(Left to right) Charlene Taylor, Retha Pierce, Jake Evans.
/ Lisa Edge
ATLANTIC BEACH, S.C. (WPDE) - In a special called meeting Thursday night, the mayor and some council members of Atlantic Beach made changes to leadership and how finances are handled.
Council members Carolyn Cole and Windy Price were not there, and they were directly impacted by the changes.
After coming out of executive session, Mayor Retha Pierce, Councilman Jake Evans, and Councilwoman Charlene Taylor unanimously passed five binding motions.
Town Manager Calvin Blanton and Carolyn Cole are no longer able to sign off on checks. Instead, those privileges go to Pierce and Taylor.
Taylor is now the mayor pro-tem instead of Cole. Blanton is on paid administrative leave until a hearing and Linda Cheatham is in his place to handle the town's day to day operations.
Taylor says the changes they made are important. "We don't have a police department. We don't have a staff in town hall. And we don't have things that we should have. And they say we don't have any money, so we're going to find out who has money, whether we have any or not."
As for police coverage, Mayor Pierce says their citizens are protected. The town does not have a police force right now, and the council did not receive a report on the situation they were expecting.
Taylor says they are looking for cooperation to get the town back on track.
Pierce would not comment on the specific changes they made.
