Randal Wallace

Every year the city of Myrtle Beach goes through the budget cycle figuring up what we can and can not do and how we are to allocate money. This year will be the toughest in the time I have been on council. The City has had to make tough calls in the services and other things that had to be cut or toned down. In the end, I think it is a testament to the sound financial management of the city under Manager Tom Leath and the City Budget Director Mike Shelton that the situation is as good as it is.

If all stays as it is, the current level of service will stay as it is, with no new things added. In order to make this happen we have to say no pay plan increases, suspend the 3% merit pay, hold health insurance premiums at the previous level, and  suspend the educational reimbursement program. However, we have not made any cutbacks to current positions, no job losses.

We will not be filling 14 vacant positions, lengthening our mowing and ground’s maintenance schedules due to doing it in house, our Myrtle’s Market Farmer’s market will be privatized, and we will not be having the July 4th event at the Baseball stadium this year. We will also be keeping our Capital improvement projects to a minimum this year. We will only be doing the basic items to our existing parks and recreation and tourism facilities.

There will be some minor fee increases in instructional and recreational programs. A rise in the storm water fee of .75 cents and a 5% increase in solid waste. The millage rate will be 57.1 for operations and a 7.3 mills for debt service. All in all I think it is not to bad considering the size of the worldwide economic slowdown.

I think I am proudest of how well the city finances were run during the big boom years. It was this sound conservative management that has led us to being able to weather this storm  as well as we have. This speaks to the sound judgement of planning for a downturn that always eventually happens. That is the nature of economics, it runs in cycles, and by good budgeting, when times are good you can stay in front of things when times get tough. We shall see what happens as you know things are always subject to change before second reading.

For the Record the title was lifted from Mike Shelton’s Budget Presentation at Pinapolis.

Tags: Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach City Council, Randal Wallace
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This visit to Washington D.C. I felt was one of the most fruitful I have been able to attend despite the hard times. I was able to have extended meetings with our Congressman Henry Brown and with Senator Lindsay Graham’ s staff. Senator Graham did come in and talk briefly.

The meeting with Congressman Brown was very good. Though all the news was not good. Due to a moritorium on earmarks on the enitre Republican caucus many of the projects that Congressman Brown has worked so tirelessly for may not get funded this year. I could tell he was very frustrated by the situation. Luckily the U.S Senate is not hamstrung by this at the moment and I feel like Senator Graham will try very hard to keep these things in the pipeline.

We did talk at length about the pool enclosure situation that FEMA is pushing on us. Congressman Brown was trying to push through language that would allow them in the winter but it has been an uphill fight. I got the same kind of reaction from Senator Graham. So it has become a basic wait and see kind of  thing. I do not think the FEMA people realize what  handcuffs this can be to us in the winter time.

I thanked Congressman Brown for all he has done for our area. I have heard some people talking about the congressman now that it is campaign time. Well I can attest that no one has worked as hard for us as Congressman Brown. It was sad to think this would be our last meeting in D.C. However he let me know that Horry County has not heard the last of Henry Brown and I am glad to hear  he intends to stay involved with us in Horry County.

I had the opportunity to talk to some FEMA representatives at a disaster workshop.  We had a long talk that was joined by the Mayor of Folly Beach, I do not know whether it will bear fruit but we shall see. That is one of the benefits of the National League of Cities events you get help from people in other cities who are in the same boat so to speak. The help from other leaders has happened to me before. When I was working to get the NLC to lobby for Beach Re-nourishment as part of its policy I received a great deal of help from Mayor Bobby Horton of West Columbia S.C. and Walter Parker of Tybee Island GA. We were able to get that language through the NLC Energy , Environment and Natural Resources Committee.

That is the committee that I now serve on the steering committee. That has been a real eye opening experience. I have learned more on a wide array of issues than I ever thought I would know. We have worked with some of the leading experts in a number of fields in the world.  A number of the issues pertaining to sustainability are a part of the comprehensive plan we are now working with locally in Myrtle Beach. I’ve learned to appreciate our planning department better after serving on this committee because Jack Walker is such a leader in this area.

Finally, I learned a very valuable personal lesson on this trip. It is the kindness of strangers that is still very prevalent in this country. While walking down the street in the middle of my last afternoon, after checking out of my hotel, I tripped and fell on the sidewalk. I cracked my head good on the sidewalk, ripped up my sports coat and blackened up my eye. I really looked pretty bad when I stumbled into the Newseum.

They called EMS.

