Surfside Beach will see at least two new faces on its town council. Here’s who is on the ballot.
Surfside Beach voters will choose three council members on Nov. 7 among a pool of seven candidates.
Leaders in the town of roughly 4,000 have spent the past year grappling with delays for a much anticipated pier restoration along with growing and zoning issues. Here’s a look at who’s on the ballot. Some responses have been edited for length and candidates are listed in alphabetical order.
Incumbent Michael Drake and challenger Paul Holder did not respond to The Sun News’ questionnaire.
Shawn Fallon
Age: 62
Past/present elected office: Previously served on the Sunnyfield Estates board of directors in Brooklyn Park, Maryland
Occupation: retired FBI agent
Education: Certified Contract Officer Training School
Political affiliation: n/a
Past/present bankruptcies, tax liens or felony convictions: none
Q: Has the pier rehabilitation project been mishandled?
A: The Surfside Beach pier is several million dollars over budget with a low-interest rate bond of $4 million. The pier contracting company has not received any delayed fees for missing multiple deadlines. Town council should collect all backlog fees due to the pier project delays from the contractor. The pier bond should be paid in full prior to any further major town projects. The pier committee should have their findings heard by the council and residents to incorporate the profitable suggestions on behalf of the town.
Q: How would you restore trust and transparency with constituents who have raised concerns over those issues during the past months?
A: My goal is improving communications by open dialogue among residents and council during meetings. Town committees should be heard by council and not disbanded due to their self-centeredness. My qualifications encompass managing career boards by hiring qualified employees to include position certification requirement. I acquired the contracting officer certification for government contracts to ensure the most capability companies were awarded the contract(s). My involvement with FBI major investigations included conducting analytical findings for solving cases and working directly with local and federal law enforcement for 35 plus years.
Q: How can Surfside Beach balance its need to grow with reserving the small town that it’s known for?
A: The Surfside Beach planning commission committee is currently working on the town’s 10-year plan. After the town council has reviewed this plan, the town residents and businesses could be educated on this plan to create an open dialogue among all parties. The Surfside Beach planning and zoning department codes will need to be reviewed to ensure (if possible) user friendliness for businesses and welcoming visitors. I personally would incorporate attractive business fronts with trees and flowers, drivable parking lots by eliminating potholes, and safety lighting for driving, walking and biking visitors. The town’s Facebook should include detailed information concerning town resources (first responders, library, beach requirements, golf cart regulations, and restaurants, stores, entertainment locations.
John Hiatt
Age: 74
Present or past elected office: None, but served 18 months as an appointed Surfside Beach Pier Committee member before its suspension
Occupation: Retired.
Education: master’s degree in social science
Political affiliation: undeclared
Past/present bankruptcies, tax liens or felony convictions: none
Q: Has the pier rehabilitation project been mishandled?
A: Yes. The Pier Committee initially conducted a survey that received over 800 citizen responses regarding what pier amenities the public wanted. Then the committee made proposals that supported those preferences. The town council gave short shrift to the input from the pier committee and instead took its advice and direction from the town’s department heads, supporting what they wanted for the new pier rather than what the citizens wanted. The town council is supposed to represent citizen interests to the town’s government, and not the other way around.
Q: How would you restore trust and transparency with constituents who have raised concerns over those issues during the past several months?
A: Trust and transparency will not be restored by what is said but rather by what is done. I will champion reversing the town’s organizational chart so that the town administrator no longer controls what it is the town council is allowed to know about the town and its citizens interests; treating appointed citizen committees with respect for their contributions and giving them direct access to the same town council that appointed them; welcoming citizen input and being more forthcoming about town issues; and learning from the town’s adverse experiences rather than attempting to hide them from public sight in executive sessions.
Q: How can Surfside Beach balance the need to grow while preserving the small town feel it is known for?
A: Horry County has grown roughly 33% in population over the last dozen years. I seek a reasoned and contemplative approach to the changes such growth is forcing upon our town. I welcome citizen input on how they would like this change controlled. I would champion a parking plan that utilizes off town parking and some type of private or public shuttle to reduce the number of vehicles seeking to park in the town. I also believe that our town overlooks the potential of the Highway 17 business corridor for attracting folks to bring their business to the town.
