SURFSIDE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — Surfside Beach Town Council met Tuesday night and gave an update on the new Surfside Beach pier.

A representative with Collins Engineering, who has been working on the pier, said the pier is progressing well.

Council did not confirm a completion date for the pier, but council did say a few items like handrails and floor leveling would be substantially completed by Friday, Feb. 23.

In other action, council voted 5 to 2 to reinstate the former pier committee.

The committee was suspended on Aug. 8 of last year because of what former Mayor Bob Hellyer said was a disagreement of what roles it should play.

Current Mayor Rob Krouse, who was also the former committee chairman, told council he wants to reinstate it.

He said public works would look over the pier, but the committee would help with commercial type operations, like games and amusement, and town merchandise sold on the pier.

He said two prior members have indicated they would stay on the reinstated committee.

Mayor Krouse talked about the committee’s role in the past and what he hopes it will be now.

“It’s pretty broad,” Krouse said. “I chaired the pier committee in the past, we had pretty free rein to bring any suggestions we wanted, and I intend to keep that for the pier committee in its reinstatement.” “I believe that pretty much every committee should not be constrained. It should be allowed to bring whatever ideas that it wants.”

Council also talked about hiring of a new fire chief in executive session. Town Administrator Gerald Vincent told News13 council made a motion for Vincent to make a conditional offer but could not say who yet.

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Adrianna Lawrence is a multimedia journalist at News13. Adrianna is originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia, and joined the News13 team in June 2023 after graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University in May 2023. Keep up with Adrianna on Instagram, Facebook, and X, formerly Twitter. You can also read more of her work, here.

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