I think it's a really question for
[47:23] Jerry. So as we go through this process
in inevitably there will be change
[47:29] requests um whether they're precipitated
by by you but your company or contractor
[47:36] or us. What's going to be our process
for review and evaluation
[47:42] of those types of things? Well,
typically that's what your contingency
[47:45] is for unless you guys advise otherwise.
I mean, when you when you talk about
[47:51] these projects, you know, John Adair
brings you the projects for the north
[47:54] drainage project and also the
underground wiring for a couple million
[47:57] dollars. He does change orders within
the budget. It doesn't come to council.
[48:03] » Yeah. And I and I guess I'm concerned
about that given, you know, the size of
[48:08] this project and and as everyone else
has stated, our our history, right? Um,
[48:15] I I just want to make sure we have a
understandable process and that whether
[48:20] it's requiring council approval or at
least council notification,
[48:26] I I think we need to have more direct
oversight of this, I guess, is my
[48:32] concern. You know, to make sure that I'm
not saying people are going to come up
[48:36] with frivolous change requests, but you
never know, right? And again, in my
[48:40] experience, that's where the money ends
up coming out. It's because somebody
[48:45] gets an idea six months from now that,
oh, you know, we needed we need mahogany
[48:50] desks or, you know, what you you name
it. So, [clears throat] I I would like
[48:54] to make sure that we have a way to
mitigate that. I'm just saying this as a
[48:59] clarification. Creech and BDC assuming
it gets the it can't do anything without
[49:06] approval.
>> Yeah. Typically it's it's a tail
[49:09] representative cre and the contractor
that talks about train changes.
[49:12] » So it's it's whether it's you or it
comes to council. That's what
[49:17] » that's my yeah and I can I can walk you.
So so typically if there's something
[49:21] that comes up u the contractor will
submit a potential change order to us.
[49:26] Um we will review it and make sure that
we are in agreement. Um once we have uh
[49:32] given it a thorough review, we will then
either sign or reject it uh and send
[49:37] that over to Jerry or whoever whoever's
going to be handling it from the town
[49:40] side. Um from there, they can sign off
on it and then that goes into it. Now,
[49:46] as far as, you know, direct council,
it's it's rare that that that happens
[49:52] simply because the I worry about the
approval process and the time needed. I
[49:57] get that. Um, so typically we, you know,
we do our best to make sure that they
[50:03] are reasonable and appropriate. Um, and
so it's not just kind of coming to Jerry
[50:08] without any eyes on it.
>> Yeah, I I guess what I'm after and maybe
[50:12] it's Jerry that keeping us apprised of
of the requests that come in because it
[50:17] again it doesn't take long to eat up
that contingency, right? you know, so
[50:21] next, you know, we could find out six
months from now that we've approved this
[50:26] contingency, this conting, and all of a
sudden we need more money, you know, for
[50:30] something that's really So, I just want
to make sure we have a a diligent review
[50:35] process to ensure these things are
absolutely necessary
[50:39] » and that's something that'll be covered
in the month of reports.
[50:42] » Okay. From from Okay. Yeah. I said, so
we we will get those.
[50:46] » We will [clears throat] get those. Yes,
sir.
[50:49] » Thank you.
[50:52] Uh, I'm going to go on a on a second
one. Um, you said maybe as as often as
[50:57] every two weeks you'd be doing reports,
but certainly monthly. Um, I believe in
[51:02] our contract with Creech going back
year or so. We had a few uh review, you
[51:11] know, large reviews and that would be
you coming here. When you're talking
[51:14] these two weeks to a month, that's just
the two of you talking. Is that correct?
[51:17] And the contractor.
>> And the contractor. Uh okay. Okay.
[51:20] » It's a o owner architect contractor
meeting. So we come down meet with them
[51:24] discuss any relevant items review
schedule any potential change orders uh
[51:31] any issues in the field. The contractor
will be responsible to provide kind of a
[51:37] an agenda that outlines all of the items
that's going on. Typically it's you know
[51:42] what's been done the past two weeks,
what's going on the next two weeks,
[51:45] safety, all of those things. Uh we would
ask they do that. We prefer a two week
[51:50] cadence. It seems to work well. Um,
anything longer than that, things can
[51:54] happen and you don't have your eyes on
it. Anything less than that, you really,
[51:58] you know, you spend a lot of money to
send someone down, but probably not a
[52:02] whole bunch of work has changed.
>> So, two weeks is us here in person, uh,
[52:07] having that meeting and then walking the
site and issuing.
[52:10] » So, so then getting back to Mr.
Longhorn's concerned,
[52:15] I I mean I I don't envision a whole lot
of showstoppers that you you meet and
[52:22] today we just discovered something that
we have to stop work unless you approve
[52:28] this change order. I mean, that's not
going to be a likely scenario. Correct.
[52:33] » Yes. I don't think that is a likely
scenario. Hard to hard to peer into the
[52:37] crystal ball and let you know that for
sure. But uh I'll feel much better when
[52:41] we have a groundwork foundation
starting.
[52:44] » But but from past experience,
>> a regular twoe cadence should allow you,
[52:49] you know, you're looking ahead. You're
you know, you should be able to envision
[52:53] you, the contractor, the administrator
should be able to envision what's coming
[52:57] over the, you know, again, you're not
looking six months ahead. You're looking
[53:00] two weeks
>> at that and and like, oh, this could be
[53:03] an issue. plenty of time for him to
alert us if we get nervous or something
[53:09] like that.
>> Yes,
[53:10] » we can assert ourselves
for better or worse. Okay. Um All right.
[53:17] And and also in the contract, we do have
a few reviews with them uh before
[53:22] council, do we not? Like a couple of
reviews, project reviews or not, or was
[53:29] that all in the planning phase? Remind
me with preach.