Harry Kohlmann
Age: 65
Past/present elected office: None
Occupation: Retired New York Police Department deputy inspector
Education: bachelor’s degree
Political affiliation: Republican
Past/present bankruptcies, tax liens or felony convictions: None
Q: Has the pier rehabilitation project been mishandled?
A: Yes, from the beginning on the bids for construction to not hiring a project manager to oversee the operations to the constant mis-guessing of the completion of the pier construction.
Q: How would you restore trust and transparency with constituents who have raised concerns over those issues during the past several months?
A: I would try to get consensus of council to instruct staff to provide all council members with all available information on all town projects so that the council members could inform residents in a timely fashion.
Q: How can Surfside Beach balance its need to grow with preserving the small town feel that it’s known for?
A: I don’t believe that the town needs to grow, although improvements to existing areas, such as Business 17 should be the town’s focus. Almost all our wooded lots have homes on them and once they are built on, the building should stop. I don’t think we show allow any more lot splitting anywhere in town. I believe that we should keep our height restrictions in place.
Dusty McCracken
Age: 37
Past/present elected office: No previous office
Occupation: retail store manager Food Lion
Education: high school diploma
Political affiliation: Republican
Past/present bankruptcies, tax liens or felony convictions: none
Q: Has the pier rehabilitation project been mishandled?
A: The pier project has burdened the town for the last four and half years, it’s hard to see a pier with so many memories being destroyed to begin with but the last five years watching the project slowly progress has not been entertaining. That along with the town sharing several opening dates, not holding contractors accountable to deadlines and also not voting for an experienced project manager to begin with, hurt the town financially and the trust in its local government and administration. Being we have several other project needs in the next few years it’s important that we learn from past mistakes and move forward with a mindset to learn from them.
Q: How would you restore trust and transparency with constituents who have raised concerns over those issues during the past several months?
A: There are many things that take place with transparency within town. First, council needs to come together and provide direction to the administration and all committees that we will operate in a transparent way and for the residents best interest in all that the town does. Th,en update the towns organizational chart showing the residents of Surfside Beach at the top of the chart, this lets future administrators, department heads and other town staff know that the town works for the people and not the other way around. Accountability is a must and being open in communication, failure and in front of misinformation with guide us towards the light.
Q: How can Surfside Beach balance its need to grow with preserving the small town feel that it’s known for?
A: I believe Surfside Beach has done this well for several years. Our zoning and ordinances help maintain that unique small town character that the residents and visitors alike enjoy and crave. I honestly don’t think it’s a mission for Surfside Beach to grow. I think it’s a mission to increase our town services and development within our current footprint.
Skip Walls
Age: 64
Past/present elected office: None
Occupation: 35 years in the hospitality/tourism Industry and principal in a meetings industry company
Education: associate’s degree
Political affiliation: Independent
Past/present bankruptcies, tax liens or felony convictions: none
Q: Has the pier rehabilitation project been mishandled?
A: Yes. We have a company building our pier that should never have been awarded the contract. Because of their inexperience in pier construction, we have experienced countless delays with no oversight or accountability which has resulted in our pier completion date being so far past the contracted completion date and no enforcement of the performance clause of the contract which penalizes the contractor for these delays. This entire pier project has been an embarrassment to our town.
Q: How would you restore trust and transparency with constituents who have raised concerns over those issues during the past several months?
A: By minimizing the executive session that is consistently invoked by this current town council. The debate among council members regarding the issues brought before the council should be open to the public. There also needs to be more open communication between the townspeople and council members between meetings so that council members can be more attune to the thoughts and opinions of the people.
Q: How can Surfside Beach balance its need to grow with preserving the small town feel that it’s known for?
A: By respecting the town’s master plan and the zoning and ordinances that are set forth by our predecessors that have been established over the years to maintain the integrity of our residential areas and the tourism areas that support our town’s symbiotic quality of life.
