Administrator’s job, hospitality fee to be discussed at upcoming Horry Council meeting

Horry County Council’s April 16 meeting will feature an executive session on the employment of its top administrator and next steps on a deal to build I-73.

Once again, Horry County Administrator Chris Eldridge finds his employment in question on a County Council agenda.

The agenda item will be discussed behind closed doors since council will be discussing contract negotiations for Eldridge’s employment.

Two weeks ago, Horry County Chairman Johnny Gardner said he was going to negotiate a deal for the resignation of Eldridge with the administrator’s attorney. He gave a deadline of two weeks for a deal to be reached.

As of Friday afternoon, no deal had been reached. Any vote on the matter will be done publicly after Council exits executive session.

The discussion will be one of many in the five months following Eldridge asking SLED to investigate into a dinner conversation between County Chairman Johnny Gardner, his associate Luke Barefoot and two members of the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation.

Hospitality fee

In addition, the Horry County Council agenda for April 16 includes talks regarding an agreement between Horry County Council and the South Carolina Department of Transportation.

Currently, Horry County and SCDOT have a contract for the county to use hospitality fee money to build its portion of proposed I-73.

This contract has been called into question following Myrtle Beach and other coastal municipalities passing ordinances to collect the hospitality fee.

At its budget retreat this week, the Myrtle Beach Council rejected a letter from Horry County asking for any discussion on hospitality fee money to be done publicly and detailing a plan to divide up the money the county collected from the hospitality fee.

Myrtle Beach wants the discussions to done behind closed doors.

On Tuesday, Horry Council will discuss next steps on the issue, but previously threats were made by council member Harold Worley and others to withdraw from the contract if Myrtle Beach will not agree to public negotiations.

The agenda item for Tuesday is for council to receive legal advice regarding the contract, and a public vote is expected to happen once council exits executive session.

This story was originally published April 12, 2019 at 12:37 PM.