[53:34] Do we have do we have preach coming to
council with updates at all once the
[53:39] construction starts or not?
>> I don't believe so. I think most of our
[53:43] meetings and council presentations were
relative to the design
[53:47] » this part. Yeah. Okay. All right.
>> Yeah. I think once we get into the uh
[53:52] project administration then all the
presentations are not just be asking you
[53:56] all the questions. Yes sir.
>> Okay.
[53:59] » All right. That's all I have.
>> Mr. Mayor,
[54:01] » Mr. Sty, go ahead.
uh if it passes this $4 million
[54:06] threshold, if something comes up and you
say that we've done you $193,000
[54:13] before you could go any farther than
that, it will have to come back to
[54:16] council, would it not?
>> Yes, sir.
[54:18] » I mean, if it's another $100,000 going
to be added on to this $4 million
[54:24] before you could ever do anything, that
would have to come back to council, get
[54:28] approval. So as far as is as this
council can see this is the number that
[54:34] we've got to stay within budget of
>> well I'm coming with a budget amendment
[54:39] that yes that's going to be project the
budget amendment is not compared to our
[54:44] building the budget amendment will be
for other things
[54:47] » it's going to be construction soft cost
yes sir
[54:50] » but right now what we're trying to
approve is this $4 million that we're
[54:55] setting for this bud for his
construction
[54:59] » for the bid for the bid to send. That's
what we're If anything, if we start this
[55:04] project,
>> if it goes another $100,000 more, it's
[55:09] got to come to council. It It can't be
approved by you or him or nobody else,
[55:14] this council has to come back and say,
"Listen, guys, we need another $100,000
[55:19] to do this job before you could ever
make a decision on that."
[55:23] » That's correct.
>> Okay. I just I want that perfectly clear
[55:26] to everybody that we're not right now
worried about nothing except this $4
[55:32] million that we're trying to
say that's under contract with this
[55:37] contract right now.
[55:43] » Is that it? M. Go ahead, Mr.
>> Um, a lot of times you can tell a lot
[55:49] about a company from their safety
record. Did you guys check BEC's safety
[55:52] record?
I have not checked this.
[55:57] » And second, um, is there any I mean
there's only a 40,000 or $48,000
[56:02] difference between this bid and the next
company's bid, but you don't know
[56:07] anything about this next company to tell
us what kind of quality outfit they are
[56:10] versus BEC.
>> Um, I know that they've done a lot of
[56:15] work in this area. Um, I know the the
buildings have been completed in a
[56:20] reasonable amount of time. Um,
I haven't seen anything in the news with
[56:25] any sort of negative uh impacts for any
of the projects that I've seen. Um,
[56:30] that's that's about the extent of the
next closest.
[56:45] » That's all.
>> Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I wasn't sure.
[56:49] All right. Anybody else?
>> I just Mr. Mayor, if I could, I'd just
[56:54] like to make a statement
where it it seems to be that we're
[56:58] positioning BEC because they're the
lowest. There's something wrong with
[57:03] them.
>> You know, it's not necessarily the case.
[57:06] Um,
>> you've done the due diligence because
[57:09] you haven't worked with them before. So
just because they came in with a little
[57:15] bit less of a bid doesn't mean that
they're not qualified to do the same
[57:20] quality work as the other five or six
are there.
[57:23] » That's right.
>> Right. That is correct. And
[57:25] » I mean let's someone mentioned before
how how close some of the the first
[57:30] three were in the price point. I think
if if they were significantly less than
[57:34] some of the others,
>> you would probably want to scrutinize
[57:38] that number a little bit more and just
then we we could do basically a big
[57:43] qualification kind of exercise with them
and make sure. But with all of these
[57:47] numbers, you know, coming in pretty
close, even from the highest to lowest,
[57:50] not a huge spread, uh, relatively
speaking. Um, so it's there's a certain
[57:57] comfort level when your numbers come in
that close. um that that the drawings
[58:00] are well put together and that you know
assumptions are kind of uh the same
[58:05] across the board. Um I think if you had
a big variance from your high a little
[58:08] bit of you you'd probably have a little
more to worry about. Yeah.
[58:13] » And then uh just one minor question that
I would have for Jerry on this.
[58:17] [clears throat]
Jerry, if you could please just make a
[58:20] maybe a note that you would add this
>> to your weekly updates that you send out
[58:25] to council members so that we can in
turn keep our residents uh up to speed
[58:30] on everything that's going on as the
information comes to you through and all
[58:37] is well. We're on schedule kind of stuff
we can share with our residents.
[58:42] Thank you. That's all I have.
[58:46] » Any others?
All right. The motion on the table then
[58:50] is to accept uh the recommendation to
accept the apparent low bid from BEC
[58:59] construction at 4,60,350.
[59:04] Miss Medina, will you call the role?
>> Mr. Steamy,
[59:07] » yes.
>> Mr. Coleman,
[59:09] » yes.
>> Mr. Walls,
[59:11] » yes.
>> Mr. Lawhorn,
[59:13] » uh, yes.
>> Mr. Hyatt,
[59:15] » yes. Malon. [clears throat]
>> Yes. Mayor Krauss.
[59:18] » Yes. Motion carries unanimously. The bid
is accepted and we'll start uh open the
[59:23] contract.
>> Thank you.
[59:30] » All right. With that, we are now going
to the uh Chief Mickel Show. And uh
[59:35] right, we're going to go through several
memorandums of agreement. And while I'm
[59:40] talking, I'll make the motion to accept
the first one to uh accept the
[59:43] memorandum of agreement with the
Children's Advocacy Center.
[59:48] » All right. You got that, Mr. Medina?
