The Horry County Council held its regular meeting on May 5, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers. The meeting included public input, approval of the consent agenda, several presentations and resolutions, and second readings and public hearings on multiple ordinances, including the Fiscal Year 2027 budget, development impact fees, zoning amendments, and lease agreements. Council also addressed the Solid Waste Authority budget and landfill expansion, with a failed amendment to remove $300,000 for a transfer station study.
We will start the regular council meeting for May 5th, 2026, and we will start the way we always do with the invocation tonight by Mr. DeSabato, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by Mr. Anderson. I'm going to get ready, please stand. Just bow your heads. Lord, we ask that you empty us of all that is not useful to you, and that instead you fill us with your grace and wisdom in allowing us to make the proper decisions for the residents, employees, and other visitors that come to Orie County. We ask for this in your name. Amen. Attention to the flag. I pledged the leaders of the United States. Liberty and Justice for All. Thank you. Please be seated. Next up is public input. We've had one person sign up, and that is Kelly La Petra speaking about the Orie County Police Department and Orie County Sheriff's Office Consolidation. Please come to the podium. You have up to five minutes if you need it. We have this beautiful clock here that can help you. Green is go, yellow is one minute, and red is stop. No problem. Thank you. My name is Kelly La Pietra, and I reside in Myrtle Beach. Here's what my research came up with in reference to the merger of the Orie County Sheriff's Department and Orie County Police Department. Orie County population grew over 25 percent since 2020. The 2020 population in Orie County had 351,036 residents. In 2025, it grew to over 470,752 residents, and will increase over the next five years to over projected one million residents living in Orie County. Orie County is the fastest growing county in South Carolina. Consolidating Orie County police to the Sheriff's Department is not that is not equipped to handle or is trained for specific duties that Orie County police are doing now. Where I move from in Suffolk County, New York, they have a population of 1,705,998 as of April 2026. Suffolk County Police have over 2,500 police officers and eight precincts, with over 600 civilian support staff members. Suffolk County Sheriff's Department has 82 Deputy Sheriffs, 118 support staff civilians. In Suffolk County, New York, Deputy Sheriffs do prisoner transports, serving warrants, domestic violence unit, internal affairs for the Sheriff's Department, Community Relations, Pistol License Bureau, County Court Squad, just to name a few. Orie County police officers have the knowledge and equipment with months of proper training. With Orie County growing as fast at a fast rate and a lot more to come within the new with all the new construction, it would be the worst move to merge departments at this time. Orie County will need a proper, extensive, comprehensive feasibility study that can take six months to a year to complete for a proper study, and that will cost close to 100 million dollars for a population of over 440,000 people to be completed to understand the cost to taxpayers, consolidation of police services, multi-site assessment of consolidation of both departments merging into one. Services that will impact the taxpayers, training costs for each officer and deputy sheriff, which will burden the Orie County taxpayers with this exorbitant cost. Also keep in mind that salaries differ from both departments and will be costing taxpayers more and the county more, depending on the salary, officer ranking, and tenure of each officer, which may be significantly more than the Orie County Deputy Sheriff's. Only approximately one percent of people in Orie County have had detrimental issues as to why they favor this merger of both departments. Also keep in mind that one percent of officers are considered the bad seat amongst police officers, while 99% who are employed as Orie County police officers that take their jobs seriously and are not corrupt. In my opinion, that the Sheriff's Department and the Ori County Police Departments should not be merged. Back in 1998, it was voted down for a merger, and there are there's no reason to have another vote for a merger. There is absolutely no reason to spend all this taxpayer money on a comprehensive feasibility study for a merger, which will burden every taxpayer in this county with this cost of raising our property taxes. With Orie County growing as fast as it is, there is no reason to merge both departments. Thank you. And I support Ori County Police Department. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you for coming out. And that is the only person that signed up for tonight. So we will close public input and move forward. Mr.