黑料社入口

Former Horry County councilman and local businessman Mark Lazarus yesterday became the second person to join the race for Horry County Council chairman, and former council chairman Liz Gilland says she plans to enter the race Friday, the day filing opens.

鈥淲e face significant challenges here in Horry County,鈥� Lazarus said in a printed statement. 鈥淏ut we also have many great opportunities. In order to maximize those opportunities, we need a small businessman in this position who understands the financial needs of our citizens and how to create a better business environment here in Horry County.鈥�

Horry County Councilman Al Allen, who has been serving as chairman since Tom Rice vacated the post to begin serving as the U.S. Representative from the Seventh District, has already announced his intentions to run for the post.

Filing for the position begins tomorrow with the Horry County Republican and Democratic parties. It closes Jan. 28, with primaries following on March 12, runoffs, if needed, March 26 and the election April 30.

Filing fee is $515.

Lazarus said he chose the Horry County Government Complex to announce his candidacy because the county seat represents all people in the county.

鈥淭his is a large county with a diverse population. I am not running for chairman to advance the causes of any particular group over another; I am running to serve all citizens in our area, which is why I chose the county seat to announce my intentions to represent Horry County as their next chairman.鈥�

Lazarus鈥檚 campaign will focus on developing solutions to foster more cooperation between county and municipal government, economic and infrastructure development, as well as ways to decrease local crime.

鈥淏etween our infrastructure issues to the escalating crime rate, Horry County needs a county council chairman who can encourage collaboration between city, county and state government in order to address these concerns,鈥� he said. 鈥淏y doing this, we create a better business environment for our local economy and a better quality of life for our families.鈥�

Lazarus formerly represented District 2 on the Horry County Council.

He is the managing partner of Wild Water and Wheels in Surfside Beach and also works at 黑料社入口 Land and Timber.

A longtime resident of the area, Lazarus lives in Myrtle Beach with his wife Helen and his three children Christina, Jordan and Jacob.

The Democratic Party鈥檚 office, where filing will be held, is located at 900 Fourth Ave., Conway. Call Betty Richardson at 448-5227. The Republicans have recently moved and are now in the Founders Centre at 2411 N. Oak St. in Myrtle Beach. Call 488-4445.

Gilland says she鈥檚 not planning any big kickoff for her campaign; she鈥檒l just file and start campaigning.

The former chairman says she鈥檚 concerned about reports she鈥檚 been hearing since she left office about poor employee morale at the county.

She sees herself as a champion of the employees and says she wants to stand tall on their behalf.

Gilland says she gave up her position after eight years because she was exhausted. For seven of those years she was tending her aging mother, who has since died.

She also had a scare thinking she was having a heart attack and has faced down cancer during her absence from council.

鈥淚 feel like I鈥檒l be going in with renewed energy, taking back the best that I learned and leaving behind the mistakes that I made and vowing not to make them again,鈥� she said.

Gilland is trying now to rectify a problem that has dogged her since her service on council. She still owes a $45,000 ethics fine, which she hasn鈥檛 paid simply because she didn鈥檛 have the money.

Earlier this month she initiated contact with the S.C. Ethics Commission to talk about paying the fine. She plans to continue her talks with the commission later this month and isn鈥檛 giving up hope that her fine might be reduced.

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to imagine having to pay back that much money for something that didn鈥檛 hurt anybody,鈥� she said, pointing out that she didn鈥檛 steal money, she didn鈥檛 spend public money on herself and didn鈥檛 take trips. She simply filed some late paperwork.

She says as far as she knows her health is fine now.

鈥淚鈥檝e been working out at the Conway Recreation Center. I鈥檝e dropped some pounds. I feel great鈥s far as I鈥檓 concerned the cancer was last year, and I鈥檓 moving on,鈥� she said.

Gilland pointed out that council has gotten only one new member since she left. That鈥檚 Paul Price from the South Strand. So she won鈥檛 waste time building new relationships when she steps back in.

鈥淚 considered a lot of different options. There are numerous volunteer organizations I could have joined, and I considered mission work, and I just couldn鈥檛 find anything that felt comfortable to me, and I realized that there are not a whole lot of folks who want to do government work, or can do government work, and I can, and I can do it well,鈥� she said.