The staff could not have done more to take care of me. Caprecia Alston took me down to a first aid room and called EMS. Nate Turner stood over me and got me some water while we waited on EMS to get there and Kim Clarke sat with me and kept me laughing through the entire experience. I hung around there for a while because I decided not to go to the hospital, which was not wise I might add, and they really looked after me at the Newseum and I want to say a very special thank you to them.

The same is true of the EMS workers in Washington and the people at the hotel and airline. The Taxi driver even toted my bags to the door at the airport (they usually just pull them out the trunk) I truly was treated very kindly and it surely renewed my belief in the basic goodness of people. I would add this is also true of our own Myrtle Beach EMS workers who in an unrelated medical issue rushed to take care of me a week before this happened.  So let me just say thank you to all of the people involved.

While all the news was not good in these tough times I think we have two great champions in Henry Brown and Lindsay Graham working on our behalf and I certainly did every thing I could to let them know what our problems were.  I also think a thank you needs to be said to Representative Jim Clyburn who has also worked hard for us even though we are not in his district. His staff has bent over backwards to listen to our needs when I met with them.  That covers my two trips representing the city.

Tags: Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach City Council, Randal Wallace
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I recently had the honor to represent the city on two different trips. I traveled with the Chamber of Commerce on a trip to Toronto , Canada and then I represented the City at the National League of Cities trip to Washington DC. I thought these were both very productive trips for the city.

On the trip to Toronto,  I  was part of a large group that was promoting Myrtle Beach and Horry County. Our airport recently added flights directly to Toronto on Porter Air and  to Niagara Falls on Direct Air. These are two great opportunities to tap into this heavily populated area around Buffalo NY and Toronto . While we have reached out to these areas for years the Chamber has made a renewed effort in recent days and the addition of these two airlines will be a big help.

We were hosted by the United States Consul General to Canada for a reception. He invited various travel operators and Chamber members from around the Toronto area including our sister city Burlington Ontario. This was an extraordinary event and I commend the Chamber of Commerce folks who put this together. It is great to know we have these folks working so hard on our behalf.

I think that one event will pay huge dividends because it shows how important the Canadian market is to us, as not only a city , but as a country to have our Consul General involved in promoting our area. The Canadians in attendance were very excited at the prospects of coming to Myrtle Beach. I even had a new property owner asking for advice on what to do and where to go when he brings his family down for the first time.

The relationship to Canada is a special one for me because I have entire side of my family that is Canadian, a Step Dad and all of his family. They stretch from Toronto to Ottawa to out west in Saskatoon, Edmonton and British Columbia. I have actually been able to travel out west and it is an extraordinary place to see.  From  Banff, to Frank’s slide, to Smashed in Head Buffalo Jump western Canada is breathtakingly scenic.

The second day of our trip was very special  because it was a chance to renew our relationship with our sister city Burlington. Their Mayor Cam Jackson met us at the Toronto Star Golf and Travel Show to cut the ribbon on the Myrtle Beach area booth. He showed up with reporters in tow and Mayor Rhodes and Mayor Jackson hit it right off. The visit received a lot of local press because of the Sister City connection.  I think we will see many more opportunities to renew this relationship after all the talking the two of them did.

Mayor Rhodes really does do a fantastic job in these situations as an ambassador for the City of Myrtle Beach. I will give him credit for that talent. It is something I wish all the citizens of Myrtle Beach could see. We also had another luncheon in Niagara Falls with there travel operators. This was yet another venue in which Mayor Rhodes shined as he invited these folks to come to Myrtle Beach.

In both areas the interest in Myrtle Beach was very high and I feel like this was an enormously successful trip promoting and more importantly getting to know the Canadian and New York travel operators and promoters. Tourism promotion is just like every other area of life it is built on relationships that is why these promotional opportunities are so important.

I would be remiss to not mention the efforts and work of Horry County Council Chairman Liz Gilland. This was most likely the last trip I will be taking with her since she will be retiring from public office in January. Ms Gilland has traveled a few miles for the county and I have been with her a few times. She has always been an outstanding representative for all of Horry County. She will be missed and I feel like she has done a lot to get Horry County to the level it is today in many areas especially tourism promotion and I wish her well.

I also want to brag on our home grown airline Direct Air. I have been impressed with the job they do not only as an airline but also as an active member of our community. I expect great things from them. They have really contributed to the promotion of Myrtle Beach as a fun affordable vacation destination all over the Northeast epecially in the Niagara Falls area.

I think we are going to see a lot more Canadians in our area in the near future and I might add, a few of us ought to fly up there. If you have never seen Niagara Falls or spent time in Toronto it is well worth the trip.

Tags: Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach City Council, Randal Wallace
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