Surfside Beach kerfuffle could delay construction of the pier as rebidding begins again
The Surfside Beach pier restoration project could be further delayed after town officials requested there be an extension placed on a funding grant as the rebidding process begins again.
During Tuesday night’s Town Council meeting, officials said they are asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency for an 18-month extension for the nearly $10 million grant that was awarded to the town to help repair the Surfside Fishing Pier two years ago. As it currently stands, construction on the pier must start before Oct. 15 or the town will lose the funding.
The pier was partially destroyed in 2016 by Hurricane Matthew. Plans to rebuild the wooden pier into a concrete structure that will be raised 10 feet higher, providing more protection from storm surges, has been in the woks for some time.
Town Administrator Dennis Pieper informed council members that someone from FEMA has been assigned to their case but there is no update on whether the extension will be approved.
“A formal request has been made,” Pieper said. “They want to know progress and other things that we’re doing.”
But the strain of division and infighting between council members could delay construction with the project going out to bid for a second time after a lawsuit filed by Mayor Bob Hellyer, Councilwoman Cindy Keating and Councilman Michael Drake against their colleagues and the town questioned the validity of the process that awarded the bid last month.
Councilman Bruce Dietrich is not named in the lawsuit due to medical reasons that kept him absent from meetings.
The July 1 vote to award the project to Orion Marine Group and FBi Construction for more than $14 million has since been rescinded, resulting in officials voting 4-3 on Tuesday to reopen the project for bidding for 10 days starting Thursday. Hellyer, Keating and Drake, who opposed, originally proposed the project be advertised for 30 days, but that motion failed.
Keating had suggested council revisit the scope of the project to see where some money could be saved, but officials stressed the years it took to get the project ready for bidding, with Pieper noting that “time is of the essence.”
“We’ve been dancing to that music for four years. Let’s stop it and get this project done,” said Councilman Bruce Dietrich. “There’s no reason to wait 30 days. Let’s get it done.”
The Lawsuit
The controversy began when officials met in a special meeting June 30 to interview three bidders seeking to reconstruct the town-owned pier destroyed in 2016 by Hurricane Matthew. Another special meeting was held on July 1 to discuss the project with the architects and engineers, with no vote listed on the agenda, only an executive session to receive legal advice an discuss negotiations.
Council members Debbie Scoles, David Pellegrino and Paul Holder, who are all defendants in the lawsuit, voted in favor of entering into executive session, while Hellyer and Keating opposed.
Upon returning to open session, Scoles made a motion to award the pier bid to Orion/FBi and to authorize Pieper to execute any agreements so the project could move forward.
The vote passed in a split decision with Hellyer and Keating voting in opposition, urging the public needed to be privy to the bidding process before a decision could be made. They also urged the agenda had not been amended to allow for a vote to be taken, citing a July 3 meeting was expected to be scheduled to take a formal vote.
A lawsuit was filed by Hellyer, Keating and Drake against Pellegrino, Scoles, Holder and the Town of Surfside Beach on July 27.
The trio claims council violated S.C. Freedom of Information Act law when they retreated into executive session, and subsequently awarded Orion/FBi the pier job. 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, according to the lawsuit.
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.
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.
The Rescinded Vote
On Aug. 3, council agreed to nullify the vote, agreeing there was a misstep in the process.
“The main reason that we’re rescinding the vote is because the bid process was defective,” Hellyer said. “It has nothing to do with the lawsuit, it has nothing to do with anything else.”
Pellegrino, who initially told The Sun News council did nothing wrong after the lawsuit was filed, said he agreed to vote in favor of reversing the vote because the town didn’t go through the proper channels to notify the public of the July 1 meeting. He said it was a mistake, but nothing done intentionally to be deceitful.
Keating added that officials need to do their due diligence, while remaining open and honest with the community about what they’re doing and the decisions being made. She cited a previous time where a vote was taken wrong that required council members to back-pedal.
“I think we really as a council need to come together and understand what is right and what is wrong, and do what’s right and not for other personal agendas,” Keating said. “We need to get it right and we need to get it right the first time.”
