Pierce sits on council as mayor following her arrested for DUI Sunday night. She says she has no plans to step down.
/ Lindsey Theis
24 hours following her arrest for DUI, Atlantic Beach Mayor Retha Pierce presided over the town's monthly council meeting.
You can watch the dash cam of the arrest here.
NewsChannel 15 has also learned new details of another traffic violation. Just a couple of months ago, Pierce was pulled over in North Myrtle Beach.On November 22nd, Pierce was pulled over at 12:40a.m in North Myrtle Beach. She was cited for driving left of center.
North Myrtle Beach Spokesman Pat Dowling says that Pierce has requested a jury trial for the charge. That will be on March 22nd.
The DUI was the elephant in the room at Monday's town council meeting.
Many people told NewsChannel 15 off camera, including town councilmen Jake Evans and Carolyn Cole, they are not worried about Pierce's charge and her serving as mayor, instead they're more worried she is going to get behind the wheel and hurt or kill someone.
We asked the mayor at Monday night's council meeting if she should step down after her arrest. She said no.
"My arrest has nothing to do with this town meeting, even though the media and people in general try to relate the two. My role as mayor and the allegation of arrest that people do toward me, really all that is politics," Pierce said.
Also at Monday night's meeting, Atlantic Beach interim town manager Benny Webb tried to resign.
Webb was hired as interim town manager in late July.
He said in a letter to council, he wanted to wish Atlantic Beach the best and be replaced as soon as possible. He expressed the desire to leave as soon as a replacement was found.
The council went into executive session and then voted down his letter, meaning they don't accept his resignation, and for now, he's staying.
Council members said Webb's resignation attempt has nothing to do with Pierce's arrest.
Councilman Carolyn Cole says, Webb will continue to earn his salary. She estimated that to be between $40,000 and $50,000 annually. Cole did say they were actively looked for a replacement, which may or may not be part time.
