NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — North Myrtle Beach city council member Nikki Fontana won’t seek a fourth term — a decision she said is unrelated to a recent DUI arrest.
Fontana, 51, announced on her “Politically Unplugged” podcast, which was posted Friday.
“If you think that what I’m going to say is because of anything that happened recently, you’re very wrong, and you’re an idiot to think so,” Fontana said. “Because I don’t let anything bring me down.”
Fontana was arrested Aug. 31 in the 500 block of 48th Ave N. in Myrtle Beach after officers stopped her GMC Yukon at about 11:40 p.m. after seeing that its license-plate sticker had expired in February, a police report said.
While talking to Fontana, the report said the officer noticed that she had red, glossy eyes and that her speech was slurred. She was then given a field sobriety test that showed signs of impairment.
Fontana has represented North Myrtle Beach’s Windy Hill ward since 2013.
“There’s some details that haven’t been released yet, but people are assuming things, so I’ll have to come back to it at a late time because I have an attorney on it,” she said.
Fontana last October was one of two councilmembers who voted against severing ties with city manager Mike Mahaney, who is now running for mayor. The other was Fred Coyne.
Mahaney, who was hired in 2010, was voted out of his position over claims that he failed to pursue hiring a grants coordinator despite multiple requests by the city council to do so.
“That kind of opened my eyes to some things,” Fontana said. “I found out the plans for that had been about 10 months in the making and myself and another councilmember were not involved. It’s very disheartening to work with people you can’t trust.”
The filing deadline to run for city council ended at noon on Friday. Jeri McCumbee and Jolene Puffer are vying for Fontana’s seat.
Source: Fox 8 News Channel
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