MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – Myrtle Beach mayoral candidates met on Thursday night for a debate hosted by the Carolina African American Heritage Foundation (CAAHF), the NAACP and the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.

Topics included police, the new library downtown, and off-shore drilling but almost every answer to every question came back to public safety.

“In seven years we’re looking at 56 officers and 14 new administrators,” said incumbent John Rhodes. He was interrupted by someone in the crowd yelling “it’s not enough.”

“We understand it’s not enough,” Rhodes continued. “So we’re going to fight hard and do what we have to and if we can get 20 officers a year we’re going to hire 20 officers.”

Ed Carey said he would like to get a committee together to discuss ways to make the city safer.

“My plan to attack the public safety issue is not to pull a number out of a box and say this is the answer,” said Carey. “My plan is to engage professionals in this field…if we don’t get this public safety issue out of the way we’re not going to have an economy here.”

McBride said he has a very clear goal in mind.

“When I announced in the fall of 2015, I said we have a crime problem and we need to address it,” said McBride. “We need to put 100 officers on the street we need to have pay raises, improve their packages so we can retain the officers and have more officers for Memorial Day.”

All three were also asked about the Superblock and the new library and children’s museum. McBride said he doesn’t think it should go downtown, Rhodes said council hasn’t officially voted on its use and he’s still open to public/private investments, and Carey said he’s against the city buying land downtown.

On the topic of offshore drilling, Carey and Rhodes said they are against it. McBride said he’s against oil offshore drilling but supports drilling for natural gas.

Brenda Bethune and C.D. Rozsa are also running for Myrtle Beach mayor but could not be at Thursday night’s debate because of sick family members.

Count on News13 to keep you updated on all candidates leading up to Election Day.