Local calls for Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes to resign

A local critic of Myrtle Beach's government took his concerns to the City Council Tuesday and asked the mayor to resign.

William "Boz" Martin addressed the council during the public comment period of Tuesday's meeting, criticizing a host of issues, including the city's actions that drastically toned down the bike rallies, funding of Coastal Uncorked and a February wreck that Mayor John Rhodes was involved in in Aynor.

"For the good of this community, why don't you put yourself out of our misery and resign immediately," Martin told the mayor at the closing of his speech.

Rhodes said after the meeting that he wasn't going anywhere.

"No, I'm not resigning," Rhodes said. "I really have no comment on Mr. Martin's State of the Boz address."

The community has been buzzing for the past week about the wreck that involved Rhodes, which led Rhodes to discuss the issue on a local morning radio show on April 6.

Martin said Rhodes had tried to hide that he was in a wreck that Martin said people had speculated involved driving under the influence - which Rhodes said isn't true. Martin, who told the council Tuesday that he had never stated any of the information as fact, said he came to Tuesday's meeting because he couldn't respond on the radio to the criticisms Rhodes made of him on that radio show.

Rhodes said he was in a wreck in Aynor as he was driving a rental car to a meeting in Columbia, but he was not at fault. A copy of the accident report was not available late Tuesday.

"Mr. Martin seems to think it was a coverup because I didn't call a press conference," Rhodes said after the meeting. "What, am I supposed to hold a press conference to say I had a wreck?"

Rhodes said he had to go on the radio show to defend himself against Martin's accusations, adding that if he didn't respond it would have appeared that he had done something wrong.

The wreck was just one of several issues Martin brought up. He also questioned why the city gives money to Coastal Uncorked when some of the events are outside Myrtle Beach; the relationship between the city and the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce - "Exactly where does the power of city government end and the authority of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce begin" - and criticized the ordinances the council adopted to tone down the bike rallies, a debate in 2008 that first brought Martin to the council.

Martin's speech went on for at least 15 minutes and included criticisms of Councilman Randal Wallace and City Manager Tom Leath, and at one point prompted resident Richard Duran, who regularly attends the council meetings, to shout from the back row of the audience that it was time for Martin to stop.

The council allowed Martin to continue, saying it was extending the usual three-minute limit per person for public comments as a courtesy to him.

"It just upset me. I just thought it was unfair," Duran said after the meeting, saying others have to stick to the time limit.

The council did not respond to Martin's comments and moved on to the next item on the agenda.

After the meeting, Leath declined to comment on Martin's comments, and Wallace brushed off Martin's criticisms.

"It's the same old, same old," Wallace said.

Martin, who lives in the Horry County part of Murrells Inlet and rents a place to live in Myrtle Beach part of the year, said after leaving the meeting that he came to get his concerns out in public.

He said he didn't expect a response from the city about his criticisms.

"They won't answer me. Of course not," he said.

This story was originally published April 13, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Local calls for Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes to resign."