>> All right. Thank you. And the reason
[59:51] there's so many of them, it's uh some
some of these are a year or every two
[59:56] years and so after the fiscal year ends
and these start coming up coming up. So
[1:00:00] probably have a few more in the next
month or two as well. And then uh and
[1:00:05] then we also have some of them we use
that just carry over for long periods of
[1:00:09] time. You won't see those in my stuff as
a change. So this one here is the child
[1:00:14] recovery center. We use child recovery
center. Um it's basically a
[1:00:18] multi-disiplinary investigative uh team
protocol. So whenever we're are doing
[1:00:24] investigations involving children um we
use this center. they have experts that
[1:00:28] um for interviewing and resources and
stuff for our detective or investigators
[1:00:34] when they're investigating child crime
such. So it's best practice and practice
[1:00:40] every everywhere I've ever worked across
the country. Uh child advocacy center,
[1:00:44] child recovery center, whatever they
call them. Um
[1:00:48] you really have to use these to do child
investigations
[1:00:53] to be successful.
Um, again, there's there's no cost. So,
[1:00:57] um, other than pretty much all these
we're going to talk about today, there's
[1:01:01] no cost to the town.
[1:01:05] » All right. Any, uh, questions for Chief?
>> I have one,
[1:01:08] » Mr. Hi.
>> Is this like a children's shelter? Is
[1:01:11] this where we take kids that are found?
>> No, it's not a shelter. So, it's an
[1:01:15] investigative tool. So the child is a
victim of a crime,
[1:01:19] » instead of interviewing the child
>> at the scene and with an investigator,
[1:01:24] » the child can sneak into the advocacy
center where there's
[1:01:26] » Yes.
>> child experts. Um
[1:01:29] » I know exactly what you're talking
about.
[1:01:30] » Yeah. They do the forensic interview,
provide the evidence stuff.
[1:01:36] » If there's no cost, who does pay for
their services? Um, I think they're
[1:01:41] probably um grants and governments and
um,
[1:01:48] » yeah, I mean, private funding probably.
There's they probably have so many
[1:01:51] different avenues of funding, but but it
doesn't there's no cost.
[1:01:55] » Okay. Okay. Um, and and kind of like our
discussion uh, with the juvenile center,
[1:02:02] I I mean, it just we can't deal with
these effectively on our own. So, you
[1:02:07] just it's just help for your staff.
>> Correct. Yeah.
[1:02:10] » We couldn't do we couldn't do the child
a legitimate child victim investigation
[1:02:15] lab.
>> All right. Thank you.
[1:02:18] » Any others?
All right. Then the motion on the table
[1:02:22] is to accept the memorandum of agreement
on the uh children's advocacy center.
[1:02:29] Mr. Medina, will you call the role?
>> Miss Fallon?
[1:02:31] » Yes.
>> Mr. Hyatt?
[1:02:33] » Yes.
>> Mr. Lawhorn?
[1:02:34] » Yes.
>> Mr. Walls? Yes,
[1:02:36] » Mr. Coleman.
>> Yes,
[1:02:37] » Mr. Stman.
>> Yes,
[1:02:39] » Mayor Kramp.
>> Yes. Motion carries unanimously. Um,
[1:02:42] I'll request a motion for the next one.
>> Mr. Mayor,
[1:02:46] » Mr.
Motion to approve memory
[1:02:52] of agreement with the United States
administration
[1:02:57] and the source.
>> Second.
[1:03:00] » Okay. Yeah, this this one um again the
only thing that would cost money on this
[1:03:05] one is just what we're paying an officer
to be involved in the task force as a
[1:03:08] regular salary. So there's no extra cost
um to this one. And really this one
[1:03:13] again is is a little different just
because it's it's marked law enforcement
[1:03:16] sensitive. I think I provided a briefing
paper for everybody, but that one's not
[1:03:20] included in the public document. Um
so doesn't mean it's not foyable. It
[1:03:26] just means that um if somebody want to
look at it has to go through the foyer
[1:03:29] process. we'd have to work with DEA to
redact anything that's exact for um so
[1:03:35] basically this really just puts us
allows us to be on the DEA task force to
[1:03:40] utilize DEA um programs um I'm sorry DEA
um resources and to work closely with
[1:03:47] them um as well um I'll kind of go
through it real quick just where it
[1:03:52] really is an assign it to be assign
police officer parttime the DEA task
[1:03:56] force um it allows that to participate
title drug investigations task force
[1:04:00] operations. It allows us access to
federal investigator resources and
[1:04:04] support.
Um it's a coord it's coordination
[1:04:07] between the town and the DEA. Um it also
tell spells out the responsibilities
[1:04:12] [clears throat] of the and obligations
of the town and the DEA in in this
[1:04:16] contract in thisou and it uh allows us
to participate in federal asset forfeite
[1:04:22] and equitable sharing activities uh when
assets are seized by the DEA and our uh
[1:04:27] joint investigations.
Um
[1:04:32] this is a standard
uhou between any every municipal agency
[1:04:38] that DEA works with. Um
uh all the other jurisdictions that are
[1:04:44] on the VA task force in order county and
the state have the same exact uhou and
[1:04:50] it's pres and most you often they are
approved through the same process where
[1:04:55] just explain to the council what theou
entails and
[1:05:01] so this is the reason that because DEA
marks it law enforcement sensitive it's
[1:05:05] their document and that's why a little
different than the
[1:05:11] Go ahead. Any questions, comments?
>> Yes, Mr. Mayor.
[1:05:14] » Go ahead, Mr. Stamy.
>> We've always
[1:05:18] participated in this.
>> I wouldn't say always. I think it's been
[1:05:21] on and off, on and off. Um, and then
this last we did it last year and then
[1:05:26] this year. Uh, this is an annual one
where DD wants it every year and so it
[1:05:30] came back across my desk and I think
it's very important that we do
[1:05:33] participate. I think um it's very
proactive of us to be able to deal with
[1:05:39] large investigations where the drugs are
coming into town for us to be
[1:05:43] shortsighted and just work our two
square miles drug cases I think isn't
[1:05:46] really going to help us out and a lot of
the sources flyer outside of our
[1:05:50] jurisdiction. So we would be it's it
just behooves us to have an off one of
[1:05:55] our officers involved in that to be able
to take those investigations further.
