Atlantic Beach: A Mess Worth Saving

Atlantic Beach is a mess – an unmitigated, chaotic, exasperating, maddening mess. And yet we can’t simply write off the town.

The latest twist in the town’s ongoing predicaments came at what was supposed to be a full meeting of the Town Council on Monday night. As reporter Lorena Anderson wrote, however, only two council members bothered to show up. Those who were there heard a report on the town’s finances that staggers when we consider the full depth of its ignorance.

The town, meant to serve the needs of its citizens, to be accountable to them for the wise use of their tax dollars, seems to have no idea what’s going on. How much money is coming in? Nobody claims to know. How much is being spent? Again, nobody claims to know. Meanwhile, $138,000 from last year simply vanished into thin air. The whole thing is farcical. Girl Scout cookie sellers do a better job of tracking their finances.

The situation would be laughable if it weren’t so serious. This is thousands of dollars in missing tax money. Many of the Atlantic Beach residents are citizens who most need government help and can least afford for their money to be misspent, let alone lost.

So what’s to be done? An investigation by the State Law Enforcement Division or the state attorney general would not be out of order, but even before that, another election is past due. Readers will remember that the last, held in November, was declared invalid by the town’s busy Municipal Elections Commission after some fairly vague complaints of impropriety. Not insignificantly, those in charge of the commission were allies of Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn Cole, who retained her vise grip on the town while a new election was ordered, to take place within six months.

Soon after the November election, Atlantic Beach leaders said they intended to settle the matter quickly by holding a new vote before the new year. Obviously, that did not happen. Time is running out on their six months, with no indication of an upcoming vote. The Horry County Elections Commission said Wednesday they’ve received no information on when a vote might happen. Calls to Atlantic Beach leaders were not returned.

All of this has us looking fondly back at the Atlantic Beach of a couple of years ago, with different council members, a different town manager and a different attitude. An honest attempt to clean up the town, take stock of its finances and set it on a strong footing seemed to be in the works under then-Town Manager William Booker.

That effort seems to have been tossed aside or purposefully ignored when Cole and current Town Manager Benny Webb came to power last July, quickly firing all of the town’s financial officers – and almost every other town employee. In just another sign of the state of the town, Cole and Webb are now also at odds with each other.

But despite all of the town’s issues – and there are many more that we simply don’t have the space to explore here – the extreme solution proposed by some, to dissolve the town’s charter, would be going a step too far. The town at present suffers from often incompetent, egotistical and rapacious leadership. There’s no question about it. We would hardly be surprised to discover that the town’s missing $138,000 had ended up in someone’s pocket. But the town’s residents, throughout its many scandals, have also maintained a fierce pride and unique identity that is worth protecting.

The energy expended by residents and leaders in the pursuit of governing is astounding. Atlantic Beach’s turnout at municipal elections would be the envy of many other towns. Dozens turn out for hearings that elsewhere would attract only the most diehard political junkies. All the town lacks is competent leadership that can channel that energy to a good purpose. In this they have been stymied time and again by election scandals and ploys. The latest was no exception.

The local League of Women Voters has offered to observe future Atlantic Beach elections and watch for fraud or misconduct. Taking the nonpartisan, impartial group up on its offer before the next vote would be a positive step toward ending this embarrassing string of election scandals. And perhaps, after a fresh vote and some fresh faces in power, the town can at last live up to its potential – or at least leave behind its role as the laughingstock of the Strand.