Mayor's Message - March 2026

With March Madness quickly approaching, my wife and I will continue our annual tradition of taking up space at a sports bar for a few hours with brackets and highlighters in hand – yes, we are old school! I’m going out on a limb early with my prediction.  Since both my brothers and our daughter graduated from the University of Houston, I’m going with the Cougars.  They came so close last year I’m hoping they can get over the hump this year!

The year has started off with a busy meeting schedule. City Council held a strategic planning session in addition to our regular meetings; numerous City Council members and staff attended the annual Municipal Association of South Carolina’s Hometown Legislative Action Day in Columbia and the annual SC Beach Advocates meeting in Hilton Head. Your city was well represented at both events.

1. On the project front:
   Phase 2 of the Waterway Boulevard Elevation project is moving forward.  The contract has been awarded, and construction should be well underway by the time this is printed for this next phase which includes some additional drainage infrastructure (in addition to what was already installed during phase 1) and finally redoing the multi-use path! Depending on weather, our contractor should be wrapped up before our busy season.
2. Beach nourishment work is moving along. The US Army Corps of Engineers projects along the southern end should be wrapping up soon. An additional contractor has started dredging the Intracoastal Waterway around Breach Inlet and is placing that sand on IOP – an additional 200,000 cubic yards of sand in addition to the 600,000 cubic yards of sand from the original project with the U S Army Corps. The larger beach renourishment project for both ends of our island is also progressing.  As of the writing of this message, we are planning to put the project out to bid in February, hopefully receiving permits in March and starting sand placement in late May/early June. This project is scheduled to place between 1.5 and 2.2 million cubic yards of sand on our beach in the Wild Dunes area and from Breach Inlet to around 9th Avenue. All these projects should restore our beach to the nice wide playground we are all used to! 

City Council recently decided to add another opportunity for residents to ask questions and learn more about your community. We will be holding our first Town Hall on March 26th, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. at the Rec Center. The initial thought is to hold these periodically throughout the year based on the results of this initial meeting. Come join us if you can.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve!
Phillip Pounds, Mayor IOP
843-252-5359
ppounds@iop.net