The controversial Surfside Beach pier restaurant lease was at the center of Tuesday night's town council meeting.

Following regular business, council held an executive session to sort out criteria on the bidding process.

So far, they have received two bids and say that neither one qualified.

The property in question is a building on the pier which houses Nibils Restaurant.

One bid came from the owner of Nibils. The other from an LLC belonging to Cecil Chandler.  Chandler is employed by WPDE NewsChannel 15, but he does not work in the news department.

The Horry County Solicitors Office launched an investigation after learning that former Town Administrator Ed Booth and a former town attorney worked with Chandler on the bid.

The investigation is now being reviewed by the South Carolina Ethics Commission as a possible conflict of interest.

"They have completed their investigation. They've interviewed numerous witnesses, and they're completed, so they have moved on to the state Ethics Commission. And at this point in time, my understanding is that the Ethics Commission is looking into that matter, which I would imagine on their level would be a review," said Surfside Beach Mayor Allen Deaton.

Mayor Deaton also told NewsChannel 15 that he doubts that there will be a final resolution to the pier restaurant lease for at least another month.