[1:06:01] » Mr. Mayor,
>> Mr. Coleman. So you mentioned part time
[1:06:06] because in the past we had a detective
that it's all you did. That's not going
[1:06:12] to be that.
>> No. No. And I should follow that is
[1:06:15] every every and I guess you're going to
talk be two others we're going to talk
[1:06:19] about too and this is applicable to them
is um we only participate in this stuff
[1:06:24] when Surfside Beach is is secondary.
Surfside Beach is our primary our
[1:06:30] primary responsibility. So if we are
participate in any of this, it's because
[1:06:34] um we have we have sufficient staffing
for everything else. Everything else is
[1:06:40] is a priority. There's patrol staff.
Everything's staffed and these are
[1:06:45] supplemental. They just help us to do
better. Not Surfside Beach is always a
[1:06:50] priority. We never go participate in any
other task force or help other agencies
[1:06:56] unless we know that we are fully
staffed, ready to go. Always a priority.
[1:07:02] So, so yeah, you participate part-time
as available. There's often times, you
[1:07:07] know, DA will call and say, "Hey, can
you come and and and the officer
[1:07:11] assignment will have to say, "No, I
can't do that. I have this going on
[1:07:15] cover shift and I have to do that." So,
>> the benefit is that they'll share
[1:07:18] intelligence with us.
>> They share a lot of intelligence with
[1:07:21] us. They share. So, let's say we have a
case. Instead of having to pull guys off
[1:07:24] the roads and investigate a case, our
guy in the task force calls the team
[1:07:28] that he's assigned to and they send all
their people. And so it's a free
[1:07:31] resource. We get the better end of this
deal. I can guarantee you that.
[1:07:34] » That's what I'm trying to get out of it.
>> Yeah.
[1:07:36] » This is a win for us.
>> Yeah. We put in a part-time guy that
[1:07:38] works a few hours here and there and we
get hundreds of hours of resources and
[1:07:43] we come out on top on this one.
>> And we have 23. As of right now, we have
[1:07:48] 24 asset forfeite cases pending. Um, so
you know, I don't know how that'll end
[1:07:53] up, but um, you know, this officer
worked a significant case with a lot of
[1:07:57] resources that were seized and um, so we
we we foresee a significant
[1:08:04] portion of that fund of those passports
or funds coming to our department.
[1:08:10] » Are they
are they uh designated
[1:08:15] federal agent at all?
>> Yeah. So part of that is they do get
[1:08:18] crossworn with DEA and they get Title 21
is the federal statute that covers
[1:08:24] controlled substances. So they uh did
the officer had to go to training kind
[1:08:28] of cross-certified by DEA sworn in uh I
think the attorney's office and um have
[1:08:36] federal authority the DEA agent. Now
it's limited to that title 21 cases.
[1:08:40] they have to work specific cases that
fall within that title that US code and
[1:08:46] again even deated
every case that this officer works has
[1:08:50] some sort of a nexus to our town. So
we've decided that drugs coming in here
[1:08:55] we able to connect it to this
organization that's wherever um so we
[1:08:58] are not just out there running around
playing uh drug cop that has nothing to
[1:09:03] do with our town
>> Mr. Mayor.
[1:09:05] » Okay I wanted to Mr. Coleman.
>> Um, yes, that was the question I was
[1:09:11] going to go for. He's not going to get
our our part-time officer is not going
[1:09:16] to get a call because something's going
on in Ory County, for instance, unless
[1:09:20] it has something to do with us.
>> Well, most of the cases that he's
[1:09:24] working are going to have a nexus. Now,
if another someone on his team has
[1:09:27] another case and they say, "Hey, I need
him next for surveillance." And he's
[1:09:31] available, maybe they'll go help just
like they would for us. So, it's really
[1:09:35] it's just a sharing of resources. And
like I said before, we're getting the
[1:09:38] better end of this.
>> Okay. And and but that could also happen
[1:09:42] on one of our cases.
>> He's the or I guess what I'm saying when
[1:09:46] he's the case agent on any case where
he's the main agent doing he's the lead
[1:09:49] investigator. Those cases have a nexus
to our town. Now he may help out other
[1:09:54] jurisdictions or agencies with their
cases as well, but he won't be the lead
[1:09:57] investigator.
>> And and likewise, we could get somebody
[1:09:59] from Ory County, somebody from
whatever. Okay. All right. I I just
[1:10:05] wanted to clarify that. All right, Mr.
Walls, I think you want to
[1:10:08] » I just I did want to also bring up for
the good of the order uh how our
[1:10:14] relationship here had to do with during
my short term on council. We've had two
[1:10:20] major buss in this town
which you never would have thought
[1:10:27] the size of our town such uh was de was
our relationship with DEA
[1:10:34] involved in us helping helping us
to find and make this bust.
[1:10:41] » Yeah. And some of the reason some of
this is a is is a control document is we
[1:10:45] can't get into a lot of those techniques
and how that occurs. But the EA has
[1:10:49] helped us with some of our cases in the
past and
[1:10:53] » we try to identify these organizations
and that are bringing that this stuff
[1:10:59] bringing narcotics to our our
communities and we try to investigate,
[1:11:03] dismantle, disrupt those organizations
long before they
[1:11:06] » and that as a resource helps us, right?
>> We couldn't do it without
[1:11:10] » right. Okay. Thank you,
>> Mr. Mayor.
[1:11:14] » Mr. Hi,
>> Chief. Whenever I hear asset forfeite, I
[1:11:18] get a little bit concerned. If if uh we
have an asset forfeite in our town from
[1:11:24] a citizen, is there a viable um appeals
process that they can utilize if they
[1:11:31] feel they've been unfairly treated?
