The Myrtle Beach city council hired a lobbying firm to represent the city in Columbia for the next two years at the council meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 10.
The council unanimously voted in favor of The Tallon Group, a South Carolina-based firm, and hired the group for two years at a rate of $8,000 per month, according to Mayor Mark Kruea. Seemingly indicating the city will pay $192,000 over two years, with a 30-day ‘get-out’ clause included in the contract.
“Both groups were very well-qualified. Both groups made great presentations. The sense I got was that the Tallon Group has a little more time in service. They’ve been around a little bit longer and they’ve got a Grand Strand presence with the fact that Scott Talley lives here along the coast,” Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark Kruea said, adding that there could not have been a wrong choice.
The Tallon Group was represented by former SC State Senator Scott Talley, the group’s founder and former State House Rep. Eddie Tallon and state-agent Kathryn Richardson when they pitched their lobbying expertise at the Tuesday, Feb. 3 workshop.
Talley currently lives in Georgetown County and said if they were hired, he would head up the U.S. 17 Bypass to consult with the council on Myrtle Beach’s priorities and funding requests as time is of the essence with budget discussions underway.
Councilman Phil Render has been paying attention to the state of South Carolina’s surplus of funding and advocated for the city of Myrtle Beach to be involved.
“What’s on the table is $2.4 billion of new money. $1.7 of that is non-recurring and in an election year, we need to have a voice at the table,” Render said.
Talley said the firm has done some research on priorities brought up in the 2025 Myrtle Beach election, and believes the city demonstrates a good return on investment and the Tallon Group will be successful in securing state funding on behalf of the municipality.
Talley represented Spartanburg County in Columbia for 16 years – eight years in the house and eight years in the senate – before joining the Tallon Group. The Tallon Group also represents Spartanburg’s municipality and One Spartanburg, the economic development and tourism entity of the Spartanburg area.
He said, from his experience serving and working on behalf of clients, more funding also means more requests for funds, but the firm has been successful in appealing to the state on behalf of other clients.
Talley said he does not anticipate any conflicts with the firm representing Myrtle Beach as the group’s lobbyist assigned to Spartanburg is Carol Stewart.
Richardson will be assigned to lobby on behalf of the Myrtle Beach municipality. She worked for the SC State Law Enforcement Division for 24 years, overseeing governmental affairs and as the public information officer before joining The Tallon Group in 2020.
She currently represents eight clients across a variety of silos including economic development, tourism, utilities, hospitality and education since joining the Tallon Group.
Talley said the group is competent at assisting clients at the local, state and federal levels.
“We are well-situated to help the city. We have a good grasp of how things work in Columbia on both the House and the Senate side. We’ve built good relationships with stakeholders – and when I say that I mean not only those that are serving in the legislature now, but key staff members and others that have been influential in us being successful with our clients in the past,” Talley said.
Councilwoman Jackie Hatley was absent for the Feb. 10 meeting. Kruea said she was on a “belated-birthday trip” at the beginning of the meeting.
