New Horry committee to examine transportation
WestJet. A failed mass transit bus shelter and sign project. The sale of Carolina Southern Railroad.
All have cost Horry County agencies time and/or money in the past three years and a new committee aims to make sure transportation issues are watched closely. Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus assigned Councilmen Johnny Vaught and Bill Howard to the committee, which will be led by one of the more vocal members of council, Gary Loftus.
“Make a better airport, better Coast, better railroad,” Loftus said. “It’s just part of what being part of council is all about.”
Lazarus pulled Loftus and Vaught off Coast RTA’s board of directors earlier this year and the County Council dissolved the Airport Advisory Committee. Lazarus then created this committee, which meets for the first time Thursday, to streamline transportation issues and allow the council to better keep tabs on transportation. The county owns the airport properties and it gives Coast RTA more than $1 million annually for operations. The county also took an active role in the recent sale of the Carolina Southern railroad to R.J. Corman.
If there’s something that needs fixing in my estimation, then we’ll fix it.”
Gary Loftus
Horry County CouncilmanHorry County Council’s new Transportation Committee
The committee topics and why oversight is needed
Department of Airports
Earlier this year, Horry County Council dissolved the Airport Advisory Committee, which was an appointed committee of residents to be able to chime in on airport issues. Unrelated, in 2013, Horry County agreed to pay Canadian airline company WestJet $583,000 for a revenue guarantee the county signed with WestJest. In September of that year, Mike LaPier, director of airports, did not have his contract renewed.
Coast RTA
Coast RTA will be getting $377,000 less in state funding over a five-year period for dropping the ball on a bus shelter and sign program. In April 2014, then-CEO and General Manager Myers Rollins was fired.
Railroad
Earlier this month, Kentucky-based R.J. Corman Railroad paid $13.9 million for 80 miles of rail line from Myrtle Beach to Whiteville, N.C., from Carolina Southern Railroad. Horry County oversaw the deal.
If you go
What | first meeting of Horry County’s new Transportation Committee
When | 9 a.m. Thursday
Where | Horry County Council conference room, 1301 Second Ave, Conway
This story was originally published August 25, 2015 at 11:15 AM with the headline "New Horry committee to examine transportation."