>> So, there's two there's two uh avenues
[1:11:35] for asset force, which would be through
the state or through the federal
[1:11:37] government. These are DEA. These are all
federal so they have to go through the
[1:11:40] federal federal process and they have a
quite an extensive due process uh goes
[1:11:46] through the course. Okay. And then also
for the state level if we did a state
[1:11:50] level asset forfeature it also goes
through the courts. It's actually the
[1:11:55] county solicitor's office contracts out
a third party to represent us and and
[1:12:02] the uh defendant also has counsel.
>> So it's not an extrajudicial. No, it's
[1:12:08] not an administrative process process at
all.
[1:12:10] » Thank you.
[1:12:14] » All right. With that, uh the uh motion
on the table is to accept this
[1:12:19] memorandum of agreement with DEA uh as
presented. Madina, will you call the
[1:12:25] role?
>> Mr. Sty,
[1:12:27] » yes.
>> Mr. Coleman,
[1:12:28] » yes.
>> Mr. Wall,
[1:12:29] » yes.
>> Mr. Lawhorn,
[1:12:31] » yes.
>> Mr. Hyatt,
[1:12:32] » yes.
>> Miss Fallon,
[1:12:33] » yes.
>> Mayor Craft,
[1:12:34] » yes. Motion carries unanimously. Gary
Owen.
[1:12:37] » All right, the next one I believe is
Carolina and it's really gonna be I'm
[1:12:43] sorry. I want a motion.
>> I'll make a motion.
[1:12:48] » Go ahead, Mr.
>> Uh move to approve the memorandum
[1:12:52] agreement with Coastal Carolina.
[1:12:57] » You got a second there, Mr. Medina.
>> Mr. Hyer then either one either one
[1:13:04] proceed. So, these next two are very
similar uh in nature. Uh this one,
[1:13:09] Coastal Carolina. Again, I just want to
reiterate that when we enter into
[1:13:13] theseUS to give uh mutual aid or to help
other agencies, other things, it's only
[1:13:17] when we're fully staffed and we're not
we're not skimping on our protection and
[1:13:23] our our duties here in town. Um so, this
one's for Coastal Carolina and uh they
[1:13:29] have it's coming up football season and
they need help um at their events. So
[1:13:33] they reach out to all local law
enforcement agencies and enter into
[1:13:36] anou. Um so and it's really specific for
the event. So you know it's not like our
[1:13:41] officer going to be running up at
Coastal Carolina running traffic ticket
[1:13:44] to Coastal Carolina. No, they're really
only going there for the specific event
[1:13:47] to help supplement their law enforcement
needs there. And so and again they pay
[1:13:52] our officers. So if they call and say,
"Hey, we need help at a football game."
[1:13:55] We put up a roster say anyone who's off
if you want an overtime opportunity. Um
[1:14:00] great. We're not going to pull people
off the road. We're not going to, you
[1:14:04] know, take away resources from the town.
It's just an overtime opportunity for an
[1:14:07] officer who's off to go up there, sign
up, and go up and work the football game
[1:14:12] and supplement them. And they pay that
overtime rate to the town. We pay the
[1:14:17] officer.
>> Questions, comments?
[1:14:21] » I got a question. Mr. [clears throat] H.
>> Uh, travel time that's not paid. I
[1:14:25] understand by reading this. Do they take
the town own car? They take their own
[1:14:30] car. How?
>> They'll take from their house or
[1:14:33] wherever they're coming from. If they're
coming from work or they get off,
[1:14:35] whatever they're coming from here or
their house, they would drive there.
[1:14:38] » Okay. But there's no compensation for
the time that they're in transit.
[1:14:42] » No.
>> Okay. No. Thank you.
[1:14:46] » Um by signing this or or you know
approving this um it goes both ways,
[1:14:52] right?
>> Yeah. So that's that's a great point.
[1:14:55] So, let's say that we get to the I mean,
we might have an event or two here in
[1:14:59] town once in a while and uh
[clears throat]
[1:15:02] and [laughter]
let's say we get to a point we're like,
[1:15:06] hey, you know, we're going to need some
extra coverage here, you know, the way
[1:15:09] we, you know, way we're going, we're
getting extra, you know, our bets are
[1:15:12] getting pretty big. We're getting a lot
of attendance. So, um or if we have a
[1:15:15] staffing crisis or, you know, whatever,
we'd say, "Hey, we're going to need some
[1:15:18] help." Then I would send anou to them
and say, "Hey, remember when I helped
[1:15:21] you with the football game? I need two
or three officers for you parade or
[1:15:26] whatever. So, and they would be more
than happy to jump in. So, yeah, it's it
[1:15:29] does go both ways. If we decide that we
need extra help and we'll just we'll do
[1:15:33] the same thing with an and the reason we
do these is that's how the it's
[1:15:38] structured in South Carolina.
jurisdictions are in our jurisdictions
[1:15:41] and for us to do to work outside of our
jurisdictions, we state law requires
[1:15:45] that we have an e.
>> Okay. But this one here is not we would
[1:15:50] have to issue our own back to Coastal
Carolina or is this one automatically
[1:15:55] getting us both ways?
>> No, this one is specific to the event of
[1:15:59] Coastal Carolina. So, and the next one
you'll be specific to that event as
[1:16:02] well. So, so the scenario you said we
would actually you'd bring one forward
[1:16:07] two where we are reaching out to them
>> and state law does allow us to have
[1:16:11] mutually aid for emergency response. So
if there was an active shooter and they
[1:16:15] requested assistance we that's separate
from this.
[1:16:19] » Okay. All right. Thank you. Anybody
else?
