Monday, Dec. 01, 2008

Town manager heads home as Atlantic Beach struggles to recover

MYRTLE BEACH -- After eight months of struggling with the Atlantic Beach Town Council, the Municipal Association of South Carolina is withdrawing the interim town manager it sent in March to help the town right itself.

Charles Williams' departure today marks one of several current transitions for the tiny town - including a mayoral election Tuesday and the hiring of a new town attorney a week ago - just as property taxes will begin returning to refill the town's drained general fund.

Williams announced his departure in late September, after two meetings in which the Town Council rejected his recovery plan - which included a debt-consolidation loan from a group of N.C. developers, selling unused town property to pay for day-to-day operations through the fall, outsourcing police services to North Myrtle Beach and opening Ocean Boulevard to the neighboring town on both sides.

At the time, the town was running short of money between summer fee collections and December property taxes. Williams threatened to lay off the town's two clerks and five police officers to save money. Instead, the Crazy Horse gentleman's club agreed to pay its business license fees early, allowing Williams to keep the town staffed, although other bills began to stack up again.

After Williams leaves, Atlantic Beach will be without a manager, though two clerks will still work for the town. The town's regular monthly meeting - normally the first Monday of the month - has been rescheduled from today to Dec. 8, and Councilwoman Charlene Taylor said the open position will come up then.

Two people who have been suggested for a next interim town manager are Kenneth McIver, an Atlantic Beach resident who has done contractual work for the town, and William Booker, a recent retiree who has attended a number of meetings, said Councilman Donnell Thompson. Whoever is chosen, Thompson said, will have to work to repair the fractured Town Council.

Although Thompson and Williams were often at odds during Williams' eight-month tenure, Thompson said conditions in the town have steadily improved over the past year. Through cooperation between the town, its police and state and county law enforcement, Thompson said the streets have become safer than they once were.

"With each manager change, there's always hope, and there's always possibility," Thompson said. "We're not getting ready to fail. We're getting ready to be open for a long time."

The new town manager will be greeted with the return of the town's cash flow, including Atlantic Beach's cut of a $50,000 tax bill from 2007 that was just recently paid. Atlantic Beach Oceanfront and Seventh Street Properties, two brothers' development companies that own about a third of the town's beach property, paid their taxes Nov. 6, just before this year's tax-auction list was compiled, county officials said.

Horry County Treasurer Roddy Dickinson said the town will receive that money, plus any other late tax payments made in November, in a check issued around Dec. 15. Dickinson said the town received a $35,000 check in December of last year.

The town will receive even more tax money the following month - last year's January check was more than $57,000. Once that money is received, Williams said in an interview last week, the town's priorities should be setting aside money for the payroll, reinstating the employees' health insurance and paying the town's remaining bills.

After that, Williams said, he still believes the town should pursue the debt-consolidation loan and sell two unused lots to create a reserve fund.

"They've got a chance to get on a strong financial footing," Williams said. "And they can stay sound forever."

Williams said he is considering two private-sector job offers that would begin after the first yea of the year. When asked, he said he would consider returning to Atlantic Beach, if the political climate changes.

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