What North Myrtle Beach City Councilors are saying about face masks after ending mandate

North Myrtle Beach City Council agreed Monday to encourage residents, visitors and employees to continue wearing their face masks and social distancing indoors in public spaces as the coronavirus pandemic continues.

This decision comes after the council voted to not extend the city’s state of emergency, which includes the requirement to wear masks in public places, during a special called meeting last month.

“We’ve seen this virus kind of turn a little bit and cases have gone down,” Mayor Marilyn Hatley said during Monday’s meeting.

Cases in Horry County are dropping substantially for the first time in months.

Councilors also adopted an ordinance to delete a part of prohibition section of the city’s Code of Ordinances related to noise regulation and changed it to say it is illegal for anyone to cause or permit sustained noise “that is audible beyond the property line between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., when, in the opinion of the responding official, such noise is excessive, disrupting the peace or disturbing the general public.”

During the meeting, council passed another ordinance to amend the enforcement standards for the noise section of the city’s Code of Ordinances to ensure it aligns with the prohibition section.

Also Monday, newly-elected Councilman Trey Skidmore took the oath of office and joined council members for the meeting. He beat Ronnie Nichols for the at-large seat during a runoff election in March.