[1:16:25] All right. Then the motion on the table
is to approve the uh memorandum of
[1:16:29] agreement with Coastal Carolina
University. Miss uh Medina, will you
[1:16:33] call the role?
>> Mr. Fon,
[1:16:35] » yes.
>> Mr. Hyatt,
[1:16:36] » yes.
>> Mr. Lawhorn,
[1:16:37] » yes.
>> Mr. Walls,
[1:16:38] » yes.
>> Mr. Coleman,
[1:16:40] » yes.
>> Mr. Stam,
[1:16:41] » yes. Mayor Press,
>> yes. Motion carries unanimously. Let's
[1:16:44] bring it home.
>> All right. Then the next one is uh for
[1:16:48] City of Conway.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
[1:16:53] » I'll do it.
>> Okay.
[1:16:54] » Uh make a motion to approve the
memorandum of agreement with the city of
[1:16:57] Conway as written.
>> Oh, sorry.
[1:17:01] [clears throat]
>> All right. So the same thing as before,
[1:17:02] this is event specific. Uh their hall
their events are growing as well and
[1:17:06] they they've decided their Halloween
event is uh requested some extra
[1:17:10] staffing. So um they have asked if we
would be willing to provide some
[1:17:16] additional resources to them during our
Halloween event. And so this is again
[1:17:20] specific to that event. And again, I
just want to, you know, if nobody signs
[1:17:25] up, we don't sign anybody. I'm not going
to make anybody go. This is just an only
[1:17:29] time opportunity for for officers and
cost us nothing.
[1:17:34] » Questions, comments.
>> Mr. Mayor,
[1:17:37] » Mr. H.
>> Chief, I would assume that other
[1:17:40] agencies they make these own like Myrtle
Beach and other places make
[1:17:47] memorandums of understanding with Conway
as well.
[1:17:51] » So, I attend the chief chiefs and
sheriff's meeting. That's when these are
[1:17:54] brought up. And at that meeting they
say, "Hey, we're gonna send this out to
[1:17:58] all of you guys so every agency in
Orange County can receive that."
[1:18:01] » Very good. Thank you,
>> Mr. Mayor.
[1:18:03] » Mr. Coleman.
>> Um, does this mean also that they'll
[1:18:07] help us out too if we have an event? We
needed people.
[1:18:09] » Yeah, I would have to send anou.
>> Yeah, I have to send Yeah, it's not
[1:18:14] this. If you read this, this is them
asking us for assistance and to give us
[1:18:19] jurisdiction for that event only.
>> Okay.
[1:18:22] um bike week and stuff like that. We
have any
[1:18:27] » so during bike week we bring in state
agencies that we already have existing
[1:18:30] with or don't need us with and they come
and supplement us during bike week. Um
[1:18:35] you know these agencies are have their
own bike week issues. So they're not
[1:18:39] going to other jurisdictions but
>> do we we pay other agencies?
[1:18:44] » We do not pay the state agencies. They
they absorb the cost. We pay for their
[1:18:47] um I think we pay for their lodging and
we don't pay for their
[1:18:52] » Thank you.
>> Any others?
[1:18:56] » All right. The me uh motion on the table
uh is the uh approving the memorandum of
[1:19:02] agreement with the city of Conway. Miss
Padina, would you call the role?
[1:19:05] » Mr. Sty,
>> yes.
[1:19:07] » Mr. Coleman,
>> yes.
[1:19:08] » Mr. Walls,
>> yes.
[1:19:09] » Mr.
>> Yes.
[1:19:11] » Mr.
>> Yes.
[1:19:12] » Miss
>> Yes.
[1:19:14] » Yes. Motion carries unanimously. Thank
you, chief.
[1:19:17] » Thank you very much. Appreciate you
guys. Thank you.
[1:19:19] » All right. We are now at public
comments.
[1:19:23] » Public comments on town services or
business conducted. Are there any
[1:19:27] comments?
[1:19:31] » I want to make a comment.
>> Wow.
[1:19:33] » Because I forgot to put this on the
agenda and I was reminded today by one
[1:19:37] of the councilman. So, uh, this is for
the public. So, I think it's
[1:19:41] appropriate. I just want to announce our
citizens police academy has been
[1:19:44] scheduled starting November September
24th through November um on there.
[1:19:50] » I don't know I don't know what it is but
I had it on my list.
[1:19:52] » Yeah. Okay. Great. So I just want to
announce every way that we are looking
[1:19:55] for we have 12 openings. I think we've
received four or five applications so
[1:19:59] far but we really want to fill up our
system police academy this year. So, if
[1:20:03] you're interested in coming hanging out
with us for two hours every week on a
[1:20:07] Thursday evening to not only learn about
what we do, but also experience it, um
[1:20:12] we'd love to have you and we just like
to showcase what we do and show show you
[1:20:16] what your police department's all about.
So, uh if you are interested, you can go
[1:20:20] on our uh Facebook page or you can go
look on the uh town's Facebook and our
[1:20:25] Facebook and it has a flyer detailing
how to apply for the CIS.
[1:20:30] You didn't introduce yourself. Uh, Bill
Ml.
[1:20:34] [laughter]
>> Thank you,
[1:20:36] » Steve.
>> Yeah. After four times, I guess we
[1:20:40] should have got that down. Are there any
other public comments?
[1:20:45] » All right. Then we're going to move into
council comments. Comments. Uh, I'm
[1:20:49] going to start with Mr. Lawhorn.
>> Okay.
[1:20:53] » For me?
>> Yeah. Well, um, I try to keep everybody
[1:20:56] on. So, at the risk of of being a dead
horse, I just back to this issue of the
[1:21:01] the change requests, um I I I fully
understand that if it goes above budget,
[1:21:06] the it has to come back to council for
approval. No question. Understood that.
[1:21:10] My concern is generally there are
mustave change requests and there are
[1:21:16] nice to have general change requests.
