Residents of Barefoot Resort who need another way to leave the area will soon have a back way out of the large, residential community. Watertower Road is scheduled to be paved and according to the city the paving should soon begin and be finished by the end of the year.

On Monday night North Myrtle Beach Public Works Director Kevin Blayton told City Council DDC Engineers would be doing the design/build project and barring heavy rains or bad weather the project would begin soon.

Blayton told council he believed the paving would be finished by Christmas or at the latest by mid-January.

Paving Watertower Road and building a new interchange at Highway 31 and Watertower Road is part of the Parkway PUD project the city approved earlier in the year. The city will pave the road and build the interchange using money from a bond and will recoup the money when development begins in the newly annexed land.

The Parkway PUD is located west of the Intracoastal Waterway and takes North Myrtle Beach city limits south to Myrtle Beach and borders Grande Dunes.

In other departmental reports Assistant City Manager Steve Thomas said the city picnic was a big success with 364 employees enjoying the picnic and festivities. He also reported city employees were close to their fundraising goal for United Way.

The city is within $1,500 of their $28,000 goal. Thomas said several employees participated in the United Ways Day of Caring and the city received a Pacesetter Award for their work on behalf of the community.

Parks and Recreation Director John Bullard reported his department was busy with fall sports and the opening of the renovated J. Bryan Floyd Community Center. He reported 390 people signed up for fall sports at the community center.

The Aquatic & Fitness Center has added new members and the center now has 3,240 individual members representing 1,893 membership packages. This is an increase of 18 packages since September 2008.

During the Monday night council meeting the North Myrtle Beach Public Safety Department thanked a variety of people for their help in supporting and raising money for the Kids Without A Christmas/Shop With A Cop program.

Public Safety Director William Bailey said many of the people sitting in council chambers on Monday night give of their time and money to support the community.

They dont have to do the things they do. But they do it for the love they have for this community, Bailey said.

One of the most impressive things I have seen is the work Mikey and Skipper Hough do. They go out and shake this tin cup and they help us pull off some of our charity events by raising money. They go out and they get what they need to help our community, he said.

Bailey said the Kids Without A Christmas Program was important to not only North Myrtle Beach children but to kids around Horry County. He said the more money the department raised, the more children they could help during the Christmas holiday.

Kid after kid after kid comes to our department for this and we give them breakfast, take them shopping, have lunch and a Christmas party. It is a community event. It is no longer Shop With A Cop, it is a community event, said Bailey.

Bailey said Sen. Dick Elliott consistently gives his golf course to be used to raise funds and thanked him for all the work you do in our community and all the time you give.

I feel so humble standing here accepting any kind of appreciation for a program I love so much, said Elliott. I especially want to give thanks to those who get the job done and that is the Public Safety division and all those who volunteer. Those who help this Christmas program for the children so they will hear the greatest story ever told. Its all about Christmas, its all about love, said Elliott.

Bailey recognized WMBF News for their support of the North Myrtle Beach community and for their support of the golf tournament held in July and other events in the city.

He also thanked Cumulus Broadcasting, ESPN Radio and Sunny 103.1. The group called and volunteered to do a fundraiser for the Kids Without A Christmas program and they held an auction of donated items at a local golf tournament.

Their spokesperson said the sponsors of the auction and others took no expense money and donated a variety of gifts for their auctions. He singled out the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, the Carolina Panthers and Water Dog Promotions. The group donated $1,550 to the program from the auction during the meeting.

The Palmetto Greens Development Company and the North Myrtle Beach Times were also honored.

In other business City Council approved an appropriation of $340,000 from the citys Park Development Fund to purchase a lot at 5209 North Ocean Boulevard which will be used for public parking. The fund currently has $1.7 million.

Bailey reported the fall Harley weekend was calm with no motorcycle accidents, no problems and no overtime for Public Safety.

North Myrtle Beach Times

By Judy Corley