Atlantic Beach held a town council meeting Monday evening to discuss business related to the town.
Agenda items ranged from pending lawsuits and new appointments to different committees to the Bike Fest in May.
Council touched on two lawsuits that have caused the town a substantial amount of debt.
After a lawsuit involving their former police chief Randy Rizzo from 2010, they owe him a settlement of $115,000. Monday evening, Councilwoman Carolyn Cole told council that Rizzo's lawyer is seeking even more money for legal fees.
The second lawsuit with Tyson Beach Group was settled for $108,000. The town was ordered to pay that to a group of people, which includes Cole.
Cole is supposed to receive $7,700 a month from the town; however, the town has not been paying the settlement and has been found in contempt of court.
Atlantic Beach's current accountant was also present Monday. The accountant told council that they do not have a completed audit for 2005 and 2006 and that the town has not been audited since 2008.
The accountant also stated that the town needs to revaluate their budget for the current fiscal year. The accountant said that property taxes had decreased immensely and that most of the business licenses had not been paid, keeping the town from being in the red.
Councilwomen Carolyn Cole and Windy Price stated in the meeting that Atlantic Beach should look into dissolving the town's charter as a municipality because of their amount of debt. Mayor Retha Pierce disagreed.
During the meeting, council touched on Bike Fest. The agenda said that they were to discuss operational procedures and a mutual aid agreement with North Myrtle Beach for police jurisdiction during Bike Fest.
While Mayor Retha Pierce suggested that Bike Fest run for 11 days again this year, council decided to table all Bike Fest discussions until a workshop that will be held in two weeks. The date has not been set.
Pat Dowling, the spokesman for North Myrtle Beach confirmed that discussions about mutual aid with the town manager Linda Cheatham had happened.