I'm concerned about the scrutiny on the
[1:21:22] nice to have. I'm not as cons I mean if
it's must have we have to do it and my
[1:21:26] concern is if we eat up that contingency
of things that are nice to have and then
[1:21:31] a mustave thing happens few months later
then we spent the money and and
[1:21:37] hopefully we did the requirements well
enough to where there won't be this
[1:21:40] won't be a big issue. That's my hope but
my experience is that never tends to
[1:21:45] work out that way. So that's kind of
what I'm after. I'm I'm concerned about
[1:21:49] the things that might come up say oh
yeah maybe we should do this um to
[1:21:54] ensure that we're actually scrutinizing
those things cost and and the impact
[1:21:58] etc. So that's that's all with that. So
uh second thing is there's a workshop
[1:22:03] next Tuesday I believe at 5:00 with the
planning commission and the business
[1:22:08] committ commission or committee um to
discuss further uh followup to a
[1:22:13] workshop we had earlier this year in
which we were talking about ideas for u
[1:22:20] improving Surfside Beach for the future
development etc the overlay so I would
[1:22:26] encourage folks to come if you're
interested to to come to that it should
[1:22:29] be a informative this meeting. Um it'll
give kind of a progress report and kind
[1:22:33] of where we're at and where we're going
from here. So that's it. Thank you.
[1:22:38] » Thank you, sir. Uh Mr. Coleman,
>> uh thanks for that one. Um I agree with
[1:22:44] Mr. Long. Nice to have maybe is the best
thing to have. Must haves. Uh I think we
[1:22:51] should also look at that. uh especially
with I don't even know what a dollar
[1:22:56] amount but there should be some kind of
dollar amount that starts ringing bells
[1:23:00] off and stuff like that and before we
get through the contingency
[1:23:06] we should know about it. I mean,
sometimes you can do it a little bit
[1:23:09] cheaper
if we're looking at it a little closer.
[1:23:14] And uh I'm just afraid we're just going
to go and spend all our money before
[1:23:20] before
it's time.
[1:23:24] So, I think it has to be looked at very
closely. I don't want to see the same
[1:23:28] thing happen that happened with the
Peter and that's we're talking about
[1:23:31] millions and millions of dollars.
That's it. Thank you. Hey, thank you,
[1:23:37] sir. Mr. Walls, uh, thanks everybody for
coming out. Um, I'll plug it again. Um,
[1:23:45] I I spoke of it a lot while I was going
through the police academy and I'll tell
[1:23:50] you guys, for me as a council member,
uh, very enlightening, great to know,
[1:23:57] uh, helped me with when it rolled around
to budget time to understand better why
[1:24:02] they need what they need and how they
use what they use. Um, but I would
[1:24:07] recommend it to anybody that just wants
to know.
[1:24:11] You wouldn't believe how much goes into
running running the police department
[1:24:16] for our little town. So, uh, highly
recommend it. And, uh, having said that,
[1:24:21] I'll see you guys in a couple weeks.
Thank you.
[1:24:24] » All right. Thank you, sir. Um, Michelle,
>> well, I want to say thank you to our
[1:24:31] fire department, police department, what
they did to that one year old child.
[1:24:36] That's close to my heart. Um, another
thing that's very close to my heart is
[1:24:42] the 911
Surfside Beach stairc.
[1:24:49] Um,
we always need to remember,
[1:24:53] but we also need to share and educate
with the younger generations. It's
[1:24:59] getting more and more that people
weren't even born
[1:25:04] and it's our job to make sure we never
ever forget.
[1:25:11] So, um, every year I get with my four
grandchildren and my youngest is five
[1:25:18] and I I talk to him at his level and I
do with the two teenagers and I make
[1:25:25] sure they understand how important
the response
[1:25:31] America came together that day and we
need to stay together and I think we can
[1:25:36] only do that through education. So, with
that said, I'm loving this time,
[1:25:43] uh, 7:25, so I'm going to say good
night.
[1:25:47] » All right. Thank you, uh, Mr. Hyatt.
>> Yeah, I'd like to echo Sean's
[1:25:53] appreciation for the police and firemen
and saving a life. That's pretty unique.
[1:25:58] And, um, you know, that's what most
firemen and police officers hope to do
[1:26:03] in their career. Um, not all of them get
the chance, and I'm glad these gentlemen
[1:26:07] did.
Um, I'd [clears throat] like to kind of
[1:26:10] say something maybe more to the town,
Jerry, but I would much prefer to
[1:26:15] approve a contract then per approve a
presentation. When I get a packet, the
[1:26:23] presentation doesn't tell me much, but I
would rather have a contract to look at
[1:26:27] and approve. Um, the details are in
contracts. It's not in a sales
[1:26:32] presentation. So, I would have had
appreciated tonight having had a
[1:26:36] contract to review in my back. Um, on
the bid for Crein Associates, I realize
[1:26:44] [clears throat] that they're pretty good
outfit and and we're going to have to
[1:26:47] trust them, but I'm a little chagr that,
you know, safety records are pretty
[1:26:51] common. They hadn't done a safety record
check. And I would have liked a contrast
[1:26:57] between the three lowest biders. As uh
the mayor pointed out, there's about a
[1:27:01] 1% difference between the three lowest.
It would have been nice to see what the
[1:27:05] other two had to offer, too. Um not just
pick the lowest bidder. We've been
[1:27:11] burned picking the lowest bidder. I
don't want to get burned again. Um but
[1:27:16] we will have a chance to review that
contract, so that's a plus. So anyway,
[1:27:20] thank you all for coming and good night.
>> All right. Thank you, sir. Uh Mr.
[1:27:24] saving.
