Surfside Beach council infighting moves to lawsuit over construction of new fishing pier
Surfside Beach’s mayor and two council members say their colleagues acted unlawfully when they voted to appoint a company to restore Surfside Pier.
It’s the latest in a string of infighting between the council in the small, Horry County community.
Mayor Bob Hellyer, Councilwoman Cindy Keating and Councilman Michael Drake filed a lawsuit against council members David Pellegrino, Debbie Scoles, Paul Holder and the Town of Surfside Beach in Horry County on Monday afternoon. The trio claims the council violated S.C. Freedom of Information Act law when they retreated into executive session during a July 1 meeting, and subsequently awarded Orion/FBi, Joint Venture the pier job.
Pellegrino was not aware a lawsuit was filed as of Monday night.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Pellegrino told The Sun News. “But if they want to waste money on lawyers, then go for it.”
Officials met in a special meeting on June 30 to interview three bidders seeking to reconstruct the town-owned pier destroyed in 2016 by Hurricane Matthew. Officials met for another special meeting on July 1 to discuss the project with the architects and engineers, the lawsuit claims.
There was no vote listed on the agenda, according to the lawsuit, which added there was an understanding an official vote would be taken during a July 3 meeting. The July 1 agenda also included an executive session so council could receive legal advice or discuss negotiations.
Scoles, Pellegrino and Holder voted in favor of entering into executive session, while Hellyer and Keating opposed.
When the board returned to open session, Scoles motioned to vote to award the pier bid to Orion/FBi, and authorize Town Administrator Dennis Pieper to execute any agreements so the project could move forward. Holder seconded Scoles’ motion, with Pellegrino also voting in favor of awarding the bid for the project.
Hellyer and Keating voted against it, but the motion passed.
The suit claims the vote was “illegally” taken, and states the agenda needed to be amended prior to the vote. It further notes the action denied the public the opportunity to comment and “to observe the performance of the public officials.” Additionally, the trio violated FOIA’s notice provisions by exceeding the specific purpose of why the meeting was held.
Once Hellyer called the July 1 special meeting to order, the record reflected the sole purpose of the meeting was only “to discuss the pier bids with engineer and architect” and “contractual matters,” the suit states.
The suit asks for a judge to invalidate the vote and declare the defendants’ conduct unlawful and in violation of that state’s FOIA laws. The mayor and two council members also asked the judge to prevent further FOIA violations.