>> Well, I'm going to echo the same thing
[1:27:27] that the rest of the council members
have said. Thanks to the police
[1:27:31] department, thanks to the fire
department. A child's life is worth a
[1:27:36] whole lot of money, y'all. And if they
if they're just one, they can save that
[1:27:41] was that's a great job. We
[clears throat] well spent our money for
[1:27:45] what we've got if they save one life,
one child's life. But with saying that,
[1:27:50] I would like to get to them a little bit
pleasantly
[1:27:54] note that our
in the season festival went off pretty
[1:28:01] well. We had a little hiccup at one
time, a little lightning in the area. We
[1:28:06] had to halt everything, but overall it
went well. Beautiful fireworks.
[1:28:11] Something the town is is getting known
for. People's talking about it, and I am
[1:28:17] glad to see it. I'm glad to see that
it's it's a positive instead of negative
[1:28:21] talk
and uh I hope we can do better next
[1:28:26] year. There's some things that needs to
be looked at and changed or maybe worked
[1:28:31] on. Not just change them, just need to
be worked on and I think we'll take that
[1:28:37] up in the future. But with saying that,
thanks everybody for coming and see you
[1:28:43] in a couple weeks again.
>> All right. Thank you, sir. Uh it's early
[1:28:48] and I got a little list so sorry but I'm
going to go through it. Um end the
[1:28:53] summer fireworks festival. I I wanted to
start there. Um great show. Um for being
[1:28:59] only the second annual um I'm really
pleased with how well it's going. So um
[1:29:04] you know I think it's delivering you
know it's it's full promise. Um there's
[1:29:09] always room for improvement. I get it.
But uh I'm I'm really pleased. 911
[1:29:13] memorial stair climb. I mean this is 25
years. So, um, even even more so, we
[1:29:19] should be there. Uh, Captain Kelly told
me today, uh, that we surpassed the
[1:29:24] number of registrants from last year.
Registration is still open till Thursday
[1:29:28] afternoon. You can do it online. Please
do it. Um, I'm going to be there and
[1:29:33] climb it as long as I can. Um, for the
whole time. We'll see how how far I go.
[1:29:38] Um, also this weekend, I mean I I
we we need to spread some of these
[1:29:44] people out, I guess, but the Carolina
Cup ProAm Surf Tournament is uh
[1:29:48] September 11th, 12th, and 13th. That is
right uh in front of the Surfside Beach
[1:29:54] Oceanfront Hotel by Scotty's Bar. Um so
there's that those surfers are good. I
[1:30:00] mean, you think, okay, we don't get a
ton of surf, but they are good. Come out
[1:30:03] and see that. uh adaptive surf wheel to
surf project is at 13th Avenue South on
[1:30:09] Saturday, September 12th. So that's
mobility challenged surfers and again
[1:30:15] it's it's something to see. Um if you
get a chance go down there if you don't
[1:30:20] have a chance it might be because you're
at Celebrate Surf Side which is also on
[1:30:23] Saturday September 12th. And uh I get to
lead off the dump tank. I don't know if
[1:30:29] anybody else is doing it, but uh if you
want to throw me uh under the water, be
[1:30:34] there at 10 o'clock right when it opens.
I I want the first spot. Um but all of
[1:30:38] those are are worthwhile events and uh
worthy of attendance. Tomorrow
[1:30:44] uh I will be down in Garden City for the
uh Army Corps of Engineers uh beach
[1:30:50] reourishment ribbon cutting and uh we'll
have press conference and all that kind
[1:30:54] of stuff for interviews. Hopefully they
don't ask me anything, but if they do,
[1:30:58] I'll be there. Uh, but the project was a
great success. Um, you know, yeah, it
[1:31:05] came right in the middle of our season.
We we didn't dial that in. Nothing we
[1:31:08] could do, but but uh very much needed
and uh it should make a big difference
[1:31:13] and especially since it's going to stay
here because it doesn't look like the
[1:31:16] storm season is going to be that uh busy
this year.
[1:31:20] Uh [laughter]
[1:31:23] » I am saying what?
>> Well, we'll see if I'm wrong. Um the
[1:31:29] economic development workshop definitely
we we've been kicking around ideas for
[1:31:34] business 17 and even in the downtown um
several uh people uh from the business
[1:31:41] committee planning commission the
liaison and I and some staff went to
[1:31:46] Conway looked at everything Conway has
done over the last five six years. Um,
[1:31:50] we're going to have the Conway city
manager in here to speak to us and uh,
[1:31:54] we're going to kick around some ideas
and we want uh, resident involvement.
[1:31:59] So, Tuesday 5 to 7, it will be worth
your while to come down and and and uh,
[1:32:04] help us set the vision. Huckabe Park,
they have over 200 registrates for the
[1:32:12] fall league. That's more than for the
spring league. Um, as they like to call
[1:32:16] it, the new era at Huckabe is really
taking form. Um the fields have been
[1:32:20] improved. Uh I think this is one of the
best things we have done in the last
[1:32:24] year or so. Uh it's it's we're restoring
a viable wreck league there. And uh you
[1:32:32] know, again, we should check it out
during the fall. Police Academy. That's
[1:32:36] already been covered. Uh courthouse
changes.
[1:32:40] I think Mr. Vincent is sensitive to what
council thinks. I think he's going to be
[1:32:45] keeping us well informed. I don't think
he's going to be running renegade on
[1:32:49] this and just uh approving things. So,
I'm I'm pretty confident we're going to
[1:32:53] have our say. That's it. So, at least I
went through it pretty quickly. Um with
[1:32:59] that, I need only one thing.
>> Mr. Mayor, Mr. Walls,
[1:33:02] » like to make a motion that we adjourn
this regular meeting of the general
[1:33:04] council.
>> I'll second that.
[1:33:06] » Is there any discussion?
>> All in favor?
[1:33:09] » I opposed. None. Motion carries. Meeting
is
[1:33:14] » Wow, look